Category: New Testament

Gods Intention Was to Unite the Arab People and the Jewish People

Hebrews 8

All of them will know me,
    no matter who they are.
12 I will treat them with kindness,
even though they are wicked.
    I will forget their sins.”

13 When the Lord talks about a new agreement, he means that the first one is out of date. And anything that is old and useless will soon disappear.

2 Chronicles 36

36 After the death of Josiah, the people of Judah crowned his son Jehoahaz their new king. 2 He was twenty-three years old at the time, and he ruled only three months from Jerusalem. 3 King Neco of Egypt captured Jehoahaz and forced Judah to pay almost four tons of silver and seventy-five pounds of gold as taxes. 4 Then Neco appointed Jehoahaz’s brother Eliakim king of Judah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He led Jehoahaz away to Egypt as his prisoner.

Islam

2. A Rival Religion, Correcting the Religions that Preceded It

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Had John the Baptist and the people of Israel accepted Jesus, they were destined to struggle against the Roman Empire, just as Jacob wrestled against the angel at the Ford of Jabbok.
    At that time, Roman sovereignty was weak, and there was an opportunity for the smaller surrounding countries to win their independence. Therefore, with Jesus Christ as the commander-in-chief, the movement could have unified the Arab world in revolt against Rome.
    By fighting a common enemy, God’s intention was to unite the Arab people and the Jewish people. It was an opportunity for these peoples under the Roman yoke to unite as one. But first, Jesus, Judaism and John the Baptist’s movement had to become one. That was the precondition to defeat Rome. However, instead John the Baptist went his own way, Jesus acted alone, and the Jews eventually revolted on their own [and were crushed]. As a result, there came to be lasting division between the Arabs and Jews. (111:151, February 10, 1981)
 
In the seventh century, the religion of Islam emerged in the Middle East. It was because Jesus was unable to establish his own nation that Islam appeared and took the position of a rival to Christianity. It is for Islam and Christianity to resolve this Cain-Abel relationship, and when they do they both will be perfected. Thus, you should understand that it was out of providential necessity that God raised up Islam as a rival religion. What do conventional theologians say is the reason and purpose of Islam?
 
    The Jews had received much blessing from God after the Exodus from Egypt. Nevertheless, [after the crucifixion] Islam emerged from the central people—the descendants of Abraham—and became the Jews’ adversaries. Nevertheless, the Jews should learn to live with their Muslim adversaries.
    These days, Islam is expanding more rapidly than Christianity. They are strong! Their values are strong and their faith is firm! They do not sway back and forth, compromising like Christians do.
    Ishmael and Isaac are brothers, both sons of Abraham. Yet their descendants became adversaries and fought throughout history. After the Jews lost Jerusalem, Christians and Muslims fought over the city at the time of the Crusades. The land of Israel should be restored for all these brother religions. However, this must not be accomplished by fighting and bloodshed.
    That is why Reverend Moon, representing Christianity and as founder of the Unification Church, gave his hand to Minister Farrakhan; and also to President Wahid of Indonesia. I wanted to join President Wahid and Minister Farrakhan as brothers. I also helped Minister Farrakhan at the Million Family March. White people opened their eyes in alarm, saying that I should by no means ever help him. But I said to those people, “You oppose me now, but wait and see who is right. Just follow me as I guide you, and something good will definitely happen, something that pleases God. Close your eyes and pray. Don’t open your mouth.”40 (June 21, 2001)
 
Jesus taught us to love our enemies. Minister Farrakhan may be an enemy to Christianity… but since we are taught to love our enemies, I am loving him. Does China love America? Does the Soviet Union love China? Between these enemies there is no love, but taking God’s standpoint I love them all. That is why I have no enemies—neither Christians nor Muslims, neither blacks nor whites. (339:156, December 10, 2000)

 
 
 

We Should Be As Members of One Household

Luke 9

Jesus said to his disciples, “Have the people sit in groups of fifty.” 15 They did this, and all the people sat down. 16 Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish. He looked up toward heaven and blessed the food. Then he broke the bread and fish and handed them to his disciples to give to the people.

Richard: We have all the resources that we need, if we can work together, centered on God’s New Word.

Ezekiel 20

6 I swore that I would rescue them from Egypt and lead them to a land I had already chosen. This land was rich with milk and honey and was the most splendid land of all. 7 I told them to get rid of their disgusting idols and not to sin by worshiping the gods of Egypt. I reminded them that I was the Lord their God, 8 but they still rebelled against me. They refused to listen and kept on worshiping their idols and foreign gods.

Christianity

2. Christian Unity

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.
    Ephesians 4.4-6
 
You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
    Ephesians 2.19-22
 
I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as thou hast loved me.
    John 17.20-23
 
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.     Colossians 3.12-15 
 
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
 
We frequently hear that the church is the body of Christ. What is the body of Christ? Does it consist of church buildings made of wood or stone? No, the body of Christ is the congregation, the people. We who believe in Jesus are Jesus’ body and Christ’s representatives on earth.
    If the believers are the body of Christ, then can there be more than one church? Today’s church, divided as it is into numerous denominations, is a church in error. It is heartbreaking for Jesus to see the existence of so many denominations, each bearing his name. It is as though his body has been torn apart into many pieces…
    Christianity should have become a single worldwide religion, based on the victorious foundation of Jesus’ sacrifice. Like Jesus’ own body, the church should have become a whole offering before God; then by that victorious foundation of offering, it could have become one worldwide religion, one Christian church. Instead, the heart of Jesus Christ is grieved to see his body so shamefully divided. Jesus is the mind and today’s Christianity is the body. How can there be one mind and 1,000 bodies? How can the mind and body differ to such an extent? Therefore, our task is to unite them as one mind and one body.
    What is the core conviction that Jesus has sought to convey to Christianity until this day? It is this: “God is our Father, all people are our brothers and sisters; the earth belongs to all of us; therefore we should be as members of one household.” Today’s Christians should adopt this outlook. Since it is God’s teaching and Jesus’ teaching, it should be Christianity’s teaching. Therefore, we should not get caught up in sectarian squabbles. We should restore the people, even if to do so we have to abandon our denomination. We should restore the earth, even if our denomination must perish in the process. (93:12-25, May 8, 1977)
 
Why is today’s Christianity divided into numerous denominations? The proliferation of denominations contradicts the Christian doctrine that we ought to love our enemies. Christian doctrine instructs us to love the brethren, but people have forgotten it. Christians may love one another within the same church, yet their churches are fighting one another. Jesus taught us to love our brethren. From Jesus’ perspective, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, the Holiness Church and all other denominations are each other’s brethren. (107:20, February 21, 1980)
 
God’s heaviest burden is to create oneness among the declining remnants of Christianity and among the many religions. While God is trying hard to create oneness among the religions, some Methodists are praying, “O Father, I don’t care what happens to other churches, but please bless the Methodist Church.” Do you think such a prayer will reach God’s ears? Methodism is only one of more than four hundred denominations. God will say, “You rascals! You denominationalists! Before praying for yourselves, you should make the Christian church one! If you do that, I will listen to your prayer.”
    What would God say if Christians were to unite as one and pray, “O Lord! Give us strength to resolve your biggest headache by uniting Christianity and creating oneness among all the religions. Gives us the ability! Help us to create this oneness!” Surely He would say, “Yes, I will grant your prayer.”  God is waiting for the appearance of people who can break down the walls surrounding the denominations and make them one. (98:114-15, May 7, 1978)
 
By what means can we unite Christianity throughout the world? It is by the Holy Spirit. Hence, I named our church, “The Holy Spirit Association.” Not by fists or bayonets, but by the Holy Spirit.  We cannot unite the churches by human power. It is possible only by the power of the Holy Spirit, through mobilizing the hosts of heaven. (113:97, May 1, 1981)
 
 
 

Blessed Are You When Men Revile You

Revelation 11

9 For three and a half days the people of every nation, tribe, language, and race will stare at the bodies of these two witnesses and refuse to let them be buried. 10 Everyone on earth will celebrate and be happy. They will give gifts to each other, because of what happened to the two prophets who caused them so much trouble. 11 But three and a half days later, God will breathe life into their bodies. They will stand up, and everyone who sees them will be terrified.

Richard: Here, it appears that the enemy is winning. But then the “dead” witnesses” revive.

Psalm 17

I am innocent, Lord,
    and I will see your face!
    When I awake, all I want
    is to see you as you are.

Christianity

Christianity is Father Moon’s own religious heritage; hence he has more to say about it than any other religion. His main teachings concern the essence of the Christianity—its core tradition, the unity of the church, and Christianity’s mission to the world.
Following Christ’s example, the core tradition of Christianity is love and sacrifice. The Christian is not reluctant or afraid to take up his cross and suffer for the sake of God’s will, as Jesus did. Therefore, Christianity is not an easy or comfortable religion, but one that demands commitment, courage and conviction. Christian love is the second essential core tradition. Jesus taught his followers to love their enemies and forgive those who hurt them. The fellowship of Christians who practice the love of Christ is a beautiful thing.
However, because this love is practiced only imperfectly, and often does not extend to believers of other churches, the problem of disunity has plagued Christianity since its early days. placing doctrinal purity and denominational self-interest ahead of Christian love, churches have quarreled and persecuted one another, causing great damage to Christianity as a whole. Father Moon has dedicated himself to restoring church unity through the practice of reconciling love and a clarification of essential Christian truth.
Christianity has a worldwide mission, to save all humankind. For Father Moon, this is not only a matter of preaching the Gospel and converting the heathen. In today’s world of many religions, democratic values and the ethics of love and charity are Christianity’s contributions to elevating the level of all civilizations around the globe. Ultimately, the mission of the church is to prepare the way for God’s universal Kingdom on earth, based upon these values, which will be established when Christ returns.
The section concludes with a glimpse at Christian history, which can be viewed as a record of the church’s successes and failures in fulfilling its mission. It is a history that is mostly found wanting. The church has consistently failed when it has lived by the secular values of power, wealth and worldly authority. It has made progress when it returns to Christ’s tradition of sacrifice and the search for true freedom of faith. in the course of this history, God has attempted to establish a sovereign Christian civilization—first in the Middle ages through roman Catholicism, and today through Protestantism centered on the united states of America. Medieval civilization perished when the Vatican’s leaders were more intent to pursue power and worldly glory than to live by Jesus’ core tradition of love and sacrifice. America, as the current representative Christian nation with a calling to lead the world into the Kingdom, faces the same test.

1. The Core Traditions of Christianity: Love and Sacrifice

Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
    Luke 14.27
 
Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5.11-12
 
More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.
    Romans 5.3-5
 
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.
    Tertullian, Apology
 
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And fear came upon every soul; and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
    Acts 2.42-47
 
Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
    1 John 4.7-12
 
Love most of all brands us with a mark of blame in the eyes of some. “Look,” [the pagans] say, “how [these Christians] love one another”—for they themselves hate one another—“and how they are ready to die for one another”—for they themselves are readier to kill one another.
    Tertullian, Apology
 
 

Has God Abandoned the Jews?

Matthew 26

26 When Jesus had finished teaching, he told his disciples, 2 “You know that two days from now will be Passover. That is when the Son of Man will be handed over to his enemies and nailed to a cross.”

Isaiah 50

9 No one has come to defend us
    or to bring about justice.
We hoped for a day of sunshine,
but all we found
    was a dark, gloomy night.
10 We feel our way along,
    as if we were blind;
we stumble at noon,
    as if it were night.
We can see no better
    than someone dead.[a]

11 We growl like bears
    and mourn like doves.
We hope for justice and victory,
    but they escape us.
12 How often have we sinned
and turned against you,
    the Lord God?
Our sins condemn us!
    We have done wrong.
13 We have rebelled and refused
    to follow you.
Our hearts were deceitful,
    and so we lied;
we planned to abuse others
    and turn our backs on you.

14 Injustice is everywhere;
    justice seems far away.
Truth is chased out of court;
    honesty is shoved aside.
15 Everyone tells lies;
those who turn from crime
    end up ruined.

Judaism

3. The Jewish-Christian Relationship

I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ…

    I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!… As regards the gospel they are enemies of God, for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy. For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.
    Romans 9.1-5; 11.1, 28-32 (Christianity)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Many Jews are alive on the earth today. Since a long time ago some of their ancestors betrayed the Will of God, has God therefore abandoned them? Surely not. While they may have traveled down a side path, they kept an unchanging heart toward God as God’s chosen people… As long as the Jews hold fast to their role as God’s chosen people despite any adversity, they will not disappear from the earth. Hence, there is an element of rightness that today they retain substantial economic power in the world and can exercise control in many fields. (4:243-44, May 18, 1958)

Judaism, centered upon the Old Testament, was the first work of God and is in an elder brother’s position. Christianity, centered upon the New Testament, is in the position of the second brother.
    The Unification Church, through which God has given a new revelation, the Completed Testament, is in the position of the youngest brother. These three religions are indeed three brothers in the providence of God. Then Israel, the United States and Korea, the nations where these three religions are based, must also be brothers. Because these three nations have a common destiny representing God’s side, the Communist bloc as Satan’s representative is trying to isolate and destroy them at the U.N.
    Therefore these three brother nations must join hands in a unified effort to restore the United Nations to its original purpose and function. They must contribute internally to the unification of world religions and externally to the unification of the world itself. (88:211, September 18, 1976)

The Chosen People Should Love the World on God’s Behalf

Urban Life Training Newsletter-April-2021

New Richard Urban Show: The Great Fraud-The COVID 19 Agenda-One Year Later
The original eight part series: The Great Fraud-The COVID 19 Agenda
Enjoy on video or podcast, and please share!

John 6

38 I didn’t come from heaven to do what I want! I came to do what the Father wants me to do. He sent me, 39 and he wants to make certain that none of the ones he has given me will be lost. Instead, he wants me to raise them to life on the last day.40 My Father wants everyone who sees the Son to have faith in him and to have eternal life. Then I will raise them to life on the last day.

Daniel 3

29 And I won’t allow people of any nation or race to say anything against their God. Anyone who does will be chopped up and their houses will be torn down, because no other god has such great power to save.

Judaism

1. The Chosen People

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Among all religions in human history, Judaism alone was established by a people who claimed that they brought victory for God. It originated from Jacob’s victory in the fight against the angel. Jacob did not win against a human being but an angel, a being from the invisible spirit world. The people of Israel stand on this tradition of spiritual victory over the fallen angelic realm… Hence, they could become the chosen people of God.
    Thoroughly equipped with the belief that they are the chosen people, the Jews have never forgotten their history and tradition despite the suffering of wandering throughout the world for 2,000 years. Wherever they went, no matter what circumstances they faced, they maintained their belief that they were chosen by God. Such a history never existed among any other people on earth.27 (149:85, November 17, 1986)

God appointed the Israelites to a central role and wanted all people to honor them. He wanted all people on earth to follow Israel’s example; then they would praise Israel just as God would. However, the Israelites could not set up such an exemplary historical tradition. Israel began from Jacob, who was God’s champion of love. However, subsequent generations of Israelites could not maintain his tradition.
    The Israelites should have been superior to any other people in the world in loving God and fulfilling God’s Will and providence. However, while they raised their awareness of being the chosen people, they forgot their mission and their calling for the Will of God.
    What is the purpose of the chosen people? The chosen people should love the world on God’s behalf and, as God’s representatives, set the example for all in loving the world. However, the people of Israel did not fulfill their exalted calling. Though they were supposed to give God’s love to all the world, they wanted to receive love instead. That was the problem. (169:265-66, November 1, 1987)
 
What is the path that God has decreed for Israel and Judaism? It is a path with universal significance. It is a universal mission. God chose the one specific people, Israel, to fulfill a mission not only for themselves but for humankind. (168:304, October 1, 1987)
 
Besides Judaism, there are numerous religions in the world, such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism. The religions differ, but they must not fight one another; instead, they must travel the road to one unified world. Likewise, the peoples of the world must not fight one another, but become one. There must be one teaching that can lead all the religions not to fight, but to unite.
    The Jewish people in particular, who have the responsibility to lead the world’s peoples and unite them into one, should have such a teaching. Because the realization of God’s ideal of creation is universal, Judaism and the Jewish people should uphold a teaching that corresponds to God’s ideal of creation. (168:304, October 1, 1987)