Richard Urban | Daily Inspiration

Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness

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Mike Pence Represents Christianity

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1999

The homeland we need to reclaim on earth is not an existing nation with a certain history and traditions. It is completely different in essence from those other nations. In order for us to be able to inherit such a nation that stands on a completely different level from others, we need to become citizens with a subject nature rooted in ideology. That subject ideology should be in accord with the ideology of the absolute Creator. The Absolute Being desires the creation of His own nation. Then centering on that nation’s sovereignty, the citizens should be united into oneness. Therefore, the nation should take shape based on such citizenship. (49-93, 1971.10.9)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1239

The Blessing Ceremony of the Unification Church is not simply a wedding through which a man and a woman come together and form a family. Until now, all weddings were solely for the sake of the people getting married. But our wedding ceremony is significant and necessary to set a condition to indemnify the past and return joy to God. Therefore, we conduct our ceremonies in a sacred and splendid manner. Divine Principle clearly explains to us that our wedding ceremony alleviates God’s bitter grief that was caused by the Fall of Adam and Eve. It goes beyond the standard of husband and wife, which Jesus was unable to attain. (22-212, 1969.2.4)

Richard: These two reading emphasize that we need Rev. Moon’s teaching of Godism and the Blessing to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

Righteousness

2. A Righteous Person Leads a Public Life and Identifies His Welfare with the Public Good

Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

Matthew 6.31-33

It is not righteousness that you turn your faces [in prayer] to the East and to the West. Righteousness is this:

to believe in God, and the Last Day, the
angels, the Book, and the Prophets,
to give of one’s substance, however
cherished, to kinsmen, and orphans, the needy,
the traveler, beggars, and to free the slave,
to perform the prayer and to pay the alms.
And they who fulfill their covenant, when
they have engaged in a covenant, and endure
with fortitude misfortune, hardship, and peril,
these are they who are true in their faith, these
are the truly God-fearing.
Qur’an 2.177

I delivered the poor who cried,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.

The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.
I was eyes to the blind,
and feet to the lame.
I was a father to the poor,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.
I broke the fangs of the unrighteous,
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
Job 29.12-17

He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not fail or be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his law.
Isaiah 42.2-4

Kung-sun Ch’ou asked Mencius, “May I ask what your strong points are?”
“I have an insight into words. I am good at cultivating my ‘flood-like ch’i.’”
“May I ask what this ‘flood-like ch’i’ is?”
“It is difficult to explain. This is a ch’i(breath) which is, in the highest degree, vast and unyielding. Nourish it with integrity and place no obstacle in its path and it will fill the space between heaven and earth. It is a ch’i which unites righteousness and the Way. Deprive it of these and it will collapse. It is born of accumulated rightness and cannot be appropriated by anyone through a sporadic show of rightness. Whenever one acts in a way that falls below the standard set in one’s heart, it will collapse… You must work at it and never let it out of your mind. At the same time, while you must never let it out of your mind, you must not forcibly help it grow either.”

Mencius II.A.2 (Confucianism

If You Live Without Colliding with the World, You Are an Evil Person

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They Knowingly Abetted Treason and a Coup

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2125

What is Satan’s ultimate target behind the history of struggle between good and evil ever since this conflict was brought into being as a result of the Fall of the ancestors of humankind? Satan has his sights set precisely on God Himself. God is eternal, unchanging, absolute, and unique, and the standard of the ideal that He held at the beginning of creation must also have these qualities. Satan seeks to destroy God’s absolute will. If you were to ask God directly, He would confirm what I am saying. How would God reply if Satan asked Him, “God, when You created me as an archangel in the beginning, was it out of love that was ephemeral or eternal?” God would reply that He did so out of a love that was eternal. If He were to say that His love was ephemeral, He would make Himself an ephemeral god. Unless He maintains a standard of loving Satan eternally, there will eventually come a time when He would no longer be able to exercise His authority as God with respect to Satan. Thus, however much Satan may oppose Him, God has no choice other than to establish the basis of loving him. Thus, God is a proponent of the philosophy of non-resistance toward evil. Why is that? It is because, until the world of the heavenly ideal is manifested on earth, God must love the archangel who has become Satan, regardless of the circumstances.
However much trouble Satan may cause, God cannot punish him or cut him off. He must establish the basis of having loved Satan whatever his situation. God can have complete victory only when Satan confesses to Him, saying, “Oh, God really is God. I surrender to You.” This is the issue. Since the principled path of the providence of restoration is for God to bring about Satan’s surrender by loving him, we who are to become His children must walk this same path. Whether we are persecuted around the world and considered a worldwide enemy, we must establish the basis of having loved those who oppose us. In this regard, God’s Word, “Love your enemies,” is His strategy to subjugate evil naturally. These words are simple, but no one realized that they have marked the boundary between victory and defeat between God and Satan. If God were to harbor the thought of treating Satan as His enemy and seeking revenge against him, then He would never be able to stand on the pinnacle of victory. On the contrary, He implemented a strategy of love, declaring, “Love your enemy.”

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2126

Jesus could not establish an ideal world through his family and kin. Therefore, he has to come again and fulfill this ideal, otherwise he cannot enter heaven. Where can you find the right prerequisites and circumstances to open the gates of heaven? They are on the earth. Therefore, Jesus left the keys to heaven on earth. Since he and his twelve disciples could not create families, the Unification Church today must establish 70 and then 120 disciples with Blessed Families. If that is accomplished, heaven will be opened. (160-89, 1968.8.11)

Richard: Heaven is opened through Blessed families.

Righteousness

1. A Righteous Person Stands against Evil at the Cost to Himself

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The Chinese character for “righteousness,” 義(eui) is a combination of two characters: 羊(yang) “sheep” and 我(ah) “self.”11 In other words, when you put yourself in the position of a sacrificial lamb, you will create the condition for righteousness. (92:309, April 24, 1977)

Go and do something adventurous for the sake of the nation and God’s righteousness. God will encourage you, “Go ahead and do it.” Then you will meet with abuse. There will be a confrontation, but if you subjugate the evil on your own, then God will be pleased. It is the outcome God hopes for. Will God help you if you cower in fear, too afraid even to fight? Therefore, raise well-intentioned problems. (104:107, April 15, 1979)

You must be able to distinguish between good and evil, but how do you distinguish them? In the world good and evil are intermingled; however, the point where good and evil becomes distinguished is in yourself.

The world is evil; therefore, if you live without colliding with the world, you are an evil person. You live in a fallen realm; therefore, if you are living your life like a fish caught in a net, you are an evil person. If you just continue with your life instead of confronting the world’s evils, you are an evil person. Since you know that the present-day world is an evil world, you must fight against it.

Why? It is because humans fell. Having fallen from our original position, you must climb back up, and in order to climb back up, you must struggle through it. It will not do to stay still. Otherwise, you will never be able to greet the new world that humankind desires. You will not leave a mark of goodness in history, and history will not be able to progress. That is why, as people who would advance the cause of goodness, you must fight. (33:42, August 1, 1970)

It is a principle that the side of justice grows stronger with persecution and difficulty. Therefore, when we are hit we will develop even more. (93:134, May 21, 1977)

When good people pursue a certain goal, they are often uncertain about their objective, and on the path they find little support to stimulate and strengthen their aspiration for goodness. On the other hand, evil people find help every step of the way and relationships to encourage them from the beginning to the end. Therefore, a person who is seeking truth inevitably finds him or herself in situations of loneliness and sorrow.

The path of the person who upholds goodness will not be a smooth one. Not many people welcome an individual who strives to cultivate a character of exceptional goodness, especially as he tries to assemble an environment that meets his standard. There will be opposition when that person tries to build a family of goodness, and even stronger evil forces will surround and oppose any attempt to build a tribe of goodness. (36:52, November 15, 1970)

Father! I am going forward as a strong man,
bold and magnanimous;
I will not be put to shame.
Please, watch over me on my path;
I will make Thee proud of me. (134:142-43, February 25, 1985)

Righteous People Place Public Duties Ahead of Personal Gain

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Joe Biden’s Lovers Will Be Revealed

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2068

Whether it is in the Citizens Federation, the VOC organization or in the Unification Church, the place where all of you must work is not in the offices. Go do the tong ban breakthrough activities first and fight if you have to. You should compete to see who will go into their neighborhood and influence it the most, who will go into their community and get the most people to become activists to liberate North Korea, and who will inspire the most families to follow the direction of their regional leaders under the authority of the committee chairmen. If I had not told you this publicly, then everything would have fallen apart. You professors did not even think of this. Do you know how much I have thought about these things? So my conclusion is that all the professors here should become the leaders of tongand ban (local communities and home neighborhoods), regardless of whether they are located in provinces or counties or towns. I mean that all professors should pack their bags and go to their families.

Richard: Rev. Moon explains being active in serving and caring for 360 homes in your community as a leader of your community. Listen to a Home Church study with Rev. Moon:

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2442

The position of husband and wife is where God and his children meet in unity, where brothers become united in God’s family, where the couple becomes one, and where the parents become one. Centering on the Four Great Realms of Heart, my spouse is thus my absolute counterpart and object, through whom I can perfect myself.
Accordingly, a husband is the one through whom his wife can meet God’s ideal son, an elder brother who represents heaven, a husband who represents Heaven and a father who represents Heaven. A wife also stands in the same position in relation to her husband. Such a couple will feel joy by substantially experiencing, through their own children, everything they have invested in those children since birth, just as God has experienced raising the parents themselves. (259-45, 1994.3.27

Righteousness

Righteousness means a life upholding high principles and dedicated to public service. Righteous people are the spiritual and moral pillars of a society, bestowing its vision and setting its values. By their courage, moral rectitude, and devotion to public service they demonstrate the exemplary qualities of a good citizen. Righteousness is often demonstrated by concern for the greater good: for the community, the nation, even for the world. Father Moon calls this being a public person, living a public life. he teaches that we should strictly live with a mind to serve the greater good and never fall back into acting with selfish, greedy motives.
It is not easy to be a righteous person. Righteous people invariably place public duties ahead of personal gain. They are serious about the propriety of every action they take. When society is corrupt and decadent, such righteousness is not always welcomed, and righteous people face persecution. Yet the value of righteousness is so great that in the Old Testament story of Sodom and Gomorrah, God was willing to spare those sinful cities for the sake of 10 righteous men. Every community needs such people.

The Master said, “A gentleman in his dealings with the world has neither enmities nor affections; but wherever he sees Right he ranges himself behind it.
Analects 4.10 (Confucianism)

And if God had not repelled some men by others, the earth would have been corrupted.
Qur’an 2.251

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5.10

Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the moneychangers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the moneychangers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
John 2.13-16

They that are desirous of victory do not conquer by might and energy so much as by truth, compassion, righteousness, and spiritual discipline. Discriminating then between righteousness and unrighteousness, and understanding what is meant by covetousness, when there is recourse to exertion fight without arrogance, for victory is there where righteousness is. Under these conditions know, O king, that to us victory is certain in this battle. Indeed, where Krishna is, there is victory.
Mahabharata, Bhishma Parva 21 (Hinduism)

Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might; and in that faith let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
Abraham Lincoln

We Should Have One Mind

Yesterday, October 7th we celebrated Foundation Day for the Unification of Heaven and Earth, established on October 3rd, 1988: Foundation Day for the Unified Nation of Heaven and Earth | Daily Inspiration (visionroot.org).

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 1969

The archangelic cultural sphere originated from the Nile River civilization established in Egypt. It then shifted to the Greek civilization, a peninsular civilization based around the Mediterranean Sea, and culminated in the Roman civilization. Why did the development of civilization have to gravitate toward the western spheres? It was inevitable due to the Fall.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1051

When dealing with people, you must not do it unsatisfactorily. The work of resurrection does not occur in a course that is mandatory. It has to be exciting. You must stay up at night without even realizing it is night. You discover the value of heaven only when you get to the point at which you can say, “The place where I am now is heaven.” Isn’t that right? Even with trees, unless they are completely bonded, they don’t engraft. (75-177, 1975.1.2

Integrity

3. People of Integrity Do Not Change according to the Circumstances

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Love Each Other More than You Love God

Today we continue our celebration of True Children’s Day with this special reading.

Historical Children’s Day

October 28, 1980

Today is the historical Children’s Day. God cannot erect His kingdom alone; He needs a champion, an assistant to act as mediator. You are His children, called to this task. God regards you as the champions whom He has hand-picked to create the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. What an overwhelming task for Him!

The Unification Church is one family. If the head of a family thinks only about himself, the family becomes unhappy. The success and happiness of a family flow from the head of the family who cares for all the members. My deepest concern and care dwells with each one of you, and you in turn should love and care for each other as brothers and sisters, advancing hand in hand to meet True Parents.

Misunderstanding of Cain and Abel

The Cain-Abel theory in the Unification Church is very strong, but sometimes I worry that it may not be understood correctly. Our tradition is to follow an Abel figure, but have you also given that same kind of fidelity to your brothers and sisters? Leaders sometimes have the mistaken idea that they can exercise sole authority, but I want you to know that Abel is only Abel when he saves Cain; Abel must love and embrace Cain and bring him to the mother. Cain and Abel must unite before any restoration takes place.

However, your central figure will not lead you to the Kingdom of Heaven; you must unite among yourselves, centered on him, and then you can enter heaven. If your central figure only wants you to unite around him, rather than with each other, he is a false central figure. On the contrary, even if you don’t get along with your leader on occasion, but still you take care of your brothers and sisters, your leader will look for you, because without you he cannot be successful.

A new declaration

Today I am declaring a new beginning: the leader-centered movement is over and the member-centered movement is going to begin.

Our ultimate goal is Canaan. On the journey towards Canaan, our supreme duty is to follow orders, but once we enter Canaan, we no longer live by commands, but by love. This is that time. We are now arriving, and we must live in a God-like way. During the first 21-year course, we were marching towards Canaan, but in the next 21 years, we shall live by love. After their miraculous escape from Egypt, had the Israelites been concerned about each other instead of complaining about Moses, the older generation would not have been destroyed in the wilderness. During the Exodus, the highest virtue is to follow our leader, but in the promised land we shall live by give and take with our brothers and sisters.

My teaching to you is to love one another as much as you love God and True Parents. Then the dwelling of God will be among you, and Mother and I will accompany you. Because this day marks the beginning of that new era, I called this the historical Children’s Day.

Jesus as an example

Jesus practiced this way of life with his twelve apostles. In his most sacred act, washing the feet of his disciples, he demonstrated that he came not to be served, but to serve. His was the supreme expression of love. Jesus became the central figure linking twelve people. However, even these disciples abandoned him in the end.

In the Sermon on the Mount, you can find a revealing phrase, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” The Bible did not say that only those who obey commands will enter heaven, but rather those who make peace. How many people have you made harmony with? To love each other in effect means to love the whole world, because the Unification Church is a small world; what you do here has significance on a worldwide level.

Jesus also said, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of you.” Your prayer is not powerful when you pray singly; only when you pray together. Brothers and sisters must truly unite so they can share life together. I want you to realize how strongly your behavior affects the person next to you; you cannot think of yourselves as isolated individuals. Within our movement, we must feel concern for each other; if someone is hurt or ill, forget your meals and go attend him. Concentrate on caring for your brothers and sisters and creating an atmosphere in which good and healthy relationships can grow.

Love each other as you love God

God is almighty, but even after thousands of years of toil, the world remains sinful. In order to realize His ideal, God has given us the mandate to love our brothers and sisters as much as we love Him. In other words, each of you should be God to your brothers and sisters, treating each other as you would treat God. If you live this tradition, God will embrace you as His true children. Many people have said that they love God, but they abused and even hated their own brothers and sisters. Now God wants us to love each other and together come to Him. Your level of heartistic achievement in the spirit world will be determined by such intensity of love.

My teaching to you is this: love the world as much as you love God and True Parents. God feels greater joy when He sees you loving each other more than you love Him. Don’t shy away from adverse conditions or from smelly or ugly people; they are the ones who need you. Willingly attend to the dirty places and make them fragrant. Don’t run away from problems, but face them and conquer them.

You have come from all different races and nations and ancestries, and I am trying to mold you according to one heavenly standard. As individual truth bodies, you cannot of course be melted down into nothing and rebuilt from scratch! But I hive resolved to help you in the most fundamental spheres: life and true love.

God and Satan are trying to hook you

You think you are independent people, but I see many hooks and wires attached to you. Satan is throwing his hooks at you. Are you slippery, or do you have many nooks and crannies where he can grab you? It is not easy to escape him, since you are more susceptible to the satanic element than to the heavenly element.

Each person is a target in the cosmic competition, for both Satan and God are throwing hooks at you. Depending on the kinds of niches you have, either Satan or God can snag you. In general, your mind is more susceptible to God’s hooks and your body vulnerable to Satan’s hooks. Therefore, you have to smooth over the satanic niches and create niches where God can hook you.

Sometimes I regret having met God. It has been like grabbing a tiger by the tail. Since there is no way I can let go, I just hang onto Him until the end.

Each person you meet is a gateway to God

You have to overcome divisions and become glued together with the love of God. There are four directions and four seasons of three months each. Spring, summer, autumn and winter gyrate in one grand circle; when you complete one dispensational circuit, you may start over and go in the opposite direction.

When you arrive at heaven in spirit world, you will see twelve gates of pearl. Would you want to be eligible to enter only one of heaven’s gates, or all twelve? If you can enter all twelve gates, then you can have total freedom of movement. To receive your pass to all twelve gates, you must serve 36 people; then you can enter both heaven and hell.

So look at each person as one portal of heaven, one gateway to God, and resolve to melt his or her heart and win him or her. There are twelve styles of personality. A soft person is the spring gate, for instance, and a tough person is a winter gate. Think of yourself as a parent, and each day select a different person to love and care for until you encompass all twelve types. Love all varieties of people — black and white, young and old. etc. The cardinal rule is to forget yourself.

Those who can harmonize with others will rise higher and higher and ultimately become great leaders. If a blessed couple, for instance, thinks only about their own family, they are in the wrong; they should worry about others before being preoccupied about themselves. The blessed couples who first devote themselves to the brothers and sisters shall be admitted to heaven. The 36 couples are the elders of our church, and this rule applies to them as well. Unless they love the True Children and the members more than their own families, they are the enemies of our movement.

Significance of the 36 couples

There is another important way of categorizing people: those who are married, those who are engaged or are living together without formal ceremony, and those who are virgin. The married people represent Adam’s family, in which the husband and wife joined out of their own will. The engaged people represent Jesus, who came to look for his own bride, but was not able to achieve his goal. The third group represent the second advent, people who can be matched by heaven.

Twelve of each of these three categories were chosen as ancestors of mankind; they are the 36 blessed couples. Their mandate is to unite all 36 types of people, harmonizing the twelve different personalities and the three types of relationships. I have been serving those 36 couples, those tough individuals — matching them, providing them with homes, sending them on trips, etc. When they come to America, Mother and I shop for them, buying them clothes and furniture.

On observing this, some people may think that the 36 couples are the masters of the Unification Church, but that is wrong. Through them, I have been setting an example of service for you. If I were to ask them, they would immediately go to the jungles of Africa. After you serve twelve types of people and 36 couples, serving one God and one set of True Parents is an easy task!

The heavenly dispensation is like a relay game, with each person carrying the baton in his turn, passing it back and forth, down through the 36 couples. Some of you don’t want to look at these 36 couples, who are all Korean, but I am telling you that you need them. Without them there is no foundation or backbone for the Unification Church. The backbone carries the central nervous system, linking it with every tissue in the body. The 36 couples perform that role in the Unification Church.

What matters is not whom Mother or I love the most, but who will be the king or queen of loving brothers and sisters. You can even hold a love competition. Whether I am present or not should not matter, for you already know the secret of going to heaven — loving each other.

From today on, our membership around the world shall perfect this heavenly way of life.