Category: Ezekiel

Man’s Real Nature is Primarily Spiritual Life

Ezekiel 45

15 Finally, they must bring one sheep out of every two hundred from their flocks.

These offerings will be used as grain sacrifices, as well as sacrifices to please me and those to ask my blessing. I, the Lord, will be pleased with these sacrifices and will forgive the sins of my people.

Job 5

26 You will live a long life,
and your body will be strong
    until the day you die.

The Immortal Soul

2. Death: Transition to a New Life

The hour of departure has arrived, and we go
our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is
better God only knows.
It is We who give life, and make to die, and to
Us is the homecoming.
Qur’an 50.43

Socrates, in Plato, Apology 42 (Hellenism)
The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the
spirit returns to God who gave it.
Ecclesiastes 12.7

Now my breath and spirit goes to the Immortal,
and this body ends in ashes;
OM. O Mind! Remember. Remember the
deeds.
Remember the actions.
Isha Upanishad 17 (Hinduism)

Man’s real nature is primarily spiritual life,
which weaves its threads of mind to build a
cocoon of flesh,
encloses its own soul in the cocoon,
and, for the first time, the spirit becomes flesh.
Understand this clearly: The cocoon is not the
silkworm;
in the same way, the physical body is not man
but merely man’s cocoon.
Just as the silkworm will break out of its cocoon
and fly free,
so, too, will man break out of his body-cocoon
and ascend to the spirit world when his time
is come.
Never think that the death of the physical
body is the death of man.
Since man is life, he will never know death.
Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines (Seicho-no-Ie)

One man believes he is the slayer, another
believes he is the slain. Both are ignorant; there
is neither slayer nor slain. You were never born;
you will never die. You have never changed; you
can never change. Unborn, eternal, immutable,
immemorial, you do not die when the body dies.
Realizing that which is indestructible, eternal,
unborn, and unchanging, how can you slay or
cause another to be slain?

As a man abandons his worn-out clothes and
acquires new ones, so when the body is worn
out a new one is acquired by the Self, who lives
within.
The Self cannot be pierced with weapons or
burned with fire; water cannot wet it, nor can
the wind dry it. The Self cannot be pierced or
burned, made wet or dry. It is everlasting and
infinite, standing on the motionless foundation
of eternity. The Self is unmanifest, beyond all
thought, beyond all change. Knowing this, you
should not grieve. 7
Bhagavad-Gita 2.19-25 (Hinduism)

You prefer this life, although the life to come
is better and more enduring. All this is written
in earlier scriptures; the scriptures of Abraham
and Moses.
Qur’an 87.16-19

I inquired of Africanus whether he himself, my
father Paulus, and others whom we look upon as
dead, were really living. “Yes, truly,” replied he,
“they all enjoy life who have escaped from the
chains of the body as from a prison. But as to
what you call life on earth, that is no more than
a form of death. But see, here comes your father
Paulus towards you!”
Cicero, On the Republic 6.14 (Hellenism)

Onyame does not die; I will therefore not die.
Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions)

Meet the Fathers, meet Yama, and meet with
the
fulfillment of wishes in the highest heaven;
casting off imperfections, find anew thy
dwelling,
and be united with a lustrous body.
Rig Veda 10.14.8 (Hinduism)

Though our outer nature is wasting away, our
inner nature is being renewed every day. For this
slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
because we look not to the things that are seen
but to the things that are unseen; for the things
that are seen are transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live
in is destroyed, we have a building from God,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put
on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it
on we may not be found naked. For while we are
still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that
we would be unclothed, but that we would be
further clothed, so that what is mortal may be
swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us
for this very thing is God, who has given us the
Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage; we know
that while we are at home in the body we are
away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not
by sight. We are of good courage, and we would
rather be away from the body and at home with
the Lord. For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may
receive good or evil, according to what he has
done in the body.
2 Corinthians 4.16-5.10

Spirit or Soul is the Immortal Human Essense

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Ezekiel 6

6 The Lord God said:

2 Ezekiel, son of man, face the hills of Israel and tell them:

3 Listen, you mountains and hills, and every valley and gorge! I, the Lord, am about to turn against you and crush all the places where foreign gods are worshiped. 4 Every altar will be smashed, and in front of the idols I will put to death the people who worship them. 5 Dead bodies and bones will be lying around the idols and the altars. 6 Every town in Israel will be destroyed to make sure that each shrine, idol, and altar is smashed—everything the Israelites made will be a pile of ruins.

Psalm 78

56 But the people tested
    God Most High,
    and they refused
    to obey his laws.
57 They were as unfaithful
    as their ancestors,
    and they were as crooked
    as a twisted arrow.
58 God demanded all their love,
    but they made him angry
    by worshiping idols.

The Immortal Soul

Spirit or soul is the immortal human essence. Originating in the eternal God, it returns to God in the end. The body, on the other hand, is made from clay and is but a vestment that clothes the spirit. This is a rather universal conception, widespread in all religions although they differ on the details. The soul may ascend to heaven, descend into hell, merge with the Godhead, sleep until the general resurrection, or transmigrate into
another earthly body: regardless, survival of the spirit is a common thread in all faiths.
These texts include descriptions of a “spiritual body” that clothes the soul in the next life. Others conceive of the spirit as having its own form and structure. Coterminous with the flesh during life, it then separates and ascends to the spirit world after death. Father Moon offers additional insight into how people on earth already live in both worlds, by virtue of the resonance between their spirit and flesh. This speaks to how people with spiritual gifts can perceive the spirit world during earthly life.
The spirit truly finds its wings after death, when it is no longer tied down to the body and can travel freely
at will. Nevertheless, earthly life is important as the training-ground where the qualities of spirit needed for fulfillment in heaven are developed; that is the subject of the next section.

  1. Soul and Body

The body is the sheath of the soul.
Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a (Judaism)

Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust
of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living being.
Genesis 2.7

And He originated the creation of man out of
clay,
then He fashioned his progeny of an extraction
of mean water,
then He shaped him, and breathed His spirit in
him.
Qur’an 32.8-9

The soul is characterized by knowledge and
vision, is formless, an agent, has the same extent
as its own body, is the enjoyer of the fruits of kar-
mas, and exists in samsara. It is also enlightened
and has a characteristic upward motion.
Nemichandra, Dravyasangraha 2 (Jainism)

Ts’ai-wu said, “I have heard the names kuei and
shen, but I do not know what they mean.” The
Master said, “The [intelligent] spirit is of the shen
nature, and shows that in fullest measure; the
animal soul is of the kuei nature, and shows that
in fullest measure. It is the union of kuei and shen
that forms the highest exhibition of doctrine.
“All the living must die, and dying, return
to the ground; this is what is called kuei. The
bones and flesh molder below, and, hidden
away, become the earth of the fields. But the
spirit issues forth, and is displayed on high in
a condition of glorious brightness. The vapors
and odors which produce a feeling of sadness,
and arise from the decay of their substance,
are the subtle essences of all things, and also a
manifestation of the shen nature.”
Book of Ritual 21.2.1 (Confucianism)

Someone will ask, “How are the dead raised?
With what kind of body do they come?” You
foolish man! What you sow does not come to
life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the
body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps
of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it
a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of
seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but
there is one kind for men, another for animals,
another for birds, and another for fish. There
are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bod-
ies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the
glory of the terrestrial is another.
1 Corinthians 15.35-40

Let it be the Hidden Person of the Heart with a Gentle and Quiet Spirit

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Ezekiel 13

13 The Lord said:

2 Ezekiel, son of man, condemn the prophets of Israel who say they speak in my name, but who preach messages that come from their own imagination. Tell them it’s time to hear my message.

3 I, the Lord God, say those lying prophets are doomed! They don’t see visions—they make up their own messages! 4 Israel’s prophets are no better than jackals that hunt for food among the ruins of a city. 5 They don’t warn the people about coming trouble or tell them how dangerous it is to sin against me. 6 Those prophets lie by claiming they speak for me, but I have not even chosen them to be my prophets. And they still think their words will come true. 7 They say they’re preaching my messages, but they are full of lies—I did not speak to them!

Ezekiel 20

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.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Beauty

2. The Beauty of Human Beings

Confucius said, “It is goodness that gives to a
neighborhood its beauty.”
Analects 4.1 (Confucianism)

The perfume of flowers blows not against the
wind, nor does the fragrance of sandalwood,
tagara and jasmine, but the fragrance of the vir-
tuous blows against the wind; the virtuous man
pervades every direction.
Dhammapada 54 (Buddhism)

Whether in village or in forest, in vale or on
hill, wherever monks dwell—delightful, indeed,
is that spot.
Dhammapada 98 (Buddhism)

Purified, for spiritual might, by God’s impulse,
we think of all beautiful things.
Rig Veda 5.82.6 (Hinduism)

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord ,
my soul shall exult in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of
salvation,
he has covered me with the robe of
righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
Isaiah 61.10

Let not yours be the outward adorning with
braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wear-
ing of fine clothing, but let it be the hidden per-
son of the heart with the imperishable jewel of
a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is
very precious.
1 Peter 3.3-4

When anyone, having the right kind of love,
mounts up and begins to see the beauty pres-
ent in the beautiful person, he is not far from
the final goal. For the right way of love, whether
one goes alone or is led by another, is to begin
with the beautiful things that are seen here, and
ascend ever upwards, aiming at the beauty that
is above, climbing as it were, on a ladder from
one beautiful body to two, and from two to all
bodies, and from beautiful bodies to beautiful
actions and from beautiful actions to beautiful
forms of knowledge, till the last from these one
reaches that knowledge which is the knowledge
of nothing else but Beauty itself, and so knows
at last what Beauty really is.
Plato, Symposium (Hellenism)

Indeed there are three types of music. The first
type is the music of the universe (musica mun-
dana), the second type that of the human being
(musica humana), and the third type is that cre-
ated by certain instruments (musica instrumentis
constituta)… producing melodies.
Now the first type, the music of the universe,
is best observed in those things which one
perceives in heaven itself, or in the structure of
the elements, or in the diversity of the seasons…
Thus there must be some fixed order of musical
modulation in this celestial motion.
Now one comes to understand the music of
the human being by examining his own being.
For what unites the incorporeal existence of
reason with the body except a certain harmony
and, as it were, a careful tuning of low and high
pitches in such a way that they produce one
consonance?
Boethius

Every One Who Looks at a Woman Lustfully Has Already Committed Adultery

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President Trump did the right thing by going to St. Johns’ Episcopal Church with a Bible. Terrance Floyd told people not to riot and destroy their communities, yet protests and riots continue. What is behind this chaos?

Zecheriah 10

6 I will strengthen
the kingdoms of Judah
    and Israel.[a]
And I will show mercy
because I am the Lord,
    their God.
I will answer their prayers
    and bring them home.
Then it will seem as though
    I had never rejected them.
7 Israel[b] will be like
a tribe of warriors
    celebrating with wine.
When their children see this,
they will also be happy
    because of me, the Lord.

Ezekiel 27

31 they shave their heads
and dress in sackcloth
    as they cry in despair.
32 In their grief they sing
    a funeral song for you:
“Tyre, you were greater
    than all other cities.
But now you lie in silence
    at the bottom of the sea.

Richard: Once great cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC are being destroyed by mayors who will not enforce the law. But even worse, these mayors have pushed a godless agenda of promoting homosexuality and expelling people of faith: Listen to the Richard Urban Show: https://www.visionroot.org/2020/06/04/will-we-seek-blessing-and-love-or-anarchy-and-chaos/ .

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

The Ten Commandments

Say, Come, I will recite what God has made a
sacred duty for you:
Ascribe nothing as equal with Him;
Be good to your parents;
Kill not your children on a plea of want—
we provide sustenance for you and for them;
Approach not lewd behavior whether open
or in secret,
Take not life, which God has made sacred,
except by way of justice and law. Thus does He
command you, that you may learn wisdom.
And approach not the property of the
orphan, except to improve it, until he attains
the age of maturity.
Give full measure and weight, in justice—
No burden do we place on any soul but that
which it can bear.
And if you give your word, do it justice, even
if a near relative is concerned; and fulfill your
obligations before God. Thus does He command you, that you may remember.
Verily, this is my straight Path: follow it, and
do not follow other paths which will separate
you from His Path. Thus does He command
you, that you may be righteous.
Qur’an 6.151-53

Seven precepts were commanded to the chil-
dren of Noah: social laws [civil justice]; to
refrain from blasphemy; idolatry; adultery;
bloodshed; robbery; and eating flesh cut from a
living animal. 8
Talmud, Sanhedrin 56a (Judaism)

You have heard that it was said to the men of
old, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall
be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that
every one who is angry with his brother shall be
liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother
shall be liable to the council, and whoever says,
“You fool!” shall be liable to the hell of fire…
You have heard that it was said, “You shall
not commit adultery.” But I say to you that every
one who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5.21-22, 27-28

Forgiveness, humility, straightforwardness,
purity, truthfulness, self-restraint, austerity,
renunciation, non-attachment and chastity
are the ten duties.
Tatthvarthasutra 9.6 (Jainism)

Not killing, no longer stealing, forsaking the
wives of others, refraining completely from false, divisive, harsh and senseless speech, forsaking covetousness, harmful intent and the views of Nihilists—these are the ten white paths of action, their opposites are black.
Nagarjuna, Precious Garland 8-9 (Buddhism)

Nonviolence, truthfulness, not stealing, purity,
control of the senses—this, in brief, says Manu,
is the Dharma for all the four castes. 9
Laws of Manu 10.63 (Hinduism)

The Noble Truth of the Path leading to the ces-
sation of suffering is this Noble Eightfold Path,
namely: right view, right aspiration, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.
What is right view? Knowledge of suffering,
knowledge of the arising of suffering, knowledge of the cessation of suffering, knowledge of the path leading to the cessation of suffering—this is called right view.
What is right aspiration? Aspiration for
renunciation, aspiration for non-malevolence,
aspiration for harmlessness—this is called right
aspiration.
What is right speech? Refraining from
lying speech, refraining from slanderous speech,
refraining from harsh speech, refraining from
gossip—this is called right speech.
What is right action? Refraining from
violence against creatures, refraining from
taking what has not been given, refraining from
going wrongly among the sense-pleasures, this is
called right action.
What is right livelihood? A disciple of the
Noble Ones, getting rid of a wrong mode of
livelihood, makes his living by a right mode of
livelihood. This is called right livelihood.
What is right effort? A monk generates
desire, effort, stirs up energy, exerts his mind
and strives for the non-arising of evil unskilled
states that have not arisen… for the getting rid
of evil unskilled states that have arisen… for the
arising of skilled states that have not arisen…
for the maintenance and completion of skilled
states that have arisen. This is called right
effort.
What is right mindfulness? A monk fares
along contemplating the body in the body… the
feelings in the feelings… the mind in the mind…
the mental states in the mental states… ardent,
clearly conscious of them, mindful of them so as

to control the covetousness and dejection in the
world. This is called right mindfulness.
And what is right concentration? A monk,
aloof from the pleasures of the senses, aloof from
unskilled states of mind, enters on and abides
in the first meditation which is accompanied by
initial thought and discursive thought, is born
of aloofness, is rapturous and joyful. By allaying initial thought and discursive thought, with the mind subjectively tranquilized and fixed on one point, he enters on and abides in the second meditation which is devoid of initial thought and discursive thought, is born of concentration, and is rapturous and joyful. By the fading out of rapture… he enters on and abides in the third meditation… the fourth meditation. This is called right concentration.
Majjhima Nikaya 3.251-52:
The Eight-Fold Path (Buddhism)

There are five universal ways in human rela-
tions… those governing the relationship
between ruler and minister, between father and
son, between husband and wife, between elder
and younger brothers, and those in the inter-
course between friends. These five are the uni-
versal ways in the world.
Doctrine of the Mean 20.79 (Confucianism)

The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Forbearance, Self-Control

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Galatians 5

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

Ezekiel 33

13 Suppose I promise good people that they will live, then later they start sinning and believe they will be saved by the good they did in the past. These people will certainly be put to death because of their sins. Their good deeds will be forgotten.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 2

Truth and Universal Law

Moral Law

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The way of prosperity is to follow God’s law. The reason is simple: God protects and helps anyone who follows God’s law because He wants to see His purpose of creation fulfilled. Hence, if we observe God’s law we will prosper. If we oppose God’s law and follows Satan’s law instead, we will perish, for God will strike us. (103:275, March 11, 1979)

How do we describe a person who lives in accordance with the law? Do we say he is arrogant? No, we say he or she is as an honest person. The Korean word for honesty (jeongjik) is composed of two Chinese characters, 正 meaning “right” and 直 meaning “straight.” The law establishes what is straight. With the law we separate good from evil and distinguish between right and wrong. (37:112, December 23, 1970)

This is a meter ruler. You cannot arbitrarily make your own meter different from the standard length. You have to measure distance according to the standard of the original meter. In other words, you should measure your words and deeds according to the original standard. (51:80, November 11, 1971)

The law of the universe, which upholds the welfare of the whole, is a proper standard of judgment. All human beings come before its court, and at the trial each is judged according to its statutes. What sort of people will be justified before the law of the universe? They are men and women who willingly sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the whole. On the other hand, those who dislike sacrifice, who pursue their individual interests and even take advantage of others, will be found guilty. Do you understand? So what kind of people are good people? They are people who work for the sake of others. What kind of acts are good acts? Surely, they are acts of self-sacrifice and service to benefit others. From this point of view, are today’s young people who live lives of self-indulgence good people or bad people? They are bad people, without a doubt. The law of the universe applies not only to human beings, but to the all beings in the material world. For instance, the cells of the eye cannot act as though everything in the body exists only for the eye. If the eye were to say to its owner, “Submit to me. If you as a human being, employ me for your sake, I, your eye, will rebel against you!” that kind of attitude would lead to its destruction. Rather, the cells of the eye exist for the benefit of the entire body. The eye should think, “Although my cells are precious, serving my owner is the public purpose, so I will follow the law of the universe.”
That which is public has greater value. This can be affirmed in every instance. Since we know this principle, we cannot complain. (105:93, September 30, 1979)