Richard U. | Daily Inspiration

No One Can Serve Two Masters

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(Video)-God In the Public Square

Cheon Seong Gyeong 732

When you go to the spirit world, you arrive at the Kingdom of Heaven centering on God. This kingdom is our original homeland. Is not God our original Father?
Adam and Eve are God’s incarnations. Since they are horizontal parents with God as the vertical Parent, when people discard their horizontal bodies and vertically return to their hometowns, they live attending God, the eternal king. Who is the king?
Had Adam and Eve not fallen, they would have become monarchs of love who, by perfecting themselves as God’s incarnations would fulfill their portions of responsibility, connecting the realms of direct and indirect dominion on earth through God’s love. Then God would live in the hearts of Adam and Eve, and the spirits of Adam and Eve would become God’s body. They would become one body. Together, they would share and breathe divine and human love eternally.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1137

Fallen people became false beings; therefore they need to receive grafts. From the standpoint of lineage, your ancestor is someone other than God. Why could you become only His adopted children? It is because you have a different father and mother. Hence, it is logical to conclude that the Fall has to do with lineage. What is the Fall? It means inheriting the wrong lineage. It is correct to say that human beings fell due to false love. That is why the assertion made by the Unification Church that human beings fell due to love, cannot be denied. It is written in the Bible that Adam and Eve fell by eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and fell, isn’t it? Do you know what that fruit was? Was it a fruit at all? Was it a fruit that can be blown down by the wind and roll on the ground? It was not.
Satan entered minds of Adam and Eve and became one with them, so they inherited Satan’s lineage. Why can God, who has so much love, not forgive Satan? Jesus said that everybody, even murderers and robbers can be forgiven, once they believe in him. Then why can Satan not be forgiven? It is because he defiled the lineage of humankind. What does that mean? From God’s point of view, Satan is the adulterer, the one who violated His love. (156-226, 1966.5.25

Decision

THE MORAL LIFE IS A PURPOSEFUL LIFE; it requires a Decision. People do not become good automatically; those who just drift through life are liable to drown in its evil currents. At every turn we encounter two paths, the better and the worse, and it is our responsibility to choose between them. The scriptures describe it as a decision between life and death, between the narrow gate and the broad road, or between two masters. Father Moon teaches that each person stands in the midway position, pulled in two directions by the opposing powers of good and evil. It is a contest between God, who speaks to us through the conscience, and Satan, who prompts us to satisfy our self-centered desires. Under these difficult circumstances, it is up to each of us to choose our path and keep to it.

Man always stands at the crossroads of good and evil.
Precepts 18 (Perfect Liberty Kyodan)

Both the good and the pleasant present themselves to a man. The calm soul examines them well and discriminates. Yea, he prefers the good to the pleasant; but the fool chooses the pleasant out of greed and avarice.
Katha Upanishad 1.2.2 (Hinduism)

Surely, the path that leads to worldly gain is one, and the path that leads to Nibbana is another; understanding this, the bhikkhu, the disciple of the Buddha, should not rejoice in worldly favors, but cultivate detachment.
Dhammapada 75 (Buddhism)

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6.24

God puts forth a parable: A man belonging to many partners at variance with each other, and a man belonging entirely to one master: are those two equal in comparison?
Qur’an 39.29

Behold, I [Moses] set before you this day a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the lord your God, which I command you this day, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods.
Deuteronomy 11.26-28

Hear with your ears that which is the sovereign good;
With a clear mind look upon the two sides
Between which each man must choose for himself,
Watchful beforehand that the great test may be accomplished in our favor.

Now at the beginning the twin spirits have declared their nature,
The better and the evil,
In thought and word and deed. And between the two
The wise ones choose well, not so the foolish.
Avesta, Yasna 30.2-3 (Zoroastrianism)

Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Matthew 7.13-14

Evil and good are not equal, even though the abundance of evil may amaze you; so heed God, you men of wits, so that you may prosper!
Qur’an 5.100

Have We not given him two eyes,
and a tongue and two lips,
and pointed out to him the two conspicuous ways?
Yet he does not attempt the uphill path.
What will make you understand what the uphill path is?
It is to free a slave,
or to feed in a time of hunger an orphan near of kin or a poor man lying in the dust.
Then he is of those who believe, who exhort one another to patience, and exhort one another to mercy.

Qur’an 90.8-17

If by giving up a lesser happiness one may behold a greater one, let the wise man give up the lesser happiness in consideration of the greater happiness.

Dhammapada 290 (Buddhism)

The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.

The kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.

Matthew 13.44-46

We Can Only Become Good if Our Body Obediently Follows Our Mind

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(Video) All Black Lives Matter-Planned Parenthood’s Black Genocide

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2324

Had Adam and Eve fulfilled their responsibility before God, He would have blessed them. From the place of this blessing, goodness would have started, and unity of truth, substance and heart been attained. Unity of truth means that when God says, “Do this!” we answer “Yes” and follow and fulfill what He commands us to do. From the perspective of God’s will, Adam and Eve are essentially not two separate beings. Lured by Eve, Adam broke heavenly law and thus they separated; originally, they were united. After unity of truth and substance are attained, unity of heart should be attained. When this happens, we can become as one with God, and He has ventured forth hoping for that day. (15-263, 1965.10.17)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1514

All the creation would appear beauti-ful in your eyes at the time of your mar-riage, just as it was when God created the universe. The whole of creation, includ-ing you, exists through love. When you realize this, then through that love the fundamental feelings God nurtured at the time of Creation can be re-created and shared with your partner and all forms of existence on earth, all united together as one. In other words, it is pos-sible for you to experience the deepest feelings of God at the time of Creation. You are also a part of the creation who inherited every ideal conceived by God when He created the universe. If you were to pull true love towards yourself, heaven and earth would also be drawn towards you. Even the furthest things would be drawn to you if they were pulled by true love, and things nearby could be sent far away by the power of true love. (216-192, 1991.3.31)

Cultivating the Good

2. Good Leads to More Good, while Neglecting the Good Leads to Evil

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

We can become good only if our body obediently follows our mind, which directs us towards goodness. All too often, however, our body rebels against the mind’s direction, repeating by analogy Cain’s murder of Abel. This is how evil grows within us. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Foundation 1.2)

People who only go to church on Sunday without making any effort to pursue God’s Will are very dull. They are too numb to know the difference between good and evil, even if others admonish them. They are used to taking each day for granted, just repeating the daily routine. Such people do not make spiritual progress; they remain in the same place. After wasting their lives like this for 10 years or more, the day comes when they look back on their past with shame and regret, realizing, “My position is so far below what it could have been.” (89:231-32, December 1, 1976)

People’s original desire is to avoid evil and pursue goodness. Our [original] mind is always running to promote goodness and eliminate evil from our world; however, through personal experience, we are well aware of our evil mind, which strongly opposes or distorts the good mind. The stronger we uphold our good mind, to that degree we confront our evil mind.
Although our good mind prompts us to head toward a certain goal, it is often hard to see it clearly. Then our motivation falters. Feeling distant from the goal, there is nothing to stimulate our good mind to continue on the path. On the other hand, there is never any lack of stimulation for the evil mind. Each step on the road to evil links us to ever more evil. Considering this, people who have a mind to pursue a life of truth and goodness perforce find themselves isolated and beset with sorrows. (36:51-52, November 15, 1970)

Make Haste in Doing Good

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Why Abstinence Matters-4: Sex Outside of Marriage Harms Society

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1794

As America has become the archangel nation in the Last Days, its women will not be qualified to be women. Hence, homosexuals and lesbians arise and say, “Let women marry each other. Let men marry each other!” The archangel does not acknowledge a complementary partnership. He does not recognize the right of ownership. He does not acknowledge heterosexuality. That is why everything has become like that. The reality of America today is that while opposing homosexuality on the one hand, it must present the way it should go honestly before God on the other. Issues like lesbianism, homosexuality, and family breakdown must be resolved completely. (240-155, 1992.12.11)

According to the US Statistics Bureau, the soaring divorce rate showed a threefold rise between 1970 and 1990, with the conclusion that one family out of six has a divorce, and the reality is that nationwide, thirty percent of children are being raised by single parents. Furthermore, the strange, decadent phenomenon of gay married couples is spreading. (288-197, 1997.11.28)

Immorality, sexual misconduct and decadent trends, along with hedonism, are systematically ruining families. It has come to the point where some people of today think that gay people can also build a different type of family alongside the traditional family, and that they can have children through adoption or artificial insemination. (288-171, 1997.11.27)

Richard: For the first time ever, I got exactly the same Rheama two days in a row. I have added the next two paragraphs, also.
We will soon be initiating a Dividing Line workshop that teaches the peace philosophy of Godism taught by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. This will directly address the topic of moral and family breakdown emphasized above. Contact us if you would like to assist in this effort.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1170

Mary, who had to deceive Joseph and her family in this way, based on the principle of restoration through indemnity, should have been stoned to death according to the law of that time. Although she should have been stoned to death, Jesus, who had already been conceived, had to be protected, so God conveyed a message to Joseph; “Joseph!…Do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”(Matt.1:20) Joseph had no choice but to bring Mary into his house. (139-305, 1986.1.31)

Cultivating the Good

2. Good Leads to More Good, while Neglecting the Good Leads to Evil

Make haste in doing good; check your mind from evil; for the mind of him who is slow in doing meritorious actions delights in evil.
Dhammapada 116 (Buddhism)

Run to do even a slight precept, and flee from transgression; for precept draws precept in its train, and transgression, transgression; for the recompense of a precept is a precept, and the recompense of a transgression is a transgression.

Mishnah, Avot 4.2 (Judaism)

Do not disregard evil, saying, “It will not come nigh unto me”: by the falling of drops even a water jar is filled; likewise the fool, gathering little by little, fills himself with evil.

Do not disregard merit, saying “It will not come nigh unto me”: by the falling of drops of water even a water jar is filled; likewise the wise man, gathering little by little, fills himself with good.

Dhammapada 121-22 (Buddhism)

For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Matthew 13.12

Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

John 8.34

Black goats must be caught early, before it is dark.

Igala Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths without the world’s believing him.

Thomas Jefferson

Mencius said to Kau Tzu, “A trail through the mountains, if used, becomes a path in a short time, but, if unused, becomes blocked by grass in an equally short time. Now your heart is blocked by grass.”

Mencius VII.B.21 (Confucianism)

It will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them; and he made five talents more. So also, he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, “Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.” And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, “Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.” His master said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much, enter into the joy of your master.” He also who had received one talent came forward, saying, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not winnow; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” But his master answered him, “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Matthew 25.14-30: Parable of the Talents

If good does not accumulate, it is not enough to make a name for a man. If evil does not accumulate, it is not enough to destroy a man. Therefore the inferior man thinks to himself, “Goodness in small things has no value,” and so neglects it. He thinks, “Small sins do no harm,” and so does not give them up. Thus his sins accumulate until they can no longer be covered up, and his guilt becomes so great that it can no longer be wiped out. In the I Ching it is said, “His neck is fastened in the wooden cangue, so that his ears are hidden. Misfortune.”\

I Ching, Great Commentary 2.5.7-8 (Confucianism)

Issues Like Lesbianism, Homosexuality, and Family Breakdown Must be Resolved Completely

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Why Abstinence Matters-3; Fatherlessness and Rage

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1794

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1332

The 36 Couples consist of three groups of twelve. The first group symbolizes the Old Testament Age of marrying without God’s permission. The second group symbolizes the New Testament Age of wishing to be married in God’s chosen land. However, with the death of Jesus on the cross, this wish was not fulfilled and so the age became one of the bride awaiting her groom. The third group symbolizes the Completed Testament Age, an era of perfection, and of wishing for the beginning of God’s family.
Today we are passing through the providence of restoration symbolizing Jacob’s victory. Accordingly, I need to restore through indemnity the era of the servant and the realm of the adopted child and realize the era of the true child. The 36 Couples were established in order to restore these three eras symbolically. (God’s Will – 165)

Cultivating the Good

1. Cultivating the Good through a Lifetime of Practice

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Good and evil are not decided in the future, but in the present moment, every day. (Way of God’s Will 1.1.2)

Whether you are good or evil is not determined by your thoughts. It is determined by your life. Just knowing in your head what is good does not put you in any relationship with the real world. (359:167, November 7, 2001)

You cannot just pick up a difficult textbook and study it unless you first know how to read. You need to practice reading and train over a long period to become a good reader. You cannot be a connoisseur of music just be listening to a few pieces. You need to train over many years to understand that music deeply and in every aspect. You cannot just stand at a podium and instantly be a great speaker; it requires training. It is the same with our thinking, attitude and behavior. We have to spend time training our minds and bodies. We can view meditation and prayer as ways of training the mind. (67:178, June 10, 1973)

Well-known violinists know the character of their own violin, having played it countless times, cleaning and caring for it for so long. They know how to make the best sound out of their instrument, and can play in total harmony with it. Therefore they make the most beautiful and even mysterious sounds. Just as a violinist makes special efforts to care for his instrument, you should make special efforts, through prayer, to cultivate your spirit. Wherever you go, you should raise your spiritual antenna and not be negligent even for a moment. (241:179, December 24, 1992)

How can we, who are fallen beings, return to the God of goodness? First, we have to cultivate our conscience; thus we begin to take after the goodness of our original self. Next, we have to act according to God’s Word; thus we reflect the goodness of God and the value of His Word. After we have done these things, we will become people who realize goodness and appreciate the value of God’s goodness. God can then rejoice, finding in us His ideal of goodness, for which He created all things and humankind. (131:170, May 1, 1984)

The spirit grows through give and take action between two types of nourishment: life elements of a yang type that come from God, and vitality elements of a yin type that come from the physical self. The spirit self… also returns an element to the physical self which we call the living spirit element…

Truth illuminates the innermost desires of the spirit mind. A person must first comprehend his spirit mind’s deepest desire through the truth and then put this knowledge into action to fulfill his responsibility. Only then do the living spirit elements and vitality elements reciprocate within him, enabling him to progress toward goodness. The living spirit element and the vitality element have the relationship of internal nature and external form. Because all people have living spirit elements ever active within themselves, even an evil person’s original mind inclines toward goodness. However, unless he actually leads a life of goodness, the living spirit elements cannot engage in proper give and take with the vitality elements, nor can they be infused into his physical self to make it wholesome. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 6.3.2)

You can attain heaven only if you have unity within yourself. Therefore, do not be arrogant. Be humble. Be a sacrifice. That is why we are taught to discipline the body through the path of religion. Although you dislike it, you should do fasting and make sacrifices for more than three years. (245:58, February 28, 1993

We Acquire Virtues by First Actually Practicing Them

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Why Abstinence Matters-2: We Have Become Diseased Spiritually and Physically

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1645

Even the microorganisms, which practice their own forms of love, take pride in the fact that they were also created to play their part within the same realm of the ideal of creation, which is represented by the universal pair system. They are proud of the fact that although you are big and they are small, if they can unite with you and give you a part of themselves, they are more than willing to share themselves with you for eterni-ty. They are different from fallen human beings. The creation of one chemical substance signifies that the plus and the minus elements have found and become one with each other. How silly human beings are by comparison! They are in fact essentially disharmonious, and this is the problem. (209-189, 1990.11.29)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1187

The Ceremony of the Settlement of the Eight Stages signifies that the historical course of vertical indemnity and the course of horizontal indemnity that went through the stages of individual, family, people, nation, and the world. That is the vertical and horizontal courses consisting of eight stages are completed. Due to this, the right of eldest son has been restored, and the course of indemnity for all humanity is abolished. That is what I have done by holding this ceremony. The right of the eldest son is restored; the Parents are embracing all humankind. Thus, an end is brought to the history of war and struggle that was necessary in order for the right of the eldest son to be restored in the realm of parental love. The time has come when indemnity is not needed and we can reach harmony in love. In order to achieve this, I had to hold the Ceremony of the Settlement of the Eight Stages. By holding this ceremony, the Parents forgave both the elder and the younger son, so that next we can enter the age of the realm of forgiveness for the fallen parents. (193-173, 1989.10.3)

Cultivating the Good

GOODNESS REQUIRES EFFORT. Since evil infests our world and infects our minds and bodies, we mostly find it difficult to do the right thing. Hence, to become a genuinely good person requires sustained effort at self-cultivation. Aristotle writes that cultivating good character is like learning an art or a skill. If a person makes continual efforts to practice good deeds over a long period, he will form good habits. Good habits cultivated over many years leads to the formation of good character. The human spirit is like a field that must be sowed, cultivated and weeded every day if it is to bear a good crop.
If people do not attend to goodness but tolerate small faults, over time they will develop bad habits that become progressively more ingrained. Thus good begets good, while evil begets evil. Father Moon reminds us that because the propensity for evil is highly developed in fallen people, we must be actively engaged in efforts to do well; as even simple neglect can lead to our downfall.

1. Cultivating the Good through a Lifetime of Practice

Not to do any evil, to cultivate good, to purify one’s mind—this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

Dhammapada 183 (Buddhism)

The virtues we acquire by first having actually practiced them, just as we do the arts. We learn an art or craft by doing the things that we shall have to do when we have learnt it: for instance, men become builders by building houses, harpers by playing on the harp. Similarly we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 2.1.4 (Hellenism)

Carefully uphold the proper norms of conduct, and imitate them day and night so that there will not be a moment’s neglect or cessation. After a time, we become familiar with them, and then we no longer need to imitate them but can make our own standard.

Chu Hsi (Confucianism)

Gain: The superior man, seeing what is good, imitates it;

Seeing what is bad, he corrects it in himself.

I Ching 42 (Confucianism

Whatever you would make habitual, practice it; and if you would not make a thing habitual, do not practice it, but habituate yourself to something else.

Epictetus (Hellenism)

Engage in Torah and charity even with an ulterior motive, for the habit of right doing will lead also to right motivation.

Talmud, Pesahim 50b (Judaism)

By degrees, little by little, from time to time, a wise person should remove his own impurities as a smith removes the dross from silver.

Dhammapada 239 (Buddhism)

By sustained effort, earnestness, discipline, and self-control, let the wise man make for himself an island which no flood can overwhelm.

Dhammapada 25 (Buddhism)

Study of Torah leads to precision, precision to zeal, zeal to cleanliness, cleanliness to restraint, restraint to purity, purity to holiness, holiness to meekness, meekness to fear of sin, fear of sin to saintliness, saintliness to the holy spirit, and the holy spirit to life eternal.

Talmud, Aboda Zara 20b (Judaism)

This Atman, resplendent and pure, whom sinless disciples behold residing within the body, is attained by unceasing practice of truthfulness, austerity, right knowledge and continence.

Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.5 (Hinduism)

Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Peter 1.5-8

Maintaining your self-cultivation for a long time will gradually lead to a congenial spirit; a congenial spirit will find one tender, generous, amiable, and agreeable. Anyone who hopes for this must eliminate his ill feelings and break up his anger, and be free of the adversity which invites opposition and attracts indignation. Personal and thorough investigation for a long time will gradually lead to the clarification of principle; perfect understanding will find one able to passively influence others without openly criticizing them. Anyone who heeds this will be well-informed and influential, and free of the worry of rising up in contention and being rejected.

Even more must we actively observe the principles of things and deeply investigate our basic feelings; personally experience these things through your own faculties, carefully think about them through time—do these things and you will be free of the errors of bias and deceit. It is important that in all matters you always check your power of learning. If there should be any hindrances or irregularities probe deeply until you discover the malady and then root it out.

Chu Hsi (Confucianism)

“Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”…

And he said to [his disciples], “Do you not understand this parable? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” \

Mark 4.3-20