The Second World War

The spiritual origin of modern democracy lies in the people’s striving to realize the values of the Abel-type view of life. Democracy follows the internal and external aspirations of the original human nature and will certainly develop in the direction of God’s ideal world.

Fascism, on the other hand, constrains people from following the aspirations of their original nature. In the Second World War, democracy, while standing upon the formation stage victory attained in the First World War, defeated fascism and secured victory at the growth stage.

When economic depression overwhelmed the world in the 1930s, some nations tried to break out of it by adopting fascism. This was the road taken by Germany, Japan and Italy, which felt isolated and beset by adversity.

What, then, is fascism?

Fascism denies the fundamental values of modern democracy, including respect for the individual and his basic rights, freedoms of speech, the press and association, and the parliamentary system. Race or nationality is the ultimate value, to be upheld by a strong nation-state. Individuals and institutions exist only for the benefit of the state.

Under fascism, individuals cannot claim freedom as their inviolable right; they are to sacrifice their freedom in their duty to serve the state. The guiding political principle of fascism holds that all power and authority should be entrusted in one supreme leader rather than distributed among people. The personal will of the leader dictates the governing ideology for the entire nation. Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany, and the leaders of Japan’s militaristic government were dictators of the fascist type.

In the Second World War, an alliance of the democratic nations of the United States, Great Britain and France led the nations on God’s side. Satan’s side was the alliance of the fascist nations: Germany, Japan and Italy. What determined that the former stood on God’s side and the latter on Satan’s side?

The Allies stood on God’s side because their political systems were democracies, the political system for the final stage in the providence of restoration founded upon the Abel-type view of life. The Axis Powers, on the other hand, stood on Satan’s side because they upheld fascism, which was anti-democratic and stemmed from the Cain-type view of life. Moreover, the Allies and Axis Powers were separated into God’s side and Satan’s side because the former nations supported Christianity while the latter opposed and persecuted Christianity.

Germany, the leader of the Axis Powers, deprived people of their basic freedoms, and its ideological oppression denied them their religious freedom. Furthermore, Hitler massacred six million Jews. After concluding a concordat with the pope, Hitler attempted to subordinate the churches under the control of cooperative bishops while corrupting Christianity into a nationalistic neo-paganism based on primitive Germanic religion. In protest, some Protestants and Catholics put up bitter resistance.

Japanese militarists during the Second World War forced every church in Korea to install a kamidana, an altar for the Japanese Shinto gods, and compelled Korean Christians to worship at Shinto shrines. Those Christians who did not comply were imprisoned or killed. Korean Christians who had fled to Manchuria in search of religious freedom were brutally massacred. These measures against Korean Christianity were intensified toward the end of the war.

Italy supported Germany’s cause as one of the Axis Powers. Against the general thrust of God’s providence, Mussolini promoted Catholicism as the state religion with the selfish intention to use it for unifying the people under his fascist regime. On these grounds, Germany, Japan and Italy during the war may be classified as the nations on Satan’s side.

One purpose behind the Second World War was to fulfill the worldwide condition of indemnity at the growth stage to restore God’s three great blessings, as was meant to occur at the time of Jesus. In the beginning, it was due to the Fall of Adam, Eve and the Archangel that God’s three great blessings were not realized.

Therefore, in the restoration of the three blessings, there necessarily have to be three actors taking these respective roles. Thus, God spiritually restored the three blessings in the providence of spiritual salvation through the joint efforts of the resurrected Jesus as the second Adam, the Holy Spirit representing Eve (cf. Christology 4.1), and angels. Accordingly, during the Second World War, the three nations on God’s side representing Adam, Eve and the Archangel led the fight against the three nations on Satan’s side, which also represented Adam, Eve and the Archangel.

The victory of the nations on God’s side would make a growth-stage indemnity condition for the restoration of the three great blessings. Satan, who was aware of this providence, took the lead by mustering the three nations representing Adam, Eve and the Archangel on his side and had them attack the three nations on God’s side.

The United States, as a masculine type of nation, represented Adam on God’s side. Great Britain, as a feminine type of nation, represented Eve on God’s side. France, as a mixed type of nation, represented the Archangel on God’s side. On Satan’s side, Germany, as a masculine type of nation, represented Adam; Japan, as a feminine type of nation, represented Eve; and Italy, as a mixed type of nation, represented the Archangel. In the First World War, the United States, Great Britain and France had represented at the formation stage these three positions on God’s side, while Germany, Austria and Turkey took these positions on Satan’s side.

The Soviet Union, a nation on Satan’s side, participated in the Second World War on God’s side. How was it possible?

When medieval society could not fulfill its providential purpose, it became a hindrance to both God’s side and Satan’s side, which then divided and began developing along paths leading to the maturation of the democratic world and the communist world. The Cain-type and Abel-type views of life worked in tandem to break down medieval feudal society and later, absolute monarchy and imperialism.

Just as God’s providence progresses while riding on the currents of its time, Satan’s effort to build an unprincipled imitation of the ideal world is also bound to the currents of its time. When the prevailing social order obstructs the formation of new societies, including those furthering Satan’s goals, Satan joins in the fight to destroy it.

In a similar fashion, fascism had become an obstacle to both Satan’s side and God’s side. Because the providence of restoration through indemnity required that God temporarily permit Satan’s side to form the communist world, the Soviet Union in the Second World War was allowed to join forces with the nations on God’s side to destroy fascism, in order that it might quickly build up its communist state. Nevertheless, as soon as the Second World War was over, the communist world and the democratic world separated like oil and water.

The internal, providential causes behind the Second World War were as follows: First, the war broke out to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage to restore God’s three great blessings.

The ideal world where God’s three blessings are fulfilled, which could not be realized by Adam due to the Fall, was to have been realized by Jesus, whom God sent as the Second Adam. Yet this ideal was realized only spiritually because Jesus died on the cross. Since Satan tries to realize in advance a defective imitation of the ideal world, at the consummation of history, there will surely emerge an unprincipled world which has realized defectively the outward form of the three great blessings at the growth stage under the leadership of a satanic antitype of Jesus. God’s side must prevail over this world and thereby fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage required for the restoration of the ideal world, where the three great blessings are fully realized centering on God.

Hitler was the satanic antitype of Jesus. Though his will was totally contrary to Jesus’, certain aspects of Hitler’s life mimicked in a perverted manner some of the events in Jesus’ life: his grandiose vision, his single life and the disappearance of his corpse are examples. Hitler was also the satanic antitype of perfected Adam at the growth stage. He made a travesty of the blessing of the multiplication of children by advocating the purity of the German people as the master race and mimicked the blessing of dominion over the creation by his policy of world conquest. In this manner, Hitler realized an unprincipled world with a satanic form of the three blessings, fulfilled at the growth stage. By prevailing in the Second World War, God’s side was to fulfill the worldwide indemnity condition at the growth stage to restore the ideal world of God’s three blessings.

The second providential cause behind the war was to have the people on God’s side overcome Jesus’ second temptation on the world level. In light of the meaning of Jesus’ three temptations, we can recognize that God’s side had to prevail in the Second World War to fulfill the indemnity condition to restore worldwide God’s second blessing. As Jesus laid the foundation for the restoration of children by overcoming the second temptation in the wilderness, God’s side was to lay the worldwide growth-stage foundation for democracy by triumphing in the Second World War.

The third providential cause behind the war was to lay the growth-stage foundation for the restoration of God’s sovereignty. By the victory of God’s side in the First World War, the democratic world had secured its formation-stage foundation.

Working to build the Cain-type world, Satan’s side also benefited from the collapse of Czarist absolutism during the First World War and laid the formation-stage foundation for the communist world. During the Second World War, the communist world and the democratic world built their separate growth-stage foundations before parting company at the conclusion of the war. Building this growth-stage foundation for the democratic world restored the growth-stage foundation of God’s sovereignty.

The victory of God’s side in the Second World War fulfilled the growth-stage indemnity condition to restore God’s three great blessings worldwide. Having the significance of overcoming Jesus’ second temptation on the world level, the victory fulfilled the indemnity condition to restore God’s second blessing worldwide.

Finally, by laying the growth-stage foundation for the democratic world, it established the growth-stage foundation to restore God’s sovereignty.

While Hitler was the antitype of Jesus on Satan’s side, Stalin was the antitype of the Second Advent of Christ on Satan’s side. The fact that Hitler and his nation were destroyed, while Stalin and his foundation of worldwide communism grew strong, indicated that the time for building the spiritual kingdom under the leadership of the resurrected Jesus had passed, and the age for building a new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1-7) under the leadership of Christ at the Second Advent had begun.

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the growth stage of the dispensation of the Second Advent commenced. Many Christians began receiving revelations about the return of Jesus, and God’s spiritual works began occurring throughout the world.

Since then, the established churches have become increasingly confused, divided and secularized; they have been gradually losing the heart of their spiritual life. These are phenomena of the Last Days, occurring on account of God’s final providence to unify all religions through the new, ultimate expression of the truth.