2 Samuel 20
20 Joab answered, “No, no! I’m not trying to wipe you out or destroy your town! 21 That’s not it at all. There’s a man in your town from the hill country of Ephraim. His name is Sheba, and he is the leader of a rebellion against King David. Turn him over to me, and we will leave your town alone.”
The woman told Joab, “We will throw his head over the wall.”
22 She went to the people of the town and talked them into doing it. They cut off Sheba’s head and threw it to Joab.
Joab blew a signal on his trumpet, and the soldiers returned to their homes. Joab went back to David in Jerusalem.
Richard: No one appreciates a troublemaker. Sometimes, though, according to God’s Will, it is good to make trouble, as in opposing something that is wrong.
Job 22
23 If you return to God
and turn from sin,
all will go well for you.
Click below to listen to or download a recording of Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s speech “God’s Ideal Family Is the Model for World Peace”, the inaugural message of the Universal Peace Federation on September 23, 2005 at the Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Washington DC. Rev. Moon speaks extensively about the Peace Kingdom Corps.:
http://visionroot.org/assets/SMM%20UPF%2009-23-05-combined.mp3
The Heart of Heaven in Relation to Elijah
Sun Myung Moon
March 15, 1959
Looking at the pitiable situation, God sought out and set up a person called Elijah from the peasants living in Gilead. At that time, there was a king of Israel as well as the ten tribal chiefs. However, God put them all aside and elected Elijah, who was a mere peasant in Gilead. You must know how sorrowful a fact like this is.
The king of Israel should have stood guard over the holy temple of Heaven while ruling the nation. However, he forgot that responsibility. He rejected and reproached Heaven and trampled upon the people. Furthermore, he built an altar for Baal, the enemy of Heaven, and made Asherah poles. He put them up in front of the people and worshipped them. We must think about how Heaven could have hated King Ahab for doing such things. Because God could not control the anger and sorrow in His heart at seeing the chosen people being trampled by Satan, God chose one person. That chosen person was not the king of the nation, not royalty, not a tribal chief, but a commoner, Elijah. Heavenly Father was in the situation where He could not find the person He had to find, He could not have the person He had to have, He could not lead the people He had to lead. He went around looking for them, meeting the king, the tribal chiefs and numerous people without success. Therefore, He sought out and set up one person who knew and felt concern about the national grief and heavenly sorrow of that period, a person who prayed and cried out to Heaven. That person was Elijah.
Elijah was set up in such a way. Members of the congregation! Please imagine Elijah in retrospect. Elijah was not a person who had the backing of his tribe. He was not a person whose environment safeguarded him or his position or situation. He was a person who knew Heaven’s heart and who came forth upon Heaven’s calling.
His environment was an enemy one under the sovereignty of King Ahab. Elijah, who received the call of Heaven in such an environment, had a stronger determination than anyone; he was determined that even if he were to die, he would die holding onto his people. Even if he was to die, Elijah tried to uphold the tradition of the prophets and sages who had represented the historical heart in the course of the national level providence. Going further, Elijah shed tears of concern about God’s heart; he wept on behalf of the nation and its history. You must reflect upon this. That is why Heaven sought out Elijah.
The title of today’s sermon is “The Heart of Heaven in Relation to Elijah,” I will speak briefly upon this topic.
God looked for Elijah to represent His sorrowful heart of three thousand plus years. That is, Elijah was to represent the historical heart that numerous prophets and sages had felt, never forgetting the promise of God, the blessing He had given with uplifted hands upon those He named Israel. Because God was concerned about that promise, He sought out Elijah to embrace the heart with which He had unfolded the dispensation throughout the thousand years and more since the time of Jacob.