Misunderstandings of the Cain-Abel principle in the Unification Church

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In my former blog i touched upon this topic, saying that "The matter of position in the world is really one of restoration of the right order that should exist between people, Cain and Abel in Unification Church terminology. Each person should develop an individual relationship to God and become 'Abel' or take a heavenly position to other people around. That is not a matter of authority first of all. It is a matter of directly being inspired by God's Spirit, again and again, each day."

Over the decades that i studied the principles about Cain-Abel restoration of the Unification Church, how they were written and how they were practiced, i noticed a long list of misunderstandings of what these principles mean and how they should be applied.

I shall need to write about this again and again, therefore here follows a first exposé.

Where does the principle of Cain-Abel restoration come from?

The human fall away from God can be understood as a fall of man under evil angels. Angels existed before God created humans. Human beings live on earth. Angels live in spirit world. Some angels take leading positions and are called archangels. It was the task of archangels and angels to prepare the world for the creation of human beings and to assist these humans in their course of development.

But certain angels who deviated from God's ways have found ways to control and dominate man. This is a problem that Adam and Eve could not overcome and it is the reason for their fall and being expelled from the Garden of Eden.

Because of the fall, the evil archangel came to stand inbetween God and man. This is a problem that needs to be resolved. It is a spiritual problem first of all, as angels are dwelling in the spiritual world. Man, that is "Adam,' and the fallen evil archangel, that is 'Lucifer or Satan.' I am using here the terminology as applied by Unificationists. When Adam could not restore his original position under God and he was thrown out from the Garden of Eden, the task to restore himself as Adam was inherited by his second son Abel. In the task to restore man, Cain stood in the position of the archangel. Therefore, the process of restoration of Cain and Abel is actually the same as that of Adam and the fallen archangel, be it that Cain and Abel were both humans and that Cain was living in the physical world and not in spirit world like the original fallen archangel.

Cain had the problem that the fallen archangel liked him and came to him and tried to influence him. Abel was visited by more heavenly angels. Therefore, Cain had the task to overcome the evil nature of the fallen archangel. Abel had the task to pass on to Cain the spiritiual inspiration he got from God and good angels.

What about the relationship that Cain and Abel had to God? We read in the Book of Genesis that both Cain and Abel brought offerings to God. Also Cain prayed to God and got answers from God, as we read that God spoke to him after Cain had failed his offering.

This is important to note, because it means that both Cain and Abel were religious people. They believed in God, they prayed to God and they brought offerings to God.

Something went wrong with Cain's offering and after God had rejected his offering, Cain expressed his hatred against Abel and killed Abel.

The principle of Cain-Abel restoration is for both Cain and Abel. Abel is a kind of 'chosen one' who received God's revelations. Cain had the task to overcome the influence from evil spirits. Abel had the task to love his elder brother, to pass God's love on to Cain. Cain had the task to protect his younger brother, to give love to Abel by protecting him and uniting with him.

If Cain had fulfilled his mission and if Abel had not been killed, then they could have restored the positions of the archangel and Adam, respectively. From there on, both Abel and Cain would have gotten new tasks in their courses of restoration, both moving up to a more advanced level.

False understanding of who is Cain and who is Abel

Many members of the Unification Church believe that the leaders are 'Abel' and the ones under them in the hierarchy are 'Cain.' Also the people outside of the movement are commonly categorized as being 'Cain.' Rev. Moon is seen as the Abel standing above all other Abels. Therefore, according to this thinking, Rev. Moon should be obeyed and also the leaders who received orders from Rev. Moon.

What is wrong with this thinking?

Abel is the one who is inspired and receives inspiration from God and heavenly spirit world. Cain is the one who is attacked by evil spirits and who needs to separate from that.

Cain is the elder one, having the responsibility to protect the younger brother, Abel. When we apply this thinking to positions in the Unification Church, then the elder ones, usually the leaders, should be called Cain. This is something that was also said by Rev. Moon in older speeches. Abel is the younger one, the more inspired one.

Could it not be so that people outside of the Unification Church have a strong desire for God and can be reached by God and therefore are in Abel position to many members inside of the Unification Church? Could it not be so that leaders in the Unification Church, having lost their original love for God and claiming authority based on being elder, are actually the ones to be called Cain?

The Cain-Abel principle of restoration is not about a hierarchy of who has to obey whom. It is a principle that refers to restoration of spiritual realities, Cain being the one who inherited a more difficult spiritual situation in respect to Abel. At the same time, Cain often is the elder one, with more experience and knowledge, but less zeal. Abel could be a young child that shows to us God's love. Should we obey that child? Yes and no. We should learn and inherit from that child's love and purity, but we cannot of course not trust the child to guide us in all matters of life. It is than our task as 'Cain' to protect that child against any intrusion from evil spirits.

The Cain-Abel principle of restoration has nothing to do with a hierarchy of leaders. In fact, the system of leaders and followers is one that is alien to the world of humans. Humans live in families. The system of a leader with many followers is one derived from the world of leading archangels with angels under them.

This means that the entire idea of leaders being Abel and younger members being Cain is one that comes from the world of angels. It is not something to be desired. It is something to be overcome.

Of course, something of this idea we find back in Rev. Moon's idea that blessed families are to be the center of the Kingdom of Heaven. This could be a good principle, but only if the members of those families also really are having their personal relationship to God, will act from that relationship and not from simply following leaders, not even if that leader carries the name Rev. Moon.

Read the next blog on this topic