1. Judgment by Fire

World Scripture

I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested.
Zechariah 13.9

Just as a great conflagration Can burn up all things, So does Buddha’s field of blessings Burn up all fabrication.
Garland Sutra 10 (Buddhism)

As the heat of a fire reduces wood to ashes, the fire of knowledge burns to ashes all karma. Nothing in this world purifies like spiritual wisdom.
Bhagavad-Gita 4.37 (Hinduism)

Just as a fire quickly reduces decayed wood to ashes, so does an aspirant who is totally absorbed in the inner self and completely unattached to all external objects shake to the roots, attenuate, and wither away his karma-body.
Samantabadhra, Aptamimamsa 24-27 (Jainism)

Make chastity your furnace, patience your smithy, The Master’s word your anvil, and true knowledge your hammer. Make awe of God your bellows, and with it kindle the fire of austerity. And in the crucible of love, melt the nectar Divine. Only in such a mint, can man be cast into the Word.
Adi Granth, Japuji 38, M.1, p. 8 (Sikhism)

“From His right hand went forth a fiery law for them” (Deuteronomy 33.2). The words of Torah are compared to fire, for both were given from heaven, both are eternal. If a man draws near the fire, he derives benefit; if he keeps afar, he is frozen, so with the words of the Torah: if a man toils in them, they are life to him; if he separates from him, they kill him.
Sifre Deuteronomy (Judaism)

For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3.11-15

Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces?
Jeremiah 23.29

With fire we test the gold, and with gold We test Our servants.
Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh, Arabic (Baha’i Faith)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Each of us has many different kinds of thoughts, all varieties. Do you think we can easily negate them all to uphold the standard of absolute faith, love and obedience? Is it easy or difficult? How difficult! Even if we were to die and be reborn one hundred times, it would still be difficult. It doesn’t matter how many times we say the words “absolute faith, love and obedience”; we should enter the furnace and have our impurities burned away until there is only pure gold left.
(320:235, April 5, 2000)

Jesus came into the world to cast this judgment, as he said, “For judgment I came into this world.” (John 9.39) Jesus also said, “I came to cast fire upon the earth.” (Luke 12.49) “Fire” here represents the means of the judgment for which Jesus came into the world. Nevertheless, there is no record that in his time Jesus judged the world with literal fire. The verses referring to fire must be symbolic. It is written, “Is not my word like fire, says the Lord?” (Jer. 23.29) Therefore, judgment by fire represents judgment by the Word of God.
(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Eschatology 3.2.2)

The words you are familiar with are connected to Satan. Your beliefs and thought processes have not escaped a relationship with Satan. All elements in the satanic world were created from a humanistic perspective, not from God’s perspective. They cannot go beyond Satan’s realm. That is why we need to renovate everything through the new Word of God.

Once we know God’s Word, can we also live in harmony with the old words and move on with our lives? Absolutely not. We must completely rid ourselves of the old words. We must clean out all our satanic ideas, beliefs and habits. Then, by living according to the Word of God and its absolute standards, we must establish a new tradition.
(21:327, January 1, 1969)

To acquire true love, you should invest yourself totally. You should be willing to burn your own name, your pictures, even your own clothes.²⁷
(398:328, December 17, 2002)

Oh Father! Look upon us with Thy fiery eyes, and allow not the bitter roots of sin and death to remain deep in our hearts. Look upon us with Thy fiery eyes, that today we may pull out all the roots of sin and be unified before Thee.
(20:10, March 31, 1968)

Father! We pray Thou wilt remove all that is humanistic and private. Born as descendants of the Fall, we used to wear masks as we saw fit and relied upon our own views. Purge us of all these elements as we come before Thee.
(21:132, November 17, 1968)