Distinguished
chairpersons of the First World Culture and Sports
Festival, distinguished guests and participants from
Korea and around the world:
As
founder of the World Culture and Sports Festival, I
would like to express my deepest gratitude to you for
having gathered here in such a large number to pray for
the success of this festival.
I would
like to speak to you this evening on the topic,
"Becoming the Leaders in Building a World of Peace."
During the mid-1930s, when I was sixteen years old and
the Korean peninsula was under the forced occupation of
Japan, I received a special mission from Heaven through
Jesus. I am seventy-two now, and in the intervening
years there has not been even a single second when I did
not think of God's will and His commands.
I lived
my boyhood and youth under the colonial rule of imperial
Japan. So I know only too well the excruciating pain and
tragic circumstances suffered by the weaker and smaller
nations of the world. Because I possess a certain degree
of discernment into God's heart, it was with unspeakable
pain and sorrow that I witnessed, first, the cruelty of
the more powerful nation as it plundered the weaker
nation of Korea and, later, the terrible carnage of the
Second World War.
Then
immediately following World War II, in a development
that compounded our already difficult situation, the
Korean peninsula was divided between north and south. In
1950, the Korean War broke out and Koreans found
themselves in a fratricidal conflict. Various countries
of the world on the left and right chose to support one
or the other of the opposing sides. I witnessed this
tragic history directly, and I know from my heart of
hearts how much pain and sorrow has been brought to God
and humanity by the loss of a world of peace.
How do
you imagine God has felt since the time of creation as
He had to watch while time and time again brothers set
themselves against each other, with Cain, the older
brother, taking the life of Abel, the younger? All wars
since the beginning of human history have been, in their
essence, struggles among brothers. The Bible teaches us
this through its record of the murder of Abel by Cain in
the family of Adam. Why do such conflicts among brothers
occur over and over on the levels of family, tribe,
society, nation and world?
Original Sin
The
reason lies in the sin committed by Adam and Eve, the
parents of Cain and Abel. Adam and Eve were the original
ancestors of humankind, placed in a position to
represent all the men and women who would come after
them. As such, they should have brought God's ideal of
creation into reality. By breaking God's commandment,
however, they forfeited their position as the true
parents of goodness for all of humanity who would be
born after them. Instead, they became fallen parents of
evil. It is this evil that is the original sin, the
fundamental root of all crime and unhappiness in human
society.
The
original sin of the first human ancestors was that Adam
and Eve broke God's commandment and engaged in an
illicit sexual relationship. In this way, they formed a
blood relationship with the devil, and became fallen
false parents, passing on false love, false life and a
false lineage to the entire human race. There is only
one way for humanity to escape this world of evil and
struggle, and that is to be reunited with their true
parents and be reborn through them. Only when this is
accomplished can the true way to cast off original sin
be revealed.
After I
received my calling at the age of sixteen, I spent the
years searching for the answer to precisely this problem
of how to bring salvation to humankind. The result of
that lonely search for truth is the new expression of
God's truth that we refer to today as the Unification
Principle, Godism and Headwing philosophy. On Aug. 15,
1945, the day Korea was liberated from imperial Japan, I
began proclaiming this truth on the earth. Because I
have proclaimed these teachings, I have had to undergo
tremendous persecution and attack.
Think
for a moment about the fact that I have been imprisoned
as many as six times in my life. This alone is enough to
tell you how harsh the attacks against me have been. The
First World Culture and Sports Festival, being held
during this forty-seventh year since I began proclaiming
the Divine Principle, is a holy celebration. It is an
occasion to let the entire world see, and to offer to
God, the harvest reaped from the seeds I have sown and
nurtured for the liberation of God and humanity and for
the realization of a world of peace. Everything I have
striven to achieve during my life has been for the
purpose of confirming the fact that all people in the
world are brothers and sisters before God, our common
Parent. Our common ties as members of the global family
centered on God transcend our differences based on race,
nationality and international boundaries.
Organizations
The
primary institution in which my teachings are being
practiced is the Holy Spirit Association for the
Unification of World Christianity, that is, the
Unification Church. There is now no country in the world
where the Unification Church does not exist. The
Unification Church has put its roots down in all races,
nationalities and countries. The International Marriage
Blessing of 30,000 couples will be held tomorrow in
Seoul's Olympic Main Stadium is certain to be a
testimony to the fact that humanity is one great family
centered on God.
With
the Unification Church as the root organization, I have
founded many other organizations for projects in a wide
variety of fields. These organizations are for the
purpose of building a world of peace in which we, the
human family, centered on God, can rejoice in our
freedom, ideals and happiness. For the World Culture and
Sports Festival, I have gathered the most prominent of
these organizations here in Seoul. During the festival,
a new unified structure will be founded to facilitate
stronger mutual ties and closer cooperation among these
organizations.
The
International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences,
the Professors World Peace Academy, the World Media
Conference, the Summit Council for World Peace, the
Assembly of the World's Religions, the Inter-Religious
Federation for World Peace, the Women's Federation for
World Peace, the international performing arts groups
and International CARP will meet during this time of the
International Marriage Blessing and provide forums for
us to enlighten our intellects and reaffirm our
determination in devoting ourselves to the cause of
building a world of peace.
The
International Marriage Blessing of the Unification
Church, which I will be conferring during this time, is
the blessing of resurrection. Through this ceremony,
humanity is able to cut itself clear from original sin
and recover true love, true life and true lineage of
God. It is within the context of this ceremony that we
can give birth to peace that enables us to realize the
ideal of the great brotherhood of humanity which
transcends race, nationality and international
boundaries.
As the
founder of these organizations and groups, I wish to
reaffirm here this evening that their purpose is to
bring about world peace, according to the ideal of God
and humanity. They are not created for the benefit of
any particular group or political faction. They do not
serve the narrow interests of any particular nation or
state. Rather, they exist to bring happiness, peace and
freedom to God, the Creator of the universe, and to all
humanity.
Family
Salvation
Our
movement, thus, must bring salvation to all families,
all nations, all states and, finally, to the entire
world. It must be a family- saving, nation-saving,
world-saving movement.
Our
families are being destroyed by the debasement of sexual
ethics through illicit relationships and decadent
lifestyles. Every nation is suffering the agony of the
destruction of its moral standards and the accompanying
increase in crime. There is no solution in sight to the
conflicts between political factions. Poverty and
ignorance continue to plague us. There is no sign that
we may be nearing solutions to the world's international
border disputes, to the attitudes of prejudice between
religious groups, or to the conflicts between the
various races and ethnic groups. World peace is under
constant threat from the selfish actions of the world's
countries and peoples.
Environmental pollution also is destroying our planet to
the degree that we are approaching a serious crisis for
the future of humankind. We may all find ourselves on a
common path of destruction, unless we are able to
resolve the crisis we face through a love which
transcends all national boundaries and ethnic
differences and encompasses all the world's people. Let
me emphasize again: any successful resolution of this
crisis must be based on an effort to build a unified
world through a movement of true love rooted in the
Divine Principle, or Godism.
In
early July, I spoke in five cities around Korea at
rallies held by the Women's Federation for World Peace.
There, I declared that my wife, WFWP President Hak Ja
Han Moon, and I are the True Parents of all humanity. I
declared that we are the Savior, the Lord of the Second
Advent, the Messiah.
Why
would I stand before women leaders of Korea and make
such an astonishing and fearful announcement? The reason
is that God has been carrying out His providence to send
the Messiah as the second perfected Adam who has
subjugated Satan, in order to establish a perfected Eve
who will represent all women. God has done this, because
it was when Satan caused Eve to all that human history
came to be permeated with sin.
Also,
women are the central point for the love, peace and
spirit of service which protect our families, and it is
the healthy family that must be the starting point in
our work to build world peace. The establishment of
God-centered family ethics and the education of our
children lie at the innermost core of my teachings as
the person who has declared for himself the
responsibilities of the Messiah. The family is the holy
sanctuary that must cleanse this defiled world.
House
of Unification
That is
the reason it was necessary that I, as the Messiah, make
my declaration to women leaders gathered around
President Hak Ja Han Moon, my wife, who stands in the
position of perfected Eve. This declaration is an
exhortation and notice to all who follow my teachings to
join Mrs. Moon and me in our attendance to God on the
path of sacrifice and service for the salvation of this
world.
As I
conclude my remarks this evening, I would like to
propose, so that all of our activities for world
salvation can be carried out more effectively, that we
establish "The House of Unification for World Peace" as
a structure for the peaceful unification of the world.
To
avoid any possible misunderstanding, particularly
regarding the title of this structure as rendered in the
Korean language, let me state clearly that I am not
proposing to create a political party. The House of
Unification for World Peace that I propose is not a
political party. It will not have the function commonly
associated with political parties, that is, to seek the
executive powers of government in a given country. It
is, rather, a "house" to reinforce the concerted actions
of the world's countries, and foster a unified
foundation and common effort for world peace.
If we
say that heaven is a symbol of man, then earth is a
symbol of woman. The house is the stage on which a
woman's life is played out. The mother is the center of
a nest filled with love for all the members of the
family. The family, with the mother at its center, is
the basic unit making up the nation and the world. I use
the word "House" in the title of the structure I am
proposing, because this word contains the meaning of
"exalting the earth, centering on the mother." It also
signifies "to teach." The word "House" in this title,
therefore, signifies a center for the education of
women.
Through
this structure, we can provide new impetus to the work
of giving opportunities for meaningful exchanges and
education on a God- centered vision for world peace to
people of all countries and all walks of life, including
political leaders, scholars, religious leaders,
journalists and educators, as well as leaders of women
and youth. This vision of world peace will be centered
on families in which mothers, representing all women of
the world, accomplish mind- body unity through love.
If you
will embrace my proposal and join me in this task, then
our efforts are certain to bring the world of peace
which is the object of God's desire to all of humanity
within the remaining eight years of the twentieth
century. We who are gathered here this evening will be
the leaders in opening the gates to a world of peace in
the coming twenty-first century.
I pray
you may have a pleasant visit during the time of the
festival and that God will bestow His boundless
blessings and protection upon your work.
