You Have To Believe

Divine Principle depicts a cosmic dance partnering God and us, God’s Will and our will, God’s responsibility and our responsibility. Our partner, God, is demanding in two respects. One, we cannot change God’s Will. “God’s Will to realize this purpose through the providence of restoration is absolute and beyond human influence.” Two, we cannot just sit back and receive benefits, for the fulfillment of His Will “necessarily requires the accomplishment of the human portion of responsibility.”

“To send the Messiah is God’s portion of responsibility. Belief in the Messiah is the human portion of responsibility.”

This portion of responsibility is a great and terrible gift—great if we fulfill it; terrible if we neglect it. This is never more momentous than when God sends the Messiah, and when we realize that the Messiah’s success is our responsibility. “In the providence of salvation through Jesus, God predestined that His Will be fulfilled only after fallen people completed their responsibility.”

Okay, so where does our responsibility begin? Divine Principle says it begins with “believing in Jesus as the Messiah.” The Divine Principle says that “The saving grace of the cross of Christ” will come to nothing without faith, and this is “strictly one’s own portion of responsibility.”

The same applies at the Second Advent. In his first published sermon, True Father said: “The responsibility to protect the castle of crucifixion lies on the shoulders of the apostles of the last days. …We who have faith today must become the Heavenly elite troop.”

True Mother calls us to do the same: “The process of changing the lineage occurred while I was in my mother’s womb. This is something you have to believe.”

“As the providence unfolded, True Father emphasized that True Mother is the Holy Spirit.”

As the providence unfolded, True Father emphasized that True Mother is the Holy Spirit. In that first sermon, he said, “The Holy Spirit is the one who, copying the example of Jesus, has unfolded the battle on earth. It is our responsibility to receive the help of the Holy Spirit.”

(Citations from Exposition of Divine Principle, pp. 43-4, 156-7, 120; True Mother, “A Time To Be United, Inside and Out,” July 1, 2014; The Sermons of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, vol. 1, pp. 7-8. The words cited were given April 8, 1956.)

-TH