Category: 1959

Because People Are Fallen, they Want to Avoid Things they do not Like

Acts 17

17 After Paul and his friends had traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they went on to Thessalonica. A Jewish meeting place was in that city. 2 So as usual, Paul went there to worship, and on three Sabbaths he spoke to the people. He used the Scriptures 3 to show them that the Messiah had to suffer, but that he would rise from death. Paul also told them that Jesus is the Messiah he was preaching about. 4 Some of them believed what Paul had said, and they became followers with Paul and Silas. Some Gentiles[a] and many important women also believed the message.

Richard:  Paul traveled and went to places of worship (the temple).  He was not afraid to share the gospel of Jesus.  The new gospel is that of the True Parent, Rev. Sun Myung Moon.  Many will reject, especially those affiliated with established Christian Churches, but many will receive, as well.

Matthew 22

18 Jesus knew their evil thoughts and said, “Why are you trying to test me? You show-offs! 19 Let me see one of the coins used for paying taxes.” They brought him a silver coin, 20 and he asked, “Whose picture and name are on it?”

21 “The Emperor’s,” they answered.

Then Jesus told them, “Give the Emperor what belongs to him and give God what belongs to God.” 22 His answer surprised them so much that they walked away.

Richard:  Some Jewish leaders tried to ensnare Jesus, while others listened to what he was saying.  It is the same today, some Christian leaders disrespect Rev. Sun Myung Moon, while others are open to hear God’s message.  Of course, those who reject Rev. Moon out of hand are doing the same thing that the Pharisee in this scripture did to Jesus, trying to entrap and discredit him.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

When we look at humanity bathed in the sorrow of the Fall, when we look at ourselves, unable to cut away from the fallen lineage, and when we acknowledge that we are all descendants of fallen ancestors, we may ask what the Fall is. It is to be fallen away. The Fall is a state of being in conflict with the ideal that our mind desires.

Because people are fallen, they want to avoid things they do not like, things that make them sad, and things that are difficult to do. Yet they cannot escape from sadness, pain and difficulty because they are fallen. Everything is intertwined and tangled up with history.

We surely have second selves that move according to the true heart, in contrast to our own selves which are in a miserable situation. The time will come when we have to call forth those selves to criticize ourselves harshly.

Many saints and sages who have come and gone in history have pled with history and its reality and looked to the future. They advised us to open our hearts wide, to seek for goodness, the rightful purpose of heart, and to possess a body that can respond to the original mind and act according to it.

Jesus said, “The Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart.” He also said, “With that heart, connect to God’s heart. Possess the character that can connect to that heart, and the bridegroom who represents the center of Heaven will come.” But today we have to understand that this is where the problem lies.

We realize that there was no champion who could hold onto the clear standard of conscience and control his own body while facing these problems. There was no one who could unite with the laws of Heaven and the heavenly heart to have dominion over not only his own heart but the hearts of all men.

That is why Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart. He has said to love him in order to go to Heaven. Afterwards, he said to follow him, bearing your cross, and to throw away all the things you own. He said the ones trying to live will perish and the ones wanting to die will live. He also said that those desiring to possess will lose everything and those wanting to lose will gain. Those wanting to rise will go down and those wanting to go down will rise. The question is, then, what is the purpose behind these seemingly paradoxical sayings of the Savior?

You all have a mind and a body. Yet it is truly regrettable that the mind, the body, and the heart are not as they should be.

Our ancestors established the standard of conscience when they came to this land and taught us to conquer the physical body. Yet no one was able to establish the standard of victory of dominating the physical body centering on the mind, even after six thousand years of human history. Who will be responsible for this sorrow? What are we to do when no one has the certain center where the body is dominated by a mind that is one with the deep heart of Heaven? Heavenly Father possesses the deep, heavenly heart. How is the mind of mankind to be conquered so that it can stand forever in front of Heavenly Father’s heart? This is the important problem that must be solved.

Jesus said, “I am the bridegroom and you are the bride.” The standard of heart that qualifies us to be the bride is not the standard of conscience entrenched in human affairs; nor does the standard of conscience change as the times change. The standard of conscience does not compromise with human morality in this world. This world’s people do not know the bride. Who is the bride who can stand in front of the man who is the bridegroom? It should be someone who can yearn for the heart of the bridegroom. After having deeply felt it, the individual should head in the proper direction of establishing the eternal standard of conscience and body. Jesus is not able to stand as our true bridegroom if we do not meet such standards.

We Always Have to Think About What Is True

View pictures from the Urban Family Life Success and Happiness Training Workshop: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEW6UBN.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2462

The people that I am looking for are
those who can be the royal family of the
heavenly kingdom. You have to become
seeds. You have to be seeds that can be
stored in the granary, passing through
the cold north winter for the following
year, and in the next spring, with bright
sunlight and warm spring breeze can be
able to sprout, taking up the right direc-
tion, and demonstrating within your-
self the creative force. Only when you
become such seeds – seeds that demon-
strate the power of life – can you become
the new buds of life. (180-62, 1988.8.20)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1566

Ceremony of the Settlement of
the Eight Stages: restoration of the
right of the eldest son, right of the
parent and right of kingship
August 31, 1989, Kodiak, Alaska

Now that the vertical and horizon-
tal eight-stage indemnity has all been
completed, the Ceremony of the Settle-
ment of the Eight Stages could be per-
formed on August 31, 1989, in Alaska,
the most northerly location in the West.
It is the northernmost place. On the first
day of September, I declared “the ideol-
ogy centered on the Heavenly Father”
at the same place. The ideology cen-
tered on the Heavenly Father is simul-
taneously the ideology of salvation by
love as well as the ideology of parental
love. This parent-centered ideology is all
about a life lived by giving love. Satan
cannot oppose anything based on love.
If he cannot oppose the path taken by
the Unification Church, we can rapidly
expand worldwide. (199-157, 1990.2.16)

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

As you know, this is an age of civilization. This is the final age when a certain ideological concept or ideology has to prevail. You know well that we are part of such an age.

Then how are we to live in this reality? We do not have anything special to show for ourselves, and we also do not have anything to advise people with through our accomplishments. You should realize that the past must have been the same since the present is such. You should be concerned that the future might also be the same.

Having left behind a legacy called the Fall, mankind has gone through a course of untold stories. Mankind has been dragged on until now, unable to escape the course of the history of complicated stories that take different forms from age to age. Going through the course of history, people have lived on until now, unable to find the essential point that they really sought regarding the mind and body, ideology and heart. So many predecessors have gone through that. And while numerous people in this world today are also searching for that certain truth, they are wandering without a clear understanding of what truth is.

In order to find that source or answer, our ancestors struggled until now, welcoming a path of blood and tears, welcoming the valley of death, and welcoming the miserable situation of being driven out. Yet one cannot but acknowledge that the destination they were searching for and the resting place they sought with all of their hearts has not yet been found, either in this world where humanity dwells, or in Heaven, which works for the world providence.

The topic of today’s speech is “Mankind Is an Explorer in Search of Truth.” I will speak on this subject.

As we all have heart, the fact that we desire our heart to be entrenched by something, as we did in the past, as we do in the present and as we will in the future, signifies that there is a substantial being who is the source of truth. Using religious phraseology, this is saying, “There is God.” When such a conviction is within you, you can clarify everything centered on God, including your being, your daily life, your whole life, and everything connected to your heart. This is what mankind, especially the people of religion, would seek as their highest goal.

That is why we always have to think about what is true, no matter what. We cannot deny that we have to find out what is true if we want eternal life. That is why the people of the past have moved toward this goal, people of today are moving towards this goal, and people of the future will surely move to fulfill this goal.

As God exists, He would want mankind to sing about a true person. He would want mankind to live happily with the true person. He would want to live together joyously with that true person Himself. When such a day comes, when people live with a common mind, a common heart, and a common life, no one will desire otherwise or stand in denial.

When there is a person who transcends race, ideology, and worldly thoughts for a truth he will live with, act with, and have the confidence to overcome death with, then no one of any nation or era will deny that this person is the substantiation of the truth human history has sought. This person is the evidential substantiation of the truth this age is seeking, and the original substantiation of the truth the future seeks. Humanity has been searching for that true person.

Although there are billions of people in this world today, no one can answer definitively that they have found such a substantiation of truth to live with, to fight side by side with, and to rejoice with. There is no clear answer, although you may look through the principles of philosophy or the holy books of religions. Whether you search your body, your mind, your heart, or in all ideologies, you cannot be absolutely confident that you have found the truth which can awaken you anew and have become one with it.

Then is this all an empty theory or fancy? How is this problem to be solved? This is the final question that today’s humanity must find an answer to. The relationship between the truth and myself, both of which are in need of clarification, should be a relationship of inseparability and indistinguishability. If the truth we seek is Heavenly Father, then we should harmonize with Him as if He were us and we were Him. If Jesus is the truth, then we should be harmonized into oneness with him.

At this point, all our emotions and awareness should move together as one. We will see the image of redeemed mankind, the image of the true sons and daughters Heavenly Father is looking for when that touch or trace of the truth is felt from within and is transmitted to all of the created world and to all people. Then all can move and feel in unison and sing together with the cosmos.



Do I Possess the Faith and Loyalty to Stand in Front of the Messiah?

View pictures from the Urban Family Life Success and Happiness Training Workshop: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEW6UBN.

Acts 17

5 The Jewish leaders were jealous and got some worthless bums who hung around the marketplace to start a riot in the city. They wanted to drag Paul and Silas out to the mob, and so they went straight to Jason’s home. 6 But when they did not find them there, they dragged out Jason and some of the Lord’s followers. They took them to the city authorities and shouted, “Paul and Silas have been upsetting things everywhere. Now they have come here, 7 and Jason has welcomed them into his home. All of them break the laws of the Roman Emperor by claiming that someone named Jesus is king.”

Richard: If you are doing the will of God, then you will definitely face opposition.

Ezekiel 39

11 After Gog has been destroyed, I will bury him and his army in Israel, in Travelers’[a] Valley, east of the Dead Sea. That graveyard will be so large that it will block the way of anyone who tries to walk through the valley,[b] which will then be known as “The Valley of Gog’s Army.”[c]12 The Israelites will spend seven months burying dead bodies and cleaning up their land. 13 Everyone will help with the burial, and they will be honored for this on the day the brightness of my glory is seen. 14 After those seven months, the people will appoint a group of men to look for any dead bodies left unburied. This must be done for seven months to make sure that the land is no longer unclean. 15 Whenever they find a human bone, they will set up a marker next to it. Then the gravediggers will bury it in “The Valley of Gog’s Army” 16 near the town of “Gog’s Army.” After that, the land will be pure again.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

Most of all, the time has come for us to long for the holy embodiment of Jesus Christ, the heart which flows out of him, and his desperate ideal. He wished blessing upon all people even as he perished as a criminal on the cross, he who had come into this world as the Messiah of all people.

I sincerely pray that You will forgive us. We have praised ourselves and disdained the creation and all things and have elevated ourselves to disdain Heavenly Father, although we should be disdaining ourselves.

If we want to move toward a truthful heart and true goodness, please allow us to realize that we are debtors in front of Heaven and earth, and that we are a sinful race which has been violently scarred throughout the course of human history. Father, the only things we need are the hearts that can seek for You and the loyalty that can seek out our true selves. Please allow us those things.

We cannot deny that the life course that Jesus led was a sorrowful path of tears. We also realize that every page of history is bound together by bloody battles. Therefore, I sincerely pray, Father, that You will allow us to realize that we cannot clarify anything in history when we uplift ourselves, and that we are like a failure who does not have anything to show throughout the ages.

We therefore believe that we need a true leader who possesses true life and a true heart. He is the savior and Messiah God sends for humankind. Please allow us to reflect upon ourselves in this hour: to reflect upon whether we possess the faith and loyalty to stand in front of the Messiah. In receiving the Messiah, we know that Heavenly Father desires for humankind to possess the greatest of enthusiasm, the greatest of loyalty, and the greatest whole-heartedness. It requires the greatest sincerity and a desperate heart which has nothing to do with Satan. Although we may not stand in such a position, Father, I sincerely pray that You may guide us to become humble sons and daughters who can kneel down and long for the blessing of redemption with the heart that longs for such a position.

Father, how can we respond to the words given to us? Father, please be with us. Although we have listened to many words, walked many paths, and lived through many situations, we stand in front of You empty-handed, having nothing to return to You. Father, do not drive us away but have pity. I sincerely pray that in this hour we may empty all of our minds and bodies so that only the Father will have dominion over us and only the Father’s blessing can fill us.

Please allow the heart of the giver and the hearts of the receivers to be one. I sincerely pray that this may be the hour when those hearts can harmonize into one so that the Father’s heart can be felt and the Father’s blessing can be directly received. I pray all these things in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Those Who are Willing to Die Will Live

View pictures from the Urban Family Life Success and Happiness Training Workshop: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmEW6UBN.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 259

Language is one of the most chal-
lenging problems. When Koreans are
here, those who do not know Korean
have a difficult time. They look pitiful.
How great it would be if language were
unified! When I first came to America,
I only knew “Yes” and “No,” although I
had studied English through books. Can
you imagine how stifled I felt! You need
to know how necessary the unification
of language is. Do you wish to listen to
my speeches through an interpreter or
directly from me? Of course, you want to
listen to them in Korean. Why? Because
Book 2 • True Parents 260
Korean is the original language. There-
fore, in studying the Principle, if you
do not know the original language, you
will not understand the meaning of the
words. Furthermore, when you go to
the spirit world in the future, will you
be proud if you can say, “I understood
Father’s speeches directly, without trans-
lation” or if you have to say, “I listened
to his words through an interpreter?”
Which? Moreover, they are words that
express the ideal world of love. Does it
mean anything to whisper words of love
through an interpreter? The fifth para-
graph of our former pledge says, “We are
proud of the one culture.” The question
is how that one culture can come about.
You should know that in the world of
heart you have no choice but to become
one. The one who truly desires one world
of heart cannot go without knowing
this. Now, when you reach out to some-
one because you love them so much,
your feet move first before any thoughts
about love. Your feet move first, and not
the loving thought. How foolish this is! If
you think about eating in the same way,
it is as though you enjoyed eating left-
overs. Without the tradition and spirit
of the ideal family the ideal world can-
not appear.

Cheong Seong Gyeong 779

For whom does God exist? God, the
subject of love, exists for the purpose of
seeking and raising a partner of love.
With what shall He do this? He will do
this based on true love. True love is liv-
ing and investing oneself for the sake of
others, and forgetting one’s investment.
Eternal life can be found here. The entire
world is made this way. I myself am like
this. As I know the value of eternal life,
facing the gallows is not a problem. There
is nothing to fear. That is why the Unifi-
cation Church refers to death as seung-
hwa and its ceremony as the Seunghwa
Ceremony.

Man Is an Explorer in Search of Truth

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

10 Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that only thieves and robbers climb over the fence instead of going in through the gate to the sheep pen. 2-3 But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out.

4 When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice. 5 The sheep will not follow strangers. They don’t recognize a stranger’s voice, and they run away.

6 Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

7 Jesus said:

I tell you for certain that I am the gate for the sheep. 8 Everyone who came before me was a thief or a robber, and the sheep did not listen to any of them. 9 I am the gate. All who come in through me will be saved. Through me they will come and go and find pasture.

10 A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest. 11 I am the good shepherd, and the good shepherd gives up his life for his sheep. 12 Hired workers are not like the shepherd. They don’t own the sheep, and when they see a wolf coming, they run off and leave the sheep. Then the wolf attacks and scatters the flock. 13 Hired workers run away because they don’t care about the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep, and they know me. 15 Just as the Father knows me, I know the Father, and I give up my life for my sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not in this sheep pen. I must bring them together too, when they hear my voice. Then there will be one flock of sheep and one shepherd.

17 The Father loves me, because I give up my life, so that I may receive it back again. 18 No one takes my life from me. I give it up willingly! I have the power to give it up and the power to receive it back again, just as my Father commanded me to do.

Prayer

We have listened to the words You have granted. Although many people in this world stand in the face of death, in reality they are preoccupied with praising themselves and boasting to the universe.

Can anyone show himself off and elevate his own value in this kind of a world? As we silently search our hearts, we cannot deny that one who does stands in a false position.

Father, what do our minds long for today? Toward what should we direct them in order to be elevated? This is the moment to realize that our minds and bodies cannot be our own. This is the moment to understand that we are in a miserable situation where we cannot be proud of ourselves.

Please allow us to realize at this moment that we are not the final arbiters of the value of our minds and bodies, that we did not make ourselves and that we are pitiable beings who cannot reach our destination. We did not cause our own lives, nor did the ideology that leads our minds in the direction of goodness originate with us either. Please allow this hour to be the moment when we realize that they originated from something other than ourselves.

Father, today is the moment when we should feel that we must disdain ourselves, we who were so busy making excuses to save face. Please allow us to realize at this hour that the true self whom Heaven and earth, the world and humanity, the society, the family, and myself are looking for is a victor who can conquer himself and who can ignore and stamp out the arrogance that makes him want to elevate himself and stand out.

Jesus said, “Forget everything and follow me.” He also said, “Those who are willing to die will live; those wanting to live will die,” and “Those who want to rise up will go lower and those willing to go lower will rise.”

When we understand the content of these words, we realize that we have to throw ourselves away. We have fallen ancestors and we cannot break away from the bondage of fallen history.

Therefore, our course of life is a pitiable one. The living environment is so chaotic that we live in a confused state, unable to distinguish good from evil. Heavenly Father has labored to pioneer the path of life in such a land. Numerous saints have come and gone in this land in order to bring the ideal of the true person, the true ideology, and the true cosmos to humanity.

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.