On August 4, the “Commemorative Ceremony for the 34th Chil Il Jeol and 28th Chil Pal Jeol” was held at the Shoto Headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo. This message is a summary of President Tomihiro Tanaka’s commemorative speech delivered at the ceremony.
Editorial Department
10 year period from 1991 to 2001: the providence underwent a major shift
Today, I would like to take a moment to look back on the ten years between 1991, when Chil Il Jeol was enacted, and 2001. In heaven’s providence, that decade or so was a great turning point and an important time. We must reflect carefully on those days and see how much we were able to reciprocate with its meaning.
First, heavenly tribal messiahship began in earnest during those ten years. It was mentioned in the explanation about Chil Il Jeol, which was just read. It was in 1991 where heavenly tribal messiahship started out as an age where children take responsibility.
Second, those ten years marked the beginning of the age of liberating women centering on True Mother. Accordingly, Mother came to the forefront of the providence.
Third, it was an age of great transformation regarding the providence, centering on the value of the family.
I would like to discuss these three points with you.
Originally, the twenty-one years since True Parents’ Holy Wedding was the age of parents’ responsibility, and from 1981 it has been said to be (the age of) children’s responsibility, and Ye Jin nim’s blessing also took place.
The slogan for the year 1981 was “Home Church is My Heaven.” The phrase “home church” was used in the yearly slogan for five consecutive years. In other words, the focus of the providence was to bring victory in home church through the children taking responsibility.
The slogan for the year 1980 was “Home Church is Heaven’s Base,” and the year before that in 1979, it was “Perfection of Heaven through Home Church.” In 1982, it was “Victory of Home Church,” and the following year in 1983, it was “Home Church is Our Settlement.”
After that, True Parents’ activities suddenly had to shift towards Danbury. The term “home church” has disappeared from New Year slogans since 1984.
We reflected a lot on the home church providence and also repented a lot.
Originally, before loving and witnessing to the Abel realm—that is one’s own family and clan/tribe— one must first love and preach the word to the Cain realm. In principle, one is not able to witness to the family and clan/tribe without bringing victory (in the Cain realm). Therefore, it was the home church, the providence of establishing 360 home churches, that was to allow us to witness to the Cain realm.
I believe that True Father’s words given in those days are completely appropriate for the providence of the heavenly tribal messiahship that we are currently working on today.
One of his messages is truly helpful in our current efforts that are based on regionalization and heavenly tribal messiahship, as it informs us on what kind of spirit we must have to promote “home church” in conjunction with the regional strategy.
In the home church providence, no family attained the desired bar set by heaven, and therefore, True Family had to bear this huge Cross.
Then, after Heung-jin nim’s seonghwa and True Father’s Danbury imprisonment, there was the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where True Parents established a great realm of victory for heaven. Based on those sacrifices and the grace from that realm of victory, the providence transformed, allowing us, the children, to love and witness to our tribes—in other words, the families of the Abel realm. It was even said that “from now on, we don’t have to witness to people other than our families and relatives.”
We were not able to welcome the age of heavenly tribal messiahship because we established the victorious standard ourselves. True Parents took the path of indemnity in our stead and established the realm of victory. As a result, we were allowed to enter the age where we could love our families.
In this way, in 1991, the age of responsibility for the children once again began in earnest, and a great decree was issued to bring victory in heavenly tribal messiahship.
The beginning of the age of liberating women centered on Mother and the providence of heavenly tribal messiahship
Another important point from those 10 years is that we have entered the age of liberating women centered on True Mother. On July 1, 1991, the Chil Il Jeol (Declaration Day of the Victory of God’s Eternal Blessing) ceremony was held.
On the 15th of the month prior to that, the Declaration of Gomyeong (a final decree of a king leaves for his subjects before passing away) was made in Canada. This was done where four women representing Japan were called centering on True Mother. True Father reaffirmed Japan’s mission of becoming one with Mother and declared that it was time for her to take the lead.
Then in 1992, the Women’s Federation for World Peace set sail. Centering on True Mother, a new start was made for the age of liberating women.
In 1993, the 33rd anniversary of True Parents’ Holy Wedding, the Completed Testament Age was proclaimed. Indeed, it was only with True Parents’ Holy Wedding that the Completed Testament Age was proclaimed. At that time, True Father said that the number 33 means the number of completion.
Then came 1994. This was the end of the 40-year wilderness course and the end of the age of indemnity.
The age of the Unification Church concluded, giving rise to the age of the Family Federation. With it, “My Pledge” was replaced by the “Family Pledge”. At the same time, hometown restoration was proclaimed, and all of us were to return to our hometowns and become tribal messiahs at the same time.
Until then, the providence had been based on the individual, but True Parents greatly promoted a providence based on the family, the clan, and the community.
Looking back, this was an important turning point in heaven’s providence.
In 1995, True Father entered South America in earnest. He began to move the world providence with True Mother at the forefront.
The spirit world also began to move greatly from that time. On January 19, 1995, the works of separating from (evil) spirits began in Cheongpyeong, Korea.
It was in the midst of this movement that the Chil Pal Jeol was proclaimed in 1997. The Chil Pal Jeol was proclaimed on the seventh day of the seventh month of the Heavenly Calendar, which was August 9.
Until August 8, the day before the proclamation, True Mother had been holding the “True Family Practical Leaders’ Convention in Korea for World Peace and Unification.” The proclamation for Chil Pal Jeol was made based on this victory by Mother.
Thus, we can see that in the 90s, True Mother’s movements and the Victory Proclamations made by True Parents were done in unison.
Furthermore, while True Parents were developing heaven’s providence based on the value of the family, hoondokhae started in 1997.
On February 12, 1999, the ancestor liberation for seven generations in our direct lineage began.
Until then, the ancestor liberation and blessing for True Family had been done, but it was from that day that the ancestor liberation began for our blessed families. With this, a stream was established where all of spirit world could be completely liberated.
About forty days later, on March 21, the day of Satan’s complete surrender was proclaimed. With the start of the providence of liberating our ancestors in the spirit world, Satan lost his future.
Then, on June 14 when the 37th True Day of All Things was celebrated, True Mother received an award from True Father during the Congratulatory Declaration of True Parents’ Cosmic Victory. Father honored Mother’s victory, and Mother received an award plaque from Father.
True Father spoke about the Congratulatory Declaration of True Parents’ Cosmic Victory in the following way.
True Mother won a supreme victory over the highest level of Satan’s world. She entered into this position based upon the recognition by God, Satan and all people that she had fulfilled her responsibility as the True Mother. Starting with Christianity, she has gone beyond the realm of religion and has achieved victory. She can therefore occupy and act from the precious position of Eve whose mistake in front of Adam has been restored. I will proclaim this to heaven and earth. Therefore, I will publicly recognize Mother’s achievement at the “Ceremony for Proclaiming and Celebrating True Parents’ Cosmic Victory.” From now on, Mother stands in a position equal to my own. The age of the equality of man and woman has come. It is the age of the equality of man and woman based on love.
Chambumo Gyeong, Holy Scripture of Cheon Il Guk. p. 1422
Then, on December 12, 1999, seven generations in our direct lineage were allowed to receive the blessing.
From that point on, the spirit world was able to stand in God’s lineage. The way was opened for us to lead all our ancestors in the spirit world to the blessing while we are on earth.
With this and through the cheongseong of our blessed families on earth, it became possible to convert Satan’s realm of influence in the spirit world to God’s side. Since this is the age of children’s responsibility, we must take the responsibility to completely convert the spirit world to God’s side.
Then came the Coronation Ceremony of God’s Kingship on January 13, 2001. The spiritual world began to be liberated and blessed greatly from this point on.
However, the problem was on earth. Although the Coronation Ceremony of God’s Kingship was held, there was not a single family that brought victory in tribal messiahship.
Therefore, True Parents extended the providence twelve years: three four-year periods until January 13, 2013 of the Heavenly Calendar. (This course) started as he told us to bring victory to heavenly tribal messiahship.
True Mother would later tell 4,000 Japanese women in Korea that if they had been victorious in tribal messiahship, True Father would not have passed away (that early).
That is how important heavenly tribal messiahship is, which is our portion of responsibility. Based on the foundation of tribal messiahship, we must receive God as our Parent.
Among True Father’s words, you can find the following:
We are now in the era of witnessing to families. With my family, an official center has emerged. Since now is the time when this center will be connected to you, we are entering the era of family witnessing. The center of a family is a woman, the mother. The mother must move forward while embracing two children. If sons and daughters become united centered on their mother, everything will be fulfilled. Then there will be no problem with the sons and daughters.
Cheon Seong Gyeong, Holy Scripture of Cheon Il Guk. pp. 925-926,
The fact that Mother came to the forefront along with these words means that we have truly entered a family-centered realm of the providence. To what extent are we in line with this shift in the providence?
This is the age to root God’s providence in our families. Whether or not God’s providence takes root in our families is now the forefront of the providence.
It is in the family that God’s ideal of creation takes root. That is where we will welcome the Heavenly Parent (God) and True Parents and bring victory in tribal messiahship. What we need to do is actually really simple.
We must accept heaven’s hopes based on deep repentance
This brings me to the main point of today’s speech.
What is important is our attitude, how we face and view the providence I have just described. The key word is “repentance.”
Repentance is not an easy thing to do. Of course, we do repent. We repent a lot. No, we have repented. But even if we repent a lot, unless we change our ways, we cannot make a new start.
We repent, but we cannot be victorious because we do not change anew. I deeply feel that we have failed to change anew after repentance, even though we have been forgiven by heaven many times. Recently, I have often wondered how we can come to true repentance.
When I received the blessing, the matching took place at the (then) Little Angels Arts Center in Seoul. True Father conducted the matching while walking down the middle aisle between the candidates, who were seated separately between men and women.
True Father would do the matching, but he generally put the women up first and then chose the men.
After having a woman go up on stage, he would look for a man who would be a good match for her. We were all nervous and many of us wondered if True Father would even look at us. And when we weren’t chosen, we were reminded of our sins. “Oh, I have done this, and I have done that.” Every time Father moved, conflict arose within us.
We are in the position of having been forgiven of all of our past doings by the Heavenly Parent and True Parents before receiving the blessing, but when we stand in such a strenuous position, memories of our past sins come back to us. That means that you have yet to come to true repentance.
Now we have the opportunity to meet with True Mother. I have also had many occasions to meet with her in my current capacity.
However, can you be in the presence of True Mother with a completely pure, innocent, and spotless heart each time you meet her? It is not easy. I face each meeting with her with the feeling that unless I can clear a certain area, I cannot purely and completely become one with Mother’s current realm of heart.
True Mother would say to me, “Do you understand, Tanaka!” I will answer, “Yes.” At such times when Mother speaks very strongly, we must respond by going deeper into her heart. We will not be able to fully accept heaven’s hopes unless we have a base of deep repentance.
Psalms 51 and 32 are well known chapters regarding David’s repentance.
In Psalm 51:1, David says, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.”
He committed adultery by having relations with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his men. Fearing that it would be discovered, he sent him to the front lines of battle and took Bathsheba for himself.
In fact, this man died. All the while, David felt a debt for this act, and he languished, and agonized, and ached, and grieved, and prayed to heaven.
In Psalm 32 you can find the following:
“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”
Psalm 32:5
We used to do “confession” under the guidance of Heung Jin nim. At that time, we were told that confession should not be done once, but many times. He often told us that unless we confess all our sins and become pure and clean and receive forgiveness, there can be no repentance.
Thinking back on those days, I realize how difficult it is to repent.
The first appeal made by John the Baptist, Jesus, and Peter was “Repent!”
“John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.”
Mark 1:4
“From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”
Matthew 4:17
“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
Acts 2:38
Second generations’ world of heart testified at Cheon Shim Won Special Vigil Prayer
Recently, I had a feeling like, “Oh, this is the world of repentance.”
It was through the second generations’ world of heart that are being testified about at Cheon Shim Won Special Vigil Prayer. In most of the testimonies given by second generation, they have been changed by being touched by True Mother’s heart. In other words, repentance in the true sense of the word is done by the Holy Spirit. It is an inspiration by the Holy Spirit.
By coming into contact with True Mother’s heart, everything in the past begins to look different, and feelings of resentment towards the church begin to be projected from a different perspective. The feelings of resentment toward their parents begin to unravel from a different perspective, and so on. All of the testimonies touch upon Mother’s realm of heart, which is truly the works of the Holy Spirit in substance.
The testimonies from the second generation that have leapt into True Mother’s heart are tremendous.
One lady said, “I have always thought about Jesus’ Cross from Heavenly Father’s perspective. I have always seen what kind of heart Heavenly Father had when He sent His only Son to the Cross.”
By attending the spiritual training workshops and seeing it from the perspective of the Heavenly Mother, God’s heart was conveyed in a completely different way. She said that she felt Jesus’ Cross from the perspective of the maternal world. Her view of the providence changed drastically when she was exposed to God’s world from the perspective of a mother’s heart as she sent her own child to the Cross.
And her feelings about her own mother completely changed. The feelings that her mother had towards the providence. The feelings toward her older brother, who never really connected with the church. She had been seeing her brother from the point of view of a younger sister, but when she saw him from the point of view as a mother, she began to see him from a completely different perspective. She was testifying about this in tears.
Since True Mother began emphasizing the aspect of the “Heavenly Mother,” the realm of second generation has been facing the Holy Spirit in substance in a completely new way, which they are currently experiencing through the 40-day spiritual training.
True Mother accepts all that is thrown at her, the realm of heart that second generation genuinely place upon her, as Wang Omma. And they are standing up before heaven with pure hearts and with determination.
What do you think of the second generation testimonies from the Cheon Shim Won Special Vigil Prayer? The second generation speak honestly.
They speak very frankly, where I sometimes feel like telling them, “Can you not talk about that,” or “Is the Family Federation truly such a place like that?”
Moreover, their own family is listening to them online, and yet they speak genuinely from a place that comes from repentance.
I really felt that you can go really far with true repentance.
We have confessed our sins in former confessions and departed with forgiveness. However, we have not fully accepted it as true forgiveness within ourselves.
Whether we repent or not, the parent has no choice but to forgive. Whether we are victorious or not, whether we repent or not, they forgive.
However, the only way to accept their forgiveness and feel truly forgiven is to repent. When we truly repent, we can face forgiveness. This world is now being shown to us through the second generation.
The realm of heart created by the bond between second generation and True Mother is now moving to the forefront of the providence. In fact, the first generation is increasingly being left behind.
Why is this? Because there is a gap in heart between us and True Mother. That is why (first generation) stumble at the words that Mother speaks. The way we, the first generation, catch Mother’s words is probably very different from the way the second generation catch her words. I feel this (again today).
The words that first generation struggle with seem like nothing to the second generation and they just say, “What’s the problem?”
We need to have the attitude of allowing Heavenly Parent to take root in our families
Once again we must reflect on the past. In what manner did we view heavenly tribal messiahship? How have we viewed True Mother, who was always by True Father’s side? And to what extent did we resonate with heaven’s determination, which was to transform the providence based on the family?
We have much to repent of. We must confess sincerely and be born again before heaven.
In my time with True Mother the other day, I was reminded of one thing.
We, the old first generation who were restored when the True Father in substance was at the forefront, came to know God through Father. Therefore, when we prayed, if we said “Heavenly Father,” we were able to pray easily. At that time, we were connected to Heavenly Father with Father as our intermediary.
However, now is the time when we can communicate with Heavenly Mother with Mother as the intermediary. Then, we will finally be able to understand the Heavenly Parent. It is not only Heavenly Father. It is only when they become the Heavenly Parent that true “filial piety” can grow within us.
We must grasp this within ourselves and in our prayers, and be able to sincerely declare that (God is) our father and mother.
Heavenly Father was consolidated by True Father, and Heavenly Mother was consolidated by True Mother. Indeed, we have now entered an age of hope in which God can settle on earth as the Heavenly Parent.
The place where God can settle is not the Cheon Il Sanctum, but it is our families. If we do not have the attitude that we are going to let Him settle in our families as the Parent, we will end up making the church holidays of the past be nothing more than commemorative ceremonies. Then, they will have no value.
We must carry the desire to have heaven’s significance, encapsulated in the church holidays, take root in our families. Let us face the church holidays in such a manner.
Thank you very much.
