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Is it just a Symbol? Symbols have always been a way to quickly identify what someone stands for or what group they are with. Symbol’s have also been used religiously and as long as they are kept in the right perspective can be used accordingly. There are groups like The Jehovah Witnesses that hate the cross because they think it is strictly pagan and it has nothing to do with Jesus. Some can become extremist in their view of symbols and find occult meanings and anti-christian conspiracies that may or may not be there. Because someone uses a symbol of biblical significance does not mean that when someone else uses the same symbol incorrectly that they are affiliated with them. Some symbols like the rainbow can be a matter of the intent of how one is using it, New Ager's use it as a symbol of energies and light Christians use it as a symbol of God’s promise of grace to Noah and us. This brings me to the point of this article. There is famous Reverend that is also doing his utmost to remove Christianity’s greatest symbol, the cross. He does this because he believes the cross is a place of defeat. That Christ was never meant to die on the cross. The reverend Moon’s purpose is for the church to abandon its symbol of the crucifixion because he does not believe it was God’s will for Jesus to be crucified. He thinks it was all a mistake. Unification News in April 2003 published this report “123 Churches Took Down the Cross Over the Easter Holiday” “A truly profound moment in history has occurred. 123 clergy took down their crosses over the Easter weekend. This was supported by another 135 clergy who attended services participating and in accord with this dispensation. All told, 258 clergy directly affirmed the taking down of the cross proclaiming an end the era of bloodshed and sacrifice and the beginning of a new era of faith and resurrection.” The desire of God for the second Israel is now being realized. Christian pastors are uniting with the Lord of the Second Advent and taking down the cross. They are embracing the blessing and coming forward to build the Kingdom of God on Earth.” “Today however, Easter Sunday is the day of resurrection!! This is the day that Jesus is totally liberated. A new day has dawned. Our original goal of 120 pastors was surpassed and an outpouring of spirit, tears and heart are now combining with overwhelming joy over this time. The cross is coming down in full public view, with clarity of understanding that this was not what God originally intended for his son. We cannot imagine the relief and release that God must feel when he sees the crosses coming down from his churches. We cannot imagine the comfort that God experiences when he sees the Second Israel grafting into to True Parents through the change of blood lineage and the Blessing. ” That’s something to rejoice over taking down the reminder of what Jesus came to earth for and then saying “this was not what God originally intended for his son.” “That is why Father has predicted that the when crosses come down a revival unlike anything in history will break out among the Christian family. The ACLC is in the center of this dispensational revival and world changing movement.” (ACLC The American Clergy Leadership Conference)Removal of the Cross at the Pentecostal Family Center of the pastor, Archbishop Dr. Angel M. Torres in the Bronx, New York on April 18, 2003. The program was officially titled the True Holy Friday, Re-enactment of Jesus' Crucifixion and “From The Cross To The Crown.” Then Rev. Dr. Edward Chambers, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Williamsbridge in the Bronx spoke supportive words and shared how good for him and his Church that we work together. (“Tear down the Cross” Ceremony - Bronx, New York) Okay, so what’s so special about the cross, its only a symbol, and everyone knows its really who died on it and why that is more important. True. However this is the way the moonies can move those who profess Christianity toward their new savior The Reverend. Don’t think they do not have ulterior motives on this, Moon did not get to amass a fortune and have servants doing his bidding all over the world by dressing well. Consider these statements “ Bishop Johnson goes on to teach that because Jesus has revealed the Lord has returned we are now becoming like him. We are becoming blessed and standing as Kings and Queens. We are becoming like him, little Messiahs. The 144,000 blessing “grafted” the leadership of Christianity into the blood lineage of God. The partaking of the Holy Wine and the subsequent April 27th blessing secured the condition to fulfill the prophecy of the book of Revelation in which the 144,000 of all the “tribes of Israel” were “sealed” before the living God. This was done a great sacrifice by True Parents, the National Messiahs representing the Father nation, the Japanese Missionaries representing the Mother nation and American Blessed Central Families (Unification and Christian) representing the Elder Son nation.” “Because this acceptance of True Parents is firmly rooted in the “Word” I can report with confidence before the True Parents of Heaven and Earth that victory is secure. Based on the Divine Principle clergy are coming to understand and accept that Father was chosen to manifest the Second Coming. That Jesus anointed and chose him.” The Second Israel is now called upon to make a sacrifice of old tradition to usher in the Kingdom. Under God's guidance, the Second Israel is being asked to shed the old traditions like Jesus said we have to have get rid of the “old” wineskins to receive the “new” wine that God has prepared. The new wine has to do with all churches removing their denominational walls and then as a “body” of Christ removing the symbol of the failure of the chosen people. The cross.”(Unification News for April 2003 123 Churches Took Down the Cross Over the Easter Holiday Michael Jenkins) I guess it doesn’t matter which side your on if the results are the same. Deception seems to be everywhere and at every level. No doubt there is another Spirit working to unify the church of Jesus Christ with cults and religions of the world and Rev. Moon is one of the movers and shakers of this “new Christianity.” What I find most interesting and concerning is that the same phrases and interpretations of these false Christians are what we hear constantly in the third wave movement onside the church. 1.2 Was Salvation Completed through the Cross? Did Jesus' crucifixion, which brought us redemption from our sins, fulfill the purpose of the providence of restoration? If so, we would expect that faithful believers in Jesus would have restored their original nature and built the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. Yet in the entire history of Christianity, there has been no one, no matter how devout, who lived his life in inseparable oneness with God. Not one person has ever experienced God's Heart in its full intensity or possessed a divine nature. Was Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for naught? Of course not (John 3:16). If it were, Christianity would not have brought forth its illustrious history. Furthermore, our own personal experiences in faith make it plain how great is the grace of redemption by the cross. It is true that the cross has redeemed our sins; yet it is equally true that the cross has not entirely purged us of our original sin. It has not restored us to the unfallen state of perfected original nature in which we would never commit sin, and it has not enabled us to establish the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.Speaking on the Jewish people and accepting their Messiah “Had they believed in him as God desired, would they have even entertained the thought of sending him to the cross? Would they have wanted any harm to come to the Messiah whom they had so long and eagerly awaited? However, because they went against God's Will and did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, he was delivered to be crucified. We must understand, therefore, that Jesus did not come to die on the cross.”Through his words and deeds, Jesus tried to bring his people to believe in him, because it was God's Will that they do so. If they had followed God's Will and believed in Jesus as their Messiah, then who among them would have dared to send him to the cross?From all the above evidence, we can deduce that Jesus' death on the cross was the unfortunate outcome of the ignorance and disbelief of the people of his day; it was not necessary for the complete fulfillment of his mission as the Messiah. This is well illustrated by Jesus' last words on the cross: Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. -Luke 23:34 http://www.gospelcom.net/bible “If God had originally predestined Jesus to die on the cross, Jesus would have expected to go that path as his due course. Why, then, did he pray three times, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt”? (Matt.26:39) In truth, Jesus offered those desperate prayers because he knew well that his death would shatter the hope of attaining the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This would be a tragic disappointment to God, who had worked so laboriously to realize this hope through the long ages since the Fall. Furthermore, Jesus knew that humanity's afflictions would continue unrelieved until the time of his Second Coming.” Moon’s misunderstanding of Jesus' prayer is enormous, for in it he said not my will but thine be done. It was God’s will for Jesus to go to the cross. And he even died for the worst rejecters like Reverend Moon and his cohorts in his spiritual conspiracy to deny Jesus’. Jesus himself said: for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.“ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee” (Matt 26:31-32). John 2:19-22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture.”’ Luke 24:46 Then He (Jesus) said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day.” Moon does not believe what Jesus himself said; so the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with the transgressors.” And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,” save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” (Mark 15:28-30) Moon would be one who wants Jesus to come down from the cross and certainly rejects the Scripture. Isa. 53:10-11 “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; he has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin,.. He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” John 10:17-18 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.” “No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” For one to believe Moons view they have to deny the clear teaching of the Bible. I won’t belabor this point with the huge amount of support from the Scripture since those who follow Moon cannot understand it. “Jesus' body was exposed to Satan's assault, and he was killed. Therefore, even when faithful Christians are united with Jesus, their bodies remain exposed to Satan's attack, just as was Jesus' body.” Think of what Moon is saying from his revelation, that he was not the unblemished lamb of scripture. without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:18-20) “Consequently, no matter how devout a believer may be, he cannot attain physical salvation through redemption by the cross of Jesus. His original sin, which has been passed down through the lineage from Adam, is not eliminated at its root.” Romans 8 addresses this as well as the later portion of 1 Cor.15. we are redeemed spiritually first then in another stage comes the resurrection which defeats death and the body is without sin. However when one distorts the Bibles revelation and misinterprets it in such an extreme manner there is not making sense to them on this teaching. Moon has another Jesus and another gospel which is no gospel at all. What is the gospel? I Corinthians 15:1-4 that “Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again.” Colossians 1:20, 22: “and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.” “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:14). To deny Jesus death in the way Moon does is to deny the forgiveness that God offers to all, even Moon. What Moon misunderstands and twists is that without Jesus dying there could be NO resurrection, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaims both the death and resurrection. I Peter 3:18 states, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God” Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins” (Leviticus17:11). “Since the time of Jesus, Christians have believed that Jesus came to this world to die on the cross. They have not known the fundamental purpose for which Jesus came as the Messiah and misunderstood the spiritual salvation which he brought us, thinking it to be all that his mission entailed. Jesus had wanted to live and fulfill his destiny, yet due to the people's disbelief in him, he died with a heart full of disappointment” (Exposition of the Divine Principle1996 Translation Chapter 4 The Messiah: His Advent and the Purpose of His Second Coming)Moon’s utter contempt for the cross shows how he disdains God ‘s way for salvation and why he was deceived into thinking he is another Christ with another plan to save mankind. Let me conclude on Moon’s mission, he did not arrive at this conclusion overnight. Now what does this have to do with us in the evangelical church and those who want to uphold orthodoxy? We have been watching an interesting trend with the seeker friendly churches. Many have removed any religious symbols (especially the cross) in their sanctuaries and intentionally do not display them elsewhere. Their reasoning: so no one is offended when they participate in church services. I have heard that some churches ask people not to carry their Bibles to the service and even in mid week fellowship. Could we be fulfilling Moon’s mission to the church and not know it, certainly the results are similar; something to seriously think about.
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