Hak Ja Han
December 3, 2016
Manhattan Center, New York City, New York.
I am so happy to see all of you. What would like me to talk about with you today? I will speak to you about God.
God, the Creator, created heaven and earth; beginning from the smallest microorganisms to all the great animals. He created everything in pairs. Lastly, God created the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve. Following Adam and Eve’s creation, God said, This is good; this is beautiful.
God had a dream, and that dream consisted of Adam and Eve going through a growth period to receive the Blessing from God. Through their Blessing, as the first human ancestors, they would have been with God and would have become the True Parents of humankind.
Unfortunately, Adam and Eve, during their growth period, allowed themselves to succumb to selfcenteredness. This became the cause of the Fall. For human beings to achieve absolute oneness with God, they had to unite from a position of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. However, Adam and Eve could not become the good ancestors of humanity. Instead, they became the ancestors of Satan’s world; they became fallen ancestors to fallen humanity.
The beginning and end of the omniscient and omnipotent God must be the same. Once he begins something, he must be victorious without fail. That is why God had to begin the providence of salvation to restore human beings. This was not easy.
Although human beings have been striving to live lives of virtue and goodness, they could not become closer to God. Why is that? Because human beings were ignorant of how to rectify what had gone wrong. Under those circumstances, in order to save human beings, God began the providence to restore fallen human beings. He selected and raised the chosen people of Israel. God developed the messianic ideology through the chosen people, and God promised that he would send the Messiah among them.
Nevertheless, how difficult must that course have been given that it took so long, four thousand years! When God sent Jesus, the Messiah, there was a powerful empire, the Roman Empire, about which people said, “All roads lead to Rome.” Because Rome at that time was suffering internally from corruption, if the people of Israel had fully accepted and united with Jesus, they would have had the opportunity to absorb Rome within the Messiah’s sphere. Unfortunately, what happened? Instead of protecting Jesus, instead of supporting Jesus so that he could fulfill his responsibilities, Mary failed in hers. Though Mary gave birth to Jesus through many miracles, in the end she was unable to support him.
I’m sure you know from the many stories in the Bible that Zachariah’s family, Joseph’s family, and Judaism -- the people of Israel, did not fulfill their responsibilities. Jesus eventually could not avoid taking the path of the cross, having lost the entire foundation that Heaven had prepared for him. As he hung on the cross, however, Jesus said he would come again. He said he would return and hold the marriage supper of the Lamb. Christianity today must understand this clearly. The returning Messiah comes to host the marriage supper of the Lamb.
At the time, the people of Israel, the Jewish people including Mary, should have enabled Jesus to meet the only begotten daughter, so that Jesus could become the True Parent of humankind. That is how the providence centering on Jesus would have advanced, and through the Roman Empire, God’s providence would have expanded throughout the world and God’s kingdom on earth could have manifested.
Heaven had worked so hard and had waited for so long for the day the Messiah would come. How painful it must have been when Jesus had to go the way of the cross. Christians, who did not know this internal providence, caused many problems. Especially in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church, centered on the Pope, was rife with corruption. Therefore, the Reformation took place, and in the sixteenth century, there were people who left to search for a place in which they could attend God freely.
Rather than practicing a faith void of truth in a system made by man, the Puritans left the old continent in search of a new continent, so that they could practice a religion in which they could worship God directly. These immigrants were the Pilgrim Fathers.
Native people were already living on the new continent. However, Heaven took the side of those immigrants, the Pilgrims. Why do you think that was? It was so that the foundation to welcome the returning Messiah could be established; that was their mission. That is America’s mission. America was blessed in that way. That is why, following World War II, the United States rose to become the number one superpower, isn’t that so?
However, we need to think carefully about something now: Fallen human beings cannot freely return to God. They need to reach the standard of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. To reach that standard, they need to find a model as their central figure. America must fulfill that responsibility.
Unfortunately, the forces of individualism, selfishness and extreme self-centeredness as well as the breakdown of the family, teenage delinquency and drug abuse have shaken America to its core, so that it has lost its moral values.
At the same time, Rev. Moon left the small nation of Korea in Asia and came to America. Why did he come? He was aware of Heaven’s providence. He understood that if America fails in its responsibilities, God’s dream will not be realized and will be delayed further.
Father said he had come as a doctor to treat America’s disease and as a firefighter to extinguish the flame of moral breakdown. At the time that Father said those things, America had many outstanding religious leaders. Not long after Father arrived, in 1976, three hundred thousand people came to the Washington Monument. This multitude gathered to hear Father’s message: God had blessed America; America must awaken and America must attend God. America’s blessings came from God; do not forget that. Take responsibility, America -- this was Father’s message.
Father called all conscientious people to awaken. At that time, many American intellectuals participated in True Father’s providence. In the midst of this situation, communism was a threat to America, which was facing serious challenges in overcoming that threat. A third of the world was communist at that time. Through South America, communist forces were threatening the North American continent.
Nonetheless, although many righteous people were in America, some politicians and intellectuals could not fully understand the communist threat. At the time, many were self-centered and living self-centered lives. Though it had not been long since Father came from Korea, within a few years, Father had awakened America. Only by awakening America, could the entire world come within God’s embrace. He was the Messiah and the True Parents, which is why he came to rescue America. Father founded the Washington Times in Washington, DC, for this reason, because he truly wanted to educate the conservative politicians of America, so that they would be able to overcome the threat of communism. Rev. Moon is the person who achieved all of this.
One unfortunate situation is that some people in the United States were ignorant of the providence and of the mission America had received. Because of them, Father had to go to prison in Danbury. Ladies and gentlemen, please consider how this serious mistake was possible. What indemnity can you pay to atone for this? Father came to this nation in order to save it and the entire world, so that all fallen human beings could return to God. The True Parents are absolutely necessary and supporting the Messiah is absolutely necessary. Becoming a hindrance to the work of the Messiah is a serious mistake.
The majority of you are in blessed families, blessed by True Parents. This Blessing was not just for your sake. Blessed families have been given a responsibility. When you fulfill that responsibility, your blessings will be even greater. God’s wish and humanity’s hope is to have a world of happiness without wars. That circumstance for everyone being united centering on God is the parent–child relationship.
However, fallen human beings cannot stand by themselves as God’s children. Fallen human beings are wild olive trees; they need True Parents, who are the true olive trees, in order to become true olive trees. Through the True Parents’ Blessing, you can go through rebirth.
When we look at phenomena in the world today, no hope exists anywhere. For millennia, war has been a part of history: religious discord, religious wars, differences of ideology. Wealthy nations are selfcentered and engage in war to take even more than they already have. Looking at this reality, if history continues in this way, nothing guarantees the lives, the existence of human beings. Furthermore, we cannot preserve this beautiful planet due to careless and irresponsible human beings who are destroying it.
Today the weather forecast was very good, but the wind was very strong. You can see that the climate is changing; the environment is changing due to pollution, even in America, right? Phenomena such as tornadoes and floods are increasing in severity. Air pollution is also causing trouble. Because of air pollution, every year more than six hundred thousand children, even babies, suffer health problems and some even die.
One member said that the 7.3 billion people on earth soon will become 7.4 billion, but of the numbers of people being born, some children die, before they are even able to live. When we see this reality, in particular in developed nations, these nations must prepare for the future.
We need to put this into practice, which is why in the beginning of next year I want to revive the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS).
Until now, the development of science has enabled great prosperity and material development. Sadly, some have misused science for destructive purposes. For example, science has become an accomplice in the development of weapons of war. If we let things continue in this way, the planet won’t be able to go on. Originally, God created the earth, and we need to restore it to its original pristine state. For that, we need scientists to research ways to do that.
America must take the lead in this initiative. This country must not let go of True Parents’ hands. Do you understand? Any person, any nation that Heaven has blessed will have tremendous troubles it fails in its responsibilities. We have to complete our responsibilities; we may face tremendous indemnity if we fail. America is the same. This country, which Heaven has blessed, must fulfill its responsibilities. Heavenly Parent and the True Parents wish to embrace all of humanity.
In particular, through True Parents, the United States was blessed as the Eldest Son Nation. When the parents are alive, the eldest son and all the children must fulfill their duties. They must understand their parents’ hearts, and strive to realize the parents’ wishes. That is their responsibility. True Father is in spirit world, and if I pass away as well, how can you be filial children? Where will the filial children be after we are gone? Even if you do become filial children, who will praise you? Please remember that this moment is extremely precious. Okay?
America is a microcosm of the world. All the different races are here. Isn’t that right? The percentage of white people in America is declining. This is a mixed-race place, with all races, a beautiful color. God is love, and you can truly feel it when you come to America. I feel that as well when I see all of your faces.
Now those of you who have received the Blessing -- 2020 isn’t far away. Only three years remain. This nation, these people, in front of God and the world, must fulfill their responsibilities. The current situation just cannot continue. Do you understand?
Ladies and gentlemen, you must hurry and becomes ten times, a hundred times busier starting from now. There are many people waiting for you. People cannot just know you; they must know True Parents, the Messiah. Tell them and testify that the True Parents are here on earth right now. We need to do that in order to guarantee a future for humanity. Keep in mind that we need to do that in order for one family under God, the Heavenly Parent’s dream, the wish of humanity, to come to fruition.
It has been a while since I’ve seen your faces, and I too am happy. Next time we meet, I hope you will have more people sitting next to you. This country has fifty states. I would like to hear, This person from this state restored the whole state.
If you have a state that you truly love, do your best to restore that state and connect it to the restoration of the nation and the world. Will you work hard for that? Next year, for True Parents’ birthday celebration I want to receive a report saying how many states have been restored in America.
Let us pledge that Heavenly Parent and True Parents can believe in you and that through you, we all can realize this dream, and pledge to make Heavenly Parent and True Parents proud and be their filial sons and daughters. Will you do that? I will be very proud of you in front of the world. I can believe in you all. Yes? I love you.
