Category: Old Testament

Has God Abandoned the Jews?

Matthew 26

26 When Jesus had finished teaching, he told his disciples, 2 “You know that two days from now will be Passover. That is when the Son of Man will be handed over to his enemies and nailed to a cross.”

Isaiah 50

9 No one has come to defend us
    or to bring about justice.
We hoped for a day of sunshine,
but all we found
    was a dark, gloomy night.
10 We feel our way along,
    as if we were blind;
we stumble at noon,
    as if it were night.
We can see no better
    than someone dead.[a]

11 We growl like bears
    and mourn like doves.
We hope for justice and victory,
    but they escape us.
12 How often have we sinned
and turned against you,
    the Lord God?
Our sins condemn us!
    We have done wrong.
13 We have rebelled and refused
    to follow you.
Our hearts were deceitful,
    and so we lied;
we planned to abuse others
    and turn our backs on you.

14 Injustice is everywhere;
    justice seems far away.
Truth is chased out of court;
    honesty is shoved aside.
15 Everyone tells lies;
those who turn from crime
    end up ruined.

Judaism

3. The Jewish-Christian Relationship

I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ…

    I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means!… As regards the gospel they are enemies of God, for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy. For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.
    Romans 9.1-5; 11.1, 28-32 (Christianity)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Many Jews are alive on the earth today. Since a long time ago some of their ancestors betrayed the Will of God, has God therefore abandoned them? Surely not. While they may have traveled down a side path, they kept an unchanging heart toward God as God’s chosen people… As long as the Jews hold fast to their role as God’s chosen people despite any adversity, they will not disappear from the earth. Hence, there is an element of rightness that today they retain substantial economic power in the world and can exercise control in many fields. (4:243-44, May 18, 1958)

Judaism, centered upon the Old Testament, was the first work of God and is in an elder brother’s position. Christianity, centered upon the New Testament, is in the position of the second brother.
    The Unification Church, through which God has given a new revelation, the Completed Testament, is in the position of the youngest brother. These three religions are indeed three brothers in the providence of God. Then Israel, the United States and Korea, the nations where these three religions are based, must also be brothers. Because these three nations have a common destiny representing God’s side, the Communist bloc as Satan’s representative is trying to isolate and destroy them at the U.N.
    Therefore these three brother nations must join hands in a unified effort to restore the United Nations to its original purpose and function. They must contribute internally to the unification of world religions and externally to the unification of the world itself. (88:211, September 18, 1976)

The Chosen People Should Love the World on God’s Behalf

Urban Life Training Newsletter-April-2021

New Richard Urban Show: The Great Fraud-The COVID 19 Agenda-One Year Later
The original eight part series: The Great Fraud-The COVID 19 Agenda
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John 6

38 I didn’t come from heaven to do what I want! I came to do what the Father wants me to do. He sent me, 39 and he wants to make certain that none of the ones he has given me will be lost. Instead, he wants me to raise them to life on the last day.40 My Father wants everyone who sees the Son to have faith in him and to have eternal life. Then I will raise them to life on the last day.

Daniel 3

29 And I won’t allow people of any nation or race to say anything against their God. Anyone who does will be chopped up and their houses will be torn down, because no other god has such great power to save.

Judaism

1. The Chosen People

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Among all religions in human history, Judaism alone was established by a people who claimed that they brought victory for God. It originated from Jacob’s victory in the fight against the angel. Jacob did not win against a human being but an angel, a being from the invisible spirit world. The people of Israel stand on this tradition of spiritual victory over the fallen angelic realm… Hence, they could become the chosen people of God.
    Thoroughly equipped with the belief that they are the chosen people, the Jews have never forgotten their history and tradition despite the suffering of wandering throughout the world for 2,000 years. Wherever they went, no matter what circumstances they faced, they maintained their belief that they were chosen by God. Such a history never existed among any other people on earth.27 (149:85, November 17, 1986)

God appointed the Israelites to a central role and wanted all people to honor them. He wanted all people on earth to follow Israel’s example; then they would praise Israel just as God would. However, the Israelites could not set up such an exemplary historical tradition. Israel began from Jacob, who was God’s champion of love. However, subsequent generations of Israelites could not maintain his tradition.
    The Israelites should have been superior to any other people in the world in loving God and fulfilling God’s Will and providence. However, while they raised their awareness of being the chosen people, they forgot their mission and their calling for the Will of God.
    What is the purpose of the chosen people? The chosen people should love the world on God’s behalf and, as God’s representatives, set the example for all in loving the world. However, the people of Israel did not fulfill their exalted calling. Though they were supposed to give God’s love to all the world, they wanted to receive love instead. That was the problem. (169:265-66, November 1, 1987)
 
What is the path that God has decreed for Israel and Judaism? It is a path with universal significance. It is a universal mission. God chose the one specific people, Israel, to fulfill a mission not only for themselves but for humankind. (168:304, October 1, 1987)
 
Besides Judaism, there are numerous religions in the world, such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism. The religions differ, but they must not fight one another; instead, they must travel the road to one unified world. Likewise, the peoples of the world must not fight one another, but become one. There must be one teaching that can lead all the religions not to fight, but to unite.
    The Jewish people in particular, who have the responsibility to lead the world’s peoples and unite them into one, should have such a teaching. Because the realization of God’s ideal of creation is universal, Judaism and the Jewish people should uphold a teaching that corresponds to God’s ideal of creation. (168:304, October 1, 1987)
 
 

Love is the Basis for “Heaven”

Urban Life Training Newsletter-April-2021

New Richard Urban Show: The Great Fraud-The COVID 19 Agenda-One Year Later
The original eight part series: The Great Fraud-The COVID 19 Agenda
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Mark 5

25 In the crowd was a woman who had been bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had gone to many doctors, and they had not done anything except cause her a lot of pain. She had paid them all the money she had. But instead of getting better, she only got worse.

27 The woman had heard about Jesus, so she came up behind him in the crowd and barely touched his clothes. 28 She had said to herself, “If I can just touch his clothes, I will get well.” 29 As soon as she touched them, her bleeding stopped, and she knew she was well.

Richard I believe that Home Church is healing physically and spiritually. Blessed couples who have a Home Church ministry will reap the benefits of physical and spiritual health. I know that that is the case for me and Stacey.

Zechariah 10

10 I, the Lord, am the one
    who sends storm clouds
and showers of rain
    to make fields produce.
So when the crops need rain,
    you should pray to me.

2 You can’t believe idols
    and fortunetellers,
or depend on the hope
you receive from witchcraft
    and interpreters of dreams.
But you have tried all of these,
and now you are like sheep
    without a shepherd.

3 I, the Lord All-Powerful,
    am fiercely angry
with you leaders,
    and I will punish you.
I care for my people,
    the nation of Judah,
and I will change
this flock of sheep
    into charging war horses.

Confucianism

2. The Confucian Concept of Heaven

Heaven helps the man who is devoted; men help the man who is true. He who walks in truth and is devoted in his thinking, and furthermore reveres the worthy, is blessed by Heaven.
I Ching, Great Commentary 1.12.1

Yüeh-cheng Tzu saw Mencius. “I mentioned you to the prince,” said he, “and he was to have come to see you. Amongst his favorites is one Tsang who dissuaded him. That is why he failed to come.”
“When a man goes forward,” said Mencius, “there is something which urges him on; when he halts, there is something which holds him back. It is not in his power either to go forward or to halt. It is due to Heaven that I failed to meet the Marquis of Lu. How can this fellow Tsang be responsible for my failure?”
Mencius I.B.16
All a gentleman can do in starting an enterprise is to leave behind a tradition which can be carried on. Heaven alone can grant success. Mencius I.B.14
When under siege in K’uang, Confucius said, “With King Wen dead, is not culture (wen) invested here in me? If Heaven intends culture to be destroyed, those who come after me will not be able to have any part of it. If Heaven does not intend this culture to be destroyed, then what can the men of K’uang do to me?”
Analects 9.5R

Revere the anger of Heaven,
And presume not to make sport or be idle.
Revere the changing moods of Heaven,
And presume not to drive about at your
pleasure.
Great Heaven is intelligent,
And is with you in all your goings.
Great Heaven is clear-seeing,
And is with you in your wanderings and
indulgences. 25
Book of Songs, Ode 254

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Confucius, through his teachings, taught about many aspects of human morals and ethics… Confucius knew about God’s aspect of principled laws, but not about a personal God, a God having intellect, emotion and will. This makes Confucianism an archangel-type religion. It has influenced the world in morals and ethics, especially in East Asia. (295:174-75, August 28, 1998)

Confucianism’s teaching about God is symbolic. It does not contain any concrete contents about God’s character or attributes. Its teachings are focused on morals and ethics. For example, one of its main teachings is: “If you do good deeds, you will be blessed; if you do not, you will be punished.” (53:231, February 28, 1972)

Confucius said, “Those who live for the sake of goodness will be blessed by Heaven, but to those who do not live for the sake of goodness, Heaven will bring misfortune.” What does he mean by “Heaven”? It is ambiguous. That is why his teaching sometimes appears to be a religion and other times not. (38:260, January 8, 1971)

In Korean custom, a person receiving a gift from someone his senior must take it with both hands. This symbolizes that a person can only receive when he becomes a ‘level’ base for the older person’s love. He receives by setting himself at a ninety-degree angle to the giver. We have a saying in Korea, “the heart of the people is the heart of Heaven.” Our rules and customs were formed by the logic of the [vertical] conscience, to be employed in fulfillment of the horizontal. (171:237, January 1, 1988)

This means that there must be a meeting of Heaven and earth. Heaven must connect with the [horizontal virtues of] benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom. Yet, in Confucianism, they were not successfully connected. Hence, its concept of Heaven is vague, the Four Virtues are vague, and people have not known how to link them. Due to this ignorance, the substantial standards of these two forms could not be manifested in history; therefore they were washed away.
How, according to the Unification Principle, do we manifest the dual characteristics [vertical and horizontal]? How can we then establish a realm of substance, and what form will it take in society? I am talking about the substantial realm of re-creation. What human beings desire most is not knowledge, not power and not money. We desire accomplishments of love: Love between teacher and disciple, love between parent and child, love between king and subject—does not love enter into all these relationships? By the same token, Heaven also needs loving sons and daughters. Hence the Principle speaks of love between Heaven and the sons and daughters of Heaven. (185:272, January 17, 1989)


In Heaven and On Earth, I Alone Am the Honored One

Luke 23

44 Around noon the sky turned dark and stayed that way until the middle of the afternoon. 45 The sun stopped shining, and the curtain in the temple split down the middle. 46 Jesus shouted, “Father, I put myself in your hands!” Then he died.

Ezekiel 1

24 Whenever the creatures flew, their wings roared like an ocean or a large army or even the voice of God All-Powerful. And whenever the creatures stopped, they folded their wings against their bodies.

Buddhism

1. The Values of Buddhism

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In ancient times, Buddhism and Buddhist culture emerged out of God’s will, in order to reform the society of India. Buddhism presented a new ideal through a new understanding of subject and object relationships.15 (144:182, April 24, 1986)
 
Buddhism, which emerged from India, is a world-level teaching. Only religions like Buddhism, which transcends the practical domain of life and contains a world-level point of view and a transcendental philosophy, will remain in the Last Days. (9:279, June 12, 1960)
 
Among the Oriental religions, Buddhism is the closest to God’s providence… However, as Buddhism teaches the logic of Sarvadharma [the oneness of all things], it is ignorant of a personal God—a major weakness. Nevertheless, God set things up this way to prepare the people of Asia to one day be united [with God’s Kingdom] through the Oriental religions when Buddhism would connect with Judaism [had the latter received Christ]. (208:311, November 21, 1990)
 
Buddhism teaches the existence of God, but it focuses on God’s lawful aspect. It does not explain that God is actively working in the world. (53:297, March 4, 1972)
 
The Buddha’s entire philosophy is based on law (dharma). However, the object of dharma is the circumstances of human beings as objects, not the human being himself. Actually, the measure of a human being is love, not law. But the Buddha taught a standard based on law; hence his teachings are called Law Sutras.
    Buddhism teaches self-realization, but what should happen after attaining self-realization? Is that the end of it? That is why, even though Buddhists live solitary lives deep in the mountains and work hard for self-discipline and self-realization, they still are ambiguous about the ideal world of love. (50:116, November 6, 1971)
 
2. Buddhist Enlightenment
Strive and cleave the stream. Discard, O Brahmin, sense-desires. Knowing the destruction of conditioned things, be a knower of the Unmade.
    Dhammapada 383
 
Since all Dharmas are immanent in our mind there is no reason why we should not realize intuitively the real nature of Suchness. The Bodhisattva Sila Sutra says, “Our Essence of Mind is intrinsically pure, and if we knew our mind and realized what our nature is, all of us would attain Buddhahood.”
    Sutra of Hui Neng 2
 
Every Buddha Tathagata is one whose body is the Principle of Nature (Dharmadhatu-kaya), so that he may enter into the mind of any being. Consequently, when you have perceived Buddha, it is indeed that mind of yours that possesses those thirty-two signs of perfection and eighty minor marks of excellence [which you see in Buddha]. In fine, it is your mind that becomes Buddha; nay, your mind is indeed Buddha. The ocean of true and universal knowledge of all the Buddhas derives its source from one’s own mind and thought.
    Meditation on Buddha Amitayus 17
 
In heaven and on earth, I alone am the Honored One.
    Digha Nikaya 2.15

We Should Clearly Distinguish Monotheism from Polytheism

1 Thessolonians 5

12 My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. 13 Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other. 14 My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn’t living right. Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone. 15 Don’t be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.

Obadiah 1

15 The day is coming
when I, the Lord,
    will judge the nations.
And, Edom, you will pay in full
    for what you have done.

Shamanism, Polytheism and Animism

2. Human Beings Who Achieve Mastery Rise above the Gods

It is people who make the gods important.
If a spirit [idol] becomes too troublesome, it will be shown the tree from which it was carved.
We shall continue to offer sacrifices so that the blame will lie with the deities.
African Proverbs (African Traditional Religions)

Fools misjudge me when I take a human form,
Because they do not know my supreme state as Lord of Beings.
Unconscious, they fall prey to a beguiling nature
such as belongs to ogres and demons,
For their hopes [ascribing to God human motives] are vain, and so
are their rituals and their search for wisdom.
Bhagavad-Gita 9.11-12 (Hinduism)

Whoever knows the self as “I am Brahman,” becomes all this [universe]. Even the gods can-not prevent his becoming this, for he has become their Self.

Now, if a man worships another deity, thinking, “He is one and I am another,” he does not know. He is like an animal to the gods. As many animals serve a man, so does each man serve the gods [with offerings]. Even if one animal is taken away, it causes anguish to the owner; how much more so when many are taken away! Therefore it is not pleasing to the gods that men should know the truth.

    Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 (Hinduism)

Even the devas are jealous of a yogi, striving as he does to surpass them by attaining Brahman. They therefore try to lead him astray, in various ways, if they find him off guard.
    Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20 (Hinduism)

What is Shinto? Not in the shrines
the worldly minded frequent for gifts in vain,
but in good deeds, pure of heart,
lies real religion.
    Genchi Kato (Shinto)

Look, you brothers, who bathe in the holy waters,
Look, you monks, who bathe in the stream.
Give up, give up, your unholy thoughts;
Give up lustful thoughts for another man’s
wife,
Give up coveting after another man’s wealth.
If you bathe in the waters without giving up these,
It is as if bathing in a stream that has run dry.
    Basavanna, Vacana 642 (Hinduism)

Truth is victorious, never untruth.
Truth is the way; truth is the goal of life,
Reached by the sages who are free from self-will.
    Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

We should clearly distinguish monotheism from polytheism. Only God is the true deity; the other divine beings that founded the polytheistic religions are angels. Among those religions, some developed through good angels’ efforts to elevate human spirituality and heart—they are the higher religions. You should know that God has been cultivating people’s hearts through these good religions. (237:186, November 17, 1992)
 
Human history can be considered to span at least 850,000 years. Even during the most primitive times, the religious movements that sprang up received persecution. Who initiated such work? It is God. He developed religions to separate human beings from the servant. God separated us from Satan step by step, starting from the very bottom—the level of a servant of servants.
    Humans are created to be masters, but at the servant of servants’ level, the servant dominates the master. In order to take our rightful position in the Kingdom of Heaven as the masters of that servant, humanity must inevitably receive persecution from the entire servant world and triumph over it. (124:69, January 23, 1983)
 
Among shamans, especially the men, some had formerly led a promiscuous love life. Then as shamans they leave their former life and strive on the path of morality. This led to the development of a [higher] realm of religion. From that starting-point, they could recognize that people should live a straight way of life and form faithful families. At least they recognized that it was not good to live a loose lifestyle, and sought after a proper way of love. Such efforts at laying the right path developed into the world’s higher religions. (295:172, August 28, 1998)