Monthly Service of Gratitude of May 2020 – Greeting by Reverend Claudio Cristiano Leal Pinheiro

Greeting by the President of the World Messianic Church of Africa

Reverend Claudio Cristiano Leal Pinheiro

3rd of May 2020

 

Good morning!

Are you all well?

Thank you very much for your participation in this prayer in line with the Monthly Service in our African Headquarters.

I would like to thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for all the effort that you have put in favor of the spread of the Divine Work, the teachings of Messiah Meishu-Sama and Johrei throughout all of Angola, and all of Africa.

Today, we are thanking the Supreme God and Messiah Meishu-Sama for the blessings received in the month of April. Our dear world president of the church, Reverend Masayoshi Kobayashi, passed away at the age of 77. He had been purifying since June last year and despite this purifying process, he remained firm in guiding us. He was a person that dedicated all his life to the Divine Work. He was the son of pioneers of our church, he received the Ohikari still young, became a full-time minister at the age of 26, that is, more than half a century of fully serving the spread of Johrei and and the teachings of the Messiah Meishu-Sama. When High Reverend Tetsuo Watanabe passed away, he had served with him for many years as chief of staff and right arm.

He took on our church, and during those 7 years, guided us seriously, with a  lot of love and responsibility and always centered on the teachings of Meishu-Sama, Johrei and the Sacred Grounds. His responsibility was of always guiding us towards a faith centered on God and the Messiah Meishu-Sama. Despite the purification process, since last year, he continued guiding our church. He passed away peacefully at his home. He called his wife and asked her to open the window, asked what day it was, looked at her and said: “Omakase!” which means: “I trust” “I leave it in the hands of God”. He then closed his eyes and made his passage to the spiritual world in peace. He fulfilled his mission here. For this reason, I feel that we must now, give tranquility to Meishu-Sama and to the spirit of Reverend Kobayashi, continuing this cause centered on God and on the Messiah Meishu-Sama.

I would now like to request a minute of silence to pay homage to the memory of our World President. (minute of silence)

Certainly, he will remain pleased with the commitment we have all made to take Johrei and the teachings of Meishu-Sama to all of humanity. I believe that the best way for us to express our gratitude for the existence of Kobayashi Sensei is for us to follow this faith centered on God and the Messiah Meishu-Sama. The last lecture he left us was transmitted on the first of may at the Sacred Grounds of Atami, Japan. He prepared ahead of time as has been done.

On the first of May, at the Sacred Grounds of Atami, those who took part in the Service through the online transmission heard the teaching: “Johrei and Happiness”. I found it interesting because in this last speech, he made very clear our mission in relation to Johrei and the teachings of Meishu-Sama.

In the teaching we heard today, Meishu-Sama says:

“Although it may seem that Johrei in our religion has the objective of curing illnesses, in truth, it is not only that. It has a much greater meaning, which, I will write about. In a few words, we may say that it is a method of creating happiness. This is because, in simply terms, illness is in reality, a purifying process. I do not have to say that the purification is a process of elimination of the clouds of the spirit. Not only this, it is also a process that eradicates all of human suffering.”

This is, Johrei is a process to eradicate, to eliminate from the root, all of humanity’s suffering.

Meishu-Sama continues: “I teach that illness, poverty and conflict are methods of purification. However, among these purification methods, illness is the most important because it relates to our life and when we can resolve the problem of illness, poverty and conflict will naturally follow. As this is fundamental to reach happiness, it is clear that the clouds of the spirit are the cause of unhappiness and the most infallible means of solving our problems is precisely the method to eliminate the clouds of the spirit. For this reason, as I said in the beginning, Johrei does not only aim to cure illnesses. I will elaborate in respect to this.

In agreement with what I have already written in other opportunities, the physical human body breathes in the material world and the spirit lives in the spiritual world. In this way, the circumstances in the material world influence the spirit directly and reflect on the physical body so that human destiny originates from the spiritual world.

Identically to the material world, the spiritual world is constituted by a number of layers: superior, intermediate and inferior. Roughly, three levels form the spiritual world. Each level contains 60 layers that subdivide into 3, each consisting of 20 layers. In total there are 180 layers, plus one above them all that is occupied by God. Therefore, we have 181 layers. Any divinity, no matter how high, can be found in one of these layers (…)

(…) As we can see, the layer in which a person’s spirit is at reflects directly in their destiny. For this reason, it must be alert to elevate every time.

The rate at which the spirit elevates, proportionately the suffering reduces and the happiness increases, because the suffering due to purification are no longer necessary. Because of this, while the spiritual body is in the lower layers it is futile to appeal to intelligence and make efforts because this is the inexorable Divine Law, as is the Law of Spirit Precedes Matter.”

What is Johrei? “Joh” – Purification and “Rei” – Spirit. This means: Purification of the spirit.

By purifying the spirit through the Light of Johrei, we burn the sins, dissolve the toxins that are eliminated and the spirit elevates. In this way, the person also rises. Increasingly, the person goes to a level where they will obtain more happiness. This is why we must deepen in the purification of the spirit through Johrei, through reading the teachings of Meishu-Sama, through contact with art, through organic eating, through the acts of altruism. Because when we practice evil, the hate of others taints our spirit and we fall spiritually. When we practice good deeds, the gratitude of others purifies our spirit and the spirits of our ancestors and we rise.

This is why the testimony, and I would like to thank brother Bernardo for the wonderful testimony of faith that was read to us today, shows us the suffering he endured for 5 years. Imagine a young man that cannot walk for 5 years! And thanks to the love our sister Regada had to offer him Johrei. She did it to someone she did not know. To arrive at a house, she did not know and ask if she could pray in Japanese and raise her hand! As he received Johrei, he was able to start walking again and when he took the exam, it showed that his vertebral column had been reconstructed naturally. This is something for us to study! Who is of the area of health and wants to research? How did his life change? After 5 years of suffering he got a new life through Johrei! Most importantly that gaining his health back, he has awoken to serve others. He began guiding people to the church, forming members and following the path of a missionary. We have seen how Johrei has changed the lives of him and his family.

The joy of a mother, a father, a brother and everyone else in seeing him leave that suffering and having a future, having perspective, having hope, something that we thought was no longer possible. Therefore, we must take the light of Johrei to the world! In these hard times that the people, that the world is experiencing, mainly of fear, we must show them that there is a way for us to leave this suffering. We must increase our efforts in relation to the practice of Johrei, in the studying of the teachings of Meishu-Sama, in the basic practices that Meishu-Sama has left for us.

In this phase, we have received hundreds of reports, things that are happening in all of Africa and the rest of the world to our Messianic followers. In this phase, everyone is intensifying the basic practices from our homes. We are seeing changes in our lives. I have noticed that many members are awakening their family members to practice as well; they are being able to attract other people, even though the difficulties.

Brother Bernardo told two cases that he is being able to assist over the phone, praying, giving strength to people and helping people find answers in the teachings and by giving service. We are seeing, even in hard times, people are receiving protection and blessings in relation to health and financial problems, overcoming conflicts and other problems. Many times, this effort of ours wasn’t enough.  This continuity of channeling Johrei every day at our homes.

We had a testimony from a Messianic family, a member of ours that lives in a backyard with other relatives. Brothers-in-law, brothers, cousins, many families in one backyard.

And during this quarantine, this sister of ours increased her effort in cleaning her home with her family and started performing sessions of Johrei every day outside her house in the backyard. Along with her children, she always had an envelope of gratitude in which she placed her daily donation. They gave and received Johrei there and the rest of her family started to see what she was doing. One day, one of her cousins said: “I don’t believe much in Johrei, but I want to receive it. Also, give me an envelope because I also want to thank God every day like you do.” And the cousin started receiving Johrei every day and materializing her gratitude. After a few days, the same cousin came to talk to our member and said: “My employer is a foreigner and he has returned to his country because of the quarantine. I lost my job because I worked at his house. He called and asked me to return to his house to work even though he is not in the country and he has already paid my salary three months ahead! I cannot believe it! I can see that Johrei really works!” After this, she intensified the amount of Johrei she was receiving and started practicing the tithe to express gratitude for the blessing she had received. She also began to tell her experience of faith to other people.

We are seeing many experiences of change in the lives of people now that they are intensifying the basic practices. Many times, we are doing it and then we stop, or we only give Johrei when we have a problem, but in these circumstances, we are practicing in a way we have never done before and we are seeing answers, attracting people and changing their lives. Therefore, I ask that you all send in your testimonies of faith that relate to these activities, so that we may share and study them.

We are now preparing for the Paradise on earth Service. It will take place on the 15th of June and it marks the day that Meishu-Sama received the revelation of the Transition from night to day. It is the most important date to us Messianic followers! This transition began on the 15th of June 1931. We will continue to prepare for this service on the 15th of June, we will continue our practices: giving  Johrei, reading the teachings, cleaning our homes, cleaning our streets within the law of what every country permits, we must take better care of our eating habits, seek to eat more organic food, taking care of our vegetable gardens. I am happy to see reports of many Messianic members that are restarting their vegetable gardens and even increasing them. This is very important in terms of eating healthy and generating health, because the more organic food we eat, the more we clean our blood and our spirit, and the more we elevate ourselves. Our immune system will be strong to face whatever may come. This is why Nature farming is one of the pillars of salvation and we need to embrace it with more strength from here onwards.

Those who can pray in the morning and evening services, great! Those who can only pray at one time of the day, that is okay! But the ideal is to pray at both times, wherever you are. Those who have internet access can participate online as we are doing right now and those who do not have internet access, wherever you are, pray in line with the headquarters of Africa at the times of the morning and evening service. At that moment, pray for the happiness of 10 people. Send the teachings that we are reading every day that are being sent via Facebook and  through our website, so that people may read day-to-day, we advise that: “Let us pray, for we are preparing for a very important date, that is the day that the construction of Paradise began here on Earth. Let us pray! Place your worries in the hands of God and the Messiah Meishu-Sama! Let us pray for the happiness of the world at this moment!”

Let us increase the number of people and invite them to participate in our Paradise on Earth Service. In the country that you are in, if you are still in quarantine; I do not know how it will be. It is in the hands of God! However, so that they may participate with us, together we will prepare a spiritual environment, praying in line with our African Headquarters every day. Let us increase the number of people that are praying with us for the wellbeing of the world, for the happiness of humanity, for the construction of paradise on earth.

I believe it will be a very important preparation for us to pray together with our day-to-day practices. Can I count on all of you?

Thank you very much! Let us thank our mothers, because today is Mother’s Day in many countries around the world! This month is dedicated to them. Our gratitude extends to our mothers in the material world as well as the ones who already are in the spiritual world! I believe the best way to thank them is to make them proud by serving other people and by being a good person. Our mothers are happy when we get complimented right? She is proud: “My child has done a good thing!” And when we do something wrong, she is upset as well. So, let us seek to that our mother by being grateful and respecting them, taking care of them and making them proud. So that they feel “Wow! It was worth it! My child is making a difference to make the world a better place!” I believe that is the best way for us to thank them for their existence.

I wanted to share with you all a story I heard about a tradition of a Native American tribe. The tribe of the Cherokees. They have a rite of passage performed when a young boy is about to enter adult life; leaving his childhood and becoming an adolescent. The father takes the son into the middle of the forest, blindfolds him and says that he must spend the night sitting on a log, without getting up, even hearing all the sounds of the animals he must not get up and whatever happens that night he cannot tell anyone, he cannot run away and he cannot get up. And so, the young man stays there the whole night.

He sits there the whole night, blindfolded and scared without knowing what is happening, without knowing if an animal will attack him; not knowing what will happen. When morning comes, he removes his blindfold and sees that his father had been sitting next to him the entire night, protecting him.

This is the same thing God does. We may be going through a difficult phase, afraid, without knowing what will happen! “I am alone in the world; I don’t know what will happen to me!” But God and the Messiah Meishu-Sama are always beside us, protecting us, guiding us and inspiring us. We must remember this in the hardest of times and never forget it throughout our lives.

Once more, thank you all! Today we will transmit the Monthly Service from the Sacred Grounds of Guarapiranga at 1 PM in Angola, 2 PM in Mozambique and South Africa, 12 PM in São Tomé and Sierra Leone. We will also transmit at 6 PM in Mozambique and South Africa, 5 PM in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Congo Brazzaville, 4 PM in São Tomé and Sierra Leone. We will have our Service in English so that those in Africa who cannot express themselves in Portuguese may also come into direct contact with the guidance of the Monthly Gratitude Service and practice it throughout the month of May.

Thank you very much! A happy month of May to all and tomorrow we will be back for the morning and evening services! Happy Sunday! Happy month to all!

Thank you very much!

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