Category: Acts

Jesus Came to Show the Standard of an Heartistic and Loving Relationship

Acts 17

17 After Paul and his friends had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they went on to Thessalonica. A Jewish meeting place was in that city. 2 So as usual, Paul went there to worship, and on three Sabbaths he spoke to the people. He used the Scriptures 3 to show them that the Messiah had to suffer, but that he would rise from death. Paul also told them that Jesus is the Messiah he was preaching about. 4 Some of them believed what Paul had said, and they became followers with Paul and Silas. Some Gentiles[a] and many important women also believed the message.

Isaiah 13

I, the Lord All-Powerful,
    am terribly angry—
I will make the sky tremble
    and the earth shake loose.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

Matthew 10:34-39

Matthew 18:15-20

Just as all things admire the sunlight and move according to the sun, all people will bow their heads if someone appears, who possesses the foundation of God’s heart and love, which the human original nature desires. That time must surely come.

Jesus came to present such conditions; he, however, could not bring out the standard of such a heartistic and loving relationship because he was killed. This is the lamentation of God and the aching pain and resentment of God for six thousand years and of Jesus for two thousand years. We should realize that God persevered through the six thousand years of dispensational history to see the day when his pain and resentment are comforted and liberated.

When the time demands this and God’s will to unify the movement of reform and openness exists, we should pray, “Oh, God! Where is Your love? Where are Your loving denomination, Your loving servant, Your loving sons and daughters?” If that person exists, he would be the one most persecuted by this world. God said He is the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end will come with the same appearance, although there may be a difference in its size.

Continue reading “Jesus Came to Show the Standard of an Heartistic and Loving Relationship”

Jesus Did Not Come to Die

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.

2nd Chronicles 5

11-13 The priests of every group had gone through the ceremony to make themselves clean and acceptable to the Lord. The Levite musicians, including Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and relatives, were wearing robes of fine linen. They were standing on the east side of the altar, playing cymbals, small harps, and other stringed instruments. One hundred twenty priests were with these musicians, and they were blowing trumpets.

They were praising the Lord by playing music and singing:

“The Lord is good,
    and his love never ends.”

My New Self and the Heaven Where My New Self Can Dwell

Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

Who are sons and daughters of filial piety? In daily life, if someone just feels happy when he sees his parents happy, that is not a filial son. The real filial son or daughter would not only feel the happiness; he or she would also feel the course of past hardships that went before the present happiness. If a son or daughter only rejoices without knowing everything of the process that led to the happiness, this is not a truly filial child. If that is the case in the human world, it would certainly be true in the case of the heavenly dispensation and of God’s will for the future.

Who was Jesus? He was the substantiation of new resurrection, culminating the four-thousand-year history. The people of that time did not know that he was unprecedented, representing Heaven and earth.

Had the high priests and Pharisees known that Jesus came for the followers of Judaism and the Israelites, they would not have opposed the people going to Jesus. However, they opposed and prevented this, and Jesus lived a heartbroken life on this earth and departed in misery. This is certainly the sin of humanity, not of God or Jesus.

How absurd is the fact that the birthplace of the Messiah, whom God promised for four thousand years through the prophets, was a stable. Think about it. In a stable? Many people today celebrate Christmas as a wonderful day but, actually, it is heartbreaking. Many do not know it is a sorrowful day for which no amount of tears would suffice.

Had there been people at that time who truly longed for and prepared for the Messiah such that their sincerity even touched the heart of Heaven, they would not have treated the Messiah in that way. There should have been people who prepared for Jesus, but there were none.

Continue reading “Jesus Did Not Come to Die”

The Cross Was Absolutely Unnecessary


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.

Daniel 9

A foreign ruler and his army will sweep down like a mighty flood, leaving both the city and the temple in ruins, and war and destruction will continue until the end, just as God has decided. 27 For one week[n]this foreigner[o] will make a firm agreement with many people, and halfway through this week,[p] he will end all sacrifices and offerings. Then the “Horrible Thing” that causes destruction will be put there. And it will stay there until the time God has decided to destroy this one who destroys.

My New Self and the Heaven Where My New Self Can Dwell

Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

What should I, as an individual, do in these last days? To solve this problem, we have to hold onto the Messiah who came for all people. Humanity has progressed until today through numerous historical relationships. God’s dispensational history was brought about through the chosen people God so lovingly chose. This history was for the purpose of embracing His loving sons and daughters.

Therefore, we have to conform with the heavenly content that moved the six thousand years of history to possess the power of life that can push the whole of it away. Jesus drove away the four thousand years of history when he came two thousand years ago by being connected to the historical heart of God. After clarifying everything in the four-thousand-year history, Jesus wanted to build a new garden upon that foundation. Therefore, holding onto that heart of Jesus, we should clarify history and think of the future. We have to think of how much Jesus longed for the emergence of his new ideology at that time.

Jesus told Nicodemus that unless he was reborn, he could not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, I must deny the life I have lived until today. No matter how much I think I have accomplished, I must deny my individual self. Because I am a fallen person, I cannot escape from that realm. My life and my lifestyle should be denied.

What we think of as normal is not indeed normal. We live an abnormal life; we have an abnormal lifestyle, and we die abnormally. The natural place for us to enter would be hell. What is heaven? It is the place where the person goes who lives a normal life, has abnormal lifestyle, and dies normally.

If Jesus came to distinguish between hell and heaven, to close the door to hell and open the door to heaven, to build heaven, then he certainly did not come with an ideology, a life, and a love that can be denied. You should understand this.

Who did Jesus come in search of when he came to this earth? Jesus came searching for the Israelites, whom God has established as the chosen people after indescribable hardships. Jesus was absolutely necessary for Judaism, the religion of the chosen. That absolutely necessary one was hung on the cross and departed. You should realize that Jesus was absolutely necessary for the Israelites and Judaism. The cross was absolutely unnecessary. It should not have been.

Ask, Seek and Knock for the Incarnation of God’s Will

Watch the latest Richard Urban Show:  Who Are the Representatives and Heirs of Rev. Sun Myung Moon?

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:  Don’t reject Christ at His Second Coming.

Isaiah 35

2 Deserts will bloom everywhere
    and sing joyful songs.
They will be as majestic
    as Mount Lebanon,
as glorious as Mount Carmel
    or Sharon Valley.
Everyone will see
the wonderful splendor
    of the Lord our God.

Let Us Follow the Way of Jesus

Sun Myung Moon
April 26, 1959

Matthew 7:1-20

Jesus knew that this nation should serve the Messiah. Jesus watched as the nation failed to ask with hearts more desperate than others for the substance of the Messiah. The church left its place and failed to seek when it should have sought with a heart more sorrowful than others. Jesus saw the Jews failing to knock when they should have knocked and waited for the heavenly gate to open.

The nation was eager for the realization of the heavenly will, yet failed to fervently ask, seek and knock on the door for the incarnation who could fulfill it. Jesus intended to realize the will with a nation that did not know the true will of Heaven. Thus, he did not pass even one day, one hour, or one second without thinking of the will.

Jesus’ Shim Jung before the will was greater than Mary’s. As he was quietly helping Joseph make a living, his Shim Jung was such that the more he watched the nation and lost confidence in them, the more seriously he worried about the will and made a new determination. We should know that he had a course of preparation like this for thirty years.

We should know that the life of Jesus was such that with a passionate Shim Jung of worry about the will, he worked hard in an unknown place to fulfill the responsibility for the sake of Heaven and the nation. We should know that with a heart more fervent than anyone else’s, Jesus worked hard and ceaselessly in place of the nation to ask, seek and knock on the heavenly gate. Continue reading “Ask, Seek and Knock for the Incarnation of God’s Will”

Salvation is For All People

Acts 10

3 One afternoon at about three o’clock,[a] Cornelius had a vision. He saw an angel from God coming to him and calling him by name. 4 Cornelius was surprised and stared at the angel. Then he asked, “What is this all about?”

The angel answered, “God has heard your prayers and knows about your gifts to the poor. 5 Now send some men to Joppa for a man named Simon Peter. 6 He is visiting with Simon the leather maker, who lives in a house near the sea.” 7 After saying this, the angel left.

Cornelius called in two of his servants and one of his soldiers who worshiped God. 8 He explained everything to them and sent them off to Joppa.

9 The next day about noon these men were coming near Joppa. Peter went up on the roof[b] of the house to pray 10 and became very hungry. While the food was being prepared, he fell sound asleep and had a vision. 11 He saw heaven open, and something came down like a huge sheet held up by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of animals, snakes, and birds. 13 A voice said to him, “Peter, get up! Kill these and eat them.”

14 But Peter said, “Lord, I can’t do that! I’ve never eaten anything that is unclean and not fit to eat.”[c]

15 The voice spoke to him again, “When God says that something can be used for food, don’t say it isn’t fit to eat.”

16 This happened three times before the sheet was suddenly taken back to heaven.

17 Peter was still wondering what all of this meant, when the men sent by Cornelius came and stood at the gate. They had found their way to Simon’s house 18 and were asking if Simon Peter was staying there.

19 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Three[d] men are here looking for you. 20 Hurry down and go with them. Don’t worry, I sent them.”

21 Peter went down and said to the men, “I am the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”

22 They answered, “Captain Cornelius sent us. He is a good man who worships God and is liked by the Jewish people. One of God’s holy angels told Cornelius to send for you, so he could hear what you have to say.” 23 Peter invited them to spend the night.

The next morning, Peter and some of the Lord’s followers in Joppa left with the men who had come from Cornelius. 24 The next day they arrived in Caesarea where Cornelius was waiting for them. He had also invited his relatives and close friends.

25 When Peter arrived, Cornelius greeted him. Then he knelt at Peter’s feet and started worshiping him. 26 But Peter took hold of him and said, “Stand up! I am nothing more than a human.”

27 As Peter entered the house, he was still talking with Cornelius. Many people were there, 28 and Peter said to them, “You know that we Jews are not allowed to have anything to do with other people. But God has shown me that he doesn’t think anyone is unclean or unfit. 29 I agreed to come here, but I want to know why you sent for me.”

30 Cornelius answered:

Four days ago at about three o’clock in the afternoon I was praying at home. Suddenly a man in bright clothes stood in front of me. 31 He said, “Cornelius, God has heard your prayers, and he knows about your gifts to the poor. 32 Now send to Joppa for Simon Peter. He is visiting in the home of Simon the leather maker, who lives near the sea.”

33 I sent for you right away, and you have been good enough to come. All of us are here in the presence of the Lord God, so that we can hear what he has to say.

34 Peter then said:

Now I am certain that God treats all people alike. 35 God is pleased with everyone who worships him and does right, no matter what nation they come from. 36 This is the same message that God gave to the people of Israel, when he sent Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, to offer peace to them.

37 You surely know what happened[e] everywhere in Judea. It all began in Galilee after John had told everyone to be baptized. 38 God gave the Holy Spirit and power to Jesus from Nazareth. He was with Jesus, as he went around doing good and healing everyone who was under the power of the devil. 39 We all saw what Jesus did both in Israel and in the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus was put to death on a cross. 40 But three days later, God raised him to life and let him be seen. 41 Not everyone saw him. He was seen only by us, who ate and drank with him after he was raised from death. We were the ones God chose to tell others about him.

42 God told us to announce clearly to the people that Jesus is the one he has chosen to judge the living and the dead. 43 Every one of the prophets has said that all who have faith in Jesus will have their sins forgiven in his name.

44 While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit took control of everyone who was listening. 45 Some Jewish followers of the Lord had come with Peter, and they were surprised that the Holy Spirit had been given to Gentiles. 46 Now they were hearing Gentiles speaking unknown languages and praising God.

Peter said, 47 “These Gentiles have been given the Holy Spirit, just as we have! I am certain that no one would dare stop us from baptizing them.” 48 Peter ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, and they asked him to stay on for a few days.

Richard:  I take this to mean that God has chosen me and Stacey to spread the New Truth, God’s Word of the Completed Testament and the Blessing of marriage.  Those who are open will understand that there is no need for church structures church of Hak Ja Han, nor Sanctuary Church, nor the movement of Hyun Jin Moon.  Although these are all related to the ‘chosen people’ (the lineage of Rev. Sun Myung Moon), those who do the Will of the Father are those called and chosen, just as Jesus said (Matthew 12: 46-50)

Psalm 72

Do this because the king
rescues the homeless
    when they cry out,
    and he helps everyone
    who is poor and in need.

Let Us Follow the Way of Jesus

Sun Myung Moon
April 26, 1959

Matthew 7:1-20

Prayer

Father! Please remember this day and reveal the granted grace. Reveal through our hearts the granted movement of life. If You can, please grant the glory of resurrection to us, even though we have been disloyal.

Please rule over our minds and bodies. We have realized that although we have our minds, they are not ours; although we have bodies, they are not ours. Our minds seek the direction of goodness, yet our bodies seek the direction of evil. Hence, we know that You treat us with the understanding that we are struggling between the two and have not stepped outside the realm of Heaven’s lament. Father, You will have to have pity on us and give us the heavenly grace of life and the strong power of resurrection in our hearts.

Although the body tries to subjugate the mind, the heavenly will is for the mind to defeat the body and establish one victorious standard whereby the mind can eternally subjugate the body. We know that an inevitable battle lies before us in which we have to establish such a standard in ourselves. Continue reading “Salvation is For All People”