Appointing the twelve

Appointing the twelve

He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Matthew 10:1-7

First Jesus had to gather three disciples, representing Adam's family, Noah's family, and Abraham's family. Centered on those three he could gather 12 disciples representing Jacob's 12 sons and also the 12 generations from Noah to Abraham. Without fulfilling those numbers he could not form a foundation to work with the diverse races of the world. After gathering the 72 apostles Jesus had to begin his substantial work, just as Jacob needed 72 before he could accomplish his condition. Then he would have connected that foundation to the religion of Judaism, the Jewish people, nation, and eventually the world. He tried desperately to do this in three years but he could not make his apostles unite in harmony

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: Victory of Home Church January 1, 1982

If you have 12 children, you will experience different types of love from all 12. The Bible refers to 12 pearly gates to the heavenly city God is the center of all humanity including your children. If you have raised your children properly, in front of God, that is your ticket of love. Even though there are 12 different gates, even though you have to go around several times, you will still be able to pass with this love ticket. Without raising many different children you may end up one dimensional, and you will be limited in heaven.

Because Jesus was unable to teach his 12 disciples to go through these 12 different gates, he was sold out by Judas and crucified. By the same token, if we want to be truly welcomed in the spiritual world and pass all 12 gates, we should be able to go and work in 12 different nations from the bottom to the top and restore them. Only by having that kind of experience will we truly be able to pass through all the different gates. This covers the entire kingdom. Are you interested?

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: The True Foundation Day of the Unified World October 3, 1995

Are the 12 gates of pearl kept open or are they kept closed? They are open in such a manner that you can go in through any gate and go out through any gate. There is no set rule that you have to come in this way and go out that way However, in order to travel through you have to reach the hub or center where the 12 gates connect. If you don't reach that, the only way you can exit is the same way you came in. As long as you reach the center, you are free to leave from any exit. That means that once you reach God's palace you are very free to travel anywhere in Heaven.

The key question of history is how to effectively take down the walls of every type. Who is anxious to take the walls down and who is anxious to keep them up? Satan doesn't want the walls to come down. He wants to build them higher and make them more sophisticated. We know why God and the people on his side should be the ones who are anxious to take the walls down. We also know why In order for all the walls to come down, somebody has to pay the price, which is indemnity. The conclusion is, all the high-level religious people should pay indemnity because their life's goal is to take the walls down. The Bible mentions this many times: "Blessed are the peacemakers."

Why did Jesus have 12 disciples? It is simple. So he could make 12 disciples into one. With Jesus sitting in the center, any person could go through one of the 12 disciples and reach into his realm and then travel out through any gate. They could then come in any gate again and go back out any gate, over and over.

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: Historical Debt and the Liberation of Ourselves December 29. 1991

Witnessing 

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: '...Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff. Matthew 10:5-10

Jesus must have sounded almost crazy when he taught his disciples to go out witnessing without even a penny in their pocket. In other words, he was telling them to go out on the streets like beggars. Why? This is the core spirit of traditional Christianity. It is the most dramatic way to embark on the road of sacrificial service. You have to start at the worst level and serve as beggars. A servant's position is much higher than that of a beggar. Actually, you start the providential course at a position even lower than a beggar. As a beggar's servant, you will be persecuted even by beggars.

Why do we do things this way? Why don't we act a little more wisely? Why does God permit such persecution to continue? It is not to enable you to eventually achieve the level of human authority, which is automatically yours when you pass the criterion of sacrificial service.

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: The Road of God's Will May 30, 1982

The greatest error occurs when people think that they can "just believe" in God and Jesus and they will receive more and more blessings from God. Such people feel they can have everything they want without doing anything in return. That is similar to the attitude of a thief, who just takes things without working. Did Jesus believe in God in that way? Did he think that because God sent him as his only begotten Son it meant he had all power? Did he feel that all he had to do was to keep on believing and claiming his faith in God, and then he could subjugate all the Roman Empire automatically? ...

If everything could have come to Jesus automatically, why did he witness? Why did Jesus gather and train the 12 apostles, the 70 disciples, and the 120 elders? Why did he have to do all that and endure so much persecution along the way? Jesus did what he had to do according to Gods dispensation; he had no other way to go. We can clearly see that Jesus had to go the way of persecution and bloodshed. Jesus knew the suffering that lay ahead of him, but he also knew he had to go that way in order to accomplish God's will.

Do you think I am placing unnecessary stress on this, or do you understand that this point is the most crucial one of belief? Jesus had to go the way he did because he knew what God wanted him to do, namely to save the world and all mankind by loving them. Therefore, it stands to reason that everyone else who loves Jesus should also do God's will, to love the people of the world and save them.

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: Perfection of Restoration by Indemnity through Human Responsibility March 1. 1983

Let the dead bury their dead

He said to another man, "Follow me."

But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father" Jesus said to him, "Let the dead burr their own dead. but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Luke 9:59-60

Jesus' teaching was crystal clear on the standard of loving God. When one of his disciples asked him if he could go and assist in the funeral of his father, Jesus told him to stay with his mission and "Let the dead bury the dead."

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: Standing in the Presence of God November 7, 1982

When a follower asked Jesus if he could go home to bury his deceased father, Jesus said, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead." From these words of Jesus, it is clear that the Bible contains two different concepts of life and death. The first concept of life and death concerns physical life. Here, "death" means the end of physical life, as was the case of the disciple's deceased father who was to be burred.

The second concept of life and death concerns those living people who had gathered to bury the deceased man, those whom Jesus called "the dead." Why did Jesus refer to people whose bodies were alive and active as the dead? He meant that since they had not accepted Jesus, they were far removed from the love of God and were dwelling in the realm of Satan's dominion. This second concept of death does not refer to the expiration of physical life. It means leaving the bosom of God's love and falling under the dominion of Satan. The corresponding concept of life refers to the state of living in accordance with God's will, within the dominion of God's infinite love. Therefore, even if a person's physical self is alive, if he dwells apart from God's dominion and is in servitude to Satan, he is dead as judged by the original standard of value. A similar conclusion can be drawn from the Lords words of judgment upon the faithless people of the church in Sardis: "You have the name of being alive, and you are dead." (Rev. 3:1)

On the other hand, even though a person's physical life may have expired, he remains alive in the true sense if his spirit abides in the kingdom of heaven in heaven, a realm in the spirit world where God governs through love. When Jesus said, "...he who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live" (John 11:25), he meant that those who believe in him and live within the realm of God's dominion have life. Even after their physical bodies have returned to the soil, their spirits enjoy life in God's dominion. Jesus also said, "...whoever lives and believes in me shall never die." (John 11:26) In saying that believers will never die, he meant that those who believe in Jesus during their earthly life will obtain eternal life not in this world, but in spirit, within the bosom of God's love. They will be alive, both in this life and the next. Jesus words assure us that death, in the sense of the end of physical life, has no effect on our eternal life.

Exposition of the Divine Principle: Resurrection 1.1