Love Unconditionally

I suppose you have heard about Father’s life from many different sources. Before Father went to Hung Nam Prison the spiritualists who were receiving revelations at that time, received a revelation that within three years Father would appear as the Messiah to the world. Father himself also believed this.

But when I think about this, I recall that after three years Father had to go to prison. Even though these spiritualists received revelations that within three years Father would appear in the world as a Messiah, in reality Father went to prison. Because of this they started to doubt the revelations. Those spiritualists who could not understand this situation began to leave our church. It was a very difficult challenge for them. It would have been easier if they had been told all the details of what would happen to Father, but they did not receive such clear details from the spirit world.

One spiritualist, one of those who followed Father until the end, asked God with deep prayer why Father had to go to prison. She received the following answer a few days after Father had gone to prison: “If Father had not one to prison Christianity and Communism together would have destroyed him. So for this reason I had to protect him. I put Father into prison in order to protect him, because the prison was safer at that time.” God promised to give great blessings to Father, but in fact he was put into prison. When the order was given that Father had to enter prison, God had already given Father the revelation that a young man was waiting for him there.

Even though Father had to go a different way to what God had promised, he always wondered what blessing would be waiting for him after this trial. When he thought like this, he could overcome the difficulties with gratitude and even comfort God.

As you know, Father had the duty to fulfill the missions which all central figures in history could not fulfill. Let us take the example of Adam. Having invested all His heart, God created Adam and promised him three blessings. On the other hand, Adam could not keep his promise to God and finally betrayed Him, thus causing God to suffer. However, God did not change His heart of love for Adam. God still kept His promise to Adam, continually loving him and caring for him, hoping that he would one day return to Him. Because of God’s un-changing heart it was possible to have a second Adam and a third Adam.

Father has always loved God and remained loyal to Him, but God had to betray Father. This had to happen from the principled point of view. Don’t you think so? First of all, Adam betrayed God. In order to indemnify this situation, Father had to keep his loyalty to God, while God had to be in a position to betray Father. In this way Father could indemnify the failure of the first Adam. Even though God did not keep His promise to Father, as the third Adam Father had to remain faithful to God. So even though Father was

betrayed, even though he received something other than what was promised, he still remained faithful to God. Not only this, he also comforted God. So, although he confronted so many difficulties in prison Father could overcome them one by one.

Father’s life in prison was like God’s situation. God continually loved and cared for mankind, but man deserted God in spite of this. However, God always kept an unchanging heart of love for man.

Many members promised to be faithful to Father, saying, “Even though I may grow old and my hair turn white, I will never change my loyalty to you and God. I will follow you until I die”. The members who promised to be faithful in such a way also left Father when he was in prison. In spite of this, Father continued to love them and prayed for them every day, three times a day. After being released from prison Father visited them one by one to tell them he had returned.

Father sometimes told us about how miserable it was in prison. When Father left prison he had some rice powder which he had kept from his time in prison. For Father, this rice powder had great value. It was truly precious, because even though Father was so hungry he had not eaten the rice powder himself, but had kept it. After being released from Hung Nam he went to Pyung Yang which took him ten days by foot. He had to climb mountain paths and follow a rugged trail to get to Pyung Yang. Nevertheless, Father kept this rice powder. It was wintertime and getting very cold. The war was still going on, therefore Father had to follow the mountain paths.

He didn’t meet anybody along the way. Even when he came across a house, it was empty. The people had already escaped. They left nothing behind, especially no food. As I already mentioned, in this sad wartime situation there were no shops open where he could buy something. Under these circumstances Father walked for ten days with nothing to eat. He came across a farmhouse, but found only rotten and frozen potatoes which he ate in order to survive.

When he finally arrived in Pyung Yang he gathered the remaining members together and made rice cakes for us out of the rice powder he had brought with him from prison. Actually, this rice powder was more important than life itself. It was so precious! At that time Father was so incredibly hungry, he surely remembered that he had rice powder with him, but he wanted to give this rice powder to the members as a present. Thus Father endured his own hunger so that he could offer this rice powder to the members as a present.

As Father shared the rice powder he told us that while he was in prison, whenever a public holiday came he would make rice cakes from this powder to share with his fellow prison mates. He celebrated holidays in this way. Therefore Father gave us something more precious than his own life. Not only this, but afterwards Father went to visit all the members one by one.

Father thought about the situation as follows: “If I had not gone to prison these members would not have left me and the church, they would not have broken their promise or betrayed me. The reason they left was because I went to prison. Therefore, now that I am back it is my responsibility to tell them all that I have returned.” However, in our case when people don’t keep their promise to us we usually complain. Not only this, but if they betray us we often cut the relationship, or betray them in return. We often separate from each other in this way. But Father is different.

Father explained to us that when somebody joins our church he makes a good condition before God. This good condition still remains. Ever since this person was born he made many conditions before God, which still remain. Not only this, but before he was born this person’s ancestors made many good conditions, too. The ancestors’ merit and good conditions made by the person himself accumulate, but if the person later betrays God or leaves the church, or even persecutes Father, all the accumulated merit will be used up bit by bit. However, if accumulated goodness still remains, this person will still belong to God. So, if we cut from this goodness it is like cutting off from God, because this belongs to God. This means that Father cannot cut from this accumulated goodness.

If a person leaves the church and persecutes Father, he or she accumulates bad conditions. When these build up and become greater than the good conditions, or when all the merit is used up so that nothing remains, then Father can cut from this person. In this situation Father can choose whether to cut from them or not. Both are possible. But even in such situations Father always keeps his love for this person. So, following Father’s example we should do the same. Even if somebody leaves the church we shouldn’t cut from him, because the accumulated merit is still there. This person served God, so the merit is still there.

So, as long as this merit remains, we should not cut from this person. Father always cared for us and loved us in this way.

Maybe you remember that I spoke about some Holy Songs that were composed by a member who later left the church. Father never told us to remove these songs from the book. He kept these songs and loved

them even more than the person who wrote them. So, if a member left tie church, since Father has unchanging love for him, even when the member changed, based on Father’s unconditional love another person came to Father. When the new person joined, he was even better than the one who left. If Father loves and serves a person and he responds, that is easy. It is easy to love the people who follow you faithfully. This is not difficult.

But which has greater value, to serve the person who follows you faithfully, or serve the person who doesn’t listen to you, or doesn’t follow you? Which service has greater value? Imagine somebody followed you faithfully and you served them. This person would respond and then you would serve them again on this foundation. You would offer your heart of service for this person. Let’s say this person then betrayed you. Even if this person betrays you, you continue to serve him with an unchanging heart. When you compare these two hearts of service, which one is higher? Of course the second one. Father continues to serve and love the members even if they are no longer there. He keeps this heart of love and service for them. Because of this higher love a person of better quality will come to Father in place of the one that left. Do you follow?

We should learn from Father’s attitude. Even though you may serve somebody, if he leaves, you cannot serve him directly anymore, but if you keep an unchanging heart of love, based on this foundation a better person will come to you. Let’s say you serve somebody and he responds to you, but then one day he betrays you. If you keep the same heart towards him, the value of your love will increase. If you keep this standard of love, your unchanging love will raise him up to meet the same level. If you continue to maintain an unchanging heart of love for this person, he will develop the same kind of love.

So I feel we should be able to see the invisible things, not only the visible things. Because Father kept this unchanging heart even when members left, better people could come in their place to support and protect Father. Such things happened many times. Father once told us that when he kept this kind of attitude the same kind of person joined, but of even better quality than the person that had left.

When Father was released from Hung Nam prison and came to Pyung Yang, his hometown was not so far away, maybe only three days by foot. Nevertheless Father did not go to visit his parents or his brothers and sisters or relatives. Instead, Father visited the members who were following God’s will. So Father loved us more than his parents, his brothers and sisters or his relatives. Father has kept this attitude. Even now he loves us with the same attitude. We should apply this attitude in our relationships with other members and outside people, in fact everybody.

Another point I want to share with you was that Father said that when he speaks to members, his heart is that of a prisoner ready to face execution. He has this kind of heart; so serious! We often think that he is the substantiation of his words, so his heart is like spring. We think it must be easy for Father to speak to us. But Father explained that in reality he feels like a prisoner ready to face execution. He said that giving God’s words is like doing an operation on a very sick person. If you make a mistake you may kill the patient. But on the other hand, if you do the operation well, this person will live forever. This means the patient’s life is in the hands of the doctor. It is a life or death situation. If you make a mistake and somebody dies spiritually, you will have to take responsibility for it, just like in the secular world.

Even a doctor has to take responsibility when a patient dies. In the secular world, if you kill somebody you have to take responsibility for it.

Father stands in the position of the Messiah, a spiritual doctor who deals with eternal life. If he were to make a mistake when operating on somebody, the consequence is that the patient would go to hell. For this reason, as Father explained, he is always deeply serious when he talks to members, just like a prisoner about to face execution. Following Father’s example, when we speak God’s words we have to really consider whether we can give life or cause people to die spiritually. We have to consider this point seriously.

Whenever we give a lecture on Divine Principle, or give a sermon during the Sunday Service, or even when we are talking normally, we must consider this point carefully. This is the reason why Father asked us to pray three times longer than the time we intend to speak.

Let us consider this deeply. We could always manage to speak God’s words, but we didn’t always consider whether we could resurrect the members through this or not. However, from now on let us follow Father’s example and deeply consider this point. Let us reflect upon ourselves and change ourselves. I would like to conclude this morning’s talk with this. Thank you.

Curated by Antonio Ciacciarelli