PDF file: 202305_Masaaki-sama’s Message_18_The vision of God is in your midst
In his Sacred Word, Meishu-sama teaches us the following:
“In the world, there are religions in which the members greatly fear their other fellow members having contact with other religions. These kinds of religions are filled with weaknesses. . . . But my followers feel the happiest when their fellow followers have contact with or study other religions.”
Meishu-sama also says,
“On this matter, I want to warn you of something. If some people are afraid of their fellow members having contact with other religions, it is because they are concerned that there is a better religion other than their own. In this way, they are admitting that their own religion has weakness. You must be very careful with this kind of religion that problematizes having contact with other religions.”
And he continues:
“Although I have no intention to brag, my World Church of Messiah is not like that at all and is completely open. As members of my Church well know, I always say that you should experience different religions of any kind, as much as you want. It goes without saying that it is more than okay to study and investigate them, too, as the more you do so, the more knowledge you gain.”
Meishu-sama also taught us in his Sacred Word “Be a world citizen” that those who are concerned with their fellow believers having contact with other religions are outdated, shojo, small-minded and petty people.
Now, let us remind ourselves once more what people of Sekai Kyusei Kyo said when they ousted Kyoshu-sama.
They said, “What a huge problem we have. Kyoshu-sama has a Christian friend! He is having contact with Christians and studying their teachings, the Bible!”
Well, don’t they know Meishu-sama at all? Don’t they read Meishu-sama’s Sacred Word at all? I mean, the Sacred Word “Be a world citizen” is a famous teaching of Meishu-sama, so to speak. From the time we became followers of Meishu-sama, didn’t we all read it over and over again that we almost know the content by heart?
Still, it is truly surprising that those who say they are followers of Meishu-sama ousted Kyoshu-sama based on the aforementioned argument.
Meishu-sama wants us to have contact with other religions. He wants us to get to know other religions, no, actually, he wants us to study them, investigate them. He feels the happiest when we do so.
More than that, it was not just any religion Kyoshu-sama was having contact with and studying. It was Christianity—the religion that Meishu-sama wanted his Church to get closer to and the religion that he wanted to work together with in order to achieve world peace. Meishu-sama specifically singled out Christianity from all the other religions, saying that his Church and Christianity will work hand in hand to bring salvation to humanity.
I am even ashamed that I have to state the obvious, but to be a follower of Meishu-sama requires one to follow what Meishu-sama teaches. If anyone is so small-minded, so petty, so shojo to think that there is a problem in Kyoshu-sama meeting with Christians and getting to know their teachings, it is the same as declaring that this person is not a follower of Meishu-sama, no matter how much they claim to be.
As in Meishu-sama’s words, these are the outdated, petty people, the ones who claim they kicked Kyoshu-sama out of their Church, saying that he deviated from the teachings of Meishu-sama.
Those who actually read and practice the teachings of Meishu-sama know that it is those at Sekai Kyusei Kyo who went against the teachings of Meishu-sama and who deserve to be removed from the presence of Meishu-sama.
If you really are a follower of Meishu-sama, you would feel the happiest to know that someone has contact with Christianity and is studying it. Isn’t that what Meishu-sama said?
How about Kyoshu-sama? While he knew all these years that all of us were going against the will of Meishu-sama and while he had every right to point that out to us, he did not even once declare that MOA activities, for example, were the violation of Meishu-sama’s teachings, and they obviously were and are. Even though Kyoshu-sama had every right to judge them, he did not do that, believing that the only one who had the authority to judge was God. Even though people of Sekai Kyusei Kyo judged Kyoshu-sama, Kyoshu-sama did not judge them. He did not judge us. Instead, Kyoshu-sama patiently guided us to the truth of Meishu-sama. He embraced and gave his blessing to any kind of activity we practiced, any kind of wrongful interpretation we might have had of the teachings of Meishu-sama.
I mean, Kyoshu-sama could have sued the people who spied on him for invasion of privacy and really made them pay the price for what they did, but he did not even do that. Rather, Kyoshu-sama enveloped them in his big love.
What is more, Kyoshu-sama did not regard Christians as enemies but as his “fellows,” friends, and wanted to “move forward with them amicably, joining together hand in hand” (“Be a world citizen”).
That is, Kyoshu-sama exhibited through his living example, through his open-minded, non-judgmental and daijo attitude, how we can be a world citizen, how we can be like Meishu-sama.
I’m a little sad that many who claim to be followers of Meishu-sama choose the religions that have weaknesses, problematize having contact with other religions and are filled with petty, small-minded, shojo people. But I surrender these kinds of attitudes to God as something that is also within me.
In the Sacred Word that I cited at the very beginning, Meishu-sama concludes it by stating that “in this whole wide world, you cannot find a salvation or teaching more great and perfect than ours. It is something that has never appeared before in human history.”
In other words, Meishu-sama had a vision. He had a distinct vision that what he came to know was the truth all of humanity had been waiting for.
Meishu-sama wrote in his hymn, “Know this, everyone. / What I am trying to convey is this: / The gospel of heaven that Jesus Christ proclaimed!” As Meishu-sama wrote in this hymn, the truth Meishu-sama came to know was first preached by Jesus Christ two thousand years ago.
Kyoshu-sama inherited this truth, this vision, from Meishu-sama. That is why he has no concerns about having contact with other religions. Rather he has confidence, this vision of God, within him and knows that the truth of God penetrates both Jesus and Meishu-sama.
I know it sounds arrogant, but, with God’s permission, I have this vision within me too. That is why I know that what Kyoshu-sama teaches us is truth. That is why I know there is no greater religion than ours in this world. That is why I can always be bold in what I say.
Everyone, if you stay with Kyoshu-sama, you may be able to acquire this vision too—the vision of God that He actually granted to you a long time ago in heaven.
The vision. The truth of God. The only truth.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:7–8).
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13–14).
Seek, everyone. Do not become the “many” but the “few,” and seek the road that leads to the truth, to the life eternal. For, right in front of you, the gate of heaven now stands. So knock on it. Meet your Heavenly Father, then you shall be His child once more.
The vision of God, the truth of God, is in your midst. So grab it, whatever it takes. What awaits you is eternal life, eternal happiness.
