True Family Values

Joong Hyun Pak and Andrew Wilson

Chapter 5 - Reaching To The Spirit World [Part 2]

Destiny and Responsibility

People often misunderstand the subjective role of the spirit world, particularly when it comes to the question of fortune and destiny. Many people believe that every person has a foreordained destiny written in the stars, stored up in the spirit world. Are the important events in our life-the day of one's death, for example-predestined? It is said that plans unfold in the spirit world years before they bear fruit on earth. Thinking in this way, we may consult fortune tellers for advice about our lives, believing they can give us a glimpse into the future.

The Divine Principle, however, clearly presents only one sort of predestination for human beings: God's predestination of prosperity and success for the person who fulfills his portion of responsibility. What is the fate of those who fail their responsibility? The Divine Principle's teaching about the dual prophecies concerning the fate of Jesus Christ would then apply. God foreknew the possibility that the people would disbelieve in Jesus, and accordingly gave prophecies of his suffering and death alongside the prophecies that Jesus would reign in glory. Likewise, for every human being, God and the spirit world foreknow several possible destinies. One is glorious; others may be miserable. Which destiny comes to pass depends entirely on the fulfillment of the human portion of responsibility.

It is said that every person is given three chances to turn from a self-centered life to the path of light. Each is a door of opportunity; by opening the door we can claim the destiny God has prepared for us. At such a moment of crisis, our responsibility stares us in the face, either to fulfill or to fail. Our life's fortune is decided at such moments and then played out in subsequent years.

Consider this parable: There is a great, old and run-down mansion with thousands of rooms. In one corner of one wing of the house lives a man, a carpenter by trade. He puts his quarters in good repair while continually complaining about the disrepair of the rest of the mansion. Yet he doesn't dare venture far from his own small quarters, having been told that the other wings of the house are unsafe. He knows friends who wandered into another wing and never returned. One day an old man visits him and tells him of a secret treasure in one of the rooms out there. But he discounts the story and lives out his days in his familiar quarters. Moreover, he puts up signs sternly warning his children not to venture too far into the forbidden wing. Upon his death, the man is led in spirit to see the other wings of the house. There only a few doors away, in a room marked Master Carpenter, he beholds a treasure beyond imagining. He learns that the old man who once visited him was sent by his good ancestors to show him the way to that room, where he had been destined to take up the mission to restore the entire mansion and be provided with ample wealth for his labor. He feels a twinge of regret, seeing the path he had not taken was far greater than the life he chose. He also learns that the others who had wandered off into the other wings of the house had achieved honorable positions, such as manager or chief cook. He regrets that he had forbidden his children from finding a greater purpose for their lives, and determines to come back in spirit to help his children go beyond his own foolishness.

In the Bible, Abraham went through a doorway of destiny when he responded to God's call to leave Haran and journey to a distant land. (Gen. 12:4) He set out on the path of the chosen one whom God would entrust with making the symbolic offering. Abraham encountered another defining moment when he failed in his offering. (Gen. 15:9-15) This failure set in motion events which would take four hundred years to play out, and set him on the path to one day offer his son Isaac. John the Baptist stood in front of his fateful door when he encountered Jesus at the Jordan River. In those few days when he rejected God's revelation, he sealed his own fate. God sets out doorways of destiny before each of us. They appear as moments of crisis when we ourselves decide whether to accept the destiny God wants for us or take another path to a different destiny.

When a fortune-teller or medium declares that she clearly sees your future, in fact she is seeing only one of several possible paths. No one in heaven, not even God, can know whether or not a person will enter a doorway of destiny or turn away from it. Like dual prophecies in the Bible, the spirit world includes contingency plans according to whether or not we walk through the door. How do we know which of these contingency plans the fortune-teller sees? Due to differences in character, intellect, spirituality and circumstance, spiritually attuned people perceive the spirit world in different ways. (Resurrection 2.2.6) Furthermore, at the moment of crisis, when one stands before the door, the spirit world is of no help at all.

The same caution applies to prophecies about the future of the planet. We read in Nostradamus and other sources diverse prophecies about the end of the world, of earthquakes and cosmic catastrophes, of the sea-level changes submerging the world's major cities and wiping out billions of people. These describe a destiny for the planet Earth, based upon particular plans stored up in the spirit world for the Earth's future. However, if humanity as a whole passes through a certain door in the providence of restoration, the way opens to a more hopeful destiny. (Preparation 4.4.1) If humankind receives the True Parents, we can confidently assert that the Earth will course on a path to a bright future. The prophecies of catastrophe and mass destruction will not apply. Yet they persist in the spirit world, like the alternative prophecies of Jesus coming as the Lord of glory which remain in the Old Testament even though Jesus took the other path. Seers and prophets who access these plans may believe that they accurately see a coming catastrophe, when in fact they see only one of several possible futures.

Uniting the Spirit World and Physical World

Many of us are aware of the higher power of divine providence which guides our lives. We have felt God's guidance leading us on through dark and despairing times into new situations with fruitful paths of action. When we rely on providence, amazing things can and do happen, for we place ourselves in a position to receive spiritual help. As Jesus said, those who seek for God's kingdom and God's righteousness will find that every good thing is provided for them. (Matt. 6:33) It is ever our responsibility to seize our providential destiny, however. Often the call of providence arrives cloaked in darkness, requiring a leap of faith. We become comfortable in our circumstances, God would have us move on to greater things. Perhaps there will be a shock-being fired from a job, for instance to wake us up and move us on. Oftentimes the situation will not be so clear, but still we are responsible to prayerfully discern God's voice and the way of providence. If we pray sincerely to know which way to go, God will surely give us the answer we need. In fact, when God lives with us day-to-day, His spiritual guidance comes to us constantly.

The key is to act upon the guidance we receive. God and the spirit world are there for us once we become trustworthy object partners, ready to put their guidance into practice. Our prayers must be matched by our deeds. Our mind's desire to put ourselves in God's service must be accompanied by decisive action whenever the opportunity for service arises. Too often we turn away from the requests of the spirit world. We cannot expect the spirit world to stay with us if our body does not respond to the promptings of our higher mind. We would then be blocking the subject-object relationship between the spirit world and the physical world. This is again the import of the Family Pledge's call for us to strive every day to advance the unification of the spirit world and the physical world.

The import of the word advance is that unification of the two worlds develops in stages. Step by step, our striving leads to an ever greater unity. Before attaining total unity, several events must take place to change the spirit world and revolutionize its forty billion residents. The opening of the Principled spirit world has provoked a great commotion, as spirits perceive that they may one day be resurrected and enter its glory. The ascension of Heung Jin Nim set up new leadership in the spirit world. His work to unite and mobilize the spirit world has already had incalculable influences on earth. The recent ascension of Grandmother Hong as Dae Mo Nim, to whom True Father gave the mission to be the latter-day mediator between the spirit world and the physical world, has further advanced the process of unification.

As God's providence advances on earth, it brings forth parallel developments in heaven. For example, when leaders of the living religions come together at large conferences on earth, they lay the foundation for the unification of all religions in the spirit world. Similarly, the Blessing of hundreds of thousands of couples on earth lays the foundation for the Blessing of millions of souls in the spirit world. In the midst of such changes, the spirit world has emptied, as billions of spirits have descended to earth to participate in returning resurrection. Our particular and limited missions in attending God's providence should be seen in context of these cosmic changes. Truly we are witnessing the dawning of God's Kingdom!

Uniting the spirit world and the physical world is like making alloy steel out of iron and carbon. Carbon by itself is soft and crumbly; iron by itself is weak and bends easily. But when the two elements are combined, it results in a strong, hard and durable steel. It is likewise with this linkage between the spiritual and the physical. Spirits by themselves can do nothing. By ourselves, we remain ordinary people with many limitations. But when we live to fulfill the will of God, determined to be the mediator linking the inspiration of the spirit world with practical action in the physical world, we become strong and full of energy. We become people of great fortune. Inspirations come daily, and we overflow with creativity. Spiritual phenomena occur around us constantly. We can be filled with prescient knowledge about the people around us; we can sense their minds and motives and even know their futures. Anything we put our hands to do can yield three times or even ten times the usual result. We become dynamic people who can bring success and victory to every endeavor.

When participating in this unity, the earthly person never loses his individuality. Unlike the typical medium, he is not possessed by a spirit. The medium who loses himself in trance does not fully participate in unification. How can he, when a spirit entirely overshadows his own mental awareness? Were unification to be attained by mediums, it would be a world dominated by spirits; while God intended us to rule even the angels. (1 Cor. 6:3) These lower forms of spiritual phenomena characterize angelic spirituality, not true unification. As the world moves into the Completed Testament Age, old-style psychic communication, where the spirit completely possesses the medium, is being superseded by a new standard of spiritual communication in which the earthly channel remains conscious and aware, taking responsibility for his role as a mediator. For example, when not directly mediating the work of Dae Mo Nim, Lady Hyo Nam Kim remains true to herself as a modest Korean woman. Moreover, we do not need to become healers or psychics to gain the power and insight which comes with being a mediator for the work of the spirit world. True unification requires us to take responsibility for the spiritual guidance we receive in every area of life and act upon it by our own will. We will establish unification of the macrocosm on the foundation of our mind-body unity as a microcosm.

Three Keys to Mobilizing the Spirit World

No one can fulfill God's will on earth without receiving spiritual help. Particularly at this time, when God's expectations are so great and our resources are so meager, we should understand the spiritual secret to success. At the center of unity between the spirit world and the physical world stands the human being, who joins the two worlds in the circuit of give and take action. There are three aspects to mediating this unity. First, in his mind and heart the person affirms his dedication to God and determination to do His will; thus the spirit world will be mobilized to give inspiration, guidance and spiritual help. Second, there is good unity between his mind and his body; hence, he is able to act on this inspiration. Third, based upon the foundation the person has laid on the earth, his actions will carry weight and be effective.

The link with the spirit world begins with the mind's intention.

Strong prayer is needed, particularly prayers of determination. Once Rev. Moon determines to achieve a certain goal, like the Blessing of 3.6 million couples, he pledges before God to fulfill it by all means. This mobilizes the spirit world to begin working to accomplish the goal. Likewise, when we affirm and pledge that we will accomplish our mission by all means, it mobilizes the spirit world. This is why at the end of his sermons, Rev. Moon often requests that we raise our hands and pledge to fulfill. Even if the goal seems impossibly high, we should be unreserved in our pledge to God. Sometimes members hold back, thinking that they will bring judgment on themselves for pledging what their head tells them they cannot do. But that is to think from a horizontal perspective, without taking the spirit world into account. The spirit world listens to our heart-felt pledge (particularly when we are united in mind and body and speak it out loud) and works, invisibly, to bring victory beyond reason. Should we hold back, our hearts tell the spirit world that we are defeated before we have even begun. In that case, no help will be forthcoming.

Unity of mind and body is the second key to success in mobilizing the spirit world. "Mind" in this sense is synonymous with the conscience, our higher mind that knows what is good and right. Mind-body unity does not refer to the unity of a basketball player who moves effortlessly and with perfect coordination to make a layup in a crowded lane. Rather, it means that we cleave to the conscience and do what is right, even when doing so is painful. Religious training in the Unification Church is all about mind-body unity. Enduring the rigors of fasting, the ridicule of fundraising, or leaving one's family to embark on a forty-day witnessing condition in a foreign land: this is the substance of mind-body unity. When we were ordered to do these difficult tasks, we obeyed despite the difficulty and pain. Now that the training is over, do we still cleave to that standard of sacrifice when the command comes not from a church elder, but from our own conscience?

No one watches to check if we rise at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings for Pledge service. Though sleepy, we perform our Pledge service in obedience to the conscience and start the week with mind-body unity. Serving our communities as tribal messiahs requires mind-body unity. No church leaders are involved; the conscience alone knows how much we invest ourselves. Our family life, too, is a personal affair. We truly walk our own path, with only our conscience and God pointing the way.

Figure 9: The Unification Of the Spirit World and the Physical World

On the other hand, when we indulge the flesh, we severely cripple our ability to mobilize the spirit world. Sin is particularly damaging to those who have embarked on a spiritual path and have pledged obedience to the law of God. The most grievous sin is fornication. A single mistake in this area can nullify in an instant the merit accumulated through years of effort and devotion. (Resurrection 2.2.6) For religious leaders, other frequent sins of some seriousness include misusing public funds and exploiting one's subordinates. Besides facing accusations by his own conscience, such a hypocrite will be plagued by evil spirits who in their lives delighted in keeping the pretense and perquisites of religion while indulging in fornication, exploiting credulous followers, or reaping unrighteous financial gain. The very spirit world which should be his ally and support will forge his fetters. He can recover his station only by facing up to his mistakes, confessing his sins and doing penance to merit forgiveness by God and man.

The third key to success in mobilizing spiritual help is to build a foundation on the earth which can cope effectively with the given responsibility. God and the spirit world want to achieve practical results on earth. No matter how sensitive and responsive we are to its promptings, we cannot be useful to God and the spirit world if we do not have the right qualifications to accomplish the goal. Scientists blessed with the inspiration to make great discoveries are those who first trained themselves to master their fields. Artists whom the Muse inspires to write great music are those who first cultivated the skill to write it. For God to use us to transform society, we must first become influential in our fields of endeavor. We need to develop the skills, the contacts, the know-how, the organization and the wherewithal. Building such foundations takes time.

In the Bible, Jacob serves as a good example of a man who gained victory because he built his foundation on the earth. He knew he could not defeat Esau empty-handed. Therefore, while in Haran he spent twenty years accumulating enough wealth to give his brother a substantial gift and so move his heart. Jacob was a balanced individual who possessed all three keys to mobilizing spiritual help. His mind was dedicated to God's will; he proved his mind-body unity through overcoming his uncle's treachery and then in standing firm while wrestling with the angel; and he built an earthly foundation of ample means. We, too, need to find this balance. We should not dwell only on spiritual things while ignoring our responsibility to build an earthly foundation, but neither should we be so worldly that we lose our spiritual focus.

The primary foundation for effective action on earth is the physical body. We need a healthy body for any number of reasons as we pursue a spiritual life. The body is the tree on which the spirit grows. Only the body can perform good actions and so return vitality elements to brighten the spirit. Only with the body can we perfect love in the family and multiply children. The spirit depends upon the foundation of a sound body, in order to express its will on the earth. Therefore, we should take care to keep the body healthy. By exercising and training our body well, we can remain strong and vigorous while pursuing our spiritual purpose.

The Liberation of Hell

People concerned for their own salvation cannot attain it without first extending their love to embrace the less fortunate who suffer the pain of a bitter or resentful spirit. The saint and the sinner are both God's children; we who would draw close to God must love our brothers and sisters. The Divine Principle explains that everyone who would be Abel must love Cain; without saving Cain, Abel cannot enter heaven. In other words, whoever does not love his enemy on earth will still have him in the spirit world, dragging him down to hell. Whoever loves his enemy and turns him into a friend will have him as a friend forever. His former enemy will testify to his love before heaven and earth and escort him into heaven.

Truly, the road to heaven goes through hell. As the unification of the spirit world and the physical world proceeds, its final phase will be the liberation of hell. God has purposed that one day hell will be dissolved. God, our loving Parent, cannot rest until all His children enjoy the bounties of the Kingdom of God. As Jesus said in the parable of the lost sheep, even if thousands of God's children are safe in the light, His heart still goes out to the one errant sinner wandering in darkness. The means by which spirits are liberated from hell is discussed briefly in the Divine Principle as a type of returning resurrection. (Resurrection 2.3.3) It is worth devoting some attention to it here, because these phenomena are occurring every day and have great impact on our lives.

Invisible influences from the spirit world motivate much of the behavior of earthly people. We may receive the help of angels and good spirits (it is difficult to tell them apart). In addition, spirits of various grades beset us as they come down in the process of returning resurrection. They descend and make a common base with us according to various criteria. We share a common lineage with many ancestors. We share a common mission with spirits who had that mission in the past. Other spirits share common interests, similar habits, or meld with our personality. Sometimes we are beset by spirits who haunt the place where we live. Finally, we connect with spirits who share our religion or philosophy of life.

These spirits constantly seek to influence our state of mind and behavior, sometimes obsessively so. To understand the manner of their influence, think of how and why our earthly relations try to influence us; the spirits of our forebears behave in much the same way. They may seek to persuade and mold us according to their predilections, believing in their stubbornness that we should live as they did. An indulgent ancestor will tempt us to self-indulgence. A racist ancestor will induce racist thoughts. A suicidal ancestor will induce thoughts of suicide. An ancestor who abused his children will make us impatient with ours. An unbelieving ancestor will sow doubts about God's existence in our heart. These spirits feel threatened by our walk of faith, which places their life under judgment. They would rather we repeat their sins and thus justify their living as they did.

Sometimes an evil spirit will seek revenge for past wrongs by taking an earthly person as his object partner. The earthly person may either be the instrument or the target of his vengeance. The murder of the Tejana singer Selena was such a case, according to a psychic report. Selena came from a wealthy family which owned a big hacienda in Mexico, while her murderer's ancestors were peasants who suffered exploitation on her family's plantation. Selena's killer had been a devoted fan. Yet she was incited to commit the deed by ancestors who nursed a strong desire for vengeance against Selena's family, for whom she was their meal ticket.

Many people are unknowingly afflicted by possessing spirits, who actually penetrate the body and attach themselves to the psyche. They can enter the body in a moment of weakness; shock, being knocked unconscious, a high fever, alcohol or drugs can provide occasions for possessing spirits to enter. Children are particularly vulnerable; they can manifest behavioral problems as a result. Many physical illnesses, regardless of their medical etiologies, have possessing spirits as a contributing cause.

The common denominator of all these evil spiritual influences is inherited sin. Even if we change our lifestyle, break our bad habits, and otherwise work to improve ourselves, we cannot change our lineage. Counting seven generations back, everyone has well over a hundred ancestors in his direct lineage, plus hundreds more if we include brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles. Among these hundreds of people, surely some were adulterers, murderers, rapists and thieves. Each of us is connected with these ancestors, and must perforce deal with their sin. Therefore, no matter how righteous we may be, it is impossible to avoid being plagued by evil spirits who carry our inherited sin. Even if a healer or therapist removes the obsessing spirit, the effect is likely to be only temporary unless we resolve the underlying sin.

Furthermore, if we take on a public responsibility, we perforce must deal with the sins of our forebears who had that same mission. The burden of an office can place enormous spiritual pressure on a person, sometimes turning a generous, mild-mannered man into someone prideful, high-strung or suspicious.

The unfortunate spirits who beset us actually need our help. As Jesus carried the cross to liberate the whole world, we should gladly carry the cross for our lineage. As our ancestors in the lower realms of the spirit world express their resentments, they hope deep inside that we will not buckle, but work through our problems and thus liberate them from their misery. Furthermore, many of the most vicious among them were people whom our ancestors wronged on the earth. They attach themselves to us seeking revenge for having once been murdered, robbed, raped, or otherwise harmed by our own ancestors. As the fruit of our ancestry, we stand in a position to be hated; but by the same token, we are in a unique position to save them. By helping them resurrect to a higher level of the spirit world and ultimately receive the Blessing, we can finally give them a worthy gift that can assuage the pain that our ancestors once caused them.

We take responsibility for our ancestors' sin through repentance and making reparations. We can suffer through the pain of an affliction with a good heart, knowing that by these stripes our ancestors who have been suffering the torments of hell are being healed. We can instruct them in the truth. Most importantly, by loving and serving others, we can cover these sins with goodness. "Good deeds annul evil deeds" (Qur'an 11.114), and "love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Pet. 4:8) By going out of our way to help our neighbors and relatives on earth, rescuing them from the path of destruction and leading them towards the light, at the same time we cover for our ancestors in the spirit world and lead them out of hell.

In this light, everyone we meet potentially represents one of our ancestors. In reaching out to that person and bringing him to the truth and love of God, we simultaneously connect with our own ancestor, as if it were he in the flesh. Therefore, we should treat everyone who comes into our life like our own lost relative, and accept the challenge of relating with them as part of our own course for resolving inherited sin.

Strive Every Day

We have learned that the spirit world both burdens and empowers us. Spirits bearing the sins of our ancestors afflict us; at the same time angels and high spirits inspire and help us to accomplish the will of God. Each human being stands in the middle, between heaven and hell. We are responsible to unite the spiritual and physical worlds in the pursuit of the will of heaven, while at the same time paying indemnity for past sins and breaking the chains of our forebears in hell. In our position as the historical agents for the unification of the spirit world, we should strive every day.

This pledge and the first pledge are the only two pledges which do not use the word "to perfect." Recall that perfection means bringing to full growth what exists already, latent and potential. We perfect our God-given nature, including the way of filial piety, the Four Great Realms of Heart, the universal family encompassing the cosmos, the family which conveys God's blessings to others, and the culture of heart. Our striving to fulfill the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh pledges serves to perfect what already lies within us as a seed. The fifth pledge, however, is about restoration, about mending what was broken, paying off old debts, and overcoming evil. Our world today is too much like hell, and it resonates with hell in the spirit world in an unholy, corrupt and violent unity. Satan is alive and well. He roams about the earth, constantly inciting evil desires within us and sowing discord among us. True, heavenly unity between the spirit world and the physical world is a condition that has never yet existed. It requires that we overcome the accumulated pain of history which has erected thick walls. It requires that we sever our ties to Satan by removing all the conditions by which he invades us and our families. Therefore, we must strive every day. We should never assume that we have such innate goodness and our conscience is so strong that we can find our way easily, without making effort.

First, we must strive every day to live by our conscience, thus restoring the proper subject-object relationship between mind and body within ourselves as the microcosm. We must strive every day to catch the inspiration of heaven and act to bring substantial results on the earth. By our continued effort, the will of God first formed in the spirit world comes down to the earth and becomes manifest. As we build our earthly foundation, Heaven's will can be manifest on the earth ever more powerfully.

Second, we must ever fortify ourselves against the base influences of the environment surrounding us. We should reflect on ourselves to recognize where Satan finds a foothold to invade our lives and turn us from the higher life with God. To this end, we need daily study of God's Word to keep a proper perspective on life. We need to discern by the criteria of God's Word whether a particular inspiration comes from a good spirit or an evil spirit, lest we stumble by accepting guidance from an evil spirit masquerading as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:14) Often the works of a good spirit are accompanied by the subtle influences of an evil spirit. (Fall 4.4) Although we can invariably know the true disposition of a spirit by its fruits, by then it may be too late. By living in strict accordance with the truth of God, we will not go wrong.

Third, we need to pray constantly. (1 Thess. 5:17) Through prayer we receive God's guidance and block the evil desires of the flesh: "Prayer restrains one from shameful and unjust deeds." (Qur'an 29.45) The perfection of prayer is to be constantly aware that God is living with us and to enter His presence. Then everything we do will be God acting through us as His temples.

Fourth, we should continually seek opportunities to serve others. Through loving service we make a base for good spiritual help. We generate vitality elements which make for spiritual growth. We also make restitution for our ancestors' sins, opening the door for their liberation. Should we slack off from our striving in these areas, we can easily be dominated by the negative influences of the environment and the lower spirit world.

As we strive every day to fulfill our responsibility on earth, we also further God's will to unify the spirit world. The earth is where the work of restoration is pioneered. The Kingdom of God has to be established first on earth before being realized in the spirit world. Therefore, our efforts to resolve interracial, international and ecumenical conflicts on the earth create conditions for unifying these communities in the spirit world. Our good deeds and sacrificial efforts to bring salvation to the people of the earth create the conditions to liberate the spirits in hell.

Jesus came to the earth to bring salvation to both worlds. Even today, from the spirit world, Heung Jin Nim, Dae Mo Nim and our brothers and sisters who have passed on, along with the many high spirits in paradise, have descended and are striving mightily to build the Kingdom of God on the earth. Although as spirits they can enjoy the pleasures of paradise, their hearts will not let them rest. They are just as dedicated to the will of God today as during their earthly lives. They will continue to strive unceasingly until the Kingdom of God shines everywhere and hell is no more.

We must strive every day because life is short, and there is so much to do. During this transitional phase of human history, the providence is moving with incredible speed. The spirit world can be likened to the hub of a giant wheel, while we stand somewhere near the rim. As God turns the hub of the wheel, we must run as fast as we can to keep up with the spinning rim. That is how our True Father describes his life. How much faster do we have to run to keep up with him! The spirit world pushes us to run as fast as we can, to save billions of souls languishing in pain, and in the process to give the highest value to our own short lives. To be lazy during this age, to stop and gratify the flesh, is to pave the way to hell. We would be eternally accused for wasting such a precious opportunity to be of service to humanity.

Finally, the call to strive every day reminds us that we have the unique opportunity to attend the True Parents while they live on earth. Our True Father is nearly eighty years old; his remaining time on earth is short. Every second of his life, he has been running so fast and accomplishing so much; he restored six thousand years of history in the span of only forty years. Scripture teaches, "with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day." (2 Pet. 3:8) Truly, an hour of our True Father's life is like a week of normal time! He wants to consummate the work of building the Kingdom of God during the short years that remain to his life, because he knows that afterwards the providence is likely to slow down. What we do to support his work during these remaining years has unparalleled impact, both on the earth and for the billions of souls in the spirit world.


Notes

1. The National Spiritualist 819 (September, 1993). Phoenix, National Spiritualist Association of Churches, p. 15.

2. Sang Hun Lee, "Theory of the Spirit World in Unification Thought," Unification Thought Quarterly 33 (summer 1995), pp. 28-36.

3 Heung Jin Nim is Rev. Moon's second son whose death in 1984 is honored as a noble act of self-sacrifice for the sake of Heaven. Dae Mo Nim is the title given Mrs. Moon's mother Soon Ae Hong after her ascension. Hyo Won Eu was the first president of the Unification Church who assisted Rev. Moon in writing the Divine Principle.

4. Sun Myung Moon, "True Unification and One World."

5. J. Hadamard, The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field (Princeton, 1945), p. 16; quoted in Roger Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind (Oxford, 1989), p. 423.

6. Beatriz Steeghs, personal communication. See Edith Fiore, The Unquiet Dead (New York: Doubleday, 1987).

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