"SOFTWARE UPGRADE" the World Needs! | | Middle East PEACE INITIATIVE | | |
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Romans 12:2
When I came to this earth what position was I in? As the son, sibling, couple and parent in whom God's heart of bitter pain remains, I stood in a position to indemnify and release God's anguish at its pinnacle by giving the perfected love that could not be given before. SMM, “The path of restoration True Father has walked,” CSG, Book 1, Chapter 4, Section 6.
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Greetings!
In the book of Romans, St. Paul wrote: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” When you met the Unification Church and heard the Divine Principle, did you experience a “renewal of your mind?” I’m pretty sure many of you did.
And why do we need a renewal of our minds? We could talk about sin, self-destructive beliefs and habits for many hours, but think about the story in Exodus about the 12 spies in Canaan. Same facts about the big giants, but different conclusions.
We are not controlled by our past, but we are controlled by our thoughts and conclusions about our past. God wants to say to us: Make Me BIGGER than your mistakes or problems.
When I make a wrong turn, the GPS doesn’t tell me: “Richard, get out of the car right now, you’re a bad driver! Remember that wrong turn you made 5 years ago? You will never be a good driver!” (if you had a GPS like that, wouldn’t you take out your Kahr 9 or Glock and shoot it!?)
FEAR is also faith. We need to be careful not to rehearse Satan’s words and accusations in our ears. Is an apple tree that hasn’t had apples yet still an apple tree? Yes. Just because you haven’t seen the results you expected yet, doesn’t mean you aren’t God’s son or daughter.
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As St. Paul wrote in Galatians 6:9, "And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Don't give up! Do you realize it took 15 years from when David was anointed as King by the prophet Samuel and his actually becoming King of Israel? In between he was a servant to King Saul and being hunted down by Saul’s army!
What about the 2 brothers, Kook Jin NIm and Hyung Jin Nim? Father honored their victory, and anointed the 2nd King, but he had to flee to the wilderness in America and now in Taiwan.
The world of cause is more substantial than the world of effect. We need to state clearly: My spirit has more authority. When Jesus came to town, the demonic spirits ran away. He transferred his authority to us. Ask God for a reboot, a software upgrade. Know who and what you are. We are sons and daughters engrafted into the lineage of Christ. Repeat after me: We are sons and daughters of God, because I am engrafted into the lineage of Christ!
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I’m sure you’ve noticed that True Father thinks just a little bit differently from 99.99% of other people. Let me share with you just a few sentences from a speech Father gave in 1992:
"When I came to this earth what position was I in? As the son, sibling, couple and parent in whom God's heart of bitter pain remains, (many people say they believe in God, but who thinks about God’s “heart of bitter pain”?) I stood in a position to indemnify and release God's anguish at its pinnacle (who thinks about releasing God’s anguish?) by giving the perfected love (who thinks about giving perfected love?) that could not be given before." In just this one sentence, you can see that Father's mind is 1000% different from the rest of the human race!
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Here are a few sentences from a speech he gave in 1988:
Everything exists for the sake of others. Based on God's ideal of creation to live for the sake of others, God had to invest, invest, and invest Himself to multiply true love. As He did, we have to spread it throughout the universe and return to the original homeland. When we return, we should not kick others away as our enemies. We have to bring them to naturally submit to us through love. Without this natural submission, God cannot find His position. (175-257, 1988.4.24)
Father's idea of “natural submission” explains why God cannot just use his power to force the world to be good. Without an unfallen man like Jesus or True Father subjugating evil, then there is no path to the Original World, either for God or for the rest of us.
Did you know that 80 ministers complained to the North Korean government about Father, causing him to be arrested and tortured at the Hungnam prison camp? Do you know any of the names of those ministers? I don’t. Why is that? Because Father never cursed them. He never prayed for their downfall. He believed that their children or grandchildren would understand. As KJN has often mentioned, many ministers are teaching key ideas of DP in their sermons: human POR, growth stage, spiritual world, sexual nature of the Fall, Jesus came to build the Kingdom, not just individual salvation.
We all know Jesus’ final words on the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” What if Jesus had not said that? What if he said, “You’re evil so I hate and curse you! I’m calling down angels to destroy you!” That would have been a very natural, human reaction. Right? But then would there be any salvation for the world? No, he would have just been another miserable victim of crucifixion.
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I believe we have all been praying for peace to come in the Middle East, right? This is one part of the world which seems the most resistant to peace, but part of the messianic mission is to bring peace centered on God to the entire world. True Father launched an incredible initiative in 2003 called the Middle East Peace initiative.
Under Father’s direction, the American Clergy Leadership Conference, gathered Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders who wanted to break down barriers between their different faiths.
As reported in Today's World, they were invited to sign a document called the Jerusalem Declaration for the first time:
"There was a sudden tension in the air. Would Rabbi Brodman sign it? The archbishop asked him if he would. Oh, yes, he did. The three brothers of Abraham all signed and embraced one another. Tears came to my eyes again, tears of joy, gratitude and relief. Nearly everyone streamed toward the front to add his or her signature to the historic document.
Other Israeli rabbis signed the "Jerusalem Declaration" which repented for the crucifixion of the "innocent Jewish young man Yeshua, whom G-d loved and... [who] "was betrayed by the rich and powerful among his own people."
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Several months later, on the "Day of Reconciliation," we had finally to bury the cross in the ground. We headed toward Potter’s Field, sometimes called the Field of Blood, a piece of land one Bible story says was purchased with money Judas was given for betraying Jesus. A big wooden cross, about six feet high, was lifted up by the pastors as we marched down a winding road leading to Potter’s Field, which is a long green field with a Greek monastery on one side.
Once at the site, we found a grave had already been dug out by our Israeli church members, exactly the size of the cross. Several Bible quotes were read before the cross was lifted and then put in the ground forever. A flag, dated and signed by representative leaders was placed on top. A Jewish rabbi was the first to pray, followed by a Christian representative and a Muslim and finally a Unitificationist representing the third Israel and True Parents.
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The 3rd major event took place on December 22. There was a large rally at Independence park in Jerusalem. As described in a United Press International report, "Two Jews slowly approached yellow armchairs on a platform in Jerusalem's Independence Park. The man, in a red gold-embroidered skullcap, bowed and placed a silver crown on one seat. The woman beside him placed a robe on the other. Both bowed repeatedly as spectators from 70 countries as far apart as South Korea and the United States stood watching." UPI, "Religions Urged to Reconcile for Peace," December 24, 2003.
More than 2 decades later, we don’t yet have peace, but do you think God has given up? Do you think the efforts of MEPI were wasted? Are you praying that President Trump efforts to bring peace to the Middle East will be successful?
The media usually reports on bad trends and of course on the violence, but sometimes God is working beneath the surface.
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A little known fact is the Growing Acceptance of Christians in the Holy Land. In 1910, Christians made up 13.6% of the Middle East’s population; by 2010, this fell to 4.2%. Since 2,000, the Christian population declined in Egypt by 14%, in Syria it dropped by 79%, in Lebanon by 33%, in Jordan by 33%, in the West Bank/Gaza by 60%.
Israel stands out as the only Middle Eastern country with a growing Christian population (58% increase since 2,000), attributed to democratic freedoms, religious protections, and economic stability, but I also believe due to the efforts of True Father and the 10,000 ministers he mobilized to came to Israel for MEPI. Can we appreciate Father’s and their efforts, even though the final goal has not yet been achieved?
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I’d like to finish today’s message by sharing some good news for this new year of 2026. The good news is that modern science has proved in a number of ways that the universe had a finite beginning point, and therefore is the result of an intelligent Creator outside of time and space. Here is a good explanation by the historian of science, Stephen Moore.
Finally, here is a quote from the astronomer, Robert Jastrow:
For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries.
Of course, Father spoke about the convergence of science and religion many times. So, even though we don’t live in the Kingdom of Heaven yet, Let us never forget that God is on the throne!
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May God bless you and your families!
Sincerely,
Richard
Richard A. Panzer, Ph.D., President
World Peace and Unification Sanctuary - USA
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