When one says “victory or defeat,” one thinks of a contest. Victory is gained only by passing through the process of deciding victory and defeat, which is called a contest.
Today we are going down the road of faith. This is like stepping out into the arena and competing with victory as the goal. Here, when one says "a contest," it does not mean some athletic contest but a contest in which one steps out into the arena centering on one’s daily living, or centering on one’s own lifetime or the history of the nation.
A Believer Like One Standing on the Racecourse
The advanced nations of today became advanced nations because the whole of their citizenry united together and made more effort than the citizens of other nations.
Then why has our Republic of Korea become a backward nation?
The Republic of Korea has now become a backward nation because, in the historical process of competing with various nations, the whole citizenry was negligent and made less effort. So it could not but naturally become a backward nation. When we look at such a fact, we can know that history and the fortune of the world have proceeded centering on such a process.
Then, leaving the world of large scope and returning to ourselves as individuals, when we compare and criticize ourselves against other people, the question is in what position do I now stand? Seen thus, you must know that you are all standing in the position of running on the course of Restoration to restore the relationship between God and the human being, in other words, the relationship between the Father and me.
Just as Paul said, “We are people standing on the racecourse, people running toward one mark,” so we, too, are running toward one goal.
One of the contests most valued in the world is the marathon. Every nation regards taking first place in a marathon meet and setting a record as the highest glory. Why is that? It is because the marathon is a contest that ordinary people cannot complete. The distance of the marathon is exceedingly long.
If one were to win, one must overcome that long distance. Furthermore, in a marathon meet, winning is important, but more important than that is how one produces a record. Winning alone will not do. Even if one cannot produce a record equal to the last meet’s, one can win. But what all nations desire in a marathon meet is not only winning but also how to produce a record.
If One Were to Set a Record
Then what must one do to break the former record and set a record?
One must make more effort than all the athletes who have taken part in marathon meets until now have made and must overcome difficulties. A person who does not think in this way cannot break the former record. Even supposing he wins, he cannot set a record.
Also, however hard one has made effort, if one’s strategy is wrong, one cannot produce a new record. If one were to produce a new record, one must be good at strategy. Being good at strategy in a marathon means that the runner himself knows himself well. It means one must know oneself well, the condition of the body as it changes according to the time and distance run. That is, one must know well the physical strength and capacity of one’s own body as it changes over a given time and distance.
Knowing well that if one overexerts beyond a certain level, the body cannot be in a normal condition, one must be able to adjust one’s own body to fit one’s physical strength a hundred percent. Without doing so, one cannot produce a record.
Furthermore, just because one runs well, one must not run in first place from the very beginning. One must adjust oneself to adapt to the fixed distance. This is the question. And thus, how one will act when the final finish line draws near, how much one will sustain the initial speed, and how one runs while leaving reserve strength by which one can break through the final finish line, are important. If one cannot adjust this, one cannot win, and even supposing one wins, one cannot produce a new record.
Victory is decided instantly. The instant of crossing the finish line is not one minute, nor even one second. Victory is decided in such a short time. Even though one has run together a distance of a hundred li, the division into first and second place is decided within about a meter.
Indeed, victory is decided even by a difference of ten centimeters, one centimeter, half a millimeter. The deciding of a record does not lie in whether the time shortened is long or short.
Even if one shortened it by one second, a new record is a new record. In this way, a historic record is broken even by a very short distance. Likewise, this becomes the question of the course of Restoration we go.
The Goal of the Unification Church’s Activity
The central goal of the Unification Church is, of course, world restoration. We are running toward that goal.
In running, centering on what does one run?
Religion until now, that is, religion until before 1960, ran centering on the individual. But the Unification Church is carrying on a family-level contest centering on the purpose of the Providence of Restoration. To put it another way, it means the Unification Church has entered within the sphere of a family-level race. This is the point at which the Unification Church differs from previous religions.
When we examine the course of providential history until now, we can know that God labored much to find one lost Adam. But could one produce a record of victory just because one found one Adam? No. Who attests to that? It is Jesus. Jesus came to this earth and stood in the position of saying he would fulfill his responsibility as the Son of God, but could he with that alone be victorious on the course of the Providence of Restoration and set a new record? It means he could not.
However excellent Adam may be, Adam alone cannot break the record. Through Jesus’ coming and going, on God’s side a new record was not set, but rather a record of failure came to be set. A gap of two thousand years arose in the course of the Providence of Restoration. He did not produce a new record as a victor but set only a record as one defeated.
Then what must be done today for the Unification Church to produce a new record?
First, centering on one man and one woman, one must establish one family through the formula of the Providence of Restoration. Thereafter, one must advance toward the goal and produce a good record together with victory. Only then is a new epoch achieved from there. We are going to center on such a tremendous goal.
When today’s training ends, you will scatter to east and west and south and north. All will scatter and go. There will be no one there to cheer you. Far from cheering, opposition and persecution and all sorts of things will unfold. In such a position you are standing in the arena. So you must not forget this awareness. You must not forget that I run, one who must go, and that this very hour I must run toward the goal.
Even though your positions and circumstances differ so that you are all scattered in every direction, the one thing you must hold unchangingly is the thought, “I am racing.” You are people who run centering on a goal. When you run, heaven and earth are watching and cheering you soundlessly. In such a cosmic arena you are running. In running, you must not run alone. It means one must not run alone as an individual either.
But although such running has continued until now, until presently it has not become a national meet. It was no more than a small contest going back and forth only in a village or a township. Such a contest has no relation whatever to a provincial contest or a national contest.
However much one took the lead and set a record at a village or township meet, it means it has no relation whatever to a national meet. Though one ran, it means that was limited to that village or township. It means the people of the province did not watch that meet, and the citizenry did not watch it.
So it will not do with only a new record produced in a contest formed centering on one church or one school. Only when one races in a national or a worldwide meet and wins and produces a record does that record become a worldwide new record.
Then what kind of meet is the meet in which the Unification Church would race today?
This meet is tremendous even among meets. In this meet, the ancestors who came and went in the past are mobilized, and the humankind of the present is mobilized, and the countless descendants to come hereafter are mobilized as well. You are now running at a focal point where the three ages are thus bound together and mobilized. The question here is the attitude of you who run.
What a Runner Must Know
From here the question arises for you. In running, it does not all come about merely by running unconditionally. One must clearly know the destination. It means one must know where that place one aims at is and how far that distance is.
However fine your posture may be, if you do not know the course you must run, you cannot reach the destination. Because that course is made of the principles of Restoration, one must run centering on that.
There are about seventy people in this place now, and in your running, not all can take first place. Among these, there is only one victor. The question of who takes first place is important.
Then what does God look for?
God does not look upon second place. He looks upon first place. He does not look upon many people but looks upon one person. So when that individual runs, doing his utmost, heaven and earth become one.
Here a question unfolds according to how far that distance is. Until today, in the course of the Providence of Restoration, human beings have wished for and made effort toward that one day, night and day, centering on the nation, but on what standard they wished and made effort is the important question. To restore the nation, first the individual must be restored, and further, one must go on being restored to the family, clan, people, and nation.
In this way, the more the scope of each stage grows, the higher the degree of concern for it becomes. You must know that.
For example, however good a record an athlete representing a county may hold, he cannot receive recognition before an athlete representing a province.
However good his record, if he would receive recognition from an athlete representing a province, he must compete again and win.
Also, even though a provincial athlete’s record is far better than a national athlete’s record, if that record is not a record at a nationally recognized meet, one cannot call him the holder of a new record for the Republic of Korea. But even though at a national meet he falls several seconds short of the record he himself holds, if he has broken the national standard record, he comes to take the glory of having set a new record. It is the same with breaking a world record. Even though one sets a world-level new record within the Republic of Korea, it does not receive recognition; but if one takes part in a worldwide meet and sets a record, it receives recognition.
However well you have run individually until now, since the stage has presently widened, you must run on the widened stage. Running to represent a township and running to represent a county are different. Also, running in a county and running in a province are different, and running in a province and running in the nation are different. You must fit such a time perfectly.
You must be self-aware that you are athletes who have stepped out into the arena bearing responsibility centering on that time. Here, in running, at the same time as the time differs, the environment changes. Therefore, you must harmonize well with the changed environment and your capacity and properly accept the various phenomena that appear along the way. It means there is a possibility that an enemy will appear.
In running, who cheers for you?
It means they do not. But the absence of a cheering squad is no problem at all. The enemies will do all sorts of tricks to break you who run and to cross over you, and this is the problem. There will be fellows who hide in an unseen corner and shoot arrows, and there will be fellows who hide along a wall and try to break your legs and leave you. There will be all sorts of fellows.
In such a rugged environment, you must gaze squarely upon that and not be violated. Holding the thought that it would be a great matter if you were caught and tripped by the enemy, you must be able to defend yourselves in preparation for a rugged environment. The cheerers all watch only the people on their side.
One Must Set a Record on the World Stage
In such a position, we have today hung out the signboard of world restoration.
Then what is the greatest question for you who have welcomed the age of world restoration? If one were to restore the world, unlike until now, the record set by running individually will not do. Nor will the record set at the clan level do, nor will the record set at the people level do. One must become a person who can appear on the world stage and set a new record.
God has until now conducted the Providence of Restoration on the highest standard. If one does not stand in a position of breaking the record of the satanic world, the authority, and dignity and face of God, who has restored humankind, do not stand. This is God’s position. Therefore, the mission of us who come forth putting the Will first is to subjugate everything of the satanic world on the course of Restoration and return the highest glory and authority to God and establish it for Him. It is for that that we have now stepped out into the worldwide arena.
Then, in stepping out, must the citizenry and all the families of that nation all step out? No. If it be a nation, one needs only put forward one person representing the nation. One needs only to send out, as a representative, one person who can set a record.
In the present providential process, you must, centering on your family, make a new epoch for the family and set out a new life. If a new life does not set out, a new ideal cannot set out, and a new love cannot set out. When we look at such a standard, one must know where that starting point must be. Victory here alone will not do.
If that victory becomes a victory that catches on to even one thing of the satanic world, one cannot establish God’s authority and face and make a new departure. This victory must be historic.
We are now running at the family level. In running, one must run, taking as one’s ground the countless relationships behind the scenes that are connected to the Will of the providence of heaven and earth and the heart (심정) centered on God.
However far behind one has fallen in the midst of the race, at the final finish line, one must go in ahead by even one step. Not merely going ahead, but one must go ahead to produce a new record. It means let us gather in this way. This is the course of the Providence of Restoration.
Is this road you run a road you run centering on one year? No. If it does not come about in the first generation, one must go even at the cost of doing it in the second generation, and if not in the second generation, then in the third. That is why the Providence of Restoration has until now been running through the three generations of Adam, Jesus, and the Lord at the Second Advent. Also, it passed through three generations as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.
Then in which generation are we now?
We are running in the last, the third generation. If it is the last third generation, how much of the finish line at which one can go in remains? Has one passed a third, or passed four-fifths? One must know this clearly. And one must mobilize all one’s latent and reserve strength and run toward the final finish line.
The Three Years for the Full Advance Toward the Final Finish Line
Then when is the time when the Unification Church must advance in full march toward the final finish line? It is from the years 1970 to 1972. Reckoned in days, it is about a thousand days, and how hard one runs during these three years is important. One must not hold a mind of the sort that says, “It is all right if I lose; I have no interest in taking first place and receiving a prize or in such things as a new record. Since I am tired, let me rest a moment and then go; even if I come last, it is enough if I go.” You must know that you are not in such a plight.
On this road you have joined, your ancestors will join and cheer. This road is a road of destiny that the Kim clan, if a Kim, must go someday without fail. That is why, though now they do not know well, when it is said later that you have won, the Kim clan, if a Kim, will all bow their heads. That is bound to be revealed in any case. It means it is bound to become so. Not only the ancestors of the past but also the lineage and the clan are bound to be mobilized, and the descendants of the future too are bound to be mobilized. That is why your running becomes the question. That is always the question.
Seen thus, in the Unification Church, which runs toward the goal of world restoration, when people representing the Kim if a Kim, the Park if a Park, the Moon if a Moon come and run, a question always arises. Centering on the clan, a question always arises. Here you must think: “Among our clan, in what order am I one who is taken away?”
You must take first place. Then upon whom will concern be focused? People will say of our clan, “That person!” Furthermore, they will say, “Among our clan there are many who were taken away, but among them, so-and-so is not so.” In the 1960s it was so-and-so, and in the 1970s it is so-and-so.” Thus, only when you become representatives of the clan will they say, centering on a hope in which past, present, and future are connected, “Ah, there is indeed such a one. A member of our clan has appeared in this arena.”
We are at present trying to set a new record centering on the Republic of Korea. Has there, since history began, been a gathering such as the Unification Church? Also, has there been such a religious body that becomes an issue in the nation? There has not. There has been no organization that set a new record in loving the country and being for the nation.
A person who does not hold a record of loving the country must not dream even in a dream of the position of president. He must not dream even in a dream of boasting before the nation, before the world. But when one becomes a person who holds ability more than enough to break the world record and holds authority publicly acknowledged by oneself and others, the humankind of the world comes to submit.
Now we have run about ten years on the stage called the Republic of Korea. Taking what we have run until now as a lesson, we must presently run out into Asia. And thereafter, we must run onto the world stage.
The various nations of the world each have a different ethnic background and a different historical background. Also, their conceptions of their people differ. In this way, nations and nations, each in different positions, compete with one another.
Now, if an Olympics were held within the Unification Church, Japanese and Americans, of course, and Portuguese too would take part. The more our mission headquarters increase, the larger the scale of the contest will gradually become. When it becomes so, what is it that becomes the focal point of the question? It is who is the highest record holder.
That record differs from a Greek soldier’s running with his life at stake to convey that they had won in the battle on the plain of Marathon and died, leaving behind the single word, “We have won.” It means that the record he set by running with his life at stake at that time and the records set by athletes these days are different. He raised the flag of the marathon’s departure in world history. Though he collapsed and died, leaving behind the words that they had won, the record he set is eternal.
The Republic of Korea too can stand in such a position. It means it is in a position where it can achieve a new epoch at the Olympic meet.
Some people say it would be good if the Will were achieved and we went out and ran on the world stage, but it is made so that this does not come about so easily.
The word "new epoch" means a new beginning. Centering on the origin of a new record, the history in which some nation has fought must be connected with the history of the Olympic meet. Only then can one inherit the tradition built up centering on the Olympic meet and pass it on and carry on such a central position of history. This is what the Unification Church would now do, and this is the position it is in.
The Mission of the Republic of Korea
Everything we are now doing is to study a method by which we can produce a good record. And thus it means, let us run that road, that course, which we have studied. That must be able to exert influence upon the nation and upon Asia and, further, even upon the world.
From now on, the finish line will draw near. Seen by the Unification Church Principle, that is called "family restoration." Family restoration means being completed as a family in which the Four Position Foundation has been achieved. Therefore, one must achieve the Four Position Foundation on the national standard as well. Then, in achieving the Four Position Foundation, which nation holds a history with the prospect of taking first place? This is a matter of world concern. And this business unfolded centering on the Republic of Korea.
When we look at the world, the Republic of Korea is the Adam nation, and Japan is the Eve nation. And America and Germany are archangel nations. Germany is a Cain-type fallen archangel nation, and America is an Abel-type restored archangel nation. Then how can one make the Abel-type nation and the Cain-type nation become one? A nation that runs centering on such content is restored.
How will Asia be hereafter? It must achieve a new culture and build the heavenly kingdom. To do so, Korea and Japan and Communist China must be connected. One must achieve it centering on Korea.
Then what must the Republic of Korea do?
To achieve the national standard, one must first achieve the clan and people standards. Here, without fail, somebody, if a body, or some denomination, if a denomination, becomes an issue, so the Unification Church must settle countless denominational disputes.
Furthermore, one must, one way or another, establish the Four Position Foundation standard. Because it will not do without being equipped with that foundation, the Teacher has carried on interdenominational activity as a strategy for preparing that foundation. Taking this as the motive, we have fought centering on the thought of how all religions can be equipped on a plane level with one form of the Four Position Foundation. Because when it becomes so, one can restore the nation and strike down the communists.
So it means let us pave the road that goes to the world.
Next, centering on such a standard, one must love the country and love the people. There too, one must produce a new record. You must produce a good record and be able to stand hereafter in an honorable position nationally and worldwide. But have you now stood in a position where, as authorities holding honor, you can teach the nation if the nation, and the humankind of the world, if the world? Are you equipped with a foundation of ability such that you can say that if one would run, one must run like this, and no one can raise any objection to that opinion? As a person holding a new record, you must be able to stand in an absolute position such that in that field you can say, before the nation, if the nation; before the world, if the world, that in this field no one apart from me can take responsibility. From an absolute and authoritative position, one must be able to take responsibility and guide.
The Responsibility of a Leader
Then is the Unification Church today, so?
Or is a responsible person of the provinces so?
It means, though not yet selected, are you equipped with the posture and content by which you can hereafter be discovered as a national athlete? In any case, you must run for that. Hereafter, an hour of honor centering on the nation will without fail come to the Unification Church.
When that time comes, what must you do?
Holding absolute authority, you must be able to say that since the past was done in this way, the present must be done in this way and the future in this way. But a person who has failed in his responsibility becomes a person with no relation whatever to that glory even though an age of glory comes.
Rather, he becomes ashamed before that glory and, his disgrace being revealed, bows his head. One must win and become an object of admiration to all people, not become a person who comes last and stands in a shameful position. It means one must not come to be mocked with, “Aigo, that person had to take first place and yet came last.” You are all people who hold the aptitude to be able to do so.
Among those who follow the Will of the Unification Church, there will be people who take first place and people who come last, and there will be dropouts too. It means differences open up even within those who attend the Unification Church.
And the phenomena that unfold in an actual arena unfold also in your families or on the grounds where you are active. But what becomes the question is how one makes an athlete who runs well in a nation, if a nation, in an organization, if an organization. That is, the question is how one educates and how one trains him to make him an excellent athlete. This mission depends upon you.
To educate and train athletes, first you yourselves must have that much ability. It means you must be able to train the juniors who receive your guidance so that they surpass your record. And thus, in the marathon centered on the Will of the Unification Church, you must raise a person who can represent the nation and be put forward before the world. A leader who has raised such a person comes to remain historically connected with him.
Even looking at the country in which you live, historically countless people moved to that country, but there were not many who represented that country and produced a new record of loyalty before the nation. But if you come to produce such a person, even if you die, you come to remain in history as the leader who made him produce such a record.
Now is the time when we must run, centering on the world stage. It is the same with Teacher Moon of the Unification Church. The Teacher has no thought of going while being indebted to anyone in running. Though when the athletes grow weary, he may exhort them and pull them along, he is not indebted to the athletes.
In running, as a racer, he begrudges even a moment and invests every sincerity and runs. Without slackening even one step, night or day, he goes without rest. And thus at that time of finally going in at the finish line, the Teacher will be the one who is victorious first.
The Highest Standard in History
To set a new record such as has not existed in the world until now, you must clearly know what you must do before the nation and the world. It is important how one brings about a victory through oneself in the process of the Providence of Restoration, or how one sets a record standard that can exert influence upon humankind of the world and upon descendants. That is, it means one must produce a record better than the record of the historical process until now and better than the new record to be set hereafter.
If only an absolute new record is decided, past and present and future all come to run centering on this standard. All athletes come to move centering on this, and also unification comes about centering on this. That very thing that has appeared, holding such a standard, connects from past to present and from present to future. The origin of such a new record is precisely what the Unification Church calls True Parents.
If one would take the honor of True Parents, one must become a record holder of heart (심정). Because that record must be absolute, it must not have existed in the past, nor exist in the present, nor exist in the future. To put it another way, the standard of True Parents is an absolute standard that cannot be compared with any relative standard.
True Parents cannot be two. Then how must it be between God, who is the Parent of Heaven, and the parents of earth? It means they must become one. It means they must automatically become one and must not be two. Parents with the word “True” attached are only one. Heaven and earth cannot be two. Then how do the parents of heaven and of earth become one? If one would resolve this, one must form a relationship centering on Heaven.
From this viewpoint, God and the human being must become one. Only when the inner Parent and the outer parents thus become one are True Parents at last defined. Because True Parents are a position of absolute standard, a new record of universal history eternally follows the position centered on True Parents. No one at all can match that record. The teaching of True Parents is absolute. That is why a person who would receive the teaching of True Parents and produce a new record must absolutely obey and absolutely submit to True Parents. Without that, one cannot enter the sphere of living again. Only in a position of absolute obedience and absolute submission does the history of unification at last unfold and one world come to be achieved. To put it another way, that position is a position transcending fighting with some partner, that is, a position transcending a contest. It is not such a relative position as saying one will hold a contest and produce a record, but a completely settled and safe position. It is not a position that many people dislike but a position that anyone likes and follows.
Seen from this viewpoint, the Unification Church today, in running toward the goal, must run centering on True Parents.
If there is something great that I have discovered, it is that I found the position of True Parents, which, through several thousand years of history until now, had not been found. That is why you must consider this to be the first thing and be able to congratulate it ten times even in a single day.
Therefore, if you would inherit the record of True Parents, you must come to the Teacher and receive the transfer. Until a person appears holding a record beyond this, it cannot be done.
You must know that this is important content. If a problem arises in the arena that is your family, everything must be resolved on that standard. That standard connects with the past and connects with the present and connects with the future.
What is called a new record connects from eternity to eternity. Centering on that standard, a relative relationship must without fail be formed. The racing athletes must run centering on that standard.
Until now, when human beings speak of the ideal, they know it as something toward which one must run, looking only forward. But our ideal does not lie in days ahead. It means that even at the cost of going all the way around the world, one must come to the Teacher. It is because the departure is also there and the purpose is there too.
Until now, the fallen world was a road that centered on future hope, but because the Unification Church age is an age of going centering on a new record, the departure too is that point, and the purpose too is that point, so the world must run toward that place.
In terms of content too, it is not such a contest as has existed in the world until now. It is forming the relationship of parent and child in the world of heart (심정). Among contests, there is nothing beyond that. That is why anyone who comes to know this principle comes to know that unification cannot but come about.
That is why, in running the road, your purpose must be distinct. In running, one must run not centering on the individual’s purpose but centering on the nation’s purpose. And one must go and then return. It means one must set out from the nation and return. This is a fact that cannot be denied. In the providential process, you are now going the course of returning, that is, the course of Restoration.
This road we are running is not an ordinary course but the course of Restoration. You who run the course of Restoration are all, each in your own way, important people. The one who takes first place here becomes an absolute champion and, at the same time, becomes a leader who bears responsibility relatively, as well.
Unification Church Members Must Live Centering on the New Record True Parents Set
Then what is the work the Unification Church is now doing?
It is to cultivate athletes who can inherit the tradition of True Parents, who set an absolute record. The Teacher has been playing this part until now. Seen thus, for you the question arises whether you become a champion at a meet held in a township, or become a champion who sets a record at a meet held in a county or a province.
You must now live centering on the record True Parents set, even if the Teacher is not there. You must always compare it with that record in your life and check what percentage you have reached and how close you have come to that record and seek to draw near to that record. This decides your authority and position when you enter the heavenly world.
For instance, a person who reached that record in third place must go to the third-place position, however fine he may be, and one in tenth place must go to the tenth-place position. Even a person who has been president, if he came last, must go to the last-place position; there is no help for it. Even if he were the president of America, if he came last, he could not but go to the last place in the heavenly world.
You must become people who feel your mission centering on the Teacher. You must be equipped with the standard as a relative family centering on the Teacher’s family. For example, one must fit the standard as a relative of the clan centering on the Moon clan if it be the Moon.
The Japanese members may perhaps say, "What does it mean to say Korea is the Adam nation and Japan is the Eve nation?" But if America, the archangel, should try to invade, what must be done to block that invasion? There is only one method. Whether the invasion be great or small, centering on the principles of the Principle, one must become one with the Adam nation.
If one does not become one, there is trouble. For that, one must run better than America. And one must devote one’s whole heart and strength to become one with Korea, the Adam nation.
When it becomes so, subject and object are decided among nations. And thus, when the nation in the subject position says, “Do this,” the nation in that relative position must follow. It means all follow along and learn this method. It means do not talk big, saying America is fine. The Teacher told our missionaries not to talk big even though they had done what they had to do.
Now, if the Teacher passes by once and paves the road well, they will follow even if one tells them not to follow. Why? Because if they do not follow, it means I will not deal with them. It means the road to take part in the arena disappears.
However much one has paved a worldwide foundation, it means one will not be put forward in the arena. Then one cannot become a world champion either. Accordingly, if one would set a new record, one must follow the True Parents of the Unification Church. Do you understand?
We have several organizations. Beginning with the Unification Church, various splendid organizations such as the Victory-Over-Communism Federation are showing prominence in each field. The Teacher will make even more organizations hereafter. When it becomes so, the events of the contest too will increase. There are Principle events and Victory-Over-Communism events, and there are also interdenominational events, and there are various contest events spanning each field. Hereafter, still more events will appear.
Such organizations will run centering on the Republic of Korea. To run centering on the Republic of Korea, one must hold a contest with the Democratic Republican Party, and there must be one loser. “One must win.” We are inferior economically and in numbers and are disadvantaged environmentally too. But history sets out from something small. Though the intelligence agency goes in and out of the church seeking to catch some pretext, it is of no use at all.
Do you think the Democratic Republican Party can save this nation, this people? Do you think that even in a dream what can save this nation is the Democratic Republican Party? “No.” Then who do you think can save this nation? “We can.” Really? You are not saying it idly, are you? “Yes.”
What can save this nation is not the Democratic Republican Party. That position is absolute. Therefore, time is the question. Then what is the point of resolution of the question? It is people and money. If it be said that the Unification Church has no people, then if it has money, it will do. That is why economic restoration is necessary.
There Must Be Those Who Cheer with One Mind
From such a viewpoint, the Unification Church is now running. But when the Unification Church runs, do the people of the Republic of Korea not do it because they say to do well? Rather, throughout the whole region of the three-thousand-li peninsula of the Republic of Korea, they ought to cheer, saying, “Do well, do well, do well.
What is called “our side” is not a side that cheers only when a contest is held. If one calls oneself “our side,” one must hold concern about that contest from before the contest begins, and even when he runs, one must stand in a position of holding a mind that says one runs together with that athlete. Yet if, when the athlete goes out into the arena, only then does one say, “Well, you are on our side; run well,” can one call that person one of our side?
When the athlete goes out as a representative and runs, one must watch closely with utmost tension, and as the finish line gradually draws near, one must stand in a position of running together. It means it is fine even if one rolls and falls while cheering. Only then do the running athletes run with spirit. If one is on the same side, one must be to such a degree when the athletes run.
Do you hold such an achievement? You are now running as district leaders, but the question is whether there is anyone who holds concern for you, that is, whether there is anyone on your side. When it seems there is, but in fact there is not, one is a one-man army. Such a person runs indeed but cannot represent the nation.
Can one be chosen as a national representative athlete when one has no nation?
If one has no nation, one is no more than an individual. Since one has no nation, one cannot take part in representing the nation and, accordingly, cannot take first place either.
If one were chosen as a national representative, one must have a nation to which one belongs, whichever nation it may be. One must either wear the cap of another’s nation or else cling to it by force. Then where will you place your belongings? Will you cling to the established churches or go and cling to the Democratic or Republican Party?
Centering on the family, a foundation is necessary on which, when the father goes “Snap!”, the son too can go “Click!”, and when the son goes “Snap!”, the father too can go "Click!" But even though one has children, if one has no nation what use is it? If one has no nation, first place and everything else are of no use at all.
If you do well, would the Teacher like it or not like it? If he likes it, how much would he like it? Would the Teacher like it while thinking of his face? It means it is all right even to forget the face. They will say, “Aigo, how did Teacher Moon of the Unification Church turn out like that? Aigo, what is that? How undignified…”; but for the Teacher, becoming champion is the question rather than face.
That is God’s wish. How much has God lost face until now? Because He kept losing in the fight time after time, God’s face is beyond words. Look at the sorry state of the champions God trained and put forward until now. They all collapsed in Satan’s hands, and far from dignity, they were all seized and killed so that He could not do as He wished; so think of God’s face. You must consider the disgrace God underwent at that time.
Break Through the Boundary Line the Forebears Could Not Cross
If you run just a little more, you can set a new record. Beside you there is the Teacher, who, centering on Heaven, has staked his whole life and is pouring out his utmost effort in setting a record. It means that beside you there is the Teacher, with whom you can directly discuss every responsibility, passing through the heart (심정) of heaven and earth.
To do this responsibility, countless figures historically devoted sincerity. From Abraham to Noah, Moses, Jesus, and the apostles of the prophets, they sought to become champions, but all failed. Therefore, for you to break the record of sincerity they set, you must cross that boundary line. Do you understand?
Even though the trials and sufferings Noah underwent while building the ark for a hundred twenty years should come, one must cross them without problem, and one must be able to cross the suffering Abraham underwent when he left his native mountains and streams. One must have nothing to fear.
One must become a self who can accept everything with a mind that says one can break through the boundary line and with a mind that says it ought properly to be so. Without doing so, one cannot take part in the rank of champions and cannot produce a new record. The countless responsible individuals who came and went in the historical process all sought to set a new record.
Seen from that viewpoint, I think Jesus is a champion. When Jesus showed a posture of obedience by saying, “Abba Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” would God say, “Hey, you rascal, what is this about?” Even though God knew well the situation at that time, could He be? If one asked God, “Is it good to have such a son, or do You dislike it?” would He say He disliked it? If He said He disliked it, one must ask God to stop.
If one asserts what one ought to assert even in a position of perishing, in a position of dying on the cross, one becomes a champion. Even if one is punished by God and dies, one must assert what is to be asserted and not act trivially for nothing.
The Teacher has already set up all such standards. So even if the Teacher sends you out, you have no complaint, do you? If you desire the nation, I will send you to the nation, and if you desire the world, I will send you to the world.
If one would become a champion, one must think more than anyone and must carry out a strategy no one has carried out. Only then can one produce a record. But since the standard of True Parents is the highest standard, would there be a champion elsewhere? If there is, it is all right to go and look.
If you find yet another champion, the Teacher will support him. You are champions as sons. That is relative; it is not an absolute champion.
If One Would Become the Champion’s Successor
The Teacher has until now come forth centering on the Will.
If you would become the successor of the champion whom you support, you must analyze even the champion’s physiology and emotions. And your temperament must be similar. Yet if the champion is spirited like a tiger while you are easygoing like an ox, you cannot become the successor. It means that if the champion has a temperament like a tiger, you too must become of a temperament like a tiger. Temperament must be similar, and character too must resemble his, and one’s view of looking at things must be similar too.
If it be such a person, he can without fail join the Unification Church.
If it be such a family, it can hereafter become the Teacher’s in-laws. Would it not be so? Is there anyone who has thought about such content? Once one becomes champion, what will his family and household become? Such a great position is prepared; have you held concern about this?
One must have such a posture as says, “When I pray to resemble the champion, let me do it with utmost sincerity." Let me draw up a plan for the coming year of looking at the Teacher’s family and modeling myself upon it. When I meet someone, I must at least greet him in this way. If there is a person who greets a hundred times, I must do it a thousand times.
If there is one who does it a thousand times, I must do it ten thousand times.” If one accumulates such achievements, one has the prospect of becoming a champion.
If the Republic of Korea is the champion nation, what nation is the nation relative to it? It is Japan. That is why many Japanese members say they must marry people of the Republic of Korea. They say they will marry the people in the position closest to the Teacher. So they dig their way in. Because there is no road but that road, in the end international marriage automatically comes to flourish. Why? Because the road the Unification Church goes is the nearest.
From now on, you must draw up plans in your own way and run out. Regional leaders and district leaders must all run. All run, but the regional leader’s running and your running are different. When district leaders go up from their posts to the province, they come to hear the regional leader’s lecture, and at that time a person who can say, “Regional leader, you know only that much, do you not? I know one thing more than you can become a champion within that regional sphere. But that must not be greedy ambition; it must be aspiration. That is, it means one must hold an aspiration of developmental victory.
If one were to become a world champion, there must be conditions by which one can be recognized as a champion. One must be equipped with content by which one can face anyone at all.
From this viewpoint, you must set a new record in your own way. You must become new record holders among regional leaders and district leaders. Whoever sets his mind on holding a record on the central stage must cross over even though great mountains and steep ridges and cliffs and rivers bar the way. You must think, “I must run in the arena all my life.”
You of the Unification Church, from the day you left home resolved to set a new record, are in a process of training to become champions. So you must certainly set a new record so that your families become families such as do not exist elsewhere in the world.
Teacher Moon of the Unification Church will leave behind an epoch that does not exist in the world. What the Unification Church does will become an epoch that the people of the world until now cannot follow. That is why, when the Teacher lays a hand on something, a problem arises even in the nation. How greatly have we been treated with contempt these few years? What I am now doing is such. But the Teacher will without fail make a new epoch and step forth.
The Unification Church is a church where such rare bands have gathered. And the word “tong” (統) means, as the character says, to lead. It means to govern. Then what would one do by governing? It is to make them become one. To say “let us become one” means “one must resemble the absolute believer who holds a record.” The word “church” means “a gathering that teaches.” Then when one says “church,” what is it a place where something gathers? It is a place where people gather and receive teaching.
Now the Unification Church must organize into tribes. For that, you must go out and witness to three or more people. Taking that as a foundation, one must achieve the Four Position Foundation centering on God.
It means, do not speak ill of us. Though now we go about wearing straw matting, once ten or twenty years pass, we can make those who looked down on us serve as servants. All of you, you are confident, are you not? “Yes.” (A portion omitted owing to poor recording)
Become a Worldwide Family
If the husband becomes a marathon athlete and runs with all his strength to produce a new record, the wife must follow that husband and cheer. There is only one such cheerer in the world. Though she is one person, she is more effective than several hundred million people of the world cheering.
If it were you, would you want many spectators shouting “Hey!” and cheering, or would you want the cheering of your wife supporting you with “Do well, do well”? The cheering that many people do while shouting is momentary cheering. But the wife’s cheering is not so. A family that holds such a cherisher is a heavenly family.
When the son follows there and the Four Position Foundation is completed such that he can cheer for his father, one comes to be alone and honored in heaven and on earth.
Also, if when one runs, even one’s mother and father can run together and cheer, how good a thing is that? It means there is nothing in the world to envy. There will be no value in the world equal to that.
If only it becomes so; the world of heart (심정) will be restored worldwide. A restored family has absolute value. When through such a process one produces a new record and becomes a national champion, one can become a world champion too.
On the day such a family comes to be, that family becomes a family of loyal subjects. There is not yet such a phrase as a loyal-subject couple, but hereafter this phrase must be newly made. Furthermore, the surnames must all become the same as “Tong,” and we must become one chosen people.
But has your family become such a family? If it had become such a family, the rumor would spread through the village and neighborhood, and all people would wish to ask, “How is it that they live like that?” They would wish to model themselves upon it and wish to receive education. Would it be so, or not so? You must all become champions’ families and become families that the people of the world can acknowledge as right.
Among the Blessed Families until now, ten peoples of the world, beginning with Korea and including Japan and Germany, have joined. Since many peoples have thus joined, among these, must the Korean families take first place or come last? Naturally, they must take first place.
For that, the district leaders must devote sincerity anew and pray for the headquarters. Must the 1970s be better than the 1960s or worse?
They must be better. In the 1960s we were active, centering on the Will of the Unification Church, but in the 1970s the finish line has drawn one step nearer, so you must keep running and win. Even at the cost of tightening your belts, you must take the glory of a new record together with victory. Therefore, you must become people who can set out powerfully.