And I'm Satan?

[Jim Spencer]

http://youtu.be/BUXL6J95xTw

 

In 1975, 120 Missionaries from the USA Unification Church were sent out to witness to the world, to be joined by 120 Japanese and 120 Germans.

Now, almost 40 years have passed. This web site is all but deserted. It seems that the only people that even bother to stay in touch fall into 3 classes: The hard core followers, The liberated ones, and the ones that are too afraid to leave.

Back in 1975, we had so much idealism. We were young, and we were ready to carry the message about the return of the Lord of the 2nd Advent. We did amazing things in remote countries, with little money, and little support. Through those years, we remained celibate through many temptations, and some of us even managed to establish churches, which remain today. Most of us were matched and some of us are still married to our original matched partner. (I have been together with my French bride for 33 years) The path to spiritual growth is not an easy one.

"But for you, my children, and for all others who would follow you into this kingdom, there is set a severe test. Faith alone will pass you through its portals, but you must bring forth the fruits of my Father’s spirit if you would continue to ascend in the progressive life of the divine fellowship. Verily, verily, I say to you, not every one who says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but rather he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."

 

It is my own belief that we only attain true Apostleship through personal experience. That is the war between the flesh and the spirit--between the mind and the heart. In a war, there are casulties, setbacks, outright failures and eventual succeses---if------we continue in our lives of faith. This path is not for the weak-hearted. Witness the early Christians. Each person has their own load of history to indemnify. Some produce a little fruit and some produce much fruit--according to their internal capabilities. The way is frought with obstacles. In Father's speech on Leadership, he well explained

the perilous position that leaders of the Kingdom are in, and how easy it is to fall by the wayside. No one is immune----even the members of Rev. Moon's own family. (see the attached video---it is not to judge anyone but to show the humaness of supposedly "pure" lineage)

It all comes down to the "Self"; and how well we can transcend it. Most of us start out with plenty of baggage that was heaped upon us through our family history. Add that to our God given personality type, our individual propensities, and finally, the Free Will choices we make in reaction to stimulus. "This is an explanation of Jesus statement that,

"In the course of his admonition to “Build well the foundations for the growth of a noble character of spiritual endowments,” he said: “In order to yield the fruits of the spirit, you must be born of the spirit. You must be taught by the spirit and be led by the spirit if you would live the spirit-filled life among your fellows. But do not make the mistake of the foolish carpenter who wastes valuable time squaring, measuring, and smoothing his worm-eaten and inwardly rotting timber and then, when he has thus bestowed all of his labor upon the unsound beam, must reject it as unfit to enter into the foundations of the building which he would construct to withstand the assaults of time and storm. Let every man make sure that the intellectual and moral foundations of character are such as will adequately support the superstructure of the enlarging and ennobling spiritual nature, which is thus to transform the mortal mind and then, in association with that re-created mind, is to achieve the evolvement of the soul of immortal destiny. Your spirit nature — the jointly created soul — is a living growth, but the mind and morals of the individual are the soil from which these higher manifestations of human development and divine destiny must spring. The soil of the evolving soul is human and material, but the destiny of this combined creature of mind and spirit is spiritual and divine.”

 

Further, to those that like to explore other religious concepts without fear, here is some other passages which demonstrate how the unification of religion and the understanding of universal truth occurs:

 "The teachers of the religion of Jesus should approach other religions with the recognition of the truths which are held in common (many of which come directly or indirectly from Jesus’ message) while they refrain from placing so much emphasis on the differences."

"The religion of Jesus transcends all our former concepts ofthe idea of worship in that he not only portrays his Father as the ideal of infinite reality but positively declares that this divine source of values and the eternal center of the universe is truly and personally attainable by every mortal creature who chooses to enter the kingdom of heaven on earth, thereby acknowledging the acceptance of sonship with God and brotherhood with man. That, I submit, is the highest concept of religion the world has ever known, and I pronounce that there can never be a higher one since this gospel embraces the infinity of realities, the divinity of values, and the eternity of universal attainments. Such a concept constitutes the achievement of the experience of the idealism of the supreme and the ultimate."

 

The difference between the religion of Jesus and other religions is that it was not about HIM but about God. While Jesus claimed that He represented the Father---He always pointed to His Father, not to himself.

Jesus himself, while on Earth, overcame his own Ego (instinctive animal nature) and gave himself over to the leading of the indwelling Spirit of God--as witnessed by his insistence that John the Baptist---Baptise him. John told Jesus, "You should be baptising me". but Jesus said, "no, in order for me to complete the Will of God, you must baptise me". And then, after the Baptism, where Jesus gave himself over to God, he went up on Mount Hermon, to wrestle with and defeat the forces of darkness.