Prevail Over Anything, Even if God Were to Strike You

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Jude 1

1 From Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James.

To all who are chosen and loved by God the Father and are kept safe by Jesus Christ.

2 I pray that God will greatly bless you with kindness, peace, and love!

Ezekiel 7

19 Your silver and gold will be thrown into the streets like garbage, because those are the two things that led you into sin, and now they cannot save you from my anger. They are not even worth enough to buy food. 20 You took great pride in using your beautiful jewelry to make disgusting idols of foreign gods. So I will make your jewelry worthless.

Inside God’s Stadium

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 9, 1959

1 Corinthians 9: 14-27

This is because God desires that we rejoice with Him and win the victory with Him. Since God is the God of the past, the present and the future, we should also have the qualities of the past, present and the future and be knowledgeable about them. Otherwise, we will be swept away by trends of thought in the future.

We should understand them more deeply and even understand the heart of the historical God. Members of a family are tied together in complex relationships. Given God’s heart of the past, present and future, we should understand everything about the race that the Father is directing based on this heart and be in tune with the realm of His heart. God’s desire is that we win the race after having done all this, so that we can become those with whom He can be fully satisfied; so that we can worship God and share eternal joy with Him.

Therefore, religion is not built on truth alone. A religious way of life is more than just the truth itself. Teachings and ideologies are built on truth, but religion contains both the truth and the heart. This is the difference. Thoughts and ideologies do not contain the heart. However, religion has a rich inner content similar to the silent love that we find between a parent and a child. There is some content which transcends logic and theories. That is how religion is. But this is not true for doctrines. A doctrine is the fruit of an organization or group. It is not a fruit of the heart.

We today must have knowledge about the course and the situation of this age in order to be prepared properly as racers who are running toward a certain purpose. In order to race forward, we should also understand the future and have a plan. This is the basic knowledge that we racers should have. If there is someone who goes this heavenly course at the risk of his life, with God’s heart of the past, present and future, who understands how much God has suffered to establish and pave this course, he will surely overcome any difficulty he will confront.

Next, we should not lose our fighting spirit as we are racing toward our purpose. No matter how well prepared and knowledgeable our enemy may be, we must have the determination to prevail. We must not lose. The sphere of our actions is the battle field. You should be a brave soldier who is determined to prevail over anything on earth and never submit, even if God were to strike you. This is how I see it.



We Need a New Truth Rooted in the Entire Range of History

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2382

I sacrificed my life with blood and
sweat to bring you to this level. I gave
away my body as a ransom. Therefore,
you must do as I do. I want to boast
about our members. Let us make a pub-
lic promise. (11-164, 1961.7.20)

Richard: True Father, Rev. Sun Myung Moon went through six or seven life and death experiences in order to bring us the New Truth and make the successful foundation for the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth (Cheon Il Guk)l.

Cheong Seong Gyeong 734

The Unification Church allows the
honoring of ancestors. Did Christianity
allow you to perform a memorial ser-
vice for the repose of your ancestors?
The Unification Church should carry on
and establish this tradition. This is not a
secular tradition. This becomes the roy-
al domain for eternally serving the tra-
ditional blood relatives in the realm of
tribal messiahs who are succeeding in
the genealogical generations by serving
the heavenly Parent, the heavenly king-
dom and the heavenly ancestors. It will
be a nation where we can attend the king
and sing praises for the eternal reign of
peace. Do you understand? You, your
mother, father, family and tribe can go
directly to heaven only after having lived
in such a nation. (220-221, 1991.10.19)

Inside God’s Stadium

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 9, 1959

1 Corinthians 9: 14-27

If you sense that you are a racer running throughout the rest of your life and desire to be a winner, you will have to find a historical religion. You will have to find a religion of this period and a religion of the future. These are the only religions which people can believe in and never despair.

Although there have been many religious people in the past, their life span could not surpass a century. Based on this, it is clear that God has been working in the background without people’s being aware of it. God began His providence from the day human beings fell and will continue even in the future. If there is a religion which can represent God’s providential work, what kind of religion would it be? It is a religion which has made a contribution in history and which has a relationship with the beginnings of human history. It must be a religion which discusses the origins of good and evil and which can embrace all aspects of history found in human life. It must have the ability to decide the outcome of the battle in the final destination of the future. From this perspective, Christianity today is problematic.

If we are to receive God’s award, it cannot be just because we have been recognized in this age. Many racers of the past dwell in the next world. Countless people who raced on the race track of God’s providence now reside there. Some of them died on the race track, and they have a myriad of stories to tell. If you are qualified to receive an award on behalf of all those people of the past, then you have to have won a victory that no ancestor of the past was able to achieve. You must also have established some condition of victory which can be recognized by the people of this age. The people of the future must also be able to recognize your accomplishments. Only such a person can be awarded by God. Isn’t this true? This is the reason we believe in God. We are racing on the course of our life. We are racing toward the ultimate destination of the Last Days.

What kind of being is God whom we believe in? He is an historical God. He is the God of this age as well as the God of the future. The purpose that God set is also the historical purpose, the purpose of the present, and the purpose of the future.

If this is the nature of the God we believe in and the hope that we cherish in our hearts, we should understand and believe in God as the God of the past, the present and the future. Only then would God be happy when He gives us an award. You have to reach the point where you understand the heart of God who is giving you the award.

Many religions survived for several hundred or several thousand years, during which time they were slowly pushed aside by the trends of thought of each age. Although Christianity has been around for several thousand years, now they have to make another breakthrough for the one time in the future. If there is some race course of God which originates from the deepest part of God, that course must be of the past, the present and the future. For this reason, we should have knowledge of it. If there is a new truth emerging in this age, that truth cannot be limited to this age. You young people should understand this clearly. The truth cannot be limited to an age. Any teaching or idea will fade away if it is limited to an era. What we need is a new truth, a new ideology which is rooted in the entire range of history and which can transcend the philosophical trends of this age.

We Should Begin from Adam’s Family

Luke 21

34 Don’t spend all of your time thinking about eating or drinking or worrying about life. If you do, the final day will suddenly catch you 35 like a trap. That day will surprise everyone on earth. 36 Watch out and keep praying that you can escape all that is going to happen and that the Son of Man will be pleased with you.

Mark 10

26 Jesus’ disciples were even more amazed. They asked each other, “How can anyone ever be saved?”

27 Jesus looked at them and said, “There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything.”

28 Peter replied, “Remember, we left everything to be your followers!”

29 Jesus told him:

You can be sure that anyone who gives up home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or land for me and for the good news 30 will be rewarded. In this world they will be given a hundred times as many houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and pieces of land, though they will also be mistreated. And in the world to come, they will have eternal life. 31 But many who are now first will be last, and many who are now last will be first.

Inside God’s Stadium

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 9, 1959

1 Corinthians 9: 14-27

The same principles apply to the path of religion. Since the birth of history, no one among all those who walked the path of religion and those who went before God in the name of religion were able to receive the award of God, proclaiming Him the ultimate victor. The race is still going on. The purpose of our race is to connect to the universe, which is the ultimate purpose of the race over which God presides. For this reason, no matter how small our own race may be, we should persist until the moment we can become connected to the universe. If there is someone who won the hundred-meter event at one particular time, that alone will not qualify him as a winner. He must maintain the value and glory of his victory until the Last Days.

We who stand in the stadium should know the stories of the many people who fell down on each obstacle of the course. We should know under what circumstances they fell and how they fell and how they were defeated in their fight.

Until now, people have been racing toward an unclear destination, but we in the present age should not run such an aimless race. Since we are running the race, we should understand every detail of the race course clearly.

We know that to run on the course of God’s providence we must pass through the course of restoration. What must we do? We have come forward as racers seeking to find God. Where should we begin? We should begin from Adam’s family. Where is the starting point for human beings? It is Adam’s family. We have been running the race from that point. From that point, God and humanity have run the race together for six thousand years until today. Yet the race is not over. It is still going on.

What must you do? You should inherit the tradition and spirit of our ancestors. We should understand where we belong. Isn’t this true? You should understand which race you are running, to which group you belong, and what role you are to play. Only then can you be the winner of the award. You should understand that all racers belong to certain spheres based on the historical spiritual tradition they associate with. You should understand which event you are participating in. You should understand who in the past set the record and who in the past failed. After knowing all these good and bad conditions, you should be prepared to deal with all the bad effects of the conditions.

In the course of our life, many enemies have placed obstacles in our path and are blocking our way. The obstacles they placed are not visible; they are invisible. They are the very obstacles that many saints of history could not overcome. You should have an understanding of the past and knowledge of where the hurdles lie. We should understand history for this reason. We must understand the past, the present and the future. This is the essential knowledge that racers should have. In the middle of your race, you cannot be sure that the sponsors of the race will not change the courses designed under a certain purpose. Hence, you should understand the historical course of the saints of the past, the stories of their battles on the course, the present situation of our battle, and the plans by which the future battles will be fought. Only when you understand all this can you become the ultimate victor.

However, if we examine closely the lives of religious people today, they do not know how God has been working in history. They do not know God’s program and plans, based upon which He is carrying out His work in the present. How can we call these people racers? You should understand clearly. In the six- thousand-year history, God guided the events of the race toward a certain direction. There is a central thrust. This is what we must understand. God has been working with a uniform program and purpose from the time of the first human ancestors to the last days of humanity.

To Become Winners, We Need to Have A Strategy

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1972

When we observe the birthplace of
civilizations from a geographical point
of view, we see that they developed based
on the conditions of climate, during the
course of world history. Then what kind
of place is most ideal? We can conclude
that the ideal location is one that has four
seasons and connects the sea to the land.
In terms of climate, it should be a region
with four seasons. It should be a penin-
sula, as well as a region where the four
seasons are distinct. What is a peninsu-
lar region? The land symbolizes heaven,
and the water symbolizes the sea. The
peninsula connects these two. That is
the reality of the world. That is how it
works with all the principles of heaven
and earth. In that sense, the Italian pen-
insula, as a peninsular region, contrib-
uted to world culture. This was the first
great staging-post for past civilizations.
You should be aware that this penin-
sular civilization centered on Rome, a
region with an integrated civilization,
had emerged with the authority of the
past ages in history. It had also passed
through the Egyptian civilization and
Greek civilization to become a compre-
hensive area. (107-300, 1980.6.8)

Richard: Sometimes West Virginia is referred to as the “peninsula state”due to the two “peninsulas of the north part between Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the eastern panhandle, where we live. Also the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers are boundaries of the eastern “peninsula”. A lot of significant history and significant black history has happened in Harpers Ferry; for instance, the Niagara Movement, Storer College, and John Brown’s Raid.

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1187

Based on this ceremony, I declared
“The ideology centered on the Heaven-
ly Father” on September 1, 1989. Until
the Ceremony of the Settlement of the
Eight Stages was completed, it was still
the age of the restoration of the right of
the eldest son. Restoring the right of the
eldest son! Finally, the right of the eldest
son has been completely restored. Now,
that the right of the eldest son has been
completely restored to God’s side, we
ascend and stand in the highest global
realm, where Satan cannot oppose us.
The time has now come when, if we push
forward strongly and boldly, America,
the communist world, Korea and Japan
will all yield. That is why we should be
strong and bold. (193-204, 1989.10.4)

Richard: We just passed the 30th Anniversary of this very significant ceremony (the Settlement of Eight Stages on August 31, 1989).

Inside God’s Stadium

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 9, 1959

1 Corinthians 9: 14-27

We cannot be haphazard. We should have a clear notion of being a winner in a certain event in the race. You have to approach the starting point with such a firm conviction and begin the race. The sages of the past did not teach people about specific fields of work. They did not teach us what we must do to become successful in a certain field. They instructed us on the path we should walk in our life, the path for our minds, our spirits, and for our life.

The path for our thoughts and life does not belong to any one of us alone. It is the common path in any era and is designed according to a certain formula. On it hangs the fate of many generations and human history. We should long for the citizens of Heaven who can fight on this path and bring victory.

If you do it unselfishly, the day you fulfill the purpose is the day that Heaven and earth can rejoice. When a racer representing his people wins in his event, it is tantamount to the victory of all his people. Even if that event is a small one, its value and glory will have an impact on everyone. For this reason, now you need the one day when you can develop this kind of internal conviction, when you can strengthen your conviction and value in order to attain a certain purpose under a certain standard. However, until today you did not have these kinds of thoughts or feelings.

Since we are already racing, we will either end up as winners or losers. To become winners, we need to have a strategy. Internally, we need to have the conviction that we will win, and an unswerving heart fixed on a purpose. Externally, we need to make preparations to facilitate the race. Those who are entering a race should be simple and innocent. We have to prepare our bodies so that they will respond quickly to the direction our minds give. This is why we need training.

The stadium, however, is not built to make it easy for us to run freely toward our purpose. There are many obstacles on the race tracks. Each of these obstacles represents the failures of our ancestors. No matter how proud and determined a racer may be, he may fall down before those obstacles. On our path lie the obstacles which our ancestors could not overcome and fell over. Therefore, as much as possible, we should maintain a simple attitude, so that when our hearts guide us, our bodies can respond quickly and in full harmony. We should train our bodies in this way.

Training cannot be done in a comfortable position. It is achieved when you are being treated harshly. To continue this kind of internal training, you need to harden your bodies so that even if you are attacked internally, you can make a breakthrough and move beyond it. Your internal determination must not change. Even if you run into tribulations which afflict your body, you must not be defeated. Hence, Heaven instructed those who seek the religious way to abandon everything they possess and follow. When Jesus called upon Peter, who was mending his fishing nets, he told him to abandon all and follow him.

There is a rationale behind meditating in the mountains in order to seek enlightenment. We are to cultivate external determination based on our internal determination, and the confidence that we will not deviate from our course, no matter what kind of obstacles we run into. Even if we fall to the bottom, we will support our minds and bodies. Without these convictions, there is no way we can run the race or even enter the stadium. Since each one of us is a racer who should be responsible for an event in the race, we should train ourselves with unchanging conviction in order to accomplish our purpose. Therefore, you must have the attitude of a devout believer, the attitude of a racer who is running the race, and the attitude of a person walking the path of enlightenment. Whether you are awake or asleep, you should have a burning desire to accomplish your purpose.

Among the people who have gathered here there must be those who thoughtlessly believe that they can enter the Kingdom of Heaven just by believing in Jesus. What is the Kingdom of Heaven like? It is composed of various groups of people who have successfully qualified in some event in the race. You should not blindly think that you can enter the Kingdom of Heaven just by believing in Jesus. Of course, there are areas that God will help you in, but there are also areas which require you to fulfill your responsibilities. To prepare for the race, you should make both internal and external preparations. Next, as a racer, you should understand thoroughly about the course that you will be competing on. You should know clearly where you will find what kind of obstacles, and so on. What you then must understand is that although many people have run on the course in the past, all of them failed. They did not win in their races. They quit in the middle of the course.

Our Conviction Must Not be Centered on Ourselves

Watch the latest Richard Urban show with Jamal Johnson Part 2-Your Spouse is the Greatest Gift: https://youtu.be/More_XXZkB8.

2 Chronicles 20

15 Then Jahaziel said:

Your Majesty and everyone from Judah and Jerusalem, the Lord says that you don’t need to be afraid or let this powerful army discourage you. God will fight on your side! 16 So here’s what you must do. Tomorrow the enemy armies will march through the desert around the town of Jeruel. March down and meet them at the town of Ziz as they come up the valley. 17 You won’t even have to fight. Just take your positions and watch the Lord rescue you from your enemy. Don’t be afraid. Just do as you’re told. And as you march out tomorrow, the Lord will be there with you.

Psalm 19

Let my words and my thoughts
    be pleasing to you, Lord,
    because you are my mighty rock[a]
    and my protector.

Inside God’s Stadium

Rev. Sun Myung Moon
August 9, 1959

1 Corinthians 9: 14-27

We are to run this race. Since we have to go, how should we run? We need to make certain preparations before we enter the stadium. What kind of preparations? We need to make internal preparations and external preparations. Internally, we should have some conviction that we are running toward a certain purpose. We are to run the course according to the commands we receive. If we run into a hurdle in our race course, we should have the conviction to jump over it. We need to make internal preparations so that we can run toward the right purpose based on our conviction.

In other words, by training our minds and bodies, we need to cultivate the determination that we will not fall down before we reach the final destination and that we will not lose to anyone but will stand as the final victors. We need to have such a strong conviction that even if our bodies were to run into some obstacles as we are racing toward our destination, we should be able to push that aside and continue on our race.

Many people are living on the earth today. Yet how many of them are ready to stand firm as a racer and start running toward the certain destination? If we cannot deny that we are under the control of this trend in history, based on both our words and the reality we face, we should then ask ourselves whether or not we have prepared ourselves properly as racers who can run towards the destination with aspirations to victory. You have not made the preparations yet.

Human beings are born to belong in a certain field or sphere. Those who do not have a position and circumstance where they can dwell are pitiful. Those who do not have the clear idea that they are on a certain course running toward a certain purpose are pitiful. Most of us are like that.

What we need here is the time to make the internal and external preparations to train our minds and bodies with determination and purposefulness that we may triumph in the battle against many enemies. If there is anyone here who has not had such a moment, he should examine himself closely.

What kind of internal preparation do we need to make? It must not be preparation for your own individual sake. Isn’t this so? Suppose there is a marathon athlete who represents a nation. When he runs the race, if he has the conviction that he should glorify his people and his nation before the world rather than to obtain glory for himself, he will be able to overcome all difficulties. However, if he is running only for the sake of his own glory and personal ends, he will easily give up the moment he runs into tribulations.

Our conviction must not be centered on ourselves. We should have conviction for the sake of the people, for the sake of the world, and for the sake of Heaven and earth. If the runner is certain that he will determine the final victory of the universe, even if he were to collapse, he would have the strength to get up and continue running. If he runs for his own sake, the moment he encounters a difficulty that exceeds any difficulty he has otherwise experienced, he will collapse. When the difficulty exceeds the self- centered desire he has, he will be defeated.

This is the reason we need to train our minds and bodies to the conviction that we are running for the purpose and mission of Heaven and earth. People live for the sake of God and goodness, but thoughtlessly. Goodness is transcending the restricted environment. Goodness is not limited. Goodness exists beyond the boundaries of limits and constraints. Therefore, people live for such purposes without clear understanding or deep thought.