God's Providence to Establish the World Transcending Religions and Nations Based Upon the Absolute Values of True Love

Sun Myung Moon Four City American Speaking Tour October 2004 Respected leaders representing the religious, political, journalistic and academic spheres of America and the world, ladies and gentlemen. A thousand emotions crowd my mind as I stand here today. Thirty-four years have passed since I first set foot on this land chosen by God. I came here to uphold God's will to make America a foothold for world salvation by reviving Christianity and bringing reconciliation to all religions. Some of you who are sitting here may remember the warning I proclaimed when I first arrived in America. I boldly declared to the American people, "If there is an illness in your home, do you not need a doctor from outside? If your home catches on fire, do you not need fire fighters? God sent me to America as a doctor to heal this wounded land. He sent me to America as a fire fighter because this house is on fire." In the early 1970s I called the two hundred and seventy million people of America to a great awakening. My "Day of Hope" speaking tour visited twenty-one major cities throughout the United States. I warned the people then that God was leaving America. I clearly stated that America would not have any hope if it did not end the racial strife between blacks and whites, reverse the moral degradation of its youth, stem the tide of self-centered individualism, resolve the problem of communism, and bring reconciliation among religions. The solutions to these problems could not be found in the federal government or in the schools. I called upon enlightened religious leaders to come together, surmounting differences of religion and ethnicity, to combine their strength and address these issues. Now, thirty years later, what do we see in America. Only God knows the sweat and tears I shed in America as I labored to establish world peace. You who are here today are the chosen fruit of that sweat and those tears. Yet, a thorny path still awaits this nation. I, Rev. Moon, am not an American. In accordance with God's command, I have returned to Korea to lead His providence to restore my homeland to God. The future of this nation is now in the hands of conscientious leaders like you. Who else shall save your nation? Where else but among the people gathered here can we find a politician who would willingly sacrifice him or herself for the future of this nation, or a professor who would spend sleepless nights anguishing over its problems? You are the only ones who can do it. You must stand up now and become the locomotive that leads America's two hundred and seventy million people. In this regard, I would like to convey a portion of a new understanding given by heaven for this age, titled "God's Providence to Establish the World Transcending Religions and Nations Based Upon the Absolute Values of True Love." Please engrave this message in your hearts. Let its teachings give you direction and purpose in living for the sake of this nation and humankind. This message is not only for you and for the people of America; it is the new decree of heaven--the absolute, unavoidable truth--to be declared to all six billion people of the world and even throughout the spirit world. A World Created in Mutual Relationships Dear guests, what was God's purpose in creating human beings? The omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God did not want to live in solitude. He wished for counter.parts whom He could love; these are human beings. He created the cosmos in stages to make an environment for human beings, and on that foundation, He created humankind to receive His absolute love. God created us to be His children. God's desire for us is unlimited: out of love He desires for human beings to become even better and greater than Himself. Don't all parents wish for their children to surpass them? This is the tradition of parental love, with which God has blessed us. God's purpose of creation is to experience complete joy in seeing His children grow to maturity in a true family, marry under His blessing, and multiply true children who will build a true, ideal Heaven on earth in which to live eternally. They would be the fruits of God's true love, true life and true lineage. Does America today resemble God's ideal of Heaven on earth? Can you Americans say that you possess God's true love? I am here to teach you the path to becoming an owner of God's true love. We become owners of true love through practice. How do you practice true love? By giving first, by investing completely for your beloved, sacrificing and not remembering what you have given. In the beginning, God practiced true love. Before God created human beings, He first established the standard of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. Then He invested Himself 100 percent. These are absolute values of love. Thus, God established the principle that any true relationship must be founded upon these true love's absolute values. You cannot become an owner of true love by yourself. You must be in relationship with a counterpart. Thus, a man and woman can never become parents without having children. And it is the parent-child relationship where we practice the absolute values of and become owners of parental love. This principle also applies to God. In order for God to stand as the owner of absolute love, He needs human beings as His true children. He practices the values of absolute love as He relates with them as His object-partners of love. Ultimately, the relationship between God as the subject-partner and human beings as object-partners becomes absolute, creating the realm of unity and perfection. This principle applies throughout the universe, but has been sadly misunderstood. Mistakenly, we have been taught that the strong always devour and exploit the weak. The theory of the survival of the fittest--the so-called "law of the jungle"--is rooted in the Hellenistic worldview. It is fundamentally wrong! Its proponents overlook the absolute values of living for the greater good that aim for the perfection of every creature, allowing all to be owners of love. The owner of love lives for the sake of his or her counterpart, investing true love and forgetting ever having invested. The counterpart responds to that investment of love with complete submission. If true love were excluded from this equation, only the concept of struggle would remain. But God's principle of creating does not base existence and development upon exploitation. Rather, He creates through a mutual process of giving and receiving, as the partners unite within a greater harmony rooted in love's absolute values. Sometimes an entity is sacrificed for the sake of a greater good, but we should not interpret this as moral evil. It is an investment for the sake of mutual development. Is it evil for an individual to sacrifice for his or her family? Is it evil for a family to sacrifice for the nation, or a nation for the world? No, these noble acts display love's absolute values. They are the way to fully realize true love. Selfish Individualism Is Satan's Last Gasp An owner of true love strives, first of all, to lift up his or her object-partner as an owner of true love. Therefore, we must completely rid ourselves of the individualistic mind-set and the self-centered behavior that flows from it. This is the root of fallen nature and the cause of evil. This applies to an individual's self-centered behavior and to collective selfish behavior of communities and nations. Selfish individualism is in direct contradiction to the spirit that blossoms when we live by true love's absolute values. Instead of sacrificing and giving for the sake of others, self-centeredness calls others to sacrifice for me. This leads us to be concerned first with our own interests. Through the Fall, Satan diabolically injected self-centeredness into the mind-body relationship. He planted this poison mushroom in the human heart. Although the embrace of self-centeredness may lead to a beautiful appearance, worldly fame and earthly comfort, it is a trap. Enter it recklessly, and it leads to addiction and a life of suffering that is difficult to escape. Consider your physical body. All the elements of your body were already present in your parents' sperm and ovum. You were born from the love of your parents; 99.999 percent of the body came from your mother's bone, blood and flesh. Your father's sperm provided the other 0.001 percent. You must acknowledge the fact that your entire body is an extension of your mother. No one is an exception to this. In this respect, there is nothing that we can call our own, nothing that can justify self-centered individualism. Everything exists in relation to its complement. When we say "front," it presupposes a 'back.' Top is meaningful only in relation to bottom. Left is a precondition for right. By the same logic, masculine presupposes the existence of feminine. The moral lesson is that men are born for the sake of women, and women are born for the sake of men. Without men, there is no need for women. In the same way, without women, men cannot claim any value to their existence. In the end, nothing is born for its own sake. All beings exist and act for the sake of a partner. This means that God created all things to move toward the ideal of His Kingdom through the operation of mutual relationships. Consider a human being's five senses. Do your eyes exist to gaze at themselves? No. Our eyes, nose, ears, mouth and hands were created to sense others. What force energizes our five senses to sustain our life and maintain our activities? It is the force that exalts the values of true love. Our five senses are nothing but essential tools that exist in order to practice true love. Nothing comes into being for its own sake. A life for the sake of others, giving and sacrificing through love and perfecting the ownership of love through willing submission, is a life aligned with God's ideal of creation. Today I ask you to recognize that each of you was created for the sake of your partner. Know that the law of nature calls you to live for the sake of your partner. Practice this way of life, and you will come to embody the absolute values by which you can become an owner of true love. The Root of Free Sex Was The Human Fall When God created the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, He gave them sexual organs. Why did He do that? It was so that they could grow to maturity, marry, beget children without sin, and establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Thus were they to perfect God's ideal of creation. Adam and Eve should have accomplished this within their lifetime. The problem was that Adam and Eve fell. They became people of false love, false life and false lineage. Instead of embodying and multiplying God's love, God's life and God's lineage, Adam and Eve received the satanic lineage. They fell into disgrace; and worse, they transmitted Satan's lineage to their children. They lost love's absolute values, and instead became beings of no value. Hence, God had to drive them out of the Garden of Eden. Adam was supposed to have become God's body on earth. Eve was supposed to become not only Adam's bride but also God's bride. Instead, their minds and bodies were corrupted, they lost their ideals, and they turned into enemies. How grieved was God's heart as He viewed that tragic reality! The Fall was Adam and Eve's grave. It robbed God of what belonged to Him. The Fall was the root of free sex and the origin of self-centered individualism. Take a look around you. We see self-centered individualism of the worst kind. Everywhere people are over-consuming out of greed. Free sex is rampant among the young. Whether in the East or the West, people are casting aside the dignity and value of the family and pursuing physical pleasure. Millions fall into drug addiction, contract deadly diseases and meet tragic ends. The conscience does not desire a decadent and meaningless life. Even as we pursue paths of extreme individualism and bodily pleasure, our conscience raises an alarm. Every person has a God-given original mind that longs to live in a universe, nation, neighborhood and family wrapped in the loving embrace of parents and siblings. Still, we continue to walk contrary to the original mind's desire, and eventually the conscience burns out. Faced with the inescapable conflict between the body's selfish desires and the conscience, we deaden the pain with escapist drugs and, in the extreme, resort to suicide. Our lives testify to the truth of the proverb, "you shall reap what you sow." What seed did Adam and Eve sow in the Garden of Eden? They planted the seed of free sex, through an illicit sexual relationship. That is why it is written that after they fell they hid their lower parts. In the Last Days, the time of harvest, rampant free sex among young people will surely manifest throughout the world. Through promiscuity, Satan is carrying out his last campaign to deter anyone from returning to God. Satan's goal is to destroy humankind and perpetuate hell on earth. When young children are caught stealing sweets, their natural reaction is to hide their hands or mouth. If Adam and Eve literally had eaten fruit from a literal tree, they would have hidden their hands or covered their mouths. So, I ask you: Why did they hide their lower parts? We cannot deny that the Human Fall was caused by an illicit sexual relationship between the first human ancestors. God could not do anything in the face of the tragedy of the Fall, because it was connected to Adam and Eve's responsibility to create their lineage. Dear guests, do you know the dividing line between Heaven and hell? Is it in the air? Is it in a church sanctuary? Is it in a national government? No, the dividing line between Heaven and hell is found in your sexual organ. This is where the greatest tragedy in human history occurred, which turned heaven and earth upside-down. If you use your sexual organ recklessly, like a blind man, you will surely go to hell. On the other hand, if you use it in accordance with the standard of God's absolute love, you will go to heaven. Who can deny this? If you doubt it, I ask you to carefully read the Divine Principle, which contains the laws of heaven that were revealed to me. If that does not answer your doubts, please pray about it sincerely. I am sure that God will answer your prayer. Hundreds of thousands of young people throughout the world who have accepted the teachings of the Reverend Moon have ceased engaging in free sex. The message of the pure love movement, which advocates "absolute sex," is now spreading like wildfire. While free sex is based upon false love and motivated by selfish desires that come from Satan, absolute sex is the expression of absolute love centered on God. Literature, films and the media have been highlighting and fanning the flames of free sex. Now, leaders of all spheres of life, including politicians, businessmen, writers, journalists and religious leaders, must stand as one to overturn the culture's obsession with free sex. This disease cripples individuals, families and nations. We must bear in mind the importance of Adam's family, the ancestors of humanity. It was Adam's family that destroyed the path to true love and world peace. Yet Adam's family had the potential to establish the absolute values of true love and lay the cornerstone of world peace--if only they had maintained their pure love and received God's holy marriage blessing. The reason why 10 years ago I brought an end to the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity and raised instead the banner of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification is because the time had come to call people of all faiths to receive the holy blessing. How can we transform this world of conflict and war into a world of harmony and unity? The only way is by practicing true love and establishing love's absolute values as a global ethic. These eternal, unchanging, unique and absolute values are the attributes of God, the owner of true love. We must inherit them as our own and live accordingly. The Beauty of a Family that Embodies God's Original Ideal Dear guests, why is the family a good thing? A good family, overflowing with parental love, is the place where we can express our original freedom. It doesn't matter whether a family is rich or poor; if true love is at the core, their bond of heart is liberating. That family can liberate humankind and even liberate God. Freedom cannot exist without true love. If you visit someone as a guest, you feel reserved and inhibited. This is because initially you may lack a deep bond of true love with that household. In other words, because your love does not spread in all directions, you feel awkward and shy. However, after you visit that home many times and your bond of love with that family grows, you lose your shyness and begin to relate freely. In God's blueprint for the family, the parents embody the highest and greatest value. Parents are the initiators and the center of eternal true love. No bond is closer than the life-long relationship between parent and child. When a child is born, the first person it relates to is its mother. Mother and baby share indescribable joy. When the child is happy, the parents share that happiness. When the child is sorrowful, the parents are the first to shed tears of sorrow. Thus God intends that parents be the beginning and the end of their children's joy. For this reason, we have sympathy and compassion for children who have no parents. A loving couple, husband and wife, is the second most valuable existence in the family. A true husband and wife give and receive love that is unconditional. As newly-weds, their love does not begin as absolute, eternal love. But as their relationship matures, their love should become an absolute bond, taking after God's attributes of absoluteness and eternity. Then their true love will bring happiness and joy to the family. But even if a husband and wife enjoy the most ideal relationship, and it goes no further than the couple, it will not bring the absolute value of eternal happiness and joy. Therefore, couples need to have children. Imagine what would happen if all couples decided not to have children, saying that they would rather just enjoy their own happiness? Humankind would become extinct in one hundred years or less. When a husband and wife receive love from their children, they rise to the position of parents. Only then can they be called a true couple. Therefore, in God's blueprint for the family, the third most important value is the true love of children for their parents. Children are to love and serve their parents with a bright and positive attitude, even as they seek to fulfill their goals and create a hopeful future for themselves. Their true love for their parents can become original love, adding pure and genuine value and expanding the family's field of happiness. This is God's design for the family: It extends over three generations, completely endowed with the sacrificial love of parents for their children, the true love between husband and wife, and the true love of children for their parents. Families anywhere in the world which manifest this pattern will become the paramount, ideal, true families. What kind of person does the world call happy? What is the basis of happiness? Does power and authority bring happiness? Does having tremendous wealth bring happiness? Does happiness come from possessing a unique talent? Does happiness come by becoming a world-renowned scholar or gaining a coveted position? None of these guarantee happiness. Nothing external can be the basis of eternal happiness. Sooner or later the happiness it brings will fade, stimulating anew the search for happiness. In the end, a person finds genuine happiness in a family that has loving parents, a couple bonded in true love, and children who are devoted and faithful to their parents. Family Relationships are the Basis of Heaven Dear guests, what kind of place is heaven? According to the principle by which God created the universe, heaven must first be perfected on earth. Men and women were created to live their lives in heaven while on earth in their physical bodies. Then, when they naturally discard the flesh, they will make the transition to heaven in the spirit world where they will live for eternity. Our task, then, is to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Then what should the Kingdom of Heaven on earth look like? The answer is near at hand. The Kingdom of Heaven has the same form as God's design for the family. In an original family there are parents of the original standard, husband and wife of the original standard, children of the original standard, and siblings of the original standard. If the members of a family unite in true love, they automatically create harmony and unity. In this way, true love, true life and true lineage are passed on through the generations. The grandparents convey the tradition of true love to the parents. The parents bequeath the same life of true love to their children. In their sibling relationships, the children take after their grandparents and parents by living for the sake of others and forming original relationships of true love. When this happens, that family becomes a heavenly family. Such a family may be called an original family, a true family, a family that fulfills God's purpose and ideal. Unfortunately, if even one of these components is missing, it is impossible to create an original family that can be a unit of the heavenly kingdom. In an original family, love for one's parents should be stronger than the love between husband and wife, and love for one's grandparents should be stronger than the love for one's parents. This sets up the tradition and ethics of true love. The original family is the model of Kingdom of Heaven. The parents are analogous to the leader of a nation; the children correspond to the citizens of a nation; and the family's house and property correspond to the land of that nation. When the values of true love in the original family apply to the governance and social life of the nation, that nation takes the form of the Kingdom of Heaven. Individual Perfection through Mind-Body Unity Thus, the starting point of the Kingdom of Heaven lies not in the individual or in the nation, but in the family. Once we enter heaven and are surrounded by our beloved family, we will not want to leave. Though we see each other hundreds and thousands of times, we will still want to see each other again and again. This is our original homeland, for which everyone shares a common longing. Yet, heaven is not created in an instant. Just because the age has changed and heavenly fortune is with us does not mean that heaven will fall from the sky and appear before our eyes. We first must become people of character who can create heavenly families. In other words, we must achieve individual maturity. The path to becoming people of character, to achieving individual maturity, lies in perfecting the harmony and unity between our mind and body. Originally, we were created to live without any inner conflict. The mind is supposed to guide to the body, while the body acts in absolute obedience to the mind. Thus, mind and body were created to function in perfect harmony. However, all human beings have inherited fallen nature, as a result of the Fall of the first ancestors, Adam and Eve. Humankind has lived in suffering because of the unavoidable conflict between mind and body that has its roots in the Fall. No one in history has ever achieved mind-body unity during his or her life on earth. Despite the steady progress of God's providence of restoration and His determination to save humanity, not a single person has been liberated from the struggle between the mind and body and achieved individual perfection. Although countless monks and hermits have followed the arduous path of asceticism, living in caves deep in the mountains and devoting their entire lives to meditation and prayer, not one has ever triumphed in that struggle. The reason that even enlightened sages have been unable to stop the struggle between the mind and body is simple. No one has known the method to win the unrelenting, internal war. Self-discipline alone is not enough to win the victory. All such efforts are worthless unless one understands the providence of Heaven, receives the call, reaches the stage of completing the providence of restoration that God has guided for thousands of years, and gains victory in a position publicly recognized by heaven and earth. Two thousand years ago, Jesus came to the earth as Savior, Messiah and True Parent. As God's only begotten Son, Jesus had the mission to complete the providence of Heaven and end forever the struggle between the mind and body. But when Jesus died on the cross due to the failure of certain crucial religious and political leaders in Israel to recognize him, he was no longer in a position to bring an end to the struggle between mind and body. And even though Jesus took every opportunity to call on people to love their enemies, his teachings could not bring an end to the struggle between mind and body. Heaven can wait no longer. Heaven is now revealing all its secrets based on my foundation of victory. I have successfully completed the mission of the Lord of the Second Advent, Savior and True Parent. Now I am revealing this truth, bringing to a conclusion the final stage of the providence for humankind's salvation. The absolute values of true love that I am teaching you today will bring a revolution of character within humankind. Those who follow my teachings will achieve individual perfection and participate in the construction of the ideal of Heaven on earth. Dear guests, the only way to bring harmony and unity between mind and body is to live by the absolute values of true love. Live for the sake of others. Invest yourself with true love and forget what you have invested. Practice this, and you will perfect yourself as the owner of love. You will gain the authority of a subject in relating to others, and they will willingly submit to you in response. Unity of mind and body is impossible unless you live according to love's absolute values where you give yourself for the sake of others completely. Please discard self-centeredness. It is the root of fallen nature. Ultimately, the realization of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth depends upon the existence of original, true families. Individuals who have achieved harmony and unity between the mind and body create such families. They will form a society, nation and world characterized by interdependence, mutual prosperity and universally shared values, in which people live in harmony focused on the greater good. Unity between mind and body means to live in absolute obedience to the voice of the conscience. The conscience is like the root of the mind. You must listen to your conscience that arises from within your mind, and be able to modify your course of action at any time, anywhere, while remaining as clear as crystal. This is a necessary condition for becoming a true parent, a true teacher, or a true leader. No matter how strong the desire of the body, if you can intentionally place greater force behind your conscience in accordance with the teaching of the Principle, your body will follow your mind. If you cannot, you had better control your body through fasting and asceticism. If clear water continually flows into a muddy pond, eventually the pond will become clear. Dear guests, don't cause your conscience any more grief. Don't disobey its call. Disobeying the voice of your conscience only brings sorrow to your heart. It brings sorrow to your parents, to your teachers, and even to God. Instead, cultivate a joyful mind. Although you may be lonely, and appear miserable in the eyes of the world, create an unbreakable bond with your mind and try to be your mind's best friend. Within the harmony and unity of your mind and body, you will discover a world where all of heaven and earth are spread out before your eyes. In the state of mind-body unity, your conscience and body enter a realm of resonance. Referring to this dimension of the mind, the Buddha said, "Throughout heaven and earth, I am my own lord." Ask your mind if God is dwelling in you, and it will tell you. You will reach a state in harmony with nature, able to communicate freely with animals and plants. You will be able to converse freely with the beings of the spirit world. You will thoroughly prepare yourself for eternal life. By attaining this unity of mind and body, and establishing the absolute values of true love in relating with your reciprocal partners, you participate in establishing the Peace Kingdom on the levels of the individual, family, nation and world. This is God's most earnest desire. Absolute Faith, Absolute Love, and Absolute Obedience But in order to attain this state of perfection, as descendants of the Fall, we must first shed our fallen nature. How can we do this? First, we must resemble God. When God created all the creatures in the universe, He practiced absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. Didn't He believe and act in accordance with the absolute standard of the principle and according to the order of creation that He had established? He also planted within each of us the absolute standard of love. In your lives, too, if you adhere to and practice these three major principles of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience, your happiness will be guaranteed. Your good ancestors and even the great religious leaders in the heavenly world will assemble to guide your way. See what happens when you practice such an absolute standard of faith, love and obedience for the sake of your parents, your husband or wife, and your brothers and sisters. Heaven will protect you to the same absolute degree. There will be no room for selfish individualism or the pursuit of unprincipled pleasure. The Three Revolutions Second, although no fault of our own, we are descendants of the Fall and have inherited fallen nature from birth. Therefore, it is the urgent task of each of us to bring about three great revolutions in our individual lives. I refer to the revolution through making atonement, the revolution of conscience, and the revolution of heart. The revolution through making atonement means that you are to offer up everything. By this offering you can regain your internal and external rights of ownership, and establish a standard that transcends the realm where Satan has any claim. First, you must carry out a revolution in your own lives by boldly shaking off all the old habits and ways of thinking that you acquired during the age when we lived under satanic rule, called The Age Before the Coming of Heaven. You need to make that victorious foundation in order to practice the absolute standard of true love, which is the standard for our lives in The Age After the Coming of Heaven, and live eternally as God's true children. In addition, you must go through a revolutionary course and give up all your property and your external rights of ownership to Heaven. Then, once you have cut off all ties to the satanic world and separated yourselves from Satan, you will inherit Heaven's blessings. That means to increase Heaven's wealth of sanctified assets such that Satan can never again claim ownership over them. What is the revolution of conscience? It is an internal revolution that we carry out by practicing absolute obedience to the voice of our conscience. I am sure you cannot deny that within you there is still the unending struggle between the commands of your conscience, which pursues what is good, and the inclinations of your physical mind, which follows the desires of your physical body. To bring this shameful internal conflict to an end, we must have a clear understanding of the function of the conscience. The conscience knows everything about you--your every move and your every thought. It knows them before your teacher does. It knows them before your parents do. It knows them before God does. What happens when you go against the commands of your conscience? You will be attacked by pangs of conscience. Dust gathers, grime builds up and wounds appear on your soul. These wounds can never be erased. They are fearful baggage that you carry with you when you go to the spirit world. Therefore, you must work in a revolutionary way to suppress your physical mind and accept the guidance of your conscience. Then you will become a clear, unblemished and clean soul, ready for the day that you make your way forward into the presence of God. What is the revolution of heart? I have said that God created human beings as His children. What, then, is the connection that binds each of you to God? It is the love and heart between parent and child. If there is no communication of heart between parent and child, how can they maintain a relationship of love and respect? Yet human beings, having lived for thousands of years under the influence of the fallen realm, are still slaves in our hearts to false parents, false love, and false lineage. If we are to escape from this yoke, we must constantly live lives of true love, practicing forgiveness and always giving to others. Through this process, we are able to return to the realm of God's ownership based on heart. If your heartstrings are still tied to selfish, individualistic inclinations, or are in pursuit of the vain glory of the satanic world, you will end up on a path of hopelessness and grief. On the other hand, if you live for the sake of others, always constructive, always seeking to be the first to yield and the first to give, your heart will be tied to the heart of God eternally. In sum, you must completely cut your ties with the false parent, receive the Holy Blessing from the True Parents, who have appeared in this world as the substantiations of the invisible God, and secure Heaven's true lineage. Grade Yourself Third, you must scrutinize your own lives every moment of every day. I am sure you all had experiences back when you were in school, looking at a problem on a test paper and not being able to make up your mind whether a particular answer was right or wrong. The same is true with your lives. I am asking you, in the course of your daily lives and faced with innumerable different situations, to analyze and scrutinize each moment as to whether or not you are right or wrong. Grade yourselves, giving yourself an "O" if you are right, or an "X" if you are wrong. Whenever you give yourself an "O," it means you met the situation in an affirmative and hopeful way. Most likely you set a vertical axis that extends up to heaven, and you lived as at high noon--without casting any shadow. Your life undoubtedly had such depth and breadth that you were able to forgive and embrace even your enemies in the spirit of true love. Whenever you give yourself an "X," however, it means that you acted shamefully. Possibly your heart was filled with negative elements such as insecurity, irritation, bitterness, and envy. Maybe your mind and thoughts were narrow and intolerant, and you were selfish and individualistic to the point that you did not see what was happening to others around you. I believe that your choice could not be clearer. Every moment of your lives should deserve an "O" grade. You should be like the letter "O," which is perfectly round and not out of shape in any way. You must come to have the form of an "O," which forms a 90-degree angle with the center no matter where it is placed. Please lead lives in which you pursue the true "O," so that you can look at the brightly burning sun and not be ashamed, you can face the vast and infinite universe with honor, and you can stand before all of creation having nothing to hide. An "O" symbolizes harmony, unity and peace. "X" symbolizes death, while "O" symbolizes love and life. When your mind and body become completely one, you will take on the appearance of an "O," and when your mind and body are in a state of chaos as a result of conflict, your appearance will take on the shape of an "X." Ladies and gentlemen, today humanity has entered the Age after the Coming of Heaven. The realm of true liberation and complete freedom stands before us. This is an unprecedented event in history and one that will never be repeated in the future. Shall we return gratitude and glory to God and True Parents for making this day possible? Now the time has come for humanity to boldly break out of the fallen realm, covered as it is with falsehood and blood as a result of Adam and Eve's transgression. Let us all rise up with extraordinary determination in response to Heaven's call. Please give careful thought to the reasons you are here today. Is it simply because you received an invitation from the sponsors, and therefore you came to attend a banquet? Whether you desired it or not, you have been called by Heaven. Just as I suddenly received Heaven's call as a young man of fifteen and began an eighty-year course of blood, sweat and tears for the sake of bringing true liberation and complete freedom to God, and for the sake of saving humanity from Satan's yoke, so you also must now go forward determined to offer your lives in order to accomplish God's exalted will for the liberation and complete establishment of the world transcending religions and nations. Ladies and gentlemen! Heavenly fortune is now shining upon this world, as the sun that rises powerfully in the eastern sky. The darkness that has covered this earth for tens of thousands of years has now been dispelled. The heavenly decree has already taken root in your hearts. It is the path--your destiny--that you cannot avoid. Be strong and rise up. The time has come to truly experience the meaning of Jesus' teaching that whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever is willing to lose his life will find it. All of us without exception, including myself, are bound to go to the spirit world someday. I sincerely ask you to engrave tonight's message on your heart, that from this time forth you will live a life that will not leave you with any regrets. The heavenly discourse that I have given tonight is my last message to God's chosen nation, America. I pray that God's blessings be upon you, your family and this nation of America for all of eternity.

The History of the Providence of Restoration and Changes in Humankind's View of God

Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book One - True God
Chapter Three - The History of the Providence of Restoration and Changes in Humankind's View of God
Section 1. The God of the Old Testament Age

1.1. The Old Testament Age was the age of the servant

Through the Fall, human beings fell into the non-Principle realm. How far did they fall? They fell into a realm even lower than that of the angels, who are God's servants. The princes and princesses, who were supposed to be the masters, fell to a position lower than servants, so they must go back up.

From the way of the servant of servants, they should go up through the way of a servant, adopted child, child by a concubine, and child of the direct lineage, and then return, through the mother, to the position of Adam, the father. This is restoration.

The providence of salvation is like returning someone to the standard of health he enjoyed before he became sick. He must return to the state of having had no sickness.

This is why the providence of salvation is the providence of restoration. The providence of restoration is not carried out arbitrarily. You cannot just "believe and be saved." (222-144, 1991.11.3)

Although human beings fell, they must go up from the position of servant of servants, because they cannot abandon God. Then what does "servant of servants" mean? It means to be without a master. Fallen people must serve God loyally from the position of the servant of servants. Satan was an archangel and God's servant. Since human beings were dragged in front of this servant, in order to return to God, they must set up the standard of having demonstrated their loyalty to God while standing as servants of servants. (17-73, 1966.11.12)

The Old Testament Age was an age when sacrificial offerings were made; thus, God could find people whom He could use as His servants. This is Old Testament history. Because human beings were lost, things were turned upside down and people became lower than all things of creation. Human beings came to be in a worse situation than all things of creation. For this reason, they had to divide all things, which were closer to God, into two and divide what belongs to God from what belongs to Satan. Such divided sacrificial offerings were not made because of God or Satan but because people failed to fulfill their responsibilities. You should know this. It is because people failed in their responsibilities that they came to receive Satan's blood. (136-228, 1985.12.29)

From the viewpoint of the providence, the time before the Old Testament Age, that is, before Jacob, was the age of the servant of servants; the time from Jacob to Jesus was the age of the servant; the time after Jesus was the age of the adopted son; and the time of the Second Advent is the age of the son. Because the age of the son has come, the son must have parents. Thus, through the age of the parents, humankind returns to God. (74-121, 1974.11.25)

The Old Testament Age was the age of the servant, an age where people in the position of servant of servants were restored to the position of servant. For this reason, even Abraham was a servant, not a son. God established the way of loyalty by setting up servants of servants. In this way, God has been moving His providence forward by bringing all humankind together throughout history to take possession of the worldwide stage of evil and bring it to God's side. Even Jacob triumphed as God's servant rather than as God's son. God has been working this way, restoring people from the position of servant of servants to that of servant, and from the position of servant to that of adopted son. (15-325, 1965.12.7)

Comprehensively examining the historical course of restoration, we can see that God has, until now, been leading the providence through the three stages of formation, growth, and completion. The course of restoration passes through the age of the servant, which is the Old Testament Age, the age of the adopted son, which is the New Testament Age, and the age of true children, which is the Completed Testament Age, and enters the age of True Parents. The providence of salvation in the Old Testament Age offered salvation to humankind in the position of servant. Hence, in that age, without establishing a central figure who could endure from beginning to end and achieve victory, the foundation for restoration to the position of servant could not be laid. Hence, God made many sacrifices while leading the four-thousand year history through central figures such as Noah and Abraham. (15-49, 1965.12.7)

What did God do in the Old Testament Age? Since the world became satanic, He took on the task of seeking His servants by sacrificing all things and establishing people on the heavenly side. God was not even looking for adopted sons. He was looking for servants of servants. The people of the satanic world have all become Satan's sons and daughters. God cannot take them away. Hence, God has been gathering those who have lost hope in the satanic world. It is a sad reality, but God has been collecting useless material. He has been dealing with junk. This process does not finish there. Sacrifice is required, and people go through the process of being a sacrificial offering. (136-222, 1985.12.29)

God tried to bring people who were not even good enough to become servants in the satanic world and made them servants of servants in God's world. This is Old Testament history. This is why God made Jacob and Esau fight. This is why He called Noah. God took a servant of servants in the satanic world to a distant country. There, He isolated and exhausted him in order to make him God's servant. (154-334, 1964.10.5)

Satan treats human beings as enemies. They cannot even become Satan's servants. In the Old Testament Age God worked to turn such people into God's servants. Then, God wanted to make servants into adopted children, adopted children into children of direct lineage, children of direct lineage into brothers and sisters, and brothers and sisters into true parents by blessing them as bride and bridegroom. Since the God-centered true family was lost, restoration is the work of regaining it. The marriage feast of the Lamb was to be the occasion heralding Jesus as the true parent. (12-29, 1962.7.15)

God commissioned His servants and taught them, "I am your Father." He taught people through His servants and angels. Such was the Old Testament Age. Next, He worked through His son. This was the New Testament Age. Next, He worked through the Holy Spirit. (10-197, 1960.10.2)

God has been longing for people to be in relationship with all things of creation and with Him. Hence, God has been working to pull fallen people up from the servant's position, through the adopted son's position and children's position to the parents' position. This was in order to sever the painful connection with the Fall and enable all things, people, and God to form unifying relationships so that God's joy becomes humankind's joy and humankind's joy becomes the joy of all things. God wanted to take pride in His sons and daughters and present and dedicate them to the natural world and even to the world of angels. (11-279, 1962.1.3)

If we think about it, the Old Testament Age lasted four thousand years until the coming of Jesus. Was there a word like "Blessing"? Was it possible to bless a family in God's name? Since it was the servant's era, people were in the domain of the archangel, a servant. The archangel cannot be married; he must live a single life. In that era, God could not have a family, and God's sons and daughters could not marry. Can a servant be married? He cannot. (90-97, 1976.12.19)

1.2. In the Old Testament Age, angels worked on behalf of God

In order to restore the defiled land, God has been leading the providence of salvation by building a relationship with humankind through the angels. God is carrying out the providence of salvation in order to once again deal with human beings, who betrayed God through the Fall, and fell so miserably lower than all things. To govern humankind, dominated and accused by Satan, God has been working to build a bridge. This work has lasted throughout the Old Testament and New Testament Ages until now. (1-282, 1956.12.16)

Originally, in the Old Testament Age, God was supposed to work directly with people and relate to them in His glory, but the providence could not be completed because of the Fall. Therefore, in sorrow, God pioneered an alternative way of relating to people through angels, and this was the Old Testament Age. God established a standard whereby He could work through the angels. Since angels are also divine beings, they appeared to people like God and served temporarily as mediators until the coming of Jesus. (1-283, 1956.12.16)

If we look at the Old Testament Age, we see that God has used angels as messengers for the sake of building God's garden of freedom and the heavenly kingdom of liberation. If you want to enter the realm of grace where you can be liberated from the servant's position as God's son, you should be able to feel joyful even while losing your life. Only those who have such a free heart can go beyond the servant's position and enter the son's position. (4-321, 1958.10.12)

Look at the Bible. God has been working through the archangels in the spirit world, through His son, and through the Holy Spirit. God could not directly connect to this work in His heart. In the Old Testament Age He worked through the angels, and in the New Testament Age He worked through His son. From the heavenly viewpoint, the Old Testament Age was the age to regain the people, and the New Testament Age was the age to regain the children. (10-170, 1960.9.25)

Consider this: to restore the people of Israel, the angels in the heavenly world came and worked, the servants came and worked, and then the son came and worked. Now, the father is coming. The coming Lord is coming as a father. He will come as the True Parent, raise true children and give love. What will happen then? You could stay up all night with one beloved person.

God loved one man, Abraham, more than the people of the fallen world. He loved Moses, one person, more than all humankind, and He loved Jesus more than all humankind. Thus, you should know how precious each beloved son and daughter is to God. (10-354, 1960.11.27)

The God Jehovah, who appeared to Abraham, was also an angel. Originally, God, being without form, is invisible, but in Genesis three beings appeared as God, two going to judge Sodom and Gomorrah and the remaining one talking to Abraham as God (Genesis 18:118). Yet, they were angels sent by God, who commissioned them to work on His behalf. The people did not know this.

After twenty-one years of spiritual training, Jacob went back toward his hometown in Seir, where his elder brother lived, in order to satisfy his longing. Although Jacob had waited for twenty-one years, instead of giving him a joyful send-off and saying, "Have a safe journey," God sent an angel and had him wrestle with Jacob at the Ford of Jabbok with much shouting. If Jacob had lost to the angel, the hardships of his past twenty-one years would have been in vain. So, Jacob tenaciously held on to the angel, saying that he would not let go until his hands were pulled off or even if his arms broke. He was deadly serious! (51-344, 1971.12.5)

God had blessed him through Isaac and advised him to abandon everything and return to his hometown; then, why did God not guide Jacob and make his path smooth? When Jacob was pleading with God by the Ford of Jabbok all night with an anxious heart, why did God deal with him so heartlessly by sending an angel to strike him, instead of giving him encouragement and advice? (3-334, 1958.2.9)

What kind of people were our ancestors of faith who lived in the Old Testament Age? Since God is invisible, even if He were to appear no one would know Him. The ancestors of faith are thus the ones God sent to reproduce His work on His behalf in a way appropriate for the age and to help the people forge a connection with Him.

For this reason, in order for us to rise to the position of God's adopted son, we must connect with the historical deeds and retribution of many people. We must go through many stages, including becoming representatives of the world's people on the level of the individual, family, tribe, a people, and nation - and bind all of them together as one, representing the final destination. (77-132, 1975.4.6)

1.3. Why do angels become involved in human salvation?

What kind of beings are angels? They are beings that should have completed the path of loyalty to God in the servant's position, and served as a protective fence for Adam and Eve. They should have created an atmosphere of glory that would have lasted forever in the heavenly world and lived happily with Adam and Eve in God's love. In other words, the archangels were created for Adam and Eve. God, the Father of Adam and Eve, created the angels for their sake. (15-238, 1965.10.17)

Because the archangel's fall led to Adam and Eve bringing the human world to such ruin, the angelic world is working on God's behalf to fight against Satan. The evil Satan and good angels are fighting. Only when the side of the good angels wins the battle will there be a step forward. God cannot do as He pleases. This is the Principle. (109-18, 1980.10.26)

God created the three archangels as servants for the unfallen Adam and Eve and entrusted Adam and Eve to them, asking the archangels to raise them by educating and protecting them. Why did He have to do this? It is because the archangels are in a reciprocal relationship with their subject partner: the earth plane is the subject partner, and the angelic realm is the object partner. God's ideal in creating heaven and earth was to expand the horizontal realm of relationships in front of God's true love in this dual-realm environment. (208-256, 1990.11.20)

Who should educate Adam? It is not God, but the archangels who must do this. They should protect and raise him. The archangels were responsible to carefully supervise, guide, and educate him so that he would be untainted at the time of his marriage.

Since the Unification Church also had to follow this rule to accomplish restoration through indemnity, I have loved the 36 Couples more than my own children. (121-240, 1982.10.27)

God is the source of life. Parents nurture the lives of their children. They are the source of life, love and protection. They protect life, give love, and nurture. So where does happiness come from? Without a protected domain, life is threatened, and when life is threatened, love cannot manifest itself.

If you were to die now, would love manifest itself? It would not. This is why a protective realm is needed. So when this protective realm was secured, the archangels were responsible for it. After receiving life from God, the origin of life, Adam and Eve were educated in love under the archangels' protection. (51-173, 1971.11.21) 

Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 2. The Identity of Jehovah God.

Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book One - True God
Chapter Three - The History of the Providence of Restoration and Changes in Humankind's View of God
Section 2. The Identity of Jehovah God

2.1. The attributes of Jehovah God

You should know that the reason Moses introduced the God of authority, God of ability, and God of judgment, instead of the God of love was to give the law to the Israelites and protect and raise heavenly people with the law. It was to accomplish the will of restoration to drive them to the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. (35- 276, 1970.10.25)

Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, was a place that could be entered only by the reborn people who had received the Ten Commandments and the law and carried the Ark of the Covenant in the wilderness. God gave His words to the Israelites who left Egypt in order to recreate them as God's people, but when they did not follow His words, He appeared to them as a terrifying God who struck and punished them.

The Old Testament Age, in which Satan reigned as the king, was an age of the devil's power until the appearance of the Messiah. Jehovah God therefore appeared to Moses as the God of fear, God of revenge, and God of jealousy, and struck with the law the people who had become servants of sin and mercilessly punished the violators of the law. This was the Old Testament Age.

If you look at the attributes of Jehovah God of the Old Testament Age, He was a jealous God who terrified worshipers of other gods, a cruel God who ordered the Israelites to exterminate the seven tribes of Canaan leaving no survivors, and a merciless God who slaughtered the Israelites who had violated the commandments and law.

Could the God of love, who created the universe, have the character to feel such jealousy, exact such revenge, instill such terror, and exhibit the cruelty to exterminate the seven tribes of Canaan? This happened because the Old Testament Age was an age when angels, as mediators, served in the role of God. The revengeful legalism that says "a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, and a stripe for a stripe" cannot stem from the character of the Creator God. God is the God of love and forgiveness.

God appeared to Moses several times: in the burning bush on Mount Horeb where He called Moses and also at the top of Mount Sinai where He gave him the Ten Commandments. To this day we have not known that the God who appeared to Moses was an angel; but if you look in chapter seven of the book of Acts in the New Testament, it is recorded that He was an angel: "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush... you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it."

The Jehovah who appears in the Old Testament Age this way is an angel and not God. The Old Testament Age is the age of the servant, and God cannot appear as a father to a servant, because he is not a son. When Moses asks God for His name, He answers, "I am who I am" and tells him his name is Jehovah. But, when Moses stands in front of the people, he emphasizes that Jehovah God is the God of their ancestors, that is, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Jehovah is an angel.

Since the Old Testament Age was the age of the servant, God could not reveal Himself directly. In the Old Testament, did God tell them to fight or not to fight? Do you know that Saul was punished because, after winning the war, he went against God's instruction to kill all the men? Why do you think He did that? If men of the satanic world were spared, that world would invade again. He did it because the survival of the satanic men would preserve that system as they took wives and continued as they had before. Yet cutting off their lineage would end the system, as the women and children belonged to God's side. That is why He did this.

Saul was punished because his failure to act as instructed allowed the invasion of the heavenly nation by the worship of gentile gods and by all their adulterous customs. (124-202, 1983.2.15)

2.2. The religion of the bride and the religion of the archangel

Since God created angels before creating Adam, today's religions are the creations of the angelic realm on earth. That is the religious sphere. What is the task of the religious realm? It must succeed in creating Adam. Then, what is the global center of religion? It turns out to be Judaism. What does Judaism do? It is a religion that introduces the bridegroom. This is the philosophy of the Messiah and Savior. (50-56, 1971.10.31)

Until God created Adam and Eve, the archangels were the guardians of traditional philosophy. As a servant, the archangel was supposed to teach Adam and Eve the new customs and tradition of life before God did, saying, "The sons and daughters of the Master should live in such and such a way."

Is it not the responsibility of the old servant to keep the master's sons and daughters from going astray? Isn't he responsible to guide and instruct them along a smooth path? (50-181, 1971.11.6)

God established religions in order to save fallen people. What are those religions? God established the religion of Eve and the religions of the archangel in the world. Because the Fall was due to Eve and the archangel, human beings are restored through the religions of Eve and the archangel. They are restored through this path.

Religions are in the realm of archangel; whether there are a hundred or a thousand religions, they all belong to the realm of archangel. Although there are a great number of religions, they can be divided broadly into four great religions. Their center is Christianity, and the main philosophy of Christianity is the philosophy of the bride. (239-136, 1992.11.24)

Only God is the true deity, and other god-like beings are angels. To distinguish clearly monotheism and polytheism, the polytheistic religions are founded by heavenly beings, that is, angels. Among these religions, some result from good angels' efforts to elevate human spirituality and heart. These are the advanced religions. You should know that God has been cultivating human hearts through these good religions.

The religions of the archangel do not clearly know the fundamentals. They do not know who God is, nor do they know what is happening in the Last Days. Their teachings have been centered on the external concepts of spiritual training. Because they do not have a clear tradition, in the Last Days they have to wrap up their basic necessities and go to the master's house to serve. (237-186, 1992.11.17)

Let us think about those who followed God's will in the Old Testament Age and in the New Testament Age. In the Old Testament Age, there were primitive forms of religion, and in the New Testament Age, a religion befitting that era emerged. In other words, in the New Testament Age religions have been connecting to modern, twentieth-century civilization.

What kind of religion is the Unification Church? The Unification Church should be on a new level, a futuristic religion compared with the primitive religions and the religions of the age. (122-9, 1982.10.31) 

Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 3. Jesus' View of God Based on the Parent-Child Relationship.

Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book One - True God
Chapter Three - The History of the Providence of Restoration and Changes in Humankind's View of God
Section 3. Jesus' View of God Based on the Parent-Child Relationship

3.1. The New Testament Age is the age of the adopted son

When Jacob triumphed and earned the name Israel, he did not triumph as God's son but as God's servant. This way, people were restored from the position of the servant of servants to the servant's position, and then in the New Testament Age from the servant's position to the position of the adopted child. Romans 8:23 says: "but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies." They said that they were eagerly waiting to be adopted sons who could call God "Abba, Father." Even the most ardent people of faith in the New Testament Age, whether they were ministers, elders, or people holding doctorates, and so forth, are all adopted children before God. I am speaking to you frankly. They want to be adopted children. Adopted children have a different lineage. (154-257, 1964.10.3)

What step was Jesus elevated to? After humankind fell on earth, the ancestors disappeared. Therefore, when Jesus was elevated to the ancestor's position, the Israelites could be engrafted as God's adopted sons and receive the right of inheritance. This is why Romans chapter eight says, "but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies," and also, "For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father." They could only become adopted sons. Today's Christians are adopted children. Adopted children have a different lineage. (154-337, 1964.10.5)

An adopted son is different from the son of direct lineage. Whenever the son of direct lineage comes, the adopted son should be able to give him everything he possesses without hesitation, whether it is night or day. The possessions do not belong to him. Thus, even though he stands as an adopted son or was chosen as an adopted son, when the son of direct lineage is born, he should not say, "Why was this wretch born?" This is satanic nature. When God created Adam, the archangel should have been delighted to see Adam. So, he cannot say, "Why was he born?" The adopted son should know that he must protect the son. When the son of direct lineage is in the womb, the adopted son should not say, "Oh, I wish he were not going to be born." (09-135, 1971.10.9)

What must you do to be an adopted child? You should be better than the servants on God's side and better than Satan. Why do you have to be so? Satan was originally an archangel, a servant, and only one who is better than the servant can be an adopted child. This is according to the Principle. Then what kind of adopted child do you have to be? You should be an adopted child whose philosophy dictates that although you have received God's inheritance, it is not yours to keep but to return to His original sons and daughters. This is how adopted children should be raised. The adopted child should offer his life for the sake of the coming sons and daughters. He should hope to see the birth of the sons and daughters of direct lineage desired by God, although this may require sacrificing everything he has; he should be preparing in heart for them. Without gaining the qualifications of an adopted child, you have no relationship with the son. You should bear in mind that the one born as an intermediate being, one step above the archangel, is the adopted child. (89-203, 1976.11.22)

An adopted child has a different lineage. Originally, the one designated to be an adopted child at the start of the New Testament was John the Baptist. John the Baptist represented the archangel. He was designated as the representative on earth on the side of the archangel who could serve Adam to the end, rather than as the archangel who had opposed God's son Adam. But, a tragic history unfolded because John the Baptist failed to serve Jesus and become one with him. (48-92, 1971.9.5)

You should know that the Old Testament Age and New Testament Age are connected through history. As servants, the believers of the Old Testament era wished to receive the benefits of being adopted children, and this is why they waited for the coming of the Messiah. In other words, their desire was to surmount the sorrowful circumstances of the servant and advance, through the Messiah, to the position of adopted child. The adopted child is entitled to receive an inheritance from the parents in the absence of a son or daughter of direct lineage. So, God's will, which oversaw the servant-level Old Testament Age, guided the people so that they could maintain the desire to transcend the servant's position and attain the benefits of welcoming God's will. This is why they kept longing for the privilege of leaving behind the lot of the servant and receiving God's inheritance. This is the philosophy of God's elect in Israel. (42-281, 1971.3.27)

You should be restored and rise up, beginning from all things, through the victorious realm of the adopted son, through the victorious realm of the son, to the parents' position. But, no matter how devout you may be, in the New Testament Age you absolutely cannot be God's Son! (48-95, 1971.9.5)

Looking at history, the Old Testament Age used all things of creation as sacrificial offerings. They sacrificed the things of creation. The purpose of sacrificing all things was to liberate human beings and to help with the resurrection of humankind. The things of creation were sacrificed in order to restore people, to regain God's children. In the Old Testament Age, the things of creation were used as an offering, and in the New Testament Age, God's children shed their blood as they moved toward the realm of resurrection in this world. This has been the history centered on Christianity. In Christian history, Jesus and all individuals, families, peoples, and nations that followed Jesus have been sacrificed as offerings until the present. (166-276, 1987.6.14)

In Old Testament times, God had Moses bear witness to God's power. The people who did not believe in Him as the God of power were punished. Next, the age of Jesus introduced the God of compassion. Sick people were cured... Had Jesus not cured the sick, he would not have been killed. People die of sickness to pay the price for their ancestors' sins. Then why did he bring them back to life? Rev. Moon of the Unification Church could have cured hundreds of thousands of patients if he had tried. Even without someone curing their disease, lepers can be healed if they hear our words and delight in them. All kinds of diseases can be cured. (194-334, 1989.10.30)

3.2. The adopted child can call out "father"

On leaving the Old Testament Age and welcoming the new morning of the New Testament Age, Jesus declared God as the Father and elevated fallen people to the position of adopted child in order to bring them into a parent-child relationship with God. Adopted children are of a different lineage, but through the coming of the Lord, they were engrafted and thus able to call God "Father," with the title of son. You should know that the establishment of the parent-child relationship with God was a heavenly secret that could be accomplished by no one other than Jesus.

When Jesus called God "Father," the priests and Pharisees, who were immersed in the Old Testament concepts of the time, heard it as a presumptuous word blaspheming God. You should know that Jesus' view of God as the Father was that revolutionary. Jesus went a step higher and introduced God's love. In the Old Testament Age, Moses introduced only the God of authority, God of power, and God of judgment, without being able to introduce the God of love. But, Jesus introduced love. Although he introduced the God of love and his own loving self, the people of his era did not accept him. (35- 276, 1970.10.25)

Since the Old Testament Age was the age of the servant, God could not reveal His real form. God is the Father and a being of love. Since God is love itself, He is the Father of love who forgives all sins. The Old Testament law of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" disappeared. Through Jesus, God revealed His true loving form in which He loves His enemies and forgives a brother's faults, not just seven times but even seventy times seven. How could a father not forgive his child's faults?

God is not someone you can see; in Jesus, the invisible God appeared as the visible God. This is why Jesus proclaimed his oneness with God by saying in the Gospel of John, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Therefore, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" This is also why Paul said, "For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. 8:38-39). Jesus came for the sake of God's love. (4-308, 1958.10.5)

You should know that from Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River, when heaven opened, to his ascension was a short period of three years. You should know that although Jesus brought out the view of God based on the parent-child relationship, he departed without being able to explain the details. He came as the Messiah of Judaism and died while pioneering the worldwide messianic course. Then, what happened to Judaism? A God who had thus far been attended as one dealing only with Judaism would not be viable.

What did Jesus come to teach on this earth? He was not to teach about God exactly as was taught in the Old Testament. He had to teach about the God of the New Testament Age. The mission of Jesus, who came as the national Messiah of Israel, was to teach by saying, "Now that we are going beyond the age of the national level to the age of the global level, we must lay the foundation of making strenuous effort for the world in order to absorb it." In this way, he was to dedicate his entire life to gaining the authority and prestige of the world-level Messiah. This was what he had to accomplish during his life. (105-213, 1979.10.26) 

Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 4. The Completed Testament Age Is the Age of the Oneness of God and Humankind .

Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book One - True God
Chapter Three - The History of the Providence of Restoration and Changes in Humankind's View of God
Section 4. The Completed Testament Age Is the Age of the Oneness of God and Humankind

4.1. True children should go through the change of lineage and rebirth

On the path of restoration, we should go up from the age of the servant of servants, through the age of the servant, through the age of the adopted child, to the age of the direct lineage. However, can we complete the course from the age of the servant of servants, through the age of the servant, and the age of the adopted child, and be connected to the age of direct lineage? Connecting to the age of direct lineage cannot be done just like that.

According to the Principle, we are required to go through the foundation of faith and foundation of substance in order to welcome the Messiah. The Messiah is the true son of God. The lineage of an adopted son and that of a true son are different. This is why we need a change of lineage. (55-192, 1972.5.9)

Since the Fall was an improper marriage in the Garden of Eden, this is now being rectified as the True Parents create proper marriages. True Parents are clearing away the evil deeds of the false parents, thereby abolishing hell, and giving the Blessing even to hundreds of billions of ancestors in the spirit world. Through the foundation of their descendants' families on earth, centered on true love, the ancestors in the spirit world and their descendants on earth unite vertically. Furthermore, based on the foundation of such families, the East and the West become connected to each other.

Since humankind has received satanic blood, people cannot return to God on their own. So the Messiah must accomplish absolute restoration of the lineage, renewing the blood line that was defiled by Satan. This transition must be made. This is why the Messiah must surely come. Without his coming, there will be no restoration of lineage. We must restore lineage. (172-53, 1988.1.7)

What do True Parents have to do? They must rectify the wrong lineage that forms the root of the satanic world, turn around the deviated life, and correct the misdirected course of love. The Bible says that those who seek to die will live, and those who seek to live will die. Why is this paradox necessary? It is because the satanic world must die. (169-37, 1987.10.4)

The ideal of loving oneness between God and humankind is their unity in a loving relationship based on the true and great love that God desired as His ideal at the time of creation. If God had fulfilled that ideal, today we would all enter the Kingdom of Heaven just as we are, without having to worry about heaven or hell. (275-54, 1995.10.31)

There were three ages in history: the Old Testament Age, the New Testament Age, and the Completed Testament Age. Among these, what kind of an age was the Old Testament Age? It was the age of redemption of children through sacrificial offerings. It was a time of preparation for the coming of God's son. In the New Testament Age, Jesus became the offering for us to receive the parents. This is why, in the age of the Second Coming, we have been preparing to receive the parents by establishing the bride and bridegroom. The reason that I, having the name of the True Parent, have been suffering for forty years as the center of the Completed Testament Age, is to receive God on earth. This will lead to the oneness of God and humankind in love. (227-94, 1992.2.10)

The original relationship between God and humankind is one of parent and child. In the New Testament Age, human beings were God's adopted children. But now, since we are in a parent-child relationship, what the son does is what the Father does, and what the Father does is what the son does. They are acting together. What belongs to the Father belongs to the son, and what belongs to the son belongs to the Father. The reason the Unification Church is fearsome is because it teaches this destined parent-child relationship. (31-324, 1970.6.7)

In the Old Testament Age, they sacrificed material things to pave the way for the coming of the true son. Jesus came as the son and sacrificed himself to pave the way for the coming of the parents. The True Parents come on this level plane, and walk a suffering path in order to invite God in. To what position do they come? To the original, vertical place. Since the original, great principle of heaven and earth was cut off from that point, peace cannot begin as long as that fundamental root is not rectified. This is absolute. (200-55, 1990.2.23)

You should not think of Rev. Moon as being the same as you. What is Rev. Moon's mission? The Old Testament Age was the age when the things of creation were sacrificed to find the sons and daughters. In the New Testament Age, the sons and daughters were sacrificed to pave the way for the coming of the parents. What are the parents to do on this earth after they come? They are to pave the way for God to come. The mission of the True Parents is to build a horizontal base, encompassing all the people of the world, for the vertical Father. As the horizontal father's realm of heart unfolds, the vertical Father's realm of heart will naturally emerge and settle here.

When God reaches the point where He can embrace both vertical and horizontal love, He will finally make the transition to the age when He can go beyond the world into the central position and reorganize the original, ideal authority. Then He will say, "Everything is done." (177-345, 1988.5.22)

The methods for fallen people to go back to God have differed according to the age. In the Old Testament Age, people could go to God by offering sacrifices; in the New Testament Age, it was by believing in Jesus, the son of God; and in the Completed Testament Age, people can go to God by attending the True Parents. (20-340, 1968.7.20)

In the future, you will not be able to marry your sons and daughters with people of the same nationality. God is looking at three generations. Now, you are as you are, but God wants to bring you into unity after three generations. One of these represents the Old Testament Age. So your marriage represents the Old Testament Age. The New Testament Age and the Completed Testament Age come next. The tradition will be established by the third generation, who will be born through the marriages of the second generation -- your sons and daughters. (146-275, 1986.7.20)

In the Completed Testament Age, True Parents sacrifice in order to bring the vertical God to earth. This is the final task. In relation to humankind, God is the vertical Father who is centered on true love. True Parents are the horizontal parents who are horizontally aligned at a ninety degree angle with the vertical Father, based on true love. Therefore, on the basis of this vertical and horizontal love, God's love and life finally burst forth. With the blossoming harmony of God and humankind, new blood ties will expand based on the love of True Parents. In this way, the seed of life that began in God's love and based on the original Principle standard will appear on earth. This is unprecedented in human history. (208-339, 1990.11.21)

Now, we must restore the rights of ownership. Since, in the course of attending God, the things of creation were sacrificed in the Old Testament Age, the son was sacrificed in the New Testament Age, and the parents were sacrificed in the Completed Testament Age, what has to be done now? You should stand in the position representing the mother and father. The sons and daughters are the New Testament Age, and all things of creation are the Old Testament Age.

Because the Old Testament, New Testament, and Completed Testament ages have all deviated from God's true love, Satan has become the owner. Now, however, we must indemnify all this and bring everything to the original owner. (208-345, 1990.11.21)

The Completed Testament Age is the age of accomplishment. We will accomplish as individuals, families, tribes, peoples, nations, and on the worldwide level. These are linked through God's love, God's life, and God's lineage. This is the tradition of one lineage, one love, and one life.

When this happens, Satan will have to leave. The work of engrafting will remove the connection with the satanic lineage. (226-275, 1992.2.9) 

Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 5. God's First Manifestation.

Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book One - True God
Chapter Three - The History of the Providence of Restoration and Changes in Humankind's View of God
Section 5. God's First Manifestation

5.1. God finally reveals Himself

The age of the Unification Church is the age of the parents. We are paving the way whereby God can come and be present on earth. This is why it makes sense to say that by God's coming, we are saved through attending Him. This is how history progresses. 077-157, 1988.5.17)

What is it that will remain in the end? It is God and human beings, their life course, and their outlook on daily life -- the divine and human perspectives on life and the world. These perspectives will not be based on vague knowledge, but on an inseparable, eternal relationship. Why? Since God and humankind have been separated at the point where originally they could not be separated, they must reach a place higher than that point of inseparability. At such a point, they should come forward demanding a global stage for daily life where God and humankind are one. (65-125, 1972.11.5)

God is the center of the universe where we have to live for the sake of others. When you go near Him, you will want to be governed by Him for tens of thousands of years and even more. This is the path of attendance to God. We could not have imagined that human beings today could be governed in that way and that there could be no greater happiness than this. (77-328, 1975.4.30)

From now on, you should live a life of attendance. Up until now, a life of faith brought salvation through faith, but from now on you attain salvation through attendance. Originally, if we had not fallen, we would be following our normal path by attending God. You should attend Him in your daily life, and with your heart. (150-213, 1961.4.15)

God is the absolute Father, absolute True Parent, and the unique, unchanging and eternal True Father. Such a Father should bring about unique, unchanging, and eternal couples for the absolute sons. For such daughters, too, He should bring about absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal couples. So, the families in which they will settle peacefully are absolute, unique, unchanging, and eternal families. Such families can live together with God, and constitute the eternal base of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Justification through attendance signifies the age of realizing the Kingdom of Heaven in daily life. This is why we are talking about justification through attendance. The history of restoration is re-creating God's ideal of creation. (161-218, 1987.2.15)

Without creating a starting point from which we can bring God into our heart and where we human beings can be completely one body with God, there is no way to liquidate this devilish world. From this point of view, we understand our time as the age of attendance and the age of salvation based on justification through attendance. We are saved through attendance. God is not a God who is up there in the sky. We should attend God as our subject and Master in our daily life. (144-274, 1986.4.25)

God is not a fantasy or a conceptual God, nor is He an abstract God. With His leadership in our daily life, He is always with us as the master of our daily life. He does not merely receive our attendance, but is living together with us by sharing love. (168-111, 1987.9.13)

What was God's purpose in creating Adam and Eve? As human beings, we have a body, but the invisible God does not. Without a body, God cannot govern the spiritual and physical worlds. Hence, although God exists, if He wants to manifest as the Parent of humankind, He must acquire a body. God's representatives with that body were Adam and Eve. God would have appeared after assuming the body of Adam and Eve had they not fallen.

Adam and Eve were the first ancestors of humankind, and they were to be God who rules over heaven and earth. Assuming the external form, the body, of God who is in the eternal invisible world, and standing in the position of parents, Adam and Eve had the responsibility of governing the world. (133-91, 1984.7.10)

Since the invisible God has no substantial body, the True Parents represent His form. The True Parents are Parents of the individual, family, tribe, ethnic people, and nation. In the future, God will appear in the form of the True Parents in the spirit world. This is the greatness of the Unification Church. The greatness of Rev. Moon resides in the fact that God wants to assume Rev. Moon's form. (98-224, 1978.8.1)

Even if the hundreds of millions of people who have been parents were to come back to life all at once, none among them would have the glory of the True Parents whom you speak of today. Even if tens of thousands of generations of ancestors were all to resurrect and sing the glory of resurrection, this glory and song would still not transcend the domain of the Fall. Although your current situation may be miserable, you should know that the term "True Parents," taught in the Unification Church today, is a proud one and more valuable than hundreds of millions of ancestors rejoicing in a glorious place of earthly victory and liberation of all people. You should know that meeting the True Parents will lead you along the path to meet God, and meeting the Unification Church will lead you along the path whereby God's nation and the homeland desired by the True Parents can soon be found. (138-105, 1986.1.19)

The Completed Testament Age of justification through attendance is the age of directly attending God in our life. Since that is the time when God's tabernacle remains with us and the new Jerusalem in heaven comes down to earth, the form of the true God will finally appear to us then. This will happen for the first time since the creation of the world. Until now, God has not been able to appear in history, which has remained at an uncompleted stage since the Fall. 

Go Home to True Love Go to the Contents Page Go on to Section 1. A God of Historical Bitterness, Grief and Pain.