2024/04/29

141. Enmity God Has Placed and Accidental Information

As I mentioned last time, I concentrated on the term 'the work of man', meditating on Genesis, its starting point, and the New Testament. Eventually, the meditation evolved into a meditation on the spirituality and formation of the Holy Spirit and the training of Revelation. Then, as I practised that training every day according to the instructions in Revelation, I discovered that it had a prophetic structure. 

In this vein of meditation, I understood the 'serpent' in Genesis as 'information'. This idea is consistent with the statement made by the 'woman' of Genesis to God: "The serpent beguiled me" (Genesis 3:13). As the 'woman' was involved with the 'man', she has taken in as her own the various information exchanged between them. So, this information, which appeared from her memory as if crawling around in her consciousness, gave her the image of a 'serpent'. 

We can also see that the 'serpent' signifies information from God's words to it: "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals" (Genesis 3:14). The 'serpent' who "have done this," i.e. the 'word' which spoke to the 'woman', was information. God is considered to have mentioned the information accidentally generated among individuals of the same species of a creature by saying, "above all cattle, and above all wild animals". In this blog, we have called it 'accidental information'. Among these, 'human accidental information' was outstandingly evolved and has become the most "cursed". 

God laid out a new plan, saying to the 'serpent', "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). As God clearly states here, this 'enmity God has placed' is inherited through reproduction. It was necessary to wait for the coming of Jesus Christ to know that a hidden plan to send the Son of God into the world as "her seed" was in the above words of God. Jesus, the Son of God, was sent into the world as the very 'enmity God has placed' as Simeon said, "Behold, this child is set for ... a sign that is spoken against" (Luke 2:34). 

This understanding shows that all people need to awaken to the 'enmity God has placed' within themselves, turn to Jesus and be saved, as happened to one of the criminals crucified with Jesus (cf. Luke 23:39-43). That salvation is offered to all because of Christ. 

The devil and Satan are 'serpents', as Revelation describes, "the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan" (Revelation 20:2). So, I believe that they are 'human accidental information'. If so, we can deal with them rationally, just as Jesus set the example in the wilderness (cf. Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13). 

To be continued.

Maria K. M. 

 2024/04/22

"All Who Are Led by the Spirit of God Are Sons of God" (Romans 8:14)
Calligraphy by Calligrapher Kinu Yamazaki

140. All Who Are Led by the Spirit of God Are Sons of God

I got baptised when I was 21, under the circumstances I wrote about in the previous article. Eventually, as I began to know the different experiences of other believers in sharing with them, I discovered that God visits people daily and carries them by his hands. I recalled the following words of Jesus to Nicode'mus who visited him at night: "The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). 

Almighty God's manner of leading people deeply imprints the image of the perfect and true parent in the memory of those obediently guided by the Spirit of God. Paul could say that "all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God" (Romans 8:14), based on his realisation that "it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Romans 8:16). He too was experiencing the hands of God that carried him. The words and work of Jesus Christ, who taught us to call God Father, continually work to become all our knowledge as Christians through the Holy Spirit, who has come in his name. 

In this way, I encountered God and was led to the Church. While I have learnt many things about the Bible, the teachings of the Church and its history, I began to feel difficulties when faced with the teachings expressed through the Christian culture that European history had nurtured and preserved. I was acutely aware that I had grown up in a culture with no Greek philosophy, no Barbarian Invasions, no encounter with Islamic culture and therefore no opportunity to come into contact with the teachings and traditions of the Church Fathers. 

For me, the teachings of the Church are the Japanese translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, promulgated as the Latin typical edition in 1997, and the Japanese-version catechism, The Teachings of the Catholic Church, published in 2003. In these documents, the description of devils and Satan, who were said to have originally been an angel, was a troubling issue. I suffered from a sense of contradiction in the commentary, which I could hardly accept.

Meanwhile, one day, I remembered the speech of Pope St John Paul II at Hiroshima when he visited Japan in 1981. It opened with the famous words: "War is the work of man". I focused my attention on the part 'the work of man'.

To be continued.

Maria K. M.

 2024/04/15

139. The House of God

Recently, I have received a kind reminder from several European readers of this blog that my ideas about evil spirits and Satan are not in line with the teachings of the Church. So, I would like to take some time to reflect on these matters. Most Japanese Christians, including myself, are adult baptised. When asking about their experiences, I find that many of them had an initial encounter with God that led to their baptism. In my case, it goes back to when I was six years old. 

St Mary's Cathedral Tokyo

One day, I became curious about a cliff that seemed very steep for me at the time, rising in the corner of the park where I used to play. I asked an adult passing by what was on top of the cliff. The person said, "There is the house of God," and left. Then I really wanted to see it and started to climb the cliff with all my heart, ignoring my friends' attempts to stop me. 

When I reached the top, a high fence appeared before me. Beyond it, trees and weeds covered the area, so I couldn't see what was ahead. I started climbing that fence. But on the way up, I was suddenly caught by a thought: what if there is a dog? I had had a fear of dogs, having been bitten by one when I was much younger. As I thought of that, I felt as if I could hear a dog barking from the bushes beyond the fence. 

I reluctantly climbed down the fence, turned around and looked down from the cliff I had climbed. Then I saw the small round faces of my two friends looking up at me with concern, and I couldn't get down because I felt weak at the knees. At that moment, I thought I heard a voice saying, "Come down like you climbed up!" I obeyed the voice, turning backwards and slowly descending until I was safely on the ground.

Another child later climbed the cliff and fell off, injuring himself, so my school strictly forbade such cliff climbing. I forever regretted that I had given up climbing the fence because of my fear of dogs. Much later, I learnt that the grounds beyond that fence were the premises of a hotel and that beyond them stood St Mary's Cathedral Tokyo. 

St Anselm Church

At that time, going to church at Christmas was trendy in Japan. My mother was invited by one of her friends to go to a church on Christmas Eve that year. She took me along. It was St Anselm Church in Meguro, Tokyo. As soon as I entered the church, I had a strong feeling that was hard to describe, and after the Mass, I asked my mother's friend, "What should I do to be like you?" She happily replied that I could be if I got baptised. Immediately, I clearly said, "I will get baptised!" I can still recall that voice of my own, along with my mother's stern voice as she turned around and said, "No way, absolutely not". At that time, my mother was like a god to me. I kept quiet, looked down and said no more. I was seven years old. 

Shimoigusa Church

Before long, when I turned 10, my family moved to the suburbs of Tokyo. The day I said goodbye to my good friends and went to my new school for the first time, it was raining, and I followed my mother plodding ahead. And when we got up onto the footbridge across the main street, I stood in amazement. I saw a tall church tower with a cross just behind the school building in front of me. It was the Salesian Shimoigusa Church. Later, as an adult, I got baptised in this church without consulting anyone in my family. God was like that to me.

To be continued.

Maria K. M.

 2024/04/08

138. Those Who Have Not Seen and Yet Believe

The path followed by the believers who live their daily routine heading to the next Mass liturgy appears to the evil spirits as the "way for the kings" (Revelation 16:12). Therefore, it attracts them who go out for the "battle on the great day of God the Almighty" (16:14) (cf. blog № 56). 

On the other hand, in chapter 20, the Mass liturgy is over, and the believers who have come out into the world encounter satanised people who have taken in 'human accidental information' as their own knowledge without distinction (cf. 20:7). These are people who will become evil spirits if they die in this state. To God, those who have died and become evil spirits without coming back to life and those who are living candidates for evil spirits appear to be the same because there is no difference in the situation where their 'knowledge and memory proportionate to man', incorporating 'human accidental information', are stuck fast to their 'breath of life'. 

Hence, for their salvation, Christians are responsible for showing them the "way for the kings" that guides them to the Mass liturgy by living the daily routine heading towards the next Mass liturgy. That is because we believers bear the name of Christ (cf. blog № 136). 

With this responsibility comes blessedness. In the Gospel of Luke, the experience of the disciples who met the risen Jesus on the road to Emmaus is described as follows: "He [Jesus] took the bread and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognized him; and he vanished out of their sight" (Luke 24:30-31). The fact that it is written here that "he vanished out of their sight" is suggestive. 

We, who have the New Testament in our hands, acknowledge that the bread broken by the priest in the Mass liturgy is the body of Christ who "vanished out of their sight". And when the believer confesses before the body of Christ, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16; cf. John 11: 27), these words constitute the confession of faith to the risen Jesus. Then they attain the blessedness of "those who have not seen and yet believe" (John 20: 29) that Jesus told Thomas. 

Moreover, when we, following Jesus' instruction "Take, eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26) at the Last Supper, look at the Sacred Host distributed to us, touch it with our own hands and eat it, we will receive with our whole body what Jesus intended when he commanded Thomas: "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side" (John 20:27). Then, we will accede to the words of Jesus, who admonished Thomas, "[D]o not be faithless, but believing" (John 20:27).

Maria K. M.

Prophetic Composition of the Book of Revelation

 2024/04/01

137. Fire Came Down from Heaven and Consumed Them

"And they marched up over the broad earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city; but fire came down from heaven and consumed them" (Revelation 20:9).

The reason why God is so zealous for the salvation of the evil spirits is that they used to be 'men' with whom He shared His 'breath of life'. We, too, must beg for that divine zeal because we do not know what happens to us when we die.

Revelation, after the fifth 'blessedness' appears, describes how the evil spirits are saved (cf. Revelation 20:7-15). This description is closely related to that in Revelation 16. So, let us look at the diagram of the 'Prophetic Composition of Revelation' (see below). The arrow from the fourth Prophecy 'Prophecy of the Fate of the Church with the Priesthood and the Sacrament of the Eucharist Hidden in the Wilderness and Heaven (Chs. 12-16)' passes through the fifth Prophecy 'Prophecy of the Fall of the Church (Chs. 17-18)' to reach the sixth Prophecy 'Prophecy of the Completion of the Liturgy of the Mass' (Chs. 19-20). This situation will be hard to understand for us, who are still amidst the fifth Prophecy.

However, when we see that the arrow from the first Prophecy 'Prophecy About Jesus Christ, Who Is with the Church (Ch. 1)' passes through the second Prophecy 'Prophecy About the Problems Faced by the Church Community and Their Solutions (Chs 2-3)' and reaches the third Prophecy 'Prophecy of the Establishment of the New Testament (Chs. 4-11)', we realise that the second Prophecy has been substantiated by the establishment of the New Testament. Now that almost a quarter of a century has passed in the 21st century, the worldwide gathering organised by the Church (the Synod of Bishops) is evidence that these first three Prophecies have been realised.

Therefore, we must look back, get enlightenment from the fourth Prophecy, and move on to the sixth one, 'Prophecy of the Completion of the Liturgy of the Mass'. As the diagram shows, no 'blessing' accompanies us staying in the fifth Prophecy. The Church that remains at this stage is not associated with the 'blessedness'. Even now, in the 21st century, the Church is amid a history of wars in which Christians are killing each other.

However, instead of the 'blessedness', the 'Lamb' accompanies us. That is so that we believers may somehow bear the name of Christ (cf. blog № 136). We enter the daily routine of going to the next Mass liturgy and fulfil our voice praying, "Give us this day our daily bread". The prophetic words of Revelation, which equip us with the worldview of Jesus Christ, fundamentally support this prayer fulfilled in collaboration with the Holy Spirit, who has come in the name of Jesus.

Hence, the angel commanded: "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near" (Revelation 22:10).

Maria K. M.

Prophetic Composition of Revelation

 2024/03/31

 2024/03/25

136. The Way for the Kings

The Synoptic Gospels do not record the scene where Jesus takes up his cross. On the other hand, the Gospel of John states, "So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Gol'gotha" (John 19:17). 

'Cross' is a word not found in Old Testament prophecy. Hence, when we consider that the testimony of the cross of Jesus is about the new covenant, we can see a particular meaning in his words that he told his disciples, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). 

The "his cross" borne by one who has denied himself does not belong to him. It alludes to the 'name of Christ', which Jesus had strictly warned his disciples not to tell anyone (cf. Matthew 16:20). The above words, placed interspersed with the foretelling of his Passion (cf. Matthew 16:21-23), imply that Jesus asked his disciples to take up that name as 'their cross'. 

The steps towards Gol'gotha of Jesus, who himself carried the cross, overlap with his public life heading towards the Last Supper. Jesus' body on the cross and the bread that Jesus said, "Take, eat; this is my body" (Matthew 26:26), are both the body of Christ. So, this bread will also die, just as Jesus' body underwent death. 

The path of following Jesus, bearing 'the name of Christ', always leads to the Mass liturgy. That path leading to life through truth is not a smooth one. Even if we are blessed with the times, we will encounter situations where we are stuck in front of various obstacles and barriers. As Peter said, "[Y]et if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but under that name let him glorify God" (1 Peter 4:16), and with the same thought in mind, we intently go out searching for the way to the Mass liturgy, overcoming and sometimes dealing with these obstacles. 

Then, the path taken by Christians who receive the blessing of the dispensation and enter the daily routine towards the next Mass liturgy becomes "the way for the kings from the east" (Revelation 16:12). The "east" refers to the place of the Mass liturgy is celebrated, where "the Lord God will be their light" (Revelation 22:5), and the "kings" signify the Christians who follow "Jesus Christ, … the ruler of the kings of the earth" (Revelation 1:5).

Jesus himself carried the cross and went out to the place "which is called in Hebrew Gol'gotha". His disciples themselves carry 'the name of Christ' and go out to the place "which is called in Hebrew Armaged'don" (Revelation 16:16). The place is where, in Revelation, three foul spirits have assembled the kings. There awaits "a great white throne and him who sat upon it" (Revelation 20:11). The saving work of the evil spirits, which Jesus entrusted to the future Church, will take place here.

Maria K. M.

Prophetic Composition of the Book of Revelation
 (Click to enlarge)