Tag: Warning

We Should Clearly Distinguish Monotheism from Polytheism

1 Thessolonians 5

12 My friends, we ask you to be thoughtful of your leaders who work hard and tell you how to live for the Lord. 13 Show them great respect and love because of their work. Try to get along with each other. 14 My friends, we beg you to warn anyone who isn’t living right. Encourage anyone who feels left out, help all who are weak, and be patient with everyone. 15 Don’t be hateful to people, just because they are hateful to you. Rather, be good to each other and to everyone else.

Obadiah 1

15 The day is coming
when I, the Lord,
    will judge the nations.
And, Edom, you will pay in full
    for what you have done.

Shamanism, Polytheism and Animism

2. Human Beings Who Achieve Mastery Rise above the Gods

It is people who make the gods important.
If a spirit [idol] becomes too troublesome, it will be shown the tree from which it was carved.
We shall continue to offer sacrifices so that the blame will lie with the deities.
African Proverbs (African Traditional Religions)

Fools misjudge me when I take a human form,
Because they do not know my supreme state as Lord of Beings.
Unconscious, they fall prey to a beguiling nature
such as belongs to ogres and demons,
For their hopes [ascribing to God human motives] are vain, and so
are their rituals and their search for wisdom.
Bhagavad-Gita 9.11-12 (Hinduism)

Whoever knows the self as “I am Brahman,” becomes all this [universe]. Even the gods can-not prevent his becoming this, for he has become their Self.

Now, if a man worships another deity, thinking, “He is one and I am another,” he does not know. He is like an animal to the gods. As many animals serve a man, so does each man serve the gods [with offerings]. Even if one animal is taken away, it causes anguish to the owner; how much more so when many are taken away! Therefore it is not pleasing to the gods that men should know the truth.

    Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.4.10 (Hinduism)

Even the devas are jealous of a yogi, striving as he does to surpass them by attaining Brahman. They therefore try to lead him astray, in various ways, if they find him off guard.
    Srimad Bhagavatam 11.20 (Hinduism)

What is Shinto? Not in the shrines
the worldly minded frequent for gifts in vain,
but in good deeds, pure of heart,
lies real religion.
    Genchi Kato (Shinto)

Look, you brothers, who bathe in the holy waters,
Look, you monks, who bathe in the stream.
Give up, give up, your unholy thoughts;
Give up lustful thoughts for another man’s
wife,
Give up coveting after another man’s wealth.
If you bathe in the waters without giving up these,
It is as if bathing in a stream that has run dry.
    Basavanna, Vacana 642 (Hinduism)

Truth is victorious, never untruth.
Truth is the way; truth is the goal of life,
Reached by the sages who are free from self-will.
    Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6 (Hinduism)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

We should clearly distinguish monotheism from polytheism. Only God is the true deity; the other divine beings that founded the polytheistic religions are angels. Among those religions, some developed through good angels’ efforts to elevate human spirituality and heart—they are the higher religions. You should know that God has been cultivating people’s hearts through these good religions. (237:186, November 17, 1992)
 
Human history can be considered to span at least 850,000 years. Even during the most primitive times, the religious movements that sprang up received persecution. Who initiated such work? It is God. He developed religions to separate human beings from the servant. God separated us from Satan step by step, starting from the very bottom—the level of a servant of servants.
    Humans are created to be masters, but at the servant of servants’ level, the servant dominates the master. In order to take our rightful position in the Kingdom of Heaven as the masters of that servant, humanity must inevitably receive persecution from the entire servant world and triumph over it. (124:69, January 23, 1983)
 
Among shamans, especially the men, some had formerly led a promiscuous love life. Then as shamans they leave their former life and strive on the path of morality. This led to the development of a [higher] realm of religion. From that starting-point, they could recognize that people should live a straight way of life and form faithful families. At least they recognized that it was not good to live a loose lifestyle, and sought after a proper way of love. Such efforts at laying the right path developed into the world’s higher religions. (295:172, August 28, 1998)
 
 

We Are Not to Follow a Certain Leader or Serve a Certain Founder of a Religion

John 19

25 Jesus’ mother stood beside his cross with her sister and Mary the wife of Clopas. Mary Magdalene was standing there too.[c] 26 When Jesus saw his mother and his favorite disciple with her, he said to his mother, “This man is now your son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “She is now your mother.” From then on, that disciple took her into his own home.

Ezekiel 3

6 Seven days after I had seen the brightness of the Lord’s glory, the Lord said:

17 Ezekiel, son of man, I have appointed you to stand watch for the people of Israel. So listen to what I say, then warn them for me. 18 When I tell wicked people they will die because of their sins, you must warn them to turn from their sinful ways so they won’t be punished. If you refuse, you are responsible for their death. 19 However, if you do warn them, and they keep on sinning, they will die because of their sins, and you will be innocent.

20 Now suppose faithful people start sinning, and I decide to put stumbling blocks in their paths to make them fall. They deserve to die because of their sins. So if you refuse to warn them, I will forget about the times they were faithful, and I will hold you responsible for their death. 21 But if you do warn them, and they listen to you and stop sinning, I will let them live. And you will be innocent.

Richard:  Why do I speak out to say what is true?  See the above reading from Ezekiel.

The Person Who Will Serve the Grieving Father

Sun Myung Moon
May 24, 1959

Matthew 23: 1-39

Prayer

Father! Sorrowful history today is moving forward as it swirls around us. Facing the sorrowful environment of life, we realize that ours is the great task of ridding history of pain and resolving Heavenly Father’s torn heart. As we have taken on such a task, we have to become sons and daughters who can bear the heart of Heaven and earth, experience the sorrow, feel the pain, and be willing to die for You thousands and thousands of times to comfort You.

During Jesus’ advent in this world, many religious groups and believers were awaiting the Messiah. They were all expecting the Messiah to come as someone even greater than their expectations. The Messiah who came was not a Messiah of happiness. Rather, he was a Messiah who embodied the sadness of humanity. He was a Messiah of pain in whom all the pain of human history culminated. We know that no one in that time ever thought that the Messiah, who came as the representative of Heaven, would come so.

We understand that history is realized based on what has gone before. We are learning the principle which tells that all events occurring in history have to reappear to be restored through indemnity. We also know of the responsibilities of the disciples in the last days to horizontally put to rest all the sorrowful remembrances of the Garden of Eden, the sorrows of the course of history that came down vertically, to return to our Father the joy of the horizontal perspective.

Father! We now desire to be loyal for the sake of the world. Do we not want to establish the heavenly promised land for humankind? We can only then become people who inherit Heavenly Father’s deeply engraved sorrow and pain. We have already realized that only those who digest pain and sorrow can appear as the inheritors of heavenly joy. Please allow us to see that those who struggle only for their peace of mind will surely perish and be defeated.

Father! We know that one cannot claim the achievement of victory if he struggles and fights for his happiness. I sincerely pray, Father, that You allow us to become those individuals who persevere in spite of sadness and pain and who say, “I will live for the lives of the whole.” Let us become those who have raised high the altar of the historic offerings and lead history. Let such people lead this perishing race and world.

To whom are we going to entrust our faith when we look at the sad and sorrowful churches, when we look at humanity, and when we look at heaven and earth in this time of sorrow? We are not to follow a certain leader or serve a certain founder of a religion. The final moment of judgment is coming in which we have no choice but to live for and attend the Father and to fight to resolve the Father’s han. Is there anyone among us who lives in shadows which our mind cannot comprehend? Please break down such shadows, and allow us to realize that those who die today struggling to fight against new sorrows will live again tomorrow. Continue reading “We Are Not to Follow a Certain Leader or Serve a Certain Founder of a Religion”