What is the Purpose of Your Life?

Why do you think you were born?

 

 

What direction should we take?  Where should we live?

 

People are born into this world, yet they do not even know truly or understand the origin and purpose of their own birth.

 

If people do not know the why of their existence, they are ignorant of their own purpose.

 

Can anyone boast that they brought about their own existence?

 

Our birth, not even our own death stems from our own intentions.  What do we have to be proud about?  We don't have any control over our birth, and we cannot avoid the path of death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are merely custodians in this life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thus, any attempt at self-praise or pride is pitiful.

Once we are born on earth, we are destined to live, die and pass away to the next world.

Philosophy and religion has worked hard to solve the problems that human life encounters daily.  Philosophers took great pains to come up with many theories with regard to the value and perfection of humanity and to succeed and be proud before the whole universe on their own order.

Yet, today, these ideologies have been tested by human society and are found to be failures.

People live haphazardly, hating to die, yet they hold many questions such as "Why am I living? "What is the origin of life?".  Can these answers be found in books written by philosphers when they were just seeking and paving the way toward God.

Q. What is religion?


Religious life begins from learning about God in order to live together with Him. 

No one would take objection to having the happiest or dazzling life.  Yet, because we come from the fall, we are not able to live free as we please.  Still, each of us feels pride in ourselves, live freely with respect to our own will and remembered accordingly.

These conflicts are found within our hearts.

 

"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 celebrations of village elders, attending funerals 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?"

Reverend Sun Myung Moon 

 

 

 

 

Life passes by very quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A decade flies by in the twinkling of an eye and it seems like in only secondes, we turn sixty years old.  Then very soon, you will be seventy, but only for a minute before you age again.

If someone who is born with good fortune of a value of 100, but spends 120 in the the course their life, his descendants will persih.  If he only spends 80, he can bequeath the remaining 20 as a blessing to his descendants.

 

Did you know that you can change your fortune, but not your inherited destiny?

 

Are you able to change the that you born in the homeland you were born?  Can you change your parents?

 

You can never change the fact that you were born as the son or daughter of your parents, no matter how strong your nation's sovereignty or custom may be.

 

When you make a wrong start, you will end up in an unexpected place.

 

people do not know the port of departure for human life.  Where can we find the direction and guide the compass to reach our detsination in the world beyond?

 

People are wandering about back and forth.  No matter how hard they may try, they are not able to overcome their human limiations.

 

Q. What is our destiny?

 

Where do we go after this life is over?

 

We need to resolve this important issue.  Humanity has tried through religion and phisophies throughout history, so we cannot deny that we are driven by this destiny.

 

Where are our minds and bodies ultimately trying to go?

 

Is it just to live, work and die?

 

What about our hearts, wishes, hopes and ideals - where are they trying to go?

 

Even if we cannot satisfactorily answer these questions, we are still destined to eventually pass away.  When we die, our bodies are buried and our minds, lives, hearts, ideals and even our hopes are also buried.

 

Unless you have sound contents, solutions and a purpose, you will eventually become an  unhappy people.

 

In order for cicadas to pass from the larval stage into adulthood, they have to prepare to fly while they are still in the previous stage.

 

In order to pass form the former to the latter, they first shed their shell, which is the final barrier before they are mature and molt into adult insects.

 

Thus, they need to undergo a complete metamorphosis to adapt accordingly.

 

So, ultimately, why are we born?

 

What should our focus of life and for what purpose do we pass on?

 

We can never answer these questions without God.

 

Without Him, we can never find the true purpose of life, since He is the cause and beginning of each of our existence.

 

 

 

 

Those who lack purpose can neither reap the fruit of their work no have their value recognized. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every building is constructed according to an architect's blueprint.  If the builders do not reference the blueprint during construction, it cannot become what was originally intended in the design.


When autumn arrives, it foretells the coming of winter.

Those who have vitality are the only ones who can pass through the course of winter.  Things without vitality cannot but retreat from it.

Therefore, they need to be infused with new life before the coming of winter. 

We need a new principle and thought based on a new love and outlook on life, the world and universe.

We will not be able to survive the harshness of winter without thinking of these principles.

Once you acqure the vitality to pass through winter, spring will draw nearer with each day that passes.

This is the path trodden by the Unification Church.

Return for tomorrow's post: Love Like God's

 

This post was rewritten and derived from the religious textbook Cheon Seong Gyeon, Book Ten, Chapter 1 Section 1

Meet God at Time of Worship

Why do we faithfully follow the Sabbath?

Sabbath is a Saturday to some and Sunday for other people of faith.  But why do we follow the sacred bonds set thousands of years ago?

We observe the Sabbath to bring about salvation to humankind and to find thenation of God's desire.

Christianity observed the Sabbath to elevate itself and focus its efforts on magnifying the goal of salvation.

We observe the Sabbath to promote the path to our salvation.

Furthermore, it is to increase the importance of the goal for the world to be saved.  This is God's desire.


When we worship, this is where we offer God our time.  You should atone for your past before God.  This time is a time without freedom.

 

 

 

 

The time for worship blocks the advancement of all of Satan's authority.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is a time where we promis Heavenly Father that we will return the glory of victory to Him.

 

This is a place that is more serious than when we meet our enemy in battle.  When we come early for church service, that value cannot be exchanged or bought with any amount of gold.  Therefore, to come late to service is stealing from God.

 

By being on time for service, you can stand before God with dignity.

 

You come closer to heaven with a heart better than that of yesterday.

 

If you come to church late, even when you pray, you will just sit there wondering what Father will talk about?

 

When you are seeking God, can you attend church without wearing holy robes? I'm not talking about external robes. I'm talking about the holy robes of your heart.

 

If inspiration wells up within your heart during the sermon or hymns, Heaven will work with you. 

 

When Adam and Eve were expelled from Heaven, they shed tears.  Therefore, you should shed tears of joy in such a way that you can meet God with a huge smile.

 

Those who have not shed tears of God's sorrow first cannot shed tears of joy.

 

You should prepare three days before worship service with an eager heart.

 

Enter the gates of the church while passionately praying for the happiness of all the people that will gather there so that they can connect to the authority of resurrection and life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You should attend service with a heart that is full of emotion for God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even if you do this, it will not be enough.

 

Be more brazen than a traveling salesmen. For Sunday service, you should purify yourself by bathing, offering a deep bow before God and visit holy ground to pray.

 

Even if people do not show up to service, you must lay the foundation of heart that enables God to look kindly at your village and work with you.

 

You will never be lonely when you pray alone with tears in front of God; God is with you, therefore, you will never be lonely.

 

If there is no one that is restored to their Godly position from that village after you have totally devoted yourself for more than three years, that place will go to ruin.

 

 You should have invested your invisible heart and devoted for two day before coming to service.  Do not come to service thoughtlessly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The more you offer yor devotion, the more you will shine.

 

For this reason, the greater your heart is, the more Heaven will protect and shield you.

 

If a wife thinks about her husband all day with her invisible mind and smiles with her invisible face, a light of glory will shine through.

 

Such a shining, smiling face will have such a captivative power that will draw her husband near.

 

In the future, messages will be reports instead of sermons.  Families will report about the things that have made them proud.  Then the entire family will offer worship.

 

The less successful families can follow and be guided by these families.

 

In this way, the Family Kingdom of Heaven will be built. This is the way to world peace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we do not build the Kingdom of Heaven within the family, the Kingdom of Heaven on earth cannot exist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, be meticulous in your church life.

 

Be a good example by strictly attending service at the official hours for worship - be strict in keeping your promise to God.

 

Is it possible for someone who does not keep their promise to receive grace?  A person who is blessed who did not keep their covenant with God will eventually fall away from their godly path.

 

Set a good example by attending Sunday service and the official church gatherings.

 

Husbands and wives should come together with a loving heart so that their children will follow them because they envy their parents' devotion.

 

Come to church early and prepare for Sunday service.

 

 

 

 

Church service is a time for battling Satan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How can you sleep during such a showdown?

 

If you see such a person, you should shake him awake.

 

It is love to strike him on the side just like Jesus said, "Get behind me, Satan!"

 

 

 

 

"I will not allow anyone to sleep during service.  I should lock the doors after service begins. I do not want to gather and talk to people who come late. I gather people here and talk for two or three hours in order to raise them up to a certain standard. Only then can I maintain the standard of heart that I set while praying with determination before God."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is it right for people who offer devotion to be late for service?  Such people should be ashamed so that they cannot show their faces and feel that they are the greatest sinners.

 

Such people should pledge to be on time and offer even greater devotion than others.

 

How can anyone pray, "Oh! Heaven most high!" if they do not even get to church on time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your devotion is not for others to observe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are offering devotion at church, then come to church on foot instead of car.

 

Do not just go to church and pray.  This is how you offer devotion: it is better to pray before coming and then come here to pray even more earnestly.

 

God does not randomly just visit anyone, therefore, you should at least absolutely be on time.

 

Heaven relates to those who earnestly yearn for God.

 

Time is of the utmost importance more than anything else when you come before God.  If you cannot be on time, you will fail.  Then, if you fail to connect at the right time, you will perish.

 

God demands a sanctified environment as well and the utmost pure heart.

 

But if you are not even on time, you will have to sit in the back and sing praises.  God does not want such praise.  You should keep the official time for services; then you will surely propser.

 

 

Return for Tomorrow's Post: What is the Purpose of Your Life? Cheon Seong Gyeong – Sun Myung Moon

Book Seven - Etiquette And Ceremonies
Chapter Three - Worship Service and Etiquette in Church Life
Section 2

What Truly is Good, What is Evil?

God had planned for Adam and Eve to be true sons and daughter.  Would God end His plans just because His children followed a different direction?

The first step in becoming God's trues sons and daughters, we must fully understand good and evil - from God's standpoint.

If we were to ask several people their viewpoint on a certain subject such as homosexuality and sex outside of marriage, we would get different answers of either being good or bad depending on the person's own thinking.

Q. What is goodness and what is evil?

God defines the eternal standard of what is good and what is evil.  It is not based on human definition.

His definition has existed before the time of creation, long before evil had ever entered into the Garden of Eden.

God's view of good and evil will never change. 

God is eternal, His law is eternal, and His definition is eternal and unchanging.

We commonly look upon human understanding and self-centered ideas of what is seen as evil.  Each year just through observation of what is allowed on television, we see that this standard of good and evil is continually to downgrade to be the same.

All of our human traits originate from God, therefore our human tendency for selfishness is natural because at one time, God Himself was self-centered before He created humanity.

This fact may be surprising, but you must know that before humanity came into being, He was all alone with no one to care for but Himself.  Isn't this correct?

However, as soon as creation was initiated, God's concept of life emerged.  Now, God lives for His counterpart, not for Himself.



Q. What is creation? 

Creation means nothing more than the Creator, God, projecting Himself into a substantial form.

God incarnates directly in man and woman.  Thus, when God takes form, this is creation.  He invested one hundred percent of Himself in the creation including His energy, idea and love.

The biblical account of creation sounds simple and easy such as turning on a light switch.

God says, "Let there be Light" -  poof the world comes into being, " Let there be man" and poof, Adam and Eve come into existence.

But we now know that creation was God's total labor, His total effort of giving all of Himself putting His entire heart and soul into the creation of His object.

Only in this way could He create His 'second self', into the visible form or God.

Through His investment of 100 percent, His object would mature and return to Him many, many times the fruits of His love, life and ideal.

His object, man and woman, is everything to God. 

His object's life attracts Him.  He wants to go and dwell with His object on earth.  Think of an artist who works at random without any feeling to her work.  She would not be able to create anything worthwhile.
In order to create the masterpiece of a lifetime, she would have to put in all of her heart and soul into her creation.  Isn't that what the most remembered artwork in society has ever been?

In that way, her art becomes her life.

God is the greatest of all artists. 

When He created His masterpiece, man and woman, He poured His heart into the process. He poured His soul into it. He poured all of His wisdom and all of His effort into it. God wished only to exist for Adam and Eve and all humankind. He saved not a single ounce of effort when He created them. Thus, humanity has become the life of God.

God set the pattern for the universe to follow: living for other where the subject exists for the object and the object exists for the subject.

God's definition of goodness is - total giving, total service and absolute, pure unselfishness.

Even God follows this principle.

He lives for human beings and we live for God.  The husband lives for the wife and the wife lives for the husband.

This definition is far from the mainstream of society of 'every man for themselves' or 'only the strong survive'.  In such a household, there are no egos pushing people into divorce.

God's ideal society was that man and woman would live for one another and the parents and children would live for one another.

It is in such a place that unity, harmony, and prosperity abound.

I want you to know that love is the most holy and supreme impulse. 

If you can lay down your life for the sake of your spouse, you are the greatest lover.

Adam and Eve were to learn the lesson of love through observing nature.  If you study the holiest people, saints and sages in history, you will see that they have always been intimate with nature.

Our home must be one full of love for the family and for nature.  All the creatures, including the insects, will want to become a part of your "love orchestra."  You will have plants, animals, flowers and insects dwelling together in love.

The universe welcomes those men and women who consider love the supreme value.

Is this wrong to state that love is almighty and greater than life itself?

The English language has not developed adjectives large enough to describe love.

Love is absolute, unchanging, beautiful, sweet; yet none of these words can truly encompass love.

You were not born for your own sake but for the sake of others. As long as your terminology is "we" and "us" the universe supports you, but as soon as you think in terms of "I" and "me" the universe will turn against you.


Eventually you will be expelled from this universe. Can you complain against this rule?


This is the beauty of marriage - it pushes people to think of themselves always in the context of another person.  Whether it is their spouse or children.  Likewise the family requires us to think in terms of 'we'.

Would men be disturbed if I said that they were created for a woman?  Many of them would be proud of their masculinity and would not want to hear this, but this is the principle of God's creation.

Man lives his life for this partner, not for himself.

Even a beauty queens attributes are not for her own gratification, it is for the delight of men.  God created us to live for each other.

This is the basis for human relationships in society.

Parents exist for their children, and children exist for their parents. Then both parents and children, when they give unselfishly, become united in a circular motion.

Therefore, all of God's creation is based on a pattern of circular movement, since He created for eternity. Even our faces are round, although there is one central vertical line. Our eyeballs are round, and there are upper and lower lips which make up a round mouth. The sun is round, the moon, the earth, and all heavenly bodies are round.

They are each rotating on their own axes and revolving around the others. Everything in this universe has complementary give and take action between subject and object. Give and take action occurs between artery and vein, and thus blood circulates through the body.

Therefore, the opposite must not be GOOD but evil.  To live for oneself, to harm others and so forth.

Human sickness is the state where the balance of give and take action is broken, and normal circulating motion is stopped.

Without having this give and take action between subject and object, without abiding by this principle, nothing endures for eternity.

Each individual is a tiny being compared with the size of the universe. However, each individual feels the need to link him or herself with the whole universe.

This is the beginning of understanding how it is possible to have world peace.

All existence that is based upon God's principle of harmonious give and take is a good existence.

Q. Then, what is evil? 

Evil is the creation of selfishness in the world.  An individual is evil who takes his or her own direction to indulge only themselves.  The more the person moves, the more destruction they bring to the universe.

If there were enough people to follow that way, everything would be destroyed.  Isn't that what is happening in such a society today?

Such a 'freedom-loving' attitude ruins the whole world.

God's principle of unselfish giving, which is good, was twisted into an ungodly principle of selfish taking. The ungodly position of desiring to be served rather than to serve was thereby established.

Where did such ideals come from if God didn't create it in the beginning?

The source and creator of evil is Satan. 

He was in the position to serve God, but instead he posed as another god and subjugated man and woman for his own benefit. God is the absolute positive force in the universe.

Then Satan posed as another positive force. Two positives naturally repel each other. Satan is a fallen archangel.

He left his position as faithful servant to God and God's children, and he challenged and competed with God. His motivation was selfishness. Out of his selfishness comes the origin of evil and sin.

What happened is this: Eve fell from her position as God's first daughter, becoming the first victim of Satan and transforming herself into a creature of selfishness.

Together Eve and Satan then successfully brought Adam into their selfish world. They committed sin through an illicit, unchaste love relationship. And what was the love relationship between them like?

Everything should begin from God. Then it goes to Adam and Eve, and then to the Archangel. But things went in a reverse way: first the Archangel, then Eve and Adam.  This is the corruption we see in society.

That means that the Archangel seduced Eve, the Master's intended wife.

After that shame Eve wanted to justify her sin, and she tempted Adam by having Adam commit the same sin. All of them defied God.  We know that God is an absolute being only in the ways which are good.

But God cannot cut them off and tread down upon them. God was the Master and Creator of all those people and things; thus, the sin was committed within His family. So it was natural for God to grieve over what took place.

He was in shame, too. In your own family, if you commit sins, or if your mother commits a sin, would your father be honored or put to shame?

Then how grieved would God have been having that kind of son and daughter and that kind of a servant?

He was remorseful, grieved and angered. In light of all this we can say that God is a grieving God and an ashamed God.

The foundation for the evil history of the human race was laid, and Satan was established as the ruler of this world. We must understand clearly what Satan did. Satan stole and destroyed the very element that God was seeking to perfect with man and woman: His love.

The loving relationship between God and His children was ripped apart.

Selfishness came into being at the beginning of human history, and now our world is rampant with killing, lying, and stealing.

All of these actions in the evil world are motivated by selfishness.

Evil subjugates others for its own benefit, while good sacrifices itself for the benefit of others. 

God has been trying to restore His original world of goodness and abolish evil.

We need a savior in this kingdom of hell where evil reigns and destroys goodness.
The United States is far away from this position.

The individual and individualism are good attributes to have, but America and Westerners put too much stress on these two things.

As a result, they have lost their nation, their people, their family, their parents, and even themselves. They are like hawks and blow where the wind blows.

God's ultimate purpose is not the salvation of any particular individual, church, or nation. God's purpose is to save the whole world.

People of the world are dying and desperately suffering. If they are your brothers and sisters then you have to reach them and cry out for them.

True Christians must be willing to sacrifice their own lives for the salvation of the world and all humankind.

Can we find such a nation on this earth? There is no such nation sacrificing itself.

Therefore, religion must sacrifice itself. Religion must sacrifice itself for a nation, and that nation must sacrifice itself for the sake of the world. And the world must sacrifice itself for the sake of God.

That way God's ideal of one world can be reached. If this religion is in America, then it must sacrifice all that it has to save America.

That religion should not fight to multiply its churches but should work to save the nation, sacrificing its own churches.

If it works with such spirit, then that nation will come to that religion and eventually unite with it. And when this religion unites with its nation, they must go forward to save the whole world, sacrificing themselves.

Therefore, without sacrifice, God's will cannot be realized.




Return for Tomorrow's Post: Meet God at Time of Worship

Will Jesus Return in the Flesh?

In light of those things, do you think the Messiah should come in the flesh or just in spirit?





In the ideal world we are going to build, we will be liberated from sin both on the physical and spiritual levels, under the actual guidance of God as our parent.



The Lord must come again in the flesh to accomplish his mission of saving the physical world.

The fall began by one physical man and woman on earth and can only be rectified through man on earth.

If he comes on the clouds of Heaven, spiritually, he cannot accomplish his mission of restoring the whole world both on the spiritual and physical levels. The problem is the sin and corruption of this world, and not of heaven.



 Q. How will the Lord come at the Second Advent?

We can see through the parallels of history repeating itself that Christianity is in the same position as the elders, scribes and priests at the time of Jesus.

At that time, the people were waiting for the return of Elijah in the sky.

Why did they hold onto this kind of belief?

They were simply following the Bible prophecy written down in Daniel 7:13:

"I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him."


Because of the great prophet Daniel, the people of Israel had every reason to expect the arrival of the Messiah to return on clouds of heaven. Christians are expecting the arrival of the Lord in the same way today, in a majestic show on the clouds.

Many people were denying Jesus as this Messiah because he was in the flesh - to them an ordinary man.

John condemened these people as the anti-christ in II John 7 "...many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the decevier and the anti-christ."

How, then will Jesus in our day and age if Elijah returned through the works of Jesus?  Still today the Jewish people wait for such an arrival and deem this second coming as the first coming of Elijah.

Unless we know the whole truth, we like the people of Jesus' time may fall victim of the words of the Bible by taking them in the literal sense.

In Jesus' time, the people were waiting for the return of Elijah upon the clouds and could not accept Jesus as the Son of God.  They would say that he had a mother and father, Joseph and Mary, how could he be the Son of God?

The disciples and the faithful of Israel argued this point all of the time.

Those who believed in the letter of the Old Testament and not the spirit would miss the Messiah.


Q: Then how will the Lord appear in the last days?

Believe it or not, we are in the exact same parallel to that of the time of Jesus Christ.  If we become slaves to the letter of the New Testament, we will commit the same crime that the elders, scribes and Pharisees committed 2,000 years ago.

What would you do if the Lord did return in the flesh?  If one told you that the Son of Man already returned with flesh and bones?  You would say I was a heretic.

It does not matter how one looks at the world, a man's views, or what one thinks, what matters is how God looks at the world.

The Bible states two prophecies: arrival of the Lord on the clouds and another that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

What do you do with these two prophecies?


If the Lord comes on the clouds, then he surely can't appear like a thief  unseen in the world.  There would be a lot of attention around his arrival on the clouds and could not be hidden from anyone's eyes.




When you see the signs of the Last Days, the Bible urges you to go into a dark room and pray. Who can tell you the time of the Last Days?

The angels do not know that day. Jesus said not even the Son of man knew when that day would arrive. Only God knows the time of the Last Days.

"That is why we have our answer from God. I am not saying you must believe me. I am just revealing what I know to be the truth, but you must verify this truth with God."

Christians simply believe in the words of the Bible and that Jesus will return on the clouds and only true Christians will be lifted in the air.


That is horrendous, empty, hollow. Religion is not out there, up in the stratosphere.

I am testifying that the Lord cannot appear in that kind of supernatural fashion. Jesus Christ could not return that way because the work of God is to be done here on earth.

The mission of the Messiah is a physical, realistic one. As a man he must come up from the bottom of human misery just as Jesus had done.



He must come to the most miserable nation and lift the human status from the slave position, to the servant position, to the adopted child position and to the direct child position by physically putting together the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. That is the mission of the Messiah.

Do not rely on anyone's answer.

In the Last Days, the Bible says, do not just believe anybody. Do not believe me, and do not believe someone just because of his or her official status in church or society.

Famous leaders will not necessarily give you the guidance God would want for you. Heaven is so near, and you can be lifted up by the spirit so high, that you can speak with God and receive the answer directly from Him if you are earnest enough.

 Jesus said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." (Matt. 11:15) And he said to his disciples, "But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear." (Matt. 13:16) He was not referring to physical sense organs.

When you use your spiritual senses and listen for the Word of God, you will find His direction and guidance. But it is not easy to become a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven.

It is very difficult for a foreigner to go through the process to become a citizen of the United States.

How much more difficult it is to remove ourselves from our corrupt life and transfer ourselves into the Kingdom of Heaven. But we can achieve this very thing.

We know that even after Adam and Eve fell in the garden of Eden, they still were able to communicate directly with God.
The only way we might miss that day is if we look for the Lord to come from one direction, and he appears from another direction in an entirely unexpected manner, just as Elijah did at the time of Jesus.

This is the reason you may not see the Lord at the time of his second coming.

Another mysterious prediction was given by Jesus Christ himself He declared about the Lord at the second coming: "But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation." (Luke 17:25) If Christ at his Second Coming appears in the glory of the clouds of heaven, who would deny him?

Nobody would cause him suffering and pain. The only way this prophecy can be fulfilled is if people expect his return from the clouds and he suddenly appears as a humble man in the flesh.

Do you think that Christian leaders of today would make the same mistake that the priests and scribes and elders committed at the time of Jesus? Yes! They may very well deny him and reject him, because the manner of his coming would be very difficult for Christian leaders to accept. However, in this way the Bible will be fulfilled. He will first suffer and be rejected by this generation.

Jesus once asked a most important question: "When the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8)

Although we do have faith today, it may be mistaken faith based on a belief which expects the Lord must come on the clouds of heaven.

There are few men or women on earth with the kind of faith ready to accept the Son of Man appearing in the flesh.

If this were not the situation, the Bible prophecy we are discussing here would not be fulfilled. Please note that Jesus did not say there would be no believers, but he said there would be no FAITH.

Jesus also said: "Not every one who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them. 'I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.' " (Matt. 7:21-23)
This prophecy cannot be realized if his second coming is on the clouds of heaven.

At the time of the second advent, people again will be crying out, "Lord, Lord." At the same time they may be in the process of trying to crucify the Messiah if he appears in a manner different from their expectations. They will then be the worst evildoers.

This is the Bible. Those who truly have eyes will see Those who truly have ears will hear. Throughout history God has sent His prophets before the time of fulfillment. He warns the people of His plan. No matter how devout Christian faith is today, no matter how many millions of people are in the Christian churches, they and their churches and their world will decline once they fail to accept the Lord, however he may appear.

This was the tragic fate of Israel and the Roman Empire when they denied Jesus Christ, regardless of their righteousness otherwise.

We must therefore also be open to a new message. Jesus Christ did not come to repeat the Mosaic Law.

Just as Jesus revealed himself with the new expression of truth, the Lord at the second advent will reveal himself with God's truth for our time.

That truth will not be simply a repetition of the New Testament.

I hope that you consider these ideas seriously, and pray to God. He will answer you.



Return for Tomorrow's post: What Truly is Good, What is Evil?


This post was rewritten and derived from the text, Jesus and the Second Coming God's Warning to the World -message from prison

Jesus Forgave Without Shedding His Blood

We hear often about the blood Christ without truly understanding the significance.  On day of Communion, many people of faith take in the drink of wine and bread as Jesus did with his disciples at the final supper to indicate the drinking of his blood and bread.  How much of a controversy this would have caused to many believers then.

What is the importance of Jesus' blood and why is it so misunderstood by many?

Many Christians place salvation exclusively from the blood of Jesus. This is a mistake in the sight of God.

Even before Jesus shed his blood, he already forgave others for their sins and transgressions.

Therefore, it was not necessary for Jesus to die shedding his blood to bring about salvation - it was an alternative route from God's original plan.

The Bible records the account of the prostitute who was about to be stoned.  Jesus told anyone who felt they were without sin to throw the stone at her.  In everyone's hearts, they knew they could not condemn her and they drifted away in shame.  Then Jesus spoke to the woman who was accused and told her that no one condemned her and he would not condemn her either and not to sin no more.

What does this mean scripture truly mean? By his own words Jesus offered forgiveness.

Therefore, to bring about salvation to the earth, it was not necessary for Jesus to die before completing his mission.  Jesus didn't give anyone a raincheck to come back for his forgiveness after his death.

 

 

Jesus could open the way to salvation to everyone by the Word of God.

 

God's plan of salvation does not require bloodshed by necessity.

Q. What does salvation mean?

Salvation means that living men, women and families on earth will enjoy the garden of Eden as God had intended from the beginning.

We need to realize the love that Jesus brought to this earth - not the alienation, bloodshed and his death.  His love and forgiveness should be told more often than his end.

Death came when human beings departed from God when they misused the love of God.

After the first parents fell away from God, human physical bodies remained alive.  Resurrection means to accept the word of God and to become the possessor of God's love.

What if Jesus was to appear on earth for the first time right now or on television?

Would you like to have spiritual salvation only through him being murdered and shedding his blood or would you want to have Jesus bringing about salvation with his should and body raising an exemplary Godly family to which to follow?

 

You have to reach the point where you are one with Jesus in flesh and blood.

That's why he set up the condition of the sacrament: Christians must feel they are actually eating Jesus' flesh and blood.

They should actually feel Jesus' life and love more than just eating a piece of bread.  Then they should also feel they are drinking his blood.

Salvation will not come about until that moment. 

This was Jesus' method to bring humankind out of Satan's world into God's uniting the believer through this real sense experience.

This means that Satan is cut off and humanity is engrafted to Jesus and we can feel this oneness.

There is a further vision for Christianity: people go through total salvation on the spiritual AND physical level.  What does this mean?  Jesus' body was attacked and lost by Satan, but he must return again to bring about salvation of our physical body leaving it un-attacked by Satan.  In other words, Satan attacks our body through diseases, mental illnesses and accidents. 

This is the prophecy which will be fulfilled at the time of the Lord of the Second Advent.

If this is hard to grasp, please ask seriously in your prayers guidance on these matters. Ask either Jesus Christ or God himself.

If Jesus had lived and fulfilled his primary mission of bringing the Kingdom of God on earth, Christianity would never have been what it is today.

The purpose of Jesus' coming was for the salvation of the world. The chosen people were to be God's instruments. However, salvation was not intended only for God's chosen people.

For every soul upon the face of the earth, Jesus is the savior.

He is the savior of all humankind.

Should the Messiah come to the Christian world alone, or to the whole world? What God, together with the Christians, must do is cover the whole world both on the spiritual and physical levels.



Return for Tomorrow's Post:


This post was rewritten and derived from the text, Jesus and the Second Coming God's Warning to the World -message from prison

You Are Spy for Heavenly Kingdom

You should think that you are servants of love for the heavenly kingdom. As you walk this path of faith, think of yourself as an intelligence spy to build the heavenly kingdom. Think of yourself as a servant o love, a secret fighter of love. After you have set your mind in this way, is there anything you could not accomplish?  If you live with such determination to do even more for the sake of saving your nation, clan, then your hometown will naturally surrender to you. In order to live in this way, a true original root and a true original bud which are based on true love are needed. Buds like you and me will not do. We must shed blood, sweat and tears for God's will.  Is this way going to be easy? You must practice a love that is greater than the one known by countless people who have lived on earth. For the sake of God, the earth and your hometown, you should love in this way.  Only after loving in this way, will the original proper root grow within your soul. You can be endowed with the right of inheritance and right of equal position because I have granted you the title of being true children. You should have faith in this fact and invest everything into the realm of love. If you invest your life just as God has invested, then your clan will be resurrected.  Then as your clan is being resurrected, one nation will be resurrected. I have done such things in order to stand in the position of the ancestor to all humanity, but you should realize the fact that each of you should walk the same path as well, in order to pass on the tradition to your tribe and become a tribal ancestor. Set a tradition for the sake of your tribe and for your clan. Those who can only think about their own individual self will be excluded from here. When you go to your hometown, you should go there with true love. If you bring and plant true love in your hometown and practice I, you will become true ancestors. You will become the first generation of true ancestors. If you are a Johnson, then your generation will be engrafted to the heavenly kingdom with the family named Johnson.  Then your father would be in he position of your son and thus each will fall in order.   Plant the Root of Love in Your Hometown           Up until now, you have lived anyway you have pleased. Things are serious now in these Last Days. You are responsible for whether you will end up losers or winners. That responsibility does not lie with me, but with you. Will you return to your hometown with the title of loser or with the victory of a winner? Which one is it? Of course, you should advance to your hometown based on he victorious foundation of God and the Messiah. Your hometown represents the world condensed.  It is a reflection of the Messiah's family, therefore, you should think of God's and True Family's history of indemnity as you work to fulfill your responsibility.  You should welcome the people who come to you there in your hometown with tears. When someone comes to visit you, you should have such a heart that you can talk with them all night without getting tired. We were like the Israelites who lived in Egypt for 400 years walking the path of indemnity.  We should love God, our parents, and our brothers and sisters. We should cut off the source of Satan who is working on the global level and accuses our actions in front of God to keep us under his dominion.  Because the Israelites fell into faithlessness and failed to overcome satanic influence, they were not able to build the ideal Kingdom of Heaven once they reached Canaan. They were instructed by heaven to keep their heavenly standard and foundation they achieved.  Instead they were absorbed by the lifestyle of the locals as they had lived in the desert for 40 years. Because of this, do not expect anything from the satanic world. Because we follow God's will, we are the best.  Even if we have to carry around our bags, even if we get cursed at and dogs bark at us, we are the best. We should participate to digest the problems and circumstances of the whole village with a shout of love and boldly march forward.   I hope you remember this as you fight onwards.   You should be able to proclaim in your hometown that it is God's gift to you when you glance upon the mountains and rivers. When you look at grandfather trees older than you, pebbles in the river and the fields, you should be able to speak to nature as an old friend. This is love. You have to learn how to love people and to love nature.  You should love all of creation because Adam and Eve were not able to do so as the first parents. This is the restoration. You should return to your hometown and love nature. Love everything there from he insects in the grass to the rivers and trees. When you have finished loving nature, then love the people there next. If you are able to attain this position, then love people on that foundation.  Love the people after all things have been restored. When we love the people there, we begin with the most miserable people. Start firs with he children, then up to the middle-aged people.    Among the poor people in the world there are many people of conscience. Although people avoid those in a dissatisfactory position in life, our church's families should love the poorest people in the world. Although the poor are living in the devil's world, there will be some among them who have lived a faithful live and can inherit heavenly fortune. You should return to your hometown and become people who can be the seeds. This seed should be planted and create an environment which heaven and earth can visit.  It should be a place which God would want to visit at any time. If you go to spirit world after building such a foundation on earth, you will surely be loved as sons and daughters of the heavenly kingdom. You should set such a course of love from now on. Return for Tomorrow's Post: Jesus Forgave Without Shedding Blood  This post was rewritten and derived from the textbook Cheon Seong Gyeong, Book Thirteen, Chapter 5, Section 3,4

 

What Makes One a Messiah?

If a non-believer was to ask you this question, would you be able to answer it clear enough without a lot of relgious jargon?  How about giving a satisfactory answer to why humanity needs a Messiah from your heart?  How do you answer such a question?

What is a Messiah's purpose?

There are several Messiahs by definition for each religious sect.  A person who comes to save for that specific realm of belief, correct?

Why do we need a Messiah?  To bring us bakc to the point connecting to God's love.

In short, a Messiah is connected to God at a higher level and connects us directly to God's love.

Humanity who has inherited satanic blood needs to go back to that point.

 

 

The blood lineage of fallen people is disconnected from God's love.

We must indemnify this fallen blood and return to God's pure blood such as Jesus.

The original sin of lust or love outside of God must be removed from humanity completely.  But how do we go through the process of removing the fallen blood?

We cannot do it on our own. Even though we try to bring peace to the earth, we need a Messiah to connect us to God in order to begin that process.

The Messiah makes conditions where humanity can go back to God.

Therefore, since this has been God's strategy throughout the ages, He set up champions from the eivl world.

To understand God's process of bringing the world back to its original position, we must look in history from God's point of view.

Let's start with the first family that God created.

This family consisted of a man Abel, who served God as His first champion after the first parents fell away from God.

Abel was the first man to give up his life for God's purpose.  He had to reject and separate himself from Satan in order to go back to the bosom God by fighting and defeating Satan.

He had to be different from his fallen brother as the first position to receive God's love.




There are three stages are the important formula: the one who is willing to save the world must fight against Satan and win the victory over him; then he or she must come into the love of God; and then, feeling the heart of God and fallen people, he or she must be willing to sacrifice him or herself in place of the fallen people. Only on that condition can the fallen people be taken back.




When Cain's offering was denied by God, Abel should have come into the love of God and through feeling and experiencing God's grief and his brother's grief he should have sacrificed himself in Cain's place.

This sacrifice was not supposed to happen through the shedding of his blood through death, but as a living sacrifice so that God could work through him.

Instead, Abel was arrogant and not compassionate toward Cain who represented the fallen, satanic blood lineage and was thus killed by his brother.

God then worked through His champion Noah who accomplished a very unusual mission. 

God directed Noah to go to the top of a mountain and build a boat.  This is awkward even in our day.  Common sense would say to build a ship near the water in a shipyard.   Who could in our day and age accept this mission or obey such a command without having any doubt?

Even in Noah's time no one could believe that this kind of command came from God. 

Still, Noah went up and down that mountain working on his boat.

To think of it more on a human terms, Noah's wife must have packed his lunch everyday and struggled with how she and her family appeared to everyone.

But God works in such 'odd' ways for a reason --- because of evil.

 

 

 

God cannot dwell together with evil.

The direction of God is 180 degrees contrary to the direction of evil.

God abhors evil!

He does not accept the things that the evil world accepts and does not want to have anything to do with the evil world or anything that is tainted by evil.

Even we do not even want to look at our enemy; God also does not want to have nothing to do with the evil, satanic world.  Therefore, when he gives commands to his champion, He chooses ways that seem incomprehensible to humans.

God test our faith and cannot do so by doing so in a comfortable way to His people.  Therefore, it is important that we are willing to comply with God's extraordinary instructions when He asks.f

This is an easy task.

People of faith see Noah's actions as glorious, but in his time, they thought he was a crazy man for building an ark away from water.  Nobody could see that he was the central position in God's providence - a messiah of his time.

Let's take a moment with Abraham.

He did not come from a religious house, but from one who made idols for a living.  He had to separate himself from his evil surrounding and leave his homeland in order to be God's champion.  That was God's command.

If Abraham discussed his descion to follow God's direction, as an idolmaker, he would have thought his son was crazy.

God instructed him to journey away from his homeland. This was a lonely journey.  He had to wander like a gypsy and give up everything.






The champions of God have one characteristic in common: They begin their missions by denial of themselves and their surroundings.





Always we find that their life in this world was lonely because they suffered many, many things and. were persecuted by this world. When they had nobody to convey their thoughts and feelings to, they could go only to God and talk to Him.

Also, when we look at their lives in the world, their material lives-they were so narrowed down, received so few material things; naturally, they turned their hearts and lives toward God. When we think of how they were living in this world, their scope of consciousness was so narrowed down that they had to cognize everything centered on God. That was their life.

They naturally had the task to live centered on the oneness of God in every area - recreation with other, knowledge and cognition.  They plunged deeply in their relationship with God and relied purely on Him.

They did not have anyone on earth to rely on.  The reality of this fallen world was seen as narrow to them where they needed to build an opening for God by relying on heaven.

 

Even if a narrow detour must be taken to God we as God's champion, are not supposed to be depressed.

There is a way out.

We should not be discontented.  All things were created for the purpose of happiness and satisfaction and contentment.

From this narrow point where the evil world and God meet is the new relationship between God and ourselves begin to open.

For example, St. Francis emphasized pure poverty, a nothingness in which he could find happiness, appreciation, contentment, and satisfaction. From that point on, God could move and let him feel happiness and joy.

True oneness with God was created from that point.  We have to realize that we are fallen people with the blood of satan pumping through us. We stand on the center of two lines between the evil world and God's side.

 

We have to know when to narrow down, so we will know when the new era of happiness and joy will begin.

Let's examine this line throught the life of Jesus Christ himself.


The Bible has scanty details of his life. It doesn't even say he went to elementary school.  He was a laborer, an assistant carpenter.


Reverend Sun Myung Moon speaks on this fact:

"There is so much to know, so many hidden truths within the Bible which are not written explicitly. If I revealed some of those secrets I am sure you would be amazed. Even though I know these things, I could not tell you those stories lightly.

For you then would ask, "How do you know such things?"

I learned them from Jesus. Yes, and I learned from God. Remember, at the time of Noah nobody could believe Noah. At the time of Abraham, nobody could believe Abraham. By the same token, even though I will honestly tell you what actually happened at the time of Jesus, no one will easily believe me.

 

Who is the Messiah?

The Messiah is completely united with the heart of God, like a direct import to earth from heaven. When God sent Jesus to be the Messiah, did He just take him as a baby and place Him on earth, or did He at least have to utilize the body of a woman for him to be born?

We must think on a human point of reality when we look at Jesus.  He was born of Mary.  Since she was a human, she was born of parents.

She must have been a descendant of the fallen lineage so how could she have a child with the blood of God pumping through him?

Q. How do we know Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God?

When we look in other religions and do a comparison, we see that Mohammed, Confucius and Buddha had many more followers than Jesus did in his time. So what makes Jesus so special?

Jesus is the Son of God because he came from the heavenly lineage whereas the above founders did not.

Based on the foundation of Jacob and Esau successfully fulfilling the indemnity condition of Cain and Abel's mistake God prepared another step to be able to bring about a Godly lineage to protect His childre from the womb.

This providence was sealed within the next three generations of Jacob's descendants. It is recorded in Genesis chapter 38.

Adam and Eve fell through fornication, and Tamar was one example of how God frequently used women of most unusual character in restoration.

Judah was the fourth son of Jacob, and Judah's first son married a woman whose name was Tamar. According to the Law, if a son died without leaving sons, his brother must act as a husband to the dead brother's wife so that the dead brother's lineage would be continued. Tamar did not have children when her husband died, and when the next brother refused to fulfill his responsibility, he also died.

Tamar saw that through the third brother as well, she had no hope to bear children.

She knew that her mission was to continue the family of her husband and Judah, his father, and she finally decided to sacrifice even her honor in order to fulfill. Disguising herself as a prostitute, Tamar enticed her father-in-law to have a relationship with her. Without knowing she was his daughter-in-law Judah consented. At that time adultery was punished by death. In order to save her life for the sake of her child, Tamar asked Judah for his signet and staff as a pledge for payment, and then confiscated them.

Three months later when it became obvious that the widow Tamar was pregnant, she was brought before Judah to be judged. You can imagine Judah's horror, "Bring her out, and let her be burned!" But she answered, "By the man to who these belong, I am with child," and she brought out the things that Judah had given her in his pledge.

 Why would God use adulterous women in the dispensation?


God selected His champions from the most miserable situations. Tamar was a righteous woman, and though she was placed in a sinful position, she completely dedicated herself to God's mission, risking her life, honor, and prestige. Paralleling the way Eve lied to God and her husband-to-be in the process of the fall, Tamar deceived her father-in-law and her husband-to-be, Judah's third son.

She reversed the position of Eve by reversing Eve's actions, and the significant thing is that she risked her life in doing it, just as Eve did in falling at the cost of her life. Thus, God could have a claim on Tamar's womb-on the very life emerging in that womb.

Tamar conceived twins, and the struggle of Cain and Abel began within her very womb.

The Bible records how Rebecca's twins also struggled within their mother's womb. Rebecca prayed to God to understand what was happening, and the Lord answered her, saying, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born to you, shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger." Ultimately Jacob did gain the birthright from his elder brother, Esau.
When the time came for Tamar's children to be delivered, the struggle ensued directly within her womb. The first child started to come out and the midwife tied a red thread around his wrist. That sign foreshadowed the emergence of communism in the last days.

Esau was also named "Edom," which means "red." (Gen. 25:30) However, before the first child could be born there was a struggle, and the younger brother pulled the other back inside the womb and was himself born first. That son was named Perez, and the other named Zerah.

The result of this struggle is that for the first time the restoration of Cain and Abel took place inside the mother's womb, the younger brother having subjugated his elder brother even prior to birth. Tamar's extraordinary action cleansed Judah's lineage and rendered it intact from satanic invasion from the time of conception.

Through this victory at the time of Tamar and also Jacob's earlier victory, God could claim a foundation that spanned the entire human life-span. Jesus was born in the lineage of Judah, and Satan had no way to invade his life in the womb because the cleansing process was already completed.

Jesus came years after the dispensation of Jacob and Tamar because God had to wait for Israel's national foundation to be established. The conditions were fulfilled on the family level at the time of Jacob, Tamar and Judah, but God needed to create a foundation to receive the Messiah within a nation, that he might be received on the national and international levels as easily as possible.






Return for Tomorrow's Post: You Are Spy For Heavenly Kingdom




This post was rewritten from the text, God's Providence in Scriptures - God's Warning to the World message from prison