Facets of Marriage Preparation

When singles and young people are equipped with the knowledge and skills about relationships, then they are better equipped for a successful marriage.

The following outline is what we will discuss that can be a defense against all of the misinformation about sex and relationships.

Knowledge and Insight

1. Discernment of true love
2. Realities of marriage
3. Option of intercultural marriage
4. Advantages of chastity

Relational Skills

1. Communication and conflict resolution
2. Setting boundaries of physical involvement


Knowledge and Insight

Social sciences tend to reinforce traditional wisdom of scripture, literature and philosophy in the matters of love, sexuality and marriage.  Despite contemporary sources of this knowledge and insight, the average person remains blind about the spouse's realm of heart.


1. Discernment of True Love

Singles benefit from a clear discussion about the true nature of love.  Armed with this, people will be able to to distinguish between true conjugal love and its counterfeits.

The most basic distinction is between true love and self-centered love or just a fleeting infatuation.


Contrasting Qualities of Love

Self-centered love                                 True Love

Prefers to be receiving. Enjoys giving.
Fosters self-absorption within               Encourages reaching out to others.
the couple and exclusion of others. 
Focuses on external traits                      Cherishes the other most for her good heart and character .
Weakened by time and separation. Intensified by time and separation.
Starts up quickly and ends                     Grows steadily and ends slowly just as quickly. if at all.
Makes the other feel anxious.               Makes the other feel secure.
Judges the other according to how
well the partner makes one feel loved.  Gives more to the other. 
Judges oneself and how one might         Prioritizes the relationship over truth and goodness. Bases the                                                                  relationship upon truth and goodness.
Hinders productivity.                             Enhances productivity.
Plagued by quarrels of increasing
frequency and severity. Characterized by fewer and fewer quarrels over time, of                                                                          decreasing intensity.
Poisoned and threatened by conflict. Deepened and fortified by conflict.



The issue of purity is a direct way to separate selfish love from
unselfish. “Ask the partner to wait until marriage for sex,” recommends
purity educator Mike Long, “ and by their response you’ll
know if he or she loves you.”6 This is an application of the classic
Biblical definition: “Love is patient and kind . . . . Love does not
insist on its own way.” 1 Corinthians 13.3-4

Love as volitional

People who are single also have the false idea of “falling in love” as a natural process in dating.


Only an overwhelming, irresistible attraction springing up spontaneously between two people can lead
to true and lasting love between them.





The only problem is finding the right person who can harbor those feelings.

In a relationship, if later the feelings they had for each other should wane, then this means that that was the wrong person after all and they should end that relationship.

This is a strong misunderstanding in the realm of relationships which neglects the volitional aspect of love which is suggested in the book, “Love is a Decision”, written by marriage expert Gary Smalley

“While it sounds romantic to ‘fall’ in love, the truth is that we decide who we want to love,” asserts high school relationship educator, Charlene Kamper.8 Coming from the Jewish matchmaking tradition and personal experience, Rabbi Shmuley Boteach agrees, “You can actually decide to fall in love with someone, and your heart will follow.”

It is true that one aspect of love is beyond control, but there is an intentional aspect that is controlled.

The latter can influence the former.  In other words, one can make the decision to love and encourage the feeling of love.

A person of heart and character is committed to being loving whether or not he or she feels loving at the time.

Parents experience this when they take action to love when there are no warm feelings of love and renew their hearts and their affection for their children are restored.

All religious beliefs that exhort to love your neighbor and even your adversary is based on the idea of love is a decision.

The reality of both marriage and friendship is that love demands a large amount of doing what one does not feel like doing even though everyone wants to love their spouse at all times.

It must be understood that love is an act of will and is an element of choice.

When this is clear, it gives freedom and security to youth who fear that they have flaws and wrongly believe that no one can love them or that if they get married, the love for their spouse will someday disappear.

“If we fall out of love,” they wonder, “how can we bring it back?”

It is possible to generate love even when it is not readily flowing.

If a man and woman follow the principles that generate true love such as, mind and body unity, giving and receiving, uniting around a higher purpose than the relationship, a couple can build a strong, affectionate connection.

Through this process they can also rebuild these feelings that only deepens and strengthens over time.

When we understand that it is not whom we love that counts but how we love, then we are not searching helplessly waiting to bump into the 'right one' to give such a love.

One can practice and build such a confidence in becoming the loving person their spouse will need right now by loving others.

When young people understand that love is an active verb, then they can grasp the key difference between maturity and immaturity.

An immature person focuses on being loved and the mature focuses on giving out love.


2. Realities of Marriage

Even though it is popular to have weddings, modern adolescents and single adults show a large ignorance about the institution of marriage.

These include the benefits of being married, its demands,  for success and so on.

Research backs up the advantages of being married and what it takes to succeed in it.  Researchers also reveal that all relationships several predictable phases of romance, conflict, re-commitment.

This phase is inevitable before a couple reaches a deep oneness of heart which is an very attractive element of couples of enduring love.

There is also a stage after marriage and the beginning of the romantic period when the illusion of the other falls away, which singles can prepare themselves for.

The warm feelings they experienced in the stage before dry up and they fee they are married to or dating a stranger.

Single people should learn that this is a part of growth and not evidence that they have married the wrong person.

When a married couple comes to this point they have three choice: one is to escape the marriage through affairs or divorce, another is to stay together but keep their distance, and the third option is to commit to have a love between them that is based on acceptance, respect and living for the other spouse's benefit.

Couples pursue the third way, a real bond develops between them and the enter into a season of greater discovery, intimacy and maturity than they have ever known.

The final stage which all relationships enter into is that of service, when the couple's cohesiveness bears a lasting fruit through the contributing to the lives of others.

Young people can have a negative outlook when they experience even minor conflicts in their own relationships or in marriages around them.

It is better when they know beforehand that the romantic phase will give way to tension and disillusionment about the relationship and person.

This is the opportunity to unite with the other on an even deeper level.

When one knows the phases they will encounter in a relationship, then they can avoid the mistake of giving up when difficulties inevitably arise.

Young people can also have a perspective in order to interpret what they see in others' relationships.



Expectations Brought Down to Earth

Media have portrays marriage as another means in order to gain personal gratification and not as a grounds for moral growth or a vehicle for raising children.

Blain Fowers calls the idealistic notion of a 'soul mate' who will meet all of one's needs for love and companionship a “myth of marital happiness.”

When people go into a relationship believing the other is to fill all of the holes they feel missing, they sabotage themselves by expecting too much.

Marriage education can help balance young people's expectations in alignment with reality.


3. The Option of Intercultural Marriage

When looking for a mate, individuals frequently look for others who are like themselves.

At the same time, opposites do attract. Partners who unite from different ethnic or other kinds of backgrounds, is increasing across the world through social media and as the world merges into one global community.

It is essential for everyone to be educated about the benefits in marriages that cross boundaries and how to prepare for the challenge.

One advantage of intercultural marriages is that the children have stronger immune systems from the merging of  genetically disparate lineages.

The combined cultural mix of spouses from different ethnic or religious heritages, offer their broad spectrum of gifts to their children.  Their minds and hearts will be stretched to embrace more types of people without having any prejudice toward them or have no ethnic arrogance.

Marriages that have spouses from different cultures and races are dramatic and fascinating to behold.

Marriages from different backgrounds encompass a greater slice of humanity than other unions.

People would not be able to take their eyes off of an ebony-toned highly educated African states woman receiving a kiss from her rumpled, golden-haired, Scandinavian fishing boat captain husband?

When love flows through groups that were are are enemies is poignant.

These unions help to bridge historical rifts heal any deep-seated wounds.

Reverend Moon says that Heavenly Father is very moved by couples like these.

Even though these partnerships are very rich, young people may look at the misunderstandings that will initially come in such a relationship.

Therefore, they must be prepared to make an extra effort o embrace their spouse's background and negotiate.

Many who lose their virginity and feel alone may ask, “Why didn't anyone tell me?”.

Those who are qualified should teach young people about the role of sex in marriage and also the destructiveness of having sex outside of a commitment before they make those mistakes.

Psychologist John Van Epp describes the healthiest progression of bonding as proceeding
in five steps: from knowing to trusting, from trusting to reliance, then from reliance to commitment, and only then to physical bonding.

Traditionally, these were well-known courting behaviors and now they have to be chosen on purpose.

When young people learn the natural steps and stages incurred in a relationship and how sex is a final step not beforehand, they are less likely to follow the wrong way.


Relational Skills

The possibility that those venturing into marriage might get a divorce can be very disempoering.

Also, those who try to keep their chastity may feel pressure and intimidation from the partners and peers who are sexually engaged.

Having basic 'people skills' is the bedrock of marital success. Reverend Moon suggest that couples preparing to get married should learn basic relational skill.

These skills can be learned beyond communicating in the home to team sports, leadership roles in schools, worship centers, work, childcare, teaching, sales experience and through   service projects.

Formal coaching in relationships can supplement these experiences.

Studies on human conflict and communication in close relationships have found methods to ease discord when it erupts and how to alleviate the blocks to a person having warm and effective interactions.

1. Communication and Conflict Resolution


If interaction is the lifeblood of all relationships, then blocks in communication comprise the classic relationship threat.

Prominent marriage and abstinence courses train in communication and conflict resolution techniques which are invaluable in marriage and further down the road in parenthood, and for a single person's family and friends.

When one learns how to talk, listen and reduce the tension that is bound to arrive in relationships, they have more of a chance at having more successful interactions.

This involves learning to cope when negative feelings like stress, anger, guilt and fear arise.  These skills take time to learn.

“‘Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.’” James 1.19


On one hand there is the ability to speak clearly without personal attack, vague complaints not relavent to the argument at hand or exaggerations that hurt the other person.

On the other hand there is learning how to fully listen and with empathy.  This involves giving he other person point-of-view on a disagreement full attention instead of preparing a retort.

When we as a society can learn such habits early on, many harmful marital mistakes can be prevented when learn skills.


2. Setting Boundaries of Physical Involvement

Basic communication and relational skills needed to teach about maintaining one's chastity reinforces sexual boundaries.

Reverend Moon states that a wise person clearly states exactly their parameters regarding physical contact and exclusivity before one enters into a close relationship with the opposite sex.

It is necessary, first of all, to define what purity or abstinence is which represents technically avoiding physical intercourse and even discourages having any sexual arousal.

When one chooses chastity, it respects that sexuality largely involves the mind and heart.  The body has such a measure of power that it is not easy to restrain if aroused.  This does not make an excuse to say that sexual instincts are out of one's control.

On the contrary, sexual instincts always respond to the instruction of the mind.

Once individuals reach beyond a certain point of touch and arousal, the body's natural progression toward intercourse becomes increasingly difficult to stop.

Those serious about keeping their purity should not place themselves in situations that can lead to intercourse.

“It’s tough being a musician,” confesses 26-year-old Richard Kaweesa, a Ugandan who has maintained his chastity. “You are prone to temptations, with all these girls coming after you. They want to know you, where your hotel room is. [But] it’s up to you . . . . We are not victims of our environment.”

To make a true commitment to purity means knowing ahead of time the pressures to go past those boundaries and preparing a response.  These take learning resistance skills.

She is a smart teenager or single adult who has practiced how to explain her purity standard to her friends and to members of the opposite sex interested in her.

He is also wise who has planned 'escape' measures when he finds himself in a difficult situation such as house full of drinking friends who are getting sexually involved or being alone with an aggressive, attractive young woman.

One will not be able to protect their purity unless he or she plans how to defend the boundaries they have set when temptation comes.


Challenge for engaged couples

One mistake couples make is setting boundaries according to what stage of commitment they are at.

The closer to the wedding, the further they allow themselves to go. “We’re almost married,” they tell themselves, “it will do no harm.”

Yet, a couple dissipates their moral authority and the power of their love and imperil their purity when they go too far with the boundaries they set.

Too many couples break their engagement when they succumb to intercourse as a direct result of compromising their own promise they made to themselves, each other and God.

“I’m glad that my wife and I never gave in to the pressure to get too physically involved before we got married,” says one young man, 30.

“I realized later that because I respected her and our prior agreement, she has no qualms about me going away on business trips. She trusts me. And I trust myself too, though I am still careful. I’m proud of what we did.”

We can explain sexual commitment through the use of financial analogy.

As couples begin to talk of commitment, they begin saving more and more money to prepare for their future together.

This approach can be taken wisely with sex.

As couples become more serious about marriage, they are smart to become even more careful in regards of physical affection, holding off in order to invest more in the bonding and excitement of their marriage.

The highest standard is to avoid touching one another altogether and let the anticipation mount towards they day they get married.

This is the secret behind traditional practices that forbid touching upon their engagement announcement: not to deprive a couple but to enhance the love and pleasure.

Our modern society does not value innocence and the sexual joy that is the fruit of one keeping their virginity and vows of lifelong love is not appreciated, yet it is the strongest.


Return for Tomorrow's Post:

This post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook, “Educating for True Love” written by a team of writer to explain Reverend Sun Myung Moon's philosophy on sex and marriage.

New Sexual Revolution, but For God

Primeval act of adultery is at the root of all the myriad distortions of sexual love that have plagued humanity
from the beginning: prostitution, infidelity, rape, incest, fetishes, pornography and sexual addictions.

Even though sex is an intimate act between two adults, it greatly affects culture and the family.

Woodstock was the first liberation for Americans to break away from their parent's traditions such as man and woman marriages, sex only within marriage, one partner for life.

These were all confronted and challenged in order to free one's sexually which they believed religion and marriage placed rules upon.

If one is to look in history, they will see that this event had a negative effect not only on the family, but on the whole nation.  A nation that was built upon the Puritan faith and laws written based upon the Bible by men who proclaimed God as their Creator.

We are slowly declining as a powerful nation, not by outside forces, but by forces within the four walls of individual homes.

The loosening of morals did not bring our country freedom, but brought on enslavement to selfish desires, far from America's unselfish religious beliefs.


Self-Destructive World

Humanity developed corrupt ways of loving through the first family which passed it on to the tribe, society and world levels.

Therefore, civilizations have not correctly learned or understand true love is the dominant way of life.

In the Genesis story of Adam and Eve, the two brothers try to subjugate one another.  Instead of gaining power, prestige or property naturally with love, these therefore became prizes to be conquered by those who sacrificed others for themselves.

Self-centered love spawned a self-destructive world. This is the essence of hell.

Our world went from God's ideal of Heaven on Earth to one of anguish and suffering.

The misuse of love in the first family is the basis for all sexual abuse: prostitution, infidelity, rape, incest, fetishes, porn and sexual addictions.

Great nations have been brought down by the illusive power of romantic love and lust and is the basis for the tensions that break families apart.  This spreads to the community level and relentlessly works against any harmony in society.

Promiscuous sex leaves one lonely, disconnected, depletes their spirit and afflicts the heart and mind.



Establishing a New Tradition

The misuse of sexual love at the origin of human civilization has disconnected the true relationship between the mind and body, man and woman and God and humanity.

God brought about religion in order to teach His children to stop this destructive behavior through the power of His divine Wor; through teaching about sexual morality.

God's commandment to not eat the fruit was given to the first man.  This original word has been given time and again over history through diverse religions.




When men and women uphold and preserve chastity, they are safeguarding the universe.”


Rev. Sun Myung Moon

These toxic patterns of love today must be turned around.

To redeem sexuality and true love as an object of purity, God must reside with joy in each family and marriage bed.

This is the core reason Rev. Moon focuses on the blessing of marriage as a way to bring society back to true love and the lineage of God.

Some elements to practice to reverse the Fall, human nature one must dedicate their union to their Heavenly Parent, practice chastity, promise to live for family and humanity.

In the case of young people, they should consult their godly parents when selecting a mate.

The mythical story of Pandora related the last entity to come out of Pandora's box was Hope, which represented the womb.

This implies that through love between spouses it would bring the ultimate answer.

Christianity has a similar message of a promise of a Redeemer to be born from a pure, faithful woman who is the reverse of the first mother who misused her womb.

To restore God's original way of entering into marriage, we can educate the next generation with the matters of love, sex and how to prepare for marriage.

Even in this modern day of technology, God's eternal Word is still relevant to save His children who make up this world.



Purity and Preparation for Marriage

Traditionally, parents on the whole guided their children along a clear, defined path to meet a mate and get married.

Centuries ago in the West, parents arranged marriages while their children were still teenagers.

Not long ago people started dating in order to select their own mate for marriage.  In either case, singles were expected to wait for sex until after they married.  These traditions have been lost by the modern world.

People no longer date in order to find a mate to marry, but simply to have fun and find temporary companionship in a lonely world.

There are no clear-cut correct guidelines or rules that help steer couples directly to the altar.

Sex has become a casual expression that is no longer connected to marriage.  Adolescents indulge in sex at an earlier and earlier age.

Parenthood is no longer tied to marriage and the widespread use of birth control and abortions have severed sex from the ideal of parenthood as well.

The West has become a 'divorce culture' where young people are less confident to marry.  Adults now advocate that they have to get through their first marriage and anticipate a second one from the onset.

There is no longer a stigma attached to having sex outside of marriage.  Couples live together in place of marriage.

There are many powerful forces that conspire against young people preserving their virginity.  Media, societal pressures to date and live together make it hard for young people to believe that they can give their bodies and souls to one person for life.

No matter how humanity tries to change the dynamics of marriage, one person for life is imprinted in the heart and conscience by the Creator.

People may rationalize that they need to have sex freely with many people, not just one partner for life.

Still, those with a sexual past will feel the pangs of guilt or heartbreak after each encounter, or they numb these innate feelings with excess in alcohol or other activities.

Reverend Moon asked an audience what is the purpose of marriage? “It is in order to realize the purpose of (human) creation.”

In the modern, fast-paced world, people think that marriage is just a piece of paper or unnecessary because the divorce rate is so high.

Nothing in the world will satisfy one's yearning to live with honor and significance, to be loved unconditionally and give their children a secure union with their spouse even if they try to live otherwise.

Even the most liberal person still may find they are hurt when their teenage daughter comes home pregnant, or their child who can't overcome the heartbreak of their parent's divorce and so on.  Because God made society to be a certain way, we suffer when we go far from His original ideal world.


Desirable and Attainable?

To return to God's Will, youth and single people need to believe again in the value of purity and marriage.

They need to be sold on the beauty of reserving sex for marriage and why it is necessary.  They also need to see that they are capable of being successful in each enterprise and that they can follow the strict practices against the social norms.

One young woman sums up her sense of this when she writes, “It is sexuality dedicated to hope, to the future, to marital love, to children, and to God.”

When a young person can view matrimony as desirable, then saving sex for only marriage has meaning.

They must see it as an attainable goal that they can reach even in  society of second and third marriages are celebrated.

 Many adults do not leave a good impression of marriage to the next generation: “I want to be married, but most people I know have divorced or given up on it. I don’t know how I could do better.”

Therefore, they give up their virginity and dreams of a lasting marriage in exchange for a live-in lover as the closest commitment they think they can achieve for a long time.

Young and single people need to be taught how to be responsible regarding their strong sexual desires and how achieve the life purpose of marriage.

Lessons can be gleaned from family relationships to consider when and how to meet a godly mate, basic relationship insights and skills to inner qualities.


Education for Character, Abstinence and Marriage Preparation

When young people are ignorant about the realities of love and marriage, they are more susceptible to believe the myths about chastity and their capability to have a successful marriage.

Also, when one lacks social skills, it makes lasting love that much more an unattainable goal and makes sexual temptation that more difficult to resist.

Parents, teachers and pastors need to learn the right techniques to pass on to the single people they care for and also to enhance their own marriages and relationships.

To guide young people toward marriage and teach to guard their chastity is a multi-faceted endeavor which needs contributions from the family and community.

Young people do not have any help where traditional values in developed countries left them feeling a profound void in the love department. There has been a rise in education for character, sexual abstinence and recently  marriage and relationship education.

Character education has been a rising trend in many societies.

Elementary schools and universities, religious and non-religious settings alike, focus on moral growth of students and nurture emotional and social skills.

Some methods include ethics in the classroom teaching, creating a more caring school community, learning projects and using cooperative learning techniques.

Many see character education as a influence on society which promotes better relationships, including between the sexes.

Formal education about sexuality has been a growing trend worldwide.

The focus is moreso on the physical consequences of sexual relations; the primary purpose is not in support of purity.

Abstinence education has emerged to respond to the need to promote traditional values.  The emphasis is on reserving physical intimacy for marriage only.

Over the last 40 years, science learned what makes marriages succeed and fail.

These have evolved into programs which impart knowledge and skills that are complementary to the guidance which is offered in faith and family settings.

There are judges and clergy in certain cities that will only marry a couple who have received premarital education and counseling.

In the United States, several states and cities have mandated marriage education for all high school students.

Such courses concern personal enrichment are increasingly common on campuses as well.  Better communication skills and training one how to deal with conflict is the hallmark of such programs.


Return for Tomorrow's Post: How Bad Relationships Affect Children


This post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook, "Educating for True Love" written by a team of writers explaining Reverend Sun Myung Moon's philosophy on sex and marriage.

How to Strengthen the Power of the Mind

When the sinful body is led by the godly mind, true love comes into being.

The essence of strengthening the mind is to toughen your moral will. What if everyone in the world lived by God's moral code. We would immediately see peace in the world. All conflicts would be resolved through God's point of view.

We must start with the basics. To strengthen the mind, it must be built up daily like a muscle through daily habits.

Through the small choices to do the right thing everyday, despite any fear, distress or fatigue, we can make our godly mind stronger than our flesh. Therefore, to strengthen this mind, we need challenges which allows us to encounter adversity and develop inner strength and will.

Here are five ways to harvest these skills:

1. Determining and realizing your goals

The most basic way to strengthen your will is to make a determination to God and yourself and achieve your goals.

For example, this could be talking to a relative that you know is distressed over a situation instead of enjoying a book. Or choosing a career that serves humanity such as social work.

To challenge yourself more, you can set goals that rely only on your spiritual power, deep prayers, studying the truth, and your acts of true love.

“Twelve years ago when I first came to Mountainview High,” recalls a physics teacher in a rural school

in the American Midwest, “I swore that I would bring the white and Native American students and faculty together in a tangible way. I prayed about it every day, stuck my neck out more than a few times, got misunderstood a lot and once almost lost my job. But now in the faculty there are cross-cultural friendships developing and this year the president of the student council is a Native American boy.”

To make promises to God and fulfill them is significant to reverse humanity's betrayal of the Creator.

This is the most powerful way to get divine support, also through building your self-respect and faith in yourself.

Heaven and other people notice the one who can always be counted on to fulfill their promises and carry out their responsibilities.

2. True Love as a Motivator

To have motivation will give you the power to go beyond any discomfort when it depends upon meaningful purposes that make the sacrifices you encounter worthwhile.

The strongest motivator is true love.

Love is the key to unification of mind and body.

Reverend Sun Myung Moon

This kind of love is familiar to parents.

A father son team was the first team ever to finish the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in 1999. Dick Hoyt, was 62 and still raced every Boston Marathon for over 20 years while pushing his paralyzed adult son, Rick in his wheelchair.

His son excitedly declared that, “It was as if I wasn't even handicapped!” This was enough motivation for his father to challenge his every physical limitation and give his son such an awesome experience year after year.

The power of love is behind the heroic sacrifices of religious and national lore.

Many of the first Pilgrim settlers to North America starved to death instead of eating their grain that was later to be planted. They endured such hardships out of love for the next generation and the hope to build a community that could worship freely unlike their previous community.

Christians recount how St. Peter faced a painful execution upside-down on the cross gratefully out of love for God and his Savior Jesus Christ.

Whether if such acts are done on legendary proportions or just a small act of unselfishness found daily, true love is the strongest means to subdue your fallen body.

3. Acting on Faith

We can mobilize a tremendous power of self-control when we can sustain a great vision of the future despite any obstacles we face right now.

Debi Faris is a woman who is familiar with heeding the call of her heart and conscience in faith. As a wife and mother of three teenagers, she heard this call when she heard news of an abandoned baby found dead. She arranged to give the child a proper burial, and soon, one child led to three.

Her middle-class family committed to ultimately $27, 000 in expenses despite other pressing expenses her family had. She recalls, “I remember praying, “i don't think I can do this, God. I don't think I have the courage.

“I stayed quiet for a while until I sensed that what we were doing was right. It was an act of love, and at that moment I made a commitment to offer it to any child who needed it.”

She has since raised funds and organized volunteers to found a cemetery for abandoned babies called, “Garden of Angels. She fights for legislation to help prevent further tragedies.

Such people who believe in their own gifts or that truth and goodness will ultimately win, those who cultivate the power of faith and hope and demonstrate “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not curently see” (Hebrew 11.1) have a priceless advantage that enables them to harvest their strongest resources to unite mind and body.

4. Service

Serving others physically such as massaging an elderly person's back, preparing food for homeless shelters, picking up bags of trash for the community, these practices are especially helpful for training our moral will through demonstrating humility.

A man and his comrades of a service club recalls how they were ready to do whatever work was necessary for his community without any fanfare.

“The staff at the rehab center were surprised to see middle-aged men willing to just set up the party, serve the boys soda and food and take down and mop up afterwards. And it didn’t do this CEO big shot any harm either to do grunt work for a bunch of not-too-grateful teenagers. I think I learned a few things.”

5. Connection with God

Ultimately all of these methods used to strengthen the moral fiber support the greatest remedy for the mind and sinful body to unite: only through the connection to the divine Source.

The first necessary step is to center your mind on God.

Then your body will automatically become one with your mind.

Through prayer, worship, study of God's words, supporting the spiritual community, acting on faith, fulfilling goals, being humble and offering service, all of these time-honored ways accesses the Heavenly Parent and tremendous resources of strength.

“Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature,” promises St.

Paul (Galatians 5.16).

The stronger the bond with God, the more readily your mind can conquer the fallen body.

Corrie Ten Boom was a watchmaker who was sent to Hitler's concentration camp because he rescued many Jews. After the war, he gave lectures about God's love and forgiveness and healing of wonds caused by the war. After one of her lectures, a former S.S. guard of her concentration camp waited at the back of the room

She instantly flashed back to the time she and her sister were forced to walk naked in front of the male guards on the way to the showers. They were ill, cold, hungry, elderly and in deep pain. They were also mocked sexually by the guards.

She remembered at that moment, her sister's pained face as she had to bear the humiliation in front of the very guard who attended her lecture.

Unfortunately, her sister died at the concentration camp. This former guard now came up to Corrie and acknowledged God's forgiveness of his past and he now asked for hers. He held out his hands to her.

She remembers, “I tried to smile. I struggled to raise my hand. I could not. I felt nothing. Not the slightest spark of warmth or charity.”

Yet her strong religious beliefs told her she must forgive him. She breathed a silent prayer to give her the strength to do the right thing. She resolutely took his hand in to her own matching her deds to her highest ideals and loftiest words.

Then, “As I took his hand the most incredible thing happened. From my shoulder along my arm and through my hand a current seemed to pass from me to him, while into my heart sprang a love for this stranger that almost overwhelmed me.”

She then cried out to this soldier that he was her brother and assured him her forgiveness. Through her willingness to act upon the beliefs she always lectured upon, she unleashed a flow of true love which liberated both persecutor and persecuted.

To love another at the most difficult time requires the capability of the mind to assert itself over the demands of the satanic body.

Such efforts reduce the unnecessary pull of the flesh and at the same time enhances our moral and spiritual strength. Thus, the mind and body can unite centered on God's ideals.

Then, the heart is also liberated to give of itself freely and unselfishly, and reap the rich rewards therof.

Such a world of experiences would be the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.



Return for Tomorrow's Post: Seven Principles for Loving Relationships



This post was rewritten and derived from the Religious Textbook Educating for True Love, written by a team of writers to explain Reverend Sun Myung Moon's philosophy.

Truly Help Our "Lost" Brothers and Sisters

If you are a person that walks the way of faith of any religion, you see that the current world we live in does not literally follow God's Kingdom.  We learn through looking at the Bible from the Principle point of view, we learn that human history started on the wrong foot which is the evil side.

This is why the Bible states that the god of this earthly world is Satan.

Due to the human fall, Satan abides in each us, through the sin circulating through our blood with every heartbeat.

In other words, we as humans are the incarnation of Satan.  Biding Satan's will and giving Satan's love. 

We are born in the lineage of Satan - not God's no matter how religious we are. 

This is against God's law of creation.

This is why He created the religious world where there were many martyrs that had to lay a foundation to bring His dream of World Peace closer to fruition.

The first religions, which were primitive, people of faith were sometimes killed as offerings or sacrifices.

This represented in a devilish way the impulse to shed the satanic blood.

From God's point of view, with this flow of stained blood in our veins, we are not human beings or part of His pure creation.  We are seen as just satanic beings in the position of His enemies of love. 

We became Satan's children through following his low standard of 'love' and will and God's enemy.

Yet, God has worked thousands of years to help to change this tragic position of humanity.

This world of hell came about not as part of God's world, but from human's not following God's plan of flourishing blessings.

This is why Jesus cursed the people and said, "You are of your father, the Devil" John 8:44.

Our first ancestors went against God's desire and entered into an unchaste, sexual relationship before God's love was able to grow and mature within them.

True Parents are needed in order for us to have perfect restoration.  We must be able to change this stained blood lineage through the process of true rebirth.


In the Bible we read that when Nicodemus visited Jesus and heard him talk about rebirth, he asked, "How can we go back into our mother's womb?" Jesus reportedly said to him, "You are a leader of Israel and still you don't know what rebirth means?" In conclusion, he said, "If you are not born again, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God."


To be 'born again' means to become part of God's pure lineage such as Jesus was, because we are men and women of the satanic lineage, this is our destination.

To change our satanic lineage into God's, we must live a true ascetic life such as we observe those in the convents.  Such a life of faith presents difficulties and hardships in a world of such free sex and loose morals, but to begin the process of a pure lineage, we must follow God's true laws in order to restore our sinful blood.

What does changing our sinful blood have to do with World Peace?

Wouldn't a world of people who are not born into sin less likely to cause war and harm to others, yet live for others?

Imagine a world full of Jesus'.  Wouldn't such a world be more at peace than this world full of Judases and Cains.



Q. How did sin come into the world if God didn't create it as part of humanity?

God gave the warning of do not delve in the fruit of love before the right time and Satan gave his word of it is okay to eat.  Adam and Eve both believed Satan's world more than God just as children do with their earthly parents.

God said do as I say and there will be blessings, but if you go against my laws expect curses.

How can we in this day and age still believe that God created hell when He is our Father and He wanted to give us a world of blessings. HUMANITY chose curses over a world of God's love and laws.

This was the first stage of the fall.  During the course of restorations, we must have the conviction to believe in God's words strongly and absolutely.  The result of our not having faith in God's words and carrying them out was the satanic lineage through believing in Satan's words.

Jesus shed his blood in order to connect our satanic, sinful blood to his pure unstained lineage.

The wine during the Holy Communion symbolizes the shedding and sharing of Jesus' pure blood that is connected to God's.  All of humanity was meant to be born as Jesus was without sin.

The wine thus symbolizes godly lineage.

When we partake in the bread and wine, it signifies the blood of God's lineage and we are removed in that manner from the satanic lineage to divine lineage.

We can look at the tragedy of the sin becoming part of God's children tainting His pure bloodline as a burden to humanity who owes a debt of blood, sweat and tears in order to clean this stain.

God's only story is experiences since the fall filled with nothing but tears, sweat and blood.

This is His only history.  When we see the true history of God's painful, torn heart due to His children's disobedience, we see that people of faith and Christians truly don't know what God is all about.

They sing about Him sitting on this glorious throne enjoying life and His rule over His Kingdom.

Through the Divine Principle, we see that this is not true at all.



"Someone has to liberate God and He cannot do it Himself The agony of parents, or of husband and wife, cannot be solved by themselves alone.

The agony of parents can only be solved by children; the agony of a husband can only be solved by his wife, and the agony of a wife by her husband. The only way to liberate God from His sorrow is by becoming a son or daughter of filial piety to take over His agony.

God wanted to forgive Adam and Eve, but He was not in the position to forgive them, because they were in no state to be forgiven.

We must imagine this: suppose there was another person who did not fall-a brother of Adam, who, standing intact from the fall, would go to the Father and beg Him to forgive his brother and sister; what would have happened?

If that man, without having fallen, would go to God and ask Him to forgive his brother for the fall, and if he would tell the Father that he would help by taking on any responsibility himself-, he would be willing to be beaten or anything else for the sake of the fall of his brother and sister, God could have forgiven them.

This was supposed to be the way of forgiveness, or salvation of the fallen people.

A person who has not fallen can be said to have nothing to do with Satan.

If God has that kind of individual, He can develop His providence of salvation with that one in the center.

This type of person is "Abel," or one who is in the position of Abel in the place of Cain who symbolized the satanic bloodline.

Abel is supposed to be the person who can receive perfect love from God. He or she must be able to be triumphant over Satan. Abel must be able to sacrifice him or herself for humankind. In other words there should be one who is willing to be sacrificed in place of the fallen brother and sister in order to liberate them.

That sacrificial brother will become the Christ. What is the mission of Christ, the Messiah? He is the one who bears your burden and your indemnity.

That is why he is the savior."


Reverend Sun Myung Moon


In today's society, we see many leaders and celebrities who want to be in the position of a god, saint or Messiah.

Once we see the heavy burden of such a title and responsibility, we see that the rightful owner of such a title is the one and only God.

If you take over the burden of someone else's life then you are that person's savior.  Just on your condition of standing in the place of your fallen, sinful brother, they can be liberated.

The tears you shed for them will be the gateway of salvation to open and to relieve God's sorrow and the human sorrow.




Return for Tomorrow's Post:



God's Providence in Scriptures - God's Warning to the World message from prison

The Homeland the True God Desires

Have you ever thought that God has a dream just as we have been given one?  If we are made in God's image and likeness, then He should too have dreams for a better future for creation and humanity, correct?

When we look through the events of history from God's point of view, we see God's handiwork through His people to restore the world through their works.

Jesus came to establish God's homeland.

Prophets and patriots of history worked hard as well in order to build this same dream of a Godly homeland.

Each generation tag teams in order to see a better world come.  In order for us to establish heaven on earth, a perfect man like Jesus must appear and complete Jesus' mission of bringing heaven on earth, not just in spirit world.

This man must be recognized by heaven and earth beginning with establishing a heavenly family through having children and establish a tribe, a people and a true nation.

He must reverse the fallen relationship of the brothers Cain and Abel and engraft them to His pure lineage.  Then, build the true homeland where God has dominion in the world and evil must flee.

Prophets, saints and patriots of history all had the same desire to see a world exempt of evil - an Utopian or heaven on earth.

However, they were not able to build this heaven on earth where individuals, families, nations and world could be connected as true brothers and sisters centered on God.

Therefore, we must abandon the path along which humankind is headed in the wrong direction and go in God's direction.


Q. What if Adam and Eve had followed God's direction and did not fall?

Adam would have become the true leader of his tribe.

He would have been the leader of his people.  In addition, he would have been the representative of the nation.

Adam would have become the first true king.

Thus the world would have automatically have been united without a trace of conflict or wars.

They would have operated under one philosophy set by Adam.

Any other trivial and worthless philosophies and doctrines would have been cast aside.

Unfortunately, this did not happen.

We currently live where myriads of doctrines have brought about great confusion to the world.  This problem must be exposed at the root and eliminated.

Humanity's process of thought should have been based on the unfallen, perfect Adam.

Our language would have been Adam's language, our cultural would have been set based on Adam's culture, our tradition should have been Adam's tradition, our lifestyle would have been Adam's way of living and our political systems would have been Adam's systems.

Everything should have come under the system of thought of Adam's nation. 

The philosophy behind a true Adam is called Godism.

Everyone must become one with God, centering on His heart. It was suppose to be the only philosophy humankind would have lived by.

Everyone has a longing to live in the heavenly kingdom in heaven and on earth.

Do you think there are boundaries within heaven with heavy walls and sections?  Do they have many different languages?  No.

What does the heavenly kingdom look like?

Since all people were born in the bosom of God, then God sees us as His sons and daughters, brothers and sisters in the family of God.

From heaven's perspective, we are one people, all citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Our goal is to build a unified world and one nation under God. 

Our goal is to build a nation with one sovereignty, one people, one land, and one culture that is connected to God's lineage through the True Parents who appeared and reversed the first parents' fallen mistake.

In that nation, everyone is determined to inherit God's realm of heart and fulfill the biblical idea of 'love your enemy."

The world God created cannot have national boundaries or problems between races. 

People believe that evil and darkness is eternal and is a necessary part of humanity and the creation.

Even teaching that evil is necessary and was created by our good God to balance out and be the opposite to goodness.

Even though evil was created and is in the world, does not mean it was intended or created at the beginning of creation.

If we followed God's command at the beginning, there would be no need for the struggle between good and evil.

We grew up in a world where borders divide the nation and there are problems between people of different races.

There are even barriers between husband and wife, parents and children and between siblings.

There is a struggle between good people and evil people.

How can we continue to believe that this is part of a creation that God would create for His own children?

What father would create anything bad for their children?  If God is the beginning and end, wouldn't He only create a beautiful environment that would ripen for His own people?

Evil was created when His first children delved into a part of creation before it was ripened. If you have ever tried to eat an unripened fruit such as an apple or banana, you understand how undesirable it is or inedible it is for human consumption.

This is the understanding of the symbolic 'fruit' in the garden of Eden.  We know it to be the sexual organ - the fruit of God's children where the seeds of children are planted.

The returning Lord's task is to transcend racial problems and create one nation without borders, unite the divided families and bring the kingdom of peace to this world where good and evil are fighting.


Q. Where is the original land, original homeland of our unfallen ancestors?

Will it be logical that this homeland will be established based on the standard of one specific nation?

What is the homeland which God and humankind have been searching for, the answer is.... the whole of planet Earth.


Q. How can we create this Godly homeland?

Earth is the homeland which we have longed.  Our ancestors and past generations walked the path of sacrifice, so what was it they desired and begged from Heaven the most to achieve?

This was their cry: "Please quickly bring the era of the Godly Homeland without a trace of evil!"

To establish a nation of God, we establish on earth the peaceful Kingdom of Heaven that places good as the standard above all else.

This eliminates evil and judges its ringleader Satan, who has been the enemy of Heaven.

Please understand that this is has been the desire of our ancestors who have contributed enormously to the course of the providence as well as Jesus and God.

Don't you desire to have a nation where God is ruler, a heaven on earth, or have you settled for this Kingdom of Hell perpetrated from the beginning by Lucifer?

There must be a country that is able to encompass a family a tribe and a people.

Six thousand years of history and God has followed countless nations, longing and seeking this one country where He could establish the heavenly nation on this earth.

He also has been searching for His loyal subjects and virtuous men and women to build such a nation.  We must reorganize families, people, and nations with God as humanity's center.

Our responsibility as people of faith is to bring about this day of liberation, the restoration of our homeland.

The mission of religious people in every religion has been the creation of this homeland.

Yet, ironically, often the selfish desires within people of faith to achieve their own personal salvation has prevented them from uniting on this purpose from across the spectrum of the different religions.

We have set the standard on the individual level, a people and a nation, so now we mobilize and seek the day of freedom, equality and happiness for all God's people.

We seek the day of the restoration of our God-given homeland as well.

Inevitably we must go this way, but, through difficulty.

This is my perspective and the standard that God is seeking. It was this standard that Jesus was trying to establish up until the time of his death.


When we move forward in the process of restoring our homeland, we will suffer and sacrifice in the process.

We will stand on the frontline, the time will come when everyone will say it cannot be done without our working in faith for the goal.

We must work hard for three years to set that standard.  We have to establish this heavenly tradition through shedding blood, sweat, and tears until all people inherit everything from us.

We have to clearly understand that there are still conditions of indemnity to be offered.

God isn't sitting in glory on His throne, He is a miserable God, a lonely God and an unspeakably sad God.  What father could idly watch his children suffer as he ate a king's meal?

God's joy begins when His children become soldiers on the front line, who have the conviction to fight and restore our homeland even if we are bleeding and fall down from the loss of blood.  Even if we have to lose all worldly possessions in the process.

When the ranks of these brave soldiers who fight to restore our homeland and unite the world increase, then God's true joy will begin.

Do you know about God's providence to the present time?

The first goal is to have the foundation on which we can bring about the restoration of God's homeland in heaven's nation and liberate God's Kingdom on earth.

This must be accomplished even if you have to sacrifice your time spent with your family.  Even if you end up as a refugee, a gypsy, this must be done.

We have to set up a country that is under the dominion of God. 

When we look at how communist countries force unity and loyalty to the government - think of this being given freely by the people centered on God?

We are at the time where those of genuine authority and dedication to God work alongside the Messiah and offer their financial foundation necessary for the restoration of our homeland on earth.

This foundation will bring about the nation that will bring world unity.



I should not help you either as a group or as individuals with the money from my own wallet. We have to follow the will of Heaven. Korea must be responsible for Korea; Japan must be responsible for Japan, and America for America. Providentially, these three countries are one. They are the countries of the parents and the eldest son.



We must create an impetus for one unified language.

We Must Find Our Homeland

We long for the nation of God, because it is the place of love.

God's nation is a place where, instead of temporary, corrupted love, we have an eternal love transcendent of time to continually exist.

It is also a place where you can elevate yourself and become 100 percent of your value.

God's nation is where you are eternally happy.

This is why all people are yearning for the heavenly nation.

You should go to the spirit world only after bringing giid results under the realm of God's dominion on earth.

This is the original standard of creation.

Instead, not only do we fear death, but we go after planting many bad seeds and enter into an ungodly realm for eternity.  This is far from God's original plan.  He did not create hell, our ways created it.

If you are unable to restore a heavenly nation on earth during your lifetime, when you go to spirit world, you do not have the value to belong to a heavenly nation in spirit world.

What is bound on earth is bound in heaven.

Our faith's goal is to become citizens of God's country. 

A person without a country, a homeland is always attacked.

Such a person stands in a miserable position.  He may often feel hopeless after suffering an affront.


Q. So, where can we find the country God desires?  

Which nation can become God's foothold?

God's eternal Kingdom on earth will be established based on our bloody sweat we shed for these people and country.

Such a country will create the blessed land that can be praised by our descendants in the thousands of years and generations to come.

God's country is composed of His direct blood descendants who receive Heaven's command and in His place will govern under God's kingship.  This was God's original Homeland before the fall.

There would be neither communism nor democracy in such an ideal country.  Once established, that nation will remain forever.

When we imagine such a nation, we should feel mortified that we are unable to be a citizen of such a heavenly country at the present moment.

We should lament that we have not become such a heavenly person, living in such a nation.

We must grieve over the fact that we do not have such an unchanging sovereignty.

During this process of building sovereignties, nations and territories, the human race has established sovereign nations.  We must remember and honor the fact that during this process millions died, many were sacrificed, many nations fell and sovereignties changed hands.

All these people who sacrificed, died, shed blood, and sad people did so to see a heavenly nation and world on earth.  They want to see such a nation come.

In this era, God sent His beloved true son and true daughter to the earth to establish one, absolute nation.

Until the present time, He could not prepare the foundation after Jesus' death to restore one nation.  This attempt has failed every time.

Thus God has worked throughout history to send His people to earth to manage, advance and accomplish this work.

It is sad to be a citizen of a country with no sovereignty. 

Jesus was concerned about this point.

He told others not to worry about where their food, drink, or clothes would come from.

He said that these small matters are what the ungodly worry about.

"Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. Instead, above everything else, be concerned with His Kingdom and with what He requires, and He will provide you with all these other things."

Jesus said to save your nation first.

The nation that God is seeking.  Jesus waits in paradise, not heaven.  Paradise is the waiting room to go to heaven. You enter heaven only with your family, not as an individual.

Jesus was unable to stand before God on the basis of establishing a national sovereignty that had the power to communicate directly between heaven and earth.

You cannot go to heaven alone.  Heaven is designed as the place where if Adam and Eve had not fallen, their sons and daughters would have gone to live together eternally as a family in heaven.

Why has it been so difficult until now for religious people to preserve their lives and had to sacrifice?

It was because they did not have a heavenly nation as a protective foundation.  There was no family, society, or nation that would help religious people.

If they had only found a nation with a sovereign, heavenly leader that would stand up and shout "Hey, you good for nothing, this is the right way!" then the people would respond, "Yes sir".

However kings and leaders who were centered completely on the heavenly law did not come forth.

There has been no heavenly leader or nation.

That is why these problems have occurred.

Religious people who hold the standard of the heavenly kingdom could not establish a nation and go beyond their own individual selves and problems.

Without a nation, no matter how good or happy your family is, evil people can destroy it. 

This is why we need to create or find a nation on which to stand.

Religious people have not been able to understand this.

We must find a nation of goodness.  This is the purpose of religion.

If you do not have a country that can uphold the standard of God, then there is no basis upon which to register.

We have to have a new registration after becoming one people centered on God's standard.

We need to establish heaven's nation on earth. 

Then, as victorious sons and daughters who are the citizens of that country, we must live together and care for our families and clans.

We become people who love that country and its people, and who receive the lineage of the Messiah.  This is how we enter heaven in spirit world.

This is the way of the Principle.

We need such a nation in order for the blood, sweat and tears we shed and our tradition to be bequeathed for the first time to our descendants for thousands of generations to come.

Thus, when it is established, a monument that will celebrate Heaven's efforts and glory will be erected on this ground.

If we are unable to establish such a nation, then all our efforts to restore the world will be in vain.

Because this nation has not been fully established, then the Christian world and all civilizations will be sent down the river and burned up.

Aren't you seeing such a trend among the religious foundations that have been established for thousands of years?  How effective have they been toward a world of peace?

This is how they have succumbed to Satan's game.  You must understand that the issue here is to establish a heavenly nation.

We will not find such a homeland in an existing nation which already has established its traditions and cultures centered on the fallen, material ways.

The nation which we seek is fundamentally a different dimension.

In order to qualify to inherit such a nation, we have to embrace an ideology that enables us to take on the subject role.

The underlying thought that will govern such a place has to be perfectly aligned with the absolute thought of the Creator.

God desires a nation whose citizens desire to unite under its sovereignty.  

Each citizen must have these characteristics and embody the form and shape of that nation to be a citizen.

To form a nation, there needs to be a territory, a people and a sovereignty.

Q. What is a sovereignty? 

It is the creation of a relationship with the original God.

The leadership of the nation must connect with God and then conduct the work of governing the nation.

When America could follow God's law it flourished above other countries in its infancy.

The sovereign leader must completely unite with the citizens of the nation.  There is no dictatorship in this nation.

By becoming one with the people, the sovereign leader can no longer think of anything as being for his own sake alone.

He must instead see everything as being for the sake of the nation.

Once this standard of leader is achieved, that nation will prosper and flourish.

To form a heavenly nation, you need a people, a territory: in place of the sovereignty is the parents, in place of the people are the sons and daughter, in place of the territory is the nation.

It is absolute principle that all these elements have to be present.

To establish a nation, there must be a sovereignty.

All people are included in this nation.

Q. Therefore, who will be the owner of heaven and the sovereign ruler when this heavenly nation on earth is established?

Without a doubt, God is the sovereign ruler.

Where will this territory be?  Will it be in heaven?

It will be built on planet earth.

All of your activities should be for the sake of seeking such a nation.

You should focus on being its founding loyal patriots, and restore our homeland.  Your mindset should be to shoulder such a mission.

You should think that you are part of the secret envoys of Heaven who receive such instructions to come to this evil world to fulfill this mission of building a heavenly nation.

If you do not do this, you will not be able to establish your prestige or dignity as a citizen of the nation we have been seeking.

Even though Satan sees that he is losing ground everyday on earth, do you think that he will just give up and turn around and automatically bow his head toward God's people who have passionately fought for God?

He has been playing havoc with God for thousands of years, he is not going to retreat easily.

He will doggedly fight to the end.

This is why we must not be distracted in these last days and stay focused on the central point.


If I, Rev. Moon of the Unification Church, stray from the center, I will be broken. If you do not set the right direction, there can be no development.


We must go out with barefeet if necessary to create the homeland.

Your left over resources are not enough to save this nation.

You do not save this nation by focusing on what food you are going to eat, what clothes to wear and what car to drive.

Therefore, we determine to pioneer with our bare hands and feet.  That is the type of work our church is doing.


Return for Tomorrow's Post:

This post was rewritten and derived from the textbook -  Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 13, Chapter 1, Section 1, 2

Mankind's Godly Responsibility

This speech was given in 1992 in Seoul, Korea by Reverend Sun Myung Moon's wife:

Distinguished guests, representatives of the Women's Federation for World Peace from seventy countries, women leaders and members of the Women's Federation for Peace in Asia:

By your presence, you bring many blessings to our Federation's future, and inspire us to multiply our determination to achieve world peace.  

This may be the first time that women have taken the initiative by bringing so many women together in one place.

I am certain that from this day forward, women around the world will come to understand their noble role which has been ordained by God, and that a road will be opened for us to build an ideal world filled with peace, happiness and freedom.

Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon

The following declaration is based upon the heart of God that transcends the past, present and future.

These words are a declaration before heaven and earth, with history as a witness.  The following words may seem unfamiliar to some, but they deal with the secrets of heaven that all women today need to understand in order to usher in the new era of peace, not only for their own family, but for the world.

History Began in a Diseased State


We have come to live in a diseased world whose destruction of its evil is inevitable.

This is the true meaning of 'The Last Days'.

Every day we hear the ugly sounds of its final death rattle.

We can trace the origin of this disease to the original ancestors who had the responsibility to lay a tradition in paradise that would lead the rest of their descendants directly to Heaven on earth.

Instead of following God's Words, they followed another.

Our original ancestors thus contracted a serious disease.  In religious terms, this even is referred to as the human fall.

This disease caused by Satan, who told our ancestors to follow his word instead of God's, has been the focus of human history in restoring the world back to its original position of heaven on earth.

The tragedy of human history was that it originated with Satan's will.

The lord of evil stole the central position to God's ideal of creation.

Adam and Eve's union resulted in children of evil, instead of children of goodness bearing God's original pure blood lineage.

We inherited Satan's love, Satan's life and Satan's lineage.  Our reproductive organs were intended to join together in virtue, to be the temples of true love, true life and true lineage.

Love was supposed to be experienced betwen a husband and wife in a virtuous union to procreate children who carry on the pure lineage.   The center of life is love.  The human lineage is transmitted by means of the love and life of a husband and wife.

The connecting line of love, life and blood lineage is what continues throughout history.  We have been held as prisoners by satanic love, satanic life and satanic lineage bearing any link to God's pure love, life and lineage.  Adam and Eve were in their youth when they sowed the seeds of this false love, false life and false lineage.  

Therefore, in these Last Days, we see a decline in morality among the young people around the globe.  

Satan uses his fallen love as a way to create a den of sin where a blow struck against God's ideal of true love.    

Standards were relaxed concerning sexual behavior, the plague of drug addiction and the decline of the family structure and traditional values have turned this world into an earthly hell.

It is impossible to find a true man, true woman, true brothers and sister, true husband and wife or true parents anywhere.

Before this age, there was no hope of creating a true society, true nation or a true world.

Mankind Must Engraft Onto God and True Parents

Adam and Eve formed a trinity of evil.

It is up to us to restore Adam and Eve that is in accordance with the ideal of creation.

In order to resolve this historical disease, someone has to testify to the fact that Satan committed sin and be able to explain the fundamental truths concerning the sin which our original human ancestors committed.

Satan and God have known the details of the fall which has been hidden from humanity and repeated to this day.

Adam was still young and did not understand many things about his environment.

In the Last Days, when Adam and Eve will finally reach perfection and discover this information and share it with the world is the biblical account of Revelations to how God will surely reveal all secrets in the Last Days.

Thus the exact crime which Satan created throughout history will be revealed.

Then it will be possible to expel Satan from the world.

For the first time, humanity will be able to make a fundamental change in direction toward hope, peace, happiness and freedom.

For us to be able to break free form false love, false life and false lineage we inherited from Satan, it is necessary that we leave behind our wild olive roots and engraft onto the true olive tree of the Messiah.

This will make it possible for our blood lineage to return to God's unstained, pure blood lineage and rebuild a heaven on earth and in spiritual world.

This is God's final purpose of God's providence of salvation, restoration and recreation.  Therefore, this is the era where the True Parents come to earth to reverse the mistake of the first parents.  

This is of the greatest historical importance.  The True Parents, who reverse the fall of our first parents, represent the final fruit of human history.

True Parents embody the completed form of human cultural history.

They signify the victory of religious efforts and philosophy within history.  Before True Parents could come, there was a period of indemnity and restoration through sacrifice, suffering and blood.

God's Providential History of Restoration

I would like to speak for a while about this historical period, based on the biblical record, to illustrate the difficulties. By understanding this, we can understand how important it is that we fulfill our responsibility today.

In the Old Testament, history worked through indemnity such as an eye for eye, tooth for tooth and life for life.  This responsibility of the fall passed from Eve to Adam.

Satan was at the center of that union.  From Eve's standpoint, after she had received the seed of false life and love from Satan, the fall occurred where Satan took over God's position.

Satan became Eve's father.  Eve placed the archangel in the position of father and Adam in the position of her son.  

Women who stand in the position of Eve in the course of restoring the world through indemnity, they have had to risk their lives in order to assure God's will would pass to the next generation.

When we look at the historical record in the Bible, we see a number of events that seem to defy explanation.

God's original intention in His creation was that Eve would become one with God.

Because Eve followed Satan's command, she became one with him.

Immediately after the Fall, God began the work through the family of Adam in order to undo the wrong course of history by going through the reverse course.

God worked through Adam's family because by them not linking to God, the fall deprived members of this family of eternity which they were given this privilege at their creation.

This is the process God used to bring about restoration of the first parents:

Cain was the very first fruit of love linked to Satan who took Eve which was on the side of evil.  Abel who was the second fruit of love, was placed to resemble the side of heaven.

This was the beginning of the history of struggle between good and evil which was aimed at the fundamental restoration through indemnity.

Cain and Abel made offerings to God at the same time, but God received only the offering from Abel, the second son, who represented God's side.

Cain represented Satan's side and God refused his offering.

The reason for this was that the second son should restore the birthright of the first son who represented Satan who was the first 'son' in relation to Adam.

Cain was to make his offering through Abel.  This is the orderly path of restoring the mistake of their parents.  This would have restored their mistake.

But because Cain could not humble to Abel and killed his brother, heaven thus worked through Seth who worked on behalf of Abel.  This providence was extended to his descendants.

Because of their failure to restore the Fall, while outside of their mother's womb, God had to accomplish His dispensation beginning within the womb.

Once we know this simple fact, we understand when Rebecca asked God why Esau and Jacob fought within her womb, God said, "Two nations are in your womb..the elder shall serve the younger." Genesis 25:23

After she understood the providence of God's will to return the mistake of Cain and Abel, she came to take greater care of the second son, Jacob.

Jacob had the responsibility to restore through indemnity the birthright of his brother Esau, emulating Adam and Abel to take back the birthright of God from Satan and Cain and bringing it back to the correct position.

That leaves one position left for this to be successful.  Rebecca needed to fulfill her responsibility in the position of Eve.

Now, we can understand the biblical account of why the firstborn was struck in Egypt during the course of Israelites' exodus and Jacob's switching of his hands over Manasseh and Ephraim at the time of their blessing.

These all contained the hidden will of heaven in order to bring about the reversal of the mistake of the first and second sons.

God's Providence to Send the Messiah


Eve deceived, God, her Father and Adam, in her fall.  To restore this, Rebecca stood on heaven's side and deceived the father Isaac and her son Esau so that Jacob could receive the blessing.

Jacob bought the birthright of the first born and initiated the lineage of Israelites on this victory which was won with the cooperation of a mother and her son.

However, when Jacob was successful in fulfilling God's will of taking full control of the birthright of the firstborn, he was already forty years old.

Therefore those who were forty and older were in the realm of victory over Satan.

But those under forty did not have a condition that gave them victory over the control of Satan on that level.

Therefore, a new dispensation was carried out for the purpose of gaining victory within the womb.  Tarmar and her twins Zerah and Perez.  Perez was the younger brother, but he pushed Zerah aside in order to become be the first born.  In fact, the word "Perez" is derived from this event.

At the beginning of history, Satan's lineage was planted within the mother's womb.

How was this possible when humanity was created by God?

We saw in the previous post that the misuse of the sexual organs was the actual cause of the Fall.

The archangel had tempted Eve with fallen love that was outside of God's dominion.  Through a sexual relationship passed on this sin to Adam, thus bearing children that were connected to Satan's blood.

The only way that the blood lineage passes from one to the other is through the action of a sexual encounter.

This mother's womb was restored to the side of God through Tamar following the will of God. Therefore, heaven took control over the first-son realm and the second son realm to God's original lineage which had caused the fall.

This was the way that the tribe of Judah formed a pure foundation where the Messiah could be born through that lineage.

This was not a simple reversal.

Tamar, as a woman fulfilling Eve's mistake, had to place herself in the position of deceiving her father and son.   She had to deny her father-in-law and his sons, whom she eventually would marry, in order to separate the position of Eve from Satan.

After this was accomplished, a basic tradition was established where God's children could be conceived without the original sin. The womb was purified from Satan's invasion.

Then it was up to the Israelites and Judaism to carry on this standard of victory in the womb until the time of the Messiah could be sent.

But by then , Satan had already had an established nation in the world.  Therefore, to send the Messiah at that time, there was not a safe national foundation for him to stand where the dispensation for restoring the world.

God had to wait 2,000 years until there was enough of this national foundation, where a woman could stand in the position of Eve, for Him to carry out His providence.

This finally took place through Mary who was Jesus' mother.

When Adam and Eve created the fall, they were engaged at that time, but they were not married by God yet.

In the same way, Mary and Joseph were betrothed to each other centered on God.  Just as Rebecca and Tamar, Mary was a revolutionary woman.  She was called by God to take part in the process of recreating Adam.

Since, Eve had deceived God and Adam, Mary had to place herself in a position to reverse Eve's mistake by deceiving her father and son.

This is the process where Jesus was conceived.  Therefore, Satan could not invade Mary's womb during the time of Jesus.

Jesus was born of a womb that belonged to a victorious woman who reveresed the reverse is the first fruit of the first love.

This was the first time in history that the bond to love Satan's children was established.

During the time that Jesus was in Mary's womb, Satan could make no invasion through lineage.  Even though saints dedicated their lives as individuals.

This is true today.  There, the Christian point of view was able to be used and was able to spread.

Finally, God has worked to use the victory in the Second War and the Christian cultural sphere to be able to accomplish unification of the world.

Return for Tomorrow's Post: The Way to World Peace


This post was rewritten and derived from the Textbook for World Peace, Chapter 3