Cheon Seong Gyeong: Episode 228

Cheon Seong Gyeong Book 8: Life of Faith and Training
Chapter 1: What Is a Life of Faith
Section 4: Stages in a Life of Faith, 23
Section 5: Experiences and Challenges on the Path of Faith, 13

(23)  The institution, in which the three great kingships are found together, is the family. A family is a fortress or palace that holds the past, present, and future worlds. In the family, the grandparents, representing the past, should be attended like God, with the absolute respect accorded a great king and queen. The parents are in the position of Adam; they are the present king and queen of the family and its center. The children are the kings and queens of days to come; they inherit the kingdom of the future. This is the concept of a royal family based on true love. Families who perfect this are destined to go to heaven. There is no other way; perfection takes place in this way.

(24)  The purpose of creation was for Adam and Eve to follow the commandment of God, the owner of true love, and become perfected, true beings. Afterward, Adam and Eve were meant to become a true couple united in God’s true love. This perfection of Adam and Eve based on true love would have been the fulfillment of God’s wish that they become His extension on earth. Furthermore, their perfection as a true couple would have meant the perfection of God's absolute ideal of love.

Section 5.  Experiences and Challenges on the Path of Faith

(1)  Do you have mystical experiences in your life of faith, or spiritually experience God's presence? There are some among you who frequently see me spiritually during prayers or in dreams and receive directions from me. This should happen one hundred percent of the time. This is the strength, the pride, and the treasure we have. Up to this point, no religion has gone through such an intense kind of experiential process. This is why religions are confused and have become secularized. However, the Unification Church knows that God stands at the very end. Even if the storms and floods of life rage against us and we are about to die, the amazing fact is that we have become men and women who can leave behind a legacy of hope for tomorrow.

Experiencing God's Word

(2)  One does not grow tired of hearing words of truth. You need to experience this. If you go to a church that offers words of truth, such that after hearing the same content a hundred times you still wish you could hear more, you surely have encountered heaven. And when you meet a certain church leader a hundred or a thousand times yet still wish to meet him or her again, do not leave this leader. If one of your arms is amputated, grab this church leader with your other. If you meet such a leader, you certainly have encountered heaven.

(3)  If you resolve to attend the Unification Church after hearing the Divine Principle, you will certainly face tests. Or, if you promise to go to a Divine Principle workshop, an accident might happen at home or incidents might occur several times to obstruct you. You must have had such experiences. This formula is certain. This happens because, when you wish to ascend from the individual level to a higher one, Satan steps on you from above.

(4)  In order to share the Word with a profound standard of heart, unlike any other, you need to deeply know the Word. To connect with a one hundred percent standard of heart, you need to personally experience and realize the Word deeply like that, then share it. Through our actions, too, we must behave in such a way that we can be liked and respected.

(5)  A life of faith is a real battle. We must be victorious in this battle. When a new member seeks to come to church, for instance, Satan is always busy working to impede him or her. Hence, in order to overcome this impediment, the spiritual parent must be absolute. This kind of perfect plus creates a perfect minus. Therefore, we must not vacillate. We must pursue our life of faith determinedly, without wavering.

Spiritual experiences and experiences of the heart

(6)  Through the works of the Holy Spirit, the early Christian church could act in ways to overcome the vortex of persecution. However, these works did not expand to the world, beginning with the individual and progressing through the levels of family and tribe; they remained local. This was the case because the early church members did not clearly establish a direction that such works could have supported. They didn't realize the fundamental purpose that underlay their spiritual experiences, what processes should have followed these works, or what final destination they should have headed toward.

(7)  From the beginning, I have worked out solutions to important problems based on reference to the spirit world. I have been testing to see whether the spirit world indeed provides good solutions, due to its standard that goes beyond the nation and the world. In the spirit world, people transcend nationalities and meet according to their spiritual level.

(8)  Henceforth, you need to have spiritual experiences. You need to know whether your endeavors will succeed or fail. If you pray fervently, you'll know in advance that you'll succeed. Praying enlivens your mood and makes your body feel more nimble. You can sense it in your body; your body knows. To reach this state, you need to completely cleanse yourself of all notions of self-centeredness and selfishness.

(9)  Through the spirit world, every day I guide and instruct the missionaries who are toiling all over the world. You need to realize this in your daily life. If you come in and commit to the Unification Church after listening to the Word for a week, your attitude about life changes. You come to detest your past habits. Then my teachings flow into your heart very well. You come to know what I'm going to say in advance, and cannot but become a core member of the Unification Church.

(10)  A life of faith requires deep empathy. Without this profound dimension, you can't know genuine faith. Hence, you must experience empathy deeply. What does this mean? When Heaven is sorrowful, each of us needs to feel that sorrow. Deep empathy means this feeling of sorrow floods into you. If you can empathize deeply, you do not need to pray.

(11)  Profound empathy is most important in our life of faith. Such empathy leads you to weep unfathomable streams of tears. Have you ever felt tears flowing from your eyes while in a state of transcendental consciousness? This is nothing like the anger and sadness you feel after someone insults you. Your heart is seized with a feeling of grief and tears pour ceaselessly from your eyes. A believer's daily life should essentially be like this. Beyond understanding, deep pain seizes your heart. You feel so heavy-hearted you don't know what to do.

(12)  As you practice deep empathic faith throughout your life, you should walk a clearly principled course to reach the standard of an unchanging victor who can represent eternity to all creation. Unless you establish this standard, sorrowful conditions will remain unresolved on earth. If we leave behind such unresolved sorrowful conditions, it will be difficult for us to find God's internal heart when we go to heaven. That is why, as living beings connected to Jesus in spirit and the Holy Spirit in body, we must grow to be substantial manifestations of God's glory. Thereafter, we will become substantial embodiments of faith.

(13)  To this day, I have offered more devoted effort in front of God than the myriads of Christians in Korea. A person of heart makes progress. Through empathy, such a person expands the realm of heart from the individual to the family, nation, and world. When someone offers acts of devotion with heart, God will hold on to this person. If God were to hold on to people who are not like that, He would not be able to carry out His operations. The greatest issue is how someone who has received the command to defend Heaven will advance with faith. One small error can impede the outcome of history and lead to historical judgment later on. This is why all our daily activities—even sleeping, eating, and putting on clothes—must be done based on a life of faith.