Category: Joshua

Jesus Walked a Lonely Path

Happy Veterans Day!  Thank you to all who have served in the armed forces.

Watch the latest Richard Urban show: Who is Really in Charge of the Sanctuary Church? https://youtu.be/DDQL4QhwfsM

Joshua 19

35-39 The Naphtali clans received this region as their tribal land, and it included nineteen towns with their surrounding villages. The following towns had walls around them:

Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, Adamah, Ramah, Hazor, Kedesh, Edrei, Enhazor, Iron, Migdalel, Horem, Beth-Anath, and Beth-Shemesh.

Jeremiah 11

11 Here is what I’ve decided to do. I will bring suffering on the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and no one will escape. They will beg me to help, but I won’t listen to their prayers. 12-13 Then they will offer sacrifices to their other gods and ask them for help. After all, the people of Judah have more gods than towns, and more altars for Baal than there are streets in Jerusalem. But those gods won’t be able to rescue the people of Judah from disaster.

Members Who Will Live In God’s Family

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 27, 1959

Matthew 12: 46-50

46 While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and brothers came and stood outside because they wanted to talk with him. 47 Someone told Jesus, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside and want to talk with you.”[a]

48 Jesus answered, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, “These are my mother and my brothers! 50 Anyone who obeys my Father in heaven is my brother or sister or mother.”

Prayer

Father, we came here from many different places. We were born as the children of many different people. We cannot help but think about the many intertwined causes and situations which burden us with debt today.

Father, there are good people here and those who are not so good. The state and form of man’s mind and body vary infinitely. Yet our deepest desire for truth and the highest goodness, and our longing for the original Father, our God, will never change.

The Father does not seek external forms or appearances but is eager to awaken our original selves, hidden deep inside our hearts. He is eager to find the hearts of those who long for Him. Please allow us to experience and realize this in the depths of our hearts. Please allow us to realize that if we cannot recognize this truth and demonstrate it, there is no meaning to our gathering here today.

When we think about how hard You have worked to find the kind of people You wished for during the complex course of conflict in history, we feel that we could not have become what we are today by virtue of our own efforts alone.

When we were born on the earth, we were born into relationships above us, below us, in front of us, in back, and to the left and right. Please allow us to understand that these relationships are somehow prompting us to seek the value of the one perfect purpose, or the reciprocal value of the whole. Please help us realize that Heaven is above; below us the history of goodness is moving with the heavenly principles; in front of us is the world of hope; and to our left and right are our colleagues and relatives. Please help us become sons and daughters who can sense this reality and hold onto our original hearts as we observe all these and make our utmost efforts to build all these relationships.

If there is someone who forgets everything they have and who struggles desperately against their attachments, even if they walk out of step with their generation and are opposed in their daily life, they will be raised up before Heaven in the Last Days. We came here longing for and seeking such a path. Father, please command us. Please speak to us. We yearn for the Father’s heart in our hearts. Father, if something displeases You, please allow us to experience it as our own reality. If there is something which causes You distress, please allow us to experience it through our bodies. Please allow us to become sons and daughters who can sense the Father’s existence, demonstrating it through our bodies. Allow us to bow before the Father in gratitude.

Even if we are evil and chained in sin, please allow us to experience in a real way that Heaven is looking at us with pity. We know that those who should be here are those who understand that they are the greatest sinners. They are those who understand that there is no way to pay the indemnity they owe. They bear a heavier burden the more they go forward and the more they feel and understand. We cannot help but feel that unless we remove our own assertions and concepts, we cannot enter Heaven.

Father, Your sons and daughters have gathered here. Since they have come here, please do not let their visit be in vain. Since we came together as assigned by fate, please do not let this meeting become meaningless. We sincerely wish our relationships not to be humanistic. Please let them develop into relationships of the original nature, heart and life.

What should I speak of? We want only the Father’s heart to be manifested and the Father to appear before us. We want to feel the sung-sang of the Father concretely. Please let us sense during this hour that we are brothers. Please let the members who represent You build one altar before You. Father, this is our sincere wish.

Please bless all the churches who have gathered on behalf of the thirty million people of this nation. Please bless Your sons and daughters who are lying prostrated before You on behalf of the 2.7 billion people of the world.

Although our ancestors fought against evil, that fight has not come to an end yet. Please allow us to understand how to cope with this conflict and be fully prepared internally and externally as brave soldiers representing Heaven. Let us become sons and daughters who can stand before humanity and all people.

We witnessed Jesus’ sorrow in the Bible verses that were just recited. Although Jesus was born in Joseph’s family and had parents, siblings, relatives and kinsmen, he walked a lonely path. Father! Please allow us to connect with the sorrowful situation of Jesus. We sincerely wish that during this hour You will reveal the knowledge of Heaven which must be revealed.

We wish to offer our minds and bodies to You, and we wish that everything will come together as the Father’s. Father, hoping that You will protect us directly, we prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

If You Obtain Success that God Does Not Permit, You Will Perish

Joshua 2

21 “I’ll do exactly what you said,” Rahab promised. Then she sent them on their way and tied the red rope to the window.

22 The spies hid in the hills for three days while the king’s soldiers looked for them along the roads. As soon as the soldiers gave up and returned to Jericho, 23 the two spies went down into the Jordan valley and crossed the river. They reported to Joshua and told him everything that had happened. 24 “We’re sure the Lord has given us the whole country,” they said. “The people there shake with fear every time they think of us.”

Proverbs 3

Honor the Lord by giving him
your money
    and the first part
    of all your crops.
10 Then you will have
more grain and grapes
    than you will ever need.

I Am Relating With Two Worlds

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 20, 1959

Now the direction is being reversed. Heaven will become the earth, and earth will become Heaven. Human beings have to become the center. This is a time for change. Since it is a transition time, we should become central beings of Heaven and earth and the lords of the universe. Heaven is not the center of the universe. God created human beings for the purpose of raising them up as the lords of the universe who represent His authority.

To reach that standard, you have to lay the foundation to solve problems ourselves with experience from our hearts. To pursue the path which can resolve problems from our minds and hearts, we need to search for the one direction. What are we to do after we find the direction? We are to look in the four directions around that direction. After looking around in four directions, we should find out what they are like and then look at the heavenly nature. Only then can you understand the state you are in.

The religion and ideas that you have now cannot serve as a perfect standard for your minds, heart and ideology. Why not? Because it is written that as a new era comes, all of them will fade away. Since our religions and thoughts have not become the perfect standard for our minds, hearts and ideology, the time has come when something new must become our center. This is such a time. You and I are in the same position. Jesus said that his disciples were not his servants but his friends. We are in the same position. The universe is not lofty. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with the universe.

No denomination has the quality of all directions. They are all one-sided. For this reason those who decide upon the heavenly heart as the center must be critical of their one-directionality and be open to the four directions. Should the mind and body always be in conflict? The mind should conquer the body. Then the standard by which the mind can guide the body to all four directions should be established. That is how it should be. Otherwise, there won’t be a perfect solution.

For this reason you are not to sit still. Wait idle and see what will happen. You are not to boast, “I am great,” or “I am some great scholar.” People talk about this scholar and that scholar, but scientists are better than most of them. Other scholars will find that things may turn upside down. They should not be so proud. They should realize that they have greater responsibility. Those who mislead other minds with their hypothetical theories and malign the ways of Heaven will face eternal accusation once they go to the next world.

You all want to become heroes, right? If you try to become a hero that you were not born to become, you will be struck by lightning. You want to become great and successful, but if you attain success that God does not permit, you will perish. Your descendants will perish. This is why there are such cruel events as sudden assassinations or murders by knife. They say, in effect, “You are not qualified to be in that position.” This is also something that Heaven directs them to do. This is the law of Heaven.

The time has come when we should throw away our ambitions and find ourselves. God longs for those who can rejoice in mind and body together. Have you ever experienced God saying, “Let me touch your hand,” and then had Him hold your hands in joy? Is that how your minds are?

God created the physical world in order that our minds could be active and stimulate the actions of our bodies. You should become someone who sings for all things, all people, for the future world, the spirit world and the earthly world. You should be able to rejoice in your minds. You should become someone to whom God will come and whom God will receive with joy. This is not fancy or imagination. This is reality. It is a reality that this young man who is speaking to you has experienced and knows is true. Hence, even if Heaven and earth were to oppose me and even if Heaven and earth were to turn upside down, I am determined to walk this path. What kind of age is this? It is the Last Days. However, without a person who has established such a standard, the last judgment cannot be cast. The day of judgment will not come.

Richard: “ You and I are in the same position. Jesus said that his disciples were not his servants but his friends. We are in the same position. The universe is not lofty. We must stand shoulder to shoulder with the universe. “. Wow. We are to be a friend with Jesus, a friend with True Father, not a servant.

Since Human Beings Fell, Human Beings Should Do This Work

Joshua 15

45 Ekron, with its surrounding settlements and villages; 46 west of Ekron, all that were in the vicinity of Ashdod, together with their villages; 47 Ashdod, its surrounding settlements and villages; and Gaza, its settlements and villages, as far as the Wadi of Egypt and the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

Richard: Here God allotted land for the tribes of Judah.

Jeremiah 5

14 Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says:

“Because the people have spoken these words,
    I will make my words in your mouth a fire
    and these people the wood it consumes.
15 People of Israel,” declares the Lord,
    “I am bringing a distant nation against you—
an ancient and enduring nation,
    a people whose language you do not know,
    whose speech you do not understand.
16 Their quivers are like an open grave;
    all of them are mighty warriors.
17 They will devour your harvests and food,
    devour your sons and daughters;
they will devour your flocks and herds,
    devour your vines and fig trees.
With the sword they will destroy
    the fortified cities in which you trust.

Richard: When the people of Israel and Judah turned against God, they were punished. Right now the United States is seeing various killings and atrocities of various kinds happening. We too can cry out to God and repent, for have we not turned far from God as a nation, as a whole?

Let Us Fathom the Heart of Heaven
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
September 13, 1959

Matthew 10:24-39

We are the people who should go before God. We are the sons and daughters of Heaven, part of God’s family, heavenly couples and heavenly brothers and sisters. Yet what is our current situation? We lost our brothers and sisters. We are pitiful people who do not have parents, families, citizens and partners. These are what we must restore. We have to recover them.

When we seek them, we have to do so through our minds. Heaven comes to us through our minds. Heaven knocks on the doors to our minds and enters. For six thousand years of history, Heaven has instilled in us the feeling, “This is not how I should be; I have to escape from this world.” The six- thousand-year history of war is the repetition of fights between those who represent goodness and those who represent evil. Human history has been a history of war.

In the beginning, it may seem that evil people strike and prevail over good people, but when good people are struck, they multiply. When they die, they multiply. The condition in Heaven allows three people to be recovered when one person is struck. For this reason Christianity is struck first in any nation. God’s tactic is to send His beloved sons and daughters to Satan’s world and let them suffer through beatings and death. In exchange for their suffering, He takes back a comparable amount from Satan’s world. Good people never strike first. For the same amount that they are struck, they make a claim from Satan’s world. This is the tactic of Heaven. This is the reason that the history of Christianity until today has been a history of martyrdom and blood.

In history those who strike first always lose. Look at the World Wars. In the First and the Second World Wars, the side that struck first lost. In the third World War, the side which strikes first will also lose. This is why even in an individual’s life, it is said that one should persevere and restrain oneself; those who persevere will be blessed. One is to take the beating and persevere. This is because when you endure, you will rise up one day.

God has been enduring through all manner of grief. Even when He was accused by Satan during the six thousand years, He was not able to alleviate His indignation and sorrow. There will come a time when God will empathize with you and say, “You are also bitter; you must belong to My side.”

For this reason the religious world today tells us to endure. They tell us to believe and persevere. They tell us to be meek, obedient and sacrificial. Why? When we do so, the time will come when we will rise up.

Because Heaven’s tactic is to be hit first before taking things back, Jesus prayed as he was being struck. He did not even want to violate the laws of Satan’s world. If he had considered the people his enemies, he would have been violating the laws of Satan’s world. Such have been God’s tactics.

We have to understand this. You who are here today should understand that each of you is a son or daughter of God and a citizen of the heavenly kingdom. God sought you many times in history. You have to understand that you are members of the family in the heavenly kingdom. Moreover, you have to understand that you are the sons and daughters of God’s direct lineage. We have to become these sons and daughters, members of the heavenly family, people and citizens.

We have not understood God. God of the past, present and future came to us for our own sake, yet we did not know that God came to us with the hope that we would become His true sons and daughters. God is truly miserable. Did you know that God sought you?

Now that we look back, we find that we have a responsibility to our Father. Although God has exerted Himself for six thousand years on earth, has there been a person who can be proud of himself eternally before Satan and not be attacked by Satan’s world? There has not. There has not been a family about whom God could say, “This family is my family,” or a people about whom God could say, “This people is my people,” and whom Satan could not attack. There has not been a land which God could claim, “This is My land.”

This is the situation God is in. Then who should do this work? Since human beings fell, human beings should do this work. We should say, “Father, my home is Your home, and this home never allows Satan in. It will never allow him.” However, is there a home which can make that statement?

Prevent Us from Hating Those People

Save the dates:July 5th  to July 7th, as we will hold an Urban Family Life Training seminar for couples and singles seeking a godly spouse.  You will learn how to set up a ministry to guide youth and young adults toward godly marriage.  It will be held at the Peace Kingdom Center in Harpers Ferry, WV.

Joshua 1

10 Joshua ordered the tribal leaders 11 to go through the camp and tell everyone:

In a few days we will cross the Jordan River to take the land that the Lord our God is giving us. So fix as much food as you’ll need for the march into the land.

Richard:  Will you understand God’s call to cross the Jordan River, to understand and follow the word of this new age?  This speech summarizes the word of the new age:  http://visionroot.org/resources/rev-sun-myung-moon/peace-message-10/.

Matthew 13

44 The kingdom of heaven is like what happens when someone finds a treasure hidden in a field and buries it again. A person like that is happy and goes and sells everything in order to buy that field.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
June 14, 1959

Matthew 10:34-39

Matthew 18:15-20

Prayer

Father, we now understand that Your historical course was the course of disentanglement. We know that in our body and our mind, there are desires for food, sex, material and sleep. When we think how much You struggled in the historical course to work with the people who have these desires, we realize that we are indeed the unforgivable sinners. Please forgive us.

We understand that countless satans work to entangle, even as You untangle, the historical course. It was described as the history of disentanglement; however, from the opposite world the work of entanglement is continuing to block and prevent progress toward a new place.

We stand in the crossroads between the history of sorrow for entanglement and the history of joy for disentanglement. We are in the realm of lamentation for our body longs for the entanglement and our mind longs for the disentanglement. We are looking at the final destination of the sorrowful history where our mind should strike our body and bring the joyful time of mind subjugating over body. Please make us never forget that we are in such a situation. Please make us never forget that we are in the realm of heavenly fortune, and in the process of restorational providence where we can liberate God’s heart.

Oh, loving Father! You have suffered too long. How much have You toiled to weave us, centering on one ideology? How much have You worked to move the people of this nation by foretelling one ideology? As You established this externally, You established religion internally to connect with the standard of living goodness behind history. How many people have You sacrificed in the process of moving religion? As we hear and understand how much You have suffered and how many people You have sacrificed internally and externally, we cannot lift our heads and can feel only gratitude.

Father, we, the sinners, realize that You, the Original Substantiation itself, have pioneered resentful history. We are truly embarrassed to ask for Your forgiveness. Being ignorant of these circumstances, we have so often betrayed You and so often tied the knot You wished to untangle. We are bound to repeat the same mistakes today and tomorrow. Father, please forgive us.

To what do you wish the minds of Your sons and daughters, who are gathered here, to be tied? To what do you wish their body to be tied? Among the people who do not know You, some want to tie themselves to an ideology or world view, or want their conscience and body to be tied to human morality and ethics. In their original nature, however, they can realize that they are in the miserable environment where they cannot stand in front of You.

There are many within humanity who feel the heart of anxiety, insecurity and misery in the face of their future course; yet there is no one who can stop it. Father, who will take the responsibility for humanity who cannot rejoice with history, the age, and the ideology, who struggles without knowing the principle of life, the direction of life, the course of life, and the purpose of life?

Continue reading “Prevent Us from Hating Those People”

Humankind Must Walk the Way of Sorrow Due to the Sin of the First Human Ancestors

1 Samuel 14

27 Jonathan did not know about Saul’s warning to the soldiers. So he dipped the end of his walking stick in the honey and ate some with his fingers. He felt stronger and more alert. 28 Then a soldier told him, “Your father swore that anyone who ate food today would be put under a curse, and we agreed not to eat. That’s why we’re so weak.”

Joshua 16

16 1-4 Ephraim and Manasseh are the two tribes descended from Joseph, and the following is a description of the land they received. The southern border of their land started at the Jordan River east of the spring at Jericho. From there it went west through the desert up to the hill country around Bethel. From Bethel it went to Luz and then[a] to the border of the Archites in Ataroth.[b] It continued west down to the land that belonged to the Japhlet clan, then went on to Lower Beth-Horon, Gezer, and the Mediterranean Sea.

The Grieving Father, Son and Daughter as They Try to Establish the Kingdom of Heaven

Sun Myung Moon
May 17, 1959

John 14:1-24

Prayer

Father, after having expressed such serious words, I cannot help feeling humbled in Your presence. How can we, who are narrow-minded, rough and lacking, develop a relationship with the world of high dimension that is far away?

We know, Father, that to have that relationship, so many ancestors of faith had to be sacrificed. To pioneer the path of life, so many pastors will have to shed tears and blood.

We have realized today that only those who can admire the blessing of glory of the Father through finding the sorrowful side in themselves. Those who are determined to be eternally victorious and to not fall down in their fight can have a day when they can call Heavenly Father “their Father” and He can call them “His sons and daughters.”

Heavenly Father! We realize how difficult it is to walk the path of faith. We understand that all humankind must walk the way of sorrow due to the sin of the first human ancestors. We realize that humankind, living with satanic thoughts, is like ghosts. The site of restoration, which we must liberate even if we have to sacrifice our lives by overcoming the hills of death, is now imminent. Continue reading “Humankind Must Walk the Way of Sorrow Due to the Sin of the First Human Ancestors”