Until now, the church has been in the age of individual salvation. From now on, it is the providential age of family salvation centering on blessed families. When families become united, we will cross into the providence of tribal salvation and the providential age of national salvation. When a tribe receives the blessing, that tribe receives salvation. If a nation receives the blessing, it will enter the age where that nation can receive salvation. It is ascend into another dimension. Therefore, the (providential) age of (and centered on) the church will pass away.
May 1, 1997
The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (Unification Church) was founded in 1954 to shoulder the mission of Christianity of becoming one with the Lord of the Second Advent and fulfilling the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
With the aim of liberating the youth, who were being corrupted, and unifying the religions mired in conflict, and above all, confronting the spread of the God-denying, communist ideology that was spreading around the world, we sent missionaries to Japan, the United States, and other parts of the world to promote solidarity in the liberal world.
In 1958, a missionary was sent to Japan. Through that missionary’s efforts, the first service was held in 1959, and the Unification Church was born in Japan.
For the next sixty-three years, many of our senior members went on pioneering missions, shouting out the new truth of the Unification Principle on the streets, under the banner of “saving the nation and world.” They left their beloved families in their hometowns and risked their lives on a one-way ticket to pioneer and witness. It was exactly the kind of walk that Jesus described in the following words.
He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
Matthew 10:37-39
The age of the Unification Church was truly an age of historical indemnity and a period of separating from Satan, which spanned 40 years. It can be said that it was an age in which we pushed forward our whole lives, only adoring the Heavenly Parent (God) and True Parents.
It was a period of time where we had to hide the pain in our hearts, which longed for our beloved family members and relatives that we had left behind, and we had to go through the path of submission, the path of indemnifying love, which Satan could not overcome. True Parents had to drive their children into the wilderness, and they shed tears that held all the pain carried by the Heavenly Parent, as well as the pain of the families that had to leave behind their children.
After forty years of that age of indemnity, True Parents proclaimed the “arrival of the age of the Family Federation,” and in the forty-third year, they instructed the whole world to change the name of the Unification Church.
The firm establishment of families must be the highest goal of religion. Once the families are firmly established, the name of religion must be dropped. That is why on April 8, 1997, I said to remove the title of “The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity” and from April 10, 1997, to use the name “Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.” It is the firm establishment of the family.
May 13, 2002
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)The family is where God’s love takes root; it is the base where we grow our selves and experience all of the emotions associated with love through the four great hearts. We have entered the providential age of family salvation, rather than an age of individual salvation. From the perspective of going through the age where we had to sacrifice our beloved families and relatives and walk with our eyes fixed on the Heavenly Parent and True Parents, this is like a “thunderbolt out of the blue” as we have entered an age of great change.
Even though we all heard God’s words, we have not been able to deepen our understanding of True Parent’s heart, nor were we able to fully accept the words in our hearts.
We had to face, love, and share the pain of our families and relatives who had suffered great heartache during the 40-year indemnity age, and together we had to bring them before Heavenly Parent and True Parents. No, rather, we had to have them welcome True Parents by being their familial and tribal messiahs; we had to plant the roots of the traditions set in the age of individual salvation in our families and tribes.
We have to reflect on the 25 years since then and realize that we did not fully understand True Parents’ hopes and heaven’s providence correctly, and that we did not fully transform the values of the age of individual salvation toward the providential age of family salvation. We must work towards building fundamental church reforms.
True Mother told Japan to not only know God, but become a country that can serve God. With that, she gave us the title of “Heavenly Japan.” The foundation for this is truly the family. We must build “heavenly families” and “heavenly tribes” that serve God.
Let us become brothers and sisters who are dedicated to the Heavenly Parent, who establish a tradition of filial piety, and let us fulfill the cultural innovations appropriate to the providential age of family salvation.
