Author: Richard Urban

This Age of the Providence Deals with the Cosmos

1 John 3

11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[b] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Matthew 27

32 As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. 33 They came to a place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”). 34 There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. 35 When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. 36 And sitting down, they kept watch over him there.37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: this is jesus, the king of the jews.

Richard: Simon of Cyrene was a black man. Black people have and will play a crucial role in the work of Christ at His Second Advent.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

We know the providence of God to be a providence of restoration. What is the providence of restoration? It is a movement to recover something that was lost. It is the strategy of gaining back something that was lost. It is a strategy of re-creating through words.

Mankind is to be re-created. Because mankind fell and lost the words that the body and mind can relate with and rejoice eternally with in heart, we have to find the words or truth. It is said that the truth is the word. While truth is the principle that guides a system, it is also a basis for heavenly law. Therefore, the world has sought truth until now.

Yet there are no words of truth even now. Because there are no words of truth, there is no substantiation of true life. Since there is no substantiation of true life, there is no substantiation of true love. There is no true cosmos, no true Heaven and no true earth because there is no substantiation of true love. That is why God is pounding us. He has no use for any of us.

God is conquering the world. God endeavors to conquer an individual. God also endeavors to conquer a family. He has been fighting until now to conquer a race, a nation, and a world. Our forefather Noah fought for 120 years to conquer himself and his family. It was probably not an easy task. Isn’t that so? From the time he received God’s word that He would judge the land, Noah fought every day for 120 years. God only promises those whom He has great hopes for once. Once you have received God’s direction, you have to have an unchanging heart of loyalty to that and be the victor who can conquer persecution from the family, the society, or bodily desires for food and sleep. If not, God will say He does not know you. Throughout the course of history, God has been conquering an individual, a family, a society, a nation, and a world. What is conquering? It is to strike. That is why history has been a history of war.

Today is the consummation period of six thousand years of history. At this point, God is looking for a victor with the authority to conquer everything from himself to the whole, after returning everything back to Heavenly Father.

Our ancestors in the past risked everything to conquer themselves, and they did not shun the path of difficulty or the path of pioneering.

But the world of the twentieth century today is different from the environment of the past. The age back then was a providential period for the individual, the family, the race, the nation. But this age of the providence deals with the cosmos, beyond the world. As there is an adventure for us today, we have to have the determination to say that no one will take greater risks than I will, as I represent the six thousand years of history. That is how it is.

At such a time, those crying for the self will not establish the heavenly family. Those crying for the family will not establish the heavenly society. Those crying for the society will not establish the heavenly nation. Those crying for the nation will not establish the heavenly world, and those crying for the world will not establish the heavenly cosmos. So although we are individuals, we have to have the heart that can pull the world in.

To affirm that you will become the victorious embodiment and to carry it out with conviction is an adventure. When you move up into a more mysterious realm, that world is full of adventures. To go from the level of the individual up to a higher level definitely requires an adventure. You have to wage a decisive battle of life and death with your neck on the line.

Jesus was Unable to Speak all the Words of Truth

Cheon Seong Gyeong 123

When Jacob triumphed and earned
the name Israel, he did not triumph as
God’s son but as God’s servant. This
way, people were restored from the
position of the servant of servants to
the servant’s position, and then in the
New Testament Age from the servant’s
position to the position of the adopted
child. Romans 8:23 says: “but we our-
selves, who have the first fruits of the
Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for
adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies.” They said that they were eager-
ly waiting to be adopted sons who could
call God “Abba, Father.” Even the most
ardent people of faith in the New Testa-
ment Age, whether they were ministers,
elders, or people holding doctorates, and
so forth, are all adopted children before
God. I am speaking to you frankly. They
want to be adopted children. Adopted
children have a different lineage. (154-257,
1964.10.3)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1504

The family and God’s Kingdom are
the same in form. There are parents,
husband and wife, children, and broth-
ers and sisters in a family. The family can
be united through love. On this foun-
dation, unification can be established,
life can be connected, and the ideal can
be realized in a family. Therefore, you
become qualified to enter God’s King-
dom when you can respect conjugal and
parental love.
Grandparents bequeath love to par-
ents and the parents bequeath love to
their children. If any one of these fails
to happen God’s Kingdom cannot be
established. You should love your par-
ents more than your spouse and you
should love your grandparents more
than your parents. This motto is the core
and the ideal of God’s Kingdom.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

What does God want while carrying on the providence with this world? He would want things to be true creations. He would want for all of humanity to become true citizens. Furthermore, He would want those citizens to become true loyal subjects, true couples, and true parents.

Only after the true creation, true citizens, true filial sons and daughters, true couples, and true parents appear would God want to appear substantially in this world.

As God is the substantiation of truth, He definitely wants to create a bond with those who are in search of truth. He wants all beings to bow their heads and say, “You are right. Be my owner forever.” God has sought that substantiation with His body, mind, and heart. The day God meets that substantiation will be the day human history in search of goodness and truth will end. It will be the day when God, who led the providence in order to seek the truth and establish it, will have His dream fulfilled.

God is looking for such a day, such a place, and such a moment. And such a day is what this sinful land, the people living in this sinful world, the family, the society, and the nation are looking for.

If Jesus came with the mission to fulfill the heart’s desires of God and humanity, it is a sorrowful thing that no disciple ever asked him to introduce the cosmic ideology of goodness that was deep inside his heart. Jesus lamented, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3:12)

Although Jesus came with words of truth and as the embodiment of truth and came to do the deeds of truth, he was not recognized at that time and was unable to speak all the words of truth or perform all that he would wish. Therefore, what we need today is not just the biblical perception of Jesus. We need the embodiment who can clarify what a true individual is, a true family, a true society, a true nation, and a world that God can come to, the blessed land. We need the embodiment to lead us in that direction. It was the mission of the Savior to explain the truth that he cherished deep in his heart.

Who ever really knew Jesus? Jesus could not really reveal the contents of his mission to anybody and had to go over the hill of the cross. No one understood him. That is why no one has gone to Heaven. Everyone who believes in Jesus is in paradise. Paradise is the waiting room to Heaven.

From this perspective, although the course of searching for truth lasted for six thousand years until today, it is still not resolved. When it has not even been completed after six thousand years, will it be completed tomorrow, even if I start anew the course of life with the newly felt and realized heart of today? If there is no possibility that it will happen, then you should at least have a heart of indignation, a heart that can plead to Heaven, bearing the Father’s will.

How can you be citizens of Heaven when you don’t even desire to do such a thing? How can you ever be loyal, exemplary men and women and filial sons and daughters of Heavenly Father?

God is Searching for the Content of True Parents, True Couple, True Children

Matthew 15

3 Jesus answered:

Why do you disobey God and follow your own teaching? 4 Didn’t God command you to respect your father and mother? Didn’t he tell you to put to death all who curse their parents? 5 But you let people get by without helping their parents when they should. You let them say that what they have has been offered to God.[b] 6 Is this any way to show respect to your parents? You ignore God’s commands in order to follow your own teaching. 7 And you are nothing but show-offs! Isaiah the prophet was right when he wrote that God had said,

8 “All of you praise me
    with your words,
but you never really
    think about me.
9 It is useless for you
    to worship me,
when you teach rules
    made up by humans.”

Richard:  Taking care of your parents is very important.

Amos 5

Now you will have to carry
    the two idols you made—
Sakkuth, the one you call king,
and Kaiwan,
the one you built
    in the shape of a star.[h]
27 I will force you to march
    as captives beyond Damascus.
I, the Lord God All-Powerful,
    have spoken![i]

Richard:  Don’t worship idols like money, power and knowledge that is not God-centered.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

Although there are many adventurers who seek to explore the famous unknown spots, anyone can do that. But what is the highest standard that Jesus set as the mark of adventure? It is the problem of the heart.

What allows modern Christianity to contribute to the movements of the world? It is the historic background of martyrdom, which transcended death. There are people who are willing to seek truth with a desperate heart, even putting their lives at stake. God wants to take those people to establish the world of the purpose of the heart. Because of this, He sent Jesus. Yet when Jesus was dying pitifully on the mountain of Calvary, did people anticipate that someday he would be leading the world? Not even in their dreams.

We are people who have to seek. We have before us the path that we must take today and tomorrow, with all our lives and even our bodies at stake, in spite of any difficulty or danger.

Through the Principle, you know that the battles waged between God and Satan are propelling history. Where is the original son who can call on God after winning these battles? Mankind has not yet seen or found the world in which Heavenly Father responds when the son calls on Him as Father with a desperate heart.

Jesus came to this world and said that he was the only begotten son of God. The Bible records Jesus’ presence as the glory of the begotten son. Jesus called God “Father.” He said to attend him like the bridegroom, that the people were his bride and his brethren. This is something to be grateful for.

There is a God who guides the providence for mankind in this world from up in Heaven. God leads the history of goodness. Then what is His purpose? It is not the Bible. At the end, when the providence of restoration is completed, the Bible will disappear along with the fallen world.

Believing in the Bible is not the question here. What is more precious is a son who can go beyond just believing, one who knows the Father who has striven for six thousand years, who strives now, and who will strive in the future. With a burning heart toward Heavenly Father, he can call on Him. Such a daughter is this precious. Heavenly Father cannot be joyous in looking at humanity. The only one He feels joyous over is Jesus. Isn’t that so?

We are searching for truth. The individual, the family, the society, the world is searching for truth. Then who is the ultimate owner of the truth the universe is searching for? It is God.

What is the content of the truth God wants to establish? What He is searching for is the content of true parents, true couples, true children, true Heaven and earth, and the true cosmos that mankind has yet to possess. Isn’t that so?

Jesus Was not in a Comfortable Situation


Cheon Seong Gyeong 395

A true family is a place where the
husband loves and serves his wife as
he would his mother, the wife serves
and loves her husband as she would her
father, and they love each other as broth-
er and sister. The Kingdom of Heaven,
where ideal families live, is a place where
a husband and wife each love and respect
each other as they would God Himself.
Such a tradition should be established
on this earth. (Blessed Family – 924)

Cheong Seong Gyeong 706

What way should you go? First you
are recognized by family members in
the satanic world, then by me. After that,
you go to God in the spirit world. That
is the way to go, by the way of the law.
Going that way is the right direction. If
there are any conditions for accusation,
they will join forces to accuse you in the
flesh. It will be a judgment of substance.
Will lies work in that situation? Doing
something unwillingly is like not doing
it at all. If you do it thinking of God and
Father, their essence will be embedded
inside your shell, like a fully mature
chestnut embedded inside the burr.
When you think of God and me dwell-
ing in your heart, my words and God’s
Word will become your core.
Unification Church members should
become people whom God, I, and other
members can welcome. So you must be
like the kernel of the chestnut when the
burr is cracked open. We should live for
God and True Parents. That is what you
are to do. If you wish to live for the sake
of God and True Parents after going to
the spirit world, your lifestyle on earth
should be in step with that kind of life.
That is how harmony is achieved.

Richard:  Jesus said “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  There is a natural transition from life on earth to life in the spirit world.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

Human civilization has developed, following the flow of history. That civilization has now become this world of the twentieth century. Yet it has no contents whatsoever that can solve the problems of our bodies, minds and hearts. Although many complex structural appearances and complex environments have come about internally and externally, we know all too well that they have not touched our minds and hearts. People could not unite centering upon them. They were not the standard of heart Heaven and earth could rejoice eternally with or which could bring Heaven and earth together.

This age today is heading against the direction the mind and heart seek. Where can we find the center that can hold us up when we have nowhere to go and feel utter emptiness inside? Today’s humanity cannot help but struggle to find it. People are seeking for the heart that the mind and belief can be in touch with. Therefore, humanity cannot avoid struggling toward this if a certain standard is not established where the heart can dominate the body and the body and lifestyle can dominate external life.

If God exists, what world does He seek? It is not this world of civilization and culture that we see today. We should realize that the central will God desires is the standard of mind and heart that can lead civilization in the right direction. It is the world of the standard our ancestors sought to establish for all their descendants. Knowing this, Jesus avoided the worldly environment. We know that he lived a life of going deep into the woods or valleys in the darkness.

No one knew at the time that Jesus came to this world and fought to transfer good things of the invisible world into this visible world.

No one in this world wanted to be in Jesus’ position. Jesus prayed and pled at unexpected times. You have to realize that the course Jesus patiently walked was the course all of humanity has to traverse. It was the course that went into the borderland where God and Satan, good and evil, collided.

Jesus was not in a comfortable situation as he tearfully prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was the borderline area where God and Satan met. That prayer was the moment he was about to cross the borderline in order to overcome the realm of sorrow, tribulation, pain and death. Jesus was connected to the one heart, even in that situation. Therefore, he had a standard within him that said, “This heart will never be violated,” in spite of anything on this earth and in Heaven that might sway him away.

It was not Jesus’ greatness as a person that allowed him to win over Satan in the process of the battle over providential conditions. It was because of his entrenched heart toward Heavenly Father. Even Satan has to throw up his hands in the presence of such a heart in fighting the battle of Heaven. Because Jesus was such a person, he became qualified to become the master of heart and the bridegroom all people admire. I know that Jesus did not come to this world to find anything. This world is a fallen world. This world still has to go over a certain hill, and it has much to resolve. The world and the age, which both have to be resolved, are the problem. Because Jesus knew the problem, he came to pioneer the path. Jesus came as the lone explorer representing humanity in the new world that has to be realized.

Although Jesus did not mention it in the words recorded in the Bible, he could not have established a center of victory in Satan’s world. God could not have established the will of victory in this satanic world at that time. You have to understand that Jesus was an adventurer and an explorer who sought the new world. He threw everything away to seek for the world of God’s love and humanity’s love, which is greater than any reality or concept of this world.



Because People Are Fallen, they Want to Avoid Things they do not Like

Acts 17

17 After Paul and his friends had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they went on to Thessalonica. A Jewish meeting place was in that city. 2 So as usual, Paul went there to worship, and on three Sabbaths he spoke to the people. He used the Scriptures 3 to show them that the Messiah had to suffer, but that he would rise from death. Paul also told them that Jesus is the Messiah he was preaching about. 4 Some of them believed what Paul had said, and they became followers with Paul and Silas. Some Gentiles[a] and many important women also believed the message.

Richard:  Paul traveled and went to places of worship (the temple).  He was not afraid to share the gospel of Jesus.  The new gospel is that of the True Parent, Rev. Sun Myung Moon.  Many will reject, especially those affiliated with established Christian Churches, but many will receive, as well.

Matthew 22

18 Jesus knew their evil thoughts and said, “Why are you trying to test me? You show-offs! 19 Let me see one of the coins used for paying taxes.” They brought him a silver coin, 20 and he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?”

21 “The Emperor’s,” they answered.

Then Jesus told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” 22 His answer surprised them so much that they walked away.

Richard:  Some Jewish leaders tried to ensnare Jesus, while others listened to what he was saying.  It is the same today, some Christian leaders disrespect Rev. Sun Myung Moon, while others are open to hear God’s message.  Of course, those who reject Rev. Moon out of hand are doing the same thing that the Pharisee in this scripture did to Jesus, trying to entrap and discredit him.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

When we look at humanity bathed in the sorrow of the Fall, when we look at ourselves, unable to cut away from the fallen lineage, and when we acknowledge that we are all descendants of fallen ancestors, we may ask what the Fall is. It is to be fallen away. The Fall is a state of being in conflict with the ideal that our mind desires.

Because people are fallen, they want to avoid things they do not like, things that make them sad, and things that are difficult to do. Yet they cannot escape from sadness, pain and difficulty because they are fallen. Everything is intertwined and tangled up with history.

We surely have second selves that move according to the true heart, in contrast to our own selves which are in a miserable situation. The time will come when we have to call forth those selves to criticize ourselves harshly.

Many saints and sages who have come and gone in history have pled with history and its reality and looked to the future. They advised us to open our hearts wide, to seek for goodness, the rightful purpose of heart, and to possess a body that can respond to the original mind and act according to it.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart.” He also said, “With that heart, connect to God’s heart. Possess the character that can connect to that heart, and the bridegroom who represents the center of Heaven will come.” But today we have to understand that this is where the problem lies.

We realize that there was no champion who could hold onto the clear standard of conscience and control his own body while facing these problems. There was no one who could unite with the laws of Heaven and the heavenly heart to have dominion over not only his own heart but the hearts of all men.

That is why Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart. He has said to love him in order to go to Heaven. Afterwards, he said to follow him, bearing your cross, and to throw away all the things you own. He said the ones trying to live will perish and the ones wanting to die will live. He also said that those desiring to possess will lose everything and those wanting to lose will gain. Those wanting to rise will go down and those wanting to go down will rise. The question is, then, what is the purpose behind these seemingly paradoxical sayings of the Savior?

You all have a mind and a body. Yet it is truly regrettable that the mind, the body, and the heart are not as they should be.

Our ancestors established the standard of conscience when they came to this land and taught us to conquer the physical body. Yet no one was able to establish the standard of victory of dominating the physical body centering on the mind, even after six thousand years of human history. Who will be responsible for this sorrow? What are we to do when no one has the certain center where the body is dominated by a mind that is one with the deep heart of Heaven? Heavenly Father possesses the deep, heavenly heart. How is the mind of mankind to be conquered so that it can stand forever in front of Heavenly Father’s heart? This is the important problem that must be solved.

Jesus said, “I am the bridegroom and you are the bride.” The standard of heart that qualifies us to be the bride is not the standard of conscience entrenched in human affairs; nor does the standard of conscience change as the times change. The standard of conscience does not compromise with human morality in this world. This world’s people do not know the bride. Who is the bride who can stand in front of the man who is the bridegroom? It should be someone who can yearn for the heart of the bridegroom. After having deeply felt it, the individual should head in the proper direction of establishing the eternal standard of conscience and body. Jesus is not able to stand as our true bridegroom if we do not meet such standards.