To all of the members, family members, and blessed families of the Family Federation for World Peace of the Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community, good day. I would like to give you the monthly U-ONE TV President’s Message. Today, I present to you the message for the month of September.
For today’s report, I will not explain about any event in particular. Instead, I would like to talk about what kind of faith we should carry on the path of following our True Parents in the Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community, what kind of attitude is necessary in our relationships with our brothers and sisters, and ultimately, what kind of resolution and determination are required to becoming victorious families that can register into Cheonbo. With these points in mind, I would like to give you the message titled, “Core themes that should not be overlooked in our lives of faith.”
First of all, when we ask what True Parents’ ultimate end goal is for guiding us, family members and blessed families, on our lives of faith, as you all know, it is the principle of putting God first. In other words, they have advocated the principle of putting the Heavenly Parent first as they guided us.
Father had even said, “(I) must die for the sake of God. I must live for the sake of God. If I were to die, it is my desire to have the words, ‘This man lived for God and died for God,’ engraved on my gravestone.” So, to that extent, True Parents’ life started with God and ended with God. If I put it another way, it means True Parents wanted to connect all of humanity to God.
Adam and Eve, the progenitors of humankind, severed their parent-child bond with God through the fall. How can humanity return to the Heavenly Parent, God, in that kind of state? The mediator between God and humanity was the savior, the messiah.
In that regard, the ultimate goal of the True Parents for leading us in our lives of faith was to “reach God and return to God. It is there, where can you find hope.” It is no exaggeration to say that this was Father’s ultimate secret, which he was consistent in, in guiding our lives of faith.
I would like to cite one of Father’s words. The following is what he said at Belvedere, New York on July 13, 1975. It can be found on pages 423 to 452 in God’s Will and the World. So, I would like to introduce some of the words from those pages.
“Consequently, rather than trying to become an ideal person, one must return to God. We can come to this conclusion. We must return to God. Without doing so, we can deduce that human beings would not be able to produce the right things.”
(Father said this in 1975.) In addition, I was doing hoondokhae the morning of Sunday, September 6th with the Pyeong Hwa Gyeong (The Holy Scripture of Cheon Il Guk), and I found the following words. These next words can be found near the middle of page 1,243 of the Pyeong Hwa Gyeong.
“True Parents are executing the mission of welcoming God on Earth by going the way of shedding blood. The reason that True Parents shoulder the cross is to welcome God on Earth.” This is what Father said.
In other words, True Parents have always wanted to connect us with God. The destination they have been leading us is to reach God; that has been their ultimate goal.
Furthermore, we can see Mother saying the same things. As you are aware, Mother’s recent words have been consistent and in the lines of, “Return to the Heavenly Parent. I want at least a third of the 7.7 billion people of humanity to become citizens that can attend the Heavenly Parent.” This is what she has been preaching recently.
Unless we return to the Heavenly Parent, none of the world’s problems ca be solved with human intellect and effort alone. This has been consistent in Mother’s recent words.
Mother gave a speech at the the Eighth Anniversary of Sun Myung Moon’s Cosmic Seunghwa, the True Parent of Heaven, Earth and Humankind. These are her words she gave on September 4th.
“The only way to solve all the difficult problems arising in our world is to follow the path of True Parents’ will from within the Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community.” So, she mentions how the path of following True Parents’ will through the Heavenly Parents’ Holy Community is the only way in resolving all of humanity’s problems. Accordingly, the core teaching that True Parents have been teaching us is to return to God. The greatest extract from True Parents’ teachings is “to return to God; return to the Heavenly Parent.”
However, to put it bluntly, returning to God, returning to the Heavenly Parent is no easy feat. No matter how much they teach us how Father’s hope is for us to return to God, in actuality, it is not easy for us, fallen human beings, to know God in the proper way. Therefore, we come to the conclusion that the True Parents are the only ones that can properly teach humanity about God.
I am wearing glasses at the moment. Let me take them off. When I do, the video camera right in front of me is a blur. Because of my bad eyesight, I can’t even make out the video camera clearly.
In like manner, no matter how much we, fallen human beings, try to see God, we cannot see Him without putting on glasses. In other words, if you try to ask God, from your own perspective, about His will, His hope, or what His will is for us, the answer will only come out as a blur. Due to each individual’s personality as well as each individual’s spiritual level, there are various ways of comprehending God.
As long as we do not refer to the understanding, interpretation, and explanation of the Heavenly Parent given by the True Parents, we can deduce that we cannot accurately know God’s will, His wishes, or the world of God’s heart even though we we may be the same Family Federation.
In other words, the ones that play the role of “eye glasses” are the True Parents.
Therefore, in order to know God, we need to go to the True Parents. Only by knowing the True Parents, by putting on the “eye glasses” that are the True Parents, can we accurately know God’s will. We can only but arrive to this conclusion.
If we had understood this point clearly, the Family Federation would not have experienced such a sad state of splitting into different factions. The True Parents should be the ultimate standard when we make decisions. True Parents’ words, True Parents’ hopes, and the actual directives that True Parents give at each moment, if we had abided by them, we would have never had divided.
Therefore, unless we clearly center ourselves on the True Parents, there will be no unification in the truest sense since there are so many ways of understanding the will and hopes of God, even in our Family Federation. In other words, we can conclude that the True Parents are the only way for all humankind to become one centered around the Family Federation.
Now, I would like to delve a little deeper into the question of faith, and also into the question of actual “attendance” from a different point of view.
When looking at the key to victory or failure in the providence of restoration in the Divine Principle—especially, in the Principle of Restoration—we come across the concepts of the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. Beginning with the foundation of faith, if we also establish the foundation of substance, we establish the foundation for the messiah and we are then able to receive the messiah.
Then, what is the foundation of faith? To sum up the characteristic of the foundation of faith, it is that a central figure in the providence makes some kind of condition of faith towards God, who exists in an invisible but absolute dimension. He or she sets a condition of faith centered on a period or condition based on certain numbers. Then, it takes effect and is realized.
For example, the figure of Noah dedicated cheonseong for 120 years to God, which was the beginning of the providence known as Noah’s ark. Noah’s absolute faith towards God was the condition that launched Noah’s ark and the judgment by the flood. However, when it comes to the foundation of substance, this is the notion of an Abel figure—a central figure centered on God— and a Cain figure, from the opposite realm, becoming on. It is the condition of indemnity to cleanse fallen nature. Therefore, the foundation of substance is established when Abel and Cain figures become one.
When we analyze the history of the providence of restoration, history calls for the foundation of faith to be set, then the foundation of substance, and finally, the foundation to receive the messiah. This providence passed from Adam’s family to Noah’s family, Abraham’s family, Moses’ course, and onto Jesus’ course.
I do not have the time to explain in full what happened in Adam’s family, Noah’s family, or Abraham’s family, but to sum it all up, the foundation of faith was able to be established in most of the cases. Even in Adam’s family, after Adam and Eve fell, Abel made offerings as the central figure. Unfortunately, Abel—who was victorious in making the offerings—and Cain—who was in the position of becoming one with Abel—were not able to become one. Rather than becoming one, the older brother Cain killed the younger brother Abel. This is considered the first murder in the history of humankind.
Even in Noah’s family, Noah was able to complete the ark over a period of 120 years. The judgment of the flood also took place. However, the problem arose after that; the central figure of Noah was to unite his family. Especially Ham, who stood in the central position within Noah’s family, should have become one with his father Noah. However, he was not able to do so. Ham was to inherit the victory Noah brought in setting the foundation of faith and was to become the central figure to establish the foundation of substance, but he was not able to reach that position.
In this way, central figures were victorious in establishing the foundation of faith, but failed in the foundation of substance. There are countless cases throughout history.
The case of Jacob and Esau was one of the rare cases of victory. However, it was the same in Moses’ course. Moses established the foundation of faith, but Moses and the people of Israel were not able to become one. Therefore, Moses’ course unfortunately lasted several decades.
It was the same with Jesus 2,000 years ago. Jesus established the foundation of faith towards God. However, Jesus and John the Baptist were not able to become one. After John’s failure, Jesus’ disciples were also not able to become one with Jesus. In short, Cain figures were not able to unite with Abel and failed, which led to Jesus having to go the way of the cross.
It is the same with True Parents. Father and Mother, both, established their foundations of faith towards the Heavenly Parent. If we had become one with the True Parents, we could have accelerated the providence. However, the more we were not able to unite with them, the more the providence was prolonged and delayed.
With this, I would like to analyze a little more about of the qualities of the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. The foundation of faith is where a corresponding figure establishes faith that is absolute and unwavering before God, the Heavenly Parent. Accordingly, if this corresponding figure is able to bring victory in the battle of setting this vertical type of faith and establishes this vertical type of faith directly, he or she will be victorious in establishing the foundation of faith.
However, both Abel and Cain are relative in the foundation of substance. It is the same in our church organization. Both the central figures, that are the church leaders, and the following members are, unfortunately, not yet complete.
Even the church leaders have fallen nature. Members, too. Since both have fallen nature, it is like magnets repelling each other. If they do, there is no way they can become one and establish the foundation of substance. Sadly, there have been brothers and sisters that have stumbled over words that were said carelessly by certain church leaders, and have left this path.
Some of the members that have left may have been young in terms of faith, but the pastors, who said certain things and acted in certain ways that lead to them leaving, also carry some of the blame. So the pastors, as well as the members, are both not complete. They both carry fallen nature.
Therefore, in many instances, an exchange of harsh words obstructs the way towards Cain and Abel becoming one. We cannot deny the Heavenly Parent, the principle, or True Parents. We can believe in them. That is not where people struggle with. However, members may have a hard time believing in the pastors or church leaders who should be True Parents’ representatives. They don’t understand them. They don’t respect them. So unfortunately, their relationship with church leaders is one of the causes that lead to members losing their eternal life. These heartistic struggles with church leaders are also the cause of members following the lure and enticement of the different faction groups. This is reality.
Therefore, I would like to repeat, the path of one’s life of faith begins with the foundation of faith, but the real battle is fought in the foundation of substance.
In other words, establishing the foundation of substance, in one regard, is much more difficult than establishing the foundation of faith. The reason, I just mentioned, is that all human beings, or the central figures, need to do is completely believe in God, who will never betray human beings, and the foundation of faith would be established.
However, the foundation of substance requires another person. That other person is not an absolute entity like God. He or she also carries fallen nature. Both figures carry fallen nature, and when they judge each other, unity between Cain and Abel can never be formed. However, if they both are able to forgive each other, and complement each other, what would happen? In order to become one, they both need to forgive and come out victorious in this struggle between horizontal love.
In other words, the foundation of faith is a battle of faith while the foundation of substance is a battle of love. However, both parties are not yet complete. They both have fallen nature. An imperfect Abel needs to love an imperfect Cain and they both need to surrender naturally. We all need to become people that can practice mutual respect.
Just as there is a path that Abel must follow, Cain must also follow his path. This horizontal human relationship is a battle of love. Without being victorious in this battle, we will not reach the foundation to receive the messiah, and we will not be able to unite with True Parents in the truest sense.
When visiting different churches, I can easily sense how united, or not, the leaders and members are, with the vibe that each church has. Those that are united will naturally grow and develop.
The leaders in those churches take care of the members, and the members cherish the leaders. If the relationship between the leaders and members is one where they both naturally practice mutual respect and love each other, Cain and Abel will become one and these churches will definitely grow.
In that regard, I would like to mention that the ultimate goal of this path is to become one with God. However, we can only reach God through the True Parents. Otherwise, we would not be able to understand God clearly, nor His will, His heart, and His hope. In that sense, we need to become one with True Parents.
However, in order to become one with True Parents, we need to become one with our Abel figures, who are closer to True Parents. Through them, we need to clearly know about True Parents.
Let me repeat; we need to be victorious in both aspects: the foundation of faith and foundation of substance. This means being victorious in the vertical battle of faith and the horizontal battle of human relations. These two conditions are also required in becoming victorious families that can register into Cheonbo.
The donations for ancestor liberation: this is the vertical condition for raising donations for ancestor liberation and blessing.
The other condition is the horizontal one of establishing the foundation of 430 families. This is the battle of love in making spiritual children. So, we need to bring victory in the battle of faith, which is to offer the condition of all things for the sake of the ancestor liberation and blessing; and to establish the foundation of 430 families. We would not be able to become victorious families that can register into Cheonbo without the victory of love, especially the foundation of 43 core families.
So this path requires the victory of faith and the victory of love; we need to be victorious in both battles. We need to establish our faith towards the Heavenly Parent and the True Parents. At the same time, Cain and Abel need to become one centered on the Heavenly Parent and True Parents, which is the victory of love.
We need to become one with Abel in our organization. We need Cain to become one within the organization. At the same time, we need the realm of tribal-ship, the eternal Cain realm, to become one. The Cain realm includes our friends, acquaintances, and tribes, which are our witnessing candidates. We need to unite our Cain realms.
We also need to establish the foundation of 43 families, or the foundation of spiritual children, and the foundation of 430 families in order to become victorious families that can register into Cheonbo. When we bring victory in these foundations, we will be allowed registration into Cheonbo.
Ultimately, this path requires us to be victorious in centering ourselves around the Heavenly Parent and True Parents. It also requires the victory of Cain and Abel becoming one. These two victories together are the core of bringing victory in the providence of restoration. They are also the key to the providence of restoration.
Please take note of the message given today, and I hope you can overcome all the trials Satan throws at you in your lives of faith. Please be victorious in establishing the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance so that you can become victorious families that can register into Cheonbo.
Please do not be misled by the other faction groups. In order to know the Heavenly Parent more clearly, please become one with the True Parents. In order to know the True Parents more clearly, please become one with your Abel figures before you. I ask that you please be victorious in centering yourselves and becoming one with each other.
That will be all. Thank you.
