Results Brought By Absolute Faith, May 30, 2020

Title: Results Brought About By Absolute Faith

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: Results Brought By Absolute Faith

May 30, 2020

by Rafael Ablong

Thank you so much Dr. Yong for appreciating and believing me. My ancestors must be happy. I wish God can still make use of me through you, my highest Abel after True Mother, or through my immediate Abel, Bro. Jun Jumawan. Thank you for this very important and historical guidance. Let me share with you what I learned and realized from your message today about "Results Brought By Absolute Faith". 

1) To see is to believe, is science. To believe is to see, is religion. I think this is the unitary difference between religion and science. It is like the relationship between the mind and body. The body sees everything physical. The mind goes beyond the material and metaphysical, to the spiritual. Father said, "the religious life is actually to live in two worlds." (92:298, April 24, 1977) Faith is invisible. Yet, its visible results can recreate reality, destroy the walls of selfishness, and cure ancestral problems and diseases.

2.When we understand the time and the circumstance during the era of Noah, Abraham, and other central figures in history. There is a big historical gap. Even with that gap, however, we can still communicate with them. This is possible when we believe in these historical people's life of faith, loyalty, love, and obedience to God's Will and Purpose. Unity of heart, purpose, and motivation creates positive and meaningful results for Heaven.

3. Father said "when your faith is big, reality seems small. But when your faith is small, reality looms overwhelmingly big before you. (Way of God's Will, 3.4) Absolute faith, respect, and heartistic relationship with those central figures and our ancestors can make us inherit their faith and sorrows in history beyond time and space. With.absolute faith, the grace of living together with them becomes a reality. So even if Noah was alive 4000 or 4500 years ago, we can still meet and live with him, if we want to. This is the originally intended capacity of our physical and spiritual existence. We were supposed to transcend the limits of God's created world. The body relates to the physical and the spirit relates to the spiritual. Without the Fall of Man, both the physical and spiritual body should have had this kind of amazing give and take action centering on God.

3. We should not criticize our ancestors and the central figures for the sins and mistakes they have done in the past. Absolute belief can make anything turn into a reality. It comes through as you believe in it. Instead, we need to thank them for bringing us to this point in God's dispensational history of restoration so that we can reverse their failures and mistakes by learning from them and overcoming them, repenting for them to God on their behalf. We can only mobilize the good spirit world when we go beyond the normal meaning of absolute. 

4. We cannot liberate our ancestors conditionally. We need to go beyond the idea and praxis of the condition. The only way for us to liberate them is to believe and respect them with love. We need to worship our ancestors and show them our love. When we have this kind of faith in our ancestors, then they will come down. So we need to believe in them, love them and pray or attend them then they can come and help us.

5. To receive a heavenly fortune, we need to have faith. Fortune comes from the heaven through our ancestors. Attribution of faith is help and cooperation. We cannot inherit someone's fortune without any connection of faith and action, cooperation, respect, and oneness of heart and purpose. 

6. We should accept both our sins or mistakes and their sins and mistakes. We have to repent on behalf of them who have tried hard during their time but still failed at some point. We should look at ourselves as part of a big running relay. Each point in the universal and historical oval has runners, representing our ancestors and we are at the end of the relay race. Everyone has to run a part of the total distance. We should rise up when we fall and finish the race until we have successfully covered the whole distance. We have to feel the sorrows of God by inheriting the sorrows of our ancestors and our past central figures in history. So if Noah was a workaholic, who always worked for God's ark for 120 years, even maybe forgetting to love and care for his family So maybe he forgot to take care of his family, then we should have that kind of heart to console and comfort for that kind of sorrow.

7. Absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience enable you to inherit absolutely. So that when we apply these three absolutes then we become the very people we have believed in. So much so that when we have absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience in God,. Then we come like God himself.

8. To inherit from the central figure is faith, respect, love and then attendance. We should never criticize our ancestors, central figures, parents, and leaders. The nature of criticism does not belong to God. We never inherit anything when we criticize. Heavenly fortune goes through the obedient people or person in the family. God only uses those who are obedient. Obedience is greater than offering. Obedience means "I already believe and love you. That is why the True Father put absolute obedience to the last one.

This message of Dr. Yong today makes me repent of my sins of disobedience in the past. As a blessed couple now, I feel that obedience means obeying together as a couple, and as a family. We have to support each other to fulfill the heart of obedience. So we need to be responsible, creative, and flexible to attend the Heavenly Will of God and True Parents through their chosen representatives. I always try to avoid criticizing my leaders and elders of the church and the family. This is because my conscience immediately tells me to stay away from criticizing and instead think of having the motivation how to help or support the leader or elder first and ask to clarify so I can support well.

Thanks a lot, Dr. Yong for another day of liberating inspiration. You always strengthen my conscience and determination to go beyond my limits while keeping everyone safe and secure in the ways of Heavenly Parents and True Parents. I will always keep your guidance in my heart and apply it wherever I will go. Thank you, thank you. 

-- Rafael E.  Ablong

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Suffering of Humankind is for Participating in God's Sorrow, May 29, 2020

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: Suffering of Humankind is for Participating in God's Sorrow

May 29, 2020 by Rafael Ablong

Dr. Yong’s message today about "Suffering of Humankind is for Participating in God's Sorrow" made me remember and repent of the many times I have broken the heart of God. I think I am still so insensitive and immature in my response to God’s Will even when I know of the pain and sorrows that He had to suffer for many thousands of years even up until now. I am very, very sorry, Heavenly Parents and True Parents for my sins, and arrogance before you.

1. This message reminded me of how God took care of me and love me even when I cannot show the right love and respect to the people around me especially vertically, from my parents, grandparents in my family;  my direct elders, and leaders of the church.

2. The reason why we repeat the same mistakes and problems again and again? It is because I do not participate and apply God’s sorrow in my daily life. When I fail to apply God's love, His sorrows, His Situation, and His Will in my daily life, I commit mistakes and sin easily. I need to apply my feeling and understanding of God’s sorrowful heart in my daily life and relationship with people and things.

3. Without participating in God’s sorrow, I cannot liberate God’s painful heart. We cannot solve our sorrowful sins, the sorrowful state of things, lingering problems of immorality, and pernicious mistakes in life. I cannot stop this vicious and persistent cycle of sin, suffering, and agony if I do not inherit the sorrowful heart of God.

4. We can easily succeed if we have love and respect. Internally, we love the people and externally we show our respect. We need to respect each other as children of God. We should not be concerned with our position or status in the family or society when dealing with each other. Respect is about actively listening to anyone regardless of position, the color of skin, political or religious affiliation, and all humanistic limitations. It does not matter whether the person is younger or junior to me, I need to truly show my love and respect for him.

5. We need to humble ourselves and try our best to completely understand the heart of God. When we understand God's heart and His situation we will never sin. Even when we think of how God has carried the cross of suffering and difficulties, we can never give up on Him. When we know the God of sorrow and understand his tears and pains as our Heavenly Parents, we cannot give up our human desire to be one with God. If we cannot discover who God is and how he has lived his life with a broken heart for many thousands of years, we will not be able to truly go back to God's bosom. We need to think about this point well especially when we are in the midst of danger,  hunger, and persecution.

6. Lecturing is giving life from the Heart, we need to understand God's sorrow. We need to convey God's sorrowful heart. Our life becomes meaningless if we are disconnected to the love of God. We can see God's tears anywhere. For this, we should willingly bear God's sorrows and tears of suffering. His tears can fill any river, lake, or ocean. We should go beyond our teaching ability, by teaching from the heart.

7. If we know God’s sorrowful heart, we will never commit sin and will never give our way of living for the sake of others, to work for the love and happiness of God. Knowing this, I need to take every hardship and difficulty as opportunities to participate in the sorrow of God so I can liberate His painful heart and sorrowful existence.

Thank you, Dr. Yong, for this very deep message. With thanks and gratitude, I sincerely appreciate you for doing this continuously and unconditionally for all of us.  May you have a great and wonderful day.

--Raffy Ablong

Life of Faith Begins from Self-Denial, May 28, 2029

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: Life of Faith Begins from Self-Denial

May 28, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong, for another day of love and learning from you. I met your spiritual father, Rev Yo Han Lee, for the first time at the Philippine Headquarters in 1988 or 1989. I was one of the first participants of his Faith and Life Seminar with brothers and sisters. The second time I met him was at the Takamiya Kyokai here in Fukuoka City several years ago. When I introduced myself to him, he quickly said. Why are you here? When are you going back? I was surprised and had nothing to say clearly. I just said I came to be with my wife and family. I don't know exactly if he remembered me exactly when he asked me. I just felt his love and thought that maybe he said it because he remembered me as one of the participants in the Philippine Faith and Life Seminar who always tried to be active, happy, and excellent or near excellent in the tests and reflections.  I learned a lot of things from Rev. Yo  Han Lee. I still have his faith life booklet with me and I read it alternately with the other holy books of True Parents, when I am struggling or when I want to get some specific guidance about faith and life for my children. It is one of the five UC books that I brought to Japan when I migrated here in 1996 because I expected Japan to be like a desert for foreign members like me who do not know much of the language and culture of the Japanese people. Sort of my food and water in the desert.

Your morning devotion message today, Dr. Yong' is all about "Life of Faith Begins from Self Denial".  This topic reminded me that:

1. Our blood lineage is not pure. It is a "Satanic blood lineage". This means we inherited this lineage from the fornication of Adam and Eve who disobeyed God's commandment by entering into a sexual relationship centering on Satan. We are always invaded by the Satanic blood lineage. So we need to deny our five physical senses for the sake of going back to God.

2.  We have to deny ourselves 100% because we belong to Satan 100%. We need to reflect every day whether we are using our senses for God or Satan. Everything in this world after the Fall belongs to Satan. So we are always self-centered. Satan uses our mind and body for his selfishness. Our habits were formed by Satan.

3. Everything in the life of faith always starts with self-denial. God is always public-minded and always exists for others  Human beings are self-centered and hard to live for the sake of others. So we have to deny ourselves to understand God, His Situation, and His Will, completely. To deny ourselves, we have to develop the habit of giving and forgetting that we gave. This is easier said than done, however, doing it gradually every day is a sure step to turn it into a good habit.

4. Faith means everything in me belongs to God. Who made God as our Heavenly Parents? Parents exist because of their children. Without children, couples cannot grow to become parents. Nobody will call them. Mom and  Dad. Without parents, children cannot be created. Who made the parents? The children made them. Who made the children? The parents made them. That is why parents grow with their children. So who made God (Heavenly Parents)? It is we the children. Human beings made God, God made human beings. God cannot become Heavenly Parents if we are not yet heavenly children. Nobody will notice God as a real God. God cannot make himself. We can only become perfect children if we have perfect parents.

5. The purpose of my life cannot be decided by myself.  The purpose of the created being is decided by the Creator. The potter decides how to use the clay. The potter (God) decides whether to turn the clay (human beings) into a cup, a plate, a flower vase, or whatever He wants it to be. My birth, my death or my life cannot be decided by myself because I am not the creator of life.

6.Although, we receive the blessing after fulfilling the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance, receive the Messiah, and get the Blessing. We perfect our character through the family. The purpose of creation is to be fruitful, to multiply, and have dominion. Yet, we become perfect through the family because through the family we experienced the four kinds of love,  and the 4 great of realms of heart. The family embraces all kinds of relations in society, nation, and world.

7. To deny ourselves, we need to form the habit of asking. Although we know something is right we need to ask Abel and then deny ourselves when he says or decides something. We need to follow Abel without complaining. Complaining is arrogance and it is selfishness. Complaining is a poison to the spirit, a cause to the stagnation of our spiritual growth, a threat to the good growing opportunities, or a wall to prevent the blessings that may come our way.  The fall occurred because Eve did not ask God, Adam did not ask God, and Satan did not ask or report His feelings to God so He could intervene and correct the situation before it becomes a historical and painful failure. Lucifer became Satan he did not ask God, but instead, he asked Eve to fall by eating the fruit. Eve did not ask God before going to Adam so God can intervene. and prevent the second fall.

This is the reason why in Japan, to develop self-denial and God-centered obedience, we always ask our children to observe three things to also protect their life, purity, and faithful dignity by practicing HO-REN-SO or (Hokoku 報告, Renraku 連絡, Soudan 相談 ). This means that when anything happens: they need to report to parents or Abel (Hokoku 報告), contact to parents or communicate with Abel (renraku 連絡), and consult with the parents or Abel (Soudan 相談).

8. Complete oneness of heart and mind is when your thinking is my thinking,  my thinking is your thinking. Filial sons or daughters in law should develop a heartistic relationship with their parents by developing the habit of asking or reporting

9. Finding God and experiencing God's Heart starts from self-denial. We need to check our motivation, purpose, and direction of our actions. We need to ask our original mind, ask God, ask Abel, or ask your parents. We need to ask from A-Z.10.

10. Finally, we need to enter the stage of nothingness or self-lessness before God. We should be ready to obey, to humble, and love. We need to experience self-denial to have absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience.

11. We need to be united with God. Every day, we need to go beyond our current environment. We need to have some time to be alone with God and to find our true self with Him. Finding a way will vary for each one of us. Some people like to pray and communicate with God in the morning, in the evening or at any particular time or place of the day. But we need to communicate with God alone, in prayer, or meaningful meditation with Him. We need to feel God's presence in our lives every day. Celebrate that presence of God with Him and cultivate that kind of closeness by transforming our prayer into positive actions and actions into positive prayers.  In this way, we develop our abilities starting from self-denial step-by-step.

12. I sincerely feel that I am very far from being able to deny myself completely. Although, I can say that I have denied myself of some things in life just to come to Japan and be with my blessed family.  This is nothing to the self-denial that God had done and continues to do for many thousands of years, just to restore His children to His original ideal of creation. Restoration is truly a hard course but with True Parents' life course and the guidance of rev. Yo Han Lee and Dr. Yong, I think it is possible. I may not be able to deny myself completely, every time every day but at least I can say I will keep trying to my best.

Again, thank you so much Dr. Yong for your dep, meaningful, and truly life-giving message.  I listen to it as I do my workout or exercise, run or walk, in the morning or afternoon.

Thanks a lot.


--Rafael E. Ablong

Morning Devotion Reflection- May 27, 2020

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: Growing a Deep Emotional Life of Faith

 May 27, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong    

                                                                            

Dr. Yong's message today is al about "Growth of A Deep Emotional Life of Faith". To me, this means nurturing a deep emotional life of faith that helps me to cultivate a life of heart, attendance, and faithful action centering on God's Will and providence at this time of the dispensation. 

This helps us develop the ability of impression and premonition to recognize things before they happen. This sermon is significant because it reminds me of the few times that I experienced God's presence and direct guidance. Especially, in times of need, danger, and overall survival. Of particular importance were the times when I meet Him through our True Parents, Abels, sacrificial brethren in the church, and various experience from fundraising and other church missions.

Dr. Yong's message made me realize that: 

1. God guides us and shows us the future through our dreams. All the visual manifestations of God in my life are evidence of His love and care. I only understood His presence in my life when I studied the Divine Principle and experienced the love of True Parents through the guidance and inspirations of my leaders and church brothers and sisters. It makes me reflect on the investment of heart, hard work, and hardships of Heavenly Parents even before I was born. This message guides us on how to develop our five spiritual senses and the ability to understand dreams so we can use it in our daily life as we do the Will of God on earth.

2. Sometimes, even if we pray hard we do not receive God's inspiration through dreams, visions, or impressions of the physical and spiritual reality because we need to pray harder and more sincerely, naturally. The reason why we are given so many missions and positions in the movement almost at the same, at some point, is so that Satan cannot invade us easily and we can improve the innate abilities of our spiritual senses.

3. Our faith and connection to God are developed through direct experience. Directly experiencing God's sorrowful and longing heart through various church missions and responsibilities like fundraising and witnessing can develop our potential capacity to recognize things and situations through dreams and spiritual experiences. By becoming one with God's Heart, we enable our premonition or impression to sense things before they happen which helps us actually to physically survive, avoid danger, or to grasp an important opportunity to succeed.

4. True Father taught us step-by-step to capacitate each of us to look and know beyond our times and situations. The Fall has made us all ignorant and incapable of cognition and appreciation of our great human potential as co-creators, co-ruler, and as the visible body of the invisible God. 

5. A prayerful life of faith and single-minded devotion to doing God's Will coupled with hard work and sacrifice will help us to fulfill God's original ideal nature in us. This is the nature or ability to see beyond looking, feel beyond touching, listen beyond hearing, smell beyond our olfactory perception, and taste with foreknowledge. When we have a strong prayer life, constant communion with God, and meet Him through direct experience in the mission life, then our spiritual senses improve our capacity to work naturally, increases.

6. The most unforgettable dreams and premonitions I have in my life are:

-Pampanga (sometime in 1985). While sleeping on the ground outside the Fiera, in a big place near a university, with some brothers led by Kuya Dante. A person in a dream (an Angel), woke me up and told me to be aware that a group of armed men (policemen) would come and question us who we are. He said to me, wake up everybody and have them show their church (HSA=UWC) ID to these armed men and everyone will be safe. After I woke up brothers and sisters and told them about the ID, the armed men came and asked who we were and what we were doing in the city. We showed them our IDs and told them we were HSA-UWC missionaries. They understood and left us eventually at peace.

-At the 3-Day Ceremony Room of the Old Antipolo Training Center (June 1995). In the middle of the night, while sleeping after our third day of the Three -Day Ceremony. I had a very real physical dream of a long-haired Japanese-Chinese looking lady who was about to kill my wife with a knife in the air. I held her arms with the knife in it and struggled to keep her away from my wife. I was shouting and fighting with her until I woke up. I told my wife about it. That time, I realized I need to pray always for my wife and stay with her to protect her, and never leave her for safety and security reasons.

-At the Pasig Guest House of the Church Business Department in Bgy. San Antonio, Pasig City (Sometime in June 1996, 5:00 am) During the 8-Day Ceremony of my firstborn child, Masato. I heard God's voice from Heaven saying "What is it, my son?". My bones trembled and I felt the small room we were in with my wife and son, entirely filled with a big, bright, comforting light. It was for a moment but it felt like it was there for a long time already. I told my wife about it and we prayed together so seriously with commitment and determination to stay together and do mission together.

-Singalong, Malate. At the house where I stayed together with Raul Caballero and Kuya Soc Talaba for a while. Sometime in 1994, after reading the World Unseen, I became spiritually aware I was followed by the spirit of the person who wrote the book. He was with me wherever I went. Even when I am on a Jeepney or bus. I refused to listen to him and even pretended not to notice him. I prayed hard with True Parents' picture and gave the book to somebody and ended my contact with him. There was another spiritual phenomenon in the building after that and I prayed to God and talk to that person and used the holy salt to purify the place. It disappeared. I felt the spirit of God so strongly with me at that time.

-I dreamed of True Father twice or three times just smiling or looking at me without saying anything which made me always think of my spiritual dignity, purity, and connection to God and if I am helping Their mission on earth or not.

-I also dreamed of True Mother and Heung Jin Nim when I was at my most prayerful and struggling moments. Especially, when I was doing construction work in 1985 for the old Antipolo 2 Training Center just a few weeks before I met Mr. Murotani, Rev. Kwak, and 5 other people including Kuya Soc Talaba for the mission to study and penetrate the UP Diliman Campus through CARP, VOC-CAUSA, and TIMD activities.

-I have a few more dreams and experiences even here in Japan but it is making this reflection longer. So let me just stop writing here and say that maybe I inherited the prayerful spirit of my mother who was also a "faith healer", community organizer, and founding pioneer of the Holy Face Association in Dumaguete City.

Thank you, Dr. Yong, for your love and passion to share God's heart of sorrow, longing, and expectation so that we can grow up to become members realizing God's Will. Whenever messages like this are given. I always feel that God is the reason why I am here. Sometimes I think I am just a lighthouse on a small island. I cannot go anywhere but I provide the light as a marker so people will know where it is and nobody will crash, die, or get injured here. But even in this situation, I can still use the power of God and True Parents' love, my blessing, and the Divine Principle so I can fulfill my 430 Blessed HTM Couples and 430 Ancestors Blessed Couples mission. I know it can be hard, but with God's Heart and Love, everything is possible.

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong, for your daily morning devotion.  

-- Rafael E. Ablong

Reflection: I Have Truly Yearned for People, May 26, 2020

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: I Have Truly Yearned for People

May 26, 2020 by Rafael Ablong

Dr. Yong's topic today " I have Truly Yearned for People" refreshed and reinforced my understanding of the importance of having a strong foundation of faith and substance to enter God's dominion of heart. This message is more than a flashback of the DP workshops and missionary immersion activities  I had in the past.  My mind hovered from the religious experience I had with my physical family, my participation in the activities of the different churches I attended in the past, and my historical encounter with some of the most passionate believers of True Parents.

I realized that whatever Dr. Yong's topic is during this devotion period, the internal drive and core content is always the importance of understanding God's sorrowful and yearning heart and becoming one with Him.  This core belief incessantly reverberates in my mind these days because of Dr. Yong's passionate delivery of this important message from Heavenly Parents. 

I feel the parental heart of Dr. Yong when he intentionally and conspicuously prolongs the emphasis of certain words in his sermon. I feel and understand the intensity of his effort to instill heart and inspire action among us. I think that for most of in Filjap, the best option to accomplish our mission is always to go back to the Philippines and achieve the goal of 430 blessed couples through the HTM providence. This is a big challenge and it is something that needs a lot of internal preparation and external capacity to fulfill it. Witnessing in Japan always feels like a calibrated, tactful, or futile attempt to approach people beyond the invisible limitations of its "privacy and reclusive" culture. 

This Covid19 pandemic presents a lot of difficulties and new challenges. However, if we focus on its consequent limitations to our external, economic, or employment difficulties. We will never be able to accomplish this mission of helping True Mother restore at least one-third of the world's 7.7. billion people. This pandemic is resetting our family, social, national, and global life. Yet it also presents us with "new heart normal" opportunities to harvest the field of humanity whose heart longs for the love and yearning of God.

The morning devotion of Dr. Yong is God's way of reviving and fortifying our internal and external capacities to produce concrete providential results for Heaven. It is God's instrument to realize the new normal of heart to heart relationships where every human alive can go beyond the boundaries of protocol, culture, religion, beliefs, and idiosyncrasies of each breathing human in this world.

I learn new words from Dr. Yong every day. Even the meaning and depth of the words change when he starts to use them as the tools to infuse divine love. I agree, there is one protocol in the Kingdom of Heaven. That is the protocol of heart and love. Only through this kind of protocol can we treat each other as co-equals in the world, being God's visible manifestation of His Existence.

Truly, I believe that entering the dominion of God's Heart is a gradual process. It takes time to raise the heart of a fallen man because he does not have the original heart and emotion centering on God. We need to undergo this process to enter God's Heart. This gradual process includes:

1.Foundation of Faith. We need to pass through Abel's heart and be recognized by him. This vertical foundation needs total unity with God's word, self-denial, and absolute obedience to Abel.  Wherever we go, we need to have an Abel. 

2. Foundation of Substance. In this process, we need to pass through Cain's heart. We need to be recognized by Cain as a man of heart and love so that all other Cain's will love and cherish their relationship with God through Abel. When we have this foundation of faith and foundation of substance, we meet and receive the Messiah through the blessing and then experience our Rebirth and resurrection in the love of God.

3. Foundation of Heart. Our final goal is to finally enter and settle in God's Heart. To inherit the Heart of God, we need to understand God's situation, His Dream, and His Purpose of Creation and how to accomplish it in our lifetime.

Thank you very much, Dr. Yong for reminding all of us of our internal goal to become beings with divine love and having good eternal relationships with our Heavenly Parents and True Parents. Thank you for bringing peace in our hearts, hope and love in the family, and vision of eternal happiness in this world and hereafter.  --Raffy Ablong

Heaven is a Place Where Hearts Pass Through, May 25, 2020

Morning Devotion Reflection

Heaven is a Place Where Hearts Pass Through

May 25, 2020

by Rafael E. Ablong

Let me share some of my notes and reflections of Dr. Yong's topic for today, "Heaven is a Place Where Hearts Pass Through"

Dr. Yong's message today is like an attempt to summarize some of his experiences, realizations, and spiritual stability in public mission. He basically shared some of his deepest experiences at keeping public position, missionary dignity, and stability of conviction. He showed us his indomitable character, religious persistence, and dedicated effort to accomplish God's Will which should be replicated multiplied by all of us. Today, I learned that:

1. The public position is the scariest position. It is like going to the execution ground. It is like in front of the court of la waiting to be judged. Each of us is a sacrificial offering. If we speak well, we can save people. If we make a mistake, we kill the people we are supposed to save. It is the same as a physician making a mistake in giving the wrong injection or medical prescription or making a procedural mistake in surgery.

2. He was kicked out Many (seven) times in his very long years of public ministry in the front line mission. He has modeled to us the right attitude when going to the frontline, to fully develop our capacity to contain the sorrowful and longing heart of God through direct experience. The more we get close to God, the more we are able to subjugate our egotism and Satanic proclivities.

3. The more we walked in this path, the more humble we should become. We have to become the model of a filial and loyal son  Even to the point of having the conviction that even if we die nothing will change our conviction, that even if we die we won't experience being unfilial or disloyal to God and True Parents.

4.Lecturing is not about ability. It is about putting a lot of Jeongseong into the speech. Lecturers should put their hearts into what they teach, feeling one in strong unity with God. Do not give a speech simply. You need a lot of prayer and Jeongseong for each word that you will say. This is what will become the spirit and substance of your lecture. Each of True Parents' words has so much meaning and depth in it. We have to study seriously and read to carefully comprehend the word of God with a strong Jeongseong.

5. Before we give a sermon or before delivering God's word, we need to have that kind of feeling. HP, TPs, and the spirit ancestors come down to listen. We should think that when we are lecturing to a few p people like 1o or less numb of people, we need to look at them as representatives of the whole of mankind and the ancestors in the spirit world.

6. Fundraising also carries the depth and heart of purpose in it. Anyone who buys my "heavenly product" will get a blessing from God, We need to have this kind of concept. We are not simple people. We are God's children. We do things on behalf of God and True Parents. We need to pray for the product and consider it a heavenly fortune from God. Fundraising is like giving a blessing to others and to yourself. If people accept and buy our products, they get a blessing. If they don't, the blessing that they are supposed to receive will come to you.

7. As a leader, we need to have a good preparation to speak to members. We have to pray to God and get his confirmation of each word prior to sharing the words of God. The preparation of the heart is not a simple matter. It is the key to the successful delivery of God's message to His people. Where there is love, God, and True Parents, and the people will be there. When people experience the love of God, they can die for God. The Abel should stand in the position of God, giving His love.

8. We need to pray for Adam's family. We have to console the grieving Heart of God after the Fall. One careless sin, disobedience, or mistake can destroy a foundation that one has built for years. Like the central figures in history, where all their sacrifices and hardships ended tragically because of disunity and immaturity. Like, in Noah's family, they were not able to recreate God's family because of the mistake of Ham. Same as in the time of Moses, people do not understand the heart of God and the central figure. So as members, we need to unite with our leaders who represent God and True Parents.

Thanks a lot, Dr. Yong, for your untiring and continuous effort to educate all of us. You have intensely invested your heart, preparation, and Jeongseong.  Thank you always for bringing us closer to Heavenly Parents and True Parents by your Jeongseong condition, prayer, and internal guidance to all of us.

--Rafael "Raffy" Ablong

Become a Lord of Heart, May 19, 2020

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: Become a Lord of Heart

May 19, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong 

                   
The precious message today is about how to "Become a Lord of Heart".  Here, Dr. Yong emphasized two main points: the sanctification, and appreciation of things. These two important actions are a characteristic of filial sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents and True Parents.
As described in Romans Chapter 8, "creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God," after the Fall of Man.  As filial children, we need to sanctify all things we use wherever we are. So we need to have holy salt with us wherever we or if we don't have it we need to (holy) blow three times to these things before we appreciate and use or eat them.

Sanctifying and appreciating the things we use will prevent us from getting diseases like cancer. Also, before using or eating things we need to think o offer them to HP, TPs, True Mother, my Abel, my wife, and so on down the line before my self. This means we need to offer or eat it first for God, TPs, and others. This is training the mind and body to move or behave for the sake of others.

Giving tithes and donations, I think are also a way to appreciate the things we receive from God. So at home, we have the prayer room where the altar is and in the kitchen, we have a symbolic place for True Parents where we offer our daily food after cooking, especially in the morning. We also train our children to tithe or donate, 10 percent or symbolic (from the heart, when it is really hard) of whatever they have: birthday money, otoshi dama, salary, etc. My wife trained them this way since they were very young so it is automatic and natural for them now.

I feel that because of God's love and how we sanctify and appreciate the things we have, the blessing is unending. Due to this tradition, we never have a problem with food. We always have money for basic necessities and to live a simple life. Wisdom from God and years of exposure and practice of the Principle and God's words in our daily life have made us wiser. It is unbelievable for non-UC people to think that blessed couples, especially old 1st generation FilJap couples from the late 1990s, argue with each other how to give big donations or meet financial goals for different events and projects in the Philippines. Sometimes, we think it is strange that we give more than we use for our family. But that is how we express our love, gratitude, and thanks to God and True Parents. Since everything comes from God, we need to think of the best way how to accomplish our mission while taking care of our blessed families. To me this is not just a mission, it is not just an expression of gratitude.  Every time Heavenly Parents and True Parents ask us to do something through our vertically-aligned Abels,  is an opportunity to grow and to show our heart and united relationship to Heaven's Will and Providence. This means our constructive arguments and struggles at home are healthy and good for others and for the Providence. Of course, it can be a little dangerous sometimes but as educated and Principled blessed families, we are always able to overcome it.  Public-mission experience, good DP education, tradition, and practice always help us to succeed.

Tithing and donations, even how small or how big they are as long they come from the heart are another way to "sanctify" (more after holy salt) and appreciate the creation (things or money) that God provides us with.
I respect my physical mother for bringing me up this way even before I met the movement. Even how poor we were, there was always a way for us to appreciate God's work in our lives and appreciate the life and provisions that Heaven gives us. We never had birthday parties or good food (sometimes no food at all) in the past but we always had a candle and a prayer to say our thanks to Heaven.  We were trained to share whatever little we have to others because this is a way to appreciate God and to return back the love that He gives us constantly in our lives.

I deeply and respectfully appreciate Dr. Yong's efforts to continue to remind us of our eternal relationship with God, how God has guided and protected us, and more. It is in knowing the testimony and reflections of brothers and sisters that we come to know God more and appreciate each other's relationship and existence in this great universe.

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong!

Raffy Ablong

Morning Devotion Reflection, May 23, 2020

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion
Message: "Vertical Sorrow and Horizontal Sorrow

Saturday, May 23, 2020 By Rafael E.  Ablong

Today is Saturday, The 23rd of May, and the message of Dr. Yong is all about "Vertical Sorrow and Horizontal Sorrow." His message made me remember a lot of things with sadness at first and the feeling of a certain level of victory at the end.

His message reminded me of:
1. The three laws in the Unification Thought Theory of History. Specifically, the   Law of Separation, Law of Indemnity, and the Law of the Horizontal Reappearance of the Vertical.
We were separated from God by disobedience, sin, and Satan after the Fall. —This separation caused us to lose our original faith, original homeland, the original perspective of value, and the originally-intended family life with God. This separation caused humanity: to lose our original relationship with each other, caused us to lose our home, parents, brothers and sisters, our tribe and all. And, in my family, it caused my father to lose his mind: enter the house through the window, run after people, and start fighting with my mother especially when he was hungry or drunk.
— To restore my original value, state, and position, I need to do conditions of indemnity to build a strong foundation of faith and substance, receive the Messiah, and help in the restoration of this world. I thought I was paying indemnity for my ancestors' sins especially, chapter 2 problems, misuse of money, and more even before I started learning how to talk, walk, or count.
— In the law of the horizontal reappearance of the vertical, various unresolved problems will reappear at present so they could be resolved by the Lord of the Second Coming (True Parents, True Mother). God causes these events to reappear in the present time so the Fall's consequent confusion and conflict in the world would be fundamentally resolved by the Messiah. The horizontal sorrows of all humanity can only be resolved when it meets the vertical sorrow of God. In other words, when both kinds of sorrow have a "reunion" (sangbon)  with God's Heart.

2. Vertical hunger, horizontal hunger, and various fights occurred when I was in elementary. The occasional slingshot wars and fistfights I had were a result of my desire for self-preservation, to have my friendships cover for whatever scarcity of emotional affection and normalcy I experienced, and the constant need for social acceptance. I looked for love and friendship outside my home because there was a lot of struggle and hardships at that time.
— Later on, I learned that even friendships can lead me to do the things I hate. Even to do the things that destroy my body. It was because of these friendships that I learned to drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, and marijuana for some time.
— My father was a good man and he was a victim of stress, hunger, alcohol, and ancestral problems. There were just too many children to feed, and there was little money from his stevedoring work at the shipyard. My mother had different jobs. She stayed religious and always leading the prayer meetings and organizing community prayer groups at the Catholic church.
— Yet, the frequent physical conflicts between my parents were real and heart-breaking; my mother would usually have a rock o a slingshot, and my father would have his usual long stick, squarely facing each other or trying to hit each other around the house. Sometimes, the children help in the fight, too. It was not because we wanted to hurt my father but because we were afraid. We were like dogs caught in the corner. We had to do it to keep him away from us. Sometimes, we would go out of the house running in the middle of the night to the house of my grandma and relatives who could help us stay away from the violence, and sleep a bit.

3. Our horizontal sorrows with the little things average people considered nothing was something for us.  Such as a good place to sleep in the house when it rains. When it rains, the roof of our house would leak and we had to cover it with cardboard boxes so we won't get wet as we rest. There was always discomfort, scarcity, and hunger. Without our friends, neighbors and  relatives help, we do not know where we are now. Thanks to all of them.

4. I attended Sunday Services in the different churches to feel God's love and comfort, have more friendships, and to have some food. We all had to have our own ways of food-raising and fundraising without losing our faith, sanity, and studies.

5. When I laid my life in front of God, just offering to Him everything, I was able to settle down my discomfort, insecurity, sorrow, and hunger. When I became a missionary of the church, the meaning of hunger became fasting for a greater purpose. Silence and prayers to avoid conflict by preferring peace and anger to resent Satan's accusations by doing good became part of daily life of faith and challenges.

6. To overcome my sorrows, i need to witness, undergo persecution. and continue to live for others even in my capacity now as a family man. Just connecting everything to God and True Parents in prayer, hoon dok hae and other church traditions is not enough. I have to go out and witness, and experience persecution to grow.

7. Reuniting our horizontal sorrows to God's vertical sorrows will need a lot of heart, time, and effort but this will not hinder us from continuing to substantialize our determination. Understanding the sorrows of God is about avoiding to insist on our way of thinking and disobedience, arrogance, and selfishness. Without God's love and the Divine Principle, we won't be seeing each other today.

Thanks Dr. Yong for your untiring sacrifice and commitment to share your knowledge, skills, and experience. I will do my best to take care of my family for the sake ofvthe higher purpose. On a brighter side, though we experience sorrow and understand the sorrows of God, we can still smile and be happy in the Providence of saving people from hell.

-Rafael "Raffy" Ablong

Morning Devotion Reflection: May 21, 2020

Reflection of Dr. C. S. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message: What Kind of Conditional Offering Can I Make

by Rafael Ablong

The topic of Dr.Yong's message today is "What Kind of Conditional Offering Can I Make". We need to Shed Tears For the World and Represent the Heart of Heaven. Based on his message I realized that:

1. Each of us, our families, our work, our possessions can be a good offering to God. Every existence and relationship in the different levels of human life is an offering to God. We have the potential and the ability to become a good offering that God wants us to be so everything is restored and recreated back to His Ideal Plan of Creation.

2. The origin of God's Heart is His Parental Heart. This is the Heart of God that embraces His Children and the Things He made for His children unconditionally with love and sacrifice.

3. We have to experience and accomplish the Four kinds of Love: Children's Love, Siblings Love, Conjugal Love, and Parental Love to be able to understand God's Heart and Love as a Parent.

4. Each of the four kinds of love matures in (three) stages of experiences. And the ultimate experience is experiencing God's Heart. True love and Life-giving sacrifice are to shed tears for God's sorrows and sufferings as our Heavenly Parent.

5. Complaining and disobedience against God's Will will not help us to become the ideal children of God. Only by following obediently with total dedication, commitment, and devotion can we truly succeed in inheriting the true love of God and the essence of His Original Heart as a Parent.

6. Dr. Yong's message today touches on at least four theories of the Unification Thought. It touches on the Theory of Original Image (about God creating human beings in His likeness, etc.). It talks about Ontology (about things and common attributes with human beings). His message also contextualizes the theory of Original Human Nature (about human beings' image, character, and position). Lastly, his message touches on Axiology (about the basis and creation of value, etc).

7. People who know the Heavenly Parents, True Parents, True Mother, Divine Principle, and God's Providence are in a better position to accomplish the Restoration Plan of God.

8. We are all capable of totally offering our minds and bodies, families, and all when we truly understand the heart of God as our Heavenly Parent. This is easier said than done, but I will keep my determination to continue pursuing the Will of God by taking care of my blessed family for the sake of a higher purpose.

It may be natural to rest sometimes, but stopping our quest for maturity and perfection as an offering is not an option. We should put more effort to build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth even when the "tough is going" or when the going gets tough.

Thank you Dr. Yong for another day of positive thoughts and inspirations. We will keep learning from you and relating our learning from you to the actual realities of our daily life of faith.

-Rafael E. Ablong

Morning Devotion Reflection, May 22, 2020

Morning Devotion Reflection, May 22, 2020

By Rafael Ablong

Today's message is about "The Place Where a Heartistic Relationship With God is Built" In today's main message, Dr. Yong emphasized the words "from where we must we offer Jeongseong". 

It is a place where only you are present and only you know. It should be a place away from everyone. We cannot boast anything we receive from doing Jeongseong. We need to be meek and silent about our internal experiences with God as True Father has taught us. I need to know where the best place to go to pray is, where we can feel God alone. We need Jeong Seong to meet Heavenly Parents. It should be a place where we can have a focus and have one-on-one communication with God. Anyway, the most important thing is the heart. Whenever we do anything, we need to feel God and communicate with him freely and sincerely. Whenever I have a lot of time, I go to visit the Holy Ground. 

The key point is my heart, my motivation, purpose, and direction of my (prayer) life. My vertical relationship with God is the powerbase of my relationship with people and all things. To feel the heart of God, I have to recognize I am a sinner and repent before God, forgive others, and always examine my relationship with God, recognize His Will, understand, and feel God's sorrow. I have prayed many times while walking, jogging, running, or when I am on my bicycle or whenever I use any transportation. However, the best place is where I truly feel the holy presence of God. and usually it is a place away from the doldrums or distractions of the real world. The last thing we can do if there is no place for this holy communion with God is to follow True Father's example of turning an ugly place into a holy place. 

I remember in his autobiography he spoke about him praying or sleeping next to the toilet in Hungnam prison. The key point is my heart, my motivation, purpose, and direction of my (prayer) life. To feel the heart of God, I have to recognize I am a sinner and repent before God, forgive others, and always examine my relationship with God, recognize His Will, understand, and feel God's sorrow.

At home, we always have a special place where we do our traditions, prayer, and other internal activities. My default prayer area outside my home is always a quiet place in the nearby park. Starting the day with our family tradition and condition helps a lot to stabilize the day. The best way is to do it with my wife or my kids. I follow it with a walk or jog with heavenly music at the quiet park near the building where I live. 

At my workplace, the best place for me to pray every time is my office, the storage room, a corner in the library, at the nearby riverside, or beachside. However, sometimes, the fastest and easiest place to go to is the special toilet. Off my workplace other than my home, I pray in the subway or a quiet place nearby. 

Following a schedule of tradition and internal conditions is not enough. What matters is a united heart with God and His sorrows. Even if I know that I have to do all these to grow spiritually, still I cannot do it perfectly until now. I might be able to follow my internal schedule perfectly every day but my focus is sometimes unstable especially when I have so many things to do. I am very sorry for my arrogance and pretensions before God. Anyway, I need to keep on trying. I should not succumb to the daily realities of life. I need to be the subject of everything that happens around me centering on God.

Gratefulness and appreciation always brighten the day. If we wake up with a smiling and grateful heart, everything during the day becomes good. Our good actions and intentions help to purify the day. 

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong, again for an internally productive day. I always look forward to hearing from you. I have to repent every day so I can always be purified by Heaven. Thank you so much, Dr. Yong!

-- Rafael Ablong

Morning Devotion Reflection: May 16, 2020

Morning Devotion Reflection

God’s Sorrowful Heart

May 16, 2020

By: Rafael Ablong

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong, for sharing about God’s sorrowful heart in your morning devotion. I understand that to liberate myself from the sorrows I experience with: myself, my spouse, my children, my brothers and sisters, my relatives, my leaders and elders of the church and everyone else; I need to deeply understand God’s sorrow.

I think this is one of the deepest and strongest messages I have had so far in my spiritual life. I used to hear these words from elders: to forget your suffering, look at the people who suffer more than you. If you don’t have shoes, look at those who have no feet. If you don’t have a room to stay at home, look at the life of the homeless people.

I will keep this message in my heart and I have to learn to deeply understand God’s sorrows to overcome my own, help my wife overcome her sorrows by loving her more as God’s daughter, love my children more so that I can make them understand that the way to liberate God’s heart is to love our Heavenly Parent and True parents more than anything and to determine ourselves to liberate the sorrows of God by overcoming food, clothing , water, shelter sex and wifi or technology.

We have to go beyond the limits of human action and inaction by putting our  best effort to truly know and understand each other, avoid doing the sins and irresponsibility of Adam and Eve. Furthermore, we have to exert more effort to accomplish what Heavenly Parents and True Parents want us to fulfill this time for the sake of saving even one third of the 7.7 billion people of the world.

Thank you very much again, Cheonghwejangnim, for your message!

Raffy Ablong

Morning Devotion Reflection, May 19, 2020

Morning Devotion  Reflection
Become a Lord of Heart
May 19, 2020 by Rafael Ablong    
              
The precious message today is about how to".  Here, Dr. Yong emphasized two main points: the sanctification, and appreciation of things. These two important actions are a characteristic of filial sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents and True Parents.
As described in Romans Chapter 8, "creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God," after the Fall of Man.  As filial children, we need to sanctify all things we use wherever we are. So we need to have holy salt with us wherever we or if we don't have it we need to (holy) blow three times to these things before we appreciate and use or eat them.

Sanctifying and appreciating the things we use will prevent us from getting diseases like cancer. Also, before using or eating things we need to think o offer them to HP, TPs, True Mother, my Abel, my wife, and so on down the line before my self. This means we need to offer or eat it first for God, TPs, and others. This is training the mind and body to move or behave for the sake of others.

Giving tithes and donations, I think are also a way to appreciate the things we receive from God. So at home, we have the prayer room where the altar is and in the kitchen, we have a symbolic place for True Parents where we offer our daily food after cooking, especially in the morning. We also train our children to tithe or donate, 10 percent or symbolic (from the heart, when it is really hard) of whatever they have: birthday money, otoshi dama, salary, etc. My wife trained them this way since they were very young so it is automatic and natural for them now.

I feel that because of God's love and how we sanctify and appreciate the things we have, the blessing is unending. Due to this tradition, we never have a problem with food. We always have money for basic necessities and to live a simple life. Wisdom from God and years of exposure and practice of the Principle and God's words in our daily life have made us wiser. It is unbelievable for non-UC people to think that blessed couples, especially old 1st generation FilJap couples from the late 1990s, argue with each other how to give big donations or meet financial goals for different events and projects in the Philippines. Sometimes, we think it is strange that we give more than we use for our family. But that is how we express our love, gratitude, and thanks to God and True Parents. Since everything comes from God, we need to think of the best way how to accomplish our mission while taking care of our blessed families. To me this is not just a mission, it is not just an expression of gratitude.  Every time Heavenly Parents and True Parents ask us to do something through our vertically-aligned Abels,  is an opportunity to grow and to show our heart and united relationship to Heaven's Will and Providence. This means our constructive arguments and struggles at home are healthy and good for others and for the Providence. Of course, it can be a little dangerous sometimes but as educated and Principled blessed families, we are always able to overcome it.  Public-mission experience, good DP education, tradition, and practice always help us to succeed.

Tithing and donations, even how small or how big they are as long they come from the heart are another way to "sanctify" (more after holy salt) and appreciate the creation (things or money) that God provides us with.
I respect my physical mother for bringing me up this way even before I met the movement. Even how poor we were, there was always a way for us to appreciate God's work in our lives and appreciate the life and provisions that Heaven gives us. We never had birthday parties or good food (sometimes no food at all) in the past but we always had a candle and a prayer to say our thanks to Heaven.  We were trained to share whatever little we have to others because this is a way to appreciate God and to return back the love that He gives us constantly in our lives.

I deeply and respectfully appreciate Dr. Yong's efforts to continue to remind us of our eternal relationship with God, how God has guided and protected us, and more. It is in knowing the testimony and reflections of brothers and sisters that we come to know God more and appreciate each other's relationship and existence in this great universe.

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong!

Raffy Ablong

Morning Devotion Reflection, May 18, 2020

Reflection of Dr. Yong's Morning Devotion

Message:

May 18, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong

Dear Dr. Yong,

Every time I listen to your message, I feel your sincerity and heart in explaining God and True Parents' sorrowful and longing heart.  I remember that in the UT Theory of Education, the Education of Heart is first and foremost when creating the basic foundation of a moral, God-centered individual. Your lecture goes deeper than the three kinds of Heart that Unification Thought Theory of Education requires us to inculcate in the minds and hearts of young kids and adults: God's heart of during the creation, God's heart when Adam and Eve fell, and God's painful, suffering and yearning heart of restoration.

I think you have explained this morning's topic "Thie Individual or Group that is not sorrowful for God will Perish" which essentially says positively that "an individual or group that is sorrowful for God will live". I have experienced so much sadness and sorrows in my life as the 5th of nine siblings in a very poor, hungry family.

I experienced so much sadness and frustrations in my life especially when my brothers and I have to tie our very own physical father to a tree so that he won't hurt himself or other people while waiting for his sickness or insanity to subside. It was painful to see him go to jail after he killed his own brother with a nail in the head, accidentally. Too much sadness and grief that still haunts me up until now. However, every time I offer all this grief, tears, and bleeding heart to God, I find consolation. I can easily relate to God this long-kept sorrows in my heart and I understand that this is happening to my life because God, our Heavenly Parent, lives like this every day of  His life. 

Looking at His children killing each other, throwing plates at each other when there is no more food in it, stealing to fill a hungry stomach, and whatever sadness, misery, cruelty, and disease there is to be told to you.

Thank you, Dr. Yong, for making me remember my sad past and traumatic experiences. Thank you for making me always forgive my parents and love them for their tremendous suffering, love, and care.  I feel that every time I listen to your message, it is like undergoing some form of socio-emotional therapy. It is healing my past by connecting whatever I have experienced to the sorrows, loneliness, and longing of God.

I am determined to liberate the sadness of God's heart by clinging to Him every moment of my life. By connecting what I do to the purpose of my life, my family, my church, my spiritual brothers and sisters, and to our beloved True Mother, True Father, and ultimately to our Heavenly Parents.

Thank you, Dr. Yong, for this daily dose of medicine for the heart and therapy to my spirit. 

Thank you very much!

-Raffy Ablong