Ep 854 - The Blessing And Eternal Life Part 9
The Blessing and Eternal Life - February 26, 2023
Key Points
Everything we do has the purpose of living eternally through practicing and perfecting true love.
We must train ourself to perfect eternal life wherever we are and with the people around us.
In true love we want our object partner of love to be better than we are.
Like Father our three great goals are dominion over eating, sleeping, and sexual desires.
Dominion over these is dominion over the universe.
Four conditions of fallen nature are arrogance, envy (jealousy), uncontrolled anger, and lying.
Jesus endured the cross and Father endured countless tortures and persecutions because they knew God’s inner sorrow.
Fallen people are fickle, vacillating within the course of a day between the boundary line of heaven and hell.
Satan asserts himself, thinks of himself as right and pursues his own advantage.
The family is the world of the heart where we clear our sins, change our lineage, complete God’s ideal, our individual perfection, our resurrection of heart and our eternal life, experience God’s heart and rebirth, and meet God by attending each other.
Family Federation is the community of love and heart where we can realize the ideal of family.
If we just raise the level of love, jeongseong and filial heart, the spirit world will move, God will witness and FFWPU will develop.
FFWPU should model the world of the heart so that people will want to come to our church and then want to come back.
For FFWPU to become a community of heart, we should establish a life of faith of the trinity in which we create a heartistic relationship with elders, contemporaries and young people.
If we create an atmosphere of love and heart in church, people will automatically gather.
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.♦
It is a beautiful Sunday, isn’t it?
Today I’d like to talk about “The Blessing and Eternal Life” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 2.
<This speech was given by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon between February 23 and April 16 at True Family Values Movement hoondok rallies for the study of True Parents' words in Japan and the United States.>
We are created to live an eternal life. We are similarly created to practice true love. Furthermore, we are to practice true love here on the earth. When we engage ourselves and love many things in this world, these things become the foundation that ensures our eternal life. In other words, everything we do in this world is training for eternal life. We need true life and true love forever. We are fully capable of living forever! We desire an eternal life! In our search for eternal life, what does not change? Only true love does not change! Everything in this universe changes. Everything in the environment changes, yet true love does not change. True love does not change because it is the central core of all life. Why is it that true love does not change?
Why is it that true love does not change? It is because true love is the center. The center will remain intact, even if everything that surrounds it disappears. True love is the center of the universe; it is one with God's love. Consequently, as long as God is unchanging, true love is unchanging. What does true love mean? A husband desires that his wife be better than he is. A wife also wants her husband to surpass her, and parents want their children to surpass them. Why do we share this feeling in common? It is because we are all created in the very image of God. In other words, even God wants His object partners in love to be better than Him, in the same sense that parents want their children to surpass them. Can you deny this? God is absolute, and at the same time God is our Parent. Can parents impose an absolute standard upon their children that they do not take upon themselves as well? No, even our Parent God cannot. In light of this, our value is the highest in the universe. When true love is at the center, we are more valuable even than God.
In fact, in the realm of true love, we can have a value even higher than that of God. This is why our minds entertain the highest of aspirations, and we truly can feel that nothing is impossible because all people are equal. Indeed, everything would be possible if we were not fallen. God originally intended that God's children rule this universe from the position of highest value. We were not to have been sidetracked or manipulated in any way. To confirm this, simply look into your mind. The mind desires complete freedom. No one wants his or her mind to be controlled. This is true of all people. Once we secure the position of true love, we are totally free. We can travel anywhere. We can travel to God's throne and become God's friend.
Our life goal is to be perfected by true love and live an eternal life. Whatever we do, everything we do has the purpose of living eternally through practicing true love.
Whether we work at a factory, school, or some company, we need to clearly know that everything is training for our eternal life. So we need to know just how important the place we are currently working at is. It is not just a (place where) we are temporarily working at just to make money. Therefore, we must train ourself to perfect eternal life wherever we are. We need to think that the work we are doing is God’s work and that our spirit self is growing and being perfected through the people we give and receive with.
What does true love mean? When we all marry, don’t we desire that our partner be better than we are? Where in the world are there parents who do not want their children to be better than they are? Why do we share this feeling in common? It is because we are all created in the very image of God. In other words, even God wants His object partners in love to be better than Himself, in the same sense that parents want their children to surpass them.
God desires that each human being be better than himself. That is why God has the qualification to become the parent of all humankind. Because parental heart is this kind of heart: “My children should be better than I am. They should surpass me.” This kind of heart comes from God. He has that kind of nature: “Each human being should be better than I am.” That is why all humankind has no other choice but to recognize that our Heavenly God has the qualification to become the parent of all humankind. He has that kind of love. He gives everything, invests everything, sacrifices everything until his object partner is better than he is. What kind of nature does he have?
In light of this, our value is the highest in the universe. When true love is at the center, we are more valuable even than God.
That is God’s desire. Even though God is almighty, omniscient and omnipotent, his desire is what? “You should be better than I am.” That is why in some sense human value is the highest in the universe. How amazing God’s ideal is! Our Divine Principle explains human value very clearly, what the relationship between God and human beings is.
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: The Human Fall 24: The Primary Characteristics of
the Fallen Nature
• The primary characteristics of the fallen nature can be divided broadly into four types:
1. The first is failing to take God's standpoint. A principal cause of the Archangel's fall was his failure to love Adam with the same heart and perspective as God; instead he felt jealous of Adam. This led him to tempt Eve.
2. The second is leaving one's proper position. Lucifer desired to enjoy the same position of love in the human world as he had in the angelic world. This unrighteous desire caused him to leave his position and fall.
3. The third is reversing dominion. The angel, who was supposed to come under the dominion of human beings, instead dominated Eve. Then Eve, who was supposed to come under the dominion of Adam, dominated him instead.
4. The fourth is multiplying the criminal act. The Archangel spread his sin to Eve, and Eve to Adam.
Based on this Divine Principle let’s study Father’s word. He is really talking about the four major fallen natures.
Three Great Goals of the Battle
<1986.1.3> I fought with the three great goals my whole life. Those are eating, sleeping, and sexual desires. Do you know how much I struggled, saying “Before desiring to dominate the universe, first achieve dominion over the self!” I am the one who knows well how strong the habitual fallen natures are.
Many women tried to come into my room when I was in Japan. However, I gave advice to them with sincere tears as my younger sisters. Even now, that memory is fresh. They say, “Why don’t we, who are a young man and woman, stay together overnight?” I have struggled a lot of times in such a situation. I am the one whom we have to praise throughout history. I told God that you found a great man.
The three great goals of True Father’s life are our great goals of life today. Even the sinless True Father struggled to overcome eating, sleeping, and sexual desires, so how much more would fallen people struggle?
Are you okay? Are you not struggling to overcome eating, sleeping or sexual desires? Wow! This is not a simple matter, right?
Do we really love God more than eating? Do we really love God more than sleeping? Do we love God more than sexual desires?
Do we really love God more than any material desires?
Do we love the desires of our physical body more or do we love the desires of our spirit body more?
We need to know that dominion over the self is ultimately dominion over the universe. Why? Since we ourselves are microcosms of the universe, if we dominate ourselves, it results in dominating the universe.
We are a small universe. If we control our mind and body very well, it means we are dominating the universe. We are the core of the universe. Controlling ourself means controlling the universe.
Four Conditions of the Fallen Nature
<1960.9.4> Four conditions of the fallen nature are (1) arrogance, (2) envy (jealousy), (3) uncontrolled anger, (4) and lying. Those are fallen natures. Our first ancestors of humankind fell. Since then, habits of fall, which have been accumulated through the lineage of our bodies, have been multiplied to 7.4 billion people. It is higher than the Himalayas, and it’s devastated more than the Sahara desert, and it’s larger than the Pacific. People don’t know that they shoulder the habitual burden. They don’t even think about it. Isn’t it the burden of which you have to be relieved if you can?
<1987.1.11> St. Paul sighed and said, “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”
Today TF is talking about Four conditions of the fallen nature are (1) arrogance, (2) envy (jealousy), (3) uncontrolled anger, (4) and lie. Those are fallen natures.
1. Arrogance: Arrogance is the spearhead of collapse. Arrogance completely comes from self-centeredness. Most people with arrogance never listen to the other person first and always ignore them.
Including myself for fallen man the number one fallen natures is arrogance. Arrogance is the spearhead of collapse.
2. Envy: When self-centered people see others doing well, envy and jealousy are always formed. That is why we always need to look at others from the perspective of God, True Parents, and Abel. An attribute of Satan is having a lot of envy (because of which) he tries to put himself up (above others), but an attribute of true love is wanting the other to be better than oneself.
3. Uncontrolled Anger: One fallen nature is having a lot of uncontrolled anger. Whenever we have uncontrolled anger, we need to know how much God has been waiting all this time and how much Jesus endured and waited. The reason Jesus endured the cross and True Father was able to persevere through countless tortures and persecutions was because they knew God’s inner sorrow better than anyone else.
Can we control our uncontrolled anger? We talked about anger a few days ago, right? Once we are angry with someone, we will surely 100%, 120% have regret. Uncontrolled anger does not help us. We lose everything! Once we become angry, we lose our foundation of love and faith.
Satan always uses this uncontrolled anger. If we are easily angry, that means we resemble Satan more than God.
4. Lying: Satan does not speak the truth. He always lies. If he does speak the truth, he only says a part of it. “I am telling the truth,” but it is only some part. He is not honest 100%, 120%. Satan does not speak the truth. He is always hiding something.
Not only I but everybody has these four fallen natures which are arrogance, jealousy, uncontrolled anger and lying. Father talks about these. We always need to remind ourself how we can remove these four fallen natures.
Satan Always Insists on Himself
<1987.2.22> The reason why your mind and body are in conflict is because you mind is originally supposed to become the original mind by creativity and your body became evil by the fallen nature. I am the border between heaven and earth, God and Satan, and heaven and hell.
Satan just insists on himself. What is his weapon? He tries to push forward with his insistence centering on an individual. By doing so, he seeks his own benefit.
The lineage of Satan’s fallen nature is to seek one’s own benefit. Whenever he opens his eyes, he sees only himself.
Is there peace in my body? How much peace is there during the day? Do I have a lot of conflicts and dissatisfactions? Or do I have a lot of gratitude?
Since fallen people are very fickle, even within the course of a day, we go back and forth between the boundary line of heaven and hell.
Satan always asserts himself and thinks of himself as being right. Satan always pursue his own advantages and puts himself in the very front.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: The Best Witnessing Method
The Family is the Place to Complete God’s Ideal
1. The family is the place where God’s ideal, as well as my individual perfection, is completed. Rebirth happens in the family, resurrection happens in the family, and eternal life happens in the family. Also, if you deviate from the family, there is no environment for you to clear your sins. If you deviate from the family, you cannot change the heart or the lineage. You also will not be able to meet God through a life of attendance. You can imitate attending others externally and as a formality, but true attendance can only be practiced in the family.
In society, attending and serving through human relationships can happen when you form relationships just ethically or externally with workplace relationships or through certain things.
2. However, attendance of the couple, attendance of parent and child, attendance of siblings can only be experienced in the world of heart called the family. Greeting others externally and observing proprieties cannot let us reach the deep level of heart. We have to clearly understand that it is only in the family that our resurrection of heart and eternal life are completed. The family is not the place to practice external proprieties. The family is the community of heart where we can experience God’s heart. Therefore, I hope we can always clearly know and keep in mind the value of our family.
Let’s summarize the important content.
Importance and Value of the Family
1. The family is the community of heart where we can experience God’s heart.
Our family is the most important place to communicate with God and experience his heart.
2. Rebirth, resurrection, and eternal life happens in the family.
Without our spouse, our parents, our children do we think we can have rebirth? Rebirth cannot happen alone. Can we resurrect alone? It is impossible. We need to have a substantial experience of resurrection in the family through husband and wife and children, siblings and parents. Then finally we can gain eternal life in the family through achieving the Four Great Realms of Heart and Three Great Kingships. We can experience God’s love and gain eternal life. Where? In the family.
3. If we deviate from the family, there is no environment for us to clear our own sins.
Our sins came from where? From the family, from the couple Adam and Eve, from Cain and Abel, from siblings. All sin came from the family. That is why if we deviate from the family, there is no environment for us to clear our own sins. How can we remove our original sin? Collective sin? Centering on couples. Adam and Eve committed sin as a couple, not alone. That is why in order to indemnify and restore (our sin), we need to make an effort together as husband and wife.
4. If we deviate from the family, we cannot change the heart or the lineage.
We cannot do anything without the family.
5. If we do not live a life of attendance in the family, we will not be able to meet God.
6. We can experience the world of God’s heart and love through the attendance of the couple, attendance of parent and child, attendance of siblings in the family.
God’s heart we can only experience through couples, through our parents, through siblings, through children. How important a place is the family!
7. Our resurrection of heart and eternal life are completed centered on the family.
8. Since the family is not the place to practice external proprieties, it is a place where only truth and heart go through.
When we go out and work at school, at our job or in an office, whatever, we can pretend, “Oh, you are my Abel, my boss,” but in the family it does not work. In the family we need to show our true heart and sincerity. Otherwise, we cannot live in the family. We can hide our nature in front of our boss at work because we have no choice. We need to (earn) money. We cannot show our internal (feelings), right? Sometimes. But in the family it does not work. Our external things, showing something does not work. In the family centering on truth and heart.
9. The family is the basic community of heart where we can experience God’s heart.
Father discovered the value of the family. Christianity teaches amazing things through the Bible. But it does not emphasize much the value of the family because Jesus could not show and establish the ideal of the family. He did not have any experience of conjugal love, parental love, siblings love. He did not have children. That is why he emphasized individual salvation. The messiah needs to come to set up the family and (model) the ideal family.
Our final destination does not center on individual salvation but is the family. Family salvation. Family is everything. We need to know the importance and value of the family.
The Best Witnessing Method
3. Our church is the Family Federation. Family Federation is the place to realize the ideal of family. It is not a place to just go attend worship like in other churches. If we just frequent the church like spectators, the church will be in a difficult situation. When that happens, the church cannot develop. For our church to develop, our level of love must be raised. We cannot just try to convey the Word of the Principle. Then how can we make witnessing work? God will do the witnessing when our level of love becomes higher. Witnessing is what God does. In the early days of our church, we did not directly witness. If we members just created a reciprocal relationship on top of the foundation of True Parents’ sincere devotion, God did everything.
4. When the early members went out to pioneer, when they witnessed while singing Holy Song #7 “Song of the Garden,” rumors spread immediately. When the children of the villagers were connected to our church, the village wives would bring a lot of food to the church, saying that the atmosphere of their homes had changed. Some would bring sweet potatoes while others brought rice, and others brought kimchee…. In this way, the song “Song of the Garden” that our leaders sang conveyed new words to the neighbors. When we look at this, we can see that witnessing at that time was all done by God who mobilized the spirit world.
Now is the Time to Show the World of Heart
5. In this time, what do we have to show? Now, we have to prove to the people of the world what kind of place the world of heart is. We have to make it so that when others see our church, they really feel that it is a church of heart. That is why we have to make it a place where outside people want to come to our church. When new people come to our church, we need to make them unknowingly feel that they want to come back again for some reason and that they do not want to return to their own homes. Then how can we make such church? First, we must make the faith of the trinity. Faith of the trinity means that you must first establish a heartistic relationship with the elders of the church that are like your parents.
6. Second, it is to give and receive with and create heartistic relationships with seniors and juniors centered on your own age. And next, it is to care for and love young people like your own children.
How wonderful would it be if even two or three families come to church on Sundays, greet each other warmly, and have heartistic exchanges and give and receive? Even the Bible says that where two or three gather together in His name, God is there, and that is where Heaven begins. If such atmosphere of love and heart is created in church, wouldn’t even members who became distant all that time be attracted and want to come?
Let’s summarize:
The Role of FFWPU and the Best Witnessing Method
1. Family Federation is the place to realize the ideal of family.
2. Family Federation is not just a place of gathering to attend worship; it is the community of love and heart.
3. For Family Federation to develop, our level of love must be raised.
4. If all of the members’ level of love is raised, God will do the witnessing.
Even though we emphasize the importance of witnessing and ask people to go out to witness, I am telling you, if we do not raise our level of love, then even if new people come, we do not know how to follow up with them. What is the main problem? We do not know how to follow up. That means our level of love is really not (sufficient). The best way to witness is to raise our level of heart and love. (To the extent that we do this,) surely people will come.
One church, Clifton Church, Manhattan Church, what is the one key to develop? First of all, the church minister, what level of love does he have? What kind of jeongseong level does he have? If his jeongseong and love reach a certain standard, God will do the witnessing and inspire members. A perfect plus can create a perfect minus. That is why what is important is to focus on our spiritual growth as a minister, as a member. (To the extent that) we can witness and influence people, they will come automatically.
But without focusing on spiritual growth and only trying to witness externally, no one will follow up with us because we do it out of duty. Our heart and mind is not there and our level of love is very low. How can we break through with witnessing? What is the best witnessing method? To raise our level of love and heart.
5. If we just raise the level of love, level of jeongseong, and level of filial heart, the spirit world will move, and God will do witnessing in the end.
As in the early 80s (? ages?). Even though we emphasize three spiritual children, we have not grown up. We have not raised our jeongseong, heart and spirit. How can we change our church? How can we influence our spiritual children? This is the issue. What is the best witnessing method? Raise the level of our love, jeongseong and filial piety. Then the spiritual world will do everything and God will do witnessing in the end.
6. Family Federation must prove to the people of the world what kind of place the world of heart is.
Everywhere we can see the lack of love and heart. When (people) come to the Unification Church they can see the world of heart, “I can see what the world of heart is. I can feel God’s heart here. I can feel siblings heart. I can feel children’s heart. I can feel parental heart.”
Finally we need to show what kind of place the world of heart is. That is the role of FFWPU.
7. Family Federation should make the people of the world want to come to our church.
Not by pushing, but naturally. “Oh, I want to go there.”
8. When new people come to our church, we need to make them unknowingly feel that they want to come back again for some reason and that they do not want to return to their own homes.
“Wow! Here is the Kingdom of Heaven. They love me more than my father, more than my mother, more than anyone. This is the first time I have experienced this! This church is really amazing. Such warm hearts! They really embraced me. I can resolve any issue when I come to church.”
9. For Family Federation to become a community of heart, a life of faith of the trinity must be established.
Yesterday and today I talked about the trinity.
10. Faith of the trinity means first establishing a heartistic relationship with the elders of the church that are like your parents. Second, it is to give and receive with and create heartistic relationships with seniors and juniors centered on your own age. Next, it is to care for and love young people like your own children.
This is trinity in our church. In our home who is the trinity? Parents, spouse and children. This is the family eternal trinity. In the church we need to practice the life of the trinity: respect elders, love our peers and love our young children. This is the life of the trinity. Any church that develops always has this kind of atmosphere of the trinity: loving each other, not ignoring elders. Always the elders are concerned about raising young children, (about) Sunday school.
Can that church develop or not? We need to see the environment of the Sunday school. (There) you can know everything. If no one is concerned about Sunday school, that church has no more hope.
That is why Naokimi, national leader, you need to really pay attention at the Clifton Church to Sunday School. Very important.
(Sunday school students?) are our future. As a leader maybe you are not concerned about our kindergarten, our Sunday School.... (Then) even God cannot come down. (To know if) a church is a promising church or not, look at the atmosphere of the Sunday school.
11. Even the Bible says that where two or three gather together in His name, God is there, and that is where Heaven begins.
How can we create heartistic relationships in our church? If we cannot create community based on two or three gathered together sharing beautifully together, (then) how can we talk about creating the Kingdom of Heaven?
12. If an atmosphere of love and heart is created in church, people will automatically gather.
Today we learned what the role of Family Federation is and what the best witnessing method is, (namely,) raise our level of love and heart, our jeongseong, our hyojeong, our filial piety. If we do that, God will do everything.
So, let’s focus on spiritu al growth. Based on that let’s go out and convey God’s Blessing and God’s word. This is the way to develop our own spiritual growth and at the same time our church.
(Testimony Ken Owens, True Parents photographer)♦
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.
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.
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.♦