PDF file: 20211002_Grand Autumn Service_Why Meishu-sama constructed the sacred grounds_Masaaki-sama
Hello, everyone.
As I was watching the video “Beyond Johrei” just now with all of you, a phrase crossed my mind: abandoning Meishu-sama.
While we ourselves believe that we are Meishu-sama’s followers, I was thinking as I watched that we may also, whether consciously or unconsciously, be abandoning Meishu-sama.
As you saw in the video, after the end of the war, freedom of religion was permitted to the people of Japan. At that time, Meishu-sama established the religious organization Japan Kannon Church, which was later renamed World Church of Messiah on February 4, 1950.
Before establishing Japan Kannon Church, Meishu-sama was carrying out non-religious activities such as Okada Purifying Therapy or Japan Purifying Therapy through Japanese Purifying Therapy Promotion Association. So when Meishu-sama established Japan Kannon Church, a religion, and abolished Purifying Therapy, many people thought, “I didn’t know this was a religion. Forget this,” and left Meishu-sama.
I think that many of you know about this, as things related to this are written in detail in the book The Light from the East, a biography of Meishu-sama published by Sekai Kyusei Kyo.
Those who left Meishu-sama when he established the religious organization were up front about abandoning him, so to speak. If what they thought was not a religion, then proceeded to be a religion, it would run counter to their thinking. So it is only natural that they would abandon him, isn’t it?
I think this could be called upright and honest, depending on how you look at it. Because Meishu-sama’s direction was different from what they wanted, they could no longer go forward under him. So they made an upright, clean break with him.
But as you saw in the video just now, there were some sneakier people, or let’s say some dishonorable people, during that time.
That is, while remaining with Meishu-sama and using his name, there were people who practiced Purifying Therapy, the very thing that Meishu-sama had abolished.
In an inquiry to Meishu-sama, he is asked what he thinks about a group that guides people with the former Purifying Therapy style; they say that the severer the purification, one must practice Purifying Therapy. Meishu-sama replies, “The opposite. The severer the purification, you Johrei.”
In another inquiry, the member understands that when ministering Johrei, any touch to the body, that is, the physical, should not be used on affected areas and that they should only Johrei. So they beg pardon for asking if it is okay to do Purifying Therapy for areas that are not affected or for a person who is simply tired, as, actually, there are many people who are doing it that way.
To this, Meishu-sama replies, “That’s wrong.” And he clearly says, “It’s a terrible mistake.”
This means that regardless of what area of the body—whether the affected area or something else—it is wrong to do Purifying Therapy that uses the physical, that is, touching. To do Purifying Therapy that uses the physical is what Meishu-sama regards as the opposite of his wishes and of the direction he wants to go. And he says that Purifying Therapy is a terrible mistake, which means that Meishu-sama was very angry with the people who were still doing it behind his back. That’s why he answered so clearly like that.
But what is unfortunate, rather, what is surprising is that currently, in the year 2021, there are some people who claim that they are followers of Meishu-sama while still practicing Okada Purifying Therapy that Meishu-sama abolished a long time ago. This is surprising.
And who are they? As I think all of you know, it is the MOA/Toho no Hikari group, meaning, practically speaking, Sekai Kyusei Kyo. These people, believe it or not, are practicing Okada Purifying Therapy still today.
What is more surprising is that these people who still practice Okada Purifying Therapy—something Meishu-sama said was “a terrible mistake”—are claiming that they expelled Kyoshu-sama from Sekai Kyusei Kyo because he was violating the teachings. This, truly, is surprising.
I mean, if you actually read just a fraction of Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word or look into the life history of Meishu-sama just a little, you will know—no, anyone will know—that practicing Purifying Therapy is a clear violation of the teachings of Meishu-sama.
Violating, or should I say, ignoring the teachings of Meishu-sama—to put it simply, they are going in the opposite direction of the teachings.
It is these people who say that Kyoshu-sama is violating the teachings of Meishu-sama.
To those who still practice Purifying Therapy, I want to ask them: do you know anything about the teachings of Meishu-sama? They are still doing what Meishu-sama clearly withdrew more than seventy years ago. Really, what do they know about the teachings of Meishu-sama?
From their point of view, they think that they have abandoned Kyoshu-sama, right? Now, as all of you know, for Sekai Kyusei Kyo, Kyoshu-sama is the one who inherits and carries out Meishu-sama’s sacred work. On top of that, according to his last wish, Meishu-sama entrusted his divine work to Nidai-sama, and afterwards, he continued to entrust his sacred work to Sandai-sama and then to our current Yondai Kyoshu-sama. So to abandon Kyoshu-sama, actually, is to abandon Meishu-sama.
Then what does this look like from Meishu-sama’s point of view? Well, since more than 70 years ago, a group within his very own Church has been using the Purifying Therapy style to guide people, the style that Meishu-sama himself abolished, and he has been very angry about it. He has been wanting to remove them. But with his compassion, he has been condoning what they have been doing.
Still, for decades, those people have even ignored Meishu-sama’s compassion, and in the end, they went as far as carrying out an inappropriate act like secretly following and filming someone, an outrageous act for people of faith, for a human being. Finally, Meishu-sama had to be clear, so he cut the ties between them.
Wherever Kyoshu-sama is, Meishu-sama is there. So actually, Meishu-sama expelled them from his Church by having them separate themselves from Kyoshu-sama.
Of course, Meishu-sama did not simply remove them. I believe he did so with the wish that they would repent one day.
Now on the other hand, what about us? Should we think we were chosen, not abandoned, by Meishu-sama and be proud of it? Not at all.
As we saw in the video just now, Meishu-sama said that Johrei is not so important anymore and that we have entered the world of sonen. What have we done with these words of Meishu-sama until today?
Was the close assistant who wrote this down when Meishu-sama said this telling a lie? I don’t think so. This statement was also printed in the Church publication Heaven on Earth along with an episode, among others, about how an attendant’s burn was healed through prayer by sonen. They can’t simply be lies, can they? They actually happened. Meishu-sama actually said that Johrei is not so important anymore and that we have entered the world of sonen.
Then we have the Sacred Word “The change in Johrei practice.” At that time, regarding the change in Johrei practice and how all physical power should be taken out, Meishu-sama said, “From today, I want all of you to go forward exactly as revealed to me” and “do just as I have said, without question, without hesitation.”
He said it in this way because he knew that there were people who were rebelling or resisting. This Sacred Word was presented on December 27, 1950, and he said that from that day on, he wanted everyone to go forward in the new direction. He said to do so without question or without hesitation because he knew that there were people who were questioning and hesitating.
But Meishu-sama did not stop there. Four years later in 1954, he received the purification of the brain hemorrhage and said, “From now on, we enter the world of sonen. Johrei is not so important anymore. Sonen comes first, so pray in your hearts.”
For Meishu-sama, this, too, was the same as a change in Johrei practice. I believe he had the same intention for us to go forward exactly as he said, “from today” without question and without hesitation.
When we hear this, don’t we have thoughts like “But I didn’t know about this. I never heard about it”? Then what exactly have we been doing about it from the day we did come to know?
I’m sure that those who still practice Purifying Therapy to this day are saying, “Meishu-sama says so in his Sacred Word” or “Such-and-such life examples exist,” in order to justify their activities.
But we ourselves had a similar attitude, too, and we still have it: “Meishu-sama says so in this Sacred Word” or “There is a teaching on that.” And when purification is severe, we raise our hand to Johrei even though we know that Meishu-sama taught about the importance of sonen.
So isn’t this similar to the inquiry quoted a moment ago? To recap, there was a group within the Church that was guiding people through the old Purifying Therapy, and the severer the purification, they used Purifying Therapy. Regarding this, Meishu-sama said it was the opposite. The severer the purification, do Johrei.
Today, while we talk about the importance of sonen, don’t we still go back to Johrei when purification is severe? If that’s the case, I believe that Meishu-sama would no doubt say to us, “It is the opposite. The severer the purification, use sonen.”
In World Church of Messiah, Johrei has become three minutes (As of December 19, 2021, this has changed, and we now practice Johrei through sonen). This doesn’t mean to put in all your effort and energy into those three minutes. Wasn’t it shortened to awaken us and make us realize Meishu-sama’s will, even just a little? His will when he said that Johrei is not so important anymore and that from now on, we enter the world of sonen?
But when we talk about this sonen that Meishu-sama spoke of, someone will definitely say, “Have you forgotten the three points when considering the personnel for the Church?”
That is, about two months before he made his ascension, Meishu-sama had his secretary relay a message at the Crystal Hall that from then on, when thinking about personnel for the Church, three points should be considered. One: those whose Johrei is exceptional. Two: those who guide many new members to the Church. And three: those whose devotion to God is strong, meaning those who support the Church through material means.
Because the message about the three points given at the Crystal Hall came after Meishu-sama said, “Johrei is not so important anymore” and “From now on, we enter the world of sonen,” there are some people who want to assert that, ultimately, it wasn’t sonen but Johrei that Meishu-sama placed the most importance on.
Why did it end up that way?
For Meishu-sama to say, “Those whose Johrei is exceptional,” does not cancel out by any means his saying, “Johrei is not so important anymore” or “We have entered the world of sonen.” But we act as if it has. We say that Meishu-sama certainly talked about sonen, but he concluded with Johrei, so Johrei is more important than sonen. As such, we basically took the Sacred Word “Johrei is not so important anymore” and swept it under the rug.
Rather than do that, let’s think: “Those whose Johrei is exceptional”—what did Meishu-sama mean by this? What did this mean for Meishu-sama who said, “Johrei is not so important anymore” and “From now on, we enter the world of sonen”? For us to think about what this means is how we can express our sincerity to Meishu-sama. Instead of doing that, we have constantly been choosing what is convenient for us. I think this is so disrespectful to Meishu-sama.
Also regarding what Meishu-sama says in “The uniqueness of the salvation of our Church” that we must climb up to heaven first—while he is telling us to do so, we put it off and instead, we only bring up the teachings regarding the levels in the spiritual world and how we gradually rise up by removing our spiritual clouds. Isn’t that right?
But Meishu-sama says climb up to heaven first, and he says, “This way of salvation is different, or rather, opposite, from all the other religions that have existed until today.” How do other religions work then? One must rise to heaven step by step, right?
Well, we constantly bring up Sacred Word related to the 180 levels in the spiritual world, saying that we need to accumulate virtue and good deeds. We only think about rising up to higher levels, little by little, through our own effort.
For the Church, this is convenient. They can say to members to do this, do that, make donations, and if you do so, you will raise your spiritual level. But if we are told to climb up to heaven first, the Church can’t really do anything else, right? That’s the end of it.
But actually, our seeking Meishu-sama’s will in leaving both those teachings expresses our sincerity and respect toward Meishu-sama. Isn’t that right?
Going back to the topic of abandoning Meishu-sama, there is one thing we simply cannot avoid. It is the act of secretly following, wiretapping and filming/photographing someone, which the people who opposed Kyoshu-sama carried out and/or approve of.
To secretly follow, wiretap and film someone—there is no question that to carry out this act is declaring you have already abandoned Meishu-sama. But to even approve of it is declaring the same thing.
So from acts like secretly following Kyoshu-sama, what did they find out? They found that he had a Christian friend and was studying the Bible. That is what they found, right?
But what if Kyoshu-sama had been frequently meeting with people who relate to Purifying Therapy, like those involved in integrative or alternative medicine? That would have been a problem, wouldn’t it?
Meishu-sama made it crystal clear that he wanted to end Purifying Therapy. So if Kyoshu-sama had been meeting with those kinds of people and planning to carry out activities relating to Purifying Therapy, that, of course, would have been a big problem, wouldn’t it?
Or what if we found out that Kyoshu-sama was using touch and the physical when ministering Johrei—the method of Purifying Therapy? That, I say, would have been a huge problem. Meishu-sama told us plainly that we “must be absolutely sure to take out all physical power.” So if Kyoshu-sama were still performing that kind of physical Johrei, that would have been a serious problem, wouldn’t it?
But we are talking about Christianity here. Christianity. What does Meishu-sama say about it?
As all of you well know, when Meishu-sama established World Church of Messiah, he said that World Church of Messiah would work in concert with Christianity to save humanity. He said that World Church of Messiah would become extremely close to Christianity. When asked if it was possible to realize world peace, he said that it was “absolutely possible”: In the West, there is Christ. In the East, there is Messiah. If all the members of these two powers, one in the East and the other in the West, work in concert with each other, eternal peace will surely be brought about. So then, what exactly is the issue with meeting with Christians?
On the internet or other media, there are people who still make public the videos and such from the secretly following and filming of Kyoshu-sama and my mother.
And you know what, actually, if it’s possible, I wonder if World Church of Messiah’s Communications Department could get proper coverage of Kyoshu-sama learning about the Bible, labelling it, for example, “On Kyoshu-sama’s Day Off” and publish it. How about that?
Then my mother would dress up more properly. If someone secretly takes a photo of her dressed comfortably when she goes out on her day off while unnoticed, she may think, “If I knew I were being filmed, I would have put on more make-up” or “I don’t mind being filmed meeting a Christian friend, but I don’t want to be filmed in that look.” [Everyone laughs]
Although my mother appears tough, Kyoshu-sama expressed at the time that he was concerned about his wife’s emotional and mental state as well as the stress brought about by this secretly following and filming.
Then, the president of MOA and executives of Sekai Kyusei Kyo at the time and still now, including the illegitimate president of Sekai Kyusei Kyo, Mr. Yoshiyuki Nagasawa, sent off a joint document to Kyoshu-sama.
The content included “As you, Kyoshu-sama, said that meeting with a Christian friend was nothing to hide, there is no reason to believe that your wife was traumatized.” Also written was the following: “If you are concerned about your wife’s trauma, there are other people that you should be just as concerned about, perhaps more so than your wife. As if you have forgotten that, you only bring up to all the members your wife’s trauma—this is unforgivable. At this juncture, we sincerely wish that you take the appropriate measures in this matter.”
It is dumbfounding content, isn’t it?
Basically, they are saying that Kyoshu-sama is not allowed to be concerned about his wife; that he should be concerned about other people—and for them, this likely means the people who are suffering due to Kyoshu-sama’s “violation” of the teachings. The ones saying this are the people who still practice Okada Purifying Therapy to this day. And “at this juncture,” meaning when the secretly following and filming came out in the open, he should take the appropriate measures. That was the content of their document.
Well, they say that as there was nothing to hide, being secretly followed and filmed wouldn’t incur mental or emotional injury. Life at home is not something that particularly needs to be hidden, right? But to be secretly wiretapped and filmed/photographed at home? That is stress.
I wonder if their behavior, actually, is the behavior of the same followers of Meishu-sama—it really leaves me speechless.
However, the point I want to make is, do these problems belong to someone else? The ones who are doing these things have been our fellow believers for a long time. So this secretly following and filming or taking video of people, the posture in the document mentioned just now—are these someone else’s problems?
These are not someone else’s problems.
If these were someone else’s problems brought up only to criticize, it would be inappropriate for me to talk about it when all of you took valuable time and the trouble to come all the way over here.
But because I believe that what our fellow believers did is related to our faith, I can’t help but talk about this subject repeatedly.
In Christianity, for example, what is the greatest sin? It is known as “original sin,” and it is when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, took the forbidden fruit behind His back and ate it. That was how sin entered humanity. That is why it became necessary to accept the atonement of Jesus.
It is not as if regular Christians literally took and ate the forbidden fruit themselves. This was something that Adam and Eve did long, long ago. To say it simply, it is someone else’s problem entirely. But Christians believe it as a problem related to them and beg forgiveness from God.
What about us? In our case, our fellow believers, behind Kyoshu-sama’s back, committed an act that should never have been done and took what suited their wants. So this is somewhat similar to Christianity’s original sin. Even though God strictly forbade Adam and Eve to take the fruit from the tree, they took it anyway, behind His back.
Christians have made Adam and Eve’s actions their own problem; they face it directly and beg for forgiveness of that sin. I believe that by facing it directly, they recognize God as a strict existence who judges good and evil, thus keeping themselves from becoming arrogant.
So we, too, must not look at the act of secretly following and filming someone or drawing up documents like the one just mentioned as someone else’s problem but our own. If we do look at it as our own, won’t we want to receive forgiveness for those sins no matter what?
For Christians, their original sin was for Adam and Eve to have taken a fruit from the tree and eaten it.
For followers of Meishu-sama, regardless of which Church we belong to, our original sin was to secretly follow, wiretap and take video of Kyoshu-sama.
Actually, for Christians to directly face the issue of taking the fruit is, in one sense, their joy. That is because they would know it is from there that they were forgiven.
So secretly following, wiretapping and filming Kyoshu-sama—this represents the grace of God who is trying to let us know that our way of being has been forgiven.
And it was only because of this Church purification that this posture presented itself. Up until then, we tried to keep it from coming out and tried to get along with everyone. But thanks to the Church purification, that is, thanks to the confrontation that arose, we were clearly shown by Meishu-sama that posture of ours. This is a blessing.
So if another’s posture is our own posture, does that mean that we don’t need to declare a clear stance on anything? No, that’s not true. It is necessary to determine, “I will not walk that path” or “I will make a clean break with them.” I believe that all of you who clearly took this stance are present here today.
If you did not do so and choose to be a part of those who committed that cowardly act, do you know what will happen when you meet Meishu-sama in heaven? First, Meishu-sama may ask you: “So?” You might respond to him by saying, “The Church went through so much, Meishu-sama. Kyoshu was a problem so we needed to secretly follow, wiretap and film him in the name of investigation. But in the end, we managed to oust him from the Church. We also were able to protect the sacred grounds, Meishu-sama. Some cases were taken to the court, but we were fine. What we did was legally fine. Now, we are trying our best to respond to your will, sir.” Do you think Meishu-sama is going to say to you, “Oh, how wonderful! Well done!”? Of course not! Instead, he will say, “Absolute nonsense. Get out of my sight.”
Speaking of the sacred grounds, it was also mentioned in today’s Sacred Word “The uniqueness of the salvation of our Church.”
Meishu-sama mentions “the first step in constructing a paradise on earth”—the first step. He says, “It is more than clear that the will of God is to make a copy of heaven as the first step in constructing a paradise on earth.” Here he uses the word “copy.” Copy. Then Meishu-sama says the following: “But let me say this. It is not only copies, but each human being also must become a resident of heaven, or rather, the time has come when a human being can become its resident.”
Currently, we use the phrase “sacred grounds,” but in Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word, he mostly uses the word “copy” and hardly ever uses “sacred grounds.” Only a little, if so. He also doesn’t use “prototype” very much. Mostly, he uses “copy.”
“Sacred grounds” is a phrase that is easy to use as there is a lot of room for interpretation. Even though Meishu-sama uses the word “copy,” we readily say the phrase “sacred-grounds-centered.” Well, “copy-centered” just doesn’t sound as attractive. It would mean making a copy the focus, wouldn’t it?
But Meishu-sama said that the sacred grounds are “copies.” Don’t you think that this is quite significant? Because if you say that there is a copy, you naturally have to face the question, “What, then, is the original?”
So, what is this original? In his Sacred Word, Meishu-sama plainly told us the answer. He wrote, “Let me say this. It is not only copies, but each human being also must become a resident of heaven.”
He said that although he was going to construct copies of heaven, ultimately, his aim was to construct originals. We have long thought that what needed to be turned into heaven and be beautiful was the outside world, but Meishu-sama was saying that it is not the outside world. Rather, it is us. Meishu-sama was saying that each one of us has to turn into a heavenly being. We have always been the originals.
So to construct a copy was just the first step. And by constructing it, Meishu-sama wanted for us to awaken to the truth that it is within each and every single human being that this wonderful place exists.
What needs to turn heavenly is a human being; a human being is a beautiful existence—this is what Meishu-sama wanted to guide us to.
Now, who should be our model of a resident of heaven? It is none other than Meishu-sama, right? Meishu-sama who was born anew as the Messiah.
While Meishu-sama was alive, he had already shown us what it is to be a complete example of a resident of heaven, the example we should be aiming for, that is, to be born anew as the Messiah.
And that is the second step, the precious second step. The first step of the construction of a paradise on earth was to make copies of heaven. But Meishu-sama left us the truly precious second step. With his own existence, he showed us that each human being has to turn into a “paradise on earth.”
Even still, while we kept talking about the “salvation of humanity,” have we ever included ourselves in “humanity”? Rather than our own selves, we only thought about the people around us or about the world, using phrases like “sacred-grounds-centered” and focusing on the sacred grounds—we were stuck on the first step for the longest time, weren’t we? Weren’t we absorbed in material things?
But the time for us to go forward with this precious second step has come. I mean, if we stopped at the first step, wouldn’t the effort that Meishu-sama put into those beautiful places he constructed, places that he poured his heart and soul into, come to waste?
By being born anew as the Messiah, Meishu-sama showed us with his own body and being why he constructed such beautiful places.
Then there is the conclusion of “The uniqueness of the salvation of our Church”: “The time of the world of suffering that the renowned Shakyamuni Buddha spoke of has already ended. If you come to understand what this truly means, the joy you feel will be truly immense; it is a joy that humanity has yet to experience.”
“The time of the world of suffering” has already ended. As you can see, Meishu-sama does not say things in a vague way, like abstract talk about the spiritual world. “World of suffering” is a very realistic way of saying it. This “time of the world of suffering” has already ended.
When Kyoshu-sama said that “we already live in the world of day,” we thought and said something like “Meishu-sama didn’t say that.” But he did. He clearly did. For Meishu-sama said that the time of the world of suffering has already ended.
And he said that if you come to understand what this truly means, the joy you feel will be great, a truly immense joy that humanity has yet to experience.
This joy, are we experiencing it? We aren’t at all, are we? When Covid comes along, we are quick to call it “Covid crisis.” Is Covid a crisis?
Even though Meishu-sama says that the time of the world of suffering has already ended, regarding all the things that are happening in the world, still, even now, we are saying things like “The world of suffering is far from over,” “Covid is so awful,” “This is horrible news.”
Although Meishu-sama says “if you come to understand what this truly means,” in the end, we have not understood. We have come all this way not understanding. I mean, do we feel great joy? Do we feel, right now, the immense joy that humanity has yet to experience? I don’t think so.
So for us who could not attain this true joy, Meishu-sama is using Kyoshu-sama and is teaching us now what this truly means, isn’t he?
What does it mean exactly? At one glance, there are a lot of issues in the world, right? Secretly following and filming someone is one, and there are other various incidents that happen on a daily basis. We may think, “Humanity is on its way to becoming something terrible, so something must be done.” But that’s not it. The truth is, God makes us see, hear and experience various things in order to show us that those terrible postures in themselves are within us. He is saying, “Don’t you have these postures too? I forgave them, don’t you know?”
So it is far from punishment. Rather, it is the opposite. In order to teach us that we have been forgiven, God is making various things happen around us and is making us feel all kinds of things in our hearts.
In truth, if we realize the greatness of this, that is joy. If we are able to realize the gravity of how everything is already forgiven; how the path to heaven has opened wide; how punishment does not exist; and how there is nothing but hope ahead of us, then we will feel the immense joy that humanity has yet to experience.
However, “everything is already forgiven” does not mean that we can be arrogant. At worst, when we want to do things our own way, we may entitle ourselves and say things like “Kyoshu-sama said everything has been forgiven, hasn’t he?” then continue with whatever we want to do.
But if we truly come to realize the greatness of God’s forgiveness, there is nothing else we can do but prostrate ourselves before God. It is not possible to simply say, “I am a forgiven existence.” We cannot say, “Kyoshu-sama says everything has been forgiven so such-and-such matter has been forgiven too.” There is no way.
So when you determine to go forward with your life on this kind of path, what will happen? The following kinds of thoughts will well up within us: “I can’t seem to make a decision,” “It’s hard for me to believe that everything is forgiven,” “It’s great that person was able to make a firm decision,” “I wonder if I will ever come to understand,” “It’s hard for me to believe because I haven’t actually felt it,” or “I don’t even feel like understanding.”
These thoughts, actually, show how we are subtly avoiding receiving God’s love directly.
But when we have thoughts like “It’s hard for me to think like this,” we don’t think we are actually avoiding God’s love. That is why we are stuck in those thoughts right now.
In actuality, if we leave those thoughts as they are, if we do not move on from there, those thoughts will only extend into other thoughts, leading us further and further away from God’s love and eventually bringing about a terrible situation.
Thoughts like “It’s hard for me to think this,” “It’s hard to feel this,” “I can’t seem to make a decision,” “I thought I made a firm decision, but I wavered again,” are precisely the thoughts keeping us from receiving God’s love directly and are precisely what needs to be saved. It is right at that time that we should offer those thoughts to God, but instead, we keep ourselves at a standstill by thinking about our limitations or lack of the actual feeling.
As such, we were really like the ones who abandoned Meishu-sama. But as we saw in the video “Beyond Johrei,” regarding “Johrei is not so important anymore” and “From now on, we enter the world of sonen,” we must receive those matters right now, at the very least, right?
I mean, the time of the world of suffering has already ended! God’s hand of love is within us!
Still, when I say things like this, there are people who want to say, “If we only talk about sonen, no one will do anything anymore.” But that’s not true.
If we come to know the true joy that heaven already exists within us, it will be such an immense joy, a joy humanity has yet to experience, that we will be overflowing with it; other people will not help but feel that joy exuding out of us. In some cases, you may be allowed to convey it to someone.
Now, “The hand that we raise, actually, has always been God’s hand of love”—there is no mistake that this message is, of course, meant for all of humanity and us followers of Meishu-sama, right?
This would also include the many religious groups in the world that have hand-raising healing methods, right? I believe this message is meant for them too.
If that were not the case, wouldn’t it end up just being a competition between whose hand-raising has better healing, who has more miracles, who comes out with a better book of collected stories of miracles, or who has more power? Those days are already over, everyone.
Initially, we came to know the power of God through miracles, right? There is no denying that.
But the only reason why you came to know the power of God through a miracle is so that from then on, you would be able to recognize that God is always working even when there are no miracles.
If not, are you going to recognize God only when things are going well? Is not God working all the time, even when we are in the midst of despair? Illness may or may not be healed. Is God working only on those whose illness is healed?
We often say that “you need permission to have a baby.” Does that mean that God did not give His permission to those who were not able to have babies? Of course, it does not mean that. God also gives His permission not to have babies. Both are the acts of His permission.
Even when you are in the depths of misery, even though you have absolutely nothing, the light of God shines within you—it shines within everyone.
This is what God is telling you to know when you have been shown miracles.
So it comes down to the question of whether you really want to walk this path of salvation or not. Well, if you want to practice Johrei using the hand, why don’t you leave Meishu-sama right now? Why don’t you leave Meishu-sama like those who left him when he dissolved Japanese Purifying Therapy Promotion Association? You can simply tell Meishu-sama, “‘Sonen’? ‘Johrei is not so important anymore’? That’s not what I want, Meishu-sama,” and leave him. Then, maybe you can establish an organization that specializes in the Johrei of raising one’s hand. You can be a founder. Why don’t you do that?
Or under Kyoshu-sama’s leadership, you can cling to Meishu-sama regardless of anything that happens. Which one do you choose? Until now, we thought that God only worked for special cases, but actually, He is always working, and He is always watching over us within us. Even when it seems like there is no hope of salvation, God is saying to us, “I am right here.” This is such an enormous blessing, don’t you think?
Yes, it is true that we carry many issues at the moment, like with our neighbors or with our physical condition. But if you believe in God and Meishu-sama under Kyoshu-sama, God will no doubt solve all those issues and direct you on a good path. He will no doubt turn hopeless situations into hopeful ones. Of course God will do that. Isn’t that what God does?
So disheartening things, in the truest sense, will not happen anymore. By the power of His love, God will guide us without a doubt.
So let us go forward together on that path of joy under Kyoshu-sama.
Thank you very much.
