God’s Plan for America

The following is a speech given by Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon given in the House Caucus Room of the United States Congress on December 18, 1975.

Honorable Members of Congress, Distinguished Guests, Ladies, and Gentlemen:

It is indeed a great honor to come to speak to you today in this beautiful setting of the House Caucus Room of the United States Congress. This is the second occa­sion for me to be invited to address the distinguished members of Congress. My first occasion came on October 8, 1974. Now, fourteen months later again, I have this honor.

During the last fourteen months, I have become an increasingly controversial figure for the mass media and have made headlines in the newspapers throughout the country. Some magazines have even had cover stories on my movement, and have put pictures of me on the covers of their magazines. I am flattered that some of the pic­tures were even more handsome than I am and that although I am not paying one penny for advertising, they are making me very famous. I do not know how to thank them properly.

The focal point of controversy with the media is the claim that I am brainwashing American youth. In view of this, may I ask one question to this audience of distin­guished American ladies and gentlemen?

Are Americans really that foolish? Can they really be brainwashed by Rev. Moon, a Korean? I know your an­swer is no. My answer is no, too. No American is so foolish. I respect Americans very much, and I am sur­prised at such accusations.

Today, however, I did not come here to defend my­self. I came to speak what God has asked me to speak. As for the rest, I will let history be the judge. I would like to share with you the topic, “God’s Plan for America.”

In order for us to understand God’s plan, we must first understand the original will of God.

God is eternal, unchanging, unique, and absolute. If those are the qualities of God, then God’s original will must also be eternal, unchanging, unique, and absolute. When God created man, He had a definite purpose and ideal for the world. This ideal world was a unified world of love. God was to be the Father of that world and men were to live as brothers and sisters in a unified world of one culture. That world was supposed to be one family of man.

God originally planned one world of unification. Therefore, today unification is our goal, and it is the most important and the most difficult task of mankind.

Unification must be achieved on all levels, between the mind and body, between different families, different peoples, and different nations, between the Orient and the Occident, and between God and man. In other words, when God fulfills His purpose of creation, we will find one unified world where the ideal of creation is realized.

We can easily see, however, that today’s world of reality is far from being the ideal world of God. Consequently, we must recognize that there is something fundamentally wrong with our world. What is it?

Quite simply, our world does not manifest God’s original blueprint. This is due to the fall of Adam and Eve which brought about the separation between mind and body, between families, tribes, and nations, between the Orient and the Occident, and ultimately the separa­tion between God and man. This fall resulted in our divided and disharmonious world.

Fallen man can be compared to a patient who has lost his original health. Just as a patient needs a cure, fallen man needs salvation. And just as a patient needs a doctor to restore his lost health, fallen mankind needs a Savior to restore him back to God’s original blueprint. In this sense, salvation is equal in meaning to restoration, and the person who comes as the doctor to mankind is the Messiah.

Next, we need to understand what God has to do in order to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, and what the Messiah wanted to accomplish when He came.

The first thing God needs is the establishment of a central religion, and the second is a chosen nation. In other words, it is God’s pattern to prepare these two elements, a central religion and a chosen nation, to re­ceive the coming Messiah. Only upon such a foundation can God send the Messiah, and only upon this foundation can the Messiah fulfill the providence of restoration of the entire world.

According to this pattern, God first chose Judaism as the central religion and Israel as the chosen nation. Their mission was to serve as a foundation to receive the Mes­siah and to consummate with Him the salvation of the world, regardless of the sacrifice.

To fulfill this formula, God worked very hard for the four thousand Biblical years prior to the coming of the Messiah. Through Judaism, which He inspired, God nurtured and disciplined the Israel people. The whole scheme of God was to have the foundation ready for the Advent of the Messiah. The Messiah is the one who is to consummate human history once and for all. He comes to realize at that time one ideal world, which is the ful­fillment of God’s will and of the longing of the people.

However, what actually happened two thousand years ago when the Messiah came? That goal was not realized. Judaism and the chosen people were caught up thinking about the glory that the Messiah might bring to them by conquering the world. They did not realize that God’s supreme will is world salvation; they thought only of themselves. We can clearly see their differences of aim. God and the Messiah had set their eyes on the world, but the Israelites looked only to themselves.

When Jesus Christ, the Messiah, took the initiative and moved towards the goal of world salvation, and tried to lead the synagogues and people in this revolutionary direction, the chosen people of Israel and Judaism adamantly rejected Jesus’ leadership, and finally had Him nailed to the cross. Thus the will of God failed to be fulfilled. Consequently, the Israel people who failed to respond to God’s will lost their nation and have faced a tragic destiny.

Thus Christianity also lost the foundation of the chosen nation and had to seek a new land elsewhere. The Christians set their eyes on Rome and marched to Rome despite untold persecution and numerous martyrdoms. At this point, we can learn one important lesson: When the chosen religion and people fail their mission, God must abandon them, and establish a new central religion and pick another chosen nation to form the new foundation for the providence. Christianity succeeded to the mission of Judaism, and the Roman Empire suc­ceeded to the mission of Israel. In order to pay indemnity for the failure of Judaism and Israel which God had prepared for 4,000 years, Christianity had to struggle under incredible hardship for its initial 400 years. Finally, however, it prevailed and became the state religion of the Roman Empire.

At that time, God expected the Roman Empire to become completely one with the papacy and to uphold the goal of world salvation. If the papacy had clearly known the will of God, united with Rome, and advanced towards world salvation, with the willingness to undergo any sacrifice, even the cross, they would surely have achieved the goal.

However, the papacy fell prey to the same self­ centeredness which destroyed Judaism. The papacy exercised its power for its own selfish glory. This was precisely opposite to the will of God. So God abandoned the papacy as the mainstream of His will, and this re­sulted in the Medieval Dark Ages. The dignity of the papacy had fallen and later was further weakened by the rise of humanism.

Nevertheless, God’s will continues to march on. God needed a new champion, a new form of central religion to succeed in the mission. Protestantism arose by the will of God, to further pursue the goal of world salvation. It is not a coincidence that during that period Henry VIII, King of England, revolted against Roman Catholicism and, in order to justify his divorce, enacted a new law through the parliament, thereby founding the Anglican Church.

This was a golden opportunity for Great Britain to embrace the Protestantism which was spreading throughout Europe. If Henry VIII had repented for his sins and allowed himself to be the instrument of God, and if he had worked towards unity between his new church and the nation, he could have fulfilled the age-old dream of God’s world salvation because after having lost hope in the Roman Empire, God had prepared the British Em­pire as a new possible champion for the world salvation. For this reason, the British Empire was given extraordi­nary blessing, and in less than 400 years, the small island nation expanded its influence throughout all five oceans and six continents, and became the greatest nation of the world, inspiring the saying: “The sun never sets on the British Empire.”

The abundant blessing poured upon the British Empire was not for the sake of the British people alone. It was not even the British people’s own doing; rather, it was due to the intervention of God, who purposely made the British Empire great. God’s sole hope was that the British Empire take up the role of His champion for world salvation. In England, an idealistic religious movement sprang up. The Puritans dreamed of an ideal nation. If they, together with the Protestants, had united with the British Empire, they could have brought forth the literal “United Kingdom,” a kingdom transcending all national barriers.

However, the British Empire did not comprehend the divine call; furthermore, the people took the abundant blessings solely for themselves. Instead of pursuing God’s dream of world salvation, they persecuted the Puritans and drained the wealth of their many colonies. This grieved God’s heart beyond description. At that time, the persecuted Puritans, undergoing untold dif­ficulties, desperately sought a new Canaan where they could enjoy religious freedom. That new Canaan, the land of new hope for them was the American continent. Many decided to cross the Atlantic Ocean, to risk their lives in order to go to the new world. Their sole desire was to have freedom of religion and they were solely dependent on God. Today they are known in American history as the Pilgrim Fathers.

Most important, however, is that along with the Pil­grims the blessing of God also shifted to America. Her cosmopolitan people, heavily influenced by Protestan­tism, conceived and formed a nation. In order to safeguard their freedom of religion, they declared inde­pendence, fought against the British Empire, and won the victory. The birth of this varied nation centered on Protestantism was the origin of America.

We must understand that America was formed to be the new flag-bearer of God’s will, to move towards world salvation through cooperation between religion and state. America’s mission is abundantly clear. It is to fulfill the desire that God has had since the beginning, to make this world one world of God, a world in which His ideal will blossom. It is not by accident that America’s founding spirit is described in the motto, “One nation under God.” This was already destined in the will of God.

Thus Christianity and the United States together are supposed to take on the respective missions of Judaism and Israel. By fulfilling God’s expectation, America is going to consummate God’s will and lead God’s 6,000 years of Biblical history on to final victory.

In other words, America has been chosen as the nation to receive the Messiah for ultimate world salvation in our century. America’s 200-year history has served as indemnity to pay for the 2,000 years of history since the crucifixion of Christ. In these short 200 years America has been given extraordinary blessings spiritually as well as materially and has grown to be the mightiest nation on earth. Now America is in the position of the second Israel. Christianity and the United States together can fulfill God’s will and create one unified world with all the nations joined into one.

The American people must realize that God’s bless­ings have not been poured on America for her own selfish purposes. These blessings are for the sake of the world. Americans must realize that this great nation was conceived and caused to flourish in order to serve man­kind. America must accept the challenge of God and spearhead the task of the salvation of all mankind, re­gardless of the cost and sacrifice.

America must not repeat the failures of Israel, the Roman Empire, and the British Empire. America must become a new example of success, not repeat the failures. America’s cosmopolitan character is a great advantage because through her unity America can serve as the model for God’s Kingdom on the world-wide scale. His­ tory has never seen a nation like America where the five different colors of skin are united into one brotherhood. There was a great possibility of division here in America because so many different cultures were rubbing against each other here, but with God’s help, America has not only remained united but has prospered as well. America must be wise enough to read the meaning be­ hind her blessings.

America today has truly achieved the pinnacle of civilization both spiritually and materially and has qual­ified herself to be God’s representative. Remember, the first Israel longed for the Messiah. By the same token, America must be longing for the Messiah to come again and consummate with Him the unified world in which God’s ideal of creation is realized.

It was God who led the Allies to victory in the First and Second World Wars, and it was God who inspired the United States to organize the United Nations. Originally, the United Nations was intended to be a prelude to a world government centered upon the Christian ideology. The inclusion of Communist states was absolutely not God’s will.

America committed many mistakes in her postwar management of international relationships. After the victory of World War II, God expected America to further strengthen her leadership of the Allies and to safeguard and manage the defeated countries and their protectorates. If America had clearly learned God’s de­sire, she would never have yielded anything to the Soviet Union, the chief of the Satanic world. America would have strengthened the unity between the free nations and moved closer to culminating the restoration of the world to God. On the contrary, however, America knowingly or unknowingly gave up many helpless nations in Asia, permitted the Communists to claim Eastern Europe as satellites, and allowed Korea and Germany to be divi­ded.

Through the victory of World War II, God meant to expand His influence. In order to win that victory, God and His camp paid a tremendous price through the blood of many young people, but that costly sacrifice almost became vain when so much benefit was turned over to the communists who deny God. The blood of these precious American youths who were sacrificed is crying out from the ground.

Furthermore, when America retreated from com­mitments to safeguard free nations such as Vietnam and allowed them to be victimized, America’s credibility fell to an all-time low. The cries of accusation are getting louder and louder. The United Nations has lost its origi­nal function and it has unfortunately become an arena for Communist propaganda. Israel, the United States, and Korea are being pushed further and further into the corner. We increasingly reap only shameful embarrassment.

But, that is not all. America has been plagued by domestic problems that are becoming more serious every day. The racial problem is one, the drug problem another, juvenile delinquency, dissolution of the family, ever-increasing crime, and not one of them is easy to solve. The most vicious of all, however, is the problem of Communism. Because Communism is a God-denying ideology, the churches who believe in God should spearhead a movement of victory over Communism. But the churches are declining sadly and in some cases sen­ingonly as senior citizens’ homes.

Families, nations, and the whole world are all based on an extremely individualistic outlook of life and are moving further towards selfishness. I am afraid that America may be hastening the day of judgment. I know that if America continues along the present road of apathy and complacency, God may leave America, and when God leaves America, His blessings will also leave, and only misery will remain behind. There are many signs of such a possibility if we look carefully at our painful reality. A new awakening must come to America on all levels, particularly among the leadership to which you members of Congress belong.

Let us re-examine whether God is dwelling in our hearts. How about in our homes, in our nation? Is God dwelling in the White House? There is even great con­cern over whether God is still in our churches. Without God nothing flourishes. No unity at any level can be achieved. God serves as the cement. Unity between mind and body, husband and wife, different families, peoples, and nations, between the East and the West, and fur­thermore, between Heaven and earth and between God and man will bring forth one world of God. Most impor­tant, once God becomes real in our lives, soon there will be no trace of Communism. When the sun rises, the darkness automatically passes away. With God every­ thing is possible; no problem is too big. Without God, however, our problem is beyond our reach.

Once we know this principle, we must realize that our urgent task today is to reach out to God at any cost, and America must reach out to the world for its salvation, even at the price of sacrificing America herself. America must wake up. Her people must unite and launch the unifying movement of God and achieve the unification of Christianity and of all religions. Right now there must come a fresh spiritual revolution to ignite a new fervor in Christianity, in national spirit, and to pursue a higher vision of the world. This must happen in America.

Yet if we examine today’s Christian churches, there is little hope that they can ignite a spiritual revolution. We need a new ideal, new leadership which will educate and inspire all people into spiritual rearmament. The present ideal of democracy is not strong enough. A new ideological movement is absolutely necessary. That new move­ment must be centered upon the truth and love of God; that new movement must have the power to overcome Communism. We are now eye witnessing the formation of such a movement. We are now the eyewitnesses to a fresh electrifying spiritual movement in which  American youth are joined together pouring their energy towards the new horizon of world salvation. That movement is none other than the Unification Church movement.

The Unification Church movement has a philoso­phy, an ideal, and a plan of action. It manifests clearly God’s plan for America. Its philosophy is large enough to embrace and unite the material civilization of the West and the spiritual civilization of the East, and it has the capacity to create one unified culture of the world. It projects the hope of realizing the ideal world in which God’s purpose of creation is fulfilled here on earth.

As with everything, the ideal world must have an initial starting point. In the divine will, Korea, the final bastion of the free world in Asia, is now serving as a link to bring harmony between the civilizations of the East and West. Korea will be the ignition point of God’s final dis­pensation. Therefore, according to the will of God, the United States must safeguard Korea, not for Korea’s sake nor for the United States sake, but for the sake of creating the world of unity, harmony, and peace.

While America is lying complacently without realizing the many dimensions of her historical mission and retreat­ing into herself in a shortsighted goal, there must come a messenger of God to send as her alarm and inspiration. May I humbly testify that God has sent me in the role of an alarm and inspiration to America.

To conclude, the supreme test of America in the will of God is at hand. First, America must avoid the failures of Israel, the Roman Empire, and the British Empire as God’s chosen champion, and second, America must return to the founding spirit of the nation and rise up as God’s instrument to save the world. Through a dose cooperation between religion and state, America must accept the challenge to become the co-worker of God in His Kingdom-building here on earth. America must be willing to sacrifice for God’s purpose. She must rush forward as God’s flag-bearer. When America does this, her prosperity will be eternal. When America fulfills God’s will, His blessings upon her will increase forevermore.

The unified world of God’s ideal, or the Kingdom of God, which He proclaimed in the beginning, shall, by all means, be accomplished here on earth. Today I hope you and I have laid the first cornerstone. May God bless you, your home, and your work. Above all, may God bless America.

Thank you very much.