Ep 434 - A Course of Life and Death Struggles Part 2
A Course of Life and Death Struggles #69 - January 2, 2022
Today I’d like to talk about “A course of life and death struggles” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 1.
I have told you before about the resolution I made when I met True Father at the age of 17, haven't I? I resolved, “I will end this path that God has walked in suffering, this wearisome history of the providence of restoration through indemnity, in my lifetime. I will be the one to end it.” I was able to say this because I knew about God. I gave birth to many sons and daughters, and it is not easy to have your stomach cut open four times. I met someone the other day and asked him, “How many children do you have?” He answered he only had two. When I asked him why, he replied that he couldn't have any more because his wife gave birth through cesarean section. I, however, went through that four times, risking my life every time. I was determined to help God carry out His dream of creation. Can you honestly say, “I will do it, no matter what difficulties come my way?” The being that I am does not exist as an independent being. God depends on me, as does humanity. You know why Jesus said he must come again, don't you? The same could have been true of True Father. It was made possible because I stood firm in my own position. (2013.01.07, Cheon Jeong Gung)
Because True Mother knew how difficult the path that God has walked was, she made a resolution to end everything within her lifetime and realize God’s dream.
That is why True Mother said that she risked her life and had her stomach cut open four times to give birth to thirteen children.
True Mother says that whenever she thinks about her mission, she always thinks that she is not an independent being.
The fate of whether God’s will be fulfilled or not rests on True Mother’s shoulders. Jesus also came to this earth, but he was not able to fulfill the will during his lifetime. Even True Father suffered his entire life, but he went to the spirit world without substantially establishing Cheon Il Guk.
The reason why God, Jesus, and True Father can still have hope is because True Mother is still alive and they have hope that the will can be surely be fulfilled during her lifetime.
Therefore, we too must live with a heart of filial piety and loyalty to become one with True Mother and fulfill all of God’s will during True Mother’s lifetime.
My life has been like an ocean. The ocean can generously embrace and unite with the sky and resemble its color. It is in the lowest place, where it accepts all the water of the world. The ocean embraces everything and conceives all life. In the ocean all varieties of living things are born and raised in abundance. Its tides ebb and flow in response to the pull of the moon and the changing seasons. It responds to the rays of the sun, creates water vapor and influences the weather. A calm ocean is peaceful on the surface, but deep inside enormous currents that move the ocean are constantly surging. When the waves of a tsunami rage, they can swallow everything. People cannot see the whirlpool beneath the surface. Heaven's providence has surged like a typhoon, and my life has unfolded in its midst. There are so many circumstances that cannot be spoken of, which only I understand from the center of the providence. Crossing over that whirlpool, not allowing it to pull me down, I joined Father in the work to complete the providential history of restoration. (2013.12.06, Cheon Jeong Gung)
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: Principle of Creation 9 - Life of Give and Take Action
• Through the agency of universal prime energy, the subject and object elements of every entity form a common base and enter into interaction. This interaction, in turn, generates all the forces the entity needs for existence, multiplication, and action.
• The interaction generating these forces through this process is called give and take action.
Based on this EDP content, let’s study Father’s word.
The Beginning of Universal Motion Started from Giving
<239-222> All existence in the universe rotates. Nothing stands still. Everything moves right? When moving, where does it start? You all want to receive, right? You all desire money, right? Whether that is right or wrong has to be derived from the law of the universe. Even God cannot deny the law of the universe. When God created the universe, did He create using a pulling force of receiving or a force of giving? He used a force of giving. It is a force of investing. That is an easy thing.
It should be noted that the principle of God's creation was not investing in trying to receive first, but created the power to give first. When you give first, the other person is stimulated and tries to give back.
This is the universal principle. Our original mind is like that. When I try to give and serve for the sake of others and give incredible stimulation to my object partner, then once he receives from me, he will have the stimulation to give back. That is why the more you give, the more you receive.
Therefore, the circular movement of the universe begins with giving first. If you try to receive first, the circular movement will stop. However, if you try to give first, it keeps turning and turning and becomes a circular movement.
The more you receive, the smaller your heart becomes. What is the way of True Love? Always giving first. When you give something, your original mind is dancing and is so happy. That is why giving is much easier than taking. Many people do not know the taste of giving and receiving. When you give, it really stimulates your original mind. It is so happy, joyful and grateful! You have more energy to give more. Then later on, even if you do not expect it, the universe will return to you more than you gave. This is an amazing universal principle.
Our original mind knows very well, when you give something, are you happy or not? Which way are you happier: Giving? Or receiving? There is no need to explain the reason. Your original mind already knows very well. Which way is happier? Giving? Or receiving? Giving is happier. Why don’t you try giving first? Then your joy and happiness will increase day by day. Many people do not know this important and exciting (aspect of) Divine Principle.
<239-222> The beginning of universal motion started from giving. The Unification Church calls this give and take action (授受作用) in all theoretical foundations. Is ‘give and take action’ receiving then giving? Or giving then receiving? When giving then receiving it feels great, but when receiving and unable to give, we feel ashamed. Which is better?
When God created this word, He invested and began to forget that He invested. It is a good thing. What is? Investing and remembering it? Or forgetting it? (Forgetting it.) What is God’s love? It is not investing and remembering it, but it is a love of investing and forgetting that you invested.
The beginning of universal motion started from giving. God started to invest and forget when He created this world.
What is God's love? Father said that it's not love that invests and remembers, but love that invests and forgets.
Complete Minus in Front of a Complete Plus
<4-23> Up until now human beings have pursued only plus ideologies through the process of history but this will not do. Heaven is like plus and humans are like minus. That is why religion teaches us not to be arrogant. It also teaches us not to love ourselves. It says to deny ourselves and even beat our own body. This is because Heaven is plus and humans have to become minus for give and take to be possible. Plus and plus conflict with each other. It resists and pushes each other. Even though God is plus, Satan doesn’t want to stand in the minus position and tries to stand in the plus position. That is Satan.
Up until now human beings have pursued only plus ideologies through the process of history. All human beings are acting while thinking they are the subject partner and center. You should know that you could not have give and take action with God because the fundamentals were wrong.
The most important realization in the life course and faith course is that God is the subject partner and I am the object partner. This is very important. God is the causal being and I am the resultant being.
If you (seek to be) the subject partner, you will be in conflict with God.
To perform principled give and take action, the position of the subject and the object must be in order very, very clearly.
If the subject becomes the object and the object becomes the subject, that is a problem; that is the fall. The subject should be the subject; the object should be the object. The archangel tried to be the subject; that was a problem. Adam and Eve should have been the subject partner, and the archangel should have been the object partner, but the positions became upside down. That is the fall.
If we were to say that human beings were the subject partner and center, there would be another plus before God, and we would always be going through many (negative?) things together. That is why all religions have taught self-denial. They have taught that, “I am not the subject.” They have taught to love Heaven before myself. Plus and Plus push each other, eventually fight and try to push each other away.
If I decide to be a plus no matter what I do, because I cannot give and take with God, I can never find peace, happiness and freedom in my life course. Therefore, you need to be smart about knowing that trying to stand in the plus position is always Satan.
Satan tries to get the plus position all the time. “I am subject. I am the No. 1; I am the central figure.” This is really very arrogant and self-centered. Satan always tries to get the plus position. This is a problem. How to solve this? How do we build relationships. Even though your position may be higher, you always need to be humble. Try to become the minus position, the object partner position. Then everything can settle down. Anyone who tries to be in the plus position, wherever you go you will become a troublemaker.
<4-23> As I said before, a righteous lifestyle shouts out asceticism. This is to beat the plus in the Satan position to convert to a minus position. The body has to stand in the minus position, but because it tries to stand in the plus position we have to beat our body, and change it to the minus position so that we can have a complete give and take action with Heaven(+). Consequently, if everyone doesn’t remove the conditions made centered on your body, you cannot stand as a complete minus in front of Heaven’s complete plus.
Our body and mind are fighting because our body takes a plus position and tries to lead our mind. This is a problem. This is our daily reality. The mind should be the subject, and the body should be the object. But since the body has become the center of the fallen human being and takes the plus position, human misfortunes begin. Therefore, a righteous lifestyle “shouts out asceticism.” If everyone lives … centered on your body, you cannot stand as a complete minus in front of heaven’s complete plus. If the body does not stand in the minus position, you cannot perform the principle of give-and-take action.
In order for your body to stand in the minus position, the power of your mind must be strong. The desire of our flesh is always stronger than the desire of the spirit. It is really difficult to overcome (our desire for) food, sex, sleep and material things. Therefore, in order to overcome your physical desires, the power of your spiritual desires must be stronger. You must borrow the power of the love of God through prayer and devotion and jeongseong and God’s word. It is … impossible to overcome one’s own physical desires without being stimulated by prayer, devotion, jeongseong and God’s love, which is the word of God.
Therefore, in order to have principled give-and-take action, the concept of the subject and object and their order must be firmly established in principle. Then through devotion and the word, the body must be dominated by receiving the power of God’s love. This is the only way we can overcome our physical desires.
What is the fall? The fall means our body is always the subject. Our body always controls our mind. That is the fall. How can my body become a minus position? How can my mind, my soul take subject position. My physical desires always control our mind and our soul. My eating desires defeat my original mind. Material desire and sexual desires always defeat our mind. What shall we do? …
This kind of fallen nature accumulates more and more and increases and increases and is passed on to our descendants. Why are we here? What does the fall mean? The subject becomes the object, the object becomes the subject. The body becomes the subject and our soul becomes the object. This is the problem.
What is restoration? Minus position should be minus; subject position should be subject. God is our subject partner; human beings should be in the object position. Why shouldn’t it try to be subject position: “I am the leader. I am the center. You need to listen to me”? It never comes down. That is the human fall. That is why in order to have principled give-and-take action, we need to have the right order: what is the position of the subject partner, what is the position of the object partner.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: Jesus Course - Jesus’ Third Course of Restoration
1. Jesus' third course of restoration was Jesus’ course of the cross. Although he was distrusted by John the Baptist, he personally went down to John the Baptist’s position and tried to lay the foundation. He began to inform people of his existence through wonders and miracles. Along with the twelve disciples, he left the position of prophet and began evangelism at Capernaum and Nazareth in Galilee with the hope of heading toward the world. In the Galilee region, rumors about Jesus became widespread due to his many wonders and miracles. Jesus went down to Jerusalem through Samaria and began evangelism there. In Judea, Jesus dispatched 70 disciples, preached a lot, and conducted many wonders and miracles.
2. Next, Jesus' journey of hardship began. Jesus’ three-year journey started with the Transfiguration, then the Passover, the three prayers in Gethsemane, the interrogation, and ended in dying on the cross. In Jesus' three-year journey, he gave many sermons and conducted miracles in Galilee, went up to Jerusalem and performed many wonders and miracles in Samaria and Judea, and finally went through a period of suffering and died on the cross. Because Jesus was distrusted everywhere he went, he determined to go the path of the cross. Even in such a difficult environment, Jesus thought he should let at least three of his disciples know who he was. That event was the Transfiguration recorded in Matthew 17. Jesus showed three of his disciples spiritual evidence through Moses and Elijah that Jesus was not a prophet, but was, in fact, the Messiah.
3. However, Jesus' disciples had to know who Jesus was and what kind of relationship he had with God, but they had not believed in the Bible before, so they could not know about him. If they were like the Jewish people who believed in the Bible well, they would have waited for the Messiah of God to come after a prophet came and made a prediction. However, Jesus' disciples did not know about Jesus even though they followed him closely. Therefore, Jesus tried to let at least three disciples know that he was the Messiah. In the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared and worshipped and attended Jesus, indicating that Jesus was a better man than Moses and Elijah. The disciples should have known that it was Jesus whom Elijah, Moses, and the prophets predicted about, but they were so ignorant that they did not fully realize who Jesus was.
4. It is really embarrassing if many people enter our Unification Church and hear all of the Principle, but do not know True Parents’ identity. People who normally believe in the Bible and have faith yearn to meet the Lord, but when they hear the Principle, a clear view of the Messiah is established in them. In the early days of the Unification Church, many excellent students joined. They were more concerned about the country than anyone else and had a clear worldview. Therefore, once they heard the Principle, they rarely became fickle. However, if you listen to the Principle without any standard for comparison or basic knowledge, it is easy to not know the value of the Principle. Those who are concerned over what is the real truth and struggle to solve the problems of life quickly realize the preciousness of the Principle when they hear it. If people don't have knowledge to compare things with, they don't realize something is precious even when they see it.
5. We discovered the Principle which is a great truth. It is important to know that anywhere in the world there are still people struggling with the problems of life and the search for truth. You have to first find the people who are ready. It is important to evangelize everyone, but you have to find the people prepared by Heaven first and move their foundation to Heaven’s foundation. Because Jesus lost the family foundation and John the Baptist’s foundation, he made fishermen and people on the streets who were not prepared at all into his disciples. Therefore, we must always search for John the Baptist figures prepared by Heaven with an earnest and longing heart.
There is an important point we can learn from Jesus’ course. Jesus should have been well accepted by his own family first by his mother Mary, Joseph. If the three of them had been united together, then God’s providence could smoothly have progressed. But because Jesus’ family could not welcome him, could not attend him and became very humanistic, Jesus had to leave his home and start from the bottom.
After leaving his home, Jesus met John the Baptist and tried to meet the priests and all the church leaders. If John the Baptist had united with Jesus, then Jesus would have had another opportunity to go forward quickly. However, he had lost the family foundation and lost John the Baptist’s foundation. Then he had no choice but to go down. He did a 40-day fast and even fought directly with Satan. This was Jesus’ reality.
So when we go out to witness, we must pray to God that we will meet the person whom God has prepared for us. We must believe that there are definitely people who have been prepared by heaven. Without searching for John the Baptists, if our witnessing style starts from the bottom, that is already wrong. That is not the principled way.
Therefore our ACLC movement must first witness to megachurches. They are the churches and people in the class of John the Baptist prepared in advance by heaven. What blessed them to become a megachurch is that God told them to meet the messiah.
UPF USA is meeting the country’s top politicians and high level parliament members and former prime ministers, former presidents. This is an excellent and principled approach. We need to meet that kind of category of those who are prepared by God. We need to meet prepared people first. When we do witnessing, we must not witness from the bottom up. We have to meet the top political and religious leaders from among the people … If they don’t accept you, then you have no choice but to start from the bottom.
But first we have to meet people who are ready (prepared) by God. Top down, not bottom up. This is the original way of restoration. People do not know the principled way of restoration and try to visit neighbors and go to the street and meet people. This is OK as good training, but originally what should we do? Jesus came to earth, first, to meet the people who were prepared by God. He needed to go church to church (synagogue to synagogue?), individual to individual. That was Jesus’ way. However John the Baptist could not accept Jesus.
When True Father started his mission in 1945, God had prepared everything centered on Korean Christianity and political leaders, but they did not welcome Father. Father lost the John the Baptist foundation. That is why he had no choice but to go to North Korea and go to Heungnam Prison. He needed to pay the price, pay the indemnity on behalf of the entire Korean nation, the entire Christian nation.
Our True Parents have already laid an incredible victorious foundation. Therefore, using True Parents’s victorious foundation, our witnessing style must not be bottom up. We need to start at the top. That is the principled way. Jesus followed that way. However, the Jewish people and John the Baptist, all the leaders could not accept Jesus. That is why he had no choice but to witness in the street and meet the locals and all kinds of happenings.
It is important to know that there is an order of restoration even when witnessing. It is not just random witnessing without knowing how. We need to understand now we already have an incredible foundation. True Parents already paid indemnity. We have… a really victorious foundation. Using this kind of foundation, we can … a maximum(?)True Parents' victorious foundation. That’s why we need to approach people from the top down, not down to top. If you try to approach them from the bottom to the top, this is not the Principle(?). True Parents already laid an amazing foundation.
A few days ago when we had a beautiful meeting with the Japanese ministry(?), one guy shared about his experience visiting Christian churches, how much they responded, how much they are waiting for us. A different time has come. It is important to know that there is an order to restoration even when witnessing. It is not just random witnessing without knowing how. First of all, we must not forget that we have to meet people at the top of the community. For example, if you are a state leader, you need to meet that state’s governor and you need to meet all top religious leaders first. (You need to visit) mega churches and just deliver (?) who you are and why you came there and share and let God talk through your mouth. If they do not accept you, then God surely has prepared a second person for you. When we just start from the bottom and go to the street and to the market…
God already has prepared everything. If the John the Baptist figures do not accept you, then God has already prepared a second and a third and a fourth one. That’s why when the John the Baptist figures do not accept us, then spiritual phenomena occur. At least if we set up that kind of condition, God will show the way to the prepared people. But when we start from the bottom, we don’t really know what to do. But if we follow the way of restoration, proper restoration, surely witnessing becomes very exciting.
We need to know from Jesus’ course. We need to learn from True Parents’ course. We need to meet John the Baptists. When we restore the John the Baptists, their entire foundation becomes God’s foundation, becomes my foundation. The role of the John the Baptists is really important. Also, the role of the family is so important. I feel so sorry for Jesus. Can you imagine how much God prepared John the Baptist for Jesus? When John the Baptist doubted Jesus, what was his outcome? How did he die? God had prepared for him for 4,000 years for Jesus. When he doubted Jesus, what was the outcome? How did he die?
When we visit Christian churches, mega-churches, it does not matter whether they accept us or not. Our job is to convey God’s message. When we convey God’s message, if they accept, they get the blessing. If they do not accept, I don’t know, surely their foundation will decline. God prepared for the second coming for 2,000 years. You may feel like a simple guy, but you are a representative of God and True Parents. Even though your words are very poor and you don’t have much confidence in how to visit(?), but if you go as the representative of God and True Parents, we do not know how God will use you. Let’s really deny ourselves and let God talk. You have to be bold and strong and go to talk with them. That is our role.
Our ACLC coordinators need to meet the megachurch leaders. Why did they become megachurches? They are the ones who need to accept the messiah. That is why God let them become megachurches? Why do they have so many members? There is a clear reason. They need to accept the Second Coming.
But if you only visit smaller churches and never go to the megachurches, that is a problem. (Of the) different religions, different faiths, we need to meet top people, high-level people, high level politicians, high level congressmen, high level ethnic group (leaders). This is the way to break through in witnessing(?). When we follow the proper way to witness, God will surely work through us.
When I was in Asia and Oceania, I was the continental director. I did not just want to deal with small guys. Of course, each human is very, very precious(?), but I needed to find John the Baptists. When I visited the 14 nations of Oceania, I met 12 heads of state. I came to Asia and met all current political presidents or prime ministers. … I have so much confidence! God poured down his Holy Spirit: “Go ahead.” I already met top leaders. I told them who I am. … I follow Father Moon and Mother Moon. … Do you want to create that one? Incredible heavenly fortune comes.
That is why there is a way to break through in our witnessing. Each one of you, our North American brothers and sisters, our blessed families, you are so precious! You are representatives of True Parents. Do not think that, “I am nothing. I am not a worthy guy.” Do not think that way. Centering on God’s point of view, you are a heavenly general, you are heavenly representatives, you are children of True Parents. Be confident, strong and bold! Get out of your home and visit churches with confidence! Surely the Holy Spirit will come down and help you!♦
NOTE: This lightly edited transcription may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable or uncertain words are tagged with a “(?)” and phrases with an ellipsis “ ...”. First, second and third person pronouns have been left as spoken, and other apparently Korean English expressions have been preserved. Some repeated phrases have been eliminated. This text and the powerpoint slides from this speech are available as pdf files at the top of this text and at text.morndev.com & yong.hoondok.com. Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com.♦