Ep 723 - God, Women and World Peace Part 7

God, Women and World Peace - October 18, 2022

PDF Printable Texts and Images + Testimony Kenji Owakawa

Key Points

• Satan openly tells people, “Drink! Smoke! Take drugs! Have sex!” In order for you to become a child of God, you must overcome these four great temptations and weapons of Satan and live a lifestyle that is 180 degrees different from this.

• I need to add “play games” to this list.

• Those young people who have a very clear vision and know the purpose of life, can overcome drugs, alcohol, tobacco, immorality and games. 

• The separation point of good from evil, heaven from hell and absolute sex from free sex is the love organs of man and woman.

• The human fall is not just an abstract concept or a distant fairy tale that has nothing to do with us. 

• With our blood lineage of fornication, the fall is happening constantly and concretely in reality in our struggle between mind and body.

• To grow from an external or secular couple of conflict to an internal couple of striving and ultimately to a true couple with a longing heart, we need to train ourselves through rituals and conditions, institutions and worship. 

• A couple should hold hands, go to church and have heartistic exchanges with members. Church should become a community of heart.

• A couple should often bow to each other with respect and have their children bow to them. 

• Children who witness their parents deep respect and love for each other naturally develop filial piety.

• Just as we value others, we need to value our own life as children of God and True Parents. 

• God and True Parents want children who are better than themselves.

• The purpose of observing external etiquette and laws and conditions in church or in our family is to establish a clear vertical relationship with Heavenly Parent and True Parents, both internally, spiritually, and ideologically.

• Obeying the law of faith through rituals and conditions brings us to the conviction that God is our parent of heart, to a realization of our own worth as children of God, and to the awakening (evoking) of our heart: “God is really my daddy!”

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.♦

Today I’d like to talk about “God, Women and World Peace” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 2.

<This was an invitational address delivered on September 7, 1993  at the United Nations Headquarters in New York> How many of us have been touched by the cruelty of infidelity and divorce? Where is God in all the one-night stands? What about the nightmare of children who are sexually abused by a parent? Is free sex worth the price of a broken child? Indeed, in the domains of homosexuality, free sex, drugs and alcoholism, the world of true love is far away. It is a world in which Satan openly tells people, “Drink! Take drugs! Have sex!” Those who do God's Will, on the other hand, live a lifestyle that is 180 degrees different from this. Throughout history, those who chose to walk a spiritual path of self-sacrifice have been bitterly opposed and persecuted by the rest of the world.

For example, it is only God's love and blessing that have allowed the Unification Church to prosper, despite worldwide opposition. The fact that our church has risen from obscurity in war-torn Korea to become a worldwide religious movement in only thirty-eight years testifies to God's continued guidance and support. There are those who continue to oppose the Unification Church, whispering rumors to prevent our teachings from being heard. Again, Satan's way is always to attack that which is most precious to God. Yet those who go against the Will of God can never prosper. The principle holds true that those on God's side who can endure unjust persecution will win the right to take back the blessing. God’s strategy is always to be struck first and then take back what is rightfully His.

In the domains of homosexuality, free sex, drugs and alcoholism, the world of true love is far away. Today, Satan openly tells people, “Drink! Smoke! Take drugs! Have sex!” 

In order for you to become a child of God, you must overcome Satan's four great temptations and weapons.

First of all, corresponding to solids, Evil uses drugs,  Are  you free from drugs? Satan is always tempting and brainwashing humans 24/7.  Satan says “Please do drugs. If you do drugs, do you know how fantastic you feel?” 

Secondly corresponding to liquid, Satan uses alcohol. Are you free from alcohol? Satan says, “Please Drink alcohol. Drink away to escape all stress and forget about everything.”

Thirdly, corresponding to gas, Satan uses tobacco, Are you free from smoking? Satan says “ Please Smoke tobacco. The best solution to get rid of stress is smoking.” 

Fourthly, corresponding to spirit, Satan uses immorality all the time. Are you free from fornication? Satan says “ Please Have sex. Life is short. Life is about enjoying it. Why don’t you have sex?” 

Satan always tempts us 24/7.

Those who do God's Will, on the other hand, live a lifestyle that is 180 degrees different from this. 

Without overcoming these four kinds of great temptations and weapons, how can we become the son or daughter of God? This is always a challenge, right? A life of faith is overcoming. You need to overcome immorality especially.

I want to add “games.” Young people are really possessed by games. 

In order to overcome these four great temptations and weapons, we need to really guide our children, our young generation. We need to clearly tell them our vision. Those who don’t have a vision, a clear goal, clear purpose for their life (tend to) relate to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, immorality and games. But those who have a very clear vision, if they know the purpose of life, they can overcome all those things.

LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: The Fall - 4. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

• God did not create Adam to be alone; He also created Eve to be Adam's spouse. 

• Just as there was a tree in the Garden of Eden which symbolized a perfect man, there should also have been a tree which represented a woman who has fully realized the ideal of creation. 

• Standing beside the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil mentioned in Gen. 2:9 was this tree.

• The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents the ideal woman, perfected Eve. 

• The Bible refers to Jesus using the metaphors of a vine (John 15:5) and a branch (Isa. 11:1). Likewise, to give us a hint about the secret of the human Fall, God provided the symbolism of two trees to represent perfected Adam and Eve.

Let’s study Father’s word.

The Meaning of the Tree of the Knowledge Of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life

    <245-253> Do you know what the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is? It symbolizes a woman’s sexual organ. When it meets a good person, it goes to a place of goodness. When it meets an evil person then it goes to a place of evilness. Women, am I correct, or not? There were two trees; one was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the other was the tree of life. The tree of life symbolizes a man’s sexual organ. So, what did the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil become? It turned into the fruit of evil, not the fruit of goodness. In other words, it became the evil parents. 

Human Portion of Responsibility

Look at this slide. What is Man’s responsibility: Do you become a Tree of Life or a Tree of Death? 

If you eat the fruit, you surely will become a tree of death before your marriage and Blessing. If you really keep purity before the Blessing, you can become a true love.

What is Woman’s portion of responsibility? Do you become a tree of goodness or a tree of evil? This is Woman’s responsibility.

Where does splitting good and evil and heaven and Hell begin? Father clearly spoke about this. It is the love organs of man and woman. If you use them centered on God, they become the organs of absolute sex; if you use them centered on Satan, they become the organs of free sex.

 If you misuse your sexual organs, definitely you will go straight to hell, but if you use your sexual organ properly centered on God, you can directly enter the Kingdom of Heaven. How can we split good and evil, heaven and hell? (It depends on) how I use my sexual organ. This is the human portion of responsibility. Will you become a tree of love or a tree of death? You need to keep absolute purity before marriage. After marriage you need to keep absolute fidelity. Woman, you need to keep absolute purity. If you reap the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (before the Blessing), you become the tree of evil. Many people do not know this. (They think), “If I do evil things, I will go to hell,” but they do not know the main thing that sends them to hell or heaven: how they use their sexual organs. 

I drew it like this (motioning). I am not so good in PowerPoint! 

The Meaning of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life

    <245-253> Because we have started from the evil parents, we will never meet the good ones. Centering on what? It became like that centering on love. We have inherited the evil life and blood centering on evil parents. That’s the fallen humanity. This is a clear answer. You pray for it then you will see. Is the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil peach? Has any one of you ever seen it? Have you ever eaten it? The fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is that of a man and woman’s sexual organ

The Bible says that the fall of the first human ancestors was eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And that is compared to something symbolic.  However, if you look at today’s fallen reality, the sexual fall of the human ancestors is not merely symbolic and abstract. 

Considering the battle between the mind and body of individuals today, we cannot deny the fact that the fall of our human ancestors was fornication. 

All fallen human beings are fighting fiercely every moment, every hour, and every day over their blood lineage of fornication. Who can deny that they are from fallen blood lineage? The human fall is not just an abstract concept, but it is happening concretely in reality, centered on human beings’ fallen nature. 

Every minute, every second, every day we are fighting with fornication. How can I deny that I am the descendant of Adam and Eve? When we talk about the story of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life, it looks like a symbolic (story that has) nothing to do with me. But I am telling you, this is really reality. You see the fallen world. You see the young generation. What is their main problem? Oh, my goodness! This is really serious!

That is why our Divine Principle is really correct based on the Principle of Creation and the Human Fall. This is not (just) a story from a long time ago. Divine Principle is really great (in) how it describes the human fall. It directly relates to me every second, every hour, every moment. Are you already liberated from Chapter Two? Then you are already a perfect man, right? How serious it is!

TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: What Kind of Couple Are You?

1. The reason True Father longs for True Mother and she longs for him is because they are a true couple. What kind of couple are you? Have you reached the stage of a true couple? After receiving the Blessing, have you not fought? Since the life of a couple goes from external restoration to internal restoration, when a couple first meets, they should practice basic manners and even bow to each other often.  In this way, by our strictly observing rituals and institutions, we go from being external couples to internal couples. Rituals are absolute laws. This is like how a believer must faithfully attend worship to change internally. Do you know why we have such thing as external worship? The purpose is to make us grow more internally. Also, internal things are meant to make us grow even more internal and genuinely evoke the heart. That is why we need worship, institutions, and objects of condition. 

How is your couple? Is your couple an external couple like secular couples? Or is your couple on an internal level where you lack things but still strive to live truly? Or are you true couples that really long for each other? 

External couples always fight and reluctantly live as husband and wife like secular couples. And although they cannot divorce because of the bond with True Parents and the Blessing, they are conditionally called husband and wife, and they live without any heartistic exchange. 

Next, the couple on the internal level know the meaning of the Blessing, but sometimes they fight and have conflicts while striving to become true couples. Still, they are a couple that grow little by little. 

On the other hand, a true couple is a couple that respects each other and longs for each other, and their shimjeong wells up for each other like a spring. They are a couple that lives by truly serving their partner like God. And they are also a couple that is respected by their children. 

Since the life of a couple goes from external restoration to internal restoration, when a couple first meets, they should practice basic manners and even bow to each other often. On Sunday mornings, a couple must bow to each other and recite the Family Pledge often. 

Even though this is formal, this lifestyle is heavenly ritual. Every Sunday before the pledge, we bow to Heavenly Parent and True Parents “Cheonji Champumo-nim ke, kyungbei.” Then the husband and wife face each other and kyungbei to each other full of respect. “I love you, darling. You are my God. I need to have the same attitude toward you as I have when I bow to God.” Kyungbei.

Even though these are external rituals, through kyungbei I truly want to love my wife, my husband as God. This kind of ritual is very important. Then husband and wife sit down. (We should do this) at least once a week. When husband and wife sit down, then let children kyungbei to their parents. Kyungbei.

Do you practice this? 

Does your couple bow to each other before reciting the Family Pledge every Sunday morning? To become a true couple, external rituals and etiquette are absolute. 

By the couple strictly observing rituals and institutions in the beginning, we go from being external couples to internal couples. This is like how a believer must faithfully attend worship to change internally. 

On Sundays, do not just have Sunday service in your own family. The couple has to hold hands and go to church and have heartistic exchanges among the members. The church needs to become a heart community where you experience Heaven. If you just carelessly have Sunday service, in the end, it will be difficult to protect your family. 

Don’t just do Sunday service in your family. Of course, the family is important; the family is the front line. Why don’t you bring that heartistic relationship between husband and wife to the church, that spirit of true love? You should participate together in the community, loving each other, greeting each other. That is the Kingdom of Heaven.

The reason external etiquette exists is because it has the purpose of making us grow more internally.

“OK. I bow down to Heavenly Parent. I really respect you and love you.” 

Heavenly Father has no need to receive your kyungbei actually. Why does Heavenly Father ask us to do that? (Because) we have to be a man or woman of kyungbei, really respecting (each other) with the substance of love. That’s why (we should) face each other as husband and wife and Kyungbei. Don’t just bow conditionally but with real respect, “I love you. You are my God.” When children look at that, “Wow! My father and mother respect each other so much!” Then in the children (such respect) just naturally comes out. They can really have a filial heart toward their parents.

Also, internal things are meant to make us grow even more internal and genuinely evoke the heart. That is why we need worship, institutions and objects of condition. 

I Must Cherish Myself

2. On Sunday mornings, a couple must often have pledge service with reciting the Family Pledge, and the wife should regard her husband like True Father and the husband should attend his wife like True Mother. The people who are the closest and most precious are the husband and wife. I must cherish myself. If I do not cherish my own life, then who will? Don’t we say that our own lives cannot be exchanged for the world? Since our lives are connected to God and True Father, we must cherish our own lives. Just as Jesus said “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven,” my own worth is determined by myself. Depending on myself, Heaven will either acknowledge me or not.

On Sunday mornings, before reciting the Family Pledge, the husband and wife should bow to each other well, and the wife should regard her husband like True Father, and the husband should attend his wife like True Mother. And you need to train children to bow to parents. If you just train them to do kyeongbae well, the family tradition will be well established. 

Just this simple condition can have a big impact on children. Even my grandchildren may not know the meaning of kyungbei, but they are growing and growing and naturally bow down to heaven, to grandparents and parents and each other as husband and wife. Our church tradition is beautiful! (We don’t) just use the name of serving and attending True Parents: “I need to love God the most, more than anything else.” We need to show (it). We need to show (this love and respect) to our spouse and to our parents. The era of Cheon Il Guk is the era of attendance. 

In the Old Testament Era and New Testament Era (we were told to) believe in God, but the Completed Testament Era, the era of Cheon Il Guk, is not just (about) believing, but (about) attending, serving, living together. Wow! Father is amazing!

The New Testament Era was the era of belief. Do you only want belief? Or do you want to live together? “Heavenly Father, I believe in you.” And you tell your own father and mother, “I believe you; I trust you.” Which one is better? “I live with you and attend you 24/7.” This is a different level.

Of course, we need to value others, too, but above all, since our lives are related to God and True Parents, we should value our own life.

If I respect God, my spouse and my parents, we should value our own life very well.

Do I Know Who I Belong To?

3. As mentioned in the Bible, do you know that if you treat yourself carelessly, I will also not regard you as belonging to God? How can I look at you and call myself your Father when you commit evil acts? If a child born to me does evil things, I become the father of a wicked person. “That child does not belong to this family. We should remove them from our family tree.” When their own child commits perishing acts, this is how even secular families become so embarrassed that they cannot call the child theirs's. In short, they are ashamed to have such a child. Then, what kind of relationship did God want to establish with humans after creating them? He wanted to have children better than Himself. So, the question is how well you obey Heaven’s laws. Secondly, the couple must establish a clear vertical relationship with Heavenly Parent and True Parents internally, spiritually, or ideologically, and they should have a really clear conviction on the value of the Blessing. Next,  the couple should live a life of evoking the heart on the basis of such conviction. 

Just as Jesus said, “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven,” it means that my own worth is determined by myself. 

There is a conditional fight between God and Satan over human beings. If humans beings say that they do not know God and do not regard God as their Father, how can God insist that fallen men are His children in front of Satan? 

Doesn’t this mean that “If you treat yourself carelessly, I will also not regard you as belonging to God? How can I look at you and call myself your Father when you commit evil acts?”

If a child born to me does evil things, I become the father of a wicked person. Then, what kind of relationship did God want to establish with humans after creating them? He wanted to have children better than Himself.

Observing external etiquette or laws or conditions in church or family is very important. It is not just observing them externally, but the husband and wife must establish a clear vertical relationship with Heavenly Parent and True Parents, both internally, spiritually, and ideologically, and they should have a really clear conviction about the value of the Blessing. 

Next,  the couple should live a life of evoking the heart on the basis of such conviction.

Coming Down to the Purpose of Faith

4. If you do not have conviction that the relationship between Heavenly Parent and yourself is a parent-child relationship, your heart will not be evoked. That conviction comes from having faith and putting that faith into practice. Conviction also comes through the practice of obeying the law. In practice, just as my parents cherish me, when I treat others with that kind of heart, I have conviction in my heart. If you are not convinced of your own worth, your shimjeong will not come out of your heart. If you do not have such conviction, how can your shimjeong well up if you just treat yourself as you please? The purpose of faith ultimately comes down to me. At first, we externally observe rituals and institutions, lead a life of conditions, and offer prayer vigils, but in the end, it must all come down to the internal self. After that, it comes down to the stage of the couple, and after that, it comes down to our own children.

If you do not have the conviction that the relationship between Heavenly Parent and yourself is a parent-child relationship, your heart will not be evoked. That is why fallen people need faith in the beginning. 

Fallen people don’t know God exists. They don’t know what their relationship with God is. That is why everything begins from faith. “I really believe in God.”...

You need absolute faith that “God is my Father, my parent.” Next, once your faith is certain and sure – “God is my father, my parent; I am God’s child.” –  you need to pass the level of faith (to that of?) heart and be unable to deny the fact that God is truly and heartistically your Parent. 

In the beginning it may not be clear but when you believe in God, you try to practice (your faith), kyungbei to him, try to respect (him), some day you will experience: “Wow! He really does exist! I feel that he really does love me! I am his child!” Incredible tears come down. This is no longer (on the) level of faith. (You) already have a close, heartistic relationship (with him).

In this way, conviction comes from the practice of obeying the law with faith. If you are not convinced of your own worth, your shimjeong will not come out of your heart. 

“I do not believe in God much.” Then how can your heart come out and relate to Heavenly Parent? You need to have the conviction: “(It is) sure! God is my daddy. I am a child of God” and to continuously practice. You (can) have more experience through ritual and prayer and worship. Someday you will realize that “God is no more a concept for me. God is really real. He is really my daddy. I am really a child of God.” That is already beyond the level of faith. If we have that kind relationship and conviction, then our heart comes out.

In other words, if you are not convinced through faith, you cannot evoke your heart because you are treating yourself recklessly, carelessly.

The purpose of faith ultimately comes down to me. At first, we externally observe rituals and institutions.

Why do we need to have rituals and institutions? Because (we can) finally connect to my heart. 

We lead a life of conditions and offer prayer vigils, but in the end, it must all come down to the internal self. After that, it comes down to the stage of the couple, and after that, it comes down to our own children. 

What is our ultimate purpose? To evoke my heart through prayer and rituals. The conclusion is what? We need to reach the level of heart. The conclusion is heartistic relationships: how I can have a heartistic relationship with God. That is it! (When) we have a heartistic relationship, we automatically become one. (It is) how I can have a heartistic relationship with my spouse and my children. That’s it! The Kingdom of Heaven is the world of the heart. That’s it! If we have a heartistic relationship, everything can be done, everything can pass through.

Today I talked about “What Kind of Couple Are You?”

(Testimony Kenji Owakawa, Queens, NY, Food is Love)

(Response to Testimony) I really agree with you. One of my ministries is a ministry of food. Father said, “Food is love.” Those who have love always want to give something. Food is the representative of love. 

You said your neighbors are Korean Christians. They are serving you and loving you and having give-and-take with you. When you know their names and pray (and feel close to them?), then according to your concept and belief God and the spiritual world will surely help them. They will surely have dreams, and the spiritual world and ancestors will teach them who you are.

But if you don’t have that mindset, (if you only think,) “Oh, they are Korean friends; they are very heartistic” and you only serve them food, you will finish at that level and the spiritual world will not work. God helps you according to your faith.

“Heavenly Father, let them know who I am.” If you pray centered on a clear goal, then the spiritual world will respond to you. If you pray about that couple, “Let them know God and True Parents,” then God and the spiritual world and ancestors will take action according to your faith. You need to teach them through the spiritual world.

(But) if you only treat them as good friends, spiritual world will not work. God and the spiritual world will help according to your wishes. 

If you do not have a clear wish or a clear vision, (the couple) cannot become members. That’s why your attitude is very important.

Why are their ancestors pushing them to bring food to you? There is a reason. It is very clear.♦

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.♦