# LET US MARCH FORWARD TO OUR HEAVENLY FATHER

By Fami1yfed June 13, 2018 June 13, 2018 Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1977

## REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON

### November 13, 1977
Belvedere, New York
Translator – Mr. David Kim

Even though fallen mankind lives in darkness all men are destined to go to God. Depending upon his or her degree of spiritual growth, each one will march forward to the Father sooner or later. The world’s present situation can be compared to the deep darkness of the night with the only light to be seen showing far above you, like the twinkling stars. If you can grasp this situation you know that your only hope is to direct yourself toward the starry sky, yet even though you can see the light twinkling above you cannot fly up to it. The situation is desperate because you are unable to reach that small light. However, if you find any little light on a lower plane then you have hope.

Suppose that there weren’t even twinkling stars in the sky and total darkness surrounded you m Even though you may be standing you can’t really tell whether you are in the air or on the earth. How discouraging it is to find yourself in that situation! This is the position all mankind is in, surrounded by total darkness with nowhere to go and without any sense of direction. As a human being you cannot just stand still in the darkness, however; you are destined to move somewhere.

What good will it do even if you have eyes? In the darkness you cannot see and you have no hope of getting anywhere. Though you have five senses they cannot function in that utter darkness so what use are they? Even though you are the center of the cosmos, in this situation you cannot declare that you are center. Have you ever thought of yourself being in darkness as deep as I have described? You have no hope in that situation and you grasp for something you cannot hold. You want to see something but you cannot see anything; you try to hear something but you cannot hear. As a human being in that situation you would feel hungry but you can’t see any food in the darkness.

If in that miserable state you find a little twinkling light then you have hope. Your five senses will focus intently on that light, even if it is as weak as a firefly’s. As that little bug jumps you will follow him. If it flies away you will run after it. Once you find that light you cannot bear to see it leave. You could never be content to see it go while you stay. You will want to pursue that fluttering firefly in the night. You have to realize that you are in this position and your hope lies in that light. Even if it comes only once a month or once a year, you have to appreciate that light because it can guide you out of this total darkness.

If that light appears, all mankind will pursue it wherever it goes. If someone knows that the small firefly light will appear once a year then that person will eagerly wait in the darkness for the one year to elapse. He will wait one month, three months, eight months for the time to go by and his longing and the joy and delight he feels at its coming cannot be described. If there were a way for him to grasp the light, how desperately would he try to catch it? Maybe the girls would say, “Why do we need that light? We cannot catch it.”

Would you ignore the light or try to catch it? If another person were to see you desperately grabbing for that light as your hope, he might think you were crazy. Once you find the light you cannot take slow steps; you will do your best and run as fast as possible to catch the light, right? Whether you are white, black or yellow doesn’t matter, or whether you are from an advanced or underdeveloped country. If a country or individual finds the light they will try their best to catch it.

Have you thought about how this fallen world needs that kind of light? You need that light because of the human fall, but you have to be alert. If you close your eyes, you will never recognize that moving light. You have to have wide-open eyes. If it did not come, would you wait with wide-open eyes for six months or even one year on the chance that you could catch the light?

Some other people who do not believe that the light exists will ridicule you and say you are stupid. One type of person will not care whether the light comes or not but another type of person will remain vigilant, regardless of how long he must wait. Which kind of person are you? Many people will say, “We don’t need the light and we don’t need direction. We don’t need to know a purpose of being,” but there are also God-oriented, conscientious people who have hope even after waiting many years for the light.

Only those people who believe that the Messiah will come keep their eyes wide open because they believe the light will appear and crush the darkness of this world m They are the religious people of the world and they are very, very sincere about watching for the light. Even though other people have eyes they cannot see and even though they have minds they cannot reason properly to expect a light to come. Religion teaches that you have to go the watchful way and that over the mountain there is light. This is the teaching of religion in the past. Isn’t this why you come to Belvedere so early in the morning to listen to me, for instance? Are you only here to sit on the cold cement?

The communists claim that there is no direction. They are materially oriented and are convinced they don’t need that light. What is the Unification movement doing with respect to this issue? The democratic system which fosters religion and the Unification movement will both be losers if they do not give mankind clear direction to find that light.

There are many foolish groups which give wrong directions but there is only one true light. The 400 denominations within Christianity are all divided among themselves about what the proper direction is and most of the rest of mankind has become numb and senseless. Even though they have eyes they cannot see and even though they have ears they cannot hear. Man’s five senses are not as sharp as God originally made them.

Where is the light? Toward what can your five senses direct themselves? Your perception cannot be limited to the individual level, but should go all the way to the world level. Unification of the world is possible if that true light appears because it is not limited by class, culture, color or race.

The road we are on leads to the light that all mankind is longing form What kind of light is it? The light is truth but what is the meaning of truth? To the hungry person truth will be food m The thirsty person’s truth is water to drink. The dying person’s truth is life. Truth is the pen with which a person who wants to write can communicate. What is truth to your ears? The wonderful sounds that come to your ears are truth and the beautiful smells that come to your nose are also truth m The definition of truth is ambiguous.

What is truth? That question raises all kinds of philosophical problems. You might say truth is God but if I am separated from God, why do I need Him?

What is my connection to Him? Should I struggle or fight with God or what? Is God an idiot, or can you argue with God about what kind of God He is? If God

I had an invisible hand, would you like to hold it? This is philosophy’s problem. If God can satisfy all your senses then maybe you need God and then you might say that God is truth.

What is the essence of God? Lover. What is the content of love? When you hear the word “love,” before you can even think about it your five senses feel joy and you are satisfied. We need that love. You enjoy dove, right? Have you seen love? You can see or experience the result of love but you have never seen love. Is love latent within you or not? Why can’t you find it?

Love is everywhere in you, even within your clothing. Since love is everywhere, when you have a handkerchief from your beloved you can feel his love. Love cannot exist by itself can it? Where does love start? If there is no position of subject or object then dove will not exist. If I say that without an object I am happy and I have love then everyone will say that I am mentally ill. But if I am by myself and pull out a handkerchief with sentimental memories from Korea, then when I talk to myself I am not crazy because there is a normal subject and object relationship there. An object is very valuable, isn’t it?

What is most valuable in the whole world for women? Husbands. There are different kinds of men -handsome, average and ugly-and sometimes they can be crippled too. Which man would you like to have as your husband? A handsome one? You flunked the test! If you are alone and the only man left is a cripple, you cannot be picky and refuse to marry him. Would you refuse him as your object or would you try to love him? The most important point is not which kind of husband you have but how you can obtain a genuine love in your subject-object relationship. That is the issue, not whether he is ugly or handsome.

Someone might ask what a true woman is. Is she the most beautiful woman? Who knows, a true woman might have big eyes and gigantic hands and arms and look like a lumberjack. Maybe she will be so ugly she can’t even look at herself in the mirror. Can she be categorized as a woman who smiles and jokes, one who is active and sings well and is very versatile? Should she be an Olympic champion? The woman who possesses true love is a true woman.

Let’s narrow down what true love is. Some women say, “I have true love and a beautiful face and a beautiful figure, so I have a right to have a true man as my husband.” Would the true woman say that or would she say, “I am a beautiful woman and I have true love, but I will love a crippled, ugly husband with all my devotion; I will sacrifice myself as a woman to love him.”

Would you like to be a true woman or an ugly woman? If a true woman should marry a crippled man we have a real problem because there are not so many cripples in the Unification Church m How will we solve this theological question?! We can conclude after all this discussion that the final definition of the true woman is that she not only loves someone who is close to the ideal, but she is ready to love the ugliest and meanest man.

The definition of true love includes loving someone who is on the lowest level. Why is it possible? Love is the power flowing between two to unite them. If you always look for the ideal person then you are already limited so you have to expand your scope. If you could learn to love anyone then the power of love will multiply with give and take. The circular motion of such love will make it perpetual.

What is God? How does God exist? Could this idealistic, higher level God say, “I’m on the highest level, so I don’t worry about the worst people.” Such a God could never qualify to be God because God is all-inclusive, able to embrace even the people in the dungeons of hell. God includes both extreme and He even loves those in the dungeons of hell more than those in the higher level of love. We don’t need the kind of God who only functions on the ideal level. God must be able to embrace everything because God is eternal.

What is a true man? The true man is able to love his own enemy because love is an eternally circling motion. At Harvard there are lots of well-dressed young men who are handsome and intelligent but are they true men? Whom are such people centered on?

Usually they are centered on themselves and because their point of view is too limited they all flunk the test. The intellectual guy criticizes and judges everything according to his knowledge, but such a person is not the true man. Would you women like that kind of small-scale husband? It is good for you not to have that kind of intellectual type but a man with a homely face. If you can find true love for him then that’s the best husband for you. Where is the light I described? That light shines in the place where this kind of true man and true woman have true love between them and that is where all mankind is destined to go.

Why do you come to Sunday service at Belvedere in the early dawn? You are sitting on the floor, which is an unusual custom in the Western world. You are here because you would like to have true love and you believe you have found the truth, right? Is it good or bad that you men want to be the President of the United States and you women want to be the First Lady? You must really manifest your true love in that position. If you can love people in the dungeon of hell then you are all set. If as the First Lady you pray for them and shed tears for them and care for them then you merit your position. If the First Lady has diamonds and is a fashion plate but she is arrogant and selfish then she flunks the test. The First Lady should have sensitivity toward the happiness of mankind; that’s what will qualify her to be First Lady.

Let’s look at the Unification movement. I am a controversial figure right now; how do you know whether or not I’m a cheater or swindler? Nearly 200 million other people believe the worst about me. Only one thing is sure. If I love mankind more than anyone else, if I worry about mankind and God more than myself and my family then one thing is certain: I stand for truth. If that is not true then I am false and there is no need for the Divine Principle. Do you love me? I am not satisfied with only hearing your answer. You have to put this into practice exactly as I have done. You have to carry God’s love and any love you have for me and give it to the people through your deeds. Otherwise I cannot believe what you say.

If you love me then you have to go out and love other people. Go even to the end of the world and carry your love to the most difficult places. Will you go complaining all the way, or with appreciation and willingness? How much will you love mankind? You have to love the people more than you love me and more than you love anybody you are close to. That’s the standard. I ask no more than that.

The person who will practice this kind of love will have a free pass to Heavenly Father’s home. T have seen that such people will own the Kingdom of Heaven. These people are copying what God has done and they will freely go everywhere in the spirit world. Their love is their qualification.

If God has eyes, will He just gaze at the blue sky and endless space? Where will He look? God will focus first on the dungeon of hell because that is His sorrow. The God who looks only at the beautiful world is not the true God. God is the one who looks down at the bottom of hell, thinking, “How will I lift up this person’s soul to be just like me?” Even though that person is in hell he belongs to God, and even in hell he desires God.

The souls in hell result from man’s fallen history but even in that shameful condition they are looking at God. Some Christians believe a very strange thing, that at the time of the final judgment God will cast wicked people into eternal fire and only Christians will be lifted up in the air. Heavenly Father does not necessarily believe what the established churches believe. According to the Principle God is going to liberate the people who have been living in hell, and those people who work hard to liberate them will find themselves in a world correspondingly higher. If you work hard in hell, you will be rewarded in heaven. Regardless of how much Divine Principle you know, simply believing that you are going to liberate those souls and trying hard to help is all you need to obtain citizenship in the kingdom. You may not think much of what I have said, but when you go to spirit world it will be proven true. Do you believe it?

What kind of children are pious sons and daughters? Are they the ones who say, “I love you Daddy and Mommy,” and bring their parents presents, but who fight with each other? No. The true mother and father will say that the child who is a good son or daughter loves his brothers and sisters more than his parents. This principle applies to all mankind and if it is applied, the Kingdom of Heaven will quickly come.

Who is a loyal subject to his king? He who loves the king’s subjects as much as he loves the king and queen is a loyal subject. This principle also applies to those we call saints. A saint lives for God. All the past saints lived for God and to the degree they loved God they loved all mankind. After they loved mankind to the same degree they loved God they could come back to be embraced by God. Does it make sense? When Jesus Christ was dying he prayed for his enemies; he practiced God’s love even on the cross. Because God is that kind of God Jesus also had to live that truth as the Messiah. That is why he can be termed the highest saint of all.

Modern Christianity has failed to practice this love which should have been inherited from Jesus Christ. Christians on earth were to love all mankind more than they loved Jesus. That is the responsibility of Christians at this time but they have gone a totally different way. Even though they criticize me the leading theologians and church leaders are destined to go in this direction eventually, regardless of their own doctrine. There is no way to revive modern Christianity except by following this principle of loving all mankind more than Jesus loved God.

With this truth it is possible to erect the Kingdom of God on earth. Do you really understand the truth I am telling you this morning? When you are hungry you long for food, but you must know this truth and practice it with more urgency than you look for food. You should know this more clearly than you know when to sleep and when to get up. Who does not know how to practice this? I want you to practice it, to love God and all mankind. That’s the way you will prepare for your role in the Kingdom of Heaven, by loving suffering mankind.

You work for God and for mankind m Do not say you work for me or the Unification Church. I do not work hard for the Unification Church but for mankind and Heavenly Father. The people who left the Church to do other things will never be judged by the Unification Church but by mankind and the world; we have nothing to say in that situation. People who oppose us often quote our former members when they criticize us to defend their position but in reality those people dropped out because they could not cope with difficulties like you do.

I know that God’s nature and His concept of the ideal world and spirit world is entirely different from existing Christian doctrine. Is it difficult or easy to build the Kingdom of God on earth according to our concept? You know where the light is in the darkness and how you are going to obtain that goal in the future and you also know where mankind is destined to go. When you follow that light your despair and disappointment will go away and the farther you go the more light you will see and the more joy you will find with God.

If you apply this Principle, God will dwell with you even if you are in prison. In the lonely place where you are persecuted God will visit you. Where ever you go God will follow you. Why in the world are you Americans, who are privileged to have academic freedom, following a controversial man from Korea instead of your own theologians, scholars or politicians? You are my main trouble. Why don’t you leave me alone? I know that if I kick you out you would come back again anyway because you have felt joy and satisfaction here m This is a big issue with those who dislike us.

As for me personally, I have no privacy at all. Not only do you follow me but even in the remote countryside of Alabama people recognize me! There is nowhere I can go quietly or privately. In Japan and Korea tremendous commotion surrounds my visits. Why is this phenomenon happening? lt is all a result of the power of love. Only love of a high dimension could inspire even Westerners to be attracted to me. You feel so good that even the different between the Orient and Occident doesn’t matter. You know the whole truth. When you go to spirit world you will be tested on how much you lived this and you cannot say that I did not teach you. This is the key to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Based on this principle I can predict that the Unification movement will spread all over the world, regardless of persecution. Why? There is no other theory or doctrine through which we can unite the whole world except this one. Even though there are many brilliant scholars and politicians who talk about idealistic concepts, they are all divided among themselves. I am the only one with the principle which can unite all mankind. When you are eating, figure out if this is possible or not. When you are walking somewhere or when you are asleep, analyze whether this is true. If you ask Heavenly Father whether it is true He will say, “It is true. You are right.”

Heaven and hell will be connected to each other by love and the circling movement of love shall everlastingly continue. The liberation of hell and the liberation of God are based on this principle. Ever since human history began only one ideology has emerged which can liberate both mankind and Heavenly Father. When people call you a Moonie, think of this precious truth and don’t attack them. When you practice love you will find yourself in heaven.

If your opponent listens to you he will become a member quicker than anyone because he will see the road from hell to heaven. That is heavenly strategy. When you came the first time you doubted everything but now you are Sunnies, right? You have to remember your situation before you become a member. When people argue about something you have to embrace them with this power of love. You have to face your opponents and forgive them so that your own repentance will be actualized and you can bring these people to God.

You know that true love will save mankind and liberate God. Some people may like me while some may not, but regardless of their complaints or doubt, one thing is sure-that you have sensed this love here even without understanding the reason.

If you really long for me and are anxious to do better than I am doing then suddenly the spirit world will open to attend and guide you. Even with your physical eyes you will see this. This is our spiritually dynamic aspect, which is found nowhere else. You cannot purchase this kind of thing. You can only find it here, where you try to live God’s love. No atomic power can destroy this, not even political power or financial power. Even God cannot destroy the Unification Church now because He has no other choice. No one else will believe it unless they have this kind of spiritual experience. We can say there are three stages of development in this movement: First, Moonies, then Sunnies, the Kingies. You can be kings and queens because you aim to love God and have God love you directly. You never wanted such a thing in the past.

You have confidence that you are going to be citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven, right? When you witness, you are writing out your own ID card as well as IDs for your family, nation and the whole world to enter heaven. From the very beginning I received constant persecution, but I always thought of it as accumulating a heavenly bank account-the more persecution I get, the more receipts come in. If I am right then I will be a spiritual billionaire.

Decades ago I planned the dispensational timetable and events have paralleled my plans. The climactic scene was fulfilled in the year 1976, when everything was finished by the True Parents. Ever since the victory at Washington Monument I am on the creditor’s side instead of the debtor’s side and now many other people will help and all spirit world is set in motion. The “Reverend Moon in America” program is being shown to the public and a distinguished scholar has had a book published about us; the deprogrammers were defeated by a lawsuit that was decided in our favor in San Francisco-all of these things are just the beginning.

It was communists who first started using terminology like “brainwashing’, to attack me, but I have kept quiet, even though the New York Times and Washington Post both printed those allegations. One journalist analyzed the amount of media coverage our movement has received and he calculated that in the United States alone at least $300,000,000 worth of time, writing and space has been used to cover us. News from America goes throughout the world, which means that billions of dollars have been spent to attack me. The media did a thorough job!

This is all God’s strategy. Without that kind of trouble it would have taken a hundred years for the world to know about me, but now every nation is aware of me. Two years ago I sent three missionaries to each of 124 nations and the nations which respond to those three people will completely turn to God’s side when the time comes. Truly this work is one of the greatest adventures ever seen in human history.

In the long run Satan’s evil forces did a great favor for our movement by opposing us. In that sense we have a very strange doctrine: persecution is welcome! If an enemy attacks us for no reason then we will receive an equal amount of blessing. This is the law of indemnity and restoration. Any true religion must receive rejection first and then receive benefit. All the saints and sages in the past were attacked and then in turn God’s forces could operate. Truth is the shining light in the darkness of persecution. All of God’s plans will go forward ace cording to its formula. I am the first religious person in history to receive so much persecution in his lifetime, not just nationally but worldwide, with even the communist countries speaking against me.

Objectively speaking we can conclude very easily that the Unification Church is completely on God’s side or Satan’s side but not in between. When you listen to my application of God’s principle you know we are absolutely on the side of good. Before you came here you did not belong to God’s world, so how can I believe that you are convinced? How can you show me? The Bible says truth will liberate you from ignorance, and now that you have knowledge you must practice it and then darkness will fade away. You must have confidence in it.

How are we going to approach our Heavenly Father? You cannot go directly to Him or to the True Parents with no condition. You have to go the opposite way, winning the heart of God by liberating mankind and God. If you go out to the world carrying God’s heart then when you come back after finishing the mission you will automatically be heading toward God. You cannot go directly to Him. Jesus Christ went the same way, going the opposite direction first by loving his enemies. The saints God raised up in troubled times all practiced this truth and then went to be embraced in the bosom of God. When I explored the spirit world I never met famous ministers in the Kingdom of Heaven; those people did much talking but never put their words into practice while on earth.

I want you to be the people who can actually save mankind and liberate God. You are front line soldiers. If you are near to God then you will go out and suffer and love all of mankind which is under Satan’s control. Then even though you look miserable you will automatically be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven when you die. You don’t have to worry about anything; with that spirit you are going to make this hell into God’s earthly kingdom.

Why are you here in New York? We are going to erect the Kingdom of Heaven on earth starting in the dungeon of hell. New York is an earthly hell and that is why I decided to set up our headquarters to save this country in New York City. Our World Mission Center is on 8th Avenue, a street famous for prostitution. Without putting this teaching into practice in the worst place we will be unable to go to heaven.

Some of you may think you lost everything because you joined the Unification Church. You are walking a painful road instead of living easy lives, even though you may be college graduates. Are you miserable in your hearts? When you graduated from college you never thought that you would go fund raising with peanuts! You are experiencing the opposite direction I talked about, the difficult way, so you must uplift your feelings and realize that this is a blessed situation. You are going this way to save mankind and you have to go with appreciation. Then you are overcoming.

Some people protest that I am talking this way to you to hide the fact that I’m making you work hard for myself. They don’t realize that there is no other way but working hard; you are in a marathon race to the Kingdom of Heaven and you have to run fast. When you go forward in your work you are approaching Heavenly Father and then you will have true love. When you have a struggle and you face total rejection then God’s love will come down.

Don’t be disappointed when you have struggles or when you are troubled: don’t cheat yourself. Think of how you are going to run toward Heavenly Father to get more joy and more true love. That’s the power with which you can overcome. When Jesus Christ chose three disciples at the Sea of Galilee they joined him because they found the light. Without any suspicion or doubt they accepted Jesus and became his disciples. That’s the leap forward you have to make if you have difficulty. Do you know now how you are going toward God?

I want to speak frankly now. When you know I am coming to speak on Sunday morning you come with enthusiasm, but you do not come with the same mood when I am not here. You must be more diligent and more enthusiastic when I am not here. The pious son and daughter still love one another even if their parents are absent. The loyal subject loves his nation more when his king is absent. The same thing must be true for you. When I talk to you directly you listen, but when your leaders say something you hesitate. That’s not right. Even though they may give you some wrong direction, if you unite and work even harder, thinking about the True Parents, then you are far better off than before. Now you have the secret of how to work with your leaders.

If I went to spirit world tomorrow would you work harder or would you relax? Even though I may go to spirit world early I have established that the Kingdom of Heaven shall be erected on earth because of this principle. Who is going to do it? You should answer, “I am.” Since coming to America I invested all my heart and mind, all my property, all my energy and love in this country every day. I pour out everything I have, spiritual and physical, and I push you people out to sacrifice yourselves for the American people. This is the sphere of God’s love. If you believe it and practice it then I will appear to you in spirit. Other people do not understand how all this can happen! Even though you are pushed into earthly hell, God’s love will descend on you. This is the power of the love you possess.

The longer the period of suffering for mankind that you endure, the bigger the amount of love you will receive from God. Do you feel that this is fact? How much we push ourselves since knowing the light is the key point. Your thinking must move faster than your body since your body must follow the decisions of your mind, but you have to push your body faster. In the long run all that we gain will benefit you the most, even more than God and mankind. You have no room for complaint because all that you are doing and suffering is for you. That is how I feel too You have to be qualified as God’s worker in order to save mankind. You have to qualify yourself and work harder; that’s why you have to push yourself. You have to be a winner in the marathon race. Do you clearly understand?

Shall we put this into practice or not? I want you to know exactly what to do. Please raise your hands before Heavenly Father if you want to put into practice all that I have said. Thank you. Let us pray.

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