Let Us Join in the Pursuit of the Homeland
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
September 22, 1957
John 14:1-7
Prayer
We have come after having won a victory in last week's fight. Please let the Father's deep love and sung sang descend upon our minds and bodies. We are embraced inside the bosom of the Father. Father of love, please bestow upon these sons and daughters the joy of love that penetrates deeply into Your abundant life. We know that if we cannot experience the preciousness of the Father and His heart, then we cannot eradicate our ties with all of our sins. Therefore, Father of compassion, please allow us to fall asleep inside the Father's love this moment. Please allow us to give all of our heart to the Father's dispensation.
My Father, we sincerely hope You will allow us to become beloved sons and daughters who can submit to the Father's dominion and experience the original will in our minds. Let us feel the original heart in our minds and fully cope with all of our responsibilities as those who have been called on earth.
We know that it was the Father who mourned for us when there was a sad situation on the perilous road up to now. It was the Father who reflected upon all of our sins, fought against the false charges of Satan when we fell into the realm of despair, and lamented. Beloved Father, we wish, from the bottom of our hearts, that You will allow us, in this hour, to feel with our minds and bodies that there is no way to repay the grace of the Father who has been exerting Himself until now. Even if we offer all of our minds and bodies as sacrifices to the Father, it would not be enough.
Father! We do not have anything to brag about or take pride in before the Father. You have called us out of many people and have called upon these people out of many peoples in spite of our being unworthy. What we want now is to become people who know how to mourn when the Father mourns and rejoice when the Father rejoices. Let our minds and bodies go up in an explosion for the sake of the will when the Father desires it to be so.
Please protect the sons and daughters who have gathered here. Please be the center and master. There is nothing we can boast about on earth. We know that we stand in a lonely place and the steps we take are on a perilous path. Father, please take charge of us and rule over us.
You can be comforted by our voice calling out, "Father," even as we are falling down in the fight of the Last Days. We are Your children who have received the counsels of the Father's love. We are the ones who have pledged, determined, and must fight. Therefore, Father, please do not hand our bodies and minds over to Satan.
As much as possible, please embrace us inside the realm of the Father's love. Please build the garden that You desire so that the one day when all people can be happy can manifest itself. Father, we earnestly wish that You will hold onto them and guide them until the end so that they can achieve this.
In this one moment today, please allow the will that the Father allowed to fill this temple. Allow us to understand that the place we are in right now is the culmination of the 6,000-year work, an altar of the blood of the 6,000 years of toil. May the bow that we are offering on behalf of all humanity open the heart and mind of the Father and comfort Him.
Now, beloved Father, we sincerely hope that You will allow us to become a light before the will of the Father. Let us remain as the center that can boast before the will of Father as we now divulge everything.
Even now, lonely members are scattered in the countryside, carrying on a conflict fraught with hardships. Father, we earnestly wish for You to protect and guard them. Earnestly requesting that the Father's compassionate grace will be bestowed upon the bows that we are making this hour, we offer all these words of prayer in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The content I want to reflect upon with you is "Let Us Join in the Pursuit of the Homeland." I will speak briefly upon this topic.
The Reason Fallen Humankind Longs for the Homeland
You probably have already heard through the Divine Principle that we must restore and return to the original homeland before the fall. We must find the original state before the fall of man, the position before losing God, the position before losing True Parents. Humanity lost True Parents. We cannot but seek the position where we can live as children in the garden of peace centering on God and the ideal True Parents. Therefore, to accomplish this task, we have a new term today: the dispensation of restoration.
If our ancestors in the garden of goodness had forged eternal ties with God, then today we would not have needed the term "restoration." We would not have needed the condition of going through the Savior. There would not have been any need to use the terms "faith" and "seeking God" nor would there have been any need for the term "new era." There would have been no need for repentance.
When we analyze ourselves today, we find that there is a demand for new hope, a new leader, new life and new practices. All of this came into being because of the fall.
From the fall until today, despite the passage of the long history, the homeland of hope that humankind wants has not yet been realized. Although human beings seek that homeland in their hearts, they are unable to create and find joy in that homeland. They are unable to indulge in eternal happiness inside that homeland.
There has not appeared even one person who has experienced joy in the historical garden of the homeland. Even among the masters of Tao who took responsibility for missions, not even one person fulfilled that ideology. Until this day, neither the Creator nor Jesus in whom we believe could complete the ideology of the homeland on earth.
Human beings lead their lives longing for the garden of the homeland. We cannot deny that we must live following our good mind, otherwise we cannot become good people. The course you must travel until the day you achieve the homeland of hope, the land where you can lead a life of goodness, is not a smooth course. The history of conflict is connected with that course, and Satan is ceaselessly making false accusations. Therefore, humankind has wished that the conditions of accusations and lamentation directed toward them may be forever wiped off this earth.
This is the sorrow of humanity and the sorrow of the earth. Human beings should not experience anguish and sadness, yet they live in an environment of sadness and anguish by virtue of the fall. God the Creator cannot change His concern about the sadness and distress that His children suffer. When human beings are distressed, God must be sad too. When human beings are sorrowful, God must be sorrowful.
We have to understand that we have the causal link that made it possible for God to raise us up and give us universal life. The link with the environment is the basis upon which we can live. In the background of the environment there are also certain links.
What is the most precious thing for those of us who are searching for the ideology of life? It is obtaining the link of life that allows us to forge a relationship with the ideology we have in the framework of our lives. Until you find those links of life, of environment and of ideology, your mind will struggle without rest to find them.
After finding these links of causality, are we going to solve only human relationships? No, we are not only to solve human relationships; we are to surpass human laws and connect with the heavenly principles. The position formed by the bonds of life, as well as the bonds of lifestyle and environment on the world and cosmic levels, can be manifested centering on you. When you feel your lifestyle can stand as a testimony, humankind will finally usher in the day of victory.
The Bonds of Parents, Couples and the Nation
For as long as human beings have lived on earth, there has been no one who has the foundation of life that surpasses the human laws of this environment. When we think about this, we can see that in order for me to be born today, in order for me to exist on the earth, by the law of cause and effect, we must work through the bond of parents. You must keep in mind that without the bond of parents, you would not exist.
The relationships and purposes of people born on the earth is the parent-child bond. After connecting with the parent-child bond, what kind of bond should you possess? When you go seeking the ideology of life, you cannot escape from the bond between a couple. After attaining the bond of life and the bond of lifestyle, what do you need to have? You are to make relations with the nation and the citizens who can connect with the bond of life. This is the realm of relations we live in today.
Can we be satisfied in the realm of relations in which we live now? Certainly not. Even if all these have been prepared, there is one absolute relation that our minds demand. You will feel in your lives that we are longing for and searching for that bond. What is that bond of cause and effect? It is the relationship with God, Who exists as the subject in the reciprocal relationship with humankind. In this world, there are many people who do not feel this.
When a human being is born on this earth, with what eternal relationship is he born? There is the relationship of causality with his parents to obtain life. He then has to pass through the bond between couples to find the ideology of life. After that he has to pass through relations on the national level for the sake of practical activity, and he has to transcend human ethics and find the day when he can rest eternally. Yet this earth is a fallen world. Therefore, religion, which manages the dispensation of restoration, has been established on earth to sever relations that obstruct our path out of the fallen realm to the realm of restoration. It enables us to step over them.
When we live on the earth, we are to follow heavenly laws and human laws. Moreover, you have to struggle to become people who can connect with the parents on whom we depend for our lives, connect with the couple, connect with the nation, and forge relations with the whole world. To find the one day that we can sing and harmonize with all things, you have to struggle until your life is fully exhausted. You are to carry on fierce conflicts.
Because history began with conflict, the conclusion of history will also be achieved through conflict. Of course, the same is true for the process. Even if you have parents who love you and a nation in which you can find comfort, because the humanity of this earth lost peace of mind, fighting is inevitable.
Why is God feeling distressed? God does not grieve over the sorrow of the people who have no parents on the earth. God does not mourn because there are no couples on earth. God does not mourn because there are no nations on earth. What is the cause of God's grief? You have to understand that the sorrow of God is that the bond that can connect with the ideology of the heavenly principles has not been accomplished on earth.
What we, the descendants of the fall, must realize today is that the parents, the world and the nation are unable to introduce the ideology of God in the original form. Living in this fallen realm, humankind has the responsibility and mission to accomplish this ideology after stepping above the one stage. It is Heaven's difficulty that it has to work its dispensation with people who are ignorant of this.
The Destination of Human Beings
What path should humanity travel and what steps should they take now to go in search of the eternal ideology? They need one condition of rapid progress that is different from the one at present. It is a condition that is not clearly known. Jesus, whom you believe in, is the one who was sent to this earth to take responsibility for finding that condition.
In what position is humanity, the descendants of the fall? They have fallen from the position where they were to serve God as the eternal Parent. Due to the fall of human beings, the bond between the bride and bridegroom, which can provide the condition of eternal joy centered on God, has also been cut off.
Because this original relationship has been destroyed, failures came on the individual and family levels. Next, people lost the qualification to inherit the glory of God, the Jehovah of all people. What is more, they lost the environment that promises the greatest joy to God and humankind.
What then is the original purpose of believing in Jesus and following the road of faith? It is not to indulge in the environment where they are born into the fallen lineage. It is to bring liberation from that environment and to, one day, eradicate all the causes entangled by sin and then find the original center. What is the original center? In that place, there must be parents and couples. There must also be an environment and nation that can protect one's family. The purpose of our life of faith is to fulfill all these. Moreover, you have to understand that God imbues even evil people with goodness, and by moving their consciences, He has been working to raise them up to this standard of ideology.
After understanding these things, you must carry on the struggle for the sake of goodness with all of your sincere heart. By feeling that you and the world have deviated from the original laws, you must develop an immutable conviction to fight against this.
When we look at the lives of the people who have been raised by their parents and are managing their lives inside the spheres of relationships on the national or world levels, we learn that they are not lives centered on eternal human ethics or eternal values. All forms of lifestyle and ideology, which came into being on this earth because of the fall, face the destiny of being liquidated on the day of judgment.
The love that was meant to be between human beings is manifested by the fact that there is mourning when one lacks affinity for their parents. There is mourning when affinity between a couple is lacking and when there is no nation that protects one's family on this earth where the eternal ideology has not been realized. Even for changeable relations, one mourns when the environment conducive to them is not formulated. Therefore, would not one mourn over the fact that one does not have relations centered on the eternal ideology? Human beings are created so that, even when they are given all the humanistic conditions on earth, they still want eternal relations of heavenly principles.
Today then how must we men and women of faith live? We are not to live with changeable ideological conditions. We are to restore unchanging relations, but we must understand that these relations are not separate from us. They are all tied together as one inside the sphere you live in. You must develop a relationship with God by your own effort.
By developing a relationship with God, you are to become sons and daughters of God who restore that demonstrative value and attend God in that sphere of time and life. In other words, you must become sons and daughters who can live within the bond of unity with God.
If you feel the substantial embodiment of God, who enables us to lead that kind of life, then that value is not partial. When you restore the environment in which the whole value can be realized, then the individual and whole value will begin to move centering on you.
God has been working to inspire a good heart in humankind. The history of sin must change, no matter what. In this way, God has been working to introduce to humankind the door to the ideology which will not change once it becomes a world of goodness. Jesus is the person who came to this earth to fulfill this task on behalf of God. Therefore, Jesus said that he and God had become one body. Furthermore, he said that he was the son of God, specifically, the only begotten son. Going one step further, he said that he was the bridegroom of humanity. You have to understand that Jesus was the true parent of humanity.
Jesus Came to Restore the Original Bond
What was the spirit of the people of Israel who led their lives based on the idea of faith? That spirit is the faith that believes in God. Thus, they hoped that the nation of God would be built with the faith that relied on God. The purpose of Jesus' coming to this earth was to bring this hope to pass.
Therefore, Jesus was the king of all kings. In regard to life, Jesus spoke of being the bridegroom. We are the brides. The purpose of these words is to implant the idea of a united couple in the living sphere. Accordingly, even when he was passing away, Jesus pledged to do the work of parents through himself and the Holy Spirit. Since God Who created the earth is invisible, it can be said that the purpose of Jesus' coming to this earth was to represent the invisible God, to testify to humankind of the invisible God.
What was Jesus' field of vision, coming to the earth with that kind of mission? First you have to understand that Jesus could call God, Who created the world, "Father."
Today, countless men are living in the fallen realm on this earth. Jesus' line of vision was different from that of fallen people. Jesus poured every ounce of his heart into the one question of calling God his own father. Moreover, he agonized over the purpose of actualizing the relations that allowed him to proclaim that his father was the best. He then tried to develop the idea that he is the bridegroom for humanity. However, before he could qualify as the bridegroom of humanity before God, he passed through the stage of perfecting his position as the bride before God.
Although Jesus came to the earth with the idea of True Parents, humankind on earth at that time did not attend Jesus. They did not know that, although they had parents whom they served, a spouse with whom they lived, a nation in which they worked, and a world for which they longed, these could not be complete.
They should have promulgated their hope, revived that ideology, and served Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the central figure of the ideology that could give life to the whole lifestyle and historical course, which has the value equivalent to God. Yet, they could not do this.
Jesus Christ came to complete all the hopes of God and humanity. What kind of life did he live? Although Jesus was born into Joseph's family on earth, he was not Joseph's son. He was not Mary's son. The relationships for which Jesus hoped were different from the hope of human beings on the earth. In the changing environment, he transcended the relationships of mourning parents and couples. He transcended the bonds of the environment in which people live. Furthermore, he transcended the relations of the world within the realm of judgment. Jesus felt the unchanging heart of the Parent of Heaven, Who is the center of goodness.
This was the joy of God. This was the content based upon which Jesus could become the son that God had been seeking throughout the 4,000 years since the fall of man. On this earth, where there was no one who could call God "Father," there finally appeared someone who could. Born with the lineage of changeable parents, humankind at last could seek an unchanging relationship with the eternal Parent.
The center of Christianity is the New Testament. What is the center of the New Testament? It is Jesus. What is the center of Jesus? It is love. The center of love is the bride and bridegroom. What is the center of the bride and bridegroom? It is True Parents.
You have come searching for this path. However, no matter how wise you are and no matter how much boasting you can do before God, you have been born with the lineage of fallen parents. You are dead people who could not receive the immutable lineage of True Parents. Only when the dead people develop a bond with the unchanging lineage of True Parents can they claim back the eternal bond of the heavenly principles. To get this back, the spirit world has been mobilized for the fight that is being conducted now. Christians have hoped for these kinds of eternal relations. When the relations of parents, couples and national relations are determined in Heaven, the glory of God can be transferred to this earth.
In materializing the ideology of the Creator, one must develop the causal relations of the parents who gave birth, the relations of a couple for the sake of living, and the relations of the nation and universe for the sake of carrying out activities. If such a universal ideology of the creation is not found and established in the living environment, then God cannot come and reside.
What has Jesus done in the 2,000 years since he passed away? He has been pioneering this path. What then should we do, we who are moving forward with a firm belief in Jesus, the spearhead of the pioneering efforts of today?
Jesus said, " . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6) The road Jesus traveled was the road that connected the relations of parents, husband and wife, and the nation. Jesus is a person who is linked to the heart of the heavenly principles and to the heart of the Kingdom of Heaven. He is the center of goodness, who is connected to the heart of the Creator, Who governs over dispensational history.
Jesus said, "I am the way." Yet what "way" is he referring to? He is talking about the way of love. That truth is the truth of the cross. Moreover, the life he is talking about is the life of the whole. You should believe in Jesus.
The Efforts of God to Find True Sons and Daughters
You who are living on earth today are living within the sphere in which you can endanger your heart when you are afflicted with wounds in your mind. Nonetheless, you will feel that there is no way for you to connect to God, Who exists as the center of hope. You have to understand that this is the anguish of Heaven. Someone must resolve this anguish, but there is no one with the internal standard who can.
Although human beings can see, hear and express their hearts to each other, the heart of the Creator God was never conveyed to anyone, though 6,000 years have passed. Heaven has been laboring until now to set the standard on the level of some people to connect to the heart of Heaven.
Although this kind of history has traversed 6,000 years, until now there still has been no establishment of the eternally unforgettable link between Heaven and "I." You have to understand that to set this standard, God sent many prophets and has guided the dispensation through Jesus. You should realize that this is the effort God made to find true sons and daughters.
Though God stands in the position to accomplish the ideal ideology of life as the center of ideals, He had to do the work by sending prophets and sages, because He could not directly build a relationship with humankind in the fallen realm. This is also the difficulty of Heaven.
God sincerely longs for the establishment of the one standard on earth which can attend the representative of God as the Savior who is coming to help the whole of humanity serve God as their Father. Therefore, we must quickly bring about the one day when humankind can stand on the standard of original human ethics and of the heavenly principles that Heaven demands and offer a bow before the Father.
What has Jesus been keeping deep in his heart? What has he mourned over? Today there are many people who are sad because they do not have parents, a spouse or a nation. However, Jesus grieved because he could not fulfill his duty of alleviating the sorrow of God and building the true heavenly nation, centering on True Parents.
Moreover, you have to understand that Jesus has suffered greatly to build eternally, unchanging, heavenly relationships with people who were changing countless times in their lives. Therefore, you should walk the road of truth, life and love that Jesus introduced.
While he was living on earth, Jesus had the mission to set the unchanging, principled center, but because he lost the foundation to live on the earth, he has been working to achieve this task. Jesus came as the center of the world that combines the spiritual and the physical, but because he died on the cross, he could relate with human beings only spiritually. This is the grief of Jesus. However, because this is not the completion of the dispensation, there still remains the condition for him to return to this earth again.
What is another sorrow that Jesus felt after coming to this earth? He mourned over the fact that if humankind had not fallen, they could have led their lives personally attending Parents of goodness with their minds and bodies. Because of the fall, they could not serve True Parents for the long period of 4,000 years. As you can see, the people at that time could not recognize that Jesus stood in the position of the Father with the heart of a True Parent.
Humanity's inability to recognize Jesus who came was the grief of God. Not being able to attain the parent-child relationship with humanity is the grief and sorrow of Heaven.
The Task of Believers
What is the consequence of the fall today? The eternal Creator is the Father, yet our not being able to call him "Father" is the consequence and source of bitterness of the fall. Because Jesus understood this well, he appeared to humankind personally and tried to guide them with loving hands, but they did not fathom his heart. Although he spoke words of love, they ignored him. Although he shed tears of grief, they did not understand his situation.
You who are living on earth today must demonstrate filial piety to your parents and be loyal to the nation. In other words, you must walk the path of human ethics. Jesus came with the mission to join the heavenly principles with human ethics. Who comprehended this heart of Jesus? Today there are many people who betray Jesus and forget his heart, but people 2,000 years ago did not understand Jesus any better. You have to reflect whether you are true Christians.
What is that which you must achieve and restore now? It is understanding the heart of Jesus and comforting the heart of God, Who has been grieving for 6,000 years. You should repent from the position of the people of 2,000 years ago, who caused God deeply penetrating grief because they failed to attend Jesus. You must also repent that you are ignorant of the practical reality.
Who followed Jesus to the end without forsaking him? The twelve apostles of Jesus? No, the three disciples among the twelve apostles also could not believe in and follow Jesus to the end.
Although Jesus tried to introduce the love of God to humankind and tried to put that love into practice, he passed away without building a substantial relationship of love with humankind. You have to understand that although Jesus conveyed the words of love and had a heart that burned with love, he passed away without having found one person whom he could hold tight and interact with as, My son, My father, and share the love that runs between parent and child.
You have to understand the heart and situation of Jesus, who cried in anguish through the sleepless night in the Garden of Gethsemane, even as the disciples were dozing off. There were many people who liked Jesus' words of love, but 2,000 years ago, Jesus did not have any place to give his love.
Without connecting to this heart of Jesus, you cannot forge a parent- child relationship with him. Moreover, you cannot make the bond of husband and wife through Jesus, and you cannot stand in the position of loyal subjects and women of fidelity.
We are to comfort and liberate his heart, which is immersed in the historical sorrow of the 6,000 years when he called God "Father" and clung to Him. When we cling to the distressed heart of the Father and call Him, with just that one word, Heaven and earth that have been divided will be joined again. If you cannot set this standard again, then the sorrow of God will never leave you. You will not be able to escape from the condition of judgment by God.
What then must you do to accomplish this task? What must you do to understand the will of Jesus? You have to become a person who knows how to live according to your original mind and according to how you are taught, and walk the same way Jesus walked.
The Wish of Jesus and Ours
As a person who lived on earth with a physical body, Jesus could have displayed his emotions of filial piety toward his parents, but he could not do that. He could not have a relationship with a spouse. Because he knew that the bitterness of God had not yet been alleviated, he abandoned a comfortable environment. He cut off all the trivial relationships of the world. This is the situation those who are searching for the world of the heavenly way today must inevitably go through.
Therefore, because there were the conditions of the heavenly principles that constrained him to selectively do certain things, Jesus was silent even when he was rejected by his family and society, and even when falsely accused by Satan. He could not say anything. Jesus could not find the bride for which God had yearned in humankind on earth for 6,000 years. He could not find one son or daughter. Who could he blame?
What then is Jesus' wish? It is that you become true people who, as the central figures who can unite with Jesus, can inherit the whole ideology of Jesus concerning life, husband and wife, and parents. Moreover, Jesus hoped for a person who could materialize the ideology of love. When such a person emerges, there will come a time when Jesus can frankly discuss with him the situations of God.
Because this kind of person did not emerge, God's dispensation until now has been covered up. It could not be revealed. Moreover, Jesus was in a position where he could not divulge it even if he wanted. The reason is that there did not appear one true person who could fulfill the ideology of goodness on earth for the original ideology. Thus, the dispensation of God has remained a symbolic dispensation. As a result, our destiny is to unfold this symbolic dispensation of God into substantial manifestation.
Since the creation of the world until now, there was not even one person to whom God could reveal everything in His heart and consult with honestly. Moreover, after Jesus passed away until now, not even one person has appeared to whom He could reveal all of his ideas and share them. You probably know well that the substantial environment in which the entire ideology of Jesus could be realized did not come into fruition.
Who then must become the objects of God and Jesus on behalf of history? All people must become the objects of Jesus and God's love. Until you cross this line, you cannot create the bond with parents, spouses and with the nation which will allow you to sing in praise of the eternal relations.
As you try to search for the original road today, there will come a time when all conditions of this earth will pull you down. The closer you go toward the Last Days, the less you can deal exclusively with the things you like. They have to be changed. Only then can you cross the pass of judgment. Moreover, you can then build the eternal bonds of parents, husband and wife, and the substantial bonds of a nation.
If there is someone who is searching for the ideology of Heaven in the Last Days, often that person's parents will oppose him. When you go in search of the ideology, your parents will cut themselves off from you. Husbands and wives will be separated from each other, and there will be divisions in the nation and the world.
Therefore, you have to walk the course that Jesus traveled. Jesus was abandoned by his parents, his brothers, and by the church, the nation, and the world. However, because Jesus clung onto the unchanging laws and ideology of the heavenly principles with the heart of a shepherd, his ideology survived. Moreover, a victorious environment centering on Jesus was created.
Similarly, because humanity chased Jesus out, by the principles of restoration through indemnity, the people who seek Jesus must walk through the environment in which parents, spouses and the nation oppose them. You have to have this kind of determination.
Furthermore, you must connect with the unchanging bonds with parents under heavenly law and the bonds between original couples. You must establish the uniform ideology of life based on the relationship of the bride about which Jesus spoke. You have to serve God and love the earth, and you must be loyal to the nation. After these things are achieved, Jesus' wishes will be fulfilled, and God's love can finally make a relationship with human beings.
The Last Days When We are Judged by the Things We Like
In the past, to overcome the crisis encountered in the course of restoration, God worked through angels. After that, He worked through His only begotten son. From now on, the time will come when we will be ruled by the Father. Therefore, Paul talked about the love of God inside Jesus. The love of Jesus alone is not enough. Moreover, the love of the Holy Spirit alone is not enough. You must reach the standard where you can forge a bond with the love of God, through the love of Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
To do that, you must not be tied down to any condition of love on this earth. Moreover, you must not remain in any position of glory on earth. At this time, when the day of hope is approaching, we must feel that the fearful day when the Father will make the judgment is coming to us.
At any rate, to walk the original path humankind must travel, we must abandon everything we have. First, we have to abandon material things; next, our parents and children. In other words, we must abandon our families, and even lose our nation and the world.
The reason is that we must follow the example of Jesus, whose one and only center remained unchanging, even when he lost his parents, relatives, church and the idea of dominion over the universe, which God had promised at the time he crossed the victorious hill of the cross. The center of Jesus is attaining the eternally unchanging parents, couple, family, nation and world.
Similarly, you must also have the mind-set ready to abandon all momentary values and bonds on earth for the sake of unchanging eternal relations. In the Last Days, there will come a time when you are judged by the things you like. What do you want? Do you want to be a scholar? If things go wrong, then your degree will hang you by the neck. That authority will hang you. Those who have been blessed with inspiration will fall down because of it. This is the so-called great judgment. You simply cannot be sure whether the conditions in which you find joy, the conditions you treasure as your own life, will hand you over to the place of judgment.
You must not abandon the course, even when you are in an arduous and difficult place. You must persevere to the end so that you can give birth to your second self. I wish that you would clearly understand that only this kind of person can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the reason Jesus said, ". . . Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." (Mark 8:34) Jesus also said, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword." (Matthew 10:34) These are the Last Days. Jesus said your own family members are your enemies. Furthermore, your physical bodies, the nation, society, etc., all that is not restored, are your enemies.
Those who have the mind to appeal, "Father, who will even understand this kind of situation?" can obtain true life and the victorious resurrection. Those who have the heart of the heavenly principles can do so.
Jesus said in his final decisive prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, ". . . O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." (Matthew 26:39) You must realize that this kind of faith has become the condition of resurrection and represents the heart of Jesus, who was fighting on behalf of the heavenly principles. The bonds that tied God and the Israelites must bear fruit through you. You must become people who can alleviate this sorrow.
After you become this kind of individual, in whom God can take pride, when you become the couples, parents, filial sons, nation and world, there will no longer be any need for religion. There will no longer be any need for the terms "faith" and "Savior." In the one uniform sphere of relations, God can finally make a beginning that can bring out His glory toward humankind.
To enter this kind of environment, you must obediently follow in the footsteps of Jesus. In other words, you are to inherit Jesus' ideology as is, and set the unchanging standard of resurrection. That standard is not centered on human beings. It is centered on the heavenly principles. Therefore, you must pass through the positions of parents of the heavenly principles, the couples of heavenly principles, and filial sons and daughters of the heavenly principles. You must then set the laws of filial sons, the laws of women of fidelity, and the laws of loyal subjects.
The Life of Separating Oneself from Satan
How many filial sons and loyal subjects have there been in history? Only when there are people who can receive love from God can we remove all the conditions embedded in the satanic world and enter the original garden.
In order for you to become like that, what must you do? You must become one with the heart of Jesus. You must become one with the will of God. After you have achieved this, you must become united with all of humanity on earth. After coming to earth, Jesus sought the uniform ideology regarding the heavenly love of oneness and has put it into practice for the sake of bringing unity.
You today must become one now. To become filial sons and daughters who are loved by Heaven and serve their parents, you must, first, become one with your brothers and sisters. Furthermore, you must make it possible for the family, nation and world to attain oneness. You must be able to distinguish Satan. To fulfill that kind of mission, you must fight from this moment on. Satan will follow you around even after you enter the glorious realm of resurrection. You must chase away this Satan who is following you. What must you do to accomplish that? You must find the master, parents, couples and children on earth centering on God. You must establish the heavenly nation and heavenly world where you can actualize the ideology of Heaven. Until then, Satan will always follow you around.
What is your present state of faith? You have arrived at the realm of unchanging ideology that can link with the heart of God and Jesus. Nonetheless, this alone is not enough. You are to carry these out with a sense of responsibility. After you joined the Unification Church, you must have come to some understanding of the standard of truth. Yet even if you understand the truth and are within the realm of liberation of the truth and have followed the truth, the question is whether you have become an embodiment of truth. Not all of you have.
During the 2,000 years since his resurrection, Jesus has been fighting in the spirit world for the sake of God's will. Similarly, you must also have the environment in which you can fight for the sake of Heaven. Just as the 2,000-year history has been a history of sorrow, you must conduct a faith united with the new truth and can overcome the sorrow.
We have come to know the fact that we are joined with God in a bond. We have come to understand the unchanging heart of the Father. Therefore, we must comfort God and become the elite troops of Heaven who can take on the invisible Satan and march forward.
The 6,000-year history of humankind brought grief to God. Therefore, you must make the determination to follow the will of the Father with an unchanging heart, even if you die. Without this kind of resolution, although you have joined the Unification Church, you will soon quit. Many people also thought that following Jesus was beneficial 2,000 years ago, but when they saw Jesus walking the path of the cross, they all ran away.
You have to have the same kind of sense of responsibility as Jesus, who traversed the realms of life and death with the ideology of God's creation and an unchanging heart. He maintained an unchanging center of heart, even in front of Satan. If there is someone who becomes one with God for the sake of restoring the love and life that was lost and who boldly steps forward toward Satan, then that person is an owner of true faith.
Now to actualize the ideology of God, humankind must first become one. Even if we suffer sorrow and agony, we must not despair. For the sake of restoring the true bond, we must liquidate original sin and the works of Satan. By pioneering the changing environment into an unchanging environment, we must all become united. We must fight with Satan in unity.
Have you become members of Heaven's family who can multiply and spread the new ideology of Heaven? If you are members of the same family, then you have to serve the parents and you have to receive the recognition of the parents. After you have parents, siblings can rejoice. You will then have the environment in which the family can be happy.
You have to let your joy become the joy of your neighbors, the nation, the world and God. Moreover, when you relate with the whole of humanity as if they are your parents and siblings, you can say that the will of Heaven is fulfilled.
To fulfill that, you must follow the teachings of Jesus. You are all to walk together the path of life, truth and love that Jesus pointed out when he said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Ultimately, you have to overcome all difficulties and ordeals with an unchanging heart and go before the Father in the same way that Jesus maintained an unchanging heart even while he was bearing the cross. Furthermore, you can restore the original world only when the Father can boast about you before Satan. Only then can you feel the original parent- child bond with God and between human beings and also with all things. You can experience the original affinity and love.
Prayer
Please let the sons and daughters who have gathered in this place now understand that they are struggling to find the relationships through which they can find joy in their families and nation, and in their ideological course. When we come to understand that we have the mission to pay indemnity for the relationship with our bodies and minds, and when we come to realize that until now our minds and bodies have been moved and swayed by bonds to this earth, Father, please grant us the power, love and life of Heaven that will empower us to bring an explosion as the wellspring of re-creation. Based on this, by destroying all the accusations of enemies and the conditions of death and by becoming one with the love of the Father, please allow us to become embodiments of the eternal truth and to stand in the position where we can be proud before the whole universe.
Father! Earnestly requesting that You guide us to become filial sons and daughters, women of fidelity, and men of loyalty who can live with the Father amid eternal glory with unchanging hearts, we offer this prayer in the name of the Lord. Amen.