Ep 446 - Let's Return to the Early Times Part 3
Let's Return to the Early Times 81-6-12-40 - January 14, 2022
Today I’d like to talk again about “Let's return to the early times” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 1.
I have been saying that I will transform the church into one that is alive and breathing. As long as people have life, they continue to move. It is only the dead that do not move. I have said that I will make such a church. If you make an effort with the resolve to restore the people of this town in a month, why would True Father not help you? Wouldn't True Father, who transcends time and space, be drawn to your devotion and do great works? Can't you think about that? We are living in the era when achievements must be tangible. Your church should be a place where the lights are always on because you are awake at night. Wouldn't Father be drawn to the churches that have the lights on while he tours around the world? I am saying that you should make your church center a place that True Father would not pass by without stopping. (2012.10.16, Geomundo Ocean Cheon Jeong Gung)
After True Father passed away and True Mother had completed True Father’s Seonghwa ceremony, she traveled to Geomundo Ocean Cheon Jeong Gung in the southern part of Korea. She delivered this speech to the members. When we read this content, (we can see) True Mother’s serious resolve and how we need to relate to True Father.
We can see how big True Mother’s determination and resolve to develop our church is after True Father’s Seonghwa.
Just as a perfect plus creates a complete minus -- Father always says this -- we see that we must decide to become a perfect minus before True Mother’s determination (resolve).
I believe that we must all do our best so that our True Father in the spirit world will see our JeongSeong and have no choice but to help us.
Since I came to America, while leading Morning Devotion and through the 50 state Holy Ground tour, I saw many brothers and sisters (to) whom True Father appeared. They talked about me(?), and True Father delivered a message to members through dreams, and some (of them) received inspirations, “(True Father) talked to me.” True Father appeared to them, and he delivered a message to me. I received a lot of encouragement from our brothers and sisters.
After Jesus died, he appeared in all parts of the world where there was a passion for witnessing, and he caused wonderful spiritual work. Much more, True Father is the one that left victoriously in the restoration through indemnity on this earth.
If we just offer JeongSeong and create a common base that the spirit world and True Father can work through together, I have no doubt that unimaginable work will happen.
We are now in the 2nd 7-year course of Cheon Il-guk. Let’s make sure to become one with True Mother on earth and offer utmost sincerity in our activities (so) that True Father cannot help but be together in the spirit world.
Today I would like to introduce some of what our True Father prophesied in 1979. It was about what would happen if True Father were to go to the spiritual world. It is very interesting content and relevant to our current situation as well.
The Time Has Come for True Father to Spiritually work More Than Ten Times and 100 Times
<103-184> “Theologians in American Colleges once said that the Unification Church will perish after Rev. Moon is dead. But it’s not like that. If I die, I would work harder spiritually even ten or hundred times than I had worked on you. I would make you work without sleeping at night and taking a rest at all. After I die and become so free spiritually anywhere, hundreds of thousands of people will be able to be restored at once. (‘The eternal happiness’ – Belvedia training center in the USA , Feb. 25, 1979)
Wow! A really great proclamation!
I think that True Father's proclamation of the word will become a reality someday. Maybe it has already happened. True Father has already prophesied that the number of members in our movement will increase by two, three, and ten times.
When I was leading the Heavenly Tribal Messiah movement in Asia, I was convinced of the restoration of a nation. I had confidence, especially (in) Cambodia and some other nations, that if I really focus, then I have great confidence that we can offer one nation for God.
I felt and experienced the truly amazing work of True Father taking place in many nations.
True Father said that he would make us work day and night without sleeping or taking a rest, working non-stop, and I think this is really true. Even looking at my daily work, every day I really think that True Father is pushing me without mercy.
Sometimes I cannot breathe. Especially since I went to America, whenever I have free time, even 5 minutes, I need to prepare Morning Devotion. I came back home and have been busier than when I was in America. I realized that my mission in my family is busier but easier than the continental director mission for North America.
I feel that family is my front line. I have not stayed here for a long time, so I could not communicate very much with my children and my wife. I don’t want to be like Noah. Noah just worked, worked, worked and worked; he was a workaholic. He did not take care of his wife and children. My journey is like (that of) Noah. Noah came back home. I need to spend time with my family. I need to take care of my family members first. Thank you so much for your encouragement and support.
Since many members of the family are attending Morning Devotion in North America -- now many people connect from all over the world -- I believe that the amazing work of True Father and the spiritual world will gradually take place. I think many spiritual phenomena will occur. As long as we create that kind of continental or national level morning condition, including affiliated organizations, it does not matter if you are first generation or third generation or second generation. Everybody is coming together, and we are really determined to do the morning condition for seven years. If there is the right condition, True Father will surely come down and help us. Even though True Father is very busy and ready to help us, (if) there is no foundation on earth, he cannot relate to us. That’s why it is up to us; will Father come to us and help us or not? It is up to our (fulfilling our) portion of responsibility.
Let's Return to the Early Times
Spring brings into mind the earth blooming after being frozen throughout winter and the hearts of people cheering up after that gloomy season. People busy themselves in preparation for spring. You can feel the arrival of spring in reality when you see these spring preparations, the great activities being carried out, and videos covering the hard work of leaders and members on the front line. The hardened land will receive water in spring and soften for new sprouts and to receive new seeds. Let your imagination wander. Isn't our Heavenly Parent's creation simply profound and mysterious? Spring is just the right time to feel and experience these wonders. A new spring has also started for us, the new spring of Cheon Il Guk. A whole new history has begun with a fresh start. We have all eagerly waited throughout providential history for this culminating event to take place. We must be grateful and joyful for having the opportunity to welcome this new era while we are still on earth and remember that we have the responsibility to live a life of practice. For farmers, spring means energetically and painstakingly plowing their fields and planting seeds in order to harvest enough crops by autumn.
A farmer must take good care of his or her land in the process. Some farmers convey their love by conversing with the land within their hearts, protecting the land and fertilizing it well enough for the seeds to grow well and to produce a great yield. What do you think must be done for the seeds of life to yield abundant crops? You must bear in mind how important your missions are. Therefore, you cannot rest. You must raise every single life with a parent's heart day and night. It is important that you set up substantial goals every day. We have three meals a day, but a person's life is more important and urgent than food is. We must be able to reveal to the world that this country is God's homeland by 2020, but this goal cannot be achieved using our old or current methods. Therefore, we must dedicate ourselves day and night, investing tenfold, twentyfold or a hundredfold more effort than we do now. (2013.04.03, Cheon Jeong Gung)
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: Principle of Creation 9 - Life of Give and Take Action
I think tomorrow or day after tomorrow we will finish this chapter.
• 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.
Give and Take of Eternal Happiness
<86-78> So then from where does happiness arise? It arises from the place where eternal giving and eternal receiving can happen at any time. Only true love can do this.
Therefore happiness arises when one can freely give boundlessly and receive boundlessly, from a deep or a shallow place, at night or day at any time. When wanting to give but being unable to do so, and wanting to receive but being unable to do so, it is misery. What is misery? Misery is when wanting to give but being unable to do so, and wanting to receive but being unable to do so. Depending on that scale, the condition of misery changes. Think about it.
Father asked, “What is true happiness? When I want to give infinitely, eternally, when I can give infinitely, eternally and when I want to receive infinitely and eternally, I can receive infinitely and eternally. It is said that human beings feel the greatest happiness, not just only giving but at the same time receiving infinitely. That is a beautiful explanation.
Since humans not only give but also desire to receive, the world where we can give and receive forever beyond our selfish desires is really heaven. That is why I really want to give eternally, infinitely and I really continually give to my object partner. (But) sometimes I really want to get it from my object partner, infinitely and eternally, then I can get it. True Father said that is true happiness.
What is unhappiness? When wanting to give but being unable to do so, and wanting to receive but being unable to do so, it is misery, Father said. Due to the human Fall, because of Satan -- Satan asks God to pay indemnity and wants to go back to God’s bosom -- that’s why God wants to give everything, but there is a certain limit (beyond which?) God cannot give. That is Father’s sorrowful point: He wants to give everything, but he cannot give under the realm of Satan. God can neither give boundlessly nor receive boundlessly. That is really unhappiness. That is why all of humankind must(?) overcome Satan and gradually (go beyond) the level of Satan and enter the kingdom of heaven. Then we can fully give and receive any time. This kind of ideal world is God waiting for us.
Until we reach the completion level, we need to go through all kinds of indemnity conditions. That is God’s agony. He wants to give eternally without limit. Heavenly Father is thinking, “When can I do like this?” If each human being is liberated from Satan, he (God?) already reserved to give something incredible to each human being. That is God’s heart actually.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: Things We Have to Be Cautious About in Our Life of Faith
Today is a little bit longer content.
1. When we look at Jesus’ childhood, we can see that he could not be harmonious with his mother, Mary. After losing the twelve-year old Jesus and looking for him all day, she finally found him, but instead of saying one word about her troubles to find him, he treated her coldly. After this incident, Jesus did not say anything, but we can know that the relationship with his mother was troubled. Jesus had no one he could give and take with. Even in the church, there was no one. During his childhood, there is a scene where Jesus has a Biblical discussion with the chief priests. But the priests took the laws and tried to restrict Jesus within the laws.
2. Since he was born, Jesus knew of God’s circumstances better than anyone, and as the substance of the Word, he was above the law. However, since the chief priests tried to hold Jesus within the confines of the law, Jesus and the priests could not understand each other. From that standpoint, Jesus could be seen as lonely and frustrated. When you imagine the situation at that time, we wonder if the frustrated Jesus often went to Mount Tabor, across the Nazareth, to pray. With the pity of not being able to give and receive with anyone on this earth and not being able to resolve this pity, Jesus must have had no choice but to look up to Heaven and lament.
3. Even today, we bow our heads and pray when we are sad. Just as we pioneer a path to discuss with God when there is no one on earth to discuss our sorrow with, Jesus also had no one on earth to give and take with, so to give and take with God, through prayer, he had a lot of give and take with the spirit world. Actually, if our standards of God are not firm or people without standards on earth only give and take spiritually, it can become one-sided and put our life of faith in danger. We often witness such a situation around us. In our life of faith, when we do not give and take well with our Abel or there is no one around me to give and take with well, if you just sit and quietly and pray, the door to the spirit world opens and instead of having a foundation in the physical world, only having spiritual give and take can be very dangerous.
4. Therefore, even if you pray, you should practice a life of faith of having give and take with the Abel you serve vertically and with horizontal relationships. But if you only have spiritual give and take through prayer without this foundation, at the slightest slip, it could easily go spiritually wrong. If the door to the spirit world is opened in that way, you will be dominated by the spirit world, and it can become dangerous. Therefore, if there is no heartistic foundation on this earth and only communicate spiritually, even though that person is using a physical body on earth, they give and take with the spirit that cooperates with them and become close at heart, so it becomes very difficult for them to build relationships with earthly people. As a result, as we get closer to the invisible world heartistically, we enter the same position as those who took off their physical bodies.
When Father directly led his ministry in the early church, it was really, really good and the Holy Spirit was warming(?) and (members) were loving each other. We really truly felt we were children of God, children of True Father. We had that kind of relationship with each other. At the same time there were many spiritual phenomena.
Since I joined the church more than 47 years ago, I have seen many kinds of spiritual phenomena in our church in Japan, America, Korea, all over the world, even Africa. What was the outcome? None of these spiritual phenomena helped God’s providence at all. Most of those who brought these kinds of spiritual phenomena were very self-centered, very arrogant. In the beginning it kind of looked (like a) good motivation: “Let’s come together, pray together, do Hoondok Hae.” Those who were lonely, (who) did not have much relationship with the church and with Abel and (who) did not have much of a foundation with their own spiritual children -- this category or group came together to pray and did their own hoondok hae, their own conditions. In the end they went a different direction.
So far, no spiritual phenomena in our movement has helped God’s providence at all. That is why it is very important to make a foundation substantially on the earth, rather than having give and take with some spirit in the spiritual world. This is very dangerous. None of this helped at all. Look at Black Heung Jin nim or whatever, CheongPyeong cases, even Washington, everywhere. What is the conclusion?
We need to know that the earthly world is the subject. If God could complete the kingdom of heaven in the spiritual world, (then) the earthly world is nothing, then we can have give and take with the spiritual world. Why did Jesus give the key to the kingdom of heaven to his main disciple, Peter? Why? Why did Jesus need to die? Why did True Father need to suffer? If we can build the kingdom of heaven in heaven only, then the earthly world is only a temporary world, then why do we need to suffer about that? Why did (we) suffer so much?
We need to establish Cheon il guk and the kingdom of heaven on earth, not (in) the spiritual world. We need to know that. This is a very important point. Any spirit that comes down and tries to dominate our blessed families, that is a disorder. The level of our blessed families is much higher than (that of) any other one. The position of the blessed family is already beyond the power(?) of the growth stage.
Those who have already passed away and become spirits and try to help us, without receiving the Blessing and without knowing the Divine Principle, are much lower than us. Their spirit is under the top of the growth stage at a maximum. Someone who is a really good guy can only reach a maximum of the top of the growth stage. And then those(people?) who are possessed by spirit and some spirit dominates you, that means those spirit are very low class.
You need to know your identity. Your identity is much higher than any person who has died. Our Blessing (puts us) higher than any spirit, any ancestors, above any saints and sages. This is the power of the blessed family. Why are you dominated by a spirit? You cannot be like that. Anyone who is possessed by a spirit, most of them are very low class. … We are the royal family; we are children of God, children of True Parents. Who dominates us? Who is higher than us? We need to reflect(?)... how powerful it is.
5. However, the purpose of using our bodies is to first have a heartistic relationship with others on earth and to bring God into our lives. There is one thing that most religious people today get wrong. It is that many people mistakenly believe that the purpose of our faith is to use the body and devote ourselves to the invisible spiritual world. Many religious people think that the spirit world is the subject and Abel. But when we understand the Principle, we learn that we must first lay the foundation on earth. That is why Jesus said that whatever you bind on Earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven. For this reason, it is said that while ascending into heaven, Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to his disciple, Peter.
Jesus said very clearly, “Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The earthly world is more important than anything else. Our human being needs to become complete while we are wearing our physical body. Once we have passed away, without our physical body there is no way to grow up. That is why (spirits) need to come down. They need to borrow the body of their descendants. They need to help us. They cannot be the subject. Jesus clearly said that what is bound on earth shall be bound in heaven.
If you build the kingdom of heaven (on earth), you can enter the kingdom of heaven. If you cannot build the kingdom of heaven, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven in heaven. This is the reason when ascending into heaven, Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven to his disciple. We need to establish the kingdom of heaven. Without establishing the kingdom of heaven, how can we enter it? The kingdom of heaven is not yet established substantially. Many people do not understand, Christians and (members of) all other religions. “When we die, we can go to the kingdom of heaven!” I don’t think so. We need to build the kingdom of heaven -- by us. That is why Jesus suffered; that is why our True Parents paid the indemnity; that is why True Mother is still working very hard. That is the reason we need to do heavenly tribal messiahship. It is very clear.
6. Through the Providence of Restoration, we learn that when God looks at us on earth, He is most happy with the person that loves Cain and brings him to surrender. God praised Jacob, who brought Esau to submission. Jacob was given the name Israel in the name of victory over bringing Esau, Cain's side, to submission. Not only that, Jacob even brought Laban, who deceived him and changed his wages ten times, to submission. “Israel” means bringing those on Satan’s side to natural surrender and proving that you are truly a victor. We learned that in the Providence of Restoration, bringing Cain to natural surrender is the most difficult course.
Without restoring elder sonship, which is Cain and Abel, we cannot meet the messiah. We cannot welcome the messiah. We need to first restore elder sonship. Because of the fall, we lost the elder sonship. That is why God had no choice but to choose the second son, Abel. The elder son was taken by Satan. That is why God’s providence is to restore the elder sonship. Without restoring the elder sonship, how do we make the foundation for the messiah. We cannot. That is why our main job on earth is to restore my Cain. How can we (bring him to) natural surrender. That is our job. It is not about spiritual give and take with some spirit. … How can I restore my elder son who is my Cain position?
Why did God praise Jacob so much? In all of human history, this was the first time… Jacob created the foundation of substance; he is the one who subjugated his elder brother, Essau. It was the first time. He was the one who created for the first time the foundation of substance. How to build the foundation of substance? Through restoring the elder son. Bringing(?) the Cain side to submission is incredibly important. That is why our main job …
Cain is like my enemy. Without restoring Cain, we cannot build the foundation of substance. Then we cannot enter the completion stage. This Divine Principle teaching is very clear. We learned that in the providence of restoration, bringing Cain to natural surrender is the most difficult course.
Most (central figures) made the foundation of faith. However, most of them failed (to establish) the foundation of substance. That is why your relationship with God, that is fine. Your relationship with Abel, that is fine. Your relationship with your parents, that’s fine. But the important (thing) is how to make unity with Cain and bring him to natural surrender. We need to restore Cain. When we restore Cain and he naturally surrenders, that is the happiest time for God.
7. We know that historically, because the central figures of the Providence were not victorious in the Cain and Abel relationship, the Providence was prolonged. True Father also said that in the end, all of us will fall to hell because of the events we had in our relationships. If we look at any age, in relationships between parents and children, there is very little enmity between them. Parents always try to show compassion to their children, even when they do something wrong. If a child is saddened by something, parents will try to resolve it. However, when you see enemy relationships being formed, they are all siblings’ relationships of Cain and Abel. Because God is the Parent, He does not remember the sins of us human beings. Rather, it is said that Satan remembers human sins more horizontally.
8. Likewise, when a subordinate is saddened in front of me, they will definitely remember the incident and it is very difficult to relieve what is pent-up. However, the superior does not have as many things to be tied up in as the subordinate. Even if others make mistakes, a person who has better faith than me does not let it remain in their hearts and try to fill the emptiness. In the path we are on, the person who is in the position to guide others might think that there is not much to get stuck in with the subordinates. However, the subordinate easily gets caught or tied up by the superior. So, superiors should not always treat subordinates so lightly, but rather, superiors should be nervous about subordinates and treat them standing in their position.
(For) those working under you, you need to be more tense. You need to treat them very well. Do not treat them as “Oh, they are my assistants. Their position is lower than mine. They need to attend and serve me, to listen to and obey me.” We need to completely throw away this kind of old concept. Otherwise, we cannot really become good Abels. We don’t really know how to take good care of people working under me.
9. In our lives of faith, there is no need to be envious of people who spiritually get along with others. Most spiritually open people do not develop on their own. Their spiritual bodies are not large and it is easy to remain in a stationary state. This is because they were dominated spiritually without them even knowing, and they cannot be bigger than that spirit.
You need to know (that) the value of the Blessing is more than the top of the growth stage. Anyone who has passed away, gone to the spiritual world and stayed there, their level is much lower than that of any of our blessed families. That is why when you recognize your own … as a blessed family, you can control any spirit. But you have lost if you leave(?) your own value. You do not know who you are. Then you cannot attend because you do not know your own value. You need to know that you are a royal family, you are God’s royal sons and daughters. … Satan cannot attack, cannot invade, cannot dare invade.
So, in order to develop, you should not spiritually interact with spirits. You must cut off ties with the spirit world and be liberated from the spirit world. Once you are dominated by the spirit world, it is very difficult to get out of it. When you start being dominated by a certain spirit, you must report everything to that spirit(?) and get approval.
Being completely dominated by an evil spirit is not so good. I need to handle (my mission?) by myself. Why do I need to rely on a spirit? You need to … (be responsible?) for your own spirit, your own growth. Why do you need to rely on another spirit? We have to be soldiers(?).
10. If you receive spiritual dominion, when you later leave your physical body and go to the spiritual realm, you will enter under that spirit. You cannot develop any further. In a Principled perspective, I should dominate the spirit world, not the spirit world dominate me. When spiritually open people join the Unification Church, they usually leave after completing their mission centering on their own job and mission -- centering on their own job and their own mission.
There are few spiritually open people who stay until the end and become respected by Cain. All those engaged with spiritual phenomena left and became the enemy.
So, what we need to know is that in my given reality, the most important thing is being victorious through love in the relationship between Cain and Abel.
What is the most important thing? How to build Cain and Abel relationships, how to bring Cain to natural surrender.
11. What are the things that our church members should do first today? Most believers try to serve the local church leaders well. They also highly value the Divine Principle. The purpose of life is always for the Will. But the problem is that they neglect to bring Cain to submission. The most important thing is to bring Cain to submission and have many spiritual children and become rich in love, but everyone neglects this. Wherever you go, there will be a Cain figure. Even in the home, it is the husband and wife relationship. If you cannot succeed here, you will not be recognized by heaven. If we do not succeed in this, we cannot be victorious in the Providence of Restoration.
That’s why our job is what? How to serve Cain and bring him to natural surrender. Then we can become champions of love. Without restoring Cain, the quality of my blood lineage will never change. Through serving Cain, loving Cain, bringing him to natural surrender, this is the only way that my character can improve, my blood lineage will become better and better and finally becoming God’s filial son or daughter. Finally, we can become God’s temple of love.♦
(Response to sharing) We need to know the spiritual reality. Of course, we need help from the spiritual world, from our ancestors. What I am talking about is being possessed and dominated by some spirit. Everybody should have a spiritual experience, a beautiful experience, perhaps a dream or this and that. That’s fine. But communicating with a spirit and always being dominated by it is not so good. When we deal with the spiritual world, there are not-so-good things, but there are a lot of good things, good spiritual phenomena helping us now through the ancestor liberation ceremony and many, many good spiritual phenomena. It is good that they help us and we can move forward with God’s providence.♦
NOTE: This lightly edited transcription may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable 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. 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.♦