A. FAITH REQUIRES SELF-DENIAL AND REPENTANCE.

In the Last Days, before the coming of the ideal world, the judgment will come. Those who can avoid condemnation are those who have deserted this world. If you have cherished your worldly situation and relationships you cannot avoid condemnation. If you follow the normal flow of the world you will not avoid condemnation.

Those who break away and go the opposite way will avoid it. Otherwise you will not be part of the new beginning which is taught by all religions. "Abandon this world!" "Cut off all relationships!" "Leave the world behind!" "Don't compromise!" "Cut yourself off from the world." "Deny the world and seek a new awareness." To attain this kind of awakening, to open the future and restore the past, religions request believers not to compromise with this world.

Religions teach people to beat their bodies, to hang upside down, to be meek and humble, to sacrifice and serve. That's all they can teach you. Is this kind of education right or wrong? It's right. So the way of faith is the way of obedience, not self-reliance. It is not the way of self-assertion. You must know this. What did I say? The way of life is what? The way of obedience, not self-reliance. There is no alternative. There is no debate.

Why is this so? To deny yourself you have to deny all of history. You have to completely deny it. You have to deny it until it's completely denied! Let me ask you some questions. How good are your fingers? How good are your eyes? How good are your ears? How good are your mind and desire? These are fundamental problems that you have to solve.

What is the most serious problem for going to the heavenly world? I myself, the enemy, am blocking the way. I myself am the enemy. Until now your struggles in your life of faith, your prayer and hard work, are all to gain victory over yourself. That is to win over the victory of Satan's accusation.

I have to deny myself in the name of God. I have to deny myself completely. I need complete denial. If I do so, Satan will not follow me, because all the threads he follows will be cut off. All of you must cut these threads with a sharp knife.

Belief requires what? It requires repentance. Repentance. What kind of repentance? There are historical repentance and present repentance. God wants both. Knowing this you have to be a person who prays, "All the sins of the past are my sins. All the sins of the present are my sins. Oh Father, forgive me."

Jesus Christ came and proclaimed, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." The first thing he said was, "Repent." This seems contradictory, repenting and going into heaven. Don't you think so? This is paradoxical. Man knows he is in a difficult situation, why does he need to repent again? Repentance means to turn around completely. A sinner who does not realize his mistake must repent and turn around completely once he recognizes his sin. That means turn around 180 degrees.

If you do repent, then what happens? You become more determined, don't you? You feel very serious, weeping and wailing and ready to risk your life. You determine never to sin again. There are two different worlds, the world before repentance and the world after repentance. The difference is not 45 degrees. It's 180 degrees different; that means completely opposite. Do you follow me? If there were a world of Satan, it becomes a world of heaven. This is what religion tries to bring about.

There is no ego for those who seek the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. There is only prayer and overcoming. That's all. After you find the Kingdom of Heaven there will be a self, but on the way to the heavenly world it is impossible for the self to exist. The democratic way will not do. Why? Because it insists on the assertion of the self. As far as you assert yourself in that situation, that world belongs to Satan's realm.

On the way of our faith there is no self-assertion or self-concept. Absolute faith means there is no concept of self at all. Isn't that so? If I say I believe absolutely it means there should be no opposition to that within myself. When you say you are united with God, there should be no ego. You have to unite completely with the subject, leaving no trace of self. In the life of faith there is no place for egoism.

A snake cannot grow without shedding its skin. To shed its skin, the snake crawls between narrow rocks. An opposing force is needed to push the old skin off. The force of darkness has soaked through our body and blood. How can we free ourselves from this situation? We cannot follow it. We need wisdom. That means going the opposite way. To be completely free from it, we have to go the complete opposite way.

B. BE SINGLE-MINDED

You have to be absolutely single-minded. What kind of mind do you have? Are you burning with single-mindedness, are you lukewarm, or are you single-minded because you think there is no other choice? Which one are you? You all say you are burning with single-mindedness. You have good mouths. Your ears are precious and your thoughts are precious. What kind of mind do you have? You are burning with single-mindedness, right?

C. BE UNCHANGING

When you think of something precious or valuable, such as diamonds or gold, why do we call these treasures? Why do we need such things? They are the representative material. When you say "treasure" it reminds you of gold and diamonds. People have valued such things in the past, just as they do now and will in the future.

Thinking of this, we know that precious things are unchanging. Why do we need them? They are valuable because they set the criteria of comparison, representing the center. They have special qualities in that they are unchanging, even though the surrounding environment may change. That's the quality of a treasure. It's natural that people want to hold it, possess it and be near it.

From this viewpoint, what kind of people should we be? We are the same. We should not only be unchanging, but we should be more unyielding than diamonds and more beautiful than gold. From this viewpoint, what sort of people were the great people, the saints and sages of history? They were people who had unchanging ideals, unchanging lives and unchanging deeds. Their goals never changed. They all were people with unchanging goals.

According to the Divine Principle, the beginning and the end should be the same. A changing person is an evil person. A changing person will be the prey of Satan. That's the absolute law. A changing person will be the prey of evil. Even if something is good, when its appearance and content change it becomes the prey of Satan. This is Satan's strategy.

In the Bible the amazing thing is that the beginning and the end are related. God says these amazing words: "I am the Alpha and the Omega." Another amazing thing is that God wants to meet us. That's enough; we need no more than that from God. God is the God of salvation for fallen mankind.

Because the way of faith is centered on the mind, all religions teach us to have an unchanging mind. The heart you cherished ten years ago should be the same now. If a religion teaches that the mind should remain unchanged beyond death, that is a true religion.

You cannot complete your life of faith in one morning or one day. It's a lifelong way. Centering on eternity, beyond death, we must keep the same way and the same mind. You must know this clearly. You must be an unchanging pendulum. You must have a core. What kind of core? It is unchanging and eternal. No matter how difficult, sorrowful or painful things are, it is still unchanging.

Even in the animal world there are unchanging animals. What kind? Sheep are unchanging, do you know that? When the owner comes with a knife to cut their throat, they just say, "Maaa." They don't struggle or kick. When the owner shears their wool, they don't move. That's why the sheep was chosen to be an offering. What is next? The cow. What is the cow? The cow lives a life of suffering from birth. Its meat is offered to man; even the bone is offered to man. The cow offers everything to man. Next is the dove. What is the dove? The dove coos for its lost love. It misses its lost love more than any other animal. It misses its first love. Absolute obedience, absolute sacrifice, absolute love. The symbolic offerings representing these things are the sheep, the cow and the dove. Doesn't it seem so?

D. ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE

What will happen in the Last Days? If world Christianity, representing 6,000 years of sorrow and pain, brings victory, the Lord at the Second Advent will have nothing to do with sorrow, pain and misery. But if worldwide Christianity fails to lay that foundation, the coming Lord will endure sorrow, pain and misery for the sake of the believers. This is just like the situation of Jesus Christ, who came to the Jewish people who had been prepared by God. When they failed to carry out their responsibility, Jesus had to taste the bitterness of pain and sorrow. You must know this.

If you are called upon this foundation after the indemnity has been paid, you must obey absolutely. Until when must you absolutely obey? Until God's sovereignty over one nation is restored, and all fallen culture has disappeared. How long should the Israelites have obeyed Moses? They should have obeyed him absolutely until they had eliminated the seven tribes in Canaan. Noah's family too had to obey Noah absolutely. Until when? For three generations; that is, down to his grandchildren.

Do you know why the words, "absolute obedience centered on God", came to exist? Fallen mankind finds these words distasteful, but to God they are very pleasant. You must know this.

So religions tell you to determine your mind, and centered on that determination, to go straight. In order to go straight to the goal you must obey absolutely. No obedience means no success. Obedience will bring success. That's the way it is.

You have to have absolute faith, absolute obedience, and absolute love. These are the three conditions. Absolute what? Absolute faith, absolute obedience and absolute love. \The word "absolute" includes one faith, one obedience and one love.

E. GO STRAIGHT FORWARD WITH YOUR EYES ON GOD

Satan controls the right, the left and behind you. Any of these ways you go Satan will take you away. The only way you can go is forward. To where? The destination is unclear. When you go straight forward, that means move toward the place where God is.

Adam didn't go straight forward. Where did he go? Eve went to the left, Adam went to the right, centered on Satan. Both of them went Satan's way and were separated. Satan called Eve to the left, and called Adam to the right. They listened and they fell, and were destroyed. Satan did this, but according to the Principle of Restoration, what should an angel do? He should say don't go that way, go straight, move straight forward toward God. He would protect their right, left, and back, and roll them on their backs toward God. The battle is being fought on both the left and the right. Good and bad angels are engaged in battle. Lift up your righteous right hand and punch the angels on the right side, and with your left hand, punch the angels on the left side. Kick Satan behind you too. When you walk forward don't stretch out your arms for help. Whenever you stretch out your arms the angels will grab them.

If you stretch out your arms, who will grab them? Satan. You will shake hands with Satan. If Satan and your mother were on your right, if your father were on the left, and your brother were behind you, then when you shake hands with them you will form a ring with them. In the life of faith, you have to reject everything. This is the law of denial. Why do you have to do this? Because by fate we are in the position to escape from Satan's side. So by rejecting everything, we can set a new direction. Do you follow?

You need to take the right attitude in your life of faith. You have to know where you stand. Do you follow? You have to see very clearly. See what? God. Can you see God? God is invisible, so you must look for God in the advanced religions. But you cannot believe in God blindly. God has his blueprint. To build a house you first need a plan, then you have to build a foundation. Upon that foundation you can build the house, and eventually cut the ribbon. You need a plan. To accomplish the Will of God there are plans for every stage.

F. ABSOLUTE FAITH

What was the Fall? The Fall means everything was separated. That's what the enemy did. Satan separated God, Adam and Eve. He separated Eve and Adam and made them enemies. They became unable to communicate with each other. They had no communication centered on God's love. Originally they should have shared their love with heaven. Instead they became enemies. Parents and children became enemies and brothers became enemies. This was the seed of fallen history.

This history is in conflict with God's original love. However, following this contradictory history, God raised up filial people one by one, like a relay. Like a baton passed in a relay, God's love passed from one person to another until they reached the finish line. This has been God's struggle.

Centering on what is the baton handed down? Centering on true love of God. Also, absolute faith is needed to relay the baton. It's impossible to find true love without absolute faith. Unless you believe absolutely, absolute love will not appear. Therefore you have to have absolute faith. Please have absolute faith that "God is my father."

The true life of faith does not come from compromise or in relation to your environment, but from an absolute position. This is inevitable. This absolute position is not a place that everyone likes, or where they can dance. It's an extremely lonely place. There are not two people there, only one. "Absolute" means going beyond reciprocal elements. That place is extremely difficult, extremely stifling, extremely lonely and extremely dangerous.

What is the direction of the absolute process? There are not two directions, only one.

You may have decided to live a life of faith because others are going that way. You may believe in the Bible because other people do. If you are like that, when somebody comes and touches you, you just give up. This kind of changeable faith is not real faith. Faith should be absolute. You should say, "Because God is absolute, so am I". Raise your hands if you think you are like that.