FOLLOW US
H. Moon: Founder’s Address to Africa Summit and Leadership Conference 2019
Written by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, Co-Founder, UPF International
Friday, June 7, 2019
Address to Africa Summit and Leadership Conference 2019
Thank you very much, beloved leaders attending the African Summit 2019. Respected dignitaries, ladies and gentlemen, we have all gathered here because we believe in God and in particular, that God loves Africa.
Jesus Christ taught us, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” However, when we look back at the 6000-year history of humanity we can see that this history has been filled with war, conflict and division. The confusion that has ensued from all of these conflicts has brought tremendous pain. Following Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, Jesus asked his Christian followers to love others, to practice love. All nations who embraced Christianity strove to practice love, but they did not fully understand the meaning, the value and importance of practicing true love. Today when we look at the world, even nations that are Christian are afflicted by conflict, war and division. The leaders of the world wonder, “What shall we do to solve the problems afflicting society?”
That is why today I wish to speak to you about the Creator, God. I believe that the solutions to humanity’s problems lie in truly understanding God. Christians speak about Jesus but how many fully understand his essence.
God created heaven and earth according to His image. When God created the mineral world and the plant and animal kingdoms, He created everything in pairs, male and female, plus and minus. Lastly God created a man and a woman to become the first human ancestors. To the first human ancestors God gave a responsibility which was to go through a period of growth through which they could learn about God and practice His will. The dream that God harbored was for human beings to become fruitful and resemble Him so that the invisible God, through His beloved children, could become the true parents of all humanity. However, due to the fall of Adam and Eve, due to their excessive greed, God’s original idea was frustrated.
When we look at the history of the fall, the fall brought tremendous pain to Heavenly Parent, but also to humanity. God created the universe for eternity. Because God is love, God had no choice but to begin the painful history of the providence of restoration through indemnity to save fallen human beings. This history of restoration through indemnity was so difficult and painful that it took 4000 years for God to raise the chosen people of Israel and finally send His only begotten son Jesus Christ. Therefore, Mary who gave birth to Jesus, and the Jewish leaders and the Jewish people of the time, had the responsibility to understand who Jesus truly was, the purpose of this advent and the mission that he came to fulfill. Unfortunately, even before Jesus could realize the purpose of his advent, Jesus was persecuted and eventually Jesus had no choice but to walk the path of the cross.
We know through history the tremendous indemnity that had to be paid for Jesus’ crucifixion. God sent Jesus as His beloved son for the first time in 4000 years of history. Jesus came on earth to realize God’s will. However, once again due to the failure of humanity to realize God’s will, a painful history had to begin again. As he hung on the cross, Jesus prophesied that he would come again.
Also crucified with Jesus were two thieves, one on his right and one on his left. The thief to the left of Jesus made fun of Jesus and criticized him, but the thief to the right said, “We are crucified because of our sins but Jesus is innocent; he has no sin.” At that time what did Jesus say? Jesus turned to the thief to his right and said, “You and I shall ascend to paradise today.” I would like to point out that Jesus told the thief, “We will go to paradise.” That is not the Kingdom of Heaven. Originally God the Creator wanted human beings to become fruitful and realize true ideal families so that after their life on earth had ended, human beings would join their family members who had already ascended to the eternal world and that world would be the kingdom of heaven in heaven. Jesus came by himself and ascended by himself without realizing the family, and that is why he prophesied that he would come again.
Following Jesus’s crucifixion, through the Pentecost and the work of the Holy Spirit, the work of the apostles, Christianity expanded throughout the world. In the beginning Christians were tremendously persecuted but in 313 AD, Christianity was finally recognized and expanded throughout the Italian peninsula to the European continent and to the British Isles. Through Britain it expanded to the four corners of the world.
However, the missionaries who came in Jesus’s name did not understand his essence because Jesus teaches us to love your neighbor as yourself. These missionaries went to the world but rather than living for the sake of others, practicing true love and giving to others, they became colonialists who took away from others. This painful culture and history continued; in particular the African continent has suffered tremendously and has had to endure a painful history.
God is love and Jesus also always spoke about love, practicing love. However, colonialists who came with selfish intentions, plundering the colonies for the benefit of their respective nations; this is a fallen humanity.
Jesus prophesied that he would come again. That is why in the Christian cultural realm the returning Lord must come to host the holy wedding of the lamb. What should Christianity look for? God, the Creator, created everything in pairs; He created a man and a woman. 2000 years ago Jesus came as the only begotten son. There was no only begotten daughter and that is why in Christianity the search for the only begotten daughter should have taken place. Because Jesus had been crucified, the only begotten daughter could not come through the people of Israel. That is why Heaven chose and raised up another people. In Asia God chose the Han people and in 1943 in a Christian cultural background the only begotten daughter of God was born.
The birth of the only begotten daughter has been heaven’s long-cherished wish for the past 6000 years. Heaven’s purpose of creation is to realize an ideal world of happiness, and the work of the only begotten daughter is to realize an ideal world of happiness. However, when I was born, Korea was under tremendous difficulties because although the Second World War had ended, Korea was divided once again into the communist North and the democratic South during the Korean War. At that time my hometown was in North Korea and many spiritual groups in Pyongyang believed that the returning Lord would not come in the clouds but that the Messiah would be born in the flesh. Centering on Pyongyang in North Korea there was a strong belief that the returning Messiah would come in the flesh. As a result, the citizens of Pyongyang remained in North Korea. In accordance with God’s purpose of creation, Heaven protected me so that I could grow and reach maturity. However, if I remained in the communist country I could be the target of various attacks; that is why I went to South Korea. Two years after I went to South Korea the Korean War erupted. South Korea by itself did not have the power to defend itself against North Korea’s communist invasion. However, Heaven miraculously mobilized the UN forces and protected democracy in South Korea.
What do you think was the purpose of this miraculous Providence? It was to protect the only begotten daughter born for the first time in 6000 years so that the only begotten daughter could grow and out of her own volition she could uphold heaven’s will. It was a period in which I could grow to maturity and as a result I knew heaven’s will. Although I was still young, in 1960 I ascended to the position of True Parents. Heavenly Parent had waited for 6000 years before the advent of True Parents.
The Christian cultural realm has waited for 2000 years for the True Parents. Christianity did not fully understand the providence. Rather than support the work of True Parents, some Christians severely opposed us and persecuted us. Because True Parents knew heaven’s providence and the wish of Heaven, the love with which Heaven wants to embrace all humanity, True Parents have worked their entire lives to guide humanity to God through the blessing by bringing heaven’s blessings to families worldwide. Next year it will be 60 years since this marriage blessing movement began.
Fallen human beings cannot return to God’s bosom by themselves. Through True Parents, fallen humanity can be born again by receiving the blessing. Heaven has given us such a tremendous, miraculous love. The blessing is a gift of love from heaven. For 60 years all over the world the blessing movement has continued and now in 150 nations around the world the True Family Values movement and the providence of True Parents is expanding beyond religion, race or nationality. Together with True Mother, the only begotten daughter, an incredible providence is advancing. That is the only way to realize the dream of God, one family of humanity under God. All the nations of the world can come together as one family under God, as brothers and sisters who live for the sake of one another, who love one another, who live in peace and harmony. That path is the blessing movement.
I am sure that you who are parents love your children. You want to give boundless love to your beloved children. All parents want their children to prosper. The heart of parents is incredible. No parent calculates how much love they have given their children. No parent ever says, “I’ve given you 100 degrees of love; therefore, you have to repay me a 100 times.” No parent says that. God’s love, the love of True Parents, is to give, give, give and forget that you have given. It is true love, living for the sake of others and giving continuously.
When all of humanity works together with True Parents in unity to realize Heavenly Parent’s dream by become filial children to our Heavenly Parent and walking the path of true children, forming ideal true families, then the problems afflicting today’s world can all be resolved. Then God the Creator’s original ideal can be realized and the earth can be returned to the pristine condition in which God created this earth and we can live a life of the kingdom of heaven on earth. Heaven’s providence is eternal. As human beings we have the limit of the physical body; therefore, let us raise our children in true love so that heaven’s will can be continuously realized and that our children can follow in our footsteps and contribute to the realization of God’s will, one world of true love so that this world can become a model. It is my hope that South Africa and Africa can be the model of the world.
Right now we may be thinking about the present, but we must also think about the past and look to the future. Let us liberate our ancestors through True Parents’ blessing. Furthermore, let us prepare a beautiful future by raising our children according to God’s ways. Let us raise our teenagers. Let us guide them along God’s way so that we do not repeat the history of pain and we can realize God’s eternal ideal. We can realize the purpose for which God created human beings.
Let us fulfill our mission. In particular, your excellencies, heads of state from wonderful nations, I invite you to stand in the position of leaders who can build a beautiful future for our descendants. I invite you to please promote true family values, to promote the blessing in your nations, to promote healthy societies based on healthy families. By upholding the family, we will find a path to solving society’s problems. I invite you all distinguished leaders gathered here to take up this responsibility so that we can realize this mission. Remember that God will always be with you. This is a blessed place. It is written in the Bible that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. When we look at Christian culture, Africa is always considered last. But from the viewpoint of God and True Parents, Africa will be first and you will be the blessed continent.
The more you share happiness and blessings, the greater the blessings and happiness become. This blessing will not just limit itself to Africa. Africa’s blessings will be blessings to the world. Heavenly Parent truly loves this continent, truly loves His beloved sons and daughters in the continent of Africa. God loves Africa. God is grateful for Africa. I hope that Africa can be a blessed continent. Thank you very much.
To go to the Africa Summit and Leadership Conference 2019 Schedule page, click here.