# Category: Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1981

## THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE WAY

By Fami1yfed June 20, 2018 June 20, 2018 Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1981

## REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON

### January 11, 1981
Belvedere
Translator – Sang Kil Han

#### Copyright © 1981 by Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity

You all know that our lives have an historic quality. When we say historic, we are including the past, present and future. For example, I am speaking now in the present, I have spoken in the past, and I will continue to speak in the future. In this relationship our lives are connecting three points.

Some people place importance on the past, some put emphasis on the present, and others think seriously of the future. American people, for example, are proud of their past, but also they are proud of their present, and expect to be proud in the future. That is, in the view of Americans their past is big, the present is bigger, and the future is expected to be much bigger.

When we say “the public way”, we mean the larger aspect, while the private way is the smaller way. What do we mean when we say “big” or “small”? Where do we draw the line? A person might be big or small, and he can live in a public way or a private way. When we evaluate someone we say he is a big man or he is a small man. If we say he is a big man, we imagine that he has a good future ahead of him. If we say he is a small man, we think his future is not so big.

Our ancestors made the culture we live in today. Our ancestors always thought about the future more than their present time, and their work made this huge civilization come into being. We cannot deny that. Looking back, we can see that religion had more to do with furthering civilization than any material things did. When we are focused on a religious perspective, living for a definite purpose, then we are almost guaranteed that our future will be big and stable, and will continue to get better. If we are religious then we make a sincere effort.

Centering on the present, there are two ways of looking at our lives: today we are smaller than in the past, and our future will be smaller; or the past was small, but today is bigger, and the future is expected to be much bigger still. It is natural to hope that the past was big, and that our future will be bigger. Everyone would want this. The third possibility is that the past, present and future would all be big.

It is man’s original nature to want many friends, not just one or two, in order to expand horizontally the scope of his activities. Aren’t you that way? In China there is hardly any private ownership but the country boasts a population of one billion people. People want to become wide, or big. Therefore, in the past they wanted the future to be big, and now we want our future to be even bigger.

How would God think? Which would He choose among these three possibilities? The third one. If God wanted it that way and He is omnipotent, then why is that world not realized already? We can say that God thinks in the public way, so why hasn’t that world come to be? When He created Adam and Eve, was it His hope to expand or to narrow down? For Adam, Eve came into being. and for that couple children came into being. After their family there came a race, clan, nation, and so on.

There is the invisible world and the visible world, and man is an intermediary situated in between. If a thought is actualized in the visible world then it will also be realized in the invisible world, not just as a thought, but in reality. When something big is actualized on earth, then in the invisible world a corresponding area will be expanded in reality. We imagine that God had an expectation for how we would be. As we expanded in that way, the invisible world would also expand accordingly.

Although each person has the possibility of becoming immensely big, because mankind has been neglecting God man has narrowed down his future. Man’s thinking has become narrower and narrower, and so the future which he projects is also narrow. As a result, there are two realms: one is the world of life, and the other is the world of death: one is the world of God, and the second is the world of Satan.

What we must know is that the public way is life lived for God and also for the sake of the future. We also have to have a way in which we cherish the past, for God is in the past as well as the present and future. In other words, it is the public way to cherish God and the future of mankind. If one is living with that image, then he is living the public way.

How would it look to God? When God created Adam and Eve, would He have encouraged them to love Him but not to think about the future of mankind? God must have told them to love each other and their children as much as they loved Him. He couldn’t possibly have said anything else. If God had said, “Just love me alone and no one else,” then He would have been denying the past and the future too.

When God was living close to Adam and Eve, He would ask, “Adam, you love me, don’t you?” Adam would certainly say yes, and then God would have said, “You must love Eve more than you love me.” That meant that God had a plan and outlook for the future, and was using Eve as an example to teach Adam about the future.

Let us go forward for the next year, more than for today. Then next year we will try harder for the sake of the next year after that. While standing in the present we have two directions. If we retreat to the past then we are headed for hell, but if we go forward then we will go to heaven.

Because of the fall, is the kingdom of heaven yet to come in the future, or has is existed in the past? It is not in the present or the past, but in the future. We are here in Unification Church for the sake of God and mankind, and if we retreat then where are we heading? No place else awaits us but hell. If we advance, however, then a big future is in store for us. Since the present time is so difficult, should you retreat? Should you just crawl forward, inch by inch? We can imagine that God has been teaching man by saying, “You must love others more than you love me.” He should say that if He wants to insure a big future for man.

If as the leader of Unification Church I say that you must love all others more than you love me, then I am speaking as a public-minded teacher. If I said that you must love me more than others, then I would be leading everyone in the direction of hell. In that case I would be self-centered and retreating toward hell. Hell has no future, while heaven has a broad future. The deeper we go into heaven, the broader is the future we can expect.

It is the public-minded way to want a future bigger than the present, while the nonpublic way does not think about the future, but only about the present and the past. The fall took place from a self-centered position, where man thought about himself only and not about the future. Whoever is centered on himself and wants everything done for himself is going in the direction of hell. But if you love others more than yourself, you are heading toward heaven. When you think of yourself, you are in the present and the past, but when you think of others, you are in the objective realm, in the future. The fact that God told Adam to love Eve more than Him meant that He was thinking about the future. This is what God had in mind in the beginning, and how He taught Adam about it.

This is our goal in the Unification Church, to live for the sake of others. If you are alone then it’s all right to love yourself, but if you have someone else then you should love that person more. When Eve came into being, Adam was supposed to love her more than he loved himself. When they had a family, Adam and Eve were supposed to love their family more than they loved each other. When that family expanded and became a clan, they should have loved the clan more than their family. When the nation came into being, it was to be cherished more than the clan, and so on. For the sake of the world, even countries would be willing to forget themselves. Thus, this pattern for the future was very much present from the beginning.

Why do electrons go around protons? So that they will create the world. If the proton would say to the electron, “You shouldn’t move faster than me or be bigger than me,” then the world would never have come into existence. Each one should be willing to let others become bigger and better, and even encourage that expansion, for then the small entities will eventually form a big world.

Unification Church members can all say that the individual should exist for the family, the family should exist for the sake of the clan, the clan for the nation, and so forth, but no one actually wants to carry that out because it is so difficult. We can imagine that this means we would love each other so much that we are connected to everyone by love, and thus become bigger. If one thinks more of his family than of himself and pours himself out for his family, wouldn’t the neighbors join in loving that family? Everyone wants to participate in loving the family, and in that way they will come into unity. But if everyone is self-centered, can unity come about? No, everyone would be scattered. The universe could not come to exist in that way. We can conclude that the smaller one should be willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the bigger one. That’s the public way of life.

What about a cow eating grass-from the viewpoint of the grass is that the public or private way? What about the cow’s point of view? When the cow has a definite purpose in eating the grass, knowing it will one day become of service to a bigger being, then it is going the public way. If a man is confident that by eating the cow he can be of greater service to the whole, then he is a]so acting in the public way. The fact of eating something else is private in itself, but if it is connected to a bigger purpose, then that becomes the public way.

Possibly you don’t feel happy about thinking of yourself last, but in living the public way everything becomes an extension of yourself. I can never be as huge as the universe, but if I connect with others for the future, then indeed I will become as big as the universe. Think of grass; by itself it can never become more than a few inches high, but when it is eaten by bigger and bigger beings, then eventually it can be connected to God. Each cell in the grass will become a cell which God can love directly because it is in the cell of a being whom God can love. The cells of the grass want nothing beyond the love of God. There is nothing better than God’s love in this world. Would a woman want anything else than her husband’s undivided love? Does she want money more than love?

Jesus said that those who want to live will die, and those who are ready to die will live; he also said that whoever wants to become high will become low, and whoever wants to become low will become high. Without love, this would not have much meaning, but it naturally happens centered around love. With love it becomes possible to jump up to higher and higher levels.

In America there is confusion about this point. There is 100% individualism in America today; is there any way it can be connected to the future? We have to say that right now America has no way to be connected to the future, so we must look for some way to become connected to heaven. We can only predict that America as it is will perish.

Why do I point this out? Because of the practical situation we are facing now. In 1981 you want to do better work than ever before. and to do so you have to stay in the public way or else you will become tired and exhausted. To sacrifice means to transplant part of ourselves. A cancer cell grows very quickly, but ours will spread even more quickly than cancer cells.

Why doesn’t the Unification Church expand as quickly as it should? It is because individuals are not sure about their way and don’t want to sacrifice themselves. If you don’t understand why you have to jump into more difficult situations, then you shy away. I never thought that I would become bigger and bigger, but only said, “I must do my mission and live up to the expectation of the world and God.” I was too busy to think of anything else except following the Principle, and one day I found that a bigger and bigger realm had been created for me. Since the Principle was the way, I kept on going, not thinking about being acclaimed by the spirit world. What good would it do you to think about it? It is beyond you.

If a president of a country would visit God, God would say to him, “You must love the world more than you love your own country.” God would never tell him that his country was more important than the world. If according to the Principle there is something you must do, then there should be no hesitation about doing it, or about worrying what others think of you-or even what God or the spirit world think about you. As you go forward and do it, you will suddenly realize at some point that people have come to recognize you. If it is done here, it is automatically done in the invisible world. Then in the spirit world your realm will be expanded.

I have directed you to do home church, and all of you know why. That is the public way. When things become difficult, you find reasons for not going to your home church. How can you say you are too busy for home church? No matter how difficult it is, you must at least think that what you’re eating and drinking is for the sake of home church. You should do home church as much as you eat and drink. You must think that home church is part of yourself and that you cannot cut it off.

The newspaper has to come out, and if you are literally too busy then you can at least go to your home church area and sleep there. If you cannot do the work, at least you should take a look at the work and say to yourself, “That is what I must do.” If you cannot go to your area for one day, you should a least take a look at your home church. Spiritually, there are many people really waiting seriously for you. You don’t feel that because of your less intense spiritual sense.

Home church people are all imprisoned by a wire fence and they are crying out to you, ” Please liberate us, please free us. ” But you cannot hear their cry and see that they are in prison. At least you have to go there and hear them crying out for you to liberate them. If you cannot do that, you have to pray about that to God and explain the situation to Him. You have time to eat three meals a day, don’t you?

Now, you may think you learned a handy thing from me today, that you will just keep praying about home church. But you have to do as you prayed. If you prayed once, then you have to go there and take a look at your area.

Those who were in the matching ceremony, raise your hands. Have you imagined your fiancé in his home church? If your fiancé is in his area, would you go there? Maybe you would start out to go look at your own area, but your body would actually be moving toward his area! Is home church less important than your fiancé? You shouldn’t waste time writing letters or holding hands for one year. Don’t think about your fiancé so much because Principle says we must love our home church more and then we can love our fiancés later.

That’s precisely the way I went. My own family broke up because I practically ignored them in order to live first for the sake of the dispensation. If I had done that for myself then it would have been a crime, but because I did it for the sake of the country and the world, it was right. You should never be confused about what is the public and private way.

If I were going forward for the sake of the world, but my wife decided she would not go with me, should you remain with her or should you go to the world? If I had stopped because of my wife, do you think the Unification Church would be here today?

We are called upon to sacrifice by everyone and everything around us, even by God. If this is the public way, we know that there is one thing we must do, no matter what happens to us. I did not come here for my own sake. In fact, I sacrificed myself. I did it for the sake of the world, for God, and to make this country live. How nice it would have been if I didn’t have to fight against Congressman Fraser, Capitol Hill, and the government. I did not fight the easy way either. If I had lost then the Unification Church would have been taken over by Satan, but I was willing to take that risk. Prison and death were waiting if I had failed.

Not long ago in Africa, one of our missionaries was martyred. When I heard the report, I thought that he had done his mission totally, and that he would become the permanent ancestor for that country. If he had died doing the work of the world, then he would have been the ancestor of the world. I have completed my mission, and by achieving my responsibility toward the whole world, I am not to blame for the death of that brother. Because the country is surrounded by the world, it is protected by the world. Heaven surrounds the world.

If the fall had not taken place, all of these things would have been automatic. But because of the fall, we are trying to create a bigger and bigger environment. Without the fall we would have been under heaven’s protection 24 hours a day. There wouldn’t be even a small risk. Because the fall took place, however, the world is a different place. Now we have to cross the border into a country where we have nothing to do with evil.

The people in spirit world are still influenced by their past experiences of life in the fallen world. Each spirit man wants to cross over his own boundaries and become bigger and better, but he has to cross the borderline from the fallen world into heaven. This is what should happen, but since no one is in the position to see the right direction clearly, there is a lot of confusion in the spirit world. People there don’t know how to get out and go where they are supposed to be. The spirit world cannot freely come to work on earth, however. It has been difficult for those in spirit world to get together and break through their boundaries.

In the Unification Church you are experiencing something you couldn’t even have dreamed of in the past. The spiritual experiences you have had are the result of all the sacrifices made historically, and you are freely given them. What you are experiencing is happening only once in history.. It is not accidental, but with that great privilege comes responsibility.

For the first time in history, clear direction is being given about how to pioneer the way from the individual level to the family, to the clan, and to the society, nation and the world. Heaven is realized in spirit world to the extent it is accomplished on earth. Unification Church exists for the sake of the world, and so you Americans have to sacrifice for the sake of the world. This is the way we teach. If we sacrifice for the sake of the world, the national ideal will come to be realized. In other words, we are saving our country by loving the world. The quality of love which you give your family and nation is the same, except that one is wider. One hair on my head will look after itself, but all are connected through one life force. The individual is connected to the universe through the life force, by heaven. Through love, all the world is one.

Life is for the individual, but love is for the world. Therefore, you do your best in your life for the sake of love and the world; this becomes justice. Justice is loving the world. Have a clear idea of this, not a vague idea. It is truth that we must eat to sustain, our lives, and to love others is also the truth. Truth is eternal, and love is truth. Even in the future everyone will have to go this path of love.

Eating is truth, and love between husband and wife is truth, and giving birth to children is also truth. No matter how old you may be, still you want to give birth to a child. Some girl may say she is afraid to get married because eventually she has to give birth to a child; she doesn’t know what truth is. But when she is thirty or forty then she understands and wants very much to have a baby. I think that is true. This is true everywhere.

We will go forward for the sake of the world and the spirit world, and while we are doing that, everything around us is left behind. People in the spirit world know that sensual disco dancing is wrong, that taking drugs and smoking cigarettes are harmful. We will do away with those things. Don’t go to a cabaret to dance, but dance in your home. If a father, mother and children want to disco in their home, it’s all right. Everyone in the spirit world knows that what is going on in this world is very bad. We should wipe out everything which is bad.

The immorality and prostitution on Eighth Avenue is no good. That needs to be stopped, but now is not the time. When the proper time comes, certainly we will do that with our own hands. We do not have the world foundation yet, but when we do, we will discontinue those things. We are doing this for the sake of the spirit world too.

The work you do today may look trivial, but you should always be thinking that the next year will be better. All the 80’s will be better than the 70’s, and the 1990’s will be even farther reaching. The Unification Church members must have a clear vision of where we are going, knowing that each decade will be getting better. You may say, “I am only an ordinary person, so I don’t want the world. Why don’t I just live with my fiancé?” In the spirit world you should be able to go everywhere freely, with no boundaries, but if you refuse to work for the world then you are fencing yourself into a small area. You will be unable to go beyond your fence, and no one can break that fence down to free you.

Once you go to the spirit world, you cannot go beyond what you are, so if you still have many fences you must go all the way back to the earth again. You would regret everything so much, knowing that I explained all this to you when you easily could have done something about it. You must come back and do things all over again through people who wouldn’t recognize you. How miserable that would be! I am telling you now, so please listen.

If I didn’t know about the spirit world, I would not live the way I do. I would be easy-going like you. I am smarter than you and have many skills, and still I work harder because I know about the spirit world. That gives me conviction and strength. Even if the whole country comes against me, I couldn’t stop, because l know that whatever I fail to do here I will have a harder time doing there. To break barriers is never easy.

When I got to the fence of a country, l kicked it open and all Satan’s people shouted and accused me. Do you think there has been any other time in history that somebody would kick open a big barrier like a nation’s fence and make all kinds of commotion? Do you think that will happen in the future? It is not likely that any greater commotion than what I went through in 1976 will come, even in my own lifetime.

If in the next seven years the Unification Church does not fulfill the mission of winning over communism, and the communists get the better of the Unification Church, then that’s another persecution we will have to go through. We are supporting President Reagan so that a Christian revival can be made possible through the conservative ideals. As soon as the Reagan administration takes office, the communists will start to demonstrate against the new administration all around the country. Even Mr. Reagan is not thinking about it but also getting ready for that event.

How did you find yourself in Unification Church? So much work is waiting for you, and when the communists demonstrate, you have to go to the front line and fight against them. Someone might ask why a religious organization is fighting communism, instead of loving the communists. Communists are entirely focused on dominating the entire world. If they were working for the sake of mankind and God then certainly that movement would be helpful, but they are not. The atheistic communist doctrine teaches that historically the social classes clash with each other, so communists agitate for confrontation between different parts of society, and claim to support the proletariat. But God’s ideal is centered on unity, not confrontation.

Also, the communists are promoting free sex, homosexuality, disco dancing, and drugs, urging people to create a world of hell by centering around themselves. We can never let that continue to influence the world. This is why it is the public way that the Unification Church fight against communism, and we do it for the sake of the country, the world and God. If we don’t fight, then the communists will destroy all the religious people. If I did not know this, the world would have no vision for the future, and would succumb to communism.

Even though you are Unification Church members, actually you know little about the Unification Church. Only after listening to my words have you come to know my real value and the value of the Unification Church. I am not doing all these activities because I am dumber than you; if what I am doing looks obscure, it’s because I am way ahead of everyone else in my vision. Eventually everyone will conclude that this is precisely what should be done.

Clearly we must have an ideal for a public life, a public way. If we don’t have one, then when we must decide which way to go we will be thrown into confusion and disunity. But if we clearly know the public way then we can always become successful.

If “God” is a good word, why do people say “Oh God!” when they are frustrated or distressed? What they are really saying is that they want God instead of Satan, who took the central position instead. After the fall, the word God has come to be used in a negative way. It is not unusual for someone who is going toward God to wind up under Satan instead. You experience tears when you are happy and unhappy, but the quality of your tears is what makes the difference. You cannot say that crying means you are definitely in heaven or hell. In that situation I would call out “Oh God!”

What does God like most? God likes religious meetings. There have been various forms of religion over the centuries and now religion has come to a very high level. In this country, there are people of all kinds of religious backgrounds, but when you go to other countries, most people worship in one way. Also, there are not five different colors of skin in most countries, just one color. We can see throughout history that when a better religion comes into being, the existing religions always challenge and compete with it, and finally the higher level of religion emerges.

Now who fights the Unification Church? Jews, Christians and communists are all against Reverend Moon. Am I a good champion now? Are you a good cheering group? You say that my words are good and you know they are true, but you don’t want to act on them. You like the idea of fund raising but you don’t want to fund raise. Do you think I only speak but don’t act? If I speak, I do. I have been fighting Satan on all levels, including in communism. Am I winning or losing? In this religious Olympics young people from all over the world have come to compete. People accuse me of breaking up their families when their children join Unification Church, but all the spirit world is saying we are good. All the world is going against the Moonies, the champion of religion, where as in the spirit world they are all cheering you on.

Where are we now? Is our score better than the world’s score? You champions are not so great, but you have a great coach. Every time the coach gives direction, the champion who has faith wins all the time. Then the world would say the coach is really something. Will you be defeated or will you win?

Are you paying lots of attention to home church now? Unless you have that confidence, how can you break through even one barrier here? Once you finish home church, you are given credit for doing all the rest. Your arena where you fight the title match against evil is your home church. We have to have a world champion among the Unification Church members. We are competing among ourselves. Are you the Church champion at winning, or are you the champion at losing?

Yesterday I received a letter from one MFT member. It was simple but very straightforward. He was a teacher before he joined and really enjoyed teaching, but after being in Unification Church one year and on MFT for three months he learned more than he had learned in his life. He thanked me very much for giving MFT and Divine Principle Then I shouted out, “Oh God!” Such a person can see the gains he is making in his life. Why do some Unification Church members not agree with him?

Home church is the dividing way between heaven and hell. Those who fail and cannot go to heaven will say, “Oh Father, why did you create home church? If you hadn’t created home church I would not have had to go to hell. ” I will not say anything because members in the spirit world who worked hard in home church will blame them for saying that. They will say, “I am one example. I did just as Father told me to do and became successful, and so I could come to heaven.”

A fighter may be a champion on a local level, but if he loses in the national fights then he’s a loser. Someone might say, “I’ve been in MFT for ten years and I’ve worked harder than anybody else but I didn’t do home church, so you mistreated me.” Can you say that? Fund raising was not a waste of time; the person who fund raised in a principle way will have an easier time doing home church. You may think, “I’m not doing home church now because I’m fund raising, but I will do it so well that I could support all my 360 homes.” If you fund raise with that attitude then you are connected to your own home church. When the fund raisers start doing home church, they can be successful in a short period of time. I brought you up to the world level and the universal level, the champion position.

If you go into space on a rocket, you won’t eat your usual food. You must eat what’s available in the capsule. In this situation you will eat and digest the Unification Church food that I have prepared. These are serious words. So would you act now? Once you enter the ring, fighting with all your might is the right thing to do. If you don’t fight, that’s wrong. Outside the ring it is different, but in the ring, hitting and fighting well is your virtue.

Home church is the public way. I have given you the best present mankind has ever had. With this weapon and this food, you should never be defeated. Today, jogging is in fashion, and that’s good. Like dedicated runners who jog each day, you should jog to home church. You will destroy the walls between individuals and families, the walls white people put up to keep out other races, and you will enable everyone to move back and forth freely.

If you say that you don’t like the public way, then you are retreating to hell. Only if you go the public way are you doing good work and going the way you are supposed to. Have you ever stopped to think that after you have done home church in America you will go to other countries, and even spirit world, and do home church? You can feel that in the future millions of people will act according to your direction.

Are you going to go into the arena of home church now? That’s the ring in which you fight the championship bout. You must truly know the public way, for once you turn to the private way you will decline. You always have to check yourself in this matter.

A straight line passes through the three points of the past. present and future. If the central point turns around, will all the rest turn too? Since this line is the axis, it will turn. If heaven will make the axis spin, then everything else will tend to spin too. As long as you maintain a public position, if heaven spins then you spin accordingly. If you spin on your level, God will spin and future generations will spin also. As long as these three points are in a straight line, when the axis spins, everything will automatically spin.

The center always needs more power in order to spin. What is strong enough to move everything around and still have power to spare? It is the power of love. Would even America spin around with the power of love? Don’t you want to be the main shaft or axis in God’s place? This is how life will be connected to the vertical world. Your ambition and life will belong to the horizontal world, whereas love will dominate the vertical world. When life and love come into harmony, then they are strong enough to move the whole cosmos.

When we say God is love, we mean He is the center. To be public is to connect to the axis of love. Each individual, each nation, each level must connect to that axis. Sacrificing is not bad at all; love is all good. When your parents are urging you to study, it is good as long as they do it with love. No matter how a person bothers you, as long as he does it with love you must accept that as being good.

When God urges you to sacrifice yourself, it is not because He does not know the Principle, but because He wants to bring you to a higher level of love. You have to bear that heavy and important responsibility. If you persevere, then you can become the axis of love, right in the center. This is why you are urged to sacrifice and suffer.

If I had run away from America because working here was so hard, could I become the axis? I can be stronger than communists only through love, not anything else. Ultimately I will become the strong axis of God’s love. I have been strong and unafraid of anything. I am the point connecting the present time to the axis of love, and when I go around in love, the universe will go around with love.

Once I teach you, whether you pass or fail is entirely up to you. If you fail, it does not mean this is a bad school. It’s the other way around, in fact. If a school is so strict that many students fail, the school becomes more respected. Unification Church has a rigid standard, with no compromise. The world will come to understand that this is a true school. It is very much up to you whether you go through this course successfully or not. I haven’t seen very many members who are going the way that guarantees success.

Now do you know what the world is, and what the relationship of the past, present and the future is, and what is your public way? Stay with the public way all the time. It is absolutely important to you. You can forget eating or drinking, but you cannot neglect the public way. It’s more important than loving, eating or anything else. When you are hungry, when you feel you don’t get enough sleep, you wonder why you are working so hard. You want to have Christmas vacation once a year, and perhaps there is someone you want very much to see. These are difficult things for a person to overcome.

Don’t you feel pity for young people who do not know who they are and where they are going? They are taking drugs without knowing what they are getting into. They have no future doing that. When you know the love of God, and when you know the young people are so pitiful, then even though your body may become like a rock, you must skill go the public way.

Once you are married, would you ever get divorced? Your spouse is very close to you Even after you get together, you both have to sacrifice and continue working for the sake of the country. Then even after you secure the country, you sacrifice the country and work on for the sake of the world. You still have those things waiting ahead of you. Your spouse should be really close, like your friend and comrade. When you are fighting a war, a friend is more than a friend; he is like one of your legs. You have to feel that close to your spouse

You might say, “I’ll fight personally for the clan,” but you cannot fight a war of the clan unless you have a family. Even when you are fighting the war for the country, the family is still the nuclear unit. Without a family you will not come to the love of God. The family is the axis of love, and this is why you love your family. You should be thinking that through your family the world will turn around. If you think instead that you will forget about everything else and enjoy your family, then your family will perish. That family would be a thief of the heavenly country, and would end up in hell.

You must love yourself so that you can become strong and be an axis which the entire world can depend on. You don’t love yourself for your own convenience, though, for that is the destructive element in the world. By loving the world you automatically become the central shaft. Everyone knows how to love themselves first but the public way is to love the world, and then for that reason love yourself. Once you become like that, everything will come to you.

Satan’s way and God’s way look alike, but God is living for the sake of the world and Satan is living for the sake of himself. You don’t have to plan and think about what your accomplishment will be. If you are living for the public role, your future will be bright automatically. Likewise, you don’t have to think about the future. If you work for your own sake, you will automatically be headed for hell, with no way to turn around.

You follow me because by doing that you find an easy way to go over the country and world levels. But it is up to you to win. As long as you stay in the public way and do as I tell you, you will win every time. As long as this is true, whether you go to heaven or hell is up to you.

Jesus was asked where the kingdom of heaven is, and he replied that it was in each person’s mind. We realize that we are standing at the borderline of heaven or hell, and that we must persevere and win. There is no substitute for winning.

Now will you forget all your past attachments, realizing what is the public road, and continuing to do this until we win the final victory?

## THE BEST THING

By Fami1yfed June 20, 2018 June 20, 2018 Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1981

## REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON

### January 4, 1981
Belvedere International Training Center,
Tarrytown, New York
Translator – Sang Kil Han

#### Copyright © 1981 by Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity

What is the best thing? That is what we keep asking, and we could make an endless list. For a factory worker, the best thing is a hammer to work with. If you are going to bore holes, the best thing is a drill. On a cold day like today, woolens are the best thing. When you are starving, food is the best thing. It doesn’t have to be steak, but even some food that you don’t ordinarily like will do. Usually you like sweet things, but when you get sick, the medicine you need is usually bitter. All these examples show that at some time anything can be the best thing.

All these things that we have cited are best relative to oneself; in other words, when they meet a need, then they are the best. They are good in an external way. When we hear “outside,” we immediately start thinking about “inside,” which is closer to “me.” Centering on the self, on the inside, what is the best thing? Even things like love are relative in that they require two people, but what do you have just as an individual?

Which is more valuable-having your own eyes, or having food when you are hungry? When you are hungry would you trade your eyes for a houseful of steak? You say no because your eyes are more valuable. Your nose gets in your way when you wash your face, so you wash up and down instead of sideways. If you were going to trade your nose for something, what would it be? Not for anything.

There are all kinds of shapes of noses-long, short, pointed, round. Which is longer-the white, black or Oriental nose? Usually white people have small air passages and a long nose. That long nose is an adaptation to the cold weather, having extra length so that the air can be warmed a little more before entering the body. Black people who live in warm climates don’t need the air warmed up, so they have short noses; their nostrils are wide so that more air can pass through at one time. Oriental noses are in between-that’s ideal!

When someone says noses of one race are not so good, while noses of another race are better, they don’t know what they are talking about. If a nose serves its purpose, it doesn’t matter how it looks. Do white people like their own noses, but not Oriental noses? I’m sure that some of you who were just matched are not satisfied with your fiancé’s nose. But for any individual, the nose he has is the best for him. The nose I have is the best for me, for example.

The same is true of the eyes. You might say that my eyes are not big enough, but imagine big eyes in my face! No matter what other people say, what you have is the best for you. Your mouth is only necessary when you eat and speak, but it is still valuable, isn’t it? Why? Imagine what you would look like without lips, with just an opening in your face! I have always been amazed at how American women can speak so fast for so long, with no sign of fatigue! The cells of their lips must differ from other parts of the body.

Would you trade your own ears for anything? Then what is the most valuable part of your body? Everything is valuable, but especially everything about the head. When you read literature, which part of the body is most talked about? Most often it is the face, but especially the eyes. An elaborate description of the face makes more sense than a description of the hands, for instance.

Then what is the best thing in your body? When two lovers kiss, do their eyes touch each other? Wouldn’t kissing with the nose be more convenient than kissing with the mouth, especially for Westerners? Orientals can’t help laughing at how Westerners have to tilt their heads to kiss. Why do you kiss with your mouth instead of something else? Is it because it is the worst part of your body? The mouth is the organ through which love and life can be connected.

Food is not valuable in itself, but has value in that it keeps us alive. The mouth is the organ which has the most to do with our life; it also has much to do with our love. When a man touches a woman’s lips with his finger, she blushes. If he just touches her face, she doesn’t respond so quickly or strongly, but she does respond when he touches her lips. That shows it is a sensitive spot of love.

Hands touching hands can express love, but the lips are the most sensitive spot for expressing love. The mouth is the connection of life because it takes food in, and the connection of love because it is sensitive to the touch. Also, it conveys your personality by what you speak. Considering all this, is your mouth or your nose or your eyes most important?

You can see something which is living, but you cannot see life, or love either. You can see an expression of love, though. Can we see personality or character? Though we cannot see life, still we feel vitality coming to us. Also, we cannot see love, but it is very much there. When you are alone, you don’t know if you have love or not.

There are some things we can see and some things we cannot see. Love, life, ideals or thoughts, conscience and mind are things we cannot see. Do you really have a mind? Would more people say their visible and invisible aspects are the same, or would more people say they are different? Actually they are different.

Everyone has his own notion of what is beautiful. If you felt you were not as beautiful in your mind as other people, you would feel bad inside. But even if you and others all think you are ugly, if you think your mind is beautiful then you would not feel ugly. Can we say that everyone in prison is ugly, that only ugly people go to prison? It is possible for a beautiful woman to be the worst person. On the other hand, a woman who is ugly and doesn’t have beautiful clothing may be the best person. Are we talking about her outside appearance, or her inner person?

We can see that what is outside cannot be changed, but what is inside can be changed at your will. Your mind can be big like an ocean; but it can also be so narrow that nothing can pass through freely, and such a person cannot be called good. Sometimes a beautiful woman or a handsome man may be the first to doze off here in the morning. Does the mind or the body doze off first? The body dozes off when the mind is not very interested.

My point is that people tend to say that the best thing is something they can see outside. Imagine a husband who brings his wife some beautiful gift every day, even a diamond ring. His wife may thank him a thousand times, but if his mind is not given with the present, she doesn’t feel the value of the gift. Then is the mind less valuable than the diamond? How big would the mind be? The mind is so big that no matter how you toss and turn in your sleep, you would never touch the edge of that world. But at the same time how small can the mind be? It can be so small that an ant walking through would be a major irritation. The body is not bothered by something as small as an ant, however.

Does a man or a woman have a bigger mind? Does a man or woman think more about him or herself? If I say a man’s mind is bigger, American women might think I am bothering them again. Man’s mind is bigger! What’s so good about having a big mind? What purpose does it serve? Not all big things are good. When we say the mind is big, we mean it has a capacity for tolerating things it doesn’t like until the situation changes. Also, with such a mind you try to be generous and understanding about things that are foolish or even bad, and try to make something good of them.

Nowhere in religion is it taught that you must have a broad mind. Jesus never taught that one must always broaden his mind, for example. But in religion we hear terms like meek, humble and sacrificial. What do they mean? These things were not taught for God’s sake; we can even express their value in pragmatic terms for Americans: if one is meek and humble and sacrificial, his mind will become bigger.

Then what is so good about a big mind? Even though God has a big mind, as long as He is alone it makes no difference whether His mind is big or small. If you have a big mind, it can contain many things. It can hold nice clothing or rags, nice things or not-so-nice things, but everything can be comfortable in a big mind.

God would like to live in some person’s mind, so would He choose to live in the small mind of a woman, or the bigger mind of a man? Would you prefer a small apartment, or a palace? Would you prefer something bigger than a palace? God lives in the biggest palace there is, the king of palaces.

Would God prefer to visit the mind which is small and dirty, or a big and beautiful mind? Does religious teaching direct a person in a way that will develop a big, beautiful mind? Would you rather marry a man with a broad mind, or would you place more importance on how attractive he is?

When millions of people come against me, how can I tolerate it and embrace them all in my mind? If I were a woman, after just a fraction of that opposition I wouldn’t be able to stand it. Did Jesus really know what he was talking about when he said “Love thy enemy”? What will be achieved by doing that? When one is able to do that then one has a big and beautiful mind.

What can happen when that is achieved? If God lives in the best palace but there is no one with a big enough mind for Him to live in, one wants very badly to have such a mind so that God can be invited there. I have told you many times to persevere and sacrifice; I would like very much to see what you have become by doing that, but there is no opening in your mind for me to enter. Once I crawled in a small mind, how would I get out? Why would I look for such a mind? Simply so that you and I can live together.

Your mind can be so big that a car could drive through with room to spare. Some minds are only big enough for one or two people to fit into, but others could contain a car. Which is better? Would it be better for a mind to be able to contain a car just barely moving, or going 100 miles an hour?

Looking back over my life, why did God send me into situations which were very difficult to tolerate, like prison, and allow me to be hated and persecuted? I know it was so that my mind would be broadened. When God sets foot in your mind but it is so small that His foot gets stuck, He kicks with His other leg to make the opening bigger. That’s how He gets into your small mind. Your mind can expand without limit.

If a woman’s womb can start out small but expand enough to accommodate even a ten pound baby, plus all the amniotic fluid and placenta, and then contract again after birth, how much more can the mind expand? Has there ever been a woman whose womb wouldn’t expand and allow her to have a baby? The womb never thinks about whether it will expand. When God’s seed is planted in your mind and you let it grow, like a baby in the womb, it gets to be as big as God Himself. If the womb doesn’t expand then the baby will die because it cannot grow.

Do you think God knows what kind of environment your mind is before He sends His seed? If He knows that a person’s mind will not expand, He will not plant the seed in the first place. How big is your mind, and how long will it continue growing? If your mind is very specific and limited in what it likes and dislikes, would God like to get in there? You may think this sounds like nonsense, but this is actually a very religious outlook. This is not just a concept, but an explanation of something invisible.

When I push you hard and you go out to fund raise and witness, you don’t know how you are growing. But the person who tries hard will change greatly over the course of ten years, and people who know him will be amazed. In the past you might have reacted negatively to anything your parents told you, and argued with your brothers and sisters, but after ten years you will be totally different. No matter what they say to you, you can accept it. Brainwashing is the only explanation they can think of for this.

Certainly we have expanded our minds to be able to handle any situation. A white girl who is persecuted by white people will go later to Africa and be persecuted by Africans. If someone feels he has gone through everything in white America and black Africa, wouldn’t God like to check to find out what his mind is like? Do you think this supposition is true?

We have about 100 people here. Would I choose to enter a big mind from among you, or a small mind? No one’s mind is big enough, so I have to expand them all by getting in and kicking around. I have to be careful not to rupture them, however, because then they will give off smelly matter like pus from an infection.

You usually remember the person who has done the best to you, and the person who has done the worst to you. I have done the worst, right? I only pound on you instead of giving praise. If a preacher says gentle, pious things in his sermon then in twenty minutes the congregation likes him, so what am I trying to accomplish by pounding on you instead? People see that you are working hard but that you are happy and never complaining. That makes them very uncomfortable.

Yesterday the leaders of our Japanese church visited me and I spoke with them for many hours. They work incredibly hard, but I did not praise them. I scolded them instead and said they must do twice as much. They were not hurt, but understood that is the way we ought to do. Just forty years ago Japan was the enemy of America, but the money the Japanese work so hard to raise is not spent for Japan, but for America and other countries. I didn’t even acknowledge that the Japanese church had done much, but said we must expand their financial effort for another four years. To you that is inconceivable.

No other Japanese could receive such a direction from me, only our older staff members. They take it in and understand and try to be thankful. They can remain when others would run away, simply because their minds have become big, even though they don’t realize it themselves. Now I am also ornamenting their already big minds with other jewels by telling them to love others.

Even when a man with a big mind tells God not to come, God would insist on visiting anyway. If you tell God you will set a sentry to prevent Him from coming in, God will sneak in while you are asleep! Then when you wake up you will find a note left behind in the form of a dream or revelation. When I pound on a person so hard that he feels he cannot take any more, I appear in his dreams and make a tour to see how he has grown.

You may say, “Father, I really take all this very seriously, but why didn’t you tell me this ten years ago? I could have grown so much faster!” But the door of your mind wasn’t open then. Now can you receive what I am saying?

From 1981 on we have to have the best thing in the world. You might say that we have exhausted ourselves, so the best thing would be having a long sleep. No? I would like that!

You can tell by my eyes that I have a very sensitive and perceptive mind. I can be aware of the most minute things, yet can tolerate great difficulty, almost as though I didn’t have any nerves at all. I can stretch to both extremes. How could anyone be bigger than that? I still remember the name of one Japanese detective years ago who was pounding on me, and I was almost ready to retaliate, even though it might have cost me my life. But I thought of how Jesus said to love our enemies, so I tried to see if I could overcome that situation. Without knowing that principle I couldn’t have overcome.

Whatever your friends and relatives may be like, what they will like most about you is your mind, if it is big and beautiful. How beautiful it is when you stop to cover a person whom you dislike as he sleeps, to make sure he isn’t cold. Is that a good or bad mind? A beautiful or ugly mind? Don’t you want to have that kind of mind?

When your nation sends you to the front line, it is expecting you to be a patriot, but a patriot is only born on the front line, not in the non-combat areas. The mind of a patriot can encompass a country. A saint’s mind can encompass the whole world. Even though you may not understand all this precisely, don’t you think it is correct? Will your mind change in value next year, just as money changes in value?

Usually a white woman will never marry someone she doesn’t care for. But because in the past I gave you directions and you did unbearable things, now you white women will marry black men. My whole purpose is to broaden your minds so that God can come in. Your minds have become bigger. You think you are ordinary people, but I am determined to make you better than the saints, and even better than Jesus. To do that you have to stretch yourself to the maximum, and even that is not enough.

Just think of all the years you spent obtaining your education, and now where do you end up? Now you sell flowers on the street! And even when people buy from you they give you a hard time. Here you receive only difficulty.

Do you think I’m not smart enough to know the hardship you go through? More than you realize, I know what it is like. If anything, I am smarter than any of you and think more than you do. That’s why you are learning from me now. How wonderful it is to persuade a Harvard-educated person to sell flowers. A small flower is a beacon of the lighthouse for all mankind.

Recently I sent Colonel Pak to meet with presidents of seven South American nations. When he presented himself as the special assistant to Reverend Moon, he was given red carpet treatment, and he told me later that he really felt the greatness of Reverend Moon. When he came back to report to me I was at Morning Garden, sitting on the ground mending nets. Colonel Pak said it gave him great insight, how in life one person could embrace the highest extreme, and the lowest, most humble extreme. Because I have a big mind, it makes no difference to me where I am, whether high or low.

I have often eaten at McDonald’s, and have eaten New York pretzels. No one thinks it could really be Reverend Moon eating at McDonald’s; they think I just look like Reverend Moon! How fantastic it is if you are doing this menial thing for the public way. This is why I never felt ashamed even when I was handcuffed and on my way to prison. There is no reason to feel badly about it. By my doing that, the minds of many people can later be ignited and taught historical lessons. So what is there to be ashamed of?

Whatever I do looks natural, doesn’t it? You saw how after the entertainment on God’s Day I got up on stage and danced. I wasn’t thinking I would show you dancing, but just felt like dancing.

I am the most-loved person at East Garden, but at the same time everyone is afraid of me. I am very particular, and want to raise the standard in even the smallest thing, even though you may not feel good when I point out your errors. But at East Garden I don’t comment on mistakes very often, even though the staff makes errors, like breaking things in the kitchen. Americans think a broken dish can just be replaced, but it is not that simple; such an incident must be realized as a mistake. But I don’t point out these things at East Garden.

The day after God’s Day I went down to the kitchen at 8 a.m., but no one was there because they had gone to bed at 4 a.m. Usually I could not tolerate that, but I thought about it and could understand. The staff might feel it was wrong, but they are fearful because they don’t know what I am really thinking. They all know I am very sensitive. Do you think it’s strange that I don’t speak of these things at home, but will speak of them in public? Do you think I am too particular and fussy? I cannot help being like that.

I say this so that you can broaden your mind. You must grow your mind to be so big that it can surround your body, and also so that everyone will fit in there and follow you, including spirit world. How could a person be better than that?

Religious people have only understood meekness and humility in a conceptual way, but now for us it is very realistic. Would you rather have me send you fund raising here in America, or in Africa, where it would be much harder?

Two nights ago we held an international yute match, and an African team was one of the finalists. One white brother was cheering them on, chanting, “Africa, Africa,” for five hours. Later his voice was gone and he couldn’t speak, but still he was chanting, “Africa, Africa.” I felt that perhaps he loved Africans more than I did. If you go to work in Africa when the world is focused on that continent, how much more real love it shows than just cheering at yute. Your prize for doing that would include God, spirit world, and all mankind. Everything would be included in the reward; certainly it would be more than the prize for winning at yute.

Don’t think that I picked today’s topic at random. I feel that 1981 will be our best year, and since this is the first Sunday of 1981, I wanted to give you the best talk of all. By giving you these words, I feel that all of you can try to be beautiful for the rest of the year and forever.

Even those who really oppose me want to see me. Why? Even the Germans and British want to visit the Louvre in France. Why? Because it is a big and beautiful place. That is unchangeable. If the mind is big and beautiful, everyone would like to see it, whether your enemies or your friends. This is my reasoning.

The obvious conclusion is that suffering broadens one’s mind, and to love others is to further embellish the mind with jewels. Now you know the deep reason why I never leave you alone but push you out to make you suffer and sacrifice-it is to make your minds big and beautiful. What better present could I offer you on the first Sunday of 1981?

The best thing is a big mind, and a beautiful one. What must you do to have one? From now on, if you are sitting comfortably and doing nothing, you must think that your mind is getting narrower. If you hate someone then you should be reminded that your mind is getting ugly.

If you are to have a broader mind, you must seek persecution and suffering. I came to the other extreme of the world here in America to broaden my mind, and as a result I feel that everyone wants to come rest and live in me. To make my mind beautiful as well as big, I will love the people of this country; this is how I have resolved in myself. I will be proud, not of what I have made or accomplished, but of how I broaden my mind. I still have further to go because there are more people to reach out to and embrace.

## GOD’S DAY AND MY CONGRATULATIONS

By Fami1yfed June 20, 2018 June 20, 2018 Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1981

## REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON

### January 1, 1981 (Morning)
World Mission Center
Translator – Sang Kil Han

#### Copyright © 1981 by Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity

When we have some happy occasion you say congratulations. It is easy to say God’s Day, but not so easy to understand the meaning of it.

Mankind has celebrated many, many occasions, but until this time no one even thought about congratulating God. Ever since God created all things, did He or did He not anticipate the time when congratulations would be given to Him? How dull and unexciting it would be for God to congratulate Himself. Does anyone set his own celebration day and congratulate himself, or tell other people to congratulate him? How tasteless it would be for a man to tell others they should congratulate him because it is his anniversary. How bland and tasteless it would be to congratulate yourself on your own anniversary.

We can understand very easily that in order to be congratulated you must have something which stands as object to you and congratulates you. Was it God who started the idea of congratulations, or was it someone else? Why did God create the angelic world? Did He expect praise and congratulations? Yes, He created angels to help Him, to praise Him, and to consult with Him. Did God praise the angels, or did the angels praise God? Was the ultimate purpose of creating the angels for the angels themselves, or for man’s world? Certainly it was for man’s world, for Adam and Eve. Naturally the angels were in a position to praise and be thankful to God, but were Adam and Eve ever like that?

Angels would certainly have praised God and appreciated Him for creating the world. But were Adam and Eve, for whom the entire world was created, also in a position to congratulate and be thankful to God? How old would Adam and Eve have to be in order to be aware of these things and say something of that nature to God? At what age would they express their thanks and appreciation to God?

As the years passed they would become more mature, and their awareness of God would be more mature. If you give a piece of candy to a small child he will eagerly take it and say thank you. But it would be out of place for a millionaire, a man of responsible position, to respond in the same eager way if he is given a piece of candy. At what age would Adam and Eve extend their sincere congratulations to God, in such a way that God would indeed know that their thanks were heartfelt, and feel contented with their emotion?

Was Adam thankful to God for giving Eve to him? What is your guess? Was she more of a nuisance to him while they were growing up, or did he feel deep thankfulness for having her? Eve would have tagged along wherever Adam went. A small boy or girl will always want to do what he sees the elder ones doing. Do you think Eve followed wherever Adam went, or that Adam followed wherever Eve went?

Would they have had occasional fights while they were growing up together? There’s no doubt that when they got tired of playing with each other, or got tired of being nice to each other, that they would fight. Do you think they would have jabbed each other in the side, or wasn’t that possible in the garden of Eden?

When Adam and Eve were very young and were growing up, would God have spoon-fed them? Since the world was to be ideal, how nice it would have been for the fruits of the trees to fly over to them and land in their mouths. Do you think that was the case, or would they have to walk to a tree and take the fruit? Would it have been Eve who picked the fruit and then gave it to Adam? Soon it would become their custom that wherever they went Eve would tag along with Adam, and when she wanted an apple she would ask, “My brother, please go and pick up an apple for me.” Occasionally Adam would pick up an apple to eat, but who would extend their hand to take the apple first? Soon it was taken for granted that Eve would work less and less, and when nice things were there, Eve extended her hand first. For the first several times Adam might not have minded, but all of a sudden he would feel that it wasn’t fair. I would imagine that the fall took place while they were bothering each other like this.

These being the general circumstances, was Adam ever truly grateful to God for creating Eve for him? Eve would have tagged along everywhere because she was lonesome. When Adam went to the bathroom, she would have followed him because she didn’t want to be alone. He would often chase her out of his way, and Eve would go back home, but she couldn’t stay there long because it was too lonely. So she came right back and tagged along with Adam once more.

Who would get lonesome more often? Certainly Adam was not lonesome. He had all nature to explore, with all the animals roaming around the hills and the birds in the woods. There was never a dull moment. But for Eve the same animals were simply too fast. She saw the rabbit and thought it was a very pretty animal, and wished it would come close to her so she could touch it. When she saw the birds flying she wished they would land on her so she could caress them. But unless some things came to Eve, she couldn’t chase them because she wasn’t fast enough, and so she was lonely. But whenever Eve stayed with Adam then it was exciting because Adam would chase the animals for her. Adam was not in a position to appreciate God’s creating Eve for him. By the same token, Eve took everything for granted for a long time and felt Adam didn’t do enough for her.

By the time they were twelve or so, Adam would have noticed that Eve’s body was developing something different. No doubt Adam would have touched her to see what it was like. He would have declared, “There is something different between us.” Adam’s voice was loud and hoarse, while Eve’s was higher. A beard would start appearing on Adam’s face, while Eve showed no sign of having a beard. Eve was curious too. She wanted to know how Adam’s beard felt. Who was more curious about Adam’s beard, Adam or Eve? They were each more interested in what they didn’t have. Isn’t that generally true? Since they wore no clothes they could see how each of them was developing differently, and each was curious about what one had that the other didn’t.

Adam wasn’t so interested in feeling his own beard, but somehow had a better feeling when Eve was touching it. Eve would have liked that because there was no other way she could get that sensation. When Adam touched her growing breasts it wouldn’t have offended her. Do you laugh in agreement, or because it is really interesting? Both! It’s true and it’s interesting.

If Adam was ever thankful, it would have been when his beard started growing and he noticed these differences between himself and Eve. Naturally he was interested and pursued that interest, and that’s when he started being thankful to God. Before that Eve was more of a nuisance, and wherever Adam went he had to be a provider, so he felt no appreciation.

But when was the moment when Adam and Eve would feel really, really grateful to God? Only when they could not think of getting along without each other would they really feel thankful for each other. When would they have laughed heartily and openly in happiness and gratitude? It would have been when they were deeply and truly in love with each other; that would also be the moment when both of them would have been thankful to God. At the same instant God would have congratulated Adam and Eve and thanked them for returning the joy to Him.

When will their congratulations have meaning for God? Even having a nugget of gold as big as a rock is not a source of congratulations for God. A big diamond wouldn’t have excited God because He knew that He had made it. A room full of treasures and rare gems would not have interested Him, but when His own son and daughter appreciated the treasures, He would find happiness in them. Even though his children were initially childish and felt hardly any appreciation, how would God have felt as they grew up and became more responsive, and the same as God Himself?

We can imagine that Adam and Eve would immediately know why God was raising His hand, for instance, and they would respond accordingly. By holding their hands out in return, the love frequency would go back and forth very intensely. God would forget raising His hand because He would be so fascinated with the love wave coming back and forth from Adam and Eve. Of course, we are just speculating, but don’t you think this was the reality?

Certainly if God had a beard, it would be very becoming if it were white. His children would like to come and play with His beard; when the children wanted His beard to be long it would have grown long instantly and if they preferred a short beard, it would have shrunk instantly too. Since God is omnipotent, this is entirely possible. Since God is masculine, when talking with men He would have all the charms and interests of a man, whereas if He was talking to a woman, He would have the best qualities of a woman too. I could go on and on like this all morning, but I wouldn’t finish this morning’s topic that way.

We can conclude that the time when Adam and Eve were in love would be when they realized their thankfulness toward God and wanted to congratulate Him. Do you think that would have been the case?

Many of you are sitting side by side as engaged and married couples. Do you feel good sitting next to each other? Do all the women here feel thankful for their fiancés? And do men feel the same way about the women? If you watch a man you will notice that his eyes wander around, but eventually they come back to gaze at the woman sideways. All his senses eventually focus again on what she says and does.

The cleaner love is, the more valuable it is. Am I right? Can it also be said that being in love in the best-decorated room in the house is more valuable? Since toilet smells are considered to be dirty, maybe it is less valuable to feel love in that situation; is that right? I wonder why toilets don’t come in pairs so husband and wife can sit side by side. The toilets would thank God for receiving their bowel movements at the same time. Even the bowel movements would be thankful If you are serious about love, there is nothing funny about this. Do you agree with that? Would God blame them for kissing each other at that time? No, He would be happy. In fact, His beard and His whiskers would roll in His joy!

Was there any time at all when there was appreciation and thankfulness flowing from Adam to Eve, Adam to God, from Eve to God and God to Adam and Eve? Because of the fall there was never such a time. Man fell from higher to lower, and the original standard was almost obliterated on earth. God had to pick it up again and over thousands of years raise it up, trying to get His own sons and daughters back and turn their minds toward Him to feel this love for each other. All these thousands of years mankind hasn’t thought about these things because they have never reached the point of thanking God. However, God never forgot for one day that sometime they would feel thankfulness for Him and for each other. You must understand that the more difficult it was for God to do this task of restoration, the greater would be His expectation of future joy. Once God had achieved that, He would never have let them out of His sight.

You have never seen my mother. Do you think she would have been tall or short? Was she really a feminine woman or a masculine woman? I grew up among many brothers and sisters, but of them all my mother loved me the most. But the son she loved most would never stay put, and was always asking questions.

If we had something nice to eat I would just naturally ask her, “Mother, when we have plenty to eat is it good or not good to bring food to people in need?” I never waited for the answer because we both knew what the right answer was, and later I would bring food to such people.

Whatever I found in the house I would give away to whoever I felt needed it more. I would even give my own clothes to other people. That was one thing my mother didn’t appreciate because it was so difficult to make those clothes, but I would give them away regardless. You can understand how she felt when her most beloved son was away for a long time doing some work, or later when he found himself in jail.

Often I would play in the neighborhood and might see a big, bad boy give a hard time to a smaller boy. In a sense it was none of my business, but I immediately took the side of the smaller boy against the bad one, and fought on his behalf. The bigger boy would be dumbfounded and wonder why I did that. I did that almost every day. My mother would hope I was growing out of it and think I would never do it again, so she would cry when I persisted. Finally, she determined that the next time I came back home she would not let me go out again.

I can understand my mother’s feelings. Whenever I had something interesting I would talk to my mother about it, and no matter how tired she was or how much work she had to do, she would listen. That is a vivid memory for me. Even though I would speak to her for hours, her eyes glowed and she would ask, “Then what? Then what?” That was our relationship.

Would God’s feeling toward men be less than my mother’s feeling toward her son? It could not have been less. Since God’s feelings toward His own children go beyond any physical boundary and beyond time, His love is always there. Would it be good for God to keep some distance from you?

Never forget that no matter how difficult it was, God’s feeling was always close. We can understand how much God wanted to embrace Noah when he was working so hard, obeying God’s commands for hundreds of years. Even so, however, Noah was not quite in a position where God could be with him directly. There was no way God could interfere with Abraham’s suffering course while he was wandering in the wilderness. God would have liked to console and encourage him, but He could not do that.

How heartbroken God was because these central figures were not at the level of original heart. They would make some advance, only to plunge down again, and God had to persevere whenever they failed. In Jacob’s case too, it was not possible for God to be near and speak to him when he went to get his bride in difficult times. Even after Jacob worked hard for seven years, Laban gave him Leah as a bride, instead of Rachel. Since there was nothing God could do about it, how would God have felt?

Until this time we did not know God could not interfere with Jacob’s course; now we know that God’s interference would have lessened the meaning of what Jacob could accomplish. Therefore, God had to let him persevere and let him achieve everything by himself. Restoration by indemnity is that difficult.

When you joined the Unification Church you began to understand the meaning of indemnity and how restoration becomes possible. Jacob’s hard work in Haran was necessary to indemnify any basis for Satan to accuse him. He worked very hard and managed to work this out, but even as he was about to return to Canaan an angel tried to stop him at the ford of Jabbok. The angel claimed that Jacob had to wrestle with him and win before he could leave there. Knowing Jacob’s determination in the previous years, you can understand how Jacob would have felt. He immediately jumped at the angel and continued wrestling all night. Chances are that he would have been beaten again and again, but one thing Jacob wouldn’t do is give up. The angel didn’t know what to do. He wasn’t prepared to cope with such zeal, so he said, “Let’s call it a draw.” But Jacob wouldn’t listen to that and just clung on, insisting, “No, I’m winning.” Finally the angel said, “I have won, but let’s say you won.”

Ordinary people would have believed the angel was sincere, and stopped fighting, but Jacob knew that if he did that then Satan would spring forward and knock Jacob out. So instead of trusting what the angel said, Jacob kept fighting. The angel dislocated Jacob’s thigh, and Satan couldn’t do anything to Jacob after that. When Satan felt that Jacob was quite different from anyone in the fallen dominion, God moved in and gave Jacob blessing. How did God feel when the fighting came to a climax? Knowing the consequences,

God couldn’t do a thing except watch and hope Jacob would be victorious. When Jacob won, in deep relief and approval God gave him the name Israel. From that moment on, God could lift Jacob up.

For nearly 2,000 years God has been bringing mankind up and raising his standards ever higher. During this time how often did the people fail who were charged with historical responsibility in the dispensation? There were ups and downs, but mostly downs, yet all during this time God never ceased anticipating the day of celebration and congratulations to come. His only desire was to keep up the work and wait for the day when He could send the Messiah. Finally Jesus came, and God expected to meet the true family and to see success. But even Jesus was not able to succeed. Instead of entering into the kingdom of heaven, Jesus died on the cross.

Did God feel good about Jesus being crucified? Wouldn’t God feel even greater bitterness toward Satan, thinking, “You have already taken a son and a daughter, yet now you are trying to take love and life away from me too.” Satan did not take a life in the garden of Eden, but in Jesus’ time Satan took life itself from God’s son. Then God would have determined, “I will take life and love away from you too, and I will send the Messiah again.” Christianity has continued for 2,000 years, for that one day when God could send the Messiah again.

The only thing I can be proud of is having persevered even when I was chased out and persecuted. Did that happen because I was incapable of doing anything? Was I constantly being chased and not taking any initiative, or could I persevere because I really was capable? For whose sake did I persevere?

There are many unpredictable things about people. Since I know very well about all the people who have betrayed God’s expectations, I will be the last one to repeat the same historical mistake. I will be the first one who does not betray God. Therefore, I am desperately trying to make this a success. I retreated when I thought it was wise, and charged when I thought it was necessary. I even went sideways when the situation demanded it. In weaving together all these complicated situations, I have finally gotten to the destination.

What is my ultimate goal? The only thing I desire is to untangle what is tangled in God’s heart. and to console Him. I will indemnify all that needs to be indemnified and restore everything. This is what I keep pledging to God in prayer, always carrying on His mission. There were many instances when I kept telling myself, “In this one battle you must not die. You must be victorious and live. You cannot afford to falter in Korea. This is what heaven has been sending me and so many other hundreds of people for.” I kept on and pledged to live to see the victorious day to dedicate it to God. It wasn’t for my personal salvation, but to fulfill God’s will and the ultimate purpose of God’s creation. For this purpose Children’s Day, Day of All Things, Parents’ Day and God’s Day were established.

It was a desperate fight and I wasn’t always confident of the outcome, but just did my absolute best. When I managed to establish Parents’ Day after an intense fight, I really shouted out, “Oh God!” Do you think the joy God felt or the joy I felt was greater? God’s joy was greater because God worked hundreds of times harder than I did and waited much longer. I was happier to see God’s joy than I was happy about my victory. At seeing God so happy about that accomplishment I forgot my hard work over all those years.

Although there is still satanic dominion in the world, the four heavenly days are the foundation on which to work in the satanic world. After restoring Parents’ Day, Children’s Day, Day of All Things, then God’s Day could be set up, realizing the four position foundation centering around God, parents and children. With Parents’ Day the foundation was made on which parents can come into being. When Children’s Day became possible, true children could come into being. Only after securing the surroundings centering around the four position foundation could the ideal of God’s creation be realized. Thus, the satanic boundary was pushed out, and an area created where God can reside and dominate.

Since God is without a body, He could not do anything by Himself. Since Adam is His hyung sang, through Adam God can work directly in a horizontal way. Then heaven can be realized, even though it is surrounded by the satanic world. Internally God is Father, and externally Adam is father, so together they are like mind and body. On this foundation God can live and work in Adam’s body, as He intended.

Sometimes you see me in a dream or vision; that is God appearing to you by using my image. In spirit world you cannot see God directly, but see Him using my image instead. God would speak to you by using my image.

Today’s topic is God’s Day and My Congratulations. You say simply, “Congratulations on God’s Day.” What difference is there between God’s congratulations on this day, my congratulations, and your congratulations?

Those people who were recently matched a few days ago are tired because they have hardly slept, and to them maybe God’s Day just means they have to gather again in the morning to hear me speak for a long time! Maybe the couples wish they could spend time together and not have to listen to me, or wish they could sleep a few more hours. Have you felt that you would rather come hear me and offer your congratulations on God’s Day more than you want to sleep? I think some of you slept till the last minute and some of you didn’t even wash your face. Your laughter tells me I am right! This is why I chose the topic as “My Congratulations,” not just “Congratulations.”

Which was stronger for you-the enhanced expectation while you were being matched, or coming and congratulating God personally on God’s Day? Many were focused so intensely on who their match would be that when I called their names, or pointed to them, they would look all around, and when no one else stood up, then they would step forward. I looked closely and saw that all these people were serious, and had a high standard of expectation.

Those who didn’t get matched are very somber and perhaps are thinking, “What’s so exciting about God’s Day anyway?” Those who were matched want to spend their time getting to know each other better instead of being busy on God’s Day. I understand what you had to go through in the last few days because I kept you almost 24 hours. I may have had a little rest, but those who waited here had only a little time to go wash and eat and come back here.

Yesterday the wine ceremony lasted until very late. Even some of the strongest men and women fainted at that time because they were so tired. I spoke till 3:30 in the morning and soon you had to get up again, and now it is God’s Day.

How intensely had God waited for this day of His to come? Do you think God waited less expectantly for God’s Day than you waited for your own matching day? Have any of you waited for God’s Day that intensely, anticipating that day more than you anticipated being with your fiancé?

This God’s Day of 1981 is the most significant of all those we have celebrated so far, but look at you, all tired out and wilted. When I walked in I had the heavy feeling that I had to lift you up. You must understand that this is the first God’s Day in the second three seven-year courses, which are your years. This is the most significant of any God’s Day, and so far as you are concerned it ought to be the best, even though we have celebrated many God’s Days until now.

The second three seven-year courses were only announced in 1980. You must tune in and keep the standard I am expecting of you; when I am so aware that this is your God’s Day then you must respond in resonance with my feelings.

Our Heavenly Father lost His family, children, country, almost everything, yet He was clinging to this one day, God’s Day. That was the standard of expectation of God’s Day as far as I was concerned. Now look at you: I brought God’s Day into being, but you are thinking more about your fiancé than about God’s Day. How great a difference there is between us! You have to raise yourselves up. Isn’t this right?

Haven’t you thought about why I waited till the last days of 1980 to conduct a matching, to be followed by God’s Day? Maybe you just came in expectation of finding your fiancé. I remember very well your enthusiastic applause three days ago when I walked in to match you. You were beside yourself when you welcomed me that day, but today, which is a more significant day, you know clearly that your spirit is dwindling. What is the explanation? But I am very hopeful here; now that you know how far and high your spirit can get, it will serve as a lesson. Perhaps on this God’s Day you have displayed the least spirit, but you can carry the memory of three days ago on to the next God’s Day, and the God’s Day after that. To teach you that important lesson, I selected these days for matching you.

When you really understand your shortcomings, you can bring your standards up. You could be indignant toward your own fiancé, thinking that because of him or her your spirit wasn’t very high on God’s Day; if there hadn’t been a matching, certainly there would have been a higher spirit. With that feeling you can use your fiancé to raise up your God’s Day spirit. The God’s Day spirit has really sagged down because of someone you thought was equally important who is sitting beside you. But you know which is more important, and why. This is why I spoke on this topic this morning.

Are you qualified to congratulate God at this moment today? You know you have flunked according to my standards, so you have to be serious about that. You must realize that your fiancé overshadowed a day that otherwise would have been the brightest day of your life. That is the point you have to learn from what has taken place three days ago. You realize that your fault is in not maintaining your standard today, don’t you? When you say yes with genuine repentance, perhaps God will forgive you, and I can forget that too.

The whole thing can bring a good result if you remember your feeling of highest expectation when your fiancé was about to be matched to you, and carry that high spirit and gratitude over exactly to the next God’s Day. That’s your best chance for survival and success in all of the work you do in the future.

Bring your standard up higher and keep it that way for the rest of your life and for generations hereafter. This is what I am urging you to do. Can you do it? Amen.

## HOME CHURCH IS MY KINGDOM OF HEAVEN

By Fami1yfed June 20, 2018 June 20, 2018 Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1981

## REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON

### January 1, 1981 (Midnight)
World Mission Center
Translator – Sang Kil Han

Now we have met the new year 1981. By meeting 1981, all of the seventies are now gone. Now we have crossed the threshold of 1980-81, leaving the 1970s behind. I am heading towards my seventies as well. Forty four years have passed since I learned the dispensation and started it. It was 44 years ago when I was 16 years of age.

The numbers six and four have traditionally been the numbers which were held by Satan. But after the time of victory they will be received as the number seven, which is the godly number. We are entering the era when the number four along with six will be the basic numbers of heaven.

This also means that starting from this year, as we go into the eighties, the Unification Church is entering a new era as well. We expect the 1980’s to be fast progressing years for the Unification Church. God’s close help is with us. We will be offering our lives during these ten years. After this decade we will enter the 1990’s, when I will be in my seventies, so we must understand the importance of our meeting at this time.

As you are aware, we are now in the second of three seven-year courses, which is your time. What does that mean? So far I have been working the dispensation, but now I am transferring it into your hands. This means it is possible for you to do the work successfully without me.

Then on what ground can you do it? Home church. The motto for 1979 introduced home church: “Home Church and the Completion of the Kingdom of Heaven,” and the motto for the following year was “Home Church is the Base of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Now for the third year in succession the motto is focused on home church: “Home Church is My Kingdom of Heaven.” That “my” is more yours than it is mine. The concept of home church during the past two years was related more to the whole, but this year it is more personal: Home church is “my” responsibility, “my” heaven.

Then where is that heaven? Heaven is where Satan has no place he can work. In Jesus’ time, even the entire mind was not of God; in the mind there was a boundary where the Kingdom of Heaven met the satanic domain. Now that borderline can be pushed further and further away-even out of our bodies. Unless we chase Satan not only out of our minds, but further and further out of our bodies as well, we will be unable to enjoy heaven in our surroundings. “Home church” means heaven on earth in our daily surroundings.

Then what is this foundation of heaven on earth? Home church. Now this foundation of home church is given to you as your own Kingdom of Heaven. Through home church you have a direct connection to the nation and to the world. Thus, we can connect the mind kingdom to the body kingdom, to the home church kingdom, to the country kingdom, all the way to the world. Now we can look back clearly and see that Jesus was intended to do exactly that, pushing Satan completely away and making heaven possible in the environment. He wanted to extend the border even beyond that, making the entire country and the world into heaven as well.

We know that Satan is occupying the entire world, that there is no place Satan cannot claim as his. A certain part is God’s, but Satan also occupies the individual’s body and sometimes even his whole mind, and especially the environment. Even in the spirit world, all the evil spirits have divided up the territories and exercise jurisdiction over each area.

Satan is the power or influence which exercises satanic dominion. Someone must appear on earth and dispel that power. Who can drive that power out of the environment? The Messiah is to do it. Jesus was supposed to do it, but he could not. When he comes again, the Messiah is to expel all the Satans from this world. When Jesus failed to complete that mission, the foundation was lost from this earth, and became like a drifting cloud which never settled down in any one place. Even though it encompassed the entire world, it was only on a spiritual level; there was no solid foundation on earth.

Because Jesus was crucified and had to give his body to Satan, there was no such thing as a Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This is precisely why he must come back on earth in the flesh, to accomplish what was left undone.

What is the Unification Church supposed to do? It must pass on to the world the spiritual Kingdom of Heaven which Jesus accomplished. In order to do that, someone had to go to the spirit world-standing in the presence of Jesus, God and Satan-and win the victory, with Satan recognizing that this person won the inheritance from Jesus himself. For this reason, I went to the spirit world and got the inheritance; it was approved by God and Jesus, and even Satan had to endorse it.

Upon that foundation I had to fulfill the same thing on earth. In order to do that, I had to cut off all the claims Satan has had on the physical body and the earth for the past 6,000 years. Through the Unification Church, I had to disconnect all the ties and claims of Satan on the world over the past 6,000 years.

If traditional Christianity had welcomed me instead of opposing me, its spiritual foundation for the realization of God’s ideal could have been used as a starting point and been connected directly to the physical foundation. If Christianity had united with this responsibility of the Unification Church, then 6,000 years of indemnity would have been completed. The resultant new body would not have been solely Christian or solely Unification Church.

If Christianity had united with Unification Church, Christian churches would have found themselves on a much higher level than they are today. Of course, communism could not have made even a small foundation in the United States in that case. But the Christian churches failed to unite with the Unification Church, so it has had to hastily organize and reindemnify the 2,000 year history of Christianity in a period of twenty years.

The timing was exact; all the highlights of indemnity were fulfilled in this country by 1976, which happened to be the bicentennial year. The major conditions of indemnity were accomplished through the great events including Yankee Stadium and Washington Monument. This stood on the foundation of the 200 years that have passed since America’s independence.

There was tremendous persecution and opposition, as every kind of organization opposed us during 1976. Because we were successful although we were opposed, we gained a physical victory which qualified us to represent Christianity and the country itself. That was the foundation of victory which established a condition by which the physical victory could be won; it only became a matter of time after that.

At the same time we inherited the spiritual accomplishments, we could begin the new foundation to establish the physical heaven on earth. In other words, from that time on, Satan no longer had any justification for separating the spiritual entity from the physical entity. That also means not only that the spiritual heaven was accomplished, but also that the inner work could begin on the physical foundation of heaven on earth. Both were secured, internal and external.

After securing the mind and the body, we can go one step further, to the environment in which we live. Once the foundation was formed, spiritually and physically, Satan had no justification for accusing me or dividing the foundation I had laid. The next thing we had to do was to push this foundation further out to include our environment.

Whenever there was a deficiency, or whenever members did not fulfill the necessary conditions, all the blame came right back to me. Satan would turn all the accusation against me while I was still in the process of building the physical heaven on earth.

When we confront Satan he will oppose everything we do in order to knock out this threat. But when we win over the opposition, Satan has to withdraw. Because of my victory, Satan withdrew and had to acknowledge that I won not only the keys to the spiritual heaven, but to the physical heaven as well. This is the reason I can now say that the Kingdom of Heaven is in both the mind and the body.

Then where is Satan now? He has been pushed out to the country, tribe, clan and family levels-outside the perimeter of mind and body. Even that opposition is not full scale; now that Satan has suffered defeat, resistance is sporadic and no longer all out.

But here we can observe that even while I am being persecuted, our Unification family has spread around the world. Though I was persecuted, I was not wiped out, and in addition my family, the blessed couples, and Unification members around the world are well. Because I overcame persecution completely, we all overcame opposition together. When our opponents set out to strike me and my body, those who were connected to me also received the blows. But at the same time, all have shared the victory.

This means that opposition was directed towards me not only on the personal level, but also on the family level, and even all the way up to the world level. When the opposition ended, the result was not only my personal victory, but the victory of those connected to me-the family, the clan (blessed couples), the nation (the church can be considered as the nation), all the way up to the world level. It was a successful completion of the indemnity condition. Satan attacked on every level, and his retreat automatically means that I have won the victory over the world level. In other words, the condition was prepared upon which the world level-not just the country or clan levels-could be restored.

Jesus came to indemnify the world level, but he achieved indemnity only up to the clan or tribe level. John the Baptist’s family and Joseph’s family should have been united; then Jesus would not have had to die.

The Unification Church is linked with me, so since my victory was recognized even by Satan, the Unification Church will no longer receive any persecution on the level of mind and body. Still, when we go out to the environment and home church, then we will in fact meet opposition. Satan’s limit is now set. He is allowed to go only to the home church level. On the foundation of home church, I have given this entire inheritance to the members. From this time on you are personally working in the home church area representing me.

The Israelites went the same course as Moses; all Christians had to follow what Jesus did. Likewise, whatever I have gone through must be experienced by Unification Church members. It is your five percent, and connects you to the 95 percent which I did, and which Moses and Jesus each did. Even without this spiritual reason, when you go out to witness and do other things would you expect to meet opposition similar to what I faced here? If I were to go out into the street and witness today, many things would happen; but now when you do it people are not as concerned about opposing the Unification Church any more.

Again, you will not go through exactly the same things I did in going from the individual to the family level, and finally to the world level during the past twenty years. That is not feasible for each of you; instead you will set up a 360 home area which encapsulates all the elements found throughout the world. The 360 homes will represent all the different nations and races on this earth. This has been endorsed by both God and Satan.

If you do not do well in home church, it will not matter how well you have done in the past, or whatever else you accomplish in the future. Without actually doing home church. there is no way for you to go to the Kingdom of Heaven.

There is a mind heaven and there is a physical heaven. Mind heaven is the mind which contains nothing that Satan can accuse. By the same token, in physical heaven Satan cannot claim any part of our bodies. Thus, if we are completely out of Satan’s claim, we are in heaven.

Then beyond that, we need the environmental heaven, in which we can step out of our home and walk through a neighborhood which Satan has no claim over. That is what Jesus set out to achieve.

If all people knew of my victory, everyone would come to the Unification Church and cling tightly to me, and to this ideal and heart; then instantly the accusation of Satan inside that person’s mind and body would be void; Satan would have no way to accuse him. When such a person goes out to witness in the environment, however, Satan’s opposition will meet him there. The battle is now being fought outside the home.

The fall could take place because Adam and Eve did not yet have this environment set up. When this environment is established, then heaven is secured up to the clan level. That is the essence of heaven. Heaven is formed primarily in the family. Doesn’t it make sense that you would have almost instant family level heaven once you secure the environment? That environment has to be created by winning over persecution. Without winning victory in home church, or victory over the environment, you cannot be filial sons and daughters of the True Parents, because you have no base to stand on. The environment gives you that base.

God will recognize home church as the foundation through which you serve as filial children, as patriots and even as saints. God will recognize as a saint the person who accomplishes this. A saint is a person who lives on the world level, but God can recognize you as such on the foundation of home church.

Home church was announced in America rather than in Korea. How was that possible? In New York and in this country as a whole, you can find different races living in 360 homes. There is no other country like this. If all the 360 homes oppose you, it means that not just an individual or a family, or even a nation is opposing you, but many nations and races. In America, therefore, it is possible to go through the worldwide level of indemnity. After winning in New York, we will concentrate our efforts in Washington, Philadelphia, Boston, etc., and it will become easier and easier. For this reason, we cannot go to heaven without having home church.

This year’s motto is “Home Church is My Kingdom of Heaven.” As I already said, in the past two years home church was not that very near or personal to you. So far, you may have thought of home church as a kind of witnessing technique, or an innovation of the Unification Church. But it is the heavenly way. The home church is your personal affair; it doesn’t belong to anyone else. It is your personal matter on earth and in heaven, not the Unification Church’s.

After Jesus gave the keys to heaven to Peter, did Peter ascend to heaven, or did he go to the cross? What should Peter have done? We know that he should have gone to heaven by opening the door of home church on the dispensational level of that time, which was the tribal level. Then the foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven could have been laid. But now we are starting home church on the world level, which is much more difficult. Peter would have secured the environment through home church, and thereafter organized twelve tribes. Jesus had indicated that whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven; likewise, unless we realize the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, the Kingdom of Heaven in spirit world will not come about either.

When I do come back, will I return to the Unification Church boundary, or to the home church? The Church is like an office for the families and the society, but the home church is where the parents and children can live, and where God can dwell.

There are 365 days a year, and if I visit one home church per day for 100 years I could visit only 365,O00 home churches. But I will not live 100 years more because I am already over sixty years old. If I spent five years visiting one home church per day, I could visit only about 1800 homes. Do you think I will visit your home church because you invite me? NO, I will go if I feel like going; it is not up to you, but up to me.

Now you have a better idea of what home church is like. Would you like to inherit the spiritual Kingdom of Heaven? Even though Jesus died, he could not receive that. You can now inherit something which Jesus did not enjoy, but what condition have you made to inherit it?

In my part of Korea there was one boy so mischievous that his parents could no longer control him. They told him, “You are out of our hands, so go ahead and die.” The child took it seriously, so he went out and started to hang himself. When he was ready, he shouted out, “Now I am ready to hang myself.” When the parents came and saw he was really ready to do it, what could they say? They embraced him and said, “Don’t do it; now we tell you not to do it.”

This is a favorite Korean expression, “When someone tells you to die, at least pretend to die.” Oriental children know that even if their parents are so upset that they say, “Go ahead and die,” that they don’t mean it literally. In the same way, if I say you should be willing to die, you must realize that I am trying to find some minimum condition by which you can inherit the physical Kingdom of Heaven. Just as Isaac was willing to let Abraham offer him on the altar, that willingness to die is the minimum condition; but death itself is not the requirement.

Maybe you think, “Father talks too much about witnessing and 360 homes; I will do it sitting in my living room.” There are some things which happen if you set the right condition, and some things you have to do with your hands. How nice it would be if home church would work by setting the condition; for instance, if you could write down names of 360 homes on a big piece of paper and every day make some drawing, and say, “This will serve as a condition of having visited my actual home church every day.” But it doesn’t work that way.

Just as I worked hard, you also have to work hard and do everything as I did. That kind of effort is needed to make home church successful. Heaven on earth is where your ideal and your love dwell. Home church belongs to you, and when you really work at it, all your surroundings-including your ancestry and your supporting spiritual world-will come down and help you accomplish it. You will find that the spiritual world actually helps you very much, but you will never know until you really do it.

While you are doing home church, you will come to realize that this was precisely the destination of Jesus’ work. Why did Jesus work so hard gathering disciples and giving sermons? It was so he could eventually send his disciples to home church. When you do home church successfully, won’t the restored tribe and nation come into being automatically? By doing home church, everything will be restored at one time.

If we have 150,000 members each taking care of 360 homes, that will cover all the homes in America. Some universities have 40,000 students. If you win only four such schools, that would be enough to yield 150,000 people. If you do not raise that number by witnessing, then CARP can do it.

What I have done can be compared to compiling an encyclopedia. In comparison, what you are going to compile is just a small dictionary. You do not have to be elaborate or give a detailed explanation of each item; just give a minimum explanation in a few words. The necessary basic words will be found in your dictionary; for instance, regarding tears; in my encyclopedia you will find the chemical components of tears, how they are produced, on what occasions, and all that. But in your dictionary, under tears you may have just “weep.”

Do you know how many papers you have to write before you can graduate with a PhD? What you are going to graduate with is worth 100 times more than a Ph.D., so can’t you write at least a small dictionary? You have to be persecuted and kicked around, literally. I don’t mind being kicked around. If by being kicked I could indemnify something which I could not do in 100 years, how fantastic that would be!

Do you want to go to the Kingdom of Heaven on earth? But you want to go to heaven only in the daytime, not the nighttime, right? Do you want to go to heaven after you eat, or before you eat? Do you want to go to heaven after wearing nice clothes? You will say, “I don’t mind going to home church as long as people don’t persecute me.” But without being persecuted, you are not going to get the blessing. If you are persecuted and are hit, but you receive it with gratitude, the blessing is yours. It will take a while before people realize, “They only smiled when I persecuted them, but now I understand that they have been stealing my blessings!”

The Bible says that Christ will come again as a thief. I came to this foreign country and was persecuted to an incredible degree. But I knew that not just bags full but truckloads of blessings would roll in. In that view, am I a smart person to do something which induces persecution?

A big fish is caught by a small hook. Likewise, the persecution is small compared to what you will be gaining in blessings. So even thinking in terms of economics or business, you come out ahead; you are earning something.

Each home church is a fuel tank. Since you have 360 homes, you have 360 fuel tanks. You have to connect all of them and ignite the fuel, and then you will shoot up like a rocket. If you are going to fly up to heaven, will you need only ten fuel tanks? Even though you ignite them, ten tanks of fuel will not carry you to heaven. If you line up 360 fuel tanks and ignite them, then you will have enough fuel to reach heaven.

Instead of loving just your own family or children, or even doing service to your own country, you will do home church. If a husband spends all his time in home church and he doesn’t even come home at the regular time, and his wife begins to say, “My husband is making me wait,” she is the worst wife one could ever find.

Now you know the most valuable thing. Now you know why I was so persecuted and went through such incredible difficulty. This is what I was up to, and this is what Jesus was up to. Now you know home church was the destination. This time is precisely analogous to the time when Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection; now Pentecost is happening all around the world.

Amazing things will take place. Your ancestors will come and assist you because they themselves are one with you in your position. Just as Jesus’ ancestors worked with him, thousands of yours can work horizontally. Even if they were not very religious, as long as they were good people they can share this privilege. This is because the blessing that has been given to you is extended to the realm all around you, to your ancestral community.

Jesus’ disciples worked for the country and the mission, but they did not have home church, so they could only reach a certain level. However, all your good ancestors over the past 2,000 years can come down and work with you, and through working with you in home church they can have instant credit. This is an incredible privilege. This is the only time the liberation of your ancestors can take place. At the same time, the path of perfection for your own descendants will be laid. Because of this condition, you can go to the real heaven, not just the conceptual heaven. If you do not do home church well, those people will blame you, and your ancestors will blame you for not doing more. They know very well what is important in spirit world. All your family, your clan and your descendants-even your country and the world-will connect to this heaven. Don’t you want to have that kind of heaven? Now do you know clearly about home church?

Now when someone asks you where heaven is, you will say, “Heaven exists in the environment of home church.” Jesus said only that heaven exists in your mind; that is true, but now it exists in the body and in the home church as well.

What comes after that? There will be the national church, and after that the world church, and the cosmic church. Then this will truly be the universal Unification Church. After home church, other things will become more and more easy. You actually don’t have to think about other levels, just home church. As the days go by, there will be more and more of this church activity and heaven will be realized in a more complete way.

From 1981 it is all yours. I have been preparing and focusing only on this point. I may take off one day, just like that, but don’t even try to follow me. When I go to a resort or hotel, everyone would want to come, but I don’t like that. If my hotel is right beside our Church and you know I am there, don’t even think of trying to visit me. You have your work to do, and you are too busy even to pay attention to what I do.

We have to do restoration by going the way of indemnity. You say, “I have been fund raising and working incredibly hard for seven years.” But compared to what needs to be done, that is nothing. So for the sake of building the kingdom on earth we have to be eager to hear the next impossible direction. As soon as a command is given, at that moment we have to be ready to go and carry it out. Would you respond just like that? If you are with your husband, but I tell you to go somewhere else, will you listen?

Now you know the explanation for what we have to do. If we are to go to hell, we might as well go straight forward, not trying to evade it and getting caught in hell anyway at the end. We might as well go right toward it.

In 1981 I am hereby giving you home church as your ground. Even the News World staff members should work hard at home church in addition to their newspaper work, and then they can in no way be blamed by Satan. If I call Dr. Durst and he is nowhere to be found because he is in home church, he can be excused. That is our most important priority. If one of the East Garden guards is missing all night, but in the morning he appears and says, “I was at home church,” instantly everything will be forgiven.

Nowhere else in all of history was anyone else given this kind of priority and privilege. So long as you go to home church, all else is secondary. If in doing home church you don’t take care of yourself and your clothing becomes very ragged-like what St. Francis must have worn-you will be 100 times greater than he. If you are running down the street, unaware of what you look like, and someone starts pulling and pulling on you, when you look around you will see me. Then I will buy you the best suit, and not only that but a top coat, shoes, etc. Mother will not complain, “You are spending money too fast.” God cannot say I am spending too much money as long as I am spending it to support home church workers. This is the unprecedented privilege I am giving you.

You want to take care of your family, but if you take care of your home church instead, someone else will help take care of your family. Sometimes I will also help your family. But that does not mean you should think that if you are doing home church work you do not have to do anything to take care of them. If you think like that, it is not right.

Now you can say, “Father, you do not need to talk to us any longer. We will just go right ahead and do what we are supposed to do.” After turning over everything to you, I may leave America for other places.

Now you must truly know that my responsibility is ended at this point. Can you pledge from this time on to really understand more deeply than ever that your purpose of working is nothing but home church?

God bless you.