The Heart of True Family - Jin Sung Moon

Unofficial notes from a speech given by Jin Sung Nim at the Shimjung Gardens on Dec. 12, 1993.

To somehow absorb the indemnity that was required, somehow, somewhere Satan had collected enough conditions, maybe a little bit from each of us and saved it up. Satan is very smart, he doesn't penalize you every time you botch it up. He actually rewards you sometimes. Satan is not your teacher. He's trying to trick you.

There are many ways that he does that and one way is when you slack off or get lazy or you struggle and you begin to doubt True parents. Satan doesn't come in and penalize you or spiritually bop you on the head; that would be too easy, right? We would automatically say "Whoops, that's no good." That's why we have older brothers and sisters and central figures to help do that for us. But I'm sure what Satan does is collect these conditions, because sooner or later it has to be indemnified. That is true in your own individual life and on the collective level it is true, too. That was the meaning of Jesus' death for our sins. It was a comparable reciprocal indemnity condition that wiped out the other smaller negative conditions all at once.

Do what Father does. When you are hit and you suffer, it doesn't matter if Satan or God was hitting you. So many people spend time trying to figure out, "Did I deserve this?"

Was this guy for real? What's going on? A lot of strange things happen because we live in a strange world, the physical world and the spiritual world. Not everything can be explained right away. But that doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is how you deal with adversity in each situation. Father advised very wisely. It doesn't matter if Heavenly Father strikes you or Satan strikes you. Why? If Heavenly Father is striking you for some reason, it's either because you deserve it or because He is hoping you can be in a position to pay some greater indemnity.

If it's Satan striking you, that's one of those little attacks and the only way to bring real victory is by being grateful for it. It neutralizes Satan. In fact, it brings all of Satan's power to God's side. When Cain strikes Abel and Abel doesn't get all defensive and arrogant about it, then Abel can win Cain's heart and he can win over the whole situation.

Father doesn't do anything just for show. Father is not trying to pretend or fake us out. Father could care less if anyone knows what he is doing. He's just doing it. He's just a real human being faced with many difficult situations and doing the right thing. That's the important thing. In our lives, it doesn't matter how deep you are spiritually or how many years you've been in the church. The real issues are the choices we make every day and every second. I can go fundraising today or I cannot go fundraising today. I can be positive and upbeat today or I can be in a crummy spirit today. I can speak words of appreciation even though I don't feel very appreciative or I can just shoot my mouth off and start complaining about something.

Every day we have choices. The only way to live an unselfish life is not just to preach and preach and preach about it. You've got to do it. It's simple, you just decide to do it. Father says that's 95%- making the right choices in any given moment. Someone asked Father once, "Father, when is it exactly that you become perfect?" Father said, "It's very simple. The moment you make up your mind to absolutely commit yourself to be perfect and then live by it." You can achieve it overnight. You just pray very deeply and understand and analyze yourself and your situation. There's enough Divine Principle in all of you to know that whenever you're faced with a decision, there's one that usually tends to be more sacrificial than the other and more unselfish-one that you want to do for yourself, and one that is designed to do more for the sake of others.

So Father said, "You decide to be perfect, you determine to be perfect." That's a very scary thing to do. Father realized this. I'm not saying, "Okay, now everyone can go around being perfect." We're talking about a very serious commitment. You have to be ready and well prepared to make a commitment that from this day forward I am going to live as a true son of God or a true daughter of God. I'm going to do whatever it takes.

After that, every step that you take is a step toward the Abel side or a step toward the Cain side or a step away from selfishness. We've all be around long enough to know the difference. I want you to take a moment to think about that and analyze which part of you is fallen and which part of you is good.

How do you judge what is selfish and what is not selfish? I'm sure many of you have spent a lot of time doing that. For example, eating a wonderful dinner, is that selfish or unselfish? It all depends on you and the circumstances around you. You can take your fundraising result and stop by a Burger King just because you just feel like it; or you can humbly make sure all your brothers and sisters have had enough to eat and you eat with them; or you are in a situation where you need some nourishment to continue your mission. Then, you know why you need to know what to do.

We need to get out of this stage where we don't know what to do. You've got to be in a position where you firmly believe that you know what you must do. I know that True Children are more than willing to teach you how to do that.

We know that this is a very tense moment. When True Children pray, they always pray for True Parents and the True Family and they never leave you out. They always pray for you. Their mind goes all the way around the world. They do this because Father and Mother do this; they shed tears for members all around the world.

Excerpted from American Neighborhood, the newsletter of the church in Northern California.