Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: Episode 353
Pyeong Hwa Gyeong: A Selection of True Parents’ Speeches
Book 9: The Role of Nations in Realizing World Peace
Speech 4: America and God’s Will, pg 1319-1324
America and God’s Will
September 18, 1976
Washington Monument on the National Mall, Washington, D.C., USA
God Bless America Festival to mark the US bicentennial
Honorable citizens of the United States and world delegates:
I would like to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all of you for “Meeting us at the Monument.” Tonight we are celebrating America’s bicentennial in the name of God. For you and me, this is a historic moment.
This evening I would like to speak on the subject, “America and God’s Will.”
God is eternal, unchanging, unique and absolute. If those are the qualities of God, His purpose of creation must also be eternal, unchanging and absolute. In the beginning, God’s ideal was to create one world of unity and harmony.
Today, however, our world has no unity or harmony. Instead there is much division, disharmony, confusion and chaos. Individually, our minds are separated from our bodies, and our families, races, nations and world are torn apart. This reality is in total contradiction to God’s original intention. Clearly something is fundamentally wrong.
Religion has an explanation. It says that this worldwide division is the result of our first ancestors’ rebellion against God, the Fall of Adam and Eve. In order to save fallen humanity, God sent the Messiah. His purpose was to restore people to their original state before the Fall. Therefore, salvation is the same as restoration.
The human Fall brought about this fallen world. Disobeying God’s Word, Adam and Eve rebelled against Him. This put them in the position to be overpowered by Satan’s lies. And so, finally Adam and Eve united with Satan, receiving Satan’s personality and love instead of God’s personality and love.
To be restored as an original person, we must reverse the process of the Fall. This time we must separate ourselves from Satan, reach out to God whom we have lost, and obey His Word. In this way we can receive God’s personality and His love.
God is supremely selfless and supremely public-minded. Satan, however, is absolutely self-centered and only out for himself.
God’s formula to restore us is for us to become God-like. This means that we must become completely selfless and public-minded. Each of us has to become a person who is able to sacrifice for the sake of others.
Such a selfless and public-minded person will prosper through becoming the image of God. The selfish, self-centered person will decline because such behavior is contrary to God. This is God’s rule.
Central nations were unable to realize God’s Will
Human history has been a history of struggle, a history of war. It has been almost like a tug-of-war between God and Satan, with humanity as the prize. Good and evil have been struggling to win people to their respective sides.
Because human history started with the Fall, evil got a head start. Therefore, in history the evil side has always taken the aggressive and offensive position. Good has been passive and defensive. Yet God is on the side of good. In the end, the good side always wins the victory. The good side is always the underdog, yet it comes out victorious and expands.
For example, during World War I and World War II, the evil sides attacked first, yet they were the ones to be defeated. Today, there is much talk about World War III. This time evil, represented by the communist nations, is challenging the free world, provoking conflicts and war everywhere. But again based on God’s formula, the ultimate victory will surely be on the side of God.
There is another formula in God’s work of restoration. Before God sends the Messiah to restore people, He always prepares a central religion and a chosen nation as the foundation to receive the Messiah.
According to this formula, God established Judaism as the first central religion, and Israel as the first chosen nation. Upon this base, God sent Jesus Christ as the Messiah. God’s hope was that the chosen nation and religion would become one with Jesus and establish the kingdom of God on earth and restore the world to God.
For this purpose, God prepared Judaism and Israel for nearly four thousand biblical years. If they had recognized Jesus Christ as the Messiah and worked with him in a spirit of sacrifice, he would not only have been successful in Israel, but also would have gone on to unite all the Arab nations and Asia, linking the East and West. By unifying the world under the sovereignty of God, he would have established the kingdom of God on earth at that time.
Israel and Judaism, however, did not fulfill their responsibility. Jesus was not accepted as the Messiah, and finally was crucified on the cross. Thus, God’s kingdom remained a promise, not a reality. However, Jesus opened the way to spiritual salvation and started Christianity, which is spiritually in the position of the Second Israel.
The early Christians witnessed and taught in Rome, only to encounter terrible persecution. For four hundred years the blood of martyrs was spilled. Their sacrifice atoned for the loss of four thousand years of God’s preparation for the Messiah. The Christians finally triumphed in Rome and Christianity became the state religion. Thus, Rome came to occupy the position of the Second Israel physically and received the blessing of God.
At that time God expected the papacy and empire to completely unite and unselfishly build the unified world left unaccomplished at the time of Jesus. However, the papacy also did not realize the significance of its mission and often used its power for its own glory. There was abuse and corruption within the church and it departed from the Will and expectation of God. The dignity of the papacy fell.
In reaction, a thousand years later, humanism arose, and Protestantism called for reformation of the Catholic Church. Instead of heeding the call, the papacy and Catholic princes unleashed persecution against the reformers.
During that period, it was no coincidence that Henry VIII, king of England, also revolted against Roman Catholicism. He enacted new laws through Parliament and founded the Church of England. This was actually a golden opportunity for Great Britain to join the Protestant movement of Europe and bring about a new hope for the advancement of God’s Will.
At that time, the British Empire began its path to become the greatest power in the world, inspiring the famous saying, “The sun never sets on the British Empire.” This extraordinary blessing was not for England but for the advancement of God’s kingdom. If Britain had understood God’s Will, it would have supported the Puritans and other reforming movements and tackled the God-given task of world restoration. Through accomplishing that, Britain could actually have built a United Kingdom of God, transcending all national barriers.
However, Britain persecuted the Puritans and was apathetic toward the reforming spirit. The persecuted people had to look for a land of hope. They were united by a common destiny. Transcending race and national barriers and fleeing persecution, they came to the New World, the American continent. Here they established an independent Protestant nation. This is the providential background behind the birth of America.
Today, America and Christianity together must take up the sacred task of world restoration. America must unite the cultures of the West and the East, as well as the Middle East, and create one great, unified culture, ultimately fulfilling the mission of establishing the kingdom of God on earth.
America should shoulder its providential responsibility
Judaism was God’s first central religion, and Christianity was the second. The Unification Church is the third, coming with a new expression of truth that will fulfill the final chapter of God’s providence. These central religions must unite in America and reach out to unite the religions of the world.
Judaism, centered on the Old Testament, was the first work of God and is in an eldest brother’s position. Christianity, centered on the New Testament, is in the position of the second brother. The Unification Church, through which God has given a new expression of truth, the Completed Testament, is in the position of the youngest brother.
These three religions are indeed three brothers in the providence of God. Then Israel, the United States and Korea, the nations where these three religions are based, must also be brothers. Because these three nations have a common destiny representing God’s side, the communist bloc as Satan’s representative is trying to isolate and destroy them at the United Nations.
Therefore, these three brother nations must join hands in a unified effort to restore the United Nations to its original purpose and function. They must contribute internally to the unification of the world’s religions and externally to the unification of the world itself.
One World under God is the unchanging, eternal and absolute desire of God. This goal will be realized. Yet, in order to accomplish this goal, the unity of religions is the foremost task. When all people worship one God as their Father, accept one Messiah and uphold Godism, an absolutely God-centered way of life, then the dwelling of God will be with humanity. It will be only a matter of time to see the kingdom of God here on earth.
The United States of America, transcending race and nationality, is already a model of the unified world. The people of the United States must realize that the abundant blessings God has been pouring upon this land are not just for America but for all human beings throughout the world. Upon the foundation of world Christianity, America must exercise its responsibility as a world leader and the chosen nation of God.
Israel did not meet the expectation of God, nor did Rome, nor did Great Britain. Now what about America?
To inspire America to avoid the same mistakes, to inspire America to sacrifice herself for the sake of the world, to inspire America to work toward One World under God, God summoned me to this country to proclaim God’s new revelation. And in particular, God called me to lead the young people of America, the leaders of tomorrow, back to God.
Today, America is plagued with problems: racism, juvenile delinquency and immorality. Christianity is declining. Communism is rising. The menace of communism is everywhere. Of all these problems, atheistic communism is the worst. It is not just America’s problem; it is the problem of religious people and the problem of God Himself.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this crossroads of human history, we must listen to the call of God. God prepared America for two hundred years. This is the time for awakening. America must accept its global responsibility. Armed with Godism, America has to free the communist world, and at last build the kingdom of God here on earth. God has chosen America as the flag bearer. America must rise up today. Tomorrow may be too late.
I not only respect America but I also truly love this nation. I respect and love the United States as a great nation, as a godly nation and as the central nation in God’s providence. America is now at the threshold of its third century. America must not disappoint God. Today let us pledge to God Almighty that we shall do His Will. We shall never let Him down. Never!
Today in this holy place, let us together lay the cornerstone of the kingdom of God on earth. Let us all join together as the coworkers of God. Let us be the pioneers of His kingdom.
My dear brothers and sisters who long for unity; this is the place of commitment, the moment of decision. If you are willing to give your sweat, your blood and your very lives to the call of God, then in this sacred moment before heaven and earth and before all the people of the world, let us shout it out. We know we can build the kingdom of God here on earth, in His power and with our own hands.
May God bless you and your homes, and forevermore may God bless America.
Thank you very much.
FFWPU, USA