Watch or listen to interviews with Jefferson County WV Board of Education Candidates in the upcoming May 10, 2022 election, which is the only election for the Board of Education: https://www.visionroot.org/wv-elections-2022-jefferson-county-wv-board-of-education-and-statewide-primary-election-may-10-2022-candidate-interviews/.
Cheon Seong Gyeong 2104
The path of God, who has been paving the way of the tradition of love, is one full of suffering. We have to walk this path because we are to inherit the tradition God has been establishing. I don’t enjoy watching you suffer. You should keep in mind that God has been preparing with painful efforts and devotion to bless you unconditionally. Glory comes only when you receive the inheritance in that place. Isn’t this so? Glory comes only when you inherit from your enemy. God dwells there. Since it has been spread through the cross, it must be reaped by going the way of the cross again. You should know this. Since it was spread through suffering, it must be reaped through suffering. (150-209, 1961.2.15)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1122
When Adam fulfills his portion of responsibility he stands in the position of the first son. Then he can enter the position of true parents. This is the restoration of parenthood. It is the position of the king, the king of heaven and earth.
The difficulty in restoring the right of the first son through True Parents’ battles with the satanic world cannot be compared to anything in the history of the world. Restoration of the right of the parent is like a puzzle. The restoration of the right of the king (kingship) has also been fulfilled in this difficult time in the democratic world. Think about that. When was it ever possible to speak of such things? Now, the atmosphere is such that people say, “This is great because Rev. Moon is saying it.” (217-45, 1991.4.16)
Testing
3. Trials Forge Character and Build Unshakable Faith
And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out upon you, and your foot did not swell, these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
Deuteronomy 8.2-5
Mencius said, “Shun rose from the fields; Fu Yüeh was raised to office from among the builders; Chiao Ke from amid the fish and salt; Kuan Chung from the hands of the prison officer; Sun Shu-ao from the sea and Po-li Hsi from the market. That is why Heaven, when it is about to place a great burden on a man, always first tests his resolution, exhausts his frame, makes him suffer starvation and hardship, and frustrates his efforts so as to shake him from his mental lassitude, toughen his nature and make good his deficiencies.”
Mencius VI.B.15 (Confucianism)
And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I [Paul] besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I will all the more gladly boast of my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12.7-10
Life is like a hill.
Mawu the Creator made it steep and slippery,
To right and left deep waters surround it,
You cannot turn back once you start to climb.
You must climb with a load on your head.
A man’s arms will not help him, for it’s a trial,
The world is a place of trial.
Fon Song (African Traditional Religions)
Moses… found one of our servants to whom We had given mercy from Ourselves and taught him knowledge from Our very presence. Moses said to him, “May I follow you so you may teach me some of the common sense you have been taught?” He said, “You will never have any patience with me! How can you show any patience with something that is beyond your experience?”
He said, “You will find me patient, if God so wishes. I will not disobey you in any matter.” He said, “If you follow me, do not ask me about anything until I tell you something to remember it by.”
So they both started out until, as they boarded a ship, he bored a hole in her. [Moses] said, “Have you scuttled her to drown her crew? You have done such a weird thing!” He said, “Didn’t I say that you would not manage to show any patience with me?” He said, “Do not take me to task for what I have forgotten, nor weigh me down by making my case too difficult for me.”
They journeyed on and when they met a youth, he killed him. Moses said, “Have you killed an innocent soul, who himself had not murdered another? You have committed such a horrible deed!” He said, “Did I not tell you that you would never manage to have any patience with me?” He said, “If I ever ask you about anything after this, do not let me accompany you. You have found an excuse so far as I am concerned.”
They both proceeded further till when they came to the people of a town, they asked its inhabitants for some food, and they refused to treat either of them hospitably. They found a wall there which was about to tumble down, so he set it straight. Moses said, “If you had wished, you might have accepted some payment for it.” He said, “This means a parting between you and me. Yet I shall inform you about the interpretation of what you had no patience for.
“As for the ship, it belonged to some poor men who worked at sea. I wanted to damage it because there was a king behind them seizing every ship by force. The young man’s parents were believers, and we dreaded lest he would burden them with arrogation and disbelief. We wanted the Lord to replace him for them with someone better than him in purity and nearer to tenderness. The wall belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and a treasure of theirs lay underneath it. Their father had been honorable, so your Lord wanted them to come of age and claim their treasure as a mercy from your Lord. That is the interpretation of what you showed no patience for.”
Qur’an 18.65-82
If the Holy One is pleased with a man, He crushes him with painful sufferings. For it is said, “And the Lord was pleased with him, hence He crushed him by disease” (Isaiah 53.10). Now, you might think that this is so even if he did not accept them with love. Therefore it is said, “To see if his soul would offer itself in restitution.” Even as the trespass-offering must be brought by consent, so also the sufferings must be endured with consent. And if he did accept them, what is his reward? “He will see his seed, prolong his days.” And more than that, his knowledge [of Torah] will endure with him. For it is said, “The purpose of the Lord will prosper in his hand.”2
Talmud, Berakot 5a (Judaism)