Interview with Barbara Fuller, Candidate for the Jefferson County, WV Board of Education-May 10, 2022
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1739
Originally, had they not fallen, Eve would have become God’s wife and Adam His body. Through the lovemaking of Adam as God’s body and Eve as God’s body, the union of God and humankind, of heaven and earth, should have taken place. This union of God and of man and woman, plus and minus, should have come about, giving way to new life and new lineage through love settled vertically and horizontally. (196-233, 1990.1.1)
Cheon Seong Gyeong 1472
The life we are leading on earth is not for our own sake. We are living for the sake of God’s love. For that purpose, we are in a continuous state of action and existence. How splendid that is! Those who lead such a life can never be brought to ruin. Hardships, tears and misery would not make us miserable, bitter, or sad because we would be enduring them all for the love of God. You should understand this principle. (67-159, 1973.6.1)
Testing
- Satan Tests People of Faith
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Due to the Human Fall, Satan tramples upon human beings and dominates the whole earth. To turn this situation around, we need to employ the principle of indemnity. Since Satan treated human beings with contempt, human beings should win Satan’s respect and deference. They should do this by themselves, without the help of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or God. Whatever sinful condition Satan presents them with, they should be able to overcome it. Only then can human beings become God’s victorious sons and daughters.
On your path you will encounter many trials from Satan. Especially if you become open to communicate with the spirit world, you will face many trials. If you fail Satan’s tests, Satan will accuse you, saying, “You are not qualified,” and block your way. (3:210, November 1, 1957)
Consider the suffering of Job. First, his happy life vanished when he lost his possessions and children. Then he was cast into a situation where his friends scorned him and his wife accused him, and where his whole body was covered with wounds and itched so that he had to scratch it with tiles. Yet through it all, he never held a grudge against God. Instead, in silence and contemplation he overcame the pain, and through his illness he experienced something of God’s love. Because Job was that kind of man, Heaven could bless him with possessions and children even more than before. (2:114-15, March 10, 1957)
Satan originally belonged to God. Therefore, he knows the original way he should go, and through which the universe becomes one. Yet why did he become Satan? It was because he was self-centered. Instead of centering upon God with true love, he set himself up apart from God and lived with selfish love. Satan knows that God is entitled to claim every person who has true love. Therefore, when a person of true love appears, Satan will give him back to God, saying, “He does not belong to me; he belongs to You.”
But for love to be true love, it has to transcend every barrier, whether in the individual, family, tribe, nation or world. If you want to become a true person who possesses true love, you must go beyond all these levels and connect with the cosmos. That is the principle. Therefore Satan says to God, “You may choose Your man, but he still lives in my world. Before You can count him as belonging to Your nation, he has to overcome all kinds of persecution, even beyond the national level, in order to prove himself worthy of Heaven.”
When Satan gave this condition to God, God had to answer, “You are correct.” Satan continued, “Anyone who is dedicated to the greatest, universal purpose, and who consistently lives for the sake of others with God’s love, belongs to Your nation. Nevertheless, I will be there to claim him as my own if I find any evidence of self-centeredness or attachments to the things of my realm.” (124:65-65, January 23, 1983)
Satan sometimes tests you based on the original content of creation. The question is whether or not you have become a person of the original standard. If you resist, Satan will say, “God, this person has the wrong concept and does not meet the original standard. To prove it, give him to me and let me thrust him into hell. I am sure he will fall.” Job was tested ten times, yet still he was grateful and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away.” Job always went to zero. Thus he fulfilled the formula.
Because of this, Job received new blessings a hundred-fold and a thousand-fold. He was a model of a victorious person during the age of restoration. Although he was struck ten times, he always kept a grateful heart, remained at the zero point, and held on to absolute faith in God. Therefore Satan drew back from Job, and Job could be revived and granted all his desires. (246:20-21, March 23, 1993)
Satan tempted Jesus three times. First, while he was fasting for forty days, Satan tempted him with food. He appeared before Jesus and asked him to change a stone into bread. This would be good news to a starving person, but Jesus refused. He clearly stated, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” This means that Jesus refused to yield any conditions to Satan pertaining to the necessities of life.20 (3:121, October 13, 1957)
Throughout my life I experienced tribulation. Satan came against me with all his power, using the cruelest methods. Just as in the story of Job in the Bible, Satan told God, “He is only able to achieve something because You blessed him. I demand to test him by taking everything away from him; then I will see if he is so strong.” Satan made that demand concerning me several times, and God had to push me into life-threatening situations.
Likewise, you must face the fact that God will not help you directly. Instead, you will encounter terrible difficulties and feel completely helpless. You will think that although you deserve God’s help, God is nowhere near you and does not help you at all. However, if you overcome that trial, God’s help will surely arrive—although indirectly. (117:160-61, February 28, 1982)
Although Reverend Moon may be a person of some importance, and although God loves him, he is not exempt from the course that human beings must go through during which they are to take responsibility to indemnify sin without God’s help. In other words, I had to overcome Satan on my own. In the beginning, Adam was given his appointed task to subjugate Satan and Satan’s world in order to establish the realm of God’s ideal. Therefore, I should likewise overcome my environment to reach the realm of God’s ideal. Do you understand?
To pay my portion of indemnity, I had to be driven out, stripped of my clothes and chased out into the cold. Therefore, I discarded my coat and gave away my meager portion of food. I willingly paid that price, to the point that even Satan took pity on me and had someone offer me a coat. That was a wonderful moment, when Satan gave me that coat. It meant that no one in the satanic world would ever take away my clothes ever again…
We all have to go through such a battle. We go through hardship and persecution, are stripped of our clothes and beaten, but then people on Satan’s side appear who will dress us and bind up our wounds. By going through such a course, people will come to our side. (124:303-04, March 1, 1983)
Satan said, “I will see how strong Reverend Moon’s love really is,” and tested me by taking my son Heung Jin. Satan tested me in this: in this moment of grief, who would I love more, God and humankind, or my own son? I could not seek revenge against Satan. I would not give him an opening. I only devoted my efforts to liberate the nations… I determined to make Heung Jin’s passing an offering to mobilize the spirit world and lay a victorious foundation for Heaven to advance the work on earth…
I understood one principle: the priest who offers a sacrifice to God does not shed tears. Through the offering he should glorify Heaven, support humankind and strive to establish the conditions to restore everything in the satanic world. Therefore, there were no tears on my face as I offered up my beloved son and laid him to rest. I stood proudly in my public position. When Satan saw this, he could not help but respect me. He had to acknowledge, “Reverend Moon, you are indeed a man of Heaven.” Hence, even though the realm of death struck the life of Heaven, I made up for the loss and went beyond it with the power of love. (130:162-63, January 8, 1984)
No matter how Satan tries to test you and jump on you, if you sacrifice yourself there will not be any problem. If you make excuses for yourself, however, Satan will overpower you. (Way of God’s Will 3.4)