Ep 389 - Torrential Rain, Tears Of Joy Part 1
Torrential Rain, Tears of Joy #24
Thank you, brothers and sisters, for your prayers and jeongseong for me. Many people are worried about my health issue concerning the CoronaVirus. I am still OK. Don’t worry a lot. I am still OK. Thank you for your concern and prayer.
Today I would like to speak from True Mother’s memoir under the title “Torrential Rain, Tears of Joy.”
<Mother of Peace, Page 336-338> In Africa, rain is considered a blessing.
The rain during today’s Blessing Ceremony was Heaven’s tears of joy.
Torrential rains are common in South Africa. However, no one expected the rains to coincide with my entire stay in Johannesburg in December 2019. It rained for hours and days on end. Prior to my arrival, the thought had already come to me that the African Continental Blessing Ceremony will be unusually challenging. That thought turned out to have been prescient.
For years, we had planned to host a Continental Summit and Blessing Ceremony in South Africa. Unfortunately, Family Federation South Africa’s foundation was not at a level where a Summit and Blessing could be co-hosted with the South African government.
Finally, in 2018 we forged ties with the South African people and government when we co-hosted the celebration of Nelson Mandela’s centenary in Mvezo, as well as the 2018 Cape Town Summit and Blessing. On that foundation, and energized by the ongoing initiatives of Prophet Radebe and other major religious leaders, we were ready to hold a continental-level Summit and Blessing. (omitted)
The day before the Blessing, Prophet Radebe had told me that neither wind nor rain would deter the people from attending the Blessing. On the eve of the Blessing Ceremony, as the news of bus cancellations poured in like the rain, Prophet Radebe and his team went into emergency mode and somehow procured 500 more buses. The Prophet worked so hard, running here and there to fulfill what he knew was the people’s great wish to attend the Blessing. As the day of the continental Blessing Ceremony arrived, the people acted on that great wish. Beginning at 5:00 a.m, couples entered the stadium. Long lines formed with everyone waiting patiently. When they entered, participants headed for the third floor, which provided shelter from rain.
Despite all this, a festive mood filled the venue. People danced and sang in gratitude for the historical Blessing they knew they would be receiving from God’s only begotten Daughter. The atmosphere was like a festival. Their dedication was further on display when, at Prophet Radebe’s request, participants on the third level made their way to the ground level and onto the field. Even with raincoats and umbrellas, most were soaked to the skin. Nevertheless, nothing could dampen their spirits. Once seated, the participants often rose to dance, sing or applaud. The commitment Prophet Radebe and the members of the Revelation Church of God showed was remarkable.
When I arrived at the stadium, I could see brides and grooms in their tuxedos and wedding dresses, waiting for the Blessing. Seeing me, a thunderous roar and loud shouts of “Mother Moon! Mother Moon!” and applause followed. I felt that the clouds were releasing showers of joy and blessing.
More drama ensued when, as I was about to leave the green room and enter the elevator, the electricity went out. Incredibly, even though the music stopped, the participants continued singing and cheering! Foregoing the elevator, I walked down three stories, determined not to let challenges, large or small, derail the Blessing Festival. When I arrived near the entrance tunnel, Prophet Radebe was waiting with a big, bright smile on his face. I was very pleased to see him and said, “Let’s do our best today!”
In Africa rain means blessing. But I think about how nervous and sad it must have been for the organizers of the event. Since I have also prayed for (? organized?) a rally countless times. I cannot help but be very nervous until the rally is over, no matter what rally I am doing. True Mother and African leaders and brothers and sisters don’t know how lucky they were to successfully finish the Blessing Festival Rally despite bad weather conditions. Wow! Mother is patient and embracing and digested everything. Our Mother is really, really great!
Today I would like to share about ….
2019 Africa Continental Summit and HyoJeong Family
Blessing Festival Benediction Prayer
(Johannesburg, South Africa, December 7, 2019)
Most noble and precious Heavenly Parent!
Until this day came, You had looked for and waited for your lost sons and daughters in tremendous sadness and pain over a long period of 6,000 years. Your ideal for the Creation begins centered on a man and woman who fulfill their responsibilities. Hence, You could not abandon fallen humankind. You conducted the providence of salvation and sent many prophets and righteous people to educate humankind. Two thousand years ago, You were finally able to send Jesus Christ, the Messiah who could realize Your dream. And yet, the people’s ignorance resulted in them not accepting Your Will.
As a result, Jesus ultimately went the way of the cross. He promised to return and conduct the marriage supper of the Lamb. This is because Your providence can come to completion only through the emergence of the True Parents, as the first human ancestors, to complete Your ideal of creation.
Since You are all-knowing and almighty, You created human beings to be eternal. Fallen people have longed for Your only begotten Son and only begotten Daughter, whom You can call Your son and daughter, to be born, and have offered devotions, while enduring war, conflict, suppression, and indescribable pain, to see the day they can meet You, Heavenly Parent.
Africa, in particular, has seen been a continent of much pain to You, with its history of tremendous oppression, violation of human rights, and extreme suffering, and as “the last” continent in the Atlantic Civilization Realm.
Mother said, “Africa, in particular, has seen been a continent of much pain to You, with its history of tremendous oppression, violation of human rights, and extreme suffering, and as ‘the last’ continent in the Atlantic Civilization Realm.” That is why Mother pays so much attention to the African providence. So when the African continent is truly liberated, that liberates God’s heart. That liberates all mankind. That is why True Mother started seriously from the African providence and gradually extended it (that providence) to Europe, Asia and the entire world. I really admire Mother’s approach to focus on the African continental providence first.
Today is almost the last (part of) the Introduction.
Living Divine Principle: Introduction 7 - New Truth and God’s Revelation
♦ This ultimate life-giving truth, however, cannot be discovered through an exhaustive investigation of scriptures or scholarly texts; nor can it be invented by any human intellect. As is written in the Book of Revelation, "You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.“ (Rev. 10:11) This truth must appear as a revelation from God.
♦ God has sent one person to this earth to resolve the fundamental problems of human life and the universe. His name is Sun Myung Moon.
♦ He fought alone against millions of devils, both in the spiritual and physical worlds, and triumphed over them all.
♦ Through intimate spiritual communion with God
♦ And by meeting with Jesus and many saints in Paradise, he brought to light all the secrets of Heaven.
Based upon this EDP content, let’s study Father’s word. Today’s content clearly spoke about how, in order to discover God’s eternal truth, True Father went through all kinds of trials and sufferings. So, let’s study Father’s words.
What Does the Lord of the Second Advent Have to Do?
<100-18> “What does the Lord of the Second Advent have to do? He has to conquer Satan and the spirit world. There are religious people who brag in front of the whole world about what they become but no one knows about the contents of how to resolve the fallen world. Simply offering devotion and waiting for the time of the Second Advent will not do. The Second Advent must conquer Satan and the spirit world. He must gain victory over Satan, then gain victory over the spirit world. Then after entering the spirit world and gaining victory there, He must pass through the lowest road and make Christianity, if it is the highest mainstream religion, surrender.”
You Are the Victor Over Satan and the Spirit World
<100-18> “What that means is that they have to inherit everything. When passing through this course and receiving the seal of victory over heaven and earth, God will say, ‘You are the victor over Satan and the spirit world’. Then the course to fulfill it on the earth will begin. This is the work which remains to be done. What kind of person is the Second Advent? He is the person who brings Satan’s demons into submission, who fights one on one and gains victory over thousands of spirits, lords and leaders. Centering on God’s personality and true love, he has to gain victory by convincing every religion and the whole universe.”
Wow! It is really incredible what kind of course our True Father had to go through in order to win over Satan and the spiritual world.
What Does the Lord of the Second Advent Have to Do?
This is very important.
1. First, he must defeat (win over) Satan.
Can you imagine how much suffering and trials and indemnity Father had to go through? Without defeating Satan, how could he restore human beings and all things? Satan is the one who is ruling the secular world. He is the king of the secular world. That is why without winning his heart, without winning over Satan, there is no way to restore human beings and all things.
2. Next, he has to win over the spirits.
There are so many spirits in the spiritual world. He needed to win over every kind of spirit. There are all kinds of saints and sages and righteous people, evil people, all kinds of people. He had to fight and win over (all) the spirits.
3. He must enter the spirit realm, fight and win over the vulgar, and by raising that level, if Christianity is the most mainstream religion, the work should be done to subjugate even Christianity.
He needed to start from the bottom from a vulgar level and gradually, gradually (move to) a higher-level religion. And if Christianity is the highest religion, no matter what, Father needed to fight and subjugate Christianity.
4. He must fight each level of the spirit world to win and inherit everything from them. You must win the final battle with Satan through eight vertical and eight horizontal stages.
Not just the individual level. From the individual level to the family level, from the family level to the tribal level, from the tribal level to the ethnic level, from the ethnic level to the national level, from national level to the worldwide level, from the worldwide level to the cosmic level, from the cosmic level to God’s level. This is the horizontal eight stages. Father needed to fight and win over each stage. He had to win over them. Otherwise he would not have been able to become the Lord of the Second Advent.
Also, vertically he needed to start from the bottom. In the beginning he could not fight Satan directly because Satan ruled the entire world. Father needed to go down and start from the bottom of the bottom. What is the level of the bottom of the bottom? That is the servant of servants: from the servant of servants to the servant level, from the servant level to the adopted son level, from the adopted son level to the stepson level, from the stepson level to the real son level and mother’s level and father’s level and finally God’s level. Wow! This is an incredible life course. How could our Father have gone through the vertical eight stages and the horizontal eight stages? Don’t think simply Rev. Moon is one of the human beings, Hak Ja Han Moon is just one of the normal human beings. We cannot think that way when we know their background, how they overcame, how they fought with Satan and all kinds of spirits and finally won over them.
5. He must be able to receive the public recognition that he has won in heaven and earth through this battle process.
That is why Father said he met all the sages, not just Jesus, Mohammed and Buddha, but all the top sages. Based on some kind of theory he had some kind of give and take based on their limited thought. According to their own theory, Father needed to have give and take with them and finally convince them of His eternal truth.
6. If that happens, God will give the recognition saying “You are the victor over Satan and the spirit world!”
Finally Father fought and fought and won over and conquered the last stage and won over Satan.
And finally he needed to get proof, public recognition from Heavenly Parent. Father said his greatest challenge even after he had won over Satan (was that) God was supposed to say to Father, “You won over everything. You won over everything.” God did not give that kind of permission immediately. The final trial, according to Father’s words, was that God denied True Father’s truth, what he discovered. Then what did Father do? He logically, heartistically, intellectually convinced Heavenly Father. God is a God of the Principle. He completely surrendered to True Father because he is a God of Principle. Even Heavenly Father needed to approve. That was really incredible: in front of Satan (Lucifer), in front of all saints, in front of all of the spiritual world, Heavenly Father officially proclaimed, “Hey, Father Moon, you are the victor over Satan and the spiritual world!” Wow! This is Heavenly Father’s seal or proof. No one can accuse him by theory, by heart, anything. This is really incredible, our True Father’s victory.
7. After this course, the course on Earth starts.
First he had to win over the spiritual world, then he needed to come down to the earth and begin God’s substantial providence on Earth.
What Kind of Person Is the Second Advent?
1. He is the person who brings Satan’s demons into submission, who fights one on one with and gains victory over thousands of spirits, lords and leaders.
2. Centering on God’s character and true love, he has to gain victory by convincing every religion and the whole universe.
3. Without going through this process, no matter how much you claim to be the Messiah, it is meaningless unless God, Satan, and all spirits of the spirit world acknowledge you.
Anyone can say, “I am the messiah.” Anyone can say, “I am the second Jesus.” But would they receive that kind of recognition from God or Jesus? From Jesus? From Mohammed? From the saints? Everybody can say, “I am the second advent,” but the important thing is recognition. Did you receive heaven’s seal? Yes or no? It is not a simple job to become the second advent. Even though True Father came as the second advent, he needed to go through all this process. That is the messiah’s portion of responsibility. Without discovering new truth, new liberation from heaven, how can he restore human beings?
4. Therefore, the position of True Parents is a position that has been publicly recognized by God and Satan, the enemy among God's enemies.
Tomorrow I would like to share the last section about God’s liberation. It is a very interesting story that I would like to share tomorrow.
Today’s Youth Ministry: The Meaning of the Separation of the Offerings
1. Just as Noah had a responsibility to separate Satan through the flood judgment, everyone has a responsibility to separate from Satan.
Not just central figures; each human being. Your basic responsibility is what? How to separate from Satan. This is your portion of responsibility. That is why at the formation stage, which is the foundation of faith, you need to separate good and evil.
2.The responsibility of fallen man is to separate. If I cannot separate good and evil, God cannot deal with me because I am in a position where I am dealing with two masters. Human beings must sanctify (separate) to become God’s object partner.
This is a very important point. According to the Divine Principle when you set up good conditions, only then can God intervene. When you set up evil conditions, then Satan can intervene. However, if you mix together and serve two ownerships, Satan and God, then God cannot do anything because God is a God of absolute goodness. He cannot deal with any evil. Even one percent or 0.1%. He cannot deal with any evil because God’s nature only has absolute goodness. How can God intervene in your life of faith? Simple! Completely separate from Satan. Then God can intervene with you and have give and take with you.
Many people say they are suffering, “I am going through this kind of hardship. Why can’t Heavenly Father intervene? Maybe he does not exist? Is God really my parent?” Many people complain, but you need to know that (because of) God’s nature and God’s absolute principle, he can only deal (with me) when I set up a good condition. Not only a good condition, an absolutely good condition, then God can come down and intervene. There is no other way. As long as you worship two owners, Satan and God, God cannot do anything.
Why can I not feel God? Because there is no clear separation between God and Satan. As much as I kick out my fallen nature, that much I can feel God. Why can’t I feel God? Because there is no clear separation yet. That is the point. We need to know God’s nature. God’s nature is what? Absolute goodness. He cannot deal with even 1% evil. That is why when I clearly separate between good and evil, that is the condition for God to take my offering. That is why the offering means absolute purity. Absolute purity. How can I deal with God? My portion of responsibility is to separate from evil, separate from Satan. Many people say, “Wow! I cannot feel God.” Then I am asking you, how much do you separate from evil, from Satan? We need to understand the Divine Principle very clearly.
3. The reason humans need to separate is to ensure the decision of ownership. This is because possession is decided only by separating what belongs to God or to Satan.
4. The purpose of separating myself is to belong to God. Originally, I should have belonged to God, but because of the Fall of our human ancestors, we must separate from Satan.
5. The reason we separate and sanctify sacrifices is to maintain our relationship with God. No matter how much we have established a relationship with God and True Parents, if we do not separate ourselves and lead a sanctified life, that relationship will be broken.
Even though I have received the Blessing, even though I am a blessed family, even though I am a member of the Unification Church, even though I love God and I love True Parents, if I do not separate my evil mind from my original mind, if I do not know how to separate good and evil, then my relationship with True Parents becomes distant, my relationship with God becomes distant. Very important. That is why we always need to separate from the spirit.
When we open the window, wind comes in. (Similarly) when we wake up, evil mind comes. All kinds of strange thinking comes to us, invades us. So we need to separate from the spirit, from thinking.
When you accept evil thinking, evil desires, any kind of fornication thinking, when such thinking comes to your heart and mind, it is already too late. That is why we need to separate from where? We need to separate from thinking, from thinking. If you do not know how to separate from thinking, then it is already too late.
That is why the beginning point is what? Thinking. When evil thinking comes, you immediately need to separate, immediately need to sanctify. You need to kick out that kind of evil spirit. You need to lament about yourself: “How come I can be like this? My mind is supposed to be a temple of God. I have to be a holy man and a holy woman. Why is this kind of thinking coming?” You need to separate from your thinking and you need to deny(?) your physical self. You need to immediately kick out that kind of evil thinking and evil mindset. That is separation. If you do not know how to separate evil from good, God cannot get along with you. Your relationship with God becomes more distant.
6. Abraham could not separate, so his relationship with God was cut off. And just as Moses’ relationship with God was cut off since he could not separate and he struck the rock twice, in order to maintain a relationship with God, separation is necessary.
Before offering the three sacrifices, Abraham’s heart was unclear. How can we know? Because we know through the results: he did not cut the doves. If his mindset had been very, very clear, then surely he would have cut up the doves. That was the problem. Not his physical action. Before his physical action, he did not clearly separate in his spirit what is good and what is evil. Just as Moses' relationship with God was cut off because he could not separate (good from evil and) struck the rock twice. In order to maintain a relationship with God, separation is necessary. That is why a strong foundation of faith begins with separation. Separation is necessary. Our life of faith is separation: how to separate good from evil. (This is an) important life process.(?)
What is the meaning of separating the offering? I want to belong to God. I want to be God’s son or daughter. I really want to be a filial son or daughter. If I have two minds, an evil mind and an original mind, always compromising, sometimes going to the evil mind, sometimes going to the original mind, then I worship two owners. As long as there are two owners, no one can trust me.
Because you worship two owners, you are a man of fornication. Fornication means you attend two owners. You serve two men, or you serve two women. How can one trust this kind of person? One man and one woman, one husband and one wife. How come this husband has two wives? How come this wife has two husbands? How can we trust (such a person)? That is why fallen men, everyone, are men of fornication because they attend two owners. Separation is necessary.
7. How, then, can we discern and divide good and evil? In order to avoid mistakes, you must first know where God’s Will is, and think and judge everything from God's point of view.
When you are confused, you need to think about what God’s will is, where is God’s will, what is God’s desire, what are God’s wishes, what is God’s heart, what is he asking me to do? Go back to the original point: “What is God’s will? What is he asking me to do?” If we do that, ask whether this is God’s wish or not. When evil thinking comes, ask “Is this God’s wish? Or Satan’s wish? Where is God’s will? What should I do? Centering on his point of view, what should I do?” These are fundamental questions: where is God’s will? What should I do according to his desire? According to his wish? According to his dream? What should I do? Always ask, “Where is God’s will?” This is the way to separate good and evil. Then finally we can gain the victory.
Thank you very much.
(Response to sharing) We are fallen men. We need to have ongoing education. Then we can always be reminded of God’s word. That is the only way we can protect ourselves.