Category: New Testament

We Cannot Understand Your Situation Without the Words of Truth

Luke 16

19 There was once a rich man who wore expensive clothes and every day ate the best food. 20 But a poor beggar named Lazarus was brought to the gate of the rich man’s house. 21 He was happy just to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. His body was covered with sores, and dogs kept coming up to lick them. 22 The poor man died, and angels took him to the place of honor next to Abraham.[d]

The rich man also died and was buried. 23 He went to hell[e] and was suffering terribly. When he looked up and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side, 24 he said to Abraham, “Have pity on me! Send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and touch my tongue. I’m suffering terribly in this fire.”

25 Abraham answered, “My friend, remember that while you lived, you had everything good, and Lazarus had everything bad. Now he is happy, and you are in pain. 26 And besides, there is a deep ditch between us, and no one from either side can cross over.”

27 But the rich man said, “Abraham, then please send Lazarus to my father’s home. 28 Let him warn my five brothers, so they won’t come to this horrible place.”

29 Abraham answered, “Your brothers can read what Moses and the prophets[f] wrote. They should pay attention to that.”

30 Then the rich man said, “No, that’s not enough! If only someone from the dead would go to them, they would listen and turn to God.”

31 So Abraham said, “If they won’t pay attention to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even to someone who comes back from the dead.”

Richard: This story is playing out again today in the Completed Testament Age. Many hear the New Truth, but do not listen and change their life track accordingly.

Isaiah 50

My protector is nearby;
no one can stand here
    to accuse me of wrong.
9 The Lord God will help me
    and prove I am innocent.
My accusers will wear out
    like moth-eaten clothes.

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.

I Am Relating with Two Worlds

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 20, 1959

Romans 7: 15-25

15 In fact, I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do what I know is right. I do the things I hate. 16 Although I don’t do what I know is right, I agree that the Law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

18 I know that my selfish desires won’t let me do anything that is good. Even when I want to do right, I cannot. 19 Instead of doing what I know is right, I do wrong. 20 And so, if I don’t do what I know is right, I am no longer the one doing these evil things. The sin that lives in me is what does them.

21 The Law has shown me that something in me keeps me from doing what I know is right. 22 With my whole heart I agree with the Law of God. 23 But in every part of me I discover something fighting against my mind, and it makes me a prisoner of sin that controls everything I do. 24 What a miserable person I am. Who will rescue me from this body that is doomed to die? 25 Thank God! Jesus Christ will rescue me.

So with my mind I serve the Law of God, although my selfish desires make me serve the law of sin.

Prayer

Father! Please help us realize in this hour that we are not walking the path we should walk in our lives, even though we know we must.

There are those who live centering on their bodies, those who live centering on their minds, and those who live centering on Heaven. Please help those of us who have come to participate in this occasion to understand which category we belong in.

We feel deep in our hearts that we must become the central figures who can bring joy and alleviate sorrow in all crucial affairs. Father, we long in our hearts for the self we can be truly proud of; the self who can critique all affairs accurately. Even if our bodies must be brought into submission, please help us recover that self. Please help us understand that although we have been struggling and fighting to restore that self, the battle still is not over, and we face the fate to put our lives on the line and continue our struggles.

Father! Please come to us in tranquility. Father, please command us. Please let us understand that the central purpose of our lives is to seek the moment when we are captured by Your voice, the moment when we move in unison with You, and the moment when we can rejoice with You. As we reflect how in the course of history our ancestors never had a moment when You could share joy with them and with other faithful believers, we cannot help but deeply lament.

Father, we lie prostrated before You on our knees with our hands clasped. Please allow us to penetrate into Your subtle heart. Please let this be an hour when You can hold our hands and say, “My beloved sons and daughters.”

All that we believe in and experience in the world is transient. That which we believe and fight for in our minds, that which we sing of in our minds, and the world where we connect with You in our minds is infinite and eternal. When we are asked how and when we are going to become people who can be proud of themselves, if we show no confidence, how sad will God be?

We are miserable ones who cannot show ourselves before Heaven and earth. Please let this be the moment when we sever ourselves from our purposeless, unfeeling past; when our minds can become one with the Father’s mind, and when our hearts become connected to the heart of the Father.

Although we have experienced everything in the world, we have never lived centering on the Father. This is what we desire, so please take us into Your hands and perform the works of re-creation. Beloved Father, this is what we desire from the bottom of our hearts.

We know that we cannot understand Your situation without the words of truth. Before understanding this situation, we cannot fathom Your heart. Please give us the one truth which will allow us to connect to Your situation and heart. Please allow us to become one based on the truth.

We pray with utmost sincerity that this hour will be a moment when we can hear Your tranquil words in peace and offer bows to You in joy. Let it be an hour when we can feel our hearts surge as we listen to the words of truth.

Please be with everyone who honors You with sincerity. Extend Your grace equally to the lonely members who are bowing before You in the countryside.

We entrust this entire occasion from the beginning to the end to You. Please govern it. Allow the hearts of the listeners to be one with the heart of the speaker. Praying that this will be a moment when we can be in complete harmony with Heaven, we pray in the name of the Lord. Amen.

The Time Has Passed When We Should Listen to Someone’s Words

Mark 14

41 When Jesus returned to the disciples the third time, he said, “Are you still sleeping and resting?[g] Enough of that! The time has come for the Son of Man to be handed over to sinners. 42 Get up! Let’s go. The one who will betray me is already here.”

1 Corinthians 3

8 Don’t fool yourselves! If any of you think you are wise in the things of this world, you will have to become foolish before you can be truly wise. 19 This is because God considers the wisdom of this world to be foolish. It is just as the Scriptures say, “God catches the wise when they try to outsmart him.” 20 The Scriptures also say, “The Lord knows that the plans made by wise people are useless.” 21-22 So stop bragging about what anyone has done. Paul and Apollos and Peter[a] all belong to you. In fact, everything is yours, including the world, life, death, the present, and the future. Everything belongs to you, 23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Sun Myung Moon
September 6, 1959

1 Peter 1: 21-25

Conceptual views of history will not last. If we cannot elucidate this universe, history will continue. History could not lay all our standards and foundations and could not solve them, so we have to begin answering such fundamental problems. If we can be in tune externally with the flow of history and internally with the direction of the mind, and if at the point of transition where we can transcend we stand before Heaven, God will say, “You are a victorious prince.” This is what I believe.

Now the time has passed when we should listen to someone’s words. More than any truth and more than the words of the greatest teacher, we should listen to the voices of our mind and pursue the mind which we yearn to listen to over and over. Then something infinite which we do not even understand will come out. This is creation.

When a distinguished scientist solves an atomic formula, there are times when he struggles because he cannot find a common base to relate it with. When he then secures a common base, he can derive all the answers. To secure this base, he has to forget sleeping and eating and forget all feelings associated with his life and all the things of the senses. He must concentrate. When he struggles so desperately, he can manifest an internal reality as an external, demonstrable formula.

Human beings at most can play this intermediary role. What is the state we are in today? We are not in the causal world or in the world of destination. We are struggling in the world of relationships. Yet this world of relationships is passing us. When we solve a mathematical formula, once we plug in several numbers to a formula and obtain an answer, the answer is all that we need.

Since the world of relationships has become miserable, if there is someone who can explain the misery of this world and connect it with the will and heart of God, he will live for eternity. He will never be judged with history. You have to understand that he will never perish with the last chapter of history.

In conclusion, the problem lies in each of us. What is the reason that the Jesus we believe in was praying so desperately, not eating well, not putting on good clothes, not sleeping at night? It is because he was busy walking his path of life. He had to resolve his own path, resolve the path of the people, and resolve the path of the world. That is why he had to exert himself many hundreds of times over. You should think about how much you should exert yourselves to pioneer the path of your life.

I hope that you will not be deserters and not crash during the takeoff on the path of life but will exhibit the qualities of a brave soldier who can fly into the vast sky like a jet.

The Lord Comes with a New Truth of Higher Content

Matthew 27

22 Pilate asked them, “What am I to do with Jesus, who is called the Messiah?”

They all yelled, “Nail him to a cross!”

23 Pilate answered, “But what crime has he done?”

“Nail him to a cross!” they yelled even louder.

24 Pilate saw that there was nothing he could do and that the people were starting to riot. So he took some water and washed his hands[c] in front of them and said, “I won’t have anything to do with killing this man. You are the ones doing it!”

25 Everyone answered, “We and our own families will take the blame for his death!”

26 Pilate set Barabbas free. Then he ordered his soldiers to beat Jesus with a whip and nail him to a cross.

Richard: Crucifying Jesus was a tragic mistake. It was NOT God’s original plan. The chosen people should have accepted Jesus: Exposition of the Divine Principle Chapter 4, The Messiah: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Aj5ekHDYOaCihchktF6T5-QJyENGeg

Proverbs 18

5 It’s wrong to favor the guilty
    and keep the innocent
    from getting justice.

We Who Are Walking a Life Course

Sun Myung Moon
September 6, 1959

1 Peter 1: 21-25

Christians today should lead this kind of life. Those who praise the dreams of the new age and are content to be at the cutting edge of a splendid culture will be denounced by history and forced to stand for judgment at the bottom of this world. Conversely, if there is a group of people who say, “All of you go back; I will guard this place,” and fill up the ditch of death with their own blood, sweat and tears and make a level ground, then God will work through that group.

History is created with new ideologies and in new forms, yet it does not begin from a good situation but from a bad situation. You’ve learned all this. For this reason, where there is sin, there will be much divine grace.

We who must go now should open our hearts and protest, “God! Although Jesus came, I could not establish a standard in my heart which would enable me to go confidently before the absolute being as His object partner. What am I to do?” We should cling to Jesus and protest. We should cling to the Bible and protest. If we were only to listen to the words of other people, we would perish. The Korean people have suffered the misfortune of becoming a colony of another country because they listened to someone else’s words.

Now, as we stand before God who has been seeking humanity speechlessly, we should not unconditionally believe other people’s words. There are fundamentally different forms of words. You cannot believe others.

Therefore, although it is said that the foundations of heart and truth in our hearts should be like this and that, when these words do not come true, we should protest. If you want to protest, you should be able to defend yourself as such and such a person. If you say, “Father, this should have become such and such because of this and that. Why was that not realized?” then God will immediately say, “That is true.” Have you thought about this?

Christianity today says that the Lord will return. Buddhism claims that the Maitreya will return, while Confucianism says that the true man will appear. Each religion is talking about the return of the Lord. They do not mean that he will simply relive the words in the Bible. He is not someone who will relive the words of the Bible or repeat the words of an already established faith. These religions are talking about the return of a Lord who will come with a new truth of higher content. For this reason, if Heaven exists, we should protest until we can obtain an answer concerning him from Heaven. Have you ever tried that? The time has come when we should protest, “Is that really true about Jesus? Is God really like that?” Only then will history make progress.

Although many faithful people worshipped the founders of their religions and took a direction in history, that did not manifest itself in their lives. For this reason we should rise above the founders of religions and grab hold of God. Shouldn’t we do so? Since not everything can be explained by what is written in the Scriptures, we should rise above their pinnacle and protest to God. We are to protest about the founders of religions.

What is the purpose of believing in Jesus? What are we to accomplish by believing in him? To become his bride? What are we to do once we become brides? To live a good life? What are we going to do once we live a good life? We are to reciprocate. Hence, if this has not come true, then shouldn’t we protest? Our goal is to meet Jesus, our bridegroom. Yet have we ever received the love of Jesus? That is not what I believe. Regardless of whether Jesus loves us or not, I want to reach beyond Jesus and receive the love of God. Jesus is a condition. He is the condition through which we can receive the love of God.

Thus, Paul said, “Who will ever cut me off from the love of God which dwells within our lord Jesus Christ?” God’s love within Jesus is not the love related to a bride. If Jesus cannot take a bride and receive God’s blessing, he cannot inherit the great work of Heaven. You have to understand this. You should build a relationship of God-centered love.

Have you ever opened the gates to your heart to obtain this quality and felt the waves of truth? Have you ever prodded an extremely clear conscience? Have you ever grabbed onto the traces of life coming through the voice of your conscience and praised it? Have you ever felt something in your heart which is connected to the infinite world and emerged with an explosive power of life? Have you ever felt it?

The Mind Has the Absolute Conviction that there is some Undeniable Absolute Standard

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1 John 3

11 From the beginning you were told that we must love each other. 12 Don’t be like Cain, who belonged to the devil and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? He did it because his brother was good, and he was evil. 13 My friends, don’t be surprised if the people of this world hate you. 14 Our love for each other proves that we have gone from death to life. But if you don’t love each other, you are still under the power of death.

15 If you hate each other, you are murderers, and we know that murderers do not have eternal life. 16 We know what love is because Jesus gave his life for us. That’s why we must give our lives for each other. 17 If we have all we need and see one of our own people in need, we must have pity on that person, or else we cannot say we love God. 18 Children, you show love for others by truly helping them, and not merely by talking about it.

2 Chronicles 26

11 Uzziah’s army was always ready for battle. Jeiel and Maaseiah were the officers who kept track of the number of soldiers, and these two men were under the command of Hananiah, one of Uzziah’s officials. 12-13 There were 307,500 trained soldiers, all under the command of 2,600 clan leaders. These powerful troops protected the king against any enemy. 14 Uzziah supplied his army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones used for slinging. 15 Some of his skilled workers invented machines that could shoot arrows and sling large stones. Uzziah set these up in Jerusalem at his defense towers and at the corners of the city wall.

We Who Are Walking a Life Course

Sun Myung Moon
September 6, 1959

1 Peter 1: 21-25

When a person is walking the religious path, it is not enough for him just to run. He first has to make preparations to reach the goals and lay the necessary internal foundation. Then he must run toward the purpose.

Human beings lost the truth, lost the original homeland of their heart, and lost the source of their life because they fell. They also lost the embodiment of love. They lost all four.

What lies deep inside the heart of someone who is fleeing? It is the desire to return to their original homeland. What qualifications do they need to register as citizens of that land? You must master the truth. You have to understand all secrets of the evil world of Satan and possess the truth which can explain all problems of the fallen world. After that you need to run forward. To reach the goal of connecting the satanic realm to Heaven’s realm, human beings have to long for the homeland of truth, conscience, life and love. Then they must run toward it.

For this reason the six-thousand-year history has been the course of discovering the truth. If we do not find the truth, which is absolutely necessary for our running, and obtain the answer, then all the running will be to no avail. When we appear with a clear sense of purpose rooted in the truth, we will deny all values. If the truth cannot be explained, nothing will have value. For this reason, humanity is now in a state where they are groping for the direction of their minds and the direction of the truth.

In history up until now, there is no agreement as to whom we may call the king of truth and the root of truth. Therefore, humanity has been swept away by ideologies and doctrines. There cannot be two truths. There is only one, eternal and unchanging. Yet we do not find one truth around which all of humanity can unite.

What has been established by codes of ethics or an orderly society? You may think that people have sought the standard of truth which can respond to the level of conscience and that these can resolve all problems, but that is not true. Even if people have resolved them, the greater task is how to deal with the life and death problem which is approaching. How are they going to deal with this life-threatening problem? The human mind wants to connect to the infinite world. We cannot ignore this function of the mind. There is nothing in the universe which moves without a sense of purpose. Moreover, there is nothing which functions outside of the relationship of value centered on purpose.

The mind has the absolute conviction that there is some undeniable, absolute standard and it forcefully proclaims that we must ward off all evil conditions which are infiltrating the mind internally and externally. That mind must have a destination. In that destination, it will be able to manifest some relationship of value before Heaven. All we have to do is live according to the desire and commands of our minds. Even if we may not be aware of the entire purpose for it, we should live like that in order to establish valuable relationships in our life.

Have you ever asked your minds where their original homeland is? Try and see. History has progressed and cultures have advanced. External environments have evolved and advanced to a certain degree according to culture or human intelligence. However, the world of the heart has remained unchanged. This world of the heart does not experience revolutions or progress; it is inherently eternal and unchanging. When you have a certain sense of purpose and set a clear goal, you will run limitlessly. When the needle of a compass is lined up to the north and south poles, there is no way to turn it unless you apply a force stronger than the force pulling the needle to the poles. Likewise, the world of the conscience cannot be moved. The function of the mind which cannot be moved lies in the realm of ideology. When a clear sense of purpose is set for the mind, you can certainly cause an action that can pull every cell and every emotion.

God Will Have to come Up With a Set of Teachings

Hint:  to learn about those teachings, join us this morning, Saturday, October 5th at 10 a.m. for Part 1 of the Unification Principle online seminar. Register here: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/unification-principle-training
or call 202-544-5081 with any questions or for help.

1 Chronicles 6

71 The Gershonite clan received two towns from the tribe of East Manasseh: Golan in Bashan and Ashtaroth, including the pastureland around them. 72-73 The Gershonites also received four towns from the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh, Daberath, Ramoth, and Anem, including the pastureland around them. 74-75 The Gershonites received four towns from the tribe of Asher: Mashal, Abdon, Hukok, and Rehob, including the pastureland around them. 76 Finally, the Gershonites received three towns from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee, Hammon, and Kiriathaim, including the pastureland around them.

Matthew 9

28 After Jesus had gone indoors, the two blind men came up to him. He asked them, “Do you believe I can make you well?”

“Yes, Lord,” they answered.

29 Jesus touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, you will be healed.” 30 They were able to see, and Jesus strictly warned them not to tell anyone about him. 31 But they left and talked about him to everyone in that part of the country.

We Who Are Walking a Life Course

Sun Myung Moon
September 6, 1959

1 Peter 1: 21-25

For this reason no one alive on the earth can claim to be a good person. Upon our birth we find that we are not from a good lineage but an evil lineage. After our birth we find that we are not qualified to stand before the ideal of re-creation or to sing of our value. We cannot deny that we are unworthy, immature and imperfect. In Christianity such people are called fallen.

People’s original minds were not born to live happily in a fallen world. Although human beings have been trying to turn away from the fallen path for six thousand years, they could not set the standard upon which they can claim they have avoided it completely.

Our flight from evil and our pursuit of goodness as we seek to reach a purpose is called the course of life. The path of destroying evil and adhering to goodness every day, even in the face of death, is the course of life.

For this reason your minds are shivering in fear. This is not true when you are heading towards the original homeland of the heart. When you are under the control of evil, you will feel fear that something has grabbed you. We have to remember clearly that this is because our original minds shun the sinful history, the powers of death, and the forces of darkness. We are in the course of fleeing. If there is a God, what will He do with all these refugees? How will God instruct the humanity of the world who must flee evil? If there is a Heaven, He will surely have to come up with a set of teachings.

What kind of course is the path of flight? There is no leader on earth. No one is in position to deal with other people’s situations or to share his situation with other people. Although many people have lived, the fate of humanity has always been to flee. They are busy pursuing their own paths. This is the fate of a refugee. Ladies and gentlemen, when a criminal is escaping from the prison he was locked in, what will he see before him? He will surely see the path of survival, the free world, which is certainly a world he yearns for. The stronger his desire for the free world and the world of his ideal, the more he will struggle to escape from the situation he is in.

However, although humanity has to flee, they do not know the whereabouts of the garden they crave and hope for. Under these circumstances, human history continues to circle around. We have to understand clearly that people have not understood their purpose, direction and situation. We know that human beings committed sin before Heaven when they fell. We are escaping from the unjust bondage of Satan, so we are deserters and refugees from the viewpoint of this world. Where is salvation? Where is the Kingdom of Heaven? This world is a city from which we must flee.

When we are running away, there is a way to flee successfully on the personal level. Since we cannot run away by ourselves, there are ways to flee with the family, as a people, and on the world and cosmic levels. If God does not instruct us in these ways, there is no way that we can refer to Him as the Creator, a being of love, or an absolute author of ideals.

Then where is the standard based upon which Heaven can teach us about the ways of running away? This is not some academic theory. These ways are not in Heaven. They are inside your minds. You have to understand this clearly: they are found in your minds.