Do we recognize our Heavenly Father’s loving guidance? Part 13

In this series I am pointing out in how many ways our Heavenly Father tries to help those who find it so hard to love their brother and sister to go beyond their limitations, especially as His work unfolded in the midst of those who have gathered in the iUnificationist Meeting House.

Maybe you remember that in the previous instalment I mentioned a message with the title “God and True Parents love the ex-members”. In this post the subscribers could read about a Japanese member who happened to encounter a Black man who shared: “I was a member of UC, served around Europe, in Germany, England. I always loved True Parents and Divine Principle, and never stopped loving Them. But I had a big problem: the leader. So, I quit. I became a Pastor, and now guide a congregation of about 50 fidels.”

In her reflection about this theme this sister who posted this short article note about this black brother, “He invited the member to this service and introduced them as a member of the Unification Church.” And she asked: “Did we really get it that UC is not an end in itself, and that God and True Parents guide and nurture any human on earth beyond time and space? Shall we be humble enough…? Welcoming the Holy Spirit back into our life, our mind, our heart, would liberate the ex-members, and others too, and give them desire to search for us again.”

This short article reminded the subscribers of the iUnificationist Meeting House that True Parents welcome even ex-members – so much more should the ones who have problems with their brother or sister welcome them wholeheartedly and do their best to love them with a parental heart.

This point was challenged once again in the discussions that appeared in this egroup under part (3) of this series where close to 50 comments being posted, with one of them offering these words of encouragement: “Sometimes a blog serves as our confessional; no one has to read it, but it is a way to cleanse the soul and move on. Once it is said, then it can be offered up to God. Some of us can do it in private and then others need a public means to let it out. I think this song may say it: ‘When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be. And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be.’ What was or is and still can be about our church, “we don’t get to heaven unless we help each other get there too”. Hang in there brother Nikolaus and don’t despair, reflect on what you learn each day and then find a way to teach others to be better than yourself.”

Sister Elise shared: “To all brothers and sisters who speak ill of my brother Nikolaus, I want you to read Jeremiah18:18 where it is written in the Bible: ‘Then they said: come let us make plots against Jeremiah- for instruction shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet, come let us bring charges against him and let us now heed any of his words.’ Then Jeremiah says unto the Lord: ‘Give heed to me. Oh Lord, and listen to what my adversaries say, is evil a recompense for good?”

The reason why I quote these words is because I would like you - brothers and sisters to take a look at what you are doing, how you are repeating history by stoning the prophets whom God has sent in our midst…to let us know that we must repent, humble ourselves and pray so that God can heal our land by healing our hearts. Nikolaus is like Jeremiah. Jeremiah spoke words from God. To the people of his day, those words felt like judgement. Don’t we need judgement by word if we are not using the word of God to grow closer to Perfection

I believe that each one of us is called as a prophet to minister to this world…if we cannot minister to one another first, then how will we learn how to minister to this world? We need to support one another in heart…as Nikolaus quoted: ‘with the heart of a parent, in the shoes of a servant shedding tears for man, blood for heaven and sweat for earth.’

We need to read this Scripture which tells us plainly of the times that we are living in: 2 Chronicles 7:14 ‘If My people who are called by My Name, humble themselves, pray, seek My face, and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land…’ We have just 2 years left until the gate closes to Cheon IL Guk…please let us spend these years learning how to love one another, how to understand one another, how to befriend one another and how to serve one another…I pray for this every day. AJU.”

In another message Elise wrote: “Why must we be so negative and put each down this way? We should really try to be loving brothers and sisters. We say that we follow True Parents, then we must embody their heart. Brothers and Sisters, please receive the Holy Spirit anointing right now, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet as you read this comment. So that when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you shall receive power. Acts 1:8…and through this power the yoke of suffering and negativity will be broken because of the anointing Isaiah 27:10 so that we shall know and understand that God Loves us Jeremiah 31:3 ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love and drawn you with my loving kindness.’”

Elise offered her testimony: “I know Nikolaus for a few months now, we speak together once a week on the phone and pray together. He is a God-centered brother who has helped me a lot in my life of faith and I respect him highly. He does not glorify himself but Glorifies God and True Parents only. He speaks about himself to make a point…like a metaphor. He is a Divine Principle lecturer, a VOC lecturer and a Unification Thought Lecturer who knows the truth and how to teach it very well. I really do not see him putting any one down in this reflection. I see him telling the truth how he sees it. Don’t you think that each one of us needs a personal relationship with God? Don’t you see that our UC movement has been one of a CF centered movement rather than a God-centerd Family ? If we are to build CIG in our hearts as it is written in the motto for this year: ‘Cheon IL Guk will be everlasting when the parents of heavenly emotion and children of earthly harmony each settle to the greatest degree, completely become one body, and together settle the cosmos.’ Then we need to love one another unconditionally with the heart of a parent in the shoes of a servant. What does this mean? To have the heart of a parent one who can love their brother or their sister beyond their own concept and be willing to pray to receive God’s viewpoint of them in order to love them with God’s heart, shimjung…and this is sacrificial love - walking in the shoes of a servant.”

The person who began the accusations against me responded to Elise: “…Mr. Beutl, he triggers my faith and my belief of what is truly right but I take all this as a challenge because I can see myself where am I in relation to my true faith and love towards God and True Parents. Thank you to your friend, this is strengthening me more and I see the great challenge within myself going to another step of finding deeper what is truly going into the real heaven.”

Finally, the person who had called for my expulsion from iUnificationist and other websites agreed that I am actually helping her. On the other side there are those members who recognize easily the value of my contributions, and respond in a way as it is expressed in the following feedback: “Dearest Nikolaus, Your writing is poetically beautiful, and burning with righteousness. Where else in our Church today can we find such a spirit?

I see, where we are at, as a Movement, is well symbolized by the sisters in the quake- affected region of Japan, who were pulled miraculously out of the water and saved… the situation symbolizes rather salvation at God’s mercy, than triumph of love, heart and righteousness.

Now we have generated a wave of united support for the members in Japan, and are gathering funds. …in the same way that sympathy for Japan is gathering enormous support and unity from all around the world. In this, we can see, man’s compassionate heart, at the last, still abides…”

Here I would like to include one final excerpt from what was expressed in the comments in response to the 3rd part of this series: “True Parents have given the motto of 2011 which has been interpreted: ‘When all people on earth have the heart - emotion of Heavenly Parents and their harmonious relationships of brotherly/sisterly love, and have permanently established oneness then heaven will be established and Cheon IL Guk will be victorious.’

We need to realize these words in our daily lives, but in order to do so, we must understand that repentance is a very necessary factor first and foremost…without repentance we will not be able to lay the basic groundwork for these words to be solidified and substantiated within our midst.

It is obvious to me that the blood of death is being drained here. And although I see bickering, I also see the constructive draining of the evil blood that was cut out during the sacrificial offering. We need to be able to communicate freely as not only a church community but as a family of true brothers and sisters.

The word true means honest, righteous, unchanging, absolute…here within our midst, I see that we are behaving like true brothers and sisters, if not for the fact that we are communicating in an honest and open fashion…this is what unity is all about. Some may think that unity comes with smiling happy faces; but that is superficial, true unity comes when we are able to trust one another by sharing our hearts and here, this is what I see- brothers and sisters sharing their hearts…and for this I am truly grateful and I offer all our hearts to Heavenly Parents so that we can all be an offering pleasing to them to create on unified purpose in the realm of Shimjung. AJU.“

On March 18, 2011 a “heart moving” blog post, as one person noted, was sent to iUnificationist with the very central question “Am I a Channel of God’s Love to others?” as title. In this article one sister shared about her situation: “My life of faith has been full of hardship and trials and pioneer in spiritually isolated places. Therefore, spiritually I grow fast due the suffering that my life of faith brought me even as a child. Growing up in a Muslim culture that does not recognizes women as the equal partners of men in participating in their country‘s development and growth. Perhaps the personal experiences of the same injustice while growing up have made

me very sensitive to the injustice and oppression of human rights against women in those countries. Perhaps this inequality stems from the fact that Jesus’ love has not yet penetrated into the heart of men in that region…”

The author of this article quoted: “When you know the value of the continued spiritual growth the stumbling blocks becomes a stepping stone.” And added: “This verse has been an inspiration to me because it is so TRUE!

As a Chinese proverbs said: ‘A precious stone ( a gem)- does not polish without friction, so is a man’s character does not become perfect without trials’. Isn’t it true that without trials and suffering we cannot perfect our character and deepen our relationship with God.

Well now my desire is to raise or adopt a child. So I am wondering if there is someone out there to offer a child to me that I can rise as my own. Or maybe you know of someone who is willing to offer a Child to me so I can have a blessed lineage as well…”

In this way the subscribers of iUnificationist who read this article which started with a quotation by Don B. “What a PRIVILAGE we have been given by God to be ABLE to SPEND our lives To give His LOVE AWAY.” were challenged to ask themselves, to which extent they are ready to share the blessing they receive with others.

The sister who put this appeal to the community noted: “There are many examples in history that have lived as an example of the above words. Lord Jesus, Mother Teresa, and Father Moon are few among the great saints who lived their entire life to love and to heal others.

Jesus was called the ‘wounded healer’, because in spite of his difficult childhood , the fact that he did not experience the love of an earthly father, yet he allow himself to be a perfect object of his Heavenly Father ‘s love and channel that love to love others and heal them by giving of himself totally. It is so amazing that those who suffer the most in their lives develop much deeper capacity to love others.”

We have each smaller or bigger wounds in our souls from experiences in the past, but the core question is of course how we act today despite what we may have had to go through already. If we digest difficulties with a loving heart, it makes us only stronger in our ability to relate to others. We develop a more and more inclusive heart and not one of not being able to love our brother and sister, wanting to get rid of them, kicking them out as a means to “solve” one’s own personal problems.

In the face of all the sad realities in our church, with division on many levels, each one of us is challenged to ask what he or she can contribute to the task of bringing True Love and reconciliation into our midst. It is my sincere hope that we will all invest for this purpose.