The Words of the Takami Family
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The Words of the Takami Family |
My dear brother Rev. Kazuo Takami,
I am indeed grateful that you took the time to present your viewpoint about me, but it is unfortunate that you did not let me know your opinion of your brother Nikolaus before you made it public. I suppose you know it is called "talking behind another person's back" when you speak negatively about a third person without telling this person directly what you think about him or her.
I was surprised to find out about your letter through an internet community with more than 400 subscribers, where your letter was posted with the subject title "Beutl causing problems in the Midwest". I don't know if that is the topic you chose for your mail but you must know that my elder brother Georg Beutl has been state leader for years in Florida, and is well known and appreciated by many members who may associate him with the one who causes problems as I had not worked in America in the past. Moreover both my elder and youngest sister have their blessed families here in America, their Blessed children who will not be happy hearing about their relative being a trouble maker.
What problems did I cause? I stayed in the old church center of Chicago from Friday through to Tuesday where I attended the Prayer breakfast and when I left the wife of the dedicated brother responsible for general affairs waved me good bye – her husband was still out at the time… there was no conflict with any member, no confrontations at all, nothing whatsoever of this sort which could make somebody think that I am a trouble maker.
During the days I stayed at the church center I was reading the whole book our church published in 2011 called Tribute. That means that during my time in Chicago I was listening to the nearly 120 elder American members – reading attentively what they had to say about their life experiences in the church – besides listening to the sermon at the church of Lovin Life Ministry and the Hispanic church service, whose leaders Jhon and Marina are featured as exemplary pastors in a recent article published at familyfed.org.
So there is no evidence whatsoever that I caused problems during the time I spent in Chicago. The complaint against me only comes up now after sending a letter to members of your district four days after my departure which I introduced with the following lines:
Dear brothers and sisters,
My name is Nikolaus Beutl (National Messiah for Andorra). I prepared the attached reflections in my desire to support achieving the goals which In Jin Nim has set for her mission in America which can only be achieved if we have the right attitude, a Heart of True Love in front of God and one another as true siblings of our True Parents' extended family.
The attached reflection letters are focused on the realization of God's Kingdom with the titles "Cheon Il Guk is in the Midst of Us" -- "In order for Cheon Il Guk to be in the midst of us..." and "Please allow Cheon Il Guk to be in the midst of us" besides the reflection about the theme "Love each other as deeply as you love God".
At the link: www.sunshine-in-the-heart.com (username: sunshine password: welcome) you can see what I have been sharing with brothers and sisters in recent years.
I dedicated the website heungjinnim.com to Heung Jin Nim (username: Heungjinnim password: welcome) and the website youngjinnim.com to Young Jin Nim (username: Youngjinnim password: welcome)
May God's blessing and guidance be with you and your loved ones,
Nikolaus
What is wrong with sending such a letter to encourage brothers and sisters to reflect about creating Cheon Il Guk in our midst by loving each other in a God-centered way – what is the core content of these reflections? There is no way around the fact that it was not me who caused problems but the content of what I wrote that challenges one or other member of our church while others are most grateful for receiving this very same content and agree with it wholeheartedly.
So let us get facts straight. It is not Nikolaus Beutl who caused problems in District number 7, because incidentally, by the time I sent the here quoted letter, I was not even in the United States of America physically as I visited a fellow National Messiah family in Canada.
What do you have to say about my sharing, Rev. Kazuo Takami? You write:
Dear Brothers and Sisters of District 7, Some of you may receive an email which was sent this morning: "Let us allow Cheon Il Guk to be in our midst" from Brother Nikolaus Beutl (National Messiah for Andorra) who had attended last Sunday Service and ACLC Prayer Breakfast in Chicago. Although there are a lot of good quotes from True Parents' words and his idea of loving each other as brothers and sisters is good, however, his message contains a few serious points which I cannot agree with or overlook.
1) Mr. Beutl challenges the authenticity of our church organization and the leadership of the True Children and other leaders. He wrote: 'One core problem of our movement lies in members focusing on leaders instead of allowing the Living God to guide their lives directly.' If so, I wonder why True Parents still allow us to maintain our church organization and give directions to leaders continuously?"
Father is working through an external structure that should convey his word and heart as in any organization or family. If leaders choose to ignore, especially Father's heart then Father is blocked just as God has been blocked through history by other central figures and central nations. God continued to work with the nation of Israel for 2,000 years despite their continual failure to listen to Him. Father is doing the same thing here, as I said, hoping that one day 'you guys in the front row' get it.
I quoted True Father's words about declaring the end of the leader-centered movement and about his direction to bring an end to the pyramid-style organization with a top down chain of command as he stated on December 19, 1990: "Father would like to create a new kind of organization, not a pyramid type with a top command echelon and so many other levels that by the time the bottom is reached, half of the message is lost. Father would like to have a direct hot line for his instructions to each member. Each individual must consider that he represents not only himself, but his family, county, state, nation, and heaven and earth and is directly responsible to God."
That is why criticism of leadership is totally justified and what's more, absolutely essential. We are not living in an autocratic state where people can't criticize leaders. In the United States even the President can be criticized. Rev Takami wants to suggest that criticizing leaders is a bad thing. Kook Jin nim refers to it as 'constructive conflict'.
The here quoted direction was given at the National Conference for all Blessed families and Father even asked that a video recording of that historic meeting was to be distributed to all members – so that everybody knows of the actual desire of our True Parents and is without excuse!
In reality it is my reminding our leaders and members of the fact that Father had declared the end of the leader-centered movement already back in 1981 in his Children's Day address on October 28, 1981, what he reaffirmed one decade later, that causes some problems to the leadership as they were reminded of the fact that they are not following the directions given by True Father.
To turn around and to accuse the messenger who quotes True Parents words does not work because the leadership who claims to be following Father's direction finds itself judged by the Word of God as it is revealed in the 8 core Scripture -- in Father's speeches.
There is a huge difference between maintaining a church organization where leaders receive directions from True Parents and being a leader-centered movement where the so called central figures are the center of attention! There is nothing wrong with Father giving directions to leaders. The problem is that they do not obey them! Where is the direct hotline between every member and the directions of our True Parents for which Father explicitly asked in a National Conference for all Blessed couples? It was never established even though Father had asked for it concretely already more than two decades ago!
So it is not Nikolaus Beutl who is causing problems but leaders who do not obey specific directions issued by True Father who are troubled by their conscience because they have been disobedient to the Word of God. If there is something wrong with me, why do you not address me? You did not send your letter of criticism to me but to your members who will be your judge as to whether you are following Father's directions or not.
Why do you not speak with me about the issues you, Rev. Kazuo Takami, discussed with your members if I am the cause of problems? Isn't that your responsibility to go to the supposed source of the problem if somebody causes troubles in your district? Your failing to address me, not even telling me what you are sharing with your members about me, already reveals where you stand internally.
My brother, you continued: "Mr. Beutl describes leaders in his letter as if they were almost dictators, but is that really so? The truth is, leaders (such as national leaders, district pastors, state pastors, etc.) are there for supporting the completion of True Parents' providence and to help members to fulfill their tribal-messiahship. All the district pastors and church leaders, as far as I know, do not have any intention to manipulate members or steal attention from members for his or her sake."
As I have been listening for years to all the sermons and speeches given by any of the True Children and top leaders -- which are available via the internet -- I am well aware of the fact that our international president Hyung Jin Nim said repeatedly that we do not want tyrannical leaders in our church.
Why would he address this point if there was no problem in this respect in our church? Hyung Jin Nim spoke about this issue concretely because there is a problem of tyrannical leaders still active in our church today at various places, what can easily be confirmed by brothers and sisters who suffer under such leaders who demand absolute obedience from their members.
Concerning your point number two: "Mr. Beutl also mentioned that our international president Hyung Jin Nim has stated before that our church became a 'dead church'. I believe that Hyung Jin Nim used the strong word 'dead church' to give us an opportunity to repent and start anew. Hyung Jin Nim did not use the word in the context of questioning our church organization and its authority. Here I can see that he has used a twisted interpretation to support his agenda."
Well then, how about what Father said about leaders at the Day of Victory of Love, when he spoke about our Blessed families being false, betraying the Family Pledge? What about his referring to those sitting in the front rows as bastards, liars and thieves? Do his words have some authority? Did our leaders and members and repent for having failed miserably to live up to Heaven's expectations so that True Father had to use such strong terms when speaking to those who had gathered on January 24, 2012?
Did our leaders fulfill their responsibility to support the completion of True Parents' providence by helping members to fulfill their tribal- messiahship?
Rev. Kazuo Takami, my dear brother, why would Hyung Jin Nim speak about our church having become "totally dead" when addressing East Asian leaders if there was not a serious problem of leaders not taking good care of members so that he would have to bring up this point? As I explained already, it is not the church organization as such which is the problem, but leaders misusing their positions by demanding absolute obedience from their members, which is of course not God's Will and has led therefore to the spiritual death of our church because we have not followed Father's direction to be a member- centered movement which was given already more than three decades ago.
What you are sadly doing, Rev. Takami, is claiming that I am offering a twisted interpretation while I did not twist anything but have clearly stated the facts. It is you who interpreted my words into something which I did not say.