Category: Joshua

Return to Your Hometown

Joshua 7

19 “Achan,” Joshua said, “the Lord God of Israel has decided that you are guilty. Is this true? Tell me what you did, and don’t try to hide anything.”

20 “It’s true,” Achan answered. “I sinned and disobeyed the Lord God of Israel. 21-22 While we were in Jericho, I saw a beautiful Babylonian robe, two hundred pieces of silver, and a gold bar that weighed the same as fifty pieces of gold. I wanted them for myself, so I took them. I dug a hole under my tent and hid the silver, the gold, and the robe.”

Joshua had some people run to Achan’s tent, where they found the silver, the gold, and the robe. 23 They brought them back and put them in front of the sacred chest, so Joshua and the rest of the Israelites could see them. 24 Then everyone took Achan and the things he had stolen to Trouble Valley.[f] They also took along his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys, and sheep, his tent, and everything else that belonged to him.

25 Joshua said, “Achan, you caused us a lot of trouble. Now the Lord is paying you back with the same kind of trouble.”

The people of Israel then stoned to death Achan and his family. They made a fire and burned the bodies, together with what Achan had stolen, and all his possessions. 26 They covered the remains with a big pile of rocks, which is still there. Then the Lord stopped being angry with Israel.

That’s how the place came to be called Trouble Valley.

Richard:  It is imperative that we always keep a clear conscience in all that we do, and that we inform our conscience by studying God’s Word every day.

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.

14 Suppose I warn wicked people that they will die because of their sins, and they stop sinning and start doing right. 15 For example, they need to return anything they have taken as security for a loan and anything they have stolen. Then if they stop doing evil and start obeying my Law, they will live. 16 Their past sins will be forgiven, and they will live because they have done right.

Richard:  This Rheama echoes the first one.  Wickedness will be exposed and dealt with.

REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON
SPEAKS ON

ROYAL FAMILY
OF TRUE LOVE

July 28, 1991
Belvedere, Tarrytown, New York

So in July, I proclaimed that the free world, communist world, religious world, and political world are united into one. I proclaimed that the world of mind and the world of true love have sovereign power. We are going to clean up Satan’s world.

In the past you did not believe me. Now, take me seriously, for God is raising me up. No matter how strongly Satan’s power persecutes me, I am going up, and the other side is going down. Satan can longer push us around. No matter how difficult the situation, we must overcome the fall! Our sexual organ is supposed to be the palace of heaven and earth-the love palace, life palace, and blood lineage palace. Father won the eternal love, life and lineage tradition! This is our unification family system.

When the vertical King of Kings connects to the horizontal Parents, it is so powerful. The third Adam’s family is the central family eternally! Other families must receive their tradition and create one world culture. God’s grandsons and daughters, true Adam’s family, will be princes and princesses-that is you, humanity! True Parents centered on God, the King of Kings, are the royal family.

After the fall, many people wanted to become king. Every woman thought, “I want to occupy earth and heaven, including God.” Actually, God wants to give us the position of royalty, fulfilling those desires. But after the fall, kingship was lost. The original mind was still connected to God, like a magnet. It was hidden by Satan’s power, but when the absolute plus appears, it will pull all mankind’s original minds to it. Continue reading “Return to Your Hometown”

Understand the Heart of Jesus

Who on earth understood the heart of Jesus? Since there was no one who experienced heavenly sorrow in seeing his careworn figure, a sorrow which struck to the depth of the heart, we know that Heaven could not help lamenting over those people.

Joshua 22

4-25 We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, “The Lord made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The Lord is Israel’s God, but you’re not part of Israel, so you can’t take part in worshiping the Lord.”

Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the Lord. 26 That’s why we decided to build the altar. It isn’t for offering sacrifices, not even sacrifices to please the Lord.[g] 27-29 To build another altar for offering sacrifices would be the same as turning our backs on the Lord and rebelling against him. We could never do that! No, we built the altar to remind us and you and the generations to come that we will worship the Lord. And so we will keep bringing our sacrifices to the Lord’s altar, there in front of his sacred tent. Now your descendants will never be able to say to our descendants, “You can’t worship the Lord.”

But if they do say this, our descendants can answer back, “Look at this altar our ancestors built! It’s like the Lord’s altar, but it isn’t for offering sacrifices. It’s here to remind us and you that we belong to the Lord, just as much as you do.”

Jeremiah 36

36 During the fourth year that Jehoiakim[a] son of Josiah[b] was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, 2 since the time Josiah was king, I have been speaking to you about Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Now, get a scroll[c] and write down everything I have told you, 3 then read it to the people of Judah. Maybe they will stop sinning when they hear what terrible things I plan for them. And if they turn to me, I will forgive them.”

God and Humanity Should Live Together
Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 11, 1959

John 14: 6-12

Prayer

Father, please enable us to understand the grieving heart of Jesus, who had to speak to the beloved disciples about the imminent end of his own earthly life and his departure to the Father’s land. In a temporal sense, we are separated from Jesus by 2,000 years; yet time can be transcended in the world of Shim Jung. Hence, please arouse the fire of direct experience where we can envision Jesus with a disheartened countenance and saddened heart as he earnestly admonished his disciples. This is a scene for which we humans cannot help yearning.

Who on earth understood the heart of Jesus? Since there was no one who experienced heavenly sorrow in seeing his careworn figure, a sorrow which struck to the depth of the heart, we know that Heaven could not help lamenting over those people. Please enable us to sympathize in our hearts with the sorrow of Jesus. Without even one disciple who understood the heavenly Shim Jung and who called out “Lord!” He had to live under constant suspicion and thus ended his woe-filled life. Continue reading “Understand the Heart of Jesus”

The Door of the Kingdom Should be Opened on Earth

Joshua 7

2 While Israel was still camped near Jericho, Joshua sent some spies with these instructions: “Go to the town of Ai[d] and find out whatever you can about the region around the town.”

The spies left and went to Ai, which is east of Bethel and near Beth-Aven. 3 They went back to Joshua and reported, “You don’t need to send the whole army to attack Ai—two or three thousand troops will be enough. Why bother the whole army for a town that small?”

Isaiah 64:2

Rip the heavens apart!
Come down, Lord;
    make the mountains tremble.
2 Be a spark that starts a fire
    causing water to boil.[a]
Then your enemies will know
    who you are;
all nations will tremble
    because you are nearby.

3 Your fearsome deeds
    have completely amazed us;
even the mountains shake
    when you come down.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
January 4, 1959

Genesis 1:27

Genesis 2: 15-17

Acts 1

Today we should receive God’s love, but we do not need God’s love as it was received in the ages of hope and faith. We should go past the age of grudges and receive God’s direct blessing, with which He says, “I love you alone.” Only when you resolve the sorrows of heaven and earth through the conditions of love can you make a husband-wife relationship with Jesus and receive God’s love. This is the general content of the providence of restoration.

If you become an individual able to receive God’s love, you represent the Old, New and Completed Testament Ages. Thus, you must accomplish one will, uniting with the spirits in Paradise, the Christians now on earth, and the saints of the new age who will emerge at the time of the Second Coming.

You know well that, in the last days, the people of the past who lived in the realms of faith oriented to hope and faith, the countless spirits of the Old and New Testament Ages, cannot stand before God and receive God’s love without going through the Completed Testament people. Hence, we must win over everything in heaven and earth and become a substantial fruit of history.

Looking at the entire providence of Heaven, the spirits now in Paradise are the Israel of hope. The Christians now on earth are the Israel of faith. In the future, a new world of Israel must come. This is the Israel of love. Thus, you should be an Israel who can receive God’s love. You should become an Israel who has proof of love. Only then can you complete the condition of having passed the ages of hope and faith and stand before God without shame. You must realize this. With this in mind, we call the saints before Jesus the first Israel, the saints after Jesus who believe in him the second Israel, and those who will serve the Second Coming and live in the realm of God’s direct love are the third Israel.

For this reason, the people who stand in the position of the third Israel are ones who appear in history for the first time. They are the first people since the creation of the world who can represent God’s Shim Jung and relate to God directly, upholding the word “love.” If such people do not appear, God’s providence of hope and faith will all be shattered. Hence, we must be able to feel how important is our mission.

There are representatives of the second Israel living here on earth. In the spiritual world, there are representatives of the first Israel. The third Israel, whom God can command, has not yet been formed. Furthermore, the formation of the tribe, church and family has not been accomplished.

In relation to what God wants to do on the earth, from the times of Jacob, Moses and Jesus, He has been establishing such heavenly numbers as twelve brothers, twelve elders, and twelve disciples. By establishing all the Principle numbers of Heaven, God unifies all the people in heaven and earth, through connecting them to one order. This is the purpose of God’s providence. The door of the heavenly kingdom will then open, but the door of the heavenly kingdom should not be opened only in heaven. It has to be opened and widened on the earth as well.

Relate to the Glory of the One Center

Joshua 7

The Lord answered:

Stop lying there on the ground! Get up! 11 I said everything in Jericho belonged to me and had to be destroyed. But the Israelites have kept some of the things for themselves. They stole from me and hid what they took. Then they lied about it. 12 What they stole was supposed to be destroyed, and now Israel itself must be destroyed. I cannot help you anymore until you do exactly what I have said. That’s why Israel turns and runs from its enemies instead of standing up to them.

13 Tell the people of Israel, “Tomorrow you will meet with the Lord your God, so make yourselves acceptable to worship him. The Lord says that you have taken things that should have been destroyed. You won’t be able to stand up to your enemies until you get rid of those things.

Jeremiah 12

I loved my people and chose them
    as my very own.
But now I will reject them
and hand them over
    to their enemies.
8 My people have turned against me
and roar at me like lions.
    That’s why I hate them.

Humankind Wanders In Search of the Truth

Matthew 7:1-12

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
December 21, 1958

Prayer

Father, please convert our hearts into empty vessels. Please allow our hearts to seethe ceaselessly for the Father’s sake. Please transfer the ideology of creation with which You created all creation into our hearts. Allow us to be those whose minds move in response to the Father’s motions, whose hearts respond emotionally to the Father’s emotions.

Father, You wish us to see the unforgettable image of a mind submerged in peace and rejoicing. You wish us to seek and caress a peaceful heart. Now please allow our minds and hearts to be moved by You and to be used only as Yours. I pray sincerely that You will allow our minds and bodies to transform into the Father’s alone, piercing deeply into the world of essence only through the Father.

Although numerous human beings live on this earth, Father, we know that no group of people is striving to have the foundation of their minds and hearts hidden and buried in the Father. Our minds today long for the original heart, and we need the true character of the original creation. For this, we know we need the Father’s new Words.

Individuals, whom the Father created to rejoice in, dwell in a wicked world because they fell. Yet their true character is moving toward the world of the original nature. For 6,000 years, humanity has eagerly looked forward to the Words of re-creation of the original nature; He has looked forward to calling upon and raising the true character. For 6,000 years, he has adored and sought after the Word. Now the day of judgment is closing in on the fortress of death. Father, look with compassion at humankind, faced with a time like this, striving hard in a world of fear, not knowing which way to go, wandering about, having lost the center, unable to find their position and place. Please guide them so that they may come back to Your bosom. Continue reading “Relate to the Glory of the One Center”

Where is the Word that can Move the Original Shim Jung?

Joshua 14

6 One day while the Israelites were still camped at Gilgal, Caleb the son of Jephunneh went to talk with Joshua. Caleb belonged to the Kenaz clan, and many other people from the Judah tribe went with Caleb. He told Joshua:

You know that back in Kadesh-Barnea the Lord talked to his prophet Moses about you and me. 7 I was forty years old at the time Moses sent me from Kadesh-Barnea into Canaan as a spy. When I came back and told him about the land, everything I said was true. 8 The other spies said things that made our people afraid, but I completely trusted the Lord God. 9 The same day I came back, Moses told me, “Since you were faithful to the Lord God, I promise that the places where you went as a spy will belong to you and your descendants forever.”

10 Joshua, it was forty-five years ago that the Lord told Moses to make that promise, and now I am eighty-five. Even though Israel has moved from place to place in the desert, the Lord has kept me alive all this time as he said he would. 11 I’m just as strong today as I was then, and I can still fight as well in battle.

12 So I’m asking you for the hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You were there. You heard the other spies talk about that part of the hill country and the large, walled towns where the Anakim[b] live. But maybe the Lord will help me take their land, just as he promised.

13 Joshua prayed that God would help Caleb, then he gave Hebron to Caleb and his descendants. 14 And Hebron still belongs to Caleb’s descendants, because he was faithful to the Lord God of Israel.

15 Hebron used to be called Arba’s Town,[c] because Arba had been one of the greatest[d] of the Anakim.

There was peace in the land.

Richard:  When you seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33), then all things will be given to you.  That is my testimony.  God will provide for you.  Make His Will first in your life.

Psalm 69

nemies poisoned my food,
    and when I was thirsty,
    they gave me vinegar.

22 Make their table a trap
    for them and their friends.
23     Blind them with darkness
    and make them tremble.
24 Show them how angry you are!
    Be furious and catch them.
25 Destroy their camp
    and don’t let anyone live
    in their tents.

Let Us Seek and Establish the Blessed Land God Wants to Administer

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
December 14, 1958

Genesis 1:24-28

Although communists today are advocating a materialistic revolution, this is not enough. A materialistic revolution is not the answer. A revolution of conscience is what is called for. Where will be the one doctrine that brings forth a revolution of conscience? Will there not be a doctrine that can cause a “heartistic” revolution? We need to think about this. Until this sort of doctrine comes forth, this world will not be united. If such a doctrine comes forth, that doctrine will have to be based on materials, and it will have to be based on the Word.

Because of man’s fall, he lost faith, love, the Word, and the incarnated being. That is why human beings have first gone through the age of materialism and are now going through the age of ideology and thought. In the future, the age of sentiment will come.

Emotion is what makes a person believe in the Word. We speak of intellect, emotion and will; however, emotion comes first. A great artist must emerge who can detonate man’s original emotions and sing in praise of all creation with the sentiments of original emotion. A great scientist of emotion and religion must emerge.

What have human beings wandered about seeking until today? Human beings have not found satisfaction in doctrines nor in faith. We have sought the true Word, the truth. What are we going to do with that truth after finding it? We mean to usher in a spring garden that can be vibrant with life. Only that which can make human beings full of life and energy will be the true truth. Don’t you agree? Continue reading “Where is the Word that can Move the Original Shim Jung?”