Category: New Testament

No One Is Concerned with the Father’s Situation

Join us on 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

Romans 4

18 God promised Abraham a lot of descendants. And when it all seemed hopeless, Abraham still had faith in God and became the ancestor of many nations. 19 Abraham’s faith never became weak, not even when he was nearly a hundred years old. He knew that he was almost dead and that his wife Sarah could not have children. 20 But Abraham never doubted or questioned God’s promise. His faith made him strong, and he gave all the credit to God.

Psalm 69

19 You know how I am insulted,
    mocked, and disgraced;
    you know every one
    of my enemies.
20 I am crushed by insults,
    and I feel sick.
    I had hoped for mercy and pity,
    but there was none.
21 Enemies poisoned my food,
    and when I was thirsty,
    they gave me vinegar.

22 Make their table a trap
    for them and their friends.
23     Blind them with darkness
    and make them tremble.
24 Show them how angry you are!
    Be furious and catch them.
25 Destroy their camp
    and don’t let anyone live
    in their tents.

We Who Are Walking a Life Course

Sun Myung Moon
September 6, 1959

1 Peter 1: 21-25

Prayer

We sense that we have come into Your presence, and we lie prostrated after wandering in many places.

How can we ever pay back the grace You have given us by allowing us to call You “Our Father”? How can we ever pay back the grace of Your not hesitating to suffer any hardship to protect and purify us and for Your having guided us thus far? We do not have anything with which to pay it back. We cannot pay back the blessing even if we offer You our bodies; even if we offer all of our minds. We are still unworthy to even raise our heads before the Father’s toils and accomplishments.

We know that the Father who guided us this far has the responsibility to save us, and that Father’s strongest desire is to usher in the day of glory through us. When we reflect upon how the Father wants to be comforted by us, we are ashamed before the Father who put so much hope in us and who has persevered through the numerous difficulties of history.

If our flesh and blood can empathize with the Father’s heart, and our bones have laid the framework of our character building, please let them become a basic unit which can testify to the Father’s unchanging nature.

How much have You longed for the glorious and sacred incarnation whose every cell belongs to the Father and who returns glory to You? In history our ancestors could not honor You in this way. When they were following Heaven’s way, they sometimes held grudges against You and abandoned You. We also know the historical fact that the chosen people had to give up their rights.

Father! Because we have inherited a sorrowful lineage, even if we may say we believe in Heaven today, we are so close to the evil world that we may betray You tomorrow. Please have compassion upon us. Please take hold of us. Please engraft our thirsty hearts onto the Father’s heart of life, and give rise to the work of resurrection which can stir new life.

Many people have lived on the earth. Many people have been born and have died. Yet no one is concerned with the Father’s situation and is mourning over the Father’s sad heart. Please let us become those who can lament over the Father’s situation and heart. Father, we sincerely wish that You will fill the earth with many sons and daughters who are burning with the desire to refute Heaven and earth, humanity, history and their fallen ancestors and to attend the Father.

For whose sake have we come here? It was not to see well-dressed or beautiful people. We who have ugly scars and wounds came to try to resemble the Father’s holy sung-sang. Please do not reject us. Embrace us. You know that we are lonely because we do not have a place to rest our hearts and minds. Please comfort us during this hour.

Please appear before us with this heart and guide us as our subject partner of eternal life. Give us words of life which can penetrate our minds and bodies. Please let this be an hour when we can thank Your grace and bow to You.

We want to receive the words this hour. Father, please be with us. Please help us understand that if there is an internal gap between the speaker and the listeners, Satan will come in through that path. That is the realm Satan is seeking. Please let the heart of the speaker and the hearts of listeners be united so that we can be connected to the Father’s heart and move in harmony with Him.

Your sons and daughters are on their knees and offering lonely and ardent prayers everywhere in South Korea. Please advise them, as they are suffering through all difficulties. You said that those who persevere till the end will receive salvation. Please guide us to glorify the Father by being patient and testify to the Father before the people as Your incarnations. Please bless the many churches and people who are gathering together. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

God Likes Someone Who Is Trustworthy

Join us on 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

John 20

3 Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 They ran side by side, until the other disciple ran faster than Peter and got there first. 5 He bent over and saw the strips of linen cloth lying inside the tomb, but he did not go in.

6 When Simon Peter got there, he went into the tomb and saw the strips of cloth. 7 He also saw the piece of cloth that had been used to cover Jesus’ face. It was rolled up and in a place by itself. 8 The disciple who got there first then went into the tomb, and when he saw it, he believed. 9 At that time Peter and the other disciple did not know that the Scriptures said Jesus would rise to life. 10 So the two of them went back to the other disciples.

Ezekiel 40

28 We then went into the inner courtyard, through the gate on the south side of the temple. The man measured the gate, and it was the same size as the gates in the outer wall. 29-30 In fact, everything along the passageway was also the same size, including the guardrooms, the walls separating them, the entrance room at the far end, and the windows. This gate, like the others, was eighty-five feet long and forty-two feet wide. 31 The entrance room of this gate faced the outer courtyard, and carvings of palm trees decorated the walls of the passageway. Eight steps led up to this gate.

32 Next, we went through the east gate to the inner courtyard. The man measured this gate, and it was the same size as the others. 33 The guardrooms, the walls separating them, and its entrance room had the same measurements as the other gates. The guardrooms and the entrance room had windows, and the gate was eighty-five feet long and forty-two feet wide. 34 The entrance room faced the outer courtyard, and the walls in the passageway were decorated with carvings of palm trees. Eight steps also led up to this gate.

Richard:  God works very consistently and logically and mathematically, too.  People are not just going to levitate in the air, for example, at the time of the Second Coming, which is now.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon

August 30, 1959

John 14:11

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

With respect to belief, hope and love, what kind of person would you like to make friends with? You probably want to be friends with someone trustworthy, someone full of hope and good taste. Isn’t that so? The same is true for God. Since we resemble God, God also likes that kind of person. God likes someone who is reliable, hopeful and interesting.

The Bible teaches us to become someone who can take joy in our daily life today and live in the Kingdom of Heaven on earth no matter what our circumstances may be. Hence, we come to the conclusion that the Kingdom of Heaven is inside our hearts. If there is someone who can laugh off the external world and transcend all its pains even while living in a sinful world, he is truly a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The crucial question is where to bring all this together. Where is the beginning point for solving the problems of today? The starting point for solving problems is each one of us.

You should not just worship God but stand in a relationship with Him and establish a reciprocal value. You should say, “Father, I have come. You have waited so long, for six thousand years.” Don’t you want to do this? God wants to hear the words, “How much have You cried? I have come. How much have You waited? I have come. How much did You long for me? I have come.”

God wants to meet such sons and daughters and forget all the grief of the six thousand years since the time He blessed Adam and Eve with the governance of everything in the universe. He wants to say, “Today is My birthday, the day of My joy.” God does not want to remember the sorrows of the six thousand years. He wants to sing songs of love with His new sons and daughters in the new universe. We have to understand clearly that the sons and daughters the Father desires are none other than us.

Prayer

In the course of my speech, I felt how fatiguing it is. Yet how much have You suffered for six thousand years? We are miserable beyond belief, yet how much more have You suffered?

We have learned how much You believe in us and long for us to become true sons and daughters who can comfort You. Please guide us to struggle desperately to heal Your wounded heart by silently making an offering every day.

We have learned that although faith, hope and love are all valuable, those who have lost their bodies cannot stand before the Father eternally; each one of us is the source of the difficulties.

Please guide those who believe in me to declare with confidence, “Father, please believe in me. Please have hope in me. Please love me.” Please guide them to take responsibility. We entrust everything to You. Please let everything be fulfilled as You will. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen. 

Eastern Philosophy Will Make a Grand Appearance

Watch the latest Richard Urban show with Michelle Burris:  Being Sexually Pure Is a Way of Serving God:  https://youtu.be/ZxFQ6Scr4sc.

Join us on 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

Acts 23

25 The commander wrote a letter that said:

26 Greetings from Claudius Lysias to the Honorable Governor Felix:

27 Some Jews grabbed this man and were about to kill him. But when I found out that he was a Roman citizen, I took some soldiers and rescued him.

28 I wanted to find out what they had against him. So I brought him before their council 29 and learned that the charges concern only their religious laws. This man isn’t guilty of anything for which he should die or even be put in jail.

30 As soon as I learned that there was a plot against him, I sent him to you and told their leaders to bring charges against him in your court.

Lamentations 2

5 The Lord was like an enemy!
    He left Israel in ruins
with its palaces
    and fortresses destroyed,
and with everyone in Judah
    moaning and weeping.
6 He shattered his temple
    like a hut in a garden;[d]
he completely wiped out
    his meeting place,
and did away with festivals
and Sabbaths
    in the city of Zion.
In his fierce anger he rejected
    our king and priests.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 30, 1959

John 14:11

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

What is the original civilization without the Fall? Western civilization is external. Members of the Unification Church do not want to go to places like America. Everything there will be dismantled. If you examine the history of the past, there were matriarchal societies and patriarchal societies based on love. Until now patriarchal societies have survived, but now they are about to be destroyed. We are about to enter an era centered on couples.

Nations like America today only care about their own partners. This also will be destroyed. What will happen after that? There will unfold a world of love based on the governance of brothers, the people, the world and Heaven. Do you understand what this means?

Any imperialist ideology will come to an end. Why? God will not leave evil alone. He will destroy it. It will be shattered. In this way the period of monarchy and imperialism will come to a tragic end. Due to the human Fall, the ideal of heavenly monarchy was shattered. Archangels have acted as monarchs. We have lived through an era of archangelic sovereignty.

When we examine the trends in world thought, we find that anything imperialistic is being destroyed. We will soon experience destruction of anything that has the form of monarchy and enter an era of democracy and equality. What will follow after that? From this point, we are to consolidate a world in which we can call God our king, call those who live for the will of God and goodness members of our family, and call those who are fighting for God and goodness our people.

For this reason, if you carefully examine the trends of thought in the world, you will find many hideous things. You will find some who borrow other people’s names and act as kings. People will follow them as kings and queens. Wait until that period passes and see. There will come a time when a handsome man will be made the prince of a city. The trends of thought are going the reverse way. Older women will live with young men, and young women will live with old men. It will be very strange. People do not know the internal causes of these weird phenomena.

This is why democracy was born. Democracy holds to the principle of equality. Why did such a philosophy appear? Christianity was persecuted and mistreated by imperialists. Although they were massacred by the Roman Empire, Christians were able to survive. Those who were thus strongly armed in Christian ideals created the basis of authority rooted in equality, which ushered in the world of democracy. In other words, people on Heaven’s side are trying to change the world so that they can control the sovereignty. Another worldwide movement, a universal movement, must come into being which can move the world from this era of equality into the era of God’s sovereignty. Yet the path of democracy has been halted today. What will be the direction from here? We are unable to find an answer to this.

What will happen to the world after this age? The people in the West, whose culture was built on external progress, will come to the East, which is more internal. Although Korean women are dying their hair blond, perming their hair and putting make-up on their faces, there will come a time when people will long for the simple and innocent appearance of Koreans, the dignified look of Asians. Wait and see if such a time comes or not.

Their philosophies and teachings have all been uprooted. Eastern philosophy, which was integrated into our philosophy of life, has prospered for four to five thousand years. Today it is to make a grand appearance. Civilizations are coming together in a comprehensive realm of ideas. Christian ideas alone are not enough in this age. The problem is how to bring the religions together.

Believe in Yourself

Join me on 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

Acts 4

9 You are questioning us today about a kind deed in which a crippled man was healed. 10 But there is something we must tell you and everyone else in Israel. This man is standing here completely well because of the power of Jesus Christ from Nazareth. You put Jesus to death on a cross, but God raised him to life. 11 He is the stone that you builders thought was worthless, and now he is the most important stone of all. 12 Only Jesus has the power to save! His name is the only one in all the world that can save anyone.

Richard:  We have to be bold in our witness.

Lamentations 2

The Lord was angry!
    So he disgraced[a] Zion
though it was Israel’s pride
    and his own place of rest.
In his anger he threw Zion down
    from heaven to earth.
2 The Lord had no mercy!
He destroyed the homes
    of Jacob’s descendants.
In his anger he tore down
    every walled city in Judah;
he toppled the nation
together with its leaders,
    leaving them in shame.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 30, 1959

John 14:11

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

Christianity, which should lay this foundation of love, has been destroyed. We have stood up to rebuild the foundation with our own hands. We should fight and march without words. This path is not one of glory or wealth. If you desire those things, the time of hope will not come. We do not have time to spend our energy on that. No matter what the world does, we are determined to walk our own path.

Is there anyone who came to the Unification Church to listen to these words without knowing anything? To put it simply, the path of the Unification Church is very difficult to walk. We are to experience the pain of banging our heads on the walls of agony and colliding into it with our bodies and having our flesh torn. The path we walk is not a smooth path. Neither the Lord nor the prophets walked a smooth path. Those who were responsible for history were brave soldiers who possessed the vibrant spirit and blood of history. Those who will inherit the ideals and spirit of Jesus, who clung to the love of Heaven in the same way that the prophets led history, must have the same qualities. You have to understand this clearly. I want to tell you that the time of having aimless faith has passed. The empty and fabricated foundation of logic is based on ignorance and there can be no perfection based on that foundation. Therefore, what we should present today is how to believe in ourselves.

Just as God believed in Jesus and Jesus believed in God, just as Jesus believed in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit believed in Jesus, we have to believe in ourselves. We should reach the level where we can say, “Even if the principles of Heaven were to change, I would not change. Even if Heaven and earth were to disappear, the words of Jesus cannot change. Even if Heaven and earth disappear, I will not change.”

The problem lies in each one of you. Do you believe in yourselves? You who are trying so hard to go to the Kingdom of Heaven, do you believe in yourselves? We have no need for belief in words, belief that is empty at the core. We have no need for the empty shell, for the empty husk of grain. This is the meaning of the biblical parable of a grain and its empty ear. If we become the incarnations of solid core faith, solid core hope, and solid core love, no matter how vast this world may be, no matter how wide the American continent is and how advanced it may be, it will not pose any problem for us. We will not encounter any difficulty. If there is a group of people who are confident they will conquer the others through love one day, they will surely rule the world. Since eternal hope is in the Father, those who represent the Father are embodiments of eternal hope. Since God is eternal love, you should struggle to embrace that love and give it to others. You should struggle to the point of death to give that love. If you did so, would this country perish?

You should have eternal faith in yourself, hope in yourself, and love yourself before you say, “God, please receive my love and hope and rejoice in my faith.” Then God will receive you. This is the purpose for which you have established faith, sought hope, and longed for love. When this is achieved, you will be able to honor the Lord on that foundation. You will be able to live together with the Lord. What is the purpose of hope and faith? It is to live your daily life centering on God’s love. The Kingdom of Heaven on earth is the new ideal world where we can discard the entire notion of religion and sing songs of love. That world is not a fabricated world. It must appear as an inescapable reality based on logic.

Who are the people who will remain in this world? They are the people who are burning with faith, hope and passion. We should examine every page of history and investigate the rise and fall of nations and look for the people who held fast to faith and fidelity. The people who are burning with hope and zeal and do not hesitate to risk their lives for the sake of God are the ones who are close to God.

The True Father is the Perfected Adam

Watch the latest Richard Urban show with Andrew Derricutt: We Have to Make a Fundamental Choice: https://youtu.be/BMR7Z0GZmVA.

John 4

2 But Jesus told them, “I have food that you don’t know anything about.”

33 His disciples started asking each other, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”

34 Jesus said:

My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. 35 You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.

36 Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together. 37 So the saying proves true, “Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop.” 38 I am sending you to harvest crops in fields where others have done all the hard work.

Proverbs 13

Children with good sense
    accept correction
    from their parents,
    but stubborn children
    ignore it completely.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 30, 1959

John 14:11

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

When you cling to the Father you believe in, hope in and love, Jesus should say, “I have struggled hard to meet you. I have toiled arduously to meet you.” God should also be able to say that. At that moment, if you were to offer, “God! Let us live together. Jesus! Let us live together,” they will respond, “All right. Let’s live together for eternity.” This is the Kingdom of Heaven. We have no need for some imaginary and fabricated Kingdom of Heaven. We have to fight to build the substantial Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus told us that he was leaving without accomplishing everything, so he instructed us to believe in the Holy Spirit. Do you think that you will be saved only by believing in Jesus? You can be saved if you believe in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit tries to lead people to believe in the son of God, so you should also believe in the Holy Spirit.

What kind of spirit is the Holy Spirit? She is a mother spirit. Christians today do not understand this. If you think that I am lying, ask God about it. I do not speak from assumption. I am sure.

The Holy Spirit is the mother divinity, and Jesus is the true father of humanity. The true father is the perfected Adam. Because Adam fell and could not become the true ancestor of humanity, we are descendants of false ancestors rather than true ones. The Messiah is the one who comes as the true ancestor. He is the true father. Christianity talks about the Trinity. Since Jesus is the true father and the Holy Spirit is the true mother, we can be reborn only when we receive the love of this father and mother. How can a child be born without the love of parents?

For this reason it is written in Revelation, “The Holy Spirit and the bride call us. They will call upon those who hear, those who are thirsty will come, and they will give the water of life for free to those who desire it.” (Rev. 22:17) Such a day is the day the Holy Spirit takes on an earthly form. That is the day of the Second Advent. It is the day the bride finishes the preparations for the wedding. What is the Marriage of the Lamb? It is attending the True Parents who have been lost. When this is accomplished, the conceptual God, the God as the object of faith, will no longer be needed. We will no longer have any need for a conceptual God, or a devotional life in which our faith is only external. What we will have is a substantial, living God.

Who was the substantial subject partner of faith? It was Jesus. Who was the substantial subject partner of hope? It was Jesus. Who was the incarnation of love and the subject partner of love? It was Jesus. Although God sent Jesus, human beings could not recognize him. They did not believe, and he had to die. When will he return? Since no one could recognize him as the bridegroom, he cannot come again. If he were to come again, he would be mistreated; hence, he cannot come again. You have to understand this grief. Those who think, “When the Lord comes he will come looking for me,” ruin Christianity and undermine God’s will.

God will come looking for us. However, unless an incarnation of faith, hope and love emerges in this world, the purpose for which God established faith, hope and love will not be realized. Therefore, you should understand that God cannot properly play His true role without you. Without you, God cannot move this world. Jesus lived by this conviction. He knew that God’s love could not be introduced without him.