JESUS OF NAZARETH

Jesus has been the most influential man in history. Emerson once said, "To be great is to be misunderstood." Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived, and he is even today the most misunderstood man who ever lived. For the first time we have the true story of Jesus. Let's begin by looking at Jesus' family.

Jesus's mother Mary was successful in her mission of bearing the Second Adam. Unfortunately, she was not successful in understanding and supporting him. As a boy Jesus lived in a miserable, unhappy home. Joseph and Mary created an atmosphere of bitterness, emotional turmoil and upheaval.

Jesus seldom spoke to his disciples of his life as a boy because it was so painful. One incident in the Bible gives a brief insight into his life as a boy. Once, on a trip, Joseph and Mary became separated from Jesus. If you read between the lines knowing the revelation that Rev. Moon received about the unloving home Jesus lived in, we know that Jesus' parents lost track of him because they were poor parents. When they retraced their steps and found Jesus with Rabbis talking about God. We read that they asked him what he was doing. This should be read to show they were confused by Jesus in general. He told his parents he was doing his Father's business. His parents simply could not understand his special mission. It hurt Jesus to see that they couldn't understand his love of God. Even as an adult, Mary did not respect him. Jesus was kind to prostitutes but he was harsh with his mother because she, unlike the prostitutes, did not believe in him.

Once at a wedding feast in Galilee, Mary told Jesus they were out of wine. He called to her saying, "O Woman, what have you to do with me?..." (John 2:4). He did not say "Mother," but instead "Woman." Finally, she thought he had lost his mind in becoming a religious fanatic upsetting people by being an outrageous heretic who led a crazy, nonconformist lifestyle.

Mary and his brothers became so ashamed and concerned for him they went to take him home and restrain him there -- in today's world this is called conservatorship where family members get custody of their relative because he or she is mentally incompetent. When they arrived at the house Jesus was staying in they told a messenger to go inside and tell Jesus they were there to take him home. When Jesus heard this he told the messenger to go outside and tell her he wouldn't see her. She had a mission to support Jesus as the Messiah and she utterly failed. We read: "... his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man that told him, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?... for whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother'" (Matt. 12: 46-50). He refused to see them because they had no faith in him and refused to do God's will. His family's disbelief and disunity tragically made Jesus's mission more difficult.

Tamar

The Divine Principle is revelations from God to Sun Myung Moon. Some of the most fascinating things that Rev. Moon has revealed are insights into Jesus's life. In 1996 he gave a speech which I'll quote from as an example of the amazing things revealed, and I hope it inspires you to read his speeches. The Bible becomes clear when you study his words. I don't have the space to quote everything in his speech on Jesus' family, so I'll pick a few paragraphs and hope I do not confuse you by not giving you everything he says.

To help us understand the incredible story of Mary and her birth Rev. Moon reveals how God had worked to prepare Jesus' lineage by working years before with a woman named Tamar. By understanding Tamar's course we can better understand and see through God's eyes the meaning of the unusual events that took place for Mary to conceive Jesus. He says, "Satan sowed the seed of false love within the womb of Eve, which gave birth to evil life. Therefore, God needed to purify a mother's womb in which the heavenly son could be born.... Tamar had married Er, the eldest son of Judah. (Genesis 38) But Er displeased God and he died. According to the custom of that time, Judah gave Tamar his second son, Onan, that they might bear a child for Er. But Onan, knowing that Tamar's child would not be his own, spilled his semen on the ground. This was a sin in the eyes of God, for which Onan died."

"Then Tamar wanted Shelah, the third son of Judah, for a husband, but Judah did not give him to her. Judah thought that his two sons had died because of Tamar, so he was afraid that Shelah would die and end the family lineage."

"But Tamar had the conviction that she was to carry on the lineage of the chosen people. To do that, she disguised herself as a prostitute and slept with her father-in-law, Judah, and became pregnant with twins. At the time of birth, one of the twin sons, Zerah, stretched out his hand from the womb, and the second son, Perez, was born first, taking the position of the elder brother. Thus, within the womb of Tamar, the first and second sons fought, and their reversal of position separated them from Satan. That became the condition for restoration in the womb. Upon this condition, the Messiah could be conceived within the blood lineage of the chosen people, on the base of the nation of Israel that could stand up to the Roman Empire 2,000 years later....On this foundation, the Holy Mother Mary emerged in the mainstream of God's providence"

Mary

Rev. Moon continues, "Mary, when she was engaged to Joseph, received from the Archangel Gabriel the surprising message that the Messiah would be born through her (Luke 1:31). In those days, if an unmarried woman became pregnant, she would be killed. But Mary accepted the will of God with absolute faith, saying, 'Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word' (Luke 1:38).

"Mary consulted with the priest Zachariah, who was her relative and was highly respected. Zachariah's wife Elizabeth, with the help of God, was pregnant with John the Baptist. She said to Mary, 'Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?' (Luke 1:42-43). With these words she testified to the coming birth of Jesus."

"In this way, God let Mary, Zachariah, and Elizabeth know about the birth of the Messiah before anybody else. All of them had the absolutely crucial mission of following the will of God and serving Jesus. Zachariah's family let Mary stay in their house. Jesus was conceived in the house of Zachariah."

"Elizabeth and Mary were cousins on their mother's side. But according to God's providence, they were considered sisters, with Elizabeth as the elder (Cain) and Mary as the younger (Abel). Mary received Elizabeth's help in the presence of Zachariah. Through this cooperation, Zachariah's family, on the national level, indemnified the lack of unity between mother and son with Leah and Rachel in Jacob's family (Genesis 29-30). This allowed Jesus to be conceived. For the first time in history, there could be born on earth, free of satanic accusation and through a prepared womb, the seed to the Son of God--the seed of the True Father. In this way, the only begotten Son of God, the owner of the first love of God, was born for the first time in history."

Sun Myung Moon continues: "Mary had to achieve something that could not be understood by common sense, nor easily tolerated under the law of those times. Mary, Elizabeth, and Zachariah had been spiritually moved. They followed the revelation that came from God, and unconditionally believed that it was the will and desire of God."

"Although the Son of God could be born on earth, he needed a wall of protection to grow up safely in the satanic world and fulfill the will of God. God had hoped that these three people in the family of Zachariah would establish that protective foundation.

Rev. Moon goes on to say how important it was that they be united, but these three did not form a trinity to protect Jesus. Mary stayed three months and then returned to her home. Zachariah and Elizabeth did not help her. When Joseph found out she was pregnant Rev. Moon says, "How great must have been his shock at that moment! Mary, his beloved fiancee, without having any relationship with him, had become pregnant after a three-month stay in another place. It was natural for Joseph to question Mary about who the baby in her womb belonged to. What would have happened if at that time Mary had explained everything candidly? If she exposed everything, it could have been the end of a clan. So Mary simply responded that she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit."

Rev. Moon goes on to explain how Joseph did the right thing and "defended Mary, saying the pregnancy was his responsibility. Mary may have been ridiculed for becoming pregnant during her engagement, but she had avoided death by stoning."

Tragically, Joseph became 'distant in heart" and "family problems frequently arose. Jesus was viewed as an illegitimate son, and lacking protection of Zachariah's family and the love of Joseph, he grew up with an indescribable loneliness in his heart."

The story gets worse. Jesus knew how that Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, and Zachariah's disunity created a "serious obstacle...to fulfilling the will of God. The Messiah is the True Parent. And to fulfill that mission he needed to receive his substantial bride. Jesus had to reverse, at the very root, the false love by which the Archangel had caused the fall of Eve, who was growing up as the sister of Adam. Consequently, Jesus, in the place of Adam as the Son of God, should have received as his bride he younger sister of someone in an archangelic position. That bride was to have been none other than Zachariah's daughter, the younger sister of John the Baptist. To fulfill this in a world where Satan plays the role of owner and lord, Jesus needed a foundation of protection formed by absolute faith. Tragically, the entire foundation ended up collapsing around him."

"This would not have happened if Zachariah and Elizabeth, who had received the revelation and spiritual support from God, had maintained absolute faith. If they had fulfilled their responsibility, Mary would have been in contact with them continually. God chose Zachariah's family as the foremost representatives of the entire world, so that even after the birth of Jesus they would protect, serve, and witness to him as the Messiah. They not only should have served Jesus as the Son of God and Messiah with utter devotion, but they should have learned the will of God through Jesus and followed him absolutely. Also, John the Baptist was born to serve Jesus and should have fulfilled h is responsibility to guide everyone he led to repentance to believe in Jesus and receive salvation."

But, Rev. Moon reveals, they did not: "But unfortunately, although Zachariah, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist testified at first to Jesus as the Son of God, there is no evidence that they served him as such. The respected priest Zachariah was simply a spectator. John the Baptist stood separate from Jesus. These circumstances blocked the people from following Jesus and made his path very difficult. And once this family lost faith in Jesus, looking at him through human eyes, there was no room for them to help him receive his bride."

Mary prevents Jesus from marrying

The story keeps getting worse. Mary was not supposed to have sexual relations. She had children with Joseph and all of Jesus' brothers and sisters were against him. And Mary failed to help him marry so he could fulfill his mission of creating the first true family. "Mary did not help Jesus with the wedding he desired. She even opposed it. This was the direct reason that Jesus could not receive his bride, and could not become the True Parent; and this forced him to go the way of the cross."

"Jesus' words to Mary during the wedding at Cana, 'Oh woman, what have you to do with me?' (John 2:4), reveal a reproachful heart to a mother who helped in the weddings of others but neglected to help Jesus receive his bride, the most important requirement of the providence. With this perspective, now we can understand why Jesus asked, 'Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?' (Matt. 12:48)."

Rev. Moon explains, "Zachariah's family should have restored Jacob's family; they had exactly the same course. Elizabeth should have restored Leah's position and then introduced Mary to Zachariah. The result of the relationship between Zachariah and Mary was the birth of Jesus Christ. With Mary and Jesus united as plus and minus, a greater plus and minus would have been created by the unity between the two wives and two sons. If this process of unity had taken place, all of history would have been completely restored. Everything would have been completely restored. Everything would have been solved if Jesus Christ has been safely married."

"Why could Jesus Christ not get married even by the age of 33? Jesus Christ is the true Adam, isn't he? As the completed Adam, he was connected to the true love of God. If one such man and woman are united in marriage, they would have the position of royalty on the national level. If this marriage had been completed, everything would have been accomplished."

"Why couldn't Jesus get married even by the age of 33? Restoration is accomplished through indemnity. The fall involved a relationship between the archangel, Eve and Adam, culminating in the birth of Cain and Abel. Lucifer's betrayal involved taking away Adam's sister, Eve. Jesus' position was Adam's position, and John the Baptist's position was the archangelic position. All these historical events led up to John the Baptist's younger sister being in the position to become Jesus' wife. With Jesus destined to be in the elder son's position, John the Baptist's younger sister would have become Jesus' wife and all of history would have been restored."

"When Jesus Christ was seventeen years old, he told Mary whom he should marry. Jesus Christ spoke strongly about the necessity for this marriage, no matter what sacrifices might need be made, but Mary could not accept it. Mary went through such a severe course after her relationship with Zachariah. She experienced much persecution form the environment. If this union had been publicized, people would have stoned her to death. If Joseph had not declared that her baby was his son, Jesus and Mary would have been stoned to death. Joseph was the savior of Mary and Jesus Christ. If Mary had confessed who her child's father was, there would have been a problem. Thus Jesus and John the Baptist's sister had the same father, but different mothers. They were half-brother and sister. John the Baptist knew very well that Jesus Christ was an illegitimate child. When John the Baptist received the revelation that Jesus was God's beloved son, he could not accept that an illegitimate person was the Messiah. Under these circumstances, for Jesus to marry John the Baptist's younger sister was unacceptable. Although they had different mothers, they were both children of Zachariah. How could people accept such an incestuous relationship?"

"Faced with the opposition of Mary, Zachariah, Elizabeth, and finally John the Baptist, Jesus gave up hope for their protection as he sought to fulfill his mission. Therefore, Jesus left his home in search of a new spiritual foundation to restart the providence of salvation." Jesus received his mission to be the Second Adam from God when he was a boy. He spent years secretly communicating with God and saints in the spirit world. He became one with God's heart and learned the truth that could save mankind. When he was thirty years old he left his home to begin his public ministry.

God's plan was for Jesus to be accepted by the religious leaders and then the general population. God and Jesus wanted a messianic age to begin. When the nation of Israel followed him it would be a matter of only a few years before the whole world would have accepted Jesus.

John the Baptist

To start his mission Jesus first went to see John the Baptist. John was the greatest evangelist of the day. He traveled the countryside barefoot, wearing a camel skin, living on locusts and wild honey and begging for food. He spoke with such authority that many people came from miles around hear him and be baptized by him. He attracted large crowds and gained many disciples. He preached, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,'..." (John 1:23). When John saw Jesus, John had a spiritual experience. A dove descended on Jesus, and God said, "This is my Son with whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). Tragically, after this spiritual experience, John began to doubt that Jesus was the Messiah. So he took his disciples and went down the river, continuing to baptize. Only two of John's disciples followed Jesus. John should have gone with Jesus too. He should have been Jesus' disciple and been the forerunner who introduced Jesus to Israel. Just as Jesus was the mediator between God and mankind, John was to be the mediator between Jesus and the Israelites, the chosen people. It is proper for a speaker to be introduced. John should have been the one to introduce Jesus. On his authority, few would have rejected Jesus and the many who accepted would have begun the Messianic movement that would have ushered in the Kingdom of God.

Because of John's failure Jesus now had to witness for himself. He had to find people who would accept him and go out and prepare the people for him. He found 12 disciples to follow him and we read in the Bible that they traveled from town to town. The disciples witnessed for Jesus. They asked people to come hear him preach of the ideal world on earth. Matt. 9:35 says, "And Jesus went about all the cities and villages ... preaching the gospel of the kingdom." Jesus was intoxicated with God and his mission to proclaim God's will that we must fulfill the great blessings of being fruitful, multiplying and having dominion over creation by restoring the Garden of Eden on earth.

Elijah was supposed to return

A basic belief of the Jewish people at that time was that not only would the messiah come to them but that Elijah would return before the messiah and introduce him. The Jewish Bible ended with the book of Malachi and the very last lines prophesy that Elijah will come again. Elijah was a prophet who lived 900 years before Jesus, and the Bible tells the amazing story of how Elijah had ascended up into the sky. Many Israelites felt that Elijah would return from the sky.

The Israelites did not know that God had given Elijah's mission to John the Baptist. While God was working with Jesus quietly and alone, Elijah and spirit world were working with John to guide him to prepare his people for the Messiah -- the Anointed One. The angel had told John's father, Zachariah, the great mission John would have: "And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared" (Luke 1:16-17).

When Jesus' disciples went witnessing the people asked, "How can Jesus be the messiah? Elijah is supposed to come out of the sky and introduce the messiah." The disciples didn't know what the people were talking about. The disciples were not educated and had not led a devout life like John the Baptist and the religious leaders of Israel. Just because God had the messiah born in a humble manner in a humble country that was poor and unknown to the empires of the world, this doesn't mean that God wanted the messiah to always live like this.

God had worked to prepare Israel to immediately accept Jesus. God especially had worked with the religious leaders and most of all John the Baptist. They were rich in spirit, knowledge and position. It was extremely difficult for Jesus to have to work with his ignorant and crude disciples.

John the Baptist in position of Elijah

So when the people asked about Elijah they went to Jesus and asked him, "Who is Elijah?", Jesus said, "For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come" (Matt. 11:13-14).

This was difficult for the Jewish people to believe. So they went to John and asked him, "Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not" (John 1:21). The people had to decide. Jesus said John was Elijah; John said he wasn't. Who do you think the people believed?

Who would you believe? What if Billy Graham, the Pope, Jerry Falwell and every minister in every town did not follow a man who had only a few lowly and uneducated followers and who said he was the messiah? How easy would it be for you to follow him? In the eyes of the Israelites Jesus was lying, so they continued to wait for Elijah and therefore rejected the messiah.

John the Baptist failed

John couldn't see Jesus as the messiah because he was ignorant of God's providence. He interpreted the teachings of the Old Testament as did everyone else. Malachi said Elijah was coming out of the sky. Therefore, how could he be Elijah? What John didn't know was that God had no intention of sending Elijah out of the blue sky.

What Jesus meant was that the mission of Elijah would return. John the Baptist was to continue the mission of Elijah. John didn't know that Elijah was working with him from the spirit world urging him on to prepare the people.

Also, John couldn't accept Jesus because he felt that the messiah would come in a dramatic way -- out of the clouds or as a great military conqueror. It was too difficult to believe that this ordinary carpenter could be the savior of the world. So he didn't support Jesus and continued a separate course.

The prevailing expectation was for the messiah to come in an apocalyptic manner. They were expecting the messiah to act dramatically to save them. Some thought he would make a supernatural appearance as Daniel had prophesied: "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations and language should serve him" (Dan. 7:13).

Some thought of the messiah as a great military conqueror like King David who would drive the Romans into the sea and glorify Israel. There were a few who correctly saw that a man would come and lead the people to build Jerusalem into a light for the whole world to come to and see God working and inspire the world to build the kingdom of God on earth. Very few held this correct view of the messiah. It was extremely difficult for the Israelites to see a mere carpenter from the village of Nazareth as the messiah. And when John kept witnessing separate from Jesus the people became even more confused.

The people once said to John, "Rabbi, he (Jesus) who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him" (John 3:26). Then John answered, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).

John's response has always been interpreted as John being humble. But this is not an expression of humility. John should have joined Jesus and shared his destiny. If Jesus increased so would John and so would anyone who follows the messiah. If he really believed in Jesus as the messiah he could never decrease as Jesus increases. John was confused and separated himself from the messiah. John was imprisoned and later killed because of some insignificant problem of King Herod. He should have lived and died for the messiah.

While he was in prison John wondered about Jesus and sent a messenger to Jesus to ask him, "Are you he who is come, or shall we look for another?" (Matt.11:3). Jesus didn't answer him directly or straightforwardly that he was the Messiah. He answered in a roundabout way, saying: "Go and tell John ... the poor have good news preached to them" (Matt. 11:4-5). This statement is an expression of the sorrowful heart of Jesus. The "poor" does not mean people who are economically poor. Jesus is saying that the only people who are listening to his message are people who have not led a spiritual life. Rich people, to Jesus, were John the Baptist, priests, scribes and the leaders of the Jewish people who were devout and trying to lead a religious life. Jesus wanted these people to first hear his message of truth -- his revelations -- but when they rejected him Jesus had to wander about the seacoast of Galilee and through the region of Samaria to find ordinary people or those of the lower class who would listen to him such as ignorant fishermen and tax-collectors. God wanted the religious leaders to be Jesus' disciples. It was a secondary course for Jesus to have to go to those who were not so able and well prepared: "The wedding is ready, but those invited are not worthy. Go therefore, into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' And those servants went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good" (Matt. 22:9-10).

Jesus went to the religious people first and it was tragic that they rejected him and persecuted him. He was forced to witness on the streets to common people. And then when he did gain a few followers, how impressive did Jesus look with these people? Try to imagine yourself living at the time of Jesus. You see Jesus, an ordinary looking man, who has followers that are ordinary looking-- even less than average. He says the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, and that everyone must follow him and then the Bible will be fulfilled!

It was a terrible blow to Jesus that John the Baptist was not beside him. After John continued his ministry separate from him, Jesus said of John, "Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the Kingdom is greater than he" (Matt. 11:11). Everyone is born of a woman and out of every human being John was the greatest because he was chosen to stand as Jesus' main disciple.

If John, as Jesus says, is the greatest person ever born, why would he say he is the least instead of the greatest person in the Kingdom of Heaven? All the prophets in the past testified to the messiah who would come in the future. John the Baptist had the mission to personally testify to the messiah. Therefore his mission was the greatest. He was to have the honor of personally standing next to Jesus and bridge the gap between the people and the Messiah. God raised John to be that person. But when he did not follow and serve Jesus as the Messiah he became the least one.

It was an enormous task to start a messianic movement in first century Palestine and without John consistently testifying to Jesus' status it was vastly more difficult. If John had become one of his chief disciples it would have opened the way easily for Jesus. John could have brought unity between the chosen people of Israel and Jesus. John himself had disciples and if they too would have joined it would have been a tremendous boost for Jesus. Jesus eagerly searched for followers. He sent seventy of his disciples "in pairs to every town he intended to go. He said to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Luke 10:1-2). John was a pathetic failure. It broke Jesus' heart. Soon afterwards, John was beheaded by King Herod. The Cain and Abel foundation for the Kingdom of God was not accomplished.

Because of John's failure to unite with the messiah, Jesus had to restore this Cain/Abel failure and so went to fast for 40 days which laid a preparation for him to start the new and more difficult mission of being both the Messiah and John the Baptist.

Divine Principle is revelations from God

What you are reading are revelations given to Sun Myung Moon. He said once, "You may say, 'Reverend Moon, by what authority are you speaking? What makes you so sure?' I do have the authority to say these things. God showed me the truth. I met Jesus. Jesus himself showed me these truths. And I met John the Baptist, too, in the spirit world. He himself bore witness to the truth of this testimony. After these extraordinary spiritual experiences, when I returned to the reality of this world, the same Bible I had been reading took on a whole new meaning."

Kingdom of Heaven on Earth

Jesus took his 12 disciples and traveled from town to town preaching. He was a powerful speaker with a booming voice. God's spirit was in him, and he spoke with passion. The people were compelled to listen to him.

Jesus was asked how we should pray and he gave an example of a prayer which today is called the Lord's Prayer. In it he says, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). Jesus gave every ounce of his energy to proclaim, "Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:17). Jesus was filled with God's desire and heart to save this world and restore it to the garden of Eden. The essence of all his teaching was the building of the kingdom -- the ideal world on earth.

Jesus was questioned by a skeptical lawyer who asked him what are the laws, and Jesus said we are to honor the laws of the past such as the Ten Commandments, but he said love was higher than laws: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40).

Jesus had come for the whole world. Jesus wanted to tell God's testimony to everyone. He had so much to say, to teach. He barely was able to say anything before he was cut down. He was a clear channel for God to speak. God doesn't drop a book out of the sky; He speaks through the messiah.

God had raised the Jewish people and the rest of the world to a level He hoped where they could simply understand the truth. He had used before Jesus animal offerings and many laws and commandments. But by the time of Jesus, God wanted love, not laws, to guide the people. Jesus honored the Ten Commandments, but he came with a higher law than all the hundreds of laws that the Jewish elders and society abided by. God doesn't want a world of millions of laws. He wants better people--not better laws. God is internal. He seeks to make better people. If the world was filled with perfect people we wouldn't need thousands of laws because everyone would automatically treat each other correctly.

Parables for simple people

Jesus quickly discovered that the people were so primitive and simple that he could only introduce deep concepts of God and his will by telling parables. But even his own disciples had to ask him sometimes what he meant. It was frustrating for Jesus.

He tried to explain the concept that God works through a central point from which the ideal world would come: "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches" (Matt. 13: 31-32). If Adam and Eve had been successful then billions of people who followed them would have lived in the ideal world. Likewise if the Israelites could see that Jesus is the seed, the humble small beginning of God's attempt to build the kingdom of heaven then billions of people in the future would live peacefully in the ideal world on earth and in spirit world.

In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus tries to explain that God loves every human being and will not rest until each and every person is found and restored to him: "If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish" (Matt. 18: 12).

In the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus tried to explain that God is our loving parent who suffers to see his children -- all mankind -- living a terrible life away from him. And God rejoices when we return home. God cannot force us to return to him anymore than the father can force his son to return in the story. Each of us are prodigal sons and daughters who must return voluntarily to God.

Jesus knows God's suffering heart

Jesus was the first person in history to fully know God's grieving and anxious heart. Jesus felt the same feelings that God has for everyone. Jesus was in a hurry and desperate to save this world. He reflected God's heart and truth and was the first true father on earth.

God and Jesus have unconditional love for every person. But God is also a God of principle. Mankind left God and became a mixture of good and evil. God must abide by the principle and allow each person to separate himself from all that is evil and come back to God. God must judge evil. God's love is also conditional in that a relationship with him can only be in the boundaries of goodness. When Adam and Eve fell Satan became the ruler of this world. Jesus wanted to explain this to the Jewish people. Satan rules by lies. Jesus spoke only the truth. Jesus had to not only tell of God's love, but he had to criticize all the false beliefs that people lived by. Jesus said, "The truth will set you free." Mankind is in bondage under Satan. Jesus' words of truth would be the judgement of Satan. Because each person has an original mind of goodness when the truth is spoken ultimately it penetrates the mind and everyone sooner or later will unite with it.

The whole world will be united as one family when every person accepts the truth. And eventually the truth will be heard by everyone. As the truth is spoken some accept it immediately and begin to change their life while others reject it. This doesn't mean they will never accept it. It just takes some people longer to understand. Eventually all mankind will hear and accept the truth. The kingdom of heaven on earth is inevitable. Truth cannot be suppressed forever. It is like grass growing underneath cement. In time it destroys the cement. The world will be restored. Because human history has always been tragic it is easy to be cynical and reject the idea of a perfect world. Jesus' disciples were excited to hear him speak of God's love and the dream of an ideal world about to become a reality. They tried to understand his words of love and his absolute hatred of evil. Unfortunately, they were often confused. And the Jewish people became more and more confused too as Jesus tried to explain the difficult task of changing our lives and restoring this world.

Jesus seen as heretic

He angered the religious leaders when he said things that to them was outright heresy. To them he was a blasphemer of God. Jesus said their understanding of God was wrong. The religious leaders who studied and revered the Bible, the Old Testament, now heard this young man -- a carpenter-- tell them he had a New Testament and it was his teachings which were from God, and he was the living truth. The truth was more than books, and God's ultimate truth manifested in a perfect man -- the messiah.

Jesus told everyone they had to become perfect: "You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). He didn't say a few people had to be perfect. He said clearly every single human being in the world "must" be perfect. Jesus did not say outright that he was the messiah. That was the job of those in the John the Baptist position -- in this case his disciples. Jesus spoke of himself in figurative language explaining his role as the first parent on earth. He had to be followed. To follow him is to follow God. Jesus told the religious leaders that they had to give up their Bible which does not have all the truth about God. Rather than clinging to the Bible, Jesus said he was the living truth. The Bible only gave partial truth. This is why he said to them: "You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life" (John 5:39-40). And he said sorrowfully, "I have come in my father's name, and you do not accept me .... If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me" (John 5:43-46). Even though this truth seemed ridiculous and dangerous to the people, Jesus kept proclaiming the truth. And the truth hurt.

Mankind was to originally get life from Adam and Eve. We lost our spiritual life when Adam and Eve fell. We became sons and daughters of Satan in a pseudo-four-position foundation centered on Satan. Jesus said, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers!'" (Matt. 3:7). Jesus said his father was God and everyone else's god was Satan's: "They said to him, 'Who are you?' Jesus said to them, 'Even what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge: but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from Him.' They did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father. So Jesus said, 'When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.'"

"Jesus then said to the Jews, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.' They answered him, 'We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is it that you say, 'You will be made free?'"

"Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not continue in the house for ever; the son continues for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.'"

"They answered him, 'Abraham is our father.' Jesus said to them, 'If you were Abraham's children, you would do what Abraham did, but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God; this is not what Abraham did. You do what your father did.' They said to him, 'We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.' Jesus said to them, 'If God were your father, you would love me, for I proceeded and came forth from God; I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God hears the words of God; the reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.'"

Jesus seen as blasphemer

When the leaders of the Jewish people treated Jesus unkindly he chastised them by saying, "Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before you" (Matt. 21:31). The people began to hate Jesus for what he said. He seemed a blasphemer of God. He said he could forgive sins on earth. He seemed a heretic, a destroyer of the Mosaic laws, when he told people: "Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets, I have come not to abolish but to fulfill them" (Matt. 5:2). He said he was greater than the holy temple which the Jewish people esteemed as the most holy: "But I say unto you, that in this place is something greater than the temple" (Matt. 12:6).

Jesus called himself the lord of the Sabbath. He did whatever he wanted to on the Sabbath, which violated Mosaic laws. This angered the religious leaders, who accused him: "...Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath..." (Matt. 12:8).

There was even tension between Jesus' and John's disciples over a dispute over fasting: "Then the disciples of John came to him saying, 'Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?' And Jesus said to them, 'Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?'"

Jesus couldn't teach all that he wanted. We read, "We speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen; but you do not receive our testimony. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" (John 3:11-12).

It was frustrating for Jesus that he couldn't even explain the simplest concepts to the people--let alone deep ones. Ultimately Jesus was able to give only a tiny fraction of the truth he knew. Let's look at some examples of how the Jewish people had a difficult time understanding Jesus.

There was a group of people living in Israel in the region of Samaria, called Samaritans. Some of the Samaritans were descended from Jews who had been from the northern kingdom of Israel. When the Assyrians had conquered them, they married foreign people and came back to their land after the Assyrian conquest. Because they were not of pure Israelite blood they were considered to be non-Jews or Gentiles, as they were called. The Jews despised the Samaritans. Some Jews would not even travel though the district where the Samaritans lived. Jesus, of course, went there and even won some followers.

Jesus against racism

When Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan it was very offensive to many Jews. Jesus tried to elevate the Jewish people to love all mankind. He didn't come to just give the Jewish people glory but the Jews were to love all the world. He praised the Good Samaritan who helped a person in need. Jesus was trying to elevate Judaism to its mission of reaching the world with God's message that he loves everyone in his unbounding love and wants everyone to be his son and daughter regardless of their race, nationality or culture. Jesus was totally unprejudiced. Jesus came to end bigotry and racism. He came to unite all races.

Jesus lived in a society with a severe rigid social caste system. To openly eat with outcasts was horrible to the average Israelite and the leaders. Jesus was sociable. He had a well rounded personality. He spent time with every level of person. Many Jews were upset to see him associating with those of society that most Jews would never associate with. Jesus was accused of being not a spiritual person but a materialist who enjoys food and drink: "The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners'" (Matt. 11:19).

Jesus related to different classes of people. Jesus astonished people by fellowship with social outcasts like tax collectors, prostitutes, Roman soldiers and Samaritans. He associated with women and children.

Jesus judged as being immoral

Jesus also appeared to everyone as a destroyer of morality. Jesus was a bachelor and this was unheard of (there are no words in Jesus' native language for being single because everyone married young). Jesus was around 30 years old. Many people thought he was destroying the family system. The Jewish family was extremely close and strong. He seemed to be breaking up the family unit when he said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26). Jesus was not saying that he wanted to destroy families and have people hate one another. He wanted them to hate the evil that is in all of us.

Sometimes Jesus spoke in a military, warlike manner. Jesus was fighting evil. He is fighting Satan. Jesus is not a warmonger, but he is calling everyone to fight for God. This is why he said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 10:34-39). To the Israelites with their close families these were fighting words. Did Jesus carry a sword? No. He doesn't want peace? No. He wants families to hate each other? No. He wants people to die? No.

When Jesus said that "a man's foes will be those of his own household" he was speaking from experience. His own mother and his brothers thought Jesus was crazy. Jesus is teaching that when anyone dramatically changes from being a secular person to being a religious person or when someone changes their religion that person's family will likely be against it. Both St. Francis and Thomas Aquinas were locked away by their families. Their parents used force against them because they objected to their son's choice of religious faith. Aquinas was a teenager who was witnessed to at college by a new branch of Catholicism. His mother thought it was a cult. She was ashamed and sent her sons to kidnap their younger brother. They locked him away for a year before he was able to escape. He was very bitter about this experience and wrote of it later in his life advising parents to not do such a terrible thing.

If we have to choose between Christ and our family -- we must choose Christ. Even Jesus had to give up his family. Jesus embraced everyone, just as God does. God loves everyone equally. In this world that is unthinkable. We live in a world of barriers and hate. The Jewish people hated their enemy the Romans who were ruling them. Can you imagine the reaction he got when he told his disciples that a Roman centurion he met -- a person who was not of the chosen people but who believed in him was the most faithful person he had ever met. He said: "Truly, I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith" (Matt. 8:11).

Jesus confused the people

Everything Jesus did confused the people. It was not proper in Israel for men to associate with women as freely as Jesus did. Once he stopped a crowd of men who were about to stone to death a woman caught in the act of adultery. Jesus, like God, does not discriminate on the basis of sex. Women have equal value to men in Jesus' eyes. God is equally male and female. Women were not inferior, and Jesus spoke to and respected women as much as men. Jesus' view of women was revolutionary. We read in the Bible that women honored Jesus more than his own disciples. For example we read: "Now when Jesus was at Bethany ... a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at the table, but when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, 'Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to poor.'"

But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me" (Matt. 26:6-11). The disciples failed to understand two things here. First, they were upset that Jesus talked to a woman. The disciples "marveled that he was talking with a woman" (John 4:27). Jesus was a bachelor and not only was it not proper to talk to women, the behavior of the woman towards Jesus would seem strange and unacceptable in today's society, let alone in Jewish society. We would say this person is mentally unstable. Jewish society had strict ethics -- so strict that adulterous women could be stoned to death. Nevertheless, Jesus accepted her and reproached his disciples who had rebuked the woman. He praised her. Jesus was above everyone. The Messiah tries to pull us up to a higher level of thinking and feeling.

The second thing they did not understand is how to serve the messiah. They understood from Jesus that he taught a sacrificial life. They mistakenly thought that Jesus was to always live in poverty because he and they would give everything away to others. Jesus tried to explain to them that literally poor people would be with them in their lifetime. The ideal world would not be built immediately. It would take time. In the transition the Messiah should be honored and served with material things. When he said the poor would always be with them he did not mean forever -- just in their lifetimes.

The story of Jesus has been called the greatest story ever told, but it is really the saddest story ever told. Not only was Jesus misunderstood by the people of Israel, but tragically he was misunderstood by his very own disciples who lived with him.

Jesus should have had wealth

Jesus came to save the world. He was the most precious person who ever lived. And while he wanted desperately to save mankind from poverty, physically and spiritually, he also should have been honored and served. It was proper that the woman honored Jesus. Jesus said, "... the Son of man came not to be served but to serve..." (Matt. 20:28). Jesus couldn't ask for wealth. It was the responsibility of his disciples to work hard and get enough money so Jesus could live in splendor, wealth and beauty. He should have had all the luxuries the world could give. He should have had all the fancy foods, the villas, and fine clothes the rich Romans had. Jesus was the first person in history to have earned the right to wealth. The messiah is totally pure. He is completely loving. Only he knows the value of creation and the things of the world. Mankind misuses things. The Messiah cannot misuse anything or misspend any money given him. He is mankind's teacher and shows us how to use things and how to spend money. Absolute power and money could never corrupt him as it does fallen man.

The woman could have poured a ton of expensive ointment on Jesus, and it wouldn't have been enough. She knew the value of Jesus better than his disciples.

His disciples couldn't understand him

Even though Jesus praised his disciples and tried to make them feel pride in being his disciples they were constantly confused. Once a man walked up to Jesus and his disciples and asked Jesus for advice on how to live properly: "Jesus said to him, 'If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come; follow me.' When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions."

The disciples were depressed to hear this. It seemed that Jesus was irrational and asking too much of people by asking everyone to become perfect and that they had to do this by sacrificing. After the wealthy young man walked away we read, "When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished, saying, 'Who then can be saved?' But Jesus looked at them and said to them, 'With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'"

But we read that the disciples keep asking him to explain. Peter speaks for all of them by saying that he and the other disciples have given up everything they had and what would they get for their hard work in witnessing and being persecuted.

Jesus said that anyone who gave up their families and wealth to follow him would be rewarded a hundred times over. And he ended by saying that the "First will be last, and the last first" (Matt. 19:30). In other words he says that although they appear to be the last in society they will eventually be the first; and the first in society such as John the Baptist and all the leaders of Israel would end up last.

Jesus was tough

In movies about Jesus Hollywood usually shows him as a dreamy and quiet person. He is often called "the gentle Nazarene." Jesus did have a gentle, soft and motherly side. But the Bible also uses the symbol of a rock to describe the messiah. Jesus also had a tough and commanding personality. He was not soft-spoken when he preached to the crowds. He was a powerful and passionate speaker with a booming voice.

The Messiah comes to revolutionize people from being self-centered to being altruistic. Jesus was righteous. He used severe language with violent imagery to express his abhorrence of evil. He said, "... if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it from you; ... And if your eye causes you to sin; it is better to pluck it out" (Matt. 18:8-9). He was speaking symbolically, not literally. He was trying to make a point of the seriousness which we should view sin and evil.

Jesus like a doctor

Jesus was like a surgeon who is ruthless in cutting out a diseased part. The surgeon doesn't try to kill the patient, just the evil. And it may seem harsh for him to ask the patient to submit to surgery but it is better for the patient because if he keeps on without having his disease cut out it will kill him. If he submits to the surgeon and goes through the pain of surgery he will live longer and better. The surgeon could say nice things to him. He could say that he is all right and can continue his ways. Or he could say that surgery is necessary but there is no hurry in having it done. But this is not what the patient should hear. Jesus spoke like a doctor. He came to fix this sick world. But the people didn't want to accept Jesus as their doctor. They didn't think they were so sick. In fact they thought that Jesus himself was a disease and he should be destroyed. They were not impressed with his message of an ideal world and that to build it required that they listen to him and follow him. They wanted their own salvation and revenge on their enemies. They didn't want to hear that they must love their enemies at the risk of their life. They didn't want to hear that as the chosen people they were to be God's instruments for the building of the kingdom of heaven on earth. God was speaking through Jesus saying they must carry a cross, not live a spiritually lazy life. The messiah comes to cut out our evil, selfish nature. This is far more difficult to do than cutting out our tonsils. We cannot cure our fallen nature by ourselves any more than we can cut out our tonsils by ourselves. We must submit to the doctor. We have to give the messiah our bodies and our hearts and our minds and even our money just as we pay the doctor. Jesus was the Second Adam. He was the first person to become a Tree of Life.

The Bible says every person is a wild olive shoot that must be grafted into Jesus, the true olive tree, in order that we may become true branches (Rom. 11:17). To graft a plant means we have to cut the plant. It hurts the plant. And it hurts us to give up our arrogance -- to give up thinking that we are the center of the universe and to humble ourselves in prayer to God. Mankind has been centering their lives on themselves and look at this world?

When anyone enters an emergency room in a state of near death they need to follow a doctor. Likewise, the world is every second of the day, one big emergency room and there is only one doctor-- the messiah. If it is very difficult for a foreigner to become a citizen of another country, how difficult is it for us to become citizens of the kingdom of heaven. It is not only possible; it is our destiny. The Messiah must be first in every person's life. This will unite mankind. Nothing else will. We can do nothing without the Messiah.

Jesus pleaded with the people to believe in him. People asked him what they must do: "'What must we do to be doing work of God?' Jesus answered them, 'this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent'" (John 6:28-29). But the people wouldn't believe in his words. His teachings were too advanced for them. They looked at Jesus with fallen, physical eyes-- not true, spiritual eyes. They listened to Jesus with sinful, earthly ears-- not pure, heavenly ears.

Jesus judged as being uneducated

Jesus tried to teach them that words, ideology, and truth would set mankind free. The people would not listen to him because he looked so humble. They knew he had limited formal education. We read heartbreaking passages in the Bible in which Jesus was judged as being a simple, uneducated man who had no right to speak so boldly. They even took offense at him for not having more education. In John 7:15 we read, "How is it that this man has learning when he has never studied?" In Matthew we read that when Jesus taught, the crowds were always "astonished" at Jesus and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? ... Where then did the man get all this? And they took offense at him" (Matt. 13:54-57).

The ideal world cannot come from any fallen man or group of men in this imperfect world. Only the wisdom of God spoken through the messiah -- the original parent can be the truth that will set us free. But mankind is arrogant like Satan, and we place our knowledge before God.

The prevailing view of mankind is that there can never be an ideal world. We have limited thinking. But with God, Jesus taught, all things are possible. So the Messiah does not get his learning from a school or seminary. It is they who must study him.

The truth hurts

As a final attempt to gain their attention, Jesus performed miracles. He should never have had to do that. Adam was barred from the Tree of Life, i.e., perfection, by a flaming sword. That flaming sword was God's truth. Jesus brought that flaming sword; he brought the truth that could save Israel and the world. Jesus said, "I have not come to bring peace, but a sword" (Matt. 10:34). Jesus did not carry a literal sword and chop people up. He came with the truth, and the truth is not peaceful. It unnerves us. It shakes us up. It scares us and challenges us. It criticizes us. It hurts to hear the truth from God.

Jesus came not only to give God's love but God's Judgement of evil. God is at war with Satan and therefore each of us should see that too and hate evil in ourselves and everywhere else. Jesus doesn't come to just talk of the positive. He confronts evil and judges it. The sword Jesus spoke of is symbolic for truth. This is the meaning of the sword that guards the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. Jesus was the first Tree of Life -- the first perfect man. The first true Adam. The truth sets us free, not swords. And the truth is that we are at war with Satan and must fight.

Jesus is not a pacifist

The ultimate war against Satan is the war of words. But there are also times when evil must be fought with force. God and Jesus are not pacifists. For example, it was God's will that America defend itself and fight for freedom in World War II. First Corinthians 15:45 says, "Thus it is written, 'the first man Adam became a living being: the last Adam became a life giving spirit." The first Adam was the Adam in the garden of Eden who hoped to attain the Tree of Life. And Jesus came as a second Adam. Jesus is described as a tree in John 15:5: "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."

Jesus was the Tree of Life. He focused on teachings, on words of truth, not baptism or even faith healings. But they wouldn't listen. In desperation he turned to faith healings. But the Jewish people were so uneducated and primitive that Jesus went down to their level and performed magic tricks. He said, "Even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father" (John 10:38).

But they couldn't believe the works either. They even thought Jesus was the devil himself for exorcizing people and performing other works. They said, "It is only Beelzebub, the prince of Demons, that this man casts out demons" (Matt. 12:24).

When Jesus went to the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth he proclaimed who he was and the people pushed him out of the temple and towards a cliff at the edge of the city in an attempt to kill him. But before he was thrown off the cliff he spiritually parted the mob and walked through them. We read, "And he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up; and he went to the synagogue, as his custom was, on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read" (Luke 4:16). He read a passage and we read, "And he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" (Luke 4:20). When he saw they did not believe him, he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown."

"When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and put him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong. But passing through the midst of them he went away."

Jesus heartbroken

It broke Jesus' heart that the chosen people would not listen to him. There are passages that tell of his agony and pain when Israel rejected him: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate" (Matt. 23:37-38). This shows God's feminine and motherly heart towards his children. In the original Greek this passage is inadequately translated because it does not give the exact meaning of what the author is saying. The word compassion used in Greek means guts or entrails meaning that Jesus felt in the very depth of his feelings his love and pain for mankind.

Jesus became desperate. He ached and wept because the people would not listen to him tell of the revelations of God he had received. After three years of preaching Jesus found himself alone. God's heart was broken again. God could see that Satan had turned the people against Jesus so much that it was now inevitable that Jesus would be killed by his own people. Some didn't like his message; some were critical of his lifestyle; some disagreed with his political attitude; some were angered by what to them seemed arrogant authority. Jesus had to tell his disciples: "Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ" (Matt. 16:20). Jesus said those who follow him will be "hated" as he is hated now.

God told him on the Mount of Transfiguration that his mission must change, and he must now go to the cross and give only partial salvation to mankind in the spirit world. Moses and Elijah appeared to him. Peter was excited to see this but Jesus surprised them by changing his approach. Jesus asked his disciples, "...who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, 'you are the Christ.' And he charged them to tell no one about him" (Mark 8: 29-30).

The disciples had barely known him. They were simple, uneducated and not so religious. When Jesus told Peter he would betray him, Peter denied it and swore he would never betray him. But Jesus is a keen observer of human beings, and he sees our spiritual level just as a teacher can see the level of his students. Peter says, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will not deny you.' And so said all the disciples" (Matt. 26:33).

Jesus seen as a criminal

Jesus was finally considered a national criminal who threatened the security of the state by trying to be King of Israel and was chosen over the robber Barabbas to be crucified: "Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the people to ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor again said to them, 'Which of the two do you want me to release for you?' And they said, 'Barabbas'. Pilate said to them, 'Then what shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?' They all said, 'Let him be crucified'" (Matt. 27: 20-22).

If Jesus had loyal followers he would have been able to continue his mission, but because he was totally alone and denied by everyone Satan had a field day. He was there looking on and able to fire up everyone against Jesus. If even one person or a few would have believed in him and followed him totally he could have built a movement on those few.

Messiah betrayed

All his disciples deserted him. They literally fell asleep when he prayed at Gethsemane. Peter denied him three times. Why? After living with Jesus day and night for three years they had not grown enough and Jesus had not been able to explain enough. Jesus said to one person to let the dead bury the dead. We do not like to hear anyone criticize our family. The truth hurts. We can't see our situation. We only know the kingdom of hell, not absolute love and goodness. Satan was effective in possessing the people and he personally entered Judas. He clouded the minds of the other eleven disciples at the moment Jesus needed them.

Satan could attack. Jesus found no faith and was not protected. God had worked 2,000 years to educate and raise the people to a level he felt they would protect the Messiah and the chosen people along with everyone else did not protect the Second Adam. Jesus explained how alone he was in a parable. He said he was a bridegroom and there was no wedding guests so he couldn't have a marriage (Mark 2:19).

Jesus could not flee to another country. Israel was the only nation he could work with. Because Israel, like Cain, killed his brother, God had to move on to a new Adam and a new nation for him to be born in. Jesus couldn't go on because even though he was a successful Abel he needed Cain to unite. When Israel failed then God had to find another Abel. And not only Israel but everyone did not unite with Jesus. The whole world rejected him. The Jewish people were the chosen people and lost their status. The Roman's represented the rest of the world and crucified him--a Roman torture and death--not a Jewish means of death. And the disciples represented the future Christianity. Because of these failures the Jews, Christians and the rest of the world would suffer for the death of Jesus. He was murdered by everyone and for 2000 years mankind has paid for that crime.

Jesus then began to speak of a second coming of Christ. He did not mention this at the beginning of his ministry. He started talking of a second coming only after it became apparent that he would not be accepted by the people. Jesus at the end of his ministry said, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). He was preparing the world for the second Messiah. The chosen people would be those who followed him and the foundation would be worldwide.

God saw that everyone was not going to accept Jesus as their savior. Jesus' primary mission of building the kingdom of heaven on earth would have to be accomplished in the future by a Third Adam. At the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus took three disciples, Peter, John and James to pray. During his prayer Moses and Elijah appeared to him: "And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem" (Luke 9:30-31).

Cross was secondary course

The cross was not God's primary will; it was a secondary course that gives man a spiritual sanctuary for those who die believing in Christ.

Just before the crucifiction, Jesus wept and prayed three times in the garden of Gethsemane. He pleaded with God that he not be crucified. He asked God three times to live. We read of Jesus' grief and anguish: "And taking with him Peter and two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them "my soul is very sorrowful even to death; remain here, and watch with me." And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Matt: 26:39).

Many Christians have interpreted this incident as an example of Jesus being like an ordinary human being who would not want to die. But Jesus did not pray from fear, timidity or selfishness. There have been many imperfect men and women who have willingly died for a cause they believed in. The first Christians martyrs and many martyrs from Christ who followed were not afraid to die. The early Christians sang songs as they held hands with their children as the lions came at them. Yet they did not die praying, "Let this cup pass from me." In American history, many men have given their lives for their country. One such man was Nathan Hale, a young officer in the Revolutionary War. He was captured by the British army and sentenced to be hanged. His last words were, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." He did not say, "Let this cup pass from me." Jesus is far greater than Nathan Hale. Jesus was not afraid to die. He prayed asking if there was any chance to continue and complete his mission as the second Adam. Jesus was in anguish because he knew the consequences of his being murdered.

Jesus was the first person in history to know God's sorrowful heart. Jesus wanted to comfort God -- to relieve His grief. By being crucified God's divine will would be frustrated again. Jesus knew God's heart would be broken to have to see not only his son murdered, but He would have to endure watching mankind continue to be tortured in Satan's prison on earth with even greater terror and pain because they killed their savior.

Mankind punished for the killing of Jesus

Those who commit crimes bring punishment upon themselves. He knew that for the crime of killing him there would be terrible punishment for mankind. He knew that his countrymen, the Jewish people, would be punished for thousands of years. Israel had suffered for 2,000 years in preparation for the messiah and now all that would have been in vain and they would suffer even more in the future generations to come. History has shown the terrible suffering of the Jewish people for the last 2,000 years. Jesus deeply loved his people, and it agonized him to know the bleak destiny facing them. While he was carrying his cross, some women followed him crying in anguish to see him suffering, but Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children" (Luke 23:28). He said, "... your enemies will ... dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another in you; because you did not know the time of your visitation" (Luke 19:44). We all know the tragic history of the Jewish people and the terrible persecution of Christians especially the early church in Rome in which they tried to hide in the catacombs but were hunted down and slaughtered. Jesus also knew that his followers would suffer. He was walking the path of the cross and their fate would be the same.

And finally Jesus knew that the whole world would continue to be ruled by Satan. For thousands of years billions of people would have to continue to live in this hell on earth.

But God saw how hopeless Jesus' situation was. Even Jesus' disciples slept when he prayed in Gethsemane. Jesus was alone. When the Roman guards came and took him away, he knew it was hopeless, too.

Because Israel didn't give their lives to help build the Ideal World, Jesus gave his life on the cross. Because of this full sacrifice for God, Satan couldn't claim Jesus. And based on this condition of giving, God could try again and have Christ return.

Jesus prayed at Gethsemene, asking God if it were possible to stay on earth and bring complete salvation, both physical and spiritual, but he could not do this. His mission changed.

If Jesus had not gone to the cross mankind would not have received spiritual salvation-- a spiritual sanctuary. Jesus had to lay a foundation for the Third Adam to come by loving God and mankind. He showed total absolute love on the cross.

This change in Jesus' mission happened so fast that Jesus didn't have time to explain it to his disciples. They were shocked. Jesus' chief disciple, Peter, was so upset he exclaimed, "God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you!" (Matt. 16:22). It is obvious he was so upset because what Jesus was saying was in complete opposition to everything he had been teaching up till then. Jesus was firm with Peter and said to him when he tried to stop Jesus from going to the cross, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men" (Matt. 16:23). This was confusing to Peter. He didn't know that the Kingdom of Heaven on earth was now not at hand. He didn't know that world salvation would have to be postponed.

Jesus said, "He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day" (John 12:48). We judge people in society by our court system. The judge pronounces judgement according to the law. In the universe, God is the judge. Jesus was the attorney defending mankind. Satan was the prosecutor. The earthly court and the heavenly court are the same in that they judge by words, not fire.

Jesus came to judge Satan's lies and false teachings. Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life by the truth. Jesus said the truth will set you free.

Two thousand years ago the first perfect man walked the earth. He was born unknown, and he died unknown. He was accused of being a criminal. Pontius Pilate could find nothing wrong with him but the Jewish people shouted "Crucify him, Crucify him! Jesus was beaten with whips that had steel balls to cut the flesh, a crown of thorns were placed on his head and the blood trickled down his face. The crowds mocked him as the King of Kings. To support him on the cross, they nailed spikes into his hands and feet. The blood poured over his body. At the peak of his pain, he looked at the crowd below and said, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

Truth from unexpected sources

If we can learn anything from history, especially from what happened to Jesus, it is that truth often comes from totally unlikely people. Einstein is the greatest scientist of the 20th century and perhaps of all time. He revolutionized our view of the universe. Was he world renowned when he gave the world the theory of relativity? Was he a professor with a Ph.D.? Was he a graduate student working on one at a major university? Was he an old man who had studied all his life? No. He wasn't any of those things. He was a young man--25 years old who had worked for years as a low paid clerk in a patent office in Berne, Switzerland.

And we can learn from history that those who do bring new truth and act as God's champions are often hated. Because the truth always rises and eventually everyone sees it, they are revered later. Everyone loves George Washington now. But in 1776 the majority of people in America did not see him as a freedom fighter but as a traitor and sided with the British soldiers in the Revolutionary War.

Learn from history

We must learn from history and be careful not to make the same tragic mistakes as our ancestors have done. God is on a crusade. The messiah is on a crusade. God and Jesus are watching us. Let's be open to hearing their words. Jesus' death was devastating to his disciples. They soon got back together and from them the Christian Church was born. God had to begin all over again and build a new chosen people. The disciples were fired up to go out and preach.

Jesus seen as mystical

It was such a big stumbling block for them to go witnessing for their Lord who had been crucified. To counter any thoughts that Jesus had failed as the Messiah and to make his death not look like a scandal Christians began to see Jesus more and more in mystical terms. Eventually they began to mistakenly think that it was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, and they also began to see Jesus more and more in mystical terms. Eventually they began to see Jesus as God himself.

The earliest parts of the New Testament do not portray Jesus as God. When Jesus is described as God this indicated the tendency of the later writers in the first-century Roman world which gave divinity to exceptional men. Emperors such as Augustus were called "lord and God" or "divine savior." It was easy 2000 years ago to turn Jesus into a god to be worshiped. The idea that Jesus was God had become widespread by the middle of the second century.

Jewish theologians, though, had never believed or written that the messiah would be incarnate God. The Jews expected the messiah to be a human being-- probably a descendent of King David, or a priest, or a military hero who would drive the Romans into the sea. Some believed in a supernatural figure as Daniel prophesied coming out of the clouds, but even then they believed this savior would not be God himself.

Jesus -- a man, not God

Christianity has incorrectly interpreted some passages from the Book of John as showing that Jesus is God himself. John 1:1 says,"In the beginning was the word, and the Word was God". And John 1:10 says, "He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not" (John 1:10).

The "He" in John 1:10 means the first perfect man. God had intended Adam to be that person. Before God created the universe He had a plan, a blueprint: "In the beginning was the blueprint or idea." God built the universe before he could create Adam and Eve. They had to have a home to live in.

Man was the model of the universe. John 1:10 says, "The world was made through him and the world knew him not." This means that Adam was the model of creation, but since he fell and lost that position, Jesus became the model because he was the first perfect person. Jesus was the first person to be the incarnation of the word. This is what he meant when he said, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" (John 14:10). Jesus visibly manifested our invisible God. Jesus was one in heart with God. Therefore, to see Jesus is to see the human expression of God. It is like saying a husband and wife are one, but they are separate people. Jesus did not pre-exist before Adam. Jesus was a man. It is mythology to think Jesus is God himself who dressed up like a man and came as an alien visiting planet earth.

Jesus looked no different from other men. His own brothers saw nothing unusual about him. It was not until after the crucifixion that one of his brothers, James, joined the young cult of Christianity. The disciples of Jesus did not see him as God who had predestined himself to go to the cross, but as their brother, a sinless man who knew God. Jesus said we are to be perfect like him. Paul said we are God's temple and God's spirit dwells in us.

Man's immaturity has led him to defy his heroes. Jesus is not God but is always trying to take us to God: "I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I" (John 14:28). Logic and common sense says that Jesus is not God. It is ludicrous to think that Jesus talked to himself when he cried out on the cross: "My God why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). How could he forsake himself? God forsook Jesus because He couldn't bear to see His son killed. Could you watch your child receive capital punishment? Wouldn't you turn your eyes?

Jesus' mission was to bridge the gap between God and mankind. The Bible says, "For there is one God and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus ...." (I Tim. 2:5). If Jesus were God then he would have a more intimate relationship than we could. We can't really identify with this. To see Jesus as a man does not lower his divinity but makes him a real savior because his is truly one of us. Another incorrect view of Jesus is the traditional Christian belief that Jesus was predestined to die on the cross.

PREDESTINATION

Christians believe that Jesus' death was predestined because of the prophecy in Isaiah 53: "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed" (Is. 53:4-5). This has been interpreted as a prophecy of a Lord of Suffering. But the Jewish people did not think the Messiah would suffer, have to die and then return later as a Lord of Glory. The cross was not predestined anymore than Adam's fall was predestined.

If the crucifixion was predestined, why didn't the disciples understand this and be happy? If the crucifixion was the only way Jesus could save mankind, why were the disciples angry and say it was a mistake? Peter said, "You denied the Holy and Righteous one, and killed the author of life" (Acts 3:15). Stephen told a crowd of religious leaders, "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your father did, so do you. Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered" (Act 7:51-53).

Later, St. Paul said, "None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory" (I Cor. 2:8). Jesus' disciples understood Jesus far better than the Christians of today. They knew Jesus wanted to build the Kingdom of heaven on earth in their lifetimes. They knew he didn't come to die.

And if the crucifixion is the predestined will of God then Judas would be helping God. But this is preposterous. Judas himself realized his terrible mistake and committed suicide. We don't honor Judas today. People who commit serious crimes are often led by an evil angel or an evil spirit man. After the crime takes place the spirit often leaves the person who then can only say he was out of control. Satan personally worked with Judas: "Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot ... he went away and conferred with the chief priests and captains how he might betray him to them" (Luke 22:3). Judas later threw the 30 pieces of silver back and hung himself. He was possessed. Satan is powerful. Judas' crime was so great that Jesus said of him: "the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born" (Matt. 26:24).

If God had wanted Jesus to be killed, why would he have prepared the Jewish people to accept the messiah? God had spent 2000 years trying to raise Israel to accept Jesus as the messiah, not kill him. God laboriously and painstakingly had the Israelites center their faith on the ark of the covenant, then the temple. He sent prophets to keep the people on course. He tried to teach them to be like sheep and to be humble so that when the shepherd or messiah came they would unite and support him. If God had wanted Jesus to be killed, He could have sent Jesus to a land of barbarians, and they would have killed him sooner.

Finally, Jesus himself said that he did not have to be crucified to save mankind. In the parable of the vineyard Jesus tells the story of a "householder" who is symbolic of God who planted a vineyard which is symbolic of Israel and "let it out to tenants" who symbolize the Israelites. The tenants kill the householder's servants and then his son. The owner expected them to "respect" his son and was sorrowful when they killed him. Jesus is explaining that God wanted the chosen people of Israel to respect Jesus-- not kill him.

Once a disciple asked Jesus, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?" Jesus did not say "Crucify me on a cross so I can give you salvation." Instead, Jesus said, "It is the work of God that you believe in him whom he has sent" (John 6:29).

For sin to be forgiven, the people simply had to believe in him. Jesus said that "The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sin" (Matt. 9:6). He didn't say he had to die to forgive sin. He could forgive sin on earth.

If the chosen people of Israel had accepted Jesus they would have been saved. Jesus pleaded with the Israelites to believe in him: "And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it saying, 'Would that even today you knew the things that make for peace. But now they are hid from your eyes because you did not know the time of your visitation'" (Luke 19:41-44). Jesus wept. Can you picture Jesus crying? Jesus cried more than any person who has ever lived, and he didn't cry for himself. He cried because he knew he could end all suffering, but his fellow countrymen would not listen to him. Jesus said, "The truth will set you free" (John 8:32). But the people wouldn't hear him. He never said the crucifixion would set anybody free. Mankind is still living a hell on earth. Obviously the crucifixion has not stopped Satan from being the ruler of this world.

The cross was a victory for Satan, but the resurrection was a victory for God. Because Jesus was killed before he could establish the kingdom of Heaven on earth there is no kingdom of heaven in the spirit world. Through Jesus' victory of his perfect life and death he was able to open up spirit world to a higher level which he called Paradise. The first person to go there was a thief. On the cross Jesus turned to him and said, "Today, thou shalt be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Complete salvation would have to be postponed until the second Advent. Another man must be born as Jesus was and gain total victory by showing us the way to totally liquidate evil from the earth and establish the kingdom of God. Jesus died too soon. He didn't have enough time to teach us how to do this. He did not fail; everyone else failed.

The core and very foundation of Christianity is the belief that Jesus came to die on the cross. God and Jesus' heart have been pierced over and over for 2,000 years in seeing Christians preach this. Christians deeply misunderstood both God and Christ.

We are the master of our fate. God emphasizes that man's effort can bring results. We read in Matt. 7:7, "ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be open to you." If everything were predestined, of what use would be man's efforts to change his life or the world?

Calvin was wrong when he thought that everyone was either predestined to go to heaven or to hell. In general God does not know what anyone is going to do anymore than you know what someone is going to do. The Divine Principle shows us that partial predestination is true. God's will, his dream of an ideal world, will become a reality some day. Satan's reign of terror is only temporary. The reason Satan has continued as long as he has is because of the constant failure of God's chosen people to fulfill their portion of responsibility. The Israelites failure slowed God's Providence of Restoration. God's goal of an ideal world is predestined. The formula to reach that ideal is predestined, but the process of history to reach that goal is not.

Rev. Moon speaks out strongly teaching Christians that they have deeply misunderstood Jesus' mission. He says, "Christianity today has maintained the traditional view that Jesus came simply to die on the cross. This is how Christians have rationalized the murder of the Son of God!" And he explains that Christians must understand that God's way logical: "Today, people cannot believe anything unless it is logical. God is truth, and truth is logical. There can be no perfection in ignorance."

"Christian prayer alone could not lift Neil Armstrong to the moon. Scientific truth was necessary. I myself was once a student of science, and I know that God is also the God of science. God's message has to be scientific, logical, and convincing to men of the 20th century."

TRINITY

Christianity has also misunderstood the meaning of the trinity. Christianity says that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit created the world. When the Bible says, "Let us make man in our image" it is interpreted as these three beings talking. But in reality God is only one being. God is talking to the angels. At the Fall mankind lost parents. We are born into a sinful world and raised by sinful parents. To restore this we have to be reborn.

Jesus had the unique mission to be the first true parent. All mankind were to be "reborn" through him. Every person will eventually accept him as the first man who grew to perfection. Jesus was unequivocal in saying that we too must reach the goal of perfection: "You therefore must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48). The book of Matthew is written in Greek. The word "perfect" (Greek: tellios) means "end" or "goal". The goal of every person is to grow up to absolute maturity.

Adam and Eve were unable to do this. They fell at the top of the growth stage.

If they had not fallen and reached perfection, they would have formed the first trinity of God, Adam and Eve.

Original Trinity

Their children would have been born sinless and this would have been the first true family. From their family would have come societies, nations and the world.

The world would have been one huge family. Tragically, Satan usurped God's position. He stole Adam and Eve from God and has become our Father.

God sent Jesus as the second Adam, and God had prepared a second Eve. If they had married they would have had sinless children and from them would have come the ideal world.

The Jewish people, old and young alike, were supposed to accept Jesus and his wife as their true parents. Their physical parents gave them physical life, but they could not give them spiritual life.

Jesus could teach people spiritually. He wanted to make every family completely centered on God. Adam and Eve failed to accomplish the first blessing of uniting with God and growing to perfection. For this reason their marriage and their family was a failure. To correct this Jesus came to help everyone fulfill the first blessing and reach perfection. The first blessing, to be fruitful, means we are to center our mind and body on God. Jesus represented God. Therefore, everyone was supposed to center their life on Jesus as their true parent. This is why he said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6). Jesus was a mediator to restore our relationship to God.

Adam and Eve fell because they "loved" each other more than God. To restore their failure, Jesus said we must love God more than each other, even more than our own family. This was very difficult for the Jewish people because they had very strong families. Nevertheless, Jesus came to make them stronger. He said, "He who loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matt. 10:37). "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 14:26).

The word "hate" is an unfortunate translation. Jesus meant that we are not to hate our family, but that we are to hate the fallen or satanic part that exists in our family. He wants us to hate evil, not people.

Every person, he taught, must be "born anew" (John 3:3). Adam and Eve and all parents since are false parents. We need true parents to give us true life not the false life we have in this sinful world. Jesus was a true father.

Jesus was trying to say something like this, "Temporarily, I want you to love me more than anyone else on earth. I will teach you about God. I want you to become like children so you can be reborn and enter the kingdom of heaven. Your parents love you, but they aren't sinless. They don't know God. They cannot help but be failures as parents. After I teach you how to become perfect like me, then you will be equal to me. I am simply an older brother sent by God, our parents, to help you as a prodigal son and daughter to come home. When you are sinless and perfect your marriage will be eternal and your family will be eternal. Then the whole world will live as one huge family."

Jesus' disciples deserted him. Peter, the closest, denied him three times. They had lived with him day and night for three years. It was difficult. We are all immature, bad children. All we know is hell. We don't know heaven or perfection. We are lost and arrogant like Satan. The messiah comes out of nowhere and says he's more important than anything. He asks us to join him on a crusade to spread the good news. He says he is first. He is the world's leader. He even says everyone is dead.

One man wanted to follow Jesus but said he first had to help his relative bury his deceased father. Jesus not only told him not to go but that his other relatives were as dead as his Father: "Leave the dead to bury the dead, but as for you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60).

Jesus is trying to say there's a war going on and our primary mission is to witness the good news that the messiah brings. Jesus was strict. He said that his followers must never go back but stay with him for the rest of their lives: "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62).

When the people heard this they did not follow him, and they killed him. This is Satan's world, and God will be the reverse of this world. The messiah is in a hurry. Jesus had only a few years to accomplish his task. He wanted a mass movement in his lifetime. He wanted the entire nation of Israel behind him, and then he wanted to go to the world.

If everyone had united, Jesus and his wife could have restored every family to be as God-centered as his family. Then Satan would lose his power over man, repent, pay for his crimes and be restored to Lucifer.

But Jesus was murdered before he could marry. He went into the spirit world and became the spiritual True Father. The Holy Spirit, a feminine essence of God, took the place of the second Eve and became the spiritual True Mother.

From the spirit world, Jesus and the Holy Spirit have been working as spiritual true parents for the last 2000 years. Christians have been reborn through them spiritually.

HOLY SPIRIT

Soon after Jesus died a Pentecost occurred in which people were filled with the spirit and had spiritual experiences such as speaking in tongues. The Holy Spirit was given then. This is a feminine spirit to complement Jesus. To be reborn spiritually and enter a spiritual sanctuary called Paradise after we die we have to believe in Jesus. To have Jesus as a parent God gave the Holy Spirit, a special feminine essence, as the position of bride to Jesus. Originally the trinity was to be Jesus and a real woman on earth as his bride united with God.

But that trinity was changed to a secondary one of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Mankind has been allowed to be partially reborn. The Third Adam will come and give full salvation to those on earth and in spirit world.

The belief that the "trinity" is God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit as three Gods who existed before Adam and Eve and all three created the world is not correct. The Trinitarian creed was first used by Christians almost 200 years after Jesus died. The traditional belief of making Jesus God himself comes from people who did not know Jesus personally. God is not the three-in-one as taught. Jesus was a man and the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost.

The Hebrew word for spirit (ruach) is feminine; the Greek word (pneuma) is neuter. In John's Gospel, the Holy Spirit is said to be a comforting spirit which can be seen as feminine. While some early Christians believed the Holy Spirit was a female spirit, most Christians thought of it as a masculine being. "Also, the Jewish tradition was on the whole extremely masculine-oriented and hostile to all feminine definitions of the Godhead. Consequently, at Nicea and Chaledon the ecumenical councils affirmed that God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit were distinct yet equal, consubstantial and all of the same sex" (Unification Theology, Young Kim p. 201). The Holy Spirit is not a being. In Genesis the Spirit is God's Breath, and the Fourth Gospel describes the Spirit as a "wind". God's essence is the polarity of masculine and feminine; and the Holy Spirit is a mother spirit -- the counterpart to Jesus' masculinity and serves the maternal function of comforting, nurturing and nourishing Christians.

The Trinitarian creed that is widely used in Catholic and many Protestant worship services is not Biblical. The word "Trinity" (trias) never occurs in the New Testament. Jesus' disciples and the very early Christians did not believe in a trinity. The first theologian to write of the trinity was Theophilus of Antioch (circa 180 A.D.). Christian theology always refers to Matt. 28:19 as showing proof of the trinitarian formula but this statement is only the theology of its author and was not spoken by Jesus. The oldest tradition in the New Testament clearly asserts Jesus as a purely human savior.

Because Jesus' primary mission of marrying and building the first perfect family on earth was not completed, another man must come to fulfill that mission -- the Second Messiah, the Third Adam. For the kingdom of Heaven on earth to come a true family must pioneer the way for others to follow.

The last book in the Bible, Revelations, speaks of the divine marriage of the third Adam as the Marriage of the Lamb, i.e. the marriage of the first true Adam and true Eve, mankind's ultimate hope for salvation.

To be saved we ultimately need two people -- a man and a woman who will establish the first true family. Jesus wanted so badly to marry and with his wife lead the world into perfection.

Jesus spoke to the people in parables, but to his close disciples he revealed more. Jesus told them: "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables."

Jesus can only reveal so much truth at one time. It is like teaching a child mathematics. You do not start with calculus. There is a growth period and as the people grew in understanding then Jesus could reveal more. The disciples knew him better so he could reveal more to them. But he had to hold back so many things even from them. Jesus knew the Fall, for example, but his disciples were not ready to hear it. Jesus did not have time to raise them higher.

The disciples did know that Jesus' mission was to build a one world family. They saw Jesus' mind and body were one -- that his words and deeds were one. But when they heard that he had an alternative course of the path of the cross they just couldn't understand. Traditional Christian thought says that Jesus was predestined to die on the cross is incorrect. It was a secondary mission.

Jesus' mission was to restore the failure of Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam had a physical body and failed to marry after he was perfect. The mission of Adam was transferred to Jesus, but because Jesus was killed before he could start a perfect family, then his mission was transferred to another man who must come as a third Adam and like Adam and Jesus be born on earth. Sin came into the world on earth and sin must be erased first on earth. In the Lord's prayer, Jesus said, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt. 6:10). He also said, "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:9). When sin is erased from earth then sin will be erased from everyone in the spirit world, too.

RESURRECTION

Christian theology is also incorrect in its teachings on Resurrection. Some Christians believe they will rise with their physical bodies raptured up into heaven at the second coming. Christianity teaches that those who have died are asleep and when the second coming arrives their physical bodies will be miraculously put together again and float to heaven. We learn in the Divine Principle that everyone who has died is not asleep but is living in spirit world. We read in the Bible that Moses and Elijah talked to Jesus.

First Thessalonians says, "Then we who are alive ... shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thess. 4:17). Some Christians believe they are going "up" into the sky. They interpret this passage literally. But it is symbolic. The key word is "up". When we say someone has advanced in life we say "he has gone up in the world." When we say someone has gone up the ladder of success we are using figurative language. The same is true in this quotation. When we unite our minds and bodies with the messiah and live God's way of life then our value has increased.

Also, heaven is not a physical place in the universe. After our physical body dies, we live forever in the spirit world. The messiah doesn't come to end physical death. The messiah himself physically dies.

First Thessalonians 4:16-18 says "caught up". This is a translation from a Greek word meaning to snatch away. Other synonyms would be grab, seize, pluck, steal, kidnap. In effect there is often an abrupt change when people turn to God. Jesus' physical body did not go up into the sky. He did not have a corporeal resurrection or resuscitation. His spiritual body went into the spirit world, and Jesus cannot return with his physical body.

Man's spirit body goes into heaven imperfect. We are not living in an ideal world on earth and our ancestors are not living an ideal life in the spirit world.

We said earlier that for our spirit man to grow, it must receive vitality elements from our physical body. People in the spirit world can never have their physical body again and cannot grow to perfection by themselves. Spirit men in the spirit world cannot perfect themselves unless they cooperate with people on earth. They can be resurrected or elevated and ascend the thousands of different levels of spirit world by cooperating with earthly people.

To grow they must come to earth and help men and women. In this way they can receive vitality elements for their spirit man. By doing this they can be resurrected. For example, Elijah grew spiritually because he helped John the Baptist by giving him spiritual guidance. In fact, though you cannot see them, people are working with you now from the spirit world.

The truth sets people free. And if you receive the truth you grow spiritually. And if you are growing, the people in spirit world can benefit as well in their spiritual advancement. God continually has brought higher truth to mankind throughout history. He has given truth in stages. God gave laws and asked for animal sacrifices from the early Israelites in the Old Testament. When Jesus came, God gave a higher truth of love and asked for faith in the New Testament. Jesus died before he could reveal the full truth. Today we have the complete truth in the Divine Principle, the completed Testament, which can guide us to spiritually grow by living God's way of life.

Resurrection means to be raised from the dead. This doesn't mean that our physical bodies will rise into the air, but that we will pass from spiritual death to spiritual life. God told Adam and Eve they would die if they ate the fruit in the Garden of Eden. They ate the fruit and lived many years afterwards. Obviously, God was not talking about physical death when he spoke to Adam and Eve. He told them they would die spiritually and they did. They lost their five spiritual senses and communication with God. This is true death. Sadly, mankind has inherited sin from Adam and Eve. We are born separated from God.

Everyone must be restored spiritually. When we accept Jesus we can begin the process of coming back to God. Nothing in our life is more important than that. Jesus came with the ability to restore our relationship with God. All mankind needs to be reborn. If we accept Jesus we begin to be reborn and restored. But mankind will become completely reborn when the third and final Adam comes.

Many Christians put exclusive emphasis upon being saved by the blood of Jesus. They do not know that Jesus forgave sin before he was crucified. The Bible tells the story of a prostitute who was about to be stoned to death. Jesus said to the people, "Whoever is without sin, let him cast the first stone." Everyone dropped their stones and drifted away in shame. Jesus then said to the woman, "Has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Jesus offered forgiveness. No one had to wait for Jesus to die. Jesus wanted to forgive sin at that time. He did not give a raincheck saying, "I will forgive you and save you, but wait until I am crucified on the cross." Jesus did not have to die to save us. God's original plan of salvation was for Jesus not to die. The crucifixion was a secondary course that gave only spiritual salvation.

God's desire is that we become one with Jesus. The meaning of the sacrament is deeply serious. Christians should feel they are actually eating Jesus' flesh and blood when they drink the wine and eat the bread. If we can love Jesus so much that nothing else in the world is more important and give our heart and soul to him then the Holy Spirit can come to us and give us rebirth. This is the essence of Christianity, but it is not the ultimate step we are to make. Christianity can only offer rebirth in spirit which elevates us to the level of adopted son and daughter. When the Second Messiah comes we shall be given the power to be reborn again in the body as well which will elevate us to be the sons and daughters of God.

When we are reborn or resurrected to life we do not change externally. It's an internal change. When Adam and Eve fell they did not change externally. When we regain our spiritual life we will not change externally, but internally.

The Divine Principle shows that God loves every person, and that He won't rest until everyone is home with him. God won't rest until everyone is in heaven. God promised that to Adam and Eve in the three great blessings, and God will never stop working until all of us, his children, are living in the ideal world.

REINCARNATION

The theory of reincarnation is incorrect. God created each of us to have only one physical body and one spiritual body. When our physical body dies our spiritual body goes to the spirit world. Our spirit man cannot go into a mother's womb again and take on a new physical body.

The theory of reincarnation came about because of spirit men returning to earth to work with people on earth. Because no one has reached perfection on earth spirit men need to come down to earth and cooperate with people. A spirit man can get vitality elements for his growth from the physical body of the person in whom he or she is working with.

In some cases spirit men so dominate people on earth that they tell the experiences the spirit man had while he lived on earth. When outsiders look at this it appears to be the reincarnation of a passed away spirit man. Memories that some people believe they have of earlier lives they led when they were a man or woman living in the past are really those spirits sharing their lives with the actual person on earth. It is so real because it is the actual lives of another person or persons. In certain people spirits return to help transfer their mission to another. Elijah did that with John the Baptist although John didn't know it.

Child prodigies are explained by understanding that spirit men are helping. It is not reincarnation. This also explains speaking in tongues, psychic healing, spiritual possession, multiple personality and some insanities.

Christianity calls the belief that the spirits of those who have died can make contact with the living on earth--Spiritualism or spiritism. Many Christians interpret the Bible as saying that the dead "sleep" in their graves until a future resurrection takes place and their bodies will rise from the dead with a new body. All phenomenon such as "ghosts", seances, visions, etc. are only angels and other spirit men. But the Bible clearly says that the dead are not asleep and can communicate with those on earth. First Samuel 28 tells of an ancient "seance". King Saul of Israel wanted to know about a battle with the Philistines he was about to have. In First Samuel 28:7 he orders his servants to find a medium, "Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her." They found the woman at Endor. Saul disguised himself and went to her at night and said, "I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee" (verse 8). The medium asked who she should bring up. Saul said: "Bring me up Samuel" (verse 11) and she did. Samuel prophesied that Saul would be defeated. Christianity is wrong in saying this was just an angel. The clearest instance of communication with those who had died is Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah at the Mount of Transfiguration.

Some people interpret the Bible by saying that John the Baptist was the reincarnation of Elijah. John and Elijah are two separate people. God created each of us to have only one physical body and one spiritual body. When our physical body dies our spirit body goes to the spirit world. Our spirit body cannot go into the womb of another woman and take on a new physical body.

Each of us are influenced by people in the spirit world. Good spirits as well as evil spirits are constantly whispering in our ears. Satan himself will often work with key people to disrupt God's effort to unify mankind. We read that "Satan entered into Judas" (Luke 22:3) and after Satan was through with him and left him then Judas realized what he had done. He took the 30 pieces of silver back and hung himself for betraying Jesus.

This world is a battleground between the forces of God and Satan, between good and evil. Satan has won most of the battles, but God will eventually win the war.

LAST DAYS

Many Christians believe that in the Last Days various and radical changes beyond our imagination will occur, as some Biblical verses literally say. But the Bible is speaking to us in symbols.

What does the Bible mean when it says that the earth will be destroyed when the messiah comes? II Peter 3:10 says "and the elements will be dissolved with fire and the earth ... will be burned up." But other passages in the Bible say the earth will not be destroyed: " generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever" (Eccl.. 1:4).

If we take the Bible literally we have a contradiction. But the Bible is not contradictory. Therefore the Bible must be symbolic. The "earth" we read of in Ecclesiastes that will remain forever is the physical earth, the planet that we live on. We should read this passage literally.

The "earth" described in II Peter is symbolic for something else. Because earth or dirt is lowly, it is used to symbolize evil, falsehood and hell. II Peter is prophesying that all the evils of Satan will be destroyed.

Second Peter also says the earth or evil will be destroyed by fire. Fire is also symbolic. James 3:6 says, "... the tongue is a fire." Tongue means words of God. The messiah will judge with words of truth. Malachi prophesied that when Jesus came the world would burn up "like an oven ... all ... will be burned up..." (Mal. 4:1). Jesus said, "I came to cast a fire on earth; and would that it were already kindled" (Luke 12:49). Did Jesus burn anything up when he came? No. He judged with words, not fire.

Christianity has also mistakenly interpreted the Bible to mean that in the last days only Christians would go to heaven and the rest of mankind -- the pagans -- will go to hell. And while those in hell are being tormented forever, those who are in heaven will gradually forget those who are screaming forever in pain in hell.

Many Christians believe that the majority of mankind will be tortured in a fiery hell. The classic statement of this belief is Jonathan Edward's "Sinners in the hands of an angry God." This gruesome idea that most of mankind will roast eternally in a fiery hell along with other incorrect views of God has kept most of the world from accepting Jesus. Most people simply cannot believe that if "God is love" (I John 4:8) He could never allow people to be tormented forever. And they are correct. An eternal God of goodness cannot exist eternally with an eternal chamber of horrors.

In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus taught that God loves every human being and will not rest until each and every person is found and restored home to him. When Jesus said there was a hell where there is eternal fire he meant not that people would go there but that evil would be banished by the fire of truth forever and never enter the earth again. What kind of god would allow for some of his children to literally be punished in a fire for eternity? God is a God of forgiveness. Jesus said forgive not just seven times but seven times seventy. It does not matter how horrible a crime or crimes any individual makes. He or she will ultimately be restored and live in the Kingdom of Heaven. Evil and suffering cannot exist forever or else God is not a God of love and almighty.

It is not true justice to condemn anyone to eternal punishment for crimes committed in 70 or so years on earth -- no matter how terrible the crimes. Man will ultimately repent and come back to God and God will embrace everyone. God will forgive all mankind and every person will forgive all those who trespassed against them. We are fallen and underestimate the love of God.

When Jesus said, for example, in Matt. 5:22 that there is a "hell of fire" and in Mark 9:45: "And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell." He was not speaking of people being roasted eternally in some fiery torture chamber anymore than he was advocating people to cut off their feet. The words "hell" in these and other quotes are translated from the Hebrew word Gehenna. Many Bibles even give a footnote explaining this. What is Gehenna? In the Hebrew scriptures Gehenna is "the valley of Hinnom." Hinnom was the name of the valley just outside the walls of Jerusalem where the ancient Israelites had at one time sacrificed their children in fire. Second Kings 23:10 tells of King Josiah ending this horrible practice and Gehenna became a huge garbage dump. During the time of Jesus Gehenna was still Jerusalem's garbage dump. Fires were kept burning there and brimstone (sulfur) was used to burn the garbage.

When Jesus spoke of the city's garbage dump they knew he meant evil will be destroyed, not people. God had stopped the burning of people alive long ago. Evil people are not to be literally burned but evil itself will be destroyed eternally. Even Satan will not be tormented. We must read Rev. 20:10 symbolically, not literally. Satan will be restored but all evil will be destroyed forever; falsehood will stand in the judgement of truth forever: "...and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

Christians are a minority in the world. How can they be admired when they think they are special people of God who have the privilege to live forever in heaven while the rest of mankind is doomed to eternal hell? Many Christians believe that Jesus is coming again to lift them up in the air and leave the rest of the world to be consumed in fire on that judgement day. How can the majority of mankind respect people like that? Every person, including Satan and his angels, will eventually be restored and live eternally in the Kingdom of Heaven. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." God loves the whole world and God will not rest until everyone is restored. Even we desire to see things through to completion once we determine to do something. God is far more determined. We read of God's absolute determination to achieve this goal in Isaiah 46:11 when God says, "I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it."

Nothing is more important than understanding our savior. By knowing the Divine Principle we can understand the Bible. Rev. Moon teaches the meaning and depth of Bible passages that people have missed. He goes beyond the Bible and teaches other revelations from God. God is speaking through him. God wants you to listen to him. Rev. Moon teaches that Jesus came to be married and marry others. Rev. Moon is fulfilling Jesus' mission of marrying people in marriage ceremonies called "blessings." Jesus had wanted to bless in marriage many people and begin the process of building true families that would expand to true nations and a true world of perfect families patterning themselves after his marriage and family. Rev. Moon explains, "Originally, Jesus came to the earth as the Messiah to give blessings to his disciples and all humankind. He was to build the sinless Kingdom of Heaven. But because of the lack of faith in him, he could not receive his bride, he could not become the True Parent, and he could not accomplish his mission. This is why he promised to return."

In the next and last chapter we will look at how God has been working in the 2000 years from Jesus to today. In doing so, we can learn what God's will is for our individual lives.