To all of the members, family members, and blessed families of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification of the Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community, good day.
We are nearing the end of June. Originally, if True Father had been alive, he would have declared Foundation Day together with True Mother on January 13th, 2013. Unfortunately, True Father ascended on September 3rd, 2012 and wasn’t able to do so. Therefore, in his stead, True Mother declared Foundation Day on January 13th, 2013 and has walked the 7-year course towards the objective of Vision 2020.
And this past winter on February 6th, internally families that could register into Cheonbo appeared on Earth. With this condition and the condition of restoring 7 nations—with these two conditions having been carried out, the foundation of the victorious realm was laid and the firm establishment of Cheon Il Guk was proclaimed.
Of course, with the grandchildren of the True Family, Moon Shin-chul nim and Moon Shin-heung nim, having been blessed, it is undeniable that a major internal foundation was laid for the firm establishment of Cheon Il Guk.
In July 2020, that 7-year course will conclude, and from this year until 2027, True Mother has laid out a new 7-year course for the firm establishment of Heavenly Unified World—the firm establishment of Cheon Il Guk.
In order to start this new 7-year course, we need to climb a new mountain. In order to do that, we first need to descend from the mountain we are currently on. In the past, True Father repeatedly mentioned that reshuffling personnel will help people grow. Each time leaders changed positions, he would say the following words, which I vividly recall.
He said, “If a leader who is standing on the peak of a small hill further seeks to climb a taller mountain both internally and externally, if that person decides to stand at a higher point and become a greater leader…” In other words, True Father is saying they need to climb a higher peak from the lower peak. He is saying, there is no cableway in life. According to Father, he said, “Once you decide to climb a higher peak from a lower peak, you first need to descend from where you stand. You need to descend to the valley or foot of the taller mountain before beginning your ascent once more.”
However as you all know, the taller the mountain, the deeper the valley. Then we can start anew. So, if we decide we want to stand at a higher point (in life), we need to aim for a greater realm of victory. If we aim for higher goals and want to be victorious, we first need to descend to the valley. With this in mind, we need to reflect and repent for our shortcomings of the previous 7-year course, and go back to the source of our faith as we look towards climbing the new mountain.
On this note, I would like to genuinely give you this sermon called, “Return to the Source of Our Faith.”
I would like to talk about three points in this sermon.
First, my own life of faith has become quite extensive. I joined in 1971, so in terms of length, it has been nearly 50 years.
As I look back on the past 50 years, I met a lot of my seniors, colleagues, and my juniors. Even now, many of them are dedicating themselves. However, some of the leaders who I had truly respected and admired, unfortunately, could not overcome some of the trials they faced in life and gave up half-way: some simply left the church while others unfortunately joined the other groups.
As I observe my seniors, colleagues, and juniors, there is one lesson I really feel that is a core point in a life of faith. That is the “trial of a lack of love.” No matter how great a leader may be, overcoming this trial is no easy feat.
As you all know, even the Archangel Lucifer, dealt with a lack of love, and in order to bury that hole within his heart, he sought his own happiness and approached Eve, which was unprincipled. With unprincipled love, he seduced Eve and ultimately fell with her. In the end, even Adam fell through Eve, and the True Parents of humanity, which they were to become, were lost. So, a lack of love was Lucifer’s downfall.
Then, where does a lack of love come from? When you think about it, it originates from making comparisons.
Until the creation of Adam and Eve, Lucifer had monopolized God’s love and truly stood in a position of receiving blessings: Lucifer was the one bound to God’s love. However, after Adam and Eve were created, God loved them above all else, and as Lucifer saw this, he felt an extreme lack of love.
Of course, making comparisons is not good, nor evil. The Divine Principle states that desire, itself, is neither good, nor evil.
The motivation or intent determines whether a desire is good or bad. When a desire is manifested through selfish motivations or intents, it becomes bad or even evil. However, when desires are manifested with a righteous intent and motivation, people can make progress and grow righteously through those desires. Therefore desire, itself, is neither good, nor evil.
In like manner, just making comparisons is neither good, nor evil. Look at the 100-meter race. You may think you could improve your personal time by running just by yourself, by that is not so. You need to compare yourself, preferably, to top runners such as Usain Bolt, and then you will see improvements in your time. Therefore, just making comparisons is neither good, nor evil. For example, there is something called, “friendly-competition” (where you compare your skills with others.)
In any case, when people succeed after measuring themselves against others, they will gain confidence, happiness, and even glory. They can even become enraptured in joy, or even audacious. The problem is when people lose. Are they able to accept the loss? If they are able to genuinely say something like, “I’ll do better next time,” then there is no problem at all. However, some people begrudge and act out with jealousy towards the winner; perhaps they may attempt to sabotage that winner’s efforts. Some people become envious of successful people or people who are happy and give them a hard time because of their jealousy. Some people have an extreme inferiority complex with low self-esteem. They may blame themselves, which comes from comparing themselves with others, and they may fall into self-despair. In the worst case, they may even take their own lives. There are countless problems, such as these, in the world.
For us followers of faith, making comparisons has been prohibited in our lives of faith. A life of faith has generally been about facing Heaven and developing a relationship between “me and Heaven,” or “my family and Heaven.” It doesn’t ask us to divert our eyes and compare ourselves with others.
This means that the amount of indemnity or karma that an individual or family has to bear is completely different from others. The amount of indemnity depends on the environment where they grew up, the family environment and also what we have inherited from our ancestors in history. Accordingly, the amount of indemnity, or karma, differs per person.
For example, some people just seem to be blessed with good luck, while others may feel they can’t even catch a break. Some of you may have seen other members receive the blessing, bear many children, and realize a happy family, while you struggled with your own blessing. Perhaps, some of you haven’t struggled with your blessing, but have had a hard time having children. Or, some families may have lost a loved one in a traffic accident, or to an illness such as cancer. Comparisons are endless, so we wouldn’t be able to make sense of life just by comparing our lives with others’.
In that regard, the first point I’d like to make today is that the fundamental principle to a life of faith is not to compare. We should consistently look towards Heaven and True Parents.
If you compare your life horizontally with others, your emotions will swing back and forth, and you may end up feeling extreme lack of love, which is never beneficial to a life of faith. So, comparing your situation with others’ can lead to extreme lack of love, and from there, jealousy, resentment, and even content can come about. That is not good for anybody.
As the Bible mentions, a stumbling stone is never a big block.
When we look back on the path we’ve taken towards the will, not many people leave after stumbling upon the Principle. Not many people leave after stumbling upon the True Parents.
What, or who, do they stumble on? They struggle with their superiors, their close Abel figures, their church leaders, or close women representatives. They may struggle in human relations with a church brother or sister. These struggles ultimately lead to people losing faith in the church, or the church institution. There are countless members who have lost their faith this way.
Accordingly, the reason for members leaving or even joining the other groups begins from a small stumbling block. There is nothing we could do if their reason for leaving were due to a distrust in the Principle or the True Parents.
For me, I haven’t seen many people who’ve left this eternal path towards the will. But what they struggle with is their relationship with other brothers and sisters; they struggle with their superiors; they struggle with something that was spoken carelessly in church. There are members who have actually lost their eternal life this way.
Therefore, we must once again, focus our attention on the Heavenly Parent and True Parents. This is fundamental in our life of faith. When we start comparing ourselves with others, we begin to feel a lack of love and even low self-esteem, discontent, or resentment. To avoid this from happening, please refrain from making comparisons.
In those moments when we feel a lack of love, redirect your attention towards the Heavenly Parent and True Parents. We need to remain in that realm of heart.
When we see successful people or those that are happy, we need to share the joy of their happiness and success from our hearts. On the flip side, when we see people caught in despair—for example, people struggling with an illness, people who’ve been in an accident, people who struggle with physical disabilities—when we see people struggling, what do you think is necessary to help them as a brother or sister in the truest sense?
Unless we place ourselves in the realm of heart of a parent, we would never be able to share the pain that a brother or sister goes through. Also, without placing ourselves in the realm of heart of a parent, it would unfortunately be difficult for us share the joy of those that are happy and successful.
In that regard, we need to “keep our focus on the Heavenly Parent and True Parents, as ultimately, that is where our faith lies, and they are the alpha and omega of our lives of faith.” Please understand this point. By reaching the heart of parents, the heart of God, the heart of the Heavenly Parent, and the parental heart of the True Parents, we would be able to share the joy produced from the success and happiness of our brothers and sisters, as well as, empathize with their pain and sorrow. We would be able to understand them in the truest sense. Let us help each other so we can all become owners of this kind of realm of heart. That was the first point.
Second, I would like to share two Bible verses with your. The first verse is from the Gospel of Luke chapter 7 verses 36 to 50. The other verse is from the Gospel of John chapter 21 verses 15 to 19. Due to time restraints, I will not be able to read them.
But the first Bible verse I wanted to share in Luke chapter 7 verses 36 to 50 states, it states,
“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”
At that moment, the surrounding Pharisees or even Jesus’ disciples must have felt some kind of disgust and probably said things like, “Why would Jesus allow such a sinful woman to touch his feet?”
Jesus then replies to a question asked by Simon Peter.
“Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
“Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown.”
This means that you will show love equal to the extent you were forgiven, so the more you have been forgiven, the more you will love the Messiah, the more you will love the Savior, and the more you will love the Second Advent of Christ.
I understand this Bible verse to be one of the core teachings regarding the starting point of faith.
In other words, we all joined this path towards the will: we joined the Unification Church or the Family Federation. We also encountered our True Parents. By meeting them, we have been saved from being sinners. We have learnt the Principle, come to know about the True Parents, and have truly received salvation through the grace of the blessing. The deeper the extent of our salvation, the deeper our gratitude is towards our True Parents, and our admiration towards them gushes out internally. Therefore, we would be able to love the True Parents even more.
As we are set to begin the new 7-year course, please truly ask yourselves, “To what extent have I been saved by following this path?” I feel now is the opportune time to clear our hearts on this matter.
I hope that you can revisit how much you have been saved by choosing to follow this path. I hope that we can once again realize the grace we have received. Please reconfirm that, and remember that the more we can feel we have been saved, the more we need to love our True Parents.
Next, I would like to share the third point, and that is, what we can do to love our True Parents even further. In regards to loving True Parents, I would like to point out two things.
We say, “Love True Parents.” But what does it mean to love True Parents? If we think about what we need to do in order to love True Parents, the first thing is to “love the word.” The word is the fruit of our True Parents’ blood, sweat, and tears. It is the record of their victory in their heroic battle with Satan. The word is also the backbone of our lives. The Divine Principle explains how we can “come to God through the divine spirit and the truth.”
Therefore, the word provides life for us to reach God: it is a guide or manual that leads us towards the correct and original way of life. We need to learn and incorporate the word into our lives. In this sense, I would like to recommend three works of the word.
The first of the word is none other than the Three Great Scriptures of Cheon Il Guk. I would like to ask everyone to study the words in the Three Great Scriptures of Cheon Il Guk.
This piece of work includes words from True Father and True Mother. Even if you dissect it, you can find many of Father’s historic speeches, so I recommend everyone to read this work.
Next, True Mother has become the ultimate figure in bearing the providence on earth, especially since Father’s ascension. Therefore, depending on the time and place, Mother has given us providential speeches. So, secondly, I would like to mention how crucial it is to study these providential words given by Mother.
This may be even more crucial than becoming one with Mother. It is extremely important to understand her words as it will allow you to understand Mother’s heart, situation, and hope.
The third piece of work is what was published recently, and that is True Mother’s biography. Many members and even leaders who’ve read her biography have shared how they they hadn’t known anything about Mother.
Here is a quote from one testimony.
“True Father’s presence was so great that when he was on Earth, when we heard ‘True Mother,’ we felt her dedication of helping Father as dutiful wife. I had this kind of image of Mother, but I did not really know much about her.
“Through her biography, I’ve come to truly understand the existence of True Mother. Just as Heaven prepared for Father’s coming, so, too, did it prepare for Mother’s coming. Only through reading the biography have I come to know that they were guided to meet each other.”
Many other testimonies express the same feeling.
Therefore, in order to fully understand Heaven’s Only Begotten Daughter, that is True Mother, and to understand her in the correct way, as well as entrench the correct meaning of True Parentship and True Begotten Daughtership within yourselves, please read Mother’s biography. I ask this of you.
And we need to witness. Please read Mother’s biography. Please read the providential words given by Mother. Please also read Father’s words in the Three Great Scriptures of Cheon Il Guk. With these words we need to declare and convey True Parents to all of humanity.
Going back to the second Bible verse I would like to share and that is John chapter 21 verses 15 to 19.
Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
Jesus asks this three times: “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Each time, Simon replies, “Yes, I do,” in which Jesus tells him, “Then, take care of my sheep.”
So in other words, to love True Parents means we need to take care of their sheep.
That is we need to increase spiritual children. We need to establish children through witnessing. This is the Heavenly Parent and True Parents’ sincere hope towards us: to love True Parents means to love their spiritual children. So ultimately, we need to love the True Parents’ spiritual children. We may think they are “our” spiritual children, but in fact, they are the spiritual children of True Parents. To love the spiritual children was Jesus’ hope 2,000 years ago, and it is also the sincerest hope of our True Parents.
Therefore, currently in the Heavenly Japan, we are strongly encouraging each blessed family to purchase 43 copies of True Mother’s biography and witness to 43 families.
So please utilize True Mother’s biography. It is no exaggeration to say that it will accomplish amazing feats and that it is Heaven’s ultimate weapon. It is truly a remarkable witnessing tool that has destructive capabilities in a good sense. Please utilize Mother’s biography to its fullest, and please witness to 43 families so that you may establish 43 spiritual children as quickly as possible.
In Japan, we have finally reached 200 victorious families that can register into Cheonbo. This was the first step towards Mother’s hope of 2,000 victorious families from Japan. Mother’s hope is to offer 2,000 families from Japan to Heaven, who have completely fulfilled 430 vertical and horizontal families, reached the donation target symbolizing the number 210, and have passed the screening for registering into Cheonbo.
We are still only a tenth of that goal, which is regrettable, but efforts are definitely being made nationwide towards reaching 2,000 families.
In the previous message, I share a testimony from an 1800 couple and how they achieved the donation target.
Just the other day, we received a testimony from a wife of a 777 family about how she was deeply inspired after reading Mother’s biography. She has been taking care of several VIPs and she managed to distribute 98 copies of the biography. So she is currently witnessing passionately to those VIPs.
She was truly inspired after reading the biography and she has translated that energy to establish more spiritual children at all cost. By doing so, she is even witnessing to 43 families which include spiritual grandchildren. Hopefully, she can also bring victory in establishing 430 vertical families and I hope she can become a victorious family that can register into Cheonbo.
Once again, I have talked about three points to return to the source of our faith. The first is to overcome a lack of love. In order to do so, the fundamental principle in a life of faith is don’t compare yourself with others. We need to focus on the Heavenly Parent and True Parents: don’t over-compare yourself with others.
The second point is that we need relish the feeling of salvation once more. So, we need to love True Parents and answer their call to the extent of our salvation. To love True Parents means to love their word.
For the third point, in order to love True Parents we need to establish spiritual children, much like what Jesus told Simon Peter 2,000 years ago. It means witness. It means to testify about True Parents to as many people as possible.
Today, I spoke about these three points. I hope that you can truly accept the hopes of our True Parents and bring dramatic results—results that are two, even three times greater—so that we can firmly realize the foundation for national and world salvation.
Let us do our best in bringing victory to 2,000 victorious families that can register into Cheonbo.
Let us all do our best. That will be all.
