This hour, I will speak with the title “The Road Unification Believers Must Walk.” Let those who are seeing me here for the first time today raise their hands. Put them down. Then let those who have been in the Unification Church for more than a year raise their hands. There are not many who have been here for more than a year. Put them down.
The fundamental teaching of the Unification Church
Where is this place? What kind of place is this? Do you not even know that?
This place is the Chuncheon Unification Church. It is the headquarters of the Chuncheon district. And in terms of all of Gangwon Province, it is the Unification Church located in the seat of the provincial government, which is the center of Gangwon Province. And the people gathered here are members of the Unification Church, the family of the Unification Church.
In the world, there are many churches and many believers. Even in Chuncheon alone, there must be many churches. Looking only at Christianity centered on Jesus, there are many denominations. And there are many religions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, or Won Buddhism.
Among these many religions, our church is the Unification Church. It is a church that seeks to unify. In unifying, how does it seek to unify? It does not seek to unify by force. It seeks to unify through such a relationship that, in a natural environment which both you and I like, one cannot but go and cannot but form a relationship.
What is unification? It is becoming one, is it not? That is so. It is making things into one. Because the tong (統) of the Unification Church (통일교회) is the tong meaning “to lead,” it is not becoming one while following along, but becoming one from a subject-like position. The place that teaches the road of becoming one is the Unification Church.
Therefore, that teaching is not force and not restraint; it teaches the road by which one can become one from a natural position. Then what will be the foundation on which one can become one? This is what becomes the problem.
The right relationship of parent and child
Your families too must form, centering on father and mother, one relationship that cannot be severed, in outward form and in inner content. Whether that family does well or badly can be known by looking at how the parents and children of that family have formed their relationship. That is, in the parents’ loving their children, do they love for the children’s sake, or do they love for the parents’ own sake? And in the children’s honoring their parents, do they follow and honor their parents for their own sake, or do they love and respect their parents beyond themselves? Such things become the problem.
Therefore, when we speak of loving parents and loving children, a person who says he loves his parents centering on himself cannot become a truly filial child. If parents love their children in order to fill their own profit and their own desire, that love likewise cannot be the love of a true parent. In other words, if it is love done centering on oneself because one needs it, then whether it is the love of parents toward children or the love of children toward parents, it cannot be true love at all.
The being called “I” does not exist for itself alone. Parents exist for their children, and children likewise exist for their parents. If the relationship of parent and child has been formed with a bond that can follow such a road of love, no one can break that family. If anyone tried to break that family, they would defend their family even at the cost of laying down their lives.
But if there is a family in which one needs and loves one’s parents centering on oneself, and needs and loves one’s children centering on oneself, that family can be broken. If threats mount upon such a family, or a desperate situation comes that threatens life, the parents and children of that family will separate from each other.
Yet if the bond of parent and child is firmly formed by children loving parents and parents loving children beyond themselves, and they live feeling that value in one another, no one can make them separate. It cannot be done with a sword, and cannot be done with any threat. No power of any state can sever that bond. Even if there is terror and threat that takes life away, it cannot conquer that love.
Everyone seeks such love, such a family. If there is a family that does not have such love, it wants to take as its example a family that has such love. You will know better than I that this is the original mind of us human beings.
If you were to educate your children, you would ask them to take the children of such a family as their example; and if your parents were not such parents, you would want to ask them to become like the parents of that family.
If there is a family centering on such a bond of parent and child, no law and no social system can block and divide the bond of parent and child of that family.
There may be laws for making the bond of parent and child in that family firm and for protecting it thoroughly, but there can be no law that weakens it and divides it. If such a bond of parent and child were divided, that family would break down, and society would break down, and a true nation could not be formed. At the same time, a true world could not be formed either.
The content by which one is determined a loyal subject
Where does the problem lie?
It lies in love. Love is the problem. Then what kind of love becomes the problem? If there is a loyal subject who receives the veneration of the people, that loyal subject is beyond question a person who loves his nation.
If that loyal subject were a person who loved the nation from an expedient position, to advance himself, he would be expelled from the ranks of loyal subjects. A loyal subject is a person who goes beyond himself and sacrifices his person.
Seen centering on the Republic of Korea, a loyal subject must be a person who, among the thirty million of these people, offers his life to love the nation and who can invest the whole of himself for the development of the nation and the future happiness of the nation and still be thankful and joyful. Is a loyal subject not a person who, even entering a position of sacrificing at the risk of his life, rather regards it as a matter for thanksgiving and stands in a position of shedding tears of blood for the people living now and the descendants of the future—a person in whom, the more he collides with moments where death crosses his path, the closer the suffocating and difficult hours come, the heart of standing for the nation can burn at its highest—a person who leaves behind such a heart of love?
Among loyal subjects, there will be male loyal subjects, and there will also be female loyal subjects. Whether man or woman, the position of bearing the name of loyal subject is the same. Therefore, however frail a woman may be, she can become a loyal subject. To take part in the ranks of loyal subjects, one must pledge that even if one dies a thousand times, ten thousand times, and is born again, one will sacrifice oneself for the happiness of the nation and will without fail establish a kingdom of heaven of welfare.
If there is a female loyal subject who, with broader, greater, higher, and deeper content than any man, offers her life for the nation, then though she is a woman, she is not inferior to a man.
If today, centering on the decade of the 1970s, there is a male loyal subject who has died, he will live well for a hundred million years. And if there is a female loyal subject who was sacrificed with such a devoted heart, she can take part in ranks higher than any loyal subject of history. Why? Because the grade of love is determined according to who loved more highly and deeply and broadly. You must know that the question of how much of one’s life one invested and loved from a loyal position, from an earnest position, becomes the content that can determine the loyal subject among loyal subjects.
If in this way one is determined to be the highest loyal subject, that loyal subject, though a woman, can reign as sovereign in the world of loyal subjects. When her loyalty is greater than that of any man and any hero, and her heart of loving the nation is so great that no one can follow her, that woman is the loyal subject among loyal subjects and becomes the ancestor of loyal subjects. Would it be so, or not?
Today, in loving one another, young people say they will take as husband a man who loves as much as they do, or take as wife a woman who loves as much as they do; but there are no such men and women. To what extent must the husband one takes and the wife one takes be able to love? It is a question worth thinking about once.
Human beings, who want the highest spouse
To what extent must the person one takes be able to love?
If one says one will take as husband a man who loves as much as one loves Chuncheon, that is petty. For a person like me, it holds no interest.
However much they beat the drum and slaughter an ox and hold a feast, I would not even go to watch. But if one says one will take as husband a person who loves as much as one loves the Republic of Korea, that can be called worth something. And a man, too, must take such a woman as his wife.
Then is that all there is to it? Would that much satisfy you?
When you look quietly at a certain woman, though she is not good-looking, blinking her eyes, the foundation of her heart is very firm, and she has a great heart. And some fine women think that at this level they would not be inferior even among the women of the world.
If you ask such a woman what kind of man she will take as her husband, she naturally says she wants to get a husband who commands the world. And if you ask young bachelors what kind of wife they will take, they answer that they will take as wife a woman who handles the world. Bachelors, is it so with you? “Yes.” You have not even been married yet, and it is so? I do not know why, but at any rate, you say so without qualification. It seems good without qualification.
What we most want is to be number one. Among the number ones, there is a number one within one’s own house and a number one in the village. There is a number one in Chuncheon as well.
What if a person who was first in Chuncheon went to the national competition and turned out miserably?
There are many such times. In such a case, it becomes worse than being last. At one time one boasted loudly, but returning after being disgraced in the national competition, one must beg the forgiveness of all the people of Gangwon Province.
Therefore, if one is first in Chuncheon and first in Gangwon Province, one must be first within the Republic of Korea as well. The people of Gangwon Province live eating many potatoes, do they not? Potatoes roll well. Then what happens if one takes first place in the national competition and again takes first place at the Olympics? If that happened, all the people of Gangwon Province, beginning with Chuncheon, would climb to the summit of Mount Seorak, the highest in Gangwon Province, and cheer. Would they, or would they not?
Anyone who would not must die. That is to say that it must be so. Can our women be like that too? Among the women there will be some who say, “What is that? I am hearing the word 'marathon' for the first time; what good is it to take first place in a marathon?” Such a person is not even counted in the ranks. She is a leaf, but like a fallen leaf, she is an exception.
To take first place worldwide
One must take first place. In taking first place, where will one take first place? I dislike taking first place only in Korea.
Then where will you take first place?
Just as there is a saying that one dances only when the rhythm fits, only if you answer can I speak eloquently. It seems the people of Gangwon Province are like this because they are dignified. It is kind of you to have manners and to consider my face, but let us not do so just for this hour. When someone calls affectionately, one must answer, “Yes.” Must it not be so? There must be giving and receiving. Even when asked, it will not do not to answer. I am about to tell you an interesting story; will it do to be out of humor even before the lid of the story is lifted? Will it do if what was meant to make you laugh makes you weep?
Now then, one must take first place, must one not? “Yes.” First place in what? “Worldwide.” That is so. One must take first place worldwide. Then what must one do to become the world’s first? To be worldwide, everything must be worldwide. Can one become worldwide while eating and sleeping and dressing as others do? To become worldwide, one must go the opposite road. Can one become worldly by eating well, dressing well, sleeping well, and playing well? “One cannot.”
Then what must one do?
One must not eat when others eat, not dress when others dress, not sleep when others sleep, and, however hard it is, grit one’s teeth and fight. How much must one endure and overcome? That too must be worldwide. Even entering a place where one’s sinews snap and one’s heart is paralyzed, one must overcome it. I speak this way because a stimulus is necessary. Without going back and forth on the opposite road, one cannot become worldwide.
To become worldwide, one must not go slowly. Will it do to go slowly in the Gangwon Province manner? Will it do to say, “It seemed spring had come, and already autumn has come! Time is thus: spring and autumn link up and make a year.” It will not do to say that this ridge or that ridge, a mountain ridge, is a mountain ridge all the same. Will that do? Think about it. Will it do, or not? One must do the opposite of that.
Americans, begrudging even the time it takes for the heel to come down some five centimeters as they walk, wear high heels to shorten the time and try to get ahead; yet we plant the heel first and then think—will that do?
Let us run urgently toward the goal
Must one go urgently, or go slowly?
Even amid urgency one must be more urgent. One must go with the resolve that no one can catch up with me. If not, and one intends to follow slowly, one should withdraw from the start. And in going, must one be tenacious, or not tenacious?
What is the opposite of tenacious?
Does the district leader here know? The high school students must have learned it well at school; what is the opposite of tenacious? If there is no opposite, let us make one. Let us call it slack.
To become worldwide, must one be slack?
Does that make one worldwide? That would not even reach the family level or the individual level. Slackness will not do. So one must be tenacious. Must one become a tenacious person and become renowned throughout Gangwon Province, or not? One must. And must one become renowned in the Republic of Korea, or not? “One must.” And how about worldwide? One must become renowned.
When one must keep one’s eyes wide open, will it do to blink?
At such a time, even blinking is the enemy. When one has fixed one’s eyes and then blinks, that becomes the enemy. While one blinks, if there is something faster than that, it flies away in the meantime. At such a time, one must not blink. Therefore, everything must be done in reverse.
If a person who wants to eat a lot could eat a lot and become worldwide, how good that would be! If one became worldwide by eating a lot, it would be a kingdom of heaven that grandfathers and grandmothers and everyone would like. But what must one do to become worldwide? One must go about covered in a bundle of rags. Such a thing must happen.
Without going the opposite road in everything, one cannot become worldwide. If I speak this much, you will roughly understand. To become worldwide, everything is the opposite. By the manner we demand and that the contestants long for, one does not become worldwide. Doing that, it absolutely will not happen.
Which athletic contest carries the greatest weight among athletic contests?
Which event? “The marathon.” I like the marathon. Try running it. The marathon is a strenuous sport. To others watching, the running looks easy and seems not strenuous, but the one running is at the point of death. You have televisions too, so you know: at a world marathon competition, in that moment when the eyes of all the people of the world are concentrated, would the mood of the person running in such a place be good or bad? It is good to run while receiving the attention of many people, but for the one running, there is nothing in his mind but that he must take first place. Whether many people cheer him or not, whether they curse him or not, he thinks only that he must take first place. He does not even need the cheering. That is not the problem; taking first place is the problem.
For him who runs looking to first place, the shouts of praise can even become the enemy. Until the moment he crosses the final finish line, however loud the shouts cheering him are, they rather become the enemy. To reach the final finish line, one must give it all one has, to the death. Even gasping for breath, one must reach the final finish line. Until one’s legs tear and, having no strength, one collapses, one must run resolved to die. Would it be so, or not? “It is so.” And so one must set a record.
A record is a record if one is ahead by even a tenth of a second. If one is ahead by a hundredth of a second, by a thousandth of a second, that is a record. It is only because there is no machine that can measure it—if one is ahead by even a ten-thousandth of a second, that too is a record. On the other hand, if one is even a ten-thousandth of a second slower than the first, one is the same as last.
When there is only one prize, what good is second place?
It is the same as not having done it. Considering this, how much must one worry to be ahead by even a ten-thousandth of a second! Without passing through such a process, one cannot become a world champion. Do you understand? “Yes.”
Judging from the fact that it comes about this way, this is without error the truth. This is truth that grandmothers, grandfathers, men, and women, old and young, none can deny.
The unification of religion, too, must center on a worldwide being
Then, when the Unification Church, which is the religion among religions, says to unify religion, will it do to say that we unify centering on the last place?
It would not do to speak this way religiously, but still. In planning a good matter, would you feel good if it were said to plan it in front of a latrine? “Bad.” In planning some matter, if Mother and Father said, “Let us hold an important discussion once a month in a conference room,” one would not feel bad. The place is a great matter.
And in unifying, would you feel good if it were said to unify centering on someone inferior to yourself? Does it appeal, or not? “It does not.” Then if it were said to unify with someone slightly better than yourself, would you feel good? That at least feels a little better. Measuring it quietly, one does not come out at a loss. So everyone nods. But if one thinks one will come out at a loss, one hesitates.
In unifying, do you want to unify with a national central being, or with a worldwide central being? “A worldwide central being.” Is that really so? “Yes.” Is it really so for the women too? “Yes.” If so, then among bridegrooms, will you marry a worldwide bridegroom? “Yes.” You seem overjoyed just to hear it said.
What will you do? Answer. “We will do it.” When that is not someone else’s problem but strikes you as your problem, and it is said you must do so because the spouse is worldwide, what will you do? Centering on worldwide value, can you raise both hands high and say, “Hallelujah! Amen!”?
One must be worldwide. Anyone likes whatever is worldwide. Without fail, it is so. You like it too, do you not? Among beggars too, how about a worldwide beggar? Why do you laugh? What if one became a worldwide beggar? In one’s own country, that beggar may not be necessary, but in probing the enemy world, that beggar is necessary. There may be differences of time or differences of environment in doing so, but when one comes to understand, even a beggar is necessary. Therefore, is a worldwide beggar necessary, or not necessary? “Necessary.” Necessary, or not necessary? “Necessary.” One must answer clearly.
Centering on what must one be worldwide?
Now then, let those among you who like something worldwide centering on what is bad raise their hands. Let those who say they like the chief of a worldwide gang of villains raise their hands. Are there any, or not? “There are none.” Why are there none? Then are there villains in this world, or not? “There are.”
If there are villains, does that villain like being a villain, or dislike it? Would he say, “I am a villain. I am a worldwide villain, so I feel good”? Think about it. Would that chief of villains, after eating breakfast, after eating supper, say, “Ah! I am a worldwide villain; at this level I feel good”? Would he, or would he not? “He would not.” Have you ever been such a villain?
Can one become the chief of a worldwide gang of villains and, feeling good, go out and advertise it once in broad daylight, or not? “One cannot.” Then does the villain himself like it, or dislike it? You must answer well. Does he like it, or dislike it? “He dislikes it. He likes it.”
If he likes it, does he like it because it is so excellent, or does he like it because there is no other way? He likes it because there is no other way. It is good, but the form of it is different. The chief of villains also likes it only because there is no other way. So although he pretends to feel good and pretends to be fine, his original mind is not so. His original mind does not want to be worldwide, centering on evil. You must know this well. Do you understand?
Goodness is dignified everywhere
Therefore, centering on what must one be worldwide?
One must be worldwide, centering on goodness. When an evil person goes to steal, does he go blowing a horn and parading? Have you seen anyone do that, or not? “We have not.” Conversely, have you seen a trumpet blown and a procession march when a good sovereign goes out in state, or not? “We have.” Even the officers who clear the way before that sovereign strut and make a great show.
When you have done something for which your conscience does not accuse you, if someone presses down on your shoulder, do you just let him press, or do you resist? “We resist.” Even if I beat you with a club, you are dignified. Even if someone says he will kill you, you can be dignified. Goodness is that dignified. Is it not so? “Yes.”
If there were someone who died while doing so, which side would many people take? They would take the side of goodness. Toward the one who killed him, a heart arises wanting to take revenge, saying, “You wretch.” Is it not so with you too? For instance, suppose there is a good and kindly friend who is the peacemaker of the village and indispensable among his friends, and out of nowhere some person comes and despises and slights him and wrongs him—would his friends and the villagers stay still? Would the friends and villagers all catch fire and resist, or not? They would do so. Yet even though they want to beat and strike that person, they will endure. But if someone comes and strikes him, they cheer him on. Is it so arranged, or not? “It is so arranged.”
That is why goodness is dignified. A good person raises their hand and goes forth dignified, saying, “Look at me.” But an evil person crouches. When a thief steals, what does he do if he is taller than the wall? Does the thief become shorter than the wall, or taller? “Shorter.” Then if there is a wall half as high as that wall, does he become shorter or taller? “Shorter.” And what about a wall even lower than that? “He must lie flat on the ground.” So you do know. Then why must he lie flat like that? Evil must become so. Evil must perish like that.
But suppose the master of a house returns home bringing good news and gifts that the whole family can be pleased about. At such a time, he will knock on the gate boldly and call out loudly, “My dear!” Does he call out loudly, or not? He calls out loudly. He might even pound so that the gate breaks if it will break. Even at the cost of repairing it later, he will kick the gate with his foot to call out to the family. Is it not so? “Yes.” If even that does not work, he leaps over the wall.
If he were caught climbing over the wall then, would one call him a thief? Because he came over like a thief, is that person a thief? And when he is climbing over his wall and someone grabs him, he can kick him and say, “What is this fellow doing?” Whatever he does, his conscience does not accuse him. So he can sit right on top of the wall and blow his trumpet to the whole village, saying, “Listen to me a moment.” Can he blow the trumpet, or not? “He can.”
Therefore, what is good comes from advertising itself, and what is evil comes hiding. This is the difference between good and evil.
Then who is the highest among the good?
Is it the president of the Republic of Korea? “No.” Is it the president of the United States? “No.” Then who? “God.” So you do know that. Then have you seen that God? If God is a good being, then that good one must come blowing a trumpet—but did He come that way? If such a one exists, He must come blowing a trumpet.
Did God say He would come commanding all under heaven and displaying His majesty, with the sound of the archangel’s trumpet, or not?
He did say He would come. Then what trumpet would the archangel have been blowing before that? God, who through the human fall has not possessed a free world, ought to have advertised throughout all under heaven from a position of being able to do as He pleased under heaven. But we must know the God who could not be in such a position.
Then what advertising has God done until now?
Because this world is a world of villains, if a company of the good appears, will the villains seize and kill them, or not? “They will seize and kill them.” Because the villains seize and kill the company of the good, God has been carrying out operations. What kind of operations? Secret operations. And what kind of society? A secret society. In this way, God has been operating in the course of history, centering on the highest goodness among goodnesses. That is why a form different from the social current flowing in this world today must appear. And what is that? It is the history of religion that has appeared in the history of humankind.
God desires a person with an unchanging heart
Today, ordinary people each have a worldview they think of. Religious people, too, each have a worldview. The worldview that ordinary people carry differs with each of a thousand people. But the worldview that religious people carry is the same for each of a thousand people.
If they are Christian believers, the purpose they pursue is the same worldwide, and if they are Buddhist believers, though they are scattered throughout the world, their purpose is entirely the same. That does not change even though the historical environment changes. Religion, governing without being restricted by time and space, manifests its own unchanging appearance.
Then, considering it centering on you, when there is a person who, having once made a promise, does not change but steadily accomplishes the purpose promised, and a person who is now this way and that, which person can be called closer to goodness? The person who changes easily is closer to evil. That is why young women must not take as a bridegroom a man who changes. It is the same for men. However pretty a woman’s face is and whatever else she may have, a person who changes morning and evening is a person who brings loss. What changes easily is close to evil, and what does not change is close to goodness.
Then what is it that changes easily?
Let us look for it. Looking at women, even friends who get on together intimately and pleasantly come to quarrel. Friends who until now got along, saying they liked each other, quarrel over one small needle. Then is the bond of friendship greater than the bond of one needle, or smaller? “Smaller.” So you do know. A person who fights over one needle and sells off a relationship of friendly affection is a friend not worth as much as a needle.
You must know from where a good person is determined. A good person is a person who does not change, whatever happens. However many people there are, God carries out His Providence (섭리) centering on the person among those many who do not change. Do women like a person who is now this and presently that? “They dislike it.” And the men? “They dislike it.”
Whether man or woman, one does not even want to speak with such a person. One does not even want to say one dislikes him. Then does God like a person who changes or a person who does not change? “A person who does not change.” That is why truth is unchanging. What is true must not change. It must be the same from beginning to end.
The people that can lead the world
In that sense, what kind of people are the people who can lead the world and the peoples of the world today? It must be a single-blooded people. Moreover, a composite people with a shallow history cannot lead. Only a people with a long history that steadily carries traditional thought, whether the world changes or not, can lead the world.
Then, among the many peoples of the world, which people are such a people?
Look for what people it is. “The Korean people.” What did you say? The Korean people (한민족) are the han people because they have much han (恨). What people are they? What people? However much they are the Baedal people, centering on nationalism, one cannot become a people of goodness. Because the highest goodness is God, a time comes when a unique and unchanging people, based on religious thought that has formed a relationship with God, emerges into the world. What kind of people are such people? “The chosen people.” That is right. The chosen people. Seon here is not the seon meaning “good” (善) but the seon meaning “to choose” (選). What people are those? It is the people of Israel.
In the world, when it comes to the Jewish people—that is, “Jews”—everyone in the world dislikes them. But the Jewish people do not care whether the people of the world dislike them or not. The Jews hold almost all the economic power of the world. The great scientists of the world are mostly descendants who have inherited the blood of the Jewish people. Even in the Soviet Union, several important members of the Politburo are Jews. The Jewish people are wandering, but they believe in one God. The people of Israel followed not a national Godism but a worldwide God-ism.
Israel is now a problem. In the Middle East, a great problem is now unfolding centering on the people of Israel. I am doing a great deal of research on how this problem will turn out. Because I know what road is the road by which the people of Israel can live, I am watching to see whether the one responsible sets up a good plan and carries out his strategy well.
What must be done when a people make a mistake and commit sin?
When the whole of that people has committed sin, either the whole of that people must receive indemnity, or else another people must be chosen. Because Israel perished, God carries out His Providence by choosing one of two methods to make up for it: either choosing another people, or forgiving them and correcting what went wrong.
Yet what happens when a chosen leader was sent to correct those people and make them prosper, and they killed him?
When it must be handled centering on heavenly law, the matter becomes different. Rather than centering on that people, the choosing of another people comes about. Do you understand? So whether Israel, the chosen people, fulfills its responsibility or not—this is what becomes the problem.
What must the Korean people do?
Seen from this point, the people of Israel did not fulfill their responsibility. If they did not, how much did they fail? They failed terribly. They seized and killed the one who came as the master of heaven and earth and the King of kings. Who was that king? Seen centering on parents, he was the True Parent of humankind; seen centering on the world, he was the King of kings.
If in one nation there is a person who seizes and kills his father and mother, can the law of the land forgive him? He must be beaten to death. And if there is a person who seized and killed the holy Father of the world, he must be beaten to death by the people of the many nations of the world. Having committed such a sin, is there a law that can forgive it? There is none.
If that sin is to be forgiven, the one killed must be brought back to life. Then who must bring him back? Must God bring him back? No. Human beings must bring him back. Until that time, people bring him back; there is no way to be forgiven.
Because God cannot simply bring the people of Israel back to life just as they are, He awaits a time when He can bring them back. And so, centering on that value, He has them establish anew the standard Israel failed to fulfill. In other words, because a valuable being must be brought forward who has restored him to life, God has carried out His Providence anew through the course of history until now. This is the history of Christianity. Christianity has carried out a movement to bring the dead Jesus back to life.
If, centering on the history of Christianity, a people newly emerges that can take as its example the traditional thought of Israel and the traditional thought of Christianity and fulfill the people-level responsibility of bringing Jesus back to life, what people does that people become? Speaking in terms of the Unification Church Principle, it becomes the Third Israel. What did I say it becomes? It becomes the chosen people. Then which people does the chosen people refer to? It refers to Korea.
What must be done for Korea to become a chosen nation?
The sin of having seized and killed Jesus must be indemnified by revenge. It must be smashed. Must it be smashed or not?
What is the most precious treasure?
Today we human beings are seeking treasure. Human beings want treasure. Then what is treasure? “A precious thing.” What is a precious thing? Is a treasure something others do not have and only you have? “Gold, silver, and treasures.” The grandmother answered very well. Gold too is a treasure, and jewels too are treasures.
What is treasure? It is one’s children. And yet there are also wicked people who torment their parents. There are such ruffianly children too. That is not a filial child. There are also many useless children. Then what is next? What is the next treasure? “God.” What will you do after having found God? Having found God, will you get a rice cake from Him, or get rice from Him? What will you do after having found God? There must be a purpose in seeking God.
What would be the treasure of the universe?
Do you want to become an orphan? Is there anyone who says it is good to be an orphan? “There is none.” Probably there is not one person here. If there were such a fellow, he should be struck by lightning.
Then let those among the men who say the single life is good raise their hands. Among women there are sometimes such people. They say, “Oh dear, men cannot be trusted. I cannot trust men who are like goblins in daylight. Rather, cherishing my pure devotion, living single is more like a flower.” Are there any among you who think so? Is there such a woman among the Unification Church members? Raise your hand, and I will remember your face…. There is none.
Then what must be done?
The man marries, and the woman? What is there to laugh about? Everyone is arranged to be so, so why do you laugh? People who think it strange laugh. That is an accident.
What would happen if only women lived in the village in front and the village behind? Once a fight broke out, it would become a worldwide fight—what would you do? So men are important, are they not? Men are absolutely necessary. And what happens if there are only men? What is there in a widower’s bundle after three years? Three mal of lice. That is why both men and women are necessary. God did not create what is unnecessary.
You dislike being an orphan, and you dislike living single; so in order not to become an orphan, who must there be? “There must be parents.” That is right. There must be parents. And if you dislike the single life, who must there be? “Children.” Children come next; first there must be husband and wife, must there not?
Then is there anyone who wishes that a husband and wife would say, “From the beginning we two have lived pleasantly like this; we met like this because of a relationship in a former life, so in the life to come too we will like only each other as husband and wife,” and thus two in the inner room, two in the guest room, two going out to work, two coming home, two going out of the house, and with just the two of them everything goes well? “There is none.” Then what else? What is needed?
Children are needed. There must be children; there is no other way. Let those who say children are not needed…. If you raise your hand, you are in great trouble. Well, try raising your hand once. Some people say, “Oh dear, our household is hard up, and yet children keep being born. I wish they would stop. It seems such a person does not need children, does it not? Is it truly because he does not need children? What if all that person’s children disappeared at once? Would he be pleased and say it is a relief that the children are gone? He would say, “Oh no, I am ruined.”
If, from the position of having become an orphan, there were a road by which one could find one’s parents, what would you do? For instance, if an orphan could give a diamond and get his parents back, would he exchange it for the diamond, or not? “He would exchange it.” Is that really so? What if you could exchange a diamond the size of this desk? “I would exchange it.” Since we are worldwide, let us think worldwide. Then what about a diamond the size of the globe? “I would exchange it.” Everyone is bound to answer this way. Even if there were a lump of diamond bigger than heaven and earth, you would answer that you would exchange it.
Which is better, the diamond or father and mother? “Mother and father.” Would you do so even if your father and mother were dull parents, stiff like a Gangwon radish? Because Gangwon radishes grow in the mountain valleys, their heads are stiff, and they have no flavor. Why would you give a diamond and exchange it for parents like such a radish head? “Because of the parents’ love…” So you do know. It is because of the parents’ love that one does so.
Husband and wife are absolutely necessary to each other
Man to man, woman to woman, husband, and wife—what is precious to each other?
If husband and wife are ill-humored with each other, they easily quarrel every day. Yet even if, having quarreled, they pack their bundles, they unpack them again. So quarreling is adding seasoning to develop. It is not that one quarrels in order truly to separate. Ladies, is it so, or not? Your faces do not look like it now, but inwardly you must have quarreled. If told to speak the truth, since it would be unfavorable to you, you would admit you quarreled.
Is a man absolutely necessary to a woman, or not?
Try getting married. What is it that a woman sees? She sees only her husband. However fine or however plain a woman is, once she is married, she sees nothing but her husband. The husband is the greatest. He is the greatest among the great and the best among the good. Not being a woman, I do not know, but it must be so. Women, is it so, or not?
When a woman goes to marry and goes to the bridegroom’s house, she has not met the father-in-law, has not met the mother-in-law, and the husband’s uncles are all over the place like thieves, so there is not one place to attach her affection.
However much she thinks about it, there is not one place to attach her affection. Yet if her father and mother told her not to marry, she would pout and be ready to cry. Because of whom is that? Is it because she wants to see her father-in-law and mother-in-law? “Because of the husband.” It is because of the husband.
However thick with thieves the village of the husband’s family is, that is not a problem. Because there is a husband who will welcome her when they put their foreheads together, and a husband to whom she can tell her circumstances when there are difficulties, she gains the confidence to take that husband as her staff and go boldly to live in the husband’s house. That is how a woman is.
So, is there any woman who married because she liked the father-in-law and mother-in-law? Is there, or not? Loving the father-in-law and mother-in-law too is because they gave birth to the husband. Is it not so? Had they not given birth to the husband, the people of the husband’s house (媤家) might live or die…. According to a married woman, nothing is seen but the husband. I have experienced this a great deal.
When one truly loves
We are now planning to hold a group wedding of 777 Couples hereafter. 777 Couples is better than 700 Couples. Everyone likes three sevens.
I have studied women a great deal. Whether a demure woman or a plain woman, when is she most serious? It is when she decides on a bridegroom. When one is hungry, one can bear it, but when it comes to deciding on a bridegroom, however grand she is and however confident a beauty she is, she is serious. Even a woman with the boldness to command all under heaven is serious. And then she says, “God, please like me.”
However confident a person she is, everyone becomes level. It must be so. It is the same for men. Men are still a little better than women. That is a fact.
When I say to a certain woman, “Receive the Blessing with this man,” she trusts me and says, "Yes"; but another woman asks a dozen times over. And then she comes quietly to me and whispers, “Teacher, I will receive him.” At such a time one cannot know how affectionate she is. I have seen many such sights.
When is a woman most serious? It is not the time when she is beaten by her mother and driven out. The moment she goes to find her husband when she marries is the most serious time. Would it be so, or not? “It is so.” In the old days, women applied rouge and a red dot and married with their eyes closed, did they not? Why did they marry with their eyes closed? In the old days they married without even seeing the bridegroom’s face. And they went praying and offering devotion, “God, please let my bridegroom be…” How the heart must have pounded then! That is how it was.
For a woman who marries without even having seen the bridegroom’s face, it weighs on her mind how the bridegroom she meets for the first time looks. Fortunately, if the bridegroom’s face is handsome, she sighs and smiles inwardly; and if his face is homely…. Is it not so? If he is better-looking than she, she is pleased; if he is plainer than she, she is disappointed. Yet as she receives a husband and lives with him and one year passes and two years pass, her husband comes to look the finest in the world. Do you understand? Unless one’s husband looks the finest, one cannot live.
There are also some plain-looking ladies here, but among those ladies there may be some who received a handsome old man. Though anyone looking at them would have said that one side was unbalanced, once they love each other and bear sons and daughters and live together, he becomes a husband who knows nothing but his wife, and she becomes a wife who knows nothing but her husband. Why is that? Once one puts on the glasses of love, one does not see well.
If one truly loves, one does not even know what one’s wife looks like. Do you understand? If one truly loves one’s husband, one does not know well what one’s husband’s face looks like. When told to draw one’s wife’s face, one cannot draw it well. If there is someone who can draw it, he is not a true husband.
If anyone says that there is no such thing in the world, let me ask one thing. Do you know your face? Answer. Do you know your face, or not? “We do not.” You look in the mirror every day, do you not? Though you see your face every day through the mirror, do you know your face as clearly as the face of Kim so-and-so in the neighboring village? You do not know it.
If you knew your face more clearly, that would be a great problem. When you receive the Blessing, though your face is plain, your spouse’s face looks handsome and looks splendid. Looked at this way it looks plain, but looked at that way it looks fine. There is something here.
I, too, do not know my face well. You will know my face better than I do. Does anything become clearer the closer it comes? No. If it is close, one rather forgets it. If you bring this fingertip closer and closer to see it, is it visible or not? “It is not visible.” When one goes past the limit point, it simply passes through.
Therefore, you must know that not knowing one’s own face becomes the foundation that can bring happiness to human beings. If one loves, one does not know one’s wife’s face, and one does not know one’s husband’s face.
When one’s spouse is sorrowful, one must be the supreme partner who can comfort the sorrow, and when joyful, one must be the supreme partner who can rejoice together. Will it do to always be the same shape, the same facial expression? Love must be something that can embrace and digest the whole and introduce content of infinite value.
The most precious treasure is one’s own spouse
It was said that one would give even a diamond as big as heaven and earth, the treasure among treasures, if one could thereby find one’s parents; then if in this world there were only one woman and ten thousand men, how much would that woman’s value be? Have you thought about that? Among the three billion of humankind living in this world, half were women and half were men, and if all the women died and only one survived, what would be the highest treasure in the world of men? Think about it. When the world became such, what would be the highest treasure among treasures in the world of men? “A woman.”
Now, if that woman could be bought, how would they compete with one another to buy her? Think about it. If there were three people who possessed a fortune of many diamonds, would they compete with one another, or not? Would they say they would give all the fortune they have whether she would come or not? “They would do so.” That is so. One must think that way. The master of a love who can love more than the world—a man wants to find such a master of love.
Likewise, what would you do if there were many women in the world but only one man? Since a woman was born demure, she must not open her eyes wide when she looks at a man; and what if God had put up a signboard throughout all under heaven saying that thinking of a man is a sin? Would the women smash that signboard, or not? If they did not smash it, they would perish. It must be torn down and smashed. Would the women give all their treasures and buy that man, or not? “They would buy him.” That is right. If they did not buy that man, they would perish. Think that way.
Therefore, a man would want to receive such a woman, and a woman would want to receive such a man. And having thus bought the spouse, from the very day one buys her, one is at the point of death. She glares at one; she twists one’s nose. Do you wish it to become like this, or do you wish it to become such that you are pleased and say, “Oh, I cannot live without you”? Which do you wish? “We wish to be pleased.”
What would you do if it were the opposite?
This is the worst enemy among enemies. In one’s heart one wants to smash everything to bits at once. When one dislikes the other that much, what will you do? Must you kick her out? At such a time what must be done? “One must make it so that one comes to like her.” That is right. At such a time, one must make it so that one comes to like her. You answered very well. You gave an answer that exactly fits my mood. One must make it so that one comes to like her. Conversely, when a woman is that way, what must the man do? It is the same for a man.
Become a couple possessing the value of true love
Then which is better: meeting as a person who likes the other from the beginning, or meeting when it is not so and making it so that one can love? Which would you choose?
If there were a position of being able to love easily as soon as one comes to the husband’s house and saying it is all my love, and a position of meeting with difficulty from the beginning and making it so that one can love and from then saying it is all my love—which position would be better for you? “Making it is better.” Making it? Is that really so? Making it is truly better.
Then what kind of love is true love? You must know clearly what true love is. Is it true love to be flirting from the moment one comes, or is true love that love in which, from a position of dying and dying again, one becomes one centering on love and says one cannot live without that person?
Which would be true love? “Making it.” Making it.
So, as I said a moment ago, one must do the opposite in everything. Just as one must suffer hardship and overcome difficult things to become a champion, so too must one do the opposite. Even if one has suffered dreadfully, one must suffer again. And when one becomes a champion who has attained the purpose, that authority is revealed throughout all under heaven. It must be so. One must become such a couple.
What kind of couple is an ideal couple?
Only when they have a beautiful appearance, like a garden where flowers bloom and fragrance spreads and butterflies come, can they be called an ideal couple. Do you understand? If I speak this much, do you think you know what an ideal spouse is?
If a couple has a relationship in which they like each other just at the sight of one another, and they love each other like God’s only son and God’s only daughter, beyond compare in all under heaven, what would God do?
Would God give that couple punishment or a blessing?
These words mean that love offered with devotion is harvested. If one becomes a being possessing the value of a love that the whole can like, even though anyone might dislike it—not that love which anyone can do easily—then here there comes to be eternal value. That value is a value that can hold with Heaven and hold with hell as well. Is it not so? One must seek such things.
The unification of religion centers on love
Then let us return to the content of the road Unification believers must walk. What must the Unification Church do to unify Christianity and unify religion? Does God love this world, or not? “He loves it.” In other words, you say so. You speak eloquently, saying, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” Does God love the people of the world, or not? Does He love Koreans too? Does He love the people of Gangwon Province too? “Yes.” What love is there?
What is there that God loves? If God loves you, why does He make you live in such a mountain valley? If He loves you, He should have made you be born as sons and daughters of a rich house; why of all things did He make you be born in such a deep mountain valley where one can hardly see a person even in a week? And yet God loves you. “Yes.”
What must the Unification Church do to unify the churches?
What must be done to unify the churches? Is it unification if all the walls are torn down and the gates thrown wide open? What must be done? It must be unified, centering on God’s love. Where is that love of God planted? Being something planted anywhere at all—in a royal palace, in a mountain valley, in a prison—it can neither be blocked nor divided. What kind of love is that love? It is precisely parental love.
If a ruffianly child goes into prison, do his parents go to see him, or not? “They go.” When the parents go to prison and see their child, they shed streams of tears. Is there any parent who then says, “Since you did wrong, whether today or tomorrow, I hope you die quickly”? Is there, or not? “There is none.” They would say they wish there were a road by which their child could come out of prison, even if the constitution of the Republic of Korea had to be abolished. Is thinking so a sin, or not a sin? “It is not a sin.” Why is it not a sin? A parent’s heart is all like that. However much of a traitor that child is, a parent’s heart is not so. A parent’s heart transcends the law. A parent’s heart accepts it.
Even if those parents went to the courtroom and testified boldly that they wished their child to survive even if the Republic of Korea should perish, there is no law by which those parents can be punished for violating some article of the constitution. Because it is at once an unconditional love and an infinitely great love, it transcends the law of the Republic of Korea and transcends the law of any advanced nation of the world. That is why people want to receive parental love. Is it not so?
The Unification Church, which aims at family salvation
Considering husband and wife, if a beloved wife is in such a difficulty or a beloved husband is in such a difficulty, they will say that they must save their husband or their wife even if the nation should perish. Even so, is this a sin or not a sin? “It is not.” The hearts of husband and wife are like that. The judge knows that, and the prosecutor knows that. It is not that, because a father and mother had such a heart or a husband and wife had such a heart, a sentence is demanded according to some article of the criminal code. Such a heart is the same even for the judge who handles the law. Would the judge have such a heart, or not? That thought is common to all. The audience there too all hold that common heart. In that respect, it is unification.
And would a child have a heart of wishing that his beloved parents might be saved even if the nation should perish, or not? Thus, what transcends law, transcends system, transcends all the backgrounds of environment, transcends even oneself, and seeks to form a bond of wanting to be together eternally—that is parental love, conjugal love, children’s love. There can be no social system that disregards this, and no nation that disregards this can be formed. That is why the Unification Church does not want an individual church but a family church. The Unification Church does not aim at individual salvation but seeks to accomplish family salvation. At this point, the Unification Church is different.
Now, let those among you who have never heard the words “Believe in Jesus and go to heaven” raise your hands. You will all have heard them. In Korea, Christianity is known this widely. You have all heard the words “Believe in Jesus and go to heaven.”
Do you want to believe in Jesus?
These days we are lecturing at Pagoda Park. And the crowds gathered there say, “Even if you preach, you may put in the word 'God,' but leave out the word 'Jesus.'” When we ask, “Why is that?” they say, “Ah, we dislike Jesus. Somehow we dislike him. Therefore, even if the religion of Jesus perishes, does the church of God perish? “It does not perish.”
In Romans it is written,
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?… nor shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35–39).”
This speaks of God’s love, not of Jesus’ love.
Then do you want to receive Jesus’ love or God’s love? “God’s love.” Do you want to believe in the church of God, or the religion of Jesus? And do you want to believe in the religion of the Father or the religion of the Son? “The religion of the Father.” One must believe in the religion of the Father.
The policy of the Unification Church
As with the story of the bridegroom and bride spoken of earlier, rather than being good from the beginning, let us make it and then like it. If parents love their children centering on themselves alone, that is false love. And if children love their parents centering on themselves alone, that too is false love.
What must the Unification Church do?
What must a true religion possessing true love do? It must not have a love that is for the Unification Church. Do you understand? Just as one becomes a filial child only by loving one’s parents even at the cost of one’s own sacrifice, and becomes a true parent only by loving one’s children even at the cost of one’s own sacrifice, so let the Unification Church love the nation and love the world even at the cost of its sacrifice. This is the nearest road to establishing the law of love.
Accordingly, what is the purpose for which the church exists?
The church exists to save the nation. But Christianity does not know this. In Christianity, they say the purpose for which the church exists is to go to heaven. And centering on whom? Centering on their own individual selves. In the end, they made a nation of individualism like America.
It is the Unification Church that seeks to pioneer such a world. That members of the Unification Church witness is not to make the Unification Church prosper. It is to make the nation prosper. It must not be a religion that stays inside the nation. Judaism perished because it lost the leading role by which it could save the nation of Israel.
To stand for the nation is the policy of the Unification Church. If the Unification Church is to unify many religions, it cannot do so without loving many believers. We must love other churches more than their believers love them. Do you understand?
If Seongdeokdo (聖德道) is here, I tell you not to speak ill of Seongdeokdo. When we come to have a heart that can love Seongdeokdo more than its believers do, Seongdeokdo comes into the Unification Church. Do you understand? “Yes.”
If the Unification Church becomes one that loves the Republic of Korea more than those born in the Republic of Korea do, will the Republic of Korea be unified centering on that or not? Only through this road does unification come; it does not come by subjugating with coercive force. That is why, to unify America, we members of the Unification Church must love America more than Americans do. If that happens, can the Unification Church unify America, or not? “It can.” One can draw in even God. When one comes to love God more than any nation, one can draw God in. Can you do that, or not? “We can.” That is only natural. Do you understand?
What is the Unification Church’s policy of unification?
It is love. Without love, one cannot conquer this world of evil. What did Jesus say to do when struck on the right cheek? “He said to offer the left cheek as well.” For whom did he say to do so? You and I are citizens of the kingdom of heaven, and before you and me there remains a road of death that must be crossed. Thus, if one loves centering on the kingdom of Heaven, one can forgive. Do you understand? A and B were not individuals apart.
You are a pitiful person, and I am a pitiful person too, and must pitiful people fight one another? Since we are all in a pitiful situation without a nation and are in a position of having to find the nation, if I came to know first, I have a responsibility to find it for you even while being beaten. That is why, when struck on the right cheek, one must offer the left cheek as well and thereby find that nation.
It is God’s heart to want to lead them along and introduce that nation to them even while being beaten in that way. That is why the one who strikes is conquered. Even if one’s own father and mother are sovereigns, when they do wrong, they must bow their heads to their child. Is it not so? “Yes.” Why must it be so? When the son is closer to completion than they are, they must submit to that.
Let us subjugate the enemy through love
Then what kind of love is God’s love?
You must know God’s love. It is said that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and that whoever believes in Him gains eternal life—but what is that love of God? God is the substance of love. Why does He love? Because He has sacrificed those on His own side and loved those on the enemy’s side. Do you understand?
Until now, there has been no case of a loyal subject who gave full loyalty to God surviving. They became offerings of history. Is it not so? “Yes.” For whom did they become offerings? It was for the enemy, to save the people of the enemy nation. That they shed blood and wandered in the very jaws of death (死地死境) was also not for themselves but for the enemies. That is why, when the people who killed them come to know this, they will completely submit, saying, “Oh, we were wrong.” Do you understand? They submit utterly. This is God’s plan of unification.
Later, God killed even His beloved son. Look at the Bible. How piteously Jesus prayed, saying, “Abba, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as the Father wills!” The Father’s will could not but drive him onto the road of death, but Jesus’ will was to live. God loved the world more than His own son and had set up a goal that must be pursued eternally, and therefore He likes even the enemy.
If there is a person who says, “I loved by ten, but you loved by nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine,” who has gained? But how many times do you think a love with such a discrepancy will continue? That love does not go on many times before it is cut off.
When we say parental love is good and conjugal love is good, true love is not love centered on oneself. Love does not begin from me but begins from the object. You must know this. Love arises from the husband and from the wife, and love begins from the son, from the sibling. Love does not begin from oneself alone but begins first from the object. Therefore, who owns love? The object becomes the owner of love.
To become the owner of love
How is it with you today?
You ladies here, how was it facing your husbands as you married and lived? And how was it for the grandmothers advanced in years?
However much you think about it, it seems your husband does not love you. He goes out and drinks and wanders about and, coming home reeking of liquor, says, “Oh, there is no one but my wife.” Then the wives want to test once whether those words are true or not. So they must have asked at least once, “My dear, do you really love me?” Grandmothers here, did you ask, or not? Seeing you lower your faces, it seems you asked.
You must have asked. But when you asked your husband, “How much do you love me?” if the husband answered, “How much do I love you? I love you as much as my wife loves me.” Would you feel good? Ladies, would you feel good?
If the husband answered, “I love you as much as you love me,” how would you feel? Without even asking, one feels bad. Even as empty words, he must say that he loves the most, and then one feels good. Even if one has been beaten by one’s husband every day until the very marrow is bruised, at that one word the bruises seem to melt away. Is it not so? “Yes.” That is how it is.
So I am telling the men to become husbands standing in a worldwide position. Likewise, when a husband asks his wife, “How much do you love me?” the more the wife says she loves her husband, the better. I am telling you to become worldwide wives. Because love possesses such ability and possibility, one must be intoxicated with love. And because such expression is possible only when one is intoxicated with love, the original mind, knowing that it is not false, is moved.
Then what did God do?
He killed His own son. Even to the point of killing His son, He loved humankind. Loving that way was not to make humankind inferior to His son. That son sought to love from the position of a Messiah centering on the nation of Israel, but He wants to set the human beings of later generations today in a position centering on the Cosmos and love them there.
Would God have killed His own son to make human beings more excellent than His son, or would He have killed him to make them inferior to His own son? He killed His son to make them excellent. Otherwise, God is not love. So what is the problem? One must love the world.
What kind of religion is the true religion among religions?
A religion dragged along by the nation perishes. It must be a religion that saves the nation. Then what is Unification Church thought? The Unification Church does not seek to love only the citizens of the Republic of Korea. Whom did I say we must love? We must love the humankind of the world. And have you loved the humankind of the world? Have you, or have you not? “We have.” Living in a Gangwon mountain valley, how can you say you love the humankind of the world? Yet even there, there is a road for loving the humankind of the world.
A religion that loves the world is the true religion
In the Bible, there are these words. To the king’s words,
“When I was hungry you gave me food, and when I was thirsty you gave me drink, and when I was a stranger you took me in, and when I was naked you clothed me, and when I was sick you looked after me, and when I was in prison you came to see me (Matthew 25:35–36),”
The righteous ask in return,
“Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You? (Matthew 25:37–39),”
And He answered,
“Truly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me (Matthew 25:40).”
What does that mean? It means that what is done at the very least is what is done to Me.
Comparing loving with a million won and loving with ten million won, which is easier? Which do you want?
Do you want to love when you have a little or love when you have much? What is the smallest number? “One.” This is one-to-one love. Then how must one love the world? One must love it like one’s own parents, like one’s own wife, like one’s own child. You face your parents one-to-one, do you not? With one’s wife too, and with one’s child too, one faces and loves one-to-one. Taking such love as one’s example, one must love the world.
A person who loves the humankind of the world as his son can go to the kingdom of heaven. Such a person goes to the kingdom of heaven even without believing in a religion. Even without believing in the Unification Church, he goes to the kingdom of heaven. In return, Teacher Moon of the Unification Church must teach him the procedures for going to the kingdom of heaven. Do you understand?
What kind of place is the kingdom of heaven?
You must know this. If there are ladies here who came after believing in the established churches until now, listen carefully. What kind of place is the kingdom of heaven? It is a place where those go who, from a position like God’s, love the people of the world like their sons and daughters. What do these words mean? They mean you must love the world more than your husband. You must know this.
Seen centering on God’s will, will you love your husband more, or love the world more?
This must be sorted out. What must one do? “One must love the world more.” So you do know. A woman who can save the world even by making her own husband the offering becomes a daughter whom God can love and trust. And a man who says he will save the world even by making his own wife the offering is a son of God. This is God’s will.
Jesus’ will was to love Israel, but God’s will was to love the world beyond Israel. Even at the cost of sacrificing His son, He cannot but love the world. Do you understand? This is God’s love. Though Jesus is God’s only begotten son, God wants, even by sacrificing the only begotten son, to make all people sons and daughters like Jesus, more precious than Jesus. For that He can sacrifice even the only begotten son. This is true love.
The order of love
Expanded one-to-one love is love for the sake of the world. Therefore, you must have a heart of loving your parents. And parents must have a heart of loving their children. Then, if you were told to love one of the two, your child or the humankind of the world, which would you love first? This must be sorted out. Whom must one love first? “The world.”
Why is that?
Because loving one’s own child first is not the purpose of the whole but the purpose of the individual. Saving one’s own sons and daughters too is to accomplish the purpose of the whole. Therefore, when the purpose of the whole is accomplished, even without saving one’s sons and daughters, those sons and daughters enter a position already found. Do you understand?
Your fathers and mothers oppose your believing in the Unification Church, do they not? Let those who are opposed raise their hands. There will be such people. Elder brothers and elder sisters, pastors, and elders of the established churches will all oppose, saying they will kill you if you go to the Unification Church. There will be people opposed in that way. Yet the Unification Church does not seek to love only the church and does not seek to love only parents. That is not the purpose. Even if one cannot be filial to one’s parents in one’s own generation, on the day one fulfills the way of a loyal subject to save the nation, one enters a position of value equal to having accomplished the way of filial devotion. Do you understand?
Even though parents oppose it, telling their son not to go and to love them and live together with them, if he thrusts that aside and leaves home and dies in the ranks of loyal subjects for the nation, a day will come when those parents, facing the son who became a loyal subject, say, “You are better than we.” Will such a day come, or not? “It will come.” If such a day does not come, that household perishes. At that time, would the father and mother also say, “You did well not to listen to your parents and to thrust us aside and go,” or not? They would.
Abraham lived centered on such a law. That is why he was able to offer up Isaac, the son born to him late in life (晩得子) at a hundred years of age. Abraham’s offering his son as a sacrifice was not for his family. Had it been so, Abraham could not have become the father of faith. Because he offered him for all the people God is seeking, Abraham became the father of faith. He sought to kill his son to save the world. From such a position, a new history sets out. A business of exchange takes place.
Seen centering on the husband, a woman who says she will save the world even by sending her husband out into a position of death is virtuous. Are these words right, or not? If one could save both the husband and the world, if both could be saved, how good that would be! But in matters there is an order of before and after.
Between the two, there is what must be done first. However filial the child a family has, on the day ruffians attack that family, both the father and mother die, and the son dies too.
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
The citizens of a nation without sovereignty are pitiful. That is why Jesus, in his concern, said, “Do not say, 'What shall we eat?' Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For all these things the Gentiles seek. Your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:31–33).”
Did he say to seek the son first, or to seek the kingdom?
He said to seek the kingdom that God is seeking. Would God seek only the Republic of Korea? Would He seek to save only the Republic of Korea? You must know that God seeks to save the world. An ideology that knows how to love the world, an ideology that can love the world and have more besides, can conquer the world hereafter. But an ideology that, while centering on the world, does not know how to settle the individual, family, clan, people, and nation—if there is a nation with such an ideology, that nation perishes.
To take a homely example, whether communism will perish or prosper can also be known by this. If communism is dreaming of world hegemony centering on the Slavic people of the Soviet Union, then communism perishes. Do you understand?
Why are Communist China and the Soviet Union fighting each other over revisionism and dogmatism?
It is because, unable to transcend national feeling, they dream of world hegemony. Such an ideology perishes. Therefore, it must be a transnational ideology. Centering on a transnational heart, a people must appear that knows how to love that nation more than its people. Unless there appears a priest who loves that nation more than his people and can sacrifice even his sons and daughters for the purpose of that nation, there is no road by which the world can live.
Then what kind of church is the Unification Church?
You must know this. You must love the world even at the cost of sacrificing your husband. A woman who sacrifices her husband for the sake of the world is worldwide. Parents who can sacrifice their sons and daughters for the sake of the world are everywhere. And if some sons and daughters walk the road of death with a burning heart of loving the world, they become filial children among filial children, even seen centering on their parents. Do you understand? You must walk such a road. One must be worldwide.
Let us love worldwide
If there is a teaching for the Blessed Families of the Unification Church, what is it? It is not to love the Republic of Korea, but to love the world that must be found centering on the Republic of Korea. Since the husband too exists for that and the wife too exists for that, let us first love the world and then make the nest of a family. Only then will the kingdom of heaven begin, will it not? A people without a nation is a pitiful people.
However much families cling to one another for dear life, when there is no sovereignty of the nation, they fall before the guns and swords of the enemy.
It is God’s heart to want to love the world. Therefore, you too must establish a philosophy of life centering on the world and sort out the content of your heart. The husband must be able to say to the wife, and the wife to the husband, “Love the world and then love me.”
The first condition is to love God. And in loving God, let us not love a God who loves only our family. Love not a God centered only on our house but a God who seeks to save the world. If it were the love of a God who loves only our village, one must say one will not receive that love. One must say one will receive the love of a God who loves the world. It must be so. I am telling you to become worldwide champions. I am telling you to love the God who loves the world.
What kind of place is the earthly kingdom of heaven that Christians long for in the Last Days?
The world in which God can embrace all the people under all heaven in one bosom and love them as one people is precisely the earthly kingdom of heaven. This is worldwide. That is why we should love the God who loves the world. I tell you not to love a God who does not love the world. Is God worldwide or of the Republic of Korea? “Worldwide.” Would you feel good if God were from the Republic of Korea?
In the world there are many great men. Then who is the great man of the Republic of Korea? Which great man do you know best? “Admiral Yi Sun Sin.” Do you like Admiral Yi Sun Sin? “We like him.” Is Admiral Yi Sun Sin of the Republic of Korea, or worldwide? “Of the Republic of Korea.” Then why do you like him? Now that a worldwide time is coming, will it do to like what is of the Republic of Korea?
Liking is fine, but the question is whether what is liked is complete. Is that great man complete or incomplete? “Incomplete.” Why? Because in the Republic of Korea, Admiral Yi Sun Sin is called a loyal subject, but what would the Japanese call Admiral Yi Sun Sin? They call him an enemy. That is why he cannot be worldwide. Do you understand? That does not mean we should reject great men. One must follow great men. Only, one must know that a great man of one nation alone cannot be worldwide. Great men exist in every nation. Do you understand? Then must you be better than Admiral Yi Sun Sin, or worse? “We must be better.” What happens if you are better than Admiral Yi Sun Sin? The Republic of Korea becomes a worldwide nation.
What a saint must possess
Do you know what a saint is? What kind of person would be a saint?
How many saints are there in the world? Who are the saints? “Socrates, Confucius, Shakyamuni, Jesus.” And who else? Are these the four great saints?
If Muhammad’s Muslims heard these words, would they feel good, or bad? Socrates should not be included among the four great saints. Seen centering on the present and on thought, Muhammad ought to be included among the four great saints.
What must one possess to become a saint?
Hereafter, I will teach you the content by which one can become a saint as well. To become a loyal subject and a great man, one must live for the nation. If one loves the nation more than one’s own life, one can become a loyal subject and a great man. But one cannot become a saint. To become a saint, one must love the world beyond loving the nation. Only by loving the humankind of the world with a heart beyond that of a loyal subject who loves the nation does one become a saint. The ranks of saints are not national but worldwide.
People today do not know what the way of a saint is. This must be known. Education until now has not taught this. But if you come to the Unification Church, everything is taught. Then will the members of the Unification Church become saints, or become the princes of saints who guide saints? “We will become princes of saints.” You are full of ambition.
What did I say is the content of becoming a saint?
It is standing for the world. Why is Jesus a saint? Jesus was driven by the Jewish people. He was unjustly put to death by Roman soldiers, so they were Jesus’ enemies. Moreover, Jesus had no reason at all to love that nation and that world. Rather, seething with bitterness, he should have gnashed his teeth to take revenge.
Yet Jesus, even while dying, prayed,
“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34).
That prayer was not made centering on that place. It was made centering on the future.
The reason Christianity became a worldwide religion
God does not love only the people of Israel. That Jesus wore the crown of thorns was not only for the people of Israel but also for the world. That is why, if revenge were taken on the people of Israel, God could not find the world.
Because Jesus was in a position of having to integrate not only the nation of Israel but all the nations of the whole world and form them into one nation, he vanished without a word and without a trace, centering on the worldview of the future, centering on the view of character of the future, and centering on the love of the future. That is why, centering on that nation he pioneered, in the Last Days Christianity will broaden the domain by which it can occupy the world. Otherwise, God does not exist. Because I came to know that, I am doing this work.
Then how did Christianity become a worldwide religion?
How did Christianity become the religion among religions?
Because it centered on the king of saints among saints. Is it not so? Among saints too, there is a central saint. Do you understand? Will you follow the central saint or a peripheral saint? Whom will you follow? One must follow the central saint.
What must the central saint teach?
He must teach the way of humanity (人道) centering on God. He must teach the way of human beings, the right way (正道), centering on God. Would it not be so? A saint must teach the way of human beings toward God, the way by which one must go before God. In this, a saint is different. Confucius too, as one of the saints, taught, “He who does good (爲善者), Heaven repays him with blessing (天報之以福); he who does not do good (爲不善者), Heaven repays him with calamity (天報之以禍).” Though vaguely, he taught with God as the basis. Do you understand? It is because he had God as the basis; otherwise, he could not have become a saint.
Because saints are guided by God, they cannot but be worldwide. Because it is God’s way to pursue a kingdom of peace transcending history and to pursue love of humankind centering on a heart of love, the teaching of the saints who follow that way is worldism. So without God as the basis, one cannot become a saint. There is no objection to this, is there?
Shakyamuni too spoke of a deity, though vaguely. He said that all things possess Buddha nature and are united with the nature of the deity. He did not leave out the deity. Do you understand? Islam too is a comprehensive religion. It is a comprehensive religion centering on a deity.
Yet what was it that Jesus of Christianity alone said?
He said,
“He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:37–38).”
Were those words well spoken or not? Seen one way, that is the height of self-righteousness.
The family God loves
What would the people of the world have thought when a shaggy-haired bachelor driven out of his village said, “Cast away your mother and father and children and love me”?
Without knowing the content, one cannot understand it. What does that mean? It means that Jesus is in the position of the man who represents the center of the world and holds the realm of dominion. Therefore, by loving Jesus, one can come into contact with the world, and by forming a relationship with Jesus, one can form a bond with the world. Because the people of Israel also had to pass through a process of judgment, Christianity today came forth, transcending the customs and systems of that nation.
Also, Jesus said, “I am the only begotten son.”
At that time, if there had been several people like Jesus saying they were the only begotten son, he would have been beaten to death. They would have said, “You wretch, are you the only begotten son? I, too, am the only begotten son.” What does the term “only begotten son” mean here? Centering on whom is he the only begotten son? He is precisely the only begotten son of God. He is the only begotten son who received God’s first love. That is why God would want to love centering on that only begotten son. Is it not so? Moreover, in loving the only begotten son, He would want to love an only begotten son who finds the world and returns, embracing the world. We must advance to that position.
Jesus also said, “I am the bridegroom, and you are the bride.”
Those words mean that he is the man holding actual authority centering on God’s love. Next, he spoke of brothers and sisters. These words mean that a family must be formed centering on God. Since he came as the only begotten son, he must find an only begotten daughter. Is it not so? Then would God descend there, or not? God descends there and performs the marriage. Jesus must marry, must he not?
This is the marriage feast of the Lamb, of the bridegroom and bride, that Christianity speaks of.
God wants to see such a scene. Those who believe become not servants but brothers and sisters. They all become the brothers and sisters of Jesus.
Is that good to you, or not?
That is universalism and equalityism. From this viewpoint, which religion is the foremost religion among religions? What did I say is most precious? It was said that love is most precious. Therefore, the religion that has brought forth the closest relationship of love centering on God is the foremost religion, and that religion is Christianity. That is why I, too, attached the name “Christianity” to the name of our church.
What kind of family is the family God loves most?
That family is not a family for Israel. It is a family for the world. Do you understand? That is how it is.
A saint ought to teach such things. Yet the saints taught only the way of human relations and could not form the bond of heavenly law. But Christianity related heavenly law and human relations and furnished a bond by which human feelings and heavenly feelings can be joined. People must center on this way and follow this road. That is why the conclusion comes out that Christianity cannot but be a worldwide religion.
Love God and love the world
You said you would become a saint. Then for what must you live? You must live for the world. Though you live in a Gangwon mountain valley, what love must you have? You must love God more than your husband and more than your wife, and next, you must love the world.
What is it that God seeks?
God seeks the authority to be able to love the world. So, to find that authority, first love God and second love the world. A family that goes forward investing everything to love God and love the world will not perish. That is why, to become a worldwide woman, one must be able to say to one’s husband, “Love God more than me.” Do you understand? The husband too must tell his wife to love God more than him.
That is why Jesus said,
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matthew 22:37).”
Whom did the first commandment say to love?
It said to love God. First, love God. That is why the teaching of Christianity is a teaching of the way for the sake of the world.
Second, it says to love the world. Even in loving me, love me with a bond of loving the world.
Will it do to be trifling, of Korea or of Gangwon Province?
Though you are a woman of Gangwon Province, you must be worldwide. The husband too must live for the world. Therefore, one must tell one’s husband to love the world more than oneself. One must say, “To save the world, go and fight and win and come back, even leaving me.” Even at the cost of making one’s children suffer, one must ask him to go out boldly and fight. A person who lives this way, though living in a deep mountain valley of Gangwon Province, is a person who lives for God and a person who lives for the world.
From where does the kingdom of heaven unfold?
It begins with a person who can be guaranteed to have lived striving in this way—from true parents and true sons and daughters who have furnished a true position of victory centering on God’s true love. Do you understand? The families until now are all families of a fallen world. So will you live for Gangwon Province, or live for the Republic of Korea, or live for the world? “For the world.” And for what must one marry? One must marry for the sake of the world. Raising children , and working too, must be done for the sake of the world.
That is why we must love Korea for the sake of the world. One must love Korea and go on. To go for the sake of the world, one must first stand for Korea. One must love Korea. The Unification Church has done so until now.
Teacher Moon of the Unification Church has been persecuted by three nations, persecuted by three regimes, persecuted by three denominations, and persecuted by three worlds. Since the name of the Unification Church has appeared until now, not only the people of the present world but even the spirit world have opposed the Unification Church. The Unification Church came forth bearing the destiny of being persecuted from the realms of three ages. Yet the road of the Unification Church is a road that goes forward to draw even those opposing enemies with a love possessing worldwide value. Do you understand?
Teacher Moon of the Unification Church has made you suffer until now, but that was not to make you suffer only for the development of the Unification Church. Do you understand? It is for the sake of the world because, in seeking the world, the Republic of Korea is necessary. That is why you must be loyal for the sake of the nation. You yourselves are at present fighting while embracing the world.
Let us make for God a garden of freedom where He can love
Then why is the world necessary?
What will we do, having found the world? It is to liberate God. Liberating God is a tremendous matter. God has been unable to perform the role of God.
God has never loved. Has God ever loved? He has not. So let us make for God a garden of freedom where He can love. Then where in heaven and earth is a place where God can love?
If there is a place where God has loved, that place will become the homeland of the world. Do you understand? If it is in the Republic of Korea, then the Republic of Korea becomes the fatherland of the world. Centering on the thirty million of these people, let us establish such a nation. The road that goes forward to sort out that road is the road Unification believers must walk hereafter.
Therefore, even in eating a meal, you must eat for the sake of the world. What I say to you is not for the sake of my purpose. It is for the purpose of the world.
Likewise, America, the representative nation of the democratic world, when it cannot be an America for the world, will be forced to withdraw from that position. The Soviet Union, too, if it cannot become a communist nation that seeks to establish leadership of the world from a transnational and trans-state position for the sake of the world, will perish. Is America now retreating, or not? And what did Soviet communism do when Communist China came forth? It took up the whip. They came to be split into two factions. So they perish.
The Unification Church has no enemies. There are many people who regard the Unification Church as an enemy, but the Unification Church has no enemies. Teacher Moon loves the sons and daughters of those people who regard the Unification Church as an enemy more than their fathers and mothers love them. They may die as opposing enemies, but I will make their sons and daughters into loyal subjects who can help me. This is the thought of the Unification Church.
Then will this be done by force? Loving the world centering on God’s love, is not something accomplished by giving money and telling people to do it. One must plant one worldview, one religious view.
What is the purpose religion pursues? What is it that religion seeks?
It is the kingdom of Heaven. It is to establish the kingdom of Heaven centering on God. What human beings have been seeking in the course of history is also the kingdom of Heaven. Then where is the kingdom of Heaven? It is the world. That is why we seek to make a world centering on God.
Therefore, a person who was born to make such a world, and lived for it, and died for it, is undoubtedly a citizen of that nation and, among the citizens of that nation, cannot but be a loyal subject. Not only that, before his parents, he cannot but be a filial child. That is why we, centering on that teaching and going forward, must present before all humankind a shortcut road that can be taken as an example. Because that road is a road that all people must commonly admire and follow, unification will begin from that road.
The reason I make Unification Church members suffer
Does Teacher Moon of the Unification Church love you or not? “He loves us.” I do not! “He loves us.” How do you know that? I love you. I always want to love you. I love you eternally.
However much difficulty there is, and however much a road of death lies in the way, when one goes to the end with an unchanging worldwide love, that purpose of love is without fail accomplished. Will you love that way, or not? Must I love you, or not? Would it be good if I loved you? “Yes.” Because I love you, to make you a worldwide people, I put you forward into a position of sacrificing before others. Do you understand? “Yes.”
For example, if God were to give a commendation to ten sons, whom would He commend first?
He would commend the son who, centering on God’s love, raised the flag and went out first and died. He becomes the first son who can inherit God’s love. I, too, because I love the members of the Unification Church, send them into the most wretched and difficult places in the Republic of Korea and in the world and have them sacrifice. Do you understand? Does making you suffer that way not make you feel bad? “It is good.” Then what if I made you grow old and die without being able to marry?
If, living for the sake of the world, you cannot marry, then in the spirit world you will marry a historically handsome man who lived for the sake of the world. So do not worry about growing old unmarried, and do not worry about never having loved. You do not know well the facts about the heavenly world, the spirit world, do you? I would like to tell you about the spirit world, but I cannot lest it rather become a burden. I cannot tell you lest you neglect the work and think about other things.
That is why I must make you suffer to the death. Is that fortunate or unfortunate? To make you into people loved worldwide, to make you into people whom God can love, there is no way but to make you suffer. Let me say again: to become a champion, one must go without eating when others eat well, without sleeping when others sleep, and weep when others laugh. One must go the opposite road in everything. Yet I tell you not to weep even in a position where you cannot but weep. There must be another side.
Human beings must govern two worlds. God in the heavenly world and I on the earth—God and I are in the relationship of holding a saw with two hands. And thus we are to split the world like a gourd. Would such work be easy, or difficult? The saw’s teeth must be completely worn down. Suppose that on one side there is a Unification Church man and on the other side a Unification Church woman. From such a position, could you split this world?
That is why I make you suffer to the death. You may have thought that if you met me today you would hear fine words, but my gift is to tell you to suffer to the death. I tell you to suffer to the death. For what did I say to suffer? “For the sake of the world.” Not for Teacher Moon and not for the Unification Church. I tell you to suffer for the sake of the world. That world will come hereafter. It will come raising the flag of liberation. And when you then come to die, a day will come when ten million people set up a monument before your grave and praise you. Because I know that I am doing this work.
Once you have passed this road and look back, your lives will be remembered as lives precious for thousands and tens of thousands of years. The torn undershirts and worn-out shirt rags you wore while living that way, your descendants will regard as treasures they could not buy even for a thousand or ten thousand pieces of gold.
Do you know such things?
I gathered all the shirts and underpants, torn to shreds, that I wore while suffering for three years in Heungnam Prison. Ammonia and sulfuric acid stained them, and they all became like mats. Yet, to leave them behind, I carefully gathered them for three years.
If the road I walk is not mistaken, the nations and the world that oppose will fail to establish their opposing will and, in the end, will be pushed aside by me. At that time, what I gathered will become a treasure that descendants can take hold of and weep over for thousands and tens of thousands of years.
Because it becomes material that can silently handle history, I have preserved it carefully. How many pennies is the undershirt I wore worth? It is not worth a single penny, but the blood and sweat shed for the sake of the world while wearing it cannot be exchanged even for a hundred million pieces of gold.
The question is for whom one lived
Jesus was born into the world as a carpenter’s son and was a friend of fishermen on the shore of Galilee. But such things are not the problem. For whom he died, for whom he shed blood and sweat, and for whom he lived—that is the problem. Who could have dreamed that Jesus of Nazareth, who in that age was denounced as a traitor to the people, a destructive element of society, and an agitator, and who vanished like dew, would today found the world’s Christian cultural sphere and furnish a bond of a new world?
God is alive. God will surely save this world and lead it to a new world. That is why He has dragged this world along to the age of consummation. At such a point, we believers of the Unification Church must have a heart beyond that and become sons and daughters whom God longs for. We must become sons and daughters who embrace and love the world. God wants to love such sons and daughters.
Moreover, to form such a family, God has walked the road of death, passing through every humiliation and every historical suffering. Is this not the road of restoration He has been seeking for six thousand years?
If the Unification Church is a church that attempts to indemnify such vertical history horizontally, then whatever trial and suffering comes before us, even a han of a thousand years, we cannot refuse it. Even in dying, we must die planting the flag of victory, saying we die for the sake of the world. Then through that flag we will be able to praise that nation with more than the value of a hundred million pieces of gold, and when the sovereignty of that nation is restored, we will be set in the ranks of loyal subjects and will without fail be set, as the center of Heaven, in the royal-family realm of the heavenly world.
When we consider such facts, is this not the highest hope that humankind must center on and pursue?
Though the bedding of a person who lives for the sake of the world looks like miserable rags and, valued in money, is not worth even one won and even beggars would not pick it up, someday a time will come when this is changed and one can live covered with a golden quilt.
Even in a difficult position, love God and love humankind
What would Mary’s schooling have been?
Would Mary have been a university graduate, or a high school graduate?
Mary was undoubtedly an unlettered woman. Why? In the five books of Moses, it is laid down that if an unmarried woman conceives, she is to be stoned to death. And yet, when the angel Gabriel appeared and said that she would conceive and bear a son, Mary said, “I do not yet know a man, so how can such a thing be?” But when the angel again said that with God nothing is impossible, she said, “Let it be according to the Lord’s will.” Mary, who accepted such a tremendous matter so simply, was undoubtedly an unlettered woman.
Yet Mary was undoubtedly a woman who, centering on heart, represented the women of Israel and was anxious for Israel, and who, centering on the realm of Israel as the chosen people that could rule all under heaven, loved the world more than anyone, and who, holding in her heart a love of God greater than anyone’s in prayer, earnestly appealed to form a bond with God. She was a woman who prayed much. When we consider this, learning and outward appearance are not the problem.
I am a person who, until the age of thirty, never bought and wore clothes of my own choosing. It was not because there was no money and not because there was no food. So, seen by such outward things, you are more splendid than I. Then why was it so? Because, though there are sons and daughters whom I govern and lead, I could not do even one thing for them with all my devotion. Only after doing that for the children with all my mind and all my devotion and with a loving heart do I want to make and wear something for myself. This is the teaching of the way and the heart of a parent. Because I could not furnish such a position, I could not even buy my clothes.
Furthermore, in thirty years of my life there was not a day when I was not hungry. It was not because our house had no money. There was money, but that money was not spent on me. If a person was lying sick in the street unable to go home, I invested all my strength and helped him, carrying him on my back and shoulders over a thousand ri. I have done such things.
There is nothing I have not tried. I have done every sort of thing beyond even a Gangwon potato-rock. I have tried everything a human being can do. Whatever the work, I did not avoid it but accepted it all. Even entering prison and going out into a position of being tortured, I did not go out with the bearing of a small-minded man. Born as a human being, having come to know the taste of life and, in an environment where life is decided, having become a man who met God, I have come this far moved by God. Though thirty million people oppose and curse for a hundred years or three hundred years, let them do as they will.
You must know that even living in a mountain valley of Gangwon Province, you can live for the sake of the world. Members of the Unification Church must love the world and love God more than their husbands. Do you understand? “Yes.” Then is that a matter of loss? It is not a matter of loss but a matter of receiving blessings. Look. If you love God, does God’s love come, or not? And if you love the world, will all the people of the world support you, or not?
Become a person who can take pride in himself before all people
Do you want to take pride in yourselves before all people, or not? To take pride, one must have some substance to take pride in; can one take pride in having nothing whatsoever? If one takes pride, must one not be able to take pride in saying, “I can receive God’s love”? Can I receive the support of all people?” Is it good or bad to be able to become a husband and a wife who can be loved? Let those who dislike that raise their hands. If one lives with such love in a position where everyone, without exception, likes one, so that when one goes, they follow, and when one stays, they stay, one does not perish.
Do you like Teacher Moon of the Unification Church? “Yes.” Why do you like him? Because you like him too much, I am abused. There are many people who are not dignified and cannot tell night from day. At dawn, while I am sleeping, they climb over the wall and say, “Teacher, are you there?” Women climb over the wall and crawl in and look for me. So how can I not be abused? Did I tell them to come? At such times I curse them roundly. But my conscience does not accuse me. Whatever all under heaven says, my conscience does not accuse me. Even if dragged into prison and mocked and put through hardship, my conscience does not accuse me. I am dignified.
When I was put into Seodaemun Prison, the moment I stepped through the gate, the warden glared and said mockingly, “So Moon so-and-so, the founder of the Unification religion, has come.” At that time I thought, “Let us see whether you surrender to me or not.” Thinking the rumors were true, he treated me that way. Then gradually he came to know that Teacher Moon of the Unification Church was not such a person, and in the end he even gave me his lunch box and wanted to speak with me. There will be a time when I meet that person again.
At that time I heard all sorts of talk. When they said, “What sort of fellow are you, and this and that?” I thought, “Very well, you wretches, do as you please. I will accept it all.” And then, in less than a month, I made them like my servants. At that time, one carries out an emergency operation. Saying, “You wretch, are you not such and such a fellow?”… And so, when I came out after a full three months, the warden, and the section chief and the pastor of the established church who was there and many others came to the Unification Church. Do you know of such things? Looking at it quietly, it was different from the rumors.
Ladies of the Unification Church, that is why the Unification Church crowd follows me night and day. Even if they are abused, it is fine. The prison people were astonished at those ladies. Overall, it became quite a problem. From dawn, they fought with one another to visit me. Even for one’s own sons and daughters, if there are rumors, everyone hushes it up, and while a day or two would be all right, since it grew worse and worse until I came out, they asked what was going on. I witnessed to that prison warden.
If I shut my mouth and stay still, the angels of the spirit world appear and thunder at them, “You in cell number so-and-so, go and greet Moon so-and-so! And when packages come in, offer them all to him.” How splendid is that? The invisible spirit world is like this. So whose side is it on? “God’s side.” God’s side? My side. I am lonely, but I live by such a taste.
The Unification Church, has grown into a worldwide church
When I went into the communist world of the North, more than eighty pastors of the established churches all signed and sealed a document saying, “Let us seize and kill Moon so-and-so of the Unification Church.” And then they sat about saying it was a relief that Teacher Moon was going to die, but why should I die? In the end, all those people who had plotted to kill me were dead and gone. The communists killed them all. The person they threw into prison to kill came out alive, and the people who tried to kill me to live died. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? “A good thing.” It is a good thing, is it not? But you must not wish that for yourselves.
Because I went as far as prison in the communist world, I know the communist world well. In the Japanese colonial period, I was a person who carried out underground movements in broad daylight together with communists in Tokyo, Japan. At that time, I knew that in the future we would become enemies. It is a truly grievous matter. I know that such things are our pain as well. I knew well that the communists would become enemies, but because before that Japan was our enemy, I did all sorts of things together with the communists. I came this way to save the nation. As I was leaving Japan, I thought, “Twenty years from now I will without fail return, so let us meet again then.
Now I go without having avenged myself on the emperor of Japan and without having resolved our people’s han, but hereafter a time will come when I command and teach the citizens of your country, the young men and women of your country. Let us meet again then. I thought such thoughts.
Afterward, I went to Japan twenty years later. As soon as I arrived, what I was most curious about was how many young men and women there were in our church. About five hundred young men and women gathered, and they were all children of wealthy families. I told them that Japan is the enemy of our Korea, but that to save them, I even provided the capital and sent them a special envoy.
And then I asked the young people gathered there whether they knew what the sin of their country was, and they said they knew. Then I asked whether they knew what the Unification Church is, and they said they knew. Then I asked what they must do hereafter, and they all said they would do as I told them. How splendid a thing is that! They said that neither Japan nor the emperor is needed, and that they hope the Unification Church and Teacher Moon of the Unification Church will win. And when I asked whether they would do anything at all if I commanded and drove them, they said they would. This is the Unification Church.
Right now in Japan, the World Anti-Communist Conference (WACL) must be well underway. This conference was to open at half past one this afternoon. Even a certain United States senator is to appear at that place and give a congratulatory address. Do you know who arranged that? The supreme ringleader (?) manipulating it from behind is here.
Though I am abused by these people and some rumors have spread, what have I done wrong toward the Republic of Korea? If Japan should become a pro-communist nation, the Republic of Korea has no road to leave. That is why I planned it ten years ago and have waged a struggle of bloody tears until now. In this age when the people cannot settle in place, where is the watershed, and who is the person who must play the role of guide? We must do that.
Now even the intelligence agency and such places all approve of us. It is arranged that without us, anti-communist thought cannot be instilled hereafter. Do you know that or not? “We know.” Yet in the Anti-Communist League they say things about the founder, Moon, of the Unification Church, who has no name at all. That is so. I am a founder with little name. But that does not mean I have no qualifications. That is what I think. Do I have qualifications, or not? “You have.” Wait and see. They, too, will be knocked down by my strategy. You will not know what kind of battle we fought this April, May, and June. You do not know, but we fought an astonishing battle.
There may be people here connected with the intelligence agency, but listen. What they say to those in charge of our practical work is that the scale of the Unification Church is so large that it does not fit their compass. Their compass is small, so they cannot grasp where our ends reach. While the Republic of Korea is now furious over whether it will live or die, we say we will settle the Asian problem centering on the world, and we go on about the Japan problem and so forth. We are doing that, are we not? At this level, are we great people or poor people?
We are great, and we are puffed with wind. Not a bad wind, but a good spring wind that spreads the fragrance of flowers. It is different from an autumn wind. Teacher Moon of the Unification Church is always in springtime. I always feel good. However much they oppose, I feel good. Even when there are things that make me feel bad, I feel good. I simply let bad things flow away. Wait and see. Hereafter, when I hold a feast, even if I do not give a single rice cake to the people who opposed me, they will be arranged so that they cannot say a word.
So when I bless the 700 couples, I intend to hold a feast. Since the population of Seoul is about five million, I will make five million rice cakes. So I want to distribute them once to those people. Let us make five million rice cakes. Would it be good to make them, or not? “It would be good.” Then how many will Gangwon Province make? Since the country has eight provinces, how many must Gangwon Province make? What is one-eighth of five million? Dividing five million by eight is about six hundred thousand, is it not? So you must make six hundred thousand. Six hundred thousand would probably fill one truck. Will you make six hundred thousand, or not?
The conclusion is to love God and the world to death
God has thankfully taught you conditions of indemnity. If we set a condition of indemnity of six rice cakes for the six hundred thousand rice cakes that must be made, it is finished. Whatever worldwide work the members of the Unification Church do, they only set a condition upon what I have already done. I take all the world’s beatings first. Is it not so?
With God’s heart, will you buy six rice cakes or not? “We will buy them.” Will one person buy six, or will the whole group buy six? “One person.” Then buy them and hand them over. You did not buy six rice cakes each, but have you at least made them? “Yes.” Are you in a good mood this morning? “Yes.” I, too, am becoming interested. Wait and see. At this feast the people of the world will all come flocking.
I directed the strategy of the WACL conference now being held in Japan.
Association President Kuboki does not know these things. When one does as I say, it is interesting, and it fits perfectly. Do you know such things? “Yes.” Because there is something like that, members of the Unification Church listen to the words of Teacher Moon of the Unification Church rather than to their parents’ words. Is it not so? “Yes.” Such words are welcome to hear at night, welcome to hear by day, welcome to hear in the evening. There is nothing that feels worse than someone not listening. Originally you are arranged to listen well, are you not? “Yes.” Our young ladies, is it so or not? “It is so.” Is it so for the ladies too? “Yes.” It is so arranged.
In the end, what is it that we seek to do?
We seek to love the world once. To live for the sake of the world and love madly for the sake of the world, to live for God’s sake and go mad with God’s love. Even if we come into a position of having to sacrifice our fully grown sons and daughters and offer a sacrifice, let us go mad once. And if we perish by doing so, cut off my neck.
Even now, in broad daylight, there must be many who would plunge a knife into my neck. But they will not be able to plunge a knife into me. They perish first. Do you understand?
Though they think our Unification Church is dying, it is rising. It goes the opposite road. Considering this, the road the people of the Unification Church must walk is nothing but a road of hardship.
Looking at you, you have nothing whatsoever. In my wallet, too, there will not be many coins. Even when I came here this morning, I asked Mother for some money and brought it. Because if someone who came from far away has no travel money, I must give it to him.
Become a deliveryman of love
We must become the Baedal people. What does baedal mean? The Baedal people are the deliveryman people. Is it not so? When one awaits a beloved who has gone far away, from whom does news of that beloved come? “From the deliveryman.” It comes by letter, does it not? That letter comes through the deliveryman. Is it not so? “Yes.” Is it good or bad to receive that letter? “Good.”
Yet is there anyone among you who has ever entertained the deliveryman?
There are people who wait for a letter until their eyes fall out and, when the deliveryman hands over the letter, take it gladly and run into their room, but there is no one who entertains the deliveryman, saying it is noon, so eat lunch before you go. The deliveryman is pitiful. Though he conveys affectionate news to countless people, is there anyone who, on receiving his monthly pay, pays a tax to the deliveryman? Let any lady who has even once treated a deliveryman with courtesy raise her hand. You have never once entertained a pitiful person.
I have had the members of the Unification Church perform the mission of deliverymen. Have you become deliverymen who bring good news to every house? Is there a deliveryman who, while handing over the letter, says, “The weather today is truly like a steaming pot? Why does the sweat pour so?” and comes up onto the veranda and asks the master for a bowl of cool water? The deliveryman is looked down upon. Is it not so?
The Baedal people mean the deliveryman people. This is said about our Unification Church. We must become deliverymen of love. Let us become delivery people who deliver God’s love to the world. How splendid is this! What people did I say? The Baedal people.
And what does “the white-clad people” mean? When burying a dead person, do they not wear white? White is used as a marker (標識). What did I say white is used for? It is used as a marker. In the pitch-black night, can something bright red be a marker? Can something be bright yellow? There is nothing but pure white. In a world of pitch darkness, what can be a marker is white. In a dark world filled with death, only white clothing centering on God’s love can be a marker. I can say that I have been doing this work centering on the doctrine of the Unification religion.
The road of true love that must be walked even in death
I have walked a lonely road until now. Even now I am lonely. It is not because I have not met one I love. Nor am I a person without a wife and children. I have fellow workers like you as well. Yet because I have not, centering on the world, loved God and resolved His han and accomplished it, and have not fulfilled the way of a filial child and a loyal subject, I cannot but walk a lonely road. Even now I walk that road.
When will that road end? What if my whole life ends and that road remains?
Even so, one must go. And what if you follow that road until you grow old and die and cannot accomplish the will? What will you do? “Even so, we will go.” Even so, you must go? “Yes.” Because it is a road for the sake of the world, one must go eternally. Because God is eternal, the road of love centering on God cannot be cut off either. That road is a road that must be walked even after death. Because the spirit world is a world transcending time and space, even a period of a thousand years is like a day in the spirit world. Therefore, we must go thinking that even a work accomplished on this earth over a thousand years is the same as one accomplished in a year.
What road is that road?
It is the road of true love. Do parents who truly love their child forget that child because ten years have passed since he died? Even though the child’s grave has worn down to level ground, when the parents go to that grave, they sink into a sorrow that wells up from the marrow of their bones. Is it not so? Until they die, they cannot forget.
Even when they die and go to the spirit world, it is parental love to want to seek that child first. Would it not be so? It is not forgotten because things are hard and difficult. Even if, in the end, one cuts off one’s own life and goes, it does not end with that. Centering on a world that can continue eternally, it will be a han that one could not love abundantly enough and a han that one could not offer devotion enough. To live with such a heart is the true appearance of a human being. The organization for systematizing this way is the Unification Church. Do you understand? “Yes.”
Then what must we members of the Unification Church become?
We must become people more excellent than Shakyamuni. We must become people more excellent than Jesus or Confucius.
The purpose of religion until now was to save the individual. But the Unification Church aims at family salvation rather than individual salvation. This is where the Unification Church differs from ordinary religion. In saving, it saves the family, and in going to the kingdom of heaven, one does not go alone.
The Unification Church’s view of salvation is not to send the husband to the kingdom of heaven and the wife to hell. It is that both go to the kingdom of heaven.
Moreover, it is not sending mother and father to hell, but sending mother and father and also taking sons and daughters along to the kingdom of heaven. Because the Unification religion is a religion that teaches the way by which one can take even the family one loves, and the clan one loves altogether to the kingdom of heaven, its dimension is different from other religions. That is why, although religion until now has emphasized the single life, the Unification Church regards the family as important. It goes forward, centering on the family. That family is a family for the world and a family for God. You must know clearly that this is the road the members of the Unification Church must walk and the road you must live hereafter.
Loving God and the world more than one’s parents, more than one’s husband, more than one’s wife, more than one’s children is precisely the road of being one hundred percent filial to one’s parents, the road of loving one’s husband one hundred percent, the road of loving one’s wife one hundred percent, the road of loving one’s children one hundred percent. Because there is no road but this to go to a position beyond the value of that love; one must walk this road. Because this road is a common road that all people must walk, when one walks this road and raises the flag of victory, one will become a prince or princess of the kingdom of Heaven who can unify all under heaven and have more besides, and can embrace all under heaven in one’s bosom and have more besides. Therefore, you must know clearly that this is the road we believers of the Unification Church must walk.
Only a person who loves others more than himself can be called a true human being. You must know clearly that the road a Unification believer must walk is a road walked with a heart of loving the Republic of Korea more than the Unification Church, with a thought that can hold the spirit of loving the world more than the Republic of Korea, and with a heart of loving the spirit world and the world of later generations more than this world. Do you understand? “Yes.”
