Saturday, May 29, 2021

"she was healed of that plague" - Fighting against Satan is Believing in Christ Jesus

 




Around Tokyo

Fighting against Satan is Believing in Christ Jesus


According to Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and other non-nonsense traditional religions, there is life after death.

But, you have to also admit that there are Heaven, the hell, etc.  And, further, you have to accept existence of the God, angels, Satan, devils, etc.

Based on these notions, you have to love the God and hate Satan.  And, if you fight against Satan, you can be a follower of Christ Jesus. 

If you simply go to a church, you are just a churchgoer.  If you simply read the Bible, you are just a Bible-reader.  If you simply revere the Pope, you are just a Catholic.  If you simply revere a priest of a Protestant church, you are just a Protestant.  But, if you are fighting against Satan, you are truly a follower of Christ Jesus, since the enemy of Christ Jesus must be also your enemy. 

Nonetheless, most of people do not revere the Pope or a Protestant priest, believe in Heaven and the hell, or accept the idea of life of after death.  And, almost none fights against Satan.  So, there are almost no followers of Christ Jesus.

Fighting against Satan is the strong proof that you are a follower of Christ Jesus.  Because Satan comes into minds of religious people, religious bodies, or churches, and even into minds of the Pope and other leaders of religions. 

So, when you read the Bible, you have to learn how Christ Jesus fought against Satan.  When you go to a church, you have to find into whose minds Satan have penetrated.  When you live in this life, you have to pray to Christ Jesus and the God to save you infighting against Satan.  And, when you start to live life after death, you have to fight with Angels against Satan.       

Put extremely, living must be fighting against Satan.  According to Christ Jesus, you have to fight with poverty, love, God's authority, etc. against Satan using money, worldly power, temptation to worldly happiness, etc.

It is not so easy.  Indeed, how can you fight against Satan while you are suffering from the corona-virus?  We only have to ask help from Christ Jesus and the God.

Anyway, fighting against Satan is believing in Christ Jesus. 


++++ ++++ ++++
Mark 5, King James Version
27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment.
28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole.
29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague.
30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me?
32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing.
33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

Friday, May 28, 2021

"all that are in the graves shall hear his voice" - The Core Message of the Gospels

 




Around Tokyo

The Core Message of the Gospels

The Gospels should be read as books on spiritual work by Christ Jesus but not as a fairy tale or reports on His worldly activities.

The main purpose of acts by Christ Jesus is to tell the poor that there is life after death.  And, the poor will be welcomed in Heaven but the rich will be condemned to the hell.

If any person without authority claimed so, nobody would believe in those words.  So, Christ Jesus had to first assert and prove that He was the Son of the God by performing various miracles based on His spiritual work. 

Indeed, if there is no life after death, the spirit world, Heaven, the hell in addition to the God and Satan or evil spirits, the Gospels are mere fairy tales or fantasies.  And, Christianity based on fantasies and superstitions cannot survive these 2000 years.

It is estimated, according to surveys, that 40% of Japanese believe in existence of life after death while about 80% of Americans believe in an afterlife.  Note that Japan is not a Christian country, and more and more Japanese have lost faith or interest in Buddhism recently.  So, this difference between the two countries shows power of Christianity and the Gospels or influence of the words of Christ Jesus.

But, even in the U.S., a majority of people look not believing that the poor will be welcomed in Heaven and the rich will be condemned to the hell after their death.  However, this is the core of the messages of Christ Jesus.

In Palestine 2000 years ago, people there must have believed in existence of life after death as even Egyptians believed in it.  But as Egyptian kings and elites tried to have rich life after death in the spirit world, people must have though that the states of rich and poor in this world must be inherited in an afterlife.  But unlike other Jewish priests, rabbis and elites, Christ Jesus declared that the poor will be welcomed in Heaven and the rich will be condemned to the hell after their death. 

If you do not believe that the poor will be welcomed in Heaven but the rich will be condemned to the hell after their death, you will not follow 100 percent of the words of Christ Jesus from the bottom of your hearts and minds.  Indeed, every evil and unhappiness in this human world come from the state of difference between the poor and the rich.  Conversely, if it was not resolved or addressed by Christ Jesus, you had better doubt whether He had true authority given by the God.

So, the Gospels are the books to present good news or a good theory to give hope and salvation to the poor suffering in this world by assuring them that they are welcomed in Heaven after death, since life after death is real.  In this context, the Bible says that those rich and happy in this world have nothing to do with the God, since they are rich and happy by accepting Satan consciously or mechanically.
        
It must apply whether or not you are suffering from the corona-virus.  

++++ ++++ ++++
John 5, King James Version
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

”till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing” - Swedenborg and Daisetsu

 




Around Tokyo

Swedenborg and Daisetsu

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki (1870 – 1966) was a Japanese scholar and author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen (Chan) and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin (and Far Eastern philosophy in general) to the West (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._T._Suzuki).  Daisetsu also wrote some books on his study on Swedenborg (1688-1772), a unique Swedish scholar of theosophy claiming that he visited the spirit world while living in this world, as well as translated some works by Swedenborg.  

When Daisetsu was young, Japan had opened the nation to the world after 250 years of isolation in a feudalistic domestic system under the samurai-class rule and was diligently taking in Western culture and civilization so as to catch up with the West.  So, as a scholar of Buddhism, Daisetsu was interested in Christianity in comparison with Buddhism.  It was thought that through his communications with American scholars (Daisetsu even married an American woman) he came to know works of Swedenborg.  And Daisetsu accepted the theory and assertion of Swedenborg on life after death or Heaven and the hell, although Swedenborg was Christian.  

Daisetsu was familiar with study on soul or spirit as a scholar of Buddhism, since Japanese Buddhism had been of course based on Buddhism spirituality.  But, according to Daisetsu's view, along with westernization and modernization around 1900 in Japan, people lost interest in and respect for Buddhism spiritualism.  To address the issue on this trend, he must have wanted to see what sincere Christian scholars thought about souls, spirits, spiritual world, life after death, the spirit world, etc.  And thus, Daisetsu found Swedenborg and praised his writings.

In short, Daisetsu could accept Swedenborg's idea of life after death, since Swedenborg showed a high level of ethics and religious integrity, although some concrete descriptions of Heaven and the hell in Swedenborg's works were foreign to Buddhists.  And, what is important is that Daisetsu could accept the situation that a living man could also enter into the spirit world and talk with angels and souls in Heaven and the hell.  Daisetsu thought that a man entered into life after death when he died in this world.     

Daisetsu, in his book, presented a theory that what is not life is accordingly life as such a relation is realized in the spirit world.  So, what is not death is thus death.  Denial of any matter establishes the matter denied.

It is also said that Daisetsu gave some influence on hippyism in late 1960s.  To access the spirit world, it does not matter whether you believe in traditional Christianity or Buddhism, but any man's soul can enter into life after death, although there are some differences about the states of Heaven and the hell. 

Daisetsu Suzuki wrote 23 of his 100 books in English.  He became a candidate for the Nobel Prize of Peace in 1963.  He is still one of well known scholars of Buddhism in Japan today.  So, most of Japanese would come to believe in existence of life after death, which Swedenborg presented in his books, if people know about Daisetsu's earnest study on Swedenborg, although materialism is common in rampancy in the Japanese society today like in other coutries.       

So, it is recommended to read and think about the contents of books written by Swedenborg, although they were written in the 18th century, since an elite Japanese Buddhist praised them.       



++++ ++++ ++++
Matthew 5, King James Version
23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.




Monday, May 24, 2021

"He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life" - Without Heaven and the Hell, There Cannot Be...

 



The Gateway to a Shinto Shrine around Tokyo

Without Heaven and the Hell, There Cannot Be...


There is a famous teaching by Christ Jesus called the Sermon on the Mount, which characterizes Christianity:
17 And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of his disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judaea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, and to be healed of their diseases;
18 And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed.
19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.
21 Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.
22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.
24 But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.
25 Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep.
26 Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.
27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,
28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. 
(Luke 6)

Christ Jesus healed the sick and drove unclean spirits out of people, further assuring that the poor should be welcomed in the Kingdom of God and the rich and happy people should be punished but yet encouraging people to love their enemies.  

But if there are no super-natural power, evil spirits, and Heaven and the hell, etc., Christ Jesus is a kind of mad man.  

Christ Jesus spoke to poor and suffering people but not to rich and happy people.  Rich and happy people have wealth and happiness built on poverty and travail of poor and suffering people in society.  They do not usually have true sympathy and empathy to poor and suffering people.  Conversely they despise poor and suffering people, sometimes thinking that the God belles the rich and happy but forsake the poor and suffering.  Therefore, the rich and happy, no matter how much learnt they are, cannot see and find what the poor and suffering are seeing and finding in their lives.  However, Christ Jesus could see and find it, thus enabling Him to deliver the teaching that touched the hearts and minds of the poor and suffering.

The biggest joy for the poor and suffering was being taught by the Son of God, as proven by His acts, that there was life after death and Heaven where they would be welcomed. 

So, even today, poor and suffering people would accept the Sermon on the Mount, while rich and happy people should not feel real with it.  Rich and happy people are busy enjoying their lives in this world, but when they think of life after death, they will try not to believe that there is Heaven and the hell, since they instinctively understand that they cannot be welcomed in Heaven.  In most cases, their riches and happiness depend on science, technology, and rational behaviors based on their own smart judgment, planning and machination.  They do not need the teaching of Christ Jesus.

However, it must be impossible that this teaching of Christ Jesus has survived 2000 years, if truly there is no life after death, Heaven, the hell, etc. 

Without Heaven and the hell, there cannot be Christianity anyway.


++++ ++++ ++++
John 5, King James Version
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.


Sunday, May 23, 2021

"all men should honour the Son" - The Words of Christ Jesus More Valuable than Money




Railway Lines Around Tokyo

The Words of Christ Jesus More Valuable than Money

Nobody yet knows how the human mind is generated in the brain.  Nobody yet knows how this universe was generated.  Nobody especially knows how his fate is decided.   

Without knowing what their minds are, people often deny existence of the God, life after death, the spirit world, etc., thinking that the God is what is generated in the human mind although they do not fully understand what their minds are.  It is as if he denies existence of his mind while using his mind.  It is as if he denies his life while living.

So, it is reasonable to believe in the words of Christ Jesus who is the greatest and wisest man who has ever lived in the human world.  The culture and civilization of the mankind in these 2000 years are owed to His teaching and His influence on the human history.  If you cannot be sure about anything important, you had better listen to the the greatest and wisest man.

The most important teaching of Christ Jesus is: I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live (John 11).     

In this context, life after death is real and true.  Even 400 years before Christ Jesus, Socrates and Plato presented their idea on death: Death, however, is a rite of purification from the "infection" of the body. As the philosopher practices death his entire life, he should greet it amicably and not be discouraged upon its arrival, for, since the universe the Gods created for us in life is essentially "good," why would death be anything but a continuation of this goodness? Death is a place where better and wiser Gods rule and where the most noble souls exist: "And therefore, so far as that is concerned, I not only do not grieve, but I have great hopes that there is something in store for the dead ..., something better for the good than for the wicked."(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaedo)   

Therefore, we, without power of wisdom comparable with that of Christ Jesus, Socrates or Plato, should believe that there is life after death.

However, it is not only God's angels that are living in the spirt world.  Satan and every evil spirit live there.  If an evil man discovers that life after death exists, he would join Satan and evil spirits.  The hell exists in the spirit world, so that those who are not afraid of the hell must also accept the idea of life after death.  The knowledge about life after death does not necessarily improve evil men.  They might all the more try to be connected with Satan and evil spirits.

Nonetheless, according to Christ Jesus, the God has power to destroy souls in the spirit world, which means that Satan, evil spirits, and evil souls of men in the spirit world will be ultimately destroyed by the God.  On the other hand, God's angels and good souls of men must live forever in the spirit world.

Every man dies, but there is life after death in the spirit world.  On this belief, the mankind has developed their culture and civilization to date.  Without this belief, men should go mad or kill one another to go extinct.  But Satan has been brainwashing men with money so as not to think about life after death: the more men concentrate on money, the less men think of life after death, so that men do not respect, praise, and glorify the God.

It is indeed a poor comedy that Satan living in the spirit world is telling men that there is no life after death so that they should love money more and more.  However, the words of Christ Jesus are more valuable than any money.        


++++ ++++ ++++
John 5, King James Version
22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.