There is Heaven and Hell

If you really knew that there was a Heaven and a Hell

March 7, 2017

Father said, “If you really knew that there was a Heaven and a Hell, you wouldn’t be living the way that you are now”

Luke 19:22

19. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. 22. And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man, also died, and was buried;

Today I would like to speak to you about the world after death. Of course, when I talk about the world after death, I also have not died yet; I think I know some things but I am not completely confident.

When Father was on earth, he did talk about the world after death a few times during Hoon Dok Hae. He would ask us sometimes, “Do you know that there is a spiritual world? “People would answer confidently, “Yes!” but he would then ask, ”Do you really believe that there is a spiritual world?” and people could not answer so confidently.

All of us have in ourselves a spirit self which is eternal and unlimited; we also have a physical self which is limited and temporary. There are not many people in the world, who truly believe that there is a spiritual world and that there is a heaven and there is a hell.

Many Christian ministers or Buddhist priests may talk about a spirit world but when it comes down to the details, they are not confident.

However, our spirit is eternal; so it will not die even if it is shot with a bullet. It will not die if it is cut with a knife. It is very important that we have this spirit within us that is eternal. Father spoke very confidently that there is in fact a spirit world; there is absolutely a spirit world after death. He would sometimes tell us about it, sometimes in anger, sometimes like a teacher, sometimes in a very natural way, but he would often talk about the spirit world.

Father was always dissatisfied to see the way that we led our lives. He would say,” If you knew that there was a spiritual world, if you really knew that there was a heaven and a hell, you wouldn’t be living the way that you are now.” Father’s desire always was to be able to take us with him to heaven, so he would pray for that. He would offer conditions of sincerity and dedication; he was teaching us in order to do this.

For those of us who are leading lives of faith it is very important that we understand the world after death, and that we understand about heaven and hell. What is also important is to understand that, everything that we do, in this temporary world does not disappear with death. We take it with us to the spiritual world. Father would often tell us “Everything that you do in this temporary world is being recorded in this great universe and there will come a time when all this will be shown to you as if it was on a tape. “

Father would often speak to us in frustration, “You would not be living your life as you are now if you really believed, if you really knew that there is a spirit world and if you knew what happens in the spirit world.” He would say, there would come a time when we would see exactly what happens, what is heaven and what is hell, and what these places are like. Therefore, in our lives, we need to understand that it is extremely important to resolve this question of the spirit world and to live our lives on the knowledge that there is life after death.

Today I will give just one example of this: We need to understand that even though this temporary world is extremely precious, in this temporary world we need to live our lives in a way that we understand the spiritual world. Father would often speak to us in frustration, would scold us on this point.

He would say to us, “You think that you can just hide your sin, that you can lie about it, but it is absolutely not the case!” He would tell us, “Even if you were to steal even something like a dirty rag that belongs to someone else- even if it is a dirty rag- if you steal that rag which belongs to someone else, it is recorded, and when you go to the spirit world you will have to pay indemnity for your theft.”

We can see that there are extremely few people on the earth today, who really understand that there is a spirit world, that there is a heaven, and actually live their lives based on that knowledge.

Father would say to us, “Do you know what the most fearful thing is in the world, what you have to be most afraid of? It is your children!” I remember Father saying, “Children are most fearful; you have to fear them the most because they watch the way their parents live and they model their own lives after their parents, after what they see.” Therefore, he said, “Even if it is just for the sake of your children, you have to lead your life according to the righteous way.”

The day that we die is referring to the day when our spirit self becomes separated from our physical self. We need to live our lives today with the actual experience, actual feeling, and actual knowledge that there is a God, and there is a spirit world to which we will go after death.

Father would say, “Now you are living your life any way you want; you are defrauding people, you are fooling people, you are stealing from people, you are lying to people, but there will come a time when your children will judge you.”

He would say that if the person who commits the sin does not indemnify that sin, does not pay for that sin while he is on earth, then his descendants will have to make that payment and there will be a very fearful time. Father also said this at one time, “If your descendants wind up having to pay for your sins, then your descendants will have to go a very difficult and a very suffering way? Therefore, for the sake of our descendants, we need to live our lives on the belief in God and experience of God.

Father said that those who truly do not believe in God would receive a punishment. He described the punishment this way. He said that there was a place in the spiritual world, like a market place; there were many people there, but all those people, were crippled in their hands, because those were the ones who had been taking things from others during their lives. They had been taking, taking, taking.

Father said that the descendants of those people would suffer for three generations. He said that for three generations, those descendants would be punished and the punishment would be that they would live like beggars. They would have to receive; they would be dependent on others to give them things in order to live. The sons, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren, those three generations would have to live as beggars, so they would be dependent on people giving them things.

Therefore, Father would educate us about the spiritual world and tell us what would happen there. If we think that not only one generation, but three generations will have to suffer, three generations will have to live as beggars, then we realize how important it is that we live our lives righteously in this world.

So we see in Luke 16: 19-22, that there is a rich man and there is a beggar Lazarus and they both died and they both went to the spirit world. In the spirit world, Lazarus went to a very good place, he went to heaven, but the rich man though, went to hell, a very hot place.

Here in verse 24 it says: “And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”

Therefore, now the rich man is regretting, “I would not have lived my life this way if I knew what would happen to me in the spirit world” But it was too late!

Lazarus went to Heaven, but it was not just, because he lived poorly; and the rich man went to hell, it was not because he was rich that he went to hell. Therefore, they did not go to heaven and hell, because one lived well, he was rich and the other was poor, but they went to heaven and hell depending on who was the center of their lives, on whom for they lived their lives. That was the determining factor.

Everyone is going to die and leave this world; this is definite. Also, no one can deny that once we have died, our spirit self will go to the spirit world. Our fate will be determined when we leave this physical world. We stand either, on the path towards hell or the path towards heaven. Once our physical life ends, there is nothing that we can do. The spirit self can only become righteous through the physical self. It is through the physical self that it can express love.

So if we do not live righteously in our physical self, there will come a time when we will be punished, we will have to pay for our sins, and also our descendants will have to pay for our sins. Think about three generations living in suffering; how terrible that will be. Therefore, we need to live our lives blamelessly, so that we will be free from accusation.

I want to say today that we need to live our life with the understanding that this is very serious. We need to understand the seriousness and be afraid of what may happen if we do not live our life in a way that gives it value.

Someday we will certainly stand in judgement before God. I know that there is a heaven not only for me but also for everyone, so we need to let others understand this fact and spread this message. Many times, we are able to teach others but we are not able to teach ourselves. There are times when we forget giving ourselves education and training and we worry about the sins and education of others. We have to become teachers to ourselves so we can establish the foundation where God can come and where True Father can come.

The bonds and relationships that we establish here are not going to disappear; they will go with us into the spirit world, so we need to live the lives of a true disciple, of a true bride.

Conclusion

I want to remind you again:

Father said that if we are not careful, three generations of our descendants will have to live lives of beggars and will have to be fed by others. So please let us remember that we go to heaven or hell depending on where we center our lives. Whether we are awake or asleep, whether we are eating, or whatever we do, what are we centering our lives upon? That is what will determine if we go to heaven or hell Thank you very much.

Mrs. Hyun Shil Kang, March 7, 2017