Category: Old Testament

Exalt the Father

Leviticus 22

22 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the Lord.

3 “Say to them: ‘For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord.

4 “‘If a descendant of Aaron has a defiling skin disease[a] or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or by anyone who has an emission of semen, 5 or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be. 6 The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water. 7 When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food. 8 He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the Lord.

9 “‘The priests are to perform my service in such a way that they do not become guilty and die for treating it with contempt. I am the Lord, who makes them holy.

Richard:  God does not deal with an offering that is tainted, i.e., we have to make a clean break with Satan for God to work, not have one foot in Satan’s camp and one foot in God’s camp.

Isaiah 56

“The Redeemer will come to Zion,
    to those in Jacob who repent of their sins,”
declares the Lord.

21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord. “My Spirit,who is on you, will not depart from you, and my words that I have put in your mouth will always be on your lips, on the lips of your children and on the lips of their descendants—from this time on and forever,” says the Lord.

Richard:  God wants to bless us, but we have to be responsible for and repent for our sins.

The Father and I

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

It is fine to follow the path of a teacher, but that will all pass. One thing that I want to convey to you, even if I die or disappear, is that you should transcend race, humanity, and the world to cry with the heart of God. I want to die seeing such a sight. You should realize that only then do you have the authority to oversee the cosmos and the realm of hell.

From now on, we should be proud of our Father. What kind of Father is He? We have to introduce the Father who has labored in historic endeavors. We have to boast of our Father. We have to introduce the Father who has fought, holding onto this age. We are to introduce the Father who has longed for us and who had to fight for us. But if the heart is not laid as a foundation in conveying this, everything is just wild fancy and rash acts.

We should exalt the Father. We have to exalt the historic Father, the Father of the age, and the future- oriented Father with our heart connected to His. Thus, you should be able to exclaim, “Father, is this not Your will? Your will is my will. Oh, Father, You who have found us like a parent who could not forget his own blood, You are my Father!”

Heavenly Father longed to live with us for six thousand years, but Satan came in front of Him. Heavenly Father longs for the brides, the figures who will understand His heart, and speak out, “Hey, you Satan, you have no place to rest your foot in this world. Hey, you and all the forces of evil, just look at my Father,” and get recognition from him. He would have to say, “You are right. What you are saying is true for eternity.” Wouldn’t that be so?

Jesus’ body was killed, but his heart was never killed. His body was invaded by Satan, yet the world of heart was not invaded. That is why Heavenly Father brought forth the ideal of the bride, and He is looking for the bride who possesses the loyalty of the world of the heart. Thus, you should be able to call on the Father and the Lord with the heart of the bride.

We should be grateful that the saints of the past strove and that Heavenly Father and the world have endeavored to find the sons and daughters of the direct lineage to create the relationship of father and children. Furthermore, you should say a word of apology to the ancestors, to numerous spirits, and even to Satan, and become figures who can protect this land. Only then will you become God’s sons and daughters. God wants to hear such sons and daughters call Him “Father.” Aren’t you also like that? When there are sons and daughters whom God truly loves, He does not want to hear the physical father say to such children, “Hey, So and So, you are my sons and daughters.” Wouldn’t that be true? He doesn’t even want to hear that they belong to a certain nation. “They are My own sons and daughters and they belong to My nation.” He doesn’t want them to be called the people of Korea or America. Such a thing is ridiculous to Heavenly Father, who has the ideal of the heavenly world. God is searching for us from such a standpoint.

God was unable to live with the individual, with the family, with society, with the nation, and with the world. How much must He have endeavored to work backwards from finding the world to finding us today? Not only does He have to find us, He has to take us along with Him. It is difficult enough to find us, but it is more difficult to drag us along. The Lord comes in order to take even the historic last days along with him.

I urge you to clearly understand this and become God’s proud sons and daughters, the brides and bridegrooms who will stand heart to heart with Jesus. He professed that we are not of this nation, the heavenly family is not of this nation. His society, nation, and the created world are not of this fallen world. 



We Have to Totally Change Today’s Understanding of Faith

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Amos 9

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:

“Strike the tops of the pillars
    so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
    those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
    none will escape.

Jeremiah 50

As I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah
    along with their neighboring towns,”
declares the Lord,
“so no one will live there;
    no people will dwell in it.

Richard:  God has declared a war on lewd ungodly, immoral behavior.  Hopefully this war wil be carried out by propagating the Word of God.  As more and more people realize God’s family ideal, that will bring a world of peace.  There is no other way.

The Father and I

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

What kind of person is a true Christian? It is not someone who dances with joy. It would be someone who prays with concern for God. He or she would not pray for themselves but would pray for the sake of God. That person would not worry whether he or she would become the bride or not, but would worry about whether Jesus, the bridegroom, is happy or not. The person would not pray asking God to send him or her to Heaven, but instead would pray, asking to free God of His sorrow. The person would not ask for his or her value to be acknowledged in Heaven, but would hope that God’s value may be acknowledged in this world, even through his or her own death.

We have to totally change today’s understanding of faith. It has to be changed fundamentally. Do people want to go to Heaven by believing? What are they going to do in Heaven? Are they going to steal from God again when they are there? That is like being joyful after losing the heavenly essence. The essence is the heart of giving. Even fallen minds can perceive such a nature of love. The pit of death awaits those who are striving to receive. The realm of resurrection of life awaits those who are struggling to give. Jesus was someone who struggled for thirty years of his life to give. Jesus endeavored to give during his three years of public ministry. In the end he even gave himself. You have to realize that the Messiah was the prince who strove to give and give again.

Those who are following such an example must repent and see how much of an offering you have made yourself in order to liberate God’s sorrow in your lives. Such a person has no concept of Heaven or hell. Such a person would say, “Who cares if I go to Heaven or if I go to hell?” When God wants to resurrect such a person, even Satan has to agree. Here the historic standard of life gets established.

Today’s Unificationists need the words of the Bible in order to console the Father who is filled with sadness. You also need a teacher. But I do not want you to go forth just looking at the teacher. I hope that you yourselves will establish the bond of relationship with Heavenly Father’s heart, with the teacher as the center. God will never desert you when you pray for this nation with heartfelt pleas, when you strive to introduce God’s heart to it, and when you become the offering. God will not give up on us.

When we think about God, we know that He is the master of all things. But have you seen His deeds? As the subject of love, was He ever able to say “I love you” to mankind? Never. Although He was in a position to own everything, He was never able to claim mankind as His own. And although there are numerous people in this world, and although there were the Israelites who were prepared for four thousand years, Heavenly Father was never able to raise them up as His own sons and daughters or as warriors who could defeat Satan.

There are many Christians in the democratic camp today, but God has not been able to place them as generals in command of an offensive attack against Satan. He also wanted to have Jesus command the angelic world to establish a relationship with this world, but that could not be achieved. God gave mankind the ideal of the bride, and He sought to find such brides. But He could not find one person who could stand as the proud bride in front of Satan. We are truly sorry in front of Heavenly Father.

The world calls the leader of the Unification Church the ringleader of a cult. That’s fine. I just want them to receive all the blessing. I don’t want to give excuses or explanations. This is not the time to fight over such things. Our lives are busy, and what is more urgent is how we are to be recognized by Heavenly Father.

We are all miserable, we are all the same. There were times when we called on the Father and all pledged to die together if we had to. There were times when we called on our Father with tears. We had to stand in such a position representing this nation. Although there may have been times of sorrow, we have to go this path as the Father has led us. We should be grateful and feel unworthy if we can’t feel this historical sorrow. We should be grateful that we can feel the traces of our ancestors’ tears and blood, to tread together down this sorrowful valley. Even if this body may be ripped to pieces or fall down, we have nothing to feel sad about. We have to realize we are the Christians of the last days who have to find and walk this path of heart again.

It is fine to be called a cult or to be misunderstood. None of that can be an obstacle for me. I am here to clarify the heavenly concept. I am telling you now that God will by all means pull us forward along with history if I can share that heart, kneel down in understanding of such a heart, and speak with the heart to raise up the people who will cry with that heart.



Where Would God Go Without Us?

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Jude 1

3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. 4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about[b] long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c]at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding townsgave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Richard: The core issue of society is the moral breakdown. So many aspects of society are totally unacceptable to God, yet people justify their behavior. In the Urban Life Success and Happiness Training Seminar we will explain these core issues and proffer the solution.

Psalm 74

It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan
    and gave it as food to the creatures of the desert.
15 It was you who opened up springs and streams;
    you dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
16 The day is yours, and yours also the night;
    you established the sun and moon.
17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth;
    you made both summer and winter.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

Jesus came to this world as the son of God, but he had to go through thirty miserable years of life. He walked the path of three painful and tumultuous years of public ministry. Yet he was a brave warrior who demonstrated a confident spirit which could overcome anything that stood in the way. He possessed a burning heart that would have easily restored the whole race of Israel at that time. Such a warrior is needed in today’s age. Instead of fighting against the people every time they drove him into difficulties, Jesus prayed for them through long nights on the mountain of Gethsemane. Such a big-minded character is admirable.

Jesus took the path of solitude and went into quiet places in order to call on the Father during times when the nation faced persecution. The path to life for this race is the same. There has to be the heart. You should be able to forget all human conditions, even forgetting about eating or clothing, and call on the Father as His sons and daughters. When there are such sons and daughters, this race will be closest to Heavenly Father in the world of heart, even if the people are sacrificed and trampled on. Do you think God will then treat you badly? No parent would ever not accept a child with a heart that connects the past, the present, and the future. If people are like that, God is even more so. Is there a human being who does not embody God’s attributes? God is like that. Therefore, mankind is the same.

This miserable race is searching for the heart of God to find the path to life. Even in this situation, one should be able to show gratitude to Heavenly Father. There is a world of difference between people who denounce Heavenly Father even in a free situation and people who show gratitude to Heavenly Father with tears even in a difficult situation.

Now that we have a father and son relationship with Heavenly Father, no matter how challenging and manifold the difficulties and persecutions that block our path, they are not even comparable to the course that Heavenly Father walked for six thousand years. So when you are injured while working for the will of God, do not look at your own injury and cry. Rather, comfort Heavenly Father who has had greater pain inflicted on Him. The Father is someone who will come to you with tears when you are injured, forgetting about His own pain. We are truly unworthy of this.

Now we should really accomplish something. This race is losing its national spirit. What can this race be proud of in front of Heaven? There is nothing that it can put forth before the world and this age. The heart of God has never been attained. Who has ever deeply felt this world of the heart? It is someone who experiences difficulty. It is someone who calls on the Father, enduring his own difficulties. We have to realize that we need to have conditions with which we can be close to the Father who has borne historic sorrows.

That is why we have this difficult environment. After all, this race need not feel sorrowful. We should be sorrowful if Heavenly Father did not exist. But He does, and there is no need to feel sad. Even if this nation is the most miserable nation in the six thousand years of history, it would have moved Heavenly Father deep down to His bones, more than any other nation, if it had remembered Him. If there is a movement that will establish the relationship of father and son in this nation, the new world will open up. As Heavenly Father has firmly promised us, and as Jesus’ great purpose was to teach us, where would God go without us? We have to start out with such a conviction.

Jesus Overcame His Own Sorrow to Save Sorrowful Humanity

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Hebrews 2

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.[g] 12 He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”[h]

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”[i]

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”[j]

Ecclesiastes 9

9 So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. 2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad,[a] the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.

As it is with the good,
    so with the sinful;
as it is with those who take oaths,
    so with those who are afraid to take them.

3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope[b]—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

5 For the living know that they will die,
    but the dead know nothing;
they have no further reward,
    and even their name is forgotten.
6 Their love, their hate
    and their jealousy have long since vanished;
never again will they have a part
    in anything that happens under the sun.

7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife,whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

Richard: This is a little bit of a skeptical view by the author. However, none the less, it is timeless wisdom. However, our days don’t have to be days of “meaningless life’. In the Urban Family Life Success and Happiness Seminar we will discuss God’s plan for life and how to live a successful, happy and fulfilled life.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

Jesus knew God as his father, but what kind of father did he know Him to be? When Jesus wore the crown of thorns, he felt that God was wearing a crown of thorns that was a thousand times more painful than his. When he was being nailed to the cross, he realized that God was experiencing his pain thousands of times over. Even when the spear pierced his side, he accepted it as if it were deserved since he knew that Heavenly Father had continued to struggle for His children in spite of pain much greater than his.

That is why he could not hold a grudge and sorrow in his heart. He was determined not to leave a grudge and sorrow in his heart in front of humanity in spite of his pain. Although he was in a position to hold unimaginable rage and vengeance toward his enemy, he could not do so when thinking about what Heavenly Father had endured. Jesus had to overcome his own sorrow because he had come to save sorrowful humanity. He had to overcome his own pain and death because he had come to resolve the pain and death of mankind. Because he was like this, Jesus was the Savior. Because mankind had already lost its life, he had to be in a position never to condemn God even if he lost his life or had to give up all desires. We should realize that Jesus was able to become the savior of life who had taken on God’s heart because he accepted this.

Satan was unable to accuse Jesus because he had no heart of vengeance, no indignation, and was not dominated by the historical sorrow. What kind of being is Satan? He accuses you by putting forth the historical sorrow and blocks you when you are caught up in private matters. Yet Satan still could not accuse Jesus because Jesus had nothing to do with the sorrows of this fallen world and the universe. Satan, who even accused God, threw up both hands and gave up.

It was not empty talk when Jesus said to love your enemy. Satan cannot accuse the one who cries and worries about the eternal death of humanity more than about his own death. If he does, Satan’s own being will be destroyed. Satan cannot have dominion over such a person. Only God can have dominion over such a person. Although Satan may at any time accuse within the realm of faith and hope, he cannot touch one iota of the realm of an unchanging, sincere heart. Because the Kingdom of Heaven transcends everything connected with Satan, it has nothing to do with him.

We call God our Father and Lord upon Jesus’ merit. We are unworthy to do so. Even now we are struggling within the realm of sin, and we cry over the small sorrows in our life. When we look at today’s society and this world, the trends bear out the historical sorrow and are surrounded by fear. What controls my emotions in such a world? Fear. What overwhelms my life? It is justice that is in tatters. God wants to establish the new world and uphold true justice, yet there is no one to accomplish this. We have to realize that God, as always, is still searching for such a person.

The Kingdom of Heaven is Within Us

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1 Corinthians 3

3 My friends, you are acting like the people of this world. That’s why I could not speak to you as spiritual people. You are like babies as far as your faith in Christ is concerned. 2 So I had to treat you like babies and feed you milk. You could not take solid food, and you still cannot, 3 because you are not yet spiritual. You are jealous and argue with each other. This proves that you are not spiritual and that you are acting like the people of this world.

4 Some of you say that you follow me, and others claim to follow Apollos. Isn’t that how ordinary people behave? 5 Apollos and I are merely servants who helped you to have faith. It was the Lord who made it all happen. 6 I planted the seeds, Apollos watered them, but God made them sprout and grow. 7 What matters isn’t those who planted or watered, but God who made the plants grow. 8 The one who plants is just as important as the one who waters. And each one will be paid for what they do. 9 Apollos and I work together for God, and you are God’s garden and God’s building.

Lamentations 2

Your prophets deceived you
with false visions
    and lying messages—
they should have warned you
to leave your sins
    and be saved from disaster.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 12, 1959

John 14: 1-19

The resting place of mankind is not a private world. It is where the heart flows. It is the world of heart that transcends national boundaries, where one feels just right. If today’s humankind cannot transcend the historical realities with the consciousness of such a world of heart, God’s ideology of unification cannot be accomplished. Then the advent of Jesus would have been in vain. Then the relationships of the bride and the father are meaningless. When the heart is truly felt, race is not a problem. Ideology is not a problem. When such a heart is felt, all these can be overcome and we will be joyful. In the last days of history, that will be inherited.

Jesus said that the kingdom of Heaven is within us. What does this mean? The fact that eternal Heaven is in my mind means that Heaven starts from my heart. That is why we should have a connection of heart when we relate to Heavenly Father.

When God becomes our Father and we become His children, His body and our bodies are one. The Father’s flesh and blood are my flesh and blood. Even the world acknowledges that. Why does a parent love his child? It is because the child is an extension of the parent. It is as if one is loving oneself. Parenthood means the blood line is connected.

From the perspective of heart, God and Jesus were one. When God’s artery moved, Jesus’ artery moved. Their hearts beat as one. Isn’t that so? Is there any parent who says, “I love you” first and then goes on to love the child? Is there a child who says, “I love you” first and then loves the parent? The movement of love is automatic because the blood is connected. Such a world transcends logic as we know it.

Paul said in Romans 8 that we are adopted children because of the Fall. You should not be so proud. Fallen mankind is in the position of adopted children. Adopted children have a different blood lineage.

Therefore, Heavenly Father is longing for a child who can get rid of the adopted blood lineage and receive the blood lineage that originates from His heart. Then the child will be naturally loving in His eyes. The Father should love me even if I do not say that I love the Father. I should have the heart to admire Heavenly Father without having to speak it. I would fight for the Father without having to say so. Such a heart is not felt in the fallen mind.

Jesus was different in this respect. If he called on the Father, Heavenly Father would reply even if He was in sadness. In Jesus’ calling “Father,” God felt such a heart that it transcended the prayers of millions of people. Such a call and reply exist within the natural relationship that transcends the sorrowful history, centering on God’s purpose of creation. This is a situation in which nothing else matters, where no one can deny it, and no condition can prevent it. Have you been in such a situation?

When you are in such a situation, even your cells can feel it. You may say, “This young man is speaking nonsense,” but I don’t mind what anyone says. The heart and touch of love are the essence of the existing world and have the quality of the whole. That is why you long for Heavenly Father.

When you pray in such circumstances, the deepening of night is no problem. You transcend consciousness of hunger or weariness. The world of love is such that its internal emotion surpasses thousands of times what people perceive with their physical bodies. Would that not be the case? The hour in which Jesus was praying quietly to Heavenly Father on the Mount of Olives, dragging himself in after being persecuted, was an hour of happiness no one else knew. The moment he called out “Father,” his whole self was absorbed into the world of the heart. He could wish blessing upon his enemy because in communion with the heart of God even death on the cross could be forgotten.

This world should witness people calling upon the Father with such a heart and Him loving those people as His children. Jesus was like this, but he could not get across the lifestyle of the world of the heart. Although he introduced it, he must come again because the content of heart was not made into a reality.

If you want to reach the unifying point of heart where you can call Heavenly Father “Father,” your body has to be the body of Heavenly Father. Your blood has to be the blood of Heavenly Father. When you have reached such a state, you will be a holy temple. When you become a holy temple, your mind and body are not yours. They belong to Heavenly Father. You are not your own origin. Because everything began from Heavenly Father, it has to end with Heavenly Father. Therefore, your existence is not yours but the Father’s.

When you have entered the realm of heart where your flesh and blood take the place of God’s flesh and blood, you will unconsciously shed tears when Heavenly Father is grieving. Those of you who have come here for the first time may ask how in the world such a thing is possible, but it is. The world of the heart surpasses by thousands of times the value of all existence. We will transcend awareness when we connect with such a world.

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