The Return to the Hometown

1. We need to return to our hometown, that is, to our true hometown – but where is it? It is the place where love is. It is the place where the blood in our arteries flows together with history.

This is so because we grow to adulthood absorbing the elements of that place. So that place throbs together with our cells, together with our blood, and together with the beating of our heart.

Our hometown is the place where our profound feelings of love are deeply embedded. As you head toward your hometown, whom are you seeking to meet? You are yearning for the embrace of your parents. That is why you are returning to your hometown. (176-246, 1988.05.11)

The true hometown and the role of ancestors

2. Religion has contributed greatly toward human beings' pursuit of their hometown. We say we should go to the kingdom of heaven or the ideal world or nirvana and that those places are not like this in which we presently live. They are the original homeland wherein we can live eternally.

In this respect, religion has contributed to the quest for our original homeland. Then what is that place like? It is a place that meets all conditions. It is a perfect and flawless place, where the mind and body lack for nothing, not one thing.

Such is the place humanity is pursuing right now. But consider this: even if you return to your hometown, if there is no one there to welcome you, it will feel so empty. (023-079, 1969.05.11)

3. On this planet Earth, the true hometown is not yet born. This is consistent with the perspective of religion. In a true hometown, there must be true parents. They own the home in their true hometown.

The words “true parents” refer to a couple, a true man and a true woman, whose bond is the pillar of true love. They have to be parents who bond to the pillar of love and who cannot but live their entire lifetime holding on to it, with no desire to do otherwise.

We need only such true parents. Only when there are true parents who can generate true love can true sons and daughters come forth. (177-090, 1988.05.17)

4. Due to the Fall, Heaven's side came to stand in a lamentable position, that of the second son. Hence, God called people to carry out tasks for their own sake through which to restore the rights of the firstborn son.

However, He could not do so arbitrarily. Only when a tribe can restore, in this world, the right of the first son on the levels of the individual, family, tribe, people, nation, and world, will a family that is free from the realm of Satan's accusation form in the original garden of Eden, where there is no trace of the Fall.

In light of this, we are not only displaced people; we are ignorant of how hard it is for us, as displaced people, to find our way back to our hometown.
(188-234, 1989.02.26)

5. In the course of restoration through indemnity, what is it that the Messiah needs to accomplish when is he coming? God's providence can be started only when history reaches the standard of indemnity on the world level.

This is a place higher than the realm of the fallen Adam. God's providence cannot begin from a place below where Adam fell. To this day, because of the Fall of Adam, the path by which we can return to our hometown has been blocked.

Therefore, for us to return to our hometown, Adam's representative needs to come and, at the very least, set the condition of indemnity from the level of the individual to the levels of family, tribe, people, nation, and world; otherwise, we cannot go back. (178-086, 1988.06.01)

6. To the present day, Satan has taken possession of your hometown and has kicked you out of it, acting as if he were the owner. But now you are going to return to your hometown and kick Satan out. That is only proper.

When that takes place, good spirits will come to your hometown and guard it. They will strike all the evil spirits. That is the view of the Principal as well as my view. What you do will have to be written down in history. I have walked my path looking forward to the time I could declare the return to the hometown in this world.

When I think about my mother and father being in the spirit world, I feel anguish. However, I put that out of my mind and bless you, consoled by the liberation of innumerable relatives in your hometown in the place of my mother, father, and siblings. (179-026, 1988.06.15)

7. Blessed families are like a staff for walking. They are like a bridge that crosses over the global world of death and staff for walking on such a path. Blessed families are like that. You need to go out witnessing in your hometown.

That is why I am telling you repeatedly to go back to your hometown. Your position is more blessed than mine. I cannot yet return to my hometown. Because my hometown is in North Korea, I cannot return to my hometown until the nation is unified. I cannot cross the bridge. I cannot return to my hometown. You, however, can return to your hometown.

What I am saying is that you are in an environment in which you can hold on to your beloved parents, spouse, children, and siblings, shed tears, and weep endlessly.

Filled with remorse over a people that is headed for eternal ruin, you can hold tight to your parents and siblings and shed tears of lamentation in a way that will touch their hearts. (030-335, 1970.04.06)

8. Now is the age in which the Unification Church is being welcomed. In the old days, your mother and father shouted at you, “You're good for nothing! You are running away after ruining your family, your village, and your country!”

They were speaking on behalf of Satan. You are now returning to your hometown in the name of God, brandishing the shield of victory. You are different from who you were in the old days.

We have entered the age in which villages can welcome you, Korea can welcome you and the world can welcome you, so your local community should welcome you.

Then what is the point around which you can come together as one? It is yourself, yearning for True Parents, loving True Parents, striving to liberate and accomplish the Will of True Parents, staking your future, and devoting your tears, blood, and sweat to Heaven.

Through this, you can harmonize with the original standard and make the flower of God's love bloom. Now, where can you make that flower bloom? That is the question. (178-108, 1988.06.01)

9. You need to know God's heart and my heart. You need to enter your hometown and plant this realm of heart once again. This is not indemnity. The past has been indemnified and is over. Now you need to plant what is true.

You should know the fact that you are receiving the benefit of returning to your hometown first before True Parents can return to theirs. I need to go to my hometown on a level one step higher than you.

I need to return to my hometown after unifying South and North Korea. Because you are in the position of the children, your position is one step lower. Your responsibility remains to be fulfilled.

It is to shoulder the work on behalf of True Parents, who have shed boundless tears, blood, and sweat as they walked the course of indemnity for the historical ages on the levels of the individual, family, tribe, people, and nation. It is also to soak your hometown with tears, blood, and sweat for True Parents' sake, representing their heart, the heart with which they can enter the land of North Korea and offer victory and gratitude before Heaven. (178-108, 1988.06.01)

10. Jesus said a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown. Nonetheless, where is it that Rev. Moon of the Unification Church has told you to go? I have told you to go to your hometown and become its ancestors. Such a thing has never happened in history.

It did not happen for any people written off in the Bible. What I am saying is that, although it was said that a prophet will not be honored in his hometown, the time has come in which you can be so honored.

These are my words and at the same time are words to be recorded without fail in the administration of Heaven. This is why I am telling you to go to your hometown. (182-212, 1988.10.23)

11. In the Garden of Eden, God would have raised Adam and Eve tenderly and said to them when they reached maturity, “You are my eternal home. Your family will be as numerous as the grains of sand and will spread like stars in the sky across the hemisphere for thousands of years to come.”

They would have formed the basis on which He would have been able to dwell unhesitatingly with anyone, anywhere, among them through the lineage. But the Fall severed the basis of that hope. Hence, it needs to be reconnected. Once that happens, to where will we return?

Adam and Eve fell and thus sowed the bad seed, and the false root emerged. So the false ancestors were born. Therefore, I push forward to place you in the position of true ancestors, telling you to return to your hometown. The false root came to exist due to the Fall. It does not embody the original heart.

Satan's root, which blocks the original heart, should be removed, pulled out, and left to rot. On top of the rotted weed, we should plant the true see so that a new realm of the heart can sprout in the land of the original hometown.

So start anew the love of True Parents and the True God in your neighborhood and home, that is, in your clan – in the Kim clan if you are a Kim or the Moon clan if you are a Moon. In light of all this, it will not do unless you return to your hometown. (177-070, 1988.05.15)

12. You have to return to your hometown. Now you have to inherit the rights of the first son from Satan's world. You have to inherit true love, return to your hometown, and plant the tradition of True Parents.

By doing so, this can become the blessed land of Korea, where God can be with us, where His full right of inheritance can be a blessing to all people, and where blessings can permeate horizontally. (176-280, 1988.05.11)

13. Once you have been planted, centered on the heart of the tribal messiah mission by the providential Will, no one can uproot you. This is because I have planted you firmly.

Since I have planted the tribal messiahs firmly, no one can uproot them. That is why I am saying the blessed people of the Unification Church should return to their hometown. Representing me, leave everything behind and go to your hometown.

Henceforth, you need to drink the water of your hometown, eat the rice produced in your hometown, and offer all the devotions you possibly can while living there. Since I have laid the foundation of victory on the world level, you should lay the foundation of victory on the tribal level.

You should have nothing in your possession. It is the same as it was at the time of Moses. Even if you go to your clan with nothing but your bare hands, you still should be able to feed them. Please become their ancestors. (187-184, 1989.02.05)

The profound significance of returning to your hometown

14. The world has lost its homeland. How can the world's people, a global domain of the displaced, return to their homeland? God knows the answer to this question.

His providence sends the Messiah to the earth, who is to lead the displaced people to their homeland. After they have returned home, religion and all its customs will be unnecessary. Tearfully embracing your mother and father is the best form of worship, the fulfillment of everything God desires.

Even if heaven and earth experience upheaval ten million times, if the unity of three generations-grandparents, parents, and children – is as strong as an iron fortress and if they serve God as their core, then wherever they are, they will be the one seed through which the kingdom of heaven can be realized.

This will be that. This can be said to be the origin of the seed of God's love and the seed of God's life. We need to find our way to it. Otherwise, there will be no hope for the kingdom of heaven on earth, the heavenly kingdom of peace, or the world of happiness and freedom. (225-301, 1992.01.26)

15. Because the Unification Church has come to know God, its strategy is to be struck first and then to reclaim what was lost. But now that the right of the eldest son has been restored, it is time to reverse that rule.

You can enter any house you come upon and say, “Do you know the history of True Parents? Listen.” You have stories that will make the couple you are visiting kneen and sob with tears.

I have told you: return to your hometown so you can fulfill your tribal messiah responsibility to register it as a base of the kingdom of heaven.
(219-099, 1991.08.25)

16. Adam and Eve should not have fallen. They should have formed a relationship of love with God at a place that had nothing to do with Satan. But they were unable to do so. This failure, however, finally has been reversed, at least conditionally. With that as the standard, the expansion of that condition will be monumental. Having set this condition, I am telling you to return to your hometown.

Since True Parents now have sovereignty, you need to restore Canaan. You need to return from the realm of Egypt to your hometown, establish a happy family that will live well for eternity, organize a new tribe, and engraft it into the nation. For this purpose, you need to return to your hometown.

In the history of religion, the instruction was for people to leave their hometown, that is, leave their homes and renounce the world. There has never been anything like this, the call to return to your hometown. (183-101, 1988.10.15)

17. The work of saving the fallen world, that is, creating a religion and carrying out the providence of salvation is to return to the origin. The history of the providence of salvation is the history of restoration.

The history of restoration is the history of re-creation. God's creation of humankind essentially began when He invested love in the world. By carrying out the same work in silence, you can become the queen of love or the king of love in a household. I am saying that, for the sake of your extended family members, you should become their ancestors.

In the world of religion, scriptures have urged that one should leave one's country and one's hometown, that one should quit one's home, but never have they instructed one to return to one's hometown.

Nonetheless, I am telling you to return to your hometown, shoulder all difficulties that come to you, and build a new society. Heaven and earth will support you at that place. You will not go to ruin. (180-330, 1988.10.05)

18. Blessed are the words, “Return to your hometown.” Even the blessed land of Canaan to which the Israelites returned was not their hometown. A world-level territory, for which they would need to fight, remained for the future. But now you return to your hometown after our passage over the global level.

If you are standing in a position that unites South and North Korea, no one ever will be able to expel you. Instead, the nations will serve you and the people will revere you. If you do not seize this wonderful position from which you can serve God, what will become of you? You will go to ruin.

This is why you should engrave what I have taught you deep in your very bones and consider the results that will come from the actions you take. From now on, rather than acting horizontally, act vertically.

Be those who orient at a ninety-degree angle, and adopt a vertical starting point. Then, when you are to stand somewhere, you can be the image of God on the horizontal line. Otherwise, you cannot dwell in the heavenly nation.
(181-281, 1988.10.03)

19. When the people who were unable to return to their hometown are permitted to do so and are told that the day to do so has arrived, how great will be their joy! If you were to say, “I have purchased a twenty-story building in Myeongdong and for that reason, I don't want to go to my hometown or anywhere other than here, " you would bequeath bitter sorrow to your descendants for tens of thousands of years to come.

It would be as if a villain drove a stake into their heart. Has any member of humanity on this earth not borne a grudge against Adam and Eve for their wrongdoing? So, would you trade your hometown simply to possess a building?

Only the son of a rebel would do so; he would have bitter sorrow embedded in his bosom for tens of millennia. He would never be able to go where he longed to go, and would never win sympathy from the person he loved; he would never be allowed to set foot anywhere. (219-143, 1991.08.29)

20. When the Israelites went in to take over Canaan, they looked like a vast assemblage of beggars. Since they had wandered in the wilderness for forty years, famished every day, eating only manna and quail, they must have looked terrible.

Observing their appearance, you would have thought they were on the verge of death. That is why when they saw the affluent households among the seven tribes of Canaan, they said, “I wish I could marry such people. I want to eat good food like they do.”

They sold themselves out. When the Canaanites opposed them, the Israelites gave up their values to treat themselves well. When you set out for your hometown, do not sell yourself out.

Instead, dominate your environment and transform it into one in which you can bring the seven tribes of Canaan to voluntary submission, unite them as one, and play the role of the owner, as their messiah. (186-228, 1989.02.05)

21. Before I instruct you to do something, I first have you make a vow. Once you have made the vow, you need to practice it. I have done more than I have instructed you to do. I am now fulfilling the responsibility of not only a tribal messiah but also a national messiah and world Messiah.

Since I am the world's Messiah, if you promise to be a national messiah, there is hope. So don't even dream of saying you will not be a tribal messiah.
(185-218, 1989.01.08)

22. The secret to returning to the hometown is, first, true love that is united with God; second, the life that is united with that love; and third, the lineage that is united with that life. When you go back as the tribal messiah, you need to carry love with you.

The blessed families of the Unification Church stand in the position of Eve. You need to unite your sons and daughters and go with them to your hometown to save your tribe. Adams's family fell, and his tribe multiplied wrongly, and you as the tribal messiah have the responsibility to save them.

Unless you can bring your sons and daughters to stand at the front while you follow from behind, there can be no path for you as their parents. They cannot inherit the seed of new life that is on the threshold of the heavenly kingdom.

The foundation for the love of the family, the life of the family, and the lineage of the family have been laid, but the love, life, and lineage of God on the tribal level are yet to be attained. They need to be woven together. When that is done because I am standing at the center, I can engraft them. (225-305, 1992.01.26)

23. In returning to your hometown, where are you to go? You are not returning to your country; you are returning to your hometown, specifically, to your home. You are going back to your original home.

When you consider the history of humankind in returning to the hometown, where is the original home? The hometown is not based on the standard of the fallen Adam and Eve.

When we say we are returning to our hometown, we are referring to the hometown of the unfallen, original, perfected Adam and Eve. That is where God is.
(219-162, 1991.08.29)