Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 282
Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 9: Home Church and the Tribal Messiah
Chapter 3: The Mission of a Church Leader
Section 2: The Public Life of a Church Leader, 14-25
(14) You may think you deserve to take the money that people have earned and donated, believing it is your due. In fact, you are stealing the money, and you will be punished. The money that people offer is more fearsome than poison. If they earned it by shedding tears, going hungry and becoming thin, and you do not treat it with a deeper heart than that, you will be ensnared by that money. If you have not attained the standard of goodness to properly handle the money that was offered with devotion before Heaven, your children will pay the price. It will harm them and consume them. That is why you should regard public funds as precious. This is true everywhere in the world. If the sons and daughters of well-known revivalists or religious leaders go in the wrong direction, it is because those parents incurred such a debt. I know this. That is why when people bring an offering, I do not receive it with my own hands. Tell them to take the money and use it for some purpose without informing me about it. I can live without receiving that money. Or when I do receive such money, I do so in the name of God. I receive it saying, "I will use this as public money." I do not lay hands on even a cent for my private use.
(15) To hold a public position is a daunting task. Those who hold a public position cannot live with selfish motives. When I give a sermon, if other pastors speak for an hour, I ought to speak at least ten minutes more. When mountain climbing, I have to be able to claim that I have taken at least one step more than others; otherwise, someone will accuse me for not making a proper condition. That is why I have been living such a pitiful life. I can never live a comfortable life, just taking it easy. Since I live with such caution, Heaven also treats me with caution and heavenly fortune treats me carefully as well.
(16) A church leader should never be dry-eyed. The most pitiful and sorrowful person in the world is a church leader. When I think about God's heart and the providence of restoration, I often feel that God is to be pitied. When I think about all I need to do on the path of restoration, I feel so sad that I choke, my throat closes up and my heart bursts. Many times I feel as if I am about to faint. Without such a heart, I could not have lived for God and carried out His work. When passing by a village somewhere, if I happen to see something bad, I think, "I will let it go right now, but you wait and see. Later I will clean up this place with my own hands." That is the kind of person I am.
(17) You need to pray a lot. Without praying, you can neither win God's sympathy nor receive His help. That is because if you are focused on yourself, you do not have a basis to receive sympathy. This is something to feel sad about. However, if you become some one with whom God can sympathize, you will never be lonely. Even if you lie down in your room in the dead of winter on a cold floor that feels like a block of ice, you will not feel miserable. Was that not the reason Jesus prayed a lot? If you do not have time to pray, you should pray while you are walking down the street, or you can witness instead. That is, you can witness to others, substituting that for your daily prayer.
(18) Leaders need to give, not receive. When giving, they should not give the same thing over and over. They need to give something new. It is difficult to give sermons, isn't it? In giving lectures on the Divine Principle, you can just repeat what it says, but giving sermons is difficult because you should not give the same message repeatedly. When parents feed their beloved children, they pick and choose a variety of nutritious foods. Likewise, you should not give the same message again and again. If you have nothing to give, pray to receive inspiration from God. Then feed what you have received from God to your church members. Discuss with Him what to feed them.
(19) You certainly represent God. Sometimes you may pray without being entirely aware of the content, yet you are deeply moved by your own prayer. When you are in such a state, everyone present will be captivated by God, and will recognize through personal experience that God is the driving force and the source of life. Through that experience, they will come to feel that they absolutely need God. To give people such powerful and moving experiences, your prayers are absolutely necessary.
(20) People in charge should never be arrogant. A leader should be like a parent, a mother, or father. The leader is a representative of God. The leader needs to invest greater effort than anyone else, day and night, and take responsibility to resolve all kinds of situations, whether spiritual or physical, internal or external, with a sincere heart. He or she should be the one to whom others come for advice, the subject partner of heart that people love more than they love their own parents. Without the ability to lead in this way, one cannot fulfill the mission of a leader.
The way to live for the greater good
(21) You should be loyal to your society, loyal to your church, and loyal to your family. What is the purpose of the church? It is where you shape and cultivate your character. You need the church because of the Fall. Your family and society are not sufficient to perfect your character. You cannot perfect your character just the way you are. You may have gone to college; you may even have earned a doctoral degree, but it does not mean that your character is ideal. That is why you need the church. Through me, you need to establish a bond with the new Parents and become their new children. Then you can begin your family anew, bring it under God's dominion and advance toward a new world. In doing so, the church serves as your foothold. Otherwise, you cannot be successful. Your new family is formed through the church, and a new society is also created through the church.
(22) What is the basis for asserting that a person is upright? An upright person brings together the heart of Heaven and the heart of the people at one central point. You ought to be such a person. At church you should offer all your devotion to win a central place in the hearts of its members. For this, you need to invest all your heart and soul. You should offer devotion beyond what you offer for your family, school, or personal success in life. That is why Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matt. 22:37). You should love God with all your devotion and all your soul and all your heart.
(23) The church exists for the purpose of saving the nation. Christianity, however, does not know this. Christianity believes that the church exists for the purpose of going to the kingdom of heaven. Even that purpose is for the individual. This has resulted in nations, like the United States, that embrace individualism. The Unification Church is striving to reform the world that consists of such nations. We witness to others not for the prosperity of the Unification Church, but to make the nation prosper. Religious people should not simply dwell within a nation, but work to save it. Judaism declined because it lost its leading role in saving the nation of Israel. The policy of the Unification Church is to work for the sake of the nation.
(24) The church is to seek and establish God’s nation. Its purpose is not to seek and establish the church. God’s original ideal of creation is to make this world a unified world centered on that nation, and, therefore, the aim of the church should be to seek that nation. How do we do this? Cain and Abel must become one. Unless Cain and Abel become one, we cannot establish the nation.
(25) You blessed families should know that your mission is truly great. You need to be parents who can influence your sons and daughters. This is your first mission. To do so, you have to be thorough in conducting your church life and public life, and you should be exemplary in your personal life. These are absolutely necessary in training your children to go the way of the providence in the future.
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