The Words of the Nseka Family
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The Words of the Nseka Family |
Good morning Brothers and Sisters.
Before we begin, I would like to mention that this sermon is based on my personal understanding of the Cheon Il Guk providence. So feel free to disagree and feel free to talk to me after the service.
In this sermon, Cheon Il Guk Providence, we are going to examine two things. We will first examine some of the conditions that laid the foundation for Cheon Il Guk, and then we will examine what is needed to make the Cheon Il Guk providence a success.
I hope I will convey what heaven wants to convey to you today. Sorry if I fail to do so.
So, let us examine how the foundation for Cheon Il Guk was established. I am going to use the Divine Principle concept of the Foundation for the Messiah to explain the establishment of the foundation for Cheon Il Guk.
As we learned in the Divine Principle, the Foundation for the Messiah is established by restoring the Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance. And the Divine Principle teaches us that both the Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance are actually established through fulfilling some conditions of indemnity. And that the establishment of the Foundation of Faith requires a Central Person, a Required Offering, and a Time Period. We also learned in the Principle that the time period to separate good from evil through indemnity is usually the number 40.
Furthermore the Principle teaches us that the establishment of the Foundation of Substance requires the restoration of the positions of archangel and Adam horizontally. Now let’s see how the foundation for Cheon Il Guk was established.
There are three major positions that needed to be restored in the establishment of the foundation for Cheon Il Guk: vertical parent -- God, horizontal parents -- Adam and Eve, and children -- Cain and Abel. True Parents restore the position of horizontal parents; True Children and Church members (us) restore the positions of Abel and Cain, respectively. Plus, True Children and members are responsible to restore the relationship between Adam and archangel by creating vertical and horizontal unity. In other words, True Children and members must establish the Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance under True Parents.
By the way, I will focus more on Father’s rather than Mother’s individual course in this sermon. I don’t know exactly when True Father began his public ministry. In some of his speeches it is 1946 and in some others 1947. Whether it was 1946 or 1947, it is certain that True Father’s public ministry began at the individual level -- individual course.
True Father was the Central Person in his individual course of restoration through indemnity. His life, love, and faith constituted the Required Offering. And he had to fulfill his individual course of restoration through indemnity in 1987. That is 40 years from the time he began his individual course. Within those forty years, True Father received a lot of persecution. He was physically tortured, he was repeatedly criticized in public, he received death threats, he was imprisoned six times, and more.
Proof of his victory is that from 1987, all those heavy persecutions of True Father as an individual started to dwindle. And from that time onward, Father has not seen the inside of another prison cell. With True Father’s and True Mother’s victory, True Parents restored the integrity of Adam and Eve through indemnity at the individual level. So with regard to True Parents, Satan lost the individual level fight. However, that does not mean that Satan stopped attacking True Parents. He continued, but at a different level -- family level.
True Parents have established two types of families. One family is that of children of direct lineage, True Family, and the other is that of adopted children, Unification Church. In relation to True Parents, True Children are Abel children and Unificationists are Cain children of True Parents. By the same token, True Family is the Abel family and the Unification Church the Cain family of True Parents. Now let us see how each of these two families (Cain and Abel families) contributed to the foundation for Cheon Il Guk.
Before establishing an Abel family in 1960, Father established a Cain family -- HSA-UWC -- in 1954. The family level providence of restoration through indemnity was conducted in two fronts: Cain front, which was the Church, and Abel front, True Family.
In establishing the Cain family Foundation of Faith through indemnity, members were the “Central Person.” So, in restoring the positions of archangel and Cain, members had to restore faith in God and His word through faith in True Parents and the Divine Principle. The life, love, faith, and dedication of members constituted the Required Offering. And the Cain family restoration through indemnity had to be fulfilled in 40 years (Time Period). This means that, mathematically, the Church completed the Cain family course of restoration through indemnity in 1994. That is 40 years from the time the Church was established. Those forty years were characterized by members leading a life of self denial, fasting conditions, prayer conditions, mothers leaving their young children behind and going away on public missions, individual formula course (3.5 years witnessing and 3.5 years fundraising), etc, etc, etc.
Proof of victory of the Church providence of restoration through indemnity is in the fact that in 1994, True Father established the Family Federation for World Peace (FFWP). This means that the course of restoration of each member moved from the individual level to the family level. Though there were Blessed Families at the stage of Church providence, that period (1954-1994) was actually a providential period through which individuals were the core membership of the Church. Hence it was members’ individual course of restoration through indemnity. Allow me to mention that Heung Jin Nim’s intervention helped secure the victory of the Unification Church in successfully completing that 40-year period of restoration through indemnity.
Now, let us examine the Abel family course of restoration through indemnity. In establishing the Abel family Foundation of Faith through indemnity, True Children were the “Central Person”. So, in restoring the positions of Adam and Abel, True Children had to restore faith in God and His word through faith in True Parents and the Divine Principle. The life, love, faith, and attitude of True Children constituted the Required Offering. And the Abel family restoration through indemnity had to be fulfilled in 40 years. This means that, mathematically, True Family completed the Abel family course of restoration through indemnity in the year 2000. That is 40 years from 1960. Those forty years were characterized by True Children leading a life of persecution. They were verbally abused and ridiculed for being children of Rev. and Mrs. Moon, they were misunderstood and misjudged by outsiders as well as by Church members, and to top it off, they spent that period not directly receiving love and education from True Father. Why did True Father not directly give love and education to True Children?
According to the Principle, before God created Adam and Eve, Lucifer was the center of God’s attention and love. However, after God created Adam and Eve as His children, they became the center of God’s attention and love. Upon observing that situation, Lucifer felt as if God diverted the attention and love He used to give him toward Adam and Eve. And his observation caused him to develop feelings such as lack of love, jealousy, feeling neglected, misunderstood, forgotten, ignored, robbed of what was duly his, lied to, used, abused, etc, etc, etc. All these feelings had to be restored by the True Children (within those 40 years) in order to restore the providence of the Garden of Eden.
What was the providence of the Garden of Eden? The providence of the Garden of Eden was about Adam and Eve becoming perfected individuals. It was about Adam and Eve giving birth to pure children. It was about Adam and Eve establishing a family centered on God -- a True Family. It was about Adam and Eve becoming True Parents and living in harmony with God, their children, Lucifer, all the angels, and the rest of the creation. In short, the providence of the Garden of Eden was the providence of realizing God’s ideal. As we know it, the providence of the Garden of Eden was not fulfilled because of the fall. Hence a true family must be established on earth.
In order to restore the providence of the Garden of Eden, True Father have shown more attention, interest, and given more love to the members than to the True Children. This does not mean that True Father did not love True Children, for he has always loved them.
Think about this: Who was the owner of the position of children before the fall -- God or Satan? God. Right? Who became the owner of the position of children after the fall -- God or Satan? Satan. Right? In the process of restoration, given that He lost His children through the fall, God could not directly reach out to them, educate them and love them.
And after the fall, though He lost one archangel, God still maintained ownership over the position of the archangel. This means that Lucifer lost his position of archangel after the fall. So as the owner of archangels, God can directly relate to anyone who occupies the position of archangel. This means that instead of God’s children, it has been the archangels who have been mostly receiving God’s love. That situation remained like that until God’s children rightfully occupied the position of Adam and Eve. So, because of the process of restoration and being in the position representing God on earth, True Father could not directly give love his physical children. He however gave love and education to them indirectly through loving and educating members. This is why, as archangels, members received the direct love and education from True Father.
So within those 40 years that True Children were restoring the Abel family Foundation of Faith through indemnity, each one of them had the responsibility to restore the feelings that led Lucifer to rebel against God.
Most of us are aware of what True Children went through during their period of restoration through indemnity: serious heartbreaking situations. In order to successfully restore their position through indemnity, True Children had to learn how to love True Parents at the risk of the lives. They had to learn how to love Unification Church members who were in the position of archangel and were receiving direct love from True Parents. They had to sustain a certain standard of obedience to True Father. They had to learn how to develop strong faith in God through having faith in True Father. They had to come to their own realization as to whether or not their father is really the Messiah, and on that foundation come to their own conclusion that their parents are True Parents.
Now, think about our True Parents’ heart during the time that True Children were going through all those difficulties. Do you think True Father never thought or felt like helping his children? Do you think True Father never felt like intervening or telling his children to stop doing what they were doing? Think about it. Though True Father felt like doing so, he was in no position to intervene and fix the problems True Children were having. Can you imagine the pain, anguish, misery, and agony Father was feeling in his heart? Can you imagine the pain, anguish, misery, and agony True Mother was feeling in her heart?
Who was supposed to help True Children? Church members. Yes, Church members were supposed to help True Children. If Church members, being in the position of archangel, helped True Children the way the archangel was supposed to help Adam in the Garden of Eden, True Children would probably not have faced half of the tribulations they faced during that forty-year period. Instead, we felt like we were better than the True Children, we felt like we knew and understood God and True Parents better than the True Children did, we felt like we knew and understood the Divine Principle and the concept of true love better than the True Children did, and more. That was similar to the attitude the archangel had in the Garden of Eden. Needless to say, that was the attitude that led to the fall.
Fortunately, regardless of what True Children went through, they aligned themselves with True Parents by the end of the forty-year period of Abel family restoration through indemnity. On their own and through their personal experiences, True Children developed and demonstrated an unprecedented level of faith towards True Father, True Mother, the Principle, the providence, and God. By doing so, as representatives of True Parents, they restored the integrity of the positions of Adam and Eve (children of God). And as children of True Parents, they restored the integrity of the position grandchildren of God. Furthermore, they restored the feelings that led the archangel Lucifer to rebel from God and initiate the fall. Hence, they restored the providence of the Garden of Eden.
True Parents’ victory over their individual course of restoration through indemnity restored the positions of Adam and Eve and laid the foundation for the restoration of parents through indemnity. With their victory, True Children restored the integrity of the positions of Adam and Eve at the family level. Their victory, along with the victory of True Parents, restored the integrity of parents and children centering on God. So they restored the integrity of a family centered on God. This means that for the first time in history, God was restored to the positions of Heavenly Parent and Heavenly Parent Grandparent of mankind. Therefore, with the victory of the True Family, God retrieved the lineage that was lost in the Garden of Eden and regained ownership over humanity. On that victorious foundation, on January 13, 2001, True Father proclaimed the coronation of the kingship of God. And that was the beginning of the Cheon Il Guk providence.
Now let us examine what we need to do to make the Cheon Il Guk providence a success. In the period of establishing the foundation for Cheon Il Guk, there were successful Foundations of Faith, but there was no successful Foundation of Substance established between members and True Children.
As Cain children of True Parents, Church members have the responsibility to restore the positions of the archangel and Cain in relation to the True Children. As Abel children of True Parents, True Children have the responsibility to restore the positions of Adam (and Eve) and that of Abel in relation to Church members. Cheon Il Guk will be established on the foundation of unity between Church members and True Children. This horizontal unity between members and True Children will only be successful and acceptable to heaven if it is established on the basis of the successful vertical unity that members and True Children established with True Parents.
The Divine Principle teaches that the Foundation of Substance is about restoring proper order in the created world. What was the proper order in the created world? It was God first, Adam and Eve second, the angelic world third, and then the rest of the creation.
The archangel Lucifer disrupted the proper order of creation when he felt lack of love. Hence he compromised his integrity. Are we going to behave like Lucifer now that True Children are occupying some leadership positions? What is our attitude in relation to True Children? Do we feel like True Parents have reduced the amount of love they have been giving us? Are we ready to love True Children as God and True Parents want us to love them? Or are we going to be jealous of them and ruin their chances?
Are we going to humble ourselves and receive love through True Children or are we going to be arrogant and refuse to work together with them? Are we going to humble ourselves and submit to the True Children or are going to act stubbornly and refuse to submit to their leadership? Are we going to humble ourselves so that we could learn the tradition of heaven from the True Children or are we going to continue to think that we know more about God, True Parents, and the providence than they do? We are to restore our integrity by choosing to truly live the blessed life and inherit the True Love of God and True Parents through the True Children. We have to restore the integrity of the positions of archangel and Cain.
Given that it took forty years to establish the foundation for the Cheon Il Guk providence, how long do we think it will take to fulfill the providence of Cheon Il Guk? Thirteen years? 2013 does not mark the end, but a transition into the second 12-year period of the Cheon Il Guk providence.
The year 2009 is very important because it will determine the direction the Cheon Il Guk providence will take. It is a year of changes, a year of uncertainty, and perhaps a moment of confusion for those of us who don’t understand the flow of the providence.
I believe this is a time during which we should worry less about confusion rising among True Children, but we should worry more about confusion rising among us. I think we should follow the example of those Hoon Sa nims who are training with Hyun Jin Nim in Korea by starting to create unity within and among ourselves first, and then with In Jin Nim.
Let me conclude by saying that unless we truly understand who we are, we will not understand the true value of our True Parents, the true value of the True Children, and the true value of the providence of Cheon Il Guk. So let us restore our integrity. Let us see how we can work together with True Children and alleviate their burdens and responsibilities. Let us establish unity with the True Children for the sake of God, True Parents, and Cheon Il Guk. Can we unite with True Children and establish Cheon Il Guk?
Thank you for listening. May God bless you.
Please join me in prayer.