The Words of the Gavin Family
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The Words of the Gavin Family |
It's a beautiful day, right? Whatever we don't have, we don't need it now. God's given us everything. Please be seated. Welcome to Lovin' Life, everybody across the country. It's so awesome to see you today and it's truly an honor to be sharing this platform that so many amazing people have shared before me -- so many incredible pastors, as well as Ariana Shin-Sun Moon, In Jin Nim, Kook Jin Nim, and Hyung Jin Nim. I'm just completely honored to be here today, and I hope you're feeling alive because it's a great day.
Spring is in the air. It's a new spring. I've just got to go down to Atlanta and North Carolina, to the southern spring. They have the most beautiful springs down there -- the weeping cherry trees blossoming, the Bradford pear trees peeping out. You know what I'm talking about. The birds are singing their nice little love songs. They're all about new life, and that's what this whole season right now is about, new life. Even just a few weeks ago Reverend Hernandez was talking about the cosmic spring emerging, coming alive -- and we have that with us right now today.
Especially next week we've got Easter. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, True Parents, for a great day. Not only do we get to chase Easter eggs, but Easter eggs are a sign of new life. They're a sign of something to hope for. That's what eggs represent: what's to come. When I see us come together in so many churches around the country and the world to dedicate ourselves to this life that's been given us because of those who've come before us, I realize that I am seeing something profound.
Jesus came to this earth with this new view of life, a new idea and new way to have relationships with people and to communicate with our Heavenly Parent. I just want to share a little story about Jesus. He was sitting one day at a well. He brings new life at this well after he finished a huge journey. He stopped by this well, the well of Jacob. He's sitting there, and a Samaritan woman comes up to him. It's a pretty big deal. Jesus says, "Hey, can I have some of your water?"
She looks at him, and says, "Excuse me, you're a Jew. You're not supposed to be talking to me." Back then, Samaritans didn't get along too well with the people of the Jewish faith. They didn't exactly see eye to eye. If you were someone of the Jewish faith and you were talking to a Samaritan, they would call you a swine-eater. Yes, a swine-eater. That's what they would call you. It was tough talk back then. It was, "Whoa!"
So Jesus first went out and talked to her. He just invested that much: "Can I have some water?" And she ended up saying, "Why are you asking me for water? You're not supposed to be asking me for water." Jesus said to her, "Well, if you knew who I was, it wouldn't be me asking you for water, you would be asking me for water."
Their conversation was like this: She says, "You don't even have a bucket. How are you going to get some water?" Jesus says, "The water I bring you is incredible. This well that you get your water from is the well of Jacob. It gives you water, and it gives your livestock water, but what I bring is completely different." Then Jesus goes into his answer in John 4:13: "Everyone who drinks the water of this well will get thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up into eternal life." That's what Jesus Christ brought to this world.
That's why in the Christian faith, people get baptized. It's a symbol for them to be able to receive new life. It's them dedicating as an individual, "This is my life; I dedicate myself to God and to his world. And it's no longer my ways but God's ways that I'll live by."
Sun
Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han March 24, 2012
Of course we know Jesus had to go the way of the cross and couldn't complete everything that he wanted to complete. Two thousand years forward, fast-forward, there's a Korean boy praying in the mountains, and Jesus comes to him with this same message of new life. Jesus tells this young boy, "Listen, you are praying; you are a person after my heart and after the heart of my father, and it is you who can take on my mission. It is you who can deliver this new water, this life water to the people of this world. I need you to take this on."
This boy is now not so much of a boy. He still has the energy of young boy, but he's 93 years old, Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Yeah. He's the man I call True Father. He's the man that I've seen bring so much new life. Just last week we got to participate in an incredible Blessing ceremony that 194 countries participated in, all over the world, centering on our True Parents in Korea. We could watch them give new life and share the holy water -- this water welling up -- with the world. We have a picture of it right here. There they are, with the holy water. And again, that water is symbolizing the new life that we have.
It's amazing, the radical changes that are taking place: the radical changes that Jesus brought and the radical changes that our True Parents have brought. And now it's being bestowed toward True Children and toward us to take ownership of this life of faith. I've just been blown away by what we've been able to create with our senior pastor, In Jin Nim, at Lovin' Life Ministries. It's a platform. It's an awesome and radical platform through which we can bring new life, new ideas, and the breaking news of our True Parents to this world.
And it's incredible that we can share everything that's been given to us. We have limitless opportunities to receive new life -- and through this platform, to give new life to other people. That happens in so many different ways, and it's really through us being a conduit of God's love, for no other reason than just because. To be there for people, to love people: just because.
So I hope you're ready for some radical changes, America and the world, because we're getting ready to do some crazy things. It all starts with you, and it starts with me and with taking ownership of everything that we've been given. I absolutely feel that our senior pastor, is not only the daughter of our True Parents but she's a radical, visionary leader who is changing some things. I am so excited to be working with her, along with you.
A radical. It's a word we don't usually use too much anymore. It was used in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of you don't remember those days, but radical was in the Ninja Turtles, the movie. It was good stuff. I feel we can bring radical back. It's something we can cowabunga. When I think of radical, I think of changes, opportunities, and taking the initiative, what can we bring? I feel that's what we have to offer as Unificationists.
We have a unique perspective on the world that's been given to us by our True Parents. That perspective is one in which we can see God as our Heavenly Parent and we can see each other as eternal brothers and sisters, regardless of our faith, our race, our ethnicity, our economic status, our culture -- whatever it is. We are all sons and daughters of God, and we can see that in each other.
As Unificationists, we can offer the fact that we can live altruistically and compassionately toward other people, and we want to strive to live a life of excellence -- internally and externally. Every time I think about that, I remember the first time I heard it from our senior pastor. I was like, "Wow, that sums up a lot of things right there." I t's so powerful. What if the world started to think like that? And they can, through us connecting them to that.
Right now we're gathered as a national community. We have Lovin' Life Ministries all over this country: Bellingham, Washington; Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas; Miami; Durham, North Carolina; here in Manhattan. We're all coming together to bring new life and new opportunities. So I'm just excited to be with all of you.
If you're new here today, if this is your first time to Lovin' Life Ministries, it's so awesome to have you with us. Whether you're here in Manhattan or somewhere else around the country, we want to welcome you, and after church I want to encourage you to remain after church. Let's give them a welcome.
I want to encourage you to talk with the person who invited you -- your local pastor, your ministry team -- and just get to know us. We'd love to get to know you over some coffee, something like that. Welcome.
Most of you know this, but if this is your first time I'm usually known as the Tithe Guy. It's new for me to be here in a different role. Usually I give some kind of message about the heart of giving, the heart of tithing, and what we can create with that. A lot of people ask me how I got that position, how I took on that role. I'd like to share that with you briefly.
Back in the day when we were creating the liturgy for Lovin' Life Ministries -- back in early 2009 -- we were sitting at a table with our senior pastor and we were throwing around ideas. One thing that was really big on my heart was this idea of tithing, the idea of giving what has been given to me. So I shared that, because I'd seen the new life that it brought me, and more importantly, I saw the new life that it brought other people. It's something I believed in. So she looked at me and said, "All right, you can give that message every week. Okay?"
So every week since then, for the most part, I've been giving that message. It's really expanded my heart and helped me see a lot more deeply about the heart of giving. It's been wonderful to be here, to be a part of this team. Every one of us has our own unique path. E very one of you has your own path that's led you here, that has led you to God, that has led you to True Parents. Or maybe you're still on that path finding that out.
Johnny
Cash
I've so appreciated just the last few weeks hearing from our different district pastors because I get to hear about how God was working in their lives. I get to hear about how they had questions and this thirst and hunger for something more in their life, and they found it. That's astounding. So hearing those stories refreshes me. It gives me new life and hope. It gives me different perspectives. We've been blessed to hear from so many different local pastors and district pastors.
We had Dr. Ann, the dairy farmer, Iparraguirre. We had Carl Johnny Cash Swearson. He reminded me of Johnny Cash for some reason. I think he needed a guitar to just strum his whole message. We had Reverend Hernandez. What was his main thing? It was "Jesus told me to stay pure until further notice." We had Pastor Richard "an old dog can learn new tricks" Buessing. We had Pastor George Kazakos. I also call him Jorgo, or Jorge. I love that guy. He is awesome.
But we've been able to see God working in these people's lives. For them it was the message that they received when they heard about True Parents, when they read the Divine Principle. It quenched the thirst they had inside of themselves. It was what Jesus was talking about: "If you have my true living water, you will never thirst again." They got that through True Parents and through the Divine Principle.
It has been the same for my parents. My mom was in Germany. She was a commie, a communist. She was doing that whole thing for a little while, but she said here was no God there, and it left her empty, so she wanted something more. She went to Berlin, and boom, she found what she was looking for.
My dad was in the Navy. He was thinking about all sorts of crazy things: world peace and how to bring that for the world. He was on a port call in the Bay Area and boom, he found all his answers. We're all, every one of us, on a path of discovering ourselves, a path of finding ourselves and coming to know True Parents.
My path of finding God and finding True Parents has been the result of so many different experiences. I'm 31 years old. Yeah, an old guy. They've got my walker right back there. It has nice new tennis balls on the bottom so I can scoot along. I'm 31. I'm the oldest of six boys. My brothers are Jago, Jatin, Jatoma, Jerio, and Jacka. 'How'd you get those names?' True Father.
I love telling that story to our Japanese sisters because they're like, "Ohhhh, so many boys! Why so many boys?" They kept on trying for a girl but didn't get one. But now they've got six beautiful daughters-in-law, three granddaughters, and one more on the way, so it's been wonderful.
I grew up in an Unificationist family and it's been incredible. Many of you maybe have grown up in the Unificationist family where our parents joined this faith. For me, whether you grow up in this faith tradition or any other tradition, just because you're born in it doesn't make it yours, right? It doesn't necessarily mean you agree with everything, or understand everything. It's a journey, and it's our path that leads us to knowing that.
I grew up in the 1980s and the early 1990s in this church. I hung out with people like Dave Hunter, Dave Stein, Elgen Strait, Jesse Berndt, all those awesome people in the Maryland area. I went to the workshops. We heard all these ideas, and I studied the Divine Principle. I wasn't very studious, but I tried. I at least made it look like I was reading and paying attention.
But in that process, I got to the point where there was this idea of God, but God didn't make sense to me. God was something that I couldn't necessarily resonate with at that time of my life. So to hear all these other ideas of how I'm supposed to live and who I'm supposed to be didn't make sense because I had no sense of myself. I had no sense of who I was, in God or in me or even with my family.
And something happened in the early 1990s. We had hometown providence, and I understand now what that was all about, but back in the day, all it meant was my best friends were leaving. "See ya. Have fun in LA. Have fun in New York. I'm by myself. Oh, wait, no, I'm going to Minnesota, leaving everything I know in the ninth grade." And it was very different back then.
So in the whole midst of everything I was trying to find myself, and it was kind of confusing. And at 19 years old I'd heard a lot of things. I felt guilty about a lot of things. Maybe my lifestyle or who I wasn't living up to be in the eyes of my parents or in the eyes of my faith. I couldn't measure up. My parents are telling me to be one thing. I have my aunts and my uncles asking me to be something completely different. I have my friends at school saying, "Hey, Jaga, that's stupid. Why don't you do this?" I'm seeing them live their lives, and I'm thinking, "Wow, that looks awesome. I want that." I have the culture around me telling me something completely different about how I should live.
We have so much noise around us growing up. It's coming from all angles, and how do you make sense of it? How do you figure out what is up, what is down, what is left, what is right? I had no idea. It made me frustrated and angry, to the point where I was done with this. I didn't want anything more to do with anything.
When that thought entered my mind, I realized, "M y parents have given so much to this, I at least owe them the honor of finding out what I'm leaving. At least I need to investigate it myself." So I decided to leave home. I left by myself. For six months I just left home. I brought with me the Divine Principle and for six months I studied that thing. I read it about nine times, and it was really the first time in my life when I had the room to be able to think, to be able to hear myself. I had the room to be able to ask questions. I had the room to be able to pray the way that I pray, not the way that I'm supposed to pray, to ask God questions the way I need to ask God questions.
And it was incredible. I was able to find out so many things about myself. I went out there with pretty much two questions in my heart. The first one was, "God, if you exist, show yourself to me because I want to know." And the second one was, "If you do exist, let me know who True Parents are because I need to know. And if they're not who they are, then I'll take my brothers and leave this, but if they are who my parents say they are, then I'll be here." And that was in my heart.
So somewhere like 30 days into my journey -- Jaga's little escape from life and noise -- I was reading the Divine Principle. I don't remember what part I was in. I was in that kind of state where you're kind of reading the words but you're not really reading. I had what some people would call an out-of-body experience. I'm not a super-spiritual person, so I don't exactly know what that was supposed to feel like, but I was able to see myself from a different perspective. I t was almost like a bird's-eye view of me, and not just right then but my whole life. I was able to see my actions and the effect and the imprint my actions had on other people.
In that moment, for the first time in my life, I saw God. I didn't know God had a face, and I don't know what God looks like to you, but to me, God looked like my family. God looked like my parents; God looked like my brothers. I saw what I was doing, what that did to my family or what that did to God. Mostly I saw my parents, and I felt what my parents were feeling. Even though my parents didn't know necessarily what I'd been doing behind their backs, I could feel what I was doing to them. I could feel it, and it made me feel so guilty. I didn't like that feeling. I don't know who likes a feeling of guilt, but for me, I just couldn't shake it. I just felt so hurt and so burnt because I could see it and I could feel it.
Then all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I felt the most overwhelming sense of love. It just embraced me. Regardless of everything I'd done, I felt loved. And I couldn't believe it. Regardless of what I'd done, I was loved. I realized I didn't even love myself. I didn't even have respect for myself. But something way bigger than me loved me and was there for me and would never give up on me. I could feel it and hear it. It was saying, "Don't worry: you're going to be okay." It broke me. It broke me into a million pieces, and it helped me see me for who I really was, as God's son.
As I was crying, I was powerless to do anything. I was just broken. I started hearing this voice come over me. It said, "Jaga, it's okay. Just tell me. Just tell me." I knew what it wanted me to tell. It was like, "Just tell Mom and Dad everything. Don't worry. It will be okay." "Noooo, it won't. You don't know my mom and dad. My dad will kick me. I didn't want to go there." So I was like, "I can't; I can't."
I kept on hearing it, and it kept on coming back. It wouldn't leave me. So finally I gave in. I mustered up the courage and I went to a pay phone -- this was back when they had pay phones. Actually back then it was upgraded. It cost a quarter and a dime, 35 cents. That aggravated me: I don't have a dime. Anyway, it was a collect call, which came in handy then.
So I called my parents and my mom picked up the phone. "Hey, Jaga." She has a lovely German accent. "Hey, Jaga." "Hey, Mom, I've got to tell you guys something. Can you get Dad on the phone?" My dad got on the phone. My dad loves to talk. If you don't know him, he loves to talk. "Hey, Jaga, how you doing?" I was like, "Dad, I need you to be quiet for a moment. I've got something important to say."
I said, "You know what? I've really got to tell you guys something. Who I've been in front of you is not who I am, and I've been something completely different." And in that moment I told my parents my entire life. I let them know who their son was. I completely made myself vulnerable and I was scared to death, but I let my parents know who I was, and the failure that I thought I was.
I told them about the dating, I told them about the drinking, about the partying, the drugs. I said, "This is who I am, and I'm so sorry I've done this to you. I'm so sorry this is who I am. And it's not just there. It's my brothers, some of them have been following in my footprints, and they've been doing the same things I've been doing. Please don't be angry at them. Don't do anything to them, because they were just following their older brother. They didn't know what else to do. I'm so sorry."
That's when my dad got on the phone, and he said, "Jaga, there is nothing that you could ever do that would make us love you any less. We love you so much." He said, "We don't care about what you've done. We care about what you're going to do and who you're going to become. Don't worry about your brothers because they have a great older brother. We love them, and they're going to be fine." Whew.
I didn't know that was coming. I was expecting something different. It changed my world. All of a sudden all this guilt and all this burden was lifted off me in a second. For the first time I felt free. For the first time in my life I could start loving myself. For the first time in my life I knew who God was in my life, and I saw that through my family.
I realized that all God really desires in life is to have a real, sincere and authentic relationship with me, with you, with everyone outside of these walls, everyone across this country and this world. That's what God wants. That's what God desires most, and that's what True Parents are bringing to this world.
So I also know that for all you younger Unificationists, all your parents want for you and want with you is a real and authentic relationship. That's all they want. In their eyes you are perfect, and they want you to be perfect. But they want that real relationship.
And for you parents out there, us kids, all we really want is a real sincere, authentic relationship with you as our parents. We don't want anything more. We don't want anything less. We want to know you for who you are. We want to feel you. We don't want you to be this perfect something that you're not because we're not that perfect something, either. What we want is real relationships. It's through them that we can create something beautiful.
That was when I found God. My path has taken me into many different areas. It le d me to the Coast Guard, where I did search-and-rescue and law enforcement. During that time I was in life- and-death situations. I saved people's lives, and I also saw the other result, people not making it. It really got me thinking about death and life, especially what I have and what I have to offer.
During that time I got to meet some incredible people in the Coast Guard, people that I would have probably never have hung out with otherwise, but I was forced to be in a situation where I was stuck with these people, people coming from walks of life that I would have never have crossed paths with. I was put in the position to learn about different kinds of people. Maybe our ideas didn't necessarily always agree, but these people, once I got through their history and the culture that made them who they were, I saw something beautiful. There was something precious inside every one of them. I learned that inside of each person there's something amazing.
After that, my wife and I moved to North Carolina. North Carolina is where I discovered Jesus. I went to a Christian church, and I discovered the Bible. For me, it was through understanding who Jesus was that I could deepen my understanding of my relationship with True Parents. All of a sudden it started to make sense. I read the Bible cover to cover, and it blew my mind.
It's my experiences of life that have matured and evolved my relationship with God and with True Parents. One thing I want to share is that you have to trust the path that you're on. You have to trust the path that your sons and daughters are on, that your parents are on, that your brothers and sisters are on. You have to believe in it.
Faith is something that cannot be forced upon anyone. Faith is something that is to be lived and to be discovered. In Jin Nim said once in a message just a few months ago, " Not by power but by the spirit." And I absolutely believe in that. We cannot really save anyone. As much as we'd like to, we can't save a person out there, we can't save our brothers and sisters. Only God and True Parents can do that. But what we can do, what we have the power to do, is to connect them, by going outside of ourselves, getting outside of our comfort zone to stir things up a little bit. We can connect people to God and True Parents, who can save them. We do that through being a conduit of God's love, that it can flow through us, and through that we can change the world.
I've seen it firsthand in my own family -- the struggles with faith and understanding. I have one brother among my five brothers whose path took him outside of the Unification Church, into the Army, and into the Iraq war. He did many things out there, and his path is completely different from my path. But I know God is working in his path, even though he didn't choose the same path I chose. He was given a different path, and he's got a beautiful wife whom he met in the Army. Her name is Angela. They have two beautiful kids. Their names are Aiden and Zoe. Just last September my family and I went out to Minnesota to share in their wedding celebration, to share that precious moment with them.
When I was home, I was doing a little thinking because I like to think every now and then. And one of the things that I thought was, "Wow, my brother Jatin still goes by his name Jatin. He still goes by the name that True Father gave him." He didn't go by his middle name; he goes by his given name. I thought, "T hat's incredible. God and True Parents are still with him, and he chose that."
I was walking around his house a little bit later. He has as wall of pictures, and there are pictures of New York City. And the picture in the middle is a picture of the New Yorker Hotel. I thought, "Wow, what an incredible symbol of True Parents in this house, even if he doesn't know. Our True Parents own that building and he has that representation of True Parents in his own home."
A day or two later we went to the wedding. We were hanging out at the wedding, having a great time. It was a beautiful, beautiful wedding. Little Aiden was the ring-bearer. He was so cute. He was also jealous of the flower girls, so he got to do the flower girl thing, too. He was throwing flowers all over the place. He's just four, so he doesn't even know where he's throwing them; he's just throwing flower petals everywhere. Later on he's singing, "Baby, I'm a firework" -- whatever that song is. He sang it for his parents. He was so cute -- the little four-year-old holding his wireless mike, singing, "Baby, I'm a fire." And his mom and dad were right there with him. It was incredible.
The pastor who officiated was in his 60s or 70s. He gave an amazing little message about how the favorite part of his job is the wedding ceremony because there is a divine appointment during that moment when he gets to be in the position where God works through him to make two people one. He said that just blows his mind every time. He's just so awed by it: that God can let something like that happen. He loves it.
During the dinner reception I saw him sitting down. I went up to him, and I said, "Pastor, thank you so much for marrying my brother. Thank you for your message. I love those guys and thank you for just watching over them. By the way, my name is Jaga." "Jaga? Reverend Moon gave you that name, right?" "Yup." "Sit down a minute: let me talk to you." "All right."
So I sit down, and he says, " I met Jatin the first time when he came back from the war. He started taking Kung-Fu lessons with me." "Oh? Okay, he's a Kung-Fu man." He had his own dojo and Jatin would take lessons at his dojo. Then this Kung-Fu man ended up having to close down his shop. He's a little bit older. He closed down his dojo, but he would still allow Jatin to come in and train, but more importantly, to talk. He said, "T here's something different about Jatin. He is deep, and he thinks. I don't know what it is, but he's an incredible human being, and I just knew I had to reach out to him.
" One day I asked him, 'Where'd you get your name? What's it mean?' And he said, ' Reverend Moon, the founder of the Unification faith, gave it to me.' And then he said, 'W ell, you knowà ' I could feel that that was a sensitive topic for Jatin so I didn't really push it. But I want you to know something, Jaga. Back in the 1980s, Reverend Moon was in prison, unfairly imprisoned. There are so many people in this country that were against him. But I wrote him three letters, and in those letters I said, ' Regardless of what's happening to you right now, you have to know that there are people that love you and support you and will always be there for you. And I hope to God he got those letters.'"
Then he put his hand on my shoulder and looked at me right in the eyes, and said, "Jesus Christ went to him when he was 15 years old and gave him a mission. No one can take that away from him, and no one will ever stand in his way. God bless you."
Whew!
So even though my brother chose another path, I know God is working on his path, and that path is something that God chose for him. So you know what? We've got to support our brothers and sisters and we've got to never stop loving them and always be there for them and create the environment and the atmosphere for them to feel loved and nourished. That's our job.
Maybe Jatin and Angela will get Blessed one day; maybe they won't. But I know God is watching over them, and I believe in their path. Even if you look at our Unification Church, it's been on its own path, and we've done some crazy, radical things. When I think about what people of my parents' generation -- y'all are crazy! You guys are like, "Wow." You guys were out there. The things that you were able to do: the Yankee Stadium rally or the Washington Monument rally; bringing things together with True Parents because you believed in something bigger than yourselves; the new life you were able to bring to people because you believed in it; what CARP was able to do against communism; the unity that we've achieved in peace initiatives bringing cultures and faiths together. It's astonishing what we've been able to do in this country alone, centered on our True Parents in just the last 40 years.
Now our path leads us to a new platform, to Lovin' Life Ministries. It takes us to that next level. What we can do with this ministry blows my mind. What we've been able to create and develop as a national ministry and a national community in just the last three years has been tremendous. I'm taken aback by it. I'm honored and feel privileged to be able to be standing here with all of you here today, because we are bringing the new life of our True Parents and the new life of God, sharing it with the world.
We did some crazy things today, and we have so much talent and amazing things just pooled up. Just recently we had the Wongu Peace Cup. Even with just one day of practice, we were able to walk out with Silvers and Golds. We were playing against semi-professional teams that are practicing every day for a year. They know how their teammates move; they know how to pass the ball to each other. We practiced one day, and our teams were from all across the country. Imagine if we had two days to practice. It would be Game Over. We took the Gold in Unity Ball, a game made by our True Parents, and I think that says something. That's awesome.
I also had a fantastic opportunity to go to Korea just about a month and a half ago with GPA, the Generation Peace Academy and their choir. I t was such an outstanding experience. We got to go all over Korea, seeing our heritage and where we come from. I got to see the GPA choir perform in front of our True Parents and the joy that it brought them. I even saw Kook Jin Nim standing at his table and his hand was going like that. When you get them doing that, you know you're doing something right. The GPA choir walked away with the Grand Prize.
When I was there I could see the life that we have, the new life it brings to other people. We went to a senior residence in Korea. We would go to each floor and sing songs -- by we, I mean the GPA choir. I tried out for the choir; it didn't work out. I was an alternate in case someone pulled a hammy or something. That didn't happen.
We were there, and we got to enjoy this moment with these senior people, as representatives of True Parents. One of the favorite songs that they sang was "Arirang." It was fun because they introduced the song with instrumental music, and it was quite a lead until the choir would start with its singing. So all these old ladies would start singing before the choir would start singing. I wish you were there.
It was awesome because you could see the new life. These people, who were in their 80s and 90s, were no longer in their 80s and 90s. They were like giddy little high school girls, freaking out and so happy. And the smiles on their faces -- it was such a precious moment. We split up, and we got to hang out with different groups. On the floor that I was on, we did some ballroom dancing in front of them. Oh, that got them excited. We sang some more songs for them, and they sang songs for us.
I remember Keishu Green holding hands with one of the ladies. Even though they couldn't talk, they were talking and talking. I don't know how it was working, but they loved Keishu. They were pulling on her and fighting over her.
The other person they really liked was Victor Muleki, a beautiful young black man. They were like, "Ooooh." They were fighting over him, too. It was fun. It was awesome to watch. We brought them so much life. That's the opportunity we have because that well of living water is inside of us, and it's not just for us. It's for us to share with this world, and it was incredible.
Those kinds of experiences are the most precious part of my job as a national youth pastor. I get to do some amazing things and meet amazing people all over the world. I absolutely love my job. I learn so much from you guys, from our young adults -- even from our middle schoolers. Among the two big things I've learned since I've been on this job, one I learned from a seventh-grader: " Never stop believing in the goodness of people."
Another one was just a couple of months ago. I was talking to a young adult about how to fit your life of faith into your life. He looked at me, and he said, "You know what, Jaga? It's not about fitting your life of faith into your work and your school and your crazy schedule. It's about fitting your work and your school and your busy schedule into your life of faith." Boom. Judo clip. I'm on the ground going, "Whoa, that just happened." It was crazy. I'm always learning new things. It's been amazing to see what we can do and the life that we can bring.
One of the most amazing things that we do is the Blessing, like the one we had just last week with 194 countries and True Parents officiating. True Parents were sharing with people that holy water signifying new life, their new life committing to God, True Parents, this world, and each other. It was such a beautiful experience.
We had a huge gala and celebration right here in the Grand Ballroom. I just want to congratulate once again everybody who got Blessed. You guys are beautiful. All over this country, you guys were awesome.
The Blessing truly is a beautiful thing. I've been blessed for nearly 10 years now. Tammy, my wife, is my best friend. She's my soul mate. She's been with me through everything. Without True Parents, I would have never had her. Without True Parents in my life and God in my life, we would not be together, and I couldn't imagine life without her. That's why I'm so grateful to True Parents.
I am also grateful to be alive while True Parents are here. If you think about that, it's astounding. One Bible verse that really got me thinking about that was Matthew 13:16 --17. This is an example of how my relationship with Jesus helped me deepen my relationship with True Parents and understand who True Parents are.
Jesus is sitting down with his closest disciples. He's in a room with them. He's sharing some moments with them, and he says to them, "Do you guys have any idea how precious this moment is right now? Do you have any idea how blessed you are to be with me, how blessed your eyes are to be seeing me and how blessed your ears are to be hearing me? All the prophets and all the saints and sages of all time would have given anything to be where you are, right here, right now today."
When I read that, it really resonated with me. Every moment that I have with my True Parents, to be alive and to know who they are while they are on this earth, is so tremendous. I was in Berlin last year. True Parents were allowed back in Europe for the first time in many years, and I was in a very big auditorium. I was sitting next to a family with little kids. I was looking at them and thinking to myself, "I wonder if they'll ever know that they were here. I wonder if their parents will ever tell them that they were in this room with True Parents." They were three or four years old; they probably didn't understand where they were. I hope to God that they do know because that was a precious moment that they got to share with our True Parents.
Every moment that we have is incredible. How can we attend them? I think about my life, and it's difficult for me to attend them. It's difficult because of who am I, what position do I stand in? I hear the stories of our parents and our older generation. They have the most amazing stories of being with True Parents, of just being with them.
I talked to Mr. Fontaine one time. He works over at East Garden and Belvedere. He's the main carpenter guru over there, and he was building a furniture piece for True Mother. He was in the room assembling it, and then True Mother and True Father walked in the room, pulled up chairs, sat down and watched him assemble. Wow. No pressure! You can't mess up at all! I was a finish carpenter for four years and it's tough enough without people watching you, let alone the True Parents, the Messiah of heaven and earth. It's amazing. But he had that moment to attend them, to be there for them.
Just last week I met Mr. Martinez from Bridgeport and he was telling me about his early days at UTS. He said one day he was walking around the lagoon, and he saw a carp swimming in the water. It was a big carp, and h e and his buddies got this idea, "Let's grab a soccer net, then jump in the lagoon and try to catch this thing. So they did, and they caught this ginormous -- that's a word that I use -- ginormous carp.
They had it in the net and were walking it across the street to have the kitchen cook it up. While they were walking across the street, True Father pulled up in his car. He stepped outside and looked at them. He saw the fish, went back in his car and took off. Two hours later he came back with a bunch of gear to make fish nets. He then spent the entire night teaching people how to make fishing nets. Next morning he sent them out into the lagoon, and there they were, catching carp. Wow. That's how that started. I've seen the pictures, I've heard the stories, but that was how they got to attend True Parents.
For me, that doesn't really happen. I don't have those opportunities that our older generation had. I think, "How can I attend True Parents?" I was thinking about this, and it became very clear to me. The way I can attend True Parents, the way I can receive that new life from them, is through attending their children. And that's why I'm so blessed and fortunate to be a part of this, that I can work with our senior pastor, Rev. In Jin Moon, that I can work with Kook Jin Nim, that I can work with our international pastor Rev. Hyung Jin Moon. You know, it's incredible.
I realized that I can take the very best of me, all my passions, all my hopes, all my dreams, all my creativity, and everything that I have and offer it to them. Then they can take that, and they can offer it to True Parents because they stand in the rightful position. That's the profundity of our True Parents and the True Children. That's what I see with our ministry: It gives us a platform and the opportunity to deliver on that, to give the very best of ourselves so we can offer it to our senior pastor, who is positioned by our True Parents, and she can offer it up.
Getting to meet with True Children is just tremendous. I met Kook Jin Nim a couple of times. I usually have to put on a little more deodorant before I meet with them. He's intense, but he is so incredible. What I love about him is he's just raw. He is who he is, and he doesn't try to be anything else. He's so honest, and he's like a razor. He just cuts through all the BS, and he's just there. Wow, what a great leader for us to try to replicate.
I look at Hyung Jin Nim, someone who is so, so humble and so grateful. Every time I see him, he says, "Jaga, thank you so much." First of all, "How do you know my name?" And second, like, "No! Thank you!" Every time he is just so grateful and so humble. When you listen to him talk, he always wants to find something more. He's always thinking about what's happening, what True Parents are saying. He doesn't just take it at face value. He digs deep, and when he figures something out or when he has an idea, he shares it. He's not scared to do that.
And our senior pastor. What blows me away about her is not just the abilities that she has to create so many things, but the fact that she believes in you, she believes in me, she pulls out the best of us and she pushes us to become more than we could ever think that we were. That's what I've seen for me in my life. I know she wills it and wants it for you, and through that we can change this world.
We have a tremendous team here at Lovin' Life Ministries, and we have so much amazing foundation. Even with all this foundation, sometimes the weight of the everyday activities gets to me, and it frustrates me sometimes. Not so much anymore because I have an outstanding team that I get to work with today, all across the country. You guys know who you are, and I love you so much for everything that you've been to this ministry and for the way you have helped and supported me.
But I remember a couple of years ago it wasn't that case. It was when Lovin' Life was just beginning. I remember one particular day was very difficult for me, and all I was thinking about was how much I had to do and how I didn't think it was possible to do all the things that I had to do. I was just so frustrated, I couldn't stop thinking about me for some reason. I had to go from the New Yorker Hotel to the Learning Center at 43rd Street and I was just angry and frustrated, so I put on my iPod and I was listening to James Blunt. I walked out and I was just walking down the street, walking down 35th Street.
Then something weird started to happen. I was walking down the street, and my eyes met this one young lady. All of a sudden I could really see her and feel her and everything that she was going through. And in her there was just hopelessness. She was full of despair. There was nothing. I felt like she couldn't even face tomorrow, and I felt it. It weighed me down even more.
I kept on walking. Then I saw a guy running down the street, and I saw his eyes. In his eyes were fear and anxiety, and I could feel them inside of me. I could feel his pain and then he was gone. And it just kept on and on.
I kept on walking and there were a couple of guys. They were drinking their cocktails, hanging out, laughing, and having a good time. From them I felt an emptiness, like they were just trying to mask something over but it wasn't really them.
Right at that moment my mind changed to a song called "You're Beautiful. " It was right when I was turning onto Seventh Avenue. When I turned onto Seventh Avenue, I looked up and there was a sea of people, thousands of people everywhere. At that moment I was thinking, "God, why does it have to be like this? Why do I feel all alone?" The chorus started. It goes something like this:
"You're beautiful, you're beautiful, you're beautiful to me. And I see your face in this crowded place and I don't know what to do because I'll never be with you."
What I heard when I asked why, was, "They're beautiful, they're beautiful, they're beautiful to me, and I see their faces in this crowded place and I don't know what to do because I will never be with them."
All of a sudden it made sense. Everything I was going through, everything I was feeling, everything I was doing and everything we're doing is to be able to connect God to them just because God desperately wants to be with them, because God desires a relationship. God sees their faces; he feels their pain. If we can be in a position to feel God's heart beating for them, then we can see ourselves as a conduit for God to work through. We can connect them to God. We can connect them to True Parents because True Parents have that same heart. That's why True Parents have never stopped for one moment.
I want to challenge you guys today, Lovin' Life Ministries all across this country. Next week, step outside of yourselves. Get outside of your comfort zone. Next week invite somebody to Lovin' Life Ministries for the Easter message. It's going to be incredible. We are bringing new life to this country and to this world. We're sharing the living water, True Parents, with this world.
You know somebody. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's a coworker. Maybe it's that barista you talk to every morning when you get your cup of coffee or your latte. Invite them. Step outside of that comfort zone. We have so many opportunities to do something astounding.
Right now True Parents have declared this as a time of complete liberation. It is a time of complete liberation, which means to me it is a time that we take ownership. It's a time that we decide to become adults in our life of faith, step outside of our comfort zone, and live for God and True Parents because we've been blessed. We do this not for ourselves but to be a blessing to others. We've been filled up with the living water, not for ourselves but to bring it to other people, next week and every week after that. Right now is an opportunity to do that. Let us take every opportunity God gives us and not shy away, not let ourselves out of it. Let's just be there for God and True Parents.
This is also a big transitional year. We're transitioning right now from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius. The age of Pisces started 2,150 years ago, during the age of Christ. The symbol of Pisces is the fish, and that's why the Christian faith is symbolized by the fish. Now we are in a new era, a new Age of Aquarius, which signifies a collective awakening and enlightenment that's going to happen. It's happening right now. There are so many things just on the verge of happening. Are we ready for it to happen? Are we taking active responsibility for what we've been given?
It's all about ownership. It's about us living a life of faith and sharing what's been given to us. I want to share a verse with you from the Aquarian Gospel, 157: 29 -- 30. It states, "And then the man who bears the pitcher will walk across an arc of heaven. Theà Son of Man will stand forth in the eastern sky. The wise will lift up their heads and know that redemption of the earth is near."
We had that picture of True Parents at the Blessing. Behind True Parents, there's an arc that they walked through and they are sharing the living water. They are carrying the pitcher of that living water, sharing it with this earth. That is something we can share with this world as our declaration. It is our chance to step outside of our comfort zone.
I absolutely feel that we have to be courageous during this time. We have to be crazy for God in a good way. I believe that every one of us is a conduit for God's love to work through, to flow through, and I know that you can be the new life for somebody else, day in and day out. We can bring that new life to other people.
Just a few months ago our senior pastor was talking about the word courage. She was saying that coeur means heart, and really courage means letting people see your heart. It's time that we start letting people see who we really are. More than that, it's time to live who we really are and reflect True Parents in our everyday life.
If you separate coeur and age, you have "heart age," the age of heart. It's the age that we start feeling God's heartbeat, the age that we start feeling True Parents' heartbeat for other people in our lives. That's what this time of spring is all about. I want to challenge you next week, brothers and sisters. Let's step outside of our comfort zone. Let's do something awesome and incredible, sharing the Easter message with other people.
A couple of years ago, I had this dream. I don't usually remember my dreams, but this one was profound because it had True Father in it. In this dream I was walking through a field of waist-high grass. A s far as I could see, there was grass, just a sea of grass. I was walking through it and kind of looking around. Then I looked up and right in front of me was True Father. This was a dream, but it was so real.
I bowed, and I got back up. Then I looked at True Father. I didn't know what to do, and he wasn't saying anything. What do you do? So I asked True Father a question. I thought of the smartest thing I could think of. I said, "Father, what do you need me to do?" And he looked a t me and he said, "Why are you asking me? You already know what you've got to do. I'm just waiting on you to go ahead and do it." I woke up, and I wrote that stuff down.
So many times we're waiting to be told to move. God has placed in our heart what He wants us to do. True Parents have already told us what they need us to do. They are waiting for us to take the very best of ourselves, our passion, our desires, and create it, to just start doing it. We might not have everything that we need, but don't worry about what we don't have now. We have what we need now to do what we've got to do. We have each other. We have this ministry. We have True Children. We have True Parents to be able to change this world. We have the living water to give to this world to fuel this world. It starts with us being that conduit for God's love to work through.
We know what we've got to do. We've just got to get off the couch. We've got to stop eating the Cheetos and playing those video games and getting lazy. We've got to start getting excited for God once again. We've got to start getting out there on the streets and sharing the breaking news of our Heavenly Parent and of our True Parents.
True Parents are on this earth right now, and we're so blessed to know that. That blessing is not for us but for others. We share that, for no other reason than just because. We love because we were loved first, because God loves us, because God wants that. It's not so that we can get an award so we can go to heaven. It's because we are in a position where we know and we can share what we know, and if we don't, that's not right.
I want to encourage you today to be able to believe in your path, believe in the paths of others, and support them in what they're doing. Be courageous in your life of faith and share it often. Remember that God and True Parents are with us, with you, every step of the way, and together we can reach higher ground.
Thank you so much, and next week is going to be awesome. I love you guys. I'll see you next week.
1: Now when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
2: (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),
3: he left Judea and departed again to Galilee.
4: He had to pass through Samar'ia.
5: So he came to a city of Samar'ia, called Sy'char, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
6: Jacob's well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7: There came a woman of Samar'ia to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
8: For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9: The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samar'ia?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10: Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, `Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."
11: The woman said to him, "Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep; where do you get that living water?
12: Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle?"
13: Jesus said to her, "Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again,
14: but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
15: The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
16: Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here."
17: The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, `I have no husband';
18: for you have had five husbands, and he whom you now have is not your husband; this you said truly."
19: The woman said to him, "Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
20: Our fathers worshiped on this mountain; and you say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."
21: Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
22: You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
23: But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him.
24: God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."
25: The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when he comes, he will show us all things."
26: Jesus said to her, "I who speak to you am he."
27: Just then his disciples came. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but none said, "What do you wish?" or, "Why are you talking with her?"
28: So the woman left her water jar, and went away into the city, and said to the people,
29: "Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?"
30: They went out of the city and were coming to him.
31: Meanwhile the disciples besought him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."
32: But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
33: So the disciples said to one another, "Has any one brought him food?"
34: Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.
35: Do you not say, `There are yet four months, then comes the harvest'? I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see how the fields are already white for harvest.
36: He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
37: For here the saying holds true, `One sows and another reaps.'
38: I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor; others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."
39: Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me all that I ever did."
40: So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
41: And many more believed because of his word.
42: They said to the woman, "It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world."
43: After the two days he departed to Galilee.
44: For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
45: So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.
46: So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Caper'na-um there was an official whose son was ill.
47: When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
48: Jesus therefore said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe."
49: The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."
50: Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way.
51: As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was living.
52: So he asked them the hour when he began to mend, and they said to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."
53: The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live"; and he himself believed, and all his household.
54: This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.
1: That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
2: And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach.
3: And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow.
4: And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.
5: Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,
6: but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away.
7: Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
8: Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
9: He who has ears, let him hear."
10: Then the disciples came and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"
11: And he answered them, "To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
12: For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
13: This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
14: With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: `You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive.
15: For this people's heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.'
16: But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.
17: Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
18: "Hear then the parable of the sower.
19: When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path.
20: As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;
21: yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
22: As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
23: As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
24: Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25: but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.
26: So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also.
27: And the servants of the householder came and said to him, `Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?'
28: He said to them, `An enemy has done this.' The servants said to him, `Then do you want us to go and gather them?'
29: But he said, `No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.
30: Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
31: Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field;
32: 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."
33: He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."
34: All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable.
35: This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet: "I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world."
36: Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."
37: He answered, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of man;
38: the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one,
39: and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels.
40: Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age.
41: The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers,
42: and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
43: Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
44: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
45: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls,
46: who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
47: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind;
48: when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.
49: So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous,
50: and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.
51: "Have you understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes."
52: And he said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old."
53: And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there,
54: and coming to his own country he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works?
55: Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
56: And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?"
57: And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."
58: And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.
The Christines upon Mount Olives. Jesus prophesys the destruction of Jerusalem, and of terrible disasters that will mark the conclusion of the age. He exhorts his disciples to faithfulness.
1. When Jesus with the twelve went forth and sat upon Mount Olives, just beyond the city's gate.
2. And his disciples said, Behold the wondrous city of Jerusalem! its homes are all so beautiful! its temples and its shrines are clothed in such magnificence!
3. And Jesus said, The city is the glory of my people, Israel, but, lo, the time will come when every stone will be cast down, and it will be a hiss and byword for the nations of the earth.
4. And the disciples asked, When will this desolation come?
5. And Jesus said, This round of human life will not be full until the armies of the conqueror will thunder at her gates, and they will enter in, and blood will flow like water through the streets.
6. And all the precious furnishings of temple, court and palaces will be destroyed, or carried off to deck the palaces and courts of kings.
7. Behold, these days are not at hand. Before they come, lo, you shall be maltreated by the scribes and Pharisees, the high priests and the doctors of the law.
8. Without a cause you will be haled into courts; you will be stoned; you will be beaten in the synagogues; will stand condemned before the rulers of this world, and governors and kings will sentence you to death.
9. But you will falter not, and you will testify for truth and righteousness.
10. And in these hours be anxious not about your speech; you need not think of what to say;
11. For, lo, the Holy Breath will overshadow you and give you words to say.
12. But then the carnage will go on, and men will think that they are pleasing God by killing you, and nations far and near will hate you for the sake of Christ.
13. And men will stir up evil thought among your kin, and they will hate you and will give you up to die.
14. And brothers will be false to brothers; fathers will stand forth and testify against their own, and children will drive parents to the funeral pile.
15. When you shall hear the Roman eagle screaming in the air, and see his legions streaming o'er the plain, then know the desolation of Jerusalem is near.
16. Then let the wise wait not, but flee. Let him who is upon his house wait not to enter in the house to gather up his wealth, but let him flee.
17. And he who labours in the field must not return, but leave his all to save his life.
18. And woe to mothers with their little children in that day; none shall escape the sword.
19. The tribulation of these days cannot be told in words, for such has never been since God created man upon the earth.
20. The conqueror will carry many of the sons of Abraham away as captives into foreign lands, and they who know not Israel's God will tread the highways of Jerusalem until the anti-Jewish times have been fulfilled.
21. But when the people have been punished for their crimes, the tribulation days will end; but lo, the time will come when all the world will rise, like gladiators in a ring, and fight just for the sake of shedding blood.
22. And men will reason not; they will not see, nor care to see a cause for carnage, desolation, thefts; for they will war with friend or foe.
23. The very air will seem surcharged with smoke of death; and pestilence will follow close upon the sword.
24. And signs that men have never seen will appear in heaven and earth; in sun, and moon, and stars.
25. The seas will roar, and sounds will come from heaven that men can never comprehend, and these will bring distress of nations with perplexity.
26. Hearts of the strongest men will faint in fear, in expectation of the coming of more frightful things upon the earth.
27. But while the conflicts rage on land and sea, the Prince of Peace will stand above the clouds of heaven and say again:
28. Peace, peace on earth; good will to men; and every man will throw away his sword, and nations will learn war no more.
29. And then the man who bears the pitcher will walk forth across an arc of heaven; the sign and signet of the son of man will stand forth in the eastern sky.
30. The wise will then lift up their heads and know that the redemption of the earth is near.
31. Before these days shall come, behold, false Christs and poor deluded prophets will arise in many lands.
32. And they will show forth signs, and do a multitude of mighty works; and they will lead astray the many who are not wise; and many of the wise will be deceived.
33. And now I tell you once again, When men shall say, The Christ is in the wilderness, go you not forth.
34. And if they say, The Christ is in the secret place, believe it not; for when he comes the world will know that he has come.
35. For as the morning light comes from the east and shines unto the west; so shall be the coming of the age and son of man.
36. The wicked of the earth will weep when they shall see the son of man come down upon the clouds of heaven, in power.
37. Take heed you, O take heed, for you know not the hour nor the day when comes the son of man.
38. Let not your hearts be overcharged with sensuous things, nor with the cares of life, lest that day come and find you unprepared.
39. Keep watch at every season of the year; and pray that you may meet the Lord with joy and not with grief.
40. Before those days shall come our Father-God will send his messengers abroad, yea, to the corners of the earth, and they will say.
41. Prepare you, O prepare; the Prince of Peace shall come, and now is coming on the clouds of heaven.
42. When Jesus had thus said, he went with his disciples back to Bethany.