I'm not aware of much of what is out there on the internet or in there in your hearts, so forgive me if this is repetitious. But I'd like to share a few ideas that I have found helpful in my working through the issues raised by Nan Sook's In the Shadow.

Without much forethought the other day, I ended up on a radio talk show with Nan Sook. Nan Sook asked how my kids are and we conversed for a moment about that. Who should call in but my old friends Steve Hassan and Aidan Barry. We exchanged pleasantries. The producer said to me after the show, "Everyone knows you. It was a family reunion!" Well, that's interesting. Maybe I should have been more aggressive, I mean, we did score our points against each other, but the impression the producer at least received was that we are family. And here's the point: we are a family, and who has created it? Flying around on the internet spanning the globe are exchanges from an enormously broad-based community who act like brothers and sisters. Who created this family? Well, God did, through the ministry of True Parents. The very fact that people are so passionate about all these rumors testifies to me that Father has created an amazing foundation in the world, and even this controversy reveals how alive and searching for righteousness it is.

Another thing in the show: it was the host who said what I consider one of the most illuminating points, following upon my bringing up the biblical context through which we should understand Father. It was he who asked Nan Sook to consider that God worked through people with obvious flaws, such as Jacob and David and many others, so what's the big deal about Rev. Moon? Her response did not meet the level of his questions (she was evasive more than once), but I'll comment on it anyway. She responded with a heated: "He claims to be perfect and he claims his family is perfect!" I'm sorry, but I've never heard Father make either of those claims. His tone, rather, is one of dedication, commitment, striving, vision, fervency, overcoming obstacles, absolute faith, love and obedience, oneness with God's heart-or at least striving to be one with God's heart with all his being, even at the cost of inevitable misunderstanding, persecution, and appearing foolish from the world's point of view. Which speaks exactly to the present moment.

Another point: I don't think I'm the first to bring up the "sin of Ham" perspective, but it did come to me without any prompting so I feel as if it's mine, and here's where that providential episode hits me. Through his faith and work, Noah brought his family, with his children representing mankind, into the restored Garden of Eden. Noah's position was "much like Adam after the creation of heaven and earth." (Exposition 204) The test of Ham was given by God "to help Ham become one in heart with Noah." (203) It seems to me that New Hope Farm and the fourth Adam means that True Parents and the True Family are "much like Adam after the creation of heaven and earth." the opportunity for our families to enter the completion stage, conditionally. Their "nakedness" before us is given to help us become one in heart with them, and thus to enter that restored realm of the fourth Adam. There's more to be said on this subject but I'll leave it at that for now.

My final insight to share has to do with the allegations of sexual impropriety on Father's part. It came to me in an interesting way. "Something" told me to listen to audio tapes of True Family Values lectures I gave long ago. I have numerous such tapes in my office and I never listen to them. But there I was the other day, picking a tape out of the dozen or so and sticking it on the machine. I put it on the wrong way, at the end of the tape, and my machine has no auto-reverse, so it just sat there, stuck, but I was so distracted with phone calls and whatnot that I didn't even realize that until the next day! So I turn the tape around and fast forward a bit, and listen for 30 seconds. And in that 30 seconds I got a real insight into the Sammy affair. Good 'ol True Family Values!

Anyway, what I heard on the tape was myself saying: "The problem isn't sex; the problem is selfishness."

Now, if we believe Principle and the Bible, we have to accept that there can be seemingly illicit sexual relations that are not selfish, i.e., that are within the will of God. There are four, five if you count Mary, women listed in the biblical record of Jesus' lineage, each with a chapter two problem. Their God-driven but otherwise criminal sexual liaisons (in particular Tamar, Bathsheba and Mary) contributed on the deepest level to what one billion people revere as the virgin birth.

Further, it seems to me a given that the solution to the misuse of love in the Garden is not simply millions of celibates or millions of faithful couples, because the world has seen both and it has not brought the ultimate solution. I am not discounting the value of celibacy and fidelity. I'm just observing that the existence of one more faithful couple is not going to solve the original sin. In other words, Rev. and Mrs. Graham or Dr. and Mrs. Falwell, for all their virtue, do not solve the original sin.

The problem isn't sex; the problem is selfishness. The real issue is: is True Father a selfish man? Nan Sook is saying that he is. What do you think? Consider again the sin of Ham. For one thing, it had to do with his father's sexuality. I don't want to repeat what other members may be writing. I would just encourage those who have not done so to read pp. 203-206 of Exposition. I'll just prevail upon you to recall one passage: "It is difficult for anyone to understand how Noah persisted in building the ark on the mountain over 120 long years, all the while enduring harsh criticism and ridicule. Ham knew well that his family had been saved by his father's labors. Considering these things, Ham should have had such respect for his father that he would overcome his personal offense at Noah's nakedness and have some understanding of it."

There was nothing Noah could do regarding Ham's failure. Everything that he had accomplished was, for all intents and purposes, utterly lost. So our position in Principle is extremely serious. Again, I encourage you to read this section of Divine Principle and read it in the Bible, too. My New King James Bible gives one reference to Gen. 9:23, the passage in which Ham agitates his brothers and they cover Noah's nakedness. The reference is to Exodus 20:12: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."

I pray that especially if you are struggling with these things, God may guide you through this shadowy valley, and that we all may consider that commandment very seriously in relation to those whom we have called, for so many years, our True Parents.

ITN, Tyler Hendricks

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