Ep 859 - The Blessing And Eternal Life Part 14
The Blessing and Eternal Life - March 3, 2023
Key Points
In the spiritual world all that remains from our life on earth is the results of true love.
We are born in true love from our first parents, grow and live in true love nurtured by our second parents, the earth, receive the seeds of true love, life and lineage from True Parents to resemble our original parent, God, and return to our third parent, physical death.
Fallen habits, particularly those of false love, are difficult to change and are our worst enemy.
To overcome bad habits we must overcome the desires of the physical body, be stimulated by the word, live with our heart and gratitude, be willing to explore new environments, and look beyond the fallen environment.
We can change habits over periods based on the number three – 3 days, 3 months, 3 years.
In order to get rid of the fallen nature, we must be aware of how terrible it is and how difficult it is to change it. We must overcome it with countless tears, a life-and-death struggle, and a heart that earnestly holds onto God and yearns to become one with Him.
The fall is giving up eternal happiness for momentary satisfaction.
True love is overcoming momentary gratification for the sake of eternity.
At the Cheon Il Guk Sunday worship services we should report what made us feel moved, blessed, and thankful while living with God for a week.
If we always create grace in our daily lives, long for Sunday service with “peace, hope and joy” in our hearts and arrive early, then heaven will set a “new standard” every time we worship.
We should attend Sunday service, not out of a sense of duty, obligation or responsibility, but with joy, excitement and longing for God, True Parents, members, spiritual children and Abel.
We should live longing more for God’s word than for food in order to realize true love and become God’s children.
To overcome our self-indulgent desires, we need continual education and relentless effort to correct our mistakes and grow in true love.
Transcripts from November 3, 2021 to the present, personal notes from November 11, 2020 until November 2, 2021 and slides from August 29, 2021 to the present are available at MD.Hoondok.com as PDF files.♦
Kayo Peterson really touched my heart. We need to love our brothers and sisters in such a way, truly loving each other. In the spiritual world all that remains is the results of true love, nothing else, no money, no property, nothing else. This kind of exemplary life style, how great it is! I really appreciate Kayo’s beautiful testimony.
Yesterday at our breakfast food ministry Rev. Barry Geller, Rev Alan Tamelessio, Tony Vozza, and Nathaniel Nitro attended. Since I came to America, True Father has spiritually guided me a few times. “Please, you need to love each American member on my behalf. You need to be crazy to love each brother and sister. They are so precious!”
I am really struggling. I want to love each one of them. You know my ministry is a “personal touch ministry” and a “food ministry.” I am really a big(?) guy. However, I am really determined to invite some people to join me at my breakfast table. I already started two days ago.
Yesterday I had a beautiful short meeting, a maximum of 30 or 40 minutes. At least we shared one meal together, greeted each other and got to know each other. I am so grateful that Heavenly Parent and True Parents gave me this kind of opportunity.
I am working based on our Clifton Church. After that I will invite some other brothers and sisters.
Today I’d like to talk about “The Blessing and Eternal Life” from True Mother’s Anthology, Book 2.
<This speech was given by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon between February 23 and April 16 at True Family Values Movement hoondok rallies for the study of True Parents' words in Japan and the United States.>
Our spirit is our internal self. At the proper time we simply will shed the physical body. Our physical body may feel that it does not want to retire, yet with the coming of old age, it eventually surrenders its life. On the other hand, our spiritual body, like a chestnut in autumn, becomes more solid and more handsome as it becomes our physical body's successor. We need to love the things of the material world, which includes our physical body and the food that nourishes it. We love what is close to us before loving God directly. By loving all things, we absorb the essence of the creation. By doing so, we love and nourish the physical body. Our first parents, of course, are 1r physical parents, and your second parent is the earth. From the earth we receive essential elements the body needs in order to grow. In this way our earth is our second parent.
After being nurtured and cared for by our second parent, we prepare to meet our third parent. There is a process through which we pass in order to realize this. That process is our physical death. We do not meet our third parent free of charge. To be able to return to our third parent, we need to resemble our original Parent, God. Why then do we get married? Very simply, we marry in order to resemble God. God exists as a being of dual characteristics. In God, the dual characteristics are completely harmonized as one. When God's dual characteristics manifest in our world, they do so as man and woman. Accordingly, at the proper time, a man and a woman are like a seed. They unite to become one. Thus, husband and wife return to God. Together, we are a reflection of God's original nature. We need marriage because it is the way to develop true love. In marriage, we ripen as a seed of God. Our entire life is to center upon true love. We are supposed to be born in true love; we are designed to grow in true love, live centered on true love, and return to true love when we die. The way of true love is living for the sake of others. This is the purpose of a holy marriage. If we take any other path, we are taking the wrong direction for eternal life.
The marriage Blessing and eternal life stem from God working through True Parents' love. Through our union with the True Parents, we can fulfill God’s original hope for the individual, the family, the nation, the world and the entire cosmos. Through True Parents we can find our original homeland, the starting place for the kingdom of God on earth and in heaven. With this foundation in place, we can welcome an era in which God is our sovereign. The society that does so will never perish. It will continuously prosper and reach its fullest strength. I sincerely ask that you contemplate deeply about the meaning of this message. If you practice it, you will find the way to receive God's abundant blessing and eternal life. May God truly bless you. Thank you very much.
Our first parents are the parents who gave birth to us, but our second parent is the Earth. By loving all things, we absorb the elements of all things and come to love our own body. So we must love the food we eat, love material things, love all things, and love our body.
After being nurtured and cared for by our second parent, we prepare to meet our third parent which is our physical death. To be able to return to our third parent, we need to resemble our original parent, God. Therefore, we marry in order to resemble God.
Without marrying, how can we resemble God? Why do we marry? We marry in order to resemble God. We want to become gods.
That is why man and woman come together, resemble God, inherit God’s true love. Without marriage it is impossible to resemble God. That is why marriage is really holy. Without marriage we will never know the taste of true love, (and) we will never understand God’s Four Great Realms of Heart.
However, in order to connect with God's seed, we must marry, which is the way of true love. So we must be born in true love; we must grow in true love, live centered on true love, and return to true love when we die.
I always admire True Father’s guidance. He is really the savior and messiah. He has found this beautiful truth, the purpose of our life. We must be born in true love, grow in true love, live centered on true love and return to true love when we die. It is very clear what our purpose of life is: to become a true man, resemble Heavenly Parent and inherit Heavenly Parent’s love and heart.
Therefore, all fallen people must receive the blessing through the True Parents who bring the seeds of true love, true life and true lineage. Marriage blessings and eternal life begin with true parents.
How fortunate and blessed we are to have met True Parents! We have received the Blessing which is salvation. How powerful that is!
If we go to the spiritual world without receiving the blessing even though we are husband and wife, we will never stay together. All are separated. What is the best way for them to stay together? Only through the marriage blessing. When we do ancestor blessing ceremonies with the husband in hell and wife in paradise, because of the blessing, they come together after five years, or 500 years or 1,000 years. How powerful the marriage blessing and ancestor liberation is! After 500 or 600 years the husband and wife can get together because of the ancestor Blessing and they cry and cry. You do not know, but Father knows how incredible it is! Who can save our ancestors? No one (else). We are the ones who need to save them. That is why we need to do our Tribal Messiahship. We are their savior on behalf of True Parents. The tribal messiah’s authority is very powerful. We can give the blessing to our ancestors.
LIVING DIVINE PRINCIPLE: The Human Fall 24: The Primary Characteristics of the Fallen Nature
• The primary characteristics of the fallen nature can be divided broadly into four types:
1. The first is failing to take God's standpoint. A principal cause of the Archangel's fall was his failure to love Adam with the same heart and perspective as God; instead he felt jealous of Adam. This led him to tempt Eve.
2. The second is leaving one's proper position. Lucifer desired to enjoy the same position of love in the human world as he had in the angelic world. This unrighteous desire caused him to leave his position and fall.
3. The third is reversing dominion. The angel, who was supposed to come under the dominion of human beings, instead dominated Eve. Then Eve, who was supposed to come under the dominion of Adam, dominated him instead.
4. The fourth is multiplying the criminal act. The Archangel spread his sin to Eve, and Eve to Adam.
Let’s study Father’s word.
Habits of Fallen Nature are Difficult to Change
<172-192, 1988.1.21> Changing one's perception or understanding is a frightening and difficult task. Once acquired, a bad habit is difficult to change. This is why we have the adage, "Habits formed as a toddler continue until old age." Although you may have been in the Unification Church for decades, you have not rooted out your secular habits. You may say the words, "Sacrifice for the providence; sacrifice," but have you really sacrificed? If given the choice between a comfortable path and a path of trials and tribulations, can you confidently say you would go the path of sacrifice? No. This disposition toward taking the easy way out is the result of secular habits transmitted historically. Even St. Paul exclaimed, "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" (Rom. 7:24) This wretchedness is also a result of habits accumulated over a lifetime. St. Paul lamented, "Wretched man that I am!" because he saw within himself two laws at war with each other. His inner being delighted in God's law but his body followed Satan's desires. He thus added, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
Habits Formed Over a Lifetime Must be Eliminated, Even if You Must Try Until You Die
<183-18, 1988.10.29> Habits formed over a lifetime cannot be eliminated, even though you try until you die. Thus it is logical to say that habits and fallen nature that have been passed down over millions of years cannot be rooted out with efforts made over a few centuries. This is a serious issue. You speak vaguely about fallen nature, but this fallen nature was not inherited through something being eaten. Fallen nature has been inherited through flesh and bone; it has been passed down through lineage. These habits have been mixed with flesh and blood. Fallen nature has taken root and cannot be removed with human energy. It has grown into a gigantic tree gathering up all the people of the world.
Fix Your Bad Habits
1. Due to the Fall, human beings acquired habits of fallen nature.
2. Among the habits of fallen nature, the most fearsome habit is the habit of false love. (Fornication, drugs, alcohol, gambling, tobacco, obscenity/masturbation, evil Internet, etc.)
How can we get out of such habits? Especially young people, masturbation (is difficult). Once we have a smoking habit, it is not easy to get out. Gambling. My children love gambling. They try to control it but it is not easy. Drugs. Can you imagine how many people die because of drugs? Fornication! Fallen habits are not easy to change.
3. General habits are difficult to change.
I am not talking about fornication or drugs.
a. Koreans eating kimchi (“I cannot survive without kimchee”), Japanese eating miso soup, etc.
b. Westerners eating cheese.
Without cheese, how do we survive?
4. Healthy habits are good. (hoondok, prayer, exercise, habits of giving, etc)
Such habits are really good.
The problem is that ...
5. Habits centered on fallen nature are the worst enemy.
So How do we Break Away From Bad Habits?
1. It takes at least 3 years to change a habit.
2. Everything settles down centered on the number 3. Therefore, set a goal by focusing on number 3 and having good habits (try 3 days first, when we overcome, try 3 months, 7 months, 21 months, 36 months, etc.)
Keep going centered on good habits. Try to break away from bad habits. Try for 3 years. After 3 years it can become a very good habit and we can keep it until we die.
> Having good habits and breaking bad habits
3. In order to avoid habituation, one must overcome the desires of the physical body.
4. We must always be stimulated by the Word and take control of our physical body. Rather than relying on the physical body, live with our heart and things that move us. If we live habitually, there is no emotion, heart and gratitude.
In order to maintain a good habit, we need to be stimulated by God’s word all the time. Without studying God’s word and only relying on our physical body and on our own power, we will (give up) on the way. Definitely. That is why we need to be stimulated by God’s word all the time.
Also, by living for the sake of others all the time we can receive more inspiration. Without God’s word we cannot keep our first motivation.
And prayer, we need to have desperate prayer. Then we can maintain our good habits.
Without prayer, God’s word, ongoing effort, even though we may be determined to do something, (we) fallen (people) give up. Definitely. This is fallen man.
5. To break the habit, we must always love a challenge. go out on the trail and explore a new environment. If we do not take risks centering on our will, we will never progress.
In order to change bad habits, we need to have a challenging spirit, not compromising with reality. Challenging and overcoming. As long as we are alive, we can challenge, we can overcome, then reach another dimension and challenge and overcome. A life of faith is challenges. If we do not have challenges, we will never grow up. (Our behavior) easily becomes habitual.
6. In order to break out of the habit, we must live looking up at the heaven, not focusing on the earth and the fallen reality.
When we fallen reality, we are easily influenced by it and the environment. That is why we need to think about heaven, about God’s word. This is the way we can break away from bad habits.
We Need to be Aware of the Bitter Sorrow of the Fall
<254-38, 1994.2.1> We need to be aware of our fallen nature and the bitter sorrow of the Fall. Think about Adam and Eve crying after being chased from Eden. Remember this, and let us cleave earnestly to our Parent, yearning to be one with Him, with the determination to go forward -- even if we have to spend tens of thousands of years crossing over the peaks of death. If we are unable to achieve mind-body unity, we will have no relationship with the foundation of God's victory, even as that foundation spreads across the earth.
In order to get rid of the fallen nature, we must be aware of how terrible it is and how difficult it is to change it. Think of Adam and Eve who were expelled from the Garden of Eden because of their fallen nature.
Think of how much all the spirits until now and the people living on earth are suffering because of Adam and Eve. The apostle St. Paul, who was so great, lamented over his fallen nature.
St. Paul lamented, "Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" because he saw within himself two laws at war with each other. His inner being delighted in God's law but his body followed Satan's desires. He thus added, "Who will rescue me from this body of death?"
Everybody is struggling, fighting between mind and body. ...
Then how will we overcome this fallen nature and move on? Fallen human beings must earnestly hold on to God and make a desperate struggle to become one with God.
“Heavenly Father, without your help, this is impossible for me to overcome. I need your help. Please give me strength to overcome this fallen nature. I truly want to be your filial sons and daughters. I can’t do it alone.”
Fallen beings must earnestly hold on to God and make a desperate struggle to become one with God.```````````````````````````````Q
Even if they have to face a thousand years of death, they must overcome it with the heart that earnestly holds onto God and wants to become one with Him.
The fall is giving up eternal happiness for momentary satisfaction. True love is overcoming momentary gratification for the sake of eternity. If Adam and Eve were still alive on this earth and there was a way for them to recover, they would pay any indemnity, even death.
Therefore, in order to overcome the fallen nature, we need to shed unimaginable tears and have a strong determination to happily go over any path of death.
TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: Keep Your Own Spiritual Standards when Attending Worship Services
1. Since we have a body, we must take good care of it. And, since we have a heart, we must always have peace, hope, and joy within it. When your body and mind are happy and united like this, you become healthy. The health of the body and the health of the mind cannot be separated. When the mind is healthy, the body is also healthy. However, many fallen people are sick. If our hearts have an attitude of peace, happiness, and hope, Heaven sets a new standard every time we worship. However, if a person does not value the service time and comes late, that person cannot function as a human being. So, you should arrive earlier than the service time and attend it with a longing heart. Everything that is not prepared will just flow. Worship without preparation can never receive God's grace. So, before coming to the service, you must wait and attend them with a longing heart. Even if you prepare your heart in advance, the question is whether or not you will be moved by the Word. How can you receive grace if you do not prepare properly and attend the service late? And how sorry must God feel when He sees people like this?
The Sunday worship services in the Cheon Il Guk era should be a time to report what made us feel moved, blessed, and thankful while living with God for a week. Therefore, worship in the era of Cheon Il Guk should be a time for God to receive grace through us rather than a time for us to receive grace from God.
Those who create grace in their daily lives look forward to Sunday and long for it. Such people are always healthy in body and spirit, and they always have peace, hope, and joy in their hearts.
If our hearts have an attitude of peace, happiness, and hope, Heaven sets a new standard every time we worship.
However, if a person does not value the service time and comes late, that person cannot function as a human being. Look at those who are late to worship. Most of them are not proud of their lives during that week and have no grace.
If we didn't have a good week, we should prepare our mind better and try to arrive earlier than the service time and attend the service with a longing heart.
Everything that is not prepared will just flow away. Worship without preparation can never receive God's grace. So, before coming to the service, we must wait and attend with a longing heart.
Even if we prepare our heart in advance, the question is whether or not we will be moved by the Word. How can we receive grace if we do not prepare properly and attend the service late?
With What Heart Should we Attend Service?
2. Do you come because you want to attend a worship service? Or do you come to attend the service out of a sense of duty? Do you come because you feel that if you do not attend worship services, you cannot fulfill your responsibility in front of Heaven? Worship is not something you attend because you feel that you must go. Worship comes because you long for it. You must attend while thinking that there is nothing more valuable than worship in your life of faith. It shouldn't be a worship service where you attend to show your face in front of the pastor. These days, some seminaries check attendance because participants don't attend services well. Students who do not attend will not receive credit.
Do you check attendance when you eat in the school cafeteria? In the school cafeteria, everyone comes and eats even if they do not check for attendance. All classrooms and worship rooms have a roll book, but only the cafeteria does not have a roll book. Is the cafeteria more important? Or is the class more important? Since everything is not voluntary, they are forced to participate through attendance check. Everyone, did you go and eat at the cafeteria for attendance check? No one went to eat because of the attendance check. However, because of the attendance check, it becomes mandatory to attend class. If you do not study, do not attend worship services, do not have a prepared mind, or do not have a willing mind, it will not help you grow.
Do we come because we want to attend a worship service? Or do we come to attend the service out of a sense of duty? Do we come because we feel that if we do not attend worship services, we cannot fulfill our responsibility in front of Heaven?
What kind of attitude do we have?
Worship is not something we attend because we feel that we must go. Worship comes because we long for it. Worship must come because we miss God, we miss True Parents, we miss our church members, we miss our spiritual children, and we miss Abel whom we respect.
Worship should be like a reunion with God and church members we haven't seen in a week. We must attend while thinking that there is nothing more valuable than worship in our life of faith. Just like a person attending a wedding, we must attend with joy, excitement, and longing.
Do we miss the time to eat more? Or do we miss time to worship more? When we answer this, we will immediately know whether we are a person of food or a person of the Word.
If we do not study, do not attend worship services, do not have a prepared mind, or do not have a willing mind, it will not help us to grow.
Fallen People Need Education
3. Is worship less important than the cafeteria? Worship is more important than the cafeteria. We all know that worship is more important than eating. We are not people who live to eat. We must set the goal of becoming God's sons and daughters so that our lives can go in the right direction. This is common sense. However, fallen humans only want to indulge themselves. What do we do about this? Fallen humans need education. Even if it is ten million times, we must advise, encourage, and warn them so that they can walk on the right path. Just as our conscience constantly warns us if we do something wrong, we must constantly educate and invest in educating people. There is no such thing as giving up in the world of true love. You can't just look at mistakes and stand by.
Our goal in life is to become sons and daughters of God and realize true love. In order to do that, we must become people who live because of love and longing.
When we become a person who longs for food more than worship and the Word, our spirit is still in the formation stage. People who long for food more than worship and the word are people with a very low spiritual level.
People who long to eat more than anything else will never be able to grow their spirit self to the life level, the growth stage.
Those who are dominated by food can never do great things and cannot become God's people. We are not people who live to eat.
However, fallen human beings are always dominated by food, self-indulgent, horizontal, and always controlled by the physical body. So, fallen humans need education. Even if it is ten million times, advise, encourage, and warn them so that they can walk on the right path.
Just as our conscience constantly warns us if we do something wrong, we must constantly educate and invest in educating people. There is no such thing as giving up in the world of true love. We can't just look at mistakes and stand by.
Today I spoke about keeping our own spiritual standard when attending worship.
(Testimony Sabine Kouassi, Witnessing at the Airport, Michigan)♦
NOTE: This text and the PowerPoint slides from this speech are available as a link at the top of this text. Transcripts from November 3, 2021 to the present, personal notes from November 11, 2020 until November 2, 2021 and slides from August 29, 2021 to the present are available at MD.Hoondok.com as PDF files. Books of the transcripts and notes are available as PDFs at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.
This lightly edited transcript may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable, inaudible or uncertain words and guesses are tagged with a “(?)” and indecipherable phrases, with an ellipsis “...”. First, second and third person pronouns have been left as spoken if the meaning is clear, and other apparently Korean English expressions have been preserved if understandable. Some repeated phrases have been eliminated.
Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com. Notes or transcripts of Dr. Yong’s Morning Devotion speeches from November 11, 2020 through March 29, 2022 are available as six paperback books at cost at Lulu.com/Shop -- search for Dr. Chung Sik Yong -- and as PDF downloads free of charge at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.♦