Can a Selfish Person Change?

You are smart. Others might say you are foolish for investing yourself in the home church providence. They wonder why you are working so hard to witness to others. Maybe someone would prefer you to do only a little so the central figure won't be able to compare you. If you do very well, the central figure will come after someone else and chew him out for doing so poorly!


Reverend Sun Myung Moon



Do you welcome a person with great accomplishments?  Do you see yourself moving forward by taking the tough route?

Maybe you would prefer standing still.  Maybe you need to be forced to move forward.

Should we vote on it democratically in the resolution?

A true, real central figure of the universe is exerting mental and spiritual force to move everybody forward. 

There is no way you can drop out.

You must continue to move forward and reach the goal.  You are already inspired, right?

We all enjoy the most beautiful sunny days, don't we?  What if you went to witness your home church area only on sunny days taking time off when it was stormy or cloudy weather.

What would your area think of you?  They will accuse you and tell you that they waited all day for you to show up.  Why do you only come when the weather is nice?

What if you showed up on only rainy days?

What would God think?

If it was raining, if there was a hurricane, God would be concerned for the people suffering in home church and want to go and help them.  This is how a saint thinks.

You may not be trying to reach sainthood, but you should be able to become a good person.  This is the way of a great person.

Whose way would you rather follow: the path of a normal person, a great person, or a saint?


Am I walking a normal or abnormal way? Mother tries to bring me closer to a normal way of life. "Father, you aren't a young man anymore," she says. "Please don't act like a 20 year old!" Mother also has another good piece of advice: "You shouldn't give sermons longer than two hours. It's bad for your heart!" When I go beyond two hours, Mother always gives some warning signal. Indeed, I am surely living an abnormal way!


Normally, we expect to eat three meals a day.  We do not have this concept when we are working hard pushing forward for the restoration of the world.

Is there a law that states we have to eat three meals a day?  One meal a day is sufficient.  Even no meal is okay.

Sometime the Reverend gives his speech all day long and at the dinner table he says that this is his breakfast. That is the kind of schedule he kept.

He is always hungry when he eats and enjoy every meal, no matter the content.  This is how he stays healthy.

Food wants to be eaten by someone who is living for others.  

What does one benefit from living like this?

This abnormal way of life is far better than the normal way of life.  We are doing this not for selfish reasons, but for the sake of the generations to come.  Those who follow you will also be able to benefit from your abnormal way of life.

Also, history will never be able to forget those who live that way today.  Posterity shall always honor and revere them.

In our world, there are two basic groups:  Those who act altruistically for the sake of others, and those who act primarily for just their bodily pleasure.

The latter group doesn't want to have anything to do with thinking deeply, because that would inquire one forgetting oneself for once.  Once a person's thinking is self-centered, he will act accordingly.

We constantly speak about those who live sacrificially for something greater than themselves, and those who want to live for only themselves.

People who are unselfish revere patriots, saints and religious role models.  They try to apply this to their contemporary way of life.

On the other hand, the other type of person would not care how the saints felt, what religion teaches or what philosophers write.  They do not want to hear that kind of speak.

All their cares are for the carnal way of life, or more closely resembling the animal life.  They only live for physical gain and seek only their own satisfaction not caring about other viewpoints outside themselves.

Which type are you?  Are you selfish or unselfish?

The main problem is we know the correct way is the altruistic,  righteous way, but we know we can't always follow that way.  As fallen people with sin, we are already wired to automatically think of ourselves first and follow our physical desires no matter how harmful the effects.

We know that there are many people who have a 'I don't care' attitude in the world.

Students say that nobody is going to tell them what to do.  They know that having a good time is fun and do not want to be bothered by no one else.

What about you.  Which type of person are you?  What would your original godly mind tell you?

Because we descended from the first parents that did not follow God's words, we inherited a selfish mind.  The human species was not originally born into sin.  They passed on the self-centered attitude to all their offspring leading to our generation.

When something is not right in society, we see many protests and revolutions that have brought about change throughout history. How is it possible to revolutionize the selfish, external way of thinking?

Is it even possible for such people to be able to change their direction?

Is it right or selfish to even try to prohibit such a direction?

We see that there are all kinds of perverted activities around the world.  People are able to indulge in these fallen acts without any remorse or guilt.

In one family, the father may sleep with his daughter, or the grandfather sleep with the granddaughter.  Some people's reason is that the animal world lives that way, why should they be tied down by such rules?

They will say that they, too, are a part of nature and this is only normal behavior.  They are only acting out human nature's desires.

The sacrificial way of life is weird and abnormal from the perspective of the world.  

Some of you have been engaged for two years, yet you rarely talk to each other or write very many letters as you walk this path of restoration.

Isn't this kind of discipline going against nature?

Why should we do this?

There is not a teacher who is giving a clear direction of what is wrong with the free, and fun way of doing things.  Thus, there is such great confusion right now in the United States of what is right.  Particularly among the young people, who are not being raised with a definite clear direction.

Do you think first and then act, or do you just do something and then think about it later?

Only those living this full path for God's will would answer they think before acting from that godly point of view.  Do you wish to go back to the other way?

People take the easy route by just acting on their physical urges.  They get carried away by their emotions just so they can have fun and then they think about the consequences later.

But a confrontation is occurring between the new age and the old. 

There are two schools of thought clashing: the carnal way of life, versus the thinking way of  life; the selfish way of life versus the unselfish way of life.

In order for you to go in the right direction, you need to have a clear basic standard of what is right or wrong, good and evil.

If there are six self-centered people who make up a family, then there are six different way of life within that family.  Can such a family maintain unity easily?

What if the daughter was to demand that the parents were to follow her way because she thought it was the most fun or cool way so it was the best?

Then the son would say that his parents are old-fashioned and do not understand how hard it is to be a kid in this day and age, so he wants a new, fun-filled way of life.  He would demand that his way was best and that his parents should listen to his direction.

If we were to see into such a home, we would see daily arguments and fights.  Sadly, after each battle, the family's morale would drop until a disaster resulted.

Has anyone become a great person through fighting?

Fighting causes division and weakness.

Democracy is based on the consensus of the majority.

Therefore, their unity on a decision is meant to be a safeguard for the whole nation.  In a democracy, each individual does not just proclaim his own way of life.  The people should reach a consensus of what is the best to benefit everybody.

When we speak of benefiting everybody, would our direction be moving up or down?

We would be moving upward.  As individuals move upward in consensus, they will eventually reach the level of society.

Then as society moves upward, it will reach the level of nation.  Then the level of nation reaches the world.  This is how it works.

If America was to head in the right direction, then the whole world would follow that direction, thus bringing about the new world.

Unfortunately, this formula has been seen to work in the wrong direction.  As America abandons God for their selfish way of life, we see the world being led in the wrong direction.

If there is something beyond the world, we want to transcend the world to reach it.

Nobody can deny the truth of that theory.

In your heart, you have an appreciation for what is popular, don't you?  You also want society and the nation to recognize you.  You want to become a world champion in something.

Isn't it human nature to want to go higher and God to recognize you and the spirit world on an eternal basis?

Would Westerners think that way?

Then we are all the same people aren't we?

We have the same course, the same original mind that desires good and of course the same origin. This is why there is a potential for world peace.

There must be a unified way to raise everybody up where it will benefit them.

If we plan to survive and move forward, we have to come up with a course, not just for the present, but the principle should apply in the past as well as the future.

There should be one principle that will enable everyone to unite and move forward.  It would have to be something a Korean would want, America and all of mankind would desire.

Do you think only people desire world peace, or is this something God would want, too?

We should all move upward together.

Are you able to solve the problem by yourself, or is this a joint effort?  Would we be able to do this by following the selfish way or unselfish way living for others?

Only by following an unselfish way can people be united.

The selfish person says, "I want to benefit from you.  Work and sacrifice yourself for me."

No one would respond to such a person's request.

To reach the goal, the basic principle is to live for the sake of goodness.  The credo of history is to live sacrificially.




Return for Tomorrow's Post: The Public Way and Private Way


This post was rewritten and derived from the speech Everyone is Headed Somewhere

See the Bigger Picture

"Everyone is headed somewhere," is an universal statement. People in the past, present and future have all been headed somewhere.  But what is their destination?

Children who leave the house in the morning, school is their goal.  Even though many students go to the same school, they can be learning entirely different subjects.

Modern science is divided into many fields with each scholar focusing on something different. Before there was modern technology that is highly developed, people basically worked in factories for a living and were involved in the whole manufacturing process.

Today's factories, workers may feel they are a small part of the whole and do not know what the rest of the factory is involved in and many feel that they play a significant role.

Those who go for their doctorate are often focused on a very narrow, specialized area.

Once they are able to accomplish their goal in that certain field and have considerable knowledge about it, they can be awarded with a degree.

They can be compared to residents of the large cities such as New York, who go to the countryside for the week and search the streams for a certain pebble or insect.  For that person, he thinks it is important to study such things, but the realm of the big city cannot fit inside a tiny bug.

Somehow, such research should connect to the realities of New York.

People are blinded by their focused outlook, that they lose sight of the whole.  They lack the perspective of the world, nation, society, or even the family.

As people go about their daily lives, they do not want to think about ideology, or how to better themselves or the world.

This is why the traditional value systems are crumbling.

Americans and people of the free world are suffering, simply because they do not see the bigger picture of what is taking place in the universe.

Thus, they lack any vision and do not know what to expect for the future.

Once one obtains their Ph.D, which direction should he move: toward the universe, or down?

If he goes down, he declines.

The further you descend, the less you will be able to see on a larger scale until everything turns pitch black.  Then  you become more and more confused.

When you are living in this way, your path is blocked and you see only people's misery and suffering.  This is the direction many intellectual people are headed.

Many learned people may brag about their accomplishments, but they really have closed minds.

Thus, universities and institutions are headed in that direction because of the people who are leading and running them.

Once a people live in an animalistic way only wanting to have fun and stimulate their body, they do not see the reason for ideology or even morality.  They wonder why follow a disciplined life?

People live for such lowly goals.

Reality shows have taken number one positions in the television arena with young people wishing to become like the people on the shows.  They perpetrate animalistic lifestyles as rewarding, glamorous and the best way of life.

Where are the shows that show the side effects of living such an selfish, external life without any morals and thinking about others?

Without any foundation, individuals can't relate to something greater than themselves, some higher cause. 

People don't even want to think about a higher purpose in life.

Majority of citizens only see themselves as individuals not seeing them as part of the whole.  They do understand that the world is full of wrongs, but they just want to have fun anyway forgetting all the problems.

They do not worry about the direction or history because they think that somebody else is running it.

Such people are not worried about their community and they do not have strong patriotic feelings toward their nation.  This is the situation America has found itself.

Majority of people do not have any real goals and they do not make an effort to go beyond their situations.  They could at least pursue the well-being of their country as one goal.  Even if they cared about their home town, they would have a place to return in the future.

When people look at the past, they conclude that God cannot exist because they cannot find any trace of Him.  Then because of this belief, they do not see the need in religion.

In any school, the student who is a little better than the rest of the students will be the winner.

People see someone who has a Ph.D and they want to follow him, but someone who has a doctorate's degree that keeps hitting stonewalls in life will only cause the people that follow him disaster.

We all must go somewhere, but where?

God created the human mind where there is a corner of the brain which simply cannot accept a totally animalistic way of life.  Even portions of the body will rebel such a lifestyle saying that life should not be like that.

We can hear this voice whispering from within.  People's carnal desires tries to push them in a certain direction, but then another part will place on the brakes saying, "No, that is not right".

What if someone was to eat at a different Chines restaurant for every meal for one week?  Afterward, he wouldn't even want to look at Chinese food that he once coveted just a short time ago when he was very hungry.

We are living int he age where free sex is rampant.

People meet and have relations without even getting to know each others first or last names.  These kinds of people are able to satisfy their bodily desires, but then what?  Can they live happily ever after or even affect the world with such behavior?

What if there was a man who was having sex with several women a week? He along with several others would believe that he was living a satisfactory lifestyle envied by others.

But once he is alone back at home, he truly know that he feel empty inside.

Then he may reminisce about the time that he dated a simple, country girl who was only mildly pretty.  She may have not worn make-up, but she had a pure heart.

He will remember the days when he was in love with her and he now realizes that those times were better times than he is enjoying now.

Even though externally it looks as though he has everything he needs to enjoy life, it does not satisfy him.  He feels empty once he looks back upon how he was living a pure life and had pure love for someone.

Some people may quarrel once with their spouse and accuse them saying that they do not care about them and leave.

On the other hand a true husband and a true wife will disagree at times, but their relationship has a cohesiveness which nothing can destroy.

Even though they may fight, they do not want to break up.  Which of the above examples do you want for a spouse?  Of course you wouldn't want the first kind, but why?

Anybody with a conscience will say no to this.

Everyone comes to this same conclusion.  How can one talk about the ideal way of life when they are living in such volatile situations constantly?  Where can you find true love in that situation?

Can we find any righteousness in a society that is filled with selfish individuals?

People will feel that this world is evil, bleak, dark and sinful and they would not want to have anything to do with it.

To follow the path of the world brings only calamity and disaster. 

Would anyone disagree that living a life only for oneself leads to destruction?

Since that is the path to ruin and death, what way should we go?

We do not see the solution anywhere in America, Europe or in the great Western world.  In fact, all of the Western society is walking that path toward disaster.

We can conclude that God exists.

God must be hastening the decline of the Western world by letting it crumble in order for it to rebirth into a new world.  It is the same as killing a germ that is trying to infect the rest of the world.

Wouldn't this be the logical conclusion?

If God exists, would He just sit back and watch as the rest of the world crumbles or would He take action?

God would want to exterminate the evil germs quickly, like a diseased person, in order to keep the healthy parts of the world from becoming infected.

Those whose thinking is parallel to God's thinking would be also concerned about reversing the trend in which the Western civilization is headed and turn it toward a new and good direction.

Some Western people have decided that they rather live somewhere else and end up denying their home country.  Americans were once revered by other nations, but now when they visit other countries, they are rejected.  This is the reality today.

America's greatest need today is finding hope in the midst of despair. 

Because God exists, He must have placed a beacon of hope somewhere.  He has made a way to stem the tide.

Anyone who wants to have a part in accomplishing this change is taking up the most critical challenge in America.

When you really think about it, has there ever been a religion or a philosophy that has been able to save America?  So, far we have witnessed none that have been able to completely eradicate this nations's problem.

There has not been any political, religious or social ideology to liquidate the problems of its citizens.  In fact, when we compare the situation of America to just 30 years ago, we see that the country is in an emergency situation.  Even the religious powers in this day are being eradicated.

People may even judge that God is not concerned with the problems of this society.

Do you think it is possible to find a solution?

Of course man has tried all throughout history to find pragmatic compromises to attempt to justify people's fallen way of life.  Many people today claim that God is dead.

So, where can the solution be found?

Through the almighty God.

God is of love, so He must somehow devise a solution for this nation.  Therefore, something new and great should come about so the change can come to the United States spreading throughout the world.

The Communists have claimed that God does not exists; He is just made up to comfort the poor.

The Marxist ideology, based on material,  has been on the offensive in the world and many Westerners have been heavily influenced by those ideals.

If you follow the communistic way of life, you will decline.  Even if you follow the Western way of life which looks glamorous, you will decline.  When we look at this situation, there seems to be no hope.

Communist denies God and on the other side, the free world recognizes God, but have abandoned Him.

Everybody is headed some place, but where?

We can make an analogy of the situation humanity faces right now.

Imagine a boat full of blind people.  Now, they are approaching Niagara Falls.

Everyone knows that they are going somewhere, but they are not aware of the imminent danger ahead where they will plunge thousands of feet to their death.

How will we stop this movement toward destruction?

This is not just one person's theory.  This is a very real problem.

Would we be able to escape this disaster by making a magical leap?  Do we have enough energy to do that?

Why are we even here?

First, we proclaim that God exists and that He is here and not dead.

Next, we have a steadfast philosophy of hope, not despair.  Our philosophy is based on the living God, not on fixing things quickly.

Furthermore, we have a genuine solution to the world's problem which no one else has been able to solve.  This solution is capable of bringing all the people of the world into unity.

Communism is the archenemy of God and religion; thus communists also hate the Messiah. 

America has abandoned God and has acquired a loose standard of living, thus becoming God's adversary.

To follow this true way of life, we were pulled out of the secular way of living in order to become a new breed of people who can go out to the world and bring new life everywhere.

Many from both camps have tried to destroy this work, but what if everyone trying to better America disappeared?  Would America automatically improve?

Right now, as we go on our missions in other countries, Africans may say for us to go home.  But if we were to make a change in the nation, we can quickly influence the world and turn it in the right direction.

If people of America were to demonstrate a true way of life, the rest of the world, especially the less-developed nations will follow.  This is why God placed His focus on such a nation as America built on religious freedom.  Our purpose is for world salvation.

The Western way is now based on selfishness, not caring about others.

Many people want to take advantage of other poorer nations, but we are working to transform the American way into an unselfish and sacrificial way of life.

The only way the United States will truly survive and prosper will be to have its white people and youth give out their sweat blood and tears for the sake of other nations, creating a true revolution which no one can stop.

Do you think that Harvard University professors or deans are up to the task?

Only one person proclaims that Americans should do this work of restoring the world and make it a reality.  Yet, he has been opposed by the U.S. and the entire world.

Once people see him living in this way and continuing to move forward as an immovable rock, they are repentful at how they have criticize him in their heart and misunderstood his direction.


You think, "Of course, Father is trying to do some good, but he is doing it in his Oriental way. He is just forcing the Korean direction on us."  But let's think together this morning. Does America need my direction and the solutions I offer? How much does America need a solution? 

If your parents oppose you and if the government or the entire nation came against you, would you still be convinced that this is the right way of life? But what would you do if nobody helped you? If you were all alone, would you give up? We must not give up. Our devotion will continue as long as we have breath.


How can you say after only doing this work with less enthusiasm that you are tired of witnessing and walking this path?

Father came to this land from another country.  America is not even his native land, but he came as a fireman to put out the immoral flames waiting to consume her.  So, if anybody gets tired, or needs to retreat it should be the one who does the most.

March forward without faltering.  We should be able to say, "Let's go farther" or  "Let's take a rest".


Pictures courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net


Return for Tomorrow's Post: Are You Moving Forward or Backward?


Everyone is Headed Somewhere

God's Purpose Not to Satisfy Public Opinion

Someone might ask, "Reverend Moon, what kind of person are you? You confuse me. You came to America and you disapproved of many things here. You spoke against the Carter administration and now you are criticizing the young people here. You just don't make sense to the American mentality."

How would I answer that? It is no secret that our movement is strictly based upon God's principles; we are a religious movement. Every position I have taken has been as a leader of a religious organization which was initiated by God. I have never said anything for the purpose of
pleasing other people, including Americans.


Reverend Sun Myung Moon



God definitely does not do things for the sole purpose of satisfying the public opinion.

God is above everyone.  He is able to see everything in America, so He is in the best position to give advice and direction from that vantage point.

If your viewpoint is only inside a situation, then it is limited.

This country was born out of the desire to seek God without limit.  Thus, it has no reason to disregard God's will in these Last Days.

The United States must be in accord with God's direction. 

The American youth are experiencing drugs, drinking, club dancing, free-sex, but these are not tools or instruments of God.  How do these thing help advance humanity to a world of peace?

We should focus the excess energy of young people for the sake of mankind and God.

Since we are not able to influence others directly, we set up our own framework within the movement.  The young members are then chased out to do the work of restoration through fundraising and witnessing.

This is not done for Father's sake, but for a special motivation - the sake of America and the world.

Why do you follow this way?

It is because Father has never refrained from what God wanted him to say.  He has worked from the very beginning to teach about the orderliness of nature and the universe.

People of faith should be able to see clearly that the American behavior is against God's will.

The post before this mentioned that children should listen to their parents, yet when the parents tell them not to follow this path of restoration in the movement, we know that the parents are wrong.

What principle should we use in order to determine what is right or wrong?

We must always consider what will maintain the right order of the universe and then we will always come out the victors.

Father is looked down upon as a failure by virtually everyone in the world, but because he has cleared a path for full restoration, he is successful.

We can say our parents look like victors because they have a steady income, are respected and are not persecuted by the community.  But eventually they may end up on the defeated side, while those walking this bloody path of restoration will end up successful.

We may appear as outcasts and losers just as Jesus and his disciples did in his lifetime, but we will become the true victors in the future.  That is as certain as daylight.

Members are constantly faced with sensitive and confusing situations in their daily life, but the Principle prevails always.

We should understand people in all kinds of situations or else we can't reach out to them.  Don't you think God knows all about club dancing?  To know about such thing is never bad.


It really doesn't bother my conscience to go to any place. I even visited the homes of prostitutes when I was younger in order to understand their society and why they did what they did. At that time, I thought, "There is no assurance that even after the Unification Church becomes prosperous, some of the members won't end up in this situation, even among the married couples."


Would it be wrong to educate about drinking by inviting members to drink from a big keg of beer?

If you are able to understand the problems of drinkers by doing that and thus help them, it is not wrong.  However, this does not mean to say you should go out and visit every dreadful place of the world just to see how they operate.  There is too much risk in that.

Members are urged to be clean cut and cut the long hair such as the hippies wear.  There is nothing wrong in this hairstyle, but right behind the well-meaning of peace hippies want, there are evil elements of free-sex and even gangs and communism.

It does not matter to God how long one's hair is.  In the real world a man with long hair is considered to be a hippie living without any responsibilities or rules.

If we are to distance ourselves spiritually from the standards of the world, we have to keep ourselves clean cut and different in appearance.

Established Christian churches tell their congregation, "Don't drink. Period." But if you were to gently ask them why, they would not have an answer.  They would say that it causes bad behavior and fights and loose morals.

If a minister was to pass by such a brawl, he would say, "Poor souls," and continue on.  But if Father was to see such a scene, he would take off his shirt and try to break it up.

"I have always tried to mediate and judge who was right and who was wrong. That is the true role of a minister." 

Who else would break up such a fight?

This sort of toughness is necessary.  It is good to join all sorts of games and sports, becoming not only friends of the players but even a leader among them!  This is why a karate gymnasium was set up in the Unification Theological Seminary.

Where else in the world does such a sport exist in a seminary?

The students of the seminary were asked if they wanted a karate gymnasium and it was explained why it would be a good idea and they each agreed.

The gymnasium was not built in order to become a threat to anybody, but in order to protect ourselves and to be able to preserve the orderliness of society and the world.

There are a lot of evil people who do not understand any language other than strength.

Many people wondered why religious people should take an aggressive stance against communism.  No one was taking a positive approach to ending Communism - not the American government, the FBI or the CI and certainly there were no students taking a stand before the Reagan administration.
Therefore, Victory Over Communism program took up the course.

What is wrong with aggressively stopping Satan? 

If God said that it was wrong for people of faith to fight communism, then we would not do it.  No one else could do it, so we cannot hold back out of fear.

Thus, we launched many demonstrations on college campuses.  Established churches have not been able to tackle the true social problems in America or even understand the true nature of them.

Not many people understand how religion should eliminate the problems of the world.  Would God look down upon such people and say that they were an embarrassment to Heaven?

This may be hard to understand, but the more experience you accumulate, the more you will realize its truth.

Some graduating students are embarking upon careers in the world of art and dance in the future.  In that world, there are no clear-cut strict society and discipline as in religion.  You have to be able to discern with sensitivity and subtlety what is good and bad in those areas.

We must pursue love, but only in its legitimate and orderly form. 

We are all born for the purpose of love, but engaging in the improper order of love is wrong.

The proper order of love:

First, we must try to love our parents and God as our masters.

Whether God and my parents approve of me is indicated by my orderliness.  The most important area is love.  Two people who are about to get married are entering a love relationship for eternity.

Should that person say that they don't care what God, their parents or anyone else says?

This is not the harmonious way.  No matter how strongly you feel that you have found the perfect mate, if God withholds His blessing upon it, will that union be possible to last?

People have come to believe that just because they believe someone is ideal that their family will love them, too.

This is the American pattern to choose someone and present them in front of the family demanding their approval, but this is the wrong way.

Just like in the olden days, majority followed the tradition of order where they present their possible mate first for approval before going on a date or parents chose for their children whom to marry.


I didn't come into being first and then my parents later, and then God. First, it was God, then my parents, and then me, in that order. So in making an important decision about getting married, it should be done according to the right order. Is that right or wrong?


One fiancee told a member that he needed her to come to him now and disregard her parents and if she loved him that she would go.

The girl asked Father whether she should go see her fiancee or he may let her go.  God established the true order of relationships.  A  leader does not have the authority to go beyond God's proper order and give instructions to just go give love at the improper time and say they do not know what the results will be.

A true leader would advise the woman that her fiancee will have to overcome his own desires.  Is that the wrong way or the right way?

Preserving and restoring right love order must be our main concern. 

Our lives themselves are secondary to the maintenance of this principle.

The most important thing in our individual lives is to establish order.  It would be better if we lose our life than to live with a confused standard of order and then later have to pay the consequences.

Dr. Durst has many members who come to him with problems asking for advice.  How can he answer them?

Of course it is natural to be on each person's side and he is concerned with each.  However, he must think about the proper order.

Even though he wants to side with someone he cares about, if his answer violates the principle of love's proper order he cannot do so.

Why are you special Americans?

Because you know these simplistic principles and are following God consistently with your whole heart.  Would you like to be ordinary citizens?

The ordinary way of marriage is to get married right away after your engagement.  The special way is to wait two years and wait to consummate the relationship when you are married.

If you are able to see that this is a valuable principle and apply them in all situations, you will be an eternal victor.  Just like a long-range shot that enters past the goalie in a soccer game,  you will be the victors in the end.

If you have the kind of thinking that as long as you master the principles set forth by God, then you know you can go nowhere else but Heaven.


Every single decision I have made in my life was done according to the principle of proper order. I have come up through many levels to this successful realm and so should you.  That is why I have been teaching you to apply this rule in your own life.

Let us pray.



Return for Tomorrow's Post:  The Right Way -  Just Do It!


This post was rewritten from the speech The Victorious Person and the Defeated Person

Love is the Bait

The Western way of demonstrating love is often superficial, like a fly trying to break through a wall. 

The traditional Korean couples shows their affection differently than the Western way.

When it is time for the Korean husband to leave for work, there is a depth of communication as they look at each other.  There is no need for kissing and hugging.

The Western wife is more open with her love.  She may give him a quick kiss and talk about what she was going to do for the day. The Korean wife is a few steps behind, as if she is shy, and her husband has to turn to look at her.

As he walks away, she would say a tearful prayer for his day and safety.  This is the most mystical relationship.

This is the time to understand this kind of deep love.

When you taste the style of love from the Orient, you do not want to come back to the tasteless Western way.  The Orient has s mysterious way of expression that is done without words.


Father:

"I am a puzzle to Americans and though they study and analyze me, they cannot measure me. You too are trying to size me up, but there is an infinite quality about me that you cannot digest.
I speak for hours at a time each Sunday and at leaders conferences, but I never run out of things to say.

Do you feel some charm from me? But I am also very fierce. You Westerners have such big eyes that no one will be really afraid when you get mad, while my eyes are so small that you don't know what is happening inside and you tremble when I get mad.

But no matter how mysterious and deep I look, if there were no love in me I would be like the desert. 

The sweetness comes from love.

In our church life, there is a bitter, difficult side but every one of you has tasted the sweet side of love here also.

Do you feel drawn to me? Once you taste the sweetness of love, even if you are criticized or pushed out, you cannot separate yourself from me." SMM



Everyone would agree that God is the master fisherman.  He is very wise.  What kind of bait do you think God as a fisherman would use?

The greatest bait God would offer man is love and truth.  You and I may use the same word 'love' to describe our feelings for something, but the quality of what we mean is very different.  Satan's love is self-centered, self-seeking while God-centered love is always unselfish.

In order for the world to be restored to the original heaven on earth, which God planned, all of the history of mankind since Adam and Even had to be indemnified.  This means reversing the fallen act of unmarried Adam and Eve which caused the fall of humanity to this day.

Historians have researched and tried to understand the causes of what was happening in history, but they never understood the reason for them.  Only with the teachings in the Last Days do the answers to the fundamental questions be explained.

When we look at the decline of morals in the Western society, we see that the people are on an useless march toward death today.  Older people are in the front, middle-aged people next, and the young people follow right behind them.  Since young people are at the back, God is able to reach them first to turn them in a different direction.

God chases the crumbling civilization in order to turn the people around.

America's young people are rebellious and they mistrust older people, but God is also working through that.

Actually, this kind of 'rebellious' attitude makes it easier to turn the youth's thinking around.  God creates environments where the young people who are searching for great ideals can easily join religious movements that are making changes in the world.

Young people have not left anything to the imagination, they have tried everything from streaking to pre-martial sex at the youngest ages.  They know that they are behaving just like the animal world, so at some point, they long for some purpose and value.

When God sees people who have this kind of longing for some ideal, He can more easily work within that person's life.

Help comes in the form of the East.

Those who are in the drug and free-sex lifestyle are tangled in a huge net and start to rip that slavery to this behavior once they hear the depth of truth.

The first test Father encountered when he came to America is that the people would not feel that he loved them as much as the Asian members.

Then after Father would pour out his heart with depth and long speeches to save America, they would discover that no one has ever worked harder.  In fact, Father gave the most difficult task to the Korean and Japanese members to suffer for the sake of America.


At one time, I was persecuted and tortured by Japanese people, but now I don't feel they are my enemies; I truly feel a father-­son relationship with them. When I ask for something to be done, they absolutely follow my instructions, without adding their own interpretation. They are absolutely loyal and trusting. You know now that I truly love America. 


You have worked hard for the restoration of God and the world and have ended your death march.  Now, it is time to go back to your hometown and build and save your family foundation.

The parents have been going in the wrong direction and all of the sudden they look back and see that their children are no longer following behind them.  In the Unification Movement, parents have hired deprogrammers to kidnap and try to erase what they are taught.

The parents rather have their children experiencing promiscuous sex, drugs and wild behavior than to be taught the Completed Testament, the Divine Principle, which this blog is based upon.  What kind of parents can they say they are?

It is up to every member whether they rather stay in the movement or to run back to their parents.  If you cannot be victorious over your own sins, how can you imagine to conquer over the world's problems?

We need people of discipline to do this work.

We are marching toward life instead of death. We are able to save those who are on the death march.  God has the central thinking that young people must come to do this work first so they can be the prime movers of morality.  Is this the right way of thinking or the evil way?

When you first have an understanding of these revolutionary teachings, your concept about family, life, society, nation and world become pure and different.  This way of life is complete opposite of the satanic way and you may wish that you have not come upon the truth which you were seeking.

Even if you were able to deny your discovery of this teaching, you still would be able to know that America needs to turn away from the path which it is following.  America is suffering and going down into the pits of hell.  Without knowledge of the Completed Testament, there is no way for survival.


Americans will realize that they definitely need me; when that time comes, I will leave America. I have much more territory to cover for the sake of the world. We have missionaries in 120 nations and I will meet them on their battlefields. I know when I visit them that I will find them being persecuted and enduring suffering. I will go and vindicate them and they will be victorious. 


How would Africans feel when they hear that such a man is in their country?  You should plan your entire life.  There are three stages of adult life:    fifteen to thirty is the formation stage; thirty to 45 is the growth years; and 45 and beyond is the time of perfection.

Father made a goal to be number one in every challenge: in eating less food, sleeping less than others, working harder and be his own harsh critic.

In that respect, he was able to set world records.  One of them giving an over twenty-hour speech at a conference nonstop.

Not only God's world welcomes such a person, but the satanic world has to welcome him and surrender to him.

Since the Divine Principle is filled with such secrets such as the original sin of Satan, how to bring families together and a world of peace, those who spread it get much opposition.

Instead, the nation should have supported such efforts instead.  Children born of such members are the brightest American young people and someday they may become the national leadership.

America is the slowest to awaken to the new truth; other nations-and even the communists have already realized my significance. 

One after another, God will remove from office the unrighteous legislators; the makeup of the legislature will change. In time, Congress will take the position of supporting and welcoming me. That pattern has been seen in Korea.


When one side attacks us, God always prepares another side to give us support.

The principle has been taught for over fifty years and have not only changed lives, but have moved nations and peoples with its historical information.

What kind of world would we have today if Rev. Moon had never been born to relay such timely Revelations prophecy.  Would unity of different races, religions and East and West have happened within that time frame?

People may be skeptical and say the world is never going to head toward world peace, but if you turn around and look at history, blacks were not allowed in certain areas, different religions didn't intermingle and many countries were still at war.

If you venture even further back,  you will see that religions were persecuted more, poverty was had everywhere and suffering was more evident.  In comparison, we can see the work of God, people of faith and the Second Coming will truly usher in a heaven on earth which God wished from the beginning.

Could you seen God's precise plan that He has hidden in the Bible without this teaching?  Sometimes the information that is revealed seems like a dream.

This speech was given on an early, cold morning, but instead of staying in bed or complaining people gathered around to hear the breaking news.  Who makes people do that?

Only the power of God can do that.

Anybody, even the government who tries to stop this history from happening will work in vain.   The victory doesn't come in an office or in the headquarters, but on the battlefield.



Return for Tomorrow's Post:  How to be Grateful for the Little Things

The First Day and Our Lifetime

Why Do We Need Religion

We first must understand the true purpose for God creating the world before we can answer why religion came into being.

Many posts on this website mention that God's plan for His ideal world is opposite of the world we see in today.

The Divine Principle focuses this reversal in dominion from God's world at the beginning with the first parents a man and a woman who instead of following God's holy warning to wait for maturity to partake in sexual pleasures, followed the servant archangel to do as they please.

Then we can see that religion was later born to teach humanity to go in the opposite direction of the archangel and to follow Him back into His bosom.  Once all of humanity follows God's ways of love and not the fallen, archangel way of love, then we would naturally observe a world full of love and peace - an Utopian world full of God-like people.

All religions emphasize self-denial and sacrifice in order to achieve the highest form of love.

Without exception sacrifice is necessary for you to form an intimate relationship with God. Why should sacrifice be the highest form of love's fulfillment? There are many, answers but let us analyze this through the major religions.

Christianity has delivered the message of putting the love of God above all for centuries as well as other prominent religions in history.  Each major religion has a foundation in love.

Buddhism preaches a life of mercy and benevolence which is actually in essence practicing love for our fellow man.  Each religion emphasizes that one practices a life of self-denial instead of self-centeredness.  Why does one have to make such effort from our sinful being?

Because sin originated when the first parents of humanity practiced living based on one's own desire leaving out God's purpose.  Therefore, without exception, in order to reverse this fallen deed one must live a life of sacrifice to form an intimate relationship with God.

Why is sacrifice the highest way for the fulfillment of love?


Mind and Body Unity

When we look at the mind and body, which is less evil when it comes to sin?

Christianity along with other religions deem the flesh to be the tool for evil and bring it to submission through being humble before God.  This is why religions practice subjugating the body to weaken it so the body will listen to the good mind and become one.

Religion practices being humble, meek and sacrificing of oneself as virtues so the body is forced to unite with the mind.  God has been leading mankind toward this way of life.  But if man does not respond to God's call, then His efforts are in vain.

God blessed humanity with free will in order to have objects that are on equal footing with Him.  In this way, as humanity has continued to deny God, He sacrifices Himself in wait for humanity to return instead of forcing unity.  Thus, in order for God and man to unite, it is a mutual effort.


Is Religion Necessary?

Many wonder why we need religion.

It is said that if one follows the dictates of the conscious, then there is no further need for education.  But when in our daily lives, living moment-to-moment do we observe ourselves faithfully following our good mind without the need of placing much effort?

The reason is because sin causes an extreme struggle between the mind and the body.

Without going through the path of religion there is no way to reconcile the mind and body, no hope that some day you will even get close to God.

The contradictions within man cannot be resolved without the process of religion.

In this case, religion is absolutely necessary for man to return to their original position before God.  Religion was not placed on earth to last forever.  When we look at the original Garden of Eden before sin was born, God and man communicated freely without the need for prayer, religion or a mediator.

Once man gets rid of this struggle within themselves and unites directly to God, there will be no need for religion.  The ultimate goal of religion is to liquidate sin within humanity and unite him directly with God.

Those who oppose religion have an original mind and conscious that pulls them toward the desire for peace. Such a person will effortlessly try to bring humanity into wholeness just through man's thoughts and efforts alone.  We do not have to look far in history to see that this thinking is impossible.

This is how atheistic communism arose by trying to bring a world of peace without God, but through force, stripping away the very gift God gave each of us.

Even God does not demand that His own children follow Him, but dictators have believed peace could be achieved in this way.  It is not a lasting peace and it is only superficial.  Communism or those who live without God as their base, they try to find their comfort through things in the material world in which they see. Their joys, harmonies and love are based on the material goods in which they can harbor.  Such a life will be easily blown away like a leaf in a storm because material is not everlasting.

All of this brings us to the logical conclusion that religion will not be needed by man for eternity, but will be consummated by the emergence of man in perfection. 

Many church leaders and foundations would not like to hear that one day their position will be liquidated.  Many wars have started between religions and different sects as man placed his own thinking and limited power on God.  This way has brought more confusion and frustrations to God's efforts to bring His children back toward the original way of Heaven.

It is logical that on our journey toward peace we start out from the very bottom of the fallen state. The journey will lead us into the ultimate goal of total and perfected union with God.  The opposite ideology places emphasis on the material world.

Which is more perfected: the mind or the body?

The body is limited but the mind has no limitations only that which we place upon it.  The only way this world has hope to come out of this unfallen state is through the search of God through religion.  This longing for God brings hope for the union of men and God to be accomplished one day.

Father Moon has dedicated his life and body suffering the most for the sake to find the solution to the question of how to reconcile the war between mind and body.  This is an all important question as if every individual was to absolutely live according to God's will and form families, this world would quickly become a world of peace.

What we seek and need most is not God Himself, but God's love.

Religion has existed for thousands of years and yet, the unity between man and God is still a distant dream as conflicts, racial and national barriers arose. Therefore, there should emerge a religious movement that rises above these barriers and unite all people together with the common dream of humanity obtaining unity with God's love.

There should be a movement that erases these setbacks because God Himself embraces all races, levels in society, nationalities.  He does not express His love based on these aspects that only separate people.  If God limited his love based on race, then He becomes an imperfect God.

When a religion exists that can bring people from different aspects of life together in the name of God, then let's observe the religions that have a foundation and where it may be lacking in bringing world unity.



Religions are God's tools and they should be universal





True salvation springs from union with the love of God, which manifests everywhere in a fair and justified manner. Which race you belong to makes no difference at all. It cannot be said that the love of God works only in the Western hemisphere; it shines throughout the earth. Any religion which proclaims the segregation of the races is a false religion.

A new religion is needed which embraces all men equally.

Religion has the goal of saving people.

World salvation comes from union with the love of God which manifests everywhere in a fair justified manner.  God's love is not based on which race or which side of the hemisphere one lives.  God's love shines throughout the earth just as the sun. Any religion that pronounces separatism is a false religion.

 For instance, Jews and Christians should not feel that they are the only people who deserve the love of God. They must feel instead that they are merely servants who must bring the love of God to all humanity.

If we were to view from God's high standard of love, would He think that unity would come from the whole world turning to Judaism, Christianity or Islam?  Would you think that God would limit Himself to just one religion to shine through?  Religion is simply just a tool for God.  God's love is supreme and encompasses the highest possible level.  Everything in creation is a part of it and is surrounded by it.  The love of God encompasses all human existence.

Religion was meant to be universal, not reject the basic principles of God's love.  

When we look at this standard, is modern Christianity perfected?


Christians dictate that at the end of the world of judgement, only Christians will be lifted up in the air to meet the Lord and live there forever and all others will go to hell.  Is this the right attitude to have?  This kind of thinking is based upon a cruel God and an imperfect ideal.

A revolutionary concept must come to Christianity and enable it to meet the criteria of perfection that God originally intended. Father Moon says that is the Unification Church.  There must be a movement that clearly defines God's intentions and bring humanity back on the correct path toward salvation.

What is the Unification Church supposed to do?

"First of all, make one world and elevate it into a world of God. Encouraging self-centered individualism is Satan's final strategy to demolish this world and this nation and we must destroy this satanic concept. What am I trying to contribute to you?

You have never really tasted the true love of parents or of husband and wife and brothers and sisters. I am trying to ignite in you spiritually the ecstatic joy of God's love so that it will not be just a concept to you but be a presence in your daily life.

One phenomenon sets the Unification Church apart: Our members often meet me in dreams or visions and in all kinds of spiritual circumstances. The power of spiritual experience already exists and embraces each one of you every day.

 Those of you who have such experiences, raise your hands. In the mundane world those things may seem abnormal and certainly they have never been seen in any other religion in the past. Physically I am very far from our missionaries all over the world but I am just as close to them as I am to you. This is a most vivid testimony to the significance of our movement.

I want you to know that tremendous sacrifice has been paid in order to come to this level today. Many nations have collapsed and many millions of people have died for this. Since it comes to you without too much effort you don't realize its value and you think that this is common everywhere. It certainly is not.

We are a religion of experience and feeling because God is not a conceptual God to us. He is the master of our daily lives. As soon as you come into this atmosphere you immediately become a recipient of new spiritual power and presence, but for people outside our Church it is an unfamiliar and perplexing thing to grasp." SMM

Do you want to know the secret for meeting God in your daily life?

The most important element in order to reach the love of God in our daily life is to conquer the body.  The body has three fundamental desires:

The first urge is that the body gets hungry and looks for food.  

How to conquer the body was one aspect Father Moon worked hard to answer.

He found that he had to have a love for God more than the love of his body when he became hungry.  This is why many religions place emphasis on subduing the body through fasting, prayer and service to others to weaken the body's cries for attention.

When a person demonstrates their love for God through sacrifice, one sets a superior standard for the love for God as stronger than the love of food.  Jesus was the ultimate example of a person who conquered  that particular desire and went through a forty-day fast for the sake of the chosen people.

Many other saints and prophets led the same way of life such as Moses and St. Francis, leading a life of sacrifice.

Why is this a high standard for religion? Because hunger is the worst kind of suffering the body can experience.  When one forgets their own need for food while in search after God, they make a precious statement about their dedication to their faith.

If you have completed a seven-day fast, when the last day arrives some may have been watching the clock closely and for the moment it was time to eat again.  Others will think that they have felt hunger until praying, loving and going after God more than their desire for delicious food on the last day.  The latter is the true way of thinking when one fast.

One's longing for God over the love of food is the real test.

"Until I was thirty there was no day that I was not hungry because I deliberately went without food in order to test myself. At that time I was so hungry that if someone was eating nearby my mouth hung open and saliva drooled out even without my being aware of it.

When it gets hungry enough, the body just automatically reacts that way. You can't say you have overcome your body until you have conquered desperate hunger by the power of your love of God." SMM

The second fundamental urge is for sleep. 

Can you demonstrate that your love of God is stronger than your body's desire for sleep?

You will pass this test when you think of God and He becomes so real and relevant that your intense love of God conquers your deep desire to sleep.  When we search through history and observe the life of those who seriously pursued God, they all lived an ascetic life that seemed harsh to those in the fallen world.

They fought their desire to sleep hard and would endure all kinds of things to fight the body such as stabbing and cutting their own flesh just to keep awake!

For seven years, Father Moon only slept for two hours a day.  When he was being tortured for preaching the word of God during the Japanese occupation, he was forced to stay awake for two full weeks and was whipped each time his eyes closed.

During this torture technique, he learned to conquer his body and even sleep with his eyes open.  Through this technique of conquering his body, many revelations and secrets held for thousands of years were revealed to him.

We need to win this love of God and show that our love is more intense than anything that tries to separate us from his love.

When you become sleepy at a time you are doing God's work, you should be stronger than your craving for the comforts of sleep.  We all have that feeling when we are performing a mission where we are ready to collapse from exhaustion, but your love should conquer that feeling in such moments.

It is most difficult to go beyond the level of hunger and sleepiness for the love of God.

It may be hard at first, but each day like a muscle we can exercise this need by going to sleep a few minutes later extending it each day and/or waking up a few minutes earlier each day until we finally have a less need for sleep.

Jesus had to conquer all those bodily desires. The Bible said that he fasted for forty days and furthermore, we can well imagine that his life was a struggle both day and night. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked his closest disciples to stay awake and watch with him while he prayed desperately, but what happened to the disciples? They fell asleep.

Why was this mentioned in the bible and why is it so significant to why Jesus finally told them that it is done and to finally get their rest.  We will understand Jesus' frustrations in keeping his disciples awake when they kept falling asleep when we know that this means that it shows where their true hearts lay.

A true follower of Jesus in his deepest hour of need would have stood by his side until the final moment, not only did his disciples sleep when he begged them to pray during that hour, but scattered when he needed them the most.  This says sufficiently that satan still had a hold on them that they could not fight their bodily selfish desires for the love of Jesus and God.

Jesus' disciples could not win over sleep and Jesus told them that though their minds were willing their flesh was weak.

This is not some hazy spiritual concept. You must overcome precisely these things in your life. I would not speak this way to you unless I had tested out everything in my own life.

The third desire you must conquer is the urge for physical love. 

The worst kind of temptation for religious people always comes in the form of sex.  The need for sex outside of marriage and away from God is the beginning of sin in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve misused their sexual organs before the time of maturity.

Satan creeps into men's prayers in the form of a beautiful woman.

Men and women have different and distinctive sexual desires. Your intense love for God should surpass the desire and need for carnal love that is not linked to Him.  When we look at this high standard of God in comparison to the young people in America, we see that they have much to overcome.

America's permissive sexuality, "sleep with whomever and how many you want", has killed the moral life of Americans like a dirty rag.  A once prosperous nation has been shocked to its knees due to the promiscuous free lifestyles of its citizens.

This is why every major religion has practiced the life of celibacy.  The body is viewed as the worst enemy and has three formidable weapons: the desire for food, the desire for sleep and the desire for physical love.

"I have fought the same battle that you are engaged in but you have no idea how many tears I have shed to win over these temptations."


Return For Tomorrow's Post: Allow Us to Discover Where Our Hearts Lie

This post was rewriten and Based upon the Speech, Core of Unification