Ep 934 - Let Us Bring God Back to America Part 3
Let Us Bring God Back to America - May 17, 2023
Key Points
In order to counter the growing secularism, materialism and Godlessness in America, we need to return to the holiness of the pilgrims and our founding fathers, put God and building his kingdom first and seek to save the world.
Secondly, God is our only hope and source of courage. With God as our father we can cope with any challenge.
Thirdly, only God is love. God is our parent, and we belong to him as his child.
America must remember three points: put God first, seek to build God’s nation and serve the world.
“Then America will grow forever under God's protection.”
In the Last Days the messiah “cries out to heaven,” shoulders all missions and unites all people on every level. He fights and defeats Satan on every level.
We blessed families must take responsibility for ending the last days as individuals, in our families, and in our tribes based on the victorious foundations of True Parents.
In the last days we must become one with the word and with True Parents as the embodiment of the word in a reciprocal relationship with them as bride and groom and interact with their words, personality and in heart.
To resemble God who is a trinity, we should form a trinity of parents, husband and wife, and children centered on God, creating a Four Position Foundation and fulfilling the purpose of creation.
We must multiply this foundation centering on the 3 generations to form an ideal, united family sharing filial piety with all family members.
In the Cross-Cultural Blessing we replace our fallen blood with God’s blood, fallen nature and lineage with original nature and heavenly lineage and become God’s “direct line.” We do this by fully affirming God’s word and thoroughly denying ourself.
We change from a self-centered horizontal life to a God-centered vertical life, heart and relationships to “straighten our conscience.”
If spouses and family members treat each other vertically and heartistically and comfort each other, our hearts and mind are “at ease” and our conscience gains strength.
In our family we want to practice “replacement” which is the mindset that we are not living for ourself, but for the sake of the other person.
“You” are undoubtedly “you,” but knowing who we live for, who our center is, is the vertical mind.
Transcripts from November 3, 2021 to the present, personal notes from November 11, 2020 until November 2, 2021 and slides from August 29, 2021 to the present are available at MD.Hoondok.com as PDF files.♦
(Response to sharing) One of the most important qualifications to become a leader is a humble heart and mind. That’s it. If we feel we are unworthy, then God says, “You already have the qualification to become the leader.”♦
Today I’d like to talk about “Let Us Bring God Back to America” from True Mother’s Anthology, Volume 2.
<This speech was read by Sun Jin Moon on behalf of Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon at the True Family Values Ministry 20th Anniversary Awards Banquet, held on December 5, 2015 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Chicago, USA.>
Beloved leaders! What kind of country is this nation where you were born? What kind of nation are you living in? What dreams did your ancestors hold dear as they landed on these shores? What ideals did they strive to practice and cultivate in this nation? When the Pilgrim Fathers sailed across the Atlantic Ocean under the most adverse conditions, surviving deadly storms and various setbacks, their only ray of hope was God, their Heavenly Parent.
After arriving and settling on the new continent, almost half of the Pilgrims died from starvation during the first year; yet, despite the famine, the Pilgrims thought about future generations and they stored the seeds they needed for planting in anticipation of the next growing season, rather than eating them. During these trying times, their only hope was to connect with their Heavenly Parent. Later, when the founding fathers of this nation risked their lives and fought a David-versus-Goliath battle for independence against Britain, their hope and trust was in God, the Heavenly Parent. In their hearts and minds, God was everything. Their resolve, courage and determination to attend the Heavenly Parent was truly great and holy.
During the War for Independence, Britain was the global superpower. The king and the British soldiers united and fought for their empire. However, the founding fathers loved God, their Heavenly Parent, above all. They united and fought to advance God's Will. Their sincerity and sacrifice moved the heart of Heaven, and our Heavenly Parent answered the call of His sons and daughters who were fighting bravely in this great conflict. As a result, the United States of America, the land of religious freedom, was born.
The phrase “Utmost sincerity moves Heaven” was a reference to the birth of the United States.
America boldly showed the world that despite having people of many different languages and cultures, it was possible to build one nation under God and, eventually, one family under the Heavenly Parent. Unfortunately, the holiness that once characterized America has fallen into decline. Influenced by the self-centered rise in materialistic culture and the challenges posed by the weakening of spirituality and morality, America has grown increasingly secular. As a result, its core foundation has been shaken. Reverend Moon and I witnessed these tragic developments. Our Heavenly Parent's presence should be felt everywhere.
However, we could see that the hearts of people had become distant from God; even in families, schools, and some churches, it had become more difficult to feel the Heavenly Parent's loving presence. God was leaving America. Although it has already been 50 years, it seems like only yesterday that Reverend Moon and I walked down Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and, with tears in our eyes, felt that God, the Heavenly Parent, was leaving America. I vividly remember us crying our hearts out as we held onto God in desperation. With that heart, we pledged our absolute determination to lead a spiritual awakening in this nation.
The Pilgrim Fathers died of starvation leaving behind seeds to sow the next year for their future descendants, and their only hope was Heavenly Parent.
Later, when the United States risked their lives and fought a David-versus-Goliath battle for independence against Britain, their hope and trust was in God, the Heavenly Parent. In their hearts and minds, God was everything. Their resolve, courage and determination to attend the Heavenly Parent was truly great and holy.
Heavenly Parent answered the call of His sons and daughters who were fighting bravely in this great conflict in the name of His will. As a result, the United States of America, the land of religious freedom, was born.
Because the only faith, hope, and love of the Pilgrim Fathers was God, they overcame countless hardships and created an America that guarantees freedom of faith.
In the meantime, what we should learn from the Pilgrim Fathers is that they put God first in everything. God alone was their faith. God was their only hope.
God alone was their love. In this world, nothing can be trusted, nothing can be hoped for, and nothing can be loved.
I am telling you over and over. What is Faith? God is my father, and I treat and believe in myself as a son and daughter of God. This life of faith is the most important and basic thing.
The second is that God is the only hope. If you absolutely believe in and accept God as your Father, you will have hope in any situation.
As long as you believe that God is alive, you will have the courage, challenge, and hope that you can overcome any difficulties.
Third, only God is love. When I experience that God is with me and that God loves me forever as a parent, more than anyone else, I will risk my life to love God.
Therefore, in order to realize that God is love, we must absolutely believe that God is our parent. And I must treat myself as God's.
America boldly showed the world that despite having people of many different languages and cultures, it was possible to build one nation under God and, eventually, one family under the Heavenly Parent.
Unfortunately, the holiness that once characterized America has began to secularize and collapse in the face of challenges influenced by the self-centered rise in materialistic culture and atheistic ideas based on science, and God (has) started to leave the country.
True Parents wept endlessly as they walked down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York, holding Heavenly Parent as they were leaving the United States.
Well, then, what should we do to bring America back to life from now on? First, we have to go back to the early days, like the days of the Pilgrim Fathers.
And we must put God first. We need to put him as our top priority. The problem is that the United States began to perish when material was given priority over God.
The second (is that) heavenly parent must rekindle the vision of establishing the ideal kingdom of God.
All of Christianity, not just American Christianity, has lost vision and a clear goal. What is the hope and vision of Christian people, especially of the American nation? We need to remind them of God’s vision. God’s vision for Christianity is that he wants to restore his nation. The Christian nation’s hope and vision is to build God’s nation. Once we lose that kind of vision and goal, it is easy for us to become secularized.
We must invest everything for the kingdom and righteousness of God.
That is why Jesus said not to worry about what to eat, what to wear, what to drink. We need to think about God’s nation and righteousness first. Once we lose that kind of vision and hope, we easily connect to Satan’s environment.
Thirdly, the reason why God established America is to save the world. Therefore, the United States must put the world ahead of its own interests and live for the sake of the world.
America (must) realize its role and why God loves America so much: God wants to love all humankind through America.
As a unificationist (if) we don’t have the providence of the whole world, of all humankind, (in mind), we lose our own identity. These are important three points.
What is the first one? We need to know about these. We need to go back and recognize how our Pilgrim fathers (acted). This is important. Our Pilgrim fathers put God first.
How about these days? God is not first. He is not even secondary. People ignore God.
What is the second issue? We need to let Christian people realize what the Christian vision and goal is: to restore the one nation.
What is the third point? Serve the world.
We need to always remind ourself of these three points. Then we can go back to God’s bosom.
Then America will grow forever under God's protection.
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: Eschatology 9 - The Last Days
• The Last Days is the time, when, with the advent of the Messiah as the turning point, the evil world under satanic sovereignty is replaced by the ideal world under God's sovereignty.
• Hell on earth will be transformed into the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
• Therefore, it will not be a day of fear when the world will be destroyed by global catastrophes, as many Christians have believed. In fact, it will be a day of joy, when the cherished hope of humankind, the desire of the ages, will be realized.
Let’s study Father’s word.
The Center of the Providence of the Last Days is the Messiah
<4-191>Today we call this age the end of the world. From the perspective of Christian theology, doomsday, that is, the Last Days is coming. Then what is the Last Days? The Last Days is the time when, in terms of the period of the end of the world, a person who bears the entire mission brings everyone together from individuals to all the peoples of the world and, by extension, all of heaven and earth.
What is the last days? In the end of the world, there must be one person who shoulders all the missions and cries out to heaven. As the Messiah, he must fulfill the mission to unite all the people of the world, including the individual, the family, the tribe, the nation, and the heavens and the earth.
We must know that the last days cannot be ended unless the Messiah comes to this earth and fights Satan and wins from the individual level up to the global level.
We, blessed families, must take responsibility for ending the last days from our individual, our family, and our tribe based on the victorious foundations of True Parents.
The Last Days is the Time when we Meet the Central Figure of the Last Days
<5-148>What does the Last Days mean today? This indicates the time to meet an embodiment of the Word, that is, the central figure of the words. However, in order for us to meet the embodiment of the Word, we must become one with the words which God has wanted to give to save humanity for 6,000 years. Only such people will be able to form a relationship with the Returning Christ.
Jesus came to convey the perfect words on earth, but he failed to manifest those perfect words. However, he promised to manifest those perfect words through the Holy Spirit. That’s why we could understand the words which Jesus tried to represent at the end of the world through the efforts of the Holy Spirit for 2,000 years. And furthermore, we could recognize who would come as the embodiment of the words. At that time, as the brides, we must greet him as a bridegroom and attend him.
What does the Last Days mean today? It indicates the time to reunite with True Parents who are the embodiment of the Word. However, in order for us to meet the embodiment of the Word, we must become one with the Word of God proclaimed by the True Parents. Only such people will be able to form a relationship with True Parents.
Jesus came to convey the perfect words on earth, but he failed to manifest those perfect words. Furthermore, we must know Him and serve Him as the Bridegroom, and as the Bride, we must enter into a reciprocal relationship as the bride and groom.
What is our relationship with Jesus and True Parents? Our position is the bride.
The messiah’s position is the bridegroom and we are in the position of the bride.
A few days ago we had a leaders meeting with Mother. Afterwards, Rev. Otsuka from Europe shared a dream: “Mother, I had a dream about you. I married you!” Otsuka later on talked about this.
Why do we have this kind of dream? The messiah position is bridegroom; our position is the bride. That means we need to completely become one with Mother.
What is the most important thing between the bridegroom and bride? Do they need diamond rings? Or gold rings? What kind of gift is the best? What is important is the heartistic relationship.
I immediately felt that Otsuka’s dream meant that we need to unite completely (as in) the relationship between the bridegroom and the bride.
God always teaches us through dreams, right?
Not only do we meet the external True Parents, but we must be able to come into contact with True Parents' hearts, which comes to us through the Word and through their personalities.
Have we met the True Parents through the Word? At the time of Jesus, Jesus' disciples and the Israelites all failed while looking externally at Jesus.
Did we interact with True Parents' words, personality, and heart?
We are still in the Last Days, but we are living in the days of Cheon Il Guk as well. The important thing is relationship: how to introduce word, personality and heart.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: God's Purpose of Creation and the Trinity
1. Just as God exists as a trinity, we must know that we human beings who resemble God are beings of the trinity. So, when human beings create the trinity centered on God, that will form the 4-position foundation. Therefore, we are the ones who have to take responsibility within the 4-position foundation. This is the purpose of God's creation. God's purpose of creation is all fulfilled within the 4 position foundation. Therefore, the completion of the 4 position foundation is the completion of the purpose of human life and the completion of God's purpose of creation. Specifically speaking, human beings must fulfill God's purpose of creation centering on God and centering on the trinity of parents, husband and wife, and children. Therefore, what you must not forget is that we are a God-centered, being of the trinity. This trinity will multiply centering on the realm of 3rd generation. Therefore, God's purpose of creation centering on the family is to unite parents, husband and wife, and children to form an ideal family. In order to achieve this, we must be filial to our parents, and with the heart of being filial to our parents, we and our spouses must be filial to each other and to our children. It is said that we are the ones who have the responsibility to show filial piety centering on the three generations. This is God's purpose of creation.
Let’s summarize.
1. Resembling God who exists as a trinity, human beings must also exist as beings of the trinity.
2. When a trinity centered on God is established, it will form the 4-position foundation and complete the purpose of creation.
3. God's purpose of creation is fulfilled centering on God and centering on the trinity of parents, husband and wife, and children.
In our family who are our trinity? Our parents, our spouse and our children. That is our eternal trinity. We cannot separate them no matter what.
4. Because my existence is one that centers on God's trinity, I must go forward and I must multiply it centering on the 3 generations.
5. God's purpose of creation is for parents to become one, husband and wife to become one, and children to become one to form an ideal family.
Without the trinity we cannot establish an ideal family. That is why, no matter what, we need to respect and love our parents. No matter what we need to have an inseparable relationship with our spouse. No matter what – even though our children are not much connected to the church – no matter what, we need to restore them. We cannot give them up. They are our eternal trinity.
A few days ago Korea celebrated Mother’s Day. I have not been able to contact my mother very often. I wrote a letter. I determined, even though I am busy – I cannot call her because she cannot hear much, but she can read – I am determined to send a letter every week.
This time I met her and we hugged each other. I was so sad that I could not spend much time with my mom. In Korea she is 95 years old and still very strong.
Our parents are one of our eternal trinity members. That is very important. God exists as a trinity.
6. In order to complete the trinity, we must be filial to our parents, and with that heart, we and our spouse must be filial to each other and to our children.
7. I am the one who has the responsibility to have filial piety centered on the three generations.
The Kingdom of Heaven is the trinity system. That must be separate(?). That is really incredible!
The True Meaning of the Cross-Cultural Blessing
2. What is an international and cross-cultural blessing? It to completely eradicate the fallen blood and completely replace it with the blood of God. The purpose of the International and cross-cultural marriage Blessing is to completely cleanse the fallen blood and inherit the blood of God. So, how do you inherit it? You must deny yourself completely. If you deny yourself, what are you affirming? You are completely affirming God's Word. When the word of God enters into you, your center disappears. You become someone who denies yourself and become a person who is centered on God's heart. To do so, we must accept the Word of God with joy. We must completely replace our past fallen nature and satanic lineage with the power of God's Word. When we live a life of faith, we experience that when we think about ourselves, our strength diminishes, and when we think of God, we gain strength. For example, when we come to church, our original mind rejoices and we gain strength. However, if we do not go to church because of our circumstances, our heart is empty. If we don't go to church, our heart will be empty. Observe the hearts of those who came to church and stopped halfway. Their hearts are very empty. Their hearts are not centered.
1. It means completely eradicating the fallen blood and replacing it with the blood of God.
That is the real meaning of t he Cross-Cultural Blessing.
2. The Cross-Cultural Blessing is to inherit God's blood and become descendants of the direct line.
3. To inherit the blood of God, we must deny ourself thoroughly.
4. The Cross-Cultural Blessing is to deny ourself and fully affirm God's Word so that our own blood is completely replaced with God's blood.
5. It is to completely replace my past fallen nature and satanic lineage with the power of God's Word.
> When I think of myself, my strength drains, and when I think of God, I gain strength.
Cross-cultural is to Change from the Horizontal Heart to the Vertical Heart
3. What is the purpose of going to church? It is to establish your conscience vertically and to establish a firm vertical relationship with heaven and yourself. If you establish a vertical relationship like this, you will always feel at ease and have strength in your heart. Even in the family, when we greet our parents well and have a heartistic give and receive relationship with them, we feel comfortable. If you don't greet your parents properly when you should, your heart will be empty as a child. If the husband and wife who should be living for and respecting each other conflict, they will feel uncomfortable and have problems.
Even though we know all these things, we live without practicing them properly. What you realize while watching this is that if we always form a vertical relationship, our fallen nature will lose its power. On the other hand, if we establish our conscience vertically and live according to our original nature, we will gain strength. You should know this well. So we need to know how to change our hearts.
What is replacement? It means that you must know how to change your mindset from a horizontal life to a vertical life. A horizontal life is an self-centered life. A vertical life is a God-centered life.
Let’s summarize.1. What is replacement? It means that we must know how to change our mindset from a horizontal life to a vertical life.
2. A horizontal life is a self-centered life. A vertical life is a God-centered life.
3. We must train our life to straighten our conscience vertically.
4. If we establish a vertical relationship, our mind will always feel at ease and gain strength.
5. When we heartistically give and receive within our family, our hearts are at ease.
6. Married couples should comfort and respect each other. In that case, the couple should treat each other vertically.
7. When a couple treats each other horizontally, conflict between them intensifies, and their hearts become insecure and suffer.
Why do we quarrel and fight with each other as husband and wife? Because we treat our spouse horizontally. That is the point. In a husband and wife relationship, of course, they are equal. But when we (deal with) our spouse, we should not treat him or her horizontally. When we treat our spouse horizontally, conflicts occur. In order to (resolve) our relationship with our spouse, we need to treat our spouse vertically, that is, as God’s spouse. Only in this way can we solve (spousal) problems. Horizontal problems can only be solved centered on a vertical heart. There is no other way. Adam and Eve just had give-and-take horizontally without God, without vertical heart. That was the problem.
8. If we always form a vertical relationship, our fallen nature loses its power.
That is why when we treat our spouse and children horizontally – “You are my son, my daughter, you are my wife! – if we try to possess our spouse and children, that is a problem. We need to solve this problem and treat our spouse and children vertically. They are children of God.
The secular world does not know how to deal with this issue.
9. If we establish our conscience vertically and live according to our original nature, we will gain strength.
Whom am I Centered On?
4. In our life of faith, we must know how to switch from a horizontal environment to a vertical environment in any situation. People who live in a horizontal environment are always self-centered. We know that right away when we look at the kids. Whether your children are centered on themselves or centered on their parents will tell you whether your children are vertical or horizontal. When looking at the married life, you can tell whether the wife is a husband-centered wife or a self-centered wife, and conversely, whether the husband is a self-centered husband or a wife-centered husband. Who is the center? It's about who we put as our center. What is a replacement? It is replacing our mind with the mindset that we are not living for ourself and that we live for our spouse. In other words, it is to change from a self-centered mind to a partner-centered mind. Changing the center of the heart to the other person's heart is the vertical mind change. “You” are undoubtedly “you,” but knowing who we live for is the vertical mind.
1. In our life of faith, we must know how to switch from a horizontal environment to a vertical environment.
2. People who live in a horizontal environment are always self-centered.
> Check whether the children are centered on their parents or centered on themselves.
Are our children horizontal or vertical? If our children are very horizontal, we need to reflect about that. Our life of faith is not very vertical. That is why our children resemble us.
> Depending on who they live (with) as the center of their lives, we can distinguish whether they are vertical children or horizontal children.
3. Even when we look at married life, we can distinguish whether they are vertical or horizontal by looking at the central figure of the wife and the husband.
4. Replacement is to live with the mindset that we are not living for ourself, but for the sake of the other person.
5. In other words, replacement is changing from a self-centered mind to a mind centered on the other person.
That is why “self-centered” is our enemy. A vertical mind means we are centering on God, on our object partner. They should be our center, not our own self.
Today we learned “Whom am I centered on?”
(Testimony Thomas Sagayo, Bay Area Tongil Moo Do Martial Arts Festival)♦
NOTE: This text and the PowerPoint slides from this speech are available as a link at the top of this text. Transcripts from November 3, 2021 to the present, personal notes from November 11, 2020 until November 2, 2021 and slides from August 29, 2021 to the present are available at MD.Hoondok.com as PDF files. Books of the transcripts and notes are available as PDFs at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.
3. This lightly edited transcript may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable, inaudible or uncertain words and guesses are tagged with a “(?)” and indecipherable phrases, with an ellipsis “...”. First, second and third person pronouns have been left as spoken if the meaning is clear, and other apparently Korean English expressions have been preserved if understandable. Some repeated phrases have been eliminated.
4. Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com. Notes or transcripts of Dr. Yong’s Morning Devotion speeches from November 11, 2020 through March 29, 2022 are available as six paperback books at cost at Lulu.com/Shop -- search for Dr. Chung Sik Yong -- and as PDF downloads free of charge at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.♦