God's Will and the World

Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Victory or Defeat and the Present Time

December 5, 1971
Seoul, Korea

T here are many sorrowful people around us, and there are many who are not sorrowful. Our families, cities and nations are either sorrowful or they are not. Some are developing and others are not; some are smiling and others crying. In this way everyone is different, yet everybody feels sorrow and solitude and everybody seeks the whole.

Everyone also seeks joy, glory and happiness. The same is true with every family, society and even every nation. Everyone tries to avoid sorrow, seeking glory, and for that purpose everyone endures hardships. The same is true with the world. If there is a being who controls the whole, then that being should definitely be the same as human beings.

Love wasn't meant to be given in a lonely, suffering place but in a free, glorious place. God's heart is such that He wants to give His utmost love in such a receptive environment. On earth, is there any human being who can do that? We have to think about it. That utmost love is not to be given only to a certain individual; rather it is to be given to families and to the whole world. This is the essence of love. The nature of love is such that it is given to two people rather than one person, and it is given to three people rather than two people, and to 10 people. Thus, the force of love reaches toward the whole world rather than toward a certain nation. This is the way love works. Therefore, it is possible for love to flow toward human beings here on earth.

The ultimate goal of love should be the greatest thing. A parent with many children would be able to understand this deep heart. Such a person cannot have an enemy. All human beings have to receive love. If you think that you alone should receive love and not the world, then this way of thinking would be destructive.

God's desire is not confined to a certain individual. Heaven seeks the whole. hence, the distinction between public life and private live. Public life is for the sake of the whole. Therefore, to serve the expectations of the whole is to lead a public life. Joy only for yourself cannot exist; it would be chased away by the joy of the whole. I think God is that way. Therefore, those who are wise live for the future, not only for the present. Hence the necessity of faith. Once you have faith, hope can exist.

Victory should not be confined to the individual level; it should be for the whole. It is not good to think that you are you and I am I. The truth is that you are me and I am you. We need to attain that level of awareness. Individual victory can only bring forth individual joy. However, if individual victory is dedicated to the whole, then it can belong to the whole. Therefore, individual sacrifice can bring about public victory. We should think that after the whole Korean nation of 30 million people smiles because of happiness, then each of us can smile. The greater the extent of sacrifice, the greater the value. By following this principle, the world can prosper.

Sacrifice for others always accompanies the path of love. We cannot walk that path by any other method. We cannot rejoice as individuals. In this sense, victory cannot exist in religion. Of course we exist as individuals, but we as individuals exist for the sake of our nation and for the sake of the whole world. We must understand that clearly.

Be a public person

W e as individuals should symbolize the world. Hence, individuals should live for the public. It is in this way that God's love expands infinitely. We must not live only for the sake of the Unification Church but for the sake of our nation and for the sake of the world. Although we may have to sacrifice ourselves, we must walk this path. This is the way we as individuals should live. When you see a beautiful sunset, do you want to see it only by yourself? In your truest heart you would want everyone to see such a beautiful thing. So the eternal Kingdom of heaven cannot exist only within an individual. It can exist only within the whole. That is why religion, especially Christianity, is strong. No one can remove its power.

Needless to say, it's not easy to walk a religious path. You have to become miserable people. However, human history develops through such miserable people. We have to have ambition of the highest dimension. Even when you collapse as an individual, you can collapse with hope that your situation will bring about development. The Unification Church must serve the world; otherwise the church will perish. In this way we must establish a new civilized world, a new civilized thought. We must create an ideology representing heaven and earth. If we succeed in doing that, even if heaven and earth are destroyed, the ideology will remain forever.

When we endure suffering for the sake of our nation, we must be proud of it. It may be painful at one point, but it creates a love that no one can remove. Jesus died on the cross; however has the love of heaven that brought forth his crucifixion disappeared from the earth? No! Despite the fact that God's love for mankind allowed Him to give His most beloved son to be crucified, that deep love did emerge again on the earth, didn't it? This is the love of True Parents. It is a love so profound, a love we cannot imagine. It is able to bring forth a new resurrection.

We must know this clearly. Until we see our nation of 30 million people victorious, we must endure this miserable environment and fight. Even though it may be the path of death, we must go on. With that kind of conviction, we can live.

At first glance, the Unification Church seems to be walking the path of death. The reason is because our church lives for the sake of the nation. We cannot leave our nation when it may perish. We must do our utmost to work for the nation. We must become the center of activity for the whole nation. Otherwise, we cannot help but perish. We stand at the crossroads to determine whether we become victors or losers. It will not be determined 10 years from now; it is determined at this moment. Unless you can overcome the present moment, you will not be able to become the victor. Those who cannot conquer the present will not be able to bring forth victory in the future. We must overcome the present difficulties to liberate God. We must therefore be victorious now. We need to clearly realize how God's destiny depends upon us. We have to save our nation and the world. We must also save God. This kind of victory for humanity cannot be obtained in a comfortable room. A day of joy would be very difficult for us if we were to live in such a comfortable way.

We are all seeking the Heavenly Kingdom

W e must not fight with the established churches; rather, we must do our utmost to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, which they also are seeking. Our purpose is to establish the kingdom. Is the Heavenly Kingdom realized? No, we still have to establish it. We must not stop or become frustrated. We cannot live only for the sake of our own families; we must live for something greater. We can't stay where we are at this moment. We don't have to worry about saving ourselves; rather, we have to save the nation and the world. We need that kind of thinking. Even if we are hungry, we must march forward. Even though we face difficulties, we should accomplish what we have to do. We should walk together with history, and participate in the creation of a new history. For the sake of heaven's purpose, heaven's sorrow and heaven's dignity, we must be active.

We are now marching forward. We cannot sleep now. We have to fight together with those who are fighting for the sake of the world. Then we will discover we aren't alone in the battle. We are fighting vertically together with the saints in the spirit world. It is, of course, not an easy fight but a difficult one.

However, we must not fail. Many times we may tremble when walking this path; it's a very serious path. In order to fight against communism and Satan, we must march forward, transcending the national dimension.

Someone may live in this world, but that does not mean he lives only for himself. He belongs to his family and his nation. That is the case at least with the democratic world. We as individuals live surrounded by our families and our nation, but now the individual is the center, with God's providence surrounding him. Which family and which nation is the center? No one knows, truly. Man does not know. Then, who does know?

According to the Bible, only Heavenly Father knows. The center of God's providence, which only God knows, is nothing else but the Lord of the Second Advent. Therefore, all people are destined to unite with this individual and his family and live together with him. Centering upon this one man, all people will realize what is good and what is evil. Therefore, we must unite with that center and do our utmost to eradicate evil. We must be trained. Whether we can do it or not will determine whether all individuals, all nations and all humanity live or die. All human beings must abandon the evil world to unite with this good center. The Lord of the Second Advent clearly knows whether God's kingdom will perish or not and whether Satan's world will perish or not. The reason is because he knows all the secrets concerning God's kingdom and Satan's kingdom. He must be the one who can establish God's kingdom by going through the struggles between God's kingdom and Satan's kingdom.

If you desire to establish God's kingdom, you must not think that you want to stay with Satan. If you live for God's purpose, you should absolutely overcome evil.

Jacob fought 21 years and defeated an angel. Afterward, he received the name Israel, which means the victor. Anyone who desires to establish God's kingdom should go this kind of path.

Moses, too, fought for that purpose. He fought for 120 years. Before God hits the power of evil, we must accomplish the desire of God. If God could handle the evil world by Himself, then why would He need any help from man? Therefore, we must represent God, destroy evil, and bring forth the day of victory. We must not perish.

If Jacob, when he was wrestling with the angel, had thought that he could not fight anymore, and if he had wanted someone to help him, then what would have happened? God would have been disappointed with him. But Jacob fought by himself and became victorious. Thus, he was able to receive the title Israel. In order to gain this kind of victory, Jacob's thigh bone was broken. We must remember Jacob fought with the angel at the risk of his life. He never gave up until he obtained the victory. We, too, must be strong that way.

You must defeat Satan

I n order for us to be able to enter heaven, we must show proof that we have overcome Satan. Without that kind of certificate, we cannot go to heaven. When we try to overcome Satan, he does not just let us; rather, he resists and opposes until the end. Because Satan resists this way, God must be concerned about it. When we walk God's path, we have to face all kinds of difficulties. Did you ever see a woman delivering a baby? When a woman gives birth, she does so with her utmost effort, being ready to die. We, the Unification members, are now in this kind of situation, so we must not retreat.

Americans are now saying they will withdraw their troops from Vietnam and Korea, but we must not retreat. Instead we should be ready to march forward to the enemy. Why do we want to defeat our enemies? Because we want to make God rejoice. Our purpose is to bring forth joy to God. We must defeat Satan in order for God to rejoice. He has been fighting for 6,000 years to remove Satan. But we cannot do this all by ourselves. It is impossible to do alone. Therefore, we must defeat God's enemy by becoming one with a nation.

We must defeat communism, and nothing else but Unification thought can do it. Who can deny it? We must overcome communism. Until we can see the day of communism's defeat, we cannot give up. This is our conviction. We must defeat Satan, who is trying to block a glorious future. For that purpose, our tactics now are to surround the enemy. In order to surround the enemy, we have to pay a great sacrifice. We have to go through a severe war, so all of you should be ready. In this miserable situation we should bring victory. When God's side becomes victorious in the future, who will rejoice most? It will certainly be Reverend Moon. Why? Because Reverend Moon has not been able to sleep at all because of this fight. When victory is brought forth, the one who rejoices most is the one who suffered most.

We must absolutely not become losers. My prayer, therefore, is really serious. In this sense, your prayer and my prayer are different. With the destiny of the entire world at stake, how can we think of our own situation? The Unification Church must not perish. We must fight courageously in order to make this nation of 30 million people survive. If you stop because of your individual situation, you will end up a loser You cannot do such a thing. Once you have taken God's responsibility, of course, you may have to walk a miserable path and you may be disappointed, but you cannot stop or retreat. If we cannot accomplish this, our descendants will have to do it. We have to have this kind of determination. This kind of thought is the most fearful. Anyway, we must go forward and stop OUI enemy. We must be ready to die. When I started this path, I was ready to die. I am sorry that during my life I did not have any military experience. But I believe that I am a man of courage who is always ready to sacrifice his life for the sake of goodness, and I am always ready to go to the front line.

Who made the Unification Church? Who created the fortune and destiny of the Unification Church? Did you? Did history? It's not you; history did it. We must clearly know that we can work only because of the foundation laid by the great saints of the past who sacrificed themselves, shedding blood for thousands of years. We must take responsibility for history. That is the path of the Unification Church.

We must become the subject of history, or symbols of history. If we are to solve these difficult problems, we must become coworkers and fight. We cannot do that by sitting inside a room. Those who ruin the beautiful hope of history by sitting around will be left behind forever. Let's not become those who let this happen. When we see the Unification Church from an historical standpoint, we realize that this kind of phenomenon never happened in the past, and it will never happen in the future. So far what has human history sought? It has sought to meet with the True Parents.

Because mankind did not have True Parents, it had to walk the path of misery throughout history. The Christian idea of the Messiah needs nothing else to be fulfilled but the True Parents. Even other religions, all kinds of religions, have been seeking the True Parents.

Christianity actually awaits True Parents

I n the Unification Church, I am called Father. In communist North Korea, Satan is trying to do the same thing. There, Kim Il Sung is called Father now, but there cannot be two Fathers. South Korea is so precious because True Parents came there, but then who will choose the True Parents? The people should. There cannot be two pairs of True Parents. There is only one true set of True Parents. The one and only True Parents of mankind are the hope of history and starting point of the new history. It is eternal life and love. Therefore, you must know every detail of the hearts of True Parents and unite with them.

What kind of attitude do the True Parents have to take toward the children? Because the children are good children, selected from the evil world, the parents should meet them with God's infinite love. The True Parents' attitude toward the children should be different from that of the parents in this world toward their children. There should also exist a basic attitude that children should have toward the True Parents whom they serve. You should become the champions of filial piety as representative children selected from all the nations and from your own nation. If you try to escape this responsibility, then it will be remembered with sorrow by all generations to come. But if there emerge children of filial piety who are ready to serve True Parents, and if they unite with each other, then they will never perish.

The people who have this quality of heart are you. Unfortunately, you people cannot just do whatever you want, or say whatever you like. At this time, that kind of freedom is not allowed. I, myself, the head of the Unification Church, am not allowed to say anything I want. When I pray I say, "Heavenly Father," and thereafter I cannot say anything. And in that position I stay overnight. I become so sorrowful that I cannot face Heavenly Father, and I cannot pray. This is because I am so sorry for Him, but you all have very independent thinking. Some of you are proud of yourselves, and many of you are trying to promote yourselves, but that is no good. A child of real filial piety would not say anything. He would just be silent, doing his own portion of responsibility and raising his face in front of the True Parents. Otherwise you could not be a child of filial piety.

In the Unification Church we are trying to be this way. The world regards us as heretical now, but the day will come when people won't be able. to say anything critical of our church. On that day the Unification Church will be raised up. Therefore, you have to be serious, day by day. You have to regard your daily life as precious. You should be earnest, and you should walk proudly, step by step. In the process of becoming a child of filial piety, you might even become crippled. But that kind of man will shine in the future like the sun. That kind of man will become a focal point. In order to obtain this kind of glory, you must walk without saying anything, and while being silent you must not excuse yourself.

When you are told to climb, you should climb. When you are told to go down, you should go down. We Unification Church members must not make excuses. If your standard is very clear, then you don't have to make any excuse. When you all become like that, then the Unification Church will absolutely not perish. The present situation of our country is very urgent. Christianity already predicted the coming of this situation 2,000 years ago. Then who will be responsible for this nation? The Unification Church and its members. Suppose that we have to repair the clothes of a destroyed country. Then I am the needle and you are the thread. Unless the thread is attached to the needle, the clothes cannot be repaired. The needle alone cannot work. Although the needle is important, nevertheless, the thread is also important. You have to clearly understand this. You and I should have the relationship of the thread and needle and repair the clothes of the destroyed country and the world.

If this nation perishes, there will be no place for the Unification Church to go. In this sense as well, we have to protect this nation. We must not be fearful of communism. We must courageously practice what we have already been determined to do. We have nothing; we are naked. But we can surpass communism when we Unification members do things that even the nation cannot do. Then heaven will protect us. Here lies the key to victory or defeat. We must become soldiers in order to see victory. We must not become losers who taste sorrow. From this angle we have to analyze and criticize ourselves, and now we have to be ready to overcome difficulties for the sake of victory. When you always worry about the nation, you cannot help but become sorrowful people.

If you worry about the nation and world from the bottom of your heart, then you must love the Republic of Korea and the world more than you love me. If you are that way, you will never perish.

You must not become a person who cannot accomplish his own responsibility. Therefore, in order to accomplish our portion of responsibility, we must double our efforts. We must not perish. We cannot perish. We must overcome all the various difficulties we face today. Everything should be mobilized to save the world. Of course, money might be needed and there might be a time when materials are necessary. Nevertheless, we have to march forward courageously. Wherever I may go, I will pray for you all. Therefore, please overcome the difficulties of the present moment.