The Richard Urban Show: #95-Black Math Genius Causes Controversy in Jefferson County WV Schools
Editorial: Public School Programs Should Not Be Based on Race
James 5
5 You rich people should cry and weep! Terrible things are going to happen to you. 2 Your treasures have already rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days. 4 You refused to pay the people who worked in your fields, and now their unpaid wages are shouting out against you. The Lord All-Powerful has surely heard the cries of the workers who harvested your crops.
Psalm 37
38 But not a trace will be left
of the wicked
or their families.
Women of the Bible
2. Rebecca
Now Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebecca said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food, that I may eat it, and bless you before the lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. Go to the flock, and fetch me two good kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves; and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me.”
Genesis 27.5-13
Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebecca; so she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran, and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away; until your brother’s anger turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send, and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”
Then Rebecca said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddanaram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. Genesis 27.41-28.2
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
From time to time in human history, a woman appears who initiates a great revolution to find the path of God’s love. She leads her people to offer their lives, possessions, attachments to cultural traditions and such, for God’s sake.
Rebecca, Jacob’s mother, was one such woman. Due to her efforts, Jacob could be victorious and receive the name “Israel.” It was Rebecca who inspired him to claim the birthright of the elder son, and then guided him to receive the blessing from his father Isaac.
What Rebecca did was to unite with her younger son Jacob. On his behalf, she deceived her husband and her eldest son, thus enabling him to fulfill the will of God. In doing this, she was an exceptional woman.
Have you ever heard of someone trying to steal the birthright from his elder brother? From a conventional viewpoint, Jacob’s mother was a liar and Jacob was a swindler. The Bible records these things clearly, as well as the fact that God approved of them. This has been a puzzle for Bible students.
This world belongs to Satan, therefore for God to bless His sons and daughters with the birthright of the elder son requires that they make a condition to restore the world from Satan’s realm. Do you think anyone can persuade Satan to surrender his rights by reasoned arguments? No. Satan originally stole this world through deceit… In restoration, God’s central figures can do to Satan exactly what he did to them; that is how God can take back all that Satan had stolen.
A woman who unites with God should be the one to take the initiative. The Fall happened when a woman (Eve) united with Satan. Then together they took the man (Adam). Therefore, a woman should unite with God and bring the man back. Rebecca took on that role. First she should pull Jacob to God’s side; then together they should pull her husband and [eldest] son. From this perspective we can recognize the rightness of their actions. (105:118-20, October 4, 1979)
In Jacob’s family, as long as Esau continued to hold resentment against Jacob [for taking his father’s blessing], the family could not be united and stand before God. Therefore, Esau and his father had to be brought to a voluntary surrender. They should reach the point where they would genuinely praise Rebecca; until that day the family could not return to a position acceptable to God.
Rebecca served them devotedly and apologized with tears, “I am sorry; it is my fault.” Yet even if Isaac and Esau forgave her, would even thousands of apologies be enough to calm their hearts towards Jacob when he appeared before them? They had to submit to Jacob freely, by their own will. There would be no restoration unless Esau (in the position of Cain) and Isaac (in the position of Satan) yield to Jacob (in the position of Abel), saying, “Jacob, you were right to claim the birthright. I will accept you.”
Jacob worked hard for that, of course, but his mother worked even harder—hundreds of times harder. She worked hard to change their attitudes, making sure they pledged repeatedly not to kill Jacob. How much rested upon Rebecca! She fulfilled a vital mission to make the restoration possible. (244:240-41, February 14, 1993)
A woman, Eve, fell by uniting with the archangel. She denied her father God and Adam her intended husband. Therefore women, be on your guard! You should expect to take the lead in the course of restoration; you will go first on this path ahead of the men. Woman must rise up who can face down opposition from their fathers and their husbands in the satanic world. Unless you can be steadfast, the men in your life cannot return to the original world.
Religions have been developing through this formula; they are in the role of the bride. Hence, in general, women are more fervent in religious persuasion while men are more worldly. Whenever faithful women seek for God, they are bound to face opposition from both Satan and the men in their life. (89:208, November 22, 1976)