---
title: "HEAVEN AND US"
type: "speech"
published: "2018-06-19T14:32:15+01:00"
updated: "2018-06-19T14:32:15+01:00"
source: "/blog/2018/06/19/heaven-and-us.html"
speechYear: "1979"
categories:
  - "Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1979"
tags: []
---

<h2 align="center">REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON</h2>
<h3 align="center">March 25, 1979<br />
Belvedere<br />
Translator &#8211; Bo Hi Pak</h3>
<p>In Oriental philosophy, the word &#8220;heaven&#8221; connotes huge and noble things, while &#8220;earth&#8221; connotes small, lowly things. However, this distinction came to exist because of the fall of man; if there had been no fall there would be no such difference between heaven and earth.</p>
<p>When we speak of heaven, we speak of God; when we say earth, we speak of human beings. If God is all alone, He cannot be fulfilled, so He needs to come together with human beings. The purpose of creation can be fulfilled only when love is fulfilled, and love cannot be fulfilled by one alone; there must be two, in the relationship of subject and object.</p>
<p>When love is fulfilled, both the upper and lower areas are fulfilled equally. Because of the fall, love could not be completed, so there are many different barriers which separate heaven and earth.</p>
<p>When the highest point comes down and the lowest point comes up, they can meet in the middle. Man fell, not God, and God cannot go down to the point of the fall. Thus man must be able to bring himself up, uniting mind and body. The most important thing for man, then, is to know God and to conquer his ignorance of his situation. Thus God has been working to bring people out of darkness so they can know God&#8217;s true nature.</p>
<p>Two major efforts to advance mankind have been made. They are science on the external level and religion on the internal level. What is the destiny of science and religion? They meet at the point of the fulfillment of love. Here we are not talking about human love but the love of God. All efforts to discover God will ultimately reach the one point of the true love of God.</p>
<p>In each entity there are two aspects-an internal and an external. They must meet at one point. To truly become one they must know each other, so mind and body should share knowledge of each other. In order for science and religion to unite, they must understand each other. Each person has his mind and body in horizontal alignment, side by side. God&#8217;s mind and body are in the same position. Here on earth man should have unity between his mind and body, and in spirit world God also should have such unity. Man&#8217;s mind and body meet horizontally, while God&#8217;s unity of mind and body is vertical. Thus we are going to reach God not only through religion but also through science.</p>
<p>What does God need to realize joy in His mind and body? The same answer will apply also to people. What makes you joyful and happy? When your plans or ideals are realized, you are happy. The realization itself is not enough, however; it is the coming into oneness with a subject or abject in reciprocal give and take that creates happiness. Then what makes God happy and what is the work of God? His work is the perfection of human beings; that would be God&#8217;s goal and masterpiece. That is the point of ultimate joy and goodness, at which both God and man will say, &#8220;That is the best there can be&#8221; That is the point of love-not secular, carnal love but the original, pure love of God.</p>
<p>I want you to understand that unless your mind and body are united, your are not eligible to meet God. We have two eyes but they have one focus and they produce one image, not two. That focus is always between the two eyes, not in front of one or the other. Sound waves enter both ears, but the nervous system coordinates those impulses into one sound.</p>
<p>When a person&#8217;s mind and body are totally united, their focus is upon God. When God&#8217;s mind and body are united into one, what is their focus? It is people. When these focal points meet, they discover that they are alike. When they discover their likeness, they can stimulate each other in give and take and fellowship.</p>
<p>What is the common goal that excites them both? It is love. Therefore, unless God finds love, He cannot find completion; and unless man finds his ultimate goal, which is the true love of God, he cannot achieve completion either. When God focuses upon man and man focuses upon God, and the two are united, the entire universe is united. In human love, the nervous system focuses to transfer sensation to the whole system. If the mind is willing to live this way but the body is lethargic and doesn&#8217;t obey, then the mind-body alignment is askew. Then the person is crippled, just as if he were missing an arm.</p>
<p>It is most important that we focus our life. You should understand that the focus of the entire spirit world is God and that of the physical world is man. Can you imagine that God would arrange His creation in a sloppy manner? I know that God organized it to focus upon one point both on earth and in spirit world.</p>
<p>There are two aspects to everything in the physical world: positive and negative. Within those positive and negative aspects there are also internal and external elements, or mind and body. Once positive and negative electrical charges meet, you can&#8217;t tell which is which. Likewise, you can&#8217;t tell where positive starts and negative ends in a magnetic field. But there is action in the magnetic field and energy is created.</p>
<p>By the same token, men and women are different, but they are not enemies. Instead, each focuses on the other and how to win his or her love. Every nerve and all five senses focus on love. In the secular world today, many people don&#8217;t look beyond the fact that men and women can meet and love each other. But that is only the beginning point, like flipping the switch.</p>
<p>Once an electrical switch is flipped, energy from the power plant can start to work wonders. In the same way, men and women together start to work wonders when they tap God&#8217;s power plant. When you know this, living really becomes a joy. Electricity can light ups a palace. but also a smelly countryside bathroom. Would the electricity refuse to light up such a place? Electricity works universally, once it is hooked up.</p>
<p>Would nerves refuse to provide sensation for dirty, smelly feet, or the blood refuse to circulate through arteries and veins there? Would ocean water say it has no connection with the polluted water in New York harbor? The oceans all over the world are part of one body of water. In the same way, once love is activated it can go anywhere in the universe.</p>
<p>Most young people would like to travel the entire world with their husband or wife, and then later with their own children. Wouldn&#8217;t a king like to see the beauties of the world accompanied by all his subjects? We envy the freedom of the birds who can take off for other parts of the world without needing passports. The barriers in our world such as immigration restrictions and nationality are manmade, so once we can get rid of those barriers, we will live in one world with as much freedom as the birds.</p>
<p>Would ducks from the north discriminate against ducks from the south? Would they refuse to marry each other? It doesn&#8217;t matter where they are from, as long as they are ducks!</p>
<p>I am constantly telling you that you have to serve others and focus on other people, because by doing so you create unity. If 1,000 people are focused together, they generate great energy and power. A good athlete has to focus his energy and distribute it perfectly in the pursuit of his sport. The pushing force and the pulling force must be harmonized to create tremendous power. The greater the power of give and take, the greater the wonder it can create. Is God great or tiny? God can stretch His arms from pole to pole, embracing the entire universe in give and take. We know God is a great God, so logically His creation-man-is supposed to be great, also.</p>
<p>My eyes focus at one point, yet my vision carries across the entire world. Your line of focus can be extended as much as you want. Your ears &#8220;focus&#8221; within your brain, but actually you want to hear universal sounds. You inhale and exhale air through your lungs but that air can travel all around the world, linking you to it. In daily life we are dealing with one universe, one air, one water, one sunlight and one land.</p>
<p>Do you want to focus upon your husband or wife without being interested in your society, nation and world? A man and woman who attain unity should try to focus on the larger entities, such as society, nation and world. The greater your vision and the greater the distance you focus on together, the greater your life becomes.</p>
<p>Has anyone before thought like we Moonies? We say that as individuals we represent the entire universe. Furthermore, you even think God looks like you, not that YOU look like Him! This short brother here thinks he is big enough to embrace all of America and the world. This would be impossible to achieve through physical means, but through love he can do it. There is no nationality in the world of love because love travels all over, like air. Can love reach all the way to God? Love will penetrate God&#8217;s system and reach His heart.</p>
<p>If God&#8217;s love were locked up in a vault with many locks your love could even penetrate that vault. That means your love is the greatest secret key of all. Everyone is focused upon love and even God hangs onto it. All things of creation cling to it as well.</p>
<p>Everyone, whether Eastern or Western, young or old, likes to possess beautiful things. When we consider what is the most precious treasure in the universe, we conclude that it is love. Even the spirit world would concur.</p>
<p>If you use true love as the key, every door can be opened. Do you think this is true in spirit world as well? If there was no such thing as true love then there would be no way to unite God and mankind for eternity. Since the human fall, the heart of God has been sealed shut. Would offering Him money or lovely jewels open His heart? If you offered Him the largest diamond, He could point to a mountain of diamonds that He already owns.</p>
<p>Many people think knowledge is almighty, but will that open the door of God&#8217;s heart? God will say, &#8220;Is that all you know? I made it all&#8221; If you have great worldly power, can you command God to open His heart? What does God yearn to have? Not money, knowledge or power, but only true love. Love has an almighty, uniting quality which can govern and be governed. It is absolutely flexible.</p>
<p>If you know someone is pinching you because he truly loves you, you want him to pinch you harder! Love can digest both extremes of happy and painful things. The one thing that can dominate the entire creation is true love. Do you agree?</p>
<p>Love is communicated even without language. A puppy knows whether you love him or not. Likewise, a bird can feel love; even the trees and grass can feel love. If you love a deadly poisonous snake, it too can feel your love. Love is supreme. If you had a little chunk of love, would you hoard it in a pocket close to your heart, or would you sprinkle it around the world so that it would multiply and make you a millionaire of love? In order to become a millionaire of love, you might have to shed gallons of sweat and tears. Would it be worth doing even then?</p>
<p>You can reach God only with love. He is the center of the universe, so whoever possesses more of Him will be the richest person. Then no matter how much sacrifice is needed to obtain Him, you can do it. Without sacrificial love you cannot make God your prisoner. God is like a gigantic fish and love is your bait. God loves love so He will swallow as much bait as you offer Him. When you sow true love, you will harvest love and God is bound to be close by.</p>
<p>Unification Church members are fishing for God so we sprinkle our bait everywhere. God is a gourmet of love so He knows its exact taste, whether sour, sweet or flat. God knows a hook is hidden inside that love but it doesn&#8217;t matter to Him because He is confident He can digest that hook too.</p>
<p>You enjoy certain tastes, and in the same way God prefers a certain taste of love. I want God to say that Moonies&#8217; love is the best love He has tasted in 6,000 years. You cannot make tasty love out of small, individualistic love; that is bitter love. But when you have love that wants to save the world and serve others, God will savor it. God may be gigantic and awesome-looking, but once He tastes that love, He will melt and be like a child. Then He will want to go wherever you go.</p>
<p>Why were you born? Furthermore, why were some of you born as men and others as women? Was it to eat meals? The lowliest statement a person can make is that he lives to eat. Some people seem to think they were born to study, but what a narrow life that is. It is beautiful, eternal and good to say we are born to love. Every life here on earth today is the fruit of love. You can say you participated in the love of your parents, your grandparents and so forth. You were born at the place of love and the motivation for your life was love. After you were born, you received the love of your parents.</p>
<p>Why do your parents love you? Why do all the animals love their offspring? It is because children are the witness to their parents&#8217; love. Cause and effect both spring from love; because of this most awesome truth, parents have to love their children, not only in the human world but also in the animal world. Children who live in the love of their parents are very happy children.</p>
<p>Today in America there is something called a generation gap, with parents and children thinking they will live their own separate lives. This means they have lost the home base of love and they have nothing to return to. God designed the family to expand its pure love to the society, spreading one color of love all over the country, then to the entire world.</p>
<p>The children who are born and live in love at home can become patriots in their nation and even saints in the world. The same principle works on these different levels. Just as water in New York is the same color as water in Norway, the makeup of the whole human world is the same. When you fulfill the criteria of love in your home, you can live the same criteria of love in the nation and the world. People should be born in love, grow and mature in love, and then die in love. We continue to live eternally in that love with God in spirit world.</p>
<p>This world is a training center where you learn by stages how to love the world. You graduate from this school when you go to spirit world and there you can experience love for eternity. Perfected love can be compared to a perfectly round bowling ball that knocks down all the pins. But the love of those who fail in the workshop of love is like a square-shaped or lumpy ball that doesn&#8217;t roll properly. True love is perfectly round and can go anywhere and can find its way in any situation. Even if that ball travels in an erratic pattern, it will always hit the final target. If I can think of all this, don&#8217;t you suppose God has thought about this even more?</p>
<p>Love is round, shining, beautiful and tender. The more you touch it, the more you like it. Therefore, love is good. Naturally you want to receive love from your parents, and you must receive the same amount of love from your society, nation and world. Would you like your love to be confined to only your parents or to expand to the whole world? Will you receive love if you just tell people to love you?</p>
<p>The origin of love is God, who is always taking the initiative to give love to the world. You are in a position to take the initiative also. God is thrusting love downward, and you are thrusting love upward; the idea is always that each takes the initiative. Without question, love is good but to make your love truly good, you have to have the power to encompass difficult and bitter things. You should be able to embrace both extremes, loving not only America but also the enemies of America.</p>
<p>Would you lose anything with that kind of love? No, by practicing this love you come to resemble God. It is natural to like the people who also like us, and if there had been no fall then that is all anyone would need to do. But because of the fall, that kind of love is not good enough; now we must have the power to embrace the people who hate us.</p>
<p>What is the difference between Satan and God? Satan moves only in one direction but God moves in all four directions and embraces everything. Thus we must have the capacity to love evil people as well as good ones. That was the teaching of Jesus.</p>
<p>A healthy person can digest anything he eats, even dried corn. If some kinds of food make your stomach ache, then you don&#8217;t have enough digestive power. You Moonies should have the capacity to digest everything. To develop such capacity, you should look for the things and people whom you hate and who hate you the most and learn to embrace them. Once you have digested the worst, then everything else is no problem. If you are a logical person, this is an obvious conclusion.</p>
<p>The jobs that no one else wants to tackle are the things you should willingly take up and come to enjoy. Then when God sees that you just keep loving these things, He will say, &#8220;You have been there too long. Come on up here,&#8217; end you will rise up higher and higher. If you are going to love the world, should you first have fun and take lots of vacations, and then love the world in your spare time? Imagine a woman beautiful enough to be Miss America yet who forgets herself and works all the time for the sake of the world. Such a beautiful woman might receive marriage proposals from many distinguished men, but she would say she didn&#8217;t have time for that now.</p>
<p>You are intelligent men and women, so which route would you take in order to win the love of God-unselfish or selfish love? If you totally practice unselfish love for ten years, I guarantee that people will think you are truly the image of God. You will have the key to solving every problem people have. You may think this sounds very colorful and dramatic but when you try to put it into practice, it is very difficult. Anything may seem easier than loving the impossible people of this world.</p>
<p>If I know how difficult this is, why have I dedicated thirty years of my life to it and why am I still pursuing it, after having been persecuted and criticized everywhere? The goal is to have love that will penetrate the entire universe and you know that cannot be easy to win. We are talking about love that can shatter the bonds of earth and go straight to the throne of God. Will God just smile quietly when that love hits, or will He be knocked out? When God is hit by that love He will tumble over and over; nothing could be compared with the expression of His joy.</p>
<p>Was my decision to go this route the right one? Now that I am almost 60, do you think I have regrets about my youth being wasted on something worthless? You have the freedom to go to movies and such, but when I was your age I didn&#8217;t have any freedom.</p>
<p>On the foundation I have laid, you can be grafted to me so no matter how imperfect you are, you are like a limb of the tree. I have won the ultimate battle so by being grafted to me and following my standard, you know you are protected from going wrong. You are the bud which will blossom. Can my buds belong to you? No. Since you are branching out from me, you must produce your own buds and blossoms. You cannot claim that my flowers are good enough and that you only have to reap the benefit of my blossoms. You must fulfill perfection as branches and produce blossoms yourselves.</p>
<p>When you create many blossoms, you draw energy to that area and then you will send out new branches. If some branches are exceptionally energetic, the tree will grow in their direction, but when everyone works with equal power the branches will be balanced and the tree will grow straight. This is why I want each of you to do equally well. Thus you can&#8217;t shirk your responsibility when everyone else is fulfilling theirs.</p>
<p>If one main branch dies and falls off, the tree starts to lean to the other side where there is still activity in the healthy branches. In the human body, healthy blood is welcomed wherever it circulates, but when it is unclean, it is just a burden. The best thing for a tree is for someone to chop off the dead branches and graft on healthy little branches.</p>
<p>One branch of our tree is Korean, another is Japanese, another American and so forth. I am observing which branch is more energetic and powerful. If one branch is not doing too well, I will graft another little branch there to strengthen it.</p>
<p>Who is better able to endure hardship-cultured people or primitive people? Most cultured people have almost zero endurance, while primitive people have 100 percent endurance but no culture. God is very fair in not distributing culture and endurance together! When I came to lead the American movement, I had a tough time because the Americans had their own yardsticks to evaluate me with. Cultured people think the night is for sleeping, for instance, so they thought my way wasn&#8217;t right for them. Some people insisted they needed eight hours of sleep and three meals a day on time. But these criteria become obstacles when we are fighting the revolution of true love.</p>
<p>In the midst of war, you can&#8217;t have beautifully laid tables and grand food. But when you finally gain true love, it is the most cultured thing you have ever seen. I brought many Japanese and Germans to this country to show Americans how to endure; people in these nations suffered much during and after World War 11. When I told them to compete with the American members, the Americans thought it wouldn&#8217;t work because these people didn&#8217;t know the American ture. But when the result came in, the Japanese and Germans were the winners and the Americans realized they had to change their outlook.</p>
<p>I pointed out to the Americans how the Japanese did the best even though they didn&#8217;t know English. The Americans didn&#8217;t like to hear that so they would sometimes say, &#8220;l wish those Japanese weren&#8217;t here!&#8221; Even now, that process of education is still going on. If you Americans are the leading citizens of the world and very cultured people, I want you to be the winners in endurance also, so that is how I am training you.</p>
<p>Is it easier to give culture to people of great endurance or to train cultured people to endure? Once the cultured people are awakened and make up their minds, they can quickly develop endurance. But to raise up uncultured people takes a long time. That is why I came to work with Americans. In the process people accused me of brainwashing, but it doesn&#8217;t matter.</p>
<p>I want you cultured Americans to dig down and endure 100 percent and then rise up to change the cultured world. Then America can be the hope of the world. America has grave problems, even though it thinks it has the greatest society in the world. American culture today is moving backward toward primitiveness, with people like the hippies leading the way. Someone should teach them the proper way of gaining the endurance of primitive peoples, and then they can learn to create a new heavenly society. I came in the nick of time to do that.</p>
<p>American youth has no clear direction to follow at this time, but when they look for a place to drop anchor they are attracted by the Moonie ideology. They recognize that a nation based on it has to prosper and then they can have hope. But even though they see it is good, they sometimes decide not to follow it because it requires too much sacrifice; they want everything to come easily. Some say that if they could only do what they liked, then this would be the perfect ideology for the world. But if we ever compromise our basic way of life, then everything will disappear. There is no way we can become like the world and still be the light of salvation.</p>
<p>People may hear the Divine Principle and think it is fine, but wish Chapter Two wasn&#8217;t part of it, or they wish that the Second Advent was still on the clouds. I could make some people happy by altering the Principle. Do you think God should give up the difficult parts of this ideology? If God were willing to do that, then we could too, but God will Just go His own way instead of compromising. If people can&#8217;t adjust then there is no solution for them. Even if all of you say you cannot go this way, I will still go my own way. If America totally rejects me and refuses to live that way of life, will say farewell and go to the primitive people who know how to endure. What would happen to America then? This nation would crumble far below the level of primitive people. It is our destiny to accept and live this ideology.</p>
<p>I don&#8217;t want you to become like primitive people, but to learn their quality of endurance and use it to lead the world. You must decide that you will go on with iron will for seven years, and then everything will be over. Don&#8217;t crave the American standard but live for seven years in the lowliest places. This thinking is like a diamond wrapped in dirty rags-you don&#8217;t have to worry about anyone trying to steal it because no one will ever suspect what you have. Is this more real to you than eating when you are hungry or sleeping when you are tired?</p>
<p>If you could only lose by living this way then no one would join, but you know that no matter how much you suffer, you will not only win in the end but will recoup many times more than you invested. This is the secret of winning people&#8217;s hearts without fighting physically and shedding blood. The more you live this life, the more you will become the central person in society.</p>
<p>The most dazzling example of this is Jesus Christ. He was a miserable, suffering, persecuted young man who died when he was only 33. Today one can travel around Israel in just a few hours; it was in that tiny country that Jesus taught. Furthermore, he was executed as a treasonous criminal. The fact that one man died in such a tiny country 2,000 years ago would seem about as important now as one little insect breaking its leg in this country; yet that one &#8220;insignificant&#8221; life was the root of an entirely new world culture. No other individual has had such impact on the world.</p>
<p>Is our tradition and teaching the same thing that traditional Christianity is teaching today? Is the distance between the New Testament and the Old Testament greater than the distance between the New Testament and the Divine Principle? In my own lifetime, I have had impact on the entire world. I came to this country to warn America that it would crumble if it did not return to God. This would be parallel to Jesus going to the Roman Empire and warning of its doom unless they accepted God. I am doing more drastic things now than Jesus was able to do in his time.</p>
<p>Jesus had only a few disciples, but today many young people of all different races follow the Principle and are working to build the Kingdom. The world has even tried to kill me but am I a man of failure or success? Even now after 2,000 years there is a great rift between Judaism and Christianity, but today in my lifetime, Christians of all denominations are accepting me as a prophet and supporting my cause. It is an amazing thing.</p>
<p>Koreans gave me the worst persecution and the established Christians were the fiercest. But when I last visited Korea, many people were saying that there had never been such a hero as Reverend Moon in the 5,000 years of Korean history. Imagine how much the dispensation has advanced when the Christians who persecuted me are now convening to declare their support. It is true that Korea has one of the most vibrant Christian communities in the world. Also, Korea is a buffer zone between the communist world and the free world. While the whole free world economy is shaking, that one tiny nation is growing faster than any other.</p>
<p>At one time many Japanese hated me fanatically but now Japan&#8217;s leaders see that Unification Thought alone provides hope for their country. Now Korean and Japanese scholars are gathering to declare that the Unification teaching provides the only hope for Asia. You are in your twenties and thirties. Imagine how America will change by the time you are in your forties. If you continue the pace of your work today for another ten or twenty years, you know you will cover many miles and really have an impact on this nation.</p>
<p>With CARP we have created a heavenly tornado on the East and West coasts; one campus after another is in turmoil now. Change never comes unless you shake people up. Every campus has its own communist organizations which always try to stop our meetings. The professors&#8217; organizations divide into Cain and Abel factions over us. War is being waged.</p>
<p>Today many Americans are focused on the Unification Church and some ask if there is any way to get Reverend Moon out of this country. They think that then all the Moonies will go back home. Are they right? Today I am declaring that until the world becomes one, this focus upon the Unification Church will only keep growing.</p>
<p>Not only America focuses upon me but in each nation, every small thing I do becomes news. Did I cause such an extraordinary thing, or did God&#8217;! Together we did it. By doing this, will I survive or falter? Will I be victorious? If I won&#8217;t take responsibility, will you? If I ever became a communist, I would be the worst one, but luckily I am a champion of God, promoting the love of God in the world.</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s topic is Heaven and Us. What is this &#8220;us&#8221; all about? We are the focal point. When we start businesses, we are the focal point of the business world. When we start a school, we are the focus of academia. In home church, we are making history. Whatever we do, we become the focus. People have never heard of anything like us, because this is the first such religious group in history. But God loves it, spirit world loves it and people of the present and future will also love it.</p>
<p>How do you know the spirit world focuses on us? There are many phenomena today that testify to that. You are not alone when you fundraise because the spirit world is working with you. Did you know that Confucius and Buddha and Mohammed are our MFT members? Not only that, but God joined our MFT!</p>
<p>How many focal points would you like to have? If your focal point is the love of God, then actually you are focused on everything, 24 hours a day.</p>
<p>I recently sent Bo Hi Pak to Korea to get government approval so that we can start the Sun Myung Moon University there. He told them that people will come there from 120 nations and that there are Nobel prize winners already on the planning board. When they heard my plans those officials were astonished. Do you think it can be done?</p>
<p>One asset you have is that you are young. If you work just like I worked, there is no limit to what you can do. What is our overall focus? It is God. Every Sunday morning I emphasize one thing-true love. Everything in the universe focuses upon true love; that is the source of life. In the spirit world the love of God is the rising sun.</p>
<p>Once you possess the true love of God, you will be the focus of the world wherever you go. I am intently pushing you out so that you can quickly become the focus of the world. You will experience how much God has suffered in restoring mankind. I want you to understand how much God endured. If you had the power of almighty God, I&#8217;m sure you would have crushed the world a long time ago. Now you know you have to be patient, no matter how long it takes. Our weapon is education, so instead of destroying people we will raise them up.</p>
<p>God saw and heard much wickedness over these thousands of years, yet He has been patient. By the same token, you have to be able to endure the criticism of the world. We must win the love of God; only that one thing matters. God has been the king of patience in history and so we must be princes and princesses of endurance. God gave His only begotten Son and saw the world kill him, but still God was patient. That is the endurance of God. Do you want it? You must have infinite patience and endurance if you want to gain true love.</p>
<p>I have received overwhelming criticism but I don&#8217;t want to remember any of it. I want to forget within 30 minutes any accusation that comes. God has been forgetting the evil things and remembering the good news. I can always be grateful and thank God for the opportunity to participate in His hardship and learn His endurance. With that power alone can we understand God and become like Him.</p>
<p>How much has God trusted people? In all biblical history man has failed God and has been untrustworthy, but still God trusted. Without trust there is no way God could continue the work of restoration. How could man continue to try if God did not trust him? Thus when we learn from God, we must learn how to trust other people even though they may fail us a thousand times. Even though they lie to you, still trust them. Even though they cause you pain, still trust them.</p>
<p>Thank God that you can participate with Him in trusting unconditionally since you yourself have been untrustworthy. When you meet someone who is difficult to trust, you can thank God for the opportunity to practice His trust. God wants so much to love man that He gives everything unconditionally. By imitating the God who is infinitely loving and trusting, we can learn that wonderful way of love. When God sees someone who is trying to practice this way of life even while he is living in hard circumstances, God wants to show great mercy to him. You can win His heart and He will shower His mercy and grace on you.</p>
<p>In home church you are persecuted many times. Your roster will be your record of persecution but God comfort you and be right there with you. Persecution is a necessary ingredient. In many cases when your people are rude and curse you, you come back to the center feeling depressed. But instead you should be jubilant over what they have given you that day.</p>
<p>By enduring their hostility you will become a universal person who can go to both hot and cold places, high and low places and be welcomed there. In that way, you will become a central point. You love to see me because I am such a central point. I am almost 60, so wouldn&#8217;t you ask me to sleep late and let a younger person give the sermon on Sunday? No? How cruel you are! When I leave New York to go abroad, you feel America is empty because the focus of love is temporarily away. I am always trying to be the focus of your love and I always focus my love upon you. This is why I am generous with you and forgive you all the time, giving you another chance and trusting you.</p>
<p>The twelve months comprise one circle of seasons. There is always balance there, with six months up and six months down, six months left and six months right. One place is hot and the other cold. Each season reaches a peak and then changes. You cannot say you want only spring or only enjoy hot weather. Most people don&#8217;t like winter but you have to live through it. Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, and at least three disciples collaborated with him; their betrayal was equivalent to the three months of winter. You must pass through winter to welcome spring. Winter is essential because without it nothing can be prepared for the spring.</p>
<p>When water freezes it expands and through that process the hard shell of a seed bursts and is ready for spring. God is truly a great scientist. When you see isolated aspects of the creation, you don&#8217;t understand the greatness of the whole picture; but when you see the whole picture, you can see the wisdom of having a season like winter. In the Unification Church now we are completing our winter and getting ready to welcome spring. Then we will go on to blossom fully in the summer and bring the harvest in autumn. When the seeds are harvested, we will enter winter again and be ready to be tested again. Then the cold will beat fiercely on us but the life in the seed will remain intact, waiting for the spring and summer. New life will come.</p>
<p>You are persecuted and ill-treated but the life within you has been activated, hasn&#8217;t it? Are you ready to come out in the spring? Americans think that their nation will always prosper, but that is not so. While Americans are enjoying spring, summer and autumn, you are building up the power to survive the coming winter.</p>
<p>The Unification Church is full of hope. We will not be a great movement unless we are hardened and tested, but then we will be strong and able to prosper anywhere in the world. In order to be a healthy person, you must be able to live in and enjoy all of the seasons. In the same way, you should be able to serve all four different categories of people-like spring, summer, autumn and winter. You can say that you need all four kinds of people, just as you need all four seasons.</p>
<p>That is why Jesus selected twelve disciples, all of them very different. Jesus focused his love upon each person and then they became one united group. You should be able to serve and focus on twelve different people in harmony.</p>
<p>In one day we can see signs of the four seasons: morning is like spring; daytime is like summer; evening is like autumn and night time is like winter. In order to make a full circle, your movement must be both up and down. You cannot go just one way. We should know how to go both up and down because God does both. Satan, however, only knows how to go up; ultimately he will fall all the way down. When you encounter tribulation and suffering, don&#8217;t think that you are destroyed. As much as you must go down, you can come up again that much higher. That is the method God wants to teach you.</p>
<p>Together with the spirit world we are going to focus on the eternal love of God. As Moonies we have a tremendous capacity: we can focus ourselves no matter where we are because we have the true love of God. People see us now in a bad light but as soon as they see that their focus is wrong, they will change.</p>
<p>If you totally serve and sacrifice for others, you will become a central figure wherever you go. If you live like that, you will be elevated into heaven as a central figure. Your eyes should search for the places where people are in misery; your thinking should be focused on how to liberate hell; your ears should want to change the sad sounds of hell; and your mouth should speak the glad words of salvation.</p>
<p>Look at the world through God&#8217;s parental eyes and speak words of salvation. If you live like that, you will be a victorious person; you will be approved as God&#8217;s son or daughter. This is a task more urgent than anything else. You should get to the point where you forget the calendar, forget night and day. The place where we must do this is home church.</p>
<p>Therefore, be proud of being persecuted. When you are walking on a windy, rainy day, soaking wet, be proud of it. When your shoes are broken and you have to stuff them with cardboard, be proud of it. When someone curses you, be proud of it. My only worry was that America might ignore me, but it hasn&#8217;t. Since you are like God and like me, your worst worry is that people will ignore you.</p>
<p>If you can say that you will go this way without failure, raise your hands, please. Thank you. God bless you.</p>
