Category: New Testament

Mary was a Revolutionary Woman

Letter to the Editor: Follow Up on Comments Before the Board of Education – VisionRoot

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Matthew 7

24 Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock. 25 Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock.

26 Anyone who hears my teachings and doesn’t obey them is like a foolish person who built a house on sand. 27 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Finally, it fell with a crash.

Acts 17

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

5 The Jewish leaders were jealous and got some worthless bums who hung around the marketplace to start a riot in the city. They wanted to drag Paul and Silas out to the mob, and so they went straight to Jason’s home. 6 But when they did not find them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the Lord’s followers. They took them to the city authorities and shouted, “Paul and Silas have been upsetting things everywhere. Now they have come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his home. All of them break the laws of the Roman Emperor by claiming that someone named Jesus is king.”

8 The officials and the people were upset when they heard this. 9 So they made Jason and the other followers pay bail before letting them go.

Women of the Bible

7. Mary

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Mary was a revolutionary woman in faith who could follow God’s Will. Because the Human Fall came through the archangel Lucifer, another archangel [Gabriel] should assist Mary by bringing her God’s revelation. Eve believed the words of the archangel and fell. This time Mary should absolutely believe the archangel’s message from God and follow it. This is for restoration through indemnity. Therefore, Mary risked her life, completely believing what the angel told her: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus… the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1.31, 35)
    Mary’s situation paralleled that of Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. Mary and Joseph were engaged but not yet married; Adam and Eve were also in an engagement period as they were growing up—they were brother and sister, but someday to marry. An angel induced Eve to commit the Fall; now another angel brought Mary to God for the fulfillment of His Will. In these respects their situations were precisely parallel.
    Since human beings have inherited the fallen act like a normal tradition, the same act should be repeated for God in the course of restoration. Therefore, Mary deceived her husband-to-be and her father. Do you think Mary could discuss with her father or Joseph about how she had conceived her baby? She was risking her life, because in those days an adulterous woman would be stoned to death.
    Mary conceived Jesus after inheriting the victorious foundation of Rebecca and Tamar. Through these three women, all the indemnity conditions were fulfilled for the birth of the Son of God. Therefore, Satan could not make any accusation against the birth of the child. That is why, even in Mary’s womb, Jesus was already the only begotten Son of God. (92:289-90, April 18, 1977)

Mary, who was engaged to Joseph, received from the archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her. (Luke 1.31) In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she would be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1.38)
    Mary consulted with the priest Zechariah, who was her relative and was highly respected. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth, with the help of God, was pregnant with John the Baptist. She said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1.42-43) With these words she testified to the coming birth of Jesus. In this way, God let Mary, Zechariah, and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anyone else. All of them had the absolutely crucial mission of following the will of God and serving Jesus. Zechariah’s family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zechariah. Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mothers’ side. But according to God’s providence they were considered sisters, with Elizabeth as the elder (Cain) and Mary as the younger (Abel). Mary received Elizabeth’s help in the presence of Zechariah. Through this cooperation, Zechariah’s family, on the national level, indemnified the lack of unity between Leah and Rachel in Jacob’s family. This allowed Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be born on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed of the Son of God—the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten Son of God, the owner of the first love of God, was born. Mary had to achieve something that could not be understood by common sense, nor easily tolerated under the law of those times. Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah had been spiritually moved. They were to follow the revelation that came from God, and unconditionally believe that it was the will and desire of God. (277:206-07, April 16, 1996)

 
 

It Only Takes A Spark to Start a Forest Fire!

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James 3

It takes only a spark to start a forest fire! 6 The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person’s entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be tamed and have been tamed. 8 But our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison.

Psalm 41

6 When visitors come,
all they ever bring
    are worthless words,
    and when they leave,
    they spread gossip.

Women of the Bible

6. Bathsheba

 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am with child.”
    So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David… David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants are my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”…
    In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was slain also…
    When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son… And the lordstruck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became sick. David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died…
    Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went into her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the lord loved him.
    2 Samuel 11.2-27, 12.15-18, 24

King David, of blessed memory, was a great sage and recognized transmigrations. When he saw Uriah the Hittite, he knew that he was the Serpent who had seduced Eve, and when he saw Bathsheba he knew that she was Eve, and he knew that he himself was Adam. Thus, he wished to take Bathsheba from Uriah, because she was destined to be David’s mate… And the reason Nathan the prophet chastised him was because he hastened, and did not wait… for his haste caused him to go to her without performing tik-kun (restoration), for he first needed to remove from her the contamination of the Serpent, and thereafter to go to her, and he did not do so. Therefore, his first son Bathsheba died, for he was from the impurity of the Serpent, but from there on there was no Satan and no bad effect.31Sefer Peli’ah (Judaism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Bathsheba had cause to hate King David. But if she had, she could not have become the mother of King Solomon. She could have hated King David for intentionally sending her husband Uriah to the battlefield to be killed and taking her as his wife, but she accepted it as her fate, or rather as Heaven’s will. In other words, she believed that King David’s act was not done out of ill intent, but rather to fulfill a greater purpose of God. Further, Bathsheba was a patriot who prayed for her nation to be victorious even if her husband Uriah might have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Bathsheba thought that although her husband was killed, it was honorable for him to die as a loyal subject. Moreover, it was to his honor that she accepted being offered to the king with joy. She had such a high-standard viewpoint. She thought, “It is my duty to my husband that I offer myself to the king with loyalty and devotion.” With this attitude, she married King David. On this foundation, she could give birth to King Solomon. (40:97, January 24, 1971)
 
King Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba. She had been the wife of Uriah, but King David stole her from him. How, then, could the child from that union become King Solomon? Bathsheba was in the position of a second wife.   In terms of the providence to restore the positions in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, David was in the position of Adam and Uriah was in the position of the arch-angel. But the position of Eve had to be restored through a woman in the position of the wife of the Archangel. The archangel caused Eve to fall by stealing her from Adam, her original partner, and possessing her with false love. In order to indemnify this, David, Uriah and Bathsheba should repeat this triangular relationship and reverse it. The child born on the foundation of having fulfilled this condition according to the standard of the Principle would be a child of glory, blessed with Heaven’s love. That child of glory was King Solomon. (35:168, October 13, 1970)
 
 
 

Women on God’s Side Must Go the Opposite Way

James 2

20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works isdead? 21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22 Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.

Richard: The “works” is the providence of Home Church.

Matthew 10

13 If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!

Richard: Good advice for visiting your neighbors when doing Home Church.

Women of the Bible

4. Tamar

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Tamar was one example of how God’s lineage developed through women with an unusual path of life. Why would God use women of questionable morals in the dispensation? Ordinary women who offer their bodies in love, as Eve did, belong to Satan and are 100 percent on Satan’s side. Women on God’s side must go the opposite way. Hence, God needed women who could deny love on Satan’s side and [offer their bodies] to return to God.
Since Tamar met this criterion, God selected her and worked through her to fulfill the providence. What exactly did Tamar do? She was a righteous woman who was willing to take on the role of a sinner as she strived to fulfill God’s will. As Eve lied to God and her husband-to-be at the time of the Fall, Tamar deceived her father-in-law and her husband to-be, the third son of Judah. Tamar did precisely what Eve did, risking her life, but she did it for God’s will. (92:286-88, April 18, 1977)

I am sure Tamar prayed like this, “O Lord God, I miss the realm of Thy blessing. I am doing this to continue Thy blessed lineage, so God, please forgive me. Even though I may die tens of thousands of times, if only I can continue the blessed lineage of Judah through this immoral act, I have no regret.”
With that desperate heart, Tamar did not mind facing even death in order to fulfill God’s Will and resolve His grief. Tamar’s filial piety and obedience to God’s will was truly amazing. Yet it was painful for God to have to work His providence of restoration through this kind of complicated situation. (110:222-23, November 18, 1980)

Satan sowed the seed of false love within the womb of Eve, which gave birth to evil life. Therefore, God needed to purify a mother’s womb from which the heavenly Son could be born. Despite Jacob’s victory in winning over Esau, the forty-year period from their birth to their reconciliation still remained to be separated from Satan. The great mother who assumed the responsibility to meet this condition was Tamar.
Tamar had the single-minded conviction that she would carry on the lineage of the chosen people. To that end, she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah, and became pregnant with twins. At the time of birth, one of the twin sons, Zerah, stretched out his hand from the womb to be born first. But he was pulled back into the womb; and the second son, Perez, was born first, taking the position of the elder brother. Thus, within the womb of Tamar, the first and second sons fought, and their reversal of position separated them from Satan.
This became the condition for restoration in the womb. Upon this condition, the Messiah could be conceived within the blood lineage of the chosen people, on the base of the nation of Israel that could stand up to the Roman Empire two thousand years later. The victorious foundation on the national level could then be formed in the womb of a mother free of satanic accusation, prepared for the seed of the Son of God. On this foundation, the holy mother Mary emerged in the mainstream of God’s providence. (277:205-06, April 16, 1966)

It Was a Replica of the Situation in Adam’s Family

The Richard Urban Show: #95-Black Math Genius Causes Controversy in Jefferson County WV Schools

Editorial: Public School Programs Should Not Be Based on Race

Revelation 6

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come out!” 8 Then I saw a pale green horse. Its rider was named Death, and Death’s Kingdom followed behind. They were given power over one fourth of the earth, and they could kill its people with swords, famines, diseases, and wild animals.

Nehemiah 8

8 1-2 On the first day of the seventh month,[a]the people came together in the open area in front of the Water Gate. Then they asked Ezra, who was a teacher of the Law of Moses, to read to them from this Law that the Lord had given his people. Ezra the priest came with the Law and stood before the crowd of men, women, and the children who were old enough to understand. 3 From early morning till noon, he read the Law of Moses to them, and they listened carefully. 4 Ezra stood on a high wooden platform that had been built for this occasion. 

Women of the Bible

Rachel and Leah

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

For the first seven years, Jacob worked hard to gain the hand of Rachel, but Laban gave him Leah instead. We see that the intent of God was to have Jacob fulfill Adam’s mission for restoration. To reverse the process of the Fall, he should first go through Leah (on Satan’s side), and then he could embrace Rachel.
In the world there are two types of women. One type is fallen woman, and the other is a woman in the restored position. Leah plundered, as it were, her younger sister’s position. Laban, who represented Satan in this, blocked Rachel’s way in the providence of salvation by favoring Leah. Jacob tried to work it out, but the problem was that these two women were fighting each other over Jacob’s love.
It was a replica of the situation in Adam’s family, where Cain and Abel fought each other over God’s love. Rachel, like Abel, was trying to follow the purpose of God. At the same time, Satan interfered through Leah to promote his Cain-like self-centered love. Satan tried to seize the leading role in love, and in so doing tried to destroy God’s ideal…
She did not know at that time, but Rebecca, as the mother, was supposed to work with Jacob’s wives. She was to persuade Leah to submit to Rachel, so the wives could unite with Jacob’s heart. We can now see how difficult it was for her at that time; this was in addition to her mission to lift up Jacob in the position of Abel and enable him to appease Esau in the position of Cain, as well as to win over Isaac.
It was Rachel’s position, not Leah’s, which had to be upheld, and in that way Jacob, Rachel and Leah could be united as one. The elder sister should naturally submit to the younger. It is completely analogous to the relationship between the brothers Esau and Jacob, where the elder should surrender to the younger one hundred percent and honor the younger as though he were the elder. Likewise, for restoration to occur, the positions of Leah and Rachel as elder and younger sisters should be reversed. (244:239-40, February 14, 1993)

Among American women, are there any who are truly happy? Many are entangled in a relationship of Leah (the legal wife) and Rachel (the mistress). Some even go beyond that, to the point of practicing a life of free sex under the pretext of equality. Yet their actions are often rooted in jealousy…

During their struggle over love, Leah and her maids gave birth to ten sons, while Rachel had two. This became the division between the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah—between ten tribes and two tribes—in the position of Cain and Abel. Thus, the struggle for love within Jacob’s family ultimately led to a divided nation and the wars between them. (244:248-49, February 14, 1993)

A Woman, Eve, Fell by Uniting with the Archangel

The Richard Urban Show: #95-Black Math Genius Causes Controversy in Jefferson County WV Schools

Editorial: Public School Programs Should Not Be Based on Race

James 5

5 You rich people should cry and weep! Terrible things are going to happen to you. 2 Your treasures have already rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. 3 Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days. 4 You refused to pay the people who worked in your fields, and now their unpaid wages are shouting out against you. The Lord All-Powerful has surely heard the cries of the workers who harvested your crops.

Psalm 37

38 But not a trace will be left
    of the wicked
    or their families.

Women of the Bible

2. Rebecca

Now Rebecca was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, Rebecca said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ‘Bring me game, and prepare for me savory food, that I may eat it, and bless you before the lord before I die.’ Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you. Go to the flock, and fetch me two good kids, that I may prepare from them savory food for your father, such as he loves; and you shall bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.” But Jacob said to Rebecca his mother, “Behold, my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him, and bring a curse upon myself and not a blessing.” His mother said to him, “Upon me be your curse, my son; only obey my word, and go, fetch them to me.”
Genesis 27.5-13

Now Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him, and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” But the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebecca; so she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said to him, “Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself by planning to kill you. Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; arise, flee to Laban my brother in Haran, and stay with him a while, until your brother’s fury turns away; until your brother’s anger turns away, and he forgets what you have done to him; then I will send, and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?”
    Then Rebecca said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the Hittite women. If Jacob marries one of the Hittite women such as these, one of the women of the land, what good will my life be to me?”
    Then Isaac called Jacob and blessed him, and charged him, “You shall not marry one of the Canaanite women. Arise, go to Paddanaram to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and take as wife from there one of the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. Genesis 27.41-28.2

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

From time to time in human history, a woman appears who initiates a great revolution to find the path of God’s love. She leads her people to offer their lives, possessions, attachments to cultural traditions and such, for God’s sake.
    Rebecca, Jacob’s mother, was one such woman. Due to her efforts, Jacob could be victorious and receive the name “Israel.” It was Rebecca who inspired him to claim the birthright of the elder son, and then guided him to receive the blessing from his father Isaac.
    What Rebecca did was to unite with her younger son Jacob. On his behalf, she deceived her husband and her eldest son, thus enabling him to fulfill the will of God. In doing this, she was an exceptional woman.
    Have you ever heard of someone trying to steal the birthright from his elder brother? From a conventional viewpoint, Jacob’s mother was a liar and Jacob was a swindler. The Bible records these things clearly, as well as the fact that God approved of them. This has been a puzzle for Bible students.
    This world belongs to Satan, therefore for God to bless His sons and daughters with the birthright of the elder son requires that they make a condition to restore the world from Satan’s realm. Do you think anyone can persuade Satan to surrender his rights by reasoned arguments? No. Satan originally stole this world through deceit… In restoration, God’s central figures can do to Satan exactly what he did to them; that is how God can take back all that Satan had stolen.
    A woman who unites with God should be the one to take the initiative. The Fall happened when a woman (Eve) united with Satan. Then together they took the man (Adam). Therefore, a woman should unite with God and bring the man back. Rebecca took on that role. First she should pull Jacob to God’s side; then together they should pull her husband and [eldest] son. From this perspective we can recognize the rightness of their actions. (105:118-20, October 4, 1979)
 
In Jacob’s family, as long as Esau continued to hold resentment against Jacob [for taking his father’s blessing], the family could not be united and stand before God. Therefore, Esau and his father had to be brought to a voluntary surrender. They should reach the point where they would genuinely praise Rebecca; until that day the family could not return to a position acceptable to God.
    Rebecca served them devotedly and apologized with tears, “I am sorry; it is my fault.” Yet even if Isaac and Esau forgave her, would even thousands of apologies be enough to calm their hearts towards Jacob when he appeared before them? They had to submit to Jacob freely, by their own will. There would be no restoration unless Esau (in the position of Cain) and Isaac (in the position of Satan) yield to Jacob (in the position of Abel), saying, “Jacob, you were right to claim the birthright. I will accept you.” 
    Jacob worked hard for that, of course, but his mother worked even harder—hundreds of times harder. She worked hard to change their attitudes, making sure they pledged repeatedly not to kill Jacob. How much rested upon Rebecca! She fulfilled a vital mission to make the restoration possible. (244:240-41, February 14, 1993)
 
A woman, Eve, fell by uniting with the archangel. She denied her father God and Adam her intended husband. Therefore women, be on your guard! You should expect to take the lead in the course of restoration; you will go first on this path ahead of the men. Woman must rise up who can face down opposition from their fathers and their husbands in the satanic world. Unless you can be steadfast, the men in your life cannot return to the original world.
   Religions have been developing through this formula; they are in the role of the bride. Hence, in general, women are more fervent in religious persuasion while men are more worldly. Whenever faithful women seek for God, they are bound to face opposition from both Satan and the men in their life. (89:208, November 22, 1976)