Members of the clergy from around the world and members of the American clergy with ACLC, I give you my warmest greetings as we celebrate this first anniversary of WCLC.
Today, we are at a point in time when we must welcome the truth of God’s dispensation and a new era. Just as the Bible says, new wine must be put into new wineskins.
Throughout the world today, serious problems that words cannot describe are arising. Most notably, as the coronavirus continues to spread, we face a situation where face-to-face communication is all but stopped. Even in such a situation, both God’s desire and the desire of all people is to see a unified world.
I would like to speak about the truth of God’s providence, therefore. I have called upon you to become the righteous people of this time.
Our Creator wanted to realize His dream on earth together with humankind.
For this reason, He gave human beings a responsibility to accomplish in life. His desire was for us to grow our hearts well and perfect our love, then live together with Him, our Creator. Yet, Adam and Eve, the first human ancestors, were unable to do this, and they made a world that in the present time has no relationship with God.
The Creator is eternal. Everything He created is also eternal. Looking from this perspective, God had no other recourse than to carry out the providence of salvation—which He wished he did not have to do. We know how difficult that history has been, one example being the 4,000-year history of the people of Israel.
In keeping with those times, God sent His central figures and prophets, and promised to send the Messiah. But how difficult this process must have been that it took God 4,000 years! There was a time when the Israelites were held in slavery in Egypt and gained their freedom through Moses. Heaven guided the Israelites with the miracles of the pillar of cloud and pillar of fire.
The Israelites had to travel to Canaan. Why, then, did they have to waste 40 years in the wilderness? This was the result of their being unable to unite with the central figure—with whom unity was an absolute necessity.
In other words, they lacked a sense of ownership of their position as the people of Israel. Even so, after 4,000 years, God sent the Savior, the Messiah, through these people. He said, “This is my son, my Only Begotten Son.” Why would God send His Son to us?
At that time, as central people in God’s providence, Mother Mary and the religious leaders had key responsibilities. Yet they were unable to complete those responsibilities. As a result, Jesus had no footing on which to stand. He had no option but to go the way of the cross; yet he promised to return.
Jesus said he would come again to conduct the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The early followers waited for Jesus based on his promise to return, and that was the beginning of Christianity. However, they did not know the true essence of Jesus, nor the Creator’s ideal for humankind.
Christianity began through the apostles, but during a long period of practicing the faith, the emphasis on a more human-centered system of faith led to many problems. As Christ had said he would return based on Christianity, God allowed the Reformation to occur.
Martin Luther began the Reformation and John Calvin brought it to fruition. At the same time as Luther published his 95 theses, and they were sent to Rome, he was speaking about the oppression of people’s faith. The Protestant Church began from this point.
In those days, the Puritans in Europe were longing for the freedom of faith by which they could freely worship God. This led them to set out for the new world where they could express their faith freely.
In 1620 they journeyed to America, and the very first thing they did was build a chapel where they could worship God. Then for the education of future generations they built a school. Only after this did they build their own homes.
This is to say, the starting point of the United States was people’s resolve to build a nation that served God. That is why we see the statement “In God We Trust” even on American money today. The United States, however, has encountered a lot of storms during the 400 years of its history.
With the formation of the Northern Presbyterian movement in connection with Canada, pastors, elders, deacons and believers of the Presbyterian Church movement were able to attend God more freely than they could under the Catholic Church in earlier times. On that basis, many pastors began going out to the world.
During that time, in Korea, the Presbyterian Church in Pyongyang saw explosive growth under God’s providence. It was then that Christianity stood in the position to see God’s promised fulfillment of the providence. Jesus Christ, whom all humanity was waiting for, had said he would come again and conduct the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. The birth of the counterpart of the returning Lord was to happen 400 years after Calvin’s exhortation for reformation in 1543: God’s Only Begotten Daughter was born in 1943.
God’s providence is mysterious. Korean Christianity, and Korea itself, became divided between north and south at the beginning of the Cold War, right after World War II. It was a division between communism and democracy. Democracy in South Korea was still developing. North Korea, however, was fully ready, preparing to invade the South. Korea was liberated in 1945 and the Korean War broke out in 1950. Yet there is evidence that God was with us.
The Korean War was indeed a holy war in which God was present. After that, in 1960, True Parents’ advent took place. Many countries that had been under colonial rule, particularly those in Africa, became independent and were liberated.
Through the advent of the True Parents on earth that made possible the realization of humanity’s hopes and Heavenly Parent’s dream, all people have become brothers and sisters under these True Parents. Because of this, nations must no longer rule over others.
In the situation where God’s providence did not have the support of the Christian foundation, True Parents’ path over the past 60 years has been like a course through the wilderness. Even so, as we are the Parents, we have done our best, and thus we have nurtured many blessed families around the world.
Only through the True Parents can humanity return to God, our Creator. By this I mean that people need to be born again through True Parents; that is, through the process of the Marriage Blessing, under God our Creator. God is the Heavenly Parent of humankind. And for 60 years True Parents have been widening the road so that people can become the children of Heavenly Parent.
And yet, the 7.8 billion people of the world still do not know about these Parents, for whose coming Heavenly Parent had longed and whom all people need to meet and discover. It is all of you, particularly religious leaders in America and throughout the world, that must let people know about True Parents, and lead everyone to become Heavenly Parent’s children. You have the responsibility to embrace and guide all people with one united heart.
When you fulfill that responsibility it will create a new history. As I have mentioned, new wine should be put into new wineskins. I am saying that God will be with us only when we let go of everything of the past that has human-centered origins and advance to a position that focuses on True Parents and our Heavenly Parent.
I would like to say this: We have come to know the urgent heart with which God has been waiting. Notably, everything that has happened this year is a warning from God that there is no more time. In particular, in celebrating this 400-year milestone in its history, America must regain its original founding spirit.
The United States must not become a nation wherein our Heavenly Parent can no longer dwell. God blessed the United States and made it a powerful nation in front of the world so that He could embrace all of its 7.8 billion people.
We must no longer allow God and True Parents’ hard work to be in vain. Right after World War II, the United States’ victory brought tremendous hope to the free world. The United States must uphold God; yet this nation has forgotten God, and when it acted with pride so many problems arose.
Family breakdown, juvenile delinquency, drug problems and sexual immorality were signs of the impending collapse of the Roman Empire, whose roads once stretched out to the world. When these same signs of breakdown arose in America, because we are the True Parents we moved to the United States and, for almost forty years, continuously invested our effort there.
We clung on to God, who was at the point of leaving America, and implored Him to give that nation another chance to fulfill its responsibility. In those days, as we walked the streets of Manhattan, our tears did not stop falling. At that time, a lot of young people in the United States—even hippies—followed True Parents, and we began to write a new history.
They matured in their love, and in 1975 many went out as missionaries to the world. Among these, many are still continuing to take responsibility in their mission countries. As people who deeply understand Heavenly Parent’s heart and understand True Parents, they continue to labor until this day with the resolve to become sons and daughters who fulfill Heavenly Parent’s dream, even until their very last breath.
America today, which God has blessed, must, through fulfilling its responsibility and bearing results, be able to write a new history. Hence, I would like to say the following: Please forgive the American politicians and create unity. The United States can maintain its existence only through harmony and unity. God has been waiting for the United States, the nation He blessed, to stand in a position wherein it can fulfill its responsibility.
Therefore, speaking to all pastors, members of the clergy in America and throughout the world: There are many religions in our world today. And all these faiths have one purpose; they all share the same will to serve and attend the Absolute Being, our Creator.
Hence, I sincerely hope that you will let people know properly about our Creator, and work to realize a world of peace wherein all people live in unity as one family of humankind, One Great Family under our Heavenly Parent. Please raise your voices and work together. I give you my blessing for this.
