One of Abraham's descendants was Jacob, who had many descendants. When
his country "Israel" was passed on to one of his descendants,
his country became very big, famous, powerful and wealthy. At that time,
there was another country called Egypt and the Egyptians started to be
afraid of the Israelites. Therefore, the newly enthroned Egyptian king
decided to deal with Israel before it was too late. He wanted to attack
them before they would fight against his country.
So the king took all the Israelites back to be his slaves. He sent many
fierce taskmasters to ruthlessly watch over the slaves. Each day, the slaves
were forced to build houses and palaces with stones for the king and the
royal family. They had to work from morning till night and couldn't rest.
Although they worked hard, they still bore many children. Well! It was
strange. So the Egyptian king was afraid and gave an order: "Cast
all new born Israelite boys into the Nile and drown them."
The Birth Of Moses
At that time, there was an Israelite woman called Joahebed. She had just
given birth to a son. She had two children already -- a boy called Aaron
and a little girl called Miriam. When the woman saw that her newborn baby
was a boy, she was worried for his life. So she hid her baby in a small
house for three months. However, the baby couldn't just lie there all day
long and wouldn't always be a baby. What would she do if he grew up and
ran around? So she kept thinking about it and then came up with an idea.
She found a basket and daubed its exterior carefully with pitch so that
it wouldn't sink when it was put into water. She made the basket into a
small boat and put her baby in it. Then she brought the basket to the river
bank and hid it in high reeds. She let her daughter watch over it, because
she knew that the king's daughter would come to take a bath there.
As expected, when the princess came to take a bath, she saw the basket.
When she picked up the basket and opened it, she saw the baby in it. Oh!
It was a very beautiful baby boy. She had never seen such a beautiful baby
before. Although she knew that he was an Israelite baby, she liked him
very much. It happened that she didn't have a child, so she took the baby
home to raise it. She named him Moses. When she found the baby, she also
saw Miriam, the daughter of the woman. Miriam went to the princess and
said to her, "I'll find a woman to nurse him." The princess was
pleased about this. Of course, the daughter went to get her mother to nurse
the baby. Great! (Master laughs) It was truly convenient.
So Moses grew up in the palace. He learned all that he could learn there
and he learned from the Egyptians very well. Gradually, he grew up and
became a person who had good manners and who was handsome, tall and big.
However, one day, he found out that he was an Israelite. Seeing that his
countrymen were treated so ruthlessly by the Egyptians every day, he was
annoyed.
One day, he saw an Egyptian soldier beating an Israelite worker and treating
him cruelly. When the soldier almost beat the worker to death, Moses couldn't
resist fighting with the soldier and in fact killed him. Oh! Moses was
now in danger, and he was afraid that the king would create trouble for
him. So he ran away into the desert and became a shepherd. He then married
a shepherd's daughter and took care of his father-in-law's sheep.
The Messenger Chosen By God
One day when he was taking care of the sheep, he saw a fire constantly
blazing around a bush. However, it was strange that the bush wasn't burnt.
He felt curious about it and went closer to have a look. Then there was
a voice that told him, "Don't come near! Take off your shoes. You're
now standing on holy ground." Upon hearing this, Moses was afraid.
Trembling, he backed up a few steps and took off his shoes. Then the voice
said to him again, "I'm the God that your ancestors worshipped frequently.
Since I see that the Israelites are suffering a lot, I choose you to be
my servant. Go to Egypt, free the Israelites, and bring them here to see
me."
Moses answered hesitantly, "What shall I tell them? What shall I do?
They won't listen to me. Please choose someone else!"
God said, "No. I've chosen you. Find your brother Aaron. He will speak
for you." (He was more eloquent.) "However, I'll give you another
language" (This meant the sound stream.) "This language, a special
sound, will give you great magical power and you will be able to do anything
with it." What God meant was that Hes could do anything with it and
there was nothing that Hes could not do.
Then Moses and his brother Aaron went to the Egyptian king and said, "We
have a demand. Our God said that you should let our people go into the
desert and give them a farewell party."
The Egyptian king answered, "I don't know your God. What does your
God have to do with me? What use is Hes to me? I won't let the Israelites
go."
The king became more and more angry and unreasonable. He gave an order
that from that day on no straw was to be given to the Israelites. The Israelites
mixed straw with clay to make bricks. That was why the king gave the order
not to give straw to the Israelites anymore. Instead he made them find
the straw themselves. However, he still required them to produce the same
amount of bricks as before. He deliberately made trouble for the Israelites.
Moses was very disappointed. He asked God for help. Then God said, "Just
wait and see what I shall do to the hard-headed Egyptian king. I shall
let him know that I'm God and I shall make him release my children. Now
go to see the king again and tell him that if he doesn't free my children,
I shall make many disasters for the Egyptians and Egypt."
Then Moses and his brother went to the king again. The king said to them,
"You should show me your magical power to make me believe you."
So Moses or his brother Aaron cast a rod onto the ground and then the rod
became a serpent. They thought that this would be enough but some Egyptian
wizards could also do the same thing. So the king laughed at them and said
good-bye to them. (Master and audience laugh) He drove both of them away.
Very Stubborn King
Then God got angry. Because Hes said that Hes would make all kinds of disasters,
many terrible things truly began to happen. Each time before a disaster
happened, God warned the Egyptian king. However, he neither listened to
God nor believed God because he believed in another God of war.
First, the water in the Nile became like blood-- red, dirty and smelled
stinky. Then the fish in the river all died. This meant that the water
had become poisonous. One week later, frogs were crawling all over the
country. So the king asked Moses to take the frogs away. After Moses got
rid of the frogs, the king still wouldn't free the Israelite slaves. Therefore,
later, God sent many insects down to eat all the crops and destroy everything.
There were insects, flies and damaged crops everywhere except where the
Israelites lived.
At that time, the king cried and said, "All right! All right! You
can go!" Then the insects disappeared. However, the king went back
on his promise and said that they couldn't go. He always deceived the Israelites
like that. Ordinary people all behave capriciously like that. So God sent
another disaster. This time many cows, sheep and other animals died of
pestilence. All the animals died except those that were where the Israelites
lived. However, the Egyptian king still insisted on not letting the Israelites
go.
Then another disaster happened. God made all the people in the country
get painful and dirty boils all over their bodies. Even the wizards had
boils. However, the king still wouldn't let the slaves go. Oh! This king
was truly terrible. I don't know what his head was made of. His head must
have been harder than our fellow initiates' heads. (Audience laughs) Fortunately,
he didn't come to get initiation. (Audience laughs) Otherwise, what could
we do with him?
Then Moses and his brother Aaron went to see the king again. They told
the Egyptian king, "Now you've seen the power of God. If you don't
listen to Hiers instructions and let the Israelites go, bigger and greater
troubles will befall your country." Moses told the king, "There
will be a typhoon tomorrow."
Truly! People had never seen that kind of typhoon. Well! It destroyed everything
and killed all the animals. Of course, nothing happened where the Israelites
lived. Right after this, many locusts appeared all over the country except
where the Israelites lived, of course. The locusts ate up all kinds of
things and all the green plants. Then there was no sun for three consecutive
days. It became very very dark everywhere, except where the Israelites
lived. (Master and audience laugh) Maybe the Israelites were initiated.
It might have been.
At that time, the king began to feel frightened. However, he still wanted
to bargain with God and didn't want to release the Israelite slaves. Well!
He was so strange. How could this kind of person become a king? Even until
that time, he still wouldn't let the Israelites go. Then an even more frightening
thing happened. In one night only, the eldest sons of all families suddenly
died, including the eldest prince who couldn't escape even through good
fortune. This happened as well to the eldest sons of the Egyptian lowest
class slaves. Of course, the Israelites were not affected by it.
The next day, the Egyptians couldn't wait to drive the Israelites away,
because they couldn't bear it anymore and couldn't do anything about it.
What happened was already too much for them. If they kept the Israelites
one more day, they would have more disasters. So they were frightened.
They not only drove the Israelites away, but also gave them many gold and
silver vessels, good material for clothing, good clothes and good food
upon the Israelites' request. However, by the time the Israelites had walked
half the way, the Egyptian king changed his mind and sent his army to try
to capture them.
By then, the Israelites already had come to the ocean. There was no road
in front of them and there was the Egyptian army chasing after them. So
the Israelites were scared and cried. Moses waved his hand over the ocean
and God sent a wind from the east that suddenly made the ocean part. The
Israelites quickly ran across the ocean. When the Egyptian army chased
them and were crossing the ocean, it closed and all of them were drowned.
Therefore, the Israelites all escaped.
|
|
Settled In The Desert And Began A New Life
The Israelites were not slaves anymore. They had money and food. When they
came to the desert, they sang and danced very happily and had a banquet
to show their gratitude to God. They worshipped God, sang for many days,
and kept dancing. After a period of time, they forgot their miserable lives
of the past, but began to complain and miss Egypt. They forgot God but
thought about onions, fish and meat. They said, "Well! The fish in
Egypt tasted good. Oh! The watermelons in Egypt were juicy. The onions
in Egypt were delicious!" (Master laughs) They even missed onions.
For them, onions were more important than God. They said, "Oh! Don't
forget the cucumbers there. Well! What can we eat in the desert?"
Since they had eaten all the food, they started to complain. They forgot
about the rods that had beaten them in Egypt before. They forgot about
the fierce hearts of the Egyptians. They even forgot the time that they
shed tears, sweat and blood, and were beaten almost to death and oppressed.
They only thought about food and drink. They began to blame Moses and Aaron
for taking them to this remote place where there was no food to eat. Of
course they had water to drink. When God took them to the desert, Hes produced
water in the wilderness. However, the Israelites were not satisfied with
that. They all complained, "Oh! We'd rather die in Egypt than die
of hunger here."
When God heard their complaints, Hes told Moses, "Tell your people
that I shall give them everything that they ask for. I saved their lives.
How can I not provide food for them to eat? Do not complain too much. Today
I shall give them a lot of food. Tomorrow I shall give them bread. Each
morning, I shall make food for them to eat. However, on Friday I shall
give them double the amount, because I shall take a break on Saturday and
you won't have to work either." So Moses conveyed what God had said
to the people. That night, God truly gave them many things to eat. From
that day on, each morning, bread and other food appeared for them. They
just lived on like that. They wouldn't starve to death and didn't have
to work.
However, they encountered another problem. Since the sun was very hot,
they didn't have enough water, so they complained again. Upon hearing this,
God told Moses, "Go to such-and-such place and hit the stone with
your walking staff. Then water will come out." As expected, water
did come out. There was enough water no matter how much they drank. It
was no problem. The author of the story writes, "They shouldn't have
tested God!" Even though they did, God forgave them and gave them
food to eat and water to drink for forty years. Hes took care of them like
this every day. Hes gave them food to eat and all they asked for, because
Hes wanted them to believe in Hirm. Gradually Hes taught them to have faith
in Hirm so that they wouldn't have any more problems.
I don't know why God liked the Israelites so much and had such patience.
Hes gave them food to eat for forty years and gradually taught them to
have faith in Hirm. However, do you think they would have faith? (Someone
answers: "They would.") For how many days would they have faith?
All right, whether they had faith or not, I'll tell you about it next time.
If we have faith in God, we'll have everything. People will suddenly give
us food, come to chat with us and resolve our problems and difficulties.
All these will be done by God. If we truly have faith in Hirm, Hes will
take care of everything for us, no matter whether it is a big or small
thing. Hes truly will.
God's Grace Is Infinite
Otherwise, how can we take care of ourselves? Where are we from? Do you
know that? You don't know it at all! You also don't know where you'll return
to. Some people know it and some don't. Those who practice more and have
attained higher levels know it. Those who don't practice much don't know,
but only have some ideas about it and know that there must be a safe place
for them to go. Now we've repented and been saved. Even if we did something
bad in the past, it's no problem, because we were ignorant at that time.
Now we've been enlightened and know that we should repent. So God will
forgive us and help us.
Although there were so many Israelites, God took care of the whole country
for forty years. It was even in the desert, and yet Hes bestowed everything
on them, not to mention living in a city. Why won't Hes take care of us?
It's just that our situation isn't urgent and we can take care of ourselves.
So God doesn't have a hand in it. But Hes has been silently taking care
of us. If Hes hadn't done it, we wouldn't be alive. Even if people in the
world who don't believe much in God occasionally have difficulties and
ask God for help, Hes will help and do it for a long time. However, later
we forget and complain again. Then we'll have difficulties again.
The reason that we have difficulties sometimes is because God wants to
remind us to look for Hirm inside: "It'll be all right if only you
ask me! Why don't you call me?" Hes lets the situation develop and
forces us into difficult circumstances where we have nothing to depend
on; when doctors can't even cure us, and our relatives and friends can't
help us. Only at that time, will we kneel down in front of God and beg
for something. Hes is waiting for us! Hes has many gifts (Master laughs)
and will give them to us at any time, but it's a great pity that most people
don't believe in Hirm.
One Person Practices, Many Generations Are Blessed
Why did God take care of the Israelites so well? It was because their ancestors
practiced spirituality and believed in God. The Israelites were Noah's
descendants. Remember that in the stories of Noah and Abraham, God promised
to take care of their descendants. That's why we say that if one person
practices, his five, six, seven, eight or one hundred generations will
be liberated. God will take care of our many generations, not only this
one. That's why even though the Israelites didn't practice spirituality,
were not even vegetarians, and they thought about God for a while, then
about fish for a while, God still took care of them.
God is very merciful! If your father believes in Hirm, Hes will take care
of you and your children, because Hes is very merciful and generous. Hes
gives us things endlessly. Unless we truly refuse Hiers love, then Hes
can't help us. Because of these stories, the Israelites believed in God
very much. Each time God appeared, Hes would remind them: "I was the
God worshipped by your ancestors!" This means the inner Master's or
God's loving power. Since God promised to take care of their five or six
generations of descendants, Hes just continued to do it. But later, the
descendants became more and more degenerate and did more and more excessive
and unforgivable deeds, so their merit and loving power became less and
less, and gradually disappeared.
One day another person who practiced well emerged from their country and
reminded the people to believe in God again and to be connected with God.
Then God promised to take care of them again. Otherwise, why did God love
the Israelites so much? It was because Noah, Abraham and his wife worshipped
God, so his sons, grandsons and later generations also received the bounty.
That's why people say, "If one practices spiritually, his nine generations
will go to heaven." Those stories are not ordinary. Even the Israelites
knew them. Although the Israelites didn't have a master now, they continued
to believe in God because of these stories. It was just that they couldn't
communicate with God. So it was a pity. Some Israelites may have been able
to communicate with God. If they found a master and the method, they definitely
could; but not everyone in the country could.
Even until now, the Jews still roam about in many countries and not every
country welcomes them. This is because they haven't really been able to
communicate with God. Besides, they've done many nonsensical things and
killed too many, which doesn't comply with God's rules. So their merit
has been greatly reduced. God doesn't seem to take care of them much. Besides
giving them a lot of money, Hes doesn't give them many other things. God
has said that since they did many bad deeds, they wouldn't have their own
country for a long time and would become a roaming race. That truly happened
and it's recorded in the Bible. If the Jews can really find God like their
ancestors Abraham and Noah did, they will definitely regain their position
and their country's reputation.
Those Who Truly Believe In God Are Rare
Most of us haven't learned to believe in God. That's why we have many problems.
Sometimes we say that we believe in God, but we don't. It's just like when
you say that you believe in me, but you don't. How many of you believe
in me? Very few! When you're tested a little, you'll be different. If I
personally test you, you'll be even more different. When I scold you, how
many of you are glad about it? Raise your hands and let me see. Right!
Only two or three people are. It's good that you're honest. I admire you
for this merit, (Master and everyone laugh) to be true to people and not
to deceive others. Only those who were truly glad about it raised their
hands. (Master laughs) There were only five, six, seven or eight of you.
As for the other people, you may become angry; but do not be angry for
too long. (Laughter) The longer you're angry, the less your merit will
be. Remember to repent after you calm down, all right?
Ordinary people can beat and scold you, but why can't I do the same? Sometimes
gangsters have nothing to do with you but when they see you, they beat
you. You don't dare to do anything to them and don't dare to get angry,
but beg them for your lives. (Laughter) I've saved your lives and taught
you many things, but you get angry when I scold you only once. This is
a contradiction within human beings.
Therefore, you say that you believe in me, but you don't believe in me
for long and don't believe in me much. Your faith is very thin. (Master
laughs) It'll break when touched. It's hard to take care of your faith,
but that's why you should take care of it. The more faith you have, the
more comfortable and happier your lives become. Then when you encounter
any situation, your faith won't shake, which is a very comfortable state.
However, I know that it's hard to attain this state, so I have to train
you. God took good care of the Israelites and gave them all kinds of food
to eat for forty years, but they still had problems. Later, God had to
slowly teach them to believe in Hirm.กน
|