4. History of Christianity : Triumphalism, Corruption and Renewal
World Scripture
I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock33 I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Matthew 16.18-19
About noon, when the day was already beginning to decline, Constantine saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, CONQUER BY THIS. At this sight he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which followed him on this expedition, and witnessed the miracle.
Eusebius, Life of Constantine
The true faith compels us to believe there is one holy Catholic Apostolic Church, and this we firmly believe and plainly confess. Outside of her there is no salvation or remission from sins. Now, therefore, we declare, say, determine and pronounce that for every human creature it is necessary for salvation to be subject to the authority of the Roman pontiff.
Pope Boniface VIII, Unam Sanctam
For the defense of the faith secular authorities ought publicly to take an oath that they will strive in good faith and to the best of their ability to exterminate in the territories subject to their jurisdiction all heretics pointed out by the Church.
Fourth Lateran Council, Canon 3
The Romanists have very cleverly built three walls around themselves… In the first place… temporal power had no jurisdiction over them… In the second place… only the pope may interpret the Scriptures. In the third place… no one may summon a council but the pope… Therefore, when necessity demands it, and the pope is an offense to Christendom, the first man who is able should, as a true member of the whole body, do what he can to bring about a truly free council. No one can do this so well as the temporal authorities.
Martin Luther, On Papal Power
Religion is the sob of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.
Karl Marx, Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right
The God of Israel is among us… when He shall make us a praise and glory, that men shall say of succeeding plantations: The Lord make it like that of New England: for we must consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.
John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential urgency.
George Washington, First Inaugural Address
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
In the Middle Ages great corruption appeared in the Roman Catholic Church. It allowed itself to be shackled by its own power and self-serving dogmas while forgetting about God’s Will to bring salvation to the world… To save the world, Christianity should take the path of self-sacrifice, but instead the church glorified itself and its elite clung tenaciously to their positions.
Yet, God is alive, and because His desire is to save the world, He could not leave the church as it was. He had to reform it. Hence, God inspired Martin Luther to launch the Protestant Reformation. He approved when Luther came forth to confront the church and its corruption.
(69:102, October 21, 1973)
Christianity, the Second Israel, had to deal with the confused situation of the Renaissance and the humanistic philosophies of the Enlightenment. Enlightenment figures like Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu believed that Christianity would collapse. However, pious people from Germany advanced Christianity by raising the Pietist movement, which focused on internal, mystical experiences with God. The Pietist movement influenced the English clergyman John Wesley, who raised the Methodist movement. The Quakers contributed to the development of Christianity by elevating the value of mystical experience even further.
At the same time, due to the widespread influence of materialism, modern people forgot about loving God, lost their reason to love other human beings, and came to value material things above all else. Nevertheless, the time is coming when God will strike down all materialistic ideologies. He will surely do so, because human beings must ultimately return to their original position before the Fall.
(4:18, February 16, 1958)
When ecclesiastic love waned, when waves of capitalistic greed surged across Christian Europe, when starving masses cried out bitterly in the slums, the promise of their salvation came not from heaven but from the earth. Its name was communism. Christianity, though it professed the love of God, had degenerated into a dead body of clergy trailing empty slogans. It was then only natural that a banner of rebellion would be raised, arguing that a merciless God who would allow such suffering could not exist. Hence, modern materialism was born. Western society became a hotbed of materialism; it was the fertile soil in which communism flourished.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Introduction)
The first thing the Pilgrim Fathers built was a church. They invested all their effort to build it, giving everything they had. Next they built the road to the church. For the sake of God they worked day and night. They prayed, “God, we pledge ourselves to build a place where You can dwell, surpassing anyplace in the Old World. We pledge ourselves to establish Your ideal nation, surpassing any nation in the Old World.”34 The Pilgrims suffered a great deal, but the more they suffered, the more determined they were to build God’s Kingdom, a godly society transcending what existed in Europe.
After their church, they built a school. For they resolved to educate their children well, surpassing what they could learn at schools in Europe. Last of all, they built their homes. Yet even these they built not for themselves, but dedicated them to God. Thus they created a society where God dwelt in the church, in the school, in the family, and even in the workplace. They surely lived a God-centered way of life, entrusting everything to God…
George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, was defeated in many battles. When he faced the heartbreaking winter at Valley Forge, I am sure George Washington prayed like this: “God, You led this people from Europe and brought us to America, where there is freedom of faith. You would not wish to deliver this people back into the hands of England, to suffer under its monarchy and the yoke of state-enforced religion. Please bless this nation to become the land that You desire to build, upholding freedom of faith and laying the foundation for Your ideal world.” In his prayer, George Washington must have pledged that he would lead his nation to become the land desired by God.
Isn’t it true that very day your Congress is convened in prayer? America is not merely the land where Americans live; it is the nation blessed by God. In this respect, America is unique. Your money is imprinted with the inscription, “In God We Trust.” Does any other nation in the world do that? Americans promote the motto, “One nation under God.” Does this motto refer only to America? Ladies and gentlemen, the Kingdom of Heaven should occupy the whole world. It was for this reason that America was born: as a nation composed of all the peoples of the world, it should be the model for one worldwide nation. Why did America establish freedom of religion where the new Protestant faiths could thrive? For what purpose did America throw off the state religions of Europe? It was not just for America’s sake, but to save the world. To save the world!
Americans, do not think that you are prospering because you yourselves are great. God did not bless this nation so that you can enjoy an affluent life. You should remember God’s original purpose in blessing America, to use this nation as His instrument for saving the world.
(69:102, October 21, 1973)
Christianity in the Middle Age should have embraced all people regardless of class, and integrated them based on its religious ideals. However, it failed in doing so, and instead corrupted itself by becoming politicized. As a result, God had to strike it.
Had the Roman Papacy not become corrupt, and had it instantiated the teaching of living for the sake of others before seeking for its own benefit, with a sense of mission that it existed for the world and humankind, it would not have fallen down.
However, due to its failure, God struck Catholicism externally through the Renaissance and internally through the Protestant Reformation.
Then the Puritans sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to the new continent of America and built a new nation based on Christian ideals. America’s liberal democratic ideology that prevails throughout the democratic world is based on an integration of Roman political ideology, Christian religious ideas and Greek philosophy.
However, for America to fulfill its responsibility… she should give up her idea of being Number One in the world. For the people of the United States this is the most essential thing.
(5:22-23, November 9, 1958)