Category: John

The Period that Centered Upon and Venerated the Church Leader Should End

Watch the latest Richard Urban show:  Announcing a Tribal Messiah Association:  https://youtu.be/3n8HcTeVJd4. 

John 17

11 Holy Father, I am no longer in the world. I am coming to you, but my followers are still in the world. So keep them safe by the power of the name that you have given me. Then they will be one with each other, just as you and I are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who had to be lost. This happened so that what the Scriptures say would come true.

13 I am on my way to you. But I say these things while I am still in the world, so that my followers will have the same complete joy that I do. 14 I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t.

15 Father, I don’t ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They don’t belong to this world, and neither do I. 17 Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. 18 I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. 19 I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.

20 I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. 21 I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.

Matthew 1

6b-11  From David to the time of the exile in Babylonia, the ancestors of Jesus were:

David, Solomon (his mother had been Uriah’s wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram;

Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.

12-16 From the exile to the birth of Jesus, his ancestors were:

Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim;

Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.

17 There were fourteen generations from Abraham to David. There were also fourteen from David to the exile in Babylonia and fourteen more to the birth of the Messiah.

God’s Will Which We Must Untangle

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

Matthew 10:34-39

Matthew 18:15-20

If God has presented the history of reform and of liberation, then the period that centered upon and venerated the church leader should end. Just as God waged the struggle to enlighten the feudal society which served the feudal lords, in the last days, religion is needed that allows equal value to the followers, as well as the esteemed church leaders. God will look for a people of character who can transcend all denominations and sects. Wouldn’t that be true? Only then, God’s dispensation of liberation would be concluded in the historical last days.

The Christians now and in the past have regarded other religions as inferior. However, if their attitude does not change, then the efforts of a million-fold would be required to open their mind when the time comes for a new day.

Combining everything of the past is not the way; however, all should be resolved as one and become open in the end. The one who shows the open-mindedness to history, the ideology, the world view, and our mind will be on the side of God. The religion which is led by that kind of person will be the religion that all humanity will worship.

Continue reading “The Period that Centered Upon and Venerated the Church Leader Should End”

God Looks at This World with Judgment

John 4

3 Jesus left Judea and started for Galilee again. 4 This time he had to go through Samaria, 5 and on his way he came to the town of Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob had long ago given to his son Joseph. 6-8 The well that Jacob had dug was still there, and Jesus sat down beside it because he was tired from traveling. It was noon, and after Jesus’ disciples had gone into town to buy some food, a Samaritan woman came to draw water from the well.

Jesus asked her, “Would you please give me a drink of water?”

9 “You are a Jew,” she replied, “and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink of water when Jews and Samaritans won’t have anything to do with each other?”a]

10 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what God wants to give you, and you don’t know who is asking you for a drink. If you did, you would ask me for the water that gives life.”

Richard:  Here Jesus approaches the Samaritan women.  He offers the woman living water.  It is interesting that many Samaritans accepted and believed in Jesus, even though they are not considered true Jews by many Jewish people.  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans)

2 Kings 6

24 Some time later, King Benhadad of Syriae] called his entire army together, then they marched to Samaria and attacked. 25 They kept up the attack until there was nothing to eat in the city. In fact, a donkey’s head cost about two pounds of silver, and a small bowl of pigeon droppingsf] cost about two ounces of silver.

26 One day as the king of Israelg] was walking along the top of the city wall, a woman shouted to him, “Please, Your Majesty, help me!”

27 “Let the Lord help you!” the king said. “Do you think I have grain or wine to give you?” 28 Then he asked, “What’s the matter anyway?”

The woman answered, “Another woman and I were so hungry that we agreed to eat our sons. She said if we ate my son one day, we could eat hers the next day. 29 So yesterday we cooked my son and ate him. But today when I went to her house to eat her son, she had hidden him.”

30 The king tore off his clothes in sorrow, and since he was on top of the city wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth underneath. 31 He said, “I pray that God will punish me terribly, if Elisha’s head is still on his shoulders by this time tomorrow.” 32 Then he sent a messenger to Elisha.

Elisha was home at the time, and the important leaders of Israel were meeting with him. Even before the king’s messenger arrived, Elisha told the leaders, “That murdererh] is sending someone to cut off my head. When you see him coming, shut the door and don’t let him in. I’m sure the king himself will be right behind him.”

33 Before Elisha finished talking, the messengeri] came up and said, “The Lord has made all these terrible things happen to us. Why should I think he will help us now?”

Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

John 3: 1-15

Who was Jesus? During the four thousand years of the historical dispensation, no one was qualified to introduce the happiness of God. By the coming of Jesus, however, God’s happiness was to be introduced at last and the garden of happiness which God permitted was to be built. We should understand that Jesus was such a new being in history. The Israelites at that time should have known that Jesus represented the sole substantiation of the hope of their ancestors, the substantiation of the happiness their ancestors had fought to attain. He was the hope for the restoration of Israel’s national sovereignty and the establishment of the heavenly foundation.

Jesus resurrected the hope of the ancestors and of the earth, which was buried deeply in the heart of God. Moreover, he was the representative of God, the one whom God had sent to bring about the world where the ideal of the Kingdom of Heaven could be fulfilled. Jesus was our representative, the representative of humankind who would build the garden of happiness. The Israelites should have known this; however, they did not realize this. Therefore, even though Jesus came to this earth, he had to go without becoming the central person of the new world. He had to go without possessing the people of the new world and without building the society and nation of the new world.

The world we live in today is fallen. Because nothing in this fallen world became the reality God hoped to fulfill, God can rejoice in nothing. God looks at this world with judgment, therefore, our lifestyle, environment and nation cannot communicate purely with His heart.

What does God long for now? He is longing for something new. When Jesus appeared before Judaism and the Pharisees who bragged of being the chosen, he said, “The things you assert and have pride in are not enough.” We should know that Jesus’ three-year public life course was the record of the battle he fought to declare and proclaim that everyone had to go through him, that he was the cosmic new being who brought a new ideology and world view. Jesus hoped that his disciples and the numerous people who followed him would become new people. Nevertheless, among those who met Jesus at that time, only a few believed and understood that Jesus came to introduce and build a new heart, a new ideology, a new life, and new happiness. Therefore, when Jesus came, he could not speak fully about these things and the blueprint for the new world before he departed.

Nicodemus appeared before this agonized Jesus. He was a government officer of Judea, a person in the position of a teacher and leader of the chosen people. Jesus emphasized to him the necessity of being reborn. We are destined to be reborn today, just as Jesus said.

If there is a last days in the six thousand years of history, then God expects to resolve everything at that time. God knows that He should judge and resolve this sinful world at a certain time. Therefore, we are walking our course of faith today fearing the last days. What kind of time is the last days? It is time to liquidate the old and assert the new.

If We Have a Lonely Heart, We Should Confess and Transform It Into Your Heart

Isaiah 40

40 Our God has said:

“Encourage my people!
Give them comfort.
2 Speak kindly to Jerusalem
and announce:
Your slavery is past;
your punishment is over.
I, the Lord, made you pay
double for your sins.”

Habbukuk 1

I am sending the Babylonians.
They are fierce and cruel—
marching across the land,
conquering cities and towns.

7 How fearsome and frightening.
Their only laws and rules
are the ones they make up.
8 Their cavalry troops are faster
than leopards,
more ferocious than wolves
hunting at sunset,
and swifter than hungry eagles
suddenly swooping down.

9 They are eager to destroy,[b]
and they gather captives
like handfuls of sand.
10 They make fun of rulers
and laugh at fortresses,
while building dirt mounds
so they can capture cities.[c]
11 Then suddenly they disappear

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

Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

John 3: 1-15

Prayer

Please allow us to check where our minds dwell. We know that our minds are moving around in all directions, although our bodies are gathered in one place. Just as Adam was shaped by the lump of soil moving according to Your hands, we know that our minds also should be moved according to Your desire.

Our sacred Father, please allow us to long for You at this time with a concerned mind that checks whether the original form and essence of our minds have become the holy of holies. Let us check if our minds can connect to Your heart, even as our bodies settle into one altar now.

We feel that we should not be without the sensitivity of mind by which an earnest heart toward Your gentle and holy presence can fill us, even without our being conscious of it. You wished to reveal our mission by discussing from the hidden depths and showing Your presence in the distant quietness. We cannot help hoping for such intervention on Your part.

When we did not attend You in the midst of Your distant quietness, when we were not able to connect with Your hidden situation, You were sorrowful, lonely and miserable. Knowing that You face such a situation, we should feel in our hearts the necessity of attending You as our real Father; we should feel the necessity of forming one, united, inseparable relationship centering on eternal life and eternal love. If such a heart does not emerge from within us, how can we call ourselves Your sons and daughters? How can we say that we have an inseparable relationship with You? If we are so, please allow us to know that we have nothing to do with the ideal of heaven You wish to grant us, we have nothing to do with the foundation for Your comfort for which You have toiled throughout history. Continue reading “If We Have a Lonely Heart, We Should Confess and Transform It Into Your Heart”

We Now Desire to Live the Rest of Our Lives According to Your Will

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1294

God’s ideal, which was to be achieved
through the human ancestors, was to
have a man and woman come together
in union and form an ideal family. In
this regard, the center of an ideal fam-
ily is neither man nor woman. A family
is a group formed by the union between
the husband and wife, the parents and
children. At the center is the love of
God. Therefore, we reach the conclu-
sion that the will of God is to perfect
a family, centering on the love of God.
(Blessed Family – 301)What can we conclude after clearly
understanding the term True Parents?
We can conclude that the Fall of our first
ancestors occurred through an illicit sex-
ual relationship. The Fall has resulted in
a connection of blood that has nothing
to do with God or with the True Parents
who were to be established as the ideal
of creation. In other words, we came to
inherit the wrong bloodline.

Cheon Seong Gyeong  171

What can we conclude after clearly
understanding the term True Parents?
We can conclude that the Fall of our first
ancestors occurred through an illicit sex-
ual relationship. The Fall has resulted in
a connection of blood that has nothing
to do with God or with the True Parents
who were to be established as the ideal
of creation. In other words, we came to
inherit the wrong bloodline.

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

Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

John 3: 1-15

3 There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader. 2 One night he went to Jesus and said, “Sir, we know that God has sent you to teach us. You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you.”

3 Jesus replied, “I tell you for certain that you must be born from above[a] before you can see God’s kingdom!”

4 Nicodemus asked, “How can a grown man ever be born a second time?”

5 Jesus answered:

I tell you for certain that before you can get into God’s kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit. 6 Humans give life to their children. Yet only God’s Spirit can change you into a child of God. 7 Don’t be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. 8 Only God’s Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.

9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

10 Jesus replied:

How can you be a teacher of Israel and not know these things? 11 I tell you for certain that we know what we are talking about because we have seen it ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say. 12 If you don’t believe when I talk to you about things on earth, how can you possibly believe if I talk to you about things in heaven?

13 No one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there. 14 And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as that metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert.[b] 15 Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.

Prayer

As we persevere on the difficult path of life, we know well that we are immersed in a sorrowful situation. We know that many painful circumstances lie ahead of us. We know that we have not the heart which can sing in sheer happiness when we face Heavenly Father, this land, and humanity. Father! Please have mercy on us. We have been worn out by sorrow and hardships. We have struggled without even knowing in what direction to go. Please hold onto those of us who have wandered, not knowing on whom to lean. Father, we feel how wonderful and great is Your amazing grace, yet we are unable to return glory to You. Please forgive us.

Father, You have suggested to us the path by which to avoid sorrow in this sorrowful world. However, we ask for Your forgiveness since we were inadequate in upholding Your predestined will. We know that You have prepared a path by which we may avoid hardships, even though we deserve a suffering course. We are so grateful. However, we ask for Your forgiveness since we were unable to walk that path.

We now desire to live the rest of our lives according to Your will, for Your joy and glory only. Nevertheless, the power of death and the influence of sin in this world powerfully encircle us. You know how difficult it is to escape from them. Therefore, benevolent Father, please be present at this time.

Father, please forgive us. We have not yet become people who return glory and joy to You from a liberated position. Please subjugate the power of darkness by spreading new power and Your mighty hand. Father, we sincerely hope that You will raise the history of re-creation in order that we may sing of the glory of resurrection as victorious people.

Since the power of death is sweeping over us, we need to overcome the decision of life and death. We must gain the automatic and spontaneous power that can push this away and march forward. Loving Father, if there are children of Yours who yearn for such power, please personally grant them the ability and allow the authority of resurrection that they may become heavenly soldiers who pioneer their daily life with the hope of the future. Continue reading “We Now Desire to Live the Rest of Our Lives According to Your Will”

We Are Not to Follow a Certain Leader or Serve a Certain Founder of a Religion

John 19

25 Jesus’ mother stood beside his cross with her sister and Mary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was standing there too.[c] 26 When Jesus saw his mother and his favorite disciple with her, he said to his mother, “This man is now your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “She is now your mother.” From then on, that disciple took her into his own home.

Ezekiel 3

6 Seven days after I had seen the brightness of the Lord’s glory, the Lord said:

17 Ezekiel, son of man, I have appointed you to stand watch for the people of Israel. So listen to what I say, then warn them for me. 18 When I tell wicked people they will die because of their sins, you must warn them to turn from their sinful ways so they won’t be punished. If you refuse, you are responsible for their death. 19 However, if you do warn them, and they keep on sinning, they will die because of their sins, and you will be innocent.

20 Now suppose faithful people start sinning, and I decide to put stumbling blocks in their paths to make them fall. They deserve to die because of their sins. So if you refuse to warn them, I will forget about the times they were faithful, and I will hold you responsible for their death. 21 But if you do warn them, and they listen to you and stop sinning, I will let them live. And you will be innocent.

Richard:  Why do I speak out to say what is true?  See the above reading from Ezekiel.

The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father

Sun Myung Moon
May 24, 1959

Matthew 23: 1-39

Prayer

Father! Sorrowful history today is moving forward as it swirls around us. Facing the sorrowful environment of life, we realize that ours is the great task of ridding history of pain and resolving Heavenly Father’s torn heart. As we have taken on such a task, we have to become sons and daughters who can bear the heart of Heaven and earth, experience the sorrow, feel the pain, and be willing to die for You thousands and thousands of times to comfort You.

During Jesus’ advent in this world, many religious groups and believers were awaiting the Messiah. They were all expecting the Messiah to come as someone even greater than their expectations. The Messiah who came was not a Messiah of happiness. Rather, he was a Messiah who embodied the sadness of humanity. He was a Messiah of pain in whom all the pain of human history culminated. We know that no one in that time ever thought that the Messiah, who came as the representative of Heaven, would come so.

We understand that history is realized based on what has gone before. We are learning the principle which tells that all events occurring in history have to reappear to be restored through indemnity. We also know of the responsibilities of the disciples in the last days to horizontally put to rest all the sorrowful remembrances of the Garden of Eden, the sorrows of the course of history that came down vertically, to return to our Father the joy of the horizontal perspective.

Father! We now desire to be loyal for the sake of the world. Do we not want to establish the heavenly promised land for humankind? We can only then become people who inherit Heavenly Father’s deeply engraved sorrow and pain. We have already realized that only those who digest pain and sorrow can appear as the inheritors of heavenly joy. Please allow us to see that those who struggle only for their peace of mind will surely perish and be defeated.

Father! We know that one cannot claim the achievement of victory if he struggles and fights for his happiness. I sincerely pray, Father, that You allow us to become those individuals who persevere in spite of sadness and pain and who say, “I will live for the lives of the whole.” Let us become those who have raised high the altar of the historic offerings and lead history. Let such people lead this perishing race and world.

To whom are we going to entrust our faith when we look at the sad and sorrowful churches, when we look at humanity, and when we look at heaven and earth in this time of sorrow? We are not to follow a certain leader or serve a certain founder of a religion. The final moment of judgment is coming in which we have no choice but to live for and attend the Father and to fight to resolve the Father’s han. Is there anyone among us who lives in shadows which our mind cannot comprehend? Please break down such shadows, and allow us to realize that those who die today struggling to fight against new sorrows will live again tomorrow. Continue reading “We Are Not to Follow a Certain Leader or Serve a Certain Founder of a Religion”