{"id":1708,"date":"2016-03-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/apologetics\/resource\/unification-church-2\/"},"modified":"2022-04-15T21:04:04","modified_gmt":"2022-04-16T01:04:04","slug":"unification-church","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/apologetics\/resource\/unification-church\/","title":{"rendered":"Unification Church"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tal Davis<\/em><\/p>\n

Official name:<\/strong> Family Federation for World Peace and Unification<\/p>\n

Formerly: Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity<\/p>\n

History of The Unification Church<\/strong><\/p>\n

On January 6, 1920, Yong Myung Moon was born in northern Korea.\u00a0 He was the second oldest of eight children in a family that in 1930 converted to Christianity and joined a Korean Presbyterian Church.<\/p>\n

On Easter Sunday in 1936, as a sixteen year old boy, Yong Moon claims he saw a vision of Jesus Christ after which he changed his name to Sun Myung Moon (Sun “Shining” Moon). During this period of his life Moon says he was spiritually tested and imprisoned during the Japanese military occupation of Korea.\u00a0 In 1939 he was sent to Japan to study where, according to his account, he was again arrested, imprisoned, and tortured for anti-Japanese activities.<\/p>\n

After World War II Moon was released and returned to Korea boldly preaching a set of unusual new doctrines.\u00a0 In 1946 he was charged with sexual immorality and heresy and expelled from the Korean Presbyterian Church.<\/p>\n

In 1948 North Korean communists arrested Moon a third time.\u00a0 He was liberated in 1950 by allied forces during the Korean War and headed south.\u00a0 He then moved to Seoul where he established his ministry’s headquarters.<\/p>\n

The following year Moon was divorced by his first wife who charged him with cruelty.\u00a0 Later that same year a prominent Korean, Hwo Won En, converted to Moon’s doctrine and began working with him to write The Divine Principle<\/em>, a compilation of Moon’s doctrines. The Divine Principle<\/em> was completed in 1952.<\/p>\n

On May 1, 1954, Moon’s church, “The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity,”or Unification Church (UC), was formally established with Hwo Won En as its first President.<\/p>\n

On April 11, 1960, Moon married Hak Ja Han, in what the UC refers to as the “Marriage of the Lamb.” That historic event, they assert, established what they call “The True Family.”\u00a0 During the 1960s the movement gained converts in Korea, Japan, and several other Asian countries. Moon came to the United States in 1970 where he purchased several large estates and businesses in New York.<\/p>\n

He then toured the country preaching in rented auditoriums to large crowds in the 1970s.\u00a0 Several thousand Americans may have joined the church during that period. This sudden visibility and apparent growth raised the media’s and the country’s general awareness of the UC, Moon, and other similar cults.\u00a0 Many parents and other family members of converts complained that their love ones were being manipulated and estranged by intense UC indoctrination processes. As well, a number UC defectors told stories of being victims of psychological, spiritual, and labor abuse by UC leaders.<\/p>\n

In 1982 Moon was charged and convicted of tax evasion and again spent eighteen months in United States federal prison.\u00a0 That same year he founded what has become perhaps his most successful enterprise in the United States, The Washington Times<\/em> newspaper.\u00a0 It is now widely recognized by many prominent Americans as a major conservative alternative to the older and more widely circulated Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 1988 Moon endured one of several tragedies in his family when one of his sons died in a car crash at age 17.\u00a0 Moon later claimed that a young African member of his church had been possessed by his son’s spirit and was thereafter regarded virtually as an honored member of Moon’s family.<\/p>\n

Another family crisis occurred in 1997.\u00a0 Nansook Hong, the wife of Moon’s oldest son, divorced her husband, cut all ties with the UC and wrote a scathing expose book about Moon, his family, and their royally opulent lifestyle.\u00a0 The book alleged that Moon was guilty of sexual infidelity, family abuse, and that several of his children, including her ex-husband, were deeply involved with illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

In 1999 tragedy stuck again when another of Moon’s sons, Younjin Phillip Moon, committed suicide at age 21.\u00a0 This event, and the other difficulties Moon has experienced in his family, contradicts sharply with the UC doctrine that his “True Family” is the model for all people and that his children would reinstitute a pure and perfect godly line of humanity.<\/p>\n

As mentioned earlier, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Moon became more candid about his self proclaimed Messiahship.\u00a0 This culminated on March 23, 2004, when Moon and his wife were crowned by the UC as the world’s “Savior, Messiah, Returning Lord and True Parents.”\u00a0 This title was bestowed on them at the “Ambassadors Peace Awards” banquet held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, DC.\u00a0 Incredibly, the affair was attended by several members of Congress and a few local DC church leaders.<\/p>\n

In March of 2008, Moon\u2019s oldest son, Hyo Jin Moon died of a heart attack at age 45 in Korea.\u00a0The next month, Moon\u2019s youngest son, Hyung Jin Moon, 28, officially took over leadership of the Unification Church from his father.<\/p>\n

Beliefs of the Unification Church: Authority<\/strong><\/p>\n

The doctrinal beliefs of the UC are a complicated mixture of eastern philosophy, Christian and biblical terminology, and the many bizarre notions and interpretations of Rev. Moon and other UC leaders.\u00a0 The primary tenets of official UC teaching are contained in several books, the most important being The Divine Principle<\/em> and Master Speaks,<\/em> a collection of Moon’s sermons. Other recent messages by Moon are also regarded as authoritative.<\/p>\n

The Bible is referenced only to justify UC doctrines. Bible scholars, however, are in universal agreement that Moon’s revelations and the church’s theological teachings contradict clear biblical teachings.\u00a0 Also, Moon’s checkered personal history mitigates against the audacious claims he makes for himself.<\/p>\n

Beliefs of the Unification Church: A New Philosophy of History<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Unification Church teaches all world history should be understood in context of a sort of cosmic dualism.\u00a0 This dualism is called the “give and take action” of creation. It consists basically of a series of universal polar opposites: positive\/negative, active\/passive, direct\/indirect, objective\/subjective, masculine\/feminine.\u00a0 This concept is very similar to the Yin-Yang dualism of Taoism, a popular belief system in Korea that was likely the source of Moon’s worldview and historical musings.<\/p>\n

God, according to the UC concept, is described as the “Universal Prime Energy” who (or that) constantly interacts with the universe in this philosophical system.\u00a0 This interaction is realized practically in what Moon called the “Four Fold Foundation” of human history.<\/p>\n

This notion asserts that all creation had its origin in God, the Universal Prime Energy, who then made a division in his creation by making Adam (masculine) and Eve (feminine) according to the “give and take action” principle described above.\u00a0 Out of this division would be a sexual union which would produce a divine bloodline of pure perfect children.\u00a0 Thus the God-Adam-Eve-child union would complete the four fold foundation which would thereafter be reproduced through their offspring in of all humanity.<\/p>\n

However, according to UC doctrine, before Adam and Eve could produce their perfect offspring, the serpent deceived Eve.\u00a0 The serpent, according to their interpretation of Genesis 3, is symbolic for Satan who seduced Eve sexually and thus produced an evil, Satanically sired, human bloodline through Cain.<\/p>\n

Later, Eve had Abel with Adam, who represents a godly line.\u00a0 World history, therefore, is a cosmic struggle of good (God) and evil (Satan).\u00a0 In the last century this struggle was manifest in the final world conflict of democracy versus communism.\u00a0 According to Moon, the culmination of this final conflict, appropriately, was waged in his homeland of Korea.<\/p>\n

Jesus: The Lord Who Failed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The UC teaches that, because of the corruption of the human race, it was necessary for God to send a redeemer to restore the human race to its proper state.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus was thus sent to “pay indemnity” (suffer) to redeem mankind from spiritual death and to restore the pure godly bloodline of humanity.\u00a0 The UC maintains that Jesus accomplished only the first phase (spiritual redemption) of this mission. He failed to accomplish the second phase (physical\u00a0 redemption) because he was crucified before he could marry and produce children.\u00a0 Therefore, another redeemer would need to come about two thousand years later to finish the divine mission.<\/p>\n

Biblical Response:\u00a0<\/strong>The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus was the unique incarnate Son of God and he accomplished his mission in its totality. His death and resurrection provided full atonement for mankind. Therefore, He procured absolute salvation from the effects of sin and death, in both the spiritual and physical realms (see: 1 Cor. 15:1-28; Col. 1:19-22).<\/p>\n

Lord of the “Second Advent”<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the UC’s strange interpretation of Revelation 7: 2-4 and other biblical passages, the second redeemer had to be born in the Far East around the year 1920.\u00a0 Like Jesus, he would necessarily suffer greatly for mankind (“pay indemnity”).\u00a0 However, unlike Jesus, he would not die violently, but rather would live a long life, marry a perfect mate, and produce perfect children.\u00a0 Together they would complete the four fold foundation and form the Perfect or “True Family.”<\/p>\n

For years Moon avoided claiming publicly to be this new Messiah\/redeemer. Nonetheless, UC literature and Moon’s sermons all pointed in his direction.\u00a0 UC members unapologetically referred to Moon and his wife as “Father and Mother.”\u00a0 In the 1990’s, however, Moon became more brazen in his public claims to be the “Lord of the Second Advent.”<\/p>\n

Biblical Response:\u00a0<\/strong>Moon’s claims to Messiahship are blasphemous.\u00a0 Jesus alone can support His claims to deity and Messiahship by His sinless life, death, and resurrection.\u00a0 There is simply no need for another Messiah. (see John 1:1-18; 8:56-59; Phil. 2:6-11; Col. 1:13-22; Heb. 1:3; 13:8).<\/p>\n

Completed Testament Age
\n<\/strong>In 1999, it was reported that the Moon, by revelation, had received communications from the spirit world indicating that, because of his successful ministry, we are now entering into the “Completed Testament” age of world history.\u00a0 Good (democracy) is now finally triumphing over evil (communism).\u00a0 Moon, in essence, took credit for the fall of Soviet communism and the increases in the number of democratic countries in the early 1990s.\u00a0 As a result, he asserts, peace will soon cover the world, war will cease, and all religions will unite under a single authority (Moon’s, of course).<\/p>\n

Biblical Response:\u00a0<\/strong>The Bible teaches, however, that full peace and tranquility will come only at the return of Christ Himself. Moon’s claim that we are entering an era of world peace and freedom because of his ministry is ludicrous.\u00a0 If that is true, how does Moon and the UC explain the rise of militant Islam, terrorist attacks (such as that of September 11, 2001), and the various wars still raging around the world?\u00a0 Furthermore, North Korea remains a staunchly Stalinistic communist dictatorship that is even now seeking to develop nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

Join the True Family<\/strong>
\nAccording to UC doctrine, all people may receive the benefits of Moon’s Messiahship by being grafted on to his True Family.\u00a0 This divine adoption process is accomplished primarily by joining Moon’s church, pledging total obedience to him, and entering into a marriage relationship blessed by Moon to a mate personally selected by him. Through the years, Moon has conducted numerous mass weddings in various parts of the world with thousands of couples taking their vows before him. In most cases, the brides and grooms were not even acquainted until shortly before the wedding ceremonies.<\/p>\n

A disturbing sidelight to this practice is that, in recent years, some American Christian ministers and their wives have participated in these ceremonies to “reaffirm their wedding vows.”\u00a0 They may have done so unwittingly, not understanding the true significance of the UC rituals since the ceremonies are performed by Moon in the Korean language. One ritual includes the men and women drinking from a common cup of wine containing a drop of Moon’s blood.<\/p>\n

Biblical Response:\u00a0<\/strong>Moon’s system of physical salvation by joining his True Family is totally unbiblical. The Bible teaches that complete salvation is available by grace to any person who will repent of his sin and, by faith, turn to Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior (see: Rom. 10:9-10; Eph. 2:8-10).\u00a0 Marriage, though an important human relationship ordained by God, has no place in the salvation process.<\/p>\n

Moreover, it demonstrates a serious lack of spiritual discernment for Christians to participate in Moon’s wedding events. They should not support Moon and his idolatrous movement in any way.\u00a0 Christian ministers, especially, should not only avoid associating with the UC or Moon, but publicly should rebuke his blasphemous claims and unbiblical doctrines.<\/p>\n

The UC Today<\/strong>
\nIn North America there have never been more than about ten thousand members of the Unification Church.\u00a0 Nonetheless, the church exerts a level of public influence of greater proportion than its numbers would seem to indicate.\u00a0 Moon and his church has accumulated millions of dollars as a result of various fundraising campaigns by UC members. The church also has controlling interest in a wide ranging number of business ventures worldwide.<\/p>\n

In the United States, as mentioned before, the church owns The Washington Times<\/em> newspaper.\u00a0 It’s growing media empire also\u00a0includes the United Press International (UPI) wire service and Insight<\/em>Online<\/em> internet magazine.<\/p>\n

In the education field, the UC appoints a majority of the board of trustees of the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut). The UC bailed the school out financially in 1981 when it was facing imminent bankruptcy and closure.<\/p>\n

The church also sponsors dozens of other affiliated organizations that seek to further its spiritual and political goals.\u00a0 Here is a list of some of them:<\/p>\n