The Words Of The Ahn Family
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The Words Of The Ahn Family |
Rev.
Chang Seong Ahn teaching the Principle of Creation.
On August 20, at the afternoon leaders' conference in the World Mission Center, Father spoke to the leaders of the American movement about the absolute importance of knowing the Principle in depth and teaching it constantly. Living life as you have been without really knowing the Principle, he said, is like eating bananas with the skin on. Truly immersing yourself in the essence of the Principle is like discovering the joy of eating bananas without the skin -- it's so sweet you don't want to stop. You have to get to the point where you would rather die than stop lecturing.
Teaching the Principle correctly is a matter of life and death, he said. Truth brings resurrection, but without shedding tears of repentance before lecturing and thus drawing a high spirit world, no one will be resurrected. If you all had been teaching the right way, he told the leaders, you would each have at least 100 people following behind you by now. Therefore, a new atmosphere of truth and purity must be created in the Unification movement in this emergency time. To accomplish this, Father initiated a series of 40-day workshops for leaders to be intensively trained in the Principle and True Parents' standard.
Two days later, the first of these training programs began at the World Mission Center. Rev. Chang Seong Ahn, a 36 Blessed Couple who has taught the Principle for years under Father's direct guidance, gave the contents of the workshop. In attendance were all regional coordinators, all state leaders, two city leaders from each state, and all 1987 UTS graduates.
The schedule included eight hours of lectures every day and a generous amount of time for study. Four written tests and one lecture test were given and graded by five of the regional coordinators and Rev. Ahn. A high standard of seriousness, punctuality, cleanliness, service, morality, and self- control was emphasized.
Father addressed the trainees on August 28 and then shortly afterward departed for Korea; however, from Korea Father called four times to encourage everyone and to remind the trainees to forget about the missions they had temporarily left behind and completely focus on studying the Principle.
After 40 days, the workshop was extended one week so that each person could be evaluated on the quality of his or her lecturing ability. At the graduation ceremony on the last day, Rev. Chung Hwan Kwak, representing True Parents, addressed the trainees and gave several new assignments.
On that day, Rev. Ahn again emphasized that from now on, the standard for leaders is to have deep repentance prayer every day and teach the Principle daily, thus continually living within the realm of God's truth, forgiveness, and love.
Another workshop for leaders is scheduled to begin October 20, and a third will start December 10.
Dr.
Tyler Hendricks
Question: How did you feel, and how do you think most people felt, when Father requested all of you to come to the workshop?
Answer: It was probably not so easy for most of us to separate from what we were doing, but I think everyone felt blessed and privileged to be chosen by Father for such a special workshop.
We all felt that since Father was holding it at a time when there were so many crucial activities going on in the field, it must be very important.
Question: What were the basic contents of the lectures?
Answer: The contents were tremendously exciting -- the bare-bones Principle. Rev. Ahn pinpointed the main points and took those points further, in terms of their implications, than I'd ever heard before. The deepest content had to do with the fall and the four fallen natures.
He explained that the first fallen nature is the sin of lying, disobedience, and rebellion; that is, the failure to take God's viewpoint. The second fallen nature is the sin of adultery, leaving the proper position. The third fallen nature is the sin of murder, which is reversal of dominion. The fourth is the sin of robbery, or the multiplication of evil.
He showed that making the foundation of faith means restoring the first two sins. It is not simply making some conditional offering through a specific time period, such as fasting or taking a cold shower. That is just external. What really has to happen in the foundation of faith is: You completely receive God's word -- no more lies, no more disobedience, no more rebellion against God. What is God's word? "Do not eat," which relates to the sin of adultery and fornication. Totally overcoming sexual problems in your life is the foundation of faith -- in essence, self-control.
After you establish your foundation of faith, the foundation of substance is made when you go to your Cain or Esau -- your enemy -- and love him, which restores the sin of murder. When you love that person absolutely and give everything you have to him, this restores the sin of robbery.
Through learning these specific points, the Principle has become more concrete than ever before to me.
Every
night Rev. Ahn bowed to the trainees seven times.
Question: Can you explain more about the sin of robbery?
Answer: When Satan took dominion over Adam and Eve, he also took dominion over all things; he stole everything from God. Anyone who usurps the elder brother's position and takes unlawful dominion over what others need is basically robbing everything from God, multiplying evil.
Question: What are the steps toward overcoming the sin of fornication?
Answer: One, reject Satan's words that you "should eat." Two, completely deny Satan's view of life -- that God doesn't love you, that God is deceiving you, that you are just a material being. This viewpoint was what the serpent gave to Eve, which, taken in today's terms, means self-centeredness, and materialism, leading to communism. Three, take away and completely remove self-centered thoughts, desires, and actions. How do you do this? Through confession, even public confession.
The first public confession at the workshop was intense, because the brother who volunteered had a lot to get off his chest. He confessed the sins he committed both before joining the church and after. When it was over, there was a great outpouring of love toward this brother from all of us. It was a tremendous liberation for the whole workshop, that somebody could be so honest, trusting, and courageous. It takes guts to tell people what a foul person you are; but in fact, everybody is. Everybody has sin. We had more public confessions after that, but he was the first one to challenge it. I felt liberated by listening to him, seeing someone with that kind of courage and seeing that it's possible. From Rev. Ahn there was absolutely no judgment and no accusation. We think if we reveal our sins we will get punished and accused, but the opposite is true. You are getting punish, d, judged, and accused by hiding them, because Satan can keep his hold on you. When you confess them, somehow that is the end of the suffering and accusation for them. Confession is the only way to get rid of your own sinful history. You have to get rid of it, or you will just keep dragging it around from here to eternity.
We've got to realize that our original mind is purely good, that actually it's perfect. Our original, God-given mind doesn't have those kinds of thoughts. Those thoughts come from our fallen habits and evil character, which make a base with our evil ancestors. If we can start to restore and separate from that evil character in ourselves and control it, we can cut off those evil spirits. That is the process. Everybody has to go through it. If we don't go through it, our children will have to go through it somehow.
Question: How do you separate from your evil character?
Answer: First, confession of your sins, even just one time. Get it off your chest. Then repent to God in prayer. For the first time in my life, at this workshop, I've been able to repent. I had tried many times in the past, but nothing happened.
Question: What made the difference?
Answer: The spiritual foundation of the Principle that I'm hearing and the atmosphere of truth in the workshop. This is the first time in years that I've heard the Principle given so thoroughly. Rev. Ahn is uncompromising. He writes everything point by point on the board, and we write it in our notebooks. Then he drives it home again and again and again: Confess your sins, pray with repentance, separate from Satan, subjugate Satan. He uses an old-fashioned style of teaching -- you learn by memorization, replacing your incorrect concepts with very clear wisdom. It's absolutely liberating because it is the truth. That was why I could repent, and repent, and repent some more. And when you really repent, you can connect to God and the high spirit world and Heung Jin Nim. You empty yourself of the junk, your fallen thoughts. You drive them out and destroy them completely, as the Israelites should have done to the seven tribes of Canaan, and then you bring in God's word.
During the workshop a brother shared that he once had a chance to ask Father a question. He asked, "What are the weapons we should have in order to accomplish our mission?" Father replied, "Separate from own sinful history. You have to get rid of it, or you will just keep dragging it around from here to eternity."
We've got to realize that our original mind is purely good, that actually it's perfect. Our original, God-given mind doesn't have those kinds of thoughts. Those thoughts come from our fallen habits and evil character, which make a base with our evil ancestors. If we can start to restore and separate from that evil character in ourselves and control it, we can cut off those evil spirits. That is the process. Everybody has to go through it. If we don't go through it, our children will have to go through it somehow.
The first step in separating from evil is confession, the second is repentance, and the third is paying indemnity. Indemnity has four levels. It can mean physical punishment (the lowest form) -- suffering, torture, martyrdom. The victory of Christianity was based on the willing sacrifice of the martyrs. Second, walk willingly into the melting furnace. Let God totally melt you, destroy your fallen nature by exposing your sins to you. That's related to confession, too. Third, sacrifice for the sake of your brothers and sisters and for other people, whatever the cost. Fourth, self-denial. Deny myself, deny my loved ones. That means: Love True Parents above everything. To deny myself means to deny my own desires, my own inclinations, my own wishes. It's not that every one of our desires and inclinations is necessarily evil; but the more give and take we have with our own desires, the more base we are making for selfishness to become involved.
The less we are connected to our own desires, the less chance there is for our own self-interest to get in. If a person is totally sacrificing himself, his interests, his wishes, everything, then Satan has to leave that person because Satan doesn't like that.
Rev. Ahn gave a very good analogy about gaining spiritual dominion. He said being in the spirit world without having dominion over Satan is analogous to most people's dreams. In your dreams things just sort of happen. You have no say over where you go or who you run into or what happens to you. It's very difficult to overcome humility and gratitude, he bowed to us every night seven times, and then we all bowed together before True Parents three times. Rev. Ahn put us through a very strict course, but many people in the workshop became liberated through it.
An
opportunity for fellowship at the evening meal.
Question: I heard that Heung Jin Nim spoke often to the trainees.
Answer: Yes. A small prayer group began, centered around three or four people who wanted to connect to Heung Jin Nim. I was involved with that group because I had a foundation from my experiences with him at the ICC in Korea. When Jim Stephens, the director of ICC, came here from Korea, he got the inspiration that Heung Jin Nim should be involved with this workshop and that brothers and sisters should try to connect to him. So Jim and two or three other people and I started meeting for prayer in Jim's room after lectures were over in the evening. We would talk about Heung Jin Nim and read some of the things we had received in writing through him, and then pray. Sometimes Heung Jin Nim would speak through Levy Daugherty or Jim, and sometimes we would just pray.
That went on for about two to three weeks. Then one night about 12 people showed up; our little room was jammed. Rev. Ken Sudo and Dr. Hugh Spurgin had come. Jim wasn't there, so that night I was able to channel publicly for the first time. The way it happened was, at the end of my prayer, Heung Jin Nim told me he wanted to speak through me. But I was afraid to jump into it because I feared that after I started he might leave and I would be left sitting there. It was difficult for me. It took me a long time to break through my fear and just say, "Okay, he's going to speak. This is Heung Jin Nim" I was amazed; everyone received it very well.
Suddenly a few days after that, more and more people started coming until the room was overflowing and there were people out in the hall. So we decided to meet in a larger room on the seventh floor. Word had spread throughout the whole workshop that Heung Jin Nim was speaking.
The next night the hall on the seventh floor was lined with people.
Even that room was too small, so the following night we held our meeting in the Bamboo Room, and about 150 people came. Heung Jin Nim spoke through me and one other workshop member -- Dirk -- four times in five nights. His messages became very intense. Soon other members from many different missions started coming to our meetings. We went from a very intimate setting of only five or six people to this huge group in a matter of three or four days. I could realize the power of Heung Jin Nim and our members' real desire to make a relationship with him and to open up to a new spiritual reality. After an experience with Heung Jin Nim you can begin to understand that the spirit world is real and that you can gain dominion over the spirit world. I think people are thirsting for that. Heung Jin Nim is the access point.
Rev.
Chang Seong Ahn
Question: What was Heung Jin Nim's basic message?
Answer: He began by being very comforting, saying over and over, "I'm here for you. I love you. I want you to open yourselves up to me." He encouraged everyone to develop a relationship with him and explained how our sincere desire to relate with him was the most important factor in reaching him. He also shared how essential it is for us to realize we are part of the True Family, to believe in the reality and value of our rebirth through the Blessing, and to strive to understand and live like True Parents.
He spoke about God and True Parents' need for us to become teachers who can resurrect the whole world through the Principle. He said through this workshop we can get the training we need, and through our deep repentance prayers we can receive the kind of power and fearlessness that Jesus' disciples received after the Pentecost -- the power to go out and become great leaders for God.
Later on he spoke very strongly, exhorting us to defeat Satan and truly take responsibility for the Providence. He told us to try to comprehend our Father's unspeakable suffering, and to move ahead ourselves to become an inspiration to our entire movement.
On
Graduation Day, Rev. Ahn is presented with a card and a gift on
behalf of all the trainees.
Question: He was expressing his desperation?
Answer: Yes, and his frustration as well. Heung Jin Nim isn't here just to inspire us or make us feel good. He wants to work closely with us every minute for the purpose of restoring the world. We have all been hanging back, not making any commitment or taking true responsibility, avoiding the burden that Father has been carrying. He said Father knows that if he asks too much of us all at once, we will complain, freak out, or just wither and die spiritually. Heung Jin Nim is desperately hoping we can recognize that certain things have to be accomplished providentially and be willing to make the same kind of sacrifices he and many elder members have made. It's not easy, but somebody's got to do it. There isn't any easy way to build the Kingdom of Heaven.
We have to be able to bring down the good spirit world and save the people on earth, which means we have to develop in our understanding of and dominion over the spirit world. We are the mediators.
There is a great outpouring of spirit now in our movement all over the world through Heung Jin Nim, now that he has completed his first three-year course since his ascension. A lot of people are saying it's like Pentecost. It is like Pentecost to see 120-130 members just pouring their guts out every night in prayer. There's really a spiritual path now. It's up to us whether we want to follow the path, but the path is much more open now, more secure. As Heung Jin Nim says, it's like a pipeline. It's even a grand canal. If we make the effort, we can tap into that spiritual power. It will stay with us and not dissipate as it did in the past. Before, the conditions weren't there for the spirit world to stay with us, but now they can because of what Heung Jin Nim has accomplished.
If this kind of Pentecost can come centered on Heung Jin Nim, then I have some small idea about what will happen when True Father and True Mother go to the spirit world. It's going to be like the Hoover Dam bursting. The good spirit world is just going to flood down upon this earth. People should be ready for that, because if they aren't, there could be a lot of confusion both on earth and in the spirit world. If they stay confused for too long and we don't pick them up and show them where to go, they'll just get taken back by Satan.
But if people are ready to receive that outpouring from heaven when True Parents go to the spirit world, and if our church has made a strong global foundation with established Christianity and all the world's religions through a universal, God- centered structure, then I think heaven on earth will come as a reality.
I want to give a cautionary note, though. Heung Jin Nim is not a panacea that is going to solve all our problems. He will never take away your own responsibility. He just helps you connect to True Parents' love, True Parents' lineage. Through Heung Jin Nim you can gain spiritual power to get rid of your negative character.
Question: What would be the steps for people to follow to get closer to Heung Jin Nim?
Answer: First, talk to someone who has a relationship with Heung Jin Nim and learn from that person. Also, read Heung Jin Nim's speeches. Pray and repent yourself, and study the Principle very seriously. It's a combination of your own prayer, your faith, and your dedication. You've got to believe that Heung Jin Nim exists, that he has the capacity to relate to an indefinite number of people simultaneously, that these messages are not just the imaginings of a bunch of members. Believe that he can relate to you at any time, that he wants to relate to you, that he loves you, that he wants to help you. And believe that you have the capacity to sustain that relationship. You have to trust yourself. I think a lot of members don't believe they are worthy enough or good enough or strong enough or spiritual enough. Everyone is; it just depends on your desire to have that relationship. Tell it to Heung Jin Nim, tell it to God, tell it to spirit world, tell it to yourself.
We tend to want to be self-sufficient and say, "I just relate to God. I don't want to get into spiritual stuff. It's not for me. But you have to surrender a little bit and realize that this teenage son of True Parents is part of the dispensation now. Believe he can do it, and just try. Pray. Pray together with someone who has a base. Pray by yourself. Have a piece of paper and a pencil ready, and try to receive something. Just believe you can do it. You can't do it unless you can believe you can do it.
Heung Jin Nim has strong spiritual power. Don't doubt. If you receive some inspiration in this direction, don't doubt that it's from Heung Jin Nim, because usually it is. People who are spiritually open should be careful, but most of our members aren't spiritually open, so if they receive something, it will probably be Heung Jin Nim. I'm convinced that even your desire to relate to Heung Jin Nim is put there by Heung Jin Nim in some way. You have to believe that in some sense you already have a relationship with him; you just have to develop it. One time when members had gathered at Heung Jin Nim's Won Jun and had desperately prayed for him to come, Heung Jin Nim said: "I was already here. I was waiting for you. You don't have to pray for me to come to you. I am already here, inside your heart"
I think maybe in a couple of months or years we will begin to understand Heung Jin Nim's course in his life on earth and in the spirit world -- the foundation he laid, what he went through. Father has talked about him a lot, but there is a lot more to understand about how he won total victory in the spirit world.
The final point I want to make is about gaining salvation. Through the Blessing we are all part of the True Parents' blood lineage, which means we are part of their family. Most of us don't even feel that. We may feel they are like some distant relatives. But we have to absolutely feel: I am part of the True Parents' family, I am a son or daughter of True Parents. Our own brother, Heung Jin Nim, is a true son of True Parents, which means we are also part of that second generation. That's the source of life for us. That is the only source -- True Parents' love. But there is a price for it -- indemnity. If Father asks you to do something, you do it because he is your Father and you know that the time of suffering will be short. Believe that if you establish your position as True Parents' son or daughter, there is an infinite blessing awaiting you. That's where God's love is.
That's what we all want: God's love. We won't get to heaven by putting on great conferences. It's going to happen by the internal relationship we develop with Father and Mother and by our absolute oneness with them in heart, and then sharing that heart with brothers and sisters and other people, giving everything to them. That's how we get to heaven. It's all internal. Externally, you may be a bus driver, or a fundraiser, or something else, but internally, we all have the same predestination -- to be totally one with True Parents' heart. We have to demolish our own selves, what we think is our own selves, and be reborn through our Parents, through our Mother's womb, like they want us to be.
Question: How do you personally balance your feelings for your own wife and children with your mission?
Answer: I have a long way to go before I can claim any kind of family-level victory. My understanding is that I must be completely consumed by my desire to accomplish God's and True Parents' will so that I won't be torn by my next highest love and desire -- my family. If you sacrifice time with your family resentfully, just out of obedience or fear, then you are still more centered on your family than on God's will, and neither you, your family, nor God can benefit. But if you understand your relationship with your family in the context of the entire dispensation, then God can work through you and your sacrifice to bless your family, both now and in the future.
Question: Do you have a specific plan or determination for your life now?
Answer: I want to become completely one with True Parents' will and be an instrument for God to work through. I want to be at the point where I can do whatever Father wants, not just out of obedience, as I did before, but really from a sincere desire to fulfill his will. It doesn't matter to me what my future mission is--my internal reality must always be the same: being one in heart with God and True Parents.
Attending
the 40-day training were all regional coordinators, all state
leaders, two city leaders from each state, and all 1987 UTS
graduates.
When I first heard the goals of the workshop -- one, separate from Satan; two, connect with the axis of life, which is True Parents; and three, learn to teach the Principle -- I said to myself, "Uh huh, okay, I'll write them down, but isn't this what I've been doing for years?" However, I must admit that despite my initial skepticism, this was absolutely the most important workshop in my life. I believe that people gained insight and experiences during this workshop that truly saved their lives.
Rev. Ahn organized everything for us, including the soap and toilet paper in our rooms. He directed us about how to dress, how to take notes, and how to stand at the blackboard. It was almost as if we were in Danbury prison, and Rev. Ahn were the prison director!
Rev. Ahn has received incredible insight into the Principle in the last 33 years, particularly about Jesus' mission, the Blessing, the elder brother's birthright, and the fall of man. One of many insights he shared that I had not heard concerned the Blessing. He told us that the Blessing is like a passport given by True Parents to reach the Kingdom of Heaven. But to actually get there, we need to buy a ticket -- which takes our own investment, effort, and indemnity. True Parents give the passport to people with many different levels of faith -- it is not, however, a guarantee that we will reach the Kingdom of Heaven. If we don't work to earn our ticket, we will get stuck and not make it.
Rev. Ahn said that each person has an internal videotape of his life, and the only way to erase it is through repentance and confession. This was the central point of the workshop. Though initially I didn't feel I had that much to repent for, by the end of the workshop, my list was quite long. After my written confession, I had one of the most tearful prayers of my life, and felt I wanted to embrace Rev. Ahn and thank him for enabling me to experience such liberation.
At the beginning Rev. Ahn told us that we had been "selected for a new providential age." He also told us we absolutely had to separate from our evil desires. I can honestly say that we were sad to see the workshop end, but we are definitely going out as different people, with a strong desire to help bring in this new providential era.
I have to repent for the workshops I have led in the past. This was truly the most beautiful workshop I have ever experienced.
I was deeply moved by the new insight into the Principle that Rev. Ahn gave us, and especially by Rev. Ahn's heart. I was moved when Rev. Ahn said that he prayed for us day and night with tears -- and that if he prayed in front of us he wouldn't be able to stop crying. It wasn't just theory that he gave us, but the expression of his own heart. How much he loves God, True Parents, and us is even beyond the Principle.
If we can live a pure life, eventually the whole world can change, and Father can accomplish everything he has set out to do. I feel so grateful to True Parents and Rev. Ahn and Rev. Kwak for giving us this chance. It brought a wonderful feeling of renewal and rebirth to my heart.