Showing posts with label Fatherland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fatherland. Show all posts

18.2.13

World Summit on Leadership and Governance Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon Special Remarks God's Fatherland and the Peace Kingdom

Chamshil Gymnasium, Seoul, Korea, 

January 27, 2004

Respected Current and Former Heads of State, Distinguished World Leaders, Ladies and Gentleman,
I would like to convey deep appreciation for your many expressions of congratulations on this occasion of the birthdays of my wife and mine. But this is not for us. I would like to offer all of this as glory to God who has protected us until today. Early in our lives we were called by God and have devoted our entire lives to fulfilling His will. Therefore I cannot accept your congratulations without including God in this celebration!
For my address this evening, I would like to talk about "God's Fatherland and the Peace Kingdom."
Ladies and gentlemen, what kind of world would have been realized if Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, had not fallen? Adam would have become the head of that family, the tribal leader of that tribe, and the king of that nation. That world would have begun from that ideal of Adam, and would have become Adam's world where only the tradition, language, culture, and lifestyle of Adam would have existed. That world would have been Adam's fatherland as well as God's fatherland.
But unfortunately, human history began with the fall of the first human ancestors. Our world was reduced to being under the dominion of Satan, a world that had nothing to do with God. Humankind was originally meant to establish and live in a peace kingdom for eternity, with God as their True Parent. But instead, the human race became enslaved to Satan, the origin of evil, residing in a world ridden with sin and suffering. This has brought great anguish to God.
Please think about this in the context of your own life. Contrary to the will of the Creator, our minds and bodies are in constant struggle and conflict. Has there been anyone who has completely unified his or her mind and body? Among the six billion people of this world today, has there been anyone who has lived according to the original relationship, where the body is in complete submission to the mind? What about the societies and nations of today's world? The barriers of conflict and selfishness rooted in the mind and body of the individual exist even between societies and nations like an impregnable fortress. Human beings were supposed to live as brothers and sisters, yet the interracial strife that we see today still remains as a crucial problem threatening world peace. Religions originally had the mission of reviving human spirituality, thereby accomplishing the will of God by bringing humankind back to Him. But religions have abandoned their original mission and instead are lost in the swamp of prejudice and conflict. This has escalated to the point where today, we see them being used as tools for bloodshed and war.
Where does our original mind lead us? Does it indicate that we desire to live oppressed within the many walls and boundaries that surround us? It does not. The world that we desire is a place where no barriers or borderlines are seen. It is a world of freedom and peace. All people long for that kind of original fatherland. It is the fatherland that for thousands of years God has sought to establish. Likewise, it is the fatherland that humankind has longed for throughout history. Of course, when we talk about a "fatherland" it may denote a particular nation, but the original fatherland cannot be compared to any nation of the today's secular world.
To establish a nation there needs to be sovereignty, people and territory. When we look at history we can see the rise and fall of nations, the countless transitions of sovereignties and a great many lives sacrificed in the process. All these martyrs died in the hope that the original fatherland would someday appear. But that does not mean that the United States, or Korea, or any other nation can become the fatherland which these people have longed for. It would be a place where there is neither democracy nor communism. Such a fatherland would have no need for any religion. It is a world that does not commit the folly of trying to measure the value of a person by the color of his skin. It is a place that does not allow any form of boundary or national border, including the barriers that divide the mind and body within each individual, bringing pain to them all.
Ladies and gentleman, this very planet earth on which we live, the entire globe, is the very fatherland that humanity has longed for. It is the fatherland for which God has longed for tens of thousands of years. Humankind now has the responsibility to establish a global nation in line with God's standard and to remove evil from this earth by rendering judgment upon Satan who has been the archenemy in front of heaven until now. In so doing, a heavenly kingdom of peace on earth, with goodness at its center, will be brought about. We must never forget that this has been the desire of God, the desire of Jesus, and the desire of our ancestors who have contributed to the course of God's providence by going the path of martyrdom.
But that kind of ideal world is not created automatically. It is not something that anyone can have by just wishing for it. It is impossible to attain unless we, the offspring of the fall, receive a new blood lineage through the Marriage Blessing and practice a life of true love. Then what is a life of true love? In a nutshell, it is "living for the sake of others." It is living for the sake of others before you even wish for the other to do something for you. It is a life of living for the sake of the others and forgetting that you ever gave. It is not giving in hopes of receiving something in return. It is a life where you give and give, regretting nothing for not having given more. Even as you give, you bow your head in humility. Thus, Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." He also said that "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." Even our almighty Creator, God, would not engage in creation and destruction at whim in disregard of the very principles of creation that He Himself set up.
Therefore, this is the reason why I have been conducting the Marriage Blessing providence throughout the past several decades. Humankind, who had inherited false life, false love and false lineage due to the fall of the first human ancestors, had no choice but to live this false kind of life. Thus my wife and I began our God-given mission as the True Parents. Throughout our lives we have walked a lonely path to carry out this heavenly decree to eliminate Satan, the devil, through the Marriage Blessing providence and, as the True Parents, to bequeath true life, true love, and the true lineage to humanity. We knew that God could not do anything about the false blood lineage because it had been planted by the false parents. Upon this victorious foundation of having fulfilled all the necessary indemnity conditions, my wife and I stand as the True Parents. We have been multiplying the true blood lineage by separating humanity from the blood lineage of the false olive tree and engrafting them to the true olive tree. A false olive tree will always remain as a false olive tree, even if a thousand years pass. Only by engrafting to the true olive tree can the lineage be changed.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the bright age of heaven is upon us now. Please accept my message with hope. The Marriage Blessing history began with just three couples in the 1960s has now reached 400 million couples around the world. Furthermore, there are more than 120 billion blessed couples living in the spirit world. The field of the true olive tree has now overwhelmed the field of the wild olive trees. All these blessed families are united in the life of living for the sake of others. The life of the true olive trees, through the true blood lineage, is now spreading like wildfire throughout the entire world. In this way God's Fatherland and Peace Kingdom, a nation of joy and happiness, a nation of freedom and equality with no walls or national borders will be realized on this earth.
For this purpose I founded the Peace United Nations' in New York, U.S.A. on October 3rd 2003. In doing God's providence, this Peace United Nations is developing initiatives of a revolutionary dimension that will rock heaven and earth. By educating each and every one of the six billion people on this earth, and giving them the Marriage Blessing, we are building God's fatherland, our fatherland, where the entire globe becomes our home, my home. Our goal is already set. The flag of the Peace United Nation is already waving high. The battle cry of victory is erupting across the world. Victories are won in America, Europe, Jerusalem, Palestine, Japan and Korea. Nothing is impossible with God and the numerous martyrs, patriots, saints and sages in spirit world running with us at our side.
They say, "blessed are those who have faith." On this meaningful day, I would like to ask you all to engrave this message in the deep center of your heart. I pray that you all join in the grace of the Marriage Blessing and create a great revolution of lineage. I dearly hope that you will all become the brave soldiers of heaven, courageously standing on the front line of God's providence in order to build God's fatherland on this earth, so that the Peace Kingdom can prosper for all eternity.
Thank you very much.

18.1.13

REV. SUN MYUNG MOON SPEAKS ON GOD’S FATHERLAND


Speech given at the closing banquet of the 

Second International Hoon Dok Seminar

Sheraton National Hotel
Arlington, Virginia
September 19, 1999
Translator - Tim Elder

Respected leaders and scholars from all walks of life around the world, I am truly grateful that so many of you have taken time out from your busy schedules to gather here for the Second International Hoon Dok Seminar.
We see today that people in many fields of society are doing their best to prepare for the new millennium in various ways as they believe are necessary. In my opinion, though, a more sober and serious examination of human life today reveals that understanding the Will of God, who is our eternal True Parents, is the most urgent and most pressing task we face now, just a few months before the new millennium.
Over the past fifty years, I have had close to seven thousand occasions to communicate the Word of God in public settings, and this content has been published in a series of some three hundred volumes. These are being read by tens of thousands of people around the world every day.
From among this vast content, I would like to share with you today a sermon I delivered in New York on February 21, 1980 to world leaders who had gathered to celebrate my sixtieth birthday. It has been nearly twenty years since I delivered this sermon. I would like, though, to read and study this content together with you leaders from around the world as a way for us to enlighten ourselves on where our responsibilities lie in bringing about the new ideal world that God yearns to see on Earth.
What would you say is one thing that God and human beings have sought to possess throughout history, but still are not able to have? Is it monetary wealth? No, that is not it, because there is certainly more than enough money in the world. Is it people? The world is filled with people, too. Is it power? There is enough power as well. What is it, then? The correct answer is that God still does not have a country that belongs to Him. So today I would like to speak to you about God’s fatherland, that is, God’s ideal nation.
What is your country of citizenship? For most of you here, I think it is the United States. Thus, the United States is your fatherland. Where is my fatherland? It is Korea. Where is the fatherland of Mr. Kuboki here? It is Japan. What about Paul Werner over there? His fatherland is Germany. So there are people here with many different fatherlands.
Where, then, is God’s fatherland? Right now, God does not have a fatherland.
What is the origin of all the countries in the world today? Did they originate with God? If not, did they come from some place else? The historical origin of all these countries is the issue here. All the countries in the world today came about as a result of conflict and division. Take any two neighboring countries in the world, and you will see that in many cases the international boundary separating them has a history filled with grief and sorrow. We know all too well that, in most cases, the fiercest and bloodiest fighting has taken place between neighboring countries, as opposed to countries separated by some distance. Thus, the walls of division are highest between countries and peoples who share a common border.
It was not always true that wars were fought by sending planes to attack a country thousands of miles away. Historically, wars were most often fought along international boundaries shared by adjacent countries. For you as individuals, as well, conflicts tend to break out with those who are closest to you. The reason for this lies in the Human Fall. It is one result of the Human Fall that people today tend to fight the most with those who are closest to them.
What was the Fall? The Fall was the beginning of conflict between God and human beings, as well as between God and Satan and between human beings and Satan. The fact that there have been a great many countries in the world illustrates that there must have been a large number of conflicts.
Once a country is formed in this way, where does it go? All countries seek to establish a world of peace, but are they capable of achieving this? This is the common challenge that remains today for all people in the world. A world of peace is a resultant existence, so it would be a logical contradiction to think that such a world can be achieved on the basis of a mistaken beginning, that is to say, an erroneous cause.
The beginning point leading to an ideal world can be found only in a place where a movement is being conducted that is capable of overcoming and transcending the origin of wars. If the cause is perfect, then the result will also be perfect. It is reasonable to think that if the origin is in peace, development will occur through a peaceful process, and the objective finally achieved will also be one of peace.
Seen from this perspective, it is clear that people who continue to view their neighboring country as their historical enemy and treat that country with hatred will never achieve a world of peace. No matter how much they may yearn for an ideal world and move toward this objective, it will be impossible for them to actually accomplish this goal. In order to nullify the motivation that caused all this conflict and erase the history of evil, there needs to be a movement that teaches a content that is the opposite of what has been the origin of conflict.
If God exists, do you suppose that He will observe the background of these countries and just leave them as they are? Or else, do you think that God will guide these countries into a good direction, that is, toward the ideal path? I believe without a doubt that God will guide us. This is why in the Unification Church, members from countries that are historical enemies to each other will often want to receive the Holy Blessing as husband and wife.
If a person wants to inherit the Will of God, what do you think he should teach? Such a person certainly could never teach people of the world that they can do whatever they like. The key phrase for this person’s teaching would be, "Love you enemy with a heart of love." The Word of God that tells us, "Love your enemy" holds the power to reverse the history of evil. These words are like the anchor that can save a ship being blown off course by a hurricane.
In the course of the history of God’s restoration providence, no one has practiced the Word of God to "Love your enemy" at an absolute standard. If there exists a group of people who understand how to love their enemies, then these people should be brought together to form an organization, and they should build a worldwide foundation. Since this is our conclusion, we must expect that God will initiate such a movement. I hope you can understand that the various religious movements that have appeared in history have been reflections of such a movement initiated by God.
Who was the person until now that God could love the most? It was Jesus. Jesus presented a new direction to a world torn with conflict. Jesus’ philosophy was that the high wall standing between an oppressor nation such as Rome and an oppressed nation such as Israel should be torn down. The two should not see each other as enemies. Jesus’ thinking was, "Rome may try to overpower me with physical force, but I will instead conquer Rome with love." That is why even as he hung on the cross he prayed to bless his enemies.
Please understand that it was this philosophy that lay behind Jesus’ incredible declaration in reference to the Roman soldiers: "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do." Because he acted in this way, he established an archetype, or model, for the way in which nations can rise above a state where they see each other as enemies and international boundaries can be transcended.
Jesus understood that enemies of the individual were not the whole problem. He knew that in addition to these, there were enemies of the family, enemies of the tribe, enemies of the society, enemies of the nation, and enemies of the world, and that these were all around and intertwined in a complex relationship. This meant that anyone who chose to follow him – anyone who walked the same path as he walked – would find many enemies waiting for them along the way. If a person chose to go as a family they would come up against enemies of the family, and if he chose to go as a tribe he would come up against enemies of the tribe. He could expect to find himself in a fierce fight. So Jesus taught that each time a person found himself facing an enemy he should love the enemy. He said that as long as a person maintains this spirit of loving his enemies, he will eventually be victorious.
If God had acted in the same way as Satan or many people in the secular world – that is, to seek revenge against His enemies – then, this world would have perished a long time ago. That is why He has taught us, centering on Christianity, to love our enemies.
Where, then, is God’s starting point in this effort to realize His ideal country – that is, to liberate His fatherland? It is the person who has the philosophy to love one’s enemies. That is why, as long as it is true that God exists, it is only natural that Christianity should grow to become a worldwide religion. This is because Christianity has put forward a movement to break down international boundaries, and transcend all cultural and environmental barriers through love so that we may embrace even our enemies. If a person plants soybeans, we will harvest soybeans, and if he plants red beans, then it is red beans that he will harvest. The seeds of a red flower will produce a red blossom. In the same manner, if we sow the seeds of Satan, who seeks revenge against his enemies, we will find that a tree of evil will grow out of those seeds. On the other hand, if we plant a seed of goodness, which loves its enemies, then a tree of goodness that loves its enemies will grow there. This is the law of nature.
Why is Christianity today divided into numerous denominations? It is because people have impeded the Christian spirit that teaches us to love our enemies. The Christian spirit that teaches us to love our brethren has been forgotten. From a perspective centering on Jesus, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, the Holiness Church and all other denominations are brothers to each other.
True Christianity based on the mainline philosophy is a religious body that pioneers the formation of a spiritual climate in which people love their enemies. People who love their enemies are the people who will be able to bring about God’s true individuals, families, tribes, societies, nations and world. Yet, today’s Christianity cannot even dream of uniting as one body or of coming together with the many countries that exist today. It is distressing sight to this.
What is the role of the Unification Church, then? People in established churches criticize the Unification Church as heretical. This sounds simple, but you should understand that there is a continuity of history here. The pulse of history is beating here.
Does America have enemies, or not? If so, then who is America’s enemy? Is it Reverend Moon? Isn’t it true that the great majority of Americans think this way? Mothers and fathers of Unification Church members also say that Reverend Moon is their enemy. The enemy of the Communist Party is also Reverend Moon. The enemy of the business establishment is also Reverend Moon. The enemy of the religious establishment is Reverend Moon. The enemy of the mass media is also Reverend Moon. Isn’t that true? If you look at this way, is not Reverend Moon America’s enemy?
Since I make life difficult for those of you who are Unification Church members, am I not your enemy as well? Or else, do you say that even if your father and mother are opposed to Reverend Moon, and your spouse opposes Reverend Moon, you still cannot bring yourself to turn away from Rev. Moon? Is it your position that you cannot turn away from me even if the government opposes me? Is that your thinking? Is it your determination that even if you are eventually forced to turn away from America and turn away from your mother and father, you can never turn away from Reverend Moon?
Some religious people are praying to God with the mind that it would be better if I were to disappear. They are praying, "God, please take that enemy, Reverend Moon, into the spirit world quickly." On the other hand, Unification Church members are offering a different prayer, saying, "God, it doesn’t matter that I may be persecuted. Please let Reverend Moon live a long life on Earth."
God listens carefully, and He sees that one group is praying, "May he die," and the other group is praying, "Let him have a long life." At the same time, God sees that Unification Church members continue their witnessing work even when they are mistreated, and continue their economic work when they are cursed. With the other group, people from the President to cabinet members, generals and politicians are all saying, "May he die." Therefor, God’s ear, naturally, goes toward the Unification Church members, who are being mistreated. Because God is fair, he tends to listen more to what the Unification Church members are saying.
I was so amazed by all this that I took a look to see who is listed in the Book of Life. I found that all the people listed there are those who are tormented as lowborn and people who are chased from one place to another. Do you think that, since all Americans think of Rev. Moon as their enemy, he should be pitied? It may be true that many Americans hate me. You must understand, though, that when I am able to truly love those who see me as their enemy, a way will be opened for their hearts to be melted in a single day.
That is why I went before God, and prayed, "God, they throw rocks at me so that I may be able to form individuals, families, tribes, societies, and nations that possess the philosophy to love their enemies. So please let them be." When there is a nation in this world that is made up of people who have the spirit to love their enemies, that nation can become the ideal society that God longs to see. It will become the ideal society into which all humankind can enter. This was the reason that I, immediately following the Washington Monument rally, declared an intention to hold a rally in Moscow.
Where did I say is the starting point for God’s fatherland? How does it come? It comes by way of the path of loving our enemies. God’s fatherland comes by way of the path by which we establish a tradition of loving the enemies of the individual, enemies of the family, enemies of the tribe, and of the nation and world. I hope you can understand that God’s fatherland cannot be brought about by any path other than this.
Just wait and see. America has opposed me. The U.S. State Department has opposed me. The Congress has opposed me. Eventually, though, there will come a time when I will receive a certificate that says I was victorious in Congress, victorious in the State Department, and victorious in America. I have friends now, even in the State Department that has opposed me, and I have many friends in Congress as well. It is inevitable that victory will eventually come to me, due to my life of loving enemies.
I am convinced that even if I had no such friends I could still overcome all opposition and bring about victory. The more opposition I receive the more I am able to accumulate experiences of having loved my enemies. There is no reason, then, for me to be discouraged in the face of great opposition.
The law of nature is that if there is an area of low atmospheric pressure in one place then there is sure to be an area of high pressure somewhere else. If I form an area of low pressure when the State Department opposes me from a high place, then the State Department will eventually succumb to me in the same way that a high pressure area is naturally absorbed by a low pressure area.
Even when I was being cursed, I did not fight back but loved them instead. After a while, I found that they were becoming my friends. Then some time later, I found that I had the families of friends, the tribes of friends and the nations of my friends.
You are engaged in the work of family church. People in your family church area may try to keep you from coming back by hitting you in the head, knocking you down, and even kicking you angrily when you are down. If that doesn’t satisfy their hatred, they may roll you over, spit on you, and curse you. Even if someone treats you like that, try going back to that person and see what happens. When a person beats you up like that, they will assume that you will never return. If, however, you return even after being beaten, knocked down and kicked out, people watching this series of events will realize that Unification Church members truly practice the life loving enemies. This will move them to be contrite about their misdeeds, and become much closer to you as friends. They will have no choice but to praise you as an excellent member of the Unification Church.
In such a situation, some people will begin to take greater interest in you and look more closely at what you are trying to do. They will see that in reality you are not crazy, and that in fact you are wholesome, clean cut young people, and that you are well-educated. They will have to say to themselves, "Oh, I didn’t realize that the people of the Unification Church were like this," and little by little they will grow to like you. If you explain to them about God’s fatherland, and give them opportunities to hear the Divine Principle, they will say, "Oh, I never realized that the Unification Church had such profound teaching!" They will repent, and begin to follow you. You need to be able to teach people in this way.
When people who live by such convictions are beaten and kicked out, then the number of people on our side will soon increase to a hundred and then a thousand. You might be nearly beaten to death in a certain neighborhood and are kicked out. You return later and are beaten and kicked out again. Then the same thing might happen on the third visit. If you go to that neighborhood three times like this, that neighborhood will be completely restored.
I am a man with no remarkable characteristics. That is actually true, don’t you think so? You may say this is not true, but people in general society know me as an undignified person. God, though, likes me more than any other person. It does not matter that the world may treat me disgracefully. Because God recognizes me, I am able to launch offensives against the world with a bold attitude.
Once a person possesses a heart of loving his enemies, there is nothing he cannot say. Why is that? A man sent by God. If anyone deserves to be called handsome, he is that man. If anyone deserves to be thought of as fashionable, he is that man. If anyone deserves to be thought of as daring and brave, he is the one. It inspires a sense of honor in me to think of myself in this way, and so I can stage an offensive against the secular world with confidence.
Do you know what happens when I work in such a state of high inspiration? When I do this, young men and women who give joy to God are created. Families of all races who give joy to God are created. Nations that give joy to God are created, and the liberation of God’s fatherland becomes possible.
God told us to love our enemies, and that means we also have to love the ugliest person. Even if the most handsome man in the world is paired with the ugliest woman, he needs to love her even more than he loves his enemies. Such a person, in loving the enemies of this world, will be a good candidate to carry the flag of the greatest prince as he marches forward. If such a man actually exists, think how wonderful he would be. Such a man would easily be able to jump over the barriers between nations.
Some time ago in Britain, Mrs. Moon and I matched people to be engaged. For the most part, we paired up people from nations that were historical enemies. Since they could not understand each other’s language, they would communicate their love for each other by smiling. The sensation of holding hands was more powerful than spoken communication. They could not understand what each other was saying, but that made their kisses all the sweeter. Gradually, they learn about each other. They can learn about each other by sitting down to a meal together. They learn a little at breakfast, a little more at lunch, and still more during dinner. Eventually, they come to know everything.
When people come to live with a heart of love, all barriers will be broken down, the history of the restoration providence will be shortened, and the Kingdom of Heaven will draw near.
I have a simple philosophy. I have tried to experience everything that I can. I was a farmer, and I was a laborer. I have become a fisherman and caught tuna. This is how I have lived the last sixty years. I thought I was walking this way alone, but now I look behind me and see that British people are following me, Americans are following me, and many other people from around the world are following me. If I tell someone I hate them and kick them away, they still follow me. That is why I say a person can study the Unification Church and yet still not be able to understand it.
I will give my conclusion now. Today’s topic is God’s ideal nation, God’s fatherland. Members of the Unification Church need to work for the liberation of God’s fatherland. Today is my sixtieth birthday, and the number six is a number of indemnity. Thus, I hope you will look on this day as a time when you can begin to go beyond the number six, and move toward a new world of the number seven. There are people from all races in the congregation today, and all of you need to live your lives with such a philosophy. The liberation of the Fatherland will not be accomplished by seeking revenge. The Fatherland will be liberated only when nations do not fight other nations.
Where will you go to pass across the stage of your trials and reach the Fatherland? The family church is a miniature form of the whole world, so you need to go the way of family church. All the loneliness, difficulties, and suffering that you encounter as you carry out family church is the same loneliness, difficulty and suffering that I myself have experienced. Please understand that you are learning the process of victory by which I have overcome my enemies through love.
When you are victorious with family church in New York, you will transcend New York. Then, you will transcend the Midwest. You will easily cover all of America. Not only that, but you will cover the whole world, and the spiritual world. You will be able even to conquer the realm of God’s heart.
God will welcome the people who are victorious with family church, and tell such people, "You are the sons and daughters that I have longed to see." He will say that your family church is His dwelling, His country, and His world. He will tell you that since the family church has been established you should receive both your parents and live happily. All of you should become victors in the family church, liberate God’s fatherland, and greet the day when the constitution of the heavenly nation is proclaimed. We must establish a day of victory from which time forward we will never be conquered. It will be a day that will be commemorated forever.
Do you think it likely that God’s nation will be brought about through democracy? That would be impossible. There needs to be a birth of a new philosophical movement that can supplement democracy’s imperfections. This means we need to be active in every field of life, including religion, economics, politics, philosophy, scholarship and other areas. Please recognize that this is your destiny.
I believe the Earth should have no international boundaries. In a sense, America is my enemy. But I have put my life on the line in order to love America. I have done this for the sake of liberating the fatherland of God and all humanity.
Where is your enemy? Everything the physical body enjoys is your enemy.
The enemies outside of your body are not the problem. Instead, it is the enemies that are within you. Drugs are the enemy. Free sex is the enemy. Homosexuality is the enemy. Everything that is bad for you is your enemy. You must conquer these and overcome them. You must overcome these in order to liberate God, and liberate God’s fatherland, that is, a world of freedom and peace.
I hope you will be brave soldiers who will march tirelessly toward the liberation of God’s fatherland.
Thank you.

14.1.13

God's Fatherland and the Age of Kingship in Cheon-il Guk Reverend Sun Myung Moon

February 5, 2003 

World Summit on Leadership and Governance
Lotte Hotel, Seoul, Korea

Respected current and former heads of state, leaders of religion, politics, and academia from around the world, ladies and gentlemen:
We are gathered today with the fervent desire for an eternal and unchanging world of peace, which is the ideal heavenly world. On this profoundly significant occasion, as the Founder of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace, I would like to convey a message regarding God's original ideal. The title is, "God's Fatherland and the Age of Kingship in Cheon-il Guk."

Why We Must Establish God's Kingdom

God has spoken of "God's ideal Kingdom and His ideal righteousness," but people living on the earth today have not been able to find it. It is important to know that humanity today, just as it has for many thousands of years of human history, fervently desires the establishment of God's ideal Kingdom and His ideal righteousness.
How is it, then, that this transcendent and fervent desire for His Kingdom and His righteousness remain unfulfilled goals for all beings in heaven and earth? The reason is that human beings committed the fall. As a result of the human fall, God and humanity, who originally could have formed the center of God's ideal Kingdom and His ideal righteousness, found themselves in circumstances that prevented their forming a relationship with each other. Human beings did not know much about God our Father, the center of God's ideal Kingdom or His ideal righteousness, or about His family and nation. Hence, God has labored throughout the course of history to enlighten these ignorant people and teach us about Himself, His family and His nation. In this context, establishing God's ideal Kingdom and His ideal righteousness remains our fervent desire and goal.
There exist many nations in today's world. Yet, not even one can truly receive love from God. For this reason, God wants to negate this fallen world and recreate His new Kingdom. God has conducted His providence to establish a nation. God cannot accomplish His will for human restoration without cooperation from a nation that is in keeping with God's desire. There must be a true state that is centered on a true religion that is in keeping with God's desire. Hence, in the fullness of time, God established a particular nation and religion, the chosen people of Israel and Judaism.
What is the character of the nation that fulfills our fervent desire for the Kingdom of God? It is not like the nations in which you now are living. These nations are destined to disappear someday.
We do not yet have God's Kingdom. A person without a nation does not have a permanent domicile, a nationality, or the possibility to register as a citizen. For this reason, we must accomplish in the present world the establishment of an ideal nation that is in keeping with God's desire. We must form the heavenly kingdom with one mind, one body and one thought, so as to constitute one nation centering on the religion and state of the chosen people of the third Israel.
We must live on the earth as citizens of this nation. In that nation we lead our own families and kin, and inherit the lineage of the true and good parents who love their country and their nation as victorious sons and daughters. Only in that way will we enter the Kingdom of Heaven in the spiritual world. This is God's Principle of Creation.
Only when there is a nation that is in keeping with God's desire will we be able to bequeath a tradition that remains with our descendants into eternity. Only when there is a nation will the blood and sweat we shed live on. Only when there is such a nation will men and women build a monument praising Heaven for God's work on this earth, and only then will every trace of glory remain. If there is no nation, it all will have been for nothing. This is why we must understand that the establishment of God's Kingdom is the most important task in all heaven and earth.
We must live with the constant conviction that "Our blessed family is protecting the heavenly nation that is qualified to receive the love of the True Parents. So I must be a filial child of the True Parents and fulfill the way of the patriot for the nation." It means that we must receive the love of God and True Parents. We cannot receive God's love unless we have a nation. This is because only after we have been victorious over nations under Satan's kingship can God's Kingdom be established.

God's Kingdom is the Cherished Desire of All People

We cherish God's Kingdom. Why is this? It is because it is the place where there is true love and the place where True Parents reside. It is the place that will become the ideal nation where we can find a love that is not transitory but lives eternally, transcending time. Also, it is the place where we can be lifted up, and where our value is recognized to the fullest extent. It is the place where we can be happy eternally. These are the reasons that fallen people yearn for the Heavenly Kingdom and long to see it.
We must travel the path that we truly want to travel, and we must build the nation in which we want to live for all eternity. If we possess riches, they must be only those that can be guaranteed as belonging to the cosmos at the same time that they belong to us, and belonging to the past and future at the same time that they belong to the present. We must also possess the authority and knowledge such that when we weep, heaven and earth will weep with us, and when we are joyful, heaven and earth can share our joy. This is the highest desire and cherished hope that fallen humanity must establish in the present age.
All true persons should be able to live in his or her original nation. This is an absolute right and requirement bestowed on human beings. Everyone without exception must live a life filled with a cherished desire for God's ideal Kingdom and His ideal righteousness. This means that we must create an image of the ideal world in our thoughts, and in our daily life follow the path of living for the sake of God's ideal Kingdom and His ideal righteousness.
Do you have such a nation? Because you do not, you must now establish such a nation. What kind of nation did I say this would be? It will be an ideal nation of God our Father and a nation of unity. It will be a nation where all people can live in attendance to the Parents. In the work to establish this nation, no fallen person can be excluded. The family, clan, nation, and world all will cooperate. This is how each individual can become unified internally, and can establish unity within families, clans, societies, nations, and the world.
The omniscient and omnipotent God must accomplish the purpose of His providence on the earth without fail. What, then, will be the result? It will be that God will be able to save all people and exercise His dominion over the world. The purpose of the providence cannot be anything other than the hope for this to come to pass.
If you do not complete the task of restoring a nation on earth within your lifetime, then in the spirit world you will not possess the value of a person of the Kingdom of Heaven. You must take with you to the next life the achievements and qualifications established in the realm of a nation ruled under God's dominion on earth. This is the original standard of God's creation.
I envy nothing of this world. I have no interest in the things of the fallen world. My lifelong cherished desire has been this: "Shouldn't I be able to die in God's ideal nation where God can protect me? If I do not bring this about during my lifetime, then will not mine have been a miserable life? I must establish this nation before I die and live there, even if only for a single day."
For the sake of that single day, I am willing to offer the sacrifices made over thousands of days. You might rest, because you do not understand these things, but I keep going. Even if you cannot do it, I still must do it, even if it requires mobilizing people from other countries. If one nation cannot do it, I must work through other countries to carry out an indirect strategy.
What is the purpose of our faith? It is that we become citizens of God's Kingdom. If we are not citizens of His Kingdom, we are not free to relate with pride to all people and the creation. We are not free to receive their love. A person without a nation is always vulnerable. He stands in a pitiful position. He may suffer unjustly for any number of reasons. This is why we need to know where to find the nation of God's desire; that is, the nation that will serve as God's foothold in the world. This is the essential issue.
Ultimately, we shed blood and sweat for the sake of this nation and its people for the sake of building the eternal heavenly kingdom, and for the sake of building a prosperous society about which our descendants will sing praise through all eternity.
Without a doubt, the children of God's direct lineage will exercise kingly authority in this nation, based on their mandate from Heaven carrying God's full authority. This nation will have neither democracy nor Communism. Once formed, it will endure forever.
When you consider this, aren't you distressed about not being citizens of such a nation? I believe we should be lamenting the fact that we are not able to live in such an ideal country. We must repent that we have not acquired this unique and unchanging kingship.
In attempting to establish such a kingship, nation, and territory, God has established in history nations in the realm of the chosen people where goodness reigned. We know that during this process, many people have died, many ordinary people were sacrificed, many countries were destroyed, and royal authority changed hands many times. Among the people who were sacrificed, there can be no doubt that those standing on Heaven's side, the sorrowful souls who were sacrificed for this purpose, still long for the establishment of such a Kingdom and such a world.

God's Providence to Establish the Ideal Kingdom

We have come to know that after the human fall, Satan, not God, exercised dominion over history. God, however, was originally supposed to be the master of this world. If clans and states formed by families of God's direct children who related to God in a relationship of love had built the world, God would have been able to exercise His dominion over the world, over every nation, over every family, and over every individual. Because of the human fall, however, all individuals, families, clans, societies, nations, and the world now stand in opposition to God. This is the history and world brought about by the fall.
The created world, centering on the Creator, is mired in deep sorrow. If we leave the world as it is, the world of eternal love expressing God's ideal of creation will not come about. But because God, as the Absolute Being, cannot establish His original authority unless He accomplishes His original will, He has used His position as the standard to bring the world of evil under control and lead it to become the world of His original ideal. This has been the history of God's providence with respect to the fallen world.
There are many nations on the earth today that belong to the fallen sovereignty, but there is not even one that is aligned with God's fervent desire. In order to establish a nation through which He can accomplish His will, God has been working throughout history to guide people without their awareness. God created Adam and raised him toward perfection with the desire to have one being through whom He could exercise dominion over all families, societies and the world. As a result of the fall of Adam and Eve, however, the history in which a unified world was to have begun in one family was broken into innumerable pieces as the history of struggle between good and evil. The historical view of the providence of salvation is that all the broken pieces are being arranged and connected.
Since Adam was the ancestor of all human beings, losing Adam as a single individual was the same as losing the entire whole. So God needs to call and establish Adam again. The person who is established must be someone who is able to deny, forsake, and forget his clan and nation of the satanic world and live exclusively for God's will. He must be an absolute true person who goes forward only for the sake of God's will.
All religions share a common purpose ultimately to accomplish God's will. Let us examine this in the context of the origin of the history of Christianity in the realm of the Providence. Noah was situated in the context of a particular people, but he did not wish to be affiliated with that. He belonged to a particular nation, but he refused to be confined by that nation and set out to establish a nation of his own desire. In order to establish such a nation, he had to pass through all manner of trials and adversities.
Noah had relatives and his own people, but he was more concerned with seeking the nation of God's will. God's fervent desire for Noah was that he would seek God's ideal Kingdom and His ideal righteousness and overcome the individual environment.
Can you imagine the extent of Noah's suffering during the trials that continued day after day for 120 years? Even his family forsook him, but Noah accepted all the arrows of opposition and endured for 120 years. He was well aware of the principle that if he ate and drank before seeking God's Kingdom and His righteousness, he and his descendants would have to pay indemnity.
God established Abraham and Sarah and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldeans. They did not know that they were to live in Haran, but they headed for this place with faithful hearts obeying unconditionally. God wanted absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. Even when Sarah was taken away by the Pharaoh, she never begrudged Abraham. Their hearts as they headed for the nation of their desires were such they did not waver even in the face of the most severe persecution.
Jacob had the conviction that the blessing given to him included the nation and people of his fervent desire, and no one could shake him from this conviction. In this way, the will of God expanded from the individual to the family and tribe as our forbears gradually developed a desire that would encompass the world.
Jesus, because of Israel's disbelief and persecution, was forced into a life of wandering. He was unable to fulfill the hope that speaks both to the spirit and the flesh. But the Messiah comes with the mission to break down all barriers in heaven and earth and bring about a single unified whole. God's unchanging will is that we establish without fail the principled state required by heavenly law, and that states structured by principles of the fallen world pass away. God's fervent hope in Adam was not confined to Adam as an individual, but extended to bringing about a family, clan, society and nation from Adam.
When the Messiah's efforts to build a true nation were shattered, Israel suffered enormously. So the Lord who comes again is responsible to perfect and restore the family of Adam and the family of Jesus and fulfill the mission of the Messiah for restoration on a worldwide level in the Completed Testament Age which is the mission of the Third Adam. This person is responsible to advance the Completed Testament Age, the age of the restoration of Adam on a worldwide level, on the foundation of the Old Testament Age, when restoration of the ideal of the first Adam's family was attempted, and the national foundation of the New Testament Age for establishing the restored realm of the ideal of Jesus' family and perfecting the nation. He must also perfect the family, clan, people, nation, and world of God's will centered on the ideal of Adam's realm.
God sent His beloved sons and daughters to the earth to push history forward, toward establishing the nation that is absolutely one. But at the present moment there is no prepared foundation on which the one nation can be restored. Because of repeated failures by fallen human beings, God has sent heavenly persons to the earth to carry out, push forward, and accomplish this task. This is the historical view of the providence of restoration.
We must be grateful, even if God sacrifices us fallen humans as individuals. Even if He sacrifices our families, clans, societies and nations, we must be grateful. Only when such a true individual and a true nation are created can order be brought to the world. If God's Kingdom cannot be built on the foundation of sacrifices made by an individual, then the sacrifice must extend past the individual to the family, clan, and society.
As He carried out the providence to establish His Kingdom, even God has been governed by this principle. Thus, His strategy is that, if an individual were to appear who could live for the sake of the Kingdom, then the family that inherited this person's individual tradition would make the next sacrifice for the sake of the nation, and then a clan and a people would inherit the tradition of this family and sacrifice themselves for the sake of the world. This is how God has carried out the providence to establish His Kingdom. We need to realize for a certainty that this individual is the true father of our true selves, and that he has been working hard to establish each of us as true sons and daughters and establish our families and nations. This realization brings with it the responsibility to recompense.
For what purpose were we born on this earth? We were born to love God's Kingdom. Also, God's love for that Kingdom has motivated Him in carrying out His providence.

Jesus and God's Kingdom

Citizens of a nation that has no sovereignty are in a pitiful situation. This concerned Jesus, and so he told us: "Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the Gentiles seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first God's Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6:31-33) This is the responsibility that must be accomplished by the religious realm. Did he say we should seek after having a son first? Did he say we should seek after our own nations first? Jesus told us to seek after the Kingdom that God seeks.
God's fervent desire to establish His Kingdom and His righteousness cannot be accomplished apart from human beings and the creation. In fact, it is only through human beings that it can be accomplished. This is the principle of God's creation. God desires to be harmonized with the creation through true human beings. That is why God sent Jesus to this earth as a substantial being, a man who could represent the Lord before fallen humanity and bring forth Heaven's lineage. Jesus was the first person who had the purpose of accomplishing God's fervent historical desire on earth.
Jesus was God's son, the first established in this position after 4,000 years of preparation. He was the son of God living on the earth in the midst of a nation centering on Judaism with the seed of the family of Joseph. The satanic side already had established nations and was attacking the side of Heaven, so Heaven's side also needed a nation standing on a complete foundation. This was Jesus' responsibility.
That is why God labored for 4,000 years to form that single nation. The fruit of God's labor was to have come about by the people of Israel accepting Jesus and forming a worldwide foundation. This was to have led to the establishment of a world centered completely on God and Jesus on the earth. Because Jesus died prematurely, however, this world was established only spiritually.
Centering on his three year public life, Jesus attempted to indemnify everything that had been lost centering on Judaism. Jesus was crucified, however, and Israel, which had been established as a substantial body on the earth, as God's national foundation in both spirit and flesh, also perished. Because Jesus died on the cross, Israel perished as a physical nation. The Israelites became a people without a nation, forced to wander the earth as an object of the satanic world's derision. After Jesus' resurrection, the Holy Spirit descended to assume the position of the spiritual parent and on that basis, Christianity could achieve only the spiritual foundation of a nation. This is why we cannot find a nation that is truly Christian in spirit and flesh. So the Lord who comes again must restore the 4,000 year providence by which God created the nation of Israel, and restore all that was lost through the disbelief of the Israelites that resulted from their ignorance.
Jesus came to establish a nation, one nation. He was not able to establish this nation both in spirit and flesh; he established it only in spirit. That is why Christianity today does not have a substantial nation on the earth. This means that God cannot turn to any nation or any people on earth and say, "My beloved nation, my beloved people." This tells us that the foundation for God's Kingdom has not yet been built on this earth. If at the time of Jesus, the nation of Israel had become one centering on Jesus, then that nation would have been God's Kingdom centering on His son, Jesus, and God would have restored the world centering on that nation. As a result of Jesus' death, that is, as a result of the loss of the substantial body, the foundation to connect spirit and flesh on the earth could bear fruit only spiritually.
Until now Christians have been like a people without a country, so they have suffered death everywhere they have gone. Christianity grew through the blood of martyrs. Because of the manner in which Christianity was planted in the world, it could not grow except by the blood of martyrs. Now the time of shedding blood and receiving persecution is over. Instead of dying away and disappearing, however, there has appeared a way of thinking that yearns for God's Kingdom and eagerly awaits the coming Lord in order to establish the lost substantial nation on the basis of Christianity's spiritual foundation. This is the expectation of the Second Coming. Christianity has a heavy responsibility as the bride religion.
Even Jesus is waiting in Paradise. We need to know that he has not yet been able to go before Heaven's throne. Jesus needed to establish national sovereignty before God, rule over a nation, and build a nation that would possess the authority to go directly from earth to Heaven. Because he was not able to build such a nation, Jesus cannot stand before God. So Paradise became the "waiting room" on the way to Heaven. Heaven is a place where no one can enter alone. If the fall had not occurred, we would have gone to Heaven as blessed families, centering on Adam and Eve. We must go there along with our sons and daughters.
In order to restore everything that went wrong beginning with the false parents. The returning Lord repeatedly holds Holy Blessing Ceremonies on the standard of cosmic indemnity, engrafting us to God's true love, true life, and true lineage. Everyone in the world must pass through this gate in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, so it is necessary to hold the Blessing ceremonies so often.
In order to restore this through indemnity, God has been fighting for 2,000 years to build a foundation that can connect to the world. Where there is no national standard, though, who will inherit the foundation of the nation? Because the religious realm does not unite, God is working through a new movement for religious unity centering on Christianity to find such spiritual people and make the necessary preparations,
Respected religious leaders: As humanity enters the third millennium, it is receiving heavenly fortune anew. This is because have entered the age of Great Holy Blessings centered on True Parents, and the age of the world of the realm of heaven and earth ideal has begun.
I hope that all religious people will join their hearts together and follow through on my proposal to establish a council within the United Nations composed of representatives from various religions, parallel with the General Assembly. The reason is that the Kingdom of Heaven and on Earth can be brought about in a very short time, if only the United Nations will join in the effort. If there is one lofty task that the United Nations can perform for the sake of humankind, it would be to contribute to humanity's spiritual recovery on the foundation of God's true love.
For this purpose, I have chosen leaders of good conscience from not only the religious field but also from government, philosophy, business, culture and other fields, and provided true love marriage education that teaches "the life lived for the sake of others." On this foundation, I have already appointed tens of thousands of Ambassadors for Peace. All around the world, they carry the banner of the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace that I founded. They are devoting their full efforts to bringing about the world of peace that will represent the opening of the heavens and is the fervent desire of God and humankind. It will not be long before the will of the almighty, omniscient, and absolute God is accomplished.
I would like to conclude my remarks by asking that the leaders assembled here also become active participants in recreating your families and nations in true love and in bringing about an everlasting world of peace where there are no national boundaries, and take the lead in bringing about nations in accordance with God's Will and accomplishing the blessing ideal of Cheon-il Guk of a world of peace.
I pray that Heaven's blessing may overflow in abundance upon you and your families.
Thank you.