United with God in True Love, You Can Have Dominion Over All God’s Creation

2 Samuel 9

David called in Ziba, Saul’s chief servant, and told him, “Since Mephibosheth is Saul’s grandson, I’ve given him back everything that belonged to your master Saul and his family. 10 You and your fifteen sons and twenty servants will work for Mephibosheth. You will farm his land and bring in his crops, so that Saul’s family and servants will have food. But Mephibosheth will always eat with me at my table.”

Micah 4

He will settle arguments
between distant
    and powerful nations.
They will pound their swords
and their spears
    into rakes and shovels;
they will never again make war
    or attack one another.
Everyone will find rest
beneath their own fig trees
    or grape vines,
and they will live in peace.
This is a solemn promise
    of the Lord All-Powerful.

Richard: Today we receive two messages of kindness, peace and reconciliation. We all need this message. Note that this does not mean that we accept evil and call it good. Rather, God addresses our attitude toward how we feel and act toward our neighbors and fellow man. For instance, contrast the peaceful protest of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. with the bile and acrimony of Antifa, the Black Lives Matter Movement and the impeachment proceedings of President Donald J. Trump.

Spiritual Union

1. Becoming One with God

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

God is huge, but a human being is a microcosm of the cosmos. By penetrating into God, we can experience God within us. When we experience this, we can say, with Jesus, “I am in the Father, and the Father in me.” (John 14.10) Although God is infinitely large, He can do His work only when human beings fully dwell within Him. (31:210, May 31, 1970)

When your mind and body are united as one, you will be in your eternal dwelling place, the center where God abides. Then you can possess even God. This state arises when true love is restored; it is the supreme goal of human beings who had lost everything as the result of the Fall. (294:98-99, June 14, 1998)

The path of religion is to stop living as animalistic human beings and become humane human beings. Eventually we are to become divine human beings. We are to participate in the divine realm. We are to become people with a divine nature who practice divine love and rejoice ever more in eternal happiness. (117:37, January 31, 1982)

Love is the central point, the rope that binds God and human beings together eternally. When embodied human beings attain oneness with God, their heart is immersed in a state of profound awareness and their emotions thrill with boundless happiness. Through love, God and human beings become one. Through love, human beings and the world become one. Here is the starting point for the realization of the ideal world that fulfills God’s purpose of creation. (35:356, October 13, 1970)

When you are united with God in true love, you can have dominion over all God’s creation, both physical and spiritual. When you live completely for others, you are reaching the very essence of God. Then, God’s will becomes your will, and God’s feelings naturally come into your heart. Living this way, you become a resonant vessel of God’s heart and love. You and God will always resonate together, like two tuning forks. (201:206, April 9, 1990)

As existent beings in front of Thee,
we entrust to Thee our whole selves:
We shall be Thy branches and leaves.
When Thou art sorrowful, we shall also be sorrowful;
when Thou art happy, we shall also be happy;
when Thou dost hurry to work, we shall also hurry to work.
Permit us to become Thy sons and daughters who stand beside Thee,
as Thou dost deal with every aspect of our world. (42:59, February 21, 1971)

Do Not Eat the Fruit or You Shall Die

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#71 Do Not Concede or Consent

Joshua 18

These were the borders of Benjamin’s tribal land, where the clans of Benjamin lived.

21-24 One region of Benjamin’s tribal land had twelve towns with their surrounding villages. Those towns were Jericho, Beth-Hoglah, Emek-Keziz, Beth-Arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel, Avvim, Parah, Ophrah, Chephar-Ammoni, Ophni, and Geba.

25-28 In the other region there were the following fourteen towns with their surrounding villages: Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth, Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah, Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah, Zelah, Haeleph, Gibeah, Kiriath-Jearim,[l] and Jerusalem, which is also called Jebusite Town.

These regions are the tribal lands of Benjamin.

Micah 6

13 Because of your sins,
I will wound you
and leave you
    ruined and defenseless.
14 You will eat,
    but still be hungry;
you will store up goods,
    but lose everything—
I, the Lord, will let it all
    be captured in war.
15 You won’t harvest what you plant
or use the oil
    from your olive trees
or drink the wine
    from grapes you grow.

Part 2
Sin and Salvation

Evil, Sin and the Human Fall

The Human Fall

The Abrahamic faiths teach that humanity fell from a primordial state of unity with God, and similar beliefs are found the world over. Christianity links the Fall with the doctrine of original sin, as the sin of Adam and eve is imputed to all humanity, causing an enduring separation between humans and God which can only be remedied by Christ. in Islam, on the other hand, Adam’s sin was his alone, and he, like all human beings, could return to a position of acceptance by submission (islam) to God. still, the Fall brought into existence Satan, setting up for all humanity a trial which only some are able to endure. Finally, in Judaism we find a mixture of beliefs: passages gathered in this section affirming that the fall of Adam and eve brought a curse into the world are counterbalanced by other passages emphasizing individual responsibility and denying that we are culpable for the sins of our first ancestor.

    The human fall explains the discrepancy between the cosmos’ pure origin and its present state of suffering. it is logically necessary for religions in which (1) God is the only creator, (2) the creation was purposed to be good, and (3) evil is regarded as real and contrary to the purpose of creation. these postulates hold in Christianity, Judaism and Islam. they do not obtain in Buddhism, which lacks a doctrine of creation, nor in Hinduism, which regards matter as base and a limitation to be overcome on the path to self-realization. nevertheless, we find even in these religions speculation on a primordial fall from grace to explain the origin of evil karma.

    The biblical and qur’anic accounts of the human Fall are full of symbolism and open to varying interpretations. the serpent—variously called Satan, Lucifer or Iblis—instigates Adam and eve to disobey God’s commandment, often with the hint of sexual misconduct. Father Moon directly attributes the human Fall to sexual immorality, teaching that it poisoned the potential of humans for true, godly love. other accounts of the origin of evil that ascribe or hint at a sexual transgression are presented from Greek myth, Buddhism, Shinto and African tradition.

  1. Adam and Eve’s Transgression

The Lord God took the man [Adam] and put
him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the man, say-
ing, “You may freely eat of every tree of the gar-
den; but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you
eat of it you shall die.”
    Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that
the man should be alone; I will make him a helper
fit for him.” So out of the ground the l ord God
formed every beast of the field and every bird
of the air, and brought them to the man to see
what he would call them; and whatever the man
called every living creature, that was its name.
The man gave names to all cattle, and to the
birds of the air, and to every beast of the field;
but for the man there was not found a helper fit
for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to
fall upon the man, and while he slept took one
of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and
the rib which the Lord God had taken from the
man he made into a woman and brought her
to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of
Man.” Therefore a man leaves his father and his
mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become
one flesh. And the man and his wife were both
naked, and were not ashamed.
    Now the serpent was more subtle than any
other wild creature that the Lord God had
made. He said to the woman, “Did God say,
‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
And the woman said to the serpent, “We may
eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but
God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the
tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither
shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent
said to the woman, “You will not die. For God
knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be
opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it was a delight to
the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to
make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and
she also gave some to her husband, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both were opened, and they
knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons.
    And they heard the sound of the l ord God
walking in the garden in the cool of the day,
and the man and his wife hid themselves from
the presence of the l ord God among the trees
of the garden. But the l ord God called to the
man, and said to him, “Where are you?” And he
said, “I heard the sound of Thee in the garden,
and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were
naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I
commanded you not to eat?” The man said,
“The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me,
she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the
l ord God said to the woman, “What is this that
you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent
beguiled me, and I ate.” The l ord God said to
the serpent, “Because you have done this,
    Cursed are you above all cattle,
    and above all wild animals;
    Upon your belly you shall go,
    and dust you shall eat all the days of your
   life.
    I will put enmity between you and the
    woman,
    and between your seed and her seed;
    He shall bruise your head,
    and you shall bruise his heel.”
To the woman He said,
    “I will greatly multiply your pain in
      childbearing,
    in pain you shall bring forth children,
    Yet your desire shall be for your husband,
    and he shall rule over you.”
And to Adam he said, “Because you have lis-
tened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten
of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You
shall not eat of it,’
    cursed is the ground because of you;
    in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your
    life;
    Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to
       you;
     and you shall eat the plants of the field.
    In the sweat of your face you shall eat
       bread
    till you return to the ground,
    for out of it you were taken;
    you are dust,
    and to dust you shall return.”
    The man called his wife’s name Eve, because
she was the mother of all living. And the l ord
God made for Adam and for his wife garments
of skins, and clothed them.
    Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the
man has become like one of us, knowing good
and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand
and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and
live forever”—therefore the l ord God sent
him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the
ground from which he was taken. He drove out
the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden
he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword
which turned every way, to guard the way to the
tree of life.
    Genesis 2.15-3.24

It is We who created you and gave you shape;
then We bade the angels, “Bow down to Adam,”
and they bowed down; not so Iblis, he refused to
be of those who bow down. [God] said, “What
prevented you from bowing down when I com-
manded you?” He said, “I am better than he;
You created me from fire, and him from clay.”
God said, “Get down from this place; it is not
for you to be arrogant here; get out, for you are
of the meanest of creatures.” He said, “Give me
respite till the day when they are raised up.” God
said, “Be among those who are to have respite.”
    He said, “Because you have thrown me
out of the Way, lo! I will lie in wait for them
on Your Straight Way: Then will I assault them
from before them and behind, from their right
and their left: nor will You find, in most of
them, gratitude.” God said, “Get out from this,
disgraced and expelled. If any of them follow
you, I will fill hell with all of you.
    “And Adam, dwell, you and your wife, in
the Garden, and enjoy its good things as you
wish, but approach not this tree, or you will run
into harm and transgression.”
    Then Satan began to whisper suggestions to
them, bringing openly before their minds all their
shame that was previously unnoticed by them.
He said, “Your Lord only forbade you this tree,
lest you should become angels or such beings as
live forever.” And he swore to them both, that he
was their sincere advisor. So by deceit he brought
about their fall: when they tasted of the tree,
their shame [private parts] became apparent to
them, and they began to sew together the leaves
of the Garden over their bodies.
    And their Lord called unto them: “Did I not
forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was
an avowed enemy unto you both?” They said:
“Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls. If
You do not forgive us and do not grant us Your
mercy, we shall certainly be lost.” God said, “Get
you down, with enmity between yourselves. On
earth will be your dwelling place and your means
of livelihood—for a time. Therein shall you live,
and therein you shall die; but from it shall you
be brought forth at last.”
    O Children of Adam! We have bestowed
raiment upon you to cover your shame, as well
as to be an adornment to you. But the raiment
of righteousness—that is the best. Such are
among the signs of God, that they may receive
admonition.
    O Children of Adam! Let not Satan
seduce you in the same manner as he got your
parents out of the Garden, stripping them of
their clothing in order to expose their private
parts. He and his tribe watch you from where
you cannot see them! We have made the devils
friends only to those without faith.
    Qur’an 7.11-27

If I have covered my transgressions as Adam,
By hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
    Job 31.33 (NKJV)

Why does the scripture not place the verse
“And the Lord God made for Adam and his
wife garments of skin” (Genesis 3.21) imme-
diately after “And they were both naked, and
were not ashamed” (Genesis 2.25)? It teaches
you through what sin that wicked creature
inveighed them: Because the serpent saw them
engaged in their natural relations, he conceived
a lust for her.
    Midrash Rabbah, Genesis 18.6 (Judaism)

The serpent followed Eve, saying, “Her soul
comes from the north, and I will therefore
quickly seduce her.” And how did he seduce
her? He had intercourse with her.
Bahir 199 (Judaism)

What was the wicked serpent contemplating at
that time? He thought, “I shall go and kill Adam
and wed his wife, and I shall be king over the
whole world.”
    Talmud, Avot de Rabbi Nathan 1 (Judaism)

The first man of our race did not bide his time,
desired the favor of marriage before the proper
hour, and fell into sin by not waiting for the time
of God’s Will.
    Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 3.14.94 (Christianity)

Dreams of falling are most frequently character-
ized by anxiety. Their interpretation when they
occur in women offers no difficulty, because
they nearly always accept the symbolic meaning
of falling, which is a circumlocution for giving
way to an erotic temptation.
    Nothing can be brought to an end in the
unconscious; nothing is past or forgotten.
    Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams

He Will Prosper Without His Knowing How He Did It

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Joshua 22

10-11 The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh reached the western side of the Jordan River valley[a] and built a huge altar there beside the river.

Richard: Our “altar” is Home Church, where we can build the Kingdom of God together with our neighbors.

Micah 5

A few of Jacob’s descendants
survived and are scattered
    among the nations.
But the Lord will let them
cover the earth
like dew and rain
    that refreshes the soil.
At present they are scattered,
    but later they will attack,
as though they were fierce lions
    pouncing on sheep.
Their enemies will be torn
to shreds,
    with no one to save them;
they will be helpless,
    completely destroyed.

Jesus Whom God Wanted To Find

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
October 18, 1959

Matthew 23:29-39

The world of heart transcends the distance of history. It transcends time and space. No matter how great an authority is or how fearful a power, it cannot block that road of love. Even the highest mountain and the whole of Heaven and earth cannot block that love. In traveling that path of heart, there cannot be any obstruction.

The central being of heart is Jesus. Therefore, he said that love will survive to the end. Because Jesus came representing God’s heart and lived in the world of the heart, his influence today is expanding. Only by becoming a group who can say that Jesus’ heart is our heart, that his mind is our mind, that we cannot separate from him for eternity can we go over any condition of the secular world with him. Then we can become his disciples and family. In the early church, Jesus’ disciples could not become members of his family. The most important problem that we must solve in this hour is to ask whether we have become people who can freely go over that boundary line into being of Jesus’ family; who can go over any obstacle and go forward for Jesus’ sake.

Where will Jesus, whom God wanted to establish, go? Where will Jesus, whom God wanted to establish on earth, stand? If this is not solved, Jesus will have nowhere to stand. Jesus, who is supposed to come to earth, will have nowhere to stand. He must come and do the will of God, but he will not have any companion. They will kill him again. They will drive him to the cross again. They will cause him anguish again. That is why we must go through the heart of the family, the heart of children, and the heart of a bride. We must be filled with longing. Since the day of promise has yet to come, we must be filled with longing and possess a desperate heart. If a person can master his feelings, transcend any awareness or any concept and experience a certain force that leads him in one direction with infinite power, he will enter the Kingdom of Heaven without fail.

Jesus came two thousand years ago. He came to this earth. But who met Jesus? A person might have met Jesus centering on Jesus himself. But there was no one who met the Jesus who had crossed over the level of the individual, then the family, then the society, then the nation and the world and who could rule over all of Heaven and earth. In order to solve this kind of problem, you must be filled with a certain heart. You cannot solve this problem without entering the world of the heart. If there were something that could solve that problem, if there were something that could move your heart, you would be pulled into it. If you see a person coming out of a church totally vexed, do not go to that church again.

Our mind seeks the world of the heart. Even radio waves do not just operate anywhere. They operate where there is a receiver. They operate where there is a reciprocal relationship. It is the same with people. If there is a person with a true conscience, a true loving standard, and a foundation of Heaven’s heart, then wherever or whenever he goes and even in an unfair and sorrowful place, he will have a way to survive and prosper without his knowing how he did it. He will prosper even when he is misunderstood. That prosperous way does not come about in a comfortable place. No one achieved an historical revolution, an historical discovery, or an historical success in a comfortable place. They began from a place where they met with death face to face. God comes to you in that place.

Therefore, when someone is about to face God, he will meet an incident. He will collide with a material problem, a problem with other people and a problem of the heart. At that time if he can turn and shout, “This is the path I will go” and goes forward, he will be able to lead people who are agonizing over numerous problems and affairs. Jesus was able to do that. When he was helping with the carpentry work of Joseph, he did not lead a comfortable life. His heart passed through a course of infinite hardship and sorrow. In a course that was historical, connected to the age and connected to the future, he crossed over in his mind all the hills of hardship and pain that mankind had gone through. Because he was able to establish a victorious standard in a showdown against Satan, he could proclaim that he was the Messiah. This is not written in the Bible.

Richard: I have to say that this year Stacey and I collided with adversity. Both of us literally faced life and death situations, and God brought us through. Praise to God, and our thanks to all of our friends and supporters!

Adam and Eve could not grasp what kind of relationship they had with God

Exodus 1

11 The Egyptians put slave bosses in charge of the people of Israel and tried to wear them down with hard work. Those bosses forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses,[b] where the king[c] could store his supplies. 12 But even though the Israelites were mistreated, their families grew larger, and they took over more land. Because of this, the Egyptians hated them worse than before 13 and made them work so hard 14 that their lives were miserable. The Egyptians were cruel to the people of Israel and forced them to make bricks and to mix mortar and to work in the fields.

Micah 5

Jerusalem, enemy troops
    have surrounded you;[a]
they have struck Israel’s ruler
    in the face with a stick.

Bethlehem Ephrath,
you are one of the smallest towns
    in the nation of Judah.
But the Lord will choose
one of your people
    to rule the nation—
someone whose family
    goes back to ancient times.

Let Us Open Our Eyes Once More and Behold the Sky

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
February 15, 1959

Matthew 26: 36-46

The title of the sermon I would like to share with you is “Let Us Open Our Eyes Once More and Behold the Sky.” I will speak briefly upon this topic.

This land in which we live has not seen the new morning of the realization of God’s ideal of creation. It has slept under the power of Satan for a long time. This is how our history has been. This is how our minds have been, how all that we pursue and the hearts we seek have been. In other words, none can wake from the deep sleep in which they exist, within the realm of Satan. We understand this fact very well.

When God created Adam and Eve and blessed them, they were wide awake, and they were able to rejoice with God in the world of eternal ideology. God created Adam and Eve for this purpose. However, Adam and Eve could not grasp what kind of relationship they had with God and the ideology with which they should relate with all things. In this state of immaturity, when they were progressing toward perfection, they made the grave and sorrowful mistake of the fall. We all understand this. Continue reading “Adam and Eve could not grasp what kind of relationship they had with God”

Wage an Intense Battle Against Satan

Happy Independence Day!

Romans 1

16 I am proud of the good news! It is God’s powerful way of saving all people who have faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 17 The good news tells how God accepts everyone who has faith, but only those who have faith.[d] It is just as the Scriptures say, “The people God accepts because of their faith will live.”[e]

Micah 4

He will settle arguments
between distant
    and powerful nations.
They will pound their swords
and their spears
    into rakes and shovels;
they will never again make war
    or attack one another.
Everyone will find rest
beneath their own fig trees
    or grape vines,
and they will live in peace.
This is a solemn promise
    of the Lord All-Powerful.

Oh, Where Shall I Go?

Sun Myung Moon
January 18, 1959

Matthew 7

The purpose of a good and unfallen individual who can receive God’s love is to be sealed by God and then to seal his brothers and sisters. Furthermore, he should be able to seal the tribe and nation. Considering this, you should understand how great was the heavenly woe. You have never heard about such sorrow of Heaven in any dream, from any friend, from any teacher or from any religious individual. This is truly serious.

Where will your footsteps lead tomorrow? Are you in the realm of God’s love now? Are you in the realm of True Parents’ love? Are you in the realm of true brothers’ love? Are you in the realm of the true tribe’s love? Are you in the realm of the true nation’s love? Are you in the realm of love where, when you unite heaven and earth and bow down to God, He embraces you? There is not even a single person like this, even Jesus has not been able to do this. This is why he is in Paradise in a state of waiting.

What must Jesus do when he returns in the last days? He should restore these matters. Jesus has already stood upon the Word. Yet Jesus, who was resurrected after the cross, had to turn Mary Magdalene away as she tried to hold him. He was not in a position to say, “Bride, let us go to the Father together.” He has been working hard for 2,000 years, looking forward to the day when the ideal of the bride could be realized. Originally, Jesus was to go before the Father with a rejoicing bride, be blessed and become True Parents. He was to embrace true children and a true tribe, and build a true nation. God wanted to bless Jesus to become the true ancestor of heaven and earth. Continue reading “Wage an Intense Battle Against Satan”