Overview of How to Conduct the Chastening (Indemnity Stick) Ceremony
This
overview document, has been contributed by Dorit Smith and Jim Stephens, Former
Co-director Blessed Family Dept.
“In order to raise up the Israelite people, an angel came and struck
Jacob’s hip bone and then blessed him. Whenever the Israelites made an
important pledge, they did it with their hands on their hip bone.” “All men and
women in human history have misused the hip bone, and thus man has resentment
against woman and woman against man. Without dissolving this resentment, you
cannot stand as an original couple who is free of this resentment. Since this
resentment came about through woman, the man hits the woman first. The three
strikes represent three stages and three ages.” Blessing and Ideal Family (Part
1, 7) Rev. Sun Myung Moon
”And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over
all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh.” Gen. 24:2.
“And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and
sware to him concerning that matter.” Gen.24:9
“And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the
hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he
wrestled with him.” Gen. 32:25.
“And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son
Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray
thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not,
I pray thee, in Egypt.” Gen. 47:29.
“And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Rev. 19:16.
Explanation of the Ceremony
The
fall arose because of the wrong use of the hips. Therefore, to establish a
condition to restore this through indemnity, there is the indemnity stick
ceremony. With the husband and wife hitting each other in the position
representing God’s chastisement, the ceremony grants them indemnity toward
their past mistakes, in both body and mind.
Three
strikes symbolize the restoration through indemnity of the three orderly stages
(formation, growth and perfection) and the three ages (the Old Testament Age,
the New Testament Age and the Completed Testament Age).
This
ceremony is held in order for husbands (representing Adam) and wives (representing
Eve) to restore their mistakes through indemnity and pledge a happy life as an
eternal couple in front of God, Christ at his second coming and fellow couples.
General Outline of the Ceremony
Sing
a few Holy Songs
Prayer
Physical
performance of the ceremony
Ceremony
Procedure for the Couple
Place
True Father’s and Second King Hyung Jin Moon, and Queen Yeon Ah Moon’s picture
in an appropriate location in the room.
The
couple offers a bow to God, True Father and the 2nd Kingship.
The
husband strikes his wife on the fleshiest part of the buttocks three times.
“The
striking (with the indemnity stick) should be done with utmost sincerity! Hard!”
Rev. Hyung Jin Moon has instructed.
The
wife strikes her husband on the fleshiest part of the buttocks three times.
The
couple bows to each other.
Testimony
about the Indemnity Stick Ceremony by Jim Stephens, Former Co-director, Blessed
Family Dept.
It
was late at night on January 31, 2009, after the Holy Blessing Ceremony and the
New York Crowning Ceremony of Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim as Inheritors of
True Parents mission.
All
the First Generation couples that were blessed that day had been asked to
gather in a big meeting room in the Pennsylvania Hotel for the Indemnity Stick
Ceremony.
I
was asked by several leaders there to give the guidance to the members about
doing the ceremony. A couple of them suggested that I could tell them that it
was all right not to hit really hard. Just a good tap would be OK.
I
was not really sure of any really deep significance to the ceremony; not any
meaning that made any sense to me. I remember hearing something about Jacob
wrestling with the Angel and getting struck on his hip so hard that it was
knocked out of joint. This was a spiritual condition for him to be able to win
over his brother Esau with love when they met.
Many
of the couples gathered there were clearly newer members who probably did not
have much deep understanding or faith in the Divine Principle. I feared that
this ceremony might drive them out of the church.
Some,
I could guess by looking at them, probably had been abused in their lives. If
not physical violence, then at least mental. Maybe they had been children at
the time, or teenagers, or some even more recently.
It
was a scary moment for them.
I
asked them all to join me in a prayer to start the ceremony. I really prayed
that God would help us to understand what we were doing. Please send us an
explanation or inspiration that would help each of us during this ceremony.
A holy spirit came over me as I prayed that prayer. I felt that I could
sense hundreds of their ancestors gathered with us in that room.
I
felt connected to the emotions that those ancestors were going through as they
were there looking at us.
Some
of the female spirits had had terrible lives, violently abused in all possible
ways. Very, very few of them had ever enjoyed romance, love, and happiness in
their lives.
Not
only the women, but also many, many men had been very badly treated in their
lives. Few had ever found happiness or joy in life or in marriage.
Wow.
The realization hit me that those newly married couples that gathered in that
room had that very same day received “The Blessing” from God on their
marriages. This was the Blessing that God wanted to give to Adam and Eve, but
they messed it up. The Blessing had never been given on the earth until this
age. None of those spirit people could receive the Blessing no matter how much
they wanted it or how much effort they had made.
The
ancestors looking on from spirit world understood much more deeply than we did
what amazing grace Heavenly Father was bestowing on these couples. Heavenly
Father had adopted them out of the lineage of Satan and into His lineage. It
was pure grace.
However,
what emotions do you think those spirit people had? Many were still carrying
their anger, bitterness, and resentment from their physical life. Do you think
they felt joy for these couples when they themselves never had any joy? These
young couples, were through no merit of their own, born at the time when the
Messiah was on the earth. Did these couples work
hard and live a life of sacrifice that could truly be respected? Were they
particular saints who were recognized as worthy of this tremendous grace from
God?
Unfortunately,
it was glaringly obvious that these young brides and grooms did not deserve
what they had received. Most of them did not even understand much if anything
of the value of what they had received.
Those
in the spirit world with all those negative, trapped emotions from their lives,
were easily in a position to scream out, “They don’t deserve it.”
Not only those troubled spirits looked on, but the high-level spirits
that had been dedicated Christians, some even martyred for God and Jesus, were
there. They had been working for hundreds or thousands of years in the spirit
world. They could not be married in the spirit world and could not receive
God’s Blessing in marriage. It was hard for them after all their sacrifice and
suffering courses to feel great joy for these newlywed couples receiving
something not available in spirit world yet.
This,
I realized, is what the Indemnity Stick Ceremony was all about. It was not
about us here in the physical world. It was all about the ancestors of the
couples in that room. It was an offering for them and a condition for them
to be able to heal.
There
was even some measure of healing in this ceremony for the individuals
themselves. Some of the husbands and wives in their own lives may have
experienced abuse. They were probably harboring some anger and resentment against
the opposite sex.
Therefore,
here was their chance to get it out and beat someone for hurting them. Their
spouse was willingly standing in as substitute for their abuser. Their spouse,
although innocent just like Jesus on the cross, would receive the punishment in
order for the victim to be able to find forgiveness and healing. Any and all
negative emotions should be incorporated into the swing of the bat.
Your spouse by offering themselves to be hit, was liberating you. This
act of unselfishness is an offering so you can start your marriage pure and
clean.
After this Ceremony, every person was clearly commanded that they should
never, ever strike their spouse again. This was the final opportunity.
Just
as Jacob wrestled with the angel and was struck on the hip, each individual was
wrestling with their own angels that needed to be overcome in order to fulfill
the ceremony. After which, they could go into the marriage victoriously.
For
all the troubled spirits watching, they could be healed by taking part in the
beating of an innocent person. In particular, they could let go of any negative
feelings they might have toward this husband or wife. I hope that they could
even go forth to help and support this couple from spirit world.
For
the heavenly spirits, they could see that this man and woman had really deep
faith and had dedicated their lives to God’s will. Thus, they were deserving to
be respected and supported. Like the young boy Isaac who willingly offered up
his life to his father, Abraham, to be killed on the sacrificial alter, these
couples were showing their true hearts through this offering.
I
shared with all the couples what I had received in my prayer.
I
told them that it was their portion of responsibility to decide how hard they
were going to hit their spouse.
[Suggestion
for the couple talk it over within their couple: what they were going to do.
They could do a small tap or they could hit really hard or any degree in between.]
As
far as I could tell, every person hit as hard as they could.
No comments:
Post a Comment