The Providence of Cain and Abel

1. In the church, you should know how to discern who is Abel and who is Cain. Between any two people, one is surely Abel and the other Cain, Among three people, two of them could be either Abel or Cain, but of the two, one is the chief Abel or chief Cain.

You should be able to clearly distinguish them. Cain and Abel should not be disunited or divided. One is the right hand and the other is the left hand.

Therefore, regardless of your position, you should find and attend to your Abel figure with the belief that his God is also my God, and God loves me and loves him as well.

In this way, you should do your best to avoid making the mistake that Cain made. (003-207, 1957.11.01)

2. The principle of Cain and Abel is great. God's true love is such that He desires to save the youth of the nation even at the sacrifice of His children. Because God's heart has this nature, unity can be achieved only in the world of such a heart.

You can be united only through love, by living for the sake of others. If your love is not for the sake of others, Satan can walk right through it and bring destruction. Since this is God's hope, the hope of all things, and the hope of humanity, how can a person who strives to realize this ideal come to ruin?

Heavenly fortune will protect such individuals, and God Himself will protect them as well. So even if they go to a place where death awaits, they will not die because all things will follow them.

They may appear to perish and disappear, but I have discovered that they find a new way to progress and leap forward. It is because they are going the way of true love, and nothing can obstruct or block that path. Even Satan submits to it.
(173-060, 1988.02.01)

Cain and Abel from the viewpoint of the Providence

3. When Cain and Abel made their offerings to God, God received Abel's offering but did not receive Cain's. It appears that God took a different stance toward Cain than toward Abel, but you should know that this was not the case.

If Cain had had even a slight feeling in his heart that he should go through Abel, who represented Heaven's position, God would have accepted his sacrifice. This means that God intended to treat them on an equal footing at a later time.

God wants you to go over the universal hill of lamentation and stand before Him as the one sacrificial offering that He can delight in and rejoice over. You should build an Abel-type altar for the restoration of all creation in the universe.

There, as an Abel-type sacrificial offering, you should offer not a lamb that you slaughtered, but your actual life. (003-205, 1957.11.01)

4. The mission Abel has to fulfill is more important than anything else in the course of restoration. The figure of Abel was set up within the Will because of the Fall.

Had there been no Fall, there would have been no need to set up the position of Abel. Abel cannot be Abel by himself. There is no Abel without Cain. Furthermore, to be chosen as Abel, a person needs to go through a period of preparation. In other words, he or she needs to go through a period to determine that he or she stands on Heaven's side.

The Unification Principle terms this the period to establish the foundation of faith. It is the period when the sacrifice is offered. Abel offers the sacrifice so that God and human beings, who have been separated, can again form a bond of heart. Then Abel can also form an external bond of the heart. (056-074, 1972.05.14)

5. What should Abel do? He should become one with God and love the archangel. Thereby he should win recognition from the archangel Satan and make him testify, “You are a child of God, and therefore you are certainly His heir.”

At this time, the person in the position of the archangel is Cain, and the person in the position of Adam is Abel. As a result of the Fall, false parents came into existence. The work of restoration is carried out by dividing the archangel and Adam into Cain and Abel.

In short, the work of restoration is carried out by setting up Abel in place of Adam and Cain in place of the archangel. To become Abel, you first need to become one in heart with God. When you have become one in heart with God, and He is well pleased with you, then He cannot help but love you. (034-085, 1970.08.29)

6. For you to become Abel, you need to find and recover Cain. Until you have recovered Cain, you cannot become Abel. Accordingly, in a position representing God, you have to go through the positions of the servant of servant, servant, and adopted child, and then rise to the position of child.

Only by doing so can you establish the condition for Cain to submit to you as Abel. Then you can finally complete the responsibility of a son who can stand before God, and if at that point Cain takes a cooperative stance, you can then advance to the position of a parent.

Thus, there are two reasons for which you need to witness: First, to set up someone in the position of Cain, and second, to secure the position of Abel. Thus, you who are witnessing from the position of Abel stand in the position of God.

Moreover, with God at the center and on behalf of Jesus, you are restoring what your ancestors failed to accomplish in the age of restoring the position of the servant. (034-054, 1970.08.29)

7. No matter how much you are loved by God currently, if no Cain is standing beside you, you cannot become Abel. Where can Cain and Abel be found? It is not in a comfortable and good place. Why do we need Cain and Abel? We require them for restoration through indemnity.

How do we restore through indemnity? We have to become sacrificial offerings. Our body and mind should become one, we should become one with God, and then become one with the sacrificial offering. Finally, we need to bring Satan to that place and bring the restoration to a close. Thus, we need to settle it once and for all. (034-091, 1970.08.29)

8. How does God determine Abel? It must be in a way that Satan cannot accuse. What can Satan not accuse? It is oneness with God. This occurs not in joy but in sorrow and difficulty. In other words, Abel must be willing to die in the most miserable situation. That is how you, as Abel, become one with God.
(034-051, 1970.08.29)

9. From the perspective of the Principle, who is Abel? He is the center. God should be able to enter his core and dwell there. Have you become Abel? To become Abel, first, you have to obey. You must obey God and become one with Him.

To become one with God, you should do everything He tells you to do. Surely, you cannot become Abel unless you do all that God tells you to do. Even if you already did ninety-nine tasks, if you refuse to do one task, you cannot become Abel.
(034-046, 1970.08.29)

10. The fight between God and Satan takes place over people, who form the center of the universe. God continues working to transform us even as we sway to God's side one day and Satan's side the next. The Unification Church is battling between good and evil and between Cain and Abel.

The providence of restoration is none other than the fight between Cain and Abel. Everything is connected to this battle. Why then do I keep bringing up the issue of Cain and Abel as the representatives of history? It is because this is a fundamental issue. It is centered on the family.

The problem of Adam and Eve and the problem between these brothers caused the breakdown of the family. That is why I am trying to restore the family centered on the issue of Adam and Eve and that of the two brothers.

I am trying to return them to the original point. The key to history lies in turning them around. That is the key. That is how crucial the issues of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, are. (247-192, 1993.05.09)

Who is Abel?

11. You need to know how to distinguish between Cain and Abel. Between any two people, one is Cain and the other Abel. This is the case even among Unification Church members. Then, which person is Cain and which one is Abel? Abel is the one who is injured, whereas Cain is the one who is injured.

For instance, if you were to approach someone who is just standing there and say, for no reason, “Hey, you, rascal!” then those few words would make you Cain. Let me give you another example.

Consider parents who have two sons. Suppose the parents consult only the first son, and he represents his parents in all matters. If he hits the younger son, although the latter did nothing wrong, the parents will naturally stand on the side of the younger son.

This is the standard to judge good and evil, but in today's society, people do not understand this. The one who harms others is certainly Cain.
(056-086, 1972.05.14)

12. Among Unification members, if you belittle someone who is working hard and offering devotion to the church, saying, “Why is that person's behavior so strange?” you immediately become Cain. This is how Cain and Abel set themselves apart from each other.

Those who are criticized and harmed, although they did not commit any wrongs are always Abel, while those who criticize and strike others are always Cain. This can happen even by uttering just one word.

In speaking, the one who says something that benefits others is Abel, while the one who says something that harms others is Cain. If you praise others, you bring benefit rather than loss. However, if you say something to profit yourself, it is tantamount to harming others.

Thus, the position that benefits others is the public position, whereas the position that benefits oneself is the private position. In this way, we distinguish Abel and Cain, and good and evil, based on who is public-minded and who is private-minded. (056-086, 1972.05.14)

13. The more public-minded person is Abel. Among Unification Church members, there are those who believe they are Abel because they joined the church earlier. However, although they joined earlier, if they are not public-minded, they are Cain.

Cain himself was born first, but because he didn't take a public position, he had to follow Abel. The Abel figure is the one who stands in a more public position. To walk the public path, you need to maintain relationships with brothers and sisters.

What I am saying is that, in walking the public path, the horizontal relationship is important. Even in going to the kingdom of heaven, the problem usually does not lie in becoming one with God but in relationships with brothers and sisters. The secret to going to the kingdom of heaven is to follow the public path.
(031-165, 1970.05.24)

14. Leaders think that they are automatically Abel, but that is not the case. Abel is the one who saves Cain and can go to the mother only after uniting with Cain.

Therefore, even if you have not become one with the leader, once you unite among yourselves for the sake of the leader, the leader will come to you.

That is why Jesus said he would be present wherever two or three gathered in his name. From now on, our focus on leaders needs to be replaced by a focus on members.

Likewise, the head of a family needs to emphasize the members of the family rather than himself as its head. Otherwise, heaven cannot come about within that family. (115-055, 1981.10.28)

15. You could not have been born as Abel if there were no Cains. You have to understand this above all. Abel is in the position of Adam. That position means, first, that Abel has to have the love of God.

The Fall was the failure to form a bond with God's love. Second, it means that the archangel figure is Cain, and needs to unite with Abel. Before Adam came to exist, the archangel was already there.

Likewise, before Abel was Cain. After God lost Adam due to the Fall, He established Abel in the place of Adam. Originally, Adam should have become one with God, and the archangel should have become one with Adam. Had this happened, there would have been no Fall.

Hence, restoration is the work of patching up the failure of Adam to become one with God and the failure of Adam and the archangel to become one. Thus, restoration requires that Abel become one with God. You can become Abel only if you have first received God's love. (037-061, 1970.12.22)

Abel's responsibility

16. How many people have lived based on God's viewpoint of life? Occasionally, I see you vent your anger on your church members and say anything you want to say. You need to know that in a relationship between brothers, the person who was born first is in the position of Cain.

Without saving Cain, you cannot become Abel. That means you cannot become the restored Cain. Abel is in the position of the restored Cain, once he saves Cain; that is, eventually he has to stand in the position of the firstborn son. To be able to attain that position, he needs to restore Cain, the elder brother in Satan's world.

Abel cannot restore Cain by striking him and forcing him; Abel has to move Cain's heart to submit voluntarily.

Abel has to show him a new view of the world, a new view of the nation, of life, of the future, of character, and a new lineage and heart. In short, Abel has to show him something entirely different. (028-250, 1970.01.22)

17. Abel should take a stand that he is willing to die for Cain, to devote his entire life to Cain. Otherwise, Cain will never submit himself to Abel. Only when Abel stands in the position where he is willing to die for Cain is Cain able to return to him?

That is why Jesus taught, "Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it." (Matt. 16:25)

These words apply to both Abel and Cain. For Abel to save Cain, he should risk his life. Otherwise, he cannot save Cain. Cain too needs to be ready to die to follow Abel. Otherwise, he cannot truly follow Abel. (034-099, 1970.08.29)

18. The first son belongs to God, as does the second son. What a tragedy that God cannot claim us as He and we cannot call God our Father! It is something we must change. How can we do that? We have to go to the world of the archangels and prevail.

The archangel's world represents the realm of the adopted child. As long as you remain in that realm, although you are in the position of Abel, you are still a son or daughter of fallen Adam and not of God. You may stand in the position of a restored archangel, but not in that of a son or daughter of God.

That is why your root must be pulled out and replanted. For this purpose, you are destined to return to your hometown and stand in place of your ancestors. That has never been done so far.

Then you need to reclaim the rights of the eldest son. Thus far, there has been no subject partner who could do that. Amazingly, however, we now have true sons and daughters who have placed True Parents at the center of their lives. Thus, you need to be harmonizing with them horizontally. (178-100, 1988.06.01)

19. Who follows the path of indemnity? It is not Cain, but Abel. If there are tears to be shed, Abel should shed them first. If someone has to go hungry, it is Abel who does so first. If someone is to be cursed at or struck, it is Abel. In this way, Abel follows the path of indemnity.

When a new person joins the church, someone in the Abel position needs to take responsibility for and guide that person. He should stay up all night listening to his or her stories. In the position of his or her father, he should discuss that person's concerns, shed tears, and pray for him or her.

When the new member sets out for home, Abel should go along because otherwise, he would feel uneasy. When morning comes, the table should go and wait in front of the new member's house. The one in the Abel position has to be willing to do all these things.

Abel must be a person who likes people, who likes Cain more than anyone else. Then Cain can easily follow Abel's footsteps, although they both take the path of indemnity. Thus, you should walk the path of indemnity. (088-263, 1976.09.20)

20. In the relationship between Cain and Abel, our final goal is the restoration of lineage. The root of the archangel's lineage that we received from birth must be exchanged for the root of the original Adam's lineage.

False love corrupted that root. Since that root is connected to Satan's love, life, and lineage, it must be severed. We need to receive an infusion of God's love, life,e and lineage.

That is why it is written in the Bible, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matt. 22:37)

What does it mean to love with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind? It means that you have to invest your love, your life, and your blood. To offer devotion means to love God.

Therefore, to love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind is the first great commandment taught by Jesus. It defends us against the bloodline of Satan's world. This issue is of fundamental importance. (197-281, 1990.01.20)

21. Until now, you have not known the tactics of God and Satan, but now you do. Abel is struck first but later can claim back what was lost. Satan seems to win by striking first, but eventually, he has to return what he took, and more. Although the evil side might conquer the other party by striking first, it will not prosper.

Instead, it will lose what it has taken, including even what is good under its dominion. By analogy, the way God works can be compared to a chef who makes a sweet rice cake but has to hand it over to a robber.

Then, when the chef takes it back, he or she finds there are powdered beans as an extra topping on the rice cake. For a time evil can flourish in the position from which it strikes goodness, but that does not mean that Heaven's side will be vanquished. (056-085, 1972.05.14)

22. You Unification Church members stand in the position of Abel because you know the Principle. That is why you should be the first to confront Satan, fight against him, and separate yourselves from Satan's world.

It means that you must come into the realm of God's love. However, that is not all. You should be willing to sacrifice yourself to appease the grieving heart of God and the sorrowful hearts of your brothers and sisters who are tied to Satan's world.

Sacrifice yourself willingly for them, and at the price of your life try to deliver them from Satan's world. The providence of restoration advances when Abel makes sacrifices. Remember this formula; it is a key component in the advancement of God's providence. (052-052, 1971.12.14)