Do Not Be Conformed to this World, But Be Transformed by the Renewal of Your Mind

Join us for the Peaceful Families; Peaceful World workshop, August 26th to August 28th in Harpers Ferry WV and online.
     August 26- Parent and Presenter Training; Abstaining for Success and Happiness
     August 27- Exposition of the Divine Principle Study
     August 28- Strengthening Families and Communities Forum (Free)
          Featuring Andy Wells; No Left Turn in Education, Live-In Person
          Kelly Kohls; National School Boards Leadership Council, Live-In Person
          Jamal  Johnson, Richard Urban, Live-In Person
Registration Deadline is August 23rd.

FBI Raid of President Trump’s Home an Outrage

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    Again, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you distinguished guests for your presence here. I would like to conclude by expressing my hope for the beginning of the new millennial kingdom overflowing with peace, freedom, and justice in heaven and on earth.
    May God’s blessing be with your families and your nation. Thank you.

Richard:  The new millennial kingdom is now.  Join the Peaceful Families; Peaceful World Workshop, August 26 to August 28 to understand why.

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We entered the era of international marriage with the 777 Couples Blessing. Everyone will be brought together. From there we can pass through formation, growth, and completion stages; this time I might even intermarry all of you. What era did I say we are living in now? We are now in the era of international and interracial marriage. (100-34, 1978.10.4)

Separation from the World

A WORLDLY LIFE IS INCOMPATIBLE with the path to God. To seek after pleasure, wealth, fame and material comforts inevitably distracts from pursuing a spiritual purpose. More than harmless distractions, such worldly passions and attachments drag the soul to hell. Hence, scriptures contain numerous admonitions to avoid conforming to the world and its values.
Wise men and women regard worldly achievement as an illusion. They do not delight in worldly pleasures, but devote themselves to God’s will. At all times they seek to remain detached from worldly thoughts and sense impressions. They measure achievement by spiritual progress, rather than by the standards of worldly success.
In some religions, separation from the world is achieved by physical isolation in a monastic community. More often the boundaries are invisible, enforced by moral suasion and church discipline. For people who are “in the world but not of the world,” their lives may appear outwardly ordinary, yet the inner content of their lives is quite different, without attachment to the world’s prevailing values.

  1. Not Conforming to the Ways of the World

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
    Romans 12.2 As a sweet-smelling, lovely lotus may grow upon a heap of rubbish thrown by the highway, even so a disciple of the Fully Enlightened One outshines the ignorant worldly people in wisdom.
    Dhammapada 58-59 (Buddhism)

For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
    Matthew 16.26

A man came to the Prophet and said, “O Messenger of Allah, direct me to an act which, if I do it, will cause Allah to love me and people to love me.” He said, “Renounce the world and Allah will love you; renounce what people possess and people will love you.”
    Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 31 (Islam)

Do not serve mean ends. Do not live in heedlessness. Do not embrace false views. Do not be one who upholds the world.
    Dhammapada 167 (Buddhism)

I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I do not pray that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth; thy word is truth. As thou didst send me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.
    John 17.14-18

A complete disregard for all worldly things, perfect contentment, abandonment of hope of every kind, and patience—these constitute the highest good of one who has subjugated his senses and acquired knowledge of Self.
No need of attaching yourself to things of this world. Attachment to worldly objects is productive of evil.
    Mahabharata, Santi Parva 329 (Hinduism)

Stagnation: To conserve his stock of virtue, the superior man withdraws into himself and thus escapes from the evil influences around him. He declines all temptations of honor and riches.
    I Ching 12 (Confucianism)

The sage patterns himself on Heaven, prizes the Truth, and does not allow himself to be cramped by the vulgar. The stupid man does the opposite of this. He is unable to pattern himself on Heaven and instead frets over human concerns. He does not know enough to prize the Truth but instead, plodding along with the crowd, he allows himself to be changed by vulgar ways, and so is never content.
    Chuang Tzu 31 (Taoism)

He who has found the Mother [Tao]
And thereby understands her sons [things of
the world],
And having understood the sons,
Still keeps to its Mother,
Will be free from danger throughout his lifetime.
Close the mouth,
Shut the doors [of cunning and desire],
And to the end of life there will be peace
without toil.
Open the mouth,
Meddle with affairs,
And to the end of life there will be no salvation.
Tao Te Ching 52  (Taoism)

Vimalakirti wore the white clothes of a layman, yet lived impeccably like a religious devotee. He lived at home, but remained aloof from the realm of desire, the realm of pure matter, and the immaterial realm. He had a son, a wife, and female attendants, yet always maintained continence. He appeared to be surrounded by servants, yet lived in solitude. He appeared to be adorned with ornaments, yet always was endowed with the auspicious signs and marks. He seemed to eat and drink, yet always took nourishment from the taste of meditation. He made his appearance at the fields of sports and in the casinos, but his aim was always to mature those people who were attached to games and gambling… He engaged in all sorts of businesses, yet had no interest in profit or possessions. To train living beings, he would appear at crossroads and on street corners, and to protect them he participated in government.
    Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti 2 (Buddhism)

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