Moses Did Not Act Centering on Himself

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2 kings 16

17 Ahaz also had the side panels and the small bowls taken off the movable stands in the Lord’s temple. He had the large bronze bowl, called the Sea, removed from the bronze bulls on which it rested and had it placed on a stand made of stone. 18 He took down the special tent that was used for worship on the Sabbath and closed up the private entrance that the kings of Judah used for going into the temple. He did all these things to please Tiglath Pileser.

Richard: Ahaz sought military protection and favors from the King of Assyria, Tiglath Pileser. Thus, he compromised God’s standard and instituted pagan worship practices. We should also make sure that our standards are centered upon God and His word.

Matthew 4

Jesus answered, “The Scriptures say:

‘No one can live only on food.
People need every word
    that God has spoken.’”

Moses

2. The Difficulties Moses Faced in Giving the Law and Guiding the Hebrews through the Wilderness

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In the conduct of his life Moses made himself a living sacrifice to save the lives of the whole people, but his people did not know it. Only God understood. God was his only friend, and his Father.
    Moses knew God and related to Him as his Father. Therefore, Moses felt a sense of responsibility to erase the sorrows and sadness in the Father’s heart. For that reason, he was willing even to fast for forty days. For forty days Moses appealed with all of his heart; consequently he could receive the word of God that could resurrect the Israelites.
    The giving of the Ten Commandments was a happy event. However, the Israelites did not know that someone had suffered and sacrificed in the background for the sake of introducing this joy. Had they known, the 600,000 Israelites might have not fallen in the wilderness. If they had only imitated the faith of Moses, to uphold the Ten Commandments and become sacrifices for the sake of alleviating the sorrowful heart of God, then in the months that followed they would not have fallen in the wilderness. (3:287, January 19, 1958)
 
When Moses gave the law to the Israelites, he introduced the God of authority, power and judgment instead of the God of love. The reason he did so was to protect and raise them with the law as Heaven’s people. It was to lead them to the land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, and thereby accomplish God’s Will of restoration. (35:260, October 25, 1970)
 
Moses did not act centering on himself. From important strategic decisions to trivial details, he did nothing without seeking God’s direction first. In this way, Moses could enter the palace of the Pharaoh, perform miracles and bring on ten plagues, and lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness.
    In that danger-filled wilderness, the Israelites should have united with Moses. The wilderness and its privations should not have deterred them. They should have been of one accord with Moses, who had freed them from slavery and was leading them to the land of Canaan. There should have been no disputing with him. Nevertheless, they did not unite with Moses, but deviated from God’s path and perished.
    Why did the Israelites perish in the wilderness? They did not know Moses’ hidden devotion, who as their leader continually appealed to God on their behalf. What is more, they did not recognize the hardships and ordeals Moses suffered on their behalf, from the day he rescued them from Egypt through the years of shepherding them through the wilderness. Consequently, they felt estranged from Moses, and eventually they perished in the wilderness…
    Whenever he faced the Israelites mistrust and lack of faith in him, Moses first repented in front of God for his own lack of ability. For example, [after the Israelites fell to worshipping the golden calf,] Moses again went up to Mount Sinai and offered a forty-day fast and prayer. He cried out, “Father, why is this people not able to enter the land that Thou hast promised, even when it lays before their eyes? Who does the blame fall upon? The responsibility lies with me. I could not fulfill my responsibility to lead them well. Therefore, please accept me as the sacrifice and keep the people from going down the path to destruction.” If the Israelites had known that Moses was fasting with such an anguished heart, not for his own sake but for theirs, they would not have made the golden calf and worshipped it. (1:143-144, July 1, 1956)
 
When they were in the wilderness, they had no way to survive unless they followed Moses. But once they reached the Jordan River, Moses told them to cross ahead of him. It was beautiful to see them excitedly crossing the river and dashing into Canaan. However, Moses remained behind. Did Moses complain, “How could you do this to me, crossing the river and leaving me behind!”? No, Moses only felt, “It is alright for me to die here. You, my children, should go and occupy the land with God’s blessing forevermore.” He lifted up his hands and prayed, “God, look at these Israelites, more courageous than I. Please protect them and give them a hopeful future!” God was astonished to hear Moses’ prayer and exclaimed, “Moses, you are a great leader. Please take a rest now. I will see that your prayer is fulfilled.” What a wonderful death Moses had! (189:249-50, April 9, 1989)
 
 
 
 
 

You Had Made Yourselves a Molten Calf

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2267

When Adam and Eve fell, they were conquered by the world of death. Satan, who exercises dominion over the world of death, created families that would turn against God in the age of the ideal of creation and has formed a world that stood in opposition to Him until now. When we consider this, we understand that what God wants most in His heart is the creation of ideal families. He wants to establish families that surpass the standard desired by His enemy. He wants families surpassing the standard that existed in the ideal age before the Fall. We need to think about this. (159-128, 1968.3.7)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1191

Instead of beating His enemy to death God must set the condition of having loved him. In the same way the person standing in the position of Adam has to set up a condition of having loved the enemy Satan. If you endure over and over again while being persecuted, and prevail over all the tears, blood and sweat, until the enemy naturally surrenders to you, and return embracing God’s love, then you can receive the blessing. That is when Satan will let you go. You must receive this public approval; “You can now become a child qualified to go to the heavenly kingdom.” Who must sign this approval? Satan must. After Satan signs this, you will sign it, and then True Parents must sign it. You can only stand before God only after getting this signature from True Parents. That is the heavenly kingdom. (141-202, 1986.2.22)

Moses

2. The Difficulties Moses Faced in Giving the Law and Guiding the Hebrews through the Wilderness

The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there, and I will give you the tables of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses rose with his servant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God… Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. And Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
    Exodus 14.12-18
 
Moses said to Israel, “Know you not with what travail I gained the Torah! What toil, what labor, I endured for its sake. Forty days and forty nights I was with God. I entered among the angels, the Living Creatures, the Seraphim, of whom any one could blast the whole universe in flame. My soul, my blood, I gave for the Torah. As I learnt it in travail, so do you learn it in travail, and as you learn it in travail, so do you teach it in travail.”
    Sifre Deuteronomy (Judaism)
 
The whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
    Exodus 16.2-3
 
At the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me [Moses] the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant. Then the Lord said to me, “Arise, go down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly; they have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them; they have made themselves a molten image… Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
    So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin which you have committed… because the Lord had said that he would destroy you. And I prayed to the Lord, “O Lord God, destroy not your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness, or their sin, lest the land from which you brought us say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.’ For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”
    Deuteronomy 9.11-29
 
Moses said, “I am a hundred and twenty years old this day; I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ The Lord your God himself will go over before you; he will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them; and Joshua will go over at your head, as the Lord has spoken. And the Lord will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandment which I have commanded you. Be strong and of good courage, do not fear or be in dread of them: for it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.” Then Moses summoned Joshua, and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage; for you shall go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them; and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the Lord who goes before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you or forsake you; do not fear or be dismayed.”
    Deuteronomy 31.2-8
 
 
 

Moses was an Adventurous Revolutionary

1 Corinthians 7

Now I will answer the questions that you asked in your letter. You asked, “Is it best for people not to marry?” [Or “married couples not to have sex.]” 2 Well, having your own husband or wife should keep you from doing something immoral. Husbands and wives should be fair with each other about having sex. A wife belongs to her husband instead of to herself, and a husband belongs to his wife instead of to himself. So don’t refuse sex to each other, unless you agree not to have sex for a little while, in order to spend time in prayer. Then Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control. In my opinion that is what should be done, though I don’t know of anything the Lord said about this matter. I wish that all of you were like me, but God has given different gifts to each of us.
Richard: This is the same Rheama I got 6 days ago, so it must be important!

Psalm 44

But you saved us
from our hateful enemies,

Moses

1. Moses’ Zeal to Liberate His People

Teachings or Reverend Sun Myung Moon

When Moses lived in the palace amidst opulence and splendor, he did not live a carefree life. He did not enjoy eating sumptuous meals or wearing luxurious clothes. Whether eating, dressing or sleeping, he was always thinking about the Israelites. Among all the Israelites, only Moses maintained an unchanging heart of loyalty toward God, even though his people did not recognize it.
You might think that Moses is a person with a bad temper, but the fury that Moses felt when he saw the Egyptian beating the Israelite was not some sudden impulse of the moment. When he saw that sight, his inner heart of sorrow with which he had appealed to Heaven on behalf of the people for forty years finally exploded. In other words, when he saw that injustice being done to the chosen people, he felt irrepressible indignation and beat the Egyptian to death. His love toward the Israelites and his righteous indignation toward the Egyptian motivated him to action. Hence the deed contained the providential Will of God.
Moreover, in killing the Egyptian, Moses was taking responsibility for the Israelites and their destiny. Compared to the Egyptians’ sin of oppressing the Israelites, Moses’ action was minuscule. Moses was more concerned about his people than anyone else. Hence God chose him to lead them.
However, the Israelites misunderstood Moses and divulged the fact that he had killed the Egyptian. As a result, knowing that his act would be exposed, Moses had no choice but to escape to the wilderness of Midian. (1:141-42, July 1, 1956)

Once he settled in the wilderness of Midian, Moses felt ashamed of the luxurious life he had led in the palace. He forgot those glorious days when his life was full of leisure and Pharaoh’s daughter gave him whatever he wanted. He had become a nameless shepherd, who wore clothes made out of lamb’s wool and drove flocks of sheep from one place to another. Yet, as he was watching the flock, he longed for the land of Canaan that had been promised to his distant ancestor, Abraham.
Moses appealed to Heaven with a penetrating heart. He prayed that although he was doing no more than driving sheep, one day he was going to guide his people, like a flock of sheep, into the land of Canaan. Abraham had prayed for the people in Sodom and Gomorrah without them being aware of it. In the same way, Moses prayed day and night, in times of feast or famine, giving every ounce of sincerity for the sake of the Israelites.
Seeing the Israelites suffering under the oppression and cruelty of the Egyptians, Moses felt such great anguish as if his bones were melting. He appealed to Heaven, “Jehovah! Please, on my behalf, have mercy on this people.” Because Moses had such a heart, God chose him as the leader, to lead the multitude out of Egypt. To this seemingly insignificant shepherd in the wilderness of Midian, God bequeathed the hidden root that came down from the ancestors and made him the representative of the people. (1:142-43, July 1, 1956)

Because Moses endured a hard life in Midian while keeping unshakable resolution to do God’s Will, it was possible for the Israelites, who themselves were suffering in difficult circumstances, to unite with him. Hence God could conduct His providence with Moses as their leader. (4:39, February 23, 1958)

All the footsteps Moses took were adventurous. Because he kept the transcendent center of God’s providence close to his heart, his whole life transcended reality. All that he saw, and all the battles he fought, transcended reality.
As Moses was journeying to Pharaoh’s palace at God’s command, one would think that God would have blessed and protected him. Instead, He blocked Moses’ path and tried to kill him. Why did God try to impede and kill Moses, who was, after all, carrying out His orders? This is something incomprehensible.
According to common sense, if God blocks your way there should be no way to pass. However, Moses was determined; his heart yearned to fulfill God’s will even at the risk of his life. Therefore he overcame this test, one that had been set up by God and Satan. Moses, who believed firmly in the transcendent God, was an adventurous revolutionary on the universal scale, unprecedented in history. With the same conviction, Moses, went on to perform more than ten miracles in Pharaoh’s palace.
With his transcendent faith, Moses did not succumb to anyone’s opposition. That is why he could lead the six hundred thousand Israelites out of Egypt. Looking at it, the whole of Moses’ life was a path of transcendent adventure. (1:267, December 2, 1956)

There Has Never Been 100% Committment

Happy Day of All True Things!
This is also the 67th Anniversary of the founding of the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (1954) by Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
Today we have a special reading for the Holy Day.

The Day of All True Things 1986

Reverend Sun Myung Moon

How long have I been gone? When you are waiting for something or someone, the days seem long. Have the days been longer during True Parents, absence? Coming here and seeing your happy, bright and exuberant faces makes me feel good.

If there were no True Parents, we could not have such a gathering, in which people are assembled from every continent in the world to celebrate this historic day. I would like you to fully realize that tremendous suffering and historical preparation were necessary to allow this celebration to happen. Many special saints-from the earliest days of Judaism and Christianity-have lived and died for the sake of a day of such historical significance. It is because of their preparations that we could gather like this.

You need to remember that each of you is the fruit of your ancestral tree. In order for just one fruit to be harvested at this time and in order for each one of you to be here in this room, hundreds of thousands of years of effort have been made. Those sacrificial people of the past could not be here today but you can, so you must be deeply grateful for all their effort.

Today, then, is the day of harvest of the fruit of history- yourselves. This fruit represents the hope for mankind, the hope of the True Parents and the hope of God. When the seeds from your fruit are planted, they will be the hope of the world. That is the meaning of this gathering today. Truly the blessing of God has been given abundantly to each one of you. Amen!

Today is the 24th Day of All Things. Are people included within all things or are they in a separate category? Only the Unification Church celebrates these special holidays, including God’s Day, Children’s Day, Parents, Day, and Day of All Things. In our observance of these holidays, we are setting a new tradition for history. If there were no God, there could be no such celebrations. God is the Creator and we and all things make up His creation. So the Creator and the creation represent two levels.

Why did the Creator create human beings and all things? Do you think the purpose of creation was to fulfill God’s need, the needs of all things, or the needs of people? In other words, for whose purpose did God create-Himself, human beings, or all things? We have the understanding that God created out of His own need, but why does God need all the things of creation, if He is almighty and omnipresent? He can fulfill His wishes and desires at any moment and He must not be lacking anything. Do you think it was absolutely necessary for God to create men and women?

When we talk about human beings, we talk about the two elements-men and women. For men, what is most important? For woman, what is most important? Is it money? Knowledge and power-that must be it. We know that money, power and knowledge are not absolutely important, but there is one thing which is. For men, it is women; for women, it is men. They need each other, absolutely.

From a fundamental viewpoint, why were women born? You were born for the sake of men, period. And we can say the same thing for men-you were born for the sake of women. There can be no completion or perfection of humankind unless there is true harmony and unity between men and women. How can men and women become one? It is only by love. What kind of love? True love. True love means original love. God is the origin of love, so when we speak about original love, we are talking about the love of God.

The value of men and women is the same in that respect: You are not living for yourself but for the sake of each other. A woman lives for a man and a man lives for a woman. By living that way and loving each other, the true value of a man and a woman comes into being.

Who created this idea and these ideals? They do not spring from men and women but from God. The purpose of existence for men and women comes from God, just as the motivation for human beings springs from within God’s heart. God was motivated to create men and women, not as a manifestation of His power but as the result of His love and creativity. It doesn’t make you feel so good to think that you are merely the product of someone’s power, but being the product of love makes you feel very inspired.

Imagine if God created men and women as a commodity by which He could earn a lot of money. Then we wouldn’t feel good at all, would we? You laugh at such an idea-to think that God would create us for His fund raising product. You laugh because it is absurd to think that God needed people for earning money and fattening His bankbook. We are created out of far nobler motivations.

Our body, then, becomes one with our mind-not centered upon money, knowledge or power but centered upon true, original love. Your body has five senses and so does your spirit. These spiritual and physical senses are meant to harmonize into one, centered upon true love. Then there is no further need, no place higher or more fulfilling. That is the way mind and body are supposed to be, totally happy.

There is a physics experiment in which one of two metal bars is struck with a predetermined velocity. The resultant sound wave hits the second bar, which vibrates with a sound of the same wave length. Likewise, between mind and body there is meant to be one shared vibration; each of them is meant to vibrate on the same wave length. Our mind and body are waiting for the true love vibration, which does not come from within human beings. That love vibration must come from somewhere else and hit the mind, which then hits the body. Then they vibrate together with the same wave length.

Men and women, therefore, are like two standing, complementary sound bars. A man’s sound bar can only resound in response to the woman’s love, and vice versa. Each should initiate the vibration of the other. Thus we say that love doesn’t really belong to you; it doesn’t even come from you. It comes from the other side, your object.

The man has male sexual organs and the woman has female sexual organs and even those do not belong to themselves alone. You are the custodian of those organs and they exist for the sake of your mate, who has the true ownership. This is a rather new realization. So you have no freedom to abuse those parts. This is a major problem with American society today, particularly with the young people. They think their love instrument is theirs to use or abuse, according to their whims. All kinds of moral degradation have come about because of such thinking.

Today’s American young people are, in a way, the saddest, most tragic generation because of this lack of understanding. The self indulgence of the so called “Me” generation is leading young people to their own destruction. God did not create them for that purpose. They have no way to find their original, Principled satisfaction and no way to fulfill their lives, as long as they pursue that deviated way.

How many owners of your love should there be? Why only one? Some people cry, “The more the better!” Is that correct? Ultimately speaking, the ownership of love doesn’t belong to either men or women but to the original owner, God. When you speak of “God” you include the meaning of absolute. The absolute God created for absolute purposes. In love, therefore, that means only one, not dozens of extras. Something absolute doesn’t need a spare because it cannot go wrong.

One of the greatest truths taught in the Unification Church is that God has dual essentialities of sung sang and hyung sang. What is the creation? It is the place in which the invisible God planted His character and gave it visible form. The creatures God made are the evidence or manifestation of God’s nature. We have seen that two different kinds of people came from God’s planted seed-men and women. We say, therefore, that God cannot be represented through men or women alone; neither one fully completes God’s image.

What was God’s motivation in planting His character into the creation? It was love. God was seeking the fulfillment of love through give and take with His creation. God expressed Himself through the two beings of plus and minus, or men and women, and neither can find their completion alone. Without their completion of love, then even God cannot find the completion of His love.

Completion comes as men and women grow in love and come closer and closer together. Men and women grow in two ways-first, in their individual love for God. They realize that love comes from God and their desire for loving Him becomes stronger and stronger. In the meantime, as they mature, they also begin to desire love from each other-men from women and women from men. The body structures of men and women change as their capacity for love grows. An amazing thing is that there is a “homing device” within them that always draws them together; it never pushes them in the opposite direction.

Men and women are meant to be the temples of God, so when love grows within them, the dwelling of God comes closer and closer. In other words, the time when the love between men and women can be consummated is the same time when their love for God can be consummated and completed. When God centered men and women consummate their love, God also feels the fulfillment of His love.

The movement of God’s love is vertical. The universe has vertical and horizontal lines-all created beings move in vertical as well as horizontal lines. When you talk about the angle of horizontal lines, you automatically denote the vertical line.

When we say “She is a woman” we denote the existence of man. Likewise, when we say, “He is a man” we include the existence of woman. The two opposite positions must exist in relationship, never separately. These words then: “Men, women, and love” can be said only within a complementary context. We assume the existence of the others when we say any of those words.

The motion of love is always circular. Many times in movies we see two lovers running toward each other and embracing, turning around and around. Men and women are meant to turn together, but they must have an anchor, some center and discipline to their love. They cannot just revolve in every direction.

In the expression of love, each cell is almost ready to explode. Of course, that kind of explosion does not produce chaos; it is guided by a certain discipline. There is great flexibility and harmony in the expansion and contraction of love. When do you meet God? Men and women centered upon true love represent the total image of God. That is when the image of God becomes real.

The motion of love joins together with the vertical line coming down and gigantic circular movement is begun. In other words, the love of God along the vertical line is always circling. At the same time, men and women are also making circular motion in their love. This is another element of universal principle-there is no straight line or movement in God’s creation; it is always a circling movement. Everything comes to a certain point and then returns, then comes back, and so forth.

In the circling motion of family love there is the father’s position, the mother’s position, the children’s position, as well as God’s position. That is what we call the Heavenly four position foundation. God, on the vertical line, is connected with the children; the father and mother are connected on the horizontal line. When millions of these Heavenly four position foundations fill the earth, that will be what we call Heaven on earth.

Always the vertical line of true love must intersect the horizontal line at a ninety degree angle. Your horizontal line must cross the vertical line at a ninety degree angle. Then your small circling motion can expand to larger and larger levels. In order to cross with a perfect ninety degrees, there can be no deviation. You must have absolute love toward God. The woman must love her husband absolutely; the man must love his wife absolutely. The fathers and mother’s love toward the children must be absolute, without deviation. If any deviation is there, a ninety degree crossing cannot be possible.

In this Heavenly four position foundation, you can experience love of the children, love of the parents, love of husband, love of wife, and love of God. Learning these things qualifies you to enter the Kingdom of Heaven; without these you cannot dwell there, either here on earth on in the spirit world. What is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is like a storehouse of all these loves-of the parents, the children, husband and wife. It is where they can dwell after being harvested. That is what we call Heaven. That particular result can only come through living within a Heavenly four position foundation here on earth; by practicing these loves you will attain the proper qualification to enter Heaven in spirit world.

How does a tree naturally behave? What is the ideal for a tree? There are many different types of trees, such as the chestnut, fir, and olive, but each one’s goal is to create its most perfect fruit. That perfect fruit would be identical to the original chestnut, fir or olive. That is the goal of each tree; they don’t want to produce anything different from the seed which started them. That is the only way the same fruit can be multiplied, generation after generation. Later on, the seeds from each fruit can be planted in a larger space and multiplication can take place a hundred fold, a thousand fold and even a million fold, each with identical results. That is the way Heaven grows. Do you follow?

The love of God is like a weight which drops down on a string; the children are at the base, in the receiving position, where that weight falls. The line of that string is always absolutely vertical. The position of a woman, as the mother, is to live for the sake of the other three elements-first for God, then her husband and children. When she does that, she also engenders the man’s love toward God, toward the children and toward herself. You cannot engender the love of other people unless you live for their sake first. For that reason, anyone who lives only for his or her own sake will not bring forth good fruit, good result.

In the world today and particularly in the United States, so many people seem to be “me” centered. People think, “You must come to me and do what I want. I am the most important” The fall of man originally created this way of thinking. That is what brought “me” into center stage. Because of the fall, everything is reversed. Restoration, therefore, is the removal of “me” from the center; let “me” serve for the sake of others. By doing that, we engender give and take in the proper order.

Everyone has his proper position. The man takes the right side, the woman the left side; God is in the upper position and the children in the lower. These are the four positions, existing in complementary directions. There is only one power in the universe that can bring all these directions into harmony at the same time, all at one stroke. That power is called true love.

I emphasize true love simply because there are other kinds of love as well. There is selfish and perverted love, which exists in opposition to true love. True love always selects the center as its meeting place. God’s true love wants to go to the center, as does man’s and woman’s true love. In that love, one gives himself one hundred percent with no reservations. With that kind of commitment, there is virtually no consciousness of day and night. You don’t say, “Wait until tomorrow morning. This is a bad time” Any time, any moment is okay.

You can travel all the way to the ends of the world if you originated in the center and you will always come back to that center. God doesn’t have to go chasing around all over the place. He can sit and wait at the center, knowing that everyone will inevitably come back to Him.

When you are living with this 100% commitment of true love, you don’t have to worry or have ulcers. You can always have serenity and peace of mind, knowing that as you stay in the center, everything always comes back to you. You are the winner. This is the ideal realm of the heart of man – shim jung – heartle. When there is 100% commitment, there is 100% freedom. The tiny little child can climb all over his grandfather; he has that kind of total freedom. The big, muscular husband can lay his head on his wife’s lap. That is what we call the romantic, dramatic life of men and women, where you enjoy true freedom within true love.

Let’s say the wife is totally exhausted at night but as soon as she sees her husband’s face, she becomes renewed and revitalized. That is the power of love-to ignite and electrify. Love is like electricity. Suppose one parent is totally distraught because he thinks his child has been lost; then all of a sudden, that child comes back. When the parent sees that child again, he or she becomes instantly rejuvenated. Without knowing where such energy comes from, that mother or father becomes a new person.

This is the same as God. In a way, God is tired and fatigued, like the disheartened parent. But as soon as He sees the perfected Adam and Eve in the unity of true love, He can forget everything, including His tiredness and His dignity, and become electrified with true love. He could come down and find His dwelling among human beings.

When that union of true love occurs between people and God, there will be nothing but joy and celebration throughout the universe. There will be singing and dancing in Heaven, on earth and everywhere else in that celebration of love. Looking at the families of the world from this heavenly, ideal standpoint, we can see that they are very far from it. There has never been 100% commitment but always some reservation. Men and women want to claim their own rights, saying “This is mine. Don’t touch that” They want to claim their own territories and their own “personal secrets”

With such selfish reservations, a woman could never become a beautiful wife, for instance. Rather, she would be like a monster, ready to shoot out venom. Many American husbands tremble when they just think of their wives! That is one reason men pursue other men and women pursue other women. This perverted situation occurs because our society has fallen so far below the realm of God’s principles. This is the reality of American life.

Reverend Moon has come to ignite the reformation of love and inaugurate the new, harmonious family system. This is Heavenly principle. No matter what people may say about Reverend Moon now, history will vindicate us. Eventually, America will realize that it needs Reverend Moon to be saved. Amen!

Reverend Moon’s dream is to restore the world into a beautiful palace where the dignity and sovereignty of love can reign. There all men and women will live in families under the principle of true love. That is the ideal of the True Parents. Love bestows special privileges. First of all, it makes people equal: regardless of social differences, two people are on the same level when they are in love. Suppose a young man has a very small, homely wife whom he loves nonetheless. Imagine that that young man eventually becomes the President of the United States. No matter how small or ugly his wife may be, she will be elevated into the status of First Lady. Isn’t that true?

Another privilege of love is that of inheritance. The beloved gains the right to own the treasures of the loved one. What does this mean? This is a great truth. When you men and women create the perfectly loving couple, God’s dwelling place is within you. You are loving God and thus you are, in a sense, being elevated to the level of God. The children and God gain the same level. Furthermore, you have the right to inherit the Kingdom of God. Everything that belongs to Him belongs to His children as well.

Compare this concept with the way many American people approach their relationships. Many women want to have their own private bank accounts that their husbands cant touch, and vice­versa. How different that is from the

ideal. You can lose your separate bank account at any time, but you can never lose love. Even though the satanic world came into being after the fall of man, people still retained a taste of the original love. That is why we have hope, even in this world, for true love and restoration.

The universe has a built in defense system. Anybody who lives for the sake of original love will be welcomed by the universe and embraced. On the other hand, anybody who tries to turn away from true love will be rejected and punished by the universe. For that reason, all types of love other than true love will eventually be destroyed.

There are powers of both attraction and repulsion in the universe. The law of repulsion, however, exists in order to protect rightful give and take between subject and object. As you know, there are the two forces of plus and minus in electricity. Plus and minus pull each other in order to harmonize and unite. But plus and plus repel each other, as do minus and minus, in order to protect the cohesiveness of the plus and minus unity.

Why are we gathered together on this Day of All Things? I have been speaking all morning about true love. What does that have to do with all things of creation? All things exist for the sake of the expression of true love. Look at the beauty of the flowers and all their different colors; look at all the other beautiful things of nature. All these are meant to provide a better environment for men and women to experience and express true love.

When all things welcome you, including the trees, flowers, rocks, water and grasses, how do you want to respond to them? Would you give them an insipid greeting, or would you feel like shouting out your joy to see them? Rather than just shouting out “Mansei!” separately, wouldn’t it be better for husband and wife to be holding hands and jumping up together, whirling around and shouting “Mansei!” with all your might?

Look at the flowers and how they express love. Within one flower there is both the male and female aspect, the stamen and pistil. Plus and minus are contained within one; love is joined within each flower. Why did God create all things? It was in order to make an environment in which husband and wife could engender the best, most beautiful love. All things exist to augment that true love.

There are many different kinds of flowers, but no ugly ones; every flower has its own unique beauty. Likewise, all the animals express their uniqueness for the sake of human beings. The male and female birds sing love songs to the universe for the sake of men and women. All the creatures are there in their own special fashion to express the love of God toward us. To play music, you need a musical instrument. By the same token, to engender love you need some instruments. All things are those instruments of love.

If you could ask a flower, “What kind of place would you like to decorate with your beauty?” it would tell you, “I want to decorate the room where the true glory of God permeates, where true men and women are loving each other” That is the true wish of the flowers. They want to be placed where they can glorify God together with men. Therefore, even after all these thousands of years since the fall of man, the flowers have maintained their tradition, blossoming year after year, waiting for the one day when they can say, “Hallelujah! Finally we have seen true men and women on earth. The dwelling of God is with men. Now let us really, fully blossom. Amen!”

All things are waiting for that one day, the day of the appearance of true men and women, so they can finally fulfill their purpose of creation. Look at the lilies here on this table. You can imagine that they must be jubilant to be decorating the room where I am speaking about true love. These flowers never expected to be in such a place. It is their great joy and surprise! When you go about your daily life, you tend to become apathetic and not pay attention to the flowers and other forms of creation. In that case, they will never appreciate you; so from now on, you have to appreciate the character and personality of all things.

There are many great classics of literature written by the best writers of history. What is literature all about? It is largely the description of the things of the universe, such as the oceans, wind, rocks, and so forth. If you removed the descriptive words from books, you would have virtually nothing left. Writers always give the most realistic and meaningful descriptions of human beings by comparing them with things in nature. For example: “My lover’s smile is like the morning lily” “She blossoms like the springtime cherry tree” Without such comparisons, what do we have left? “My love has a round face” or “My love has a big nose and small eyes” Not much in the way of literature. When people who live in the desert describe love, it reflects the desert, since that is all they know.

I have expressed two important concepts today, namely that all things are the ornaments of love and also that they are like the bridge for love. That is why God created all things of creation-for the sake of men. I want you to know that nature is yearning to see the house of the true husband and wife. When you become such a couple, your home will become the place where the birds will want to sit and sing. The animals and even the insects will want to come into the loving circle of your home. With such welcome and support from all things of the universe, that couple will be bound to live a good life.

Much of the food we eat comes from grain, which is the seed of the plant. The seed is produced after the flowers blossom; then we men and women use that seed as our food. When you eat, you are really engaging in a universal natural process, so you must have a deep sense of appreciation: “God provided this to me, but I must become a center of true love or I won’t be worthy of it”

If someone wants to disregard other people and just love flowers, for instance, that is not pleasing to the flowers. The flowers don’t like to see bachelors particularly; they like to see the harmony of love between true husband and wife. When you observe birds, doesn’t it look more attractive for a pair to be flying together, rather than just one bird?

Perhaps there would be one assertive male bird who didn’t feel like flying with his little mate because she was smaller and weaker, and without her he could fly faster. If he thought that way, it would be against the law of the universe. Even though it may slow him down, the male bird has to fly with his mate. He might pull out ahead a little, then slow down to allow her to catch up with him. This is the beauty of nature. They might fly a long distance and then make a stop on a tree branch somewhere. The male might feel strong and fresh, while the female might be gasping for breath, so he would try to comfort and help her.

If you take love out of the universe, everything becomes a desert. Isn’t that true? Unification Church members are the happiest people because we have so much love within our hearts that we are anxious to share. We want to have give and take with other people and also with nature-flowers, trees, birds, fish and so forth. How can you ever be bored with such a life?

When you observe a small mountain stream flowing down and joining with a larger rivulet, the water splashes and crashes against rocks and sand. It may seem to be a difficult and even joyless battle for the water to find its way to the bottom of the valley, but that is not so. The water makes music and rhythm as it dances down the mountain, and as long as there is someone who can appreciate its song, that stream will be happy.

The important point is that nature is looking for its counterpart. Without men and women, all things would be terribly lonely. People must be here to appreciate the things of creation, as well as give glory to God-this is our duty. Even in New York City, where things are sometimes very desolate and dirty, we can appreciate the buildings and think, “They want to see me” You can go out each day and say, “Hello, New Yorker and the Empire State Building” As you greet these things, they respond to you! With such a heart of love toward all the things in the world, a person can never get bored or lonely. You will be filled with love all the time and ready to give love to others.

The Unification Church alone truly appreciates and celebrates this Day of All Things. We know that all things of creation have been grieving in their hearts, yearning for the appearance of the true sons and daughters of God who would appreciate them and take dominion over them. They have never had such proper dominion until the time of the True Parents. For that reason, the Day of All Things is crucially important. For the first time in history, we are giving true joy to all things.

In conclusion, I want to say to you that this is the day of the appearance of the true sons and daughters of God. Now for the first time, all things have seen men and women who interact centered upon the true love of God. Because of this, they feel they have found their true masters. The work and the desire of God for all these years has been to see the day of harmony between the creation and human beings. This is that day. Amen! Let us pray.

I Am Who I Am

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1995

There is no doubt that the Kingdom of God is a place governed according to the will of God. It is governed by the sovereignty held by His children of direct descent, centering on Him and following the commands issued by Him. In such a place, democracy or communism cannot exist. Once it is established, the kingdom would remain eternally. Taking all this into consideration, one cannot help but think that it is truly lamentable that we are not citizens of such a heavenly kingdom. You should lament that you are not a citizen of such a nation. In fact, we should all lament that we do not have such an unchanging sovereignty. (72-292, 1974.9.1)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1186

What happened due to the Ceremony of the Settlement of the Eight Stages? The right of Right of the parent can be liberated and achieved. Because this time is coming, then, from the position of Parents, I am raising all of you into a position where you can be tribal messiahs. This is to liberate Jesus and Adam’s family from their grief. Through your tribes, you can obliterate the foundation created by the mistake of false parents; in this way, for the first time, hometowns where people were born can be transformed into the hometowns of the heavenly kingdom. (193-214, 1989.10.4)

Moses

Moses led an adventurous life, from the comforts of the palace to the hardships of exile in Midian, from the heady days when he led the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt to his painful struggle to keep them united during their long years of wandering in the wilderness. Yet two constants guided Moses every step of the way: his zealous love for his people and his firm faith in the transcendent God who is mighty to save.
The Bible says that Moses alone knew God “face to face.” Father Moon focuses on this aspect of Moses’ inner life, explaining that Moses was keenly aware of God’s anguished heart over the plight of his people and knew God’s burning desire to free them and establish them as a nation in Canaan. Hence he was willing to sacrifice everything to relieve God’s anguish and establish the Israelites in a way that would be acceptable to God.

1. Moses’ Zeal to Liberate His People

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh, and stayed in the land of Midian.
    Exodus 2.11-15

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” When the lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here am I.” Then he said, “Do not come near; put off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
    Then the lord said, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.”
    Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name,’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am.” He said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt; and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt.” ’ ”|
    Exodus 3.1-17

And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt; for all the men who were seeking your life are dead.” So Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on an ass, and went back to the land of Egypt; and in his hand Moses took the rod of God.
    And the lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go. And you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the lord, Israel is my first-born son, and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me”; if you refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay your first-born son.’”
    At a lodging place on the way the lord met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ feet with it, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. Then it was that she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision…
    Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. And Aaron spoke all the words which the lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.
    Exodus 4.19-31

We sent forth Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh and his council with Our signs, but they waxed proud, and were a sinful people. So when the truth came to them from Us, they said, “Surely this is a manifest sorcery.”… None believed in Moses, save a seed of people, for fear of Pharaoh and their council, that they would persecute them; and Pharaoh was high in the land, and he was one of the prodigals. Moses said, “O my people, if you believe in God, in Him put your trust, if you have surrendered.” They said, “In God we have put our trust. Our Lord, make us not a temptation to the people of the evildoers, and deliver us by Thy mercy from the people of the unbelievers.”…
    Moses said, “Our Lord, You have given to Pharaoh and his council adornment and possessions in this present life. Our Lord, let them go astray from Thy way; our Lord, obliterate their possessions, and harden their hearts so that they do not believe, till they see the painful chastisement.” He said, “Your prayer is answered; so go you straight, and follow not the way of those that know not.”
    And We brought the children of Israel over the sea; and Pharaoh and his hosts followed them insolently and impetuously till, when the drowning overtook them, he said, “I believe that there is no god but He in whom the children of Israel believe; I am of those that surrender.” “Now? And before you were a rebel, one of those who did corruption. So today We shall deliver you with your body, that you might be a sign to those after you. Surely many men are heedless of Our signs.”
    Qur’an 10.75-92