Category: Eight Great Textbooks

How Do You Know Whether to Complain or Be Grateful?

1 Corinthians 7

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.”] Well, having your own husband or wife should keep you from doing something immoral. 3 Husbands and wives should be fair with each other about having sex. 4 A wife belongs to her husband instead of to herself, and a husband belongs to his wife instead of to himself. 5 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. 6 In my opinion that is what should be done, though I don’t know of anything the Lord said about this matter. 7 I wish that all of you were like me, but God has given different gifts to each of us.

Song of Songs 1

She Speaks:

Young women of Jerusalem,
it is only right
    that you should adore him.
My skin is dark and beautiful,
like a tent in the desert
    or like Solomon’s curtains.
6 Don’t stare at me
just because the sun
    has darkened my skin.
My brothers were angry with me;
they made me work in the vineyard,
    and so I neglected
    my complexion.

Don’t let the other shepherds
    think badly of me.
7 I’m not one of those women
who shamelessly follow
    after shepherds.
My darling, I love you!
Where do you feed your sheep
    and let them rest at noon?

Joseph

2. Joseph’s Path from Prison to a Great Destiny

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

A seemingly chance encounter may be fraught with destiny, so we should not take anything casually.
    You know the story of Joseph. His brothers put him in a well thinking to kill him, but they sold him instead and he was brought to Egypt as a slave. There the wife of his master Potiphar tried to seduce him, and when he would not be tempted she had him imprisoned. While in prison and awaiting the day of his execution, he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and was raised to the rank of Prime Minister of Egypt. How, in the midst of his misery, could Joseph have even imagined that such good fortune would befall him? Yet these things opened the way for him to save the Israelites. Who could have known that it would turn out that way?
    Likewise, if I had not been sent to Heung Nam prison for three years, I never would have committed myself to eradicate communism from this earth with my own hands. I would not have known the reality of communism, but would have simply dismissed it as just another philosophy. It was in prison that I experienced communism first-hand. You cannot imagine the cruelty and misery of life in that prison. Yet out of my experience there I resolved to liberate all people who suffered under the communist yoke. The inmates of that prison faced all kinds of evils, and many of them perished. Yet in that awful place a miracle occurred: something unexpected happened in my life that would one day change history [cause communism to fall].
    When you consider this, how observant you should be in everything you do and at every moment! You should be able to digest any situation you encounter. This is absolutely necessary for your life as a human being. If you live your life with this attitude, success will walk by your side. If you do not, success will always be two steps ahead of you.
    For example, suppose while walking down the street you trip over a crack and knock down a young lady who happens to be walking beside you, sending her to the hospital with a broken ankle. You visit her in the hospital, befriend her, and in time she becomes a church member and gains eternal life. Looking back on that accident, do you think she will curse you or be grateful that it happened? She would say, “It’s amazing! I am so glad that my ankle was broken. Thank you, ankle! Amen!” and add proudly, “In all of history, there is no one who was witnessed to the way I was!”
    Therefore, do not pray, “Please God, guard me from getting into a car accident.” Instead, think that a car accident could be the opportunity that opens the door to many unexpected blessings. Who knows the future? You cannot see it. So how do you know whether to complain about your situation or be grateful? Since you do not know, be grateful. That is the attitude of a wise person. (November 4, 1990)

People in prison fit into two categories. One category is criminals who violated the legitimate interests of society for selfish reasons and broke the law. Even Satan’s world25 does not like such people. The second category is godly people who are disliked by people in Satan’s world. Since people in Satan’s world are God’s enemies, they target the people on God’s side for imprisonment. Everyone in prison, everyone who is executed under Satan’s sovereignty, belongs to one of these two categories. This has been so throughout history.
    God uses the imprisonment of godly people to cut the satanic net that covers this world and, by casting Heaven’s net, to connect all people to the rope of God’s love. Even though the powers of the satanic world put a godly person in prison, they cannot handle him or digest him. Eventually, they will have to pay a penalty.
    When a person whom Satan’s world imprisons loves God more intensely than Satan’s people love in their self-centered way, he creates a problem for Satan’s world. It will have to pay compensation a million-fold. Why? Satan knows that he should belong to God and be under the authority of God’s realm of true love. Therefore, as long as God is alive, when someone is exhibiting true love, Satan cannot show his face. If he nevertheless causes any harm to come to that person, he will have to pay a heavy price for eternity.
    This is the very strategy of God. Often in the past, God sent His beloved children into a situation where they would stand up for righteousness and purposefully make problems for the evil world. They would be imprisoned and sometimes even executed. Yet by killing God’s children, the satanic world has had to pay compensation for thousands of years. By this strategy God could expand the foundation of religion throughout the world. (167:305-06, August 20, 1987)

Since God Has Shown You All This, I Have Set You Over All the Land of Egypt

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2085

I have proclaimed the era of tribal messiahship. Do you know why I had to do this? It is because Korea betrayed me. Therefore, it must be restored through indemnity. I have restored America’s betrayal through indemnity, but I must do it again here. Isn’t that right? (188-59, 1989.2.16)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 998

Because I knew that God was such a lonely and isolated being, I have gone forth knowing that my mission until the day I die was to fulfill even a por-tion of God’s will and desire; to expand a foundation in at least one field and gather together those who can live for the sake of God. It is because I was born as God’s son and because I felt myself responsible for establishing His will that I have persevered until now with love. Even though I was persecuted, and even though I was beaten, I endured all this without taking revenge. Even as I fought my way forward, staggering or crawling on my belly, I always thought about how to set up this tradition and bequeath it to the world. (82-47, 1975.12.30)

Richard: We can all benefit by adopting the spirit exemplified by Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

Joseph

1. Joseph the Dreamer

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Joseph once told his parents about a dream in which the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. Years later, this dream came true.
    You also have dreams, don’t you? If you have a vivid, unusual dream that you cannot forget even after three years, I want you to know that it is a revelation from Heaven. Any of you who ever had that kind of dream, raise your hands.
    Long before you met the Unification Church, some of you had dreams of meeting an Oriental man and following him. Later, after you joined the church, you recognized him as Reverend Moon.
    These phenomena occur when the spirit world descends and tries to teach you. It may employ one of several distinct types of messages: God or Jesus may appear, an angel may convey a message, or one of your ancestors may appear and speak to you. It is not always easy to understand the meaning and significance of such dreams. (91:274, February 27, 1977)
 
2. Joseph’s Path from Prison to a Great Destiny
 
When Joseph attained his full manhood, We gave him power and knowledge; thus do We reward those who do right. But the woman in whose house he lived sought to seduce him from his true self: she bolted the doors and said, “Now come, dear!” He said, “God forbid! Truly your husband is my lord! He made my sojourn agreeable! Truly to no good come those who do wrong!” And with passion did she desire him, and he would have desired her, but that he saw the evidence of his Lord: thus did We order that We might turn away from him all evil and shameful deeds, for he was one of Our servants, sincere and purified. So they both raced each other to the door, and she tore his shirt from the back; and they met her husband near the door.
    She said, “What is the penalty for one who formed an evil design against your wife but prison or a grievous chastisement?” He said, “It was she that sought to seduce me—from my true self.” And one of her household saw and bore witness, “If it be that his shirt is rent from the front, then is her tale true, and he is a liar! But if it be that his shirt is torn from the back, then is she the liar, and he is telling the truth!” So when he saw his shirt, that it was torn at the back, her husband said, “Behold, it is a snare of you women! Truly, mighty is your snare! O Joseph, pass this over! O wife, ask forgiveness for your sin, for truly you have been at fault.”
    Ladies said in the city, “The wife of the ‘Aziz is seeking to seduce her slave from his true self; truly he has inspired her with violent love; we see she is evidently going astray.” When she heard of their malicious talk, she sent for them and prepared a banquet for them; she gave each of them a knife and said [to Joseph], “Come out before them.” When they saw him, they did extol him and cut their hands; they said, “God preserve us! No mortal is this! This is none other than a noble angel!” She said, “There before you is the man about whom you blamed me! I did seek to seduce him from his true self, but he did firmly save himself guiltless… And now, if he does not do my bidding, he shall certainly be cast into prison and be of the company of the vilest!”
    Qur’an 12.22-32
 
The chief butler said to Pharaoh, “I remember my faults today. When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own meaning. A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard; and when we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. And as he interpreted to us, so it came to pass; I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”
    Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon; and when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; and I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.”… Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dream is one. The seven lean and gaunt cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. It is as I told Pharaoh, God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; the famine will consume the land, and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of that famine which will follow, for it will be very grievous. And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Now therefore let Pharaoh select a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth part of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and lay up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine which are to befall the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.” 
    This proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants… Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are; you shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command… Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”
    Genesis 41.9-41
 
 

I Saw Them Making Obeisance to Me

1 Kings 13

23 After the meal the old prophet got a donkey ready, 24 and the prophet from Judah left. Along the way, a lion attacked and killed him, and the donkey and the lion stood there beside his dead body.

25 Some people walked by and saw the body with the lion standing there. They ran into Bethel, telling everyone what they had seen.

26 When the old prophet heard the news, he said, “That must be the prophet from Judah. The Lord warned him, but he disobeyed. So the Lord sent a lion to kill him.”

Richard: Clearly, it is important to obey what God has said, centered on your conscience.

Matthew 7

2 Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about.

Joseph

Joseph, the dreamer, was hated by his brothers and sold into slavery in Egypt; yet years later when he rose to a high position and his brothers came to Egypt to buy food, he had the opportunity to help them in their distress. Joseph’s troubles with his older brothers, and their eventual reconciliation, mirrored Jacob’s life-long struggle with his older brother Esau. but Joseph is also a story of a godly man rising to a position of great power. Unlike Jacob, Joseph had the power to get revenge on his brothers, and indeed he used it to discomfit them and make them admit their former crime. Yet in the end he forgave them and helped them, because he saw some goodness in them—that they truly cared for their father Jacob.
Father Moon identifies with Joseph’s life of misfortunes and supposedly chance encounters that turned out to be part of a larger divine plan. He is particularly interested in Joseph’s motives for forgiveness, and he applies it to his own situation, as a leader who has endured persecution from his Christian “brothers.”

1. Joseph the Dreamer

When Joseph said to his father, “O my father, I saw eleven stars and the sun and the moon—I saw them making obeisance to me.” He said, “O my son, do not tell this dream to your brothers, lest they devise a plan against you. The devil is indeed an open enemy to man. And thus will your Lord choose you, and teach you the interpretation of sayings, and make His favor complete to you and to the children of Jacob, as He made it complete before to your fathers, Abraham and Isaac. Surely your Lord is Knowing, Wise.”
    Verily in Joseph and his brothers there are signs for the inquiring.
    When they said, “Certainly Joseph and his brother (Benjamin) are dearer to our father than we, though we are a company. Surely our father is in plain error.” (One said), “Slay Joseph or banish him to some other land, so that your father’s regard may be exclusively for you, and that after that you may be accounted a righteous people.” Another said, “Slay not Joseph, but if you must do something, cast him into the bottom of the well. Some travelers may pick him up.
    ”They said, “O our father, why won’t you trust us with Joseph, when we are good friends to him? Send him with us tomorrow that he may enjoy himself and play, and we will take good care of him.” He said, “In truth it saddens me that you should take him with you, and I fear lest the wolf devour him while you are heedless of him.” They said, “If the would should devour him while we are so strong a band, then surely we should have already perished.”
    Then when they led him off, and were of one mind that they should place him at the bottom of the well, We inspired in him (Joseph): You will tell them of this deed of theirs when they do not know you.
    And they came to their father at nightfall, weeping and saying, “O father! We went off racing with one another and left Joseph by our goods, and a wolf devoured him. You won’t believe us, though we are truthful.” And they came with false blood on his shirt. He said, “No. Your minds have beguiled you into some matter. My course is comely patience. And God it is whose help is to be sought about that which you describe.”
    And there came travelers, and they sent their water-drawer. He let down his bucket into the well. He said, “Good news! Here is a youth.”  And they concealed him as an article of merchandise, and God was Cognizant of what they did. Then they sold him for a low price, a few pieces of silver, for they attached little value to him.
    Qur’an 12.4-20

Jacob Knew His Brother Essau Was Ready to Kill Him

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2045

Is it a difficult thing or an easy thing to digest this centering on the leaders of the tong and ban? If you form a structure, will it be easy or difficult? This is why I am telling you to have confidence. This is something anyone, even a mere child, would not have a problem with. In fact, it’s not a problem. If you can just properly set up the leaders of tong and ban, then it will not take long. (165-323, 1987.5.27)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1458

Adam and Eve lost the standard through which they could practice absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience. They entered unprincipled marriage, thereby defiling the lineage, completely overturning the right of ownership, and bringing into ruin their whole tribe. Therefore, the absolute restoration of the lineage must take place.
    In other words, you need to protect the pure lineage of True Parents so that it can be passed down to your descendants eternally. Adam and Eve failed to do so and entered a fallen relationship. Therefore, you need to maintain purity and be blessed in marriage. You can then restore the absolute lineage, the absolute right of ownership, and the absolute realm of heart. This should be our motto, in fact three mottos. (269-94, 1995.4.8)

Jacob

4. Jacob’s Reconciliation with Esau

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The struggle over the birthright continued even after Jacob received the blessing from his father. When he returned after twenty-one years of hardships in the land of Haran he encountered Esau, who still nursed the desire to kill him. However, in the end Esau welcomed him and embraced him. Through this victory, the people of Israel could be established, graced with the birthright as the elder son nation of God. (102:177, December 24, 1978)

Jacob knew his brother Esau was ready to kill him. So he resolved to offer his wealth and servants to his elder brother. He wanted to give them all to Esau, all the things that he had earned during his entire life. Jacob prayed to God not to punish Esau, but asked God to bless Esau as He had blessed him. Because of that heart, Esau was moved to relinquish his desire to kill Jacob; and he too received God’s blessing. (52:64-65, December 22, 1971)
 
When Jacob returned home and wanted to claim the position of the elder son that he had been blessed with years before, who should publicly acknowledge him? Who should sign the certificate? It is Esau, in the position of Cain, who should signify his approval. Without Esau’s approval, Jacob could not receive the blessing from God.
    During his twenty-one years in a foreign land, Jacob had prospered and gathered his own clan. He knew he had to make a superior foundation in every aspect in order to overcome Esau… That is why Jacob worked hard to gain cattle, servants and property; he needed to have more wealth than his brother. Then he could send gifts of servants and possessions to his brother, and to his elderly parents as well.
    Through these gifts, Jacob wanted to make his elder brother think: “My brother is a fearful man. Indeed, God blessed him. It was my mistake that I sold my birthright so cheaply; hence I deserve to be less successful than my younger brother. So, when my brother comes, I should not reject him. I should rather welcome him.” In this way, Jacob could move Esau to recognize that God was with him, and to acknowledge that he was in the position of Abel.
    This is the path we should walk; this is the tradition we should follow. It is a formula, applicable in any situation and in every age. (106:183-84, December 30, 1979)
 
The Bible records that God hated Esau from the womb (Romans 9:11-13), but this was only because he had been given the role of Cain, who was on Satan’s side, for the purpose of setting up an indemnity condition in the providence of restoration. When he fulfilled his portion of responsibility by submitting to Jacob, he restored Cain’s position and thus at last was able to receive God’s love. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Foundation 3.2)
 
Only after the reunion with his brother Esau could Jacob meet his parents whom he had missed for so many years and enjoy the peace he had longed for. We, too, can enter God’s kingdom and meet God and True Parents only after we have gone through the course of Jacob and made oneness with the Esaus in our life, for such is the restoration of Cain and Abel. (67:135, May 27, 1973)
 
 
 

It May Appease Him and Perhaps He Will Accept Me

Genesis 17

17 Abram was ninety-nine years old when the Lord appeared to him again and said, “I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right, 2 I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted.” 3 Abram bowed with his face to the ground, and God said:

4-5 I promise that you will be the father of many nations. That’s why I now change your name from Abram to Abraham.[a] 6 I will give you a lot of descendants, and in the future they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.

7 I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. 8 I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.

Psalm 31

17 I pray only to you.
    Don’t disappoint me.
Disappoint my cruel enemies
    until they lie silent
    in their graves.
18 Silence those proud liars!
    Make them stop bragging
    and insulting your people.

Jacob

4. Jacob’s Reconciliation with Esau

Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of Seir, the country of Edom, instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau, ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; and I have oxen, asses, flocks, menservants, and maidservants; and I have sent to tell my lord, in order that I may find favor in your sight.”’”
    And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.” Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two companies, thinking, “If Esau comes to the one company and destroys it, then the company which is left will escape.”
    And Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who said to me, ‘Return to your own country and to your kindred, and I will do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of all the steadfast love and all the faithfulness which you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and slay us all, the mothers with the children. But you said, ‘I will do you good, and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.’”
    So he lodged there that night, and took from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau, two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten he-asses. These he delivered into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.” He instructed the foremost, “When Esau my brother meets you, and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these before you?’ then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob; they are a present sent to my lord Esau; and moreover he is behind us.’” He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you meet him, and you shall say, ‘Moreover your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he thought, “I may appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterwards I shall see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” So the present passed on before him; and he himself lodged that night in the camp…
    And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided his children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. He put the maids with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. He himself went on before them, bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
    But Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. And when Esau raised his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” Then the maids drew near, they and their children, and bowed down; Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down; and last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company which I met?” Jacob answered, “To find favor in the sight of my lord.” But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother, keep what you have for yourself.” Jacob said, “No, I pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand; for truly to see your face is like seeing the face of God, with such favor have you received me.”
    Genesis 32.3-33.10