2024/06/03

146. The Envy

I hope I have conveyed my thoughts on unclean spirits and devils through the discussions since this blog №139. I consider the dragon or the serpent, called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of humankind, together with their angels and others of this kind, whatever they may be called in the world, to be information. And the basis of all information is still "human accidental information" even in the 21st century. On the other hand, demons or unclean spirits are, in whatever form, human beings. They keep with them the breath that God himself breathed into them, waiting for the time of salvation. With this perspective, we will continue to examine what causes evil spirits to be born. 

The spontaneity of the creature is free because the spontaneity of God, "I AM," is its source. God brought to the man all kinds of beasts and birds whose brains were formed out of the ground to see what the man would call each one of them. The man's brain was formed out of the dust of the ground, so he called these creatures with a sense of kinship (cf. blog №144). And it is written, "whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name" (Genesis 2:19). That is a sign that the knowledge and memory proportionate to humanity, as well as his sensory functions that take in information and his functions of the body, were connected under the spontaneity of responding to God's command "Be!" 

That is also the sign that the man had heard and remembered the two things God had commanded earlier: first, to eat of every tree of the garden, and second, never to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Furthermore, this experience left in his brain the memory that among the things he had named, "there was not found a helper fit for him" (Genesis 2:20). 

God thus prepared and created a "man" and a "woman" out of the man. When the "man" saw the "woman" whom God had brought to him, he cried out in admiration, as if the "woman" were another "self," the same person. The outpouring of emotion from his mouth indicates that his soul was functioning under the spontaneity of responding to God's command: "Be!" 

Here emerged "human accidental information" between the two. The "woman" made an episodic memory of this experience (cf. Genesis 3:1-5) and said that God had said, "You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it" (Genesis 3:3). In these words, we can already see the signs of feelings of envy. That is because it is said that the emotion of envy can be influenced by the idea that one should not "touch" something that one wants. 

Feelings of envy stimulate one's needs. So, their intellectual needs increased rapidly within the souls of the two who took the "human accidental information" as their own knowledge (cf. Genesis 3:4-5). Their souls sought the "breath of life" that God had breathed into them to satisfy their needs so intensely that they turned to the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." In this way, their needs connected with their "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," and at the same time, with their "breath of life", jumping over their "tree of life". This process in their brain has manifested itself as a behaviour of taking from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and eating from it, which God had forbidden. Their eyes opened through the experience of being connected to such powerful spontaneity (cf. Genesis 3:6-7). 

The effect of this happening was most noticeable in the "man", who inherited most of the man's body. He had a vague memory that something had been taken from him (cf. Genesis 2:23). He must have realized then that it was one of his valuable bodily organs. It was the womb. The "man" had lost the body function of producing offspring. Given that God had the idea of bestowing the womb to the male, as seen in the example of the seahorse, God had a reason to take it from the "man" and give it to the "woman". God had placed the possibility for the "man" to become God's helper in the creation of the Body of Christ in his future. On the other hand, the "woman," being given the womb, became a helper in the creation of the human body, the body into which God breathes his breath. She later realized this fact (cf. Genesis 4:1). 

A feeling of envy emerged in the "man" (cf. Genesis 3:12). It turned into a desire for dominance, and he gave the "woman" a name. He showed that he regarded the "woman" whom God had brought to him as any other creature he had named in the presence of God and flaunted his dominion over her. Envy and boasting are inseparable emotions as long as there is desire. Thus, he turned his back on God. 

To be continued

Maria K. M.

 2024/05/27

145. The Cherubim and the Flaming Sword

The spontaneity with which man and creatures came into existence in response to God's word "Be!" and the "breath of life" that God breathed into man so that he might be after his likeness are both free because the spontaneity of God, the "I AM," is their source. Therefore, God caused the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil to grow out in the centre of the actual garden to know how the two in Genesis would demonstrate their spontaneity by watching how they would take and eat from the trees. 

The two shared information and took and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Therefore, God has put "enmity" between the woman and the information, and he arranged for it to be inherited by their offspring and set up a new plan. This caused the woman great pain in childbearing. But after she admitted that the information had deceived her, God forgave her for her fault for disobeying his command. 

On the other hand, to the man, who had committed the two faults of taking and eating the fruit from the woman's hand and attributing its cause to God, God sought redemption by saying, "Cursed is the ground because of you" (Genesis 3:17). But woven into God's words was the future: "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread" (Genesis 3:19). A hope was placed in their descendants, equipped with the "enmity God has placed" brought about by the woman. 

The man, the only one without the "enmity God had placed" in him, then named the woman Eve. With this action, he made the third fault, adding to his two previous faults. God drove him out of the Garden of Eden with the woman to make him cultivate the soil from which he had been taken and to pass the work on to his descendants. 

Peter denied Jesus three times, as Jesus had foretold, and repented of it with tears. Jesus, after his resurrection, erased the faults of the man in Genesis by asking Peter three times, "Do you love me?" The hope God had placed in the future was realized as love for God, and from that redemption comes the body of Christ in which the life of God dwells again. 

Peter and the other disciples whom Jesus chose and named Apostles would become the ones of whom Genesis said, "In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread," i.e., those who labour "for the food which endures to eternal life" (John 6:27), renewing the new covenant that Jesus accomplished on the cross. 

The males, having inherited the redemptive work of the man, were to work as God's helpers in the creation of the body of Christ. Jesus placed here the recommendation "eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:12) so that their bodies are directed to the life of God. In this way, true equality is established between men and women, who inherit the woman's pain in childbearing and who, with their bodies oriented toward human life, work as God's helpers in the creation of human bodies. 

Everyone, except the man in Genesis, has "enmity God has placed" by heredity. But how this "enmity" works is unknown. That is because behind the knowledge and memory proportionate to man are the sensory functions that take in information and the functions of the body, also maintained by the spontaneity of responding to the "Be!" commanded by God, and because people have a strong inclination of their desires that exceed instinct surfacing as their knowledge and memory connected with them become more and more developed. 

Many people fail to accept Jesus' words because they cannot bear to see their own true nature, which will be revealed by the "enmity God has placed" (cf. John 8:31-59). The causal link between information and demons (unclean spirits) is endless. If one has the "enmity God has placed" in him but refuses to see or know it, he will be a follower of the man in Genesis. The death of his physical body will cause the birth of an unclean spirit. For this reason, God guarded the way to the Tree of Life for the man and for his followers, stationing the cherubim and the fiery revolving sword east of the Garden of Eden. 

To be continued

Maria K. M.

 2024/05/20

144. Soul and Spirit

In discussing the causal relationship between information and demons (unclean spirits), it is worth reviewing how the soul and spirit came to belong to man, going back to Genesis according to the New Testament (see the Figure above). 

God created the various creatures by words. Hence, they are endowed with spontaneity to respond to God's command ("Be!"). God gave food to man and other creatures. That means, at the same time, that he gave them the knowledge and memory appropriate to them (cf. Genesis 1:1-30). So, they have the spontaneity to respond to God's command ("Be!") and the knowledge and memory fit to them. That can be said to be the state of their soul accompanied by their body. Hence, man is in awe of the life of all living creatures. 

Next, God prepared to give man a spirit in his likeness (cf. Genesis 2:1-17). God formed the brain of the man of dust from the ground. Then, he breathed the Breath of Life into his nostrils and made the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil grow in the centre of his brain. 

The Breath of Life is not a creature because it is of God, breathed by God. The spontaneity of God, who is the 'I AM', has been distributed to man. It becomes the spontaneity unique to the person. Therefore, now, man has two kinds of spontaneity, together with that of responding to God's command ("Be!"). 

On the other hand, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil are creatures. God caused these to grow in man's brain so that man might become like Jesus Christ. "After our likeness" (Genesis 1:26) means to be like Jesus Christ (cf. John 10:30; 14:7). Jesus Christ had his own spirit, consisting of divine spontaneity and divine knowledge (cf. Luke 23:46). One's Tree of Life is the interface that connects his Breath of Life with divine knowledge and brings to him his unique Spirit of God (cf. John 4:24). Thereby, the spirit of man becomes like that of Jesus. 

One's Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil connects his unique Spirit of God with the soul accompanied by his body, so that he comes to realise the plan of God for his own. Jesus Christ, the 'I AM', also had a soul like people and other living creatures to be fully human. Jesus' spontaneity in his soul was based on the 'I AM'. So, Jesus said, "No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father" (John 10:18). In this way, Jesus, like man, had two kinds of spontaneity. 

When the Holy Spirit, sent in the name of Jesus, descended and "there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them" (Acts 2:3), he connected with the disciples at their Tree of Life in their brains. Thereby, the Spirit of God, unique to each of them, was brought to each of them and connected to their Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It further linked with their souls, who had been with Jesus and trained by him and shared his worldview, so that they could realise God's plan and collaborate with the Holy Spirit. 

Therefore, in order for our spirit to live connected to our soul, made up of the spontaneity to respond to God's command ("Be!") and the knowledge and memory appropriate to them, via our Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we must be trained by the Holy Spirit through the Word and the Eucharist, just as the disciples of that time were trained by Jesus and shared his worldview, and acquire the worldview of Jesus Christ through the habit of reading and listening to Revelation to John. 

Just as the Holy Spirit descended on Mary and she was overshadowed by the power of the Most High and conceived Jesus, we are to undergo the formation of the Holy Spirit and acquire the worldview of Jesus Christ. Mary responded to Elizabeth's words in the house of Zechari'ah as follows. 

"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation" (Luke 1:46-50). 

We will soon acquire the blessedness of our souls and spirits both magnifying the Lord and rejoicing in God as she did. Mary is the beginning of Christians living in the likeness of Jesus Christ and the Mother of the Church. 

To be continued. 

Maria K. M.

 2024/05/13

143. Information and Demons (Unclean Spirits)

When the word 'information' was invented, and information became visible, so to speak, as something that exists outside of man, we finally realised that what is written in Revelation as "And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world -- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him" (Revelation 12:9), was information. 

All things were created by the Word of God. So, creation can be said to be a mass of information from its very beginning. Furthermore, since the Creator, or God the Parent, is the Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, it is only natural that information is accidentally developed in the relationship between living things of the same species when they interact with each other. 

Therefore, first of all, we, who were created in the image of God and after His likeness, must make it a habit not to immediately regard all kinds of information that comes into our memory through our senses as our knowledge but only to distinguish it as pure information and to keep it separate from ourselves so that we may discover the manner of God appealing to us amidst the information reaching us. 

The Book of Revelation says that John "bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw" (Revelation 1:2). The author wrote Revelation receiving "the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ" "in the Spirit" (cf. Revelation 1:10, 4:2, 17:3, 21:10). All that he described are things from God's perspective. In other words, it portrays God at work in the human information. Here lies the advantage of doing an exercise only Revelation provides in the New Testament. 

Recite Revelation mindlessly like a child, listening to its voice and allowing the "words of the prophecy" of Revelation to come into your memory. Continue this exercise as if you were drinking water, even if only a little each day, and let these "words of the prophecy" pour into your memory and guard it to keep it. That is as Revelation says: "Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near" (Revelation 1:3). The words 'the time is near' here tell us that the author foresaw the spectacular evolution of information originating from human interaction. 

Just as the worldview that Jesus Christ had inculcated into his disciples' memory underpinned their humanity when they received the descent of the Holy Spirit, so this exercise pours the worldview of Jesus Christ into the memory of believers every day, supporting their humanity as they collaborate with the Holy Spirit. The humanity of believers, sustained by the worldview of Jesus Christ, will connect with the Holy Spirit, which enables them to understand and hear the words of Jesus. They have become "He who is of God" (John 8:47). 

Information can become either good or bad, depending on the state and circumstances of its recipients. In addition, it can also turn into a disaster as people use it for their own comfort and convenience. Sometimes, 'the work of man' arises from the situation, even driving people to their deaths. 

Jesus is the Word coming from God sent by God. The reason why people do not understand and cannot bear to hear the words of Jesus is because their knowledge is of information, and they want to carry out their desires with that information. Hence, information has been a murderer from the beginning. Information has nothing to do with truth because there is no truth within it. Information is information by its very nature, and so is false information. Thus, many people who take in information without distinction and make it their knowledge will not believe in Jesus because he tells the truth (cf. John 8:42-45). That is sin (cf. John 16:9). 

Information may seem like a spirit because of the effect it causes, but information, which has no spontaneity, is not a spirit. On the contrary, Demons (unclean spirits) are spirits that have spontaneity. A close causal link is between information and demons (unclean spirits). 

To be continued.

Maria K. M.

 2024/05/06

142. The Hidden Memory

To stray a little off topic here, I have previously suggested in this blog that the 'wilderness' signified the unconscious realm present in both man and beast because the Gospel of Mark tells us that Jesus "was with the wild beasts" (Mark 1:13) in the wilderness, where he was tempted by Satan. 

Then, since Revelation 12 says that "a place prepared by God" was in the "wilderness," as described, "the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (Revelation 12:6), I thought that the place was the unconscious realm of the Apostles and that the 'woman' who fled there represented the priesthood. 

I now realise that the clue is in the later description: "But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time" (12:14). 

If we take the 'eagle' here as referring to the Gospel of John and the 'wilderness' as referring to Jesus' last supper table, we reach the scene of Jesus washing the feet of the Apostles. 

Then, focusing on Jesus' words, "You also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14), I found he had intended with these words that when a man who would become "a witness to his resurrection" (Acts 1:22)¹ joining the Apostles, the Apostles would make him take over the place, their ministry and apostleship by doing according to the example Jesus had given to them (cf. John 13:4-5). Jesus meant by the words 'wash one another's feet' that those who had their feet washed by the Apostles would become apostles who, in turn, wash the next one's feet so that these actions may become a sign that the office Jesus named apostle would be succeeded to. 

Jesus told Peter, "What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand" (John 13:7) so that this 'sign' would be hidden until the time comes. He even told Peter, who refused to have his feet washed, "If I do not wash you, you have no part in me" (John 13:8), indicating that this 'sign' guaranteed the bond between Jesus and the Apostles. As Jesus later told the Apostles, "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:17). 

After that, the incident above was hidden in the Apostles' memory as a series of shocking experiences happened to them - Jesus' Passion, death on the Cross and Resurrection. The 'Prophetic Composition of the Book of Revelation' shows that Revelation 12 is the beginning of 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 (Chapters 12-16).' The Church then went on to the fifth prophecy, 'Prophecy of the Fall of the Church (Chapters 17-18).' 

The Holy Spirit protected the Church from that fate by concealing the mystery of the priesthood and the Eucharist instituted by Jesus and the place² in the New Testament. 

1. A modern 'witness to his resurrection' is the one who sees the Holy Eucharist and publicly declares, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16)

2. cf. Luke 22:7-13

To be continued.

Maria K. M.

 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.