Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand

Repent for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand

From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17

When you say you believe in Jesus, do you only believe in those things that make you feel good? Do you reject those things about Jesus that make you feel painful? We should accept what Jesus taught and do those things that Jesus himself would want us to do. We should not take part in things that Jesus would not like. What are those things, which Jesus would not like? They are, simply, Satan and sin. 

We should separate ourselves from Satan and sin and believe in Jesus from that position, rather than from a position in which sin, Satan, and Jesus are all mixed together in our lives. This is why Jesus said, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." For what should we repent? We should repent of the fact that we have been living together with Satan and sin throughout our lives.

Once we have repented and separated ourselves from Satan, Jesus urges us to believe in God and serve God. Jesus wanted to rule over a world from which Satan and sin were eradicated, not a world in which Satan was mixed together with everything and in which people had just a vague belief in Jesus. Jesus mission was to separate individuals completely from Satan and sin and separate families and countries from Satan and sin.

Even the most faithful believer in Jesus or the most righteous church on earth cannot proclaim proudly that they are absolutely separated from Satan and sin and that they are following Jesus exactly as he would have them do. No one can say they are living in perfect love in an ideal world with no suffering and tears.

This means that Satan exists as much within churches as he exists everywhere else. Furthermore, there is almost as much sin there as in the rest of the world. If this is true and if what church people love and hate is no different from what the rest of the world loves and hates, then there is very little difference between the world and the church. Which would Satan find more pleasure in, the church or the world? Why would he like the sins of the church more than those of society in general? Satan likes the sins of the church more because then he can protest to God, "Look at those people in the church. They don't love others; they even hate others! They are not faithful, either. This must be my church."

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

You must be born again

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said:

"Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."

In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." John 3:1-10 

The Bible records the visit to Jesus of a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who asked how people can be saved. Jesus' answer was very clear: "Unless a man he born anew he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Nicodemus was totally puzzled and inquired, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb and be born again?" Then Jesus said, "Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you don't understand this?"

Everyone has been born in the fallen Adamic lineage; in the position of an enemy of God. How can mankind become even servants who are not of satanic origin? Is there any way that you could be born as a servant on the side of God? You don't know even how to do that much. Then how could you be born again as God's children? Reaching the servant level on God's side is just the initial state of restoration, but a servant cannot inherit the master's fortune. A servant has no right of inheritance; therefore, each person needs to be elevated at least to the adopted son's position... or better, as direct sons and daughters.

Do you want to be direct children of God? Naturally, fallen mankind could not know the whole process of salvation. That's why God promised the Messiah to guide the way God knows that no one has any way of knowing the truth without meeting the true Son of God as an example and model.

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: God's Day January 1, 1978

Jesus early ministry

What is it to be restored at the origin, at the root? Because of the fall, from our very origin we are in a different place from where we are supposed to be. To be restored at the origin means to be born again. In other words, because we were born of fallen parents, we must be born again from the parents who have not fallen. Is that absolutely necessary, or just sort of necessary?

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, "If I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." John 3:4-5

How can you prove that humankind is fallen? Many people do not believe it; they think, "This is the way humankind has always been. This is the way God meant the world and humans to be. In fact, only Christians have a strong belief that humankind is fallen. Other religions do not. In Christianity the fall is a primary teaching, while other religions don't pay it much attention. Nevertheless, it is a matter of paramount importance...

What is the cause of the Fall? The Bible teaches that our first ancestors ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The Bible is absolutely necessary and we have to abide by its words. What does the Bible mean by eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil? What serious wrong did Adam and Eve commit that made God, their loving Parent, chase his son and daughter away from his own home? The ma­­­gnitude of the problem it created means it must have been a very', very valuable fruit, more than an apple, more than an orange.

If they ate a literal fruit, they would have eaten it with their hands and mouths. The hand and mouth would be the only pans of the body that were used to commit the sin. But what does the Bible say they covered after they ate? They covered up the lower parts of their bodies. Look at what children do. Whenever a child does something wrong, they express it. They are naturally honest. If their mother says, "Don't eat that," but the child eats it anyway and then the mother comes and confronts the child, what does the child do automatically? He hides his hands, doesn't he? He doesn't hide his lower parts. Have you ever seen a child, by reflex, hide his lower parts when he has eaten something he shouldn't? People don't do that. That is simple enough and easy to understand.

Here is another proof that the lineage must have been involved. God has yearned and suffered for thousands of years to correct the lineage. If the problem were caused merely by the eating of a certain substance, God could have found a remedy for that easily. Yet, no matter how much you try to correct yourself, no matter how hard you work to correct this and that weakness and stop doing certain sins, or even correct flaws in your character, you can never change your blood lineage. You cannot do anything about the blood that flows inside you. It just cannot be denied. You could cut off your arm, but so long as that evil blood is flowing in your body, another part of you will commit sin.

So we can quickly come to the conclusion that the origin of evil comes from had lineage, wrong blood lineage. The blood flowing in all mankind, all individuals, is had blood. We cannot say it is God's perfect blood. The fallen lineage is Satan's blood, in other words. We inherited Satan's blood. That means your body is Satan's.

We can imagine that if the ancestors of mankind did not fall, God's blood would be flowing through you and through everyone who is around us today. If that had happened, then everything would belong to God. There would he no such thing as "evil," and there would be no Satan. God originally owned that center root, center truth, and center bud. Those contents are what connect every human being. You are each like one branch. Branches automatically connect with the trunk, which is God. The fruit is not the same size as the branch, but all are equalized in the one tree. You are fruit of God, that is the natural, original conclusion.

We are all branches of a tree, but it is not God's tree. It is Satan's tree. What kind of fruit is borne by Satan's tree? Satan's fruit. We should clearly understand this. This is why we all agree that mankind needs to be saved. What does it mean to be saved? To be saved means to go backward from the root of having done something wrong, and being brought back to the position where man didn't fall. We come back to the point before the Fall.

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: Restoration from the Origin and Rebirth Are for Myself September 20, 1992

The baby Jesus was conceived in Mary without sin, but in all other cases Satan can claim ownership of a baby, even before the baby is born. This was not so in the case of Jesus because God had prepared a new genealogy whereby he was conceived in a sinless state. Jesus was the only one in history whose birth was prepared in this way. He was conceived in the lineage of God and born as a Son of God and he could proclaim, "I am the only begotten Son of God." No saint or prophet was born in that manner. It is more than logical that he declared, "I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." Once you know this, is there any other route by which to reach God?

Jesus also said, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me." Jesus is in the father's position, but...in order to go back to the very origin of life, the process of our rebirth should be assisted by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit with the Spirit of Jesus brings rebirth. Since we are born in a wrong way through satanic parents, we have to go through this new channel to become a new creature. From this standpoint, the Holy Spirit is a mother spirit. That is why in the Bible it says that we cannot be reborn until we receive the Holy Spirit. At the point of convergence of the love of the spiritual father, Jesus, and the spiritual mother, the Holy Spirit, rebirth occurs.

From the speech of Sun Myung Moon: Untitled March 19, 1972