Thanksgiving: Gift of True Christian Spirit

In the history of Christianity, new world that was in the realm of salvation was created with Jesus Christ.  Also, the religion of Christianity on the whole went through the same suffering course that Jesus went though. 

When Christianity was still being established and went to a new country for the first time, the men and women went through major indemnity conditions of shedding blood and suffering. 

Those who were murdered for their beliefs, took the suffering in order to be separated from the world of Satan.  They stood where they could get God's love and make themselves as a sacrifice for others in the world to come to God.

What if Christians were to curse those who tortured them and killed them?  Then the faith would not have not have had a foundation to be able to bring restoration in the world.

Christians had to pray for those who had killed them. 

Without this sacrificial lifestyle, the faith would not have been able to mobilize, grow and affect the world.  Sacrifices and suffering had to occur because God had the intention to go back to where sin originated and forgive Adam and Eve after they fell away from him.

If there was a brother, sister or unfallen angle that could have sacrificed themselves for the sake of the other in their place, then they could have consoled God's painful heart and mind that was broken due to their disbelief.


Reverend Sun Myung Moon, The Divine Principle







Throughout human history of the Old Testament there were sacrifices of animals to God in order to separate from the sin.

In the New Testament age, Jesus himself was the substantial offering.  Jesus labored hard in obedience to God and sacrificed himself in place of humanity so we could be forgiven for the sins we inherit and give and take with everyday.

If all of humankind was united into one with Jesus, then we could have been saved on both the spiritual and physical level due to his obedience.

This is why Jesus must return, because of the disunity of the Jewish people and Jesus who left salvation in the physical realm unfinished.  Once the Messiah returns and lays the foundation for the physical sins to be forgiven then Heaven on Earth will be accomplished.

Right now, humanity only has been forgiven of sins in spirit.  Meaning that the physical body still suffers under satanic dominion and attack.

When Jesus was crucified he saved humanity spiritually, but he himself lost his physical body to satanic attack therefore that was left undone.

So the purpose of Christianity is also to restore that lost physical body of Jesus.

 

 

Christianity was unable to accomplish Heaven on Earth in its time.

It must restore the land, the people and the sovereignty.  Christians must stand in the position of humanity as a sacrifice just as Jesus had done on levels of society, nation and the world level.

Through Jesus's crucifixion, Christianity spread throughout Asia Minor and was thrust toward Rome which was the target.  Therefore, Rome was considered 'the world'.

 

 

 

 

For the world to be saved, Rome had to be conquered by the army of Jesus Christ.

Eventually, after 400 years of sacrifice, this inconceivable goal was achieved.

At that time, the Roman Empire, just as America in the past, seemed to be an impregnable fortress that did not seem to be even a topic to conquest.

But through faith and sacrificial blood of the people of Christ, they conquered the army with their bare hands.

Christians did not use weapons, swords or spears. They were only armed with their love of God and Jesus Christ.

They marched fearlessly toward Rome with utter conviction and strength in the power of God.  Through this, they paid the ultimate price in blood.  What army is stronger than the one where one does not fear any death.

 

 

 

No enemy is invincible against an army of faith.

History is witness to the deeds of that army of Jesus.

At last, the Roman Empire fell...Jesus conquered Rome.  Then Roman Catholicism became the center for God to bring about world salvation and eventually Heaven on Earth.  Therefore, it was planned that the Pope would be God's foremost champion.

Unfortunately, time and time again, history shows that time after time, God was let down by leader after leader.

The Middle Ages much corruption and a decline in the sacrificial strong faith of the Christian spirit.  Church leaders and officials of that time were only worried about their own power, authority and welfare and not the true soul of their congregation.

We even see this trend in today's society.

Those in the hierarchy enjoyed their untouchable power and abused it forgetting all about God's original purpose.

Leaders held tightly to their positions and persecuted those who opposed them.  They claimed that they were direct heirs of Jesus's lineage and his disciples, yet they were unable to rise above their own sins.

In many men, the true Christian spirit was dead.

No matter how much disappointment and heartbreak God experienced, He continued forward with His dream of World Peace!

God is not satisfied with any answer that is less than a total response.  During medieval times, there was much corruption in society. There were people like St. Francis and Martin Luther who denied everything society embraced and retreated from the world.

They were loyal to God's vision instead of pursuing worldly goals.

St. Francis was able to create a movement which enable Christians to give their worldly possessions which enslaved them and walk toward the same goal.  Through overcoming their worldly desires, he greatly advanced and led everyone who understood God's goal.

However, even the Franciscan Order became an organization that could not last beyond its human's weaknesses.

The church need to be reformed, therefore, Martin Luther and other righteous reformers emerged within the Catholic's own ranks determined to win liberation from the confinement of outdated,abusive doctrines that only benefited the leadership.

People wanted to freely worship God and Jesus, not just the church as a worldly institution.

People had a desire to directly communicate with God and not have to work through leadership.  Such people were able to bring God's world one step closer to His goal of peace to His children.

Later in England, resisted and objected the state church's practices.  The outcries for reform caused the Puritan movement to form.  It quickly spread amid persecution.

These new seekers seemed to be a threat to the established church leaders, who tried to use every means to suppress the new movement from spreading.

Those in faith who wanted freedom to worship had to either flee or be imprisoned.

They had such a strong spirit that they did not even have enough power to resist the government at the time.

They fled to Holland, yet this wasn't satisfactory to such a burning spirit of people of faith. 

Still these rebels longed for some new world, a new heaven and new earth where they could find freedom to worship God.

Such an untouched, pure land as America then, must had been attractive to such people who dreamed of a new world.

This unknown territory promised freedom of worship which they craved.  The Pilgrims strong desired to create a community of their own.  America seemed such an ideal place.  They made the courageous decision to take the voyage there.

Once they made the commitment to take the treacherous journey across the Atlantic while risking their lives, they found strength in their faith that was stronger than their desire to stay alive.

"Think of it: They had to give up their families, their relatives, their surroundings, and their country, and head toward an unknown land. Their only hope was in God. Every step they took they depended upon God.

Their journey was long, and there were many storms. They prayed unceasingly to God. They had but one way to turn. They turned to God. When they were sick and dying on the voyage, they had no medicine to take, no doctor to care for them; they turned to God. Those Pilgrim men and women were one with God. And that is how they survived.

Put yourself in their position of total reliance on God. What a wonderful faith! I am sure that the faith of the Pilgrims touched the heart of God. And when God is moved He offers promises; and when He makes promises, He will fulfill them. God determined to give these faithful people the ultimate thing they wanted -- freedom of worship. He then determined to give them even more.

I am sure you know, as I have learned, that the Mayflower arrived at Plymouth Rock in New England almost in the dead of winter.

November in New England is rather cold. The destiny of the newcomers could have been only starvation because there was so little food to eat.

Given this fact, it really inspires me to learn about the store of grain in the hold of the Mayflower which they would not touch, even though they were starving to death. They preserved this grain for planting the next spring.

This was truly a supreme example of sacrifice. They preferred to die hoping in tomorrow rather than to act in desperation for only a few more days of life."




And this is the foundation not only of the spirit of Christinity around the world, the earth we step on in America.  This is why we should still have the same spirit to fight to keep God's dream on the basis of this great land He still has hope in.

God bless and have a wonderful God-given Thanksgiving!!!




Return for Tomorrow's Post: Part II, Thanksgiving: Gift of True Christian Spirit


Christianity in Crisis from God's Warning to the World --message from prison