REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
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Showing posts with label Period. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Period. Show all posts
4.3.13
The Life of Jesus as Seen from God's Will, and God's Warning to the Present Age, the Period of the Last Days
18.11.12
The Period of Preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah
Exposition of the Divine Principle
1996 Translation
Chapter 5
The Period of Preparation
for the Second Advent of the Messiah
Section 1
The Period of the Reformation (1517-1648)
The 130-year period of the Reformation began in 1517, when Martin Luther raised the banner of the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and lasted until the wars of religion were settled by the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. The character of this period was shaped by the Renaissance and the Reformation, both products of medieval feudal society. When the purpose of God's providence through medieval society was not fulfilled, the direction of providential history shifted and God worked to establish anew the foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah through the Renaissance and the Reformation. Therefore, we cannot understand the nature of this period without studying these two events.Let us begin by looking back at medieval society and examining what influences it exerted upon the original nature of the people of that age which led them to embark upon the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation. In the late Middle Ages, man's original mind was repressed, its free development blocked by the social environment of feudalism and the secularization and corruption of the Roman church. Faith is the path each person must walk in search of God. Faith should be nurtured through a direct vertical relationship between God and each individual. Yet in that age, the papacy and the clergy, with their rituals and dogmas, constrained the people's devotional life. Moreover, the rigid social stratification of feudalism did not allow for religious freedom. Meanwhile, religious offices were bought and sold. Bishops and priests often exploited their offices to lead lives of luxury and decadence. As a consequence, the papacy lost its sanctity and became no different than other institutions of worldly power. It lost the ability to guide the spiritual lives of the people. In this way, the social environment of the late Middle Ages blocked the path through which the original nature of the people could be restored. Fettered by such circumstances, medieval Europeans were prompted by the impulses of their innermost hearts to break down their social environment to open the way for the restoration of their original nature.
Our original nature may be divided into two aspects: internal and external. Let us examine this with reference to the Principle of Creation. As the substantial object partners to God in image, we resonate with His dual characteristics and bear the likeness of His original internal nature and original external form. The give and take between our internal nature and external form is the basis upon which we exist and thrive. Accordingly, our original nature seeks to fulfill two types of desires: internal and external. When God conducts the providence to restore us, He accommodates these two pursuits of our original nature.
God created the physical self of the first humans before creating their spiritual self.1(Gen. 2:7)CEV|KJ|NI Accordingly, in the providence of restoration, God recreates us by restoring first what is external and then what is internal. It was explained earlier2(cf. Foundation 1.3) that we fallen people can make the substantial offering, which is internal, only after successfully completing the symbolic offering, which is external. After these are achieved, we establish the foundation for the Messiah, which is even more internal.
The process of restoring fallen people's relationship to God has also progressed from external to internal. God first restored people to the position of servant of servants3(Gen. 9:25)CEV|KJ|NI in the period prior to the Old Testament Age by having them offer sacrifices. Next, He restored people to the position of servants4(Lev. 25:55)CEV|KJ|NI in the Old Testament Age through the Mosaic Law. In the New Testament Age, God has restored us to the position of adopted children5(Rom. 8:23)CEV|KJ|NI through our faith. Finally, in the Completed Testament Age, He will restore us to the position of true children through heart.6(cf. Moses and Jesus 3.3.2)
In the same way, God first worked to restore our external social environment through science and then worked to restore our spirituality through religion. In the order of creation, angels, who are external, were created before people, who are internal. In restoration, God first raises up the angelic world, which is external, and mobilizes it for restoring the external, physical world centering on the human body and then the internal, spirit world centering on the human spirit.
Medieval Europeans were to restore their original God-given nature by first severing their ties to Satan, who had defiled the society when the papacy failed its internal responsibility to restore the foundation of faith and sank into immorality. As people pursued the recovery of the internal and external aspects of their original nature, the thought of the age branched out into two movements to recover the heritage of the past, which we distinguish in relative terms as Abel-type and Cain-type. The Cain-type movement began as a revival of Hellenism, the culture and philosophy of ancient Greece and Rome. It gave rise to the Renaissance,7 whose core value was humanism. The Abel-type movement began as a revival of the Hebraic heritage of Israel and the early Christian Church. It gave rise to the Protestant Reformation, whose core value was faith in God.
The trends of Hebraism and Hellenism had formed long ago and had encountered each other several times in the course of prior history. From 2000 B.C., the Minoan civilization flourished on the island of Crete, succeeded by the Mycenaean civilization on the Greek mainland. By the eleventh century, these civilizations had created a Cain-type Hellenic civilization, whose guiding ideology was humanism. Around the same time in the Near East, the Abel-type Hebraic civilization was born, with Jewish monotheism as its guiding ideology. This was the period of the united kingdom. Had the kings of Israel in that period laid the foundation for the Messiah and received him, this flourishing Hebraic civilization could have assimilated the waning Hellenic civilization to form one worldwide civilization. However, when the kings failed to fulfill the Will of God, this dispensation was not accomplished. Instead, after the Jews were taken into exile in Babylon, they returned only to be put under subjection to the Greeks in 333 B.C. and then to Rome in 63 B.C. Thus, during the centuries leading up to and including Jesus' time, Hebraism was placed under the dominion of Hellenism.
Had the Jewish people honored Jesus and united under him, the Roman Empire would have become the messianic kingdom under the reign of Christ. Hebraism then would have assimilated Hellenism to form one worldwide Hebraic civilization. Instead, when Jesus was rejected and this providence was frustrated, Hebraism remained under subjection to Hellenism. In 313 A.D., Emperor Constantine officially recognized Christianity by the Edict of Milan. From that time on, Hebraism gradually began to overcome Hellenism. By the beginning of the eighth century, it had formed two civilizations: Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholic Christianity.
Had the popes and emperors who were responsible for restoring the foundation of faith in the Carolingian period not become faithless, the foundation for the Second Advent of the Messiah would have been established at that time. Hebraism would have completely assimilated Hellenism to form one worldwide civilization. Instead, their faithlessness and immorality allowed Satan to corrupt the guiding medieval ideology, which was founded upon Hebraism. As a consequence, God had to conduct a new dispensation for the separation of Satan. Just as God had divided fallen Adam into Cain and Abel to separate Satan, God divided the prevailing ideology of the Middle Ages into two trends of thought: the movements to revive Cain-type Hellenism and Abel-type Hebraism. These bore fruit in the Renaissance and the Reformation, respectively.
The Hellenic trend of thought, revived by the humanism of the Renaissance, soon took a dominant position over the Hebraic trend. This period was thus to restore through parallel indemnity conditions that phase in the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah when the Jewish people were under the dominion of the Greeks and Hebraism was under subjection to Hellenism. We recall that only by Cain submitting to Abel could Satan be separated from Adam, thereby laying the foundation of substance necessary for receiving the Messiah in Adam's family. Likewise, only by Cain-type Hellenism submitting to Abel-type Hebraism could Satan be separated from the prevailing spirit of the age. Then the foundation of substance necessary for receiving Christ at the Second Advent could be established worldwide.
1.1 The Renaissance
It was explained above that the Renaissance grew out of the external pursuits of the original nature. What values were the medieval people pursuing? Why and how did they pursue these values?According to the Principle of Creation, we are created to attain perfection by fulfilling our given responsibility of our own free will, without God's direct assistance. We are then to attain oneness with God and acquire true autonomy. Therefore, it is the calling of our original nature to pursue freedom and autonomy. A person of perfect character understands the Will of God and puts it into practice through his own insight and reason, without the need to rely on revelations from God. Hence, it is only natural that we pursue reason and understanding. We also are endowed with the God-given right to master the natural world, to tame and cultivate it in order to create a pleasant living environment, by investigating the hidden laws of nature through science. Hence, we value the natural world, pursue science, and esteem the practical life.
In medieval feudal society, the original human nature had long been repressed. Hence, people were all the more ardent in their pursuit of these values, which arose from the external promptings of their original nature. They began to probe into the classical heritage of Hellenism, which they imported from the Muslims as a result of expanded contacts with the East after the Crusades. The classical Greeks and Romans had pursued the external aspirations of the original human nature. They valued freedom, autonomy, reason, the natural world and the practical life. They developed the sciences to a considerable degree. Since these were in full accord with the desire of the original nature in medieval man, the movement to revive the ancient heritage of Hellenism caught fire. Renaissance humanism thus rose to prominence.
The Renaissance came to life in fourteenth-century Italy, which was the center of the study of the classical Hellenic heritage. Though it began as a movement imitating the thought and life of ancient Greece and Rome, it soon developed into a wider movement which transformed the medieval way of life. It expanded beyond the sphere of culture to encompass every aspect of society, including politics, economic life and religion. In fact, it became the external driving force for the construction of the modern world.
1.2 The Reformation
The providence of restoration centering on the medieval papacy did not bear fruit due to the secularization and decadence of the Church leadership. Consequently, as the people advocated humanism, they also rebelled against the ritualism and rules of the Church which were constraining their free devotion. They fought against the stratified feudal system and papal authority which deprived them of autonomy. They protested the medieval view that faith required unquestioning obedience to the dictates of the Church in all areas of life, which denied them the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience based on their own reading of the Bible. They also questioned the other-worldly and ascetic monastic ideal which devalued the natural world, science and the practical affairs of life. Out of these grievances, many medieval Christians revolted against the rule of the papacy.Accordingly, as medieval Europeans sought to realize the external aspirations of their original nature, they also began to pursue its repressed internal aspirations. They called for the revival of the spirit of early Christianity, when believers zealously lived for the Will of God, guided by the words of Jesus and the apostles. This medieval movement to revive Hebraism began with John Wycliffe (1324-1384), a professor of theology at Oxford University, who translated the Bible into English. He asserted that neither the papacy nor the priesthood could determine the standard of faith, but only the Bible itself. Demonstrating that many of the dogmas, ceremonies and rules of the Church had no basis in Scripture, he denounced the priesthood for its decadence, exploitation of the people and abuse of power.
The Protestant Reformation thus had roots in fourteenth-century England, when papal dignity was at a low point. Similar movements for reform also arose in fifteenth-century Bohemia and Italy, but they were crushed and their leaders executed. To raise funds to build St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Leo X began selling indulgences, which Catholic doctrine affirmed would remit the penalty for sin due in the next life. When this indulgence was proclaimed in Germany in 1517, a movement to protest this abuse ignited a fuse which exploded in the Protestant Reformation under the leadership of Martin Luther (1483-1546), a professor of biblical theology at the University of Wittenberg. The flames of the Reformation grew strong and soon spread to Switzerland under the leadership of Huldrych Zwingli (1484-1531), to France as led by John Calvin (1509-1564), and into such nations as England and the Netherlands.
The wars of religion which swirled around the Protestant movements continued for more than one hundred years until 1648, when the Treaty of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years' War. Protestantism triumphed in Northern Europe, while among the peoples of Southern Europe the Roman Catholic church solidified its influence.
The Thirty Years' War between Protestants and Catholics was fought on the soil of Germany. However, this conflict was not simply a religious war. More than that, it was a civil and political conflict to decide the fate of the German states. The Treaty of Westphalia, which concluded this war, was both a religious settlement which established an accommodation between the Protestants and Catholics and a political settlement which resolved international territorial disputes among such nations as Austria, France, Sweden and Spain.
Section 2
The Period of Religious and Ideological Conflicts
(1648-1789)
The period of religious and ideological conflicts refers to the 140 years beginning with the secure establishment of Protestantism at the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and ending with the French Revolution in 1789. As modern people continued to pursue the internal and external desires flowing from their original nature, they could not avoid divisions in theology and disputes among philosophies which arose as they exercised freedom of faith and thought.As previously discussed, God has worked His providence of restoration throughout the course of history by repeatedly separating those representing Abel from those representing Cain, from the individual level to the world level. In the Last Days, this fallen world is divided into the Cain-type communist world and the Abel-type democratic world. Just as the foundation of substance could have been laid in Adam's family had Cain submitted to Abel and obeyed him, in the Last Days the Cain-type world is to submit to the Abel-type world to establish the worldwide foundation of substance. This is necessary before we can receive Christ at the Second Advent and realize the unified world. For this to happen, the two views of life which would later mature into these two worlds had to be developed in this period.
2.1 The Cain-Type View of Life
The pursuit of the external aspects of the original nature first aroused a movement to revive the ancient heritage of Hellenism and gave birth to the humanism of the Renaissance. Renaissance humanism opposed medieval culture by elevating the dignity of human beings and the value of the natural world over devotion to God and religious dedication. The medieval mind had prized obedience to God while belittling the natural world and regarding the human body as base and even sinful. The Renaissance established a new perspective on life, one which exalted the value of human beings and nature and sought to understand them through reason and experience, logic and experiment. Spurred by the progress of natural science, this view of life gave rise to two major schools of modern philosophy: rationalism, based on the deductive method and empiricism, based on the inductive method.Rationalism, founded by the French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650), maintained that the investigation of truth can be founded only on man's innate reason. After doubting every truth received from history and tradition, Descartes was left with only his reason, as expressed in the proposition, "I think; therefore, I am." From this first principle, he used the deductive method to affirm knowledge about the external world. Although Descartes accepted and even tried to prove the existence of God based on reason, later rationalists ended up doubting or even denying God's existence.
The English philosopher Francis Bacon (1561-1626) founded empiricism, which held that truth can be investigated only through one's experience. This school asserted that the human mind is like a blank sheet of paper (tabula rasa). It held that to attain new knowledge, one must erase all prejudices and try to comprehend the truth through experience and observation of the external world. Rationalism, which valued human reason while turning away from God, and empiricism, which prized human experience and experimental science, both did away with mysticism and superstition. Whether by using reason or empirical observation to guide human life, they both tended to divorce human beings and the natural world from God.
The Renaissance launched these two currents of thought, which were rooted in humanism. Instead of facilitating the internal inclination to seek God, it gave birth to a view of life which encouraged people to follow only external pursuits. This blocked their path to God and led them toward Satan's realm. For this reason, it is called the Cain-type view of life. By the turn of the eighteenth century, the Cain-type view of life had broken down the verities enshrined by history and tradition. All matters in human life came to be judged by reason or empirical observation. Anything deemed irrational or other-worldly, including belief in the God of the Bible, was thoroughly discredited. People's energies were narrowly directed toward the practical life. Such was the ideology of the Enlightenment, which developed out of the two trends of empiricism and rationalism. The Enlightenment was the driving force behind the French Revolution.
Representative of this Cain-type view of life was deism, founded by the English philosopher Edward Herbert (1583-1648). Deism propounded a theology rooted entirely in human reason. Deists rejected the notion that there could be any harmony between revelation and reason, a traditional view held since the time of Thomas Aquinas. They limited God to a Creator who set the universe in motion and left it to run of its own accord according to the laws of nature which He had set up. They denied that people had any need of divine revelation or miracles.
In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the German philosopher G.W. F. Hegel (1770-1831) made a comprehensive synthesis of eighteenth-century idealism. However, many of the followers of Hegel were influenced by the atheism and materialism of the French Enlightenment and propounded the school of left-wing Hegelianism, which turned the logic of Hegel's dialectic on its head. D.F. Strauss (1808-1874), a left-Hegelian, wrote The Life of Jesus, which denied the Bible's accounts of Jesus' miracles as fabrications by his credulous followers. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) argued in The Essence of Christianity that God was nothing other than the projection of people's inward psychological nature. Their arguments became foundational for modern atheism and materialism.
Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) systematized the logic of the left-wing Hegelians as dialectical materialism. They were influenced by Strauss and Feuerbach and also by French socialism. They combined dialectical materialism with atheism and socialism to create the ideology of communism. In this way, the Cain-type view of life, which budded after the Renaissance and grew through the Enlightenment into atheism and materialism, matured into the godless ideology of Marxism, which became the cornerstone of the communist world of today.
2.2 The Abel-Type View of Life
Some people regard the progress of history from the medieval to the modern world as a process which has alienated people from God and religion. This is because they view history according to the Cain-type view of life. The original nature, however, not only pursues external values; it also seeks internal values. As medieval people were prompted by their original nature to pursue internal values, a movement arose to revive Hebraism which bore fruit in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation spawned philosophies and religious teachings which developed a multi-dimensional view of life seeking to realize the God-given, original nature of human beings. We call this the Abel-type view of life. Even as the Cain-type view of life led away from God and faith, the Abel-type view of life guided modern people to seek God in a deeper and more thoughtful way.The German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) analyzed philosophically the internal and external pursuits of the original nature, thus pioneering the Abel-type view of life in the philosophical sphere.8 In his Critical Philosophy, he assimilated the conflicting theories of empiricism and rationalism. According to Kant, our various sensations occur by contact with external objects. These alone may give us the contents of cognition but cannot actualize the cognition itself. To have full cognition, one must possess certain forms of intuition and thought (which are a priori and transcendental) with which to unify the various contents (which are a posteriori and experiential) through a synthetic judgment. These forms of intuition and thought are the very subjectivity of the self. Therefore, cognition is actualized when the various sensations coming from external objects are integrated and unified with one's subjective forms by the spontaneous action of thinking and understanding. Thus, Kant overturned empiricism, which held that cognition is determined by external objects, and established a new theory that cognition is governed by the subjective mind. Kant's philosophy was succeeded by a number of idealist philosophers: Johann G. Fichte (1762-1814), Friedrich Schelling (1775-1854) and G.W. F. Hegel. Hegel, in particular, pioneered a new philosophy based on the Hegelian dialectic. Their idealism solidified the Abel-type view of life in the field of philosophy.
In the religious sphere, new movements emerged which opposed the prevailing influence of rationalism in religion and stressed the importance of religious zeal and the inner life. They valued mystical experience over doctrines and rituals. For example, Pietism appeared in Germany under the leadership of Philip Spener (1635-1705). This movement had a strong conservative bent and adhered to the traditional faith while simultaneously emphasizing mystical experience.
Pietism spread to England and flourished among the faithful there, giving rise to new church movements including Methodism, founded by the Wesley brothers (John, 1703-1791, and Charles, 1707-1788). Their work brought about a great revival in England, which had been in a state of spiritual stagnation.
George Fox (1624-1691), the English mystic who founded the Quakers, asserted that Christ is the inner light which illuminates the souls of believers. He insisted that unless one first receives the Holy Spirit, joins in mystical union with Jesus and experiences Christ's inner light, he cannot understand the true meaning of the Bible. The Quakers endured severe persecution in England but eventually prospered in America.
Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was a renowned scientist whose spiritual senses were awakened; he began a systematic investigation of the spirit world and discovered many of its secrets. Although his research was long ignored by theologians, recently, as increasing numbers of people have communicated with the spirit world, its value is gradually being recognized. In these diverse ways, the Abel-type view of life was maturing to form the democratic world of today.
Section 3
The Period of Maturation of Politics,
Economy and Ideology (1789-1918)
The religious and philosophical conflicts in the previous period coalesced into the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life. At the outset of this new period - the period of maturation of politics, economy and ideology - the two views of life matured, taking their separate paths. As they matured, they founded two different forms of society with distinct social structures: a Cain-type society and an Abel-type society. At the same time, politics, economy and ideology (the sphere of religion and philosophy) progressed to the stage just prior to the transition into the ideal world. This period lasted from the French Revolution, through the Industrial Revolution, to the end of the First World War.3.1 Democracy
The earlier discussion of democracy in the context of the progress of history was limited to the social changes which led to its emergence.9(cf. Parallels 7.2) Here, we will examine the internal developments behind the rise of today's democracy, specifically the ideological tides on which it rose out of the swells and eddies of history.In the period of the Christian empire of the ninth century, God had intended that the spiritual kingdom ruled by the papacy and the earthly kingdom ruled by the emperor unite to form a Christian monarchic society as a foundation for the messianic kingdom. This would have established the foundation for the Messiah. A strong messianic kingdom would have brought an early end to feudalism in Europe. Yet because this providence was not realized, feudalism persisted, while Europe's political, religious and economic histories took separate paths of development. The political power of the feudal lords began to wane after the Crusades, declined further during the Renaissance and the Reformation, and became feeble by the time of the Enlightenment. By the seventeenth century, the feudal lords had yielded much of their political power to the kings, who built centralized nation-states and ruled them as absolute monarchs. The kings justified their supreme power by the doctrine of the divine right of kings.
The social causes of the rise of absolute monarchy included, first, the rise of new citizen classes which allied themselves with the kings to fight the feudal lords. Second, in the economic sphere, there arose a need for powerful states with mercantilist economic policies which could protect and control trade to further their national economic interests. The powerful foundation of a nation-state was needed to overcome feudalism and dominate an economy based on trade.
The rise of absolute monarchy is also connected with the progress of providential history, which requires that feudalistic society consolidate into monarchy. However, after God's providence to establish His Kingdom in the Carolingian period failed because the popes and emperors at that time did not unite, the ensuing feudal society under papal rule became corrupt. Developing according to the course which Satan had preempted, it gave birth to monarchic societies on Satan's side.
Let us now examine the ideological trends behind the demise of absolute monarchy with reference to the providence of restoration, which was headed toward the rise of the communist world based on the Cain-type view of life and the democratic world based on the Abel-type view of life. Since medieval feudal society ran counter to both Hebraism and Hellenism, these two ideologies worked in tandem to tear it down as they established societies built upon the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life. Similarly, the absolute monarchies which followed the Protestant Reformation deprived people of freedom of faith, which was a value propounded by democratic Christianity. Absolute monarchy thus ran counter to the goal of the Abel-type view of life. Moreover, the vestiges of feudalism in that society constrained the progress of the citizen class as advocated by leading atheists and materialists, thereby countering the goal of the Cain-type view of life. Therefore, these two views of life worked in tandem to tear down absolute monarchy. They established Cain-type and Abel-type democracies, which would eventually mature into the communist world and the democratic world.
3.1.1 Cain-Type Democracy
Cain-type democracy arose out of the French Revolution. France at the time of the French Revolution was in the grip of the Enlightenment. The thought of the Enlightenment was rooted in the Cain-type view of life and was deviating into atheism and materialism. Swayed by the Enlightenment, French citizens were awakened to the flaws of absolute monarchy. There was also a widespread desire to tear down the remnants of the feudal system, which was still entrenched in the society.The French Revolution was ignited in 1789 by popular calls for democracy from a citizenry schooled in the Enlightenment. They sought to overthrow the power of the ruling class, eradicate the remnants of feudalism, and establish freedom and equality for ordinary citizens, the Third Estate. The French Revolution established democracy with the proclamation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Nonetheless, the democracy born out of the French Revolution was a Cain-type democracy. Although it destroyed absolutism, it sought to firmly secure the Cain-type view of life. The leading thinkers behind the French Revolution were Enlightenment figures such as Denis Diderot (1713-1784) and Jean Le Rond D'Alembert (1717-1783), who adhered to atheism or materialism. Furthermore, despite its ideals of individual freedom and equality, the actual course of French democracy in the years of the revolution and afterward tended toward totalitarianism.
In this way, those espousing the Cain-type view of life championed the Enlightenment and gave rise to the French Revolution, thus establishing Cain-type democracy. It completely blocked the inclination of the human spirit to seek for God. As it continued to develop with its sole focus on the external aspects of life, it would later be systematized into Marxism in Germany and Leninism in Russia, eventually forming the communist world.
3.1.2 Abel-Type Democracy
From their very origins, the democracies which emerged in England and the United States were different from the democracy born out of the French Revolution. The latter was a Cain-type democracy founded by atheists and materialists, who were raised in the Cain-type view of life, as they attempted to dismantle absolutism and feudalism. The English and American democracies, on the other hand, were founded by sincere Christians, the fruits of the Abel-type view of life, and were born out of their victorious fight with absolutism to win religious freedom. Hence, these are Abel-type democracies.Let us examine how Abel-type democracy was established in England and the United States. In England, James I (r. 1603-1625) strengthened absolute monarchy and the state church while persecuting Puritans and other dissenting Christians, many of whom fled to other European nations or to the American continent in search of religious freedom. His son Charles I (r. 1625-1649) was met with rebellion by the Presbyterians of Scotland, who rallied around the National Covenant in 1640. The Puritans, who formed the core membership of the English Parliament, then launched the Puritan Revolution under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell in 1642.
Later, after Charles II (r. 1660-1685) restored absolute monarchy and strengthened the Anglican church against all other Christians, and his son James II (r. 1685-1688) declared himself a Catholic, Protestant leaders invited William of Orange (r. 1688-1702), his son-in-law, who was at that time Stadtholder of the Netherlands, to intervene. In 1688, William landed in England with his troops to defend religious freedom and civil rights. Upon his enthronement, William approved the Declaration of Rights offered to him by the Parliament, which recognized the Parliament's independent rights. This became foundational for the English constitutional monarchy. Since the revolution of 1688 was accomplished without bloodshed, it came to be known as the Glorious Revolution.
Although there were external causes of these English revolutions, such as the citizens' desire for political freedom from the ruling class including the nobility and the Anglican priesthood, the more internal cause was the drive to gain religious freedom.
Many Puritans and dissenting Christians who had been persecuted in England emigrated to the American continent to obtain religious freedom. They founded an independent nation in 1776 and established American democracy. Born out of the Abel-type view of life, Abel-type democracy has developed from these beginnings into the democratic world of today.
3.2 The Significance of the Separation of Powers
The concept of the separation of powers into three branches of government was advocated by Montesquieu (1689-1755), a leading thinker of the Enlightenment. It sought to prevent the concentration of political power in the hands of a single individual or institution, as was the case with political absolutism. The idea was proclaimed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man during the French Revolution.From the beginning, the separation of powers was to be characteristic of the political structure of the ideal society which God has been working to realize. Yet here again, as we observe throughout the course of the providence, Satan was defectively mimicking an aspect of the Principle ahead of its realization by God. Let us then briefly examine the political structure of the ideal world.
The universe, as we have seen, is patterned after the structure of a perfect human being. By the same token, the ideal world to be built by fully mature people is also to resemble the structure and functions of a perfect individual.10(cf. Creation 1.1; 1.2; 3.2) By analogy with the human body, whose organs function in accordance with the subtle commands of the brain, all the institutions of the ideal global society are to abide by the desires of God. Just as the commands of the brain are transmitted to every part of the body through the peripheral nervous system branching out from the spinal cord, in the ideal world God's guidance is conveyed to the entire society through Christ, who corresponds to the spinal cord, and God-loving leaders, who correspond to the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system branching out from the spinal cord corresponds to a nation's political parties. Thus, in the ideal world, people of God led by Christ will form organizations analogous to today's political parties.
In the human body, the lungs, heart and stomach maintain harmonious interaction in accord with the directions of the brain, transmitted through the spinal cord and the peripheral nervous system. By analogy, the three branches of government in the ideal world - the legislative, judicial and executive branches - will interact in harmonious and principled relationships when they follow God's guidance as conveyed through Christ and people of God. Just as the four limbs of the body move according to the commands of the brain for the welfare of the individual as a whole, the economic institutions of the ideal world, corresponding to the limbs, will uphold the desire of God and promote the welfare of the entire world. Just as the liver stores nourishment for the entire body, in the ideal world there will always be a certain reserve to be tapped as needed for the public good.
Since every part of the human body has a vertical relationship with the brain, horizontal relationships are naturally established between the different organs to form an integrated organism. Likewise, in the ideal world, because people's horizontal relationships with each other are rooted in their vertical relationship with God, they will form one integrated and interdependent society in which they share all their joys and sorrows. In this society, to hurt someone else will be experienced as hurting one's own self. Hence, its citizens simply will not want to commit crime.
Let us now examine how, in the providence of restoration, God has been working to restore this ideal social structure. In the course of Western history, there was a time when the functions of the three branches of government and the political parties were concentrated in one individual, the king. This was modified from time to time when the king dominated the government, while the Church under the leadership of the papacy played a role similar to that of a political party. The political system underwent a fundamental change at the time of the French and American Revolutions when the government was divided into the three branches - legislative, judicial and executive - and political parties took on distinct roles. With the establishment of constitutional democracy, the framework for the ideal political system was set up.
Thus, political systems have changed over the course of history because fallen human society was being restored to the ideal society, the structure and functions of which will be patterned after a perfected individual. Today's democracies, characterized by the three separate branches of government and a proliferation of political parties, resemble the structure of a healthy human body to some extent. Nevertheless, because of the Fall, today's democracies in fact bear more of a likeness to the body of a sick or injured person. They cannot fully display their original qualities and functions in their full potential. Since the political parties are ignorant of the Will of God, they may be compared to a nervous system which is unable to transmit directions from the brain. Since constitutions are not written in accordance with the Word of God, the three branches of government currently function like internal organs which cannot sense or respond to the commands of the brain because the peripheral nerves have been severed. They lack order and harmony, and suffer continual conflicts among themselves.
Therefore, Christ at the Second Advent will remedy the illness of the present political system that it may reflect God's design by restoring people's vertical relationship with God. This will unleash society's true potential.
3.3 The Significance of the Industrial Revolution
God's ideal of creation cannot be fulfilled merely by forming a world without sin. God blessed human beings to have dominion over the universe.11(Gen. 1:28)CEV|KJ|NIWe are to seek for the hidden laws of nature and advance science and technology to create a pleasant living environment. Religion and science have shouldered their respective responsibilities for helping fallen people overcome the internal and external aspects of their ignorance. Therefore, in the Last Days of history, we can expect not only the emergence of a truth which can guide people to completely alleviate their spiritual ignorance; we may also expect the progress of science to solve all the mysteries of the physical universe.12(cf. Eschatology 4.3) Together, they will bring human society to the stage just prior to the realization of the ideal world. Thus, we can understand that the Industrial Revolution which began in England arose out of God's providence to restore the living environment to one suitable for the ideal world.The economic structure of the ideal society also resembles the structure of a healthy human body. Production, distribution and consumption should have an organic, interdependent relationship such as that which exists between the digestive, circulatory and metabolic systems. There should not be destructive competition due to overproduction; nor should there be excessive accumulation or overconsumption due to unfair distribution, which would be contrary to the welfare of all people. There should be adequate production of necessary and useful goods, fair distribution to supply what is sufficient for people's needs, and reasonable consumption in harmony with the purpose of the whole.
The mass production born of the Industrial Revolution led England to claim vast colonies as sources of raw materials and markets for goods. In so doing, the Industrial Revolution opened up a vast territory for the propagation of the Gospel. Accordingly, it contributed to both the internal and external aspects of the providence of restoration.
3.4 The Rise of the Great Powers
We have seen how after the Renaissance, the unitary worldview of medieval Europe was divided into Cain- and Abel-type views of life. These gave rise to two types of political revolutions and founded two types of democracies, both of which were greatly strengthened as a result of the Industrial Revolution. The two types of democracies were on the course to form the democratic and the communist worlds.Following the Industrial Revolution, spurred by the rapid progress of science, industrialization created economies characterized by over-production. The great powers of Europe, which felt an urgent need to pioneer new lands as markets for their products and as sources of raw materials for their factories, grew strong as they competed with each other in the scramble for colonies. Thus, two factors - the two trends in ideology and the course of economic development following the progress of science - caused the later political division of the world into two blocs: the democratic world and the communist world.
3.5 Religious Reforms and Political
and Industrial Revolutions since the Renaissance
The Cain-type movement which began with the revival of Hellenism overthrew the medieval world and gave birth to the humanism of the Renaissance. As this movement developed further, moving in Satan's direction, it gave birth to the Enlightenment, which may be regarded as the second renaissance in the current of ideology. Enlightenment thought further matured in the satanic direction, giving birth to historical materialism, which is the core of communist ideology. This may be regarded as the third renaissance.Since the satanic side mimics in advance the providence of God, we may expect that God's providence calls for three stages of revolution to take place in each of the three spheres of religion, politics and economy. In the sphere of religion, the first reformation took place under Martin Luther's leadership after the first renaissance. A second reformation was launched after the second renaissance by the spiritual movements led by people such as the Wesley brothers, Fox and Swedenborg. From our examination of the progress of history, it is evident that a third reformation will occur following the third renaissance. Indeed, the state of today's Christianity desperately calls for such a reformation.
In the political sphere, we can surmise that reform also is taking place in three stages. First, medieval feudal society collapsed under the weight of the first renaissance and the first reformation. Next, absolute monarchy was destroyed by the forces unleashed by the second renaissance and the second reformation. Finally, the communist world was formed by the political revolutions brought on by the third renaissance. Through the coming third religious reformation, the democratic world on God's side will triumph in the ideological war and bring the communist world on Satan's side to its knees. Then the two worlds will unite into one Kingdom of Heaven on earth under God.
The economic changes which follow the religious and political reforms have been progressing in three industrial revolutions. The first Industrial Revolution originated in England and was based on the steam engine. A century later, the second Industrial Revolution took place in many advanced nations based on electricity and the gasoline engine. The third Industrial Revolution will flower by safely tapping the power of the atom; it will construct a pleasant living environment for the ideal world. In the centuries of preparation prior to the Second Advent of the Messiah, the three stages of revolutions in the three spheres of religion, politics and industry, which followed the three renaissances, have been a necessary course for the construction of the ideal world, as required by the principle of development through three stages.
Section 4
The World Wars
4.1 The Providential Causes of the World Wars
Wars break out due to such factors as conflicts of political and economic interests and clashes of ideology. Yet these are merely external causes. There are also internal causes of wars, just as there are internal and external motives for every human action. Human actions are decided by the free will of the individual, who is trying both to respond externally to the situation with which he is confronted and to follow his internal tendency toward the Will of God and the advancement of His providence of restoration. Therefore, the good or evil of a human action should not be judged only by external motives. The same can be said of the world wars, which have resulted from the worldwide collision between the actions of numerous individuals arising from their free will. Accordingly, we cannot grasp the providential significance of the world wars by focusing only on conflicts of political and economic interests, ideological clashes and other such external causes.What are the internal, providential causes of the world wars? First, the world wars have resulted from Satan's last desperate struggle to preserve his sovereignty. Since the Fall of the first human ancestors, Satan has been building defective, unprincipled imitations of God's ideal world. Aiming to restore the ideal world of His Principle, God has been in pursuit, gradually expanding His dominion by reclaiming it from the unprincipled world under Satan's bondage.13(cf. Parallels 7.1)Accordingly, in the course of the providence of restoration, a false representation of the ideal appears before the emergence of its true manifestation. The biblical prophecy that the antichrist will appear before the return of Christ is an illustration of this truth.
Human history under Satan's evil sovereignty will end with the Second Advent of Christ. Then it will be transformed into the history of humanity abiding in the realm of God's good sovereignty. At that time, Satan will put up a last-ditch fight. When the Israelites were about to leave Egypt in the national course to restore Canaan, Satan worked through the Pharaoh to wage a bitter struggle to keep them in bondage. By virtue of this, God's side was entitled to strike him with three supernatural signs. Similarly, in the Last Days, Satan has been putting up his last struggle to undermine God's side as it has prepared itself to embark upon the worldwide course to restore Canaan. God's three counterattacks to Satan's aggressions have manifested themselves as the three world wars.
Second, the three world wars have occurred in order to fulfill the worldwide indemnity conditions to restore the three great blessings. Upon creating human beings, God gave them three blessings: to reach individual perfection, multiply as an ideal family and have dominion over the creation.14(Gen. 1:28)CEV|KJ|NI By fulfilling these blessings, our first ancestors were to build the Kingdom of Heaven on the earth. Since God Himself created human beings and blessed them, He did not annul these blessings just because they fell. God had to allow fallen people to build an unprincipled world that has imitated the three blessings, though defectively, under Satan's leadership. Accordingly, at the consummation of human history, unprincipled worlds have emerged which have realized defectively the outward form of the three blessings: an individual championing Satan's causes, multiplication of satanic children, and the conquest of the world under Satan's domination. To fulfill the worldwide indemnity conditions to restore God's three great blessings, three world conflicts must break out by which God can prevail over these satanic worlds through the three stages of formation, growth and completion.
Third, the three world wars have occurred so that all humanity may overcome on the world level the three temptations by which Satan tempted Jesus. As Jesus' disciples, Christians are to follow the course of their Teacher and overcome the three temptations which he confronted in the wilderness as individuals, families, nations and at the world level.
Fourth, the world wars have taken place to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition to restore God's sovereignty. Had the first human beings not fallen but reached perfection by passing through the three stages of the growing period, they would have realized the world of God's sovereignty. Similarly, worldwide restoration must pass through three stages. The restoration of this world requires that it first be divided into Cain-type and Abel-type worlds, and that there be three final wars in which the heavenly, Abel-type world prevails over the satanic, Cain-type world. This is a condition to restore through worldwide indemnity Cain's murder of Abel. After that, the world of God's sovereignty can be established. Accordingly, the world wars are the final global conflicts in human history, restoring horizontally through indemnity the purpose of all the wars that have been waged for the restoration of God's sovereignty in the vertical course of the providence.
4.2 The First World War
4.2.1 Summary of the Providence in the First World War
Absolute monarchy had come to an end as a consequence of the Cain-type and Abel-type democratic revolutions, which had arisen out of the Cain-type and Abel-type views of life. The Industrial Revolution which followed cleared away the remnants of feudalism and led to the ascendancy of capitalism. This was followed by the age of imperialism.In the political sphere, the First World War was a conflict between Abel-type democracies, which pursued the goal of the providence of restoration, and authoritarian states where Cain-type democratic ideals were thriving and which stood in opposition to the goals of the providence of restoration. It was fought between the imperialist nations on God's side and the imperialist nations on Satan's side. In terms of economic interests, this war was a conflict between more established and newly industrializing capitalist nations over colonies. In the sphere of religion and ideology, the Cain-type nations included Turkey, a Muslim nation persecuting Christianity, and its allies, Germany and Austria-Hungary. They fought the Abel-type nations of Great Britain, the United States, France and Russia, which generally upheld Christianity. At the conclusion of the First World War, the Abel-type democracies had gained victory at the formation stage.
4.2.2 What Decides God's Side and Satan's Side?
The question of which nations are on God's side and which are on Satan's side is decided based on the direction of God's providence of restoration. Those who are in line with the direction of God's providence or are acting in concert with that direction, even indirectly, are on the side of God, while those who take an opposing position are on the side of Satan. Therefore, whether or not an individual or nation belongs to God's side or Satan's side is not always in agreement with the judgment of our common sense or conscience. For example, someone who is ignorant of God's providence may judge that Moses' killing of the Egyptian taskmaster was evil. Yet, it may be regarded as a good act because it was in line with God's providence. Likewise, the Israelites invaded the land of Canaan and killed many Canaanites seemingly without much justification. To someone ignorant of God's providence, their action might seem evil and cruel; nevertheless, it was just in the sight of God. Even if there were more good-hearted people among the Canaanites than among the Israelites, at that time the Canaanites collectively belonged to Satan's side, while the Israelites collectively belonged to God's side.Let us further investigate this concept in the sphere of religion. Since the goal of every religion is goodness, every one of them belongs to God's side. However, when a religion obstructs the path of another religion which stands closer to the center of God's providence, it will find itself standing on Satan's side. A religion is given a mission for its age, but if, after its time of responsibility has passed, it becomes an obstacle to an emerging religion which comes with a new mission for the next age, then it stands on the side of Satan. Before the coming of Jesus, Judaism and its believers stood on God's side. However, when they persecuted Jesus, who came with a new mission - which among other things would have fulfilled the purpose of Judaism - they moved to the side of Satan, irrespective of how faithfully they had served God in the past.
In the modern world, systems which espouse the Abel-type view of life belong to God's side while those which espouse the Cain-type view of life stand on Satan's side. For example, no matter how ethical and sacrificial a materialistic thought rooted in the Cain-type view of life may appear from a humanistic perspective, it still belongs to Satan's side. For this reason, the communist world can be judged to be the satanic world. On the other hand, since the democratic world, which grants religious freedom, is based on the Abel-type view of life, it may be judged to be on God's side.
Christianity was established as the central religion with the ultimate mission to fulfill the goals of all religions.15(cf. Eschatology 2.3) Hence, any nation which persecutes Christianity or obstructs its progress, either directly or indirectly, stands on Satan's side. In the First World War, the Allied Powers led by Great Britain, the United States, France and Russia were Christian nations; moreover, they had been fighting to liberate the Christians under persecution in Turkey. Thus, they stood on God's side. On the other hand, Germany and Austria-Hungary, the leading Central Powers, supported Turkey, a Muslim nation which persecuted Christianity. Therefore, together with Turkey, they stood on Satan's side.
4.2.3 The Providential Causes behind the First World War
What were the providential, internal causes of the First World War? The First World War had to take place, first, to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition to restore God's three great blessings at the formation stage. Satan has been constructing in advance a defective imitation of God's ideal world, which was to have been established by Adam. Hence, there should appear at the end of history an unprincipled world which has realized a distorted, outward form of the three blessings at the formation stage, led by an antitype of Adam on Satan's side. God's side should then prevail over this unprincipled world to fulfill the indemnity condition.In fact, Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941) of Germany, who launched the First World War, was this antitype of Adam on Satan's side. He was in the formation-stage likeness of one who has attained individual perfection. He displayed the form of having fulfilled the blessing of multiplying children by advocating Pan-Germanism, and displayed a form of dominion over the creation by implementing his policy of world hegemony. In this manner, the Kaiser realized an unprincipled world completing a satanic imitation of the three great blessings at the formation stage. The First World War was to fulfill the worldwide formation-stage indemnity condition to restore, in the future, the world where the three great blessings will actually be completed centering on God.
Second, the First World War took place in order to have people on God's side collectively overcome Jesus' first temptation on the world level. In light of the meaning of Jesus' three temptations, we can recognize that God's side had to prevail in the First World War to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore God's first blessing worldwide. By prevailing in his first temptation in the wilderness, Jesus recovered himself, symbolized by the rock, and laid the foundation to restore perfection of individual character. Likewise, by prevailing in the First World War, God's side not only was to defeat Satan's world and its center, it also was to build God's world and lay the foundation for its own center, Christ at the Second Coming. This was to be the basis upon which the returning Christ could be born and perfect his individual character.
Third, the First World War took place in order to lay the formation-stage foundation for the restoration of God's sovereignty. Democracy arose to bring an end to authoritarian monarchic regimes and as the final political system with the mission to restore God's sovereignty.16(cf. Parallels 7.2.6) In the First World War, God's side was responsible to be victorious and expand its political territory to Christianize the world. By thus establishing a vast and firm political and economic foundation, it would secure the formation-stage foundation for the democratic world and, at the same time, the formation-stage foundation to restore God's sovereignty.
4.2.4 The Providential Results of the First World War
The victory of the Allied Powers in the First World War fulfilled the formation-stage indemnity condition to restore God's three great blessings worldwide. By overcoming Jesus' first temptation on the worldwide level, they fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore God's first blessing worldwide. The victory of democracy also established the formation-stage foundation for the restoration of God's sovereignty. With the defeat of the satanic world and its ruler, the Kaiser, the world on God's side won the formation-stage victory and laid the foundation for the birth of the returning Christ, who is destined to be the Lord of God's world.Contemporaneous with this, communism was established in Russia. Stalin soon rose to power as the antitype of Christ at the Second Advent on Satan's side. Since Christ comes with the ideals of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth - interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values - the satanic side tries to realize these ideals in advance by building an imitation of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, led by the satanic counterpart to Christ at the Second Advent.
In conclusion, with the victory of God's side in the First World War, the foundation was laid for the Second Advent of the Messiah. From that time, the formation stage of the dispensation of the Second Advent commenced.
4.3 The Second World War
4.3.1 Summary of the Providence in the Second World War
The spiritual origin of modern democracy lies in the people's striving to realize the values of the Abel-type view of life. Democracy follows the internal and external aspirations of the original human nature and will certainly develop in the direction of God's ideal world. Fascism, on the other hand, constrains people from following the aspirations of their original nature. In the Second World War, democracy, while standing upon the formation stage victory attained in the First World War, defeated fascism and secured victory at the growth stage.4.3.2 The Nature of Fascism
When economic depression overwhelmed the world in the 1930s, some nations tried to break out of it by adopting fascism. This was the road taken by Germany, Japan and Italy, which felt isolated and beset by adversity.What, then, is fascism? Fascism denies the fundamental values of modern democracy, including respect for the individual and his basic rights, freedoms of speech, the press and association, and the parliamentary system. Race or nationality is the ultimate value, to be upheld by a strong nation-state. Individuals and institutions exist only for the benefit of the state. Under fascism, individuals cannot claim freedom as their inviolable right; they are to sacrifice their freedom in their duty to serve the state. The guiding political principle of fascism holds that all power and authority should be entrusted in one supreme leader rather than distributed among people. The personal will of the leader dictates the governing ideology for the entire nation. Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, and the leaders of Japan's militaristic government were dictators of the fascist type.
4.3.3 The Nations on God's Side and the Nations
on Satan's Side in the Second World War
In the Second World War, an alliance of the democratic nations of the United States, Great Britain and France led the nations on God's side. Satan's side was the alliance of the fascist nations: Germany, Japan and Italy. What determined that the former stood on God's side and the latter on Satan's side? The Allies stood on God's side because their political systems were democracies, the political system for the final stage in the providence of restoration founded upon the Abel-type view of life. The Axis Powers, on the other hand, stood on Satan's side because they upheld fascism, which was anti-democratic and stemmed from the Cain-type view of life. Moreover, the Allies and Axis Powers were separated into God's side and Satan's side because the former nations supported Christianity while the latter opposed and persecuted Christianity.Germany, the leader of the Axis Powers, deprived people of their basic freedoms, and its ideological oppression denied them their religious freedom. Furthermore, Hitler massacred six million Jews. After concluding a concordat with the pope, Hitler attempted to subordinate the churches under the control of cooperative bishops while corrupting Christianity into a nationalistic neo-paganism based on primitive Germanic religion. In protest, some Protestants and Catholics put up bitter resistance.
Japanese militarists during the Second World War forced every church in Korea to install a kamidana, an altar for the Japanese Shinto gods, and compelled Korean Christians to worship at Shinto shrines. Those Christians who did not comply were imprisoned or killed. Korean Christians who had fled to Manchuria in search of religious freedom were brutally massacred. These measures against Korean Christianity were intensified toward the end of the war.
Italy supported Germany's cause as one of the Axis Powers. Against the general thrust of God's providence, Mussolini promoted Catholicism as the state religion with the selfish intention to use it for unifying the people under his fascist regime. On these grounds, Germany, Japan and Italy during the war may be classified as the nations on Satan's side.
4.3.4 The Providential Roles of the Three Nations
on God's Side and Satan's Side
One purpose behind the Second World War was to fulfill the worldwide condition of indemnity at the growth stage to restore God's three great blessings, as was meant to occur at the time of Jesus. In the beginning, it was due to the Fall of Adam, Eve and the Archangel that God's three great blessings were not realized. Therefore, in the restoration of the three blessings, there necessarily have to be three actors taking these respective roles. Thus, God spiritually restored the three blessings in the providence of spiritual salvation through the joint efforts of the resurrected Jesus as the second Adam, the Holy Spirit representing Eve,17(cf. Christology 4.1) and angels. Accordingly, during the Second World War, the three nations on God's side representing Adam, Eve and the Archangel led the fight against the three nations on Satan's side, which also represented Adam, Eve and the Archangel. The victory of the nations on God's side would make a growth-stage indemnity condition for the restoration of the three great blessings. Satan, who was aware of this providence, took the lead by mustering the three nations representing Adam, Eve and the Archangel on his side and had them attack the three nations on God's side.The United States, as a masculine type of nation, represented Adam on God's side. Great Britain, as a feminine type of nation, represented Eve on God's side. France, as a mixed type of nation, represented the Archangel on God's side. On Satan's side, Germany, as a masculine type of nation, represented Adam; Japan, as a feminine type of nation, represented Eve; and Italy, as a mixed type of nation, represented the Archangel. In the First World War, the United States, Great Britain and France had represented at the formation stage these three positions on God's side, while Germany, Austria and Turkey took these positions on Satan's side.
The Soviet Union, a nation on Satan's side, participated in the Second World War on God's side. How was it possible? When medieval society could not fulfill its providential purpose, it became a hindrance to both God's side and Satan's side, which then divided and began developing along paths leading to the maturation of the democratic world and the communist world. The Cain-type and Abel-type views of life worked in tandem to break down medieval feudal society and later, absolute monarchy and imperialism. Just as God's providence progresses while riding on the currents of its time, Satan's effort to build an unprincipled imitation of the ideal world is also bound to the currents of its time. When the prevailing social order obstructs the formation of new societies, including those furthering Satan's goals, Satan joins in the fight to destroy it.
In a similar fashion, fascism had become an obstacle to both Satan's side and God's side. Because the providence of restoration through indemnity required that God temporarily permit Satan's side to form the communist world, the Soviet Union in the Second World War was allowed to join forces with the nations on God's side to destroy fascism, in order that it might quickly build up its communist state. Nevertheless, as soon as the Second World War was over, the communist world and the democratic world separated like oil and water.
4.3.5 The Providential Causes behind the Second World War
The internal, providential causes behind the Second World War were as follows: First, the war broke out to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage to restore God's three great blessings. The ideal world where God's three blessings are fulfilled, which could not be realized by Adam due to the Fall, was to have been realized by Jesus, whom God sent as the Second Adam. Yet this ideal was realized only spiritually because Jesus died on the cross. Since Satan tries to realize in advance a defective imitation of the ideal world, at the consummation of history, there will surely emerge an unprincipled world which has realized defectively the outward form of the three great blessings at the growth stage under the leadership of a satanic antitype of Jesus. God's side must prevail over this world and thereby fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage required for the restoration of the ideal world, where the three great blessings are fully realized centering on God.Hitler was the satanic antitype of Jesus. Though his will was totally contrary to Jesus', certain aspects of Hitler's life mimicked in a perverted manner some of the events in Jesus' life: his grandiose vision, his single life and the disappearance of his corpse are examples. Hitler was also the satanic antitype of perfected Adam at the growth stage. He made a travesty of the blessing of the multiplication of children by advocating the purity of the German people as the master race and mimicked the blessing of dominion over the creation by his policy of world conquest. In this manner, Hitler realized an unprincipled world with a satanic form of the three blessings, fulfilled at the growth stage. By prevailing in the Second World War, God's side was to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage to restore the ideal world of God's three blessings.
The second providential cause behind the war was to have the people on God's side overcome Jesus' second temptation on the world level. In light of the meaning of Jesus' three temptations, we can recognize that God's side had to prevail in the Second World War to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore worldwide God's second blessing. As Jesus laid the foundation for the restoration of children by overcoming the second temptation in the wilderness, God's side was to lay the worldwide growth-stage foundation for democracy by triumphing in the Second World War.
The third providential cause behind the war was to lay the growth-stage foundation for the restoration of God's sovereignty. By the victory of God's side in the First World War, the democratic world had secured its formation-stage foundation. Working to build the Cain-type world, Satan's side also benefited from the collapse of Czarist absolutism during the First World War and laid the formation-stage foundation for the communist world. During the Second World War, the communist world and the democratic world built their separate growth-stage foundations before parting company at the conclusion of the war. Building this growth-stage foundation for the democratic world restored the growth-stage foundation of God's sovereignty.
4.3.6 The Providential Results of the Second World War
The victory of God's side in the Second World War fulfilled the growth-stage indemnity condition to restore God's three great blessings worldwide. Having the significance of overcoming Jesus' second temptation on the world level, the victory fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore God's second blessing worldwide. Finally, by laying the growth-stage foundation for the democratic world, it established the growth-stage foundation to restore God's sovereignty.While Hitler was the antitype of Jesus on Satan's side, Stalin was the antitype of the Second Advent of Christ on Satan's side. The fact that Hitler and his nation were destroyed, while Stalin and his foundation of worldwide communism grew strong, indicated that the time for building the spiritual kingdom under the leadership of the resurrected Jesus had passed, and the age for building a new heaven and new earth18(Rev. 21:1-7)CEV|KJ|NI under the leadership of Christ at the Second Advent had begun.
At the conclusion of the Second World War, the growth stage of the dispensation of the Second Advent commenced. Many Christians began receiving revelations about the return of Jesus, and God's spiritual works began occurring throughout the world. Since then, the established churches have become increasingly confused, divided and secularized; they have been gradually losing the heart of their spiritual life. These are phenomena of the Last Days, occurring on account of God's final providence to unify all religions through the new, ultimate expression of the truth.
4.4 The Third World War
4.4.1 Is the Third World War Inevitable?
We know that because God gave the first human ancestors the blessing to rule the universe, when Satan works through fallen people to create an unprincipled imitation of the world where this blessing is fulfilled, God has to allow it. On the heels of Satan, God conducts His providence to claim back Satan's world and its fruits. At the consummation of human history, Satan's side and God's side will strive until they each attain sovereignty over a world. This is why the democratic world and the communist world stand confronting each other. Consequently, it became inevitable that there be world wars, first to divide and then to unify these two worlds.The First and Second World Wars had the providential purpose of dividing the globe into the communist world and the democratic world. Afterward, yet another war must take place to bring about their unification. This conflict is the Third World War. It is inevitable that the Third World War take place; however, there are two possible ways it may be fought.
One way to bring Satan's side to surrender is through armed conflict. However, at the conclusion of the conflict, there should come an ideal world in which all humanity is to rejoice together. This can never be built merely by defeating enemies in battle. Afterward, they must be brought to submission internally, that everyone may be reconciled and rejoice sincerely from the bottom of their hearts. To accomplish this, there must come a perfect ideology which can satisfy the desires of the original nature of all people.
The other way this war may be fought is as a wholly internal, ideological conflict, without the outbreak of armed hostilities, to bring Satan's world to submission and unification in a short time. People are rational beings. Therefore, a perfect, unified world can be established only when people submit to one another and participate in unification through a profound reawakening.
By which of these two ways will the Third World War actually be fought? It depends upon success or failure in carrying out the human portion of responsibility.
From where will the ideology essential to the resolution of this conflict and the establishment of the new world come? It surely cannot come out of the communist world, rooted in the Cain-type view of life, since the Cain-type view of life opposes the internal aspirations of the original human nature. Rather, this ideology must arise out of the democratic world, which is rooted in the Abel-type view of life. Nonetheless, it is a fact of history that no conventional ideology among those prevailing in the democratic world can effectively defeat communist ideology. Therefore, a hitherto unknown ideology will emerge from within the democratic world.
For the new ideology to be born, there must first arise a new expression of the truth. This new truth is the essence of the Abel-type view of life and the core of democracy. As has been the case in the past, when the new expression of truth appears, it may contradict the old expressions of truth in which many people have believed. Hence, even the democratic world will be divided into two camps which, like Cain and Abel, will be pitted against each other. When the new truth secures a victorious foundation in the democratic world and then conquers communist ideology, the unification of the world will be achieved based on the one truth.
Satan knew God's plan to unify the world through the one truth and presented a false imitation of the truth in order to unify humanity centering on himself. This false truth is dialectical materialism. Dialectical materialism denies the existence of any spiritual reality, setting up an explanation of the universe based on a wholly materialistic logic. In denying the existence of God, it also denies the existence of Satan. Thus, in promoting dialectical materialism, Satan was effectively denying his own reality, even risking his own demise. Satan understood what would unfold at the close of human history and knew well that he would surely perish. Accepting that this was not the time to be worshipped, he rose in a monstrous denial of God, even at the sacrifice of himself. This is the spiritual root of dialectical materialism. As long as the democratic world lacks the truth which can overturn this evil doctrine, it will always be vulnerable and on the defensive. For this reason, someone on God's side must proclaim the perfect truth.
4.4.2 Summary of the Providence in the Third World War
The Third World War is the final conflict in the providence of restoration. Through this war, God intends that the democratic world bring the communist world to submission and build the ideal world. Leading up to the First World War, the nations on God's side had expanded their political and economic dominion by claiming colonies throughout the world, to be used by God for His providence. At the conclusion of the war, these nations laid the worldwide formation-stage foundation for democracy. Through the Second World War, they laid the worldwide growth-stage foundation for democracy, thereby firmly consolidating the democratic world. During the Third World War, God's side is to found the perfect Abel-type view of life based on the new truth and complete the worldwide completion-stage foundation for democracy. God's side is then to guide all of humanity into one unified world. In summary, the Third World War is the last great war at the close of history, when God's side restores horizontally through indemnity all that was lost to Satan throughout the three stages of the prolonged providence.4.4.3 The Providential Causes behind the Third World War
As was explained above, whether the Third World War is waged by force of arms or as an ideological conflict depends upon the responsibility of the people who are serving the providence of God. Regardless, it is inescapable that this worldwide conflict take place.What are the internal, providential causes behind the Third World War? First, the war has to take place to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the completion stage to restore God's three great blessings. When Jesus could accomplish the providence of restoration only spiritually due to the disbelief of the people, it became necessary that he return and restore the world of God's ideal both spiritually and physically. Yet, since Satan realizes in advance a defective form of God's ideal, at the consummation of history there will emerge an unprincipled world with the pretense of having restored the three great blessings under the leadership of a satanic antitype of Christ at the Second Advent. By prevailing over this satanic world, God's side is responsible to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the completion stage to restore the ideal world in which the three great blessings are fulfilled centering on God.
Stalin was the satanic antitype of Christ at the Second Advent. He was idolized as a perfect human being. By advocating the solidarity of farmers and workers in opposition to the democratic world, he mimicked the blessing of the multiplication of children, and by his policy of worldwide communist domination, he achieved the outward semblance of the blessing of dominion over the creation. Stalin thus created a vast communist world which realized defectively the outward form of the three great blessings. We must understand that the communist world is the unprincipled and flawed imitation of the world of God's ideal, which will be characterized by interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values founded in God.
Second, the Third World War has to take place to have the people on God's side overcome Jesus' third temptation on the world level. In light of the meaning of Jesus' three temptations, we recognize that God's side must prevail in the Third World War to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore worldwide God's third blessing. As Jesus established the foundation to restore dominion over the creation by overcoming the third temptation in the wilderness, God's side must win in the Third World War to restore human beings' dominion over the entire universe.
Third, the Third World War has to take place to lay the completion-stage foundation for the restoration of God's sovereignty. God's side must be victorious in the war to destroy the communist world and return all sovereignty to God. Then the ideal world will be established based upon the principles of heaven and earth.
4.4.4 The Providential Results of the Third World War
Long ago, God intended to conclude His providence of restoration in Adam's family by working through Cain and Abel. Instead, Cain murdered Abel, commencing the sinful history of humanity. God began the dispensation of dividing good and evil to restore the failure in Adam's family on the individual level and developed it through the levels of family, clan, society, people and nation. The time has come when God conducts this dispensation on the world level. God intends to restore through indemnity the entire providence, which was prolonged to the third stage, by winning victory in the three world wars, which belong to the final chapter of providential history.In the beginning, the first human ancestors lost their connection of heart to God when they fell prey to the tempting words of Satan. Through the internal, spiritual fall and the external, physical fall, they inherited the lineage of Satan. Therefore, the providence of restoration can be completed only after fallen people restore their heart toward God through God's life-giving Word, are saved both spiritually and physically, and inherit God's lineage.19(cf. Moses and Jesus 3.3.2)
The victories of God's side in the three world wars will fully restore through indemnity all these aspects of the providence of restoration. They will make possible the realization of God's ideal world, for which God has labored with unremitting tears over the centuries of human misery since the Fall.
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7. "Renaissance" is a French word meaning rebirth.
8. Kant's ethical theory may illustrate this point even more clearly. Kant believed that neither reason nor observation could provide a sound basis for knowledge of God. He argued that we can best apprehend the reality of God through moral law, which operates within the conscience of every person. Thus, he gave philosophical grounding for the Abel-type view of life. -Ed.
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