The Opening of the Gate to the Cheon-Il-Guk through the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Parents of Heaven and Earth

and

The Providential Background

of the

Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families

for the

Peace and Unity of the Heavenly Parent and the Parents of Heaven and Earth

Table of Contents

Preface

The Original Ideal Lost Due to the Fall

God’s Ideal of Creation

The Providence of Salvation and the Appearance of True Parents

The Gate to Salvation: The Holy Marriage Blessing of the True Parents

Changes in the Spirit World after the Holy Marriage Blessing

6. The Resolution of the Representatives of the Five Great Religions and Breaking Down the Walls in the Spirit World

Who is Reverend Sun Myung Moon?

Preparations for the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Parents of Heaven and Earth and the Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families for Cosmic Peace and the Unity of Heaven

Conclusion

This booklet was written by Dr. Chang Shik Yang, Continental Director, North America, under the direction of our True Parents.

Preface

On their birthday, February 6, 2003, the Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon, the True Parents of humankind, will celebrate the “Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Heavenly Parent and the Parents of Heaven and Earth” and the “Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families” at the Training Center of Heaven and Earth at Cheong Pyeong, South Korea.

The True Parents’ holy matrimony held in 1960 was a turning point of human history. Over the next 40 years, in Blessings varying from a few dozen to hundreds of millions of couples, families from 180 nations of the world, notably Korea, Japan and America, participated in holy marriage Blessings. Their motto was, “The Realization of the Kingdom of Heaven through Ideal Families.” On this day, all these Blessed couples will be blessed once again, all at the same time.

The Reverend Sun Myung Moon came as the True Parent of humankind with a mission to save nations and the world through the Blessing of marriage. Logically, he should have been blessed originally on a cosmic foundation. However, this did not happen due to misunderstanding and opposition from the key religious bodies that had been prepared for him. Instead, he was blessed on a conditional worldwide foundation. He had to create this foundation himself through laying indemnity conditions, even overcoming situations that left him close to death.

In this, the third year since proclaiming the Cosmic Nation of Peace and Unity (Cheon Il Guk) and embarking upon the building of the original land of Eden, the curtain has finally fallen on the 6,000-year history for the providence of salvation. Last year we held the Burning Ceremony for Cosmic Peace, Unity and Liberation. In that ceremony all the wrongdoings of Blessed families, whether big or small, committed knowingly or unknowingly, were consumed by fire and cleansed. On that foundation, the age of cosmic peace, unity and equalization could open, giving birth to a new era of oneness between God and humankind.

The foundations for the church-level Blessing on the formation stage and the national level Blessing on the growth stage were laid according to the progress of the providence of restoration, as explained above. Now the world-level Blessing on the completion stage is being held. Its significance is that of the holy marriage Blessing that was to be held in the original Garden of Eden. It is also the global realization of the “marriage supper of the lamb” that Jesus wished to see when he came to earth 2,000 years ago.

The resolution that was proclaimed on December 25, 2001 by the founders of the five major religions in the spirit world opened the age of unity between the spirit world and physical world. On the foundation of that cosmic-level victory, the True Parents will celebrate this coming event as the True Parents of Heaven and Earth. Further, they will be crowned as the King of the Unification Blessed families in physical world and in spirit world, after which they will convey the Cheon Il Guk Blessing to all Blessed couples worldwide.

In the original ideal world of creation, the cosmos, Chunjoo in Korean, is in the subject position. On the other hand, heaven and earth, Chunji in Korean, refers to the planet earth, which is in the object position. Therefore, the term, Heavenly Parent (Chunjoo Pumonim) refers to the Creator, Jehovah God, and the term Parents of Heaven and Earth (Chunji Pumonim) refers to the original, unfallen Adam and Eve who achieved perfection. Through the upcoming holy marriage Blessing, the Reverend and Mrs. Moon, True Parents of Heaven and Earth, who reached the ideal of oneness with the Heavenly Parent, will connect the actual lineage of God to the earth.

Thus, all humankind is called to participate in this providential event. It is a cosmic event, which the heads of all nations ought to attend as guests to congratulate all the participants. Accordingly, the Interreligious and International Federation for World Peace has invited political leaders from 120 nations, including current and former heads of state, to attend as Ambassadors for Peace. America is sending representatives from each religious body. Together with leaders from the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification from Korea, Japan and America, they are attending in the position of high priests. Further, representatives from each clan in Korea, providentially the central nation of the world, are attending the event as guests.

On the foundation of the realm of the First Israel, established in the Old Testament Age, the realm of the Second Israel, established in the New Testament Age, and the realm of the Third Israel, established in the Completed Testament Age, through this ceremony we are entering the realm of the Fourth Israel in which God can freely work and act. In other words, we are entering a transitional point of history, when the world of peace and freedom can be realized both in the spirit world and physical world. On the occasion of such an historic event, and based on this overall understanding of God’s providence of salvation, I would like to expound the principled significance and the providential background of “The Opening of the Gate to the Cheon-Il-Guk through the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Parents of Heaven and Earth” and “The Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families for the Peace and Unity of the Heavenly Parent and the Parents of Heaven and Earth.”

1. The Original Ideal Lost Due to the Human Fall

As the world entered the new millennium, humankind aspired for world peace with infinite hope and vision for the future. In the face of these hopes, however, the world is still plagued with struggles, conflicts and even potential wars. Humanity’s social existence is also full of gloom, corruption and confusion. The youth, humanity’s hope for the future, face serious problems of moral decadence, drug use, free sex, etc., and these cannot be stemmed by external means. Humankind’s condition is like that of a patient whose illness is so profound and complex that no physician knows where to begin.

Today’s fallen world is indeed critically ill. In order to find a cure we must first discover the fundamental cause of the disease. We find it in the fall of the first human ancestors, who disobeyed God’s will and left Him. As a result of the fall, the individual was fractured into conflicting mind and body. This division within the individual then expanded to the family, tribe, people, nation and the world. Depending upon human endeavors it may be possible to resolve conflict among nations, but the ceaseless struggle between the individual’s mind and body cannot be resolved finally without understanding this fundamental cause.

God’s purpose of creation was for Adam and Eve, through obedience to God’s commandment, to perfect themselves as true individuals, become true spouses to each other and give birth to sinless children. Thus they were to establish a family with the structure of a Four-Position Foundation. However, the first human ancestors did not follow the commandment. They fell while they were still in an imperfect stage, in the growing period. Consequently they were expelled from the Garden of Eden. On their own, tainted with the original sin, they established a false family, false tribe, false people, false nation and the false world. Ultimately they created an earthly hell that has nothing to do with God. It is only natural that those who lived in hell on earth will end up going to hell in spirit world. That is why Jesus called Satan “the ruler of this world.” (John. 12:31) That is, ever since the fall of the first human ancestors, Satan has been governing the earth and spirit world in the place of God; he has been exercising full authority as the “ruler of this world.”

The first conjugal union of the human ancestors was also to have been the consummation of God’s love. It naturally should have been a joyful occasion where God, Adam and Eve and all creatures would be immersed in joy, happiness and ecstasy. Further, it should have been a happy ceremony through which God’s true love, true life and true lineage would be settled on earth through His children.

However, after the fall, Adam and Eve covered their lower parts and hid themselves in the trees, trembling with fear and anxiety, because they had engaged in an immoral relationship. This violation of heavenly law was the origin of false love, false life and false lineage.

Veiled in symbols and parables, the actual nature of the original sin that resulted from the fall has never been understood. Yet it did not happen simply by eating a material fruit called “the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” as literally depicted in the Bible. The fall took place when Adam and Eve were in the growth period, an immature stage. First the archangel Lucifer, symbolized in the Bible by a serpent, tempted Eve and they fell. This was the spiritual fall. Then Eve tempted Adam and they fell; this was the physical fall. We see that the fall referred to in the Bible was in fact their involvement in illicit relationships.

Again, Adam and Eve were growing to perfection, mandated to observe the commandment, “do not eat” and value it as life itself. As stated in Genesis 2:17, “of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.” However, the only power that is greater than the power of God’s commandment is the power of love, whether principled or unprincipled. Through love, three beings—Adam, Eve and Lucifer—committed the fall. After the fall, the archangel Lucifer became Satan. (Isaiah 14:12; Jude 6-7) revealed that Satan is the father of fallen human beings, saying: “You are of your father the Devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.” (John. 8:44) Therefore, human beings, the descendants of Adam and Eve, are fallen from birth and pass on the original sin from generation to generation. The fall is the origin of the human condition of conflict between the mind and body. Due to the fall, the disorder of love prevails in human society, causing people to live their entire lives in violation of the hope of their original mind.

Had Adam and Eve established a relationship of true love centered on God, as originally intended, God could have dwelt in Adam and loved Eve. Adam’s body would have been God’s temple. Further, Adam and Eve would have been the origin of true love, true life and true lineage. Yet due to the fall, they instead became the temples of Satan, as an evil couple, evil parents and evil ancestors. Their union became the root of evil love, evil life and evil lineage. Since all human beings are rooted in them, we are the descendants of Satan, inheriting the evil lineage of the evil parent. From birth we have been the enemies of God.

Let’s look at the purpose and ideal of love. Animals and plants engage in sexual relationships only for the purpose of multiplication. Human beings are the exception, in that they can freely enjoy love in their conjugal relationship. This is their privilege that they can experience as the masters of all things. God blessed human beings, as His children, with true love to enjoy unlimitedly. However, this true God-given freedom requires responsibility. If each individual were to insist on his or her freedom without taking responsibility, the world would be thrown into chaos. Thus, the perfection of human beings is possible only when they fulfill the ideal of supreme love, taking responsibility for their love.

The responsibilities of love are threefold: First, human beings are to have dominion over themselves. Based on their ability to exercise self-control, they can become the subject partners of freedom and give thanks to God who blessed them with the freedom of true love. They are responsible for their love not out of fear of the law or because someone’s eyes are watching over them. Rather, their responsibility is based on their ability to exercise dominion over themselves and their committed vertical relationship with God, the original source of true love.

The second responsibility of love is towards the other party. Human beings as husband and wife do not by nature want their love to be scattered. Love in a marriage relationship is destroyed if it is shared with other partners. This is uniquely the quality of conjugal love, unlike love between parents and children, for example. It is so because according to the Principle of Creation, oneness can come only through absolute love between husband and wife. Humans are to love only their own spouse.

The basis of children’s love and happiness is their parents’ love for them. Children would want to be born of parents who are united are harmonious in true love, and they want to be raised in such love. The most important responsibility of parents for their children lies not in providing them merely with external things, but in giving them the spiritual nourishment of true love. This is the very reason why the family is precious. Other than in a family, there is no place where one can experience a child’s heart, sibling’s heart, conjugal heart and parental heart.

How heartbroken God must have been when His ideal was shattered due to the fall of Adam and Eve! Humans were to become His children. Yet without recognizing their own Parent, God, they instead came to attend Satan as their parent. God’s ideal of creation is absolute. He has to pursue it, no matter how painful. That is why God has been leading the providence of salvation for humankind. Thus, God’s providence of salvation is the providence for the restoration of true love. Also, it is the providence of re-creation.

When viewed from this perspective, the fundamental quest of God’s providence of restoration has been to find the original procreative seed of true love, life and lineage to complete the ideal of creation. False life and false lineage originated from the false love of Satan. God detests it more than anything! That false lineage must be eradicated!

Among love, life and lineage, which is most important? During his Fifty State Speaking Tour in America from February 25 through April 17, 2001, Reverend Moon posed this particular question to the clergy who attended his speech. Most of them answered, “love,” followed by “life.” No one answered that it was lineage. Indeed, life comes from love, and lineage is linked to life. In that sense, love can be thought of as the origin of life and lineage. However, no matter how great one’s love and life may be, they cannot go beyond one generation. On the other hand, lineage that bears fruit through conjugal love can continue for eternity. When viewed from this perspective, lineage is the most precious of the three. The fall in the Garden of Eden affected the blood lineage relationship. That is why it could continue down the countless generations of the human race.

What part of the body in a man and a woman is the connecting point of lineage? It is the sexual organ. The sexual organ is the tool or instrument through which a couple practicing true love instills life and propagates it. Accordingly, it is the most important part of our body as the original palace of true love, the original palace of true life, and the original palace of true lineage. It is the exceedingly sacred part of the body, its holy of holies.

Who is the owner of my sexual organ? Although it is a part of my body, it is not my own, but belongs to my spouse. In other words, the owner with the key to a husband’s sexual organ is his wife. Since it does not belong to him, he has no right to share it with anyone else. Likewise, the owner with the key to a wife’s sexual organ is her husband. Neither has the right to give away a “spare-key.” As the attributes of God are absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal, the sexual organ through which we can consummate our love must be guarded absolutely. In this way, the Reverend Moon has been teaching that the greatest virtue to be observed is absolute love. That is, prior to marriage we should keep purity, and after marriage we should be faithful to our spouse. The purity of blood lineage divides true love and false love, life and death, and the Kingdom of Heaven and hell.

Throughout history, God and Satan have been struggling fiercely over the blood linage of human beings. God created human beings, but because Satan is related to humankind through blood lineage, he has a claim or ownership that he will not easily surrender. Through the multiplication of this false lineage, Satan has expanded evil from the Garden of Eden to the worldwide level. In these last days, Satan has turned the world into Sodom and Gomorrah through the corruption of love into free sex, homosexuality and so forth.

The Reverend Moon understands the identity and strategy of Satan well. Therefore, together with his lifelong marriage Blessing ministry, he has also promoted a movement for pure love among youth, not only in Korea and Japan but also in America. There the work is most active in the public schools of Washington, DC, Chicago and Miami.. Further, millions of middle and high school students in China and Russia are reciting the “Pure Love Pledge,” in which they commit to sexual purity. Reverend Moon’s thought and teachings are being published and used as textbooks in morality and ethics.

The human ancestors came under Satan’s control through an illicit blood relationship as a result of their own failure to fulfill their responsibility. Therefore, God alone cannot bring them back to their original state. Someone must appear, reveal the identity of Satan and teach the truth that can eradicate the root of evil without relying solely upon God’s omnipotence. That person is the Messiah. That is why the Bible calls Jesus, who came as the Messiah, “the Second Adam.” (1 Cor 15:45)

Jesus had to restore the original position of Adam, uprooting the original sin that originated in Adam. Israel, the chosen nation of Abraham’s descendants, and Judaism were to serve as the external and internal foundations for Jesus’ ministry. Had the chief priests and scribes, together with John the Baptist, attended Jesus and become his 12 disciples and 70 apostles, he would not have been crucified.

Jesus’ first mission was to reveal God’s will, disclose Satan’s identity and motivation, and discover the process of the fall. Without understanding the origin of evil, we cannot establish God’s will on earth. Although Jesus knew Satan’s identity and the original sin, he could not reveal the truth because the people were not ready to accept it. He was accused of blasphemy even for calling God his Father and testifying that he and His Father were one. (John 10:25-39) Without a receptive foundation, he could not reveal an innovative teaching on the level of a new revelation. That is why Jesus said: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.” And he continued: “But when the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” (John 16:12-13) Faced with the faithlessness of the Israelites, Jesus lamented: “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” (Mt 8:20) Eventually Jesus was harassed and driven into a corner. He had to die on a cross in order to open the way for our salvation in spirit. Salvation for both spirit and flesh, however, remained to be accomplished.

Human history is the providence of salvation. It is the providence to restore the ideal of creation. Just as the destination of the Old Testament was to receive Jesus who came as the Messiah, the vision of the New Testament was to receive the Second Coming of the Lord. At the Second Coming, the Lord returns as the third Adam, on the foundation of the second Adam, to bring complete restitution of the original sin committed by the first Adam.

2. God’s Ideal of Creation

Then in the restored ideal of creation, what is the relationship between God and human beings? God, the origin and the subject of true love, true life and true lineage, created human beings as His substantial object partners. Human beings are the substantial manifestation of His dual characteristics, internal character and external form. Therefore, the first man, Adam, represented God’s masculinity, and the first woman, Eve, His femininity. As such, human beings are the sole created embodiments, temples and substantiations of God. That is, the invisible God created only us as His visible body. Our relationship with God is that of child and parent, centered on true love. Only through us as His children can God’s ideal of love be fulfilled. God’s purpose of creation is realized in a world where God and us become one in the absolute and true love. God’s Will is to fulfill this ideal, which is the purpose of creation.

A man or woman of perfected individuality, with mind and body united as subject and object partners, is God’s temple. (1 Cor 3:16) God can dwell in peace within such a person. Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Such a person is always one with God in heart, which means that he or she can immediately empathize with God’s joy and sorrow. Such a person cannot commit a sin. He or she has reached a state of perfection as Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48) and has become a perfected individual who can manifest God’s ideal of creation fully. This is called the completion of the First Blessing. (Gen 1:28)

God created Adam first, as His body from the dust of the earth. (Gen 2:7) Adam was God’s son, but at the same time was God’s actual form. He was to fulfill the ideal of God’s absolute love through the vertical relationship of parent and child. Completing the ideal of creation, he would have had no original sin and no need prayer or repentance. Neither would he need a Savior or Messiah to redeem him. He would have lived in the presence of God, attending Him in daily life. In his horizontal relationships with others, with God as a common Parent, he would relate as to brothers and sisters, living for their sake with true love.

The first and most crucial question is over the unity of mind and body. Immersed in God’s glorious ideal of creation, one should be of one mind and body, manifesting one thought and co-creating one world of harmony. That is why the Reverend Moon has always taught, “Before having dominion over the world, first have dominion over oneself.” Before preoccupation with peace in the nation and world, we should be preoccupied with establishing inner peace between the mind and body. As we make these two one, we can stand perfectly erect before God, our axis perpendicular to the horizontal plane. We are at “high noon” with no shadow cast by our heart. We embody God, realizing His radiant divinity within ourselves.

With this ideal of perfected individuality in mind, God intended to expand love horizontally through perfect conjugal love. For this He created Eve. Eve was His daughter. While she was Adam’s partner of love (Gen 2:18, 24), Eve at the same time would become God’s bride, who could complete the eternal ideal of love horizontally. After reaching individual perfection, had Adam and Eve come into the Blessing of holy marriage under God and consummated their love, it would have been as if God had received His own bride. The place where the ideal of conjugal love bears fruit horizontally is the place where God’s absolute vertical love dwells and partakes in joy. Thus the true love of God and of man and woman originates simultaneously, at one meeting point of the vertical and horizontal expressions of love. God’s Second Blessing was for Adam and Eve to become such a true couple in His love. (Gen 1:28)

Next, Adam and Eve were to bring forth good children and become true parents with God above as the eternal Parent. This substantiated God’s desire to multiply sinless children from generation to generation forever, as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in heaven. If that original couple had created this first four-position-foundation, theirs would have been a true family, the cornerstone of God’s nation. Expanding as a tribe, a people and a nation filling the world, this family would have brought forth the Kingdom of God on earth. There, God would be attended as the Parent of humankind. People dwelling in the earthly kingdom would transition directly into the heavenly kingdom in spirit world, guided by the heavenly hosts and angels. We see that the true family is the basic unit for the earthly kingdom. Thus, the completion of God’s purpose of creation lies in securing a God-centered true family on earth.

Reverend Moon embarked upon the worldwide Blessing movement and true family values movement with a basic principle, “the creation of world peace through ideal families.” Creating this world is our mission.

The democratic world relies on humanism, but humanistic values will not sustain ideal families. Real families substantiate godly values that emerge from absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal love. An ideal couple’s love incarnates those attributes of God and therefore builds a family whose love is absolute, unique, unchanging and eternal. God needed to create human beings and all things in order to find His object partners of true love. From the simplest to the most highly sophisticated entities, all created beings exist in subject-object partnerships. These manifest in masculinity and femininity, which energizes love relationships. The ideal of love within all creation does not differ from the love of God. God created us in order to realize His absolute love, through a husband perfecting his love for his wife and a wife perfecting her love for her husband. That is the principle of creation. For that reason, in the beginning God created one man and one woman.

God purposed human beings to observe His commandment, perfect themselves and become a true couple of oneness with His true love. Then, He purposed that they live as a happy family, giving birth to children and becoming true parents. In Adam and Eve reaching perfection through true love, God was to achieve His embodiment. Their perfecting themselves as a true couple signified the completion of God’s ideal for absolute love.

God’s Providence of Salvation and the Appearance of True Parents

As a result of the fall, God’s providence of salvation began. The providence of salvation was prolonged over and over, following a sad and toilsome path from the Old Testament Age to the New Testament Age, and from the New Testament Age to the Completed Testament Age. Due to the fall, the world fell into a state remote from the good world that God originally intended. It turned into a world of sin and evil, in which selfish love prevails. This is because Adam and Eve became false parents whose love was selfish and false, centered on Satan. They multiplied evil, established a false family and bequeathed false life and a false lineal inheritance to their posterity.

Accordingly, the only purpose of God’s providence is to find the God-centered man and woman who can restore the position of Adam and Eve, the true parents, and establish the true family through them. With that family as a starting point, God wishes to establish the true tribe and true nation that can fill a true world. In other words, God desires to create the true seed that can multiply true love, life and lineage.

The Bible states that the human fall led to the loss of Adam’s family in its totality. First, the position of ideal parents was lost. Then by Cain’s murder of his younger brother Abel, the position of ideal children was lost. These two events thwarted God’s plan to build a perfect world. Accordingly, in order to restore Adam’s family, God first had to restore the position of Cain and Abel and then the position of the true father and true mother. This had to be done by means of a reversal of the process by which the losses came about. The bringing of Cain and Abel to reconciliation and unity is the foundation to restore the parents.

This historical dynamic has governed the providence of restoration. Therefore, the history of Israel and Christianity is a series of repetitions of the division between Cain and Abel. Fallen people split between Cain’s side, representing Satan, and Abel’s side, representing God. Then, by their achieving reconciliation and oneness, God can remove the hatred created in the fall.

Abel’s side is always struck first, making of it a sacrifice. On that foundation, Abel’s side can embrace Cain’s side and restore God’s blessings rightfully due the elder. God’s principle grants the right of compensation on the condition of being struck first and overcoming, while Satan’s impulse is to strike first. Illustrating this, defeat came upon those who struck first in the First World War, the Second World War, and even in the third world war of ideologies.

God also reclaims ownership from His enemy Satan by enduring persecution. Satan’s side persecutes religious pioneers on God’s side. Despite opposition and sacrifice, true religions have continually expanded the territory of goodness in order to save the fallen world. The Unification Church developed and progressed through the working of these principles.

God’s will is that relative good and evil factions struggle, goodness prevail, and then the relatively good party reconcile with the relatively evil party without destroying it. One example is the robbers crucified on Jesus’ right and left, one in the position of Abel and the other in the position of Cain. (Mt 27:38, Lk 23:39-40) Another is the confrontation between North Korea and South Korea, representing the right wing (free world) and the left wing (communist world) on the worldwide level. A third is the confrontation between religion and secularism. The most critical issue is how to unite these factions centered on God’s ideal, and then restore the positions of the father and the mother.

The Bible records that Eve disobeyed God’s commandment and had a relationship with the serpent Lucifer, who became Satan. As a result, Eve, Adam and the children Cain and Abel inherited Satan’s lineage of selfish and false love. Regardless of our background, we all are the descendants of these ancestors, who derailed us from the original track of God’s lineage. Therefore we were born from Satan’s lineage. Jesus’ rebuke in John 8:44, “You are of your father, the devil,” was uttered for this very reason.

The Old Testament depicts God’s providence as based on the formula, “An eye for eye; a tooth for a tooth.” (Ex 21:24) In the Unification Principle, paying a price for a wrongdoing is called making an indemnity condition. An indemnity condition is laid by reversing the mistake. Hence, Eve must restore her act of the fall by reversing it, and each step of the fall must be restored both spiritually and physically. This process requires a mother (Eve) helping her younger son (Abel) to follow God’s will.

The Providence to Restore the Elder Son through Esau and Jacob

As we can see from Genesis, God accepted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s. In accepting his offering, God was not catering to Abel’s desire. God’s principle required that Cain accept Abel as the one chosen by God and became one with him through love. On this basis, one of the problems caused by the fall would have been resolved and God could have focused thenceforth on Adam and Eve.

In fact, the unity of Cain and Abel should have been brought about through their mother, Eve. But she failed in this. Therefore, God had to wait for another woman to indemnify this aspect of the fall on behalf of Eve.

The Bible describes Rebekah, Isaac’s wife, as a great woman who fulfilled her responsibility in God’s providence. As the mother of two sons, she was in the position of Eve. However, unlike Eve, she understood God’s providence and helped Jacob, her younger son, receive Isaac’s blessing that was due to Esau. When Esau learned that his blessing was given to his brother, he planned to kill Jacob as Cain murdered Abel. However, with the wisdom of their mother, Rebekah, the two siblings did not shed blood, but eventually embraced. This reconciliation was a crucial victory for God. But the victory was incomplete and symbolic from the perspective of the change of lineage. Substantial victory had to be brought about in a woman’s womb.

This is the reason for the puzzling story of Tamar. By understanding it, we can comprehend why Jesus was born from the tribe of Judah with Tamar’s lineage. Like Rebecca, Tamar was in the position of Eve. Tamar had a relationship with Judah, her father-in-law, and conceived twin brothers, Perez and Zerah. (Gen 38) The Bible records that these brothers fought over the elder’s position even in the womb. One son’s hand came out first and the midwife tied a red string around his wrist. Then it went back into the womb, and the brother without the red string was born first. (Gen 38:28) The one who was to have been younger ended up the elder. Through this, the providence for the reversal of Cain and Abel occurred in the womb, prior to birth. Due to this culminating substantial condition, the Israelites became the chosen people to receive the Messiah.

From the normal ethical viewpoint, the actions of Rebecca and Tamar are questionable. Readers of the Bible and even theologians puzzle as to why God blessed such women. This puzzle is solved by the knowledge that God needed to restore His lost lineage in order to lay a foundation to send Jesus. The victories of these two women brought the change of blood lineage and the victory of Israel. Israel began to grow as a nation on the foundation of a blood lineage restored through true love.

Jesus Was Born in God’s Complete and Direct Lineage

Thereafter, Judah’s lineage prospered from generation to generation, expanding into a tribe, society and nation. Through this lineage, 2,000 years later, Mary appeared in Israel at the center of God’s providence. Mary had to set indemnity conditions. In order to restore the elder sonship, she had to unite Cain and Abel from the family to the national level.

Mary conceived Jesus in obedience to God. From a human point of view, she actually betrayed her parents and her fiancé Joseph. She was living in culture in which out of wedlock pregnancy was a capital offense. However, Joseph, in the position of Adam, did not forsake Mary, his fiancée. He thereby protected her from death by stoning.

Because Mary stood on the victorious foundation of Rebekah and Tamar, Satan was not able to claim ownership over Jesus who was conceived in her womb. Therefore, Jesus was born one hundred percent in God’s direct lineage. Jesus is, therefore, the only begotten Son of God, born after the process of changing the fallen blood lineage into the good blood lineage was complete. For this very reason, Jesus is the saint of all saints and the ancestor of the true blood lineage.

Next, Mary, in the position of restored Eve, should have brought unity between Jesus in the position of Abel and John the Baptist in the position of Cain. Unity between these two was critical for the Israelites and Judaism to receive Jesus as the Messiah.

As Jesus stated to his disciples, the mission of John the Baptist was to fulfill the prophecy of the prophet Malachi. “The disciples asked him, ‘Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’ Jesus replied, ‘To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things.’” (Mt 17:10-11) In Luke as well, it is written that John the Baptist came with the “spirit and power of Elijah.” However, John the Baptist denied that he was Elijah. And although he had received a clear revelation from heaven as to who Jesus was when he baptized him at the River Jordan, he continued to doubt whether Jesus was the Messiah. (Mt 11:3)

In the eyes of his contemporaries, John the Baptist was viewed as a great religious leader worthy of respect and admiration. Jesus, on the other hand, was regarded as an illegitimate son born in a family of a poor carpenter. Clearly, it was very difficult for the Israelites of Jesus’ day to believe and follow him, unless he had the support of John the Baptist. Lacking that support, Jesus could not help but to go a thorny path. He ended up going about as a self-proclaimed Messiah in the face of John the Baptist’s disbelief.

John the Baptist should have assisted Jesus and opened a way for him to appear credible to major Israelite religious leaders of that time. Had John fulfilled this, Judaism in the position of Abel and Israel in the position of Cain could have become one centered on Jesus. In that case, the marriage supper of the lamb, for which Christians still hope, could have occurred in Jesus’ own day. Jesus would have become the True Father of humankind, and his bride the True Mother of humankind. On the foundation of God’s marriage Blessing, Jesus’ teachings would have rapidly spread all over the world, restoring even Asia and Rome within seven years, before he reached the age of forty. Jesus and his bride together would have restored the individual kingdom, the family kingdom, the tribal kingdom, the national kingdom and even the worldwide kingdom.

Without John the Baptist’s support, however, such glorious dreams were shattered. Chief priests, scribes, and Jews who believed themselves to be faithful and religious rejected Jesus’ words and eventually drove him to the cross. Faced with the disbelief of the Israelites, Jesus had to offer his life on the cross in order to open a way for the spiritual salvation for humankind. Consequently, while the human heart can approach God through Jesus, the body is still assaulted by Satan’s evil temptations. Even the apostle Paul agonized over the conflict between his bodily desires and the higher aspirations of his mind. (Rom 7:21-25) Therefore, Jesus must come again, in order to save humankind physically as well as spiritually.

Take Down the Cross!

Today, with the arrival of the True Parents on the earth, the time has come to resolve all the grievances that remain in Jesus’ heart. Two thousand years ago Jesus had to go the way of the cross due to disbelief and persecution from his own people. He employed the cross as a sacred implement upon which to sacrifice his body in order to save humankind. However, in God’s eyes, Jesus’ death on the cross was too appalling even to watch. After making 4,000 years of preparations to send the Messiah, God had sent Jesus, His only-begotten Son. Instead of being welcomed, Jesus was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The cross was the dreadful instrument of his execution. The Bible describes three hours of darkness that suddenly fell when Jesus was crucified. God could not bear witnessing the scene of Jesus’ death and turned His face away.

As Jesus prophesied that “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” (Mark 13:2), the Jews were scattered to wander all over the world. God had to watch in tears as awful historical consequences played out, even the massacre of six million Jews by Hitler. Today, in order for Judaism and Israel to be resurrected, they should clearly understand the tragedy of Jesus’ death.

It is no coincidence that recently a movement to take down the cross is spreading among the churches. It is being led by the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC) and is based upon the words that the Reverend Moon spoke at the 20^th anniversary of the founding of The Washington Times. In his keynote speech, he declared that the cross that Christians revere was not God’s primary will, but rather was Jesus’ second choice necessitated by the impossible circumstances. Jesus took that path with a painful heart, in order to open at least the way to spiritual salvation for humankind. Yet when Jesus looks upon the cross, his heart is flooded with painful memories. His heartbreak and sorrow will finally be resolved only when the cross is taken down from every Christian church.

Moreover, as a result of Jesus’ crucifixion, Christianity has been plagued with struggles between right wing and left wing. It is as if Cain and Abel had to be divided once again, as they were due to the fall of Adam’s family. Also, Islam appeared and fell into conflict with Christianity. These historical struggles and divisions were ultimately caused by Jesus’ death on the cross. Thus, unification can come only at the Second Coming of the Lord.

In order to prepare the Second Coming of the Lord, God needed a worldwide condition of reconciliation between Cain and Abel. This providence unfolded through the course of the Second World War. The Allied nations England, America and France stood in Abel’s position representing the realm of Christianity. The Axis nations Germany, Japan and Italy stood in Cain’s position under the influence of nationalism. Here was the confrontation between Cain and Abel expanded to the worldwide level.

After the Allied victory, there were tremendous efforts to establish lasting world peace based upon Christian ideals. At that point England was in the position of Eve on the worldwide level, and France and America were in the positions respectively of Cain and Abel. At the same time, God was completing preparations to send the Second Advent of the Lord. When viewed from the perspective of God’s providence, immediately after World War II, America and Christianity stood on the victorious foundation of unity between Cain and Abel. Hence, the time was ripe to receive the Lord of the Second Advent.

Nevertheless, God’s providence was not fulfilled at that time. Christianity failed to receive the Messiah, and consequently the Cold War ensued, beginning with Korean War. As with World War II, the world divided into two camps, Cain and Abel. Communism rejected God, like the thief on the left side who disbelieved Jesus on the cross. It represented the Cain-type world. Democracy was established based on Christianity and belief in God. It came to represent the Abel-type world. The Lord at the Second Coming must unite these two warring camps. The center of confrontation is the Korean peninsula that is divided into South Korea and North Korea. The providential reason sixteen nations of the United Nations participated in the Korean War was to protect and unite the fatherland of humankind.

During World War II, the Christian nations of England, America and France played the central role. After that, the Unification Church led the effort to restore their failure to receive the Messiah. Japan was chosen for the position of Eve on the democratic side. America and Germany were chosen for the Abel and Cain positions, respectively. These three nations, with the support of the rest of the Free World, should complete the unification of the Korean peninsula, which is in the position of Adam on the worldwide level. Furthermore, to indemnify the fall of the human ancestors, Eve, the mother, should again give birth to two siblings, Cain and Abel.

For example, in Japan for 50 years since the war, there have been two rival North Korean organizations, Min Dahn and Jo Chong Ryun. Japan in mother’s position should bring unity between the two sibling nations America and Germany, and then unify even the Adam nation. Then, through indemnity conditions on the national level, the four nations in the positions of Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel (Korea, Japan, America and Germany) should be restored, embracing the Oriental and Occidental cultural spheres. Ultimately, the Pacific cultural sphere should arise as the cradle of world peace.

1945 marked the end of the New Testament Age. Christianity failed to receive the bridegroom within the following seven years until 1952. As a result, God’s providence was prolonged for 40 years, leading to 1992. During those forty years, the Reverend and Mrs. Moon prayed five times a day while seeking every possible way, internally and externally, to restore the lost New Testament Age on the world level by working to unite the seven providential nations: Korea, England, America, France, Japan, Germany and Italy.

In April, 1992, Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon, with the Reverend Moon, founded the Women’s Federation for World Peace and proclaimed the arrival of the women’s era. Mrs. Moon traveled all over the world, visiting even Russia and China, as well as the seven nations mentioned above, and established WFWP chapters in scores of nations. By doing this, she brought the nations together that had been divided in Cain or Abel positions since World War II. Thus, she restored the foundation for the Bride that had been lost since the Second World War. On that victorious worldwide foundation, in July 1992, the Reverend and Mrs. Moon proclaimed that they are the True Parents of humankind. This marked the first appearance of the True Parents in human history. A goal toward which God had been leading His providence of salvation for thousands of years was achieved.

4. The Gate to Salvation: The Holy Marriage Blessing of the True Parents

The returning Messiah comes as the Savior of humanity and the True Parent. What is his mission? His most important mission is to re-establish the relationship between God the Creator and human beings as that of parent and child. This requires that he sever the link of blood lineage between human beings and Satan, and restore human beings to God. The returning Messiah comes to complete what Jesus couldn’t finish: the completion of the God’s providence of restoration. Specifically, he appears on the earth as true child, achieves God’s ideal of creation, and completes the ideal of the True Parents who are the origin of true love, true life and true lineage.

The returning Lord comes to begin his mission on the foundation of the victorious providence which God had developed to the point of Jesus’ death on cross. In other words, he stands on the foundation that Jesus had established—the level of growth stage. Then he finds his Bride, and they become the True Parents and save all the people, as Jesus would have done had he found his bride 2,000 years ago.

As the True Parents of humankind, they celebrate the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony that changes the blood lineage, engrafts humankind into the God’s true love, true life and true lineage, establishes true families, and ultimately opens the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Accordingly, the returning Messiah comes as human being in the flesh and establishes a new relationship with God through blood lineage on the earth. In doing this, he takes back the true primogeniture, the true parentship and the true kingship, which should have been established back in Adam’s family. He transforms this evil world into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in spirit world under God’s direct dominion. He inaugurates the age of God’s kingship on earth and in heaven, an era of true victory, true freedom, true happiness and true unity.

The Meaning of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb

The Bible is a revelation of God’s Word through metaphors and symbols. For example, the verse, “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” means that God will accomplish in the Book of Revelation (Omega) the divine purpose that He was to have completed in Genesis (Alpha). If Adam and Eve had not fallen, they would have fulfilled the ideal of a true family, whose sons and daughters would encounter no obstacles on their way to Heaven. Adam and Eve would have become the True Parents and established the original true family, living in oneness with God. Their descendents would have expanded that divine family for evermore. This verse means that through the marriage supper of the lamb in the Book of Revelation, God will restore what was lost in Genesis. He will find the true bride and bridegroom and celebrate the Holy Wedding to establish them as a true husband and wife. They will become the true parents with true children and constitute God’s true ideal family.

Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, separated from God. They shattered humanity’s original relationship with God and thereby devastated human history. Therefore, in order to restore God’s original ideal, Adam and Eve have to unite. This is the very marriage of the lamb prophesied in the Book of Revelation. This holy wedding will take place when the Lord comes again, meets his Bride and marries her. On the very day of the marriage supper of the lamb, God completes His Providence of Restoration. He fulfills His ideal of creation that He wanted to complete in the Garden of Eden 6,000 years ago. Humanity is restored from the fallen world to the original ideal world.

Therefore, the biblical vision of the marriage of the lamb envisions God calling the man and woman who embody the true love, true life and true ideal that God wanted to see 6,000 years ago. God will set up them as the sinless Parents and true ancestors of all humankind.

The Bridegroom is a man who will become the perfect True Father, and the Bride is a woman whom God loves and who will become the True Mother. If there had been no human fall in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve would have married centering on God’s love. In fact, they were married centering on Satan. Hence, the Marriage of the Lamb in the Book of Revelation symbolizes the restoration of the original Holy Marriage centering on God. God at last finds the perfect man and the perfect woman who have restored the ideal of Adam and Eve, and celebrates through them the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

This is God’s purpose in the Providence of Restoration on Earth. He has sought to find a man and a woman who are far superior to fallen Adam and Eve and grant them the Marriage of the Lamb, make them the ideal husband and wife and the progenitors of the ideal family on earth. In this sense, we can know that Jesus’ deep desire was to have been the True Parent. He should have been heralded as the King of kings representing the kingship of God, based upon first fulfilling the course of becoming the True Parent.

The biblical image of the Marriage of the Lamb is a prophecy of the day God will accomplish the original ideal that He intended for humankind, by setting up the True Parents that were lost due to the fall of the first ancestors. Ever since the fall of man, God began preparing for the day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. But nobody can celebrate it except God’s direct son and daughter.

The Messiah achieves perfection as an individual; nevertheless by himself he cannot save the world completely. The Messiah should bring his family to the point of perfection in order to save the world completely. Therefore, he has to meet his Bride, who represents the Holy Spirit. He has to set up the God-centered family with his Bride, thus fulfilling the ideal of the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God has been preparing for this family, and finally He will see it in actuality at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The returning Christ will take a bride chosen by God and celebrate the Marriage of the Lamb. Christians should clearly understand the meaning of this prophecy in the Bible.

All people, whether black, white, Korean, Japanese, young, old, on earth or in spirit world, need to see the day of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Spirit people also cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven without serving the True Parents in the last days; therefore they also need to see the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Heaven is the place where a father lives together with his wife and children. The familial four-position foundation is the basic unit of the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the heavenly principle.

The Holy Wedding of the True Parents on March 16, 1960 (Lunar Calendar)

The most important and serious event in the history of God’s salvation providence is the Holy Blessing of Marriage, through which God sees the fulfillment of the ideal of True Parents as first good ancestors of humankind. Had Adam and Eve not fallen, but achieved perfection and celebrated the Holy Blessing of Marriage centering on God, they would have become the first True Parents of humankind.

When Jesus came to this earth as the second Adam, he should have celebrated the Holy Blessing of Marriage. The families of Joseph and Zechariah should have united together to help Jesus fulfill this. To this day, nobody has understood Jesus’ mind and heart at the wedding in Cana when he reproved his mother Mary for asking him to make wine. He reproved her for being concerned about a neighbor’s wedding while she had not prepared a wedding for him, the Son of God, as she should have done.

The returning Christ, who comes as true man, should likewise meet his bride and celebrate the Holy Marriage Blessing. They should become true husband and wife, and at last True Parents. Then, as the substantial true Olive Tree, he should give Holy Marriage Blessings to all humankind, giving rebirth to all people, who are like wild olive trees. People in Old Testament times were redeemed by the ceremony of circumcision, which symbolized separation from Satan. People in New Testament times were redeemed by baptism and the rite of the Eucharist. Finally people in the Completed Testament Age are redeemed fully by the Holy Wine ceremony and Holy Marriage Blessing officiated by the returning Christ.

The present-day international Holy Marriage Blessing ceremonies originated with the Holy Wedding of Reverend and Mrs. Moon held on March 16^th, 1960 (lunar calendar). It could be held only after Reverend Moon had completed conditions to indemnify all the providential content of the 4,000 years from Adam to Jesus and the 2,000 years from Jesus to the present. Jesus represented Adam and the returning Messiah represents Jesus.

Before the returning Messiah could become the True Parents, he needed the condition of having three children, that is, disciples who had absolute faith in him. These three disciples represented Peter, James and John, the three main disciples of Jesus 2,000 years ago. These three disciples should have helped Jesus accomplish the ideal of the Bride and Bridegroom. Had they totally supported Jesus, he would have achieved God’s original providence on earth without having to go to the cross. Therefore, Reverend Moon arranged the engagement of three spiritual children before his Holy Wedding in 1960. On that foundation, Reverend Moon’s engagement ceremony could be held on March 1, 1960 by the lunar calendar.

Soon thereafter, on the 16^th of March, Reverend Moon held the Holy Wedding. This was the greatest event in God’s providence of salvation. It was an historic event of with significance throughout heaven and earth, yet very few understood it at the time.

The seven years leading up to the Holy Wedding, from 1953 to 1960, was a period of unimaginable persecution against Reverend Moon. During that period, more than 3.6 million people opposed Unification Church. Persecution came from at least three Christian denominations and the Korean government. Yet amidst this persecution, Reverend Moon single-handedly set up and fulfilled the indemnity conditions necessary to establish God’s foothold through the Holy Marriage Blessing.

On that day, Reverend Moon substantially achieved the spiritual and physical triumph by fulfilling horizontally on earth all the vertical conditions of indemnity. Beginning on the individual level, he restored Jacob’s victorious standard. On that foundation, he then achieved the victorious standard of the family. The year 1960, when he could start his family, was 14 years after Korea’s liberation from the Japanese colonialists. He used that 14-year period as a course to reach the completion level of growth stage, precisely the level Jesus reached when his life on earth was brought to an end at the cross. Thus, it was the first time in history when the separation of the human family from Satan could take place. It was the right time for God to provide him with a Bride. The Bride of the Messiah is not merely an individual bride. She is the center and the representative of all brides in the world. Thus, there appeared the first true family on earth, what God had longed to see through all of human history.

The Holy Marriage Blessing was held in two ceremonies at the Cheongpa-Dong Headquarters Church. The first ceremony signified the installation of the Parents of Restoration through Indemnity and the second the installation of the Parents of Glory.

Satan knew that the satanic world would be destined for destruction once the Messiah and his Bride were wed and established the center of salvation for humankind. Hence he mobilized every possible means to prevent the Holy Wedding. Satan’s world exerted all power to prevent the establishment of the messianic family. Even the Christian churches sided with Satan at that time. The ideal couple could appear only after passing through a complicated course of indemnity, prevailing over death and winning a terrifying fight against Satan.

Jesus’ three disciples represented the three archangels who should have made a trinity to serve and protect Adam and Eve. They failed in their responsibility and thus brought about this fallen world. Therefore, as mentioned above, in order to hold the Holy Wedding and become perfect Parents, the Messiah needed three disciples who would serve him completely. These three disciples stood in the position of the three archangels. These three disciples also symbolized the support of the spirit world. At the same time, these three indemnified and restored all people in the Cain position who had not obeyed and surrendered to Abel. It signified their restoration through the Old, New and Completed Testament Ages. They had to obey and cooperate completely with the returning Messiah, who was indemnifying and restoring horizontally in this one event the vertical history of Old, New and Completed Testament Ages.

Thus, one purpose of the Holy Wedding was to set the condition to indemnify Adam’s family. As the human fall was committed by a husband and wife, so its restoration had to be achieved by a couple. Hence, these three disciples also represented the resurrection of Adam’s three sons, Cain, Abel and Seth. On the foundation of their filial relationship with the Messiah, the Messiah and his Bride could be engaged and rise to the position of substantial parents. Following this principle, before his Holy Wedding Reverend Moon first engaged three couples from among the first 36 couples. Then just after his Holy Wedding, he officiated the Holy Marriage Blessing of those three couples.

The engagements of these first three couples prior to the Holy Wedding also had the significance of Jesus’ three disciples helping him accomplish the ideal of the Bridegroom and Bride while he was on the earth. It was a condition by which these Cain-type children in the age of Second Advent could indemnify the failure of Jesus’ unfaithful disciples. In this manner Reverend Moon established the vertical foundation for his victory.

From that starting point, founded upon the returning Messiah’s establishment of True Parents and a true family, the Holy Marriage Blessing has expanded to reach hundreds of millions of couples. The first group Marriage Blessing Ceremony was held on May 15^th, 1960 for 36 couples. These couples symbolized the restoration of all human history, and afterwards they became the leaders of the providence of restoration. The historical meaning of the Blessing of the 36 couples was to it indemnified in one ceremony the vertical history of the three biblical ages. Likewise, all the Holy Marriage Blessings are not merely weddings in the conventional sense, but are ceremonies of restoration to advance the providence of salvation. Through these Blessings, God has been regaining His lost children, the lineage He would have had originally had there been no fall. Humanity thereby erects original, sinless true families by inheriting new life from the True Parents, who are the center of restored true love, true life and true lineage.

5. Changes in the Spirit World after the Holy Marriage Blessing

The Holy Marriage Blessing is God’s greatest and most precious provision of grace to humankind. It severs the blood lineage of evil inherited from the human fall. It restores people to the state of God’s original true children, whereby they become true individuals, true husbands and wives, and true parents who have no connection to sin. According to the Divine Principle, this wonderful grace is a privilege granted to people on earth who have a physical body. However, by the True Parents’ unique ministry, the ancestors of Blessed families can receive the Holy Marriage Blessing as they participate in the process of returning resurrection. They are educated at the Principle Training Center in the spirit world, after which they can live in spirit world as Blessed families, just as the Blessed families live together on earth. Heung Jin Nim, whom True Parents appointed the general commander of the spirit world, administers this extraordinary and unprecedented benefit and grace.

True Parents first proclaimed the worldwide expansion of the Holy Marriage Blessing on the occasion of the Blessing of 30,000 Couples on August 25, 1992. Subsequently they expanded it to the level of heaven and earth, by holding a spiritual Holy Marriage Blessing for Dae Mo Nim, Dae Hyung Nim and Choong Mo Nim as representatives of True Parents’ clan on the occasion of the Blessing of 360,000 couples on August 8, 1995. The dispatch of Heung Jin Nim to the spirit world as the family-level representative of the Messiah enabled the True Parents on earth to put the spirit world in order. The 3,600,000 and 40 Million Couple Holy Marriage Blessings, held on November 29, 1997 at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. and transmitted worldwide by satellite, was the twelfth Blessing and the final stage of the providence of restoration. For that event, True Parents ordered countless spirit persons, guided by Heung Jin Nim and Dae Mo Nim, to descend from Heaven and sit on the reserved seats at the right of the center platform. At that occasion, True Parents entrusted to Heung Jin Nim and Dae Mo Nim the authority to give the Blessing to spirits and proclaimed the “Declaration of the Opening of the Blessing in the Spiritual World.”

On Easter Sunday, April 17,1998, True Parents gave the “Declaration of the Opening of Elder Brothership, Parentship and Kingship.” Through this, three nations, representing father nation, mother nation and elder brother nation, had established an absolute unified foundation centered on True Parents, representing the nation of heaven and earth which is the center of the universe. After this, the liberation of the spirit world and the blessing of spirit people began in earnest. Having established equal authority to give the Blessing of liberation both in the spirit world and on the earth, True Parents opened wide the gate of the Blessing in both worlds. In particular, at the historic Holy Marriage Blessing at Madison Square Garden on June 13, 1998, True Parents gave the Holy Marriage Blessing to 34 historical figures, spirit men who represented both the good and evil worlds, among them the five founders of worldwide religion and philosophy, Jesus, Confucius, Buddha, Muhammad and Socrates, and the worst mass-murderers in human history, Hitler and Stalin. By this, he opened the final gate for both good and the evil spirit people to cooperate in supporting the True Parents’ providence on earth.

In 1999, he further expanded the Blessing in the spirit world and on earth through the “Ceremony Proclaiming the Cosmic Establishment of the True Blessing and the Completion of Eradicating and Liberating the Satanic Blood Lineage.” (참축복 천주화, 사탄혈통 근절해방식) Consequently, the heavenly host of Blessed spirits has taken the position of younger siblings, serving the Blessed families on earth as their elders and as representatives of Adam’s family. Together the heavenly and earthly Blessed families serve God in a cooperative relationship of restored Cain and Abel. On that foundation, the True Parents were elevated to the position of the victorious Parents of Heaven and Earth.

On Chusok (Korean Full-Moon Day) of August, 2000, True Parents proclaimed the “Ceremony for the General Liberation of the Spirit World.” The walls dividing the myriad realms in the spirit world were brought down, and at last spirit men were able to travel about freely between their various abodes. This proclamation made an enormous change in the religious spheres in spirit world. The spirit world is the world of the mind. Once a person fixes an idea in his or her consciousness, they won’t easily change. The barriers they erect through their thoughts manifest as high walls and sheer cliffs frequented by avalanches. It is almost impossible to traverse them. These are the impenetrable barriers and borderlines that separate the various spheres in the next world. Knowing well these circumstances, Reverend Moon determined to abolish these many walls and barriers. After he had set the conditions of indemnity and achieved his historical triumph on earth, he held the General Liberation Ceremony for the spirit world.

After the Chusok Ceremony, True Parents selected the Cheong Pyeong Heaven and Earth Training Center as the place where God’s providence can advance jointly in the spirit world and on earth. In no time, Cheong Pyeong has become the Mecca for the liberation and blessing of spirit world. Among the events held there, especially noteworthy is the “Registration Blessing Ceremony,” formally known as the “Transition of the Three Ages Four Position Foundation Registration Unification Blessing” (삼시대 대전환 사위기대 입적 통일축복식), which offers the amazing grace of registering all Blessed families in the Book of Life in Heaven.

Why did the Reverend Moon choose not to liberate the spirit world first , so that the hosts of heaven could support him strongly from the outset of his ministry? He knew that the partitions and walls in the spirit world wouldn’t give way until their root problems were first solved on the earth. As the Bible states, “Whatever is bound on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever is loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matt. 18:18) It is due to this principle that the True Parents have gone the bloodstained course of restoration through indemnity.

This set the stage for one of the most important events in the history of the providence of restoration, the Coronation of God’s Kingship, held on January 13, 2001. On that day the True Parents restored God’s original, omniscient and omnipotent kingship on earth and offered it to God. Through this holy ceremony, which took place on the completion level of the True Parents’ promise and proclamation, the True Parents connected the liberated cosmos to God’s sphere of love. God cannot sit on His glorious throne until the peaceful Heavenly Kingdom is established in heaven and on earth. Just as the omniscient and omnipotent God could not prevent His children Adam and Eve from falling and changing their blood lineage and sphere of dominion, likewise the returning Christ, as the third Adam, could not hold the Coronation of God’s Kingship and serve the Creator God as the substantial King until he established the foundation of true kingship on earth. He first had to gain victory through the substantial course of indemnity and restore the right of true children and the authority of True Parents. After that, God could truly enjoy happiness, glory and nobility as the Heavenly Parent.

When Blessed families fulfill their mission and responsibility on earth and enter the spirit world, they are automatically brought to the Kingdom of Heaven. In Heaven, we live in an atmosphere of deep and moving love. Feelings of freedom, happiness and joy arise naturally. We experience deep emotion and passionate love for evermore. People in Heaven always have bright and peaceful faces. They live without worry, anxiety or troubles. Without words, they voluntarily help each other and care for each other. There is no conflict, hatred or fallen nature such as envy, jealousy or arrogance to be found. The Kingdom of Heaven is filled with nothing but true love, which ever prompts people to live for others.

This is the realm that only Blessed families can enter. No one, regardless of how good his or her earthly life, can enter the Kingdom of Heaven without eradicating the original sin through the True Parents’ Blessing. To enter Heaven, we should be as faultless as a diamond and as clear as crystal. True Parents announced that ever since the Coronation of God’s Kingship and the Registration Blessing Ceremony, the way has opened for the settlement of the unified family. This means the establishment of the great family of people who live as unchangeable filial children of God. The Age of Blessing has begun, when we can go directly to the eternal Heavenly world.

Now the age of peace has arrived, when we can go beyond national boundaries and all humankind can live as brothers and sisters. Therefore, all Blessed Central Families have the responsibility to honor God’s Kingship and God’s Nation. As God’s families, they should be determined and resolved to bring about the safe settlement of the Cheon Il Guk. After the Coronation of God’s Kingship, the time came when absolute good spirits descended to work on the earth. Only those people who live centering on absolute goodness and live their life in accordance with the Principle can prosper in this new age. Now that God is the completely liberated essential substance, He can work directly, illuminating all corners of the earth and the spirit world. The beneficence of God’s direct dominion of love revives people’s original nature, by which they can make a reciprocal relationship with God. Then God can directly shine the light of His true love to illuminate the whole cosmos. In this way, the providence centering on the True Parents is becoming evident to all, both in the spirit world and on the earth.

6. The Resolution of the Representatives of the Five Great Religions and Breaking Down the Walls in the Spirit World

In response to this providence on the earth, on December 25^th, 2001 the founders of the five great religions in the spirit world, Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, adopted a resolution and set forth a proclamation. Jesus, in his prayer, resolved that he would serve God the Father vertically and the True Parents horizontally, and pledged that he would follow the way of absolute obedience to correct all the mistakes and deviations in history. Then the founders of five great religions proclaimed a resolution with five provisions. They proclaimed first that God is the Parent of humankind; second that Reverend Moon is the Savior, Messiah, Second Coming of Jesus and True Parent of humankind; third that the Unification Principle is the message of peace for the salvation of humanity and the Gospel for the Completed Testament Age; fourth that they will accomplish the peaceful unification of the cosmos through a life of living for the sake of others beyond religion, nationality or race; and fifth they resolved to harmonize and unite with each other and serve the True Parents in order to build God’s nation and world peace.

Representatives of the five great religions gathered in conference, produced the resolution and proclaimed it. In this way, centering on the Parents of Heaven and Earth, religious people in the spiritual world have begun to hold dialogues aiming at harmony, reconciliation and cooperation. The new world of grand unification has already begun, in which all spirit people are transcending race, religion and national borders. It is similar to the process that an individual goes through on the way to perfection of one harmony after unifying one mind, one body, and one heart.

Keeping step with this, clergy of many faiths on earth, too, are gathering together and cooperating beyond race, religion and denomination centering on True Father’s teaching. Throughout the United States, the leading nation of the world, numerous clergy agreed to the proclamation from the spirit world as published in Cloud of Witnesses and proclaimed it on earth. As was resolved and proclaimed in the spiritual world, they witnessed that Reverend Moon is the Savior, Messiah, Second Coming of Jesus, and the True Parent. The resolution by the representatives of five great religions was also advertised and published in major daily newspapers, including The Washington Times, in 50 states on the July 4, 2002. In all, the announcement of the resolution was distributed to about 15 million homes in the USA.

True Parents held Blessing ceremonies in America four times in 2002. Concelebrated with clergy of many faith traditions, these Blessings went beyond religion, race and nationality. First, on April 27^th in Washington, D.C., True Parents held the Holy Marriage Blessing of 144,000 clergy couples. Couples from every state attended, with some of them participating through satellite broadcast.

Second, on July 3^rd, members of the second generation, including the children of clergy, were blessed. This Blessing was held on the eve of America’s 226th Independence Day, which celebrates the founding of this Christian nation as the eldest son nation in the providence.

Third, on September 14^th, in memory of the tragic terrorist act of the previous year, a Blessing ceremony with participants from throughout America was held in Manhattan, with the theme of harmony and unity reconciling religious conflicts. Given that the background of the September 11^th terrorism was the conflict between Christianity and Islam, it was significant that Muslims attended that ceremony; in fact numbering more than 30 percent of the participants.

Fourth, on December 7^th, an international, interreligious Blessing ceremony was held in Washington, D.C. marking the 61st anniversary of Japanese bombing raid on Pearl Harbor. About 300 Japanese leaders attended the ceremony, expressing their wish for reconciliation and unity among former enemy nations. As we have seen, the ceremony of the Holy Marriage Blessing is not a conventional ceremony, but is the core of the providence of salvation to rectify the stained blood lineage and expand God’s nation from the individual to the world level.

The International Interreligious Federation for World Peace (IIFWP), founded by True Parents in February of 1999, has promoted an international movement for cooperation, harmony and agreement among conflicting religions and races. This earthly activity made possible the collapse of the partitions, walls and boundaries in the spirit world. In particular, True Father proposed through the IIFWP a new vision for world leadership in the United Nations. He called for a deliberative counsel composed of spiritual and religious leaders to serve as a counterpart to the General Assembly made up of political leaders.

In this way, the Reverend Moon is continuously expanding the foundation to liberate the spirit world, the physical world, and resolve the conflicts endemic to human history by means of various conferences, meetings, proclamations and the Holy Blessing Ceremony.

The Champion in 7 Areas

First, Reverend Moon is the champion in his love for God. He knows God better than any one in history, having clearly revealed not only the characteristics of God, but also the relationship between God and man and woman and God’s Heart. He revealed that the essential and fundamental relationship between God and human beings is that of parent and children. This relationship can only be fully realized based on true love, true life and true lineage. He plainly teaches about God’s sorrowful situation, about the heart of Him who is absolute, unchanging and eternal. After His children’s fall and their expulsion from Eden, God the Father became the God of sorrow and grief, who every day sheds countless tears and emits mournful sighs.

Knowing God’s sorrow, Reverend Moon went through unimaginable suffering and hardships to liberate God, finally offering Him the Coronation of God’s Kingship. God should have occupied the throne of nobility and glory from the beginning of history. He will be eternally joyful and comfortable as the substantial Heavenly Parent, both in spirit world and on earth, from the time the “Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families for the Peace and Unity of the Heavenly Parent and the Parents of Heaven and Earth” is held on February 6^th, 2003. From that time forward, the new age of God’s substantial absoluteness and omnipotence will open. Then the God of absolute authority will rule over the world with the Principle as His law.

Second, Reverend Moon is the champion who defeated Satan. He knows of the identity of Satan, the source and substance of evil, better than any one has in human history. He revealed who and what is Satan, that he is the being who corrupted humankind and destroyed our history, the ringleader of evil, and the one who transmitted the original sin to human beings. Reverend Moon revealed in detail the motivation and process of Satan’s committing sin, his nature and his strategy. Accordingly, he teaches us how we can be separated from Satan and how we can eradicate the root of his evil power in ourselves.

It is impossible to save humankind and establish a peaceful world without knowing the identity and nature of Satan. He is the enemy of humanity, who alienated humankind from God, and is the source of all manner of conflict, antagonism, war and alienation prevalent in human society.

Reverend Moon came as the third Adam and revealed the identity of Satan. This is the work of the Messiah. It is the Messiah’s responsibility to reveal the nature of Satan and bring Satan to surrender. In this process, God cannot help directly, because the fall of the first ancestors is our responsibility. This is because it occurred as the result of the human ancestors failure in the responsibility that God entrusted to them when He set them up to be co-creators with Him.

To expose the secrets of Satan, Reverend Moon spent over 14 years fighting tremendous spiritual battles, the content of which only God knows. At the end, he uncovered the identity of Satan. He also learned the way to subjugate him by making him surrender voluntarily. Finally on March 21, 1999, Satan offered the surrender documents to God and, repenting of his past crimes, he resolved to root out the evil in the world.

Third, Reverend Moon is the champion in exemplifying the life of a true human being. He knows what man is better than anyone in human history. What is a human being? Where do we come from? How should we live? Where do we go finally? What is the source of true human liberation? What is the purpose and meaning of life? No great men have yet given clear answers to these fundamental questions. Reverend Moon uncovered and revealed the answers clearly. He teaches the way that human beings should live as God’s children. He teaches that the final purpose of human life is to perfect the spirit self, the real essence of a human being, and prepare the foundation for eternal life in the spirit world through living for the sake of others on earth.

Honor, knowledge and money are only accessories for a true life. The real essence of life is to become the perfect substance of true love, resembling God’s divinity. The perfect man does not suffer from the original sin, so he doesn’t need a life of prayer, or faith, or even a Savior. The Kingdom of Heaven on earth is the society in which all people serve God as they would their parents in daily life, and live together with all other people in the world as brothers and sisters in one great worldwide family.

Fourth, Reverend Moon is the champion of the spirit world. He knows the spirit world better than any other religious leader. Every person lives in three different worlds, the womb, the earth, and the eternal spiritual world. The 10 months in the womb are to prepare for life on earth, and in turn, life on earth is the time of preparation for eternal life in the spiritual world. People should perfect their inner self while they live on earth with their physical body. Then, as mature fruit belongs in the storehouse, people will pass over to the next world and fit in there naturally. Reverend Moon calls this trip, formerly called a funeral, “the ascension.” He wields the brush of blessed grace upon the departed person at the ascension ceremony for those who have fulfilled what they should do on earth in their physical life.

Especially as far as the spirit world is concerned, Reverend Moon is the champion of champions. He rules over the spiritual world even though he stays on earth. He freely comes and goes between the spiritual world and the physical world, traveling without difficulty like the uninterrupted communication and traffic of earthly technology. He has the penetrating eye to see through appearances to the truth beyond time and space. In an instant he can see everything about an individual’s past life. Hence, even major political leaders, exalted religious personages and eminent scholars feel small in front of him, and at last they cannot but admire him

Fifth, Reverend Moon is the champion of love for Jesus Christ. He knows Jesus better than any theologian, any clergyman, and any Christian saint in history. He met Jesus while deep in prayer on Easter Sunday at the age of fifteen, when Jesus entrusted him with the remainder of the messianic mission. From that time, he freely communed with Jesus and the deceased saints, sages and martyrs to learn of the providence of salvation. He knows plainly and in detail about the Jesus’ mission and life, from his birth to the cross, from his resurrection and ascension to the reality of his life in Paradise. He cried out bitterly and prayed through numerous sleepless nights to know the broken heart of Jesus, who was betrayed by the disbelieving and ignorant religious leaders and countrymen of his day. Jesus disclosed to Reverend Moon the detailed circumstances surrounding the cross. Knowing these facts, Reverend Moon has taught the clergy why they should pull down the crosses from their churches.

Even now Reverend Moon talks with Jesus in the spirit world and cooperates with him for the furtherance of God’s providence whenever necessary. In the early days of his ministry, he was absorbed in prayer 16 hours in a day. He would discuss with Jesus detailed plans for the salvation of humankind, after which he proclaimed the result of those discussions to the spiritual world and on the earth. Finally, he enabled Jesus to meet the Substance of the Holy Spirit by holding the Holy Marriage Blessing for Jesus, who had been unmarried for so long. Through this, Jesus could at last reach the position of spiritual True Parent. No one other than Reverend Moon, who came as the third Adam, can even imagine, much less achieve, this providential work.

Sixth, Reverend Moon is the champion in understanding the Bible. His understanding of the Bible is superior to that of any theologian or clergyman in human history. The Bible is a revelation in which many of the secrets of the way to God are communicated in metaphors and symbols. Reverend Moon revealed the meaning of these words plainly. This fulfills what Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.” (John 16:25) He explains how the Bible offers sure guidelines for the salvation of humankind.

Only the chosen person who has received heavenly wisdom from God can interpret the Bible clearly, revealing the straight-forward truth of God’s ideal of creation, the origin and circumstances of the human fall, and God’s providential formula to save humankind. As Jesus was re-interpreted the Old Testament as he revealed the new expression of truth, so Reverend Moon has newly interpreted both the Old and New Testaments as he reveals the new expression of truth in the Completed Testament Age.

Reverend Moon has grasped the right and proper direction for Christianity, which has been leading the central providence through the New Testament Age. He clearly explains its position as the second Israel, with the mission to recognize and meet the Second Advent of Jesus. As long as the metaphors and symbols of the Bible had not been interpreted effectively and comprehensively, the Bible itself caused division among denominations. Reverend Moon has brought light to the Scriptures! Hence, his teaching of the Holy Scripture provides the key to the unification of Christianity as one seamless garment.

Seventh, Reverend Moon is the champion in knowing the direction of human history. He understands history better than any historian and knows the future better than any prophet. Men are born into history and perish in its wake. The flow of history directly affects the course of each human life. Hence, it is vital to understand the origin, process and direction of history and of human culture. Reverend Moon interprets human history as guided by God’s providence of salvation, a providence of restoration through indemnity. Conflicts in history pit relative good against evil, treading in the direction of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in the spirit world.

History will be consummated after the good conquers the evil at the time of the Messiah’s advent. This optimistic perspective of history gives hope to Christians, who conventionally believe that history will end with the dire judgments of the Last Days. People have not realized that God is working in the background to guide the course of history. The options given men and women as actors on the stage of history is very limited. The current of history is moving towards the re-creation of the ideal world of God’s original creation according to the principle of restoration.

Other philosophies of history, such as historical materialism, are superficial by comparison. Simply viewing human history as the history of conflicts fails to recognize that the essence of all conflict lies in the struggle between relative good and evil, or that the its final destination is the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth and in the spirit world. The relatively evil side can win temporary victories along the way, but the side of goodness will finally bring the evil side to its knees.

Reverend Moon’s extraordinary stature regarding these seven fundamental areas should be enough to persuade anyone that Reverend Moon might plausibly be the Savior and world-teacher of this age. Yet all this aside, even by his visible achievements, his monumental stature as a world leader cannot be denied. The quality and quantity of Reverend Moon’s achievements have a breadth and depth that other historical leaders would hardly imagine. The collection of his words is enormous, constituting 400 volumes that demonstrate the breadth and depth of his teachings.

He personally leads the providence “hands-on” to achieve the substantial Kingdom of Heaven on earth with all his heart and love. He has established countless institutions, associations, and firms all over the world and in various fields, including peace institutions such as FFWPU and IIFWP; newspapers including The Washington Times, Tiempos del Mundo and the Segye Times; institutions in the fields of culture, athletics, art, science, scholarship, philosophy, technology, etc.

All these activities show that he not only proclaims his teachings but also puts them into practice. He has pursued all these activities over the past 40 years without any setback in accordance to the formula of the providence of restoration. They are all components in his overall vision for the establishment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and in Heaven. Each of his works day by day are significant steps clearing away the old corrupted history and open the new age. The numbers of people who attend Reverend and Mrs. Moon as the Parents of Heaven and Earth is growing. They are spreading his teachings and expanding his activities all over the world.

8. Preparations for the Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Parents of Heaven and Earth and the Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families for Cosmic Peace and the Unity of Heaven

Human history has been the history of the providence of restoration through indemnity, through which God has worked to save humankind. God sends the Messiah as the central figure of history. He comes near the end of the old age in order to bring it to an end and begin a new age, a new history. Thus, Jesus declared that the Old Testament Age was coming to an end and announced the dawning of a new age, the New Testament Age, and even prophesied the coming of the Second Advent at the close of that age. The Messiah at the Second Coming comes down from Heaven, finds the prepared Bride on earth, and holds the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It should be held amidst loud rejoicing and acclamations of Heaven and earth, on the restored foundation of prepared churches and religious groups in the internal and Abel position, and prepared nations in the external and Cain position.

The providence has accelerated as it approaches the establishment of the Cheon Il Guk, the ideal of God’s Kingdom. It will happen in the near future, shortly after the Holy Marriage Blessing of Reverend Moon and Mrs. Moon is held on the conditional foundation of his victorious ministries in Korea, Japan and America.

Reverend Moon established the base for the Cheon Il Guk on the foundation of making harmony among the youth of Communist and Democratic countries on the occasion of the Seoul Olympics. This success brought about his proclamation of the “Nation of the Unified World” on October 3, 1988. Then, on August 31, 1989, he restored the elder-sonship through the “Ceremony for the Settlement on Eight Stages” (pal jung shik) which celebrated the fulfillment of his course of restoration through indemnity on the eight vertical and eight horizontal stages.

On the following day, September 1, 1989, Reverend Moon initiated the providence for regaining the Parentship by proclaiming “Heavenly Parentism.” On July 1, 1991, he set up the condition for regaining God’s Kingship through the proclamation of God’s Eternal Blessing (7.1 Jeol). This set up True Mother, who had followed True Father vertically until then, to work horizontally and in parallel with the work of True Father. On April 10, 1992, Reverend Moon proclaimed the actual coming of the women’s age on the occasion of the founding of the Women Federation for World Peace (WFWP).

At conferences of the leaders of WFWP held on July 6-9, 1992, Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon declared Reverend Moon to be the Second Coming of the Messiah, the Savior and the True Parents. From that time on, Mrs. Moon inaugurated several years of speaking tours throughout the world, as her husband had done. To date, she has given over 1,600 speeches. This is the substantial work of the True Mother, the Holy Spirit who restores the lost children to the True Father. In 1993, Reverend Moon declared the end of the Old and New Testament Ages and the coming of the Completed Testament Age for fulfilling the ideal of the Second Advent. In 1999, he set forth the “Declaration of True Parents’ Cosmic Victory” on the foundation of a triumphant speaking tour of 80 cities throughout the world. Through this Declaration, True Father and True Mother arrived at substantially equal position as the True Parents of humankind. Then on June 1, 2000, soon after completing a speaking tour to 40 cities around the world, the True Parents held a ceremony commemorating True Mother’s ascent to the level of the same authority as True Father. After that, True Parents completed the substantial mission for restoring the lost children and cosmos to God through the Declaration of Returning the Land to God, the Declaration of Returning the Oceans to God, the Declaration of the Cosmos, and the Declaration of Realm of the Fourth Adam’s Heart.

Concurrently, Reverend Moon has pursued other streams of the providence. On April 17, 1998, he blessed Korea, the central nation of the providence, as the Father nation, Japan as the Mother nation, and America as the eldest-son nation. On the occasion of this blessing he commenced providential activities in each of these major nations for laying the foundation of the Cheon Il Guk. Looking at the providence in America, in January 2000, 3,600 representatives of the clergy gathered to celebrate True Father’s 80^th birthday in Washington D. C., and presented him with the “Award for Religious Harmony.”

Soon afterward, in February of 2000, nearly 300 members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives honored Reverend Moon as the leading pioneer of freedom, faith and family in the 20th century as they gave him the “American Century Award.” By these two congratulatory events, he completely fulfilled the condition of indemnity to restore the position of Jesus, who was killed on the cross by the collusion of Jewish religious leaders and Roman political authorities. And at last he opened the new millennium as the King of Peace by receiving the “World Peace Award” from the “World Association Non-Governmental Organizations” (WANGO) on August 18, 2000.

Preface

1. The Original Ideal Lost Due to the Human Fall

The Meaning of the Marriage Supper of the Lamb

The Holy Wedding of the True Parents on March 16, 1960 (Lunar Calendar)

7. Who is Reverend Sun Myung Moon?

Conclusion