Brothers and sisters, when we look at the history of God's providence broadly, can we say we have ever seen such a time of transition as we are experiencing now? The importance of the current transitional phase of the providence is beyond what we can imagine.

Two thousand years ago, the birth of Jesus Christ greatly changed the course of human history, but an even greater change is occurring now. We are facing an unbelievable transition that will affect not only human history but, rather, all eternity. Nevertheless, do we really have a mystical awareness of this transition? At this time, we should ask ourselves if we truly feel connected in heart with it.

For 400 years, the Israelites lived as slaves in Egypt; for 40 years they suffered in the wilderness. How inspired they must have been to enter Canaan at last after four hundred years of hardship in Egypt and 40 years of thirsting in the wilderness!

As soon as the Israelites crossed the River Jordan and entered Canaan, Joshua held a circumcision ceremony. This was to make a new beginning in a new age. No doubt it was a very mystical experience for them to hold such a ceremony in the Promised Land. After 400 years of slavery and 40 years of wandering, the circumcision ceremony, held in the land flowing with milk and honey, was not an everyday, routine event. Although it might have been conducted with the usual rites, it was a unique event that began a new age.

The Israelites were all given a share of the land in Canaan and began their lives anew. However, as time passed, the heart and mystical feeling that they had had to begin with disappeared. Instead of following God's will, they began to thirst for their own well-being and material wealth and started to follow the local belief in Baal. As a result, the Israelites failed. There is a clear lesson here for us from history.

It is the same for us. After going through the 40-year wilderness course, the 7-year course for a husband and wife to meet in the earthly realm, and the seven years of the Completed Testament Age, we are now seeing the wide open gates of Cheon Il Guk, which is the final, completion stage. We cannot fully comprehend what an amazing dispensation is dawning. The present providential transition is the culminating and final transition that will only come about once in human history, never to be repeated.

In this providential phase, we are responsible to restore all the mistakes that occurred throughout the course of history and the course of the providence until the present day.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus died on the cross after completing a 30-year course of life as an individual and a 3-year public life course. After Jesus was murdered, the disciples fled and scattered.

When Peter met Jesus for the first time, Peter was a fisherman. Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Peter was such a righteous man that he left the fishing net, which was like giving up his life, and followed Jesus. However, after seeing Jesus die miserably on the cross, Peter went back to being a fisherman.

Three days after his death on the cross, the resurrected Jesus began to gather his disciples. The first disciple he looked for was Peter. As Peter was with others out at sea, fishing, Jesus asked them, "Children, have you any fish?" And Peter answered, "No." Then Jesus said, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." When Peter did as he was told, he caught a catch so large that the net could not be hauled back in. Astonished, Peter realized that the person with him was none other than Jesus himself.

This was the most profound incident of Peter's life -- a life that was itself heralding the beginning of a new dispensation. Peter had earlier concluded that Jesus could not be the Messiah. Later, however, he came to understand that he was the Messiah and thus went through the most crucial transition of his life. Peter had the kind of experience that securely entrenches a person's faith, regardless of the hardships that may come -- even being crucified upside down.

When Jesus resurrected, the disciples gained a mystical sense of the important, historic, transitional time they lived in and resolved to change their lives. They thus underwent a cathartic experience, one that would be ingrained within them regardless of what tribulations and ordeals might come. As a result, the level of spiritual salvation increased.

Dear members, we are already experiencing and realizing not merely partial spiritual salvation but substantial, total earthly salvation.

Our encounter with True Parents has to be of a different kind from those in the past. Just as there was a different quality of mystical experience when Jesus' disciples met him for the first time and when they met him after his resurrection, our encounter with True Parents in the age of Cheon Il Guk has to be at a completely different level from that when we first joined the church.

This is not a spiritual encounter like the one between the resurrected Jesus and his disciples. Our experience of True Parents is substantial and of the heart. Just as the Israelites held a circumcision ceremony and started anew when they entered Canaan, as we enter this new age we need to meet the True Parents in a new state -- through a new consciousness and self-determination -- and bring the providence to a conclusion.

So, what is our present state? Through our ignorance, we have a habitual attitude toward providential events. True Parents have conducted numerous conferences and rallies. There is great providential meaning related to the fulfillment of God's will connected with each conference or rally. It is a necessary and providentially significant undertaking in beginning a new age in the providence of re-creation. But have we fallen into the habit of thinking they are just the same old conferences we have always held.

We did not come to be part of the providence by chance; there are inevitable reasons for our becoming the fruit of the providence of restoration. It is not because we are special or because we are holy; it is the result of the unseen providential work of God and our ancestors. Ninety-five percent of our relationship with God's will and of our going this course is already predestined. Only 5 percent is a matter of choice. In being connected to the providence, being granted a providential mission and following God's way, the choices resulting from our own will are only 5 percent of the whole.

Ninety-five percent is the work of God and the spiritual fruit achieved by our ancestors. Representing our family trees, the world and all history, we should maintain a deep awareness of our relationship to God's providence.

Beloved members, what attitude should we have as we confront this remarkable time of transition? First of all, we must go back to having the pure and unsoiled heart of a child. Just as new wine must be put into new wineskins, we who are welcoming a new age must go back to our true selves.

We first encountered True Parents though their teachings, and the direction of our lives changed. Just as Saul became Paul, we were inspired about receiving new life and joined the church, and have followed the will of God until now. We have fought countless battles in order to realize the nation of God and uphold righteousness. In these battles, some have fallen, some have been wounded, some have died and some have even fled. There are numerous stories...

However, through the amalgamation of all our efforts, finally the age of Cheon Il Guk has arrived. We have raised the banner of God's royal authority and have retaken the summit. We are creating a new culture in front of God.

When Peter first met Jesus, he threw away the fishing net that was akin to his lifeline, and followed Jesus. After Jesus died, Peter returned to his homeland. When he met the resurrected Jesus, he experienced the mystery of new words and the value of new life, and he was reborn, becoming an unchangeable person -- even though he is said to have ultimately been crucified upside down.

What about us? We are not attending Jesus, who was prevented from achieving all he wanted to. We are entering a new age directly attending the True Parents who have fulfilled their calling despite untold trials. Thus, as tribal messiahs who are to welcome a new age, we have to achieve what is demanded of us in the providence of that age. Next, we have to set up the model of ownership.

Now is the time to build Cheon Il Guk, but it cannot be built instantly. God's eternal world is finally established when we endure the labor pains of the new age and are victorious.

Hence, many tasks on different levels will be required of us. This is the time when we must take responsibility to open the new age. Now is the time when we, who are true heroes and heroines, must proudly set the model of ownership and reap the providential fruit.

Beloved members, the many tasks that are given to us now will, in the end, make us all new people. They are the challenges that can bring us honor. In this situation of great transition that is the fruit of the providence and the opening of a new age, we must encounter everything through mystical experience.

All the directions that True Parents have given us, and each of the things that headquarters is pushing to achieve in accordance with True Parents' directions need to be felt like the water of life at a time of thirst. We must align ourselves so that this kind of mystical experience comes to us.

We must all be enraptured with mystical experience and grace through this dispensation. We must come when we are told to come, go when we are told to go, and run when we are told to run. This is the reality of the present time and the command of Heaven.

True Parents are deeply inspired at this time of dramatic change and are hastening the providential work to open the new age. True Parents have instructed us to each bring the one thing that is most important for us to the Rally for the Harmony and Unity of Heaven and Earth that is to be held on October 16. If your family is most important to you, then please bring a picture of your family. If clothes are the most important things to you, bring your most precious clothes; and if money is the thing you value most, bring money. We will gather all these things and burn them, and get rid of all worldly values and customs.

Yet, will our evil mind disappear just because we burn some clothing? The ceremony has the providential meaning of commencing a new age through burning our most precious things and offering ourselves as living sacrifices in front of God, and beginning anew as heavenly citizens.

This is what True Parents are concentrating all of their effort on as they are standing before the new age. Thus, I would like everyone to realize that we must stand as objects of heart to our devoted True Parents.

[Originally published in Today's World, September/October 2002]

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