Category: Acts

To God Belong all Creatures in the Heavens and On the Earth

We are now in a state of spiritual emergency. Join me until Good Friday for a daily video on the current Covid-19 situation, also available on podcast.
Latest Richard Urban Show: The Great Fraud-The COVID-19 Agenda-Part 8-Defeating Godless Globalism.
Podcast: https://www.visionroot.org/podcast/
Podcast feed for podcast players: https://www.visionroot.org/feed/podcast/

Acts 13

13 Paul and the others left Paphos and sailed to Perga in Pamphylia. But John[d] left them and went back to Jerusalem. 14 The rest of them went on from Perga to Antioch in Pisidia. Then on the Sabbath they went to the Jewish meeting place and sat down.

15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets,[e] the leaders sent someone over to tell Paul and Barnabas, “Friends, if you have anything to say that will help the people, please say it.”

Richard: Yes! I have something to say! Listen to my latest podcast and video: The Great Fraud-The COVID-19 Agenda-Part 8-Defeating Godless Globalism.

Ecclesiastes 3

15 Everything that happens
    has happened before,
and all that will be
    has already been—
God does everything
    over and over again.

Richard: The author is talking about Providential Time Identity:

Part 1
God and Creation

Chapter 1
God
Knowledge of God

The One God

The unity and uniqueness of God comprise the theme of the passages collected in this section. They come from every religion, the avowedly monotheistic Abrahamic faiths and Eastern religions also. The divine unity may be hidden under a multiplicity of appearances; nevertheless there is a single Source and a single Principle that brings order and meaning to the phenomenal world. In particular, many of these texts affirm that the various concepts of Ultimate Reality in the world’s religions are manifestations of the same one God. The readings from Father Moon affirm the one God at the root of all true religion. In addition, they point to the ethical teachings implicit in this truth.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One. Deuteronomy 6.4: The Shema

Say: He is God, the One! God, the eternally Besought of all! He neither begets nor was begotten. And there is none comparable unto Him.
Qur’an 112

He is the Sole Supreme Being; of eternal manifestation; Creator, Immanent Reality; Without Fear, Without Rancor; Timeless Form; Unincarnate; Self-existent; Realized by the grace of the Holy Preceptor.
Japuji p. 1, The Mul Mantra (Sikhism)

He is the one God, hidden in all beings, all-pervading, the Self within all beings, watching over all works, dwelling in all beings, the witness, the perceiver, the only one, free from qualities.
Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.11 (Hinduism)

They have called him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni, and the divine fine-winged Garuda; They speak of Indra, Yama, Matrarisvan: the One Being sages call by many names.
Rig Veda 1.164.46 (Hinduism)

To God belong all creatures in the heavens and on the earth: even those who are in His very Presence are not too proud to serve Him, nor are they ever weary. They celebrate His praises night and day, nor do they ever flag or intermit. Or have they taken gods from the earth who can raise the dead? If there were, in the heavens or in the earth, other gods besides God, there would have been confusion in both! But glory to God, the Lord of the Throne; high is He above what they attribute to Him!
Qur’an 21.19-22

There is everywhere not disorder but order, proportion and not disproportion, not disarray but arrangement in an order perfectly harmonious. Therefore we must infer and be led to perceive the Master that put together and compacted all things, and produced harmony in them. For though He be not seen with the eyes, yet from the order and harmony of things contrary it is possible to perceive their Ruler, Arranger and King… In the order and harmony of the Universe we perceive God the governor of it all, and that He is one and not many. Athanasius (Christianity)

The sage clasps the Primal Unity, Testing by it everything under heaven.
Tao Te Ching 22 (Taoism)

Paul, standing in the middle of the Areopagus, said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscrip­tion, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything. And he made from one every nation of men to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ ”
Acts 17.22-28

When appearances and names are put away and all discrimination ceases, that which remains is the true and essential nature of things and, as nothing can be predicated as to the nature of essence, is called the “Suchness” of Reality. This universal, undifferentiated, inscrutable Suchness is the only Reality, but it is variously characterized as Truth, Mind-essence, Transcendental Intelligence, Perfection of Wisdom, etc. This teaching of the imagelessness of the Essence-nature of Ultimate Reality is the teaching which has been proclaimed by all the Buddhas, and when all things are understood in full agreement with it, one is in possession of Perfect Knowledge.
Lankavatara Sutra (Buddhism)

God said to Israel, “Because you have seen Me in many likenesses, there are not therefore many gods. But it is ever the same God: I am the Lord your God.” Rabbi Levi said, “God appeared to them like a mirror, in which many faces can be reflected; a thousand people look at it; it looks at all of them.” So when God spoke to the Israelites, each one thought that God spoke individually to him.
Pesikta Kahana 109b-110a (Judaism)

The Hindus and the Muslims have but one and the same God. Adi Granth, Bhairo, p. 1158 (Sikhism)

There can be no doubt that whatever the peoples of the world, of whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly Source, and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying requirements and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed. All of them, except for a few which are the outcomes of human perversity, were ordained of God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah 111 (Baha’i Faith)

Whether God’s Will is Fulfilled through any Particular Individual Is Conditional Upon the Fulfillment of His Portion of Responsibility

Acts 17

5 The Jewish leaders were jealous and got some worthless bums who hung around the marketplace to start a riot in the city. They wanted to drag Paul and Silas out to the mob, and so they went straight to Jason’s home. 6 But when they did not find them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the Lord’s followers. They took them to the city authorities and shouted, “Paul and Silas have been upsetting things everywhere. Now they have come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his home. All of them break the laws of the Roman Emperor by claiming that someone named Jesus is king.”

8 The officials and the people were upset when they heard this. 9 So they made Jason and the other followers pay bail before letting them go.

Isaiah 1

1 I am Isaiah, the son of Amoz.

And this is the message[a] that I was given about Judah and Jerusalem when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah:[b]

2 The Lord has said,
    “Listen, heaven and earth!
The children I raised
    have turned against me.
3 Oxen and donkeys know
    who owns and feeds them,
but my people won’t ever learn.”

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

Part 2
Chapter 3
The Periods in Providential History and the Determination of Their Lengths

PARALLEL PROVIDENTIAL PERIODS

When a period of history repeats the events of a previous period, albeit with differences in scope and degree, the two periods are called parallel providential periods. The principal cause behind these parallels lies in God’s providence of restoration. Parallel providential periods recur because of repeated dispensations to restore the foundation for the Messiah. Accordingly, the factors which determine the formation of parallel providential periods are: first, the three conditions necessary for the foundation of faith (the central figure, the object for the condition and the numerical period of indemnity) and second, the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature, which is necessary to restore the foundation of substance. Based on these factors, two characteristics of parallel providential periods stand out. First, the lengths of the parallel providential periods are determined based on a fixed number of generations or years of the indemnity period necessary for restoring the foundation of faith.

 Second, the parallels in history are shaped by the other three providential factors: the central figure and the object for the condition offered for the foundation of faith, and the indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature for the foundation of substance.

THE NUMBER OF GENERATIONS OR YEARS IN THE PERIODS OF THE AGE OF THE PROVIDENCE TO LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR RESTORATION

2.1 WHY AND HOW THE PROVIDENCE OF RESTORATION IS PROLONGED

Why has the providence of restoration been prolonged? This question can only be answered with an understanding of the principle of predestination. According to this principle, since God absolutely predestines His Will, He surely will realize it one day. However, whether God’s Will is fulfilled through any particular individual is conditional upon the fulfillment of his portion of responsibility, which is in addition to God’s portion of responsibility. Accordingly, when the Will is not fulfilled because the responsible person fails, God will choose another person in a different era to take his place. God will continue His work until its complete fulfillment, prolonging the providence in the process.

 Let us next examine how the providence of restoration has been prolonged. According to the Principle of Creation, God is a being of the number three. All things created in His likeness manifest themselves through a three-stage process with respect to their mode of existence, movement and growth. whenever the providence of restoration is prolonged, it may extend to as many as three stages. On the basis of the Principle of Creation, up to three attempts are allowed.

2.2 VERTICAL INDEMNITY CONDITIONS AND HORIZONTAL RESTORATION THROUGH INDEMNITY

 To inherit and complete the missions of his predecessors in providential history, a central figure responsible for the providence of restoration must fulfill, in a short time, all the indemnity conditions which his predecessors tried to fulfill. The conditions which accumulate in the course of providential history due to central figures’ failures to complete their responsibility are called vertical indemnity conditions. The task of the central figure to fulfill all these conditions in a short time is called horizontal restoration through indemnity.

2.3 HORIZONTAL RESTORATION THROUGH INDEMNITY CARRIED OUT VERTICALLY

 By making an acceptable symbolic offering, Abraham was supposed to restore horizontally through indemnity all the vertical indemnity conditions which had accumulated due to the mistakes of Adam’s family and Noah’s family. Since this was the third attempt in the providence to restore the family foundation for the Messiah, the Principle required that his family accomplish God’s Will without fail.

 God could credit Abraham with having fulfilled, in his own generation, the horizontal indemnity conditions which he had failed to complete, by completing them vertically through the generations of Isaac and Jacob. This type of restoration is called horizontal restoration through indemnity carried out vertically.

View slides 1 to 22 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p2-CHAPT-3-PeriodsOfHistoryTheirLengths_revised-4-28-2014

You Are the Only One Who Can Stimulate God Distinctively

Acts 4

4 The apostles were still talking to the people, when some priests, the captain of the temple guard, and some Sadducees arrived. 2 These men were angry because the apostles were teaching the people that the dead would be raised from death, just as Jesus had been raised from death. 3 It was already late in the afternoon, and they arrested Peter and John and put them in jail for the night. 4 But a lot of people who had heard the message believed it. So by now there were about five thousand followers of the Lord.

Isaiah 29

16 You have it all backwards.
A clay dish doesn’t say
    to the potter,
“You didn’t make me.
    You don’t even know how.”

Richard: Every person is wonderful and uniquely made by God. Who are you to say that God has made a mistake in creating you the way you are?

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

Chapter 7
Christology

The most important questions which fall within its scope include the Trinity, which deals with the relationship between God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as well as rebirth and the relationship between Jesus, the Holy Spirit and fallen people.

THE VALUE OF A PERSON WHO HAS REALIZED THE PURPOSE OF CREATION

 Let us discuss the value of a person who has realized the purpose of creation; that is, the value of Adam or Eve in perfection. We can understand such a person’s value from several perspectives. First, the relationship between God and a fully mature person resembles the relationship between the dual characteristics. Similarly, the relationship between God and a person who has attained perfection of individual character may be compared to that between the dual characteristics of a person, that is, between mind and body. Jesus spoke of this state of perfection, saying “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Thus, we see that a person who has realized the purpose of creation assumes a divine value, comparable to God.

 Second, let us consider the value of a human being from the perspective of the purpose for which he was created. Each person is God’s substantial object partner who manifests a distinctive aspect of God’s dual characteristics. Hence, that person is the only one in the entire universe who can stimulate that distinctive aspect of God’s nature to bring Him joy. Every person who has completed the purpose of creation is thus a unique existence in the cosmos. Third, let us consider the value of a human being based on his relationship with the universe.

We have learned through the Principle of Creation that the universe is the substantial unfolding of the dual characteristics of a human being. A person’s spirit encapsulates all elements of the spirit world while his flesh encapsulates all elements of the physical world. A person who has completed the purpose of creation thus encapsulates all the essences of everything in the cosmos. This is why a human being is called a microcosm of the universe. For these reasons, a human being has the value of the entire cosmos.

View slides 1 to 12 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p1-CHAPT-7-Christology_revised-4-28-2014

You Rejected Jesus, Who Was Holy and Good

Acts 3

14 You rejected Jesus, who was holy and good. You asked for a murderer to be set free, 15 and you killed the one who leads people to life. But God raised him from death, and all of us can tell you what he has done. 16 You see this man, and you know him. He put his faith in the name of Jesus and was made strong. Faith in Jesus made this man completely well while everyone was watching.

Richard: Jesus did not come to die. God prepared the chosen people of Israel to receive Him. See the Divine Principle Study below.

Isaiah 60

I will bring bronze and iron
    in place of wood and stone;
in place of bronze and iron,
    I will bring gold and silver.
I will appoint peace and justice
    as your rulers and leaders.
18 Violence, destruction, and ruin
will never again
be heard of
    within your borders.
“Victory” will be the name
    you give to your walls;
“Praise” will be the name
    you give to your gates.

Richard: This is a prophecy that should have been fulfilled at the time of Jesus coming, if the chosen people of Israel had received Him.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

The Messiah: His Advent and the Purpose of His Second Coming

The Messiah: His Advent and the Purpose of His Second Coming

The word “Messiah” in Hebrew means the “anointed one,” signifying a king. The chosen people of Israel believed in the Word of God as revealed through the prophets, which promised that God would send them a king and savior. Such was their messianic expectation. God sent this Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ. “Christ” is the Greek word for Messiah. The Messiah comes to fulfill the purpose of God’s work of salvation.

SALVATION THROUGH THE CROSS

1.1 THE PURPOSE OF JESUS’ COMING AS THE MESSIAH

 Jesus came as the Messiah for nothing less than the complete salvation of humanity; he was to fulfill the goal of the providence of restoration. Jesus was supposed to establish the Kingdom of Heaven, first on the earth.

1.2 WAS SALVATION COMPLETED THROUGH THE CROSS?

  Did Jesus’ crucifixion, which brought us redemption from our sins, fulfill the purpose of the providence of restoration? If so, we would expect that faithful believers in Jesus would have restored their original nature and built the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Yet in the entire history of Christianity, there has been no one, no matter how devout, who lived his life in inseparable oneness with God. Not one person has ever experienced God’s Heart in its full intensity or possessed a divine nature. There has never been a believer who had no need of redemption or a life of ardent prayer and devotion.  Christian parents continue to transmit the original sin to their children. The grace of redemption by the cross has neither fully uprooted our original sin nor perfectly restored our original nature.

1.3 JESUS’ DEATH ON THE CROSS

 Was Jesus’ death on the cross the most desired Will of God? Let us first examine the words and deeds of the disciples as recorded in the Bible.  Next, let us examine from the viewpoint of God’s providence whether the crucifixion of Jesus was inevitable as the predestined Will of God.  Next, let us examine the words and deeds of Jesus himself to ascertain whether his crucifixion was in fact the way to completely accomplish his mission as the Messiah.

 God’s clear intention for the chosen people of Israel, whom He had led through all manner of difficulty from the time of Abraham, was to send them a Messiah and build an eternal Kingdom on earth. Nevertheless, when the Jewish leadership persecuted Jesus and led him to the cross, Israel lost its qualification to be the founding nation of God’s Kingdom. Within a few generations, the people of Israel would be scattered over the face of the earth. They have suffered oppression and persecution ever since. This can be viewed as the tragic consequence of the mistake their ancestors committed when they condemned to death the Messiah, whom they should have honored, thereby preventing the completion of the providence of restoration. Moreover, not only the Jews, but also many faithful Christians have shouldered the cross as their portion for the collective sin of having killed Jesus.

View slides 1 to 16 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content. For more detail, view the entire text: https://tparents.org/Library/Unification/Books/DP06/DP06-14.pdf .

2007p1-CHAPT-4-The-Messiah-_revised-4-28-2014

Throughout History People Have Anguished Over the Fundamental Questions of Life and the Universe

Read the latest Urban Life Training Newsletter: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/newsletters/337-newsletter-01-21-20 .

Acts 17

16 While Paul was waiting in Athens, he was upset to see all the idols in the city. 17 He went to the Jewish meeting place to speak to the Jews and to anyone who worshiped with them. Day after day he also spoke to everyone he met in the market. 18 Some of them were Epicureans and some were Stoics, and they started arguing with him.

Jeremiah

50 The Lord told me to say:

Announce what will happen
and don’t leave anything out.
2     Raise the signal flags;
shout so all nations can hear—
    Babylon will be captured!

Marduk, Babylon’s god,
will be ashamed and terrified,
    and his idols broken.
3 The attack on the Babylonians
    will come from the north;
they and their animals will run,
    leaving the land empty.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

The Principle of Creation

Throughout history, people have anguished over the fundamental
questions of human life and the universe without arriving at satisfying
answers. This is because no one has understood the root principle by
which humanity and the universe were originally created. To approach
this topic properly, it is not enough to examine resultant reality. The fundamental question is that of the causal reality. Problems concerning
human life and the universe cannot be solved without first understanding
the nature of God.

THE DUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD
AND THE CREATED UNIVERSE

1.1 THE DUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD

How can we know the divine nature of the invisible God? One way
to fathom His deity is by observing the universe which He created.
As such, each stands in a relationship to God. Just as we can come to know the character of an artist through his works, so we can understand the
nature of God by observing the diverse things of creation.
Let us begin by pointing out the common elements which are found
universally throughout the natural world. Every entity possesses dual
characteristics of yang (masculinity) and yin (femininity) and comes into
existence only when these characteristics have formed reciprocal relationships, both within the entity and between it and other entities.
However, there is another pair of dual characteristics in reciprocal
relationship which are even more fundamental to existence than the dual
characteristics of yang and yin. Every entity possesses both an outer form
and an inner quality. The visible outer form resembles the invisible
inner quality. The inner quality, though invisible, possesses a certain
structure which is manifested visibly in the particular outer form. The
inner quality is called internal nature, and the outer form or shape is
called external form. Since internal nature and external form refer to
corresponding inner and outer aspects of the same entity, the external
form may also be understood as a second internal nature. Therefore, the
internal nature and external form together constitute dual characteristics.
Probing deeper still, we search for the Ultimate Cause which
brought this energy, with its elements of internal nature and external form, into existence. This being would be the First Cause of all
the myriad things in the universe. As the First Cause, it must also possess the dual characteristics of internal nature and external form,
which stand in the position of subject partner to the internal natures
and external forms of all beings. We call this First Cause of the universe God, and we call God’s internal nature and external form the
original internal nature and original external form.
It is only natural to surmise that God, the First Cause of all things, also exists based on the reciprocal relationship between the dual characteristics of yang and yin.
God is the Subject in whom the dual characteristics of
original internal nature and original external form are in harmony. At
the same time, God is the harmonious union of masculinity and femininity, which manifest the qualities of original internal nature and original external form, respectively. In relation to the universe, God is the
subject partner having the qualities of internal nature and masculinity.

View slides 1-25 below to see the above content with illustrations:

2007p1-CHAPT-1-Creation_revised-4-28-2014-red-part