Hello, everyone. Since I was wearing a mask the whole time while seated, the moment I stood at the podium, I thought, “I feel like I’m forgetting something.” (everyone laughs) Then I rethought, “Ah, I’m good. I don’t need to wear one while I’m up here.” In the last few days, the weather in Atami has been good, but today, it is a little cloudy, and it is supposed to rain from late afternoon. Despite that, thank you for coming to attend the service. For me, I feel, even now, the Grand Autumn Service from last month still resonating within me. At the service, Kyoshu-sama was the center of course, but there were various announcements, and there has been music recently, music from The Messiah Choir. And the song for the send-off finale, those of you who were there may remember, was a famous Brazilian song. And how can I describe it—it made everyone want to dance, (everyone laughs) and there was so much excitement. Well, the word “excitement” may be somewhat inappropriate. There is the solemnity of a service, but at the same time, there is the festiveness of a service, in a good way. And I feel like these things are still resonating in my body. I realize that all of you are busy, but no less, I think there are some things that can be felt only when you come to a service. I would love to meet all of you like this in person as much as possible, and we can praise God’s glory together and do so joyfully. I have been thinking about this while immersed in the lingering feelings from the Grand Autumn Service. On the day of the Grand Autumn Service, a document jointly written by Kyoshu-sama and I, “Regarding Observance of Holy Days in Our Church,” was distributed. In order to receive Meishu-sama’s will head-on when he said that we need to work in concert with Christianity and that World Church of Messiah will become extremely close to Christianity, starting from this year 2022 and onward, we will observe Easter, the day marking Jesus Christ’s resurrection; Pentecost, which happens 50 days after Easter, 49 days to be exact, celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit; and Christmas, which celebrates the birth of Jesus. Let us, too, celebrate these three major holy days of Christianity—this was the content of the document. And the first holy day we will start with is this year’s Christmas. I believe there are those of you who have already seen it, but for that service, a poster is on display near the headquarters entrance. One may be posted in your local church. And as a matter of fact, in Christianity, the service for Easter, the day that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ, appears to be the most important one, more so than Christmas. For us, we may have the image that Christmas is most important. Regarding this new change, I have heard various reactions from all of you, and I am grateful that each one of you is receiving it very positively. And on the other hand, in those various reactions, there were times I thought, “Ah, I see. Now that’s how this person thinks.” A few people had mentioned it, and I felt I could really relate to their feelings. To explain what the content was, until now, we used to celebrate Christmas as something fun, and now, is it really okay for us, we who are not Christian, to celebrate Christmas for its religious meaning. I fully understand those feelings, but at its heart, this Christmas is not a holiday for non-Christians to just have fun. For Christians, this day is a very important, holy day. In terms of Japan, I don’t know the exact figures, but the number of Christians has not increased significantly in these last few decades or so. And still, all over Japan, Christmas decorations are multiplying year after year. Which basically means that there are commercial intentions in the context, right? And of course, in there must lie God’s will to have all of humanity receive the existence of Jesus through Christmas. But as I just said, the reality is that many Japanese people who are not Christians have fun during Christmas time, and I think that is actually strange. So the thinking that it was fine to enjoy Christmas up until today but is questionable for us who are not Christian to celebrate the religious meaning of Christmas from now on—I think it should be the other way around. I actually do think it is strange that, until now, we have celebrated Christmas for human enjoyment even though we are not Christians. Jesus Christ may have been thinking, “You don’t even believe in me at all. (everyone laughs) I think you have it wrong.” And I don’t know how Christians have been thinking about it. The original essence of Christmas is to celebrate the day Jesus, the founder of a religion, was born. So if we were enjoying it until now for, say, personal reasons, that is, without religious meaning and prioritizing human joy, I believe it is important that we feel remorse for this and think along the lines of “From this year, I’ll celebrate properly” or “I will celebrate how it truly should be.” And in regard to whether it is really okay for us who are not Christian to celebrate Christmas, I think we should think about this point carefully. It is true that we are not pure Christians, since for us, Meishu-sama is our founder. If a person said that they don’t believe in Meishu-sama and it is Jesus that they believe in, then that person would be called Christian. People who belong to the Catholic Church or one of the various Protestant Churches are usually considered Christian. So in this sense, we wouldn’t be considered Christian. Now let’s look at today’s Sacred Word entitled “Materialization of the prophecy of the kingdom of heaven.” So first, something needs to be materialized, right? And what is that? It is the “prophecy of the kingdom of heaven.” And whose prophecy is it? Meishu-sama says that it is Jesus’s prophecy. Meishu-sama says that he would materialize the kingdom of heaven that Jesus prophesied. This means that Meishu-sama believes in Jesus’s prophecy, right? I mean, it wouldn’t make sense to put in all this effort and spend so much money to materialize something that he didn’t believe in. We must first take this point seriously. Christians, too, believe in Jesus’s words and are trying to materialize them, right? But the point is, what Christians are trying to do as they believe in Jesus and what Meishu-sama is trying to do as he believes in Jesus, is different. Ultimately, Meishu-sama’s message to us is “to be born anew as the Messiah,” and Christianity does not preach about this. Because for Christians, the Messiah is Jesus alone, right? So to Meishu-sama, normal Christians are not the ones who are to fulfill the true prophecy of Jesus. Rather, he is saying, “I am the one who will put Jesus’s prophecy into practice in the truest sense.” Now if this is the case, then in the sense that Meishu-sama believed what Jesus said and would put his words into practice, Meishu-sama may have thought, in regard to himself, “I am a true Christian.” I want to give you an example. If this Sacred Word did not exist and if Kyoshu-sama said, “From here on, I am going to put Jesus’s prophecy into practice. All of Meishu-sama’s followers are entrusted with this mission,” then anyone would say that Kyoshu-sama has become a Christian. I believe members would think, why do we have to fulfill Jesus’s prophecy, right? But that is exactly what Meishu-sama said in that Sacred Word. He is making such a bold statement. Still more, this mission to put Jesus’s prophecy into practice and materialize it is not only Meishu-sama’s, it is also all of yours, as Meishu-sama says, “Our task is to actually put Jesus’s prophecy into practice and I believe God has entrusted our Church with this mission.” Each and every one of you is someone who puts Jesus’s prophecy into practice. I mean, this is what Meishu-sama says. So with this in mind, I don’t think it is a matter of “We’re not Christian. So is it really okay for us to celebrate Christmas?” The fact is, even if you do not belong to a Christian group, it does not mean you cannot believe in Jesus and celebrate his birth, right? I mean even Meishu-sama himself said that Jesus is the Lord of Redemption, and if the atonement of Jesus did not exist, Meishu-sama nor we would exist. And if this is the case, the phrase “Without Jesus Christ, there is no Meishu-sama” in the Sacred Oath is not an extreme matter at all. Rather, it is something obvious. After all, there are stages in God’s divine work. Rather than Christianity this, Christianity that, it is the figure Jesus Christ we need to fully receive. Also, there may be some who think that if we start to celebrate Christian holidays, we will eventually be like Christianity, but there will be none of that. What do I mean by this? I believe all of you already well know, but what Kyoshu-sama teaches is not taught in Christianity. For example, in the Catholic Church, when something miraculous happens, there are occasions when the Church officially recognizes it as a miracle. The purpose of this is to avoid a situation where all kinds of people say this is a miracle, that is a miracle, this and that too, with things getting out of hand. So to keep things in order, the Church determines what is and what is not a miracle. So let’s say that someone who was supposed to die is restored to life. If it is thought to be a miracle, then in order to be certified as a miracle, it has to be “unexplainable by science.” Several doctors have to come and investigate and say that it cannot be explained by science or medicine. They also check to see if there are any doctrinal issues, and once these processes are cleared, the miracle is certified for the first time. This is how it goes. But who maintains the lives of the doctors who investigate a miracle to certify it? Who made science? Who made medicine? Who is this someone? It is God, right? It is God. Medicine and science are works of God. If they are works of God, then they are all miracles, actually. For a disease to be cured by medical science—isn’t this too, a miracle? This is indeed a miracle. And that’s because God made medical science. Just think, medical science advances, and at some point, what could not be explained before may be able to be explained with the medical science of today. Then what will happen to that certified miracle? Are they going to take it back after all that? It is God who allows the doctors to live, and it is God who made medical science too. Each one is a miracle. And that’s because everything is a work of God. So by certifying a particular miracle, it is basically saying, “That time, God was working,” limiting the work of God. But what we are being taught is that miracles are only the first step and that there is actually a second step. And what is that second step? It is to grow into ones who can accept that God is working all the time for everything. Each and every moment in this world is a miracle. Everything is a miracle. Isn’t that right? A disease healed is a miracle, and a disease not healed is a miracle that God is requiring out of necessity. It is great if people can make up with one another, but that is not the only miracle. Sometimes not being able to make up with another person and growing apart happens, right? Then that person passes on, and we conclude that there was no miracle at all—well, that’s not true. God is working in both instances, in everything, actually. If God is working in everything, then everything is a miracle. I’ll give another example. This is something I heard from others, so I don’t know how accurate it is, but you have heard of Mother Teresa, haven’t you? Mother Teresa. She was known as a person of love, and I’m sure she really was a noble person. So this is the story that I heard about her. There was a sick person, and this person gave off an awful smell, enough that anyone would turn their eyes away from them or take a step back. And in fact, all the surrounding people had already backed off, with the exception of Mother Teresa, who, rather than step back, took a step forward and extended a loving hand. It was this kind of story. I believe that in Christianity, this is an account of love. Nine-hundred-ninety-nine people out of a thousand step back, but only Mother Teresa takes a step forward and extends her hand of love. And this one person who takes a step forward is praised. God’s love shows itself through Mother Teresa, and that’s the kind of person we want to be—this is how the story goes. So then, what about the rest of the 999 people who took a step back? Does it mean that God’s love did not show itself within the 999 people? Let’s say that the one person who took a step forward thought, “God’s love showed itself through me.” Then let’s say that someone from the 999 people thought, “Oh, I took a step back—what a loveless human being I am! But God has forgiven this posture of not being able to love people. I may not be able to do things perfectly, but even in a person like me that has no love, You, O God, are filling me up with Your love. Thank you.” Which of these thoughts do you think God would have been happy about? The latter, of course. Or instead, it could have been that because 999 people stepped back, one person with the role received strength from God to take a step forward. From our human point of view, we think the power to love in the person who took that step forward is great, don’t we? We think that person has the power to love, how wonderful, it is not possible for me—we are dividing the capable people as ones who have love and the incapable people as ones who do not have love. Like so, in Christianity for example, while they teach about how to become a person of love, to become someone who takes that step forward, we under the leadership of Kyoshu-sama teach that regardless of what action, whether it is the posture of taking a step forward or the posture of something that appears negative like taking a step back, we take it all with us and return to God—it is God’s love that receives all of it. So it is completely different from Christianity. What is being taught in World Church of Messiah and what is being taught in Christianity are completely different. It means that we are not going to become Christianity. Rather, we have to awaken Christians to the truth. With this in mind, I believe we have a kind of false illusion when people say that Kyoshu-sama’s messages are difficult and that Meishu-sama’s teachings we have known until now are easy. What we consider easy teachings are things like “Let’s love everyone” or “Let’s live for other people” or “Let’s do things that make people happy”—we think these are “easy to understand.” So today, if I were to cite stories like the one about Mother Teresa from a moment ago and say, “Let’s be like Mother Teresa” or “Let’s become someone who can love anyone,” I think you would think, “That was easy to understand,” “I want to be like that too” or “What a great message.” If I were to say, “Let’s live for others” or “Let’s live loving others,” you would think, “Yes, yes. I understand. Live not for myself but for others.” But in reality, it is precisely those things that are the most difficult to do. I mean, there is no one who can love all people equally and without prejudice, right? There is no one who can give up their own life and think to live only for the sake of others, is there? That’s why I say it is the most difficult thing to do, actually. To love everyone and to live for others are the most difficult things to do. Human beings just can’t do it. God can do it, of course, as God’s love is love for others. The point is, if this is the most difficult thing to do, then why have we felt that it is easy? All this time, didn’t we, including myself, feel that those matters were easy? When we hear about the subject, it feels comfortable, it sounds good to our ears. Didn’t we nod in agreement this whole time? Kyoshu-sama is telling us, “Go as you are.” “Go as you are, right now.” “Go all covered in mud.” “God is saying to us, ‘Come to Me as you are, all covered in mud.’” There is nothing easier than this, actually. “Let us love others earnestly.” “Let us devote ourselves to others.” There is nothing harder than this. Kyoshu-sama is telling us that regardless of whether or not you can love or devote yourself to others, go to God as you are. That is Kyoshu-sama’s message to us. So then why does something so easy feel so hard to us? We may not be very conscious of it, but we humans, to tell you the truth, find it scary to go to God as we are. For we feel that it intrudes on our own independence, our identity. Until now, we were our own boss, our own king, our own ruler. So for that kind of us, “Let’s love someone” or “Let’s devote ourselves to others” sounds so good to our ears. We think, “Ah, with those words, I don’t have to go to God. I can build up my virtues through my own effort.” And we can stall for time to avoid going before God in all our muddiness. (everyone laughs) So for us, these kinds of words are very convenient. They feel comfortable, and we think they are wonderful. Conversely, if we are told, “All of you were originally with God in heaven, so go back there already, now!” it is actually really inconvenient for us. (everyone laughs) As an example, let’s say your boss at work is an awful boss—a good boss doesn’t apply here—and he or she goes on a business trip. You may want for your boss to stay on their business trip forever, away forever, never to come back. You may think, I’m having such a good time with my co-workers—why does my boss have to come back? (everyone laughs) Those kinds of thoughts lurk within us—toward God. So the moment we are told, “Come back to Me as you are,” we think up any excuse to avoid receiving those words, unconsciously. Instead of saying, “I will return to You as I am, right now,” we say, “Until now, it has been hard for me to be as I am. But from here on, I will try to do so.” Like so, at that moment, our hearts try to find a way to delay going back to God, however little it may be. And that is why we want to say that Kyoshu-sama’s messages are difficult, they are quite hard to understand, etc. That’s how we want them to be. Those kinds of feelings are working within us subliminally. But aren’t we actually just covered in mud? No matter how you look at it, our hearts are covered in mud. Don’t get me wrong—in the center of our hearts lies something that shines brightly like a crystal. But the vessel, the heart, that envelopes the crystal is covered in mud. All the behavior and actions of all humanity until now are there, so it is all mud, our hearts. Since we are covered in mud, it has become a kind of shame for us, and we are embarrassed by it. “I cannot return to God all covered in mud,” “I am a disgrace,” is how we think. But truth be told, God is asking for our mud-covered selves. He is telling us, “I will cleanse you from all that mud. I will take that muck off of you.” (Postscript: And to add, God has already cleansed us of the mud. There is absolutely no mud. He has wiped away the shame too. He has made our hearts completely new. If this is the case, I would like to offer the following thought to God in the name of Messiah, together with all of you: “O God, You washed away the mud. You have wiped away all our shame too. Thank You, God.” Thus confirming together with all of you that we have received new hearts. The following three hymns by Meishu-sama and the two Bible passages are for your reference: “To discard the old clothes of civilization / And replace with new ones— / This, everyone, is my work.” “A new world! / It should be built upon new soil. / Ah, this is the truth!” “The world of peace and comfort / Filled with beauty and awe / Will be built on this earth / That has already been purified.” “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:26). “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:3–4).) Changing the subject a bit, with regard to Kyoshu-sama’s messages, I often hear things like “If the ancestors are within us, do we really need the ancestral shrine (mitamaya)?” or “If God is within us, do we really need the divine scroll (goshintai)?” or “If God’s Church is within us, do we really need a place to gather?” or “If Meishu-sama is within us, do we really need the divine image of Meishu-sama?” This world has already become heaven, so do we really need to change it? If we receive things as they are, shouldn’t that be sufficient? There are these kinds of thoughts, right? Let’s say we go with that thinking. For example, my mother suffered from a brain stroke, and the left side of her body is paralyzed. Although she is going through rehabilitation, why should she put any effort into it? Let’s say she thought, “Because there is a perfect spiritual body within us, I don’t need to worry about my physical body”—then there is absolutely no point to her putting an effort into rehabilitation. So the left side of the body no longer moves. “Will you do rehabilitation?” “No, I won’t. I already have a perfect spiritual body within me”—people don’t say this, do they? Wouldn’t people do their very best in rehab in hopes that they can somehow move? Or if she says, “Because everything is already heaven, I don’t need to put in any effort,” then what’s the point in her making such a crazy effort to rehabilitate, right? “The left side of the body is paralyzed, but the spiritual body is moving properly. So I won’t do rehab, and I’ll be fine lying in a bed until I pass”—would she say this? Of course not. Kyoshu-sama, who is supporting her, is doing so with all his effort. But if Kyoshu-sama said, “Her state is also a manifestation of heaven, so I will receive it as it is—there’s no need to change it” or “The spiritual body exists, so nothing needs to be done,” he wouldn’t have to make such an effort to support her, would he? Myself, too. I am speaking like this to you today, but what if I said, “God exists within all of you, so you already know everything. I don’t have anything to say to you.” (everyone laughs) Wouldn’t it be fine just to end with “All of you are amazing. I don’t have to say anything”? But it’s not like that, right? There, we should aim to improve and be better, right? Receiving together Meishu-sama’s will as revealed through Kyoshu-sama and trying to get one step closer to that Meishu-sama’s will or even half a step closer, just half a step—this effort is absolutely necessary. I don’t know anyone else, humanly speaking, who makes as much effort as Kyoshu-sama. In order to realize Meishu-sama’s will, he is making every effort. But here we are, understanding and using just a part of Kyoshu-sama’s message to totally suit ourselves, saying things like “If heaven is already made, there is no need to make the world a better place” or “If the ancestors are within me, then I don’t need an ancestral shrine” or “If God exists within me, then I don’t need a divine scroll.” Now, if that were all really true, then we wouldn’t even need this earth anymore. There wouldn’t be any need for physical, material things themselves. The earth isn’t needed. The entire universe isn’t needed. If it’s fine just to have a spiritual body, there’s no need for the physical body. But for us, I think the ancestral shrine is still necessary. I mean, I don’t think we can constantly think about our ancestors, can we? Are you able to think about God, the ancestors, Meishu-sama, all day long? You can’t, can you? No one can. Aren’t our minds full with our day-to-day lives? It could be about family, taking care of the house or about work. Everyone needs material things. Through them, we can think about our ancestors and matters like that. So for us, we still need the ancestral shrine and the divine scroll and the divine image of Meishu-sama. Well, at the very least, I need them. For a lot of things happen in this life, and the whole time, our hearts are caught up in those things. And speaking of this subject, for us members of Meishu-sama, among all material things, what is the most important? It is the sacred grounds, right? The sacred grounds. Now, the place that we are on right now, a sacred ground, is still being disputed in court, so until the result is out, it is still enveloped within Kyoshu-sama’s prayers, but barely. I haven’t spoken about it very much recently, but the people who maintain this sacred ground are people who have done some shameful acts against Kyoshu-sama. In that sense, it is plain and clear that this place is not a sacred ground. How would it be possible that a place maintained by people who secretly followed, wiretapped or filmed/photographed Kyoshu-sama and also expelled him be considered sacred ground? It’s so ridiculous it’s almost funny! (everyone laughs) Isn’t it? To think “this here is sacred ground” itself is just crazy. (everyone laughs) Right? Those kinds of acts and sacredness have nothing to do with each other, do they? Then there are the many members and staff members who believe in the executives who carried out those acts, consider those acts as fine and think that this place is a sacred ground. No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t make sense. But I believe it is through those kinds of people that God is showing us the posture of how ignorant we were of Him. Or I might say how disobedient we were—“I will not obey” was our posture toward God. I spoke about it in my recent video message to overseas members too, but putting aside the trial for a moment, there is not one place on this earth that can be called Meishu-sama’s sacred ground right now. And that’s because places maintained by people who carry out acts like secretly following and filming people and/or who approve of those acts, cannot be sacred grounds, no matter how you think about it. In today’s Sacred Word, Meishu-sama described the sacred grounds as “the only oasis” and sought to construct them with enormous passion and vigor. However, they don’t exist on this earth anymore. Of course, I am not saying that we should only seek the visible part. There is certainly a purpose for constructing it. But if sacred grounds do not exist on this earth anymore, isn’t it you guys, members of World Church of Messiah, who need to construct one for Meishu-sama? I mean, aren’t you the only ones who can do that? What needs to be done by all of you is this: construct a sacred ground where those who visit can feel, “Ah, heaven does exist within me.” Meishu-sama was saying that his sacred grounds would be the only oases in the world. I strongly believe that it is all of you, members of World Church of Messiah, who need to construct these oases. In today’s Sacred Word of Meishu-sama, his sermon, in such a short span, I wondered just how many times Meishu-sama said the word money. (everyone laughs) I counted, and it was six times. He used the word money six times. (everyone laughs) I mean, Meishu-sama was honest and frank, right? He said that money is necessary, so there is nothing wrong with our collecting money for what we do. Maybe he could have sugarcoated it a little more, but no, he didn’t—money, money, money, money, money, money. Six times. (everyone laughs) Like so, although it is obvious that money is necessary to construct sacred grounds, money is simply necessary to advance divine work in this world. Think about it. Regardless of how much we say “Kyoshu-sama is wonderful” or “The teachings of World Church of Messiah are great,” if your precious monetary offerings did not exist, we would not even be able to gather here and have a service today. If we do not have money, how do we hold functions like these? We can’t, right? We wouldn’t have a way to gather, would we? No matter what wonderful teachings Kyoshu-sama may have, if we do not have the support of material things—if we do not have money—Kyoshu-sama’s divine work will not advance, not even a step. Kyoshu-sama would simply be at home alone and that’s it. (everyone laughs) For real. And grand services too, of course, would also not be possible. So when we talk about donations or monetary offerings, while each person has their own limit, each and every one of your offerings is something truly precious for the swift advancement of Kyoshu-sama’s divine work. Meishu-sama gave a reason for why money is necessary—“You have to run an organization”—right? As such, money is needed for that organization and also for the staff members who are committed to that organization. I mean, the staff members are putting their entire lives into this divine work. They kicked aside the jobs of this world, and despite being discriminated against by society as “staff members of a religious group,” they still walk this path for us. Those staff members and their families have to be supported too, right? And who is supporting them? It is all of you, the members. So truly, in that sense, for Meishu-sama’s divine work to advance smoothly on this earth literally means that it is a collaborative work—all of yours and Kyoshu-sama’s. It is really, literally that. This is not some made-up story. This of course includes the construction of sacred grounds from here on. So there is this kind of monetary offering for the purpose of further advancing divine work—although right now, donating money to religions is socially criticized. (Editorial note: During this time period in Japan, the collection of religious monetary donations was being socially criticized.) And then there is another kind of monetary offering. I will explain what I mean by that. So the fact is, every single material thing including money belongs to God, right? Let’s say that you earn compensation through work. So who grants you the capability to do that work, the capability to earn compensation? Having a particular kind of skill; I do such-and-such kind of work; maybe you work standing up. Who gives us the power to do all these things? It is God who grants us that power, the power to live. By God’s power, we are able to work, and we are able to earn compensation. I mean, if you get a disease, there goes your income. If you get fired, you don’t make money, right? But because God is blessing us in each and every aspect, this thing called money comes into our hands, to tell you the truth. So with this in mind, there is no place within society that we can express our feelings to God through money, is there? For the nation, we can make an expression through tax money. For the value of goods or services in society, we can make an expression through our payment of money as a form of barter or trade. But don’t we want to express our own feelings toward God somehow? I mention this God, but it makes no sense to go to a Shinto shrine and toss a coin into the offering box, as it is not those Shinto gods that allow us to live. The one that uses us is the omniscient and omnipotent God. The One who holds all wisdom and power—it is only with this existence that money can come into our hands. God is the owner of everything, so He is really saying, “Everything is Mine.” But with Him considering this very graciously, He thinks about the lives we have to live and says that He does not need everything. But as for our feelings, with the intention to return everything to God, through the organization called World Church of Messiah, which means through Kyoshu-sama to Meishu-sama, and through Meishu-sama to God, I believe we have to express our sincerity to God, that is, have the thought “Everything is because of You” toward God, and have Him receive it through money. So in that sense, no matter how much I am criticized by society, I will still give donations. After all, it is because of God that I am alive. Just a moment ago, I spoke about how we have to go before God as we are, covered in mud. This actually means go as you are now. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been a member for decades or if you became a member today. To go as you are, covered in mud, means to go to God with all your thoughts and feelings as they are now and say, “God, here I am, the likes of me. I am covered in mud, but please receive me as I am.” That’s all it is. That’s why I say now. You don’t have to wait until you’ve become a more wonderful human being to return before God. You can return now. More than that, God is saying He will make you clean. The only thing needed is the name of Messiah, as Meishu-sama taught us. “In the name of Messiah, which is one with Meishu-sama and which is one with Jesus, I come before You.” That’s all. It is now, the “I” of right now—not the “I” with flaws glossed over. In the place that we return to is the glory of the Lord—just as it is written in the calligraphy of Meishu-sama near the entrance—this glory of the Lord is already established within each one of us. The place we can go to just as we are, all covered in mud, is already established within each and every one of us. This has been completed in the past—it has already been established. This is such an immense salvation! The world has long tended toward making religious teachings into morality, right? Meishu-sama said that we make religious teachings so complicated by saying things like “one must do this” or “one must practice this.” And he said that we must simply acknowledge the existence of God and know that He sees through everything. God already sees through us! He sees our mud-covered selves. So in order to make us recall the glory of the Lord, the brilliance undoubtedly within us, Meishu-sama constructed the sacred grounds. In order to make us remember heaven, the most sacred, noble place within us, Meishu-sama constructed the sacred grounds here on earth. What I am trying to say in this greeting is that today, November 1, 2022, in the name of Kyoshu-sama, that is, in the name of Meishu-sama, and in the name of Jesus, I hereby declare the initiation of the construction of World Church of Messiah’s sacred grounds here on earth. While there are many things we have to consider in advancing this, I, on this day, declare the initiation of the construction of our sacred grounds. May we somehow, with our own hands, make Meishu-sama happy by this, considering his sacred grounds don’t exist on this earth anymore. Regardless of what happens, I am convinced that Meishu-sama will boldly guide us and that he has already prepared a bright future for us. So together, under Kyoshu-sama’s leadership, let us become one still more, and with great hope, continue to make our way forward. Thank you.