---
title: "THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CAIN AND ABEL"
type: "speech"
published: "2018-06-11T15:30:50+01:00"
updated: "2018-06-11T15:30:50+01:00"
source: "/blog/2018/06/11/the-responsibility-of-cain-and-abel.html"
speechYear: "1976"
categories:
  - "Speeches of Rev Sun Myung Moon 1976"
tags: []
---

<h2 align="center">REVEREND SUN MYUNG MOON</h2>
<h3 align="center">November 1, 1976<br />
Belvedere, New York<br />
Translator &#8212; Mrs. Won Pok Choi</h3>
<p>People today do not know that they have to travel the road of indemnity. In every human community a person who has committed a mistake or crime must compensate for it in some manner, including imprisonment. Even among friends, if you mistakenly say something that will harm another person, you must compensate. This also applies in the case of a married couple, and in the everyday world even some small thing may be incentive for them to get divorced.</p>
<p>You cannot just ignore some mistake without apologizing to the other person. Before you start seeking divorce you must clarify what the error was; when one party can apologize to the other then forgiveness can be offered. This must be done before the situation can be forgotten. Even after a war among nations the victor judges the other and seeks compensation for the damages of war.</p>
<p>If you just bury some anger in your heart without apologizing or speaking out to resolve it then it will multiply as resentment and remain within you forever. In every area of human relationships you must not try to cover everything over and persevere with resentment still growing in your heart. You must take it out and analyze it and one of the two must apologize to the other or make some compensation.</p>
<p>The same applies to the human fall. In the beginning man rebelled against God and ever since then people have been committing crimes or causing suffering to others. In order to solve the problem we must analyze what the root of the sin was because if it is just covered up the situation will never improve. Certainly for man to restore himself back to God&#8217;s standard the root of sin must be revealed and we must find out whether Adam, Eve or the archangel caused the crime. Otherwise the problem of sin cannot be solved.</p>
<p>Man committed a mistake in the beginning and he cannot continue indefinitely without apologizing or compensating. Mankind must be able to analyze it and say who committed the mistake and then undo every wrong that has been committed. We know that man caused the crime and that down through human history mankind committed many other mistakes, all of which can be traced back to the human ancestors who sinned in the beginning. Only by compensating for all those mistakes can we return to the original position of life.</p>
<p>We can say that the first human ancestors committed their mistake on the individual level, but down through history families, tribes and nations have also committed crimes. What would God think of the person who offered to compensate for all the mistakes committed on the individual, family, tribal, national and worldwide levels, taking the responsibility on his own shoulders? Would God deny that person or place His hope in that person? God urgently wants man to be restored because His purpose of creation must be realized. If God remains within the Principle He cannot annihilate man and re-create him all over again. Instead He has to restore man and in doing that He has to work through men alone.</p>
<p>What would you do if you took responsibility for all the mistakes and crimes of history? Do you think that you are in that position now or just trying to be in that position? There are many members assembled here but as I see it no one here can confidently say that he is in the position to take full responsibility even on the individual level. In that case your attitude must be to please God, wanting Him to shift all the responsibility to your shoulders, regardless of any difficulties. Are you in that position?</p>
<p>In shouldering the cross you are not supposed to sleep. You can only compensate for everything by staying awake night after night, working hard. You must not even doze off. Even though you feel physically exhausted you must keep your eyes wide open and be radiant inside. If you at least try to keep your eyes wide open when you are desperately sleepy, you can be forgiven.</p>
<p>The reason I am telling you this is that there are several people here dozing off. Now one of those sisters has her eyes wide open again! According to what I have said, those who dozed off with their eyes wide open would not have guilty consciences. Whatever mistake you have made must be resolved, but if you are iron-hearted and don&#8217;t feel conscience stricken then you will find no way to be forgiven.</p>
<p>If you propose to take this responsibility, would you rather cover the individual, tribal or national levels? How can you take the responsibility on the worldwide level? Are you really that confident? You must be serious in answering; this is a serious question.</p>
<p>I will talk about the responsibility of Cain and Abel in light of what I have said.</p>
<p>In our movement the newcomers are apt to feel that they are in the position of Abel to others. Before going any further we must know the definition of Abel. Are each of you in the position of Abel? Some of you said yes but without confidence. Is Abel or Cain destined for heaven? You are right in saying that both are, but Abel will play the role of guide to the heavenly kingdom.</p>
<p>There must be one Abel who can take responsibility for the whole world and then alone can he claim that position of Abel even on the family or individual level. He must be recognized by all people as representing them as their central figure. You are all in the prime of your life, being in your twenties, but you cannot become this Abel simply by claiming the position. Since there are many accumulated crimes all through human history, who will decide who Abel is? First God will, and then among men a person with a knowledge of the particulars.</p>
<p>Do good spirits know what crime the first human ancestors committed? The central figure on earth must be recognized by good spirit men in the other world and then the angelic world must recognize this person&#8217;s qualifications. Next even Satan must recognize that person. This must be the first time you have heard that Satan plays a role in recognizing this position.</p>
<p>If Satan accuses God&#8217;s chosen man of not being qualified for the job, that person cannot assume the role. Even Satan knows that this person must have certain specific qualifications in order for him to be Abel. When accusation is given by Satan God cannot insist upon that person having the responsibility. God is in the position of judge of course, but if the prosecutor keeps accusing the defendant of a certain crime, can the judge be justified in acquitting that person? Satan is the prosecutor who is always accusing. Who will be the lawyer to defend that person? Good spirits and angels will do the job, so his defense is not entirely in his own hands.</p>
<p>Are you confident to say before God, the good spirit world, the angels and even Satan that you are qualified to be this Abel? You may be safely able to say that you are on the side of Abel, being a little better than an evil person, but you cannot quite claim the qualifications for being Abel. In order to be selected as Abel you must first be summoned by God and be able to say, &#8220;Here I am God. I&#8217;ll do the job.&#8221;</p>
<p>When God finally summons a person, wouldn&#8217;t his ancestors and the rest of the good spirits be happy? They would not oppose him because they are anxious to see that position filled. They are all prepared to help such a person when he comes along. Even after answering God&#8217;s call that person cannot assume his position all of a sudden but must go through a certain amount of indemnity to qualify. It would be wonderful if he could take that position without having to pay indemnity but that is not possible because Satan is there to accuse.</p>
<p>You can claim to be a good person but once you commit some kind of mistake you must beg forgiveness from the person you have wronged or from those associated with him. Otherwise you will not be forgiven. In order for you to remove the condition to be accused by Satan you must be able to resemble God. God alone cannot be accused by Satan so you must be able to resemble God and put yourself in His position. There is one way to do that; if you are utterly obedient to God and become one with Him, you can put yourself in the position of God to Satan. You know the definition of indemnity conditions, but are you on the way to pay that indemnity or haven&#8217;t you started yet? When will you be finished with it? Are you entitled to go to heaven while you are still involved with paying indemnity? You know the answer well. You must look into yourself and decide whether or not you have finished with indemnity.</p>
<p>Cain represents the side of Satan and Abel represents the side of God. I said that Abel is put in that position when he is absolutely obedient to God and one with Him so wouldn&#8217;t it be simple for God to set that person up as president of a certain nation? That person might be proud of himself but what about Satan? Would Satan just approve or would he accuse and tell God that He can&#8217;t do that? Even God cannot ignore Satan at that moment. If God were able to do that He could have done it 6,000 years ago. In the face of satanic accusation God cannot easily say that a person is liberated from sin. There are conditions to go through if you want to become president.</p>
<p>On every level the president who is designated by God must excel those presidents on the side of Satan. Only then could he claim to be on the side of God. He must excel those predecessors who have done good things and loved their people as though they were their own children. There have been many such persons in the past. To be qualified for the presidency or for sonship on the side of God it is natural that he must excel those on the satanic side. Could God ignore Satan&#8217;s protests that God&#8217;s chosen person hasn&#8217;t met the standard?</p>
<p>After picking a person God will leave him in Satan&#8217;s hands to be tested. Satan will try his best to find fault with this person, torturing him and blocking his way. That person must be willing even to die in the course of his struggle, never having resentment but only praise for God. How long can Satan test a person? You know that everything can be prolonged to a period of forty years, so if that person fails to be recognized by Satan by that time he will lose his qualification. At that point Satan will protest to God that this person still belongs to him and not to God and God cannot deny it.</p>
<p>In brief, the person in the position of Abel must go through the road of indemnity to the point where he can even die. We claim that we are Abel to the outside world, but since the first Abel was killed, what is the qualification of being Abel here in the Unification Church? Is it only on the spiritual level? We need to talk about the providence of Cain and Abel because Abel&#8217;s being killed prolonged that dispensation.</p>
<p>While Abel was still alive he had not yet fulfilled the qualifications for that position, but if he had not been killed he could have saved his whole family and they could have reached the level of having nothing to do with sin. Abel died with that part still left unaccomplished but because he was killed for the sake of God the way was left open for an Abel in the future to accomplish the mission he left undone.</p>
<p>Because he was invested in his mission and was killed along the way Abel is qualified to come down spiritually and help qualified people to come to that level. Individuals and families are needed in the position of Abel. The first such person on the family level was Noah and his family. Noah was told to build a boat on top of Mt. Ararat, a task far from common sense. Why would God give such a crazy command? The most important reason is that God wanted to remove accusation by Satan. How many people could have done Noah&#8217;s job? If you were in the position of Noah wouldn&#8217;t you have been skeptical? But Noah was utterly obedient to God&#8217;s command and began to build the boat on the mountain. Why would God have to ask abnormal things of Noah? Simply because Satan would have to surrender if Noah fulfilled God&#8217;s exorbitant requirements.</p>
<p>God anticipated Satan saying, &#8220;You think Your servant is obedient and loyal, but wait and see. He will not last more than several decades, or at the longest he will endure 100 years.&#8221; Knowing that, God decided to have Noah spend 120 years building the ark. Satan was confident that Noah could not endure that long, and naturally Noah&#8217;s wife and children and neighbors would all be scornful of him. They would have been unusual people to not act like that.</p>
<p>Was God foolish to push Noah like that? With His wisdom God judged that he had to go through the indemnity course and He gave orders to Noah accordingly. Without knowing this principle we can&#8217;t understand why all the good men on earth have gone through so much difficulty and persecution, even being martyred. Now you can clearly understand the situation. Without the human fall the difficulties of indemnity would not be necessary.</p>
<p>We can draw the conclusion that God Himself could not act normally because the human fall threw everything into abnormality. We know that God could not protect Abel from being killed and in Noah&#8217;s case God would not give encouragement but left him alone to spend many years building the ark. Was it normal for God to require Abraham to offer his only son, Isaac, who was born after Abraham was over 100? God blessed Abraham, saying that his descendants would be numbered like the stars of the heavens, but did it seem He would keep His promise? Would you call this God a normal God?</p>
<p>Look at the case of Moses. Moses was a murderer who killed an Egyptian who was torturing some Israelites. Why would God choose such a person when there might have been many other righteous people? We must clearly understand what is righteous and unrighteous in God&#8217;s sight.</p>
<p>The Jewish people are dispersed to every comer of the earth and are still going through difficulties. At the time of Moses they were persecuted by the Egyptians but Moses was raised by the royal family and saved from slavery. A normal person would have been content with his life in the palace, but Moses ventured to protect his people by killing an Egyptian. For 400 long years the Israelites had suffered in Egypt and in Moses&#8217; sight the time had come that they could be liberated. He knew that his people needed a great leader who could fight the Pharaoh and he thought he was the only one who could do the job.</p>
<p>Moses had seen many instances of Israelites being killed or tortured without reason and he thought that it was righteous for him to protect his people, even by killing the Egyptians. He chose the responsibility of leading this persecuted people. Common sense told him that he could lead a gorgeous life in the palace but he chose to be with the Israelites and go through the difficulties of guiding these people into the land of Canaan, even in the face of rebellion. He lived completely in the awareness of this mission.</p>
<p>After his forty years of luxurious life in the palace he spent forty years in the wilderness. During those forty years of traveling with the Israelites in the wilderness Moses was never once resentful against God. In the face of tremendous difficulties he would praise God and try his best to lead his people. It was because God saw the possibility of such character in Moses that He called him from the palace. Only after fighting against the royal power with his own hands could Moses liberate the Israelites.</p>
<p>John the Baptist also lived for many years out in the wilderness, subsisting on locusts and wild honey. His life was completely contrary to a normal existence. Jesus Christ also lived a totally different life from most people in that age. If Jesus had lived to be forty, things could have been different.</p>
<p>God originally chose the Israelites as the center of His providence but because they did not fulfill their position Jews have been dispersed all over the world. Christians also had to go through a course of difficulties and persecution, beginning with the Roman Empire. After persecuting the early Christians the Roman Empire surrendered and Christianity won a spiritual victory. People have come to think that God is cruel, if indeed there is any God at all. People wonder how a real God could leave His people alone to struggle against an evil power and go through so much misery, but without some knowledge of the indemnity course they could not understand.</p>
<p>In order to win the world back to God&#8217;s side a person must appear who can go through the indemnity course from the individual level through -the family, tribal, national and worldwide levels. Who has been victorious in the history of indemnity, God&#8217;s side or the other side? When would God&#8217;s side be victorious over all those things? God has been anxious to send a sinless leader whenever the foundation for the Messiah was finally laid.</p>
<p>The Messiah must undo all the mistakes of history, from the individual level to the worldwide level. Jesus Christ was killed before he could do that on the physical level. Although he initially carne to the Israelites his mission embraced the worldwide level; in his lifetime he should have advanced to win the Roman Empire and then open the way to reach out to every comer of the earth. Because his mission was not fulfilled on both the spiritual and physical levels Christians are waiting for the Lord of the Second Advent to come.</p>
<p>The Christian world is the foundation on which the Lord will come, but until now Christians have been teaching he will come on the clouds. In the Unification Church we claim that the Lord of the Second Advent will come in the flesh, but it is difficult for people to accept this; we are saying things entirely opposite to what they have believed. Naturally we are opposed for saying such things. The most bitter opposition to endure is not from atheists or ordinary people but from these Christians who severely persecute us.</p>
<p>God is anxious to have His prophets come to earth and reveal His secrets in the latter days. Everyone who came to foretell the future lived an abnormal life; people in the Old Testament hardly ever believed the prophets God sent and persecuted them without exception. God expects Christians to lay the foundation for the Lord of the Second Advent to come, but if they do not accept the Lord or his ideology then God will not continue to work through Christianity and Christians also will be fated to go through the worldwide level of persecution. A new group must emerge from Christianity like new buds on a tree and go through persecution by way of indemnity on every level. When this group confronts the worldwide level of indemnity you can know that the final goal is close at hand. Now is that time.</p>
<p>In our movement we have to link together each level of all things, restoring what was previously a failure. If Christianity had cooperated with our movement, we could have reached the goal in seven years&#8217; time but instead it was prolonged to 21 years. My real mission finally started at the age of forty.</p>
<p>Before the age of forty I had to endure persecution and fulfill indemnity conditions up to a certain level. You must clearly understand that the history of the Unification movement has been one of persecution for the purpose of indemnity. In Korea and Japan our Church was persecuted by the government and now we are going through the same thing in America.</p>
<p>Now that we have been victorious spiritually on the world level we must indemnity all those levels horizontally, never being frustrated and never vacillating but always acting on God&#8217;s plan until we are recognized.</p>
<p>I have carried out my mission without any example from history to follow. You have clearly seen what took place during the Washington Monument campaign. That kind of thing could have easily been done with the cooperation of America, but even in the face of persecution from almost the whole nation we won a victory because God was on our side. How do you view me compared to the presidents of the United States, for instance? Could they do what I have done?</p>
<p>America and most other democratic nations are retreating before the threat of communism but I am proclaiming that we will have a big rally in Moscow and I am unshakably confident that I will annihilate the evil ideology of communism. Have you ever seen such a person? The communists are deriding me but I am more than confident.</p>
<p>I have no weapons to fight with but the Korean government is scared of me; they think that if I ever wanted to be the President of Korea that I would be able to do it. In the United States the State Department is fearful of me and the communists oppose what I am doing. Am I such a fearful person? I have nothing but my own two hands to work with yet people are fearful nonetheless; they sense that God is working through me. I am talking about uniting the whole world with my bare hands. Can anyone believe that? You are crazy because you believe that.</p>
<p>To repeat, you must start by placing yourselves in the central point and going through indemnity on the horizontal level of individual, family, nation and world. In the providence of God Korea and America correspond to Israel and the Roman Empire. The United States is giving aid to Korea but Korea is reciprocating by giving aid on the spiritual level. Koreans envy the material wealth of the Western world, especially America, but America is now inclined to be influenced by the spiritual life of the East. If Christianity alone were to unite with us then the cooperation of East and West would bring the final victory on God&#8217;s side.</p>
<p>Korea is the only nation which is completely divided in two. Germany is divided into democratic and communist states, but there is already some communication between them. Korea is truly the front line in the battle between Satan and God, with South and North completely divided and not even communicating with each other.</p>
<p>All the communist powers are keenly aware of the battle in Korea. On the spiritual level we have almost reached the worldwide goal but the confrontation of good and evil is now taking place on both the spiritual and physical levels in Korea.</p>
<p>In general the American media is not sympathetic to the government of President Park. Americans think of President Park as a dictator but he has never murdered or killed anyone, while Mao Tse Tung killed 150 million, Kim 11 Sung killed three million and Stalin killed seventy million people. The Americans who criticize President Park even believe that Mao is the hero of this age, having organized a great revolution. These people never think about the situation South Korea is facing. With an invasion from North Korea being an imminent possibility, how could President Park be expected to leave the situation alone, not keeping his nation prepared and alert? Communists the world over know that if President Park could be removed from office that the North Koreans could easily invade the South and take over. Recently Americans have accused me of being connected with the KCIA but nothing is farther from the truth. I may be a running dog for God, but not for the KCIA or anything else!</p>
<p>Now that the day of heavenly victory has been set up on the 4th of October we will never be in a defensive position. We will take the offensive from now on. We are going to create our own newspaper and later I&#8217;m going to establish our own university. We are going to create more performing arts groups on a very high level. The world of art has influenced the media and subsequently influenced public opinion in a negative way so I&#8217;m going to educate our people and restore the world of media and art to God&#8217;s side.</p>
<p>We are now at the transition point, crossing over from abnormality to normalcy. The misery and difficulty we have gone through has been abnormal but from now on our way will be smoother. Just wait until the end of our third seven-year course and from then on we will be materially blessed and can enjoy our life in a heavenly way.</p>
<p>We are restoring the 2,000 years of Christian history within 21 years; if I had failed it could have been prolonged to 210 years. Even the idea of that is horrible. I had to go through this condensed indemnity course in 21 years, winning a certain standard in Korea, Japan and now in the Western world. All this culminated in the success at Washington Monument after Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden. Wait a little while longer and you will see how the second generation here in America will be inspired by our movement.</p>
<p>There have been tremendous barriers of resentment and hate between the races but now that we have laid the foundation this far God can forgive all of that. What I am doing is always in the name of God. I can tear down the racial barriers because I have made the condition of winning victory in the face of opposition from people of all races.</p>
<p>The whole world may be against me now but after overcoming that level I can send missionaries even to the communist world. You can now see that the whole world has spoken out in protest against our movement, but in a little while you will see worldwide victory. The day will come when the Washington Post and the New York Times will understand the mistakes they have made. According to the law of indemnity they must compensate by apologizing. When that happens the whole population of the world will pay attention. Now the State Department is investigating what I have done but let them go ahead. They will find no incriminating evidence because there isn&#8217;t any.</p>
<p>Have I done anything wrong to you? Would you call me evil for having you come here at 4:00 a.m.? You people are used to living in luxury and relaxation but now you go out selling flowers and witnessing to the people. America has been a selfishly individualistic country up to the present, but I am teaching you to be sacrificial people who work for the sake of the whole world. Is that a bad thing or a good thing? You are accustomed to sitting on soft chairs and enjoying comfort but here you sit on a hard floor and your legs get numb. In the established churches the congregations listen to their preachers for 15 to 20 minutes at the longest, but I have you sit three or four hours or more.</p>
<p>White people usually want to marry among themselves, but I am mixing blacks, whites and Orientals in marriage. Despite the fact that Americans don&#8217;t like me, I am always sure that God likes me. Even when people persecute me and call me names I don&#8217;t feel resentful but pity them instead. What I want to do is to make them understand because I know that by winning any Cain to Abel&#8217;s side we can find the Heavenly Kingdom. Only after having fulfilled the history of Cain and Abel can we open the door to heaven.</p>
<p>Our purpose is to save each Cain at the earliest time. When I say we are going to take the offensive, don&#8217;t get excited and be ready to crush anyone. Now that I have laid the foundation on each level and have paved the way, you can just follow my way to reach the goal,</p>
<p>Once public opinion is turned around and people come to think that I am a good person things will suddenly change and the people who still oppose us will be converted by our friends. The day will come before long; be confident. This opportunity will never always be here so why don&#8217;t you concentrate your efforts on laying your own foundation on the individual, family, tribal and worldwide levels, for your own sake and for your descendants?</p>
<p>Until now Abel has been in the vanguard of the whole group, but from now on it must be Cain who leads the way and faces the difficulties. Are you ready for that? With the month of October gone you must be prepared to take up my responsibility. In that case I can leave everything I have won to you; you will inherit all the work that I have done without having to go through the same indemnity and without accusation from Satan.</p>
<p>I will leave all I have to you but in order for you to be qualified to inherit that spiritual wealth you must be desperate to sustain any level of your mission. Until now we have paid indemnity for the past and most of the time I have done that. From now on whatever you do is going to be for the sake of yourself and for the sake of your descendants. Because of God&#8217;s love you can lay the foundation for yourself and your offspring. Whatever you win by struggling will be yours.</p>
<p>Until the end of the third seven-year course I want you to work with all your effort, investing every ounce of your energy. In doing that you must realize that you are laying your own foundation and taking responsibility so that I will not have to worry about you. Remind yourself that we have only 3½ years left. Why don&#8217;t you concentrate all your energy on what you are going to do to accomplish your mission?</p>
<p>Ultimately the providence of Cain and Abel will be accomplished and that kind of thing will be finished. Satan&#8217;s work will be no more. It sounds like a dream but we will make it true. For the coming 3½ years you must realize that you are going through the Cain-type indemnity. Why don&#8217;t you invest your whole self during that time? I will trust you and see if you can do it.</p>
<p>Once the work of Cain and Abel is finished we will see the communist world crumble and the power of evil diminish. Young people will abandon the life of drugs and immorality and be attracted to this way of life. The spirit world will be united with the physical plane and more and more spiritually attuned people will testify to our movement and ideology without our having to witness. You will not always have this chance so why don&#8217;t you concentrate on your witnessing now?</p>
<p>Up to the present it has been the Abel figure or chosen people who have gone through the indemnity course, but the coming three or four years are the period of time when Cain figures can pay their own indemnity. This is the best chance of your whole life. You represent the whole population of the world in doing the job when other people do not know. You must feel privileged to do your very best in that period of time. Can I trust you?</p>
<p>May God bless you.</p>
