A Movement in Crisis 3 "Let My People Go."

Stephen Downward
February 15, 2012

Dear brothers and sisters

I would like to continue this series of letters entitled 'Movement in Crisis' with this article subtitled, "Let My People Go!" This is quite a long letter, so you may want to divide it up and read it in parts.

Just as the Israelites who were slaves in a foreign land for 400 years endured the mistreatment of their masters and awaited a deliverer, so too Unificationists must now free themselves from their bondage to false concepts and misunderstandings we have taken on board over the years, particularly the incorrect understanding we have of the Cain and Abel principle, our adherence to a leader centered and command based movement, and not following True Parents' example of living for the sake of others, which foremostly includes, our own brothers and sisters.

These are all issues that were discussed in my previous two letters. However, further reference, will be made to these points in this letter.

The Unification Church itself, has for some time now, become an obstacle to God's providence. It has not promoted nor substantiated Father's teaching and practice of living for the sake of others, especially in loving and serving brothers and sisters more than we love God and True Parents, in order to create an environmental kingdom, and a culture of heart which substantiates the Four Great Realms of Heart. It has failed to promote real give and take action that includes consultation, co-operation, community involvement, discussion and feedback, so that our movement would grow, not only externally, but each brother and sister growing internally in heart, and in loving relationships centering on the ideal of the true family and the fulfillment of spherical relationships which we should all be experiencing.

Father had already stated many years ago, that the Age of Religion and the Unification Church was over and had been superseded by the FFWPU. Yet, we failed to understand the true meaning of FFWPU and the culture of heart that should have been established and practiced, choosing instead, to return to the 'religious realm', remaining in the 'era before the coming of heaven' and the era of the leader centered movement. All of which contradicts Father's many directions and proclamations. Therefore, this is still our challenge, to make a 'Federation of Families' a reality in this new era, which till now we have failed to do, similarly, as when Father announced the end of the leader centered movement and the beginning of the member centered movement in 1981. We failed to follow Father's directions then, also. We have established a pernicious tradition of failing to listen to Father as he has also told us on many occasions.

We are paying lip service to our teachings, and generally, leadership has been exploiting brothers and sisters (even unwittingly), maintaining a facade of our own teachings, as Christianity did throughout its history. Claiming authority as the authentic voice of God but in reality not practicing our teachings on a very fundamental level. This is patently obvious as we see the perilous and unhappy state of our church and church members. Can we deny that, can we cover that up?

Clear directions were given by Father, for us, in the Historical Children's Day speech. The essence of everything we need to know to establish the Kingdom of Heaven was outlined there. This was our commandment for the Children's Era which was ignored and trampled on. Those who should have taken responsibility to lead that change didn't, and instead continued to promote the leader-centered movement. They failed to unite with True Father's direction and led us all on a path far from God's original hope and expectation.

Brothers and sisters, we need to throw off our chains and take ownership of our lives and WE determine what we will do, how we will worship and with whom. The church leadership has no right to dictate, their role is to love and serve and support the children of God as the Archangels were supposed to support Adam and Eve. As Father said, "The most sacred act Jesus performed was washing his disciples' feet and saying that he did not come to be served but to serve. That was the supreme expression of love. By doing so he became the central figure around which twelve people joined. When people are linked in unity they cannot be separated". Historical Children's Day speech, 1981

This was the spirit and attitude our church should have adopted and then it would have moved forward, grown and developed. It didn't. We remained fixated on leaders and following commands in direct violation to Father's instructions. Tribal Messiahship is our responsibility not the church's. What you choose to do is up to you based on Father's directions. This falls into the category of 'man's own portion of responsibility', 'which even God can not intervene in'.

(Jan 1, 1981) This year's motto is "Home Church is My Kingdom of Heaven." As I already said, in the past two years home church was not that very near or personal to you. So far, you may have thought of home church as a kind of witnessing technique, or an innovation of the Unification Church. But it is the heavenly way. The home church is your personal affair; it doesn't belong to anyone else. It is your personal matter on earth and in heaven, not the Unification Church's.

It is not a witnessing technique; it is our personal matter not the Unification Church's. So too, this is true of Tribal Messiahship. This makes it abundantly clear that we are not accountable to the Unification Church nor church leadership regarding our role as Tribal Messiahs. This is very important for us to understand from the point of view of our 'ownership'; 'sonship and daughtership' and fulfilling our responsibility.

Father made this following announcement on May 1, 1997. '43rd Anniversary of Foundation Day'. Belvedere International Training Center:

"Love power is so strong. Blood lineage power is stronger than world power. Blood lineages following in the direction of unity. Because such a time has come now, it has arrived, so Father took down this sign, the first sign of the Unification Church and established the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification. Through the course of the Old Testament and New Testament eras, we lost everything from the family to the world. The entire world was lost. That is why, since we are in the time of the world era now, Father has started from the world level down to the family level, so now we can establish the Family Church.

Again, the conclusion at this point is that unless we take down this sign which deals with religion, Christianity, we cannot accomplish restoration of humanity because this very sign limits the level of salvation to the individual level. So do you want to remain at the individual level or family, nation and world level providence and salvation?

Therefore, please do not feel sad about the disappearance of the Unification Church sign. Now we are working on the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification level. This is a much better and even a higher level sign. And because of this, now we are so blessed that we can conduct our Family Church on this level.

What era are we living in? Is it the New Testament era? No. This is the Completed Testament era. Now the Old Testament era and New Testament era which dealt with Christianity and all different religions, has passed. That is why in this era of completion, the Completed Testament era, we can deal with families. It's the family salvation way; salvation through families, beyond Christianity which represented individual salvation; this is a different and higher dimension. Isn't that true?" Father took down the sign, why was it put back up?! Here's a classic example of church leadership not uniting with Father and Father's heart. True sons and daughters listen to their parents. Shouldn't a true son determine to understand his Father's heart and fulfill what he asked. Just as God's Ideal, was originally thwarted by His children not listening, True Parents have been thwarted by our not listening. Just as God had to continually re-jig his providence in response to how man did or did not fulfill his portion of responsibility, Father has had to re-jig his plans on earth in response to us and what we did or did not do.

The goal is, work together, support and care for each other, then CIG will already be in the midst of us. If we keep reinforcing the leader centered movement, that's what we will have, a dictatorship in the name of True Parents. That's what we have now. It's time to change that situation. It's not the world that is the problem it is what is happening in the Unification Movement that is the problem. As Father said in the Historical Children's Day speech, the Unification Church is a small world, what happens here determines what happens in the world at large. What is happening in our movement is not good. You don't even have to be a member of the Unification Church if you live for the sake of others, you will always prosper.

Father's guidance in the leaders' meeting of Nov 23, 1994:

"Once you practice this particular principle which Father has explained to you today, it doesn't matter whether you belong to the Unification Church or not; wherever you may go, you will survive and flourish in whatever you do. As long as you continue to practice this principle you will always be ahead of everyone else. You will always try to do something which nobody else wants to do."

What is that particular principle: "Once again, the universal law is if you are the person who offers service with respect and sacrifice then you are the central figure. In a way you have received so much from Father but you have not practiced it. This makes you like robbers or thieves. Do you clearly understand why the American Unification Church didn't grow? (Yes.) The very reason that thousands of members left is because we failed to practice this principle."

The grave error and misunderstanding we have had in our church is that because someone is the leader then they are automatically Abel, regardless of their behavior or actions. Well of course this is absolutely wrong. Father has taught on many occasions that the one who is Abel, is the one who sacrifices, serves and lives for the sake of others as the above quote explains and one other towards the end of this letter similarly does. That is why Jesus also said, "But he that is the greatest amongst you shall be your servant".

The above quote was given by Father in 1994 and he is still saying it in 2012. That means no one listened to Father in those 18 years and therefore we have to deduce then for the last 30 years since the Historical Children's Day speech and I would suggest also since Father began his public ministry when Father told early church members to go back to their own churches and not to always hang out with Father that members have not been listening. So there has been a tradition of disobedience for over 50 years, and it continues today centered on one leader or another.

The goal is to go beyond Unification Church and build God's original ideal of creation which is also beyond religion.

That is the meaning of the title "Original Substance of Divine Principle" workshop. As Adam and Eve were to incarnate the word, they should have become the original substance of God's Divine Principle. Therefore the meaning of the workshop is for us in this era after the coming of Heaven to also incarnate the word and become the original substance of the word as Adam and Eve should have. That is, to live the word. Why do we continue to live like servants with a servant's mind when we are living in this extraordinarily liberated and exalted time whereas the sons and daughters of True Parents we may live in the Direct Dominion of God!

However if we choose to live like battery chickens cooped up in a cage that's our choice. We don't need to be promoting the church, the church should be supporting Blessed Families and Tribal Messiah activities. Tribal Messiahship is the Providence. You are the Central Figures of this Age now, not even True Parents. Their job is done, now we must accomplish our 5% centering on Blessed Families and in particular the second generation blessed families. From the Sao Paulo declaration, March 31, 1995, Father stated:

The official Second Forty Year Course begins from March 31, 1995, on this 36th True Parents' Day. This is the period of our portion of responsibility which should be fulfilled on the level of blessed families, centering on the second generation blessed families. Being those who have inherited the victorious vertical and horizontal foundation of True Parents, our responsibility does not extend to the restoration of the cosmos, but blessed families who have fulfilled the mission of tribal messiah must join together as one for the restoration of a nation. It may not necessarily take forty years to fulfill this. It could be accomplished within seven or even four years according to how well we fulfill our faith and portion of responsibility.

God created this world for families not churches. This is the time after the coming of Heaven, the era of CIG, Noon Day Sun, so why are you still wanting to live in the age of religion?

We buried the cross, now let's bury the rest of the church. The church will not lead you to the Kingdom of Heaven. A community of, a federation of families will. Unless a leader has that vision then he is not a leader of anything. As Father said 'find your Abel', the one who will help you build the Kingdom of Heaven.

At the end of your day what will you tell God? I faithfully went to church, and tithed like a good catholic or I built the Kingdom of Heaven through Tribal Messiahship and uniting and working together with my brothers and sisters. Leadership in the Unification Church is redundant, we don't need it, not the leadership of the realm before the coming of heaven, because that is what we have. What we need are the true brothers and sisters who have matured in their faith and actually understand what Father is talking about. What we have now is archangelic leadership and an archangelic movement. That has become and still is the model for our leadership. Why is that? Leaders and elders failed to unite with Father's heart and directions and became the enemy of the Unification Movement.

The 36 couples are the elders of our Church, and this rule applies to them as well, unless they love the true children and the members more than their own families, they are the enemies of our movement." Historical Children's Day, 1981.

What did leaders maintain in contradiction to Father's direction? A leader centered movement, and it hasn't gone away. Just because Lucifer has surrendered, even repented, does that mean his evil tradition has stopped? No! So too in the Unification Church, the wrong tradition of leader-centeredness still persists. This culture and behavior is in direct violation to Father's direction. Elders and in particular leaders from the 36 Blessed Couples maintained and reinforced this wrong tradition and it became all of our undoing, so an Archangelic model still persists in our movement and this has also affected the True Children.

The real issue here is, when will WE wake up to our responsibility and the authority we have as Tribal Messiahs instead of holding onto the apron strings of the church, leadership or even True Parents. As Jesus said, "I came to serve not to be served". That is the role of Abel or anyone who wants to be Abel. Church leadership does not make you Abel. You have to become Abel. What it does make you is the Archangel, who should serve and support members and humanity. Through that course of humbly serving you become Abel. Before you are Abel you are the Archangel. Knowing the principle doesn't equate with living the principle. Therefore teachers, lecturers, administrators, bureaucrats and leaders are Archangel positions. However God's children weren't created to be Archangels so they need to practice loving and serving people through Home Church and Tribal Messiahship. Those people who accomplish that will have their certificate of registration signed by Satan. Not those who just teach the Principle, give sermons and write letters like myself. You have to build your own Kingdom of Heaven, hence the above title for Father's sermon 'Home Church is my Kingdom of Heaven.

If we change the thinking of our church and our church culture to what Father has explained and asked us to do, which I am outlining here and in my previous letters, then CIG will be in the midst of us already and the job will be 90% done in terms of realizing CIG, the Kingdom of Heaven. As Father said, "Loving each other means loving the world because here in Unification Church we have a small world; what you are doing here is actually being done on the world level. Historical Children's Day, 1981. You can see therefore by this statement, as we change, the world will change. At the moment the world is getting worse, what does that say.

I'm strongly urging you all to read the Historical Children's Day speech so you can understand the commandment Father gave to us at that historical time when our movement was to change from a leader centered movement to a member centered movement. That we do not live by commands but by love. Otherwise how are we doing anything differently from the rest of the world. Just because we know Divine Principle, does that mean we have built the Kingdom of Heaven. Just because True Parents are on Earth does that mean the Kingdom of Heaven is here? No! We have to create it with our own hearts being aligned with God and True Parents, not just talking about it. We have to practice what God practiced and True Parents practiced otherwise we are just another mirage in the desert, yielding nothing but the false vision of a Heavenly Oasis.

In 1981, the Parents' 21 year course finished and the Children's 21 year course began. As we didn't accomplish what Father asked of us back then, nor even did we begin to unite with that commandment, subsequently, we spiritually fell into darkness, as Adam and Eve fell, thus causing our current crisis. Without reading this speech and understanding it, there is no way out of our current predicament. There is no way we can establish the Kingdom of Heaven. This represented the commandment God gave to Adam and Eve having the same consequences for not being followed, spiritual death. If you read my first two letters of this series you will also have greater understanding of what I'm explaining here. These were Father's directions not mine.

We have around 360 days till Foundation Day and the establishment of a CIG nation. No problem, once we unite amongst ourselves as Father directed, we will be almost there. America can quickly become a CIG nation. Why shouldn't it. It's the elder son nation. It's very natural that America becomes a CIG Nation. Why would the LSA, True Parents invest 40 years, their last 40 years in America? As Rome goes, so goes the world, as America goes so goes the world. America, You are the Elder Son Nation, that title didn't come cheaply. Live up to it.

What does Father always emphasize, making harmony, making good relationships. That cannot be done in a contrived way, it should happen naturally and the way it happens is when we, everyone practices living for the sake of others which is loving and serving our brothers and sisters as Father asked us to do. But so far we didn't, because we were too hung up on running around after the leader, polishing apples trying to receive some 'servant's love'.

Broadcast church, bands and dance do not replace sincerity of heart and caring for and serving others. The use of external media is not an indication that the Kingdom of Heaven is in our midst, particularly when people are being coerced into attending a particular Sunday Service and where other forms of worship are not allowed or discouraged. The ability to broadcast has been around for a long time. Televangelism is not new, historically these forms of ministry have often ended up having many conflicts and internal wrangling, and becoming more about a few individuals than the collective whole. It often becomes celebrity church, lacking a deep and sincere heart. Let's get back to basics. Ask yourself, would you rather be in Father's mud hut or the Manhattan Center or if that's too extreme, how about Chong Padong or a field or somewhere in the mountains? This type of 'ra 'ra happy clappy spirit is very shallow. It may be good for a youth ministry but not for dealing with the real issues of God's providence which must be dealt with in the context of 'our own portion of responsibility' as Tribal Messiahs.

Father is now again emphasizing Tribal Messiahship which I believe is mutually exclusive to Lovin' Life Ministry. Tribal Messiahship is our personal matter not the business of Unification Church nor LLM. LLM is taking a proprietorial claim over members' spiritual lives. It has no right to do so and it is up to blessed families to determine how they choose to worship, with whom, where and how. Big sister is now taking over, the very thing she accused her older brother of. Whose garden is it anyway? This is another example of the leader centered movement dominating the lives of God's children in direct contradiction to Father's explicit instructions in the Historical Children's Day speech of 1981 where Father stated, 'the leader centered movement is to end and the member centered movement is to begin'. How is LLM member centered, when it is dictating how Sunday Service should be observed and how we witness and educate ourselves and others? LLM has usurped the central role of Tribal Messiahship because brothers and sisters have allowed it to by accepting it within the parameters of 'our own portion of responsibility'. We don't have to accept that. It is for us to determine what we do based on the 'Authority of Tribal Messiahship' given to us by Father. That authority was given to us by the True Parents, not leaders, not the True Children, so it is for us to determine how we fulfill that responsibility.

While we are stomping mud and straw to make bricks for Pharaoh's pyramids, time is slipping away. Canaan awaits and we are not making a move. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me." In Jin nim and Hyung Jin nim, I say to you "Let my brothers and sisters go, so they may worship God as they see fit".

Pharaoh was a leader centered figure pursuing his own goals and dreams. These weren't God's goals. God wants each of His children to fulfill their own portion of responsibility based on Father's directions not the church's. This is our time to fulfill our responsibility, not realize someone else's dreams which perpetuates the leader centered movement. Technology in of itself will not build the Kingdom of Heaven. It is a tool but the heart and motivation behind any tool determines its purpose and value. Satan has used the same tools God has, to thwart God's Will. LLM will not build the Kingdom of Heaven, only Tribal Messiahs and a federation of families can do that. That is why Father initiated the FFWPU. America, you are the older son nation, Wake Up!!

Hyung Jin nim stated on Nov. 14, 2009:

And I want to go through this because -- I know it can be a little tardy or long and long winded -but I want to go over this just for the sake of clarity. Father truly asked to be clear about this at this time. If Ye Jin Nuna (elder sister) denies True Parents, or does not follow True Parents, Unificationists must not follow her. If Hyo Jin Hyung does not follow True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If In Jin Nuna denies True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Heung Jin Hyung does not follow True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Un Jin Nuna does not follow True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Hyun Jin Hyung does not follow True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Kook Jin Hyung does not follow True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Kwon Jin Hyung denies True Parents or does not follow True Parents, then Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Sun Jin Nuna does not follow True Parents, then Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Young Jin Hyung does not follow True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If I deny True Parents, and do not follow them, you must not follow me. If Yeon Jin denies True Parents, Unificationists are not obliged to follow. If Jeung Jin denies True Parents, Unificationists must not follow. If any third generation, any Moon, any future descendant or relative of True Parents, denies True Parents, does not follow them, we are not obliged to follow them as Unificationists. If any leader denies True Parents, calls them senile, or says they cannot make good decisions; Unificationists are not obliged to follow.

Based on Hyung Jin nim's own words, I ask the question, is he himself actually following Father and Father's directions, as I ask whether he is promoting and teaching what Father has taught? Hyung Jin nim promotes the religious realm where Father promotes God's original ideal of creation before the fall of man. Father promotes Tribal Messiahship, Hyung Jin nim promotes glorifying True Parents and the church. Father promotes true freedom, Hyung Jin nim promotes a type of servitude to the church and True Parents. Was man made for the Sabbath or was the Sabbath made for man. Let's get our priorities right.

Would you want to be eligible to go through only one gate to heaven, or through all twelve? If you can only enter one gate, you can only move back and forth in one direction. But if you can enter all twelve gates then you have total freedom of movement. Historical Children's Day, 1981

Hyung Jin nim is essentially advocating the religious realm and religiosity whilst True Parents are advocating CIG, Tribal Messiahship and personal responsibility. Brothers and sisters need to realize that the True Children themselves are in a maturing period, even though True Father has appointed them to leadership positions, doesn't mean everything they say or do represents the entirety of God's will or viewpoint. That is why they need to be engaged with the wider community taking on board what brothers and sisters are telling them, listening to feedback. If they don't listen and ignore what they are being told, they themselves are acting in an unprincipled way. Then they too are also behaving as tyrants. Life is predicated on relationships and myriads of give and take events. In this time, it is up to Blessed Families to determine how they fulfill their responsibility in the role of Tribal Messiahs not the church. In fact it has nothing to do with the church as Father explained. Once again, from 'Home Church is My Kingdom of Heaven.' Jan. 1, 1981

This year's motto is "Home Church is My Kingdom of Heaven." As I already said, in the past two years home church was not that very near or personal to you. So far, you may have thought of home church as a kind of witnessing technique, or an innovation of the Unification Church. But it is the heavenly way. The home church is your personal affair; it doesn't belong to anyone else. It is your personal matter on earth and in heaven, not the Unification Church's.

We have to stop deluding ourselves. Until we establish first of all, harmony in our relationships and then unity of heart amongst ourselves, the Kingdom of Heaven will never be in our midst. Running around after LLM and In Jin nim or Hyung Jin nim will not create the Kingdom of Heaven, in fact just the opposite. When Father says Home Church is your personal matter on earth and in Heaven not the church's, why do you glorify LLM, is that your mission, is that what Father asked you to do? NO! So you are not following Father's directions, no matter what the True Children may say. It is your personal responsibility to work this all out. Formation stage is when children obey their parents because they don't have their own relationship with God. Not to be confused with absolute obedience which is obedience to God's ideal of creation which is predicated on having a relationship with God and you know what you are doing. Being obedient to God's will is different from obeying a person as you may do at the workplace where your supervisor or boss asks you to do something. However as a Tribal Messiah you are the boss as commissioned by Father. It is not the church's matter. Father has given us the authority of Tribal Messiahs so we have to work it out as God gave Adam and Eve their 5% in which even God could not intervene. Do you understand what I'm saying? You don't have to go to LLM service every Sunday unless you want to. We are meant to be carrying out Tribal Messiah activities in our own area, conducting our own Sunday Services and educating our own tribe. However, let's work together and support each other. Unlike Father who had to pioneer his own course of Messiahship alone, we don't have to, we have each other, hence the significance of a 'federation of blessed families'.

In many ways we have had an adversarial, competitive and unsupportive attitude towards each other. However, that will not build the Kingdom of Heaven, as Father has clearly stated that we go to Heaven together.

You may think, who is this guy, shooting off his mouth, criticizing us, True Family and leaders. I am just someone like you who is wanting to understand Father's course and Father's words and discuss them and at least draw the attention of Unificationists to Father's teachings, not some leader's interpretation based on their position. Christians had the bible or faith in Jesus for 2000 years. How close did they come to practicing what Jesus taught? You only have to look at your history books and see how quickly after becoming the state religion in Rome, how corrupt the church and the papacy became and outdid even humanistic states in their cruelty, corruption and immorality in the name of Jesus and the Mother church. What was their excuse, what will be our excuse when we are called to account for our actions and the actions of our church which comes down to the dictates of a few. Therefore I'm speaking out against it, so we don't compound our failures and make a bigger mess than we already have. As we say, 'the truth will set you free'. Well I would suggest Father's words are the truth so why is no one practicing them and why are we allowing the leader centered command based movement to perpetuate when Father said it should end. What is In Jin nim doing? She was upset at Hyun Jin nim for trying to take over the 'garden', well what has she done over the last two to three years? Where does your viewpoint stand in her worldview?

Now as you know, I'm not sending out these letters anonymously. I'm a real person, there is only one of me. I'm not a front for some group or whatever. Anyone can contact me. I won't slip into the shadows of anonymity. As you can probably sense from my letters, I'm probably rather like many of you, and you too, may have been thinking or pondering these issues yourselves. Just as we have promoted religious freedom and inter–religious dialogue, shouldn't we too promote healthy discussion and dialogue within our own movement, or does that not apply to us.

You may still feel, I'm treading on precarious ground, which is true, I am. Whenever someone challenges the status quo or orthodoxy of the day he is treading on dangerous ground. However we are not doing ourselves any favors by accepting the status quo and just blindly uniting with leaders whoever they may be. That's stupidity. That is not taking responsibility and you will live to regret doing that. Take responsibility. God gave you a brain for a reason, so use it. What did Father call for? A Federation of Families. So let's federate ourselves in this Age of CIG, the time after the coming of Heaven and the time of the Noon Day Sun. Why are we still in the age of religion and church, why are we locked inside that uninspired cage when God has already called us out and tried to emancipate us into this new age? Are we so institutionalized that we daren't move outside the prison walls? Go together, the Kingdom will only be built together. Once we unite in heart with our brothers and sisters we will be free as the kingdom will already be in the midst of us, in our hearts. We don't need a church for that, we don't need a leader for that. God is our leader, he will be in the midst of us as Father explained:

Black and white are like north and south; there is no center. When there is a center everything can come alive, but there has been no center so far. My mandate to you is to unite among yourselves. Where you can do that, the dwelling of God shall be with you. Can you do it?

I am teaching you that you should love one another as much you love God and True Parents. Then the dwelling of God is with you, and Mother and I shall be with you. Because this day marks the beginning of that new era, I called this the Historical Children's Day. Those who have not been blessed should make unity with each other first. Historical Children's Day, 1981

So why didn't we do it? Father said as we unite among ourselves (not with the leader) then the dwelling of God and True Parents shall be with us. Don't you think that that is rather significant, rather important as some kind of spiritual guidance. As we unite in heart together God's dwelling or the Kingdom of God shall be in the midst of us. That is how the Kingdom of God emerges. Have we done that? No! We have been too busy running around after leaders which Father said not to do. Then all we have to do is multiply that reality of uniting together in heart as Jesus multiplied the fishes and loaves through reaching out to the people with a heart of true love. That is the miracle that occurs when you seek love, live for the sake of others and sacrifice for the sake of others as God practiced in His creation of the Cosmos.

What is that center? True love, living for the sake of others, sacrificing for others, that is the center or we could just say 'God's Heart' that seeks an object of love to have give and take of love with. That's why Father went on to say in that speech

During the exodus it is a virtue to focus on following the leader, but when you enter Canaan you live by the give and take with brothers and sisters. From today on our membership around the world shall perfect that way of life. Even if I am not here, it should not matter. You already know the secret of going to heaven-loving each other. At night you should think that you are a parent to someone; pick someone to care about the next day, and the following day pick another person. It doesn't matter whether he is younger or older. The cardinal rule is to forget yourself. Historical Children's Day, 1981.

Find your object of love and care for them and forget yourself. That is how God initiated His process of Creation, giving Himself completely for the sake of His object of love. The practice of true love created the center. True love is the center. True love should be at the center of all our actions and therefore our relationships, all relationships as are found in God's True Family and the Ideal of the Four Position Foundation which is the realization of God's Will before and after the Fall. It didn't change.

Motivated by an impulse to love and for no other reason, God poured out everything to realize his ideal, by practicing absolute faith, love and obedience Himself. Who or what was God obedient to? To the ideal and practice of true love. That is true obedience, the only kind of obedience is for the realization of a world of true love and therefore the practice of true love, nothing else. Not obedience to the Archangel, the servant who unrighteously took over God's creation. You don't need to obey leaders. We only obey Father because he is the embodiment of true love so we naturally surrender to Father and anyone else who embodies love, but not the Archangel who demands obedience for his own selfish purpose. Don't obey the Archangel! Adam and Eve obeyed the Archangel and brought hell on earth, so don't make the same mistake. I recommend that everybody should read the Historical Children's Day speech again, October 28, 1981 and obey Father, not leaders, who themselves did not follow Father's direction on that day. They are not united with Father, that is why Rev Kwak finally became the fallen Archangel, betraying Father substantially, and also many other so called leaders are archangelic as well, as they didn't listen to or follow Father's words or example. They stand in the external position of leadership wanting to enjoy the authority of True Father but without fulfilling the internal contents of Father/Abel which is not a position but who you become by loving and serving Cain as Father did on the Cosmic level. Ultimately any leader who doesn't follow Father's example, will be pushed out or will find themselves having to leave of their own accord.

Love and serve your brothers and sisters, this is Father's mandate from the Historical Children's Day speech, who listened? No one. Leadership is still failing, it is still centered on itself. It is still living in the wilderness era, wanting us to follow Moses through the desert. Father declared in 1981 that now we live by give and take (of love), not following commands. The age of the leader centered movement is over. Now create an environmental kingdom.

Just to re-iterate using the same quote as before:

Our ultimate goal is Canaan. While we are marching toward Canaan, our supreme duty is to follow orders, but once we enter Canaan we don't live by commands but by love. This is that time. We are arriving now, and we must live in a God-like way. The second three seven-year courses have been announced. In the first 21 years we marched toward Canaan, and in these 21 years we shall live by love.

During the exodus it is a virtue to focus on following the leader, but when you enter Canaan you live by the give and take with brothers and sisters. From today on our membership around the world shall perfect that way of life. Even if I am not here, it should not matter. You already know the secret of going to heaven-loving each other. At night you should think that you are a parent to someone; pick someone to care about the next day, and the following day pick another person. It doesn't matter whether he is younger or older. The cardinal rule is to forget yourself. Historical Children's Day, 1981

If we don't get it now and we put up with this nonsense within the Unification Movement we deserve all we get. We can't say we didn't know, it has all been explained to us through Father's words. We are True Parents' children not Unification Church members. We are not even meant to belong to a church now in this age. We are central blessed families and we should be a federation of families working together to build the Kingdom of Heaven substantially through relationships built on and out of the four position foundation, which is the family, not following dusty orders somewhere out in the desert. Take back your lives and co-operate, communicate, collaborate and co-prosper together with each other. That is the Principle.

What can we do now? Offer a simple heartfelt repentance each day, every day as we realize we didn't listen to Father and love and serve our brothers and sisters, and especially we didn't love them more than God and True Parents as Father instructed, Where does it say that? Again in the Historical Children's Day speech; the Moonies'/Sunnies' bible -- if we want salvation then read that speech. We didn't follow the first commandment on earth, which is to love people not God.

"If you are one with God you must love Cain. If you stand in a position of receiving God's love, just as you love God with all your heart, soul and mind you must love your tribe, people and nation. This is the first commandment on earth. It is a commandment not of Heaven but of God's Kingdom on earth. The commandment of God's Kingdom in Heaven is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. However the first commandment of His Kingdom on Earth is to love our nation and race with all our soul, heart and mind..." Cheon Seong Gyeong P.717 RHS 3.5 (1970/8/29)

You decide what you are going to do regarding your Tribal Messiah responsibilities. You decide how you are going to fellowship on Sunday, what you teach, how you educate your children, your Cain and Abel tribes. YOU TAKE OWNERSHIP AS FATHER INSTRUCTED US. It has nothing to do with the church. The ecclesiastical church is there to serve and support the children of God as the Archangels were created to support God and God's children. What were Adam and Eve to accomplish after their perfection? A family and then a tribe, nation and world. What are we to accomplish, a central blessed family and then a tribe through Tribal Messiahship which qualifies us also on the world level. The four position foundation is God's purpose of creation not a church. That is the center of God's providence. As I said earlier, the church is now an obstacle to God's providence.

I am advocating for the FFWPU which carries the spirit of this new age centering on families not churches. It is not so much a structure that needs to change but the heart and spirit that should guide that structure. It is like a person, we all have a physical body which performs physiological functions in order to maintain that body, but it is the heart and mind of that person that determines what actions they perform through their physical body. The Messiah's body is essentially the same as a criminal's body. It's the contents of that person's mind and heart that matters. Therefore our understanding of God's word, determines our actions. We have to understand this Age we are now living in, and what it means to be a true son or daughter and practice that. A church doesn't meet the standard of this new age but a true family and a federation of true families does. (Refer Father's quote above from the 43rd Anniversary of Foundation Day)

We must realize or work this out for ourselves, like a clue in a puzzle. It may not be straight forward but it makes sense when you work it out. Father wants to keep intact as much as possible our 5% responsibility without interfering too much, so that later we won't feel we didn't do it by ourselves and therefore what sort of co-creator am I? Father does not want to violate that principle. That's why Father can't and won't say too much on some issues. It's our responsibility to also work things out as Father did, and does on his own. Could God fulfill Adam and Eves' responsibility. No!

Consider this:

The time has come for you to join the original family of Adam worldwide. All the people in the world must perfect themselves on the family level. What must be done to reach perfection? Your families must be the ones who restore the fallen families through atonement offerings. This has to be achieved by each and every family worldwide, making an effort through the Family Federation. Perfection has to be achieved by Adam and Eve. God cannot do it for them. True Parents cannot do it for them. The reason that the Family Federation exists is to allow you to perfect yourselves through your own efforts. This has to be a worldwide organization. You are able to go beyond the fallen world and the lineage of Adam through the Family Federation...." CSG. P. 2362 RHS. (1995/10/30)

Is that plain enough. As Jesus said, " I speak to you in parables and symbols but the time will come when I will speak to you plainly of the Father". That is Father's direction from 1995, which leader emphasized that teaching, now or in the past 16 years. Again, leaders talk about uniting and obeying but they themselves have not been uniting with, nor obeying True Father.

Who were the people who sat at Father's feet and heard these words directly, time and time again? Who is sitting with Father in Hoon Dok Hae? Who has been disseminating Father's word and then practicing it? Who was listening directly to Father for years and years when Father explained all the providential changes and intricacies of the providence? Father repeatedly told leaders to love and serve the members. Did they listen? Well you be the judge of that. However going by Father's words and our current situation, the answer would have to be a resounding NO! Who spent, squandered and lost millions of dollars whilst members worked faithfully and frugally as missionaries or were conscientiously trying to support mission activities or fulfill Tribal Messiah work and yet never received any financial assistance? Blessed families who may have wanted financial assistance to initiate a project or some type of activity got nothing, and meanwhile missions and projects died, whilst hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent on airfares, hotels and restaurants. Does the term misuse of public money come to mind. "But it was for the public purpose!" they cry. Well, where's the fruit of that public purpose? Leaders obviously don't mind being scolded by Father, it's actually a badge of honor for some. Well it won't feel so nice to be scolded by your brothers and sisters and other people now and in the future, but that's ok I guess, you can wear that as badge of honor also.

So let's stop being pussies and be the tigers Father asked us to be. American members you are the older son nation for goodness sake. Act like it. Free thinking people in a free society will move heaven and earth. Around the world particularly in the Middle East we have seen the emergence of the "Spring" movement. It's high time it happened in our own movement, don't you think? How can we build the peace kingdom with totalitarian, authoritarian views and practices. We can't, it's ludicrous. How did Father live his life? Is that what is being practiced in our church, that spirit, that heart, are leaders following Father's example, are the True Children? I don't think so. Whoa! How can you say that you might ask? Because all of you know it is true but are too scared to say so or even admit it to yourself. What kind of loving church is that where brothers and sisters are too scared to speak up and if they do it's anonymously for fear of punishment or persecution. Wow! We have come a long way since the Dark Ages or even Jesus' time.

'Perfect love casts out all fear'. 1 John 4:18. Where is the perfect love in our church...beyond True Parents? We don't have it, we don't even begin to practice it because members should just do as they are told and unite with their leader. This is a nonsense and has caused incredible harm to brothers and sisters, our movement and our credibility. We aren't even living up to the growth stage teachings of the Gospel. Unification Church has not accomplished just that, unification. The incredible sacrifice and investment of heart and love that True Parents poured out to create our movement and its inner beauty to give joy to God has been so badly damaged by our own ignorance and self-centeredness.

Father stated these painful words on January 1, 2001: "I took sacrificing my own family naturally, without even thinking twice about it, investing everything I have in order to save you. I invested everything. What are the results? It was all done in vain; it was lost. There is no one who is qualified enough to register. Everything has ended in failure so far."

It doesn't matter how many conferences and workshops we have, when we are not loving each other nor ultimately the guests, they are going to run away anyway. Leaders will scare them off eventually. Didn't Father say that? We are not living for the sake of others. We are flirting with people's lives with a very deep and powerful truth. Instead of liberating people with the truth we are ensnaring and imprisoning them. We have become jailors who once they have their prize, barely take notice of them save to make sure they are doing as they are told and that they are grateful for their humble and penitent way of life which will make them a 'saint'.

How ghastly, how tragic, how shameful our movement has become! We thought we were doing heaven's will. Yes, except we forgot to LOVE. Before unity, there must be harmony based on relationships. Harmony of anything is based on, or arises through give and take. Harmony and unity of one's mind and body is based on give and take. For unity to come about, there has to be harmonious give and take. Remember in the Principle it says God is a Being of Harmonized Masculinity and Femininity and Internal Character and External Form. To achieve unity and harmony in relationships the principle of living for the sake of others must be applied, then there will be unity. If I just want you to live for my sake will there be unity? Maybe for a while, Adam and Eve fell into that trap and obliged Lucifer by living for his sake thinking that this was ok. They didn't have mind body unity centered on God but instead on Satan, hence evil and disharmony and dis-ease came into this world.

So to make unity we must love and serve others as the Archangel should have done, as God did when He created this world, cosmos and His children. He himself practiced absolute faith, love, and obedience to realize his world of true love, peace and freedom. However his children didn't follow, just as now the children are not following True Parents and this principle. Archangelic leadership has dominated our movement doing exactly what Lucifer did, leading us to the recent extraordinary events of our church, where CH Kwak became the fallen Archangel and did exactly what Lucifer did, stole God's son, True Parents' son. This happened because a false legacy and practice was planted in our church, because leaders did not practice living for the sake of others, loving brothers and sisters by serving them but instead had the attitude of the Archangel to make brothers and sisters run around and serve them and in so doing cutting them off from the love of God. Which makes them murderers just as Lucifer was.

John 8:44 'You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.'

There is no such principle as Cain must obey Abel. Who taught that heresy? It's a lie.

What Father taught was that Abel must love Cain, serve Cain and that Cain naturally bows before the embodiment of love. Which leaders have become the embodiment of love. Which of the true children have become the embodiment of love. Our movement is being run like a company with an external chain of command which gives orders and expects them to be followed. But we are not a company, we are a family of families, hence the Family Federation. and as Father said, now we do not live by commands but by love so fundamentally we have not understood or listened to Father's words. Again this is the failure of elders and the leadership to convey the right understanding of Father's teaching. What's more, this is continuing as I write this letter.

We've allowed ourselves to be dumbed down to the level of being just obedient servants to man not as we should be, in a living relationship with God which is knocking on the door of Direct Dominion! What is God telling you to do, what is your original mind saying to you? What is the essence of Father's teaching and Jesus' teaching. Love! 'Love people with all your heart soul and mind, that is the first commandment on earth', 'Love one another as I have loved you'. 'He who is greatest among you is he who serves'.

As Father explained:

"I don't know where this kind of strange thought that Abel is the central figure and in the position to command came from. I don't know how that idea crept into our movement here in America. Many young members have left the church because of their leaders. Abel does not kick someone out of the church. Abel is the one who will bring people in and embrace them. Abel is the one who cries together with his Cains."

"You must share the difficulties of your members, and you must console their hearts when they are in trouble. And you must encourage them without giving them commands and scolding them or punishing them when they fail to do something.

You (as leader) must be as humble as possible, serve your members, and raise them as you would your own children, taking care of them, loving them all the time. A leader is not a person who can give orders to people below him, but one who can serve them, be exemplary to them, and smooth the way for them. That is the qualification of Abel." Cain and Abel, November 6, 1983.

Note the date.

Who accomplished that, who is doing that? There is a huge separation of mind and body in our church if that is Father's direction and what has actually been happening day to day, year after year. We haven't begun to love each other as we are so dominated by the master servant relationship stemming from the Archangelic leader centered culture. How are we different from the fallen world in how we function, we are not, that is the problem. We are trying to build the Kingdom of Heaven with a new truth but with the cultural currency of the fallen world.

This must stop. We must align ourselves with Father's teachings and as a one off quote I think this best says it all:

"My teaching today is this: as much as you love God and True Parents, you should love the world and unite with it. Don't shy away from adverse conditions, or from smelly or ugly brothers and sisters. They are the ones who need you. Willingly participate in the dirty places and make them fragrant. Don't run away from problems, (like the ones we are currently facing) but face them and conquer them. God feels greater joy when He sees that you love each other more than you love Him. Parents want to see their children loving each other more than they love their parents. The 36 couples are the elders of our Church, and this rule applies to them as well unless they love the true children and the members more than their own families, they are the enemies of our movement." HCD speech 1981

God feels greater joy when He sees that you love each other more than you love Him. Parents want to see their children loving each other more than they love their parents. There it is, that says it all. This is a profound statement, no other faith claims this, only our True Father has made such a statement as the True Parent himself.

It's a revolutionary statement that transcends position, transcends hierarchy, transcends authority by stating that parents want to see their children loving each other more than they love the parents. Aren't parents the top position, why should the children be loved more than parents? Because parents readily sacrifice their position, their authority, their dignity, they will readily sacrifice everything for their love of their children. They want the very best for them, even to be better than the parents, that is the sacrificial heart of the parent. That is what it means to be a parent, even giving your life to save others as Jesus did and as True Father has done on so many occasions.

That is what we need to practice, if you want a one line summation of Father's words, there it is. Now the Moonie bible is reduced down to one sentence. How simple is that? Don't take True Parents' name in vain. Don't worry about True Parents, don't worry about God, take care of your brothers and sisters more than you take care of God and True Parents, for as Father explained, that is what will make them happy. Why didn't you leaders listen, why didn't you elders listen?

Hyung Jin nim, In Jin nim do you understand? Did you not know that that is what our Father taught? How will the Kingdom of Heaven come into our midst with a parent centered philosophy? It won't. The parent is always sacrificing for the sake of the children. The only way to repay that sacrifice is to love each other as True Parents have loved us. Then, when they see their sons and daughters loving each other more than them, they can feel truly happy and the sacrifice was no longer a sacrifice, nor in vain.

Today I am declaring a new beginning: the leader-centered movement is over, and the member-centered movement is going to begin. Why should it be like that? If the head of the family thinks only about himself, the family is unhappy. Only if he worries about the whole family can they be successful and happy together.

The Unification Church is one family. I am concerned and worried about each one of you, and you should be concerned with each other as brothers and sisters, and together come to parents. What we need now is an environmental Kingdom of Heaven. If you only move in one direction, that is no good. You must move in 360 degrees, in all directions. Historical Children's Day, 1981

God's ideal is realized through sibling love which manifests and substantiates a family.

Only when we embrace the world and love all people with sibling love, will we join everything together in an ideal sphere of love; when that occurs, no mishap will severely shock us. Only then will all the substance of God's thought finally bear fruit. God's ideal of children unites and bears fruit there: the fruit of children's love, the fruit of siblings' love, the fruit of the love of husband and wife and the fruit of parents' love. When the plan that the incorporeal God had at the time of Creation is made substantial, upper and lower, front and rear and left and right will be merged with Him. CSG, p.374 Last Para. LHS. (1992/11/4)

Some of what I have written here is repetitive, but I have done so, to emphasize what are important points from Father's words. If you haven't read my previous two letters, they will help provide background for what I have written here.

Some of the things I have written about may also not be pleasant reading, especially to criticize others, but at this time I feel strongly pushed to write about these things and to lay everything bare on the table so as a community we can seriously discuss and hopefully resolve these issues.

This is our movement which we joined as a volunteer to serve God and mankind and to support the Messiah in accomplishing that. As a volunteer still, we decide how we are going to accomplish our Tribal Messiah responsibility in line with Father's historical and recent directions. It is our responsibility, not something for the church or leaders to hit us over the head with or cajole us into doing for their sake; another report perhaps?

As I said, we are the sons and daughters of God not the servants, so don't let any Archangel make you feel like you're his servant.

God bless and guide you at this time.

With brotherly love and concern

Stephen Downward