Family Judgement

Dennis Perrin
February 1972

Judgement comes from God through man. Therefore all judgement must be perfectly righteous, exercised in all wisdom and prayer. Unrighteous judgement is damaging and detrimental not only to the individual, but also to the family and nation. Righteous judgement is a beautiful thing, creative and progressive. Unrighteous judgement retards growth. Impatience is one quality that leads to bad judgement. Also selfish anger is deadly. Quarrelling is fatal. Reactionary and argumentative natures due to over-sensitive weak spots in a character have to be overcome by applying patience, understanding, and endurance. We cannot apply these principles without a genuine feeling of love for brothers and sisters. Through the broad scope of love all the characteristics of wisdom are manifested. We cannot feel love without prayer and a deep yet simple understanding of Principle. Only in God do we feel love in the right way. We do not automatically become loving by living in the Family, nor by merely having give and take with one another. First, our give and take must become strongly orientated with God. Not just any old god, but the loving Father of the universe, the real universal spirit who originally conceived of man, who "created and knows all things." We must find Him by searching for Him in our prayer.

There is no room for petty quarrels in the Father's kingdom. There is much room for prayer.

In prayer we do not gain God merely by closing our eyes and talking. That is not prayer. Prayer is direct contact through earnest desire of heart. We have to change our selves, change our attitude. We are talking to God who made us, who knows us. Our feeling must be most humble, respectful, and full of reverence. In Principle we say that prayer must be a life-process. Before Principle we only prayed at the deepest periods of our life -- at those times when we felt most in need of God. Now we know that God needs us as much as we need Him. God knows so closely our innermost feelings. It is not enough just to think and feel these things, but in this time of physical restoration they must be expressed into God's world. How else can the world become divine? Our lives must become deep through deep love in prayer. Not to make prayer shallow by bringing in the shallow influence of our Satanic natures.

Judgement is the natural result of the physical application of Word in everyday living. Without love of God, judgement by the word has no value. It is because of our love that we desire God and truth and understanding. It is because we love others that as a natural result of that love judgement is exercised; and this, to be delivered perfectly, must be derived from the Master. When we judge another, that other should understand that we love him. We are not here to judge because we want to judge, or here to chastise because we want to chastise, but to love. The means to that end is Principle, through which we learn to judge and exercise judgement.

Therefore, there can be no judgement without love and prayer centered on our Leader.

Judgement comes about through a process of reaction in our minds and reaction in our hearts to others. It is that reaction which is the judgement. Then how should we react? We must react with respect. Respect for the person's senses, his feelings, emotions, nerves, his mind and heart. We cannot be too careful (because of our Satanic natures), yet we cannot be too hesitant either. Our decisiveness will come about through practice. We do not judge our leaders. The man in the dock accepts his judgement, serves his sentence, and becomes free again. He now has his free opportunity to put himself right. It is more important to be loving than judgmental, but love is misguided under the control of Satan, so judgement must occur to separate Satan from us. So judgement, centered on Father, is one of the most loving things that one can do for another.

The old concept of "Judge not, that ye be not judged," is gone in our age. In the New Testament, Jesus warned people who self-righteously judged to excess. The same principle holds true of course: that we are judged according to what we mete out, but it is good. Contrarily, the unfortunate thing is that the tidal-wave of forgiveness, released by Christianity, has been taken to excess. Thus, evil itself is judged to be good through misuse of forgiveness.

The disappearance of true love on earth is possible through the successful substitution of something remarkably like love, but which is reality only a cheap imitation. We do not want to cheaply imitate God; we need to become as Him. Only through righteous, prayerful, and principled use of judgement can our lives become really effective for God, and the Kingdom become established.

Now, in practice, I may see my brother acting with an assumed manner. He may put on an air of an important man in a high position. He may act in a kingly fashion, unreasonably conscious that his every action be slow and purposeful and ultra- dignified. He may think that everybody should be centered on Him, so takes no notice of anybody else but stands in an incredible pose, oblivious to his surroundings and sensitive only to his own gloriousness. Such a character may appear rather striking and grand for a time, but this soon wears off. We soon become tired with such a proud person. So he has to be judged. So he has to be brought down from such a false opinion of himself. We have the good fortune to be judged gradually in the Family; though sometimes this process is not so gradual, but sharp and painful, quickly clearing away the old wounds of Satan. In that case we are exceptionally lucky.

In conclusion, then, what is the purpose of judgement? Judgement is to make us into a Child of God, by ridding us of our own false god, Satan. When we become a Child of God, we become true and free. Our attitude is wise and discerning. Not a wrinkled, old-man wisdom, nor a splitting, critical discernment, but a calm and true reflection of the mind of God. This is something we can acquire and learn only through the close disciples of the Master, for nowhere else can that love and truth be found than near that inner circle of light that emanates from Him.