Category: Old Testament

Allow Yourself Time to Experience Nature with Your Own Direct Senses

Absolute Proof: Documentary on Election Fraud by Mike Lindell

Judges 18

19 “Quiet!” the men said. “Keep your mouth shut and listen. Why don’t you come with us and be our priest, so you can tell us what God wants us to do? You could stay here and be a priest for one man’s family, but wouldn’t you rather be the priest for a clan or even a whole tribe of Israel?”

Mark 5

9 Then Jesus went inside and said to them, “Why are you crying and carrying on like this? The child isn’t dead. She is just asleep.” 40 But the people laughed at him.

After Jesus had sent them all out of the house, he took the girl’s father and mother and his three disciples and went to where she was. 41-42 He took the twelve-year-old girl by the hand and said, “Talitha, koum!”[g] which means, “Little girl, get up!” The girl got right up and started walking around.

Spiritual Union

3. Oneness with All Things

Those who see all creatures within themselvesAnd themselves in all creatures know no fear. Those who see all creatures in themselvesAnd themselves in all creatures know no grief. How can the multiplicity of life Delude the one who sees its unity?
Isa Upanishad 6-7 (Hinduism)

Buddha said, “Through the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment I acquired not even the least thing. This is altogether every-where, without differentiation or degree.
”Diamond Sutra 22-23 (Buddhism)

The infinite joy of touching the Godhead is eas-ily attained by those who are free from the bur-den of evil and established within themselves. They see the Self in every creature and all cre-ation in the Self. With consciousness unified through meditation, they see everything with an equal eye.

I am ever present into those who have realized Me in every creature. Seeing all life as My manifestation, they are never separated from Me. They worship Me in the hearts of all, and all their actions proceed from Me. Wherever they may live, they abide in Me.

When a person responds to the joys and sorrows of others as if they were his own, he has attained the highest state of spiritual union.
Bhagavad-Gita 6.28-32 (Hinduism)

In the Great Beginning, there was non-being. It had neither being nor name. The One originates from it; it has oneness but not yet physical form. When things obtain it and come into existence, that is called virtue [power which gives them their individual character]. That which is form-less is divided [into yang and yin], and from the very beginning going on without interruption…

By cultivating one’s nature one will return to virtue. When virtue is perfect, one will be one with the Beginning. Being one with the Beginning, one becomes vacuous, and being vacuous, one becomes great. One will then be united with the sound and breath of things. When one is united with the sound and breath of things, one is then united with the universe. This unity is intimate and seems to be stupid and foolish. This is called profound and secret virtue, this is complete harmony.
Chuang Tzu 12 (Taoism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Heavenly Father is breathing. His breath is the breath of love. God continuously breathes love into the cosmos, bringing it into alignment with love. You should align yourself with love, since in loving you will find eternal life. Only then will you transcend this reality and enter the realm of Heavenly Father’s breath. (201:191, April 1, 1990)
 
Allow yourself time to experience through your own direct senses—through your eyes, nose, mouth and ears—and believe through your own experience. It is important to give yourself enough time to have such experiences.
    Self-centered people are not able to sense it well, but when people who lead a life filled with God’s grace look at nature, they experience everything as brand new. In the morning it seems new, and in the evening it seems new. As God’s grace slowly rolls in like waves, they feel fascination and mystery in three dimensions. A person who can experience this is a happy person. (30:134-35, March 21, 1970)
 
If you want to dwell in God’s heart, you should have the heart to protect all creatures in heaven and on earth as if they were your own. Since God’s heart dwells in all His creatures, caring for them links you with God’s heart. The highest spirituality is to be possessed by God and dwell in His heart. If even looking at a flying bird or smelling a flower’s fragrance prompts you to sing eternally, then you are not dwelling in the world, but in God’s heart. In that state, time means nothing. (8:182, January 23, 1959)
 
I long for the ideal world, a world that completes the purpose of creation, a world transcendent of the world of consciousness, a world where I can feel endless peace.
    What would it be like to live in that world? On seeing even a blade of grass, you would extol the value of its existence. As a human being, you are a small thing compared with the vast universe, yet all its creatures would praise you, saying, “You are truly amazing! Whenever you move, heaven and earth move, God’s heart moves, and eternal life moves.” All people should attain this level. (9:320, June 19, 1960)
 
 
 

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

2 Samuel 9

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

3 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.
4 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)

Where Is Our Zero Point Located?

Numbers 9

15-16 As soon as the sacred tent was set up, a thick cloud appeared and covered it. The cloud was there each day, and during the night, a fire could be seen in it. 17-19 The Lord used this cloud to tell the Israelites when to move their camp and where to set it up again. As long as the cloud covered the tent, the Israelites did not break camp. But when the cloud moved, they followed it, and wherever it stopped, they camped and stayed there, 20-22 whether it was only one night, a few days, a month, or even a year. As long as the cloud remained over the tent, the Israelites stayed where they were. But when the cloud moved, so did the Israelites. 23 They obeyed the Lord’s commands and went wherever he directed Moses.

Nehemiah 9

6 Our stubborn ancestors
    refused to obey—
they forgot about the miracles
    you had worked for them,
and they were determined
to return to Egypt
    and become slaves again.
17 But, our God, you are merciful
    and quick to forgive;
you are loving, kind,
    and very patient.
So you never turned away
    from them—
18 not even when they made
    an idol shaped like a calf
and insulted you by claiming,
“This is the god who rescued us
    from Egypt.”

19 Because of your great mercy,
you never abandoned them
    in the desert.
And you always guided them
with a cloud by day
    and a fire at night.

Richard: Both readings refer to the cloud that guided and “covered” the Israelites. The modern day cloud is the Word of God brought by Rev. Sun Myung Moon in the eight sacred textbooks. By daily study of the Word and through our conscience, God will continually guide us.

Emptiness–Nirvana

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

While seeking for absolute love, you should not have consciousness of self. (279:146, August 4, 1996)
 
If we could totally subjugate our body, if our actions were always in conformity with our will, then we would not need religion. Jesus came in order to correct the disunity between the mind and the body. This is also the purpose of the Buddha’s teaching that we should return to the state of nothingness—the zero point. If the mind and body are united, you do not feel [any distinction]. Why should we return to a state of emptiness? It is so we may experience Being. In a state of emptiness, the zero point, there emerges a counterpart with whom you can be in total harmony. Hence, at the zero point you can experience Being one hundred percent. (256:212, March 13, 1994)
 
God dwells in the ‘king zero point.’ Since God has such a nature, to meet Him you must become even lower than zero. Then you must guard that king zero point. The king zero point is like the mind, and as the flesh surrounds the mind, you should surround and protect the zero point. Have you reached the state where you can guard the zero point? Can you go even lower than the zero point? This is what Buddhist meditation is about—to search the God-like mind for the deepest point. (230:134, May 1, 1992)
 
The [self-centered] ego has nothing to do with the ideal of creation. Therefore, we should completely deny ourselves. In order to find the true self, we should place ourselves at the zero point. That is the only place where we can be totally united in mind and body.
    When God created us, He was in a state of total mind-body unity. He was in a state of total self-giving, with absolute love and absolute faith. God had no space to think of His own benefit or situation. Herein lies the origin of love: it is a state of one hundred percent giving and living for the sake of others. Where do you think you can find your true self? You find it by practicing a life of true love, always living for the sake of others.
    If you dwell at the zero point—denying yourself while living for the sake of your family, all humankind throughout the world, and God—you will find your true self without doubt. It is our inevitable destiny to do so as we walk the path of restoration, which leads to salvation. (356:301-02, October 21, 2001)
 
Although we yearn for God and seek to love Him as the Subject of our faith, our experiences of Him are vague and indistinct. We still wonder, “Where can we find God?” Although He is definitely present, we cannot perceive Him with the certainty that we perceive things with our five physical senses. How, then, can we see God? We do not begin by looking at God, but rather by looking into ourselves.
    When we look into ourselves, we find that we exist as mind and body. We should not focus on the body, but look into our mind.
    Among a thousand fallen people, their fundamental nature may be the same, but each one has a different mind, a different personality each with different qualities.
    When drawing a circle, you first draw a horizontal line and then a vertical line. From the point where they intersect, you draw the circle around it, starting from one degree, two degrees, and finally covering all 360 degrees. The horizontal line and the vertical line determine a 90-degree angle. How, then, do we make our mind a perfect circle? Depending on their personalities, each person draws their horizontal line in a different place. Just as our faces are different from one another, our inborn natures are different.
    When drawing our circle through 360 degrees, we begin from zero degrees and trace it based on that standard. However, if the baseline of our minds is not properly fixed, we will not have the proper standard for measuring the degrees of the circle. Indeed, the baselines of people’s minds are not the same. Why? As people’s faces, interests and feelings differ, they each draw their horizontal and vertical lines in a different way.
    How, then, can you form a circle covering all 360 degrees? You should find the zero point. Where is your zero point? Everyone has one. It is within yourself, within the core of your heart—there you will find it. When you draw a horizontal line from the zero point, you can properly fix the vertical line perpendicular to it.
    We are to stand as object partners before God, our Subject Partner. Surely He has endowed human beings with a base to respond to Him as object partners. Therefore, upon the base of the horizontal mind, we should find the vertical direction, the true perpendicular. Surely there must be one.
    You see the horizon in two dimensions, but if you try and estimate the perpendicular your measure could easily be off the mark. How can you find the accurate measure? If your horizontal is too high you must lower it; if it is too low you must raise it, to fix it at the zero point.
    In an electrical power plant there are many meters, and each one is calibrated to a zero point. That neutral point must be set properly in order to adjust the positive and negative voltages and to measure the power levels. We, too, must accurately calibrate our zero point.
    Where is our zero point located? It is a position that exists but seemingly does not exist. People who practice Zen meditation say that they attain the state of ‘no-self.’ That is what I am talking about. We should reach that spiritual standard, the zero point state. Once we attain it, our horizontal standard will become responsive to all things. (76:125)
 
 
 

The Liberation of the Self Is Based on the Unity of Your Mind and Body

Acts 10

9 The next day about noon these men were coming near Joppa. Peter went up on the roof of the house to pray 10 and became very hungry. While the food was being prepared, he fell sound asleep and had a vision. 11 He saw heaven open, and something came down like a huge sheet held up by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of animals, snakes, and birds. 13 A voice said to him, “Peter, get up! Kill these and eat them.”

14 But Peter said, “Lord, I can’t do that! I’ve never eaten anything that is unclean and not fit to eat.”[c]

15 The voice spoke to him again, “When God says that something can be used for food, don’t say it isn’t fit to eat.”

16 This happened three times before the sheet was suddenly taken back to heaven.

Amos 1

8 I will destroy the king of Ashdod
    and the ruler of Ashkelon.
I will strike down Ekron,
and that will be the end
    of the Philistines.
I, the Lord, have spoken!

Judgment on Phoenicia

9 The Lord said:

I will punish Phoenicia
for countless crimes,
    and I won’t change my mind.
They broke their treaty
and dragged off my people[r]
    from town after town
to sell them as slaves
    to the Edomites.
10 That’s why I will send flames
to burn down the city of Tyre
    along with its fortresses.

Liberation

2. Universal Liberation

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Liberation means that all hazardous conditions in our world are transformed into harmonious relationships. Our world becomes unified, without any sharp edges, where up and down, right and left, and front and rear have equal value.
    Once liberation comes, grandfathers and grandmothers will like it, quarreling husbands and nagging wives will be satisfied, children and grandchildren will be glad. The multitudes will rejoice, and people of all nations will cheer. (341:161-62, January 1, 2001)
 
Before trying to liberate North Korea, you should ask yourself whether you are liberated. The liberation of the self is based on the unity of your body and mind. The liberation of the nation is the fifth level after the liberation of the individual, family, tribe and people.18 (187:126, February 5, 1989)
 
All things that were supposed to be united into one were shattered into pieces. They were turned upside down throughout humanity’s fragmented history, because countless indemnity courses blocked heaven and earth and passed each other in all directions. Therefore God has been leading a course of re-creation. To walk that course, True Parents came to the earth.
    Heavenly Father, we know how hard Thou hast striven throughout history, in Thy providence of recreation which Thou hast conducted through our forbearers, to reconnect all the divisions in the mineral world, the world of microscopic organisms, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human world, and even in the heavenly world…
    Therefore, centering on the love that is proper to God’s ideal of creation, we should restore back what was lost in the world of minerals, the world of microscopic organisms, the plant kingdom, the animal kingdom, the human world, and the heavenly world. Thou, Heavenly Father, and we, True Parents, should create the realm of oneness… I sincerely hope and ask Thee to guide us to create one unified world, joining the heavenly world and earthly world. (May 4, 2003)
 
Throughout history, human beings have been searching for their own liberation and salvation, but who has been concerned about God’s situation? Does God dwell in blissful joy for eternity, not in need of liberation? God is the Parent who has been mourning over human beings as they suffered in sin and evil throughout history. How, then, can God rejoice with a liberated heart? It is impossible. Depending on the degree of earthly liberation, God’s heart can also be liberated. Only when God is liberated can human beings be liberated, be free to enjoy a family life of true love, and bring liberation to the creation. Furthermore, only when God is liberated can the beings in the spirit world be liberated and released. (April 30, 2004)
 
The ultimate goal of God’s providence of salvation goes beyond the individual; it is to liberate and save the family, tribe, nation, physical world and the spirit world including hell. Until this is done, God Himself is not liberated. When the purpose of God’s providence of salvation is fully attained, in other words, when even hell and all the spirit world are liberated, on that day, God will declare the completion of His ideal, proclaiming, “My will is done! Hallelujah! March forward into one world, under the dominion of my love.” (114:78, May 17, 1981)
 
 
 

The Interminable Struggle Between Mind and Body Will Completely Disappear

Hebrews 8

8 What I mean is that we have a high priest who sits at the right side of God’s great throne in heaven. 2 He also serves as the priest in the most holy place inside the real tent there in heaven. This tent of worship was set up by the Lord, not by humans.

3 Since all priests must offer gifts and sacrifices, Christ also needed to have something to offer. 4 If he were here on earth, he would not be a priest at all, because here the Law appoints other priests to offer sacrifices. 5 But the tent where they serve is just a copy and a shadow of the real one in heaven. Before Moses made the tent, he was told, “Be sure to make it exactly like the pattern you were shown on the mountain!” 6 Now Christ has been appointed to serve as a priest in a much better way, and he has given us much assurance of a better agreement.

Psalm 21

4 He asked to live a long time,
    and you promised him life
    that never ends.

5 The king is highly honored.
You have let him win victories
    that have made him famous.
6 You have given him blessings
    that will last forever,
    and you have made him glad
    by being so near to him.
7 Lord Most High,
    the king trusts you,
    and your kindness
    keeps him from defeat.

Enlightenment

1. The State of Inner Freedom

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

According to the perspective of religion, humanity does not dwell in a liberated state. People today do not live in the realm of God’s freedom; rather they are constrained within the fallen world under Satan’s control. In other words, the world is in bondage. Christians in the established churches and we Unification Church members have the same understanding: we are in bondage.

This bondage is manifest as the persistent struggle between our mind and body. If human beings were made from the beginning with their minds and bodies in conflict, it would be absolutely impossible for them to perfect their character or attain liberation. In fact however, humans were created with harmonious internal elements, by which they could have attained the ideal state of liberation. They only fell into bondage during the course of their growth, when as a result of the Fall they were driven into a state of disorder, where we remain to this day. Therefore, it is entirely possible to be liberated from bondage and attain the ideal state. (85:227, March 3, 1976)

What does it feel like to experience the being of God? The interminable struggle between your mind and the body, which formerly plagued your self-centered life when you put yourself as number one in everything you did, will completely disappear. Instead, you will live the life that God wants you to live: living for the sake of others and giving yourself for the whole. Then, true love will continue forever, and God’s joy will be displayed in the spirit world. You will experience such satisfaction and happiness as you have never felt before, because it will be connected to the whole. Thus, you will discover yourself in the state of liberation. (329:301-02, August 11, 2000)

The body has a limit, but the mind is infinite. The world of the mind is beyond form, beyond any philosophy or viewpoint. Still greater than the mind is the world of the heart. It has no restrictions. The world of the mind has certain restraints, conditioned by its relationships. Yet nothing can restrain the world of the heart. What could ever restrain a parent’s love for his or her children? Even a barrier as daunting as a huge mountain cannot block the way. (7:246, September 20, 1959)

It is written in the Bible, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” (2 Cor. 3.17) The Father is a Spirit of freedom, liberation and unification. How, then, can the spirit of freedom, which transcends any trials, be instilled in your hearts? How can you find the point of liberation where you overcome all the walls of suffering? When will you experience that peaceful moment of total unification, which is your ultimate hope?
     In thinking about these important questions, consider that God is not free. Since God is not free, liberated and unified, the freedom people pursue today is not true freedom. The liberation people are proclaiming is not complete liberation, and the unification people are promoting is not complete unification…
     God created us. Therefore, the complete freedom, liberation and unification that we desire can be realized only when God is free and becomes the master of liberation and unification. God’s freedom, liberation and unification are the standards for humanity’s freedom, liberation and unification; that is only logical. (4:314-15, October 12, 1958)