Your Worst Enemies Will Be in Your Own Family

Exodus 32

5 When Aaron saw what was happening, he built an altar in front of the idol and said, “Tomorrow we will celebrate in honor of the Lord.” 6 The people got up early the next morning and killed some animals to be used for sacrifices and others to be eaten. Then everyone ate and drank so much that they began to carry on like wild people.

7 The Lord said to Moses:

Hurry back down! Those people you led out of Egypt are acting like fools. 8 They have already stopped obeying me and have made themselves an idol in the shape of a young bull. They have bowed down to it, offered sacrifices, and said that it is the god who brought them out of Egypt. 9 Moses, I have seen how stubborn these people are, 10 and I’m angry enough to destroy them, so don’t try to stop me. But I will make your descendants into a great nation.

Matthew 4

12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went to Galilee. 13 But instead of staying in Nazareth, Jesus moved to Capernaum. This town was beside Lake Galilee in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.[b] 14 So God’s promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,

15 “Listen, lands of Zebulun
    and Naphtali,
lands along the road
to the sea
and east
    of the Jordan!
Listen Galilee,
    land of the Gentiles!
16 Although your people
    live in darkness,
they will see
    a bright light.
Although they live
    in the shadow of death,
a light will shine
    on them.”

17 Then Jesus started preaching, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven will soon be here.”[c]

Let Us Fathom the Heart of Heaven

Sun Myung Moon
September 13, 1959

Matthew 10:24-39

24 Disciples are not better than their teacher, and slaves are not better than their master. 25 It is enough for disciples to be like their teacher and for slaves to be like their master. If people call the head of the family Satan, what will they say about the rest of the family?

26 Don’t be afraid of anyone! Everything that is hidden will be found out, and every secret will be known. 27 Whatever I say to you in the dark, you must tell in the light. And you must announce from the housetops whatever I have whispered to you. 28 Don’t be afraid of people. They can kill you, but they cannot harm your soul. Instead, you should fear God who can destroy both your body and your soul in hell. 29 Aren’t two sparrows sold for only a penny? But your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. 30 Even the hairs on your head are counted. 31 So don’t be afraid! You are worth much more than many sparrows.

32 If you tell others that you belong to me, I will tell my Father in heaven that you are my followers. 33 But if you reject me, I will tell my Father in heaven that you don’t belong to me.

34 Don’t think that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace. 35 I came to turn sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. 36 Your worst enemies will be in your own family.

37 If you love your father or mother or even your sons and daughters more than me, you are not fit to be my disciples. 38 And unless you are willing to take up your cross and come with me, you are not fit to be my disciples. 39 If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.

Prayer

We know that the verses just read revealed the things that Jesus kept deep in his heart.

Father, Jesus was to bring an end to the four-thousand-year providential history. He was to lead the many Israelites, build the altar of victory before the Father, and restore everything on that altar of glory as the chief priest. Yet we know that he died without fulfilling this historic mission.

Father, although two thousand years have passed since Jesus, please allow us to picture Jesus’ situation at that time. It is said that these are the Last Days. We know through the phenomena unfolding in our lives that the time is near when we can eliminate all sinful elements.

Looking at this and at all the phenomena of the world, we conclude that these are the Last Days. At this moment, when all unfolding signs are foretelling the Last Days, what should we possess? What should we feel? What should we be proud of? We should not pursue any power of this world, anything material, nor anything that has to do with people’s character. The only thing is to resemble Jesus Christ who lived two thousand years ago. Please allow us to reflect upon how we have to make his heart, desires and situation our own and lay the foundation for the fulfillment of his wishes.

In his time, Jesus appeared to be a humble man. He appeared to be inferior to John the Baptist. John the Baptist came before the Israelite people who were gathering to be baptized in accordance with the new law and appeared to be a great personality. The Israelites honored him as a prophet.

When Jesus emerged as someone who seemed inferior to John the Baptist, the people could not believe him. He was opposed wherever he went. Those who followed Jesus were a lowly group of women and tax collectors. When we think about this, we can sense the most sorrowful historical reality, that there was no true son or daughter of Heaven who could honor Jesus as the Lord.

Heaven needed those who could believe in Jesus as God’s only begotten son and the Savior, lowly in social status and unpolished though he might be. Please allow us to be in tune with the heart of that time and bow our heads humbly before Jesus. Let us receive Heaven’s instructions in the midst of God’s love.

I am about to convey the truth of the Father. If there is a gap between the mind of the speaker and the minds of the listeners, that will be the basis for Satan’s action and a condition which will block the gates of our life. We know that if that is to be the outcome, it is better not to listen to the words at all.

Please allow us to open our hearts wide, to cleanse ourselves of our own thoughts and concepts, and to entrust our minds and bodies to the Father’s movement of life. Let us be in harmony with the Father’s will.

I sincerely pray that with the power of the words of re-creation You will let us experience the center of life and rise up as the life itself before the Father’s will during this hour.

We entrust everything to You. Please govern us. Please let all the beloved members dwell in the same state of grace. We prayed in the name of the Lord. Amen.

Undertake the Adventure of Conquering Yourself

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2473

Family Pledge number four states:
“Our family… pledges to build the
universal family encompassing heav-
en and earth, which is God’s ideal of
creation, and perfect the world of free-
dom, peace, unity and happiness, by
centering on true love”! It is from here
that happiness arises. Happiness, free-
dom and the ideal are realized in the
family of the ideal of creation desired
by God. (260-305, 1994.5.19)

Richard: Happiness cannot be achieved without realizing God’s ideal of the family.

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1242

You must understand how impor-
tant the Blessing is from a providential
point of view. God’s Blessing is received
where the Kingdom of Heaven on earth
and the Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit
world meet. It is the place where the eter-
nal world and the corporeal world meet
horizontally. (Blessed Family – 544)

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

Then what is the adventure of adventures? It is to cry for the miserable people in Heavenly Father’s stead, with a deep, desperate heart. Although you may have received a complicated and difficult mission, and even if your heart desires peace, you have to be determined to fulfill the responsibility and go forth toward the standard God desires, in spite of death or universal opposition.

The world’s affairs were pioneered through adventures. But no one took on the adventure of the world of God’s heart. Thus, if God says to live a certain way, then live that way. If Jesus said to do this, then just do that. To find out if it is true or a lie, you have to charge through with it until the end.

There is no greater adventure than the adventure regarding the issues of your own heart. Please become the explorers of the world of the heart, and understand that there is nothing more joyous or renewing than to make a relationship with Heavenly Father through those adventures.

Prayer

How much did Jesus sympathize with the miserable fishermen when he walked the beaches of Galilee for thirty years? How much did he sympathize with the pitiful villages? How concerned was he when he saw the state of the Jewish churches and the religious bodies? We realize how miserable Jesus was as he was chased out of the temple in Jerusalem, wandering around from village to village, and later on searching the seaside to find just one disciple who was true in heart.

As we tried to see what was the adventure of adventures, we realized that the greatest adventure is not to an object or something in front of you. It is to conquer yourself and completely dominate yourself and bring yourself into submission.

Jesus knew that the day you go into the world of the heart and conquer yourself is the day all of the cosmos will find you. Because he knew that, he gratefully trod the path of isolation and of being nailed to the cross. Jesus was grateful even as he was sneered at. He even comforted the people. Although his body, dripping with blood, was in pain and his heart was indignant, he saw that the Father’s heart was vested in those people as He worked through the providence. Therefore, he was filled with the heart to elevate the Father and deny himself. We now see the heart of Jesus. He prayed that Heavenly Father might bless the people, that he might somehow accidentally obviate the four thousand years of the building of a relationship with mankind and ruin that foundation.

Although humanity has been struggling to explore and conquer the things of this visible world in spite of numerous risks, humanity is not undertaking the adventure of conquering the self, with the internal heart at stake. Please allow us to realize that the course of this adventure is more rough, dangerous, great and fearful than any precipitous mountain of this world; it is greater than traversing any great ocean, and going any place where wild beasts dwell.

Many people who were walking the path of the Way failed when the element of the self came in. We realize that Jesus was able to possess the glory of resurrection when he gave himself up. He became the historic master who was victorious over himself.

We have to lose this world, lose the self, and lose the history of sorrowful regret. Please allow us to fight with our bodies and minds. Please allow us to fight on while holding on to God’s heart of the six thousand years. Allow us to realize that it is the historic desire of mankind, the desire of the age, and the request of the future that we be the victors who can rightfully wish blessing upon all creation, representing Heavenly Father. Please help us to realize that it is not God or Jesus, but I, myself, who must become such a being. I, myself, am the true center of God and Jesus, this land, and all the existing world. Let us realize that to find this truth has to start from oneself.

Jesus lived thirty years in this world. He lost himself, and once again lived to experience the joy of the resurrection. Please allow us to feel the joy of finding ourselves again after being lost. If we cannot experience the joy of being reborn after death, the coming garden of blessing does not have anything to do with us. Please allow us to bury and throw away the self that goes along with this world and to live again with Heavenly Father.

We have to carry on a revolution today. We have to find the new world. We need an adventurous and investigative character. Father, we realize that those who think about themselves cannot be included in this number. Those who are clinging to the conditions of the environment will not be able to pioneer that environment. Those who are caught up in the thoughts and ideals of this life cannot partake in the ideology of this new world to fulfill their role as world leaders God can be pleased with.

Please allow us to have the heart that is in tune with the heart of the ideal, from the individual, to the family, up to the cosmos. Let us be grateful wherever we are sent, grateful no matter what kind of offering we may become. Let us be heavenly princes of adventure who can go forth ready to face any risk.

I sincerely pray that we can be the sons and daughters whom God can trust and that we can be responsible for everything. I pray all these things in the loving name of the Lord. Amen. 

Throw Away all Personal Pride and Prestige

Deuteronomy 14

24 But suppose you can’t carry that ten percent of your harvest to the place where the Lord chooses to be worshiped. If you live too far away, or if the Lord gives you a big harvest, 25 then sell this part and take the money there instead. 26 When you and your family arrive, spend the money on food for a big celebration. Buy cattle, sheep, goats, wine, beer, and if there are any other kinds of food that you want, buy those too. 27 And since people of the Levi tribe won’t own any land for growing crops, remember to ask the Levites to celebrate with you.

28 Every third year, instead of using the ten percent of your harvest for a big celebration, bring it into town and put it in a community storehouse. 29 The Levites have no land of their own, so you must give them food from the storehouse. You must also give food to the poor who live in your town, including orphans, widows, and foreigners. If they have enough to eat, then the Lord your God will be pleased and make you successful in everything you do.

Richard: Caring for your neighbors is very important.

Psalm 65

You are strong,
    and your mighty power
    put the mountains in place.
7 You silence the roaring waves
    and the noisy shouts
    of the nations.
8 People far away marvel
    at your fearsome deeds,
and all who live under the sun
    celebrate and sing
    because of you.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

Is there any greater adventure than appearing as the prince of Heaven in this land of sin? Although the cosmos tried to prevent Jesus from treading that path, still he walked that path. Everyone shunned that path, but he went on it.

Now that there is a certain genuine truth, we have to seek for it. If this physical body, which ideally should be centered on our united mind and heart, is still fixed to the things of worldly history, then we should cut away from it and search for the word that can pull both the mind and the body with its truth.

We have to possess the desperate heart that is derived from the eternal world, which transcends time and limitations. We must become people who can dominate and win over any hardship, pain, and fear of death in this world. For you to be victorious on your individual path, you should deny all desires and all pain to walk forward proudly. If a victorious individual can take the same course with the family, the race, the nation, and the world, then this person is victorious over the world.

God could raise and bless Jesus because of this. His path was a pioneering path. To pioneer is to begin with a difficult path. It does not begin with a pleasant and happy path. It is to work backwards.

God has been searching for the ideal form of an individual, a family, a society, a nation, and a world throughout the course of history. He has been searching for us, the seekers of truth.

In order to restore all this in these last days, we have to bear God’s heart and become the warriors who will fight against sin as God’s begotten son Jesus, the prince of Heaven, became a friend to the sinners. In such a position, we have to throw away all personal pride and prestige and stand bravely in front of Heavenly Father. Only such a person will become Jesus’ representative who will not only find himself, but find all the other lost selves. Jesus’ representative is one who will hold onto such a heart and fight for the family, the society, the race, the nation, and the world.

No matter how high one may be, he should yield his high position and have the heart to sincerely attend others, saying, “The reason I am here is to help people lower than me be raised to the position I am in.” When such an inclination for adventure is present, it may be used as a condition to maintain oneself and win out in this time of turmoil.

When I look at you, I see that you all have the petty ambition of wanting to possess everything in Heaven and earth, yet you are not trying to find your own lost self. I will acknowledge you if you have certain conditions that can coincide with the contents and purposes of God’s wish to find the family, the race, and the nation. But you only have the purposes and the ideal; you are lacking in substantial content. You have to have the standards to which Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus, and Heavenly Father can say, “You are right!”

As you live today, it is not enough just to continue the life pattern of searching for values. You have to eliminate yourself. You have to hunt yourself down. You have to get rid of yourself. If not, you cannot go to Heavenly Father. God has never thought about His own pride throughout the six thousand years of the providence in this world. Because His path was to find His loving true sons and daughters, He was determined never to think of His own pride until He met such sons and daughters.

Although Jesus has striven for a long time, he also had to be humble in front of sinners before he could find his bride. One example of this is when he told the thief on the right that he would go to paradise along with him.

Now we have to embark on the final, historic adventure.

For us to be acknowledged as victors among all the explorers who have sought for truth, we have to first welcome the sorrow and suffering of history and the sadness and pain of the ages. We must be able to stand in front of God, the true parents, the true couples, the true children, the true siblings, the true people, the true nation, and the true Heaven and earth. Only when such a deep, desperate heart stands within you can you then take your places as the people of that nation, the loyal subjects of that nation, and the filial sons and daughters of that nation.

Seek Out and Do the Things that Other Cannot Do

Cheon Seong Gyeong 195

Through individuals and families,
God prepared a realm into which a peo-
ple who could advance with the Messi-
ah when he came to earth. This was the
people of Israel who lived with the con-
cept of being the chosen people.
However, the people of Israel have not
yet arrived in that realm. It was as if they
were held back behind a line. The hope
of the chosen people was to go over this
line. If they failed to cross over, it would
be a great disaster. They had to cross this
line and yet, as hard as they tried, it was
impossible to cross over on their own.
That is why God promised the people of
Israel that He would send them the Mes-
siah, the Savior. This was the Messiah for
whom God had prepared for thousands
of years in order to transcend this line
on the national level. He promised to
send the Messiah.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1466

Let us say you live up to eighty years
of age. If you subtract the hours you
spend sleeping, you are left with about
fifty years of life. Would you say you
are alive when you are asleep? When
you are asleep, you are as good as dead,
because you are inanimate. Sleeping
is the same as being dead the whole
time. The number of hours you labor
each day to make a living is about half
of the twenty-four hours in a day. Now
deduct the time you spend eating. From
whatever time is left subtract the time
spent visiting, going to friends’ parties,
attending the sixtieth birthday celebra-
tions of village elders, attending funer-
als and wakes, and being bedridden.
In short, if you were to exclude all the
days you lose for whatever reasons that
might arise, you cannot claim to have
actually lived very much. Would it even
be half of your entire lifetime? When I
calculated this recently, it came out as
roughly seven years. Even so, of those
seven years, how many days could
you claim to have truly lived? (49-336,
1971.10.24)

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

When you only feel happiness and satisfaction on the level of your own family, that family, the nation, and its system will all break down. Isn’t that so? We have experienced it during the Japanese occupation. Humanity in today’s age of the providence of restoration has to be an explorer.

Prayers from your heart and lawful prayers will be fulfilled. You have to look carefully at how your prayers are fulfilled. People who pray in this age have said the same prayers over and over for years, but their prayers are not answered. You have to pray with a true heart of love and promise. Pray and wait with a desperate heart, not forgetting your prayer even after thirty or forty years. It will be fulfilled. You don’t need many prayers.

In this age, you have to seek out and do the things that others cannot do. If you try, you will be able to do them. It is not like science books where everything is in the books. In Revelation, John pioneered the spiritual world which others could not. He looked at a world at the height of his exploration which no one else could feel. Yet there is no guidance for the course. This is the problem.

You have to once again calm yourself and aim for the truth. As there is life, and there is someone who will cry with the heart in which life dwells, you have to deny all that you have believed. What you believed in up to now is insufficient. You need something which will allow you to deny the heart you have been feeling, and deny the ideal you have been longing for.

While there certainly is a weapon, you cannot find it with an everyday attitude. Even if you are a well-to- do person who is proud of yourself, you have to give up such a position to go back to the very end of the line, in the lowest place, so as to attain the victory. Such was the path that God has pursued.

Although Jesus appeared in this world with the authority of life and resurrection to take over all the sovereignty of Heaven and earth, he had to walk the opposite path in order to fulfill this in the fallen world. When Jesus saw that his life was soon to fade away, he was not concerned for his body. He was concerned for his spirit. When he was looking at the people, he was not concerned about their physical misery. He felt pity for their souls. It is the opposite way. Do you want to be God’s sons and daughters? Do you want to go to Heaven? Try to go to Heaven. Those who think they can go to Heaven by believing in Jesus will not go. It cannot be done without a cost.

Why is it that we believe in Jesus? It is in order to create Heaven. What did Jesus tell us? He said our body is a temple. Is it a temple? Jesus desired for the individual to be a temple, the environment to be a temple, and the whole creation to be a temple. God wants to dwell within us, in our family, in our society, and even in all of creation.

What was Jesus like when he was in this world? Although he was supposed to sit on the throne of Heaven, he became a friend of sinners. It is said that he ate and drank with sinners. Jesus said he came to save the sinners, not the faithful. How frustrated he must have been to do that.

The assignment of Christianity is to take care of many things that are painful to deal with. The question is how people will have the heart that says, “Father, please allow us to have the dignified heart that Jesus had when he died on the cross that we may overcome the pain of death and wish blessings upon the miserable people.” Jesus came to this world and became a pioneer of the heart. We need people who will go forward with a desperate heart, who can dominate the fear of death.

What is the reason that the churches are separating? The problem is that preachers seek the authority of their position while the people seek their own authority for the sake of personal glorification. Jesus left behind the virtue of service. This path is the closest path to us, yet it is the most difficult path of adventure for humankind. People who conquer a mountain may be secular explorers, but they are not the explorers of the world of spirit. God wants an adventurer who can win over pain in the heart. Isn’t that so?

Stand Firmly Against the Flying Arrows and the Cross of Death

Colossians 4

18 I am signing this letter myself: PAUL.

Don’t forget that I am in jail.

I pray that God will be kind to you.

Richard: I think that Rev. Moon (in Spirit World) is in a type of heartistic jail. Unless we understand the Word that he brought, and carry it out, his heart is heavy

Mark 6

Jesus taught in all the neighboring villages. 7 Then he called together his twelve apostles and sent them out two by two with power over evil spirits. 8 He told them, “You may take along a walking stick. But don’t carry food or a traveling bag or any money. 9 It’s all right to wear sandals, but don’t take along a change of clothes. 10 When you are welcomed into a home, stay there until you leave that town. 11 If any place won’t welcome you or listen to your message, leave and shake the dust from your feet[c] as a warning to them.”

Richard: This Rheama supports the previous one about Tong Ban breakthrough. Actual ministry to families in the local area is the core ministry of God and Christ at His Second Coming.

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
July 19, 1959

John 10: 1-18

What kind of person is that self? It is someone who is one with God and true parents all the time. It is someone who is also one with the true children, the true people, and the true loyal subjects. In front of that self, true Heaven and earth, a whole new world, will open up. To bring everything to fruition centered upon such an occasion is God’s way of governing.

Today many thoughts and ideals seem plausible, but they do have any valuable contents. Although mankind has been searching and searching for truth for six thousand long years of history, people who have fought as true individuals all faded away. The true family, the true people, the true nation, and the true ideal also faded away. It is up to us, living in the last days, to receive those things again.

What kind of time is it now, when we face the destiny to receive those things again? When we truly look with clear eyes, we see this is a time when the individual can unite with the family, the family can unite with the society, the society can unite with the nation, the nation can unite with the world, and Heaven can unite with the earth. The final destination that goodness longs for is in the state of being able to call God our father, and not just in name only. Please raise your hand if you think you are confident that you have reached this standard. If you look at the reality, things are serious. The age of the last days of the six thousand years are here, but we are six thousand years behind. We are six thousand years away from such a time. The external form of the providence has been structured, yet as far as content is concerned, it is empty. As time passes, you will feel more and more suffocated. There will come a day when you will lament how lonely and empty you are. Although you may possess wealth and much more, there will be a certain emptiness inside. There will also be a battle within you. That is because your mind strives to run back to six thousand years ago, whereas your body still remains here, entangled in the present.

Because such a reality exists, the Bible says, “Seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be opened.” In this time, when the new environment is about to emerge, you should at least have the conviction to push away the suffering arising from this battle buried deep in the human heart, although you may not know how to solve it. If not, then you cannot stand in the new world that will come. We have to realize this.

What kind of time is it now? This is a time to revolutionize the individual, revolutionize the family, revolutionize the society, revolutionize the nation, and revolutionize the world.

What will allow you to stand firmly against the flying arrows and the cross of death? It is the heart with a father and a son relationship with Heavenly Father. When we call out to Heavenly Father as our father with a desperate, deep heart, God and Satan will both bow their heads. If Jesus did not possess such a heart, he would not have been qualified to be the Messiah. You have to possess such a heart if you want to be the bride. To enter into such a state, you have to embark on an adventure.

Now is a busy time. It is time to go on an adventure. Jesus said that those who are willing to die will live, and those who want to live will die. Those who want to rise will go down and those willing to go down will rise. These words will be fulfilled in the last days.