How many members are here? Sixty-five to one hundred this afternoon. Is there anyone here who has not seen me? Three?
As you well know, Belvedere is the International Training Center of the Unification Church. In fact, for you to be qualified enough to come here and go through the training, you have had to go through training in your own center and then in your own state. Then you could be called here. Now that you have been called here directly, you must be grateful.
In the future, I'm going to use as lecturers here those who have been trained internationally. You must realize that our purpose in training you here is to make you international leaders. So this morning, my topic will be "The Central Leader," or the responsible person.
Any nation, any community, any group should have a leader. The person who must be responsible for other people is the central figure. The people below him must do things, think of things, and act out things in accordance with the will of the group and the will of the leader.
It is something like this: in the United States, you have the federal government, the president above all. Under him, there are many states that have their own counties, cities, and villages. The administrative representative of the whole country is the president, and under him are all the state governors. Also, there are central figures in each city.
The governors and the people under them have an extension of the presidential duty, and people under the governors must take seriously the instructions coming from them. Each of those must go in accordance with the presidential will, which must be conveyed down to the lowest echelon.
From the highest government officials down to the lowest, there must be conformity with the will of the whole nation. Proportionally, the strength of that unity, the strength of the nation, can be defined.
In our Unification Church, we realize that we are associated with each other with God at the center. The team leaders and state representatives are responsible for their own groups in accordance with God's will. You are doing things on behalf of God, so you must know what God has in mind and what God would have you do. You must not be doing things at random.
You must realize what God's will is, what God's will is for this time, and what our whole purpose is, centered on God. In doing things in place of God, we must have our minds and hearts in line with God's heart and mind.
Sun Myung Moon
You are with God, acting out things in place of or on behalf of God. This is the position you are in. If you deeply realize this, you will know where you are going.
By this time, I think you know what God's will is: first, we must perfect ourselves on the individual level; then we must perfect our families, or perfect God's will on the family level; then follows the clan, national, and worldwide level of perfection.
The individual is placed here in the satanic world, and he has to go through each level to remove each sphere from satanic dominion. I should tell you that I am in the world or sphere of the human fall. Mankind is destined to get rid of satanic dominion. You must go beyond the level of the individual, clan, nation, world, and universe.
If you go beyond one level, you have accomplished that much under God's will; and if you go beyond another level, you have paid that much more indemnity. By going beyond satanic dominion in this way, you belong increasingly to God's world. For us to realize God's will, we must fix our purpose on His will by going through all these stages or levels.
We have dual purposes. For instance, you are sent out as a center leader, and that's your duty, but the duty you are carrying out must be accomplished in accordance with God's will.
You must remember that the dual purposes should be in harmony. It is the destiny of any individual to go through these stages: individual, family, clan, national, and worldwide levels. Especially, religious leaders are in a position to lead people through these stages.
There are many world religions. One, for instance, is responsible for restoration on the individual level; another, on the family level; still another, on the national level.
Finally, the greatest religion must lead the people through the last stage or universal level of restoration.
Sun Myung Moon
In the last days, a religion with a worldwide mission will appear and absorb all other types of religions. In that great and final religion, you must be led through the individual level and the subsequent levels until you find yourself at the summit, ridding yourself entirely of satanic dominion.
In Christianity, salvation centers on the individual. But you are inheriting what your predecessors have done, and you are the fruition of the entire history of religion.
Any one of you right here must think that you are not just one Christian, but you are in a position to be a central figure, leading all other Christians to the final goal. You represent the encapsulation of their lives and faith.
But Christians do not think this way. They pretend as though salvation is already there if they just attend church. None of them has ever thought that the church itself has to go through all those stages for it to be entirely saved. Christianity must assume the responsibility to save the whole world.
Christianity is the religion in the vanguard of the world population, leading the people to the goal of final salvation. Christians must be in the leading position to guide people, guide religious people, to God's will.
After having gone through all stages of restoration, what is left is you, as an individual, not the church. So each one of you, as individuals, must be in the vanguard of others in realizing the individual, family, clan, national, and worldwide level of restoration. You must realize that.
For you to place yourself in this position, you must gain each level in accordance with God's will, always with a dual purpose. You, as an individual, must gain more and more, conforming to God's will.
You, as an individual in the center, acquired a family level of salvation, and with your family in the center, you acquired a clan level of salvation. With your clan in the center, you acquired the national level of salvation. With your nation in the center, you acquired a worldwide level of salvation. With the world in the center, you acquire cosmic salvation.
In other words, for you to acquire salvation with something in the center, you must be thinking of what is ahead of you and what is behind you, representing three stages: formation stage, growth stage, and perfection stage.
For you to have the correct bearing, you must always have three things: yourself in the center, that which is ahead of you, and that which is behind you. To stabilize your position, you must always connect yourself with two other elements, front and rear, and right and left, with yourself at the center. Otherwise, your bearing is not secure or stable.
The same thing applies to your situation as a center leader. For example, for the center leader, the whole population of the city is ahead of him. And behind him is his own family, the Unification Family. If you cannot connect those two elements with yourself at the center, you will not have carried out your mission.
Through the central figure, or central point, two other elements are to be connected. The leader of any group must put himself in the center with two elements, one ahead of him and one in the rear, to be connected through him. You are in the center; the purpose is ahead of you, and what you have acquired is behind you.
The mission of a governor is this: the governor is in the center, the population of the state is behind him, and the whole nation is ahead of him. Isn't that true? The central figure, who is responsible for many under him, must be able to carry out the mission as the central figure. He must qualify by connecting the two elements.
Sun Myung Moon
In other words, the responsible person is never in a position to think of himself alone. If you do think centered on yourself⌠can you ever dream of carrying out this kind of great mission? No. It is safe for you to deny yourself, thinking of the other two elements as being connected. Suppose you are the central leader, but you are also the head of a family with your own family under you.
In that case, you must deny your family and sacrifice your family for the sake of your church and for your holy mission of restoring the whole city. Do you realize this?
With yourself in the center, you must always be thinking of what is behind you and ahead of you. When you acquire a certain amount with your family at the center or as a sacrifice, you must acquire what's behind you and what's ahead of you. And you proceed this way.
When you concentrate on the restoration of the nation, you can mobilize any unit to engage in activities under you. When you reach a certain point, you can mobilize what you have gained. If you reach the final stage, you can mobilize what is there. Then you can go beyond this.
The family level is higher than the individual level, the clan level is higher than the family level, the national level is higher than the clan level, and the world level is higher than the national level. You must realize that and reach the final stage, even going beyond it.
Otherwise, you cannot have full salvation. If you find yourself still in a lower stage, you must come under the guidance of a person who has acquired a higher stage.
And if you find yourself on the family level of salvation, you must be under the guidance of the person who has acquired the clan level of restoration.
We must conclude that each member of this church must act in accordance with the will and guidance of his leader. In turn, each leader must be under the guidance of those above him, above his level. For you to be elevated to higher and higher stages, you must go through your leaders. There is no other way possible.
This straight way is the mainstream of our thought. If you are in this stage, you must lead those under you, and you must be led or guided by the leader above you. You must be victorious over all these things for you to be qualified enough to be a leader.
There is no other way possible for you to climb through those stages. This is the straight word, the ladder on which you must climb to acquire the height, the very summit. Do you understand?
City leaders must be under the county leaders; county leaders must be under the state representative, and so on. The national president, for instance, should be supervising the state representative. Also, there may be, at any center, itinerant workers to examine what is happening in various states.
You shouldn't complain about your leaders; that's not the way it should be. The national president can supervise the state representatives, even though they don't know him in person.
Some state representatives must think that the national leader, the president, has not done as much work as they, the state leaders, have done. Even so, he must be under the supervision of the president.
That's how the system goes. Each stage is higher or broader than the previous one; the next stage is broader than the previous one, higher, broader, deeper, and greater. Those who are at higher levels are those who have mastered the levels under them.
For you to develop or improve yourself or to be elevated to the next and still higher level, you have to go through all those stages. That's the safest and most important way. Do you realize that? You cannot grow by leaps and bounds.
From a historical viewpoint, we can define what belongs to the past, present, and future. If you are really confident that you are qualified for this or that, you must reevaluate your past. What you did in the past will define your caliber. And if you are qualified enough, if you are qualified by what you have done in the past, then you are stable in the present, and you can guide your own future.
In that case, you are in the center, and no one else has a claim over what you have done. With you in the center, you have your past behind you and your future ahead; you have people around you, and you are stable with fixed bearings. This is the relationship of each person with those around him.
If you have no past, you have no direction. The extension will give you direction. In this way, human history has direction, and you, yourself, have direction, inheriting what you have done in the past and extending yourself into the future.
Your history must be adjusted to the direction of human history. If you deny your past, or if you deny the history of mankind, you cannot go in any direction. That is blindness, leading nowhere.
In the Orient as well as in the Occident, in the whole of human history, individuals have passed through stages as I have described in accordance with a history that has been controlled by God, under His will. But in Western civilization, you are denying your whole past. This trend is represented by the hippie movement.
Many hippies deny their family ties. They deny their nation and everything having to do with the established system. They stand on no foundation. With their foundation shaken, their stand is not stable.
Sun Myung Moon
They are headed for nowhere, and they are destined to come back to the original point to begin again, repeating all those stages. The principle of the existing world will not allow them to go in that kind of direction. It will lead to self-destruction.
To come to the original point, you must realize that, with yourself in the center, you must evaluate your past and inherit your past. You must fix your purpose in accordance with the mainstream of history or God's will.
If you are posted as a center leader, you already inherit what your predecessors have done. Then you must lead the group in the right direction, and that's the mission ahead of you. Do you follow me? That's what I meant earlier when I spoke of a "dual purpose." Your own purpose must be in accordance with the public purpose.
Again, I must say that when you are standing here, you stand in relation to front and rear, right and left, and above and below. In principle, that's the core of the thing: front and rear, right and left, above and below. These always exist with you in the center.
Right and left are opposite to each other, but with you in the center, those two will be connected. Front and rear will be connected, and above and below will be connected.
If you are the center leader, below you must be the members, entirely connected to you. By drawing your members and by strengthening the movement, you must expand the movement into the future.
There is God's will, the great purpose, and you are where you are by inheriting the past, or what your predecessors have done. You are here, and with your members, you are going to go ahead, expanding your movement.
Your direction must be in accordance with God's will in history. You must realize you are right in the center, and your position is the most critical.
You must deny yourself; you must not think of yourself but of the members and of the future movement of the center. And these must go in accordance with God's greater will.
Then, let us define what a true leader is. The true leader is the one who denies himself for others, one who sacrifices himself to raise the whole family in a wholesome way. Then he, with them, can expand the movement to include more and more of the population for which he is responsible and then connect that to larger goals. If you do that, you are actually teaching your members.
All religions teach sacrifice, how to sacrifice oneself. They teach that by sacrificing oneself, one cannot lose anything but will only gain more.
Do you know why they teach people to sacrifice themselves?
Without sacrificing yourself, you cannot connect yourself with the final goal. Those who are at the central point play the main role but sacrifice themselves to make the whole circle whirl around them. Then the whole thing will come into a harmonized oneness, and the next circle will do the same. The leader, as the center, pulls or turns the whole thing with himself as the axis.
Proportionally to the sacrifice you have made, you will be a greater or lesser leader. Those who sacrifice themselves will be the leaders responsible for many people under them, able to lead or influence them. That's the principle of the thing. Belvedere training exists to make you this kind of leader.
So after having gone through the training at Belvedere, you must find yourself becoming a person of a higher dimension than you have been. You are not just followers in this movement; you will be the leaders. You will nurture yourself with knowledge of the Principle and pour out your heart in studying.
But not only that, you must recreate yourself in accordance with God's will, fixing your purpose to be one with God's will. The view of purpose, or sense of purpose, must become greater after you have gone through training here. So even while being trained, you must have a greater and greater sense of purpose within.
You must develop zeal to witness and bring in more members than anyone else. Bring your own family into this movement, and multiply it to be a greater group under you, going in accordance with God's will. Never forget that. That is why you are here for this training in Belvedere. Do you understand?
In many ways, you have not yet been trained, but here I am going to train you in a severe, most concentrated way. I must do that. You may feel that it is difficult to go through this severe kind of training, looking back to your past and saying, "Oh, well, it was much better when I was a center leader," and even then, you were going through many difficulties.
This kind of person does not have the qualifications to go through the training at Belvedere. As things are elevated, they become more difficult, don't they? When you were in kindergarten, you just sang and danced about; that's all. But when you were in primary school, lessons were a little more elevated and more difficult.
When you were in middle school and then high school, they were even more difficult. And when you were in the university, things were more difficult but more precious. When you go to graduate school and do graduate work, and when you work for your doctorate, you find things more difficult but more valuable. Isn't that true? Or would you deny that? Can you acquire the elevated level?
Those who have been commanders on the mobile teams have realized how difficult a job that was, and they want to get rid of it. If, after having gone through the job for one year, you want to quit the job, then you have not been successful. But if you want to do one more year, two more years, and if you are prepared to do that for your lifetime, then you will graduate from it soon. If you just hate to do the job, you cannot be promoted to the next level. Do you understand?
Sun Myung Moon
When you are wondering, "What kind of person is Master going to make out of me?" and "What is God going to make out of me?" have you ever stopped to think of this? In a word, I'm going to make out of you a person who can win over the whole world, win over Satan. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
Then, with your roots deeply established like that, even though you are exposed to the storm or wind, you will never collapse. No temptation can make you collapse.
Do you really follow me? Temptation will come in many ways. For instance, Satan will tempt you, saying, "Quit the Unification Church, and I will make you the president of your nation."
Are you confident enough to give that up to become a Unification Church leader?
Satan will come to the female members and say, "I will make you a queen of the nation, but you have to quit being a leader in the church." Will you be tempted that way? No?
Satan, in disguise, will tempt you, saying he is going to make you whatever you want to be. To the male members, a most beautiful girl may appear and try to entice you. On the worldly level, you cannot help but be tempted by such beauty.
What will you do?
Answer me. You will be seduced if you are absent-minded, and you cannot pledge to safely guard yourself. If so, you will collapse in the hands of Satan. What will you do? If and when you are faced with anything, think of things in light of the Divine Principle.
When Eve was seduced by Satan, what caused the fall was that she did not ask questions of God. Eve had God as her father, and she should have asked, "Father, so-and-so is asking me to do this. Can I do that? Shall I do that?"
If that kind of temptation comes, however beautiful such a girl may be, you must kneel before God and ask Him what to do, and He will guide you. Do you understand? This means you have to pray. Whenever any temptation comes, you must pray for a decision. For instance, you female members, some of you may think, "Well, I'm over 30; when can I be married?"
And there comes, undoubtedly, a handsome man tempting you. He looks like a king and looks as though he's qualified for anything and everything. What will you do? This is nothing to laugh at. You are apt to be tempted. At that moment, you must kneel before God in prayer and question in your prayer.
What God is going to make out of you, and what I am going to make out of you, is that you become the person who can win over Satan and win over the worldly way. Do you realize that?
As individuals, you are weak. That's why I'm making you into teams, mobile teams. Like the tide of the times, we will reach out to every coast of the human heart and to every community to influence and win the hearts of people. But firstly, you must have confidence to win over the worldly way. You must come to the renewed realization that the mobile unit is most important to reach out to the people of the world.
Why is it so important?
Because in this way, we are going to form a force to win the world. In the Satanic force, there are many teams and units, too, to come to tempt you, but we must be victorious over them and defeat them all. After having trained you to be able to win over the world, I must pray that you'll be able to win over Satan. I will pray this.
How to win over Satan is the question. Satan will always come with something to test you, whether you are strong enough to win over him or not, with every kind of sweet temptation.
Satan will say to you, "Outwardly, you are strong; you are one of a strong group stirring up the whole nation. But as an individual, you have many weak points."
And he will pierce you with stings that can easily affect you. Don't you feel that every moment of your life?
At that moment, you must know that you are being injected with satanic elements.
That's why we pray before God; we depend on Him, and we want His help every moment of our lives. We are vulnerable to satanic temptations. On an individual basis, you are always weak. You have weak points.
If you have won the whole world, and you collapse as an individual, you will collapse with the whole world. But if you are with God or with a strong person, you are confident to win over any fearful power.
If you walk with God and if you walk with your leader, you are always confident.
For instance, if you go to visit mountain villages at night but you are with a strong man, a giant, with great strength, then you are not fearful of any tigers or things like that.
In that way, you must live in the awareness of God's being with you always. Don't you feel that?
In the future, we are going to organize real international mobile teams to visit from place to place, covering the whole world. Then you must be stronger than ever, living in the realization of God's being with you always.
Since God is with us, we can win over the world. We can win over Satan. In this, you must have confidence. If you go on like this for one year, two, three, or seven, covering seven years, you will be equipped to do anything.
So at least seven years must elapse in that way. Then you will be victors over the world and Satan. The seven-year course is the model stage.
We have three stages of seven-year courses: the first seven-year course, the second seven-year course, and the third seven-year course. Now, do you understand why I am pushing you so hard? I want to quicken the pace and shorten the period to three, instead of seven years, if possible.
Would you prefer to go through the way in seven years or three years?
If you are prepared to go through the many things you have to go through in three years, there's no question of you having to go through all those things for seven years.
Sun Myung Moon
If you don't accomplish much in seven years, it will be extended to the next seven years and still the next, taking 21 years. So you must concentrate your efforts on what you are doing so that you can go through all those things in three years' time instead of seven or 14 or 21. Do you realize this?
From the year 1972, I've been going through three concentrated years for that purpose. If we do not succeed in three years, it may take seven years, from 72, 73, and 74 to 78. That's why I have been predicting that the years 1977 and '78 will be most crucial in the history of America.
These three years have been crucial years for the White House. From now on, we will see the crucial years for the whole nation. If the White House can overcome the crucial things within these years, then the road will be paved for the nation. That's why I came to demonstrate how to save Nixon.
You must really understand that you, as individuals, must go through seven yearsâa seven-year course at least. In going through the seven-year course, would you rather go independently or under the guidance of your master?
You can never go on your own. So you must dedicate yourself and follow me. Follow me at the cost of your life, and you will be saved.
For instance, you have been a member under the center leader in your state, and you have found many flaws and faults in that leader. But still, you should have followed him, thinking, "He's in the position of Father, and God will take care of him. Father will take care of him." Then you will have trodden the right way.
We are in a seven-year course on the worldwide level in this country, so you will find yourself being guided and being helped by the spirit world and by God. There have been many Christian followers and many people of other religions who were martyred for the cause. But we are under the direct guidance of our True Parents and only have to follow them in utter obedience to be saved. From that viewpoint, we are the most blessed people.
If you want to leave this movement, just do it. You will find out later that this was the most blessed place, and you are destined to come back. When you leave this movement and then understand and come back, you are going to return with flaws, having denied and rebelled against the movement.
So once you are in the movement and once you realize that this is the truth, if you are aware of being guided by God, go through the way until the end.
Being the founder of this movement, I've seen many members who have once been dedicated to the movement. After having fallen away and come back, they cannot lift their faces. But they have to go that way, even though they must pay indemnity. It's a miserable thing, and they are less than the newcomers.
The new members are all zealous and enthusiastic, like cheerful babies. But those who have fallen away and come back cannot lift their faces, and they have to go through severe indemnity.
If there were any other way possible, I would have left this movement and followed another way. I have tried every possible way, and no other way passed the test. Therefore, I have chosen this way.
Looking up at me, you think, "He is the most blessed man, the happiest man in the world." But you don't realize how difficult a job it is to be the leader of the Unification Church. For instance, during the two-week break, I had to visit so many places. I visited England, Amsterdam, Holland, and other countries. I made a whole circle of the globe and reached Korea via Japan without a minute of rest. Can you imagine how busy I have been?
At times, I have been physically exhausted. But I just rouse myself to new zeal and energy to teach the members. When I am ready to sacrifice myself, new energy is always given or infused. I'm not doing it for myself, and that makes it more valuable.
For things of greater value, I have to sacrifice other things. But I'm not miserable. I'm not unhappy at all, because God is on my side, in my favor, always. And you, my members, you understand my heart.
What I regard highly is that God understands me, and my members understand me. This kind of person can never perish. If I say a person can never perish, it means he will prosper to the end.
Gil Ja Sa Eu
When I educate you and raise you, I always mean to make you greater than me, far better than myself. Don't you like this idea? I've gone through many imprisonments and many difficulties, but I'm quite stable. I'm zealous and enthusiastic.
So if you are really going to follow me, you must be like me or excel me on many points. I am in my 50s, and I'm still energetic. You are in your youth, so you can do a greater job than I can.
The Washington Post, until now, has tried to impeach Nixon, but we have wanted to save him or elevate him. The Washington Post would want to smash him down again.
What shall we do?
God being with us and working with us, we are going to rise. We can never be defeated by any worldly power. In the face of difficulties, persecutions, slanders, and things like that, we will shut our mouths, never protesting, but will win over them.
It is the satanic way to slander us in every way possible. Back in Korea, there has been much misconduct by the religious leaders. But all those things were shifted to my shoulders. They slandered us and persecuted us because of those things. But I never said anything against them, not a single word.
The Washington Post may expose untruths about us, but I believe God is working with me and with us, so I must tell you to be strong enough to win over all those things.
For this project in the United States, I have not depended solely on the American people but on members of the Unification Church from all over the world. If you are strong enough to win over all the injuries and persecutions ahead of you, God can help you.
If all of America, as a nation, rose against us, we must have the confidence to overcome. Do you have that confidence and faith? With that confidence and heart, you must be equipped with the Divine Principle as your armor. Then, when any temptation or difficulty comes, you can face the enemy and win over them.
Let's come back to the original topic and realize once again that you will be a central leader. As an individual leader, center leader, state representative, mobile team commander, or national leader, you must be at the central point as a sacrifice so that those ahead of you and behind you will be saved. And you must go in accordance with God's will for the greater cause and purpose. Do you understand me?
With that notion deeply set in your mind, you must start from here. Belvedere, and you must reach out to the ends of the world across the oceanic watersâthe Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean. While studying the Principle, you must grow in wisdom, faith, confidence, and heart. And I must add one more word. After going through all levels, reaching a certain point, and going beyond that, you must come back to the original point to save the whole world.
If you stand at the central point after coming full circle, the whole world will become responsible to you. That's the point where God stands, and the Messiah stands. You will be perfect, as God is perfect and as the Messiah, as the leader of the world, is perfect.
For you to really be God's sons, you must be qualified enough to be the center of the whole universe, like the Messiah and like God. You must have that kind of dignity, that kind of value.
When you have progressed to the highest level, why do you have to come back?
Because there are many people under satanic dominion yet, and you must restore everyone, reaching out to the last person in the world. In our movement, there's no national boundary.
Here's an English gentleman, and he can be posted in one of the centers in Italy, or as a national leader in Italy, or shifted to Holland or Japan, or anywhere. You have to open up the channels to reach out to every corner of the world. You have not yet paved the way.
We are on the national level now, and by opening up the gates, we are starting towards the world. From this point, we must come back to cover the whole world.
Only by going through all those things can we really become qualified leaders to be the central figure. Do you understand what I mean? The central figure or the responsible person should be like this.
During the break, I visited England, Japan, and Korea, but the most important thing I did during my visits was that I liberated the religious leaders in Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and Confucianism so that they could reach the earthly plane to help earthly men. The world as a whole is confused now. In the spirit world, too, there is chaos and confusion. But I have set up the standard of how to act in the spirit world.
Up to the present, the members of the Unification Church have had to go through many difficulties and a hard indemnity course, but from now on, the people in the satanic world have to go through the indemnity course, and not we ourselves.
Whatever things may happen in the future that seem to be disadvantageous to our movement will turn out to be good for us. If we acquire the national level of restoration, then the spirit world will be mobilized to help those in the communist world. Even in Soviet Russia, many people will emerge who are spiritually attuned, receiving from the spirit side.
So we have to try our best to shorten the period of our movement's focus in the United States, restoring the nation as a whole. Whatever persecution we may have to face, we must be strong enough to overcome it.
You must realize that the whole spirit world is directly helping us now, while before, they were indirectly helping us. You must do your desperate best to acquire the knowledge of the Divine Principle, nurturing your faith, confidence, and heart while doing that.
After having passed the examination on the Divine Principle, you know you have to go through witnessing and fundraising. That is economic and manpower restoration. In the outside world, too, for you to become a professional man, you have to go through a testing time.
Eventually, the whole population of the United States will realize that they have to go through the same training and examination, too. And you must graduateâthe quicker, the better. I want you to study really hard and qualify yourself.
Shall we pray?
Sun Myung Moon