The Ladder of Love is Being Disconnected

Genesis 46

33 The king will call you in and ask what you do for a living. 34 When he does, be sure to say, “We are shepherds. Our families have always raised sheep.” If you tell him this, he will let you settle in the region of Goshen.

Joseph wanted them to say this to the king, because the Egyptians did not like to be around anyone who raised sheep.

Matthew 20

20 As Jesus was telling what the kingdom of heaven would be like, he said:

Early one morning a man went out to hire some workers for his vineyard. After he had agreed to pay them the usual amount for a day’s work, he sent them off to his vineyard.

About nine that morning, the man saw some other people standing in the market with nothing to do. He said he would pay them what was fair, if they would work in his vineyard. So they went.

At noon and again about three in the afternoon he returned to the market. And each time he made the same agreement with others who were loafing around with nothing to do.

Finally, about five in the afternoon the man went back and found some others standing there. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”

“Because no one has hired us,” they answered. Then he told them to go work in his vineyard.

That evening the owner of the vineyard told the man in charge of the workers to call them in and give them their money. He also told the man to begin with the ones who were hired last. When the workers arrived, the ones who had been hired at five in the afternoon were given a full day’s pay.

10 The workers who had been hired first thought they would be given more than the others. But when they were given the same, 11 they began complaining to the owner of the vineyard. 12 They said, “The ones who were hired last worked for only one hour. But you paid them the same that you did us. And we worked in the hot sun all day long!”

13 The owner answered one of them, “Friend, I didn’t cheat you. I paid you exactly what we agreed on. 14 Take your money now and go! What business is it of yours if I want to pay them the same that I paid you? 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Why should you be jealous, if I want to be generous?”

16 Jesus then said, “So it is. Everyone who is now first will be last, and everyone who is last will be first.”

Humankind Wanders In Search of the Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
December 21, 1958

Matthew 7:1-12

The fall was the loss of God’s love. When we think of the course of the fall, through what kind of path did it go? At the very first, Eve lost God’s love. Next, Adam lost God’s love and their children did the same. You know this very well. Human history was the history of losing love.

Who was the first person to step forth after having discussed love? It was Eve. Who was the next? It was Adam. Next were Cain and Abel. These are the archetypes of fallen history. This model of fallen history took place in the beginning. Individuals have been walking through this kind of history ever since.

Love is a center that can command the whole universe. It is a subjective center, a commanding center, and a tolerating center. This is the ideology of love. This ideology was to be the foundation of history. Continue reading “The Ladder of Love is Being Disconnected”

God is the Lord All Powerful

Genesis 47

13 The famine was bad everywhere in Egypt and Canaan, and the people were suffering terribly. 14 So Joseph sold them the grain that had been stored up, and he put the money[a] in the king’s treasury. 15 But when everyone had run out of money, the Egyptians came to Joseph and demanded, “Give us more grain! If you don’t, we’ll soon be dead, because our money’s all gone.”

Isaiah 44

I am the Lord All-Powerful,
the first and the last,
    the one and only God.
Israel, I have rescued you!
    I am your King.
Can anyone compare with me?
If so, let them speak up
    and tell me now.
Let them say what has happened
since I made my nation
    long ago,
and let them tell
    what is going to happen.
Don’t tremble with fear!
Didn’t I tell you long ago?
    Didn’t you hear me?
I alone am God—
no one else is a mighty rock.

Humankind Wanders In Search of the Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
December 21, 1958

Matthew 7:1-12

Don’t condemn others, and God won’t condemn you. God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them.

You can see the speck in your friend’s eye, but you don’t notice the log in your own eye. How can you say, “My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye,” when you don’t see the log in your own eye? You’re nothing but show-offs! First, take the log out of your own eye. Then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend’s eye.

Don’t give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only turn and attack you. Don’t throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample all over them.

Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread? 10 Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish? 11 As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.

12 Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets[a] are all about.

Prayer

Father of love, human beings were to oversee the ideal garden of love and hold Your love in high regard. Yet ever since we rejected the heart of the Father, who wished to build the ideal garden of love, we have been leaving sorrowful footprints of blood and tears throughout several thousand years of restoration history. Please forgive us.

We are aware that now is the time when we must yearn for the Father’s lost love. The final day of restoration is coming near, when we cannot help standing on the Father’s side, having discovered the Father’s heart. Father of love, please raise us today and newly give us counsel. Since You have called us, please admonish us anew. Father, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You will allow us to bow in the presence of the Father with a blissful and glorious countenance, having eliminated the sorrow of restoration.

Please do not allow our minds and bodies to remain only as our own. Please allow all things, from the emotions that we feel to the concepts or doctrines or assertions that we have, not to be ours. We know that nothing originated from us and that all things were affected by Heaven. Father of love, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You allow us in this hour to offer up the whole to the Father. Continue reading “God is the Lord All Powerful”

Replace the Sorrow, Anguish and Anger of the Father with Your Own

Genesis 47

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and introduced him to the king. Jacob gave the king his blessing, and the king asked him, “How old are you?”

Jacob answered, “I have lived only a hundred thirty years, and I have had to move from place to place. My parents and my grandparents also had to move from place to place. But they lived much longer, and their life was not as hard as mine.” 10 Then Jacob gave the king his blessing once again and left. 11 Joseph obeyed the king’s orders and gave his father and brothers some of the best land in Egypt near the city of Rameses. 12 Joseph also provided food for their families.

Ezra 8

35 Those who had returned from exile offered sacrifices on the altar to the God of Israel. Twelve bulls were offered for all Israel. Ninety-six rams and seventy-seven[o] lambs were offered on the altar. And twelve goats were sacrificed for the sins of the people. 36 Some of those who had returned took the king’s orders to the governors and officials in Western Province. Then the officials did what they could for the people and for the temple of God.

Richard:  Let us offer gratitude to God by working to save His lost children.

Let Us Become Beloved Children and Receive the Seals

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 14, 1958

John 10:31-36

We have the tradition and connection left behind by the believers in history. If anyone forgets this, it would be an ungrateful betrayal of the universe, which incorporates the heavenly way and the human way. Now is the time to realize this.

In the internal life of faith, what is the first thing you should feel and find before the heavenly way? It is not joy, happiness nor glory. Since humanity has brought sorrow to Heaven, the first thing to find is heavenly sorrow, which has been ruling the earth. You should know that despite time and place, the seekers of the truth are the ones who are carrying the cross and establishing the altar of heavenly appeal under unjust oppression to remove the heavenly tears. Continue reading “Replace the Sorrow, Anguish and Anger of the Father with Your Own”

Discern Who the Lord of the Second Coming Is

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Genesis 45

14 Joseph and Benjamin hugged each other and started crying. 15 Joseph was still crying as he kissed each of his other brothers. After this, they started talking with Joseph.

Proverbs 1

These are the proverbs
of King Solomon of Israel,
    the son of David.
Proverbs will teach you
    wisdom and self-control
    and how to understand
    sayings with deep meanings.
You will learn what is right
    and honest and fair.
From these, an ordinary person
    can learn to be smart,
    and young people can gain
    knowledge and good sense.

If you are already wise,
    you will become even wiser.
And if you are smart,
you will learn to understand
    proverbs and sayings,
as well as words of wisdom
    and all kinds of riddles.
Respect and obey the Lord!
This is the beginning
    of knowledge.[a]
    Only a fool rejects wisdom
    and good advice.

The True Shepherd and His Flock; the False Shepherd and His Flock

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
April 6, 1958

What must you become? You must become God’s flock of sheep. For the last 6,000 years, God has been calling for and looking for a flock of true sheep over whom Heaven and earth can rejoice. Moreover, He is seeking that flock of sheep today. He will seek them tomorrow too.

Where is the flock of sheep God and Jesus can rejoice over? If you want to become a true flock of sheep, you must be able to discern the voice of the true shepherd. In the same way that there are two worlds representing the internal and external ideology of God, there is an appeal for the truth which represents the internal world and an appeal for the truth which represents the external world.
Continue reading “Discern Who the Lord of the Second Coming Is”

Flee From Immorality

CSG 2272

We know only too well that their
failure laid the ground for the bitter
anguish of a sad history. Through the
Fall we became distanced from God’s
laws, lost our true selves and trampled
upon God’s heart. And so, to recover
our true selves and the world of heart,
we have been groping to find our way
back through the course of restoration
according to the Word.
Fallen humankind fell to a position
more evil than that of any other form
of creation, a sorrowful position where-
in we cannot freely communicate with
God. Human beings cannot recover
from this fallen state on their own, so
God has enlightened them as He carried
out the history of re-creation. You should
know that by passing through the posi-
tions of servant, adopted son and son,
victorious dominion was attained and
that even the position of the True Par-
ents was restored. (14-239, 1965.1.1)

Jeremiah 31

33 Here is the new agreement that I, the Lord, will make with the people of Israel:

“I will write my laws
    on their hearts and minds.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.

34 “No longer will they have to teach one another to obey me. I, the Lord, promise that all of them will obey me, ordinary people and rulers alike. I will forgive their sins and forget the evil things they have done.”

Continue reading “Flee From Immorality”