Category: New Testament

Do I Possess the Faith and Loyalty to Stand in Front of the Messiah?

View pictures from the Urban Family Life Success and Happiness Training Workshop: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEW6UBN.

Acts 17

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.”

Richard: If you are doing the will of God, then you will definitely face opposition.

Ezekiel 39

11 After Gog has been destroyed, I will bury him and his army in Israel, in Travelers’[a] Valley, east of the Dead Sea. That graveyard will be so large that it will block the way of anyone who tries to walk through the valley,[b] which will then be known as “The Valley of Gog’s Army.”[c]12 The Israelites will spend seven months burying dead bodies and cleaning up their land. 13 Everyone will help with the burial, and they will be honored for this on the day the brightness of my glory is seen. 14 After those seven months, the people will appoint a group of men to look for any dead bodies left unburied. This must be done for seven months to make sure that the land is no longer unclean. 15 Whenever they find a human bone, they will set up a marker next to it. Then the gravediggers will bury it in “The Valley of Gog’s Army” 16 near the town of “Gog’s Army.” After that, the land will be pure again.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

Most of all, the time has come for us to long for the holy embodiment of Jesus Christ, the heart which flows out of him, and his desperate ideal. He wished blessing upon all people even as he perished as a criminal on the cross, he who had come into this world as the Messiah of all people.

I sincerely pray that You will forgive us. We have praised ourselves and disdained the creation and all things and have elevated ourselves to disdain Heavenly Father, although we should be disdaining ourselves.

If we want to move toward a truthful heart and true goodness, please allow us to realize that we are debtors in front of Heaven and earth, and that we are a sinful race which has been violently scarred throughout the course of human history. Father, the only things we need are the hearts that can seek for You and the loyalty that can seek out our true selves. Please allow us those things.

We cannot deny that the life course that Jesus led was a sorrowful path of tears. We also realize that every page of history is bound together by bloody battles. Therefore, I sincerely pray, Father, that You will allow us to realize that we cannot clarify anything in history when we uplift ourselves, and that we are like a failure who does not have anything to show throughout the ages.

We therefore believe that we need a true leader who possesses true life and a true heart. He is the savior and Messiah God sends for humankind. Please allow us to reflect upon ourselves in this hour: to reflect upon whether we possess the faith and loyalty to stand in front of the Messiah. In receiving the Messiah, we know that Heavenly Father desires for humankind to possess the greatest of enthusiasm, the greatest of loyalty, and the greatest whole-heartedness. It requires the greatest sincerity and a desperate heart which has nothing to do with Satan. Although we may not stand in such a position, Father, I sincerely pray that You may guide us to become humble sons and daughters who can kneel down and long for the blessing of redemption with the heart that longs for such a position.

Father, how can we respond to the words given to us? Father, please be with us. Although we have listened to many words, walked many paths, and lived through many situations, we stand in front of You empty-handed, having nothing to return to You. Father, do not drive us away but have pity. I sincerely pray that in this hour we may empty all of our minds and bodies so that only the Father will have dominion over us and only the Father’s blessing can fill us.

Please allow the heart of the giver and the hearts of the receivers to be one. I sincerely pray that this may be the hour when those hearts can harmonize into one so that the Father’s heart can be felt and the Father’s blessing can be directly received. I pray all these things in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Where Would God Go Without Us?

Registration for the Urban Family Life Success and Happiness Training Seminar (July 5th to July 7th, 2019) has closed. Call to inquire about the availability of remaining spaces: 202-544-5081.

Jude 1

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c]at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding townsgave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Richard: The core issue of society is the moral breakdown. So many aspects of society are totally unacceptable to God, yet people justify their behavior. In the Urban Life Success and Happiness Training Seminar we will explain these core issues and proffer the solution.

Psalm 74

It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
    and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
15 It was you who opened up springs and streams;
    you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is yours, and yours also the night;
    you established the sun and moon.
17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
    you made both summer and winter.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

Jesus came to this world as the son of God, but he had to go through thirty miserable years of life. He walked the path of three painful and tumultuous years of public ministry. Yet he was a brave warrior who demonstrated a confident spirit which could overcome anything that stood in the way. He possessed a burning heart that would have easily restored the whole race of Israel at that time. Such a warrior is needed in today’s age. Instead of fighting against the people every time they drove him into difficulties, Jesus prayed for them through long nights on the mountain of Gethsemane. Such a big-minded character is admirable.

Jesus took the path of solitude and went into quiet places in order to call on the Father during times when the nation faced persecution. The path to life for this race is the same. There has to be the heart. You should be able to forget all human conditions, even forgetting about eating or clothing, and call on the Father as His sons and daughters. When there are such sons and daughters, this race will be closest to Heavenly Father in the world of heart, even if the people are sacrificed and trampled on. Do you think God will then treat you badly? No parent would ever not accept a child with a heart that connects the past, the present, and the future. If people are like that, God is even more so. Is there a human being who does not embody God’s attributes? God is like that. Therefore, mankind is the same.

This miserable race is searching for the heart of God to find the path to life. Even in this situation, one should be able to show gratitude to Heavenly Father. There is a world of difference between people who denounce Heavenly Father even in a free situation and people who show gratitude to Heavenly Father with tears even in a difficult situation.

Now that we have a father and son relationship with Heavenly Father, no matter how challenging and manifold the difficulties and persecutions that block our path, they are not even comparable to the course that Heavenly Father walked for six thousand years. So when you are injured while working for the will of God, do not look at your own injury and cry. Rather, comfort Heavenly Father who has had greater pain inflicted on Him. The Father is someone who will come to you with tears when you are injured, forgetting about His own pain. We are truly unworthy of this.

Now we should really accomplish something. This race is losing its national spirit. What can this race be proud of in front of Heaven? There is nothing that it can put forth before the world and this age. The heart of God has never been attained. Who has ever deeply felt this world of the heart? It is someone who experiences difficulty. It is someone who calls on the Father, enduring his own difficulties. We have to realize that we need to have conditions with which we can be close to the Father who has borne historic sorrows.

That is why we have this difficult environment. After all, this race need not feel sorrowful. We should be sorrowful if Heavenly Father did not exist. But He does, and there is no need to feel sad. Even if this nation is the most miserable nation in the six thousand years of history, it would have moved Heavenly Father deep down to His bones, more than any other nation, if it had remembered Him. If there is a movement that will establish the relationship of father and son in this nation, the new world will open up. As Heavenly Father has firmly promised us, and as Jesus’ great purpose was to teach us, where would God go without us? We have to start out with such a conviction.

Jesus Overcame His Own Sorrow to Save Sorrowful Humanity

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Hebrews 2

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.[g] 12 He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”[h]

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”[i]

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”[j]

Ecclesiastes 9

9 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. 2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
    so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
    so with those who are afraid to take them.

3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope[b]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

5 For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
    and even their name is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate
    and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
    in anything that happens under the sun.

7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife,whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Richard: This is a little bit of a skeptical view by the author. However, none the less, it is timeless wisdom. However, our days don’t have to be days of “meaningless life’. In the Urban Family Life Success and Happiness Seminar we will discuss God’s plan for life and how to live a successful, happy and fulfilled life.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

Jesus knew God as his father, but what kind of father did he know Him to be? When Jesus wore the crown of thorns, he felt that God was wearing a crown of thorns that was a thousand times more painful than his. When he was being nailed to the cross, he realized that God was experiencing his pain thousands of times over. Even when the spear pierced his side, he accepted it as if it were deserved since he knew that Heavenly Father had continued to struggle for His children in spite of pain much greater than his.

That is why he could not hold a grudge and sorrow in his heart. He was determined not to leave a grudge and sorrow in his heart in front of humanity in spite of his pain. Although he was in a position to hold unimaginable rage and vengeance toward his enemy, he could not do so when thinking about what Heavenly Father had endured. Jesus had to overcome his own sorrow because he had come to save sorrowful humanity. He had to overcome his own pain and death because he had come to resolve the pain and death of mankind. Because he was like this, Jesus was the Savior. Because mankind had already lost its life, he had to be in a position never to condemn God even if he lost his life or had to give up all desires. We should realize that Jesus was able to become the savior of life who had taken on God’s heart because he accepted this.

Satan was unable to accuse Jesus because he had no heart of vengeance, no indignation, and was not dominated by the historical sorrow. What kind of being is Satan? He accuses you by putting forth the historical sorrow and blocks you when you are caught up in private matters. Yet Satan still could not accuse Jesus because Jesus had nothing to do with the sorrows of this fallen world and the universe. Satan, who even accused God, threw up both hands and gave up.

It was not empty talk when Jesus said to love your enemy. Satan cannot accuse the one who cries and worries about the eternal death of humanity more than about his own death. If he does, Satan’s own being will be destroyed. Satan cannot have dominion over such a person. Only God can have dominion over such a person. Although Satan may at any time accuse within the realm of faith and hope, he cannot touch one iota of the realm of an unchanging, sincere heart. Because the Kingdom of Heaven transcends everything connected with Satan, it has nothing to do with him.

We call God our Father and Lord upon Jesus’ merit. We are unworthy to do so. Even now we are struggling within the realm of sin, and we cry over the small sorrows in our life. When we look at today’s society and this world, the trends bear out the historical sorrow and are surrounded by fear. What controls my emotions in such a world? Fear. What overwhelms my life? It is justice that is in tatters. God wants to establish the new world and uphold true justice, yet there is no one to accomplish this. We have to realize that God, as always, is still searching for such a person.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Within Us

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  • Call 202-544-5081 for more information

1 Corinthians 3

3 My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That’s why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. 2 So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, 3 because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves that you are not spiritual and that you are acting like the people of this world.

4 Some of you say that you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn’t that how ordinary people behave? 5 Apollos and I are merely servants who helped you to have faith. It was the Lord who made it all happen. 6 I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow. 7 What matters isn’t those who planted or watered, but God who made the plants grow. 8 The one who plants is just as important as the one who waters. And each one will be paid for what they do. 9 Apollos and I work together for God, and you are God’s garden and God’s building.

Lamentations 2

Your prophets deceived you
with false visions
    and lying messages—
they should have warned you
to leave your sins
    and be saved from disaster.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

The resting place of mankind is not a private world. It is where the heart flows. It is the world of heart that transcends national boundaries, where one feels just right. If today’s humankind cannot transcend the historical realities with the consciousness of such a world of heart, God’s ideology of unification cannot be accomplished. Then the advent of Jesus would have been in vain. Then the relationships of the bride and the father are meaningless. When the heart is truly felt, race is not a problem. Ideology is not a problem. When such a heart is felt, all these can be overcome and we will be joyful. In the last days of history, that will be inherited.

Jesus said that the kingdom of Heaven is within us. What does this mean? The fact that eternal Heaven is in my mind means that Heaven starts from my heart. That is why we should have a connection of heart when we relate to Heavenly Father.

When God becomes our Father and we become His children, His body and our bodies are one. The Father’s flesh and blood are my flesh and blood. Even the world acknowledges that. Why does a parent love his child? It is because the child is an extension of the parent. It is as if one is loving oneself. Parenthood means the blood line is connected.

From the perspective of heart, God and Jesus were one. When God’s artery moved, Jesus’ artery moved. Their hearts beat as one. Isn’t that so? Is there any parent who says, “I love you” first and then goes on to love the child? Is there a child who says, “I love you” first and then loves the parent? The movement of love is automatic because the blood is connected. Such a world transcends logic as we know it.

Paul said in Romans 8 that we are adopted children because of the Fall. You should not be so proud. Fallen mankind is in the position of adopted children. Adopted children have a different blood lineage.

Therefore, Heavenly Father is longing for a child who can get rid of the adopted blood lineage and receive the blood lineage that originates from His heart. Then the child will be naturally loving in His eyes. The Father should love me even if I do not say that I love the Father. I should have the heart to admire Heavenly Father without having to speak it. I would fight for the Father without having to say so. Such a heart is not felt in the fallen mind.

Jesus was different in this respect. If he called on the Father, Heavenly Father would reply even if He was in sadness. In Jesus’ calling “Father,” God felt such a heart that it transcended the prayers of millions of people. Such a call and reply exist within the natural relationship that transcends the sorrowful history, centering on God’s purpose of creation. This is a situation in which nothing else matters, where no one can deny it, and no condition can prevent it. Have you been in such a situation?

When you are in such a situation, even your cells can feel it. You may say, “This young man is speaking nonsense,” but I don’t mind what anyone says. The heart and touch of love are the essence of the existing world and have the quality of the whole. That is why you long for Heavenly Father.

When you pray in such circumstances, the deepening of night is no problem. You transcend consciousness of hunger or weariness. The world of love is such that its internal emotion surpasses thousands of times what people perceive with their physical bodies. Would that not be the case? The hour in which Jesus was praying quietly to Heavenly Father on the Mount of Olives, dragging himself in after being persecuted, was an hour of happiness no one else knew. The moment he called out “Father,” his whole self was absorbed into the world of the heart. He could wish blessing upon his enemy because in communion with the heart of God even death on the cross could be forgotten.

This world should witness people calling upon the Father with such a heart and Him loving those people as His children. Jesus was like this, but he could not get across the lifestyle of the world of the heart. Although he introduced it, he must come again because the content of heart was not made into a reality.

If you want to reach the unifying point of heart where you can call Heavenly Father “Father,” your body has to be the body of Heavenly Father. Your blood has to be the blood of Heavenly Father. When you have reached such a state, you will be a holy temple. When you become a holy temple, your mind and body are not yours. They belong to Heavenly Father. You are not your own origin. Because everything began from Heavenly Father, it has to end with Heavenly Father. Therefore, your existence is not yours but the Father’s.

When you have entered the realm of heart where your flesh and blood take the place of God’s flesh and blood, you will unconsciously shed tears when Heavenly Father is grieving. Those of you who have come here for the first time may ask how in the world such a thing is possible, but it is. The world of the heart surpasses by thousands of times the value of all existence. We will transcend awareness when we connect with such a world.

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Even if God Did Not Send Him, That Person Should be Acknowledged as the Messiah

The registration deadline for the Urban Family Life Training Seminar is Friday, June 28th!

  • Register now for the Urban Family Life Training Seminar. The family is the core unit of society, and break down of the family is the core issue driving all problems in society.
  • For Couples, singles seeking a godly spouse, youth and young adult ministers
    July 5th to July 7th, 2019
    Peace Kingdom Center
    Harpers Ferry, WV
  • Click Here to Register
  • Call 202-544-5081 for more information

Luke 11

37 When Jesus finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him home for a meal. Jesus went and sat down to eat.[e] 38 The Pharisee was surprised that he did not wash his hands[f] before eating. 39 So the Lord said to him:

You Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes, but on the inside you are greedy and evil. 40 You fools! Didn’t God make both the outside and the inside?[g] 41 If you would only give what you have to the poor, everything you do would please God.

Ezekiel 45

45 When the land of Israel is divided among the twelve tribes, you must set aside an area that will belong to me. This sacred area will be eight miles long and six[a] miles wide. 2 The temple will be on a piece of land eight hundred forty feet square, and the temple will be completely surrounded by an open space eighty-four feet wide.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

God does not will that humanity perish. Instead, He has gone forward with the will of the providence to show us the way to live. Thus, a figure who can restore the relationship of father and son, which both God and humanity desire, absolutely must appear. In looking back through history, this is undeniable.

We should criticize our sinful, struggling selves. We have to be indignant over this reality as well indignant over the Fall. Then what should we long for? We should long for our original parents who were lost. A lonely path of sacrifice will open up for those who are sincerely longing to find the original father who was lost. If such an individual, such a group, and such a movement exists in this world, then Heavenly Father, who is searching for His children, will work with such people. Wanting to regain the father and son relationship, He will hold on to such people.

If we have not heard of this from people throughout the thousands of years of history, they are to be blamed. If holy sages throughout the course of history have not introduced such facts, they also should be blamed. If such contents could not be found in the words of the sages who have lived to fulfill the will of God, it would be permissible to deny that God exists.

God, who works the providence to restore mankind, wants to live within us and wants us to reside within Him. Thus, Jesus told his disciples, “I am God’s begotten son and you are my brethren.” He also said, “Where I am going is not of my own will but of the will of the Father. The nation that I want is not my nation but the nation of the Father. The people I am looking for are not my people but the people of the Father. The place I want to live in is not with my family but with the family of the Father. The nation that I can be proud of is not my nation but the nation of the Father.” He also said, “God is the Father and earth is the Mother.” Toward mankind, he said, “I am the bridegroom and you are the bride.”

We can acknowledge God’s existence if these valuable propositions remain within heavenly law. Religions have been established to usher mankind in the right direction. From this perspective, the religion that can reveal the proper relationship between father and son, husband and wife, and between siblings would be the final religion. We cannot deny that Christianity possesses these qualities. We have to be grateful for this.

Although numerous sages have come and gone throughout history, they have only revealed God conceptually and vaguely. They did not bring the answers as to how to substantially experience God. Jesus called the invisible God “Father” in spite of the mockery of the Jews. He overcame hardships and showed concern for God in spite of heavy persecution. This shows that Jesus had experience and knowledge like no one had ever had before. He stood in a position to clarify the universal frame of mind and the frame of mind for life, which no one had ever known.

Jesus illuminated this through his heart rather than through his circumstances. Since he illuminated it with his substantial self, he was the Messiah. If someone like that appears, even if God did not send him, that person should be acknowledged as the Messiah. Heavenly law works in such a way.

Jesus was sent by Heavenly Father. Jesus did not come to this world to work beneath sin and evil. He came as the central person who could liberate all the sorrows and resentments of history caused by the Fall and sin. He came to solve all problems, starting from where God’s heart could still abide to where it could no longer flow. Jesus wanted to connect the love of Heaven to this world. He said, “I am the bridegroom and you are the bride.” We should then acquire the position of children, bear the heart of a bridegroom and bride, and ultimately reach the position of the parent, which is what Jesus called Heavenly Father.