Ep 441 - Spreading the Word and Practicing True Love Part 1
Spreading the Word and Practicing True Love #76 1-12-40 - January 9, 2022
Did you attend the second Rally for Peace on the Korean Peninsula yesterday? I was so surprised. I expected the program to last more than three hours, but it finished within two hours. They are improving now. The rally had the theme of “one million prayers for peace.” That becomes a vision. Thank you for your support. I was happy to see True Mother’s healthy appearance and hear her precious words. The welcoming speech by former Vice President Mike Pence of the United States was very good, very internal content. I would like to thank again all those involved in the rally, including UPF chairman Michael Jenkins, his staff, Dr. Tom McDevitt of the Washington Times.
Today I’d like to talk about “Spreading the Word and practicing true love” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 1.
You who joined the movement first should 100 percent convey the Word that explains God's situation and True Parents' heart to others. You have this responsibility to convey the Word. If you give someone who is eating a rotten fruit a fresh fruit, who will refuse it? You must give people of the world an opportunity to make a choice. That is your responsibility. You only live on the earth for a brief moment. It is not easy to live to 100 years. The reality is that we cannot go beyond 100 years old in good health. This is the same as a baby who spends ten months in the mother's womb. If the baby who has been in the womb for ten months decides not to come out, then the mother and the baby will die. We have to go to the spirit world. That is how God created it to be. We have to become people who are fit to go to that place that we all must go. This world was created to be a place where we can practice true love. Are you living like this for the sake of your family, tribe and nation? You must make a determination to live like this from now on. (2006.07.07, Sarajevo, Bosnia)
You must practice the Word in your daily life and harvest the fruits. You have to start by conveying the Word to your relatives, siblings and people who are close to you, then change their lineage by them receiving the Blessing. If the fallen world is a wild olive tree then the blessed families are the true olive trees. You should not be the only ones to hold that title. You must multiply this. You must expand the movement to practice the word and be grateful every day to be living in an era when we can realize the kingdom of heaven on earth and in heaven, which is God and humankind's wish.
During the Universal Peace Federation rally to send people back to their hometowns, I saw many people prepared by God who accepted the Word and who determined to live according to the Word. There are people who are investing their lives to live up to the Word. That is why you have to do your best day and night to convey the Word. There are more blessed families here than people who have not been blessed. People who have received the Blessing should have children. You must have children and you must spread the Word as well. You cannot go to heaven with just your one blessed family. (2006.06.24, Riga, Latvia)
In True Mother’s speech yesterday, she told us to create many blessed families. However, the problem with our church is not that our members do not evangelize. The problem is that we don't manage our members well after they join.
So many come and many leave. The problem is our management and our follow up.
True Mother asked us to multiply, but at the same time we need to reflect on how to take care of our members and especially new guests. Otherwise, so many people come and (then) go back to their original place. This makes no sense.
Let's take a look at True Father's words about this.
The Reason the Church Can't Develop
<29-191> What is another cause of our church's failure to develop? It is not paying attention to our spiritual children until the end. Despite having to give more and more attention to those whom we witness to over time, we are only interested in them when witnessing, but become indifferent after they are witnessed. This is killing the spiritual children. This is killing. You have to give them attention at any time for at least three years. If you think that a person has become a member, you should invest more time here and make detailed plans to realize their internal desires.
True Father asked, “What is the cause of our church's failure to develop?” He said that it was the failure to pay attention to new members until the end.
Despite having to give more and more attention to those whom we witness to over time, we are only interested in them when witnessing, but become indifferent after they are witnessed to.
Father said that you have to give them attention at any time for at least three years. Spiritual parents should always focus on the number three when raising spiritual children. The three months after witnessing to them is important, and the next step is how to raise them over a three-year period.
(We should) follow up afterwards and take care (of them). One of our lacking points is management (of spiritual children) after joining the church. What is the process of education? How can we take care of them? How can we relate to them? How can we build a heartistic relationship with them? This is a critical issue in our movement.
<29-191> Just because someone becomes a member, you shouldn’t stop putting in effort. You shouldn't say, "Now you study." It means to give attention for at least three years to people who have become members. When a member of one year and a member of two years try to go on a regular path for the Will, a member of two years digs deeper into more detail than a member of one year. They want to be enthusiastic in detail and participate in all fields. You have to take care of and raise those kinds of people.
The reason why it is not possible to follow up after witnessing is that we see witnessing as a sense of duty or mission. (But) the reason for witnessing is to establish a relationship of love and heart with that person. I should have a parent’s heart of taking responsibility for, protecting and nurturing the person I witness to forever.
This parental concept is very important in taking care of people. We know the mission: we need to witness. Many people try to witness. When we witness, it usually involves a mindset of mission or duty or responsibility. We don’t engage much with our heart and love. That is our weak point. When you have heart and automatically try to relate with your guests, your spiritual children, heartistically, you can get more strength and power and you can take care of your spiritual children very well. If a mother just gives birth to a baby and does not take care for it, what will happen? One of the reasons we could not take care (of spiritual children) is that we have not grown up spiritually. The more mature you have become, the more you have the heart to take care of your spiritual children.
In my experience, in order to break through with three spiritual children, it is very hard. When I was in school, I was the school captain. All my classmates followed me. I witnessed to them one by one and brought them to the church. That was more than 50 or 60 people. Only one or two stayed; nearly all of them left. Witnessing is that difficult. However, when I broke through with three spiritual children, I became stable. Then breaking through with 5, 6, 12 was much easier. Breaking through with three spiritual children is not easy, but once you break through with three spiritual children and become stable and you take care of them continually and take ownership, that is important.
So far, countless people have joined and left the Unification Church. At first, the Principle was introduced to them so they could be a church member, and when they came again, the members were indifferent to them. Members worked hard to witness, but once people were witnessed and connected to the church, members would become indifferent. However, even if you can't do that, you have to take them around and teach them for three years. So if they are suspicious or in an environmentally difficult position, members should explain and have them understand through the Principle, and have them understand that formal development is like this through the Principle. Then they will feel that our Principle has a deep meaning and is great, tremendous, and wonderful.
Nevertheless, because members don’t give attention, new members lose all the environment where they can have such stimulating experiences. What impressed them when they first heard the Principle can’t last long. This makes the same sense as having breakfast but being hungry again at lunchtime. What impressed them can’t last long. That's why you have to continue to guide them. If you can't take responsibility, you have to set up someone else who is connected to a higher heartistic standard of raising that person until now and hand them over.
Even if fallen humans are inspired once, it is difficult for that (inspiration) to last more than three hours.
Even though you are moved by God’s word, most of them forget after three hours.
As True Father said, even if I had breakfast, I get hungry again by lunchtime. Therefore, with continuous interest, you should always give them spiritual food, pray for them, and give and receive with them heartistically.
That is why I am determined to carry on with Morning Devotion, not just once a week or once a month. We need to carry on continuously. That is the best way to cultivate our heart continuously. Breakfast, lunch and dinner. After having breakfast, you are very happy, but sooner or later, when it becomes noon, you are hungry again. That is why for fallen human beings, it is easy to forget what I learned and what inspired me. That is why we need to keep on trying continuously. Then someday we can start to realize and gradually cultivate our heart.
That is why Father said, “Invest, invest and invest, and forget what you have invested and still you want to invest more.” Through such unchanging investing, giving and sacrificing, then our spiritual children, our own children and our members will start to realize this(?). That’s why God is eternal and unchanging. Once we start good things, keep going unchangingly. Keep going eternally. Anything that stops on the way, if your motivation has gone away, that is not connected to God’s eternity. Evil is always changeable. When you initiate and stop on the way, then reinitiate and stop on the way, that is evil. My mindset and my attitude are more connected to evil. But a true man, once he has determined (to do something), keeps going no matter what. Even though it is raining or there is a typhoon or the weather is not good, it does not matter. Keep going. Then it becomes eternal and unchanging. The nature of goodness is unchanging, eternal and always keeps going. We might say that a man is a good man who determines to do something and works very hard at it at first, then changes on the way. The nature of Satan is always changing like the weather.
Until when do I have to follow up with the person I have witnessed to? I have to continue to give attention and love them until they have three spiritual children themselves.
Fully take ownership until they know how to take care of their own spiritual children.
In my case, I still have a relationship with my spiritual children with the thinking that once I witness to them, I always remind myself that I have to be responsible for them forever; I want to protect them forever. No matter what, I want to nurture them forever. Even though I can’t do it, … (I want to?) do it like that. I can’t reach that standard, but my motivation and my goal is like that. Since I am responsible for America and American members, no matter what, I need to be responsible for North American brothers and sisters on behalf of True Father, even though I can’t do it. At least my will should be like that. No matter what, I need to protect North American members and nurture them and give them spiritual food on behalf of True Parents, even though I can’t do much. This is my goal, my reason, my determination.
… attention and love. Just as God protects and loves me forever, I should protect and love and give continuous attention to my spiritual children with that same heart. When we have this mindset, learning from True Parents, we can really try to achieve the goals that our True Mother requests.
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: Principle of Creation 9 - Life of Give and Take Action
Let’s read again the EDP content.
• 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 about give-and-take action, let’s study Father’s word in detail.
Recently I have continuously talked about give-and-take action. It is very important. Anyway we need to go with Morning Devotion for seven years, so I would like to share as much as I can when I learn from True Father’s word.
Giving Standard of Heaven
<44-31> Who must give first? We must give first. Who must we help? We must help Korea and the world. Is helping easy? 「It is hard」 Did I say the person who gives will be blessed or punished? 「Blessed」 Will the person who gives be blessed more or less than the person who receives? 「Blessed more」 That person will be blessed more. Therefore if you give well, it is natural you will receive well. But if you give half, you will not always receive. It becomes like this. If you give one third, it feels like receiving leftovers and will inflict discontent. Then, it is better not to give. Do you understand?
<44-31> Consequently you must give with a heart of over two thirds. However, if you say, ‘yesterday I gave this much so I should receive that much in return. You reap what you sow, thus because I gave this much next time I will take ten times as much’, then did you give well? People who do this will go to ruin. That is a merchant. Such a person is not a parent. Give two thirds and forget that you have given. People who give and remember everything they gave cannot receive lots of blessing. Do you understand?
Accordingly, people who help others and forget it receive a lot of blessing. People who think ‘I gave help, so I will be repaid’ will not be blessed, no matter how long they wait. Do you understand? Those who don’t think of giving and only want to receive are all Satan.
Heaven’s standard of giving is to invest more than two-thirds of what you have. Therefore, it is said that if you give with a merchant’s heart of expecting to receive interest, that will be ruined. It is to give two-thirds and forget. That is a parent’s heart.
And when it comes to who God blesses, He gives blessings to those who help others and quickly forget. If you give and remember, no matter how long you wait, blessings will not come. True Father says that those who have no heart of giving and just want to receive are all Satan in the eyes of Heaven.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: What Kind of Han Do I Bear and Live With?
It is difficult to explain the meaning of Han. It is not resentment. We can say “bitter heart” and “sorrowful heart” but not just that. It also means “unfulfilled wish” which one could not reach yet. That is why he has han.
1. Jesus was abandoned by his family, rejected by the church, and even rejected by the Israelites, who were the chosen people. They called him Beelzebub and drove him out. Jesus, who came with expectations for the chosen people, could not lay the foundation for heaven due to their faithlessness. So Jesus, the substance of love, went to the very bottom and began to search for the poor and the forsaken. Like God, he went to search in the world of the outcast and showed love and compassion. He went to those who needed You, embraced them, and performed signs and miracles. Judaism persecuted Jesus, but Jesus did what the Jewish leaders could not do and loved them.
2. There is no law in the world that lets you persecute those who are less than you. Persecution is the incompetent side persecuting the competent. Although Jesus lost his family and denomination, he had to establish a church among the masses and take hold of a foundation, and from there, establish a family. But even his disciples doubted him, so he had no place to stand. Jesus’ disciples had to attend Jesus and establish Heaven’s authority on this earth, but they did not know his heart and when Jesus carried the cross, they all fled.
3. The reason Jesus was crucified was also the cause of the disciples. Of course, if Mary and Joseph had served Jesus as the Son of God and gone further and Mary's relatives had become one with Jesus, there would have been a way for divine Jewish people to become the center of the Jewish church and connect him with the chief priests. However, when you see that Jesus took the three disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed to be freed from the cross, it is clear that he had lingering attachments for the three disciples and went up to the Garden of Gethsemane to offer a prayer of negotiation.
4. In order for Jesus to settle on this earth, the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance centered on Jesus had to be established. We can learn from this that not only Jesus, but all believers, if they do not have spiritual children in their life of faith, their spiritual growth will not be settled and they will wander.
Your life of faith begins from some foundation. What kind of foundation do you need? You need a foundation of a minimum of three spiritual children. In your life of faith, even though you have been in the church 5 or 10 or 20 years, if you don’t have spiritual children, your spirituality is not so stable. You are hanging around, walking (?working?) here and there. You never settle.
You see Jesus. Those who were prepared by God all left. Stability is very important. In order to settle our spirituality, you need not just a foundation of faith. The foundation of faith is the relationship between God and me. That is a vertical alignment. The vertical relationship cannot multiply. It is just God and me. God trusts me, and I respect God. I have the vertical alignment which is the foundation of faith. In order to multiply, I need the foundation of substance. Then the vertical alignment becomes stable. Without an earthly foundation, how can it become stable? That’s why you need the foundation of substance. You need to have three spiritual children minimum. That is a beginning.
Recently True Mother, True Parents, emphasized fulfilling heavenly tribal messiahship centering on 430 couples. But without a breakthrough with three spiritual children, it is impossible to accomplish heavenly tribal messiahship. Even though you witness to three or four or five people, what kind of relationship do you have with your spiritual children? You need to have an inseparable and heartistic relationship with your spiritual children. When you settle such a foundation, which is the foundation of substance, you can raise your own (physical) children very well. Your foundation of substance directly connects to your physical children. You need to raise Cain’s side first. Then based on that foundation after starting family, you have the qualification to raise your children. But we must raise the Cain-side first. Based on that result, we can raise our own children. That is the order of restoration.
This is not just about witnessing to one or two or 12 (people). I am talking about 12 or 40 or 60 who really respect you and follow you. They can even die for you. You need this kind of heartistic relationship with your three spiritual children. This is important to stabilize our life of faith.
Even though Jesus witnessed to so many people… Father said if Jesus had focused more on education for the disciples, maybe the situation would have been better.
How do you light a fire in order to create the foundation of faith and foundation of substance in order to multiply membership?
If you bear God’s han, a fire will be lit. Even if you bear God’s Han, Jesus’ Han and True Parents’ Han but cannot light a fire on earth, if the spirit world works, a fire is lit.
5. To say that a person’s faith is alive or dead means what kind of Han and lamentation he bears and lives with. It becomes a problem when Han based on your own circumstances causes life to become exhausting and spirit body dies away, but if we bear God’s Han and True Parents’ Han, it becomes a driving force to advance relentlessly without becoming exhausted under any circumstances, and our spiritual body will live forever.
This is True Father’s secret, how he gets energy all the time without giving up even though he is so tired and exhausted. How does he get back his energy so quickly? Do you know his secret? True Mother’s secret? They inherited Heavenly Father’s han. Heavenly Father’s han became True Parents’ han, the same han. God has a sorrowful, bitter heart with a sorrowful wish. “How can I restore my children?” That is God’s han. True Father inherited that han from God and from Jesus. Jesus cried and cried because he came as the messiah, God’s only begotten son, but could not start his family, could not establish an ideal family, and passed away. That is why Jesus carried on his han. His sorrowful, bitter heart and wish, if he completes(?) that han, how was the root(?)? True Father and True Mother inherited that han from Jesus. That is a top secret. If we inherit God’s, Jesus’, True Parents’ and our central figure’s han, then finally we are the one who accomplishes. That is the way to release God’s, Jesus’, True Parents’ and all central figures’ han. That is why those who have han cannot sleep until they accomplish the goal. That is because Father’s han is my han; True Parents’ is my han. (Then) there is no gap at all between True Parents and ourself. It is amazing how True Father can keep going, even in prison, in … life whatever, even going to the ocean. Even in a very comfortable place, he never forgets God’s han, Jesus’ han. “I am the one who (must) release their han. I am the one who comforts God’s han and Jesus’ han.
6. When the disciples of Jesus saw the signs and miracles that Jesus performed, they were persecuted together with the Lord, but they did not know much about his circumstances full of Han. Then where is Han inherited? It is inherited in place of persecution and injustice where you think of God’s sorrow and how to overcome it.
When you receive a lot of persecution, sometimes injustice, somebody insults you and persecutes you, … do not accept it as your own persecution but (remember that) God is the one who received such persecution and injustice. Many people insult God, insult Jesus. You think about Jesus’ han and God’s han. During that moment, you are the one who can inherit God’s han and Jesus’ han.
What are we worried about today? What are you busy with? What are you sad about? We must live with God’s Han, Jesus’ Han, and True Parents’ Han. This becomes the element of eternal life, and this life is a life (in which) Heaven can always be with us.
7. Today, we have clearly seen the True Parents living with God’s Han deep in their hearts. True Parents live with God’s Han deep in their heart that even when they are tired or sleeping, just by thinking about God’s Han, sleepiness and fatigue instantly go away. Therefore, those who know God's circumstances and heart must live with their Han pierced in their hearts. Those who are sunk deep into Han experience God’s injustice when they see people coming and going or see other people’s pitiful things, and because they think that God’s Han is there, they cannot carelessly judge people. When we see those who do not yet know God and True Parents, we will experience God’s Han of seeing them and feeling sorry.
8. The disciples who kept the Passover, may have known about the bread and wine only through the meal gathering, but they could not understand the Lord’s grim words. If they were people deep in Han, they would have understood his words deep with Han. Depending on the person's worries and concerns, the ears and eyes will change. Are we really obsessed with the word? I have to live when I am constantly aware of how much I know and live God's will.
Today my keywords are what? How to inherit God’s han and Jesus han. How can we have True Parents’ han as my own han. When he is sad, I have the same kind of feeling, a sorrowful heart. We call such a child a filial son or daughter. There is a large gap between True Parents and myself in terms of heart.
True Mother has han. How can we release her han? When we substantially establish God’s Cheon il guk on earth. This is the only way to release True Mother’s han. True Mother now carries God’s han, Jesus’ han, all central figures’ han and all humankind’s han. She is the one who wants to release that han and create God’s Cheon il guk on the earth. Let’s unite with Mother. Let’s pray for Mother’s wishes. Let’s inherit True Mother’s han and (have it become) our han and work together with True Mother. This is a shortcut (to establish) God’s providence -- through uniting with True Mother.
(Response to sharing) In the beginning it is not easy to break through in witnessing, but for me, witnessing is my hobby, so joyful, so grateful -- because I can build up a heartistic relationship with somebody. Through that heartistic relationship, we keep on going and communicate with each other and take care of each other. It is really beautiful. Don’t do it (out of a sense of) duty or responsibility or mission. Then you will stop on the way. You need to do it with your heart and love.♦
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.♦