Fundamental change of focus

The screenshot is taken from the second sermon of Volume 1 shortly after the 3 preparation prayers and near the start. It is making the bold statement that Christians today are missing the point by focusing on the cross rather than upon the words that Jesus brought. It is also reminding us that the first chosen people did not believe that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah (still, as a Nation, Jesus is not accepted - even after 2,000years!) and that if they had believed Jesus' words then the concept of salvation through redemption by the cross would have never appeared.

Jesus said that he would bring new words speaking plainly of the Father (God) in John 16:25 shortly after he had lamented that he had many things to say but that we (the people contemporaneous with Jesus) could not bear them now. We (today's Christians) suppose that Jesus has been sitting at the right hand of glory since his resurrection but this too is not so as Jesus, together with the Holy Spirit, has been working for 2,000 years since then to fulfill the original Will of God - to bring about the actual Kingdom of Heaven.

The teaching that Jesus brought as expressed in the Gospel is essential for us to come into alignment with the value standard and heart of God. Jesus being the embodiment of God tried to take a short route by exhorting the then chosen people to believe in him. Then he would not have had to use the means of parable and metaphor to try to get his point across. There are many instances that show even the disciples of Jesus couldn't catch the meaning, and had to have it explained to them.

The sermons of Rev. Moon are giving a completely different picture of Jesus who was determined to fulfill God's Will for Him at any cost. The prayer that Jesus gave in the garden of Gethsemane is misunderstood as Jesus expressing a reluctance to go the way of the cross expressing some 'human weakness' of having to go the way of death. But Jesus was not at all concerned about that, but rather looking for a way that his original purpose could be fulfilled. He knew that if he went this way then his followers would have to go this way too. This is why the history of Christianity has been one of an astonishing degree of martyrdom. Because Jesus was rejected by the then chosen people his body was open to satan's assault and Jesus could bring only spiritual salvation.

These early sermons (from the 1950s) where Jesus is spoken of almost exclusively can help to change our focus from the Jesus of the cross to the Jesus whose sole concern was to bring about the actual Kingdom of Heaven. The fact that Christians refer to themselves as 'born again' implies that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are, in fact, spiritual True Parents. This gives a clue as to the purpose of Jesus coming again: the fact that we have only spiritual salvation means that this re-birth through Jesus and the Holy Spirit cannot be bequeathed by Christian parents to their children. This all makes logical sense, right?

That we are living in the Last Days right now will start to become more and more abundantly clear. Since Jesus gave prophecies that the Lord would come again like a thief in the night, and like a snare, it should come as no surprize to learn that the Second Coming has taken place already. Remember that Jesus did warn that it would be difficult to recognize the Lord of the Second Coming. (Luke 17:25 and Matthew 7:21-23) He made these warnings for Christians of the Last Days because he knew that the lesson of the first chosen people would likely not be learned from, by the new chosen people, Christianity.

The first chosen people thought that they would easily be able to recognize the Messiah due to the prophecy in Malachi 4: 5 that stated that Elijah would come 'before the great and terrible day of the Lord'. And yet Jesus said, if you can accept it, that John the Baptist was the Elijah. This means that the 2nd coming of Elijah took place with a different person, AND a different name. Astonishing, right?

​Should this not be taken as a strong indication that Christians of the Last Days are likely to make the same kind of fundamental error as to miss the Lord of the Second Coming who did, in fact, come like a thief in the night and like a snare? 

Christianity is pitifully weak as has been shown by how easily they were closed during the height of the 'plandemic' - the bio-weapon from Wuhan, China. In my neighborhood I see a poster from one of the children of Billy Graham with the title: "God Loves You'. This is stating the obvious; why would anyone want to go to hear about something they either know already or strongly suspect is true. Why did Billy Graham end his life blind? Because he failed to see the Lord of the Second Coming is why.

On this website is evidence that the LSA (Lord of Second Advent) came already - shortly after WW1. You can read about it in the Expositon of the Divine Principle 2nd part, speaking first about the Principles of Restoration and then how these have been born out in restoration history as recorded in the history of Western Europe. (See Part 2, Chapters 3 and 4) When you can see for yourself the parallels between the 2,000 years from Abraham (1st Father of Faith) to Jesus and compare with the 2,000 years from Jesus to the LSA you will know, of a surety, that God is for real and has left His mark on history (His story!)

It is not enough to merely believe in Jesus in order to get to heaven. We need to become like Jesus in order to get into alignment with God. Just as Jesus was the embodiment of the heavenly principles such that he is 'word made flesh', this is something that we too have to accomplish. Rather than the new heaven and new earth coming down from heaven, it will be made by those who have inherited the victorious example of Christ. These early sermons are speaking about the attitude toward Jesus that we need to cultivate in order that we can bcome the kind of people that God needs.

But it is not easy to change the habits of a lifetime that we have assumed by living in a world under the dominion of Satan. We have become used to living in this world with satan as the false god of this world (2 Corinthians 4:4) and ruler of this world (John 12:31). To engage with the word of God becomes something that can change our focus and enable us to be able to see this world for how it really is. The people of this great nation of America are being woken up through what has been happening, especially in this year that we are in the last third of. Not only Americans but people all over the world are seeing it. This is something decidedly good about the terrible things that are taking place. This is a great incentive and push to change our habts of a lfetime and start to see things in an entirely new way.

The only way to check this out is by evaluating it for yourself. We are logical beings made, after all, in the image of God. We have the innate ability to know whether or not something is true by running it by our conscience. This is why I like the advice of St. Paul who advised to 'test all things and hold fast to what is good'. He must've felt really bad about missing to connect with the living Jesus as Messiah while he was on the earth. But, nevertheless, he made a significant contribution to Christian principles taking root on the earth, arguably more so than the other 'super apostles' who were able to spend 3 years of their life with Jesus as he was teaching the Gospel.

From all that is happening in America through this year a lot of people (I believe a significant critical number) have been awakened to the reality of how it is. I feel sure that even in this month that America can be returned to 'we the people' but, in order to really be worthy as God's people in this chosen Nation of the 2nd Israel we have to be able to understand, and fulfill, our portion of responsibility in perfect alignment with God to bring the world of God's original ideal; that will spead as Jesus likened the kingdom of heaven to yeast going through a whole batch of dough. 

Engagement with God's Word is essential for us to be able to see things in the same way as God. Epecially for Christians to change their focus from the event of the cross to engaging with the words of Christ, that disbelief in caused the way of the cross to appear. Moreover this nation needs to engage with the new words of truth that Jesus promised from the book of John (chapter 16 vv 12,13 & 25) which are on the 'Resources page' of this website.

Another sermon with interesting content that I would recommend is the 18th of Voiume 2 - Let Us Become People Who Participate in the Glory of the Lord - especially from the section entitled 'The Standard of Life'. The disciples regarded the many people who followed Jesus as an expanding sphere of their own influence and started ordering the people about. We should never repeat this kind of mistake.

Let me know what you think. 

Andrew and Marie Derricutt