The Words of the Hwang Family |
Aligning Ourselves With The Spiritual Reality
Sun Jo Hwang
June 22, 2003
The sermon at the headquarters church in Seoul, June 22, 2003
The central figures in providential history -- the individuals, families, clans and tribes who have been responsible for the providence -- have experienced a common characteristic in their courses. They all had to endure suffering. History is that of the providence of God's salvation, and the goal of the providence of salvation is to restore the past through indemnity, and that has meant suffering.
From this point of view, I find that there are a lot of similarities between the history of the Israelites and that of Korea. Korean history is a record of one of the most suffering histories of any nation in the world. This is because Korea was the central nation chosen by God. Sometimes, Korea suffered because of China; at other times because of Japan. Recently, it's been the Western powers that have caused Korea to suffer. What was the most difficult and suffering period of Korean history? Of course, it was when it was occupied by Japan, but the Korean War and the division that followed the War have caused Korea a great deal of further suffering. When hardships were inflicted from outside, we could overcome them through creating strong internal unity. It is the hardships that afflict us from within that most deeply scar the nation. When people fight against the hardships from without and win over them through their powerful unity, they feel joy at having turned a challenge into a victory. However, when people have to deal with suffering caused from within, they most likely end up feeling pain and despair...
As we all know, Korea was liberated from Japan in 1945. The trend around the world at that time was for once colonized nations to claim independence, and for Christianity to lead the global civilization. At that time, the central people of the providence completed their indemnity course, and a new era began. Soon after 1945, the Lord of the Second Advent and the Christian civilization were supposed to unite and restore the world in an instant, but unfortunately, Christianity couldn't fulfill its providential mission. True Father had no choice but to set off on a suffering course just as Jesus had two thousand years earlier. Father began a five-year sentence in Hungnam Special Labor Camp on February 22, 1948. More than any other group, Christianity was responsible for Father's suffering; communists come in second in that regard. Christians and communists in unity forced Father into the valley of death. Father has had to endure suffering in many forms, but there probably hasn't been anything that can compare with what he had to endure in Hungnam. There have been many testimonies about Father's life there. One cell held thirty-six inmates. Father always volunteered for the humblest, the most difficult and the foulest jobs during his time in the Hungnam labor camp. We know him. We know he has always remained strong in any circumstance. However difficult things were at the moment, he knew that all the suffering and hardship he endured would someday be something he could be proud of in front of all people of the world. He was sure that the day would come, and it has. Today, all of his hidden effort has borne fruit.
After the course of suffering that Father endured in the labor camp, those in the Cain position could naturally surrender to him. His fellow inmates became his disciples, as did some prison guards. Prison guards came to him for guidance. That's the kind of life he had in Hungnam. He overcame Satan's attack by the principle of origin-division-union action, which put him in the position of being able to wholesomely restore people of the Cain world.
Not so long after the third year of Cheon Il Guk began, True Parents celebrated their birthday. Centering on God's kingship, a new order was created. It was the moment when the ancestors of goodness, those intended at the original Creation, settled on earth through their marriage registration. Centering on God's kingship, True Parents held their marriage registration as the ancestors of goodness. The ancestors of goodness came to exist on earth. On that foundation, we could register ourselves. We could register our births. And on March 10, the Family Party was organized to set up that new order. From March 16, however, Father had to endure more suffering, this time for forty days. He was physically sick. It was the final indemnity course Father had to bear to open up the new age. At the same time, the world fell into chaos. The devastating war between the U.S. and Iraq, representing the Christian and Islamic civilizations, began. After having been through all this, Father declared the Day of the Great Transition to the Realm of Dominion of the Ideal of Creation on May 4. There followed a period of twenty-one-days, after which Father began the providential activity of uniting the first, second and third Israels, which had been separate. In the area of external activities, central nations have to have summit meetings, that is, Korea and America, Japan and America, and the Philippines and America. This is necessary for God's providential work to come to a conclusion. The three summit meetings should have two themes: One is peace on the Korean peninsula and the other is how to connect the UN to God's providence. The heads of these nations should hold these three summit meetings, which have providential significance. Preparations are being made.
The whole purpose of our movement is to create the homeland of Cheon Il Guk. How, then, should we accomplish our goal? Needless to say, we are the ones who should have enough power to accomplish this goal. We should be dynamic enough to reach our goal. What kind of power should we have and where might it come from? From the Principle, we learn that power can't exist alone. There should be give and take action to generate power. To have give and take action, proper conditions should exist, a foundation between at least two parties. To have a common foundation, there should be a clear sense of purpose. Centering on that purpose, people on the Cain and Abel sides should create unity based on their common foundation to have the right give and take action through which amazing dynamic power can be generated. According to the Principle, that's how a new creation can come about.
It is time to gather our strength. How can we make that happen? No power can grow in disunity. No matter how big an organization is, it is absolutely true that no power can emerge from where there is disharmony and disunity. No matter how small an organization is, dynamic power can grow and emerge when there is complete unity. History has proven this fact. Their strong unity is the reason that Israel has been able to maintain its identity amongst powerful nations. Unity is the foundation for any power to work.
The word Father has used the most is probably "unity." Why is that? Because the fall meant a disconnection took place. In one speech Father said, "What is the fall? Because of the fall, conflict developed between God and humanity; and struggles between humankind and Satan came about. From the fact that there have been numerous nations throughout history, it is clear that there have been countless struggles between peoples." It's the same for religions. When does a religion lose its power? When the believers of that religion are not in unity, it loses power. Accomplishing unity means establishing the order of creation as well as creating a foundation to generate new, dynamic power. In unity, people gain power and in disunity, people lose it. That's how things are.
When two people meet with a clear purpose, dynamic power can be created. Their power is not doubled when they come together, it is quadrupled. When four people get together, we can see that their power is not just quadrupled; through geometric progression, it is sixteen times greater than each individual's power. Therefore, in order to fulfill the providence in relation to Cheon Il Guk-which is in its third year-and to build our homeland, the time has come for us to pool our strength based on the one common goal.
We must stand on absolutely moral and ethical ground to have power. We must have validity. No matter how great the power one has or how much money one has, it is not the ultimate end. No matter what we do, if we don't have moral and ethical validity, there's no need for us to have power at all.
Also, if we become greedy, we lose power. It's easy to become enslaved by greed. If the Family Party had been initiated to satisfy someone's lust for power, it would end up being just another secular political party. They would be slaves to power. Similarly, if we had wanted to make money to satisfy our greed, we would have ended up being slaves to money. No matter how much power or money we might have, we won't have any energy as long as we are slaves to that power or money. So how can we have the kind of power we need? The Family Party was not created to gain political power. That's why energy is being generated. If the goal were to gain political power, there would be no choice but to adjust to the way the wind blows in politics. If they were in the position where survival depended upon getting votes, they would have to please voters, but they aren't doing that. They are not trying to become secular politicians. What they're trying to become is heavenly politicians. What do heavenly politicians do? They set up a new order of goodness on earth. They want to renew the land and restore it to what it was originally intended to be.
The most fundamental base for our power should be a spiritual one. The prime foundation of our existence is spiritual power. How was David able to have such power over Goliath? How was Moses able to have power over the Pharaoh? How was Elijah able to have power over Queen Jezebel? They had spiritual power. That spiritual power came from absolute faith. Without reaching the standard of absolute faith, we can never have spiritual power.
In the third year of Cheon Il Guk, everything seems so difficult in Korea. Everyone's heart is divided. In the middle of this, the time has come for us to plant the hope of Cheon Il Guk in this nation and in the world. To plant hope for our nation and the world, we must have dynamic power within ourselves.
As part of the new providence to establish Cheon Il Guk in this land, True Parents opened up a space for different religions to work harmoniously together. In addition, to unite the world centering on a culture of heart, they organized the Peace Cup Korea 2003 soccer tournament. We must all become one, set up a heart-centered, moral standard and discard our selfish motives in order to create a way of life aligned with the spiritual reality. That's the providential mission we are facing.
We must have a clear purpose. That's how we can be one. When two entities become separated, they lose power in geometrical progression, but when two entities are united, they can have not twice as much, but four times as much power. They can have dynamic power with which to accomplish things. In conclusion, we should embrace the new providential way of life True Parents have taught us. I sincerely hope all of you can win great victories.
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