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.