Some scholars interpret this verse to mean that the tribulations in the Last Days will be so severe as to cause all believers to become faithless. Yet in the course of the providence, no tribulation, no matter how bitter, has effectively blocked the way of the faithful. How much less so in the Last Days, when faithful Christians are eager to pass through the last gate to Heaven! It is the universal nature of faith that the greater our trials and tribulations, the more zealously we seek God’s salvation.

Jesus once said:
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. 7:22-23

If a Christian is so faithful as to perform miracles in the name of the Lord, then how much more ardently would he believe in and serve the Lord when he comes on the clouds in great glory? Wouldn’t Jesus then receive him warmly? Why, then, did Jesus speak as if he would reject such faithful Christians upon his return? If the returning Christ rejects such devout believers, who in the Last Days can possibly be saved? This prophecy also cannot be fulfilled if Jesus comes on the clouds.

In Jesus’ day, there must have been many Jews whose faith was so ardent that they could perform miracles in God’s name. Yet, since they believed that Elijah himself would descend from heaven before the Messiah came, it was hard for them to accept that Elijah was present among them as John the Baptist—all the more so because of John’s denial. (John 1:21) Hence, they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and ostracized him from the community. Consequently, Jesus had to abandon them in tears. In like manner, at the Second Advent of Christ, those Christians who expect his miraculous and glorious appearance will almost certainly reject him if he comes in the flesh of humble birth. No matter how faithful they may be, the Lord will be left with no choice but to abandon them because they will have transgressed against God.

The series of prophecies concerning the Last Days in Luke, Chapter 17, cannot possibly be fulfilled if Christ returns in a supernatural manner. These verses can be explained only on the premise that Christ will return by being born on the earth.

​Present day Christians who assert that Jesus' purpose was to die on the cross for our sins are ill equipped to learn from the terrible mistake that the first chosen people made when they rejected Jesus as the long awaited Messiah. Today, even after 2,000 years the first chosen people do not accept that the Messiah has yet come. Present day Christians are thus in danger of repeating the mistake to refuse to recognize the Lord at his 2nd advent; and Jesus' warning from Matt. 7:21-23 has fallen on deaf ears.

Please remember that it took a long time for Christianity to catch on and become a world-wide influence that made powerful changes. But Christianity today has fallen victim to confusion and division and stands powerless to carry on God's providence. Time to look afresh at the 2nd advent and to realize that a fundamental rethink needs to be made.

Thank you for engaging with this.

Let's do some spring-cleaning!

​Andrew Derricutt

Of course, if no one engages, it won't matter that the logic is unassailable. But I'm ever hopeful for the Scrooge moment to happen to present day Christians. 

So, in a 5 minute bite, here goes:

God reveals well in advance all the essential matters of His Will in parables and symbols, in order that people living in any age can understand the demands of the providence for their time and for the future according to the level of their intellect and spirituality. The fact that God used parables and symbols in the Bible has inevitably resulted in many divergent interpretations. This is a major reason why the churches have become divided. In interpreting the Bible, therefore, the most important matter is to find the right perspective.

For example, consider John the Baptist. For two thousand years we read the Bible with the preconception that John completed his given mission; therefore, its passages appear to support this. But when we re-examined the Bible more closely from a different standpoint, we could clearly recognize that John the Baptist in fact did not complete his mission. 

Until today many of us have read the Bible with the preconceived notion that Jesus will come on the clouds with signs and wonders. This is based on such words of Jesus as:

They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds. —Matt. 24:30-31

If we adhere closely to a literal interpretation, the biblical evidence indeed seems to point in that direction. However, the idea that Christ will return on the clouds is totally unacceptable to the scientific mind of the modern age. We find it necessary to probe more deeply into the Bible from another standpoint to grasp the true meaning of such verses.

This new perspective is suggested by our earlier investigation of the biblical passages concerning John the Baptist. The prophet Malachi had foretold that Elijah would return before the coming of the Messiah. (Mal. 4:5) As they eagerly awaited that day, many Jews believed that Elijah, who had ascended to heaven, would come down from heaven in the same way he had ascended. Contrary to their expectation, however, Jesus boldly claimed that John the Baptist, the son of Zechariah, was Elijah. (Matt. 11:14) 

If we believe Jesus’ testimony, the return of Elijah was never meant to take place in the miraculous manner many Jewish people expected. In fact, it occurred through the birth of a child. In like manner, many Christians to the present day believe that Jesus will return on the clouds. However, what we have learned about the actual return of Elijah suggests another possibility: that Christ’s return may be fulfilled through the birth of a child, just as at the First Coming. From this new perspective, let us closely reexamine the biblical verses concerning the Second Coming.

At the First Coming of Jesus, many of the learned men of Israel thought that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem as a descendant of King David. (Matt. 2:5-6; Mic. 5:2) Yet there were undoubtedly many other Jews who expected the Messiah to come on the clouds. This belief was based on their reading of the prophecy of Daniel, “I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man,” (Dan. 7:13) and other prophecies of supernatural events in the Last Days. (e.g. Joel 2:30-31) Therefore, the Pharisees and Sadducees questioned Jesus, demanding that he show them a sign from heaven as proof that he was the Messiah. (Matt. 16:1-4; Mark 8:11-12) Without any of the supernatural signs from heaven foretold in the Bible, they could not readily accept him as the long-awaited Messiah. The belief that the Messiah should come supernaturally persisted after the death of Jesus, even among some heterodox Christians who believed that he had not come in a body of flesh. The apostle John condemned those believers as antichrists:

For 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 deceiver and the antichrist. —2 John 7

Many Christians assert that the prophecy in Daniel concerns the Second Advent of Christ. However, in the Old Testament Age, God was working to fulfill the entire purpose of the providence of restoration with the coming of Jesus, as the Bible attests: “For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John,” (Matt. 11:13) and “For Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified.” (Rom.10:4) Thus, before Jesus himself began speaking about his return, no one ever even imagined a Second Advent. It is obvious that no Jew at the time thought this verse in Daniel referred to anything other than what they believed to be the first and only coming of the Messiah.
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Contrary to the expectations of many faithful Jews who believed on biblical grounds that the Messiah would come on the clouds with signs and portents in the heavens, Jesus was born on the earth as a child in a lowly family. Hence, we should re-examine the Bible from the perspective that the Second Advent of Christ may not take place in a miraculous way. It may, in fact, take place in the same manner as the First Advent.

Thanks for engaging with this. We're living in a special time for sure. But we don't really get just how special it is. Let me know what you think.

Thanks - Andrew Derricutt

Gen15:9-13    Abraham’s symbolic offering.
[Because Abraham did not cut the dove and pigeon in two as he should have, birds of prey came down and defiled the sacrifices. As a result of his mistake, the Israelites were destined to enter Egypt and suffer hardships for four hundred years. Why was it a sin not to cut the birds in half? This question can be understood only with the help of the Principle.

Let us first investigate the reason why Abraham was instructed to cut the sacrifices in half. God’s work of salvation aims to restore the sovereignty of goodness by first dividing good from evil and then destroying evil and uplifting the good. This is the reason Adam had to be divided into Cain and Abel before the sacrifice could be made. This is the reason why in Noah’s day, God struck down evil through the flood judgment and winnowed out Noah’s family as the good. God had Abraham cut the sacrifices in two before offering them, with the intention of doing the symbolic work of dividing good from evil, which was left unaccomplished by Adam and Noah.

The sacrifices were to be divided, first, to restore the situation in Adam’s family in which Abel and Cain were divided into a representative of good and a representative of evil. Second, it was to restore the situation of having divided good from evil during the forty days of Noah’s flood. Third, it was to make the symbolic condition to separate a realm of good sovereignty out of the universe ruled by Satan. Fourth, it was to make the condition to sanctify the offering by draining out the blood of death, which had entered fallen humanity when they were bound in blood-ties to Satan.

Why was it a sin not to divide the offering? First, not dividing the offering has the significance of not dividing Abel from Cain. Without being divided, the offering could not be acceptable to God because it did not provide Him with an Abel-type object partner which He could take. Consequently, the mistakes Cain and Abel had made in their sacrifices were not restored. Second, not dividing the offering was tantamount to repeating the failure of the providence in Noah’s time, when good and evil remained undivided despite the flood. Like the failure of Noah’s family, Abraham’s failure to divide the offering also deprived God of His good object partner. Thus, it repeated the mistake which made the dispensation of the flood a failure. Third, not dividing the offering meant there was no symbolic condition to separate a realm of God’s good sovereignty out of the universe under Satan’s dominion. Fourth, because the blood of death was not drained out of it, not dividing the offering meant it could not be a sanctified offering acceptable to God. In other words, when Abraham offered the birds without first dividing them, it meant that he offered what had not been wrested from Satan’s possession. His mistake had the effect of acknowledging Satan’s claim of possession over them.

​The dove, symbolizing the formation stage, remained in Satan’s possession. Consequently, Satan also claimed the ram, symbolizing the growth stage, and the heifer, symbolizing the completion stage, both of which were to be fulfilled based upon the formation stage. Since it had the effect of handing over the entire symbolic offering to Satan, not dividing the birds constituted a sin.

Next, let us examine what is meant by the verse that birds of prey descended upon the carcasses. Since the Fall of the first human ancestors, Satan has always been stalking those with whom God worked to fulfill His Will. When Cain and Abel were making their sacrifices, Satan was couching at the door. (Gen4:7) In the story of Noah, the raven circling about signifies how Satan was looking for an opportunity to invade Noah’s family right after the flood. (Gen8:7) Similarly, when Abraham was making his symbolic offering, Satan was on the lookout for an opportunity to seize the sacrifice. He profaned it as soon as he saw that the birds were not divided. The Bible describes this by the image of birds of prey descending upon the sacrifice.

Abraham’s mistake in making the symbolic offering caused the offering to be defiled. All the conditions God intended to restore through it were lost. As a consequence, Abraham’s descendants had to suffer oppression and slavery for four hundred years in the land of Egypt. Let us investigate the reason for this.

God called upon Abraham and commanded him to make the symbolic offering at the completion of a four-hundred-year period for the separation of Satan. This period had been set up to restore through indemnity the ten generations from Adam to Noah and the forty-day period of the flood judgment, lost to Satan due to Ham’s sin. It was also the indemnity period necessary to establish Abraham as the father of faith when he completed the symbolic offering. When Abraham’s mistake in the symbolic offering allowed Satan to claim the offering as his, that four-hundred-year period was also lost to Satan. To re-create on the national level the situation before Abraham’s failure in the symbolic offering, which was itself parallel to when Noah was called upon to build the ark, God set up another four-hundred-year period for the separation of Satan. During this period, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. By enduring through this period, the Israelites were to restore — this time on the national level — the situations of Noah and Abraham at the outset of their missions as the fathers of faith, thereupon also laying the foundation for Moses to begin his mission. Hence, this period of slavery was both the time when the Israelites were being punished for Abraham’s mistake and the time when they were laying the foundation to cut off ties to Satan and commence God’s new providence.

As explained earlier, God had hoped to fulfill, all at once, the dispensations in the formation, growth and completion stages by having Abraham successfully make the symbolic offering of three types of sacrifices on one altar. Contrary to this plan, Abraham failed, repeating the mistakes of the past. Consequently, the providence centered on him was prolonged through the three generations of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.] Exp. of the Divine Principle P2 C1 S3

There is more to this as you will see. Instead of abandoning Abraham as He had done to Noah when Ham made the crucial misstep, God could still work through Abraham. It is written, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exod3:6) But the neglecting to cut the birds in two was a serious mistake that has had to be completely restored and we, the people, need to understand this to deeply realize that our God truly is good, and all the time.

A lot of Christians currently don’t appreciate the significance of the sacrifice that Abraham made that was described in Genesis 15;9-13 and, until we do, we’ll be ill equipped to deal with aspects of the 2nd Advent of Christ and our proper response toward that.

Looking forward to hearing your views on this. Thank you for reading.

Andrew Derricutt

​The ark was full of symbolic significance. Before Noah could stand in place of Adam as the second human ancestor, he first had to make an indemnity condition for the restoration of the cosmos, which had been lost to Satan due to Adam’s fall. Hence, the object for this condition, which Noah had to offer in an acceptable manner, should symbolize the new cosmos. He offered the ark as this object.

The ark was built with three decks, symbolizing the cosmos which had been created through the three stages of the growing period. The eight members of Noah’s family who entered the ark represented the eight members of Adam’s family who, having been invaded by Satan, had to be restored through indemnity. Thus, the ark symbolized the cosmos; Noah, its master, symbolized God; the members of his family symbolized humanity; and the animals brought into the ark symbolized the entire natural world.

After the ark was completed, God judged the world with the flood for forty days. What was the purpose of the flood? According to the Principle of Creation, human beings were created to serve only one master. Since humankind was under bondage to Satan, full of corruption and debauchery, for God to relate with them He would have to assume the position of a second master. That would be unprincipled. Therefore, God brought about the flood judgment, eliminating sinful humanity in order to raise up a family who would relate only with Him.

Why did God choose a forty-day period for the flood? The significance of the forty-day period should be understood in terms of the meaning of the numbers four and ten. The number ten signifies unity. It was ten generations after Adam when God called upon Noah to restore through indemnity the Will which He could not fulfill through Adam. By fulfilling a period of indemnity containing the number ten, God meant to bring the dispensation back into unity with His Will. Furthermore, since the goal of restoration is to complete the four position foundation, God worked to raise up each of these ten generations by setting up an indemnity period to restore the number four. (For the first human ancestors to construct the four position foundation in their family, Adam and Eve should have joined in loving oneness, centered upon God, as husband and wife and raised children. This would have been the fulfillment of the second blessing)  In total, the period from Adam to Noah was an indemnity period to restore the number forty. Due to the lustfulness of the people of those days, however, this indemnity period of the number forty was defiled by Satan. The dispensation of Noah’s ark was God’s new attempt to complete the four position foundation. Therefore, God set the period of the flood judgment at forty days as the indemnity period to restore the number forty, which had been defiled when the earlier period was lost to Satan. By fulfilling this numerical period of indemnity, God intended to restore the foundation of faith.
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The number forty thus became characteristic of dispensations for the separation of Satan, which are necessary for restoring the foundation of faith. There are many examples of this: Noah’s forty-day flood; the four hundred years from Noah to Abraham; the Israelites’ four hundred years of slavery in Egypt; Moses’ two forty-day fasts; the forty days of spying in Canaan; the Israelites’ forty years of wandering in the wilderness; the forty-year reigns of King Saul, King David and King Solomon; Elijah’s forty-day fast; Jonah’s prophecy that Nineveh would be destroyed in forty days; Jesus’ forty-day fast and prayer in the wilderness; and the forty-day period from Jesus’ resurrection to his ascension.
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In the Bible we read that at the end of forty days of rain, Noah sent forth from the ark a raven and a dove. (Gen8:6-7) Let us examine what future providential situations this foreshadowed, as it is written, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.” (Amos3:7) By building the ark and passing through the forty-day flood judgment, Noah fulfilled an indemnity condition for the restoration of the cosmos. 

​What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the raven, which circled about looking for a place to land until the waters subsided? It signified that Satan would be looking for a condition through which he could invade Noah’s family, just as the Archangel vied for Eve’s love soon after the creation of human beings, and just as Satan couched at the door looking for an opportunity to invade the offerings of Cain and Abel. (Gen. 4:7)

What was foreshadowed when Noah sent forth the dove three times? Although it is written in the Bible that Noah sent out the dove to see if the water had subsided, that was not its only purpose. Certainly Noah could have looked out the opening from which he set forth the dove to examine the situation for himself. The sending forth of the dove had a deeper significance connected with the mysterious Will of God. Seven days after God proclaimed the flood judgment through Noah, the flood began. (Gen. 7:10) Forty days later, the dove was first sent out. It flew about but then returned to the ark because it found no place to land, and Noah took it back inside. (Gen. 8:9) The dove, when it was sent out the first time, represented the first Adam. God created Adam with the hope that His ideal of creation, which He had cherished from before time, would be realized in Adam as the perfect incarnation of the divine ideal on earth. Due to Adam’s fall, however, God could not realize the divine ideal on earth through him. God thus had to withdraw His ideal from the earth for a time and postpone its fulfillment to a later date.

Seven days later, Noah sent forth the dove a second time. Still the water had not yet dried, and again the dove returned. This time it carried in its mouth an olive leaf, indicating that there would be a place for it to land the next time. (Gen. 8:10-11) The dove, when it was sent out the second time, symbolized Jesus, the second Adam, whose coming would be God’s second attempt to realize the perfect incarnation of the divine ideal on the earth. These verses foreshadowed that if the chosen people were to disbelieve in Jesus at his coming, then he would have “nowhere to lay his head” (Lk9:58) and thus would not be able to realize God’s complete Will on the earth. In that situation, Jesus would have to go to the cross and return to God’s bosom, leaving behind the promise of the Second Advent. The dove returned to the ark because the water had not yet dried up. By analogy, had more of the Jewish people faithfully attended Jesus, he would have found a secure place to stand among them. He would not have been crucified and would have gone on to build the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

After another seven days had passed, Noah sent out the dove for the third time. This time the dove did not return to the ark, for the ground was dry. (Gen8:12) The dove, when it was sent out the third time, symbolized Christ at the Second Advent, who is to come as the third Adam. This foreshadowed that when Christ comes again, he will surely be able to realize God’s ideal of creation, which will never again be withdrawn from the earth. 

Due to Adam’s faithlessness and failure to complete his responsibility, Jesus had to come as the 2nd Adam. Furthermore, if the Jewish people were to disbelieve in Jesus and thus fail to complete their responsibility, Christ would certainly have to come again as the 3rd Adam. Just as the creation of heaven and earth took a seven-day period, the seven-day intervals for sending forth the dove indicate to us that the restoration of heaven and earth requires certain providential periods of time.

The providence in Noah’s family teaches us about God’s conditional predestination of the fulfillment of His Will and His respect for the human portion of responsibility. God found Noah’s family after sixteen hundred years of preparation. He guided Noah for 120 years while he constructed the ark and raised up his family at the cost of sacrificing the rest of humanity in the flood. However, even though they had been His beloved in the providence of restoration, when Ham made his seemingly small mistake, allowing Satan to taint them, the entire Will centering on Noah’s family came to naught. Excerpted from Exposition of the Divine Principle P2 Ch1 S2

Jesus' time was also the 'Last Days' but didn't take because of the people's faithlessness, necessitating a 2nd Coming. And, here we now are.

                        Andrew Derricutt

[Let us now present an overview of the entire course of history since the time of Adam, as reckoned in the Bible, and survey the providential ages which comprise it. God’s providence to have fallen people establish the foundation upon which they could receive the Messiah, and thence complete the purpose of creation, began with Adam’s family. However, God’s Will was frustrated when Cain murdered Abel. Ten generations later, the unfulfilled Will was passed down to Noah’s family. God judged the evil world with the flood in order to set apart Noah’s family and conduct the providence of restoration. God intended to complete the providence by establishing the foundation for the Messiah in Noah’s family and sending the Messiah on that basis. Yet due to the fallen act of Noah’s second son, Ham, the providence for Noah’s family and the ark failed. As a consequence, the ten generations and the forty-day flood which God had set up to prepare for this providence were lost to Satan. 

After four hundred years (ten generations) had passed in order to restore through indemnity what had been lost to Heaven’s side, God’s Will was entrusted to Abraham. If Abraham had established the foundation for the Messiah on the family level exactly as God had intended, the foundation would have expanded to the national level, and thereupon the Messiah would have come. However, because Abraham failed in the symbolic offering, God’s Will was frustrated once more. Consequently, the biblical two thousand years from Adam to Abraham, during which God had sought a father of faith who could receive the Messiah, was claimed by Satan. Yet Abraham’s situation differed from that of Noah. Although Abraham failed in the symbolic offering, the family foundation for the Messiah was eventually fulfilled through the three generations of Abraham’s family: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. On that basis, God multiplied the chosen people in Egypt and expanded the foundation for the Messiah to the national level. For this reason, Abraham is called the father of faith. (Rom. 4:11-12, 16-17) If we judge the significance of the age strictly by its outcome, we can understand that the two-thousand-year period from Adam to Abraham was for the purpose of finding one father of faith who could lay the foundation to begin the providence of restoration. Thus, God’s work of restoration can be said to have begun with Abraham. 
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However, due to Abraham’s mistake in making the symbolic offering, the two thousand years from Adam to Abraham were lost to Satan. Hence, a period had to be set up in which those lost years could be restored through indemnity to God’s side; this is the significance of the two-thousand-year period from Abraham to Jesus. If Abraham had not failed in making the symbolic offering, the Messiah would have come and stood upon the national foundation for the Messiah built by Abraham’s immediate descendants, and the providence of restoration would have been completed at that time. Likewise, had the Jewish people believed in and attended Jesus, they would have supported him to stand representing the nation as the living sacrifice before God. They then would have laid the national foundation for the Messiah. Jesus, standing as the Messiah on that foundation, could then have completed the providence of restoration. 

​However, just as Abraham failed in his symbolic offering, the Jewish people failed to make their offering on the national level when their leaders sent Jesus to the cross. Thus, a period of two thousand years — this time from Abraham to Jesus — was lost yet again to Satan. As a consequence, a parallel period had to be set up in which the earlier two-thousand-year period could be restored through indemnity to God’s side. This is the significance of the two-thousand-year period from Jesus’ time until today. During this age, founded upon the cross of Jesus, Christians must establish the worldwide foundation for the Messiah.] (EotDP P2 Intro S2)

How does this overview fit with your expectations for the 2nd Advent of the Messiah? This overview makes it clear that a proper response from mankind is required for the Will of God to be completed. This is quite different from the view of absolute predestination that was proposed by Biblical scholars such as John Calvin. It also makes plain that the chosen people of 2000 years ago made a fundamental error in not accepting Jesus as Messiah and, thus, believing in and following him. Needless to say, had they done so they would not have conspired with rejecting him and having him executed.
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Understanding why God created us in His image should strongly imply that we, the people, have a part in our own perfection and this is not going to be achieved autonomously as it is for all the rest of the creation. The relationship between God and mankind is very similar to the relationship between parents and children. We, as parents, cannot force compliance from our children and, similarly, God cannot interfere, or intervene, in the portion of responsibility that belongs to mankind. Since the Fall of Man resulted in inviting satan to become the false ruler, god, of this world, then it is we, the people, (God’s children) who are tasked with inviting satan out. This is the crux of the Last Days when mankind wakes up to this realization. 

The signs of the Last Days as recorded in the Bible seem, at first sight, to suggest that everything will be accomplished by God in a very dramatic, apocalyptic, way. But these same verses can be seen in an entirely different light when the human portion of responsibility is included. Have a look at these interpretations of “Heaven and Earth destroyed, and a new Heaven and Earth created”; "Heaven and Earth judged by Fire”; “the dead rising from their tombs”; “people on earth caught up to meet the Lord in the air”; and “the sun darkened, the moon not giving light and the stars falling from heaven”. (EotDP Pt1 Ch3 S3) The difference between a world centered on the false ruler, god, (Jn12:31; 2Cor4:4) through the false parents of the Fall is very different from a world that is a family of mankind centered upon God through true parents; so the apocalyptic verses in the Bible emphasise that.

Hoping that a reappraisal can be made by Christians worldwide to connect with a 2nd Coming that will bring the plain and complete truth (Jn16:12&25) rather than for a 2nd Coming characterized by cataclysmic miracles. After all, everyone knows that Communism is the godless worldview, but a Christian God-Centered Ideological worldview is going to be needed to completely defeat that.

As ever, I'm interested to hear your thoughts. Let’s stop waiting for the ‘rapture’ and realize that we (the people) have to deal with this.

Andrew Derricutt 

[According to the Principle of Creation, (EotDP P1 C1 S6.3.2) the growth of the human spirit requires two kinds of nourishment: life elements received from God and vitality elements received through give and take action with the physical self. Spirits can neither grow nor be resurrected apart from a physical self. Consequently, the spirits of people who died before they could reach perfection during their earthly life can be resurrected only by returning to earth and completing their unaccomplished responsibility through cooperation with earthly people. By assisting people of faith living on the earth to fulfill their missions, the spirits may complete their missions at the same time. Herein lies the meaning behind the verse which foretold that in the Last Days the Lord will come “with his holy myriads.” (Jude14) We call this process returning resurrection. 

How do spirits help people on earth fulfill the Will of God? When people become receptive to spirits through prayer or other spiritual activities, the spirits descend to them to form a common base with their spirit selves and work with them. Spirits perform various works. For example, they pour spiritual fire on earthly people and give them the power to heal diseases. They help people enter states of trance and perceive the realities of the spirit world. They give people revelations and the gift of prophecy. They can also give deep inspiration to the soul. In these various works, spirits act on behalf of the Holy Spirit, guiding people on the earth to accomplish the Will of God. 

Spirits of those who kept the Mosaic Law and worshipped God sincerely while living on earth during the Old Testament Age came to abide at the form-spirit level of the spirit world. After the advent of Jesus, these spirits all returned to earth and assisted faithful people on earth to accomplish the Will of God. By thus helping the people to attain the level of life spirit, they too received the same benefit: namely, they became life spirits and entered Paradise. We call this dispensation growth-stage returning resurrection. 

Let us draw some examples from the Bible. Since Elijah appeared as a spirit before Jesus and his disciples, (Mt17:3) it is clear enough that Elijah still lived in the spirit world. Yet Jesus referred to John the Baptist, who lived on the earth, as Elijah. (Mt17:12-13) Jesus called him Elijah because in terms of their common mission, John’s body concurrently served as Elijah’s body. The spirit of Elijah descended to John the Baptist to help John fulfill the mission Elijah had left unfinished during his earthly life. This was Elijah’s returning resurrection. 
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It is recorded in the Bible that when Jesus died on the cross, many bodies of the saints rose from their tombs. (Mt27:52) This verse does not mean that these saints’ decayed bodies were regenerated, enabling them to rise up in the flesh. Rather, it describes the spiritual phenomenon of returning resurrection. The spirits of the faithful Jews descended to the earth from the form-spirit level of the spirit world where they had been living. 

They returned to help the believers on earth, who had the opportunity to benefit from the redemption by the cross, to believe in Jesus and become life spirits. In doing so, the returning spirits also became life spirits. If the saints had risen bodily from their tombs, as is literally written in the Bible, they certainly would have testified to the fact that Jesus was the Messiah. Would anyone then have dared to persist in disbelieving in Jesus? Moreover, their deeds and works would have been recorded in the Bible, yet we have nothing other than the vague report that the saints rose from their tombs. This was a fleeting spiritual phenomenon perceptible only to those believers whose spiritual senses were open.

​Compared to Paradise, which people could enter by virtue of the redemption by Jesus’ crucifixion, the region of the spirit world where the spirits of the Old Testament saints were staying was relatively dark and miserable; thus it was called a “tomb.”] Exposition of the Divine Principle Part 1, Chapter 5, Section 2

We (the people) are spiritual beings with a physical body. A main purpose of this physical body is a means to perfect our spiritual self which is eternal and which does not have the limitations of the physical body. Losing this physical body before we reach the fulfillment of the purpose of creation means that we will have to cooperate with someone on the earth to reach maturity. This explains why Jesus was so focused on fulfilling his responsibility on the earth and gave rise to his significant prayer in Gethsemane, misinterpreted by many Christians. And also why giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter (his chief disciple) Jesus declared that, “what you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and what you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Mt16:19) The fallen archangel Lucifer (re-named Satan after the Fall) is the false ruler, and false god, of this world. (Jn12:31; 2Cor4:4) Understanding this would change the whole focus of our lives to center upon being able to successfully graduate from this world rather than centering upon living our life while we’re here. A little bit like the contrast between two students at university where one is enjoying the social aspect of university life, whilst the other is mainly focused on life after university and graduating successfully. Our physical body, to make an analogy here, is like a car that has to get us where we need to go, rather than just enjoying the journey.

Had the first human ancestors taken God’s commandment, “do not eat” seriously then this type of conversation wouldn’t have even started. We (all mankind) would have been of the lineage of God and wouldn’t need re-birth. We would live in an environment that was naturally and spontaneously focused on fulfilling the Will of God, our Heavenly Father (Parent). But, nevertheless, here we are in a world that is in the Last Days of satan’s rule.

Returning resurrection is currently misunder-stood as reincarnation.  As creations of God we are unique and eternal having been created originally in the image of God. All of history has been to recover this lost image and the Messiah is, essentially, the re-creation of true parents that were lost at the time of the Fall. The Messiah, from this understanding, has to be born on the earth and cannot be spiritual. The ‘clouds’ that the Messiah comes on then are figurative clouds and all the signs of the Last Days do need to be re-appraised to enable us to align with God’s Will.

Looking forward to hearing your views about this. It should be becoming increasingly clear that we’re currently living in the Last Days right now. 

Andrew Derricutt

[To send the Messiah is God’s portion of responsibility. However, belief in the Messiah is the human portion of responsibility. The Jewish people could either believe in the Messiah as God wished or not believe in him in opposition to His desire. To cope with the contingency of human responsibility, God gave two kinds of prophecies concerning the accomplishment of His Will through Jesus. One kind foretold that Jesus would die due to the disbelief of the people. (Isa53) Another kind foretold that the people would believe in and honor Jesus as the Messiah and help him to accomplish God’s Will in glory. (Isa9,11,60; Lk1:31) When Jesus died on the cross due to the disbelief of the people, only the prophecies of the first kind were fulfilled. The prophecies of the second kind were left unfulfilled until the 2nd Coming of Christ. 

There are several passages in the Gospels in which Jesus spoke of his suffering on the cross as if it were necessary for salvation. For example, when Peter heard Jesus’ prediction of his imminent crucifixion and tried to dissuade him, Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me.” (Mt16:23) Why did Jesus chastise Peter so harshly? In truth, when Jesus spoke these words, the disbelief of the chosen people had already frustrated Jesus’ efforts to complete the providence of salvation both physically and spiritually. By that time, Jesus had resolutely determined to accept the fate of the cross (Lk9:31) as a condition of indemnity to open the way for at least the spiritual salvation of humankind. Peter’s dissuasion could have hindered Jesus from paving the way for spiritual salvation through the cross. For this reason, Jesus rebuked him. 

A second example is Jesus’ last words on the cross, “It is finished.” (Jn19:30) Jesus did not utter these words to mean that through the crucifixion he had completely accomplished the providence of salvation. After he realized that the people’s disbelief was unalterable, he chose the path of the cross in order to lay the foundation for spiritual salvation, leaving unfulfilled the task of achieving physical salvation until the time of the Second Advent. Hence, by the words, “It is finished,” Jesus meant that he had finished laying the foundation for spiritual salvation. By this time, it had become the alternative goal of the providence. 

In order for us to have proper faith, it is necessary first to have direct communion with God through spiritual experiences in prayer, and then to understand the truth through a correct reading of Scripture. This is the reason Jesus told us to worship in “spirit and truth.” (Jn4:24) 

Since the time of Jesus, Christians have believed that Jesus came to this world to die on the cross. They have not known the fundamental purpose for which Jesus came as the Messiah and misunderstood the spiritual salvation which he brought us, thinking it to be all that his mission entailed. Jesus had wanted to live and fulfill his destiny, yet due to the people’s disbelief in him, he died with a heart full of disappointment. Today, there must appear on earth faithful brides — pure-hearted Believers — who can alleviate the bitter and grieving heart of Jesus. 

There must appear brides who can exalt the desires of Jesus’ heart before Jesus can come again as the bridegroom. Yet Jesus lamented, “Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Lk18:8) for he foresaw that when he returned the people would likely be in darkness.

We have clarified from our study of the Bible that Jesus did not come to die on the cross. We can ascertain this fact even more clearly if we communicate with Jesus spiritually and ask him directly. If we cannot perceive spiritual realities, we should seek out the testimonies of those who are endowed with such gifts in order to properly understand his heart and deepen our faith. Only then will we be worthy to become the brides of Jesus who can receive him in the Last Days.] From Exposition of the Divine Principle Part 1, Chapter 4, Section 1

​Christians currently have an erroneous take on Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane thinking that Jesus (as God) was displaying His human weakness side in being afraid of death but, nevertheless, yielding to it. But this new understanding makes it clear that Jesus wanted to fulfill his primary mission to bring the actual realization of the Kingdom of Heaven that was prevented by the Fall of Man. Jesus was looking for some way to accomplish that, rather than keeping the way open for the 2nd Coming through the spiritual salvation that he accomplished through his sacrifice on the cross.

When Jesus declared, “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven . . .” (and vice versa) he was affirming that the victory over satan and the Fall have to be accomplished on this earth. Satan is the false ruler, and false god, of this world as written in the Bible verses from John 12:31 and 2 Corinthians 4:4. This is why the 2nd Coming of Christ will occur in the same way that Jesus came – born on the earth. The 2nd coming of Elijah fulfilling the crucial Malachi 4:5 prophecy was through a different person, with a different name, according to the words of Jesus. Revelation 2:17 also declares that, " . . . he (2nd Advent) will come with a new name".
​
There is strong evidence that the 2nd Coming occurred already between the years 1917 and 1930. Hope that you’ll check this out and see that the 2nd Coming is more to do with bringing the complete truth that ‘we the people’ need to align with rather than to be taken up into the air to meet the Lord and leave this fallen world behind. We the people invited satan in through the Fall of Man and it is we the people who, aligning with God’s Will through the words of the returning Christ, have to invite satan out again. I believe we’re seeing this taking place in the world right now.

There is a good case that the verse in Revelation 12 is a time stamp: 2017 September 24th - as this is when the constellation pattern described in Rev12:1,2 concluded. That would mean that we’re living through the events described in Revelation right now.

Looking forward to hearing your views on this matter. We should be able to reason together, right? The first chosen people made a huge mistake in not recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. Saul, who became St Paul, is a pertinent demonstration that it’s never too late to make a fundamental change as he became arguably the most loyal, dedicated, and effective, of all the apostles. In saying that we should be able to reason together is also implying that the 2nd Advent of Christ marks the conclusion of religion – as per Rev21:22 !!!

Thank you for reading this far.

Andrew Derricutt 

Thinking here of Jesus' words, "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." (Lk17:33, Mt16:25) We're living in serious times right now.

Just over 2000 years ago the chosen people did not believe in Jesus; instead they led him to the cross. [Jesus’ body was exposed to Satan’s assault, and he was killed. Therefore, even when faithful Christians are united with Jesus, their bodies remain exposed to Satan’s attack, just as was Jesus’ body.

Consequently, no matter how devout a believer may be, he cannot attain physical salvation through redemption by the cross of Jesus. His original sin, which has been passed down through the lineage from Adam, is not eliminated at its root. Even the most devout Christian still has the original sin and gives birth to children who also carry the original sin. In our personal faith, we may feel it necessary to mortify and deny our flesh in our efforts to prevent the intrusion of Satan, who continually tries to ensnare us through our bodies. We are taught to “pray constantly” (1Thss.5:17) that we might remove the conditions by which Satan can attack us; these conditions stem from the original sin, which was not eradicated despite salvation through redemption by the cross.

Jesus could not fulfill the goal of complete salvation, both spiritual and physical, because his body was struck down by Satan. However, Jesus laid the basis for spiritual salvation by securing the victorious foundation for his resurrection through the redemption by his blood on the cross. As a result, all believers since his resurrection have received the benefit of spiritual salvation, but not physical salvation. Salvation through redemption by the cross is spiritual salvation only. The original sin remains active in the flesh of even the most devout Christians and is transmitted through the lineage to their descendants. The more fervent a believer’s faith, the more fiercely he must fight against the sin within. Even St. Paul, the most devout among the apostles, lamented over his inability to prevent sin from infiltrating his flesh:

For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin. (Rom. 7:22-25)

This statement contrasts the bliss Paul felt upon receiving spiritual salvation with the agony he felt because he was unable to achieve physical salvation. John also confessed:

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. . . . If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 Jn 1:8-10)

We who receive salvation based on Jesus’ crucifixion cannot unshackle ourselves from the chains of sin, due to the original sin still active deep within us. Therefore, to uproot the original sin, which he could not remove through the crucifixion, and to complete the work of physical salvation, Jesus must come again on earth. Only then will the purpose of God’s work of salvation be fulfilled both spiritually and physically.​

Two Kinds of Prophecies Concerning the Cross:
If Jesus’ death on the cross were not predestined as necessary for the complete accomplishment of his purpose as the Messiah, why was it prophesied in Isaiah that he would suffer the ordeal of the cross? (Isa.53) We may think that the Bible contains only prophecies which foretold Jesus’ suffering. However, when we read the Bible anew with knowledge of the Principle, we realize there are other prophecies to the contrary. As Isaiah prophesied (Isa.9, 11&60) and as the angel announced to Mary, (Lk 1:31-33) it was foretold that Jesus would become the king of the Jews in his lifetime and establish an everlasting kingdom on the earth. Let us investigate why God gave two contrasting kinds of prophecies concerning Jesus.

God created human beings to reach perfection only by fulfilling their own portion of responsibility, (Freedom of choice - we are made in the image of God) In reality, the first human ancestors did not fulfill their responsibility and fell. Thus, human beings have the potential to either accomplish their responsibility in accordance with God’s Will or fail their responsibility contrary to God’s Will.

To take some examples from the Bible, it was Adam’s portion of responsibility not to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He either could obey the commandment of God and reach perfection or eat of the fruit and die. He chose the latter. In the Old Testament Age, God gave the Ten Commandments and the Mosaic Law, which the people were to obey as the condition for their salvation. It was their portion of responsibility to either uphold the Law and receive salvation or disobey it and come to ruin. (Deut.30:15-20) For the Israelites who left Egypt and journeyed toward Canaan, it was their responsibility to obey the instructions of Moses. They could either faithfully comply with Moses’ directions and enter the land of Canaan or rebel against him and not enter the promised land. In fact, God had foretold that He would guide the Israelites into the land of Canaan (Exod3:8) and commanded Moses to lead them there. Yet due to their lack of faith, the people perished in the wilderness, leaving only their descendants to reach the final destination.

Human beings thus have their own portion of responsibility; they can either fulfill it in accordance with God’s Will or fail to fulfill it contrary to His Will. The nature of the fruits they bear depends upon whether or not they fulfill their portion of responsibility. For this reason, God gave two kinds of prophecies concerning the accomplishment of His Will.

To send the Messiah is God’s portion of responsibility. However, belief in the Messiah is the human portion of responsibility. The Jewish people could either believe in the Messiah as God wished or not believe in him in opposition to His desire. To cope with the contingency of human responsibility, God gave two kinds of prophecies concerning the accomplishment of His Will through Jesus. One kind foretold that Jesus would die due to the disbelief of the people. (Isa. 53) Another kind foretold that the people would believe in and honor Jesus as the Messiah and help him to accomplish God’s Will in glory. (Isa.9,11&60; Lk1:31) When Jesus died on the cross due to the disbelief of the people, only the prophecies of the first kind were fulfilled. The prophecies of the second kind were left unfulfilled until the Second Coming of Christ.] EotDP part1 Chapter4

Understanding why Jesus came is crucial to being able to see, and connect with, the Lord of the 2nd Advent. I think it will become more and more clear that we're living in the Last Days right now and we'll need to make a decision, a choice, in line with Jesus' words at the start of this blog. Thank You for reading this far. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Andrew Derricutt

Going back to the very start - had the 1st ancestors honored God's commandment, "Do not eat" they would have kept the lineage of God, our Heavenly Father, and become the True Parents of humanity. We would all then become God's true sons and daughters with no need to be saved. The archangel, who is now the false ruler and 'god' of this world (Jn12;31; 2Cor4:4), would have thus kept his proper position not becoming God's adversary. All the angels who honor God would then have had tangible multiple and unique manifestations of God, as well as the original God Who exists beyond time and space. Still with me?

Jesus, being the manifestation of the Word wanted the 'Chosen People' to believe in and follow him. Any written or spoken word describing something, pales in comparison with that which is the actual thing. Jesus being the substance of the Word of God similarly is greater than any explanation. in other words there is no substitute for actually being there. This is, essentially, why Jesus wanted the people to 'believe in him whom He had sent' rather than having to explain in words.

Here is what Jesus said regarding that. "I have said that to you in figures: the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father." (Jn16:25). After having already stated that, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" And, "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now . . ." He even had to explain some of his parables to his close disciples, right? It is reasonable to say that none of them fully understood who Jesus really was until after the resurrection of Jesus over 40 days.

I'm sure that You must've had the frustrating experience of trying to explain something to someone who has some preconceived idea at odds with what you have. Why did Jesus have such a hard time with the chosen people of 2000 years ago. Wouldn't it be important to figure out why the then chosen people did not accept Jesus as Messiah; and, furthermore, that even up to the present day still cannot accept Jesus as the Messiah?

​The point I'm making here is that the 2nd Coming of Christ is to bring a higher and more complete expression of the truth than Jesus was able to bring - according to Jesus' own words that I've already shared with you above. 

Let us examine some other reasons a new expression of truth must appear. The Bible, as was noted, is not the truth itself, but rather is a textbook teaching the truth. It renders important parts of the truth in symbols and in parables. Since these are open to various interpretations, there have arisen numerous disagreements among believers, causing them to divide into many denominations. The primary cause of denominational divisions lies in the character of the Bible, not in the people. The strife between denominations will only grow more intractable unless a new truth emerges which can elucidate the symbols and parables obscuring the essential truths of the Bible. Without this new truth, God’s providence, which comes through the unification of Christianity, can never reach its goal. This is why Jesus promised that in the Last Days he will give us the new Word of truth.

So, this understanding should lessen the expectation of miracles. We (the people) need to accomplish becoming the 'Word made flesh' as Jesus did. We can do that by aligning with God, our Heavenly Father, through the Word of God that the 2nd Coming of Christ brings.

In addition Christ comes to give re-birth. Re-birth is changing from the lineage of the Fall (we're all a 'brood of vipers' - in other words: children of Satan) to the lineage of God as it would have been had the first ancestors honored God's commandment as per the start of this blog.

This line of reasoning puts a whole different expectation regarding the 2nd Coming of Christ. St Paul equated Jesus with Adam in many of his letters. Adam was the one who brought death, whereas Jesus brought life. St Paul describes Jesus as the 'last Adam' (1Cor15:45) as would've been the case had Jesus been accepted by the 'chosen people'. Jesus could not accomplish what he originally wanted because of the disbelief of the chosen people. Jesus, because of his unswerving loyalty to God did accomplish spiritual rebirth and Christians today have that, having been re-born through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It should not need to be explained that spiritual re-birth falls short - as children of Christian parents still need re-birth. Our lineage is connected with the Fall and, thus, Satan has a claim on us. Just as Jesus' body was attacked by Satan so too are Christians vulnerable to physical attack from Satan and this is why Christianity tends to be other worldly and is a religion of martyrdom.

Christ coming again to give re-birth explains too why Christ will have a 'new name'. This is because the 2nd Coming will occur in exactly the same way as Jesus. That is, born on the earth. And this is why Jesus warned that it would not be easy to recognize the 2nd Coming: Lk17:25; 18:8 and the scary Matt7:21-23 - "I never knew you."

I realize that this explanation is not going to sit well with churchgoing Christians. But, if nothing else, it is entirely logical and grounded in the Holy Bible. We do need to 'reason together', right? . . .

Andrew Derricutt