Principle View of Situation in Yugoslavia
by William S. Stoertz
April 2, 1999
Moscow, Russia
The crisis in Yugoslavia comes up at the very end of the twentieth
century and the 2000 year period since Jesus Christ's advent upon the
earth.
God's original plan was to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth at
the time of Jesus Christ; however, he was crucified.
That plan was to unify various aspects and to establish the perfect
model on every level. Jesus was to unify the mind and body, the husband and
wife, the parents and children, the religion and the state, Hebraism and
Hellenism, west and east, rich and poor. Also Jesus came as the perfect
human being on earth, and furthermore to establish the ideal family, the
model community, the ideal society, God's nation, to unify the Roman
Empire, and build the Kingdom of Heaven upon the whole earth.
However, because of the crucifixion, all of these things were lost,
and only the spiritual side was emphasized, or resurrected, at the cost of
denying the flesh, the physical side. So the world remained under the realm
of sin, while the spiritual world was the realm of the saints, Jesus Christ
and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ promised his return at the end of the age, upon the
condition that we prepare the foundation, by keeping his commandments,
uniting together as one, and witnessing to the ends of the earth.
At the Second Coming Christ promised that we would see His Bride, and
that those who would be worthy could participate in the Marriage of the
Lamb. In the first place, this is the Wedding of True Parents which took
place in April 1960, and in the broader sense the Bride is all those who
love the Lord, and they will receive the Blessing -- the First
Resurrection.
Then the Second Resurrection in the Bible refers to the resurrection
or liberation of those righteous and holy people who passed away into
spirit world. Now the realm of resurrection is extended by True Parents,
Heung Jin Nim and Daemonim to all those in heaven and earth.
The Book of Revelations in the Bible speaks of unprecedented
catastrophes and judgment. This is because Satan's dominion and the satanic
ways of life must come to an end before the heavenly kingdom can be
established. Of course, people resist giving up their bad habits and fallen
ways.
Jesus Christ's ministry was preceded by three great temptations. At
the end of the age, when Christ returns, there are three great world wars.
The First and Second World War we know; and then there is the "Third World
War", which started with the Cold War, the confrontation between
God-centered democracy and God-denying communism.
If Satan could have been judged and separated with the collapse of
communism, then the Third World War could be said to be ended. However,
during the next ten years from 1990 until 2000, Satan continued to rampage,
ravaging the world even worse than ever before -- through immorality,
mafia, materialism, racism, nationalism, religious fanaticism, etc.
Thus, the purpose of the Three World Wars, to judge and destroy the
evil sovereignty, was not completed; therefore, another world war, as the
conclusion of the Third World War (the Cold War) must come up, in order to
restore the Three World Wars by indemnity.
In the Divine Principle, it says that the Third World War need not be
an external conflict waged by arms; it can be a totally ideological
confrontation, which for the most part the battle between Communism and the
Free World was. But, if that fails, there may be an external war too. In
any case, the final resolution must unite the hearts and original minds of
all mankind: it must be a complete, final resolution on the worldwide
level.
The Cold War was primarily waged between the East Bloc countries
behind the Iron Curtain, and the Free World -- mostly Western Europe and
America. NATO was at the center of the West bloc, and the USA was at the
center of NATO. So, this final conflict in Yugoslavia which comes up to
restore the failure of the Three World Wars, involves the same countries,
and also has very much the character, spirit, and language of the Cold War.
It is like a continuation, revival, or conclusion of the Cold War.
Why Yugoslavia? Because it is a country containing the condensation of
the problems of the world: racial disharmony between nationalities and
religions, and the point of confrontation between East and West. It is a
front-line situation in some ways similar to North and South Korea.
Also the historical background of Yugoslavia plays a big part. At the
time of Jesus, he would have ministered to the Slavic peoples, who were
courageous but pagan at that time. Then they would have become citizens of
the kingdom of heaven. Instead, Jesus was crucified. St. Paul went to
evangelize to the Slavs around Macedonia, and almost a thousand years later
the Orthodox missionaries Cyril and Methodius conducted a successful
mission to the Slavs starting from Bulgaria. It was said the Slavic tribes
in the Balkan peninsula were a thorn in the side to the Romans, and were
never conquered by them. Around the 14th century, the Turks invaded and
settled large areas of the Balkans, and the Muslim religion is still found
there today. Because of the Turkish conquest at Kosovo in 1389, Serbs still
hold a lingering resentment today.
So the present "ethnic cleansing" in Yugoslavia is seen by Serbs as
retaking the area that was once rightfully theirs. From the vertical
dimension of history and the spiritual world, we can imagine that many
resentments coming from these past events have been waiting, unresolved,
affecting generation after generation, and are flaring up now, at the close
of the age.
On the worldwide level, the conflict in Serbia should be a final
showdown to bring about a resolution of worldwide problems, immediately
prior to the establishment of the universal Kingdom of Heaven.
What kind of resolution should that be? Not only by arms, but by true
restoration of heart -- the heart to respect, love, and embrace one another
-- the great powers of the East bloc and the West, the great religions of
Christianity and Islam, as well as the lesser divisions of Orthodox,
Catholic and Protestant. We have to resolve out of a situation of
impossible tension and war into a great relief of freedom, peace and joy.
All the parties have to be fairly understood and respected by each other.
If we would divide up the various sides into "Abel" and "Cain", we
could say that one side had a sense of providential "right", or "human
right", but another side had the weight of heart, or loyalty and
friendship, on its side. But the issue is not simply one of Abel and Cain,
but the "Headwing" solution -- who can take the parental heart to embrace
both sides, over and above the issues and the resentments, from the
position of God's Heart. Then the ultimate solution must come back to True
Parents.
This world could not accept True Parents properly because there was
not enough "Foundation to Receive the Messiah". Such a foundation may be
laid once the two relative sides can truly unite and embrace (and forgive)
one another.
In other words, this war in Yugoslavia is the concluding effort of
heaven and earth to make possible a good world, the ideal world of peace
and prosperity, once we can go over this conflict and these hatreds, these
iniquities, on the part of all of us.
Originally, the United Nations should mediate and govern conflicts in
this modern era. The UN represents the hope and ideal of a unified world
"government". The individual nations should submit their will and
intentions to the UN, rather than promoting and defending only their own
interests. Thus, now is the age of the world (humankind), more than the
nation.
In this sense, a city like Moscow or Ekaterinburg, which can feel
pride as a city, would be favored, rather than a nation feeling pride as a
nation -- because the nation then tends to stand in the way, blocking the
world development. For example, many citizens in Moscow love Mayor Luzhkov
and feel pride in their city, and the city is becoming brighter,
friendlier, and cleaner.
In its involvement with Yugoslavia, NATO and America should not act in
their own name, but should refer everything to the United Nations
ultimately. The present actions are in fact illegal from the viewpoint of
existing international law. If they become actions only for the sake of
America and the western alliance, then they are truly wrong. However, in
fact, the policies regarding the Balkans were already set up by the UN, and
even date back to the end of the First World War -- recognition of the
right to independence of each linguistic and ethnic group. So NATO and the
USA are in fact attempting to uphold, enforce or implement that right,
already agreed by the UN.
The problem has been that the United Nations has no muscle or power to
enforce its own policies, nor could it agree when the question came to a
decision to act. Therefore NATO and the USA felt it necessary to take
action into their own hands. The right or wrong of this will be judged in
the future.
The United Nations or some form of world-level government must become
stronger, and capable of managing world affairs in its own right. Toward
that end, NATO, the USA, and other world military, political and economic
powers would do best to submit their own authority and legitimacy. Then the
UN will be in the position to govern on the world level.
At the same time, the UN has the obvious weakness of a lack of guiding
ideology or moral principle. The present "human rights" principle is thus
far the strongest and most universal yet, which almost everybody can agree on.
Our Family Federation for World Peace and Unification International is now
trying to work with the United Nations to establish this kind of moral
prerogative, which can gain the conscientious support not only of governments, but also religious bodies as well, for the greater good.