Claim. A sermon is a heaven-or-hell event at which the preacher must reach the focal intensity of a woman in childbirth; an ill-prepared or repeated sermon spiritually kills hearers, so the preacher must repent in excess of three times its duration if no inspiration is given.
Elaboration. SMM treats sermon-giving as soteriologically decisive: “Sermons should be given with the same intensity of feeling as a woman who is in childbirth… If you reach that level, you need no preparation. The content of your sermon is not the issue. The issue is whether your heart has reached that level” (4.1. The practice of giving sermons, 96-168, 1978.1.3). The stakes are explicit: “During sermon time, a boundary is created that decides who enters heaven and hell. If someone comes to our church thinking, ‘I’ve always wondered about the Unification Church,’… but then is disappointed with the sermon… it is the same as cutting that person’s throat” (ibid, 96-169, 1978.1.3). Repetition kills freshness — “you must give new things… you would have to add seasoning to give it a new taste” (ibid, 75-176, 1975.1.2) — and books cannot substitute for divine spirit: “you may prepare their lectures by referring to books and give their sermons based on books, but is God within those books? He is not” (ibid, 76-151, 1975.2.2). Repentance for a failed sermon is “three times that time period” (ibid, 160-194, 1969.5.12). Sermon-craft is therefore a life-and-death pastoral duty.