Preparing Holy Temple for God and Becoming One

Preparations underway for holy temple in South Korea, and how you can become a holy temple yourself, like the Bible says

Mike Balcomb — *Dr. Michael Balcomb giving his sermon 15th September 2024. Photo: FFWPU*

Part 2 of extracts from a sermon titled “In Our Parent’s House”, that Dr. Michael Balcomb, the President of the Europe and the Middle East Region of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, gave at the Sunday service in North London on 15th September 2024. Slightly edited.

See part 1, part 3

The second reading comes from the well-known chapter in 1st Corinthians.

“Don’t you realize that all of you together are the house of God, and that the Spirit of God lives among you in his house? If anyone defiles and spoils God’s home, God will destroy him. For God’s home is holy and clean, and you are that home.” (1. Corinthians 3:16-17 – Bible Gateway)

And we use it a lot in the Divine Principle where Paul says,

“Do you not know that you are God‘s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (RSV)

I always thought that that meant me personally, and that it was a direction to keep yourself pure and holy because God is living in your body as his temple. Actually, that meaning comes a bit later, but in this chapter, the “you” is plural.

Paul is addressing the whole congregation, just like we are this morning. In other words, do you not know that “North London” is God‘s temple? This entire congregation and God‘s spirit dwells in all of you together.

And if anyone is lost or struggling or even – it says in the scripture – quite strongly damaging the temple of God, he will be damaged, even destroyed.

But I feel, as a community, and I certainly speak for myself, I don’t often feel that way. I feel, “Well, me, maybe my wife, my family, I can manage that.”

But do I really think that our congregation is the temple of God, the dwelling place of God? We sang that this morning.

But we need to up our game, especially as we start preparing for what’s going to happen next year. Of course – as well as that temple in Korea that’s going to be dedicated – the hope of our Heavenly Parent is that our communities and our homes will likewise become a place where the Heavenly Parent feels completely at home.

Happy girls — *Meant to be temple of God: Girls in Lisbon, Portugal 6th April 2017. Photo: Maria Eklind / Wikimedia Commons. License: CC ASA 2.0 Gen*

Now, I did mention that in 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul is talking about you, the individual,

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;”

Paul is particularly talking about the importance of keeping your family and your life pure, not just sexually pure, but spiritually pure.

So, there’s a role for the individual. We ourselves have a duty before God to keep our lives as pure and upright as we can, and as a community, to love each other and care for each other.

Because if we don’t, no building is going to change that. Right? It’s entirely a matter of relationship.

So, as I said, I started to think over time,

“Maybe physical buildings are not so important. It’s all about the family, the relationship, myself.”

Yeshua1 Messiah — *Artistic image from 2021 of Jesus from multiple sources, including the Shroud of Turin (XIV century). Photo: Monozigote / Wikimedia Commons. License: CC ASA 4.0 Int*

But I think that’s an overcorrection. We know that Jesus said things like,

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)

On another occasion he said,

“My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36)

But we have to realise that this is already after it had become clear that his original purpose to build the Kingdom of God – starting in Israel and spreading throughout the world – would no longer be possible.

It is a mistake to think that God is only interested in the spiritual, that the Kingdom of Heaven is something that may happen in a distant future or only in the spiritual realm.

No, it has to be created right here on the earth. This is where God would like to see his kingdom. This is where he’d like to see his children living in peace and justice. […]

Sometimes people ask me, “What does the ideal world look like?” I say,

“It’s very simple. All the nations of the world uphold the word of God as the final authority. And the families live in peace. They’re blessed. They’re generous. They care for each other. They care for the nation. The nation itself welcomes foreigners and is committed to taking care of the planet as the gift of God.”

It’s very simple, actually. Religion, politics, those sort of things don’t really enter it at all. It’s simply the manifestation of the three blessings.

Middle East conflict — Fighters from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah carried out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, on Sunday, 21st May 2023. Photo: Tasnim News Agency reporter / Wikimedia Commons. License: CC Attr 4.0 Int

But the world today is not like that, right? In his prayer, William [person in congregation] mentioned Russia and Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan. The list is endless. […]

So what do we do? Do we throw up our hands and say,

“Look, let’s face it, this is a moving target. It’s a carrot that’s always a little bit out of reach. And frankly, we will never live in that kind of world. Let’s give it up.”

Or we could do what Mother Moon is trying to do, which is to show a model somewhere. For Mother, that model is at the Cheonwon Temple and the HJ Cheonwon campus that we have there.

If you haven’t been recently, I strongly recommend you to go again.

But for us that model is right here, isn’t it? It’s in our community. It’s in our families. It’s in our homes. That’s what we can take responsibility for. And if we give up or don’t do it or settle for something less, then, of course, that’s a disappointment to our Heavenly Parent.

Continued in part 3

See part 1, part 3

Featured image above: The Cheonwon Temple taking shape. Photo: Screenshot from PeaceTV.

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And more, related to holy temple: In a Nutshell

Yet more, related to holy temple: Brief about the Teachings

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Even more, related to holy temple: Gender-Balanced Understanding of God and Christ

And yet more, related to holy temple: God as Our Heavenly Parent (Father and Mother)