Category: Luke

For Everything There Is a Season, and a Time for Every Matter Under Heaven

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Luke 9

18 When Jesus was alone praying, his disciples came to him, and he asked them, “What do people say about me?”

19 They answered, “Some say that you are John the Baptist or Elijah[e] or a prophet from long ago who has come back to life.”

20 Jesus then asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah sent from God.”

21 Jesus strictly warned his disciples not to tell anyone about this.

Isaiah 50

10 None of you respect the Lord
    or obey his servant.
You walk in the dark
    instead of the light;
you don’t trust the name
    of the Lord your God.[a]
11 Go ahead and walk in the light
    of the fires you have set.[b]
But with his own hand,
the Lord will punish you
    and make you suffer.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Duality

3. Duality Operates by Giving and Receiving

Not a handful of rain descends from above with-
out the earth sending up two handfuls of mois-
ture to meet it.
Genesis Rabbah 13.13 (Judaism)

Love works in a circle, for the beloved moves
the lover by stamping a likeness, and the lover
then goes out to hold the beloved in reality.
Who first was the beginning now becomes the
end of motion.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica 13 (Christianity)
Verily in the creation of heaven and earth and
the alternation of night and the day are signs for
people of understanding.
Qur’an 3.190

Observe how all God’s creations borrow from
each other: day borrows from night and night
from day, but they do not go to law one with
another as mortals do… The moon borrows
from the stars and the stars from the moon…
the sky borrows from the earth and the earth
from the sky… All God’s creatures borrow from
the other, yet make peace with one another
without lawsuits; but if man borrows from his
friend, he seeks to swallow him up with usury
and robbery.
Exodus Rabbah 31.15 (Judaism)

When the sun goes, the moon comes; when the
moon goes, the sun comes. Sun and moon alter-
nate; thus light comes into existence. When
cold goes, heat comes; when heat goes, cold
comes. Cold and heat alternate, and thus the
year completes itself. The past contracts. The
future expands. Contraction and expansion
act upon each other; hereby arises that which
furthers.
The measuring worm draws itself together
when it wants to stretch out. Dragons and
snakes hibernate in order to preserve life. Thus
the penetration of germinal thought into the
mind promotes the workings of the mind. When
this working furthers and brings peace to life, it
elevates a man’s nature.
I Ching, Great Commentary 2.5.2-3 (Confucianism)

Difficult and easy complete one another.
Long and short test one another;
High and low determine one another.
Pitch and mode give harmony to one another,
Front and back give sequence to one another.
Tao Te Ching 2 (Taoism)

For everything there is a season, and a time for
every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is
planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather
stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from
embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3.1-8

Heaven and earth come together, and all things
take shape and find form. Male and female mix
their seed, and all creatures take shape and are
born.” In the Changes it is said, “When three
people journey together, their number decreases
by one. When one man journeys alone, he finds
a companion.
I Ching, Great Commentary 2.4.13 (Confucianism)

Heaven is high, the earth is low; thus the Creative
and the Receptive are determined. In correspon-
dence with this difference between low and high,
inferior and superior places are established.
Movement and rest have their definite
laws; according to these, firm and yielding lines
are differentiated.
Events follow definite trends, each
according to its nature. Things are distinguished
from one another in definite classes. In this way
good fortune and misfortune come about. In the
heavens phenomena take form; on earth shapes
take form. In this way change and transformation
become manifest.
Therefore the eight trigrams succeed one
another by turns, as the firm and the yielding
displace each other.
Things are aroused by thunder and
lightning; they are fertilized by wind and rain.
Sun and moon follow their courses and it is now
hot, now cold.
The way of the Creative brings about the
male; the way of the Receptive brings about the
female.
The Creative knows the great beginnings;
the Receptive completes the finished things.
I Ching, Great Commentary 1.1.1-5 (Confucianism)

Thirty spokes share one hub to make a wheel.
Through its not-being (wu),
There being (yu) the use of the carriage.

Mold clay into a vessel.
Through its not-being,
There being the use of the vessel.
Cut out doors and windows to make a house.
Through its not-being
There being the use of the house.
Therefore in the being of a thing,

There lies the benefit;
In the not-being of a thing,
There lies its use. 16
Tao Te Ching 11 (Taoism)

God Drives Away Flies for a Cow that Has No Tail

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Acts 20

20 When the uproar had ended, Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. 2 He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece, 3 where he stayed three months.

Johah 2

2 1 [a]From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 2 He said:

“In my distress I called to the Lord,
    and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
    and you listened to my cry.
3 You hurled me into the depths,
    into the very heart of the seas,
    and the currents swirled about me;
all your waves and breakers
    swept over me.
4 I said, ‘I have been banished
    from your sight;
yet I will look again
    toward your holy temple.’
5 The engulfing waters threatened me,[b]
    the deep surrounded me;
    seaweed was wrapped around my head.
6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down;
    the earth beneath barred me in forever.
But you, Lord my God,
    brought my life up from the pit.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Part 1
God and Creation

Chapter 1
God

Divine Love and Compassion

2. Divine Mercy

God is All-gentle to His servants, providing for whomsoever He will.
Qur’an 42.19

God is the best to take care of man, and He is the Most Merciful of those who show mercy!
Qur’an 12.64

If we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2.13

No one is more patient over injury which he hears than God.
Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)

God drives away flies for a cow that has no tail.
Yoruba Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted
beyond your strength, but with the temptation
will also provide the way of escape, that you may
be able to endure it.
1 Corinthians 10.13

God charges no soul save to its capacity;
standing to its account is what it has earned,
and against its account what it has deserved.
Our Lord! Take us not to task if we forget, or
make mistake.
Our Lord! Charge us not with a load as that
which You laid upon those before us.
Our Lord! Burden us not beyond what we have
the strength to bear. Pardon us, forgive us, and have mercy on us.
Qur’an 2.286

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

What is God? God is the existence that absolutely lives for others. (175:158, March 16, 1988)

No matter what happens in the human world, God is patient because He is who He is. He sees tragic and heart-breaking things, yet He remains calm and composed, never losing His dignity. If God were to open His mouth and express His suffering, He could pour out tragic stories for millions of years, weeping all the while. Would God weep out of self-pity? No, God weeps only for humankind, His
children. (124:60, January 23, 1983)

What kind of being is God? Does He say, “I am God Almighty! I created you to serve Me, to love Me and sacrifice everything for Me”? Such a being cannot be God.
In fact, God has set the tradition of humbly serving and loving the world. His tradition is that of changing diapers and cleaning up the baby’s feces, and washing the dirt off a sick and infirm old man. That tradition should form the core of our education. (116:90-91, December 20, 1981)

God, the Creator of the universe, still remembers the wonderful process by which His creation unfolded, how each creature arose and what He did to further their development. He invested such great love for His creation; love was the motivation, and love the goal. Even though humankind fell, God just cannot put aside His abiding love for human beings; to do so would be against His Principle and His standard of love. Therefore, when He sees fallen people living
in misery, He does not condemn. Rather, He is merciful to them. (115:320-21, November 29, 1981)

God Exists for Love

Watch or Listen to the podcast of the Richard Urban Show from May 7, 2020: Moral Posturing Does Not Improve Our Health: https://www.visionroot.org/2020/05/08/is-governor-justice-moral-posturing/ .

Luke 2

3 Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

14 “Praise God in heaven!
Peace on earth to everyone
    who pleases God.”

Jeremiah 50

37 Then your chariot horses
and the foreigners in your army
    will refuse to go into battle,
and the enemy will carry away
    everything you treasure.
38 Your rivers and canals
    will dry up.

All of this will happen,
because your land
    is full of idols,
and they have made fools
    of you.

Richard: We see in the reading above that those who honor God will prosper and those who oppose God and worship “idols” (money, power, godless ideologies, etc) will perish.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Part 1
God and Creation

Chapter 1
God

Divine Love and Compassion

1. Love: The Essence of God

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

God is the Lord of love. He exists to spread love throughout the universe and make it eternal.
(298:304, January 17, 1999)

God is the Womb of love. He is the Source of love’s emotion, out of which emanates parental love, children’s love, sibling love, love of kin and love of country. These different kinds of love are like branches and leaves growing from the main trunk. They are like waves that eventually turn into ripples. The further away from the Source, the fainter the emotion becomes.
(50:267, November 8, 1971)


How does it feel to experience the realm of God’s love? It is like walking through a garden on a warm spring day. You see all different kinds of flowers and become intoxicated with all their fragrances. Lying on the grass, you feel something indescribable as you look up at the sky and see the towering cumulus clouds shaped like clumps of cotton. You feel your cells dancing, breathing. God’s love is the wellspring of power and happiness for all beings; it endows each one with the
energy of life. God’s love is the absolute requirement for faith. It is the necessary element for joy, pleasure, peace, and everything else human life desires. Moreover, God’s love is the principle of the spirit world.
(24:325, September 14, 1969)


What is God’s heart? It refers to God’s perfect foundation for love. All of God’s creations welled up from His heart, as did all His ideals for them. Thus, God’s heart is the perfect foundation for everything. God’s heart also springs forth into the perfect completion of everything. There can be no perfection or completion apart from God’s heart. (82:292, February 1, 1976)

God is the Subject of heart. For this reason, God can feel limitless sorrow as well as limitless joy. Just because He is God doesn’t mean that He possesses only joy and positive emotions. When God is sad, His heart of sorrow is deeper and wider than any person can ever comprehend. (11:89, February 12, 1961)

God exists for love and lives for love. God does not live for Himself, but for love. Likewise, all things are born from love. Thus, in the world of love, there cannot be a concept that we should live for ourselves. (303:287, September 9, 1999)

God Exists in the Center of Our Heart

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Luke 22

7 The day had come for the Festival of Thin Bread, and it was time to kill the Passover lambs. 8 So Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us to eat.”

9 But they asked, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”

10 Jesus told them, “As you go into the city, you will meet a man carrying a jar of water.[b] Follow him into the house 11 and say to the owner, ‘Our teacher wants to know where he can eat the Passover meal with his disciples.’ 12 The owner will take you upstairs and show you a large room ready for you to use. Prepare the meal there.”

13 Peter and John left. They found everything just as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

2 Chronicles 35

12 The Levites set aside the parts of the animal that the worshipers needed for their sacrifices to please the Lord,[c] just as the Law of Moses required. They also did the same thing with the bulls. 13 They sacrificed the Passover animals on the altar and boiled the meat for the other offerings in pots, kettles, and pans. Then they quickly handed the meat to the people so they could eat it.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Part 1
God and Creation

Chapter 1
God
Immanent and Dwelling within the Heart

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Where does God exist? He is not in heaven, but in our heart—the center of our heart. (145:310,June 1, 1986)

God is not merely a concept. God is alive in each of our lives, and we can feel His touch. I constantly hear the beating of God’s pulse. I breathe as He breathes. I can feel the warmth of His body against my own. I have come to know the heart of God, and have shed rivers of tears from the knowledge that His heart is bursting with the sorrow of having lost humankind through the Fall. (234:233, August 22, 1992)


When we forget to eat and sleep, yearning for our beloved Heavenly Father and calling out, “Father!” He holds our hand, even though we do not notice Him. We call out, “Father,” and Heavenly Father clasps us to His bosom. It is precious to have these experiences in our life of faith. With a heart of love, even before you say, “Please be with me while I do this,” God is already with you. Experience this, and you will know that God is Gracious and Merciful. (58:299, June 25,1972)

How does God love? It is not hard to answer. Since God is without form, He can go anywhere—inside a lady’s eyes, inside her heart, anywhere at all. Where does God live? He dwells in the midst of our heart. God’s masculine aspect lives in the heart of a man, and God’s feminine aspect lives in the heart of a woman. (128:325)

Many Christians today think that because God the Creator is unique and absolute, the Supreme Being, it is impossible for human beings, His creatures, to relate with God in a full partnership. They reason that creatures are profane while God is absolute and holy. Consider this matter, however, from the concept of love. To form relationships of love, even the lofty and supremely good God and
lowly created beings must share common attributes of character. To love, they must share the same heart. That is, the personal God must have the same qualities as the human personality. (138:247, January 24, 1986)

The universe is vast, as great as 21 billion light-years across… Yet when we search within for the best place to receive God, our greatest treasure, the natural conclusion is, “The heart is the only appropriate place.” No place can be safer or more comfortable for Him.

The heart is able to stand in the position of God’s object partner and exist for eternity by engaging in spherical motion, and this is the reason that human beings can have eternal life. (May 1, 2004)

God is immeasurably huge, but a human being, though tiny in comparison, is a microcosm of the universe. Therefore, we can experience that God is within us as we go into God. We can experience that we are within God and God is within us. That is why Jesus said, “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Although God is infinitely big, only when human beings dwell within Him, can God work. (31:210, May 31, 1970)

Thou dost relate to us at the dividing line between joy and sorrow. (24:245, August 24, 1969)

Now is the time when people must reflect on themselves and listen to the voice from Heaven. Through the benefit of the providence, the living God has now drawn near to us. From now on, people will have many spiritual experiences that they could not have earlier. That is to say, they will communicate with the transcendent world. Through these frequent spiritual experiences, people will be influenced directly and indirectly. Especially people who experience the inspiration of God and good spirits will have their spiritual senses developed centered on God, and they will experience major changes in their character. People whose character is thus transformed to fit the way of Heaven are the true people God has been hoping for. (February 6, 2003)

Thou dost not live in some distant, relative world.
Thou art in the middle of our hearts;
Thou surroundest our bodies
unnoticed, like the air all around us;
Thou hast been embracing our entire lives.
When we receive that power which surrounds us,
infinite power is mobilized.
When we absorb that power—eternal power—
it impacts and stimulates us anew. (27:41-42, November 23, 1969)

For My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts

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Luke 12

12 As thousands of people crowded around Jesus and were stepping on each other, he told his disciples:

Be sure to guard against the dishonest teaching[a] of the Pharisees! It is their way of fooling people. 2 Everything that is hidden will be found out, and every secret will be known. 3 Whatever you say in the dark will be heard when it is day. Whatever you whisper in a closed room will be shouted from the housetops.

Richard: Bill Gates, Anthony Fauci and their many supporters will be busted over this fraudulent COVID-19 stituation. Listen to the Richard Urban Show: Defeating Godless Globalism and Devilish Depopulation: https://www.visionroot.org/2020/04/11/defeating-godless-globalism/ .

Matthew 28

18 Jesus came to them and said:

I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth! 19 Go to the people of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, 20 and teach them to do everything I have told you. I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

Richard: Amen and Aju!

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Part 1
God and Creation

Chapter 1
God
Knowledge of God

Formless, Invisible, Mystery

God is formless and invisible. He is beyond any human concept, hidden and inscrutable: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.” In the monotheistic religions, the prohibition of images is a statement about the utter transcendence of God, for to represent God by an idol is to reduce the infinite to finitude. Eastern religions likewise assert that no words or intellectual concepts can properly convey the nature of Ultimate Reality. How can finite human knowledge comprehend the supreme Knower and source of mind itself? Father Moon affirms that God is formless, invisible and beyond human knowledge, but then adds something more: God is not content to remain that way. The invisible God’s ultimate purpose is to manifest Himself in the visible form of Man. Accordingly, God does not leave us forever in ignorance, but in the Last Days He reveals all matters hidden in His heart. What is more, we will advance to the point where we can fully embody God’s nature and become His representatives on earth.

No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision; He is above all comprehension, Yet is acquainted with all things. Qur’an 6.103

The way that can be spoken of Is not the eternal Way; The name that can be named Is not the eternal name. The nameless was the beginning of heaven and earth; The named was the mother of the myriad creatures. Hence always rid yourself of desire in order to observe its secrets; But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations. These two are the same But diverge in name as they issue forth. Being the same they are called mysteries, Mystery upon mystery— The gateway of the manifold secrets. Tao Te Ching 1 (Taoism)

The eye cannot see it; the mind cannot grasp it. The deathless Self has neither caste nor race, Neither eyes nor ears nor hands nor feet. Sages say this Self is infinite in the great And in the small, everlasting and changeless, The source of life. Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.6 (Hinduism)

The Supreme Soul is neither long nor short, nor a circle nor a triangle, nor a quadrilateral nor a sphere. He is neither black nor blue nor red nor yellow nor white. He is neither a pleasant smell nor an unpleasant smell. He is neither pungent nor bitter nor astringent nor sour nor sweet. He is neither hard nor soft, neither heavy nor light, neither cold nor hot, neither rough nor smooth. He is bodiless. He is not subject to birth. He is free from attachment. He is neither female nor male nor neuter. He is immaculate knowledge and intuition. There exists no simile to comprehend him. He is formless existence. He is what baffles all terminology. There is no word to comprehend him. He is neither sound nor form nor odor nor taste nor touch. Only so much I say. Acarangasutra 5.126-40 (Jainism)
Here, O Shariputra, form is emptiness, and the very emptiness is form; empti­ness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form. The same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, consciousness. Heart Sutra (Buddhism)

Truly thou art a God who hidest thyself. Isaiah 45.15

Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. Job 11.7-9

The Intelligence which reveals all—by what shall it be revealed? By whom shall the Knower be known? The Self is described as “not this, not that” (neti, neti). It is incomprehensible, for it cannot be comprehended; undecaying, for it never decays; unattached, for it never attaches itself; unbound, for it is never bound. By whom, O my beloved, shall the Knower be known?10 Bhrihadaranyaka Upanishad 4.5.15 (Hinduism)

Who sees me by form, Who seeks me in sound, Perverted are his footsteps upon the Way; For he cannot perceive the Tathagata. Diamond Sutra 26 (Buddhism)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says the Lord. Isaiah 55.8

Invent not similitudes for God; for God knows, and you know not. Qur’an 16.74

Moses said, “I pray thee, show me thy glory.” And [the Lord] said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live.” And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand upon the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.” Exodus 33.18-23

Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. Deuteronomy 4.15-18

In the beginning was God, Today is God Tomorrow will be God. Who can make an image of God? He has no body. He is as a word which comes out of your mouth. That word! It is no more, It is past, and still it lives! So is God. Pygmy Hymn (African Traditional Religions)