Letter to the Editor: Follow Up on Comments Before the Board of Education – VisionRoot
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Matthew 7
24 Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock. 25 Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock.
26 Anyone who hears my teachings and doesn’t obey them is like a foolish person who built a house on sand. 27 The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Finally, it fell with a crash.
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.
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.”
8 The officials and the people were upset when they heard this. 9 So they made Jason and the other followers pay bail before letting them go.
Women of the Bible
7. Mary
Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon
Mary was a revolutionary woman in faith who could follow God’s Will. Because the Human Fall came through the archangel Lucifer, another archangel [Gabriel] should assist Mary by bringing her God’s revelation. Eve believed the words of the archangel and fell. This time Mary should absolutely believe the archangel’s message from God and follow it. This is for restoration through indemnity. Therefore, Mary risked her life, completely believing what the angel told her: “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus… the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Luke 1.31, 35)
Mary’s situation paralleled that of Eve in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. Mary and Joseph were engaged but not yet married; Adam and Eve were also in an engagement period as they were growing up—they were brother and sister, but someday to marry. An angel induced Eve to commit the Fall; now another angel brought Mary to God for the fulfillment of His Will. In these respects their situations were precisely parallel.
Since human beings have inherited the fallen act like a normal tradition, the same act should be repeated for God in the course of restoration. Therefore, Mary deceived her husband-to-be and her father. Do you think Mary could discuss with her father or Joseph about how she had conceived her baby? She was risking her life, because in those days an adulterous woman would be stoned to death.
Mary conceived Jesus after inheriting the victorious foundation of Rebecca and Tamar. Through these three women, all the indemnity conditions were fulfilled for the birth of the Son of God. Therefore, Satan could not make any accusation against the birth of the child. That is why, even in Mary’s womb, Jesus was already the only begotten Son of God. (92:289-90, April 18, 1977)
Mary, who was engaged to Joseph, received from the archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her. (Luke 1.31) In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she would be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1.38)
Mary consulted with the priest Zechariah, who was her relative and was highly respected. Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth, with the help of God, was pregnant with John the Baptist. She said to Mary, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1.42-43) With these words she testified to the coming birth of Jesus. In this way, God let Mary, Zechariah, and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anyone else. All of them had the absolutely crucial mission of following the will of God and serving Jesus. Zechariah’s family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zechariah. Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mothers’ side. But according to God’s providence they were considered sisters, with Elizabeth as the elder (Cain) and Mary as the younger (Abel). Mary received Elizabeth’s help in the presence of Zechariah. Through this cooperation, Zechariah’s family, on the national level, indemnified the lack of unity between Leah and Rachel in Jacob’s family. This allowed Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be born on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed of the Son of God—the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten Son of God, the owner of the first love of God, was born. Mary had to achieve something that could not be understood by common sense, nor easily tolerated under the law of those times. Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah had been spiritually moved. They were to follow the revelation that came from God, and unconditionally believe that it was the will and desire of God. (277:206-07, April 16, 1996)