Shincheonji Bible: True Faith

Did you know that the appearance of Jesus as portrayed through media today, is actually incorrect? In movies and even paintings, Jesus is depicted as being very handsome with luscious locks and chiseled features. However, according to the Bible, it states that the appearance of Jesus was actually very far from this.

The reality of Jesus' true appearance is recorded in Isaiah 53:2:
"He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."

Jesus, the promised Lord of Lords and King of Kings, didn't even have some beauty or majesty, but had no beauty and no majesty, as would be expected from a king.

God, who is the Creator of all creation, undoubtedly had the power to grant Jesus any appearance, to be even more beautiful and majestic than any celebrity or actor that we know of today. Even today, when people see a handsome or beautiful celebrity in real life, they follow the celebrity around just to catch a glimpse of the person. Likewise, more people during Jesus' first coming could have followed him if Jesus' appearance was also in this way, because humans are so easily convinced by what is seen with the eye.

Then, why didn't God make it easier on himself and have Jesus be this way?

Because, God was seeking for those with true faith, those who would follow Jesus not by his appearance or aura, but would follow and believe in the words that Jesus spoke at that time. Those who believed in Jesus' words believed that these words were from God, and that they were the truth. It couldn't have been easy carrying out faith at this time, yet the 12 disciples believed and held on to the very words of Jesus, even though everything else was going against them.

We are now living in a time where Jesus' is soon to come. Are we going to make the same mistakes as those in the first coming and follow based on only what we see? Or, are we going to check and discern the words that we are hearing, and believe words that are truly given by God as according to the Scriptures?

Let us be those who don't have faith that is pleasing to the human eye, but have faith that is pleasing in God's eyes. Amen.

Shincheonji Bible: Faith for Thought

What do people mean when they say they have faith in something? We can start to answer this question by understanding that having faith is just another word for believing and that believing is tied to trust.

Trust is a universal concept. Children come to trust their parents because of a lifetime of caring for them. People come to trust their friends after getting to know them through time spent together. Communities come to trust their leaders based on their actions and history. But in the same way it can be established, it can also be broken! A leader that doesn't act in the interest of the community will result in this.

So what has God done to be trustworthy? This answer is in the Bible where there are countless examples of God making a promise and then working to completely fulfill it. God has already been acting for thousands of years to prove that He is trustworthy. It is up to us to delve into the Bible, learn what God has done, and have the correct faith in the promises He made.

Shincheonji Bible: Faith in what We Cannot See

Today we live in a society where we have a tendency to only believe in what we can see. Some instances of this case are exemplified in the belief that the world is flat. Other examples can be seen from couple hundred years ago before we had a microscope to see the bacteria and viruses that make us sick. Many actually thought bacteria and viruses were the unseen evil spirits that plagued the people. Now the reason we believe that bacteria and viruses exist is because we can see them through a microscope. However, does this actually mean we can only believe in the things we can see with our physical eyes? What about the people who are blind? How do they believe that everything around them is actually real? These are some basic questions I even personally think about. This is because I am intrigued by the fact that many people in this world believe in something they cannot see which are things pertaining to the spiritual unseen world.

Why do people of Christianity believe in the unseen world and even in God who cannot be seen with our physical eyes? First, we cannot just believe in God who is unseen because we "feel" His presence. God provides us evidence of His existence, but where does He show this? God shows His existence through the scriptures. God promises many things in His scriptures and He fulfills them. Fulfillment of His scriptures is evidence that the Word is living and breathing. How can something that is not alive fulfill a promise, let alone make a promise? A rock cannot promise nor keep a promise, but the scriptures which God's spirit is given (John 6:63) provides promises and even fulfillment. Then our quest as Christians is to find evidences of God's existence so we may have faith in Him (Jn 14:29).

Many people of the Old Testament based their faith in the seen. For example, they sought for God's existence through miracles such as the splitting of the sea or even the fiery pillars that came down from the sky. However, even despite seeing those things, they lost their faith in God and even created gods themselves. Then we have to ask ourselves how faithless people must be and what kind of faith God seeks from our hearts.

Let us continue to seek God through the scriptures in which we are able to see Him even if our physical eyes are unable to. Amen!

Shincheonji Bible: Promise and Faith

The first man, Adam, and Eve returned to dust (Gn 3) and received destruction (Gn 7) because they did not believe in God’s promise (Gn 2:17). Noah’s son, Ham, became cursed (Gn 9:20-27) and was destroyed in Canaan (Jos 9 ~ 10) because he committed the same sin that Adam did (Gn 3:10). The Israelites, the descendants of Abraham who escaped to Canaan from Egypt, were destroyed and went into captivity because they worshipped the Gentile gods again during the days of Solomon (1 Kgs 11).

The Israelites had been keeping the Law, and the first of the Ten Commandments was, “Do not worship any other gods.” God even told the people of Israel, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful” (Jos 1:8). However, neither Adam nor the Israelites kept the Law and as a result, they all received destruction (Hos 6:7). Then, God promised to create a new thing (Jer 31) which, unlike the Law that was given to Moses, was to plant two kinds of seeds. What God did through Jesus was to sow the seed of the New Testament (Mt 13), and Jesus returns to harvest the fruits of that seed (Rv 14:14-16). Jesus seals them and creates the twelve tribes (Rv 7). They are the firstfruits, the 144,000 in Rv 14.

Today, God has shown the greatest power (the fulfillment of Revelation) within the 6,000 years of history of the Bible. However, are you yet to overcome your flesh and are still so short of faith? Will you face the same end like Adam who once started in spirit but ended in flesh (Gal 3:3, ESV)? Why do you not believe, but instead fall into laziness and disregard the promise? What is it that you want? Is it the bread that merely feeds the flesh? What we believe is the promise, and it was given for us to believe when it is fulfilled (Jn 14:29). The holy spirit will drive out those who do not believe or do not participate in the work of harvest. God has been working for 6,000 years to create the twelve tribes of the New Testament, and only the sealed twelve tribes can enter the kingdom of heaven.

I have taught the promise of the New Testament and its fulfilled physical entities for the people to believe them. Let us not be ungrateful. Eternal life, or eternal punishment, is right before our eyes.

Shincheonji Bible: True Love

When you think of love, how do you show love?

There are many people in this world who show love in a variety of ways such as with giving, speaking, and even listening.

However, what is true love in the eyes of God and Jesus? According to John 14:15, Jesus says that if you love him you will obey His commands. Then we have to ask ourselves a question a lot of us do not want to hear. What does it mean to obey His commands? First we must ask ourselves what Jesus' commands were. When we look throughout the entire New Testament, we are able to see a lot of the scriptures written in ways that may be difficult to understand. Why is this?

When we look within scriptures, we are able to see that Jesus spoke in a figurative language according to Psalm 78:2. It was a prophecy in regards to Jesus speaking in parables and uttering things hidden from the past. Then the question we should all have is, "How can we obey something we do not understand?" If you asked yourself that question, your heart is in the right direction. For example, if you saw a stop sign and you did not know how to read English, would you be able to keep the stop sign? No it would be impossible. Then how are we as believers supposed to show our love to Jesus if we cannot understand what he is commanding? This is why we must live a life of faith with a heart of searching the answers that Jesus wants us to thirst for.

When we look at the entire New Testament, there is a book that is written in prophecies such as the book of Revelation. This book in the Bible is show to this Apostle John in a figurative vision in which many of the believers today have such a hard time interpreting. More than trying to understand in our own way, we must look and verify through scriptures what these all mean. If we truly say we love Jesus, then shouldn't we put in effort to search out what Jesus meant in all the New Testament? Without a heart of searching, one will never be able to truly be confident to say they love Jesus the way that Jesus wanted to be loved. When a person you love desires something, you always have to remember that it is not the desire you think unless you know them 100%. If you don't know, simply ask. They may be mad that you didn't know, but it is much better than showing them love in the way they do not want. Jesus wants us to understand His heart more than anything else. By us understanding His heart, we are also able to understand God's. Let us make sure we love God the way He desires! Amen!

Shincheonji Bible: The End of Age and Faith

The End of Age and Faith

Main Reference: Mt 13:36-43 (Mt 13:24-30, Lk 8:11)

Jesus came in the name of God as the light and sowed the secrets of heaven, the seed of God (Lk 8:11), in the field (church). The devil came to this field and sowed weeds among the wheat. These two types of seeds grew together within one field until the time of harvest. (Mt 13:24-30)

At the time of the harvest, God’s sons born of the good seed are harvested to heaven, and the sons of the devil, those born of weeds, are not harvested but are left to be burned in the field. This time (the time of harvest) is the end of age (Mt 13:36-43). At the end of age, true faith is to believe in the promise of this time (the time of harvest). At this time, there appear those who are harvested and those who are not—they are the physical entities of the fulfillment of promise. According to Mt 13:39 and Rv 14:14-16, the harvesters are the angels and the sharp sickles in the hands of the angels are the congregation members who believe in the Word.

About 2,600 year ago, God promised through Jeremiah in the Old Testament to sow two types of seeds (Jer 31:27). About 2,000 years ago, God sent Jesus to sow the seed as promised. Jesus then promised to return to harvest, and left. Today, about 2,000 years since that time, Jesus came in spirit with the angels to harvest as promised (Rv 14:14-20). He is creating a new kingdom and new people according the promise.

I have made known to all the people regarding what I have seen and heard, and what I have done. I have made known regarding harvest, peace, and the creation of the newkingdom and new people.

God prophesied the work of peace (Isa 52:7). Jesus carried out the work of peace as promised (Lk 19:38-42) and said, “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do” (Jn 14:12, ESV). This is why I am also doing the work of peace. Jesus said in Mt 7:21, ““Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Thus, I am working according to the will of God and Jesus.

Believers with the same hope in heaven! Whose words do you believe in—God’s words of promise or the words of your pastors? It is written that all nations will have fallen from the wine of adulteries in the last days (Rv 18). One’s path to life can only be found by going to the promised pastor of the New Testament. We must go inside the Word and meet the promised pastor to achieve our hope. Jesus said to see and believe when the promise of the Bible is fulfilled (Jn 14:29).