Category: Jeremiah

God Has Been Creating the Religious, Political and Economic Environment Conducive to the Work of Christ at His Second Coming

Hebrews 11

35 Some women received their loved ones back from death. Many of these people were tortured, but they refused to be released. They were sure that they would get a better reward when the dead are raised to life. 36 Others were made fun of and beaten with whips, and some were chained in jail. 37 Still others were stoned to death or sawed in two or killed with swords. Some had nothing but sheep skins or goat skins to wear. They were poor, mistreated, and tortured. 38 The world did not deserve these good people, who had to wander in deserts and on mountains and had to live in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All of them pleased God because of their faith! But still they died without being given what had been promised. 40 This was because God had something better in store for us. And he did not want them to reach the goal of their faith without us.

Richard: With the teachings you are studying, we can fulfill “something better in store for us”.

Jeremiah 22

24 King Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, even if you were the ring I wear as the sign of my royal power, I would still pull you from my finger. 25 I would hand you over to the enemy you fear, to King Nebuchadnezzar and his army, who want to kill you. 26 You and your mother were born in Judah, but I will throw both of you into a foreign country, where you will die, 27 longing to return home.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

THE PERIOD OF ISRAEL’S EXILE AND RETURN AND THE PERIOD OF THE PAPAL EXILE AND RETURN

 By falling into faithlessness without repentance, the people of Israel failed to realize the ideal of God’s nation founded upon the Temple. God had the people suffer hardships as exiles in Babylon. This was similar to when God had the Israelites suffer as slaves in Egypt.  The emperors and popes became corrupt and did not repent. The popes did not lay the spiritual foundation upon which the emperors could stand as the central figures for the foundation of substance. Therefore, the foundation for the Second Advent of Christ was not established. To begin a new dispensation to restore this foundation, God allowed the popes to be taken into exile and suffer captivity. In the earlier parallel period, nearly seventy years elapsed from the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took into captivity King Jehoiachin and his royal family, as well as prophets including Daniel and Ezekiel, priests, officials, craftsmen and many other Israelites, until the fall of Babylon and their liberation by the royal decree of King Cyrus.14 It then took another 140 years for the exiles to return to their homeland in three waves, until they fully reformed themselves as a nation united around the Will of God as proclaimed in the messianic prophecies of Malachi. Henceforth, they began to prepare for the coming of the Messiah.

This period of approximately 210 years ran from 1309, with the papacy’s seventy years of exile in Avignon, through the Great Schism, the conciliar movement and the restoration of papal authority in the Roman church, to the eve of the Protestant Reformation spearheaded by Martin Luther in 1517. Its purpose was to restore through indemnity, in the form of substantial parallels, the 210-year period of Israel’s exile and return—from Israel’s seventy years of exile in Babylon through the stages of the returning to Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple, until the reform of politics and religion under the leadership of Ezra, Nehemiah and the prophet Malachi.

THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH AND THE PERIOD OF PREPARATION FOR THE SECOND ADVENT OF THE MESSIAH

 Following the period of Israel’s exile and return, another four hundred years elapsed before Jesus came. This was the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah. Likewise, Christianity is to meet Christ at his Second Advent only after passing through four hundred years of the period of preparation for the Second Advent of the Messiah, which has followed the period of papal exile and return. It should restore through indemnity in the form of substantial parallels the period of preparation for the advent of the Messiah.

Upon returning from the Babylonian exile, the Israelites established the foundation of faith by repenting of their past sin of idolatry, rebuilding the Temple15 which had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar, and reforming their faith based on the Mosaic Law under the guidance of Ezra the scribe.16 They then began to prepare for the coming of the Messiah according to the word of the prophet Malachi. Likewise, after the papacy’s return to Rome, medieval Christians established the foundation of faith by seeking to reform the Roman church; these efforts culminated in the Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther. This movement pierced the gloom of medieval Europe with the light of the Gospel and pioneered new paths of faith.

Meanwhile, among the world’s peoples, God founded religions suited to their regions and cultures by which they could make the necessary internal preparations to receive the Messiah. In India, God established Buddhism through Gautama Buddha (565-485 B.C.) as a new development out of Hinduism. In Greece, God inspired Socrates (470-399 B.C.) and opened the brilliant age of classical Greek civilization. In the Far East, God raised up Confucius (552-479 B.C.), whose teachings of Confucianism established the standard of human ethics. Jesus was to come upon this worldwide foundation of preparation, and through his teachings he was to bring together Judaism, Hellenism, Buddhism and Confucianism. He was to unify all religions and civilizations into one worldwide civilization founded upon the Christian Gospel.

 Since the Renaissance, God has been creating the religious, political and economic environment conducive to the work of Christ at his Second Coming.  Beginning with the Renaissance, progress in virtually every field of human endeavor, including politics, economy, culture and science, has increased at a rapid rate. Today, these fields have reached their zenith and have created a global environment conducive to the work of Christ at his Second Coming. In Jesus’ day, the Roman Empire ruled the vast domains around the Mediterranean Sea, integrated by an advanced and extensive transportation system reaching out in all directions. This was the center of a vast Hellenistic civilization founded on the Greek language. Thus, all the necessary preparations had been made for a swift transmission of the teachings of the Messiah from Israel, where Jesus lived, to Rome and the world. Similarly, in the present era of the Second Advent, the influence of the Western powers has expanded the democratic political sphere throughout the world. The rapid progress of transportation and communication has greatly bridged the gap between East and West, and the extensive contact among languages and cultures has brought the world much closer together. These developments characterize an environment in which the teachings of the returning Christ can freely and swiftly be conveyed to the hearts of all humankind.

View slides 52 to 71 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p2-CHAPT-4-Parallels-betw-the-Two-Ages_revised-4-28-2014

God Predestines the Accomplishment of His Will Conditionally

Matthew 12

22 Some people brought to Jesus a man who was blind and could not talk because he had a demon in him. Jesus healed the man, and then he was able to talk and see. 23 The crowds were so amazed that they asked, “Could Jesus be the Son of David?”

Jeremiah 22

If you obey me, the kings from David’s family will continue to rule Judah from this palace. They and their officials will ride in and out on their horses or in their chariots. 5 But if you ignore me, I promise in my own name that this palace will lie in ruins. 6 Listen to what I think about it:

The palace of Judah’s king
is as glorious as Gilead
    or Lebanon’s highest peaks.
But it will be as empty
as a ghost-town
    when I’m through with it.
7 I’ll send troops to tear it apart,
and its beautiful cedar beams
    will be used for firewood.

8 People from different nations will pass by and ask, “Why did the Lord do this to such a great city as Jerusalem?” 9 Others will answer, “It’s because the people worshiped foreign gods and broke the agreement that the Lord their God had made with them.”

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

Predestination

Theological controversy over predestination has caused great confusion in the religious lives of many people. Let us begin by examining the source of this controversy. In the Bible, we find many passages which are often interpreted to mean that everything in an individual’s life—prosperity and decline, happiness and misery, salvation and damnation, as well as the rise and fall of nations—comes to pass exactly as predestined by God.

Yet we can also find sufficient evidence in the Bible to refute the doctrine of absolute predestination.  Since there are ample grounds in the Bible to justify either of these two contrasting doctrines, controversy over the issue of predestination has been inevitable. How can the Principle solve this problem?

THE PREDESTINATION OF GOD’S WILL

 Before discussing the predestination of God’s Will, let us first examine what is being willed. Let us remember: God could not accomplish His purpose of creation due to the human Fall. Accordingly, God’s Will in carrying out His providence for fallen humanity is still to accomplish the purpose of creation. In this sense, God’s Will is that restoration be accomplished.

 To what extent does God predestine His Will—the ultimate accomplishment of the purpose of creation? God is the absolute Being, unique, eternal and unchanging; therefore, the purpose of His creation must also be absolute, unique, eternal and unchanging. Likewise, His Will for the providence of restoration, the goal of which is the accomplishment of the purpose of creation, must also be absolute, unique and unchanging. It follows that God’s predestination of His Will—that the purpose of creation one day be fulfilled—must also be absolute, as it is written, “I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.”

THE PREDESTINATION OF THE WAY IN WHICH GOD’S WILL IS FULFILLED

 According to the Principle of Creation, God’s purpose of creation can be realized only when human beings complete their portion of responsibility. Although God’s Will to realize this purpose through the providence of restoration is absolute and beyond human influence, its fulfillment necessarily requires the accomplishment of the human portion of responsibility.

To what extent does God predestine the unfolding of the events in the providence? Although God’s Will to realize the purpose of the providence of restoration is absolute, God predestines the process of its accomplishment conditionally, contingent upon the five percent responsibility of the central figure, which must be completed in addition to the ninety-five percent responsibility of God. The proportion of five percent is used to indicate that the human portion of responsibility is extremely small when compared to God’s portion of responsibility. Yet for human beings, this five percent is equivalent to one hundred percent of our effort.

View slides 1 to 16 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p1-CHAPT-6-Predestination_revised-4-28-2014

Heaven Allows Evil Spirits to Torment Us as Punishment for Sin

1 Corinthians 16

13 Keep alert. Be firm in your faith. Stay brave and strong. 14 Show love in everything you do.

Jeremiah 34

-10 King Zedekiah, his officials, and everyone else in Jerusalem made an agreement to free all Hebrew men and women who were slaves. No Jew would keep another as a slave. And so, all the Jewish slaves were given their freedom.

11 But those slave owners changed their minds and forced their former slaves back into slavery.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

Chapter 6
Resurrection

THE PROVIDENCE OF RESURRECTION

2.1 HOW DOES GOD CARRY OUT HIS WORK OF RESURRECTION?

 Resurrection means the process through which a fallen person is restored to the original state as intended by God. The providence of resurrection thus means the providence of restoration. Since the providence of restoration is God’s work of re-creation, resurrection is a work of re-creation. Thus, the providence of resurrection is carried out in accordance with the Principle of Creation, in the following manner.

 The merit of the age in the providence of restoration has increased in proportion to the foundation of heart laid by the prophets, sages and righteous people who came before us. Therefore, resurrection is carried out based on the merit of the age. Second, according to the Principle of Creation, in conducting the providence of resurrection, God’s responsibility is to give us His Word and guidance, and our responsibility is to believe and practice it in order to fulfill the providence. Third, according to the Principle of Creation, the resurrection of a spirit can be achieved only through earthly life. Fourth, according to the Principle of Creation, the providence of resurrection for fallen people is also to be completed through three ordered stages, manifested as three ages in the providence of restoration.

2.2 THE PROVIDENCE OF RESURRECTION FOR PEOPLE ON EARTH

2.2.1 THE PROVIDENCE TO LAY THE FOUNDATION FOR RESURRECTION

The two thousand years from Adam to Abraham resulted in the establishment of the foundation upon which God could begin His providence of resurrection in the following age. For this reason, we may call this period the age of the providence to lay the foundation for resurrection.

2.2.2 THE PROVIDENCE OF FORMATION-STAGE RESURRECTION

During the two thousand years from Abraham to Jesus, God worked to raise people to the formation stage of resurrection. Hence, this era may be called the age of the providence of formation-stage resurrection. This era has been called the age of justification by works. The people of this era who practiced the Law in their daily life were resurrected in spirit to the formation stage and became form spirits.

2.2.3 THE PROVIDENCE OF GROWTH-STAGE RESURRECTION

 Due to the crucifixion of Jesus, resurrection was left incomplete, and its completion has been delayed until the time of his return. The two thousand years since then have been a time of prolongation, during which God has worked the providence to resurrect people to the growth stage through spiritual salvation. Hence, this era may be called the age of the providence of growth-stage resurrection. This era has been called the age of justification by faith. Upon their death, those who became life spirits while on earth enter and abide in Paradise, the life-spirit level of the spirit world.

2.2.4 THE PROVIDENCE OF COMPLETION-STAGE RESURRECTION

 The era when people are to be resurrected both spiritually and physically through the returning Christ and complete the providence of resurrection is called the age of the providence of completion-stage resurrection. Christ at the Second Advent brings the new truth. This era is called the age of justification by attendance. When they shed their physical bodies, as spirits they will enter and abide in the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven, which is the divine-spirit level of the spirit world.

2.3 THE PROVIDENCE OF RESURRECTION FOR SPIRITS

2.3.1 THE PURPOSE AND THE WAY OF RETURNING RESURRECTION

The spirits of people who died before they could reach perfection during their earthly life can be resurrected only by returning to earth and completing their unaccomplished responsibility through cooperation with earthly people. By assisting people of faith living on the earth to fulfill their missions, the spirits may complete their missions at the same time.

2.3.2 THE RETURNING RESURRECTION OF THE SPIRITS OF ISRAELITES AND CHRISTIANS

2.3.2.1 GROWTH-STAGE RETURNING RESURRECTION Spirits of those who kept the Mosaic Law and worshipped God sincerely while living on earth during the Old Testament Age came to abide at the form-spirit level of the spirit world. After the advent of Jesus, these spirits all returned to earth and assisted faithful people on earth to accomplish the Will of God. By thus helping the people to attain the level of life spirit, they too received the same benefit: namely, they became life spirits and entered Paradise. We call this dispensation growth-stage returning resurrection.

2.3.2.2 COMPLETION-STAGE RETURNING RESURRECTION

 The spirits of people who believed in Jesus while they lived on earth during the New Testament Age became life spirits and entered Paradise after death. After the Second Advent, these spirits will all return to the earth to help faithful people believe in and attend the returning Christ. By thus helping people on earth to attain the level of divine spirit, they too will receive the same benefit and become divine spirits. When the earthly saints pass over to the next world and enter the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven, the returning spirits will also enter the Kingdom. This dispensation is called completion-stage returning resurrection.

 2.3.3 THE RETURNING RESURRECTION OF SPIRITS WHO ABIDE OUTSIDE PARADISE

 First, let us examine the returning resurrection of spirits who believed in religions other than Christianity during their lifetime. A spirit who returns to the earth for his resurrection seeks a counterpart among the earthly people of the religion in which he believed during his earthly life. A spirit descends to the person of his choice and guides him. When he helps that person fulfill the purpose of the providence of restoration, they both receive the same benefit. Second, let us examine the returning resurrection of spirits who lived a conscientious life even though they did not believe in a religion. These good spirits descend to good people on earth and cooperate with them in order to help them fulfill the purpose of God’s providence of restoration. In the process, the spirits receive the same benefits as the people they have helped. Third, let us examine the returning resurrection of evil spirits.

 The works of evil spirits do not always bear fruit and result in their receiving the benefit of returning resurrection. To receive such benefit, their works must have the effect of punishing earthly people, thereby enlisting their help in making indemnity conditions in accordance with God’s plan to cleanse evil spirits through punishment. [Blue Part] How, then, can the works of evil spirits result in casting judgment on behalf of Heaven? Let us take an example. Suppose there is a person living on earth who, based on the merit of the age, is about to graduate from his current sphere of benefit to a higher sphere of benefit. He cannot graduate to the new sphere of benefit unless he first makes some condition of indemnity to remove the sins of the past. In the case of graduating from the family sphere to the clan sphere, a person must pay the debt of sin both for himself and for the ancestors of his clan. Heaven allows evil spirits to torment him as punishment for this sin. If he willingly endures the suffering given by the evil spirits and overcomes it, he will have successfully paid the indemnity through this condition and thus be entitled to enter the higher sphere of benefit at the clan level. The evil spirits who have tormented him receive a corresponding benefit [End Blue Part]

View slides 22 to 44 below for an illustrated presentation of the above content:

2007p1-CHAPT-5-Resurrection_revised-4-28-2014

Throughout History People Have Anguished Over the Fundamental Questions of Life and the Universe

Read the latest Urban Life Training Newsletter: https://www.urbanlifetraining.org/index.php/newsletters/337-newsletter-01-21-20 .

Acts 17

16 While Paul was waiting in Athens, he was upset to see all the idols in the city. 17 He went to the Jewish meeting place to speak to the Jews and to anyone who worshiped with them. Day after day he also spoke to everyone he met in the market. 18 Some of them were Epicureans and some were Stoics, and they started arguing with him.

Jeremiah

50 The Lord told me to say:

Announce what will happen
and don’t leave anything out.
2     Raise the signal flags;
shout so all nations can hear—
    Babylon will be captured!

Marduk, Babylon’s god,
will be ashamed and terrified,
    and his idols broken.
3 The attack on the Babylonians
    will come from the north;
they and their animals will run,
    leaving the land empty.

Exposition of the Divine Principle
3 Color Edition-The Red part

The Principle of Creation

Throughout history, people have anguished over the fundamental
questions of human life and the universe without arriving at satisfying
answers. This is because no one has understood the root principle by
which humanity and the universe were originally created. To approach
this topic properly, it is not enough to examine resultant reality. The fundamental question is that of the causal reality. Problems concerning
human life and the universe cannot be solved without first understanding
the nature of God.

THE DUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD
AND THE CREATED UNIVERSE

1.1 THE DUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF GOD

How can we know the divine nature of the invisible God? One way
to fathom His deity is by observing the universe which He created.
As such, each stands in a relationship to God. Just as we can come to know the character of an artist through his works, so we can understand the
nature of God by observing the diverse things of creation.
Let us begin by pointing out the common elements which are found
universally throughout the natural world. Every entity possesses dual
characteristics of yang (masculinity) and yin (femininity) and comes into
existence only when these characteristics have formed reciprocal relationships, both within the entity and between it and other entities.
However, there is another pair of dual characteristics in reciprocal
relationship which are even more fundamental to existence than the dual
characteristics of yang and yin. Every entity possesses both an outer form
and an inner quality. The visible outer form resembles the invisible
inner quality. The inner quality, though invisible, possesses a certain
structure which is manifested visibly in the particular outer form. The
inner quality is called internal nature, and the outer form or shape is
called external form. Since internal nature and external form refer to
corresponding inner and outer aspects of the same entity, the external
form may also be understood as a second internal nature. Therefore, the
internal nature and external form together constitute dual characteristics.
Probing deeper still, we search for the Ultimate Cause which
brought this energy, with its elements of internal nature and external form, into existence. This being would be the First Cause of all
the myriad things in the universe. As the First Cause, it must also possess the dual characteristics of internal nature and external form,
which stand in the position of subject partner to the internal natures
and external forms of all beings. We call this First Cause of the universe God, and we call God’s internal nature and external form the
original internal nature and original external form.
It is only natural to surmise that God, the First Cause of all things, also exists based on the reciprocal relationship between the dual characteristics of yang and yin.
God is the Subject in whom the dual characteristics of
original internal nature and original external form are in harmony. At
the same time, God is the harmonious union of masculinity and femininity, which manifest the qualities of original internal nature and original external form, respectively. In relation to the universe, God is the
subject partner having the qualities of internal nature and masculinity.

View slides 1-25 below to see the above content with illustrations:

2007p1-CHAPT-1-Creation_revised-4-28-2014-red-part

Home Church is the Basis for Loving Everything

Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Day!

Daniel 11

20 The next king of the north will try to collect taxes for the glory of his kingdom. However, he will come to a sudden end in some mysterious way, instead of in battle or because of someone’s anger.

Jeremiah 25

4 The Lord has sent prophets to you time after time, but you refused to listen. 5 They told you that the Lord had said:

Change your ways! If you stop doing evil, I will let you stay forever in this land that I gave your ancestors. 6 I don’t want to harm you. So don’t make me angry by worshiping idols and other gods.

Selected Passages from the Words of Rev. Sun Myung Moon about Home Church

Today’s Word magazine, September 1981 pp. 15 – 16

Prepare for your husband or wife
I want you to feel that home church is a
training ground for your future married life and
that all who oppose you are merely doing so to
train you to live with your future spouse and
in-laws. (5/27/79)

Home church is the basis for loving everything,
even your wife and husband. Think that in going
to your home church, you are going to your wife’s
or husband’s house. You must go to that place and
love them, and find your husband or wife and
your parents there. ( 1/7/79)

There should actually be no Blessing before
home church is completed. From this time on, no
one is automatically eligible for the Blessing
simply because he has been a member for a
certain number of years. Only those who succeed
in home church and restore spiritual children are
qualified for the Blessing. Jesus first restored
his three major disciples, and then the group of 12.
Those 12 plus his 72 followers established the
number 84. Thus, 84 spiritual children is an
important number for us to fulfill, and it must
be done within seven years, bringing one person
per month. After Jesus had 84 people completely
united with him, he could have had the holy
wedding. ( 1/1/79)

Prepare for your children

Only upon the victorious foundation of home
church can you bear sinless children, just as
perfected Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
would have borne sinless children. No one shall be
able to stand against that pure child. You must
fulfill all the conditions of home church before
God’s Blessing comes to you to be husband and
wife.
When you are united as husband and wife upon
this home church foundation and give birth to
your children, then you will rise to the parental
level. Your children will be born upon the founda-
tion of your success in home church, and all your
labor there will be reaped by them. In that case,
you will truly have a foundation upon which to
receive God’s abundant blessing. Then, because
the Cain and Abel separation has already been
resolved in your home church, no stain will remain
to affect your children, so God will gladly
embrace you and your children. Unless you stand
victorious in home church, however, you will pass
on that duty and responsibility to your children,
who will then have to undergo that tribulation
themselves. (5/27/79)

Home church people will give the true blessing
and honor to your children. We know your father
and mother very well, they will say, and they are
true saints. We saw God through your parents.
Then they will embrace and love and cherish your
children. Just as you cherish my children, your
home church people will pray for blessing for
your children as well. (6/1/79)

If you fail in home church, your children will
ask you why. Your children will ask how many
times you shed tears for home church. They will
say, Even if you had to neglect me and couldn’t
feed me, even if you abandoned me, you should
have followed God’s instruction, God’s way of
life and TI-ue Father’s instructions. Why didn’t
you? When your children accuse you in that way.
what will you say? There will be no answer.
(4/16/80)