The Words of the Shimmyo Family

Making the Impossible Possible

Theodore Shimmyo
March 12, 1989
Regional Coordinator for the New York City Region
Sunday Evening Service
World Mission Center, New York


Dr. Shimmyo offers a musical selection on the harmonica for True Parents at East Garden.

My themes are from the Way of Tradition, Vol. 2. They are very short but very profound. "When you are united with God, nothing is impossible" and, "The bigger hope one has, the longer he perseveres.

Today at Belvedere, Father spoke about the importance of loving your enemy plus the importance of realizing the value of the Principle. He said that the Unification Church is just like a general hospital. It can take in patients from the entire world. The director of the hospital is Dr. Moon. What is unique about this hospital is that Dr. Moon never says, "Take a rest, please." He encourages all the patients to really commit themselves for God's will. That way all kinds of diseases are going to be healed.

Following the speech, Kook Jin Nim and his wife were introduced. With many tears Kook Jin Nim talked for a few minutes about the importance of becoming serious to establish the Heavenly Kingdom on this earth.

By my title, "Making the Impossible Possible," I don't mean that we can, for example, make a triangular rectangle. It is logically impossible. Also I don't mean to say that we can jump 20 feet high. Because the physical body has weight and inertia, no matter how hard we may try, it is physically impossible to jump that high.

Also I don't mean to say that we can become a millionaire overnight. I know it's virtually impossible because we are all meant to serve God's will 24 hours a day. To become a millionaire, we should probably spend a great deal of time, all day, 365 days a year, to make our business successful and then we would have no time to spend to do God's will directly.

Then what do I mean by saying the impossible can be made possible? I mean that we can build God's Kingdom on this earth. The building of the Heavenly Kingdom looks extremely difficult, almost impossible. I guess many of you might have felt that way. Initially maybe some of you joined this movement because you were taught that if you worked hard for three years, the day of the realization of the Heavenly Kingdom would come. But more than 10 years have passed for some, for others more than 20 or even 30 years have passed. Where is the Heavenly Kingdom?

Signs of the Kingdom

There are definitely hopeful signs. For example, today I heard a report about the start of our movement's Korean daily newspaper, the Segye Ilbo. Attending the opening reception were about 2,000 VIPs, including important people from the political world, from the educational field, and so on. Now the president of

Segye Ilbo, Rev. Kwak, is a very busy man because all kinds of people really want to see him. However, it seems to me that there is still a long way to go until all humanity realizes who the Messiah is and the entire world can be transformed to be God's Kingdom on this earth.

Our True Parents have fulfilled their portion of responsibility completely. But for our part there is much left undone. Many of us feel deeply frustrated sometimes because in spite of our tremendous devotion for the last 10, 15, 20 years, often the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom on earth seems to be an impossible task. Sometimes some of us might have some doubt about the Principle itself, some doubt about the real mission of Father and who he is. To be honest, I myself had some small doubt about him in the 1970s, four years after I joined the Unification Church. At that time -- and whenever I faced any doubt or any struggle -- I prayed desperately and always, fortunately, an answer came in a very dramatic way.

Actually, in the past many times I felt that the realization of God's Kingdom on earth seemed impossible. As I said, it is logically impossible to make a triangular circle. Even God cannot make it. But now I have found the secret of being able to make God's Kingdom possible.

In the last leaders' meeting at East Garden, Father said that he had three mottos. First of all, he knew he had to make his utmost effort to dominate himself before he could seek to influence the entire universe. The second was to let God and Jesus reign first.

The third motto he always practiced was to serve for the sake of others. These three mottos constituted his fundamental formula of life. Today, please permit me to repeat these three points as a most important means whereby we can make the impossible possible.

You know, we humans are finite -- we are not God Himself -- but the real problem is our original sin and its byproduct, fallen nature. This really blinds us, and Satan works through it to prevent us from realizing deeply God's will, thinking, and direction. That's why we who are not yet perfect sometimes feel that God's will or the realization of God's Kingdom on earth is an impossibility. "I will just give up. I am tired, exhausted, worn out. I will just step out of this group. I will enjoy my own life because only one life is given to me."

God's Power in Us

But God would never ask us to do something impossible, actually. This is an opinion which was proposed originally by an ancient Christian theologian, a contemporary of St. Augustine, at the end of the fourth century. His conclusion was that if we really work hard, the impossible will be made possible. But we can paraphrase what he said, given that we are finite and still have a lot of fallen nature even after the Blessing, by saying that if God works through us, the impossible will be made possible. I know some people believe in humanism, especially the people who inherited the tradition of the Enlightenment that arose in the 18th century. Humanists believe that human beings are geniuses, and if we strive to do certain things, we can accomplish them all without the need for God.

However, we know because of our finitude and our fallen nature, we actually cannot do a lot of things. But with the help and power of God, we can do the things that God wants us to do. To enable God to work with us, we should make minimal conditions. These minimal conditions are nothing else but the three basic mottos followed by our True Father. If we try to live for the sake of others no matter what, if we try to let God and Jesus Christ, not ourselves, reign first, and also if we try our best to dominate ourselves, then definitely we will become instruments of God. I would say nothing is stronger; no other weapon is more wonderful than these in terms of making the impossible possible. Unless we practice these three mottos, we will never be able to accomplish God's will. Even though we may have lots of good ideas, unless we live for the sake of others and try our best to dominate our fallen nature first, God's will can never be established. Therefore, let us become humble, and let us sacrifice ourselves to love our neighbors. Then God will be with us and we will be able to be His instruments. Wherever we go, God's Will will be done. I was very impressed by Rev. James Baughman recently. At a meeting with HSA headquarters and New York Church members President Baughmn said with great confidence that we would be able to have 30,000 new members soon. On the external level, it definitely seems to be impossible to have 30,000 members right away. But his statement was not just empty words. I really felt something strong, something deep, from them.

Commitment to Serve Others

I know personally that President Baughman strongly feels God's guidance and presence. The Unification Church of America should have great hope and great pride because of him. Both of us studied at Drew University for six years and lived on the same campus. I know that he always served people, and his strong determination is to live for the sake of others, to dominate his own fallen nature and to let God and Jesus reign first. That is the reason why he now feels very strongly that God is guiding him. He is a wonderful example that we should follow.

Only with the help and the intervention of God, the impossible will be made possible. If you do your best to live for the sake of your spouse, and if you do your best to dominate your own self and your own fallen nature before accusing your spouse or before accusing and criticizing your brothers and sisters, then your own self will be the foundation for the coming of the Heavenly Kingdom. If you have that kind of confidence, you will feel that you are a messiah, and even if all the other people may happen to leave God, still you are the great individual person who, with the help of God, will eventually cover the entire world. Because of you the Heavenly Kingdom will be established. With the tremendous guidance of God, everything will be possible.

Serving both the seminary and New York Church, I go back and forth between Barrytown and New York City every day. As a result, my car has high mileage and I spend a lot of money for gas. Sometimes I become tempted to complain, "Why do I have to do all this, God?" But my commitment and attitude is that though I am not perfect yet, I will do my best to serve for the sake of others, sacrificing myself. On this foundation God's power will work.

Lots of things exist that seem to be impossible. Sometimes you probably become frustrated or even overwhelmed because of this situation. But as long as you are ready to serve for the sake of others, as long as you are ready to love even your enemies, and if you are ready to bear the unbearable with a great heart of sacrifice, then from that point God's Kingdom will start because God will be with you.

God's power is really tremendous. That's why James Baughman is able to say that we can have 30,000 members very soon. Externally it seems impossible. But it is possible. And after we fulfill man's portion of responsibility here on earth, we will go to the spirit world as real victors.

A wonderful world is waiting. Because of our shortcomings, possible things are made impossible. But because of our sacrificial attitude and commitment to love our enemies, desiring even to liberate Satan, God will take our side. And with the power of God the impossible will be made possible. Thank you very much. 

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