Way Of Unification (Part 1)

by Rev. Sun Myung Moon



Section 4. This World Facing The Last Days

1. What Are The Last Days?

1) The Reason the Last Days Must Come

In the history of Christianity, the question of when the Last Days will come has been very controversial. This is more so now than ever before. We know that in the Last Days the Messiah will come to judge us. We are told that catastrophic upheavals will occur, the sun and moon will fall from the heavens, and the earth will crack.

The words "the Last Days" come from religion. In Buddhism the Last Days are called the Lawless Age. In Christianity we say the Last Days. What on earth will the Last Days be! We must consider this fundamental question.

The world planned by the absolute God must be an absolute world. Once it begins it should last forever. We can think that the coming of the Last Days to this world led by the absolute God is not God's plan, but is the result of the Fall. The Last Days will come because goodness didn't last and evil took over. Adam and Eve, created by the God of goodness, lived in the Garden of Eden of goodness. If they had not fallen the original goodness would have lasted forever. But because of the Fall, goodness couldn't even get past the starting line.

You must know that, although the human ancestors were in the normal position for believing God's words, they didn't believe, and death came to exist on earth. A being appeared and tempted Adam and Eve to disobey God and violate His words. Because Adam and Eve responded to this temptation and disobeyed God's words, Satan became the owner of this world. Fallen Adam and Eve became the objects of Satan. As a result of their disobedience the world of death, which had no relationship with God, began.

God could not abandon the fallen world in which goodness never had a start. He must restore the world and initiate goodness.

In Isaiah 46:11 God said, "I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it." Because of disobedience evil began. Centered on Satan, evil human beings and death came into existence. To reverse this, people must practice absolute faith centered on God. In this way the world of life will come to exist.

2) The Last Days are the Days of New Hope

When are the Last Days? Since the evil world began, whenever a man on God's side appeared and tried to destroy it and return the world to goodness, whether on the level of the individual, family, clan, tribe, nation or world, those were the Last Days. In other words, one central figure comes to annihilate the evil world, to liberate people from the fallen world and from all of Satan's accusation, and to establish the world of goodness. If he goes over the family level, those are the family-level Last Days; if he goes over the clan-level, those are the clan-level Last Days; and the same for the tribal and national levels, up to the world-level Last Days.

Therefore, the Last Days means one era passes and a new era arrives. If in the Last Days, because of Satan, God destroyed the sun and the earth which He himself created, He would be a God of failure. The sun and the moon are already resentful enough that they have had to shine on evil mankind up until now. If God destroyed them in the Last Days, how pitiful that would be! Because of human disobedience to God's words in the Garden of Eden, death crept in. To restore this God must find a person who believes in Him absolutely, to move into the realm of life.

If you ask what the Last Days are, I would answer that they are the moment to decide the new fruit of history, the new center of the present, and the proud new era of the future.

What are the Last Days? They are not the time in which God's call is limited to one nation or to one family. They are the time when an individual is called in relation to the world. They are the time when a family is called in relation to the world. This time does not remain static, but is moved to meet God's will. That is the time of the Last Days.

When is the end? It is the time to soar upward, after cleansing and renewing the entire course of history and setting up one victorious point as the consummation of human history.

The words that promise the coming of the Last Days are words of blessing. The word "judgment" is not a bad word, it brings good news. The Last Days are the time when thousands of years of resentment and sorrow, buried so long in the hearts of the children, are dissolved. So the Day of judgment must come. As the Supreme judge, God must proclaim the Day of judgment. This is good news.

The Unification Church has been expecting the Last Days. History through indemnity must come to an end. In this ending time, the paths of good and evil must cross. From this point good will ascend and evil will decline. Therefore only the way centered on God is the road to true glory.

3) The Last Days are a Time of Confusion

The Last Days are a time of confusion, when it will be difficult to distinguish between night and day, right and wrong. Nothing will be clear.

When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, they were confused. They had no sense of right or wrong, no sense of purpose, no sense of judgment. When they should have turned to the right, they turned to the left. That was the Fall. Adam and Eve fell in confusion, knowing nothing clearly.

If you ask when the Last Days will come, we can say that they have already come. In the Bible the Last Days are described as the days when the sheep and the goats will be divided. The sheep have owners, but the goats have no owners. Ladies and gentlemen, Communism is represented by the left, and by the goats. In the Bible, those on the left are the goats. Even though they have an owner, they don't recognize their owner.

Do Communists recognize God? The democratic world is represented by the sheep. Sheep recognize their owner. The people of the democratic world know God. All of today's phenomena are described in the Bible as the phenomena of the Last Days.

The Last Days are the time when all of history will be indemnified. They are a time of great confusion. Religion, economy, culture, everything will be swept up in a whirlpool of confusion. Many people will proclaim, "These are the Last Days!" " The Lord is coming!" "You must go through us!" "Without us there is no salvation!"

Externally these phenomena look flat and one-dimensional, but behind them is a very complicated history. All reality is in deep confusion. In this time the purpose of religion becomes unclear, the purpose of philosophy becomes unclear, the purposes of the family, the tribe and the nation are all unclear. All pursuits and purposes grow dim.

This is the complicated situation that occurs in the Last Days. In religious and ideological circles it's the same. In the family too. The Confucian ethics of filial piety and fidelity, and all other ethical principles break down. "Where is my mother? Where is my spouse? Where is my brother? Oh, I don't care." This is what is happening.

It is impossible to set up any standards to correct this confusion. The beginning was dismal, so the end will be dismal too. In the Last Days everything will be attacked by Satan. Satan will do as he likes, and the whole world will be in great confusion. When the Lord of the Second Advent comes there will be great turmoil, then a big turnaround. This turnaround will take place on the individual, family, clan, tribe, nation, and world levels.

In the Last Days all social order will be destroyed by Satan. Parents won't know their children, children won't know their parents. Husbands won't know their wives, wives won't know their husbands. Rulers won't know their people, people won't know their ruler. All will be separated.

This time is coming. This is theoretical, but at the same time we can imagine this kind of world. When will this time come? When it does, not only one nation but all nations will be confused. Actually the time has already come. Look at this democratic world. In 1960 the Americans were boastful, but now America has an upset stomach. You can hear thunder rumbling in the stomach of America. You don't know when it will burst out. If it does, you will be worn out and sprawled on the ground. Now God might be thinking what kind of medicine He will have to provide.

Everything will be at cross purposes. What is true, what are lies, what is good, what is evil? There will be no way to figure it out. Right? Then the Unification Church appears centered on Unification Thought. It will become prominent on the world level and play a major role in this time of turmoil. The world will turn around and go back. Where? To the bottom of hell. Then the time will come for it to leap up to the Kingdom of Heaven.

2. The Phenomena Of The Last Days

1) The Present World is the Result of the Fall

There is a Korean saying that, "If you plant a yellow bean, a yellow bean will sprout. If you plant a red bean, a red bean will sprout." That means you will reap as you sow. Today's world is divided into two camps: theism and materialism. There are these two conflicting ideologies. On this world stage of conflict, the problem of youth has arisen as an international issue.

How could this kind of world arise? We are reaping as we sowed, so to speak. We are now witnessing this.

Through the process of restoration, we must clear up all the results of the fall of Adam and Eve. What happened to our human ancestors? Because of the fall, their minds and bodies were divided. In other words, one person was divided into two. This happened at the beginning, so in the end, the individual, family, clan, tribe, nation and world are all divided. This time of division is the Last Days.

Our human ancestors sowed the seeds of the divided individual and multiplied such people, so people have to be reunited. Likewise, theism and materialism must be reunited.

Human beings have been through the history of conflict centered on their own minds and bodies. They have not known a single day of peace and unity; they have never run toward a clear purpose in line with the Divine Principle. In short, human history has advanced while mind and body struggled; as a result the world has been divided into two.

This is all the result of the fall. The situation of today's world is all the result of the fall. In short, today's world is nothing but the world-level expression of the individual struggle.

Now the time has come to return, to reap what we have sowed. Now is the time of harvest on the individual level, to reap the fruit of the struggle between mind and body. The Communist world represents the body and the democratic world represents the mind. The division was planted in the beginning, so now is the time of harvest. This season of the harvest of human history is the Last Days.

God initiated a movement centered on the mind to bring worldwide unity of mind and body. The time of harvest must come on earth. God planted, but at the same time Satan planted. The Last Days are the time of harvest.

In the Last Days the real conflict between mind and body will occur.

That is why the Communist and democratic worlds are engaged in a fierce battle. This is inevitable because of the wrong planting, which has spread to the worldwide field. In other words, these are the Last Days in which 6000 years of fallen history are harvested. You reap as you sow.

2) The Signs of the Last Days Centered on Love

The word "restoration" came about because of the human fall. This is the principled viewpoint. Fallen man must be restored. In short, we must go back to the original point before the Fall. This is the main purpose of God's providence.

Why did human beings fall? Because of Satan's love. What was Satan's love? Fallen love. It was the love of separation.

What are the Last Days? They are the time in which mankind treats individual love as absolute. There is no love Of nation, no love of tribe, no love of family. All these loves are denied and only self-centered love is affirmed. There are no ethics or morals in love; animal love sweeps the world. Today the idea of sex has been perverted even among early adolescents. Seeing this we know these are the Last Days.

Parents cannot prevent the indiscriminate practice of sex among young people; neither can the nation or the world.

Why has Satan led people into this destructive situation? Because God has been working His providence of restoration centered on love. To block God's providence, Satan has led people into love which is opposite to God's love, on the level of the individual, family, clan, tribe, nation and world. The ultimate goal of Satan, who caused the human fall, is to completely destroy human love. On the other hand God wants to lead people into the original world of love.

3) The Problem of Youth is the Result of the Fall

Today we face a problem with our youth. No one can deny this. Young students on campuses, in their teens and twenties, all have serious problems. They don't care about their nation; they are ready to sell out their nation at any time. Isn't that so? When young people rebel, the fate of a nation is in danger. Even proud America, with its nose in the air and its high culture, is no exception. Communists can take advantage of this; the young people at the universities are in danger.

This is that kind of time. The demonstrations and sabotage now taking place in France are all carried out by young people.

The next problem is that between young men and women. Without parental permission, they do as they like. They have random and casual relationships. Originally the law of love is based on the Divine Principle. But young people deny this and defy this principle, the origin of life, dancing and playing with love on the street. Surely the Last Days have come!

Adam and Eve fell when they were adolescents. They fell centered on love when they were not yet mature. They fell centered on love and sowed the seed of division. This division was caused by the invasion of evil. After the invasion of evil, they fell in illicit love and sowed its seed in the world. This gradually expanded to the world and the struggle between right and left began.

We must know that the Last Days are the time when all nations, from the most developed to the least developed, will face the typhoon of corrupt love.

Young people today make fallen love under the trees, without their parents' permission, because that is what Adam and Eve did. This is the seed that was sown, so this is the harvest. When this phenomenon occurs all over the world, transcending national boundaries, time and ideology, those are the Last Days. Has that time come? Yes or no? Yes! Not only young people but older people too are playing in this wind.

When you go to Central Park in New York you can see many people sitting on benches. What kind of people are they? Most of them live alone, they intentionally have no family, they just want to enjoy sensual pleasures as they like. They ask, "Why do we have to have families and live in bondage? It's better to be unmarried, to live in an apartment and to enjoy sensual games." This is all the result of the wrong seed planted in the beginning. Now the worldwide wind is blowing everyone in this direction. This is happening not only in America but also in Europe; not only in Christian nations but also in Buddhist nations. All the nations of the world are being swept up in this wind.

4) Satan's Identity and Seduction in the Last Days

Who is Satan? He is the god of fornication. In the Last Days Satan will deny God, deny the church, and deny God's tradition of the family. When these kinds of phenomena take place, those are the Last Days.

Communism denies God and refers to religion as an "opiate." Communism denies the family centered on religion. This is because Satan knows that God will subjugate him centered on religion, and through the God-centered family. So Satan denies religion and the family through Communism. Satan knows when he denies God that he himself will eventually be denied by humankind. He knows that humankind will return to God eventually. He also knows that humankind will not attend him. What he wants is to prevent humankind from attending God. You must know how very evil Satan is!

Satan seduced Eve when she was naive. Now in the Completed Testament era, young people must not be drawn by the attractions of their environment. They must remain aloof, otherwise Satan will trample on the hearts of all mankind.

Communists say, "Let's play! Sing and dance! Make love!" This is the destructive strategy of the Communists. Satan wants to destroy us through this kind of environment.

The organization which the Communists hate most is the Unification Church. They seduce young people with their propaganda, encouraging them to dance, play and make love. But no matter how loudly they speak Unification Church members ignore them. First of all you have to experience God's vertical love.

3. Today's World In The Last Days

1) Individualism in Today's World

In the Garden of Eden, because of the fall, Eve became an enemy centered on the Archangel. Adam became an enemy centered on Eve. They became enemies to each other. They were all enemies. Therefore your children are enemies too. You cannot trust them. In the Last Days even mothers and fathers are enemies. Brothers are enemies. Nations are enemies. All relationships will be shattered and torn apart. In this situation, where are human ethics and morals? This is the world trend. No one knows what is right, what is wrong, what is true, what are ties. This is that kind of time, the Last Days.

Children kill parents, parents kill children. In the church where God teaches, ministers and believers fight each other with knives.

Everything is divided. These are the Last Days! Why is it like this?

Adam and Eve were enemies. Adam and the Archangel were enemies. All of them were enemies to God. This was the seed planted in history; the result is this kind of battleground.

In this fallen world some people kill their parents. Some people kill their brothers, relatives and neighbors. In these Last Days, thousands of years of historical struggle all occur at once, horizontally. Because of these phenomena, people are dominated by individualism. To such people there is no God, there are no parents, no brothers, no neighbors.

They are all uncaring individualists. This is the situation of the world. All of you are individualists. The more developed the country, the stronger the individualism. Individualists are the front-runners, the locomotive of Satan's world.

In their eyes there is no nation, no family, no brothers. Only they themselves exist. Individualists are the people who think like the Archangel who caused the fall of Adam and Eve.

In the fallen angelic world there is no reciprocal relationship. When you resemble the fallen Archangel you will be an individualist, forgetting your nation and family. You only know yourself. In the end you will lose everything you have. When individualism grows deeper this separation grows more serious.

What are the Last Days? Everything is turned upside down. In the Last Days, while God is preparing for the coming of God's new era, people disregard their parents and human ethics are abandoned. Do you understand? Yes.

This is the end of knowledge. What's the use of knowledge? This is the end of money. What's the use of money? What's the use of power? These will all fall like the leaves of autumn within three days.

All things people regard as precious will be destroyed. Parents forget their children, children forget their parents, husbands forget their wives, wives forget their husbands, the people forget their leader, and the leaders forget the people. At the same time they forget God.

Religious people forget everything. Ideologies will reach the bursting point. Democracy will decline, Communism will decline, every. thing will decline.

2) Today's World has no Center

What can we call today's world, a confused world or a peaceful world? (Confused.) Does it have a center or not? (No center.) Is this world full of hope or of desperation? (Desperation.) Everything is upside down. This is that kind of time.

When you took at this world, it has no center. We don't know where to go. We don't know what is good and what is evil. We don't know the place that's good for the individual, for the family, for the nation or for the world.

This world has no center. Isn't that so? When you ask where is the center of the individual, there is none. America has attained the position of a world leader. But because there is no center it is declining. This is all because of individualism. Americans say, "I don't like this culture."

Why has this world fallen into despair? There is no owner. There is no central owner, that's why. When you look at yourself, you don't know where your center is. America doesn't know its center. The world doesn't know its center. The center is where horizontal and vertical meet to form a 90 degree angle. But this world is all a mess. Sometimes the angle is 45 degrees, or 85 degrees. Sometimes 270 degrees. It's all different.

As you know, no one in this time can suggest what ideal form this world should take. At this time we can only hope for a forward leap. In order to leap or soar we need a purpose. We cannot leap blindly. The next question after you leap is where to go. Direction is the next problem.

What kind of world is today's world? It has no center. You have to know this. There is no ideological center, no center of society. There is no center of the individual self, no owner. Do you think your mind is the owner of yourself? Sometimes your body plays the owner's role.

This is a confused world. We see that the world has reached a deadlock. How can we solve this problem? Could the solution come from a philosopher or a scientist? No, this is impossible. Not from a philosopher or scientist. Not from an economist. It can come only from the foundation representing the parental heart of mankind.

In the Last Days only God can open the door. Not an ideology, not a person, only God. So you must know that the Lord of the Second Advent is coming to open this door. Fallen people, no matter how sincere they are or how much filial piety they have, cannot open the door. So the Messiah, who can open the door with the help of the Divine Principle, must come.

Throughout human history many ancestors have come and gone.

But no one completed God's Will. So God promised one world representative who could bring victory over Satan and establish the foundation of victory on the individual, family, tribe, nation and world levels. He is the Messiah.

When he comes this fallen world, for the first time in human history, will be cleansed completely and will move forward toward the world of goodness.

3) The Movement in the Last Days

What will happen in the Last Days? Everything will become one. In the end there will be oneness. As we came closer to this end, there was a four-way fight. After that three sides fought, and now two sides are fighting. So these are the Last Days. We are approaching oneness.

Neither Communism nor democracy has the right to go alone.

When you deny one and center on the other, you cannot reach the higher goal. Unless you deny yourself for the sake of a higher dimension, you cannot reach the one true goal. Religious people until now have given up their whole lives and taken one way to reach that goal.

A tribe and a nation need a person who can deny and transcend the tribal and national levels and establish a higher level of patriotism. In the field of ideology we also need a movement to negate both Communism and democracy, centering on a higher ideology. Otherwise we cannot pursue the ultimate human goal. This is true. Therefore in the Last Days the things you consider best for you cannot save you. You must know this.

Now we know what Communism and democracy are. No matter how good its propaganda is, the world knows what Communism is. Likewise, we know democracy. No matter how good its propaganda is, the world knows what democracy is.

Now a new world movement is beginning. It will be a very different movement. It is not Communism; it is not democracy. Then what is it? It will be God's ideology, therefore most people will not know this.

Religions are ideologies that average people don't understand. In the Last Days there will be a new historical movement and a new world culture.

God's Will is not to save one nation, but to save the world. His Will is to sacrifice a nation and its citizens to save the world. If one nation unites centered on a good direction led by God, and its people sacrifice themselves for the world, transcending national sovereignty for the sake of God's will, there will be a way to bring about one world. But so far there is no ideology that teaches this. Through experiment we can conclude that this is not possible through either democracy or Communism. This has been proven by experiment.

Then where will the new movement come from? Needless to say, it will emerge from the quest for a new direction centered on God.

As long as God exists and keeps His promise to send a Messiah, people need not despair, and may still have hope no matter how desperate, confused or disappointed they are.

Communism will not work; democracy will not work. When the central figure who comes with God's ideology begins the core movement, all human minds and thoughts will be redirected, and one ideal world will materialize.

4) Now is the Season of Harvest

The perfection of the whole is possible through the indemnity of the whole. Therefore Rev. Moon started in the position of having to love his enemy.

The Kingdom of Heaven should begin from the central point of Satan's sovereignty, from the place Satan loves best. The Kingdom of Heaven can come only when we subjugate Satan from the position of greatest persecution, with a heart of love. You have to pay damages if you attack someone who has made no mistake. This is a cosmic principle. God has carried out the restoration through indemnity upon this principle. If God fights back when Satan attacks, then Satan will not have to pay damages. So when you are hit, just accept it. Through this restoration can occur. If you keep doing this for the restoration then you will restore the deepest place within Satan.

Then you will reap what you sow. If you plant the seeds, surely you will have the harvest. Putting bad things in a bad storehouse and good things in a good storehouse is the owner's mission. On earth there are two kinds of seeds planted. One is good, one is bad. Therefore the good seeds and good harvest will go to the heavenly storehouse, while the bad seeds and bad harvest should be thrown into the furnace.

Now is the season of harvest. Satan's fruits are scattered. He has reached his limits. We have to make oneness. The Unification Church is carrying out this movement.

This world is the world of individualism. The family, parents, children, brothers, clans and nations have all been shattered and scattered.

However the Unification Church, beyond the nation, clan and family, proclaims one world with a single voice. The Unification Church is doing the work opposite to Satan's.

Speaking of marriage, in the past people married within their own nation. But in the Unification Church people from six continents and five races gather together. Japanese marry Koreans, which was unimaginable before. Black and white marry. In the Unification Church, centered on God's love, this kind of previously unimaginable thing happens very commonly. In this way all become one. While the divided Satanic world is being destroyed and perishing, the Unification movement is leading the world into God's world.

Adam and Eve sowed with tears, so we have to harvest with tears. Therefore in the Last Days fallen mankind must beg with a tearful heart, "Oh God, please save me!" With strong determination, we must shed tears and take responsibility to resolve God's historical sorrow. People in the outside world are weeping and wailing for themselves, but we in the Unification Church shed tears for the world. God wants to see those people who shed tears for the public purpose rather than for their individual desires. When Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden after the fall they shed tears of sorrow. God, with the heart of forgiveness, strove so that one day He could see the resurrection of their fallen descendants.

Mankind, which was expelled by God, has become absolutely evil. But God, because of his heartistic relationship with mankind, carried out His providence of salvation through Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, enduring until today. Therefore rather than thinking of our present, personal feelings, we have to appeal to God with a heart of historical love and gratitude.