Author: drichardurban@urbangrocery.com

The Invisible Hand that Guides Us

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1935

Wasn’t America the land of the Indi-
ans? When I went to Hawaii, I thought,
“Wow, I have never seen such a place in
this world!” Thirty percent of the people
are Japanese, and only twenty-nine per-
cent are white. This is why they say that
the white people are being persecuted.
When I heard that remark, I didn’t feel
so bad. If I had said, “Hey, you Japa-
nese people! See that indemnity is paid
for the opposition that I have received
in America!”, then how efficiently they
would have seen to it. But I realized that
they would expel all the white people
there, so I thought, “This will not do.”
Soon I concluded, “If I marry the chil-
dren of those families that form thir-
ty percent of the population, with the
children of the families belonging to
twenty-nine percent of the population,
then they will be completely united.” I
also realized how simple the providence
for restoration would be if everything
was transferred to the American con-
tinent. That is why I am building cen-
ters of operation, purchasing boats, and
making preparations to live in Hawaii. I
intend to go to Hawaii. Believe me, the
Pacific civilization is coming! (216-275,
1991.4.7)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2025

You have come here with the inten-
tion to follow me, but you listen to your
own words and think, “I hate Home
Church. I will only go where True Father
goes.” You should not do this. Even if
your father is the president, you can’t
inherit his things without doing some-
thing? In order for you to become presi-
dent, you need to lay a foundation that
will enable you to become a president.
Even if you are born as the Crown Prince
of a nation, in order to become the King,
you must learn all the rules and regula-
tions that will enable you to be a King.
You need to do these things.

Richard:  Home Church, which is a providence where you serve 360 homes in your neighborhood and connect them to God and His Will, is an eternal providence that all people must go through.

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

Though a person may have claimed, “I am happy, successful and a great victor,” there still remains a far greater happiness which has never been attained by anyone. We must understand that no matter how successful or wealthy one may boast about being, there still remains far greater success and far greater wealth which have never been attained by anyone.

In the last days of history, today, Heaven is searching for us, and we are seeking Heaven. We can imagine how great is the happiness we do not know, how great the success we can achieve. We can imagine that there is something about which we can sing in joy and boast proudly like no one in history.

What people rejoice over now is not complete happiness or full success. These are only transitory phenomena. Those who are intoxicated with them are truly pitiful.

Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Matthew 16:26) The life he referred to is not life inside the realm of the fall. What is that life? It is the life which connects us directly to the life of the Creator. We must understand that Jesus’ words refer to the precious human life which can link with God’s original love and the love of the original nature. Continue reading “The Invisible Hand that Guides Us”

Behold God’s Handiwork of Creation

Numbers 8

8 They are to bring a bull and its proper grain sacrifice of flour mixed with olive oil. And they must bring a second bull as a sacrifice for sin.

9 Then you, Moses, will call together all the people of Israel and have the Levites go to my sacred tent, 10 where the people will place their hands on them. 11 Aaron will present the Levites to me as a gift from the people, so that the Levites will do my work.

Jeremiah 31

People of Israel,
you are my own dear children.
    Don’t I love you best of all?
Though I often make threats,
I want you to be near me,
    so I will have mercy on you.
I, the Lord, have spoken.

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

We have to understand this as we relate with all things and become someone who can sing of the heart of God, who created the natural world. We have to be able to sing of the heart of God who rejoiced after creating the universe; we should sing of the heart of God when He rejoiced after creating human beings. We should sing about how this world of ideology has been made so good, precious and beautiful. When we can praise God with this heart, we can become connected to heavenly and human love. You must understand that this is how the historical and providential bond of heart, which is linked to the heavenly principles and human principles, is forged.

Today, we often understand God as one who has the same sung sang as we. However, in your life of devotion, when you are praying or when you are meditating quietly, watching the natural world alone in the dark night, or when you have opened the door to your heart with a serious attitude and feel the outpouring of your original mind as you behold nature, you will feel that nature exists for you. You will experience deeply that the infinitely large world of the heavenly bodies exists for your sake. If you then bow your head and pray, “Father, thank You,” you will offer a more profound prayer than any you may offer based on your personal feelings. Continue reading “Behold God’s Handiwork of Creation”

The Rooting Out of Satan’s Lineage

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2045

It’s okay if we firmly grab hold of
the family. Aren’t all people bound to a
family? If we catch the family, then the
members of the National Assembly, the
ministers and vice-ministers of the cabi-
net, and even the president in the Blue
House, all will be caught. You should all
become leaders of tong and ban. Don’t
you agree? If the members of the Nation-
al Assembly, the important statesmen of
the country, the cabinet members, and
even the staff members of the military
will all become mobilized through the
leaders of the tong and ban movement,
then everything will be completed. We
can then work without a fight. Do you
understand? (167-21, 1987.6.14)

Richard:  Restoration begins from families and expands out to the society, not the other way around.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 955

What comes after the cosmic expan-
sion of the true Blessing? It is the root-
ing out of Satan’s lineage. It means sev-
ering the root. Since humankind went to
hell by entering into false marriage, True
Parents must marry people and straight-
en this out. In order to restore, through
indemnity, the act of the archangel in
the spirit world loving Eve on earth
and bringing about the Fall, the family
in the archangelic position in the spirit
world comes to the earth to support the
family in the position of Adam and Eve.
Through this, these families will come
to where your families are and initiate
the movement to expel Satan. This is
the Principle viewpoint. Only then can
things be logically placed in neat order.

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

You should open your heart, stop in your footsteps and behold God. Only then can the value of human beings be realized.

Today we believe God to be the center of our feelings and thoughts. God is moving the entire universe and is progressing toward eternity without rest. We have to believe in this God. This God has been protecting us for the long 6,000 years. Though we have had time to rest, God has never had time to rest. Though human beings could sleep, God never had time to sleep. He had to recognize human beings when they did not recognize Him.

In the meantime, God has governed all the laws by which the entire universe functions. He has re-created human beings and has been working to raise them as valuable masters of the entire universe, who can act on His behalf. Have you ever been deeply and sincerely grateful to God for all He has done for us? Continue reading “The Rooting Out of Satan’s Lineage”

Why God Created All Things

Matthew 12

46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers came and stood outside because they wanted to talk with him. 47 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to talk with you.”[e]

48 Jesus answered, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “These are my mother and my brothers! 50 Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my brother or sister or mother.”

Psalm 132

David is your chosen one,
    so don’t reject him.
11 You made a solemn promise
    to David, when you said,
    “I, the Lord, promise
that someone in your family
    will always be king.
12 If they keep our agreement
    and follow my teachings,
    then someone in your family
    will rule forever.”

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

The earth in which we live is constantly rotating around the sun, according to the principles of the universe. Not only the earth, but the sun itself is rotating. The sun, which is 1.3 million times more massive than the earth, is in constant motion. In the universe, there are vast galaxies that are many billion times more massive than the sun. We call these galaxies “miniature universes.” In the universe, there are countless such galaxies. We call all of these together the “great universe.” We must open our hearts wide and look at the huge universe. God, who created this enormous universe, has been acting according to the unchanging principles of the universe for many billions of years. God has been moving this entire universe with powers which are beyond our imagination and sensations.

The more we think about God, the Creator of this universe, the more we bow our heads before His magnitude. The Creator of this gigantic universe is the Father who cares for us, the God who protects us, our great Hero. We must comprehend this by opening our minds wide.

After creating this great universe, God looked upon all things of the universe with great delight. If God could talk, how much He would have said! If He could boast, how much He would have boasted! Continue reading “Why God Created All Things”

Human Beings are Not Aligned with God’s Original Purpose

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2210

If, seeing your faithful determina-
tion, God takes heart and steps forward
to declare, “I am going to tear down
this evil world!” then, in that instant,
His sphere of activity will expand due
to your efforts. This will be a gift of joy
from Heaven more wonderful than any
coveted position, throne, place of honor,
and even awards that would be heaped
upon you over not only one but over
many lifetimes.
You should determine to confront
any kind of persecution in the course
of human history and even beyond that.
This is the path filial sons and daughters
who take on the responsibility to repre-
sent the history of eternity should take.
This is the way of loyalty to the eternal
Kingdom of Heaven. (255-121, 1994.3.10)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 770

Death means to be born in God’s
love. But in the human world, people
make a fuss, saying, “Oh, I am dying!”
Seeing this, would God laugh merrily
or would He exclaim, “Oh, no!”? When
God looks at people crying like this in
the human world, does He feel sorrow
or joy? Leaving the realm of limited love,
we enter the joyful realm of infinite love.
Isn’t death the moment to welcome this
joyfulness? Isn’t this going through the
path of death the moment of actually a
second birth?
If this is the case, would God be joy-
ful about the day your physical body is
gone? Would He be joyful when some-
one is born as a son or daughter who
can act for the sake of love in the sec-
ond, infinitely expanded world? Why
do I talk about such things? You cannot
establish a relationship with God with-
out liberating yourself from the fear of
death. I am speaking about this because
you must understand this reality. (116-172,
1982.1.1)

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

Human beings have walked the long course of history, not knowing their destination. With what ideology were they born? At what destination will they arrive with the aid of that ideology? Based on what value are they going to connect to what purpose? You know very well that people have been struggling because they have not found a complete solution to any of these issues.

When people of faith discuss their existence, they say that their existence began from Heaven and will end in Heaven and that they are pursuing the ultimate value before the will of God. Yet, I believe that there must come a time when even the average person thinks like that. Although all we think about is centered on ourselves, our human purpose is not to be found in ourselves. We sense deep within us that we seek to transcend ourselves and be connected to some world of ideology.

However, there is a gap of time and space between that world and where we are now. If something can bridge this gap, it is not an academic theory or some clever means. This gap can be bridged only when we enter the world of the heart.

“Heart” has been a controversial topic in the religious sphere and in the areas of culture and the arts. There is heart at the level of the individual, heart at the levels of the family, the society, the nation and the world. Furthermore, if a Creator exists, an actual Lord, it is undeniable that this Lord is moving in line with the heart. Continue reading “Human Beings are Not Aligned with God’s Original Purpose”

Let Us Feel Father’s Heart as Our Own

1 Corinthians 2

16 The Scriptures ask,

“Has anyone ever known
the thoughts of the Lord
    or given him advice?”

But we understand what Christ is thinking.

Lamentations 2

Jerusalem Speaks:

20 Think about it, Lord!
Have you ever been this cruel
    to anyone before?
Is it right for mothers
    to eat their children,
or for priests and prophets
    to be killed in your temple?
21 My people, both young and old,
    lie dead in the streets.
Because you were angry,
my young men and women
    were brutally slaughtered.
22 When you were angry, Lord,
you invited my enemies
    like guests for a party.
No one survived that day;
enemies killed my children,
    my own little ones.

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

Prayer

Father, we are like orphans who do not know where we should go or in what circumstances we live, but who blindly follow the flow of history without securing the center of life. We have been pushed back and have survived with a pitiful existence until today.

We did not know that the Father was there, holding us and weeping when we were sad. We did not know that our Master has worked day and night to find us, we who were shackled to the realm of death. Please let us understand that it is more precious to come to know and experience these truths than to win both heaven and earth.

Let us understand that we have a Father who has labored for us and has been deeply concerned about our lives. Let us then serve the Father with all our minds and bodies with a sense of great awe. Let us understand the heart of the Father who took wounding blows in our place, who held us and embraced us when we fell down due to exhaustion, and who comforted us and showed us our path. Please allow us to reflect deeply upon our hypocritical lives in which we have not lived up to our words. Please allow us to become one with the heart of the Father and to become the sons and daughters who can fathom the situation of the Father. Please allow us to become inseparably united with the Father and to mourn over Heaven’s sorrow as our own and to rejoice in Heaven’s joy as our own. Please allow us to consider Heaven’s affairs our affairs and see Heaven’s responsibilities as our responsibilities. Father, please allow us to concretely feel that we must shoulder the responsibility to fight the myriad satans with an unchanging heart and become a sacrifice to save humanity. Continue reading “Let Us Feel Father’s Heart as Our Own”

Judgement is Not God’s Original Goal

Cheon Seong Gyeong 319

The universe is round and so is the
sun. What do all round-shaped things
center upon? They cannot become
rounded by themselves. They can only
become rounded on the basis of a rela-
tionship with something else. The world
that is one existing entity, a substantial
entity that integrates such relationships,
continues on the basis of this realm of
circular relationship. Considering this,
what is the original source that can form
such a circular relationship? The origi-
nal source of this harmony is the motion
of love. (164-78, 1987.4.26)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 923

Christians have not known that God
is a God of grief and a God of pain. Does
God exist as the Holy King and Lord of
Judgment? What is there for Him to
desire that would make Him want to be
the Lord of Judgment? Because of the
Fall, God is compelled to act as a judge.
Yet no one knows how to set this right.
There is no one even in religious circles
who knows this. The only place that
knows is the Unification Church. (196-
172, 1990.1.1)

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

Prayer

Please let this be an hour when we can commemorate the actual hyung sang of Christ, who originally came to rule heaven and earth. Let this be an hour when we can commemorate his heart as he was praying for his enemies, shedding blood on the hill of Golgotha. Please let us feel deeply, to the core of our flesh and bones, that this is the saddest thing that could have happened on the earth.

Father, we sincerely pray that You allow us to experience, within ourselves, the sorrowful heart of Jesus Christ and understand the bitter anguish of Heaven. We pray further that we can be concerned about Satan, who committed the historical sin, as well as about the direction our descendants will take in the future.

For 6,000 years, You have repeated Your labors and the providence of tears to find us. We are neither worthy nor dignified. You have been concerned for us every hour and every day, and You were never afraid of suffering wounds in Your heart. Please allow us to open the gate to our hearts wide and take after Yours. Please allow us to move our bodies and safeguard the footsteps of toils.

We who have passed through the course of sins and betrayed Heaven in sin have gathered in the presence of You, thoroughly exhausted, having attained nothing. Although we know we are unworthy to stand in Your holy presence, since it is our fate to find You, we bow down before You, cherishing Your heart. Therefore, Father of compassion, please forgive us. Father of love, please show us mercy. Continue reading “Judgement is Not God’s Original Goal”

Old and New Treasures are Valuable

Matthew 13

51 Jesus asked his disciples if they understood all these things. They said, “Yes, we do.”

52 So he told them, “Every student of the Scriptures who becomes a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like someone who brings out new and old treasures from the storeroom.”

Richard:  As we grow in understanding God’s word, our old understanding will be supplemented with new understanding.  Both are good and valuable.

Lamentations 1

Jerusalem speaks:

22 Don’t let their evil deeds
    escape your sight.
Punish them as much
as you have punished me
    because of my sins.
I never stop groaning—
    I’ve lost all hope!

Let Us Halt in Our Steps and Behold the One Who Is Protecting Us

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 8, 1959

Psalm 121

121 I look to the hills!
    Where will I find help?
2 It will come from the Lord,
    who created the heavens
    and the earth.

3 The Lord is your protector,
    and he won’t go to sleep
    or let you stumble.
4 The protector of Israel
doesn’t doze
    or ever get drowsy.

5 The Lord is your protector,
there at your right side
    to shade you from the sun.
6 You won’t be harmed
by the sun during the day
    or by the moon[a] at night.

7 The Lord will protect you
    and keep you safe
    from all dangers.
8 The Lord will protect you
    now and always
    wherever you go.

Prayer

We the unworthy have come before the Father, who governs life and death. Father, please receive us. Please take us in accordance to Your Will.

Although we want to dwell inside the realm of life and offer praise to the Father, we are still bound by the sinful nature that dwells inside the realm of death. Father, You have been conducting the providence of restoration to guide us to the new realm. Please be present here in this hour and dismantle the realm of death. Grant the grace of life and resurrection.

Eternal Father, please allow this to be an hour when we can live our lives with the original value of creation. Allow us to become those who can sing praises to the supreme goodness of the Father.

Due to the fall of the first human ancestors, our connection of life to heaven and earth has been severed. The archangel, who should have offered praise on behalf of the angelic world, betrayed Heaven and failed to complete his responsibility. Continue reading “Old and New Treasures are Valuable”

The Movement for Abstinence and Blessed Marriage

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2220

As national representatives respon-
sible for the world, you are to achieve
unity with America, which has its
responsibilities as the nation repre-
senting the world. You have to become
perfect Cains before me as people who
represent the nation and the world. You
cannot have your own individual con-
cepts about that. Realize that at this
exceptional time, you need to stand
resolved to represent world history, to
become the representative Cains of all
Cains, and to cause the archangels to
be ashamed because you have surpassed
their conditions of atonement as you
become like Heaven’s loyal archangels.
(88-143, 1976.8.10)

Richard:  On November 29 it will be 21 years since the Blessing ’97 Holy Marriage Blessing at RFK Stadium in Washington DC.  Stacey and I were there, and we lived in that neighborhood.  Absolutely, the movement of abstinence before marriage and Godly Blessed Marriage must continue and is desperately needed by our world and families.  As such, Urban Life Training will be initiating a grant program to facilitate the formation of Chapters throughout the nation.  Let me know if you want to be part of this exciting program.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 435

Why do we have brothers and sisters?
Why do we need brothers and sisters?
It is because with brothers and sisters,
boys can watch their younger sisters
and elder sisters, and from them learn
how their mothers grew up; and girls
can watch their naughty elder brothers
and younger brother, and from them
learn how their fathers grew up. This
is called the love of brothers and sis-
ters. So, you should love your siblings.
Also, you should learn to love your sib-
lings as you love your father and mother.
You cannot love them if you don’t learn
how. So, through watching your broth-
ers and sisters you learn how your par-
ents grew up and you come to love them
as your parents do. In this way, you will
be able to love your mother and father
even after you go to the next world. You
need your brothers and sisters in order
to be an owner of love without shame.
Then, would it be better for brothers and
sisters to love each other more than their
parents or less than their parents? It is
better that they love one another more.
Why is that so? Because watching and
loving your siblings is like watching and
loving your mother and father when they
were growing up. When you do this, it
fulfills the condition of loving your par-
ents from their birth to their death. So
these brothers and sisters are connected
to each other through such love. That’s
why I think this way.

Let Us Love Heaven and Become Patriots

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 1959

Matthew 5: 33-48

Prayer

Father, when we reflect back on history, we find that humanity has walked the course of Golgotha. The mountains and streams at which we are looking are full of skulls; the city in which we live is a city of skulls; the land in which we live is barren. We who stand here were abandoned by other people. Father, what is the one thing we can possess? Jesus said that when someone strikes our right cheek, we should let them also strike our left cheek. When someone asks us for our coats, we should also give the clothes we wear beneath it. When and where will these words be realized? They will be realized through a people who assert a certain ideology and through a religious group.

Father, this nation never knew how to speak in its own defense, even when it was suffering through its 4,000-year history. Even when it was suffering through many despairing events, it endured with patience for the one day of hope.

However, this people does not realize that it has been placed on the hill of Golgotha in the last days due to a hidden heavenly connection. Father! Father, please let every part of this peninsula be filled with voices like the cries of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Allow us to look for the true people who long for Jesus, he who begged You to forgive his enemies on the hill of Calgary. Continue reading “The Movement for Abstinence and Blessed Marriage”

The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth Will be God’s Nation

Leviticus 23

Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,[m] and continuing for seven days, everyone must celebrate the Festival of Shelters in honor of me. 35 No one is to do any work on the first day of the festival—it is a time when everyone must come together for worship. 36 For seven days, sacrifices must be offered on the altar. The eighth day is also to be a day of complete rest, as well as a time of offering sacrifices on the altar and of coming together for worship.

Richard: “Worship” and “altar” are the words that jump out at me.  The modern day altar is the Blessed union of husband and wife in absolutely good sex.  Visonroot Ministries will be offering STAR Leadership training to empower youth and young adults to lead the way in sexual abstinence and successful family formation: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/star-interfaith-leadership-training.

Ezekiel 32

32 Twelve years after King Jehoiachin and the rest of us had been led away as prisoners to Babylonia, the Lord spoke to me on the first day of the twelfth month.[a] He said:

2 Ezekiel, son of man, condemn the king of Egypt and tell him I am saying:

You act like a lion
    roaming the earth;
but you are nothing more than
    a crocodile in a river,
churning up muddy water
    with your feet.

3 King of Egypt, listen to me. I, the Lord God, will catch you in my net and let a crowd of foreigners drag you to shore. 4 I will throw you into an open field, where birds and animals will come to feed on your body.

Let Us Love Heaven and Become Patriots

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
March 1, 1959

Matthew 5: 33-48

If we can find an ideal nation on the earth, which nation would that be? We will call that nation “the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.” Only when that nation is realized can we realize the will of God’s blessing to Adam and Eve, “Govern all things when you have grown to perfection.” Only then can human beings emerge as the true masters of this earth. Only then can humanity become true brothers and sisters to each other and the true sons and daughters of God. Before God, we must become true sons and daughters of filial piety and loyal subjects. We must stand before the world as the true masters. When we accomplish this, God will pass to us all our rightful powers, not just external powers, but also the internal center of the heart. We will become sons and daughters in whom God can entrust everything and be at peace.

Such sons and daughters are greater than any patriot, woman of chastity, or son or daughter of filial piety. The day must come when we can be proud of these people before the world. Continue reading “The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth Will be God’s Nation”