Ep 667 - The Unity of the World and Humankind Responsibility Part 5

The Unity of the World and Humankind's Responsibility - August 23, 2022

PDF Printable Text and Images + Testimony Rev. George Russel

Key Points

● Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, no one knew that the focus of God’s providence of restoration was restoring the birthright.

● It was necessary in history that the second son be blessed so that the second son, representing Heaven, could restore and claim the birthright of the first son, held by Satan.

● In this way, God’s Providence began with the restoration of the right of the eldest son, and had to establish the restoration of the right of the parents, and the right of the king, and go further and restore the right of the royal family.

● Heaven begins with absolute faith which comes from absolutely denying yourself.

● Is the thing I am about to do really coming from the Will or is it for myself?

● Faith is a complete denial of self.

● The human fall started from self-centeredness.

● What is the identity of Satan? Self-centeredness.

● self-centeredness is the number one enemy.

● Be self-critical but tolerant to others. Check your motivation.

● Self-tolerance leads to lack of discernment of good and evil.

● My problems also troubled my ancestors.

● One thing that hinders our life of faith the most is envy and jealousy.

● The reason I have a lot of envy and jealousy is my self-centered mind.

● Parents never feel jealousy because parents truly love their own children.

● Thank that those who are better than I am are my Abel. I can learn from them.

● In a world that is genuinely united with love, the other person's joy becomes my joy and their pain becomes my pain.

● In order to overcome these fallen natures of envy and jealousy, we need to always think from God’s standpoint and with a parental heart.

● Good competition -- of wanting to inherit their good performance and becoming better than they are -- actually becomes the motivation for my development.

● When I envy someone who is better than I am, think highly of them, and have affection for them, there is a possibility for me to become like that, too.

● Fortune is public. Only those who give are qualified to manage it.

● The greatest attribute of the Blessing is multiplication. Because it is public, those who fail to multiply it, lose it while it grows for those who multiply it.

The day before yesterday I joined the Clifton Family Service with my wife. It was really a happy moment. My dear brothers and sisters welcomed our couple. Thank you so much for your beautiful heart caring for our couple.

Today I’d like to talk about “The Unity of the World and Humankind's Responsibility ” from True Mother’s Anthology 2.”

When we study the historical record in the Bible, we come across a number of events that seem to defy explanation. God's original intention in His creation was that Eve would become one with God, her Father, and with God's son, Adam. As a result of the Fall, however, she became one with Satan and Adam who was now a false son. Immediately after the Fall, God began working through the family of Adam to reverse the course of the Fall, and restore it through indemnity. Even though Adam's family had fallen, God could still work with them, because He had created humankind as beings with eternal life. Cain, the first fruit of the love by which Satan took Eve, was recognized as being on the side of Satan, and Abel, who was born as the second fruit, representing Eve's love with her intended husband Adam, was positioned on the side of Heaven.

This was the beginning of the history of the struggle between good and evil, aimed at fundamental restoration through indemnity. It was necessary in history that the second son be blessed so that the second son, representing Heaven, could restore and claim the birthright of the first son, held by Satan. Exemplifying this, Cain and Abel made offerings to God simultaneously, yet God received only the offering of Abel, the second born, while refusing the offering of Cain. The reason was that the second born at that time stood on the side of Heaven. Had Cain made his offering through Abel, an orderly, reverse path could have been established between God, Adam and the archangel, and restoration could have been accomplished. Because Cain killed Abel, however, Heaven chose Seth and extended the providence to the generations following.

Cain and Abel were born into this world as brothers. Because of their inability to accomplish God's Will, His next dispensation needed to be carried out within a mother's womb. Thus, when Rebekah asked God why it was that Esau and Jacob fought within her womb, God said to her, “Two nations are in your womb… the elder shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23). From that time on, Rebekah came to take greater care of the second born, Jacob. Jacob had to restore through indemnity the birthright of his brother Esau. For this to be successful, Rebekah had to fulfill her responsibility in the position of Eve.

Since the Fall of Adam and Eve, no one knew that the focus of God’s providence of restoration was restoring the birthright. It was necessary in history that the second son be blessed so that the second son, representing Heaven, could restore and claim the birthright of the first son, held by Satan

In this way, God’s Providence began with the restoration of the right of the eldest son, and had to establish the restoration of the right of the parents, and the right of the king, and go further and restore the right of the royal family. We need to clearly understand how much True Parents have walked the course of blood, sweat, and tears in order to indemnify all these providences through True Parents’ one generation.

Even the greatest historians in history were unable to reveal that God’s Providence is the providence of restoration of the elder son’s birthright.

It is really incredible. Throughout human history (it is) only True Father who has revealed this top secret. It is really very beautiful. Without understanding the Divine Principle and without understanding elder sonship we do not know how to solve world issues, (much less) individual and family issues. We need to understand very clearly what Mother is talking about.

Living Divine Principle: The Principle of Creation 63 - Heaven and Hell (2)

• It is not God who decides whether a person's spirit enters heaven or hell upon his death; it is decided by the spirit himself.

• Humans are created so that once they reach perfection they will fully breathe the love of God. Those who committed sinful deeds while on earth become crippled spirits who are incapable of fully breathing in the love of God. They find it agonizing to stand before God, the center of true love, and choose to dwell in hell of their own will.

• Since the human spirit can grow only in the soil of the physical self, the multiplication of human spirits takes place at the same time that the multiplication of physical selves occurs: during earthly life.

Let’s study Father’s word.

What Should be our Motivation?

<46-79> Today, I worry about the Unification Church. What should be our motivation: Your motivation is for God’s will or yours? Self should not become our motivation. Yet so often, people today derive their motivation from the self rather than God’s will. Whereas God’s will calls us to go the way of suffering, the self seeks to run and betray this path. These are conflicting positions. God wants you to go right; but the self seeks to go left. You try to justify your position by saying that you suffered more than anyone else since you joined the Unification Church

Absolute Faith Comes About With the Denial of the Self

<46-79>Where does heaven begin? Heaven begins with absolute faith. Absolute faith means that you do not put yourself first. It means that you must absolutely deny yourself. If you do not completely deny yourself, absolute faith cannot come about. If you center yourself on the secular world, and accept the ways of that world, while saying that you are walking the path of faith, you will be unable to obtain absolute faith

True Father said that Heaven begins with absolute faith. Then he said that absolute faith comes from absolutely denying yourself. So you should never assert yourself

Therefore, when you happen to do something, take a good look at your motivation. Is the thing I am about to do really coming from the Will or is it for myself?

What True Father is concerned about is the fact that many members say that they are doing it for the Will, but in the end, they often put the Will behind and do it with themselves as the motivation. The Will demands the path of suffering, but the being called “I” tries to betray that. And it is trying to elucidate oneself with certain conditions.

We must know that the most fearful thing in our life of faith is self-centeredness. The fall of Adam and Eve was ultimately self-centered. The motive for the fall of the archangel was ultimately self-centered. Therefore, faith is a complete denial of self. So, no matter what we do, we have to confirm and check whether this is my center or God’s center over and over again.

The human fall started from self-centeredness. That is why our number one enemy is self-centeredness. We need to check. Does this motivation or decision come from God or from my own self? What is the identity of Satan? Self-centeredness. Many people are not aware of that. This is a real issue.

When senior blessed couples in the end betray True Parents and go their own way and create their own group, when some people do not like True Mother’s leadership and go their own way and join some other group, they really need to think about where this kind of decision comes from. That’s why you need to have a very sincere prayer with a pure, empty heart and sincerely ask God, “Heavenly Father, which way is the right direction?” If you deny yourself, God will surely 100%, 120% give you a very clear answer. But when your life of faith is unclear and very vague, then you (may be) influenced by and convinced by someone, and then you (will not be able to) make a clear decision.

Therefore, our life of faith is what? Centering on self-denial, always denying myself. Really, self-centeredness is the number one Satan, number one enemy -- not your neighbor, not your Cain, not others. Self-centeredness is what? Our number one enemy. Any time I can betray God and True Parents. That is why we always need to deny (ourself) and have an empty mind (and be) very sincere. Then your original mind will tell you where to go and what to do. This is a very important point.

TODAY’S YOUTH MINISTRY: Why we Feel Envy and Jealousy and how to Overcome Them

Also, I would like to talk about an attribute of the Blessing.

1.When dealing with myself, I should be able to be deal with myself very strictly and criticize myself very harshly. Also, when I am always dominated by the environment and cannot keep my first love and first motivation, I must have a heart that is upset over it. That is why when you go and grow yourself, you should intentionally choose the path of suffering and train yourself. To do that, a believer must make a brave decision. When I am in position where I have to distinguish good from evil, “yes” and “no” must be clear. However, we easily lean towards the circumstance, easily envy others, and easily complain and have dissatisfactions. People who envy others are like people who gave up on their life of faith. When I enter a position where I can say that the other person and I are one, there is no envy or jealousy. When you do not do that but think of the other person as others and treat them as being better, there is a heart of envy.

In our life of faith, we should always live with a tolerant heart and be generous towards others, but on the contrary, we have to deal with ourselves very strictly and when we do something wrong, we have to be able to criticize ourselves very harshly.

This is important. Not others, okay? When you do something wrong, you need to clearly check what your motivation is and what you are thinking about. (Be) very strict with yourself. If you are really tolerant of your own self -- “It’s okay. No problem. Anybody could do that.” -- if you are really so generous to your own self, then later on you do not know how to distinguish what is good and evil. Even though we are generous to others, even though we have a tolerant heart for them, for you yourself you should be very strict and very harsh. You need to criticize yourself: “I need to follow the way of my original mind. I need to follow God’s wishes.” You need to think really seriously about this matter.

Also, when we are always dominated by the environment and cannot keep our first love and first motivation, we must always repent through tearful prayers and jeongseong. And when it comes to me who was unable to maintain my first motivation, I must have han (bitter sorrow) over it and know that this is not just my problem but ultimately, all my ancestors were also troubled by the same problem.

Therefore, even though our ancestors repeated such courses of failure, I have to make a big determination to succeed for sure.

Also, one thing that hinders our life of faith the most is envy and jealousy. The reason I have a lot of envy and jealousy is because my self-centered mind that always thinks of myself first is very strong. When the mind that tries to put myself first is strong, there is always envy and jealousy towards the other person.

However, if the mind that has love for the other person and says “That person and I are one in heart,” “He and I centering on the heart are the same,” then “He and I are one body” comes first, (then) envy and jealousy will disappear.

When children do something (better) than their parents, the parents never feel jealousy. Do you know why? Because parents truly love their own children. Parents think, “Your heart is my heart. My heart is your heart.” They feel the same feeling of oneness. When you feel oneness with others, you cannot feel any jealousy and envy.

If I think that the other person and I are one in heart, when they are better than me, I will actually have a heart of gratitude and joy. And I have a desire to learn what the other person is good at. Since the other person is better than me, I should think that I should take that person as my Abel.

If you have the right mindset and someone is really better than you, you need to think that “I need to learn (from him). He is my Abel.” Right? For example, if there are brothers and sisters or Cains and Abels who are praised by True Father very much and others feel jealously and envy, (there is) no need to think that way. (Rather) “Oh, True Father loves that person. That means he has some qualification or condition that is better than mine. He should be my Abel. I need to learn from him how he does very well so that he is treated by True Parents very well.” You need to think, “He is my Abel.” Anyone who is better than I am, I need to treat hm or her as my Abel rather than (feeling) jealousy or envy. This is an important point. This is not easy.

One day I listened to one Christian minister’s confession. I was really moved by it. He is a very sincere minister. There was a sermon competition within his denomination. Each minister had only ten minutes to share their sermons. It was a really great competition. When this minister heard a really great sermon, he felt jealousy: “Wow! My sermon should be better than his. His sermon cannot be better.” He felt jealousy and envy. (Afterwards) he realized, “This kind of mindset comes from where? Am I truly a minister?”

After he returned home in front of Jesus, he cried and cried again and again. “Heavenly Parent, I am a minister. My job is to be your servant. How can I have this kind of mindset that I feel jealousy and envy when someone is better than I am? Heavenly Parent and Jesus, if I am like this, how can I lead my own members? I don’t have the qualification to lead my own members. It is better if I step down!” According to his testimony, he cried so much for a long time until he (was able to) remove that kind of feeling. After he settled down, he overcame any jealousy and envy.

I was really touched by that minister’s sincere confession. …

(Do) I have that kind of feeling about that. If someone is really better than I am, do I really feel I want to learn? Do I really treat that person as my Abel or not? Or rather do I feel jealousy, something like that? What do you think about that?

2. Why isn’t there much envy between parents and children? It is because parents and children think they are one in heart. That is why when the child becomes better than the parents, the parents actually rejoice more. Between couples, when my partner is better than me, my heart is happier. However, in secular relationships with people, when the other is better than me, there is envy and jealousy. This is because I do not have a heart of true love that treats them the same as myself. Such people with a lot of envy and jealousy are like those with spiritual leprosy. If there are many people like this in church, it is as if that church is in a paralyzed state. If there is someone who came for the first time, you should rather envy him and respect him. If the elderly like young children, they are not lonely or sad. If the elderly want to create a spring garden in their heart, they just need to be friendly with children. However, if young children are bothered by it, then you become an elder with a dry heart.

A life of faith in which you cannot become one with each other and have a heartistic gap in relationships can always easily bring envy and jealousy. However, in a world that is genuinely united with love, the other person's joy becomes my joy and their pain becomes my pain. And when the other person is better than I am, I actually become more joyful than if I do well myself.

In order to overcome these fallen natures of envy and jealousy, we need to always think from God’s standpoint and with a parental heart. The chronic disease of fallen human people is having a lot of envy and jealousy.

When the other person is better than I am or does something well, you should actually have a heart that envies them centered on the Will. Good competition of wanting to inherit their good performance and becoming better than they are actually becomes the motivation for my development.

A Person with the Qualification to Manage Fortune

3.Elderly people who look at children and say “you’re noisy” are like people who completely gave up their spirits. Not only elderly, but people like that are very pitiable people. Being envious when you see someone who is happier or more grateful than you is not giving up on yourself. When I envy someone who is better than me, think highly of them, and have attachment for them, there is a possibility for me to be like that, too. However, when you envy them centered on yourself and envy and jealousy come out, that person’s spirit has a disease. If some person has a lot of money, there is no need to be envious or jealous. People with money are only temporarily keeping hold of money, not owning it. Therefore, fortune is public. Only when a person with fortune has a heart to give to those who do not have any can they have the qualification to manage fortune.

If elderly people love young children, they are not lonely or sad. The elderlys’ heartistic object partners are their grandchildren. If the grandfather and grandmother are close to their grandchildren, the atmosphere in the family changes. Elders who cannot love young children are proof that their hearts were unable to mature in their life of faith so far. Such an elder’s heart gradually dries up and he becomes lonely.

When I envy someone who is better than I am, think highly of them, and have affection for them, there is a possibility for me to become like that, too. But when there is envy and jealousy centered on oneself and a person refuses to acknowledge it, the person's heart will become diseased.

If some person has a lot of money, there is no need to be envious or jealous. People with money are only temporarily keeping hold of money, not owning it. You cannot possess money and other material things forever. Therefore, you must have the mind that you temporarily manage all material and property

Fortune is public. Only when a person with fortune has a heart to give to those who do not have any can they have the qualification to manage fortune.

Attribute of the Blessing

4. When I claim to have received the Blessing, it is easy to become a hypocrite. Regarding people who did not receive the Blessing, people who received the Blessing go on the path of sacrifice first. Therefore, if I treat the unblessed person with joy and cooperate so that they can receive the Blessing, I truly become a person within the realm of Blessing as a blessed family. An attribute of the Blessing is not simply being satisfied with receiving the Blessing in multiplying it. We unconsciously become upset and have the function of comparing. Because of the discriminatory consciousness that I am this way and that person is that way, I put my own heart into darkness. Therefore, my heart must be bright, ambitious, and springing up. You have to create it yourself. Nobody does it for you.

The greatest attribute of the Blessing is multiplication. Therefore, if the person who received the blessing fails to multiply the blessing, the blessing is taken away by heaven. On the other hand, the blessing grows more and more as you multiply it.

Therefore, if you think of the Blessing you received as your own, you can never grow or multiply it. This is because the Blessing is a public thing. Our mission is connecting the Blessing to those around us

The Blessing only multiplies when you give it to others. But if you think of that blessing as your own and keep it, it will rot like stagnant water. Just as the more water flows, the more life is multiplied, the more blessings are given to others, the greater they are returned.

Today we talked about why we feel envy and jealousy and how to overcome it and Blessing.

LIVING TESTIMONY: I’m a Living Testimony for Whom Anything is Possible

(Testimony of Rev. George Russel, Virginia State Leader, witnessing)

NOTE: Thistext and the PowerPointslidesfrom this speech are available as a link at the top of this text. Transcripts from November 3, 2021 to the present, personal notes from November 11, 2020 until November 2, 2021 and slides from August 29, 2021 to the present are available at MD.Hoondok.com as PDF files. Books of the transcripts and notes are available as PDFs at MDBooks.Hoondok.com. This lightly edited transcript may contain errors and omissions. Indecipherable, inaudible or uncertain words and guesses are tagged with a “(?)” and indecipherable phrases, with an ellipsis “...”. First, second and third person pronouns have been left as spoken if the meaning is clear, and other apparently Korean English expressions have been preserved if understandable. Some repeated phrases have been eliminated. Audio only is available at anchor.morndev.com, spotify.morndev.com & audio.morndev.com. Notes or transcripts of Dr. Yong’s Morning Devotion speeches from November 11, 2020 through March 29, 2022 are available as six paperback books at cost at Lulu.comShop -- search for Dr. Chung Sik Yong -- and as PDF downloads free of charge at MDBooks.Hoondok.com.