Category: Eight Great Textbooks

A Shining Past Is a Life of Giving Everything to Others


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1 John 4

4 Dear friends, don’t believe everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God. Test them all to find out if they really do come from God. Many false prophets have already gone out into the world, 2 and you can know which ones come from God. His Spirit says that Jesus Christ had a truly human body. 3 But when someone doesn’t say this about Jesus, you know that person has a spirit that doesn’t come from God and is the enemy of Christ. You knew that this enemy was coming into the world and now is already here.

Ezeliel 12

12 The leader of Jerusalem will lift his own bag to his shoulders at sunset and leave through a hole that the others have dug in the wall of his house. He will cover his face, so he can’t see the land he is leaving. 13 The Lord will spread out a net and trap him as he leaves Jerusalem. He will then be led away to the city of Babylon, but will never see that place,[b] even though he will die there. 14 His own officials and troops will scatter in every direction, and the Lord will track them down and put them to death.

The Judgement

  1. The Life Review

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

At the fateful moment of death, all the facts of a person’s past life will pass through his mind as images. No one needs to explain to him what kind of person he is; he will know it by himself. The life he inherited from his ancestors, the circumstances he faced, the situation he leaves behind, and all his past will appear as images in his mind at the last moment of his life.
     A person who left behind a valuable moment during his earthly life will recognize it: “There was truth. I left behind something more precious than my life.” However, another person will admit, “I spent my whole life course from birth to death as merely a passerby.” Reflecting on all his past actions and feeling no desire to remember them, he feels miserable. For the person whose face is filled with joy as he reflects on his past, death is not to be feared; it is a moment of comfort. His past will not die and his reality will not die…
     If a person gave his life while struggling to save his brother, a kinsman or a stranger, at the moment of death that fact will appear as an unforgettable image. But times of self-centered happiness, even moments of basking in the glory and acclaim of many people, will not bring any effect.
     What does it mean to be good, to be persons of truth who can stand on their own
before God? Truth and goodness do not begin from us or end in us. Truth and goodness are established when something begins in us and brings results for others, or begins in others and brings results in us. It is the same with all existences in heaven and earth; they have to establish reciprocal relationships of give and take according to the Principle.
     If one’s past life was entirely a life of giving, there will be no fear on the path of death. A shining past is a life of giving everything to others, sacrificing for others, shedding tears for others, investing life for others, desiring for others, concentrating all one’s vitality and investing it for others…
     For ordinary people facing the vicissitudes of the fallen world, their path of life is sometimes up and sometimes down. They make plans from one year to the next, or maybe plan their future for ten or twenty years, but always centered on themselves. However, when they meet their final destiny, all their records of sacrificing others for their own benefit will bind them. (31:308-10, June 7, 1970)

For Nothing is Covered that Will Not be Revealed

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 2128

All North Korean citizens are
equipped with Kim Il-sung’s Juche ide-
ology. We must equip ourselves with the
ideology of true love that is capable of
assimilating them. North Korea is a part
of northern civilization which has been
influenced by the cold winds of soviet
civilization. We must work to naturally
melt them with our temperate zone civi-
lization. Otherwise, both our countries
will come to ruin. Thus, we must thor-
oughly equip ourselves with the ideol-
ogy of true love. This ideology must not
be one that seeks the fulfillment of indi-
vidual desires, but must rather seek the
salvation of all humanity. It must not
be self-centered, but instead serve the
greater good. Communists have the idea
that everyone should work for the sake
of a few top party leaders. This is why
they eliminate any person who stands
out as a potential rival. We are not that
way. Our idea is to unite with the cor-
responding environment in order to
establish a higher reciprocal standard,
that is, for Cain and Abel to unite so
as to receive their parents who are on
a higher level. In other words, we must
become able to impress them with how
we live. We must be able to amaze those
people equipped with communist ideol-
ogy in terms of our view of life and our
standard of character.

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1242

If you have the opportunity to attend
a Blessing Ceremony, you should not go
thinking you are just a man or a wom-
an and there is nothing else to it. When
you attend the ceremony, you are there
representing men and women who have
come and gone in the world over the past
six thousand years. You must under-
stand that you have been invited as such.
You should experience this reality deep
in your heart. (30-169, 1970. 3.22)
Richard: Learn more about the Blessing. (opens in new tab)

The Judgement

After the initial passage into the afterlife, there is another, less comfortable event. each individual undergoes a judgment where he must review his life with unsparing honesty. there is a ledger recording every deed, and its consequences on the people it affected. now that book is opened and read. the movie that re-corded the person’s life is projected onto the screen of his mind. everything comes to light.
     The main criterion of judgment seems to be the deeds. Did the person live more to benefit others, or did he use others to benefit himself? scriptures describe a trial scene, with God as judge, Jesus or Muhammad as defense attorney, and sometimes the devil as prosecutor. God is bound to pass sentence based upon the evi-dence. on this point, Father Moon offers a unique insight: to overcome satan’s accusation at the judgment, we should win over the person or persons who most hate and accuse us on earth. he calls it loving ‘Cain.’
     Scriptures describe a gate that only the righteous may enter, a “bridge of the separator” that only the righteous may cross, and a fire that burns up all falsehood and leaves only what is genuine. the spirit world has various abodes, heavens and hells, welcoming the soul according to its condition. spirits are sorted out, and each goes to its appropriate place. no guards are required to keep out the unworthy; no policemen to direct traffic, for each person naturally goes to the place most fitting to his or her character and past life.

  1. The Life Review

For God will bring every deed into judgment,
with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12.14

For nothing is covered that will not be revealed,
or hidden that will not be known.
Matthew 10.26

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who
sat upon it; from His presence earth and sky
fled away, and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing
before the throne, and books were opened. Also
another book was opened, which is the book
of life. And the dead were judged by what was
written in the books, by what they had done.
Revelation 20.11-12

When the earth is shaken with her earthquake
And the earth yields up her burdens,
And man says, “What ails her?”
That day she will relate her chronicles
Because your Lord inspires her.
That day mankind will issue forth in scattered
groups to be shown their deeds.
And whoever has done good, an atom’s weight
will see it then,
And whoever has done ill, an atom’s weight
will see it then.
Qur’an 99

And every man’s augury have We fastened to
his own neck, and We shall bring forth for him
on the Day of Resurrection a book which he will
find wide open. “Read your book! Your soul suf-
fices as a reckoner against you this day.”
Qur’an 17.13-14

After you depart this life, God shall demand a
reckoning of your deeds
That in His ledger are recorded.
Those that are rebellious, shall be summoned.
Azrael, the angel of death, will hover over
them,
And trapped in a blind alley they will know not
any escape.
Saith Nanak, Falsehood must be destroyed;
Truth in the end shall prevail.
Adi Granth, Ramkali-ki-Var 13, M.1, p. 953 (Sikhism)

On the day when man’s time arrives to depart
from the world, when the body is broken and
the soul seeks to leave it, on that day man is
privileged to see things that he was not permit-
ted to see before, when the body was in full vigor.
Three messengers stand over him and take an
account of his life and of all that he has done
in this world, and he admits all with his mouth
and signs the account with his hand… as it is
written, “that every man should acknowledge
his works.” (Job 37:7)
Zohar 1.79a (Judaism)

Your Past Life Revives with All Vividness in the Spirit World

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Joshua 3

9 Joshua spoke to the people:

Come here and listen to what the Lord our God said he will do! 10 The Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites control the land on the other side of the river. But the living God will be with you and will force them out of the land when you attack. And now, God is going to prove that he’s powerful enough to force them out. 11-13 Just watch the sacred chest that belongs to the Lord, the ruler of the whole earth. As soon as the priests carrying the chest step into the Jordan, the water will stop flowing and pile up as if someone had built a dam across the river.

Isaiah 17

17 This is a message about Damascus:

Damascus is doomed!
    It will end up in ruins.
2 The villages around Aroer[a]
    will be deserted,
with only sheep living there
    and no one to bother them.
3 Israel[b] will lose its fortresses.
The kingdom of Damascus
    will be destroyed;
its survivors will suffer
    the same fate as Israel.
The Lord All-Powerful
    has promised this.

The Passage Beyond

2.First Moments in the Afterlife

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

If while walking down the street you are killed instantly in a traffic accident, you will not know that you have died. You think to yourself, “I have come to a strange place. It is a little better than my own neighborhood. It has things I have never seen before.” A vast space opens before your eyes. Since you see it, you don’t think that you are dead.
     But what an odd place it is! Instead of seeing people around you as you normally would, they appear only when you want to see them. Unless you call them, they do not appear. You feel very much alone.
     Then you meet guides, who explain to you, “You have died. You have come to the spirit world.” Still, you don’t believe them. You have a feeling that you collided with a car far away somewhere as in a dream, but you do not feel that you have died. You are still connected with the earth.
     Dazed, and not believing you are dead and in the spirit world, you think, “I must go home.” You try to go to your house in the physical world, but you cannot.
     Then your ancestors from some generations back come and explain, “You are no longer on the earth. You have entered the spirit world.” You finally say, “Ah, so this is the spirit world.” (194:41-42, October 15, 1989)
 
What will be your thoughts when you pass into the spirit world? At first you will be welcomed into a vast world. Yet right away you will recognize that its way of life is not what you were used to in your small hometown. On earth there was racial discrimination and conflicts among people of different backgrounds and cultures. Some people’s ways were incompatible with yours, and you handled things by insisting on your own viewpoint and affirming that your own values were best. Now that you have arrived in the spirit world, you will want to leave those outmoded values behind. But your past life does not go away. It revives in the spirit world with all vividness.
     The more you feel the immensity of the spirit world, the more you long for your home and for life on earth, because you cannot easily absorb the environment of the spirit based on your limited sensibility. Yet there is where you will spend eternity. Still, can you ever forget about your earthly life?
     When you first arrive, you will meet only strangers. In the midst of such an unfamiliar environment, how you will long to meet someone you knew in the past! You cannot escape your emotional connection to your past life. You think about the people you loved. You wonder how your mother and father are doing, and how your grandparents are living. Yet it is not easy to meet them. (187:285-85, February 12, 1989)
 
Suppose through some misfortune a man died while still searching for the ultimate goal. However, death does not mean the end of the quest. Once in the spirit world, he would say, “I died while searching for love, and now in the spirit world I will find that love.” If a man dies in the bosom of God’s love, then it is not a miserable death. Did death shatter his love? No. God, the subject of love, will recognize the value of his death, saying: “You died for the sake of the love that I have been searching for.”…
     Suppose a wife sacrificed her life for her husband. What will happen when he joins her in the spirit world? Or suppose an elder brother arrives in the spirit world after his younger brother had died for him. Would they be happier or less happy than they were when they were together on earth? Can the depth of love they formerly shared on earth even compare with that precious love for which one offered his life? It would certainly transcend that earthly level of love…
     So, in searching for the path of love, death is not a problem. Though you die, it would not be the end, but new life. By this kind of sacrificial death, you would pass through the tollgate to reach a world of love that is eternal and of a higher dimension. From this perspective, there is no reason to fear death. (67:173-74, June 3, 1973)❖
 
 
 
 
 

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Cheon Seong Gyeong 2233

The depth of true love incorporates
everything, going all the way back to the
beginning – when God was born. You
have no idea how deep it is! It started at
the very origin of His existence. Even
after a lifetime, we can never get there,
and even after going to the next world,
we will continue developing toward that
goal for eternity. So it is inconceivable
that husbands and wives would fight
and separate from each other.

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1378

To the extent that all the 30,000 Cou-
ples stood on an equal footing at the
time of their Blessing, the True Parents
assumed the responsibility of elevating
all humankind to a liberated position.
Anyone can be included in the Blessing
as long as they have attended a seven-
day workshop; pledged to convert their
lineage, right of ownership and realm
of heart; and understood that human
beings fell and that through the Bless-
ing, the True Parents can indemnify
all of human history and liberate them.
(249-248, 1993.10.10)
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The Passage Beyond

2.First Moments in the Afterlife

The body which you have now is called the
thought-body of propensities. Since you do not
have a material body of flesh and blood, what-
ever may come—sounds, lights, or rays—are, all
three, unable to harm you; you are incapable of
dying. It is quite sufficient for you to know that
these apparitions are your own thought-forms.
Recognize this to be the Bardo (the intermedi-
ate state after death).
Tibetan Book of the Dead (Buddhism)

When the soul departs from this world she
knows not by what path she will be made to
travel; for it is not granted to all souls to ascend
by the way that leads to the realm of radiance
where the choicest souls shine forth. For it is the
path taken by man in this world that determines
the path of the soul on her departure. Thus, if a
man is drawn towards the Holy One, and is filled
with longing for Him in this world, the soul in
departing from him is carried upward towards
the higher realms by the impetus given her each
day in this world.
Zohar 1.99a-b (Judaism)

If we do not improve our time while in this life,
then comes the night of darkness wherein there
can be no labor performed. You cannot say,
when you are brought to that awful crisis, that
I will repent, that I will return to my God. Nay,
you cannot say this; for that same spirit which
possesses your bodies at the time that you go out
of this life, that same spirit will have power to
possess your body in that eternal world.
Book of Mormon, Alma 34.33-35 (Latter-day Saints)

Those who remember me at the time of death
will come to me. Do not doubt this. Whatever
occupies the mind at the time of death deter-
mines the destiny of the dying; always they
will tend toward that state of being. Therefore,
remember me at all times…
Remembering me at the time of death, close
down the doors of the senses and place the
mind in the heart. Then, while absorbed in
meditation, focus all energy upwards towards the
head. Repeating in this state the divine Name,
the syllable OM that represents the changeless
Brahman, you will go forth from the body and
attain the supreme goal. 16
Bhagavad-Gita 8.5-7, 12-13 (Hinduism)

Once You Die and Shed Your Physical Body, You Will Fly

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Romans 4

18 God promised Abraham a lot of descendants. And when it all seemed hopeless, Abraham still had faith in God and became the ancestor of many nations. 19 Abraham’s faith never became weak, not even when he was nearly a hundred years old. He knew that he was almost dead and that his wife Sarah could not have children. 20 But Abraham never doubted or questioned God’s promise. His faith made him strong, and he gave all the credit to God.

Jeremiah 9

12 I said to the Lord, “None of us can understand why the land has become like an uncrossable desert. Won’t you explain why?”

13 The Lord said:

I destroyed the land because the people disobeyed me and rejected my laws and teachings. 14 They were stubborn and worshiped Baal,[b] just as their ancestors did. 15 So I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, promise them poison to eat and drink.[c] 16 I’ll scatter them in foreign countries that they and their ancestors have never even heard of. Finally, I will send enemy soldiers to kill every last one of them.

The Passage Beyond

  1. The Second Birth

The Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

On the day of your birth the umbilical cord, the lifeline that was linked to your bellybutton, had to be severed. Likewise, in the world of air, the spirit self is attached to the body and sucks nutrition from it like a fetus on its placenta. There comes a day when the physical body becomes too old to feed it, and it leaves it behind…
     The fetus that experiences momentary pain as it emerges from its mother’s womb grows to become the object of its parents’ love. In the same way, our spirit self must leave behind our crying physical body in order to be born anew as the object partner of God, who is the eternal Spirit.
     On earth, the baby can grow up to become the friend of its father and mother because it was born into the physical world where it can share love with them. Before that, it was merely a fetus swimming around the mother’s womb. In the same way, life on earth is breathing and living in the swaddling clothes of air… After our second birth into the spirit world, we will share love with God our Parent, who provides our spiritual link with the infinite world. (297:258-59, December 19, 1998)
 
Once you enter the spirit world, you breathe through the cells of the fontanel located on the top of the head.  The atmosphere in the spirit world is not earthly air; it is love. We breathe the elements of love.
     Even while living on earth, it is not enough for us to eat food and drink water. Our earthly existence is only a shadow of our true self. Therefore, we should use this short time to cultivate a loving character. More than anything else, what we need during earthly life is love. We pity orphans, who have no parents to love them, because they do not receive the love that can connect them to the eternal spirit world. People without love are lonely, and we pity the single person who lives without a life companion.
     At death, we lose the organs of the body through which we breathed during our second life. Yet it is necessary that one day we should be released from the body, that we might inherit the elements of love, which are invisible. Therefore, during earthly life we should prepare for the day of death by cultivating our inner self; this is done through experiencing children’s love, sibling’s love, conjugal love and parental love.
     As a fetus in the womb grows healthy and strong in accordance with natural principles, people should grow well on earth by living in accordance with God’s law. Therefore, we should never live a casual lifestyle. (297:260, December 19, 1998)
 
Consider a dragonfly. First it swims in the water as a larva, next it crawls on the land for a short time, and then it flies, catching prey on the wing. It is an existence it could never imagine when it was a larva. Yet as it flies around, the entire world is its stage…
     Why don’t human beings, who are the lords of all creation, have wings? Is it enough that people live limited to the earth? Actually, we have higher-dimensional wings. Once you die and shed your physical body, you will fly. Death is a happy, joyful gate to the second birth. (297:261-62, December 19, 1998