Category: Psalms

The Completed Testament Age is the Age for God’s Seal of Love

Listen to the Richard Urban Show #7: The Great Fraud-the Covid-19 Agenda-Part 4-Will We Throw Away Our God-Given Civil Liberties?

Exodus 29

35 Repeat this ordination ceremony for Aaron and his sons seven days in a row, just as I have instructed you. 36 Each day you must offer a bull as a sacrifice for sin and as a way of purifying the altar. In addition, you must smear the altar with olive oil to make it completely holy. 37 Do this for seven days, and the altar will become so holy that anyone who touches it will become holy.

Richard: What is today’s holy altar? It is the Blessing of marriage given through True Parents.

Psalm 139

9 Suppose I had wings
like the dawning day
    and flew across the ocean.
10 Even then your powerful arm
    would guide and protect me.

Eschatology and Messianic Hope

Recognizing the Day of the Lord

3. The Seventh Millennium of Sabbath Rest

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

In the Old Testament Age, God taught the people through His servants and angels. In the New Testament Age, He worked through His Son. From then on, He works through the Holy Spirit. (10:197, October 2, 1960)

During the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham, people had not yet fulfilled sufficient indemnity conditions to receive God’s Word directly. At most, fallen people made indemnity condi-tions through offering sacrifices; but in doing so, they laid the foundation for the next period when God could begin to work His providence of restoration based on the Word. Hence, this period is called the age of the providence to lay the foundation for the Word.
During the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus, humanity’s spirituality and intellect developed to the formation stage based on the Word revealed in the Old Testament. Hence, this period is called the formation stage of the providence, or the Old Testament Age.
During the period when the providence of restoration is to be completed after the Second Coming of Christ, humanity’s spirituality and intellect are to develop through the completion stage based on the Completed Testament Word, which will be given for the fulfillment of the providence of restoration. Hence, this period is called the completion stage of the providence, or the Completed Testament Age. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Restoration 2.2.1)
Paul said in I Corinthians 13, “And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” We human beings, however, lost hope and faith through the Fall. By losing hope and faith, we also lost God-centered love. The six-thousand-year history of the providence of restoration was for the sake of restoring this love…
Examining these six thousand years, in the Old Testament Age people exerted effort in hope. In the New Testament Age people made effort in search of faith. The coming Completed Testament Age is the age for making effort in search of love.
In the Old Testament Age, circumcision was the condition made by the chosen people as they lived in hope. In the New Testament Age, baptism of water and the fire of the Holy Spirit established faith before God. In the coming Completed Testament Age, you will be able to enter into a loving relationship with God by receiving His seal of love. (5:108, January 4, 1959)

The Perfect and Complete Truth Has Been Revealed

Check my first Podcast, Can You Trust the CDC and the World Health Organization on COVID-19? from March 27, 2020. Still very relevant today, 17 months late:

1 Corinthians 7

15 If your husband or wife isn’t a follower of the Lord and decides to divorce you, then you should agree to it. You are no longer bound to that person. After all, God chose you and wants you to live at peace. 16 And besides, how do you know if you will be able to save your husband or wife who isn’t a follower?

Richard: One Daily Inspiration reader brought to my attention that there are problems with Paul’s viewpoint on marriage in the above reading.
Paul says you can divorce your husband or wife if they are not a follower of the Lord and they ask for a divorce. This scripture was chosen “randomly” by opening the Bible, which is always how Stacey and I receive the daily scriptures. I take it as meaning don’t let dysfunctional, or co-dependent relationships of any kind, not just marital relationships pull you away from your conscience, or God.
I do not recommend divorce as a solution for marital problems. Marriage is a commitment in front of God, and possibly barring violence or infidelity, that commitment should not be broken.

Psalm 5

4 You are not the kind of God
who is pleased with evil.
    Sinners can’t stay with you.
5 No one who boasts can stand
in your presence, Lord,
    and you hate evil people.
6 You destroy every liar,
    and you despise violence
    and deceit.

Eschatology and Messianic Hope

New Revelation

1. The Perfect and Complete Truth Will Be Revealed

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The Bible… renders important parts of the truth in symbols and in parables. Since these are open to various interpretations, there have arisen numerous disagreements among believers, causing them to divide into many denominations. The primary cause of denominational divisions lies in the character of the Bible, not in the people. The strife between denominations will only grow more intractable unless a new truth emerges which can elucidate the symbols and parables obscuring the essential truths of the Bible. Without this new truth, God’s providence, which comes through the unification of Christianity, can never reach its goal. This is why Jesus promised that in the Last Days he will give us the new Word of truth, “I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father.” (John 16.25)
    Due to the disbelief of the people of his time, Jesus died on the cross without being able to teach all that was in his heart. As he said, “If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (John 3.12) What is more, Jesus added, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now,” (John 16.12) disclosing how sorrowful he was about the inability of even his closest disciples to receive all that he wanted to share.
    Nevertheless, the words that Jesus left unspoken will not remain forever a secret, but one day will be divulged through the Holy Spirit as a new expression of truth. As Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.” (John 16.13) (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Eschatology 5.1)

Because human beings fell, God’s word of promise could not appear as the word of fulfillment. That was the case in the Old Testament and the New Testament, which contain promises of a word yet to appear—the word of fulfillment. The lack of this word is a most serious matter for all humanity. Faithful believers seeking Heaven should consider this problem. It is a problem for Christianity, and it is a problem for anyone who would attempt to unify all the world’s religions.
    Why is the world today full of division and strife? When Jesus appeared in the world, it also was beset with division. Jesus’ word was meant to end the division and strife. However, because the people of that time did not believe in Jesus’ word, the problems that he came to resolve were not entirely resolved. That is why today there should appear the Completed [Testament] Word: to bring order to this world filled with division and strife and to unite all doctrines and teachings. (3:326, February 2, 1958)

Amazing things occurred in the first church: speaking in tongues, spiritual works, prophesying, and more… These same spiritual phenomena will emerge in Christian history in the Last Days. Many who experience these things will be called crazy and heretics.
    Yet the one upon whom the Spirit has been poured out cannot contest it. He may not know why it is happening, but Heaven will tell him. He opens his eyes and sees the spirit world. His actions are the actions of a spiritual being. He sees, thinks and behaves totally different from you. To you he may appear insane, but consider: did Jesus look like an intelligent man? In the eyes of his contemporaries he was a benighted fool.

    In the future, such spiritual phenomena will sweep across the world, the peoples and the churches. (6:184, April 26, 1959)

Among the disciples of Jesus, there was not one who was overly attached to the Old Testament Scriptures. Rather, they all responded to the spiritual experiences which they sensed through their inner minds. In the Last Days, people who lead an ardent life of prayer or who live by their conscience will feel intense anxiety in their hearts. This is because in their hearts they vaguely sense a spiritual calling and want to follow the providence of the new age, yet they have not come in contact with the new truth which can guide them to act accordingly. These are the chosen ones who, once they hear the new truth, will be awakened simultaneously in their spirits and intellects by spirit and truth. They will then fully understand God’s providential needs concerning the new age and will volunteer with great enthusiasm and delight.

We who are alive today are living in the Last Days. We should cultivate a humble heart and make the utmost effort to receive divine inspiration through prayer. We should not be strongly attached to conventional concepts, but rather should direct ourselves to be receptive to the Spirit, in order that we may find the new truth which can guide us to the providence of the new age. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Eschatology 5.2)

 
 
 

The Beast Was Allowed to Exercise Authority for Forty-Two Months

Editorial: “When Did We Visit You While You Were Sick or in Jail?”
January 6th US Capitol False Flag Entrapment Operation Needs to be Investigated

Acts 7

54 When the council members heard Stephen’s speech, they were angry and furious. 55 But Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit. He looked toward heaven, where he saw our glorious God and Jesus standing at his right side.56 Then Stephen said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right side of God!”

Richard: Many don’t want to hear the truth.

Psalm 119

49 Don’t forget your promise
to me, your servant.
    I depend on it.

Eschatology and Messianic Hope

Tribulation

4. The Beast or the Antichrist

Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship… The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
    2 Thessalonians 2.3-12
 
And when the Word is fulfilled against the unjust, We shall produce from the earth a Beast to face them: he will speak to them, because that mankind did not believe with assurance in Our signs.
    Qur’an 27.82
 
The Dajjal will come forth having with him water and fire, and what mankind see as water will be fire which burns and what they see as fire will be cold, sweet water. Any of you who live till that time must fall into what they see as fire, for it is sweet, fresh water.
    Hadith of Bukhari and Muslim (Islam)
 
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems upon its horns and a blasphemous name upon its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth followed the beast with wonder. Men worshipped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” 
 
And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months; it opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain…
    Also it caused all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let him who has understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its number is six hundred and sixty-six.
    Revelation 13.1-18
 
Richard:  This (the mark of the beast) could very well apply to the COVID-19 vaccines.  I will write more about this in a future editorial.
 
Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out, that it might be plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all know. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and know that no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
    1 John 2.18-22
 
 

God May Reveal the News of the Return of Christ First to Lay People

Lamentations 3

41 When we lift our hands
    in prayer to God in heaven,
we should offer him our hearts
    and say, 42 “We’ve sinned!
We’ve rebelled against you,
    and you haven’t forgiven us!
43 Anger is written all over you,
as you pursue and slaughter us
    without showing pity.
44 You are behind a wall of clouds
    that blocks out our prayers.

Psalm 5

5 No one who boasts can stand
in your presence, Lord,
    and you hate evil people.
6 You destroy every liar,
    and you despise violence
    and deceit.

Jesus

9. Jesus Gathered Disciples and Trained Them for the Kingdom

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Rejected by the prepared people, Jesus appeared as a laborer and became a friend of fishermen. He shared with them his life, heart and desires. He fought for them, determined to satisfy their hearts’ desires. As a result, Peter and the other fishermen could follow him.
    After selecting these uneducated disciples, what did Jesus do for three years? He served them, just as God had toiled for 4,000 years as a servant to raise the Israelites.
    Jesus had great hopes for his twelve chosen disciples. He never forgot that God had sent him to influence Judaism by guiding its priests and officials. His teaching was grand, his hopes were high, and his passion was great.
    After enduring the agony of rejection by the chief priests and scribes… Jesus sacrificed and served to raise up his disciples to take their place. Through the three years of his ministry he searched for them, forgetting food and drink. If he acquired new clothes, he gave them to his disciples and was content with his rags. If he found a comfortable place to sleep, he let his disciples sleep there and sat
in an uncomfortable place. (5:225, February 1, 1959)


People believe in religion to find salvation, and the purpose of salvation is to reach perfection. To this end, religious people know that they should love God and the founder of their religion more than anyone in the fallen world. We should clearly know that the path of religion requires such a pledge. All religious believers should walk this path—to go beyond the love of the world—and thereby win over Satan’s world.
    We can connect with God’s love only when we have transcended the love of the fallen world. This is the very reason Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother—or wife or husband—more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Why should we love Jesus more than our own family members? By so loving Christ we become people
with greater love than people in the fallen world, and through our bond of love with Christ we are entitled to enter heaven. Meeting this condition is a requirement of God’s Principle; therefore Jesus  had to say these words. (93:326, June 17, 1977)

Hunger and suffering creates a bond of heart between us. Just socializing together while we wear  good clothes and lead a comfortable life does not link us together. Rather, you and I should experience the misery of persecution and oppression, working day and night in difficult circumstances as  we shoulder the enormous burden of fulfilling our responsibility. There is no way to build a bond of  heart except through tears… You talk about a relationship of heart with Jesus or with True Parents,
but where can you find it except through suffering? There is no other way. (94:233, October 1, 1977)

When people receive revelations about Christ at the Second Advent or hear his words, they will  respond in ways similar to the way the Jews in Jesus’ day responded. God did not reveal the news of  the birth of Jesus to the priests and scribes, but to gentile astrologers and pure-hearted shepherds.  This is like the case of a father who, due to the ignorance of his own children, has to confide in  his step-child. Likewise, God may well reveal the news of the return of Christ first to lay people,  to marginal spiritual groups and churches which the mainstream treats with disdain, or to conscientious non-believers. Only later may the news reach the mainstream Christian clergy who are  unthinkingly keeping to their conventional ways of faith. In Jesus’ day, those who sincerely received  the Gospel were not the Jewish leaders, but simple common folk and Gentiles. Likewise, at Christ’s  return, simple Christians and non-Christians will accept the Lord’s words before the Christian leadership, which regards itself as God’s elect. This is the meaning of Jesus’ parable of the marriage feast.  (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Second Advent 4)

It Only Takes A Spark to Start a Forest Fire!

Presenter Abstinence Education Seminar in Shannondale, Harpers Ferry, WV, July 2nd, 2021: More information and Registration

James 3

It takes only a spark to start a forest fire! 6 The tongue is like a spark. It is an evil power that dirties the rest of the body and sets a person’s entire life on fire with flames that come from hell itself. 7 All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and sea creatures can be tamed and have been tamed. 8 But our tongues get out of control. They are restless and evil, and always spreading deadly poison.

Psalm 41

6 When visitors come,
all they ever bring
    are worthless words,
    and when they leave,
    they spread gossip.

Women of the Bible

6. Bathsheba

 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am with child.”
    So David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent Uriah to David… David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house, and wash your feet.” And Uriah went out of the king’s house, and there followed him a present from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king’s house with all the servants of his lord, and did not go down to his house. When they told David, “Uriah did not go down to his house,” David said to Uriah, “Have you not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?” Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths; and my lord Joab and the servants are my lord are camping in the open field; shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing.”…
    In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” And as Joab was besieging the city, he assigned Uriah to the place where he knew there were valiant men. And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab; and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite was slain also…
    When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son… And the lordstruck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became sick. David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night upon the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him, to raise him from the ground; but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. On the seventh day the child died…
    Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went into her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the lord loved him.
    2 Samuel 11.2-27, 12.15-18, 24

King David, of blessed memory, was a great sage and recognized transmigrations. When he saw Uriah the Hittite, he knew that he was the Serpent who had seduced Eve, and when he saw Bathsheba he knew that she was Eve, and he knew that he himself was Adam. Thus, he wished to take Bathsheba from Uriah, because she was destined to be David’s mate… And the reason Nathan the prophet chastised him was because he hastened, and did not wait… for his haste caused him to go to her without performing tik-kun (restoration), for he first needed to remove from her the contamination of the Serpent, and thereafter to go to her, and he did not do so. Therefore, his first son Bathsheba died, for he was from the impurity of the Serpent, but from there on there was no Satan and no bad effect.31Sefer Peli’ah (Judaism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Bathsheba had cause to hate King David. But if she had, she could not have become the mother of King Solomon. She could have hated King David for intentionally sending her husband Uriah to the battlefield to be killed and taking her as his wife, but she accepted it as her fate, or rather as Heaven’s will. In other words, she believed that King David’s act was not done out of ill intent, but rather to fulfill a greater purpose of God. Further, Bathsheba was a patriot who prayed for her nation to be victorious even if her husband Uriah might have to make the ultimate sacrifice. Bathsheba thought that although her husband was killed, it was honorable for him to die as a loyal subject. Moreover, it was to his honor that she accepted being offered to the king with joy. She had such a high-standard viewpoint. She thought, “It is my duty to my husband that I offer myself to the king with loyalty and devotion.” With this attitude, she married King David. On this foundation, she could give birth to King Solomon. (40:97, January 24, 1971)
 
King Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba. She had been the wife of Uriah, but King David stole her from him. How, then, could the child from that union become King Solomon? Bathsheba was in the position of a second wife.   In terms of the providence to restore the positions in the Garden of Eden before the Fall, David was in the position of Adam and Uriah was in the position of the arch-angel. But the position of Eve had to be restored through a woman in the position of the wife of the Archangel. The archangel caused Eve to fall by stealing her from Adam, her original partner, and possessing her with false love. In order to indemnify this, David, Uriah and Bathsheba should repeat this triangular relationship and reverse it. The child born on the foundation of having fulfilled this condition according to the standard of the Principle would be a child of glory, blessed with Heaven’s love. That child of glory was King Solomon. (35:168, October 13, 1970)