The Standard of God's Judgment, June 9, 2020

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

Message: The Standard of God's Judgment

June 9,  2020 by Rafael E. Ablong

The topic of Dr. Yong's message today is "The Standard of God's Judgment".  His message reminded me of these very important points.
1. Why is Christianity declining? What is the main reason for this? Why Christianity became external and became a church that waits only for miracles?  The reason is they could not hold unto Jesus' heart. There is too much emphasis on faith and cannot substantialize Jesus' heart. Christians have come to understand Jesus' heart. There are three judgments: word, character, and heart.

2. What is the purpose of studying God's words? It is to resemble Jesus' character and heart. Our goal is not just to resemble Jesus but to inherit Jesus' heart. Today many Christians just believe in Jesus, the external way. Everything is out on the shoulders of Jesus, just talking and asking about blessing, not understanding and inheriting Jesus' heart. The problem is we cannot connect to Jesus' heart.

3. Christianity is declining because its believers have lost the pursuit to become the embodiment of Jesus' personality, heart, and character.  As people who understand God, we need to resemble True Parent's personality and character.

4. At the formation stage, most UC members are inspired by the Divine Principle and Unification Thought. Most of us joined because we love the Divine  Principle and Unification Thought. We need to resemble True Parents' personality and character.  Most UC members stopped at the formation level after learning the Principle and joining the church. It is hard to break through the growth stage. How much could we resemble True Parent's character ad personality? On the completion stage, we need to inherit True Parent's heart and Their attitude towards God.

5. If UC members cannot inherit God's heart, we become external. We won't be able to appreciate and deeply realize God's heart in our life.  Education is important. But focusing on education is not enough. If we focus on education, we just become teachers but not models of the heart. We need to show our model. We need to inherit God's heart. We need to become the ideal models of what we teach and preach. We need to show God's sorrowful heart in our life. It is hard to find a leader, a model who inherits God's heart.

6. So whenever we study the Divine Principle, especially the Principle of Restoration, we need to focus on how to inherit the sorrowful heart of God. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, they have been wallowing in the mud of suffering and trouble. Understanding and becoming a model of God’s heart allow us to deal with different challenges even from our spouses and children. We have to feel the sorrowful heart of the central figures who served God and failed somehow at the end. We have to understand the family situation of all these central figures in human history.

7. How much have we transformed our heart and character over the years after we understood the Divine Principle? Did we improve our lifestyle centered on God or are we stagnating in our spiritual life?

8. In this era of Chun Il Guk, we need “heart” leaders who can show God’s heart. Our models are True Parents Heart. We need to resemble their heart in unity with Heavenly Parents. Why has our life become stagnant? Why can’t we reach the level of True Parent’s heart?

9. Did the numerous Christians hold unto Jesus' heart and the heart of the Holy Spirit? We are very far from Jesus' heart, we are very far from True Parent's heart, very far from the level of God’s heart. Faith and prayer are not enough. We need to inherit our True Parents' hearts.

10. What is the final judgment in the last days? It is the judgment of the heart. The final fight and victory are not external but internal.  How should I settle God’s heart in my heart forever? Father said we must establish the connection of heart with Heavenly Parents. God starts from the external to the internal, from the internet to the very internal. That is why he created starting with visible things.

11. The final goal of everyone is to inherit the heart of God. We need to inherit the heart of the Father in the Old Testament Age, the heart of Jesus in the New Testament Age, and the heart of God in the Completed Testament Age. We have to reach the level of the Parent’s heart.
What is the completion stage? It is the era of parents. it is not just the era of words, not the era of personality. It is the era of the heart.

12. God has worked from the external to the internal. We inherit the heart of a servant in the Old Testament Age, We also need to inherit the heart of the son in the New Testament Age, the heart of the Father in Completed Testament Age. That is why we need to inherit the Heart of God. It is' not that we cannot communicate with God's heart but because there no connection of the heart.
Now we live in the era of Chun iL Guk. Reading people in the era of Chun Il Guk. But the most important

13. What is the number one problem why we do not have a good stimulation to work or do our mission? It is the problem of the heart. The final judgment of God is not the word, not the character, but the heart. When we talk about unification, we talk about the unification of mind and body.

14. The center of unification is our True Parents Heart.  The enter of unification between mind and body is when we experience God’s heart. Without entering the world of God’s heart, it is impossible to unite our mind and body. The center of unification between husband and wife is the original heart or shimjung. The main problem of the world is the lack of heart. If there is no heartistic connection between all levels of relationships, we cannot relate to each other completely.

15. We are a resentful people and so does all of humanity up until now. There is not a single person who has become the true citizen of God centering on His love. It is because the earth became a place without a heavenly family where God cannot enter. So by inheriting the word, character, and the heart of God, we can change this world.

Thanks a lot, Dr. Yong for this message today. I hope to actualize these words in my life by practicing filial piety and loyalty, and inheriting the heart of God.

Thank you, thank you so much for your daily inspirations.

--Rafael E.Ablong

The Reason God Toiled Tirelessly, June 6, 2020

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

Message: The Reason God Toiled Tirelessly

June 6, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong

Today's message of Dr. Yong is " The Reason God Toiled Tirelessly". Some of the highlights of this message are:

1. Why does God toil tirelessly?  It is to find his children. it is to find Adam and Eve and all their descendants. People walk a path of suffering centered on God to find their sons and daughters and to establish a four-position foundation. God's dual purpose in finding His children is to accomplish two purposes: to find a man and to find a woman. This is is why it is not enough to restore Adam and Eve. Their descendants have to be restored to fulfill the original intended purpose of creation through the fulfillment of the four-position foundation in each stage.

2. Each of us needs to be convinced in our hearts to find God’s longing and sorrowful heart. Without experiencing God’s suffering heart, we will never know the depth of God’s heart and how He longs for me. We will not be able to completely understand Him without making the effort. God’s attribution of His suffering is not just his suffering. It is the agony and longing of waiting and of the Parent's efforts to find us. 

3. We need to build up our relationship with the eternal God. We cannot just find God in good places. We can always find Him in the most suffering places. Without toiling tirelessly, God cannot restore us. God is motivated by a single-minded purpose to find His true objects of partners of true love. Even if the external environment is good, this is nothing if there is no love. Even if you live with wife and children, but if we have no love this is nothing.

4. Personal frustrations, disappointment, loneliness, and stress are a result of not finding the object of love. Without love, even if we live in the most sophisticated place, we will still feel lonely and uncared. There is no heart, no object partner of love. There is no love present in relationships. Even if we live together, but there is no true love. Everything will just make you lonely. God keeps missing His true children. That is why God works tirelessly.

5. God is willing to die so many thousands more just to find His children. God, like us, cannot be perfected without an object partner. Who perfects the parents, it is the children. Who can perfect a man, it is the woman. Likewise, with the woman, she can only be perfected by a man. Our existence cannot be recognized and perfected without others.  Who perfects human beings, it is God. Object partners of love should be absolute, eternal, unique, and unchanging.

6. The concept of the four positions is the number of settlements.  In this foundation, God can find His sons and daughters. Based on the realization of the four-position foundation, God can rest. Until now, no religion has focused on family salvation. If Jesus has married during his time, True Father and True Mother would not have come. We need to experience the real feeling.  We all need to experience God’s heart from the level of children’s love, siblings love, conjugal love, and parental love. 

7. We need to experience true love in daily life. Love cannot be experienced in the crucible of concepts. It can only be felt and realized in the praxis of love. Why do we have to become parents? Without becoming parents, we cannot experience the heart of God as a parent. To love the world with brothers and sisters, we need to experience the love of siblings in the family. We understand and experience filial piety and loyalty by experiencing the heart of children in the family.

8. Who is the most miserable person? It is the person who cannot experience being a real child, a real brother or sister, and a real husband or wife.  No children mean nothing to their parents. No parents would mean nothing to their children. To experience God’s heart and circumstances, we need to find our husband, a wife,  brother, and sister. This is the only way to perfect love and experience it in our daily life, 

9. Through unity in marriage, we can comfort God. By being sensitive to the heart of brother and sister, we understand the four great realms of heart. The family is the best place to experience the heart of God. We can perfect the four kinds of love in the family.

10. God is the center of the four-position foundation. How do we achieve peace? It is by centering on the Heart of God, and True Parents. Everything under God and True Parents. We have a lot of problems in the world because there  No need to talk about human rights if we forget about God’s rights. 

11. Encountering hardships are one of the ways to understand God’s heart. It is to build a heartistic relationship with God. If we don’t undergo any trial or difficulties in life, we will not grow up to understand the heart of God. Satan will not allow you to go easily to God’s bosom. Without paying the price, we cannot be freely released by Satan. 

12. No pain, no gain. Without paying indemnity, we cannot restore ourselves, others, and the world. We need to exert a lot of hard work to fully experience the heart of God. If we want to restore a nation then we need to have you give us the pain and suffering. If there is only to restore to God’s bosom. To establish a heart culture, we need to experience it.

13. God does not God just gives us love. He also gives us trials and difficulties to make us grow. To overcome Satan, we need to control our bodies. Without trials and hardships, we cannot be able to separate from Satan. This is our frontline. So we need to go through trial difficulties. He uses the stick and carrot approach. You put the carrots in front of the horse so it will follow it.

14. We have to go beyond the limits of the sorrow caused by the fall of Adam and Eve.  When you achieve this, Satan will not be able to accuse you. Why we are hating Satan? Why did Satan become our enemy? 

Even though we can forgive the person, we cannot forget evil. We need to take revenge on Satan. We need to forgive Satan but we cannot forget Satan.  How to overcome Satan? We need to go beyond the division of mind and body, we need to beyond our borders into the world. The shortest way to overcome Satan is to do frontline missions. We need to go outside our national borders to serve the world. The more we see the situations of others, the more we see the beauty in the world, the more able we are to defeat Satan and truly succeed as the real sons and daughters of God. 

15. True Father said, “the reason I recently pushed you to pioneer is to make you into a person who possesses the heart of gratitude and who can have dominion over yourself.  Have we become such a person? We have to revive ourselves every time so we can obtain such eternal character.”.

Based on these ideas as read and repealed by Dr. Yong, I can only say that trials and difficulties are God’s Way of making us better each time. Without it, God would be spoiling our growth and disabling our capacity for goodness and involvement in public service.

Thank you Dr. Yong for this message today. May God continue to empower you with his love so that you can educate, enlighten, and inspire many more brothers and sisters.  Thank you, thank you.

--Rafael E. Ablong

To Become God's Son and Daughter- June 8, 2020

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

Message: To Become God's Son and Daughter

June 8, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong

The topic of Dr. Yong’s message today is "To Become God's Son and Daughter". This message reminded me of these very important things.

1. God's top priority is the salvation of His children. It is how to save His children. To give and take with Heavenly Parents from the heart and get the best result to unite with God and True Parents, we need to know what is God's utmost wish and ultimate hope.

2. Salvation is witnessing. It is about getting new life. As a parent, God's focus is just to rescue His children from Satanic culture and dominion. Our major focus in life should be on how to save the people and the families around us. God's heart is about how to redeem His children quickly from the realm of Satan. That urgency in His heart is the driving force of his hard work, sacrifice, and untiring effort to liberate humankind for so many thousands of years now.

3. Uniting with God's urgency at the moment is the automatic response of God's real sons and daughters. If we are one with Him, time, and place do not matter. We are always ready to respond and unite with Him and the urgency to save His children from the pangs of Satanic dominion. So our mission should be the salvation of everyone from the individual level, to the family, society, nation, and the world. Our mission is the total salvation of all humankind. 

4. God's urgency is True Mother's urgency at this time. She wants to see a Chun Il Guk nation. God loves His children so much that He wants to save His children quickly. So True Mother's urgent desire is to restore one nation and offer this CIG nation to Heavenly Parents before True Mother goes to the Spirit World.

5. The possibility of becoming sons and daughters to God increases when we live thinking of Father; when we fight while thinking of him; and when we swiftly move forward as we fight with him. When these emotions fill our hearts and do not disappear in our daily life then the likelihood of becoming His children becomes real.  There are so many ways to become real sons and daughters of Heaven, but what is the main point? 

6. What is the most important qualification to become God's filial sons and daughters?

True Father said it is uniting with the sorrowful heart of God. If we are truly united with God, then His sorrow becomes our sorrow. His yearning, pain, and loneliness become ours. Nobody can easily console and comfort our sorrowful heart until God's heart is consoled and comforted first. This is the heart of filial sons and daughters. They want to see their parents' hearts and situations liberated first before they even want to be liberated. Their life and happiness are dependent on the heart and happiness of their parents.

7. Nobody could console True Father's or True Mother's hearts because they cannot yet console and comfort God's heart completely.  They cannot be consoled until God's pain and sorrow disappear.

8. No filial child would ever enjoy a moment of his life if his parents are still in agony and pain, misery, and trouble. Nobody could ever comfort a filial child who only looks after the welfare and happiness of his parents. While his parents are not enjoying life, a filial child cannot enjoy life as well. This should be the state of the absolute oneness of mind and body, heart, and soul of the children to their Heavenly Parents. It should be like this or even more than the feeling they have for their real parents. This is the same feeling of Heavenly Parents. No parent can ever be happy if his children are unhappy and in a state of misery and pain. 

9. Dr. Yong's story of Rev. Yo Han Lee's tearful prayer before starting his sermon in front of about 200 people many years ago is reminiscent of our early church life, though it is different. Some of us are in tears when we say our long prayers even in front of the food. And so, some leaders would always make it a point to request anyone to say a short prayer before a meal.  I think that God's heart in those days is always in tears every time He sees new people joining the movement of True Parents.

10. God’s dream of having one family, one nation, one world under God, is what drives Him to keep working hard for the sake of His children. This is also the desire of True Parents. True Mother wants to see this ideal dream of God realized on earth before she goes to the Spirit World. If we are really filial sons and daughters, then we should feel the same way. We could not be happy if True Mother is not happy. We should not rest if True Mother is working hard to accomplish the goal of the Chun Il Guk era. We should be able to restore one nation by restoring its people, territory, and sovereignty to God. When we see True Mother is happy then we should be happy. But until then, we need to work hard in unity with the urgency and heart of True Parents and Heavenly Parents at this time of the providence.

11. We should look at each person in the world as an embodiment of God’s work of restoration. How much God puts His whole heart and effort to every person in the world so that they could recognize Him and be one with Him.  God puts a lot of Jeong Seong, time, tears, and effort for each one of us so we need to look at each other from the viewpoint of God’s longing and sorrowful heart to liberate humankind. We cannot fail God when we understand and feel His Heart for every person in the world in this way.

12. Filial sons and daughters immediately feel the heart of God in tears when they hear His name. Unfilial sons and daughters will not be sensitive like this. Unfilial sons and daughters take time to think before they can even feel or recognize the heart of God after some time. God always cry and long for me but fallen man does not recognize this painful and sorrowful situation of God. This is why he doesn’t cry easily when he hears the name of God.

13. How much heartistic connection we can have with people during our lifetime? Actually, not that much. How about God? God’s very unique character is His amazing personal touch. He never gives up on us wherever we go. Whether we go to Heaven or Hell, God continues to try to relate to us. This powerful and irrepressible feeling to relate with us a  parent is boundless and eternal. He does not stop loving or caring for us. He stays close within us or next to us transcendent of time and space. He never stops loving or trying to relate with us even for one second.  God puts His special attention to each one of us. This is God’s unique parental character. He wants to touch and relate to every one of the 7.7 billion people in the world.

14. When we cannot fall, even if we are told to fall. When we follow the path naturally to adore God and obey His Principles is the path all of us should naturally go to exceed the realm of death. Jesus’ life is a sterling example of this model. The amount of energy he invested was more powerful than a life and death situation. He was able to do that because he understood the heart of God. He knew how God would feel if he falls. He didn't fall because he knew God’s real situation. He naturally adored God because He knew how He existed in the sorrow of humankind's fall.

15. All problems come from our real understanding of God’s heart. If we truly understand the heart of God, then we can exceed the realm of temptation, death, and destruction. Jesus did not have the feeling of fallen people. Jesus had filial piety. He cares more for the God he knew. He single-mindedly overcomes the realm of suffering and death by putting God’s sorrowful situation before him first. Putting God’s heart and sorrow more than his, made him overcome death and temptations.

16. God’s original world is not just for me and for my family. It is the ideal world for every human being. If we have this kind of united understanding, sympathy, and compassion for the Heart of God during our lifetime. Then, we can easily overcome negativity and resentment the world and succeed in building the Kingdom of God on Earth and in Heaven.

We all need to have a strong, single-minded determination and persistence to solve the problems of human life squarely with our deep understanding of God’s sorrowful situation. We need to live as His real sons and daughters who cannot be manipulated by sin and Satan in this world. It behooves upon us to take the most filial and responsible act of becoming the mind and body of God during our lifetime. To overcome the present reality and establish a world of love, purity, and peace. Being his sons and daughters, we need to take away the pain and sorrows of God and make this the primary guide and motivation of our individual existence and human relationships. Again, this is easier said than done. But it is better to say and do it. Try our best to walk the talk so we become the real sons and daughters God had always wished for and dreamed of at the time of creation and after the fall.

Thanks a lot, Dr. Yong for another day of enlightening inspirations and great positivity. I hope that through this we can keep on growing as real sons and daughters of Heavenly Parents and True Parents. Thank you so much again for all that you do for all of us.  May the love of Heavenly Parents and True Parents always keep you healthy, happy, and safe with your family.

--Raffy Ablong

First Love, June 7, 2020

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

Message: First Love

June 7, 2020

By Rafael E. Ablong

Dr. Yong’s topic tor today’s morning devotion is “First Love” or Chut Sarang.  Central to this message is how to restore the three Biblical eras of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Completed Testament in our life. In this message, he strongly poured out his concern for all of us by elaborating the details the processes by which human beings, after the Fall, should undertake to move away from Satan’s realm into the realm of God’s Heavenly Dominion or Chun Il Guk, where no trace of sin and Satan can exist.

These are the salient points of his message today. I am sorry if this is very long.

1. To attend to Heavenly Parents and True Parents, we must endure the danger of death at least three times in our life. This is the path all of us must take to regain our value by passing through the historical challenges of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Completed Testament eras in the course of restoration history, during our lifetime. We must do whatever is necessary to overthrow our current environment together with True Parents so we can remove the Satanic blood in our lineage. Dying three times is the only way to regain our original value and restore what was lost in the Fall of our first human ancestors.

2. No matter what, we need to unite with Heavenly Parents and our current environment and situation. And find a way to reach Him. Without meeting God, fallen man cannot solve his fundamental problems. The purpose of our life is to meet our eternal, Heavenly Parents. Even though, we desire to meet God. We have already become carriers of fallen blood lineage.

3. Since the fall and death of Adam and Eve, how many people have returned to God’s bosom? It is extremely difficult to meet Heavenly Parents. So to find and reach him, Father said, we need to die, shed off and completely deny our old self so we can go back to our original self and return to God’s bosom. Divine Principle clearly explains what death and resurrection means. Because of this, it is very impossible to go back to God’s bosom. So we need to prepare to die, resurrect and be reborn.

4. Without death, resurrection, and rebirth, we cannot attend to God as our Heavenly Parent. We need to die for the Old Testament era, the New Testament era, and  The Completed Testament era. So we need to go through these conditions of “dying” in each of these eras.

Adam and Even died in the Old Testament Era because they eat the forbidden fruit.

5. To restore the Old Testament in our life, we need to overcome our carnal or bodily desire for sex and fornication. The goal of Satan every day is to have all human beings lose their purity. His main purpose is to rape any girls or any boys and to kill their life so he can take them to his dominion. This is why keeping our purity is always a serious issue of life and death. 

--Satan stealthily looks at every opportunity to rape your spirit of purity and dignity before God. He assaults us every second, every minute, every hour, every moment of our life, day and night. He is always thinking and working hard on how to make free sex or Chapter 2 environment. His goal is always rape and fornication. That is why keeping our purity is not a simple matter. Why did Adam Eve die? It is because they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Disobeying God’s commandment or engaging in an illicit sexual relationship was the cause of Adam and Eve’s death,

--So that, if you keep your purity and study the Divine Principle. God will attest to you, you are better than Adam and Eve. The sexual relationship was external but the reason was internal. Spiritual fall was the cause of the physical fall. So the physical fall was just a result. So, before Adam and Eve committed the physical sin they already committed spiritual sins so many times. So to prevent the physical fall, we need to be spiritually and internally pure.

--Free sex is our number one enemy. That is why Father suggested instead of free sex, we should practice absolute sex or sex between husband and wife only, centering on God. so once, you commit illicit sex. You will eternally die. That is why to attend God and True Parent we need to “kill” our physical desires especially or sexual desire. This means that once we have kept our purity, we have already restored the Old Testament Era.

--Satan attacks you spiritually first. When you wake up, Satan is already waiting for you. He has already confirmed that you belong to him through sexual thinking. Once you think sexually, you have confirmed to Satan that you belong to him. Without any reason, you continuously develop this kind of thinking, and Satan teaches where to find this place you can fall. He is very clever even to teach you where to commit homosexual sins. He will teach you how to tempt another person to fall into you. 

--To dominate the physical body and to keep our purity, we need to go to the frontline. We need to train our bodies to keep our purity. 

6. In the Old Testament era, Adam died after committing sexual sin.  In the New Testament Era, Jesus came as the second Adam. Why did Jesus die? He died because the Israelite people did not recognize him. They insulted him and said so many bad or evil things against him. They persecuted him.

--To restore the New Testament Era, we need to overcome any kind of persecution and misunderstanding, trials, and difficulties. People followed Jesus at first because he was performing miracles. Blind men were able to see. The deaf men hear, and he made a dead man come to life. Jesus was the Lord and the Messiah, yet he was persecuted and crucified.

--When the disciples repented and truly believed in Jesus' resurrection, the Holy Spirit came down and everybody experienced a rebirth. This explosive spiritual experience gave them a very powerful sense of belief and conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, the Saviour of All humankind. This kind of conviction, made them overcome so many trials and obstacles. Even if they were fed into the lion's mouth or even if they faced a violent death. They sang songs of praises and testified to the Lord Jesus. They were defeated physically but later on by the strong spirit of Christianity they were able to take over the Roman Empire, and the Vatican. Anywhere the Christian saints and martyrs preached, people bow down and have a change of heart. They became the heavenly examples of the restored words, “veni, vidi, vici” or “I came, I saw and I conquered” when Rome bowed to Christianity. Their spirit became the leading force in the 2,000 years of Christian history.

--Therefore to overcome death, experience resurrection and rebirth in the New Testament era, we need to overcome all kinds of persecution, trials, and difficulties.

7. The Completed Testament era is an era of attendance. Attendance here means we attend God and True Mother every second, every moment of our life. To overcome the Old Testament Era, my body is the offering. I need to overcome physical temptation or the trial of Adam and Eve. I need to keep absolute purity in this era. To restore the New Testament Era, we need to overcome all kinds of persecution, trial, and difficulties.  To restore the Completed Testament Era, I need to offer my parents, my couple, and my children or my family.  The person who receives the first love and stays until the very end will receive salvation. 

--Centering on the Completed Testament Era, after the blessing, we need to overcome: husband and wife trial, physical children’s trial, Cain-Abel trial, True Children and spiritual groups trial followed by the trial of True Father and the trial coming from True Mother.

-Before True Father passed away, the H1 trial and the trial coming from spiritual groups like the Oh group, the Okamoto group, the Nakayama group, and others occurred.  After True Father passed away, the H2 trial began.

--Externally, my blessing is great because I am blessed to a Japanese. Externally, it is great but internally, there are so many trials to overcome.

--Why people lost their faith in the church. It is the trial from the True Children. Because of the True Children, many people lost their faith. We directly got a trial from the true children but we survived and we are stronger now. We learn from experience and we grow wiser each time.

8. We are now living in the Chun Il Guk Era. True Father’s wish for us is to unite with True Mother to be triumphant. If our faith shakes from the little tests and challenges, we will fall away. We are so lucky to have True Father and now True Mother leading us. True Mother attended True Father for 60 years as his wife. Nobody has attended True Father longer and closer than True Mother. So naturally, she should be leading our movement. Her training and experience from True Father put her in a better position and qualification to lead us more than anybody else on the earth.

Finally, we have to follow True Mother absolutely to succeed over all the trials and challenges of this age. We should be eternally grateful to have received the blessing. I have to focus more on the positive points of my life with God and True Parents that I can be grateful of. These things will keep me alive and growing with God.

I am so grateful to receive the marriage blessing with my wife. Through her, I realized so many good and wonderful things. This blessing gave me a lot of things I did not ask for, hoped for, or intended to have. I don’t think I would have this kind of blissful experience without her although it is internally challenging sometimes especially in the early years of our marriage. I do believe that creating Heaven on Earth together is like facing a rough storm in the beginning, some little tough times in the middle, yet only laughter and happiness stays at the end. 

Restoring all the eras during my lifetime on earth may be difficult but I believe with God and True Parents,  I can do it. I will be victorious. This is easier said than done but it comes with solid experience. I have experienced God many times inside and outside my body. I felt his presence during my appendectomy operation in 1996. I felt him during my early years in Japan when I had four different jobs in five different places at different times of the week, day, and night. I felt God’s presence when I was taken by ambulance in 2007 because my body cannot move anymore due to stress and fatigue from overwork. I thought I would die, but I didn’t. I will keep my faith to Heavenly Parents, True Parents, True Mother, always no matter what situation I will be in. I will keep going on this path because this is where God had led me.

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong, for giving me hope to overcome my physical desires; to overcome persecution, trials, and difficulties; to overcome the trials of attendance and central figures. Thank you so much for making us believe in our innate capacity to overcome evil and sin through the Divine Principle, True Mother’s parental guidance and leadership through you. Thank you so much for making me and others realize the stage we are in and the things we need to do to overcome Satan and ourselves in every era of our life. 

Please continue to be healthy and strong. We love you not because of your position but because of how you relate with us just as how True Parents have related with you. May God keep you and your family in His Loving embrace wherever you go and whatever you will do. Thank you, thank you so much!   

--Rafael E. Ablong

The Kingdom of Heaven is the World of Love and Heart, June 5, 2020

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

Video Message: “The Kingdom of Heaven is the World of Love and Heart”

June 5, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong

The topic of Dr. Yong’s message today is “The Kingdom of Heaven is the World of Love and Heart”. It expounds in detail the synopsis of love as described in the Bible, particularly in the 1st Book of Corinthians, Chapter 13. The highlights are:

1. After the Fall of Adam and Eve, many people want to become ascetics. Every religion has these kinds of people. We have Christian monks, Buddhist monks, Hindu monks, and more from other religions. Religious people receive inspirations  They put so many Jeong Seong conditions. Some of them get to a higher level of spiritual awareness and enlightenment. Thinking that they are the Lord,  most of them lose their humility, become arrogant, and fail on the way. They need to understand that the spirit world is encouraging them to be the Lord. However, they understand revelations according to their way. So when we reach that spiritual level, we need to become humble.

2. Demonstrating your ability is not the path of love. The path of love starts with doing disliked work (dirty work). The Bible said,  If you want to become the first, you must be a slave of the rest. If you become the higher of higher, you must become the servant of servants. If you put yourself over others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be praised and raised higher. Because the last shall be first and the first shall be the last. John the Baptist failed because he became humanistic after he testified to Jesus as the Lord. But when the Holy Spirit left him he became humanistic and he wavered his faith.

3. Love should be centered on the heart. We have to unconditionally invest, sacrifice, and love everyone. This is the nature of true love. The body should be a slave to the mind. Children should love and appreciate the parents, and as model parents to our children, we need to hate sin, repent, and live for others. 

4. The leader should get physically involved with the members. He should visit the members and appreciate their efforts. In the parents' position, the leader should have a parental heart. I Cor. 13: 1-13 emphasized this point about love.  Even if we speak in tongues, make external miracles, make the mountains move from here to there, and speak to angels but if we don’t have love and we don’t live for others, we are nothing. We are just noisy or clanging cymbal. We are nothing unless we become humble, love, and serve God and His children.

5. True Father was surprised to see a lot of martyrs in Hell. They are supposed to be in paradise but why are they in hell? It is because they believed that if they die that way they would go to Heaven. Their motivation was not for God or Jesus. Their motivation was only self-centered, to go to the Kingdom of Heaven. Any motivation that is directed to yourself will bring you to hell. But, if your motivation is truly for others you will go to Heaven. We are nothing if we don’t live for others. You are nothing if you don’t love others and your motivation is only for yourself.

 6. The Kingdom of Heaven is a world of love. It is a very pure place. It does not allow motivation for the self. It is always for others. That is why when you give and you think about it coming from you or for your own sake, it is the self-centered motivation of giving. When you truly give and truly forget then Heaven will remember you. But if you give and remember, Heaven will forget you. Doing something to be recognized is not a good motivation because the Kingdom of Heaven is pure. We should be like pure gold or pure diamond. That is why the life of faith is a life of self-denial and true offering. Offering means you forget yourself. If you do anything for your own sake, it cannot be recognized in Heaven. 

7. We became full-time members for the sake of the world, for the sake of others. Why do some people leave the church on the way? It is because they think more of the self than others. Thinking about ourselves cannot help us survive. I remember True Father in his autobiography book, he would give half or even more of his food ration to other prisoners. While other prisoners craved for more food, True Father determined to get full by eating half of his food. Yet, he survived more than the others. He was even proclaimed as the no. 1 prisoner in Hungnam at that time.

8. The Bible also says, “ Love is kind, love is patient. Love isn’t selfish or quick-tempered.” It doesn’t record the wrongs other people have done to you. After the Fall, however, human beings cannot be purely kind or patient. We cannot be purely selfless or cannot completely keep our good composure and temperament constantly. We can be so only up to a certain level or degree. However, when we experience God’s heart, we are always kind. We can be patient even with any kind of persecution. True love is always respectful. It is never boastful, never rude, and never about yourself. Without any experience of God’s heart, we cannot do these Biblical attitudes, naturally.  

9. Love is supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. That is why even if we are weak if there is love and trust, we become strong and successful. Knowledge becomes nothing in the face of love. Anything material or immaterial is nothing compared to love. With love everything is possible. Of these three: faith, hope, and love. The greatest is love. Only love and heart will remain forever. As co-creators of God, love can create a living and non-living things. Faith is there to experience love. What is the result of hope? It makes us hopeful and work hard.

 As co-creators of God, love can create a living and non-living things. Faith is there to experience love. What is the result of hope? It makes us hopeful and work hard.

Finally, for whose sake did the Unification Movement walk the 3-year and 4-year courses, where we could not eat properly, where even our families, friends, and relatives persecute us; where we underwent so many hardships and torments? It was for the sake of Heaven, fore angelic world ad thousands of saints and ancestors, and the sake of our descendants.   We are all offerings. An offering must have no sense of self-possession. We do not move for our purpose and benefit. We don’t pursue our personal goals but the goals of the public. 

God and the good spirit world protect us physically and spiritually when we truly do God’s Will. It was easy for all of us, leaders or members, to do anything in the early days of the Philippine movement. We did our public mission with the sole intent to fulfill God’s Will and build the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Some of us, including myself, did not even expect to be blessed until we saw our elder members get the blessing or when they talked about it. Most of our early members were so strong yet we did not know what was going on in their hearts. Eventually, some of them left the church. Even my original spiritual mother left the church, her spiritual father also left the church and I was taken care of by elder brothers and sisters who were so genuinely involved with my spiritual growth. I think I survived because my faith was with God and True Parents and not just with those who cared for me. I always look beyond visible reality and prayed especially when I was alone. Like some of our brothers and sisters, I have met life-threatening situations that convinced me only God was responsible for my life. I was held at gunpoint  (armalite) while fundraising in Jolo in 1984, because the people there thought I was a rebel. A .45 Caliber pistol was pointed at me by an angry man at the car park of Ali Mall in 1985, he was a little distracted when he pointed his gun to me and I was able to run away. An NPA rebel pointed a gun to me thinking I was a PMA cadet on the bus I was riding with Ate Nita Elnar when we traveled to  Baguio City in 1987 for our BKKB activities there. He eventually lowered his gun and said sorry when I showed my missionary and UP ID.

Dr. Yong is right. As offerings, we should have no concept of self-possession. We should be pure like gold or diamond. We do not lose our luster or quality even when we are thrown into dirty or muddy places. This concept of love and offering made all of us fundraise, food raise, and sacrificed our time for others. Faith made us experience love and hope gave us a vision for a future with Heavenly Parents and True Parents.

Let us not lose the value that we have received from God and True Parents through the blessing. Moreover, we need to work hard with our blessed families to fulfill our internal goals and external activities for the sake of God and His Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven. Only love and heart will keep us together. Only love will keep our passions high and our attitude good enough to keep on loving with greater respect, humility, and service for God and humanity.

Thanks, Dr. Yong, for this inspiration today. I think that other than salvation, the new testament Bible is centered on the Parenthood of God to mankind and the centrality of love for the restoration of His children. 

Thank you so much, again. 

--Rafael E. Ablong

Children Who Comfort God’s Heart, June 4, 2020

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

Message: Children Who Comfort God’s Heart

June 4, 2020 by Rafael E. Ablong

Dr. Yong’s message today about the “Children Who Comfort God’s Heart” made me repent of my sins and mistakes and take responsibility for the sins and mistakes of Adam and Eve, and all my ancestors. These are the highlights of today's message.

1. So how can I feel God’s heart when I deal with people?  “From now on, (i) need to throw away my external earthly desires and become a person who can represent God’s internal heart.“  When you deal with people. Do not just treat as just workers. You need to deal with them as God’s sons and daughters. We need to build up our heartistic relationship with them. We need to look at people from the viewpoint of God’s heart. When people become workaholics because we treat them based on duty or based on work then we cannot raise them as children of God.

2. We need to look at people from God’s Jeong Seong. We need to know the person’s origin and his family background to truly understand him. When we do this as a husband or wife, a brother or sister,  or as a parent of this person. Then we can easily understand him and God can help us to develop each other’s hearts and improve our relationship with this person centering on God. We need to love the person’s past and his potential abilities. We need to be “Shimjung-holic, not workaholic.  We need to think, how God has raised this person over the years. God has cared for this person of time. If we are the leader, w need to look at how we can raise the person for the future. His past, present, and future should be considered so we can help him accomplish his purpose from God’s viewpoint and feel God’s heart. We need to feel God’s heart through the people we deal with every day.  In this way, our mindset and feeling can comfort God’s heart and fulfill our purpose for His will.

3. Our existence is connected to our ancestors’ past. Everything is connected to our ancestors. We just need to be patient and wait without complaining. God takes ownership of each one of us, so we should be able to do so for each other. We are our brothers’ keepers. We need to train people for the future.

4. When we go with the person’s socio-emotional experience, we become one with him and our relationship develops. When that person is sad, we should become sadder. If he is happy, we should be happier. We should be with that person when he is down or up, in high or low water.  

5. God treats us the way He does because he wants us to become a victorious people. The reason why True Father was able to walk his path is that he understood God’s Will and how God has raised him. When Heavenly Parents trained up True Father, He was cold-hearted. He does this to every one of us, too. This is because He needs to have us undergo trial and grace to become strong and successful from the individual level to the higher level, from the time we were young until we can return to Him. Trials come continuously to make us strong and worthy to receive His grace. God raises us this way to completely remove our fallen nature. So we must be thankful when trials come our way.

6. To overcome any trial, first, we need to think this is God’s Will for me to grow up. Secondly, when we undergo a trial, we need to appreciate it. In any situation, our heart should always find a positive point, not a point to complain or accuse. Jesus never complained to God. He comforted God, “Father, this is your Will. I will follow, I will obey. Not as I will, but as You Will.” This is why to overcome our trials and difficulties, we need to think it is God’s Will and appreciate these trials with a grateful heart. A grateful heart will always triumph over difficulties and challenges in life. Trials are opportunities for us to grow and to show our love to God. Even if God wants to kill me as an offering, it is okay to die for God’s Will. 

7. If we complain, we cannot be an offering. Offering belongs 100% to God. My offering does not belong to me, it belongs to God. If we complain, we belong to Satan and he will accuse us if we offer a complaining heart because the nature of complaining originally comes from Satan. Complaining allows Satan to accuse. That is why, in any situation, we should have a grateful heart. Satan is afraid of the person with a grateful heart. We become God’s children when we appreciate and have a grateful heart. We become Satan’s children when we have a “complain-full” heart.

8. A deep life of faith with God is when I am sad if God is sad, happy when God is happy. This kind of lifestyle can liberate God’s sorrow and naturally shares with His life and happiness. If I succeed with this kind of standard then I have done my share in resolving the problems of the world. How can we get to this level? We cannot reach this level of heart and unity with God all of a sudden. We need to undergo a process to reach this level. Part of the process is meeting different kinds of people and expressing oneness with them in the heart. When they are sad, be sad. When they are happy, be happy. When they experience difficulties, we should experience these difficulties with them and help them solve their difficult situations. In short, participation in the life of God through other people will help us to understand God’s situation better and reach this level of oneness with Him. It is like marriage, we go together for better or for worse, low or high water, even eternity does not make us fall apart. We become one through participating in God’s sorrows and circumstances.

9. Our fallen nature of making excuses or of passing responsibility to others will only get worse if we keep on doing it. If we excuse ourselves from any responsibility when something happens, nobody can solve the problem. Knowing the problem and accepting responsibility for it is the beginning point of the solution. We cannot pass the responsibility to Adam and Eve for our present mistakes. If we pass the responsibility of our sins and mistakes to Adam and Eve or our past ancestors, in the future, our descendants will do it to us, too. The problem of passing the mistakes and irresponsibility continues until someone steps forward to accept responsibility, apologize, and reverse it. As representatives of our ancestors, we need to take responsibility for the sins of this generation and the sins of all the generations before and after us.

I am so sorry for not fully accepting responsibility for the sins of Adam and Eve, and all my ancestors. So, “Father, Raffy will endure your tears in your place, Raffy will endure your sorrow in your place, so please be free from your sorrows. Let the unjust and unfair accusations against me replace the unjust and unfair accusations against you so that you no longer have to endure such atrocities. Please put away all of your struggles against Satan and all of the clouds that have shrouded your mind up to this day. Please pay indemnity using me as your offering. Raffy is here for you so please comfort your heart”

Thank you Dr. Yong for this day of renewal. Your message is the Will of God at this time when all of us are quarantined in our homes. It is the time to revive our faith, it is the time to renew and strengthen our life with Heavenly Parents and True Parents, and with our blessed families. It is the time to take responsibility for the past, present, and future sins and mistakes of humanity, console God, and comfort His heart.  Thank you very much, Dr. Yong                     

-- Rafael E. Ablong

God Could Not Experience Complete Love, June 3, 2020

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

Message: God Could Not Experience Complete Love

June 3, 2020, by Rafael Ablong 

(Note: The last five paragraphs are very exciting to share…)

Dr. Yong's topic today is " God Could Not Experience Complete Love". It is a very deep topic of God’s true love, His sorrow, yearning, and hope for mankind.  It is like a narration of God's longing to experience complete love, beauty, and hope to realize human joy. It tells us about His dream of the ideal and the heart-breaking state of His children in reality after the Fall.  Some of the words that touched me today are:

1. What must God do to find love?  He cannot find or create love by himself. He needs to find the person He can love. Without an object partner of love, God cannot find love. Has God been able to love someone completely? Unless loving children are born, God can't find or experience their love. God can create whatever He wants to. But He cannot make love by himself. He needs an object partner of love to feel and perfect love.

2. He wants to completely experience His love by His children fulfilling the ideal of love through the blessing. Yet, God has to wait with great hope that somehow mankind would be able to respond to His love and act accordingly so they could complete their love with God and avoid the pains of despair and sorrow.

3. Love comes from our object partner and it grows with experience. The love of the parents is as old as the age and ability of their children. If the child is three months old, the parents are three months old. As children grow, parents also grow. We grow our love through direct experience with our object partner.

4. Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, God could not have grandchildren. He cannot experience His love growing from the formation stage to the completion stage. He can only feel infinite sorrow and yearning over time. We can console God's sorrowful and yearning heart through our children and He experiences greater stimulation of love when He sees His grandchildren. By starting a family, we are giving happiness to God. There is no word to express His happiness when His grandchildren are born. The greatest stimulation to Heavenly Parents Heart is when He sees the completion of love through your grandchildren.

5. When we have children after receiving the blessing, we become better than Jesus. This is because Jesus did not experience having a child or grandchild. God's completion of love begins with the family. Jesus could not receive the completion level because he was not able to find his wife and establish his own family. Through the blessing of humanity, God feels complete joy and happiness.

6. Have you ever thought what God's happiness would be like if he sees the objects and love of His life? God's complete love cannot be experienced by Heavenly Parents during Jesus ‘ time because he could not see Jesus' wife, his children, and his family life where He could visit and be with them every time. 

7. Dr. Yong’s sharing of his experience with his daughter-in-law reminds me of my recent and continuing experience as well.  I think most of us who witnessed the matching and blessing of our children have similar experiences. When I see my son and my daughter-in-law, Jung In, together. I feel this inexplicable sensation of overflowing joy and ecstatic happiness beyond description. When I see them holding hands or talking to each other, I feel complete peace and indescribable happiness within myself. Amid this heavenly silence, only simple thoughts convey the words,  this must be the feeling when you are in Heaven. The feeling is like,  I have never known loneliness, pain, despair, and disappointment in life. It is like all my struggles become meaningless and everything in the past and present just melts into one meaningful world of love and abundant peace and infinite exuberance. 

8. When I see my son's wife, I feel new life, new hope, and fulfillment. I cannot describe the happiness I feel.  The first time I saw Jung In’s matching photo in Taiwan, everything just stopped and my head was overcome with peaceful emptiness, just nothing. The feeling is like you are staring into space just waiting for something to fill that great sensation of emptiness. I was like seeing the beauty of nature as I was soaring into space. Just relaxing as I feel the air under my skin. And nature was talking with me from a different dimension of reality and in deep communion with our Heavenly Parent. 

If this is how I feel when I see Masato and Jung In as a blessed couple now. How much more would I feel if I see my grandchildren? I am human so how much more happiness will God feel when He sees His children and grandchildren live together in joy and happiness with each other? I think Heaven on earth is felt like this and it starts with the blessing. 

This kind of crazy, inexpressible feeling of excitement and exuberance will truly overwhelm and dissolve the long years of longing and unhappiness of Heavenly Parents, True Parents, and humankind. This is why we need to establish and multiply our heavenly blessed families. A world of heavenly families will comfort God,  and erase all imperfections and unhappiness in human history.

Thank you Dr. Yong for this delightful, and life-giving message of love and heavenly experience. We are so glad to have you as our Asia Pacific leader. We feel that heaven has come down to end all our speculations and uncertainty of the future. This Covid 19 crisis is here for a reason and I think one of them is to reset our human experiences with the living God through the power of His words, through True Parents’ representative, our very own Dr, Yong. We truly feel you are sent by Heavenly Parents to purify us and govern us with the power of love and principled guidance.

Thank you so much for all that you do, for all of us. 

Thank you, thank you.

--Rafael E. Ablong

God’s Greatest Wish June 2, 2020

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

Message: God’s Greatest Wish

June 2, 2020, by Rafael E. Ablong

Dr. Yong's morning devotion message today is “God’s Greatest Wish”.  It talks about self-denial and the true spirit of offering to Heavenly Parents. This message made me repent from my heart. Even though I have been in the movement for 36 years, still I have so many things to change or overcome to become a true living offering of God and True Parents. Some of the words that had me repent and think today are:

1. A person who is a true offering have these attitudes in life: self-denial, feeling of unworthiness, insufficiency, and boasts nothing in front of God. A person who always feels concerned whether he has caused sorrow or shame to heaven is a true offering. He feels he does not deserves Heaven’s graces and because of his flaws and continues to have a pure mind and spirit in front of Heaven.

2. In our life of faith, one of the most important attitudes is to know that we are an offering. You and I are offering. Why Heavenly Father choose us, the Unification Church members to be offering? Who is the offering of offering? They are the filial sons and daughters who become completely offering of their parents. They always think of their parents. The mindset of a person of filial piety is not always thinking about himself.

3. Our attitude to our Heavenly Parents and Trues should be: I was born for you and I will die for you. I can do anything for and I can die for you, This is the spirit of Hyon Jeong.  That is why Hyo Jeong means the spirit of offering. So if we insist on our own opinion or self-concepts easily complain and talk about our self-concepts and struggled with our parents and others. Then we cannot become a good and true offering. If we indulge ourselves with selfish thoughts and always blame others or struggle with people around us then we cannot become filial sons and daughters. Hence, we cannot become real offerings.

4. This is why True Mother choose the word Hyo Jeong. Who is the best historical example of a true offering? He was Jesus. He became the offering for the whole of mankind. Even God offered Jesus as an offering for the whole of mankind. That is why Jesus prayed,” not as my Will but Your Will”  If this is Your Will, I will offer my life. This is the spirit of offering like Isaac who did not resist or say a word of complaint even if he knew that he was to be killed as offering to God. He did not resist or run away. He stayed in unity with his father Abraham and he laid down his life in front of God and his father. Can we be such an offering?

5. True Parents are true living offering for all humankind. When God chooses someone as an offering. He chooses the most obedient. If we are not obedient. If we always struggle with Abel, with the spouse, or struggle with our children. Then, we cannot become an offering.

6. If we are a real offering, we always feel unworthy,  inadequate, or insufficient. Even to the point of reproaching ourselves for whatever limitations we have or mistakes we do every day. People who feel grateful to Heaven even if they are not recognized by their Abels or people around them are real offerings. This kind of person easily gets resurrected.

7. We must be people who complete Bible. We have to know that love and peace is achieved, after a battle. As conveyed to us by Christian history, a battle of indemnity always occur before a victory of love is won.  This kind of situation is replicated in various situations and circumstances in history. This is also why in the early years of the movement we pledged to do our mission with the heart of God, “in the shoes of the servant, sweat and tears for mankind, and blood for heaven.” We saw and recited the new pledge with true love in it in the 1990s, because a battle had to be won first before a victory of love was declared.

8. Are we still in the era of indemnity in the era of love? Our first frontline is our body. The second frontline is our home: we need to overcome our struggles with our spouse and our children. The third frontline is my environment where I have Abel, my Cain, and the people I approach in my mission, fundraising, and or workplace.

9. Jesus prayed for his enemies even in the face of inevitable death through the crucifixion. He did not waiver his faith amid the great misfortune, disappointment, death, and dissatisfaction. That is why we have to overcome our enemies with the power of love. We need to give humility, respect, and love to members of our family, at home, with our spouse, with our children, relatives, tribes, and friends in the community. We have to inherit this internal power and spiritual dignity of Jesus wherever we go. Jesus was a real offering because he had nothing to do with Satan. Satan had nothing to accuse Jesus of. He did not make a single condition to be accused by Satan. We should emulate Jesus' example and apply what we have learned and experienced from the love of Heavenly Parents and True Parents through their chosen representatives.

10. Satan also needs some kind of recognition. We need to recognize His evil ways and know how to avoid being like him or be accused of being like him for doing the things he does.

I should always try my best to be attuned to the spirit and heart, pains, and sorrows of God.  I have to experience God’s heart of sorrows and tears in my daily life so I can avoid sinning and doing the things Satan likes the most that God hates the most. I have to ask myself if I ever cried so hard as if my eyes popped out and all body fluids meet from the top of my head, passing through my face and heart, to the bottom of my feet. I can only remember doing this when I was young, I cried when my mother had to leave me at home so she can sell bananas and other things in the market. I have to keep checking myself every day if I live for God or Satan. I have to ask myself every day: if I am living for myself or for others, if I am doing things for a greater purpose or not, every time.

I feel so sorry that I have not fully used my life to serve God and His people well. I still have a lot of things to change and overcome so I can become the person God wants me to be. I have to start winning the battle against the selfishness of the body, become victorious at home by truly loving and serving my wife and my children.

I am truly blessed because God has always guided me up until now through his chosen representatives from our True Parents. All the pains and hardship of the past when I started my family is slowly disappearing.or have completely disappeared. Sometimes I miss the early years of my marriage and family life where there were a lot of adjustments to be made, a lot of things to give up at first, a lot of struggles. Now, I am bored of not experiencing so much of those struggles anymore. It is true, real change starts as a battle, dangerous in the middle and peaceful at the end. Well, the end is not over yet because I still have my 2nd generation to look after and a mission to accomplice for the tribe and my ancestors. I just hope and pray that our spirit of Hyo Jeong and unity in the family right now will continue to grow and help us accomplish more for Heaven.

Thank you, Dr. Yong, for such a wonderful message full of reminders, and full of regrets to learn from. Please take care of yourself. We love you and we will always pray for your well-being with Heavenly Parents and True Parents as our Heavenly Asia Pacific Leader.

--Raffy Ablong

The Way to be a Filial Child Close to the Father, June 1, 2020

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

Message: The Way to be a Filial Child Close to the Father

June 1, 2020, by Rafael Ablong

Happy Spiritual Birthday, Dr. Yong! Your physical and spiritual birth on earth is not just historical. More importantly, it is very significant to Heavenly Parents and True Parents, your ancestors, and to all of us. Your exemplary life of dedicated and faithful service has not helped to shape our character and identity but also helped to rebuild the nation and the world centering on True Parents' ideals. We are so grateful for your omnipresence in our hearts. Wherever we go, we have your guidance on the internet and we eagerly want to hear your morning devotion messages especially during this most special time. 

Dr. Yong’s message today is one of the best messages I heard so far. It highlights the challenges of family life as the  “frontline mission” after the blessing under the big topic, “The Way to be a Filial Child Close to the Father”.  Some of the most important points I have taken down from his sermon today are:

1.How can I be a filial child close to Heavenly Parents?  I have to deeply experience our Father ‘s heart and circumstances. We have to understand all of the situations Father endured. He was not a criminal yet he was treated as one. We need to understand Father’s secret if we desire to become a filial child of God. Understanding the heart, circumstances, dreams, and wishes of True Father are very important to becoming real sons and daughters of Heaven. 

2. To experience God; we need to understand his situation and circumstances, dreams and wishes, and his heart. We need to know his life and how he has taken care of our movement’s early pioneers. Father loved to hear their testimonies. He gave his timeless effort and pays very close attention to the member’s situation. Father has taught us to learn and love the origin of the person’s historical details. Like Father, we need to put a special heart and Jeong Seong to the person we deal with.

3.Dr. Yong’s knowledge and experience of his spiritual father, Rev. Yo Han Lee’s way of interviewing people. His questions seem to be very basic but these are all questions about relationships. Those questions are meant to look beyond the person’s present moment, by looking at their past for the sake of the future.  Professional counseling outside the movement is good but they lack hindsight and foresight. 

4. The Principle of Restoration is very important because, without it, we will never understand God’s suffering and present sorrow. Through the restoration history, we know how God has invested so much to save His fallen children. Learning the ideal of creation is just one piece of God’s dream and recreation experience. If we do not explain the principle of restoration well, as lecturers, we cannot make people feel the heart of God during the creation, the Fall, and the restoration history. We cannot inherit sorrow and yearning heart.

5. To understand the history of someone or a nation, we need to study the past. If we solve the problems of the past, we solve the problems of the future. How do we know Thailand or Korea? We need to study their history. If we know our past, we can guess our future.

6. How many people know that God is a tearful God? Even if Christianity does not understand God well enough, it is closer to God because it considers God as Heavenly Father. Our Heavenly Parent is extremely good. We cannot find any speck of evil in Him. He cannot exist in an impure place.

7. The present problem of the movement is that no blessed family has become an ideal family. Where is the frontline? The frontline of the mind is the body. This is the first frontline. The second front line is the home. The frontline of the husband is the wife. The parents' frontline is the children and the children’s frontline is the parents. We need to become a model family. The frontline of conflict is the mind and body, the home, the family, between couples, between members of the family. How do we reduce the conflict? We need to overcome the desires of our flesh.

8. At home, the frontline is the husband or the wife, the parents, or the children. We need to become a model. This is the dilemma of our movement now. There is no model family. What is the frontline of Cain? it is Abel! So with Abel, his frontline is Cain. We are talking about the ideal family but we still struggle with our spouses. So we need to have a model, family a model home. 

9. It is a different era now, we need to become victorious in the family. We need to be recognized on each level of relationship and existence. We cannot just talk about the ideal family if we do not become the ideal family. We need to work hard to resolve all the conflicts in these frontlines.

10. Everything is about timing. The Spring season is about planting.  So, if one of our brothers or sisters is already at the right time to start the family then they should start the family. Abel’s heart is taking care of the family, his members. Leaders should not use members. The most mission is the family mission.

11. We have to express the four realms of heart. This is Father’s concern. The time of indemnity and offering is over. Individual perfection is no. 1 God’s Will. The husband and wife’s unity is the 2nd Will of God. We cannot do heavenly tribal messiah if we have a problem in the family. This is why people are struggling. That is why the family is very important. This is not conceptual. It should be an experiential and substantial family.  We have to transform concept to reality, written content to actual substance. We cannot solve the sorrowful heart of God anywhere but in the family. That is why we have to be a good couple. If we become good to each other,  God's Heart can settle down.

I think most of us can easily relate to Dr. Yong's experience. After my mind and body, my wife is the second frontline. Without my wife, it is hard to do anything. When we do things in unity with each other, we substantially exemplify the love and unity of God to our children. It makes it easier for our children to understand the blessing. Without telling them so much about marriage, matching and blessing just automatically go into their consciousness. When I stopped talking about the ideal and started to actualize it in substance, my children understand gets everything easily. When I stopped nagging my children about responsibilities at home and just silently showed it to them in action, they started becoming the children I want them to be.

I have stopped telling my trustworthy brothers and sisters about my difficulties because I know they won't understand anything. My children understand us better than anyone one now. We have always talked to them about the ideal, in their young years, but we never tried hard to realize the substantial until recently. So, when I stopped complaining to my children anything about my wishes, efforts, and difficulties without showing them strongly about my attempts to become better each time.  Everything just fell into its proper place. Walking the talk is better than talking about the walk.

Thank you so much, Dr. Yong, for all the precious blessings of love and guidance from Heaven. Happy spiritual birthday again!  May Heavenly Parents and True Parents be with you and your family always! 

--Rafael E. Ablong