Damian J. Anderson
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 Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2003 10:02 am Post subject: 1977: Who Was I? |
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http://www.unification.net/1977/770313.html
ORDER NUMBER
77-03-13
REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON
WHO WAS I?
March 13, 1977
Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
The topic of my message this morning is "Who Was I?" Throughout the
entire history of mankind the problem has always been "I." You are
citizens of this nation but that category alone does not adequately
describe who you are. You can trace your family tree, searching deeply
into the root of your heritage to your grandfather, your
great-grandfather, and continue all the way to the origin of human
existence. When you say "ancestors," you always think of your
grandparents, and perhaps your great-great-grandparents, but beyond
that you have little concept of your ancestry. It is not real to you.
As we read about the thousands of years of human history we find that
some people were evil and some good. As we took around at our society
and nation we find that today also there are good people and evil
people. It follows then that there were good and evil people both in
history and in your ancestry. What kind of ancestors do you have? Can
you be completely confident that you have no evil ancestors, or do you
have a mixture of good and evil in your past? There are so many kinds
of personalities; in your lineage there may even have been some
traitors who betrayed the nation.
Actually you have two family trees: your father's and your mother's.
These two entirely different family trees merge in you. In addition,
your mother's tree and father's tree both have two lineages, and each
of your grandparents also have two lineages. As we look far back in
history your entire lineage can be seen to spread over a great area.
You are the fruit of a vast family tree. Just to understand this
tangled mixture of family trees is too tedious for us; we do not even
want to bother. When we look at our present world we know that what is
happening today on the horizontal level is a repetition of what has
happened throughout history.
Who are you and whom do you resemble? The simple answer is that you
resemble your father and your mother. However, you are the product of
both your father's and mother's entire lineage, and every cell in your
body contains some component of your entire ancestry.
In the back yard of East Garden there is an apple tree that is
probably 20 or 30 years old. When it bears apples they represent 30
years of growth, not just the current year. We can say that the fruit
is 30 years old. In the same way you are historical beings. Your "I"
did not just pop out of heaven. "I" is linked to the past, the present
and the future. When we dig deeper and deeper to find the ultimate
cause of the universe, we will see that our lives are connected to the
origin, which is God. Since God created mankind and the entire
universe, then "I" must be in the image of that particular God.
If there is a God then He must be good. Therefore we too, should be
born good in the image of God. However, from the beginning to the
present time there have been so many evil deeds and sins committed
that we are now quite separated from God. There is a large gap between
God and our present selves. We are the extension of God who is good,
but our extension of Him is stained and dirty. When God looks down
upon the posterity of His own family tree He wants to get rid of all
the dirt. You do not even need to know the Bible to see that there is
a gap between God and us and that we have been stained.
How did we become stained?
What has made us so dirty throughout these many years of history? Were
we born as sinful people to begin with, or have we just slipped into
filthy places and become stained? Certainly we have slipped into
filthy places, but does anyone like dirty things? When we look into
the past, have there been more people working to cleanse sin or to
multiply it?
What is the origin of this dirty situation? Actually it begins from
"me," and I can say that I received it from my parents, who received
it from my grandparents, and they from my great-grandparents. Sin is
inherited from our ancestors, who are contaminated by sin. Then what
made our ancestors dirty?
The essential truth is that our ancestors thought of themselves as
being the center of everything; their own egos and selfishness are
what stained them. If our ancestors had sought to make themselves
clean, they would have emptied themselves and lived in sacrificial
service to others. If they had found something more precious than
themselves then they could not have become stained. But what could be
more precious than themselves? They had to realize that they were
resultant beings. Our ancestors should have recognized that there was
an Original Being in the position of cause and subject, and that they
were the reflection of that cause. They had to recognize first that
there is a God who is the eternal subject of all humanity, that He is
good, and that they had to live for Him. If anyone in history had
consciously lived for God and for His purpose, that person could never
have stained himself.
God and nature are universal
God is the center of the entire universe. He is not a small, local
God; He is universal, and the reflection of that God is the entire
universe. God is the subjective cause and the entire universe of
creation is His object. God is in the center of the entire spirit
world, while we men are the center of this visible universe, the
physical world. Man has inborn traits that qualify him for this
position, for instance, the desire to excel others and to stand out in
the world, to be respected by all mankind. Do we have that ambition?
To become a person who is recognized worldwide you must become a
person who lives and breathes the worldwide situation daily. Think of
it, when you have bread in your mouth whose bread are you eating-your
own bread or the bread of the world? If your food represents the
entire world, which is more precious, you or that bread? If you are
existing solely for your own selfish and egoistic purpose while your
bread is representing the entire world, which is more precious? At
every breakfast you should say, "Mr. Bread, sir, I salute you." Why do
you laugh? You laugh because you feel it is impossible for the bread
to be more valuable than you.
Think of the air that you breathe; it belongs to the universe and is
in a universal position. Did you buy this air? Is it yours? When you
breathe this air do you ever think about whether you are even
qualified to breathe it? Have you ever thought of air in this way,
"I'm breathing somebody else's air. Do I have a right to breathe it?"
Or do you assume you have a right to breathe it?
Think of a glass of water; does it belong to you? Have you ever had
the power to create one drop of water? The water belongs to the
universe. The water and the air do not belong to evil or self-centered
persons; they belong to the universe and to those of universal
purpose. What about sunlight? Are the sun rays yours? They are in a
universal position. If you are centered only upon yourself and you
breathe this air and dominate nature for your own enjoyment, all these
things will abhor being subjugated by you.
Sometimes we see people outside protesting against us. Have you ever
thought of the water demonstrating, saying, "I belong to God and to
the universe; I don't want to go into the body of this self-centered,
egoistic individual. I protest! I'm not going!" Do you think water has
sufficient reason to protest against evil people? How about grains of
wheat, sunshine, and air? Do they have cause to demonstrate?
The most powerful things in existence in this universe are not the
things that are man-made. The sun's rays, water, air-these are some of
the most powerful things in the universe because without them none of
us can exist even for two minutes. Have you ever thought of this? This
nation has the atomic bomb, but compared to the power of sunshine, air
or water, the bomb is a peanut. Suppose the atoms of the air got
together with a plan to change this evil world by having a revolution.
Air has the power to change the world because within minutes everyone
would have to surrender or suffocate.
Are all of these natural things individualistic or universal? Even one
bird or small animal belongs to the universe and is a universal being.
Have you ever thought about things in this way, about whether you even
deserve to have all these things? Do you serve as a subject of these
things? Do you have the right to possess and enjoy them?
You must become universal
All your surroundings belong to the universe. Unless you make yourself
a universal being and become tied to the universal cause, God, you
must realize that all nature around you will not want to be possessed
by you or be of service to you. You must become their subject first by
making yourself a universal being who is connected to the original
cause. Then you are in a position to care for, love, and enjoy the
universe. If you make yourself a universal being, connected to the
fundamental origin of the universe, then the sunrays will want to come
and warm your body. Water will want to get into your mouth and air
will want to go into your lungs.
When nature is willing to serve you, that air, water and sunshine are
far better than any tonic or medicine. The person who deserves the
honor of the service of all nature will not catch colds or be
seriously ill; he will be healthy for his entire life. Would you like
to be someone recognized by the world as a worldwide person? What if
you are clumsy, tall and very ugly? Even then you still have the right
to become a person respected worldwide by making yourself into a
universal man and by connecting yourself to the original subject of
the universe.
Let us say that among several friends you have one who is always
giving you a hard time, continuously nagging you to pay more attention
to him. When you look at that person his face is ugly, always trying
to snap at you, complaining that you do not pay enough attention to
him. Such a person would come to you and then turn around and kick
you. Would you want to be around him?
Compare that kind of relationship to your relationship with the
universe. There are two kinds of people. Some continuously nag, "Why
didn't the sun come out today? Why is the world so dirty? Why couldn't
God make me happier?" Such people have only complaints toward God and
nature. Will nature like them? Nature will turn around and kick them
instead. Such people may try to make themselves happy by going to the
health spa and exercising, but everywhere they go they will be
surrounded by enemies; the air will shove them, the water slap them,
and the sunshine bum them. That kind of person will never be healthy.
The entire natural world has but one universal mind, and as a result
the relationship between you and nature should be thought of as the
relationship between you and your neighbor. What makes your friend
happy or unhappy? Your answer directly applies to your relationship
with nature.
Why did our ancestors not leave us a clean, pure heritage? Why did
they leave us an evil history? The answer can only be that they did
not obey the universal law of service, that they violated the divine
law of the universe, desiring to make everything serve them: "The
world is mine and must come to serve me." That basic attitude is the
worst violation of universal law.
In order to become lords of creation we must possess universal
character and comply with universal law, meaning that we must become
unselfish people, existing solely for service to others. We all want
to become recognized as a center of the world, recognized by the
universe. In order to do that we ourselves must recognize the value of
the universe; we must live in the concept that we are here solely to
serve the world. Unless you have that personality you certainly cannot
become a central person of the world or the universe.
God is the center of the universe, the spirit world and physical world
together, because He is perfect and exists solely for the sake of
others. By living in that way God is making Himself the center of the
universe. I am sure you understand.
We come to the one absolute criterion: Those who serve themselves,
trying to take everything for their own benefit, will produce only
evil results. Those who willingly and lovingly give for the benefit of
others will bring wholesome results, and add benefit to the side of
good. What kind of persons were your ancestors? By only thinking about
themselves and their own families, they did not expand their
personality to the national or worldwide levels.
No matter what you have previously learned, irregardless of how good
or well-spoken a person may appear, if he seeks to use everything for
his own benefit he is evil. The person who thinks of the difference
between his own children and other children is not a universal person;
if his children are universal beings then all other children are also
universal beings. His wife is precious because she is a universal
being; therefore all other women are also important and precious. In
this respect we have not liberated the selfishness of our egos. That
godly way of life has not been clear.
What is a saint?
You want to become a good person who is respected worldwide, isn't
that true? A saint is a person of worldwide respect. What is a saint?
First, saints recognize God as the first cause of the universe and are
primarily religious leaders, like Jesus, Buddha or Mohammed. They
recognize God and try to live in service to God; their aim is to serve
the entire universe and mankind. This service is their outstanding
trait. Actually, saints are the type of people who want to make
themselves the subject of the whole universe, becoming respected on
the worldwide level by serving the world.
Which comes first, the universe or history? Does the universe come
within history or history within the universe? Do you want to become
an historical or universal person? Do you have confidence to become a
universal person? What kind of God do we have, universal or
historical? When you make yourself a universal person, are you making
yourself a friend of God? All the saints of history were friends of
God, the type of people who lived their lives thinking entirely of the
well-being of the universe, the well-being of humanity and ultimately
the well-being of God. Let me then ask: Who are you?
Think about the question, "Who am I?" Compare your personality to the
personality of a saint, who lives for the divine purpose of the
universe and humanity and God. How small you are or how big you are
depends on whether or not you live on that level. If there were a
certain academic standard to meet to become a saint, then what level
would you be? Kindergarten?
Even to reach kindergarten at the university of saints is not easy.
What kind of student are you? Are you well-groomed and behaving
correctly, listening to the teacher, or are you a sloppy, inattentive
student, dressed in smelly rags? What kind of standing do you have?
Most of you have a very poor standing, even in the kindergarten of
saints. You are so smelly that when the teacher comes to teach he just
can't stand to be in the classroom and runs away.
With such a poor standing, can we come out and demand that God
recognize us? Can we claim to be His son or daughter and ask for
treats or some allowance? Do we deserve all His wonderful things? Do
you think God will instantly respond to that kind of student? Actually
you know what kind of God He is and what your standing is. The right
thing for you to ask is, "God, please don't come now because I am not
quite ready. I want to wash myself and go to the laundry first and get
myself prepared for you."
What kind of prayer do you offer? Have you been humbly praying, "God,
I know the truth; I am striving but I am not quite ready to meet you.
Give me a little time to grow. Let me perfect myself a little further
and I will be ready for You some day." Has that been your prayer, or
have you been praying, "God, why don't you come? I am a member of the
Unification Church; I follow Reverend Moon and I deserve your love!
Give me your power and let me conquer the world." When we fully
realize where we are, that kind of prayer is quite a joke.
We come to the most important conclusion that we were not born for
ourselves. God created us to be the center of the universe, the center
of His whole creation. God bestowed upon us the responsibility of
taking care of the world and truly becoming respected as the lords of
creation.
The more you serve, the more you become the central, subjective
figure. Young people today simply think, "Why should I be foolish and
worry about serving others; I'm going to live my own life." That seems
to be very clever thinking, but actually it is violating universal law
and is not clever at all.
If a wealthy father has many children and wants to write a will to
divide his inheritance, which child will inherit the most? The child
who really has the caliber and ability to use this material for the
benefit of others and who has a sense of service deserves to receive
more. By serving others you will become a central person, This
principle is never going to change.
America many decline but this law of the universe will not change. No
matter how powerful the communists are, even if they have conquered
most of the world, if they violate this law they will decline. By
following this principle you will become a strong, powerful,
influential person, and you will remain in that position as long as
you adhere to this principle.
Think about Hitler. He was arrogant, proclaiming that the German race
was superior to all others and had the right to conquer the world. He
felt that the entire universe should come under the German race.
Joseph Stalin believed that communism was supreme and that the entire
world should be subjugated by that ideology.
What is my position? Some of our critics say that I am worse than
Hitler or Stalin. They can only say such things because they do not
see the real content of my ideal, my heart or my ideology. However,
the content of my philosophy is entirely different from Hitler's or
Stalin's. I teach that you must go and serve the world.
Love your opponents
The Washington Post, New York Times, and all the media have committed
a tremendous crime by unjustly attacking me and reporting allegations
that I am evil and corrupt. Even so, I have never responded to that by
seeking retaliation of a tooth for a tooth or evil for evil. Not at
all. I only have a prayerful mind to forgive them. I can foresee that
some day all the media shall become the instruments of God. There is
hope that in the future the media will become of service to God,
however inadequate and evil they are now.
Because the Unification Church has come under fire many parents have
come against us, uniting with the deprogrammers and kidnappers. We are
the focal point of much controversy, but if we turn around and fight
back, there will be chaos in this country and all over the world.
Revenge is not my way. Go ahead and take the beating. Love and embrace
those who come against us and serve them. Eventually you will win
because that is universal law. You are going to be victorious. The
living proof of this is that under such extreme and continued
persecution, our Church is growing and moving forward. Why is that? We
are embracing the entire universe; the entire creation, and therefore
universal law must defend us. No one can prevail against us. We are
invincible.
All the saints and great men of history have gone the same path that
we go now. They were persecuted by their contemporaries and even
killed; however, the universal law embraced them and lifted them up to
become saints, respected by the world.
My own conviction is this: As long as God and never perish. Do you
members love me? What do you like about me? Your own fathers and
mothers criticize me, saying, "Why did you take our sons and daughters
to make them slaves?" Then why do you like me?
I know one secret principle that others do not know: In order to serve
the world, you take the servant's position, but if you continue as a
servant, then God will lift you up to become a master of the universe.
I know this secret. American young people are bright and clever, and
if they know this secret they can change within one week. That is
happening in our church and you yourselves have experienced this.
We are redirecting our individual purpose 180 degrees to the purpose
of serving the universe; that is why people outside say that I am
brainwashing you. Is this brainwashing good or bad? Is it true that I
am worse than Hitler or Stalin? I do not care what I am labeled as
long as I can turn you around to become universal people. As far as
serving America and loving this nation are concerned, I am certainly
not one inch behind the greatest American leaders. I am not indebted
to America; rather America is now indebted to me. America eventually
has to honor that debt, and if America does not pay, then you must pay
as representatives of America. Do you mind? The way that you can
re-pay that universal debt is to turn around and serve this nation so
that you can change this nation around. If you continuously live this
principle, then within the next ten years those people who are
opposing us today will look very shabby.
I am a strong man, but what makes me strong? I am not strong in terms
of destruction or dictatorship, but rather I am strong in my
conviction. My conviction is that I am living the universal law and
working to bring young people under the same law. We serve and live
together under the same divine law, and together we shall be
victorious.
By doing this I have become famous and controversial, but does that
mean that I am an evil man? There is one criterion. The world may
think of me as evil simply because they do not understand, but we are
convinced about the most important thing: God knows me; God loves me,
and God thinks that I am Serve the universe good. That comforts me and
is all I need. My other comfort is that you young people know me.
If you want to become the center of the universe, the center of the
world, you have to have the desire and hope to serve the world and the
universe with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
Accomplishing that will make you the center.
Actually I am asking you to become a slave of the universe. This is
not easy, but if you do so, the universal law and God will elevate you
to the master's position. Parents who love their children in actual
deed become servants to their children. No matter how dirty a child
is, the parents just change his diapers.
The true husband is like a servant to his wife; she may not even ask
for anything, but he knows what she needs and voluntarily serves her
with a loving heart. The true husband's actual position is almost like
a servant. The wife's position toward her husband is also that of a
servant. If you want to live a true life-as husband, wife, society, or
nation-you must live the truth of service. By living and serving
others you become true. In what kind of world do you want to live, a
world where we serve each other or a world where we grab everything
for ourselves?
When people are trying to serve each other they create the power of
unity and harmony. God Himself lives that way; God is pure and
genuine, but something went wrong with human history and it became
stained by sin. For 6,000 years God has been tirelessly working to
cleanse man's sin. He did not do this for just one year or for only
one of you, but for thousands of years and thousands of generations,
from your oldest ancestors down to the present generation.
God has been working extremely hard for you and for your ancestors yet
so many people in the world are insisting that there is no such things
as God. How blasphemous! What heavy grief it brings to God! Imagine
that one day you had an accident and an intimate friend took you to
the hospital and saved your life. How would that friend feel if the
next morning you woke up in the hospital and said, "Who are you? I
don't know you." Your friend would feel lonely and rejected.
The relationship between God and man is exactly the same. If you
really knew what kind of God He is and what He has been doing for you,
would you be happy or not? The mere fact that God exists is assurance
that He cares for you and struggles to make you happy. We must realize
that we are indebted to God and to the universe.
That feeling must penetrate to your bones. If you want to become a
godly person then you must first feel how greatly you are indebted to
God. Next you must feel that you want to re-pay this debt in the
shortest possible time. If you move in that direction then you will
become a saint.
You must live in repentance: "Mr. Air, Mr. Water, I am sorry; I have
been unjust to you. Mr. Food, Mr. Sunshine, I repent to you." Repent
to your parents and above all, repent to God. Looking down on you God
will say, "You're crazy! You don't have to repent." But how God will
be comforted! Which is better, the repentance coming only from your
lips, or the repentance that wells up from your heart, accompanied by
an escort of tears?
We are sinners
Let us now consider what kind of sinners we are. What kind of sin has
all mankind committed? We have been destroying the ideal universe, the
ideal society, the ideal home, and the ideal individual. Mankind has
even been destroying the ideal of God. Even in our secular, satanic
society you are called a gangster or a terrorist if you destroy one
family. How much more is it a sin when we destroy the ideal
individual, family, society, nation and world, and even God? The sin
that Adam committed by the fall is that very sin; he not only became
fallen himself, but he destroyed the ideal perfected individual, the
ideal home, the ideal society, the ideal nation and the ideal world,
and he even imprisoned God. Adam was supposed to be the king of kings,
in the position of visible God. Since the fall God could no longer
exercise His power; instead, His influence and work have been limited
because of the rebellion of men who turned against Him.
In dispensational history, who killed Abel? You killed Abel because
your ancestor did. Who brought misery to Noah? You are the one because
your ancestors did. Who brought suffering to Abraham, Moses and Jesus
Christ? You, because your ancestors did and you are the fruit of your
ancestors. Who put Jesus Christ on the cross? You.
Who was Jesus Christ? He was to be the king of kings, and he was
supposed to be the True Parent of mankind, the Savior and liberator of
all men. Yet you nailed him to the cross. Can there be any greater sin
than this one? You are part of that sin because your ancestors
committed that crime. Is there any greater sin than killing the one
man of God, the one king of kings, the one True Parent who was given
by God? You murdered him. Is there any greater sin than this?
Ever since that time mankind has been apathetic, claiming, "It's none
of my business; I didn't do it." That has been the world's attitude
for 2,000 years. However, when an arrow hits a tree branch, not only
the branch but the entire tree is affected because the branch is a
part of that tree. By hitting that branch you are hitting the whole
body. If your ancestors killed Jesus, then are you a murderer or not?
The king of kings was to appear only one time, yet you killed that
person. God sent the True Parent of mankind only one time and you
killed him. For that act everyone deserves to die and suffer in hell.
You must feel this to the bone. When you look at your hand, you can
say, "This hand has committed the most bloody murder." You must feel
that there is nothing that you can do to repay this sin, that you
could give up anything, even chop off your arm or leg, or pull out
your eyes. Even then your position is still unforgivable. You need to
feel that this is the kind of sinner you are.
Feel repentance, shame and gratitude
Repentance must be accompanied by shame. You must feel the shame of
your position before you can enjoy the sunlight, the trees, the grass,
or the flowers, thinking, "Nature is so pure but I am so dirty." This
is not hypothetical thinking; in this fallen world the person who
feels that shame to the bone is closest to God.
A deep realization of this shame must be followed by a sense of
gratitude; every little thing that God bestows upon you fills you with
gratitude. Even when you see one bird in spring or the little spring
flowers you should say, "God, thank you for this beauty. Thank you for
this sound. I don't deserve this or have a right to enjoy this but you
are now freely giving it all to me. Thank you, God."
Finally, God will call your name and you will feel absolutely
flabbergasted. "God? Did You call me? Can I be called by You?" You
feel how inadequate you are but when your hear the voice of God
calling, you are completely fascinated and inspired, and you respond
to the fullest degree. With such a pure heart you have every right to
respond to God. Since you are an historical being, the entire weight
of history is upon your shoulders. You must be able to feel man's
history of sin and shame, and take the responsibility of it upon your
own shoulders, for the sake of your entire ancestry living within you.
The sense of shame is followed by gratitude, and then by volunteering
before God, "You called me and there is nothing that I cannot do. Give
me the worst kind of dirty mission and I will undertake it. All my
life is for You; I will do anything You want, whatever Your will is."
You are entitled to heaven after you go through this course, but
actually even after you are elevated to the highest possible heaven
you will still have no power to lift up your head. Then God will
command you, "My child, lift up your head and look straight at me." On
that day you can lift up your head. That is the way to become the
ideal man and to achieve the ideal. Compare this ideal level to the
present Unification Church members' way of life. There is a great deal
of difference. What I am teaching you this morning is not just my
reasoning, theory, or logic. We are talking about actual day to day
life.
I love nature. I talk to the trees and waters and I have a freer
communication with nature than anybody. Most of my life was not lived
with smiles but in a vale of tears. There has never been any one who
has cried more than I have. Even now, there is not too much to smile
about in the course of each day. There is little laughter and much
seriousness. Look at the world: The world is trying to tear me apart,
but God is waiting. God is silent. How could I seek revenge? It is
impossible; it is not my way. I understand precisely how God feels and
I know that God embraces me, even though I do not ask Him to do so. I
do not pray for such protection from God, but still I know that God is
with me.
"Repent, for the Kingdom is at hand"
Who are you? You are sinners and you must repent. When the Son of God
appeared in Israel 2,000 years ago, his first words were, "Repent, for
the Kingdom of God is at hand." The Kingdom of God will never become a
reality unless people repent. That is the first order of business.
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, shouted out first,
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." This teaching is
eternal; from my heart and soul I shout it out to you now, "Repent,
for the Kingdom of God is at hand!" The difference between the
Biblical teaching and what you are hearing today lies in the fact that
you know why we should repent and you know precisely who you are.
Where is the place for repentance? Where should we go to repent? This
is something we have to think about. It cannot be a beautiful,
comfortable place, but should be a lowly place of suffering. In such a
place you can experience realistic repentance. This is why I went down
to the slum areas to repent for the sake of all humanity. I went to
laborers' places, to the mines, to the docks, and even to prison. In
those places I could realistically repent for the sins of the world. I
never thought that I was too good to go to such places. I only
thought, "Father, thank you for giving me this place where I can
realistically repent. My repentance can become real because the
suffering of the world comes with me."
When you are treated roughly by the world, please accept it with
gratitude; remember that suffering is the ideal place for your
repentance. When you go out selling peanuts and people curse you,
shout at you, and even spit on you, thank God saying, "Father, you are
giving me this place to repent because I am a sinner. I deserve to be
spat upon to be hit, to be cursed."
If you live this way of life for three years you will be purified and
accepted in God's sight. Even in the Unification Church arrogance is
the worst enemy. People think, "I am a member of the Unification
Church. I know the truth. I belong to Reverend Moon. I will work for
three years and then have a blessed family, and then the world should
come and bow down to me. I should be seated on a throne." If you think
that way, how poor and miserable you are; what a poor standing you
have as a member of the Unification Church!
Right here in our church there are two ways of life. If you are an
arrogant person, then regardless of how many years you are in the
Unification Church you will end up in hell, while the humble person
will end up in heaven. Are you saints or sinners? The sinner belongs
to hell and only because of God's special dispensation are you held
back from going there. Only through His love is there a way for you to
turn around and accept God and return to Him. This is His grace.
Therefore we should be deeply repentful first and then thankful.
You must feel the pain of God and of all history. Your repentance must
come deeply from your own heart and soul, and the expression of your
repentance should be in tears, crying out with water streaming from
your nose and mouth. Repent first and then be thankful. Through that
process you will be cleansed.
You may feel that I am beyond all laws and that I can do anything, but
that is not true at all. This same law is binding me right at this
moment. I still have so much further to go and so much more to do. Can
you understand? I want you to realize that you are anchored to sin. I
am trying to lead you, but this anchor to the satanic world is holding
you back. There is a line connecting you to the satanic world; you
must be courageous and cut it.
Historically speaking we are born of Satan and automatically belong to
hell; we are the citizens of hell. But only because of the love of God
and by His special dispensation do we have hope to turn around and go
to heaven. Through repentance we can achieve that. We must know that
each individual has to go through the process of repentance.
Where do you repent? You must find your place of repentance. It is not
in a holy or luxurious place; instead it is going to be in a place of
suffering. Do you want me to go with you in repentance? Do you want
everybody to get together and repent? Would that make you feel good?
That is not God's way. Repentance comes only through a lonely path.
You must plunge yourself into the satanic world and there seek out
your repentance by yourself.
Become heavenly princes
Do you really know who you were and who you are now? Do you know your
position? First through repentance and then through gratitude you are
elevated to become princes or princesses of heaven. Your goal is not
just to become heavenly citizens, but to transform your sinners'
position into that of heavenly princes or princesses of God. That is
the way you can be with God and with me all through eternity. Who are
you? You are princes and princesses of Satan now. It is because of the
love of God that through repentance and the process of rebirth you can
become the heavenly princes and princesses of God. Do you think that
task is easy?
Compared to the process of becoming President of the United States,
your process of coming from the sinners' position to that of princes
and princesses of heaven is far more difficult. Those who come into
our church are candidates for the position of princes and princesses
of God. When you come in you will be given unprecedented discipline,
training and testing to see whether you deserve to become princes and
princesses of God. Can you accept this? I want you to pass that test
with an A+ and thereby become the princes and princesses of God. Thank
you.
---
Damian J. Anderson <damian@unification.net> http://www.unification.net
This country desperately needs a God-centered president, senators and
congressmen. America's intellectual establishment is liberal, godless,
secular, humanistic, and anti-religious. We are declaring war against
three main enemies: godless communism, Christ-less American liberalism,
and secular-humanistic morality. They are the enemies of God, the
True Parents, the Unification Church, all of Christianity, and all
religions. We are working to mobilize a united front against them. -
Rev. Sun Myung Moon, August 29, 1985 |
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