Category: New Testament

Love is the Basis for “Heaven”

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
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Mark 5

25 In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse.

27 The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes. 28 She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well.” 29 As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was well.

Richard I believe that Home Church is healing physically and spiritually. Blessed couples who have a Home Church ministry will reap the benefits of physical and spiritual health. I know that that is the case for me and Stacey.

Zechariah 10

10 I, the Lord, am the one
    who sends storm clouds
and showers of rain
    to make fields produce.
So when the crops need rain,
    you should pray to me.

2 You can’t believe idols
    and fortunetellers,
or depend on the hope
you receive from witchcraft
    and interpreters of dreams.
But you have tried all of these,
and now you are like sheep
    without a shepherd.

3 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
    am fiercely angry
with you leaders,
    and I will punish you.
I care for my people,
    the nation of Judah,
and I will change
this flock of sheep
    into charging war horses.

Confucianism

2. The Confucian Concept of Heaven

Heaven helps the man who is devoted; men help the man who is true. He who walks in truth and is devoted in his thinking, and furthermore reveres the worthy, is blessed by Heaven.
I Ching, Great Commentary 1.12.1

Yüeh-cheng Tzu saw Mencius. “I mentioned you to the prince,” said he, “and he was to have come to see you. Amongst his favorites is one Tsang who dissuaded him. That is why he failed to come.”
“When a man goes forward,” said Mencius, “there is something which urges him on; when he halts, there is something which holds him back. It is not in his power either to go forward or to halt. It is due to Heaven that I failed to meet the Marquis of Lu. How can this fellow Tsang be responsible for my failure?”
Mencius I.B.16
All a gentleman can do in starting an enterprise is to leave behind a tradition which can be carried on. Heaven alone can grant success. Mencius I.B.14
When under siege in K’uang, Confucius said, “With King Wen dead, is not culture (wen) invested here in me? If Heaven intends culture to be destroyed, those who come after me will not be able to have any part of it. If Heaven does not intend this culture to be destroyed, then what can the men of K’uang do to me?”
Analects 9.5R

Revere the anger of Heaven,
And presume not to make sport or be idle.
Revere the changing moods of Heaven,
And presume not to drive about at your
pleasure.
Great Heaven is intelligent,
And is with you in all your goings.
Great Heaven is clear-seeing,
And is with you in your wanderings and
indulgences. 25
Book of Songs, Ode 254

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Confucius, through his teachings, taught about many aspects of human morals and ethics… Confucius knew about God’s aspect of principled laws, but not about a personal God, a God having intellect, emotion and will. This makes Confucianism an archangel-type religion. It has influenced the world in morals and ethics, especially in East Asia. (295:174-75, August 28, 1998)

Confucianism’s teaching about God is symbolic. It does not contain any concrete contents about God’s character or attributes. Its teachings are focused on morals and ethics. For example, one of its main teachings is: “If you do good deeds, you will be blessed; if you do not, you will be punished.” (53:231, February 28, 1972)

Confucius said, “Those who live for the sake of goodness will be blessed by Heaven, but to those who do not live for the sake of goodness, Heaven will bring misfortune.” What does he mean by “Heaven”? It is ambiguous. That is why his teaching sometimes appears to be a religion and other times not. (38:260, January 8, 1971)

In Korean custom, a person receiving a gift from someone his senior must take it with both hands. This symbolizes that a person can only receive when he becomes a ‘level’ base for the older person’s love. He receives by setting himself at a ninety-degree angle to the giver. We have a saying in Korea, “the heart of the people is the heart of Heaven.” Our rules and customs were formed by the logic of the [vertical] conscience, to be employed in fulfillment of the horizontal. (171:237, January 1, 1988)

This means that there must be a meeting of Heaven and earth. Heaven must connect with the [horizontal virtues of] benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom. Yet, in Confucianism, they were not successfully connected. Hence, its concept of Heaven is vague, the Four Virtues are vague, and people have not known how to link them. Due to this ignorance, the substantial standards of these two forms could not be manifested in history; therefore they were washed away.
How, according to the Unification Principle, do we manifest the dual characteristics [vertical and horizontal]? How can we then establish a realm of substance, and what form will it take in society? I am talking about the substantial realm of re-creation. What human beings desire most is not knowledge, not power and not money. We desire accomplishments of love: Love between teacher and disciple, love between parent and child, love between king and subject—does not love enter into all these relationships? By the same token, Heaven also needs loving sons and daughters. Hence the Principle speaks of love between Heaven and the sons and daughters of Heaven. (185:272, January 17, 1989)


Benevolence, Propriety, Rectitude and Wisdom are the Only Four Principles

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
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1 Thessolonians 5

19 Don’t turn away God’s Spirit 20 or ignore prophecies. 21 Put everything to the test. Accept what is good 22 and don’t have anything to do with evil.

Matthew 27

 9 So the words of the prophet Jeremiah came true,

“They took
    the thirty silver coins,
the price of a person
    among the people of Israel.
10 They paid it
    for a potter’s field,
as the Lord
    had commanded me.”

Confucianism

Confucian ethics are at the core of the East Asian culture. today  With  the  rapid  Westernization of Asia  many  are  discarding Confucian  values  and  codes;  nevertheless  for  thousands  of  years  its  moral philosophy has guided family life and molded the conduct of kings with the values of benevolence, righteousness and propriety. Father Moon has high regard for Confucian moral teachings; he calls them “close to the laws of heaven.” the Confucian Five relations of parents and children, ruler and subject, husband and wife, elder and younger siblings, and among friends define what he believes is a superior ethic for all humanity.

 Father Moon holds that God inspired Confucianism. He affirms that in its concept of heaven, Confucianism presents a notion of God, however vague. Confucianism’s weakness, he explains, is its vague understanding of God (heaven) and as a consequence its inability to properly link heaven and earth in daily life. Then, with profound insight, he proceeds to offer a solution that utilizes the best of Confucianism: the relationship between God and human beings is a parent-child relationship, and its ethic is one of Confucian filial piety. In other words, we should attend God as we would our own parents, and the Confucian ethic supplies the best description as to what that attendance requires.

1. Confucian Ethics

Oh, how great is the divine moral law of the sage Confucius. Overflowing and illimitable, it gives birth and life to all created things and towers high up to the very heavens. How magnificent it is! How imposing the three hundred principles and three thousand rules of conduct! They await the man who can put the system into practice.
    Doctrine of the Mean 27
 
When one follows unswervingly on the path of virtue it is not to win advancement. When one invariably keeps one’s word it is not to establish the rectitude of one’s actions. A gentleman merely follows the norm and awaits his destiny.
    Mencius VII.B.33
 
From the Son of Heaven [the emperor] down to the common people, all must regard cultivation of the personal life as the root or foundation. There is never a case where the root is in disorder and yet the branches are in order. |
    Great Learning
 
Benevolence (jen), rectitude (i), propriety (li), and wisdom (chih)… There are only these four principles. There is nothing else.
    Chu Hsi

    What is the foundation of natural benevolence (jen)? The heart that sympathizes with pain. What is the foundation of a commitment to the common good (i)? The heart that is repelled by vice. What is the foundation of respect for social and religious forms (li)? The heart that is willing to defer. And what is the foundation for wisdom (chih)? The heart that can tell true from false.
    People have these four foundations like they have four limbs. A man who says he cannot practice them is calling himself a criminal. A man who says the ruler cannot practice them is calling the ruler a criminal.
    Everybody has these four foundations in himself. If these four foundations can be filled in on a broad scale, it will be like a fire starting up, it will be like a spring bursting through. If they can be filled in, it will be enough to create and preserve the world order. Leave them unfilled, it will be impossible for a man to take care of his father and mother.
    Mencius II.A.6
 
The gentleman works upon the trunk. When that is firmly set up, the Way grows. And surely proper behavior towards parents and elder brothers is the trunk of Goodness?
    Analects 1.2
 
Now filial piety is the root of all virtue, and the stem out of which grows all moral teaching… Our bodies—to every hair and bit of skin—are received by us from our parents, and we must not presume to injure or wound them: this is the beginning of filial piety. When we have established our character by the practice of the filial course, so as to make our name famous in future ages, and thereby glorify our parents: this is the end of filial piety. It commences with the service of parents; it proceeds to the service of the ruler; it is completed by the establishment of [good] character.
    Classic on Filial Piety 1
 
What are “the things which men consider right”? Kindness on the part of the father, and filial duty on that of the son; gentleness on the part of the elder brother, and obedience on that of the younger; righteousness on the part of the husband, and submission on that of the wife; kindness on the part of elders, and deference on that of juniors; with benevolence on the part of the ruler, and loyalty on that of the minister—these ten are the things which men consider to be right.
    Book of Ritual 7.2.19
 
 

In Heaven and On Earth, I Alone Am the Honored One

Luke 23

44 Around noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until the middle of the afternoon. 45 The sun stopped shining, and the curtain in the temple split down the middle. 46 Jesus shouted, “Father, I put myself in your hands!” Then he died.

Ezekiel 1

24 Whenever the creatures flew, their wings roared like an ocean or a large army or even the voice of God All-Powerful. And whenever the creatures stopped, they folded their wings against their bodies.

Buddhism

1. The Values of Buddhism

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In ancient times, Buddhism and Buddhist culture emerged out of God’s will, in order to reform the society of India. Buddhism presented a new ideal through a new understanding of subject and object relationships.15 (144:182, April 24, 1986)
 
Buddhism, which emerged from India, is a world-level teaching. Only religions like Buddhism, which transcends the practical domain of life and contains a world-level point of view and a transcendental philosophy, will remain in the Last Days. (9:279, June 12, 1960)
 
Among the Oriental religions, Buddhism is the closest to God’s providence… However, as Buddhism teaches the logic of Sarvadharma [the oneness of all things], it is ignorant of a personal God—a major weakness. Nevertheless, God set things up this way to prepare the people of Asia to one day be united [with God’s Kingdom] through the Oriental religions when Buddhism would connect with Judaism [had the latter received Christ]. (208:311, November 21, 1990)
 
Buddhism teaches the existence of God, but it focuses on God’s lawful aspect. It does not explain that God is actively working in the world. (53:297, March 4, 1972)
 
The Buddha’s entire philosophy is based on law (dharma). However, the object of dharma is the circumstances of human beings as objects, not the human being himself. Actually, the measure of a human being is love, not law. But the Buddha taught a standard based on law; hence his teachings are called Law Sutras.
    Buddhism teaches self-realization, but what should happen after attaining self-realization? Is that the end of it? That is why, even though Buddhists live solitary lives deep in the mountains and work hard for self-discipline and self-realization, they still are ambiguous about the ideal world of love. (50:116, November 6, 1971)
 
2. Buddhist Enlightenment
Strive and cleave the stream. Discard, O Brahmin, sense-desires. Knowing the destruction of conditioned things, be a knower of the Unmade.
    Dhammapada 383
 
Since all Dharmas are immanent in our mind there is no reason why we should not realize intuitively the real nature of Suchness. The Bodhisattva Sila Sutra says, “Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and if we knew our mind and realized what our nature is, all of us would attain Buddhahood.”
    Sutra of Hui Neng 2
 
Every Buddha Tathagata is one whose body is the Principle of Nature (Dharmadhatu-kaya), so that he may enter into the mind of any being. Consequently, when you have perceived Buddha, it is indeed that mind of yours that possesses those thirty-two signs of perfection and eighty minor marks of excellence [which you see in Buddha]. In fine, it is your mind that becomes Buddha; nay, your mind is indeed Buddha. The ocean of true and universal knowledge of all the Buddhas derives its source from one’s own mind and thought.
    Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 17
 
In heaven and on earth, I alone am the Honored One.
    Digha Nikaya 2.15

We Should Clearly Distinguish Monotheism from Polytheism

1 Thessolonians 5

12 My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. 13 Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other. 14 My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn’t living right. Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone. 15 Don’t be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.

Obadiah 1

15 The day is coming
when I, the Lord,
    will judge the nations.
And, Edom, you will pay in full
    for what you have done.

Shamanism, Polytheism and Animism

2. Human Beings Who Achieve Mastery Rise above the Gods

It is people who make the gods important.
If a spirit [idol] becomes too troublesome, it will be shown the tree from which it was carved.
We shall continue to offer sacrifices so that the blame will lie with the deities.
African Proverbs (African Traditional Religions)

Fools misjudge me when I take a human form,
Because they do not know my supreme state as Lord of Beings.
Unconscious, they fall prey to a beguiling nature
such as belongs to ogres and demons,
For their hopes [ascribing to God human motives] are vain, and so
are their rituals and their search for wisdom.
Bhagavad-Gita 9.11-12 (Hinduism)

Whoever knows the self as “I am Brahman,” becomes all this [universe]. Even the gods can-not prevent his becoming this, for he has become their Self.

Now, if a man worships another deity, thinking, “He is one and I am another,” he does not know. He is like an animal to the gods. As many animals serve a man, so does each man serve the gods [with offerings]. Even if one animal is taken away, it causes anguish to the owner; how much more so when many are taken away! Therefore it is not pleasing to the gods that men should know the truth.

    Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 (Hinduism)

Even the devas are jealous of a yogi, striving as he does to surpass them by attaining Brahman. They therefore try to lead him astray, in various ways, if they find him off guard.
    Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20 (Hinduism)

What is Shinto? Not in the shrines
the worldly minded frequent for gifts in vain,
but in good deeds, pure of heart,
lies real religion.
    Genchi Kato (Shinto)

Look, you brothers, who bathe in the holy waters,
Look, you monks, who bathe in the stream.
Give up, give up, your unholy thoughts;
Give up lustful thoughts for another man’s
wife,
Give up coveting after another man’s wealth.
If you bathe in the waters without giving up these,
It is as if bathing in a stream that has run dry.
    Basavanna, Vacana 642 (Hinduism)

Truth is victorious, never untruth.
Truth is the way; truth is the goal of life,
Reached by the sages who are free from self-will.
    Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

We should clearly distinguish monotheism from polytheism. Only God is the true deity; the other divine beings that founded the polytheistic religions are angels. Among those religions, some developed through good angels’ efforts to elevate human spirituality and heart—they are the higher religions. You should know that God has been cultivating people’s hearts through these good religions. (237:186, November 17, 1992)
 
Human history can be considered to span at least 850,000 years. Even during the most primitive times, the religious movements that sprang up received persecution. Who initiated such work? It is God. He developed religions to separate human beings from the servant. God separated us from Satan step by step, starting from the very bottom—the level of a servant of servants.
    Humans are created to be masters, but at the servant of servants’ level, the servant dominates the master. In order to take our rightful position in the Kingdom of Heaven as the masters of that servant, humanity must inevitably receive persecution from the entire servant world and triumph over it. (124:69, January 23, 1983)
 
Among shamans, especially the men, some had formerly led a promiscuous love life. Then as shamans they leave their former life and strive on the path of morality. This led to the development of a [higher] realm of religion. From that starting-point, they could recognize that people should live a straight way of life and form faithful families. At least they recognized that it was not good to live a loose lifestyle, and sought after a proper way of love. Such efforts at laying the right path developed into the world’s higher religions. (295:172, August 28, 1998)
 
 

You Also Blessed My Grandfather

John 19

38 Joseph from Arimathea was one of Jesus’ disciples. He had kept it secret though, because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. But now he asked Pilate to let him have Jesus’ body. Pilate gave him permission, and Joseph took it down from the cross.

Richard: This is the time to be bold in our faith, and not cower or be silent.

Isaiah 65

2 All day long I have reached out
to stubborn and sinful people
    going their own way.

Shamanism, Polytheism and Animism

World Scripture takes a universal outlook in emphasizing the common features of all religions; nevertheless religions also have their unique characteristics and emphases. The following six topics treat specific religious traditions, pointing out their unique features and Father Moon’s teachings about them. It cannot be overemphasized that any treatment of a religion’s unique features in no way exhausts its spiritual riches or detracts from its universal qualities that join in common witness to the one God and one reality.
Not all the religions are treated here; just those on which Father Moon has commented upon out of his own experience. Korea is a religiously pluralistic country, with roots in shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism; it has a large and vibrant Christian community and also a growing Muslim minority.
Father Moon’s views on shamanism are largely the result of his experience with the homegrown Korean variety. Shamanism remains strong in rural Korea, where its practitioners, called mudangs, are largely women. Their ability to communicate with spirits can be impressive. During his years in America, he befriended Eskimo shamans in Alaska and Native Americans in Brazil and Paraguay. Father Moon is very aware of the reality of the  spirit  world  and  the  spiritual  discipline  required  to  be  an  effective  channel  to  that  world.  For this reason, he does not cast dogmatic condemnations on shamanism and animism in the manner of bible-centered Christians. Rather, he regards shamanism as an authentic stage, albeit a low one, on the path of humankind’s spiritual development.
Notable also is Father Moon’s teaching that shamanism and polytheism are “servant of servant” religions, whose original objects of worship were fallen angels. This can be seen rather clearly in Greek and Hindu mythology, where the gods’ amorous activities with earthly women are of a piece with Satan’s seduction of eve at the human Fall. Nevertheless, God still taught through these forms by empowering devoted practitioners to rise above their gods and attain a higher moral plane. In this way, human beings transcended the position of servants’ servants to become their masters, thus opening a higher stage of religious development. Passages from Hinduism and Shinto illustrate how these traditions were thus elevated over time to form higher religions.

1. Worship of Nature Deities

O gods! All your names are to be revered, saluted and adored; all of you who have sprung from heaven and earth, listen here to my invocation.
    Rig Veda 10.63.2 (Hinduism)

Our ancestors the emperors of old governed the realm by first paying worship to the kami with reverence and awe. Widely worshipping the kamiof mountain and river, they thereby had natural concourse with heaven and earth. For this rea-son, summer and winter also turned in their sea-son, and the works of creation were in harmony.
    Nihon Shoki 22 (Shinto)

Sansang suira!
There are eight peaks within the inner mountain,
and thirteen famous places in the outer mountain.
Within these famous mountains and the great heavens of all Buddhas,
the great altar of the nation is protected by the great generals.
Was not General Chae Yong one of them?
The famous general of Korea,
who was favored by his people…
Oh, I am the great mountain god.
If I sit down, I cover three thousand li [the entire land of Korea].
If I stand up, I stretch over ninety thousand li [the whole world].
If I look down with my clear mirror, I can observe ten thousand li.
Oh, I am the great mountain god.
What can you offer to satisfy me?
Is the whole pig covered with a red cloth enough?
Is the bundle of three different colored silks enough?
Offer many rich silks to me.
Oh, you, the husband and wife of this home.
Do you remember who gives you the food that sustains you?
Who gave you a home?
Who gave you wealth?
Who gave you long life?
I, the Sansang, gave you blessings and aid in times of need.
    Invocation of the Mountain Spirit (Korean Shamanism)

War-bundle owners, I greet you. Ye elders, I am about to pour tobacco for the spirits.
 
Hearken Earthmaker, our father, I am about to offer you a handful of tobacco. My ancestor so-and-so concentrated his mind upon you. The fireplaces with which you blessed him, the small amount of life you granted to him, all, four times the blessings that you bestowed upon my ancestor, I ask of you directly. May I have no troubles in life.
 
Chief of the Thunderbirds, who lives in the west, you strengthened my grandfather. I am about to offer you a handful of tobacco. The food, the pair of deer you gave him for his fireplaces, that I ask of you directly. May you accept this tobacco from me and may I not meet with troubles. 
 
Great Black Hawk, you also blessed my grandfather. I am about to offer you tobacco. Whatever food you blessed him with that I ask you directly. May I not meet with troubles…You [night spirits] on the other side, who live in the east, who walk in darkness, I am about to offer you tobacco to smoke. Whatever you blessed my ancestor with, I ask of you. If you smoke this tobacco I will never be a weakling.Disease-giver, you who live in the south; you who look like a man; who art invulnerable; who on one side of your body present death and on the other life, you blessed my ancestor in the daytime, in broad daylight. You blessed him with food and told him that he would never fail in anything. You promised to avoid his home. You placed animals before him that he might easily obtain food. I offer you tobacco that you may smoke it, and that I may not be troubled by anything. To you, Sun, Light-wanderer… To you, Grandmother Moon… Hearken, all ye spirits to whom my ancestor prayed; to all of you I offer tobacco. My ancestor gave a feast to all those who had blessed him. Bestow upon us once again all the blessings you gave our ancestor, that we may not become weaklings. I greet you all.
    Winnebago Invocation at the Sweat Lodge (Native American Religion)
 
Ala, come and drink and eat the kola nut.
Chukwu, come and drink and eat the kola nut.
Ancestors, come and drink and eat the kola nut.
    I was told by a man of Ngbwidi, one named Ehirim, that a man of Agunese had stolen his yams; and so I summoned the priests of Ala and Aro holders and elders in order that we might inquire into the matter. I called them, even as my father, who was priest of Njoku before me, used to do.
    If any of these men, who have come to try the case, deal falsely in the matter, or if the accuser or accused or any person called to give evidence tells falsehood, then do you, Ala, Chukwu, Njoku, Ancestors, and Ofo, deal with that man.
    Igbo Invocation at a Trial (African Traditional Religions)
 
Parvati, on seeing her son Ganesha resuscitated, embraced him joyously and clothed him with new garments and ornaments. After kissing his face, she said, “O Ganesha, you have had great distress since your very birth. You are blessed and contented now. You will receive worship before all the gods…
    “All achievements certainly accrue to him who performs your worship with flowers, sandal paste, scents, auspicious food offerings, waving of lights, betel leaves, charitable gifts, circumambulations, and obeisance. All kinds of obstacles will certainly perish.”
    Shiva, Brahma, and Vishnu declared in unison, “O great gods, just as we three are worshipped in all the three worlds, so also Ganesha shall be worshipped by all of you. He is the remover of all obstacles and the bestower of the fruits of all rites.”
    Shiva Purana, Rudrasamhita 18 (Hinduism)