Raising the Youth to Carry On the Legacy
At the Clifton Family Church last Sunday, Dr. Ki-Hoon Kim described the role of the future generations as the world’s hope, and how young people can inherit the spirit and conviction of their parents and True Parents to bring this world back to God. He reminds us of the tremendous gift True Parents are to our world and what it will take to move their work forward. As we prepare for the National Memorial Service for the second anniversary of True Father’s Seonghwa, these words can guide us to receive a full perspective of True Parents’ great legacy.
Last weekend I was in the Washington, D.C. area, and during my visit I was scheduled to meet the local youth leaders and youth pastors. I was expecting five to ten people at most. When I arrived at the restaurant where our meeting was to take place, about 30 young people were waiting by the entrance. I was wondering who those young people were, but when I went inside the restaurant, I was shocked to see that all of them had followed me and were sitting down at my table. All of those young people were taking leadership positions. That’s wonderful. Because of the rise of young people to positions of responsibility and leadership, I feel hope for this country. Let us give them a round of applause!
Raising the youth—that is our mission
Before I left Korea yesterday morning, I had one last meeting with True Mother. She reminded me, “Dr. Kim, do you know what your mission in America is?” I didn’t say a word. Then True Mother told me, “Raising the youth—that is your mission.” Since True Father’s Seonghwa (Ascension), True Mother has invested her whole heart for the sake of the church—for the sake of future generations. This is an amazing investment, and I am seeing miracles around our nation and worldwide. Let’s give True Mother a big hand!
We need to understand that these future generations are the great hope for this country and the world. True Mother will be coming to Las Vegas this winter, and originally she planned to have a 40-day outreach campaign there with young people. She wanted to bring 300 young people and youth pastors to Las Vegas from Japan, Korea and Europe to train them. This 40-day campaign will be shortened to two weeks in order to accommodate the winter break for college students. They will start in Las Vegas with training from True Mother and her staff and then they will be sent to some major cities to do reach out to people on the streets. Even though they may not have good outreach techniques or speak English well, True Mother wants to train them. Many young people don’t have the benefit of personal experiences with True Parents that their parents did.
Has anyone been to the Aloha Workshop in Hawaii? Those young people had never had that kind of experience with True Mother before. After attending the workshop, one young woman from the Washington, D.C. area said, “I’ve known True Mother through my parents, but I’ve never experienced True Mother personally like I did during the two weeks at the Aloha Workshop in Kona.” Once they meet True Mother, they can understand the value of True Parents immediately.
A very clear message
Today there are many ideas that can confuse us. What is our responsibility as owners of Cheon Il Guk (the Ideal Heavenly Kingdom of Eternal Peace)? In the Bible we can read, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son.” [John 3:16-18, Common English Bible]. This is a warning from God.
When Heavenly Parent created Adam and Eve, He told them: “Believe in me only. Don’t eat this fruit. If you eat this fruit, your life will end.” God’s message was very clear. Our beloved Heavenly Parent gives each of us very clear and kind guidance as to what to do. God told us very clearly: “When you are faced with this fruit, don’t eat it.” When God sent His only begotten son 2,000 years ago, He told us very clearly: “Believe in him.” We received a very clear message.
But we often have our own ideas, our own desires to follow our own will.
Yes, you have gone through many challenges as men and women and children of the Unification faith, and I went through the same challenges. Still I am trying to move forward centering on True Parents’ way of thinking and lifestyle. So I’m not really worried about what anyone else says, besides True Parents. Already True Parents have given us very clear answers to everything.
These days many people are confused. We have forgotten who True Parents are. If we believe in True Father as the Second Coming of the Messiah, which we have learned so often through the Divine Principle and True Parents’ words, we don’t have to worry about anything. We need only to unite with him and try to move forward centering on True Parents.
Some people say, “Oh, I believe in True Father, but not True Mother.” That’s nonsense. It’s ridiculous. Two thousand years ago the only begotten son needed only one more thing in his life: the Holy Spirit in the position of True Mother. That’s why True Father as the only begotten son could not have fulfilled his mission without the only begotten daughter; they could not be the True Parents without eachother. There must be a Father and a Mother. We must understand this very clearly. Even though we have the Divine Principle, some people don’t stick to its teachings when circumstances change. Some people like to compromise and then walk away from the Divine Principle.
When we become lost, we must return to our origin and rediscover our motivation. Then we can start again. Otherwise we will be confused. Recently, at the second Universal Seonghwa Anniversary commemorating True Father, I was surprised when I entered the Cheongshim Peace World Center and saw a big banner that said, “Forgive, Love and Unite.” It was amazing that this was the theme of the True Father’s second Seonghwa anniversary. However, I don’t think True Father gave that message only to Richard Nixon, the former U.S. president, but to all the American people and to people around the world. We call our True Parents the Peace King and Queen because they practice forgiveness and have tried to live their whole life for the sake of others.
Keeping the faith
On February 12, 1965, True Father arrived in San Francisco. That first time that True Father stepped on American soil, he had a purpose in mind for the sake of this country, for the sake of the world, for the sake of God’s providence. He connected this land and claimed it as God’s land. That was his purpose: connecting God’s soil and rock and God’s love like a bond.
We all remember why we are here and how we got here. We went through a lot of hardship, but the young people inherited not only their parents’ spirit but also True Parents’ spirit. So what I’d like to talk about today is God’s new providence.
The subject of Cheon Il Guk is neither God nor True Parents. The subject of Cheon Il Guk is you, a blessed central family. This is the way of True Parents, who wait to see this foundation. True Parents don’t want you just to follow them and God’s way. You should inherit their lifestyle 100 percent and be like True Parents. This is the ideal of True Parents and the Second Coming of the Messiah.
There are four elements to the perfect world: love, joy, peace and happiness. When you create these four elements in your family, this is a small Cheon Il Guk, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. So don’t wait for Cheon Il Guk. Don’t look for it somewhere else. You are the owner of Cheon Il Guk. You must build this Cheon Il Guk, rather than wait for somebody else to build it. Where? In your family.
Many times we misunderstand. Don’t think in a very complicated way. Think in a very simple way. I am the owner of Cheon Il Guk; I must build Cheon Il Guk in my family.
True Father showed us in his messages how to build an ideal family for the sake of the world. True Parents gave us the Marriage Blessing not for the sake of our own family. If we think that way, we will suffer a lot. True Parents were very clear: They gave the Marriage Blessing for the sake of God. For God’s sake we were blessed in marriage by True Parents.
God’s providence over the last 6,000 years has shown us a lot of lessons. One good example was centered on Moses, Joshua and Caleb. In order to build the kingdom of Israel after God promised them, “I prepared for you” the land of Canaan, God told the Israelites to kill the seven tribes of Canaanites. God told them that if they did that, they would receive the land that God had prepared for them.
So the second generation and third generation entered Canaan and they tried to settle down. God told them to kill all the Canaanites. But they didn’t. If they had not killed them, at least they should have brought the Canaanites to embrace their God. Instead they became like Canaanites. And Joshua, the leader of the Israelites, felt urgently, “We must go back to God’s side and not bow to the god of the Canaanites!” At age 85, Joshua called an urgent meeting of all the Israelite leaders and urged them to repent and to return to God. The leaders all told Joshua, “Yes, we will change.” But they didn’t change, and God’s providence for Canaan failed.
The first generation of Israelites experienced suffering in Egypt and then the wilderness course. They experienced directly that God was leading them and protecting them. But the second and third generations never had those experiences with God. They forgot who God is, and it was easy for them to adopt the customs of Canaan. This is exactly what we are facing in America.
Think about 240 years ago. The American Founding Fathers were very clear; they knew they had come here to build God’s nation. Also the early Christians were persecuted by the Roman Empire, but because they were very clear, being centered on Jesus Christ, they had no fear of lions or any life-or-death situation. The spirit of the early Christians in the first century after Jesus gave Christianity its power over the past 2,000 years. Finally, after 400 years of persecution, the Christians could claim victory as Christianity became the state religion of Rome.
We can see four points that explain the victory of the Christians. The first point is that the early Christian disciples, whom we call the apostles, all experienced the Pentecost, as we all know. This really changed their spirit. What is the first thing that they all believed after experiencing Pentecost? Jesus Christ is our savior. Because of this strong belief they kept their faith in Jesus. Secondly, through the experience of Pentecost they felt the suffering of God. We know that God suffers because we heard it a lot from True Father’s message and even True Mother’s message. But through the Pentecost the first Christians always felt Heavenly Parent with them in their heart and in their home. Thirdly, they kept purity. They remained pure for the sake of their family, their community, their church and for the sake of others. And the fourth point we have to understand is that the early Christians loved one another. They really dedicated themselves to live for the sake of others and to love others.
Our early Unification Church members had all these four points. No matter what persecution came to us, we believed in True Father, True Mother as our savior. We were very clear. Even with a small membership, we were very clear about this point. And we practiced love for one another. That’s why we call Unificationists “family members.” Even if you are single, all of you are family members. The Korean word Shikku, “We eat together, we sleep in the same house.” These are great lessons. So the question is: how can we rebuild our church community and how can we bring and raise these young Unificationists? First, above all, we must believe that True Parents are the Messiah and Savior. True Father and True Mother.
Thank you and God bless you all.