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Who is Reverend Moon?

Nearly everyone has read or heard something about the founder of the UnificationChurch, Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Some media reports have portrayed ReverendMoon as a businessman or politician. Others have recognized him to be anextraordinarily dedicated religious leader. Who is Reverend Moon? Our answerbegins with an account of his upbringing, and an encounter he had with Jesuson a Korean mountainside.

Sun Myung Moon was born on January 6, 1920, into a family of farmers thathad tilled the land for centuries. As a boy he studied at a Confucian schooland was a keen observer of the natural world.
Around 1930, his parents became fervent Christians - Presbyterians, andthe young Sun Myung Moon became a Sunday school teacher.

At that time, Japan ruled Korea and only permitted practice of the Shintoreligion. The religious intolerance of the militant Japanese was only asmall part of the contempt they held for the Koreans, a race they believedto be inferior. The Korean people were subjected to forty years of humiliationand cruelty as part of Japan's Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. As amember of an oppressed race, Sun Myung Moon learned to hate injustice, whetheramong his own people or at the hands of the Japanese rulers.

Korea is a land of fervent Christian faith. Today it is well known thatKorea is home to the largest Protestant churches in the world. When ReverendBilly Graham visited Korea, he was so impressed by the spiritual vitalityof her churches that he predicted one day Korea would send missionariesto revive the West. Before World War II, the center of Christian activitywas Pyongyang, which was called the "Jerusalem of the East." Amongthe spirit-filled churches were many with strong messianic expectations.These churches had received revelations that the Messiah would be born inKorea, and they were directed in various ways to prepare to receive him.

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Jesus Christ Appears

At Easter time in 1935, Jesus appeared to the young Sun Myung Moon as hewas praying in the Korean mountains. In that vision, Jesus asked him tocontinue the work which he had begun on earth nearly 2,000 years before.Jesus asked him to complete the task of establishing God's kingdom on earthand bringing His peace to humankind.

The young Korean was stunned by this encounter, and especially by the requestthat had been made of him, and at first he refused. However, after deepreflection, meditation and prayer, he pledged his life to that overwhelmingmission.

After personally accepting Jesus' call, the young man set out to discoverits very meaning. If Jesus called him to complete his mission, it meantthat Jesus' mission was incomplete. Was not salvation through the crossall that man needs? What was it that Jesus had left undone on earth? Ifsin is not completely solved, then what is the actual root of sin?

Sun Myung Moon studied the Bible and many other religious teachings in orderto unravel these mysteries of life and human history. During this time,he went into ever deeper communion with God and entered the vast battlefieldof the spirit and flesh. Through denying his personal desires he overcametemptations of knowledge, wealth and physical pleasure. He came to understandGod's own suffering and His longing to be reunited with His children. Helearned the difficult steps that humankind would have to take in order toreturn to God and establish true peace on earth.

By 1945, he had organized the teachings which came to be known as the DivinePrinciple, and he began his public ministry. The Divine Principle, the fundamentalteaching of Reverend Moon and the Unification Church, is outlined in thefollowing pages.

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The Wilderness Course

As World War II drew to a close, Reverend Moon, who had been jailed as amember of the Korean independence movement while studying at a Japaneseuniversity, returned to his native land.

With the end of Japanese rule, he contacted other Christians and offeredto work with them to build God's kingdom on the earth. American Christianmissionaries had also heard of this young teacher, and disregarded him asa "country preacher." Korean ministers, jealous of the young man'sappeal with their members, rejected him and accused him of espousing falseteachings. Because the Christian churches failed to embrace him, ReverendMoon realized that he would have to walk the lonely path of a pioneer.

Subsequently, he was called by God to travel to the communist north. There,he began to teach publicly, despite the dangers of doing so in a countrywhere religion was not welcome. As a poor preacher who looked at the Biblein a new way, Reverend Moon was more vulnerable than the established churches,and, not surprisingly, was one of the first to come under attack from thelocal communists.

Charged with disturbing the social order, in November 1946, the young ministerwas imprisoned and tortured. The police thought him dead and threw his bodyinto the prison yard. Some of his followers found him and carried him awayto tend to his broken body. Miraculously, Reverend Moon survived and regainedhis strength. Undaunted, he began preaching in public again.

In April 1948, he was arrested again and sentenced to five years of hardlabor in Hungnam prison. He was among the first of the Christian ministerssent to the Soviet-style North Korean gulag. Hungnam was an exterminationcamp where prisoners were deliberately worked to death. Few lasted morethan six months. Yet in that miserable concentration camp, Reverend Moonsurvived for nearly three years. Although he didn't speak a word of theDivine Principle, many of his fellow prisoners came to him for spiritualstrength and became his disciples.

On June 25, 1950, the North Korean army invaded the South in a lightningattempt to unify the entire peninsula by force. UN and American forces,under Gen. Douglas MacArthur, rescued the beleaguered South. One month afterthe capture of Seoul, UN forces reached the gates of Hungnam prison. Inthe meantime, the communist prison authorities had begun to execute theprisoners. The prison camp was liberated the morning of Reverend Moon'sscheduled execution.

Despite his brutal prison camp experience, Reverend Moon did not immediatelyflee to the South. Instead, he returned to Pyongyang and spent forty dayssearching for the members of his scattered flock. He eventually found afew members and then traveled south on foot with two of them. In the portcity of Pusan, Reverend Moon and one disciple built the first UnificationChurch from discarded army ration boxes. At that time, he told his smallfollowing that one day the message of the Divine Principle would be spreadall over the world. He prophesied that people from all over the world wouldvenerate that hillside. Reverend Moon's prophecy sounded unbelievable. Yet,it came true. Tens of thousands of people, including 7,000 ministers fromAmerica, have made a pilgrimage to the spot. How did this come about?

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The Beginning of the Unification Church

On May 1, 1954, in Seoul, Reverend Moon founded the Holy Spirit Associationfor the Unification of World Christianity (popularly called the UnificationChurch).

The church immediately attracted followers from a major Christian women'suniversity, Ewha University, a school closely linked with the Korean governmentand with the mainline Protestant denominations. Because many students werejoining the church, the school sent professors to investigate. When severalprofessors also joined, instead of sincerely welcoming this new church,the school persecuted it. The university president ordered the professorsand students either to leave the church or leave the school.

Coincidentally, newspapers in Seoul suddenly began to print alarming storiesabout the Unification Church, about sex orgies and Reverend Moon being aNorth Korean agent. Reverend Moon was thrown in jail, to be released weekslater when no charges could be found. Again the following year he was thrownin jail on charges of evading the military draft, even though during thetime in question he had been in Hungnam prison. After several months confinement-andsensational media coverage-- the charges were dropped. His release receivedscant notice in the press. Thus began the pattern of collusion between religiousleaders, government and the media to suppress Reverend
Moon and his church.

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The Internal Mission: Complete Salvation

Amidst this tribulation, Reverend Moon nurtured a growing community of faithfuldisciples. It was known as the weeping church. By 1957, churches were establishedin thirty Korean cities and towns. In 1958, the first missionary went toneighboring Japan; in 1959, the first missionaries arrived in America.

This family of disciples was the foundation upon which the holy wedding,the marriage of the Lamb foretold in the Book of Revelation, could takeplace. On March 16, 1960, Reverend Moon was blessed in holy marriage toHak Ja Han. This marked the beginning of the restoration of humankind backinto God's lineage. By the power of God and sacrificial love, Sun MyungMoon and Hak Ja Han established the position of True Parents. They are thefirst couple to have the complete blessing of God, and to be able to bringforth children with no original sin.

Hak Ja Han and her mother, a devout Christian, had also fled south duringthe Korean War. They soon thereafter joined the Unification Church. At theage of seventeen, Miss Han dedicated herself to the mission of bride ofthe Messiah. She has, with unwavering courage and dignity, stood by herhusband through every hardship.

All people, whether previously married or single, can receive the blessingof God upon their marriages through Reverend and Mrs. Moon standing as theTrue Parents. The number of couples who have received this blessing hasgrown, from 36 in 1960, to 8,000 in 1982, to 30,000 in 1992, and most recently,to 360,000 in 1995.

The large weddings represent the unity of humankind by joining togethermen and women of different races and nationalities. Reverend Moon teachesthat through the blessing, fallen men and women can be engrafted into thetrue lineage of God. Consequently, for fallen humanity, which traces itsroots to the false lineage created by Adam and Eve, the blessing is thegreatest hope. The couples blessed by Reverend and Mrs. Moon accept God'scall to establish ideal, God-centered families. The establishment of idealfamilies is the starting point for the building of a peaceful world.

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Ministry in America

In 1971, God directed Reverend Moon to expand his ministry to the worldlevel by coming to the United States. He saw all that was expressed gratitudefor its role in liberating his good in America and homeland. But he alsoknew that God expected much more from this land that had been so richlyblessed. America, which embraces all peoples, races and religions, representsthe world. What happens in America has global repercussions.

It was clear to Reverend Moon that America had drifted from its originalideals. Therefore, he conducted a "Day of Hope" speaking tourthroughout America in the early 1970s with the purpose of reviving traditionalJudeo-Christian values. In 1974, he spoke to an over flow crowd in New York'sMadison Square Garden. He then preached in all fifty states, hosting banquetsfor thousands of society's leaders and maintaining an exhausting schedule.During this time, thousands of young people accepted his message and dedicatedthemselves to God's providence.

Reverend Moon was invited to the White House, where he met with PresidentRichard Nixon. On two occasions, he addressed members of the US Congress,both in the House and Senate. In 1975, he continued his Day of Hope festivalsin Japan and Korea, concluding with a rally at Yoido Island near Seoul whichwas attended by 1.2 million people. Also in 1975, Reverend Moon sent missionariesto 120 countries, making the Unification Church a worldwide faith.

During the United States' bicentennial in 1976, Reverend Moon spoke to anenthusiastic crowd in Yankee Stadium. Shortly thereafter, he organized thegreatest religious rally ever assembled in Washington, D.C. Over 300,000people of all creeds and colors came to hear him speak at the "GodBless America Festival." At this historic rally, Reverend Moon calledupon America to fulfill its blessing as one nation under God, and to create"one world under God."

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Why The Persecution?

Reverend Moon's appeal for a true Christian renewal of America was initiallywelcomed. However, this receptivity proved shallow when, in 1974, he urgedAmericans through rallies and newspaper statements to forgive the beleagueredRichard Nixon at the time of the Watergate scandal. Any public relationsstrategist would have advised him against such action, which called on Americansto "forgive, love and unite." Virtually no one at the time waswilling to side with a president on the verge of impeachment, but ReverendMoon foresaw the terrible consequences of undercutting the American presidency.

His appeal was met with scorn. He became an easy target for the now hostilemedia. The fair and objective articles of the past were replaced by oneswhich portrayed Reverend Moon and his church in the worst possible light.All sorts of allegations from Korea were dug up. In this atmosphere of hysteria,the enthusiasm and idealism of his young followers was reinterpreted asbrainwashing. Reverend Moon was portrayed as a hypnotist and an agent ofa foreign government. Religious and racial bigotry and persecution, a phenomenonin the United States as old as the country itself, showed its ugly face.

Even though America was founded for the sake of establishing religious freedom,not every American has been willing to extend that freedom to others. Quakerswere tried and hanged in New England and Baptists were run out of Massachusetts.The founder of the Mormon church, Joseph Smith, was murdered in Illinoisand his followers were forced into the desert. Jews and Catholics were lookedupon as tools of foreign powers engaged in international conspiracies. Regrettably,religious intolerance is still with us today. The Unification Church hasborne the brunt of it in America over the last two decades.

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Trial and Error

The United States government launched a plethora of official investigationsof Reverend Moon involving nearly twenty federal agencies. Hearings wereconducted on Capitol Hill to warn of the dangers of new religious movements.Rep. Donald Fraser led a Congressional investigation of alleged ties betweenthe Unification Church and the Korean CIA. The multi-million dollar effortcame up with nothing of substance.

Meanwhile, a five-year IRS investigation finally produced a politically-craftedindictment against Reverend Moon. This indictment, handed down in 1981,charged him with evading income taxes nearly a decade earlier, as well asconspiracy to avoid those taxes. The government's purpose, however, wasto force Reverend Moon to leave
America.

When the indictment was handed down, Reverend Moon was in Korea. His lawyersrecommended that he not come back to America, since there is no extraditiontreaty between the United States and the Republic of Korea. However, hedid not follow their advice. He was, after all, a man of God, not a criminalfleeing the law. He immediately returned to the United States. He told hiscounsel: "I will not abandon my mission in America. That I will neverdo."

Upon arriving in New York for the Federal District Court arraignment hespoke only one sentence: "Your Honor, I am not guilty." The outcomeof the trial was a foregone conclusion. He was convicted and sentenced tospend eighteen months in a federal prison. When, despite forty amicus briefsfrom mainline Christian leaders, legal associations, civil liberty groupsand state governments, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case, he preparedto go to jail.

The US Justice Department wanted to negotiate with Reverend Moon's attorneys.On the condition that Reverend Moon depart for Korea and never come backto the United States, they said, the government would waive his prison sentence.He flatly refused. His comment was, "It must be God's will that I goto prison. There must be a providential reason why I must go this way."

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Prison Life

Without any bitterness, Reverend Moon served time in Danbury Federal Prison.Initially he was received coldly by the other inmates, most of whom hadheard about him through newspaper articles or television reports. In onlya few weeks' time, however, the other prisoners began to accept this Koreanreligious leader, not because he preached to them, which was forbidden byprison rules, but because he took the most unwanted jobs and worked withthem cheerfully. His positive attitude toward life in prison began to commandrespect and even admiration from the other prisoners. Some of them beganto come to him for counseling and advice.

Some of the inmates openly defended him. One of them, Ed Farmer, wrote aletter about his experiences with Reverend Moon in Danbury.

I was fortunate. I only had to be in Danbury for three months.I knew I was going, and I knew Reverend Moon was there. They had it in thepaper every other day. I was curious. As it turned out, I was in the cubicleright next to Reverend Moon's, five feet away. Reverend Moon has a verygood sense of humor. It's hard for me to think of a person as being meanor brainwashing people with the sense of humor he has. He truly loves people.I mean, he likes being with them. He likes being kidded, he likes beingteased. I never saw a mean act on his part. He never asked for special treatment.He mopped floors, cleaned tables, and he helped other people when he wasfinished with his job.

When you'd be down in spirit, he'd come along, pat you on the back, andsmile and laugh. He doesn't put on a face today, or put on generosity orkindness today and then not tomorrow. Reverend Moon is Reverend Moon, avery steady, ongoing force. I think that man could be happy wherever hewent. He carries his religion with him. He doesn't need a book. Everyonefeels it. It's very evident.

Reverend Moon has never complained about what the government did to him.He has never accused the government of a witch-hunt, mainly I think becausehe refuses to dignify it. I find it almost impossible to believe the storiesthat they spread about him, after having met him. That man would not dothose things, it's impossible. My own personal belief is that it was a witch-hunt.

In the meantime, protests were being made all around the nation over theinjustice Reverend Moon was suffering. Many Christian leaders who neverknew or cared about him began to realize that the government had made aserious assault on religious freedom. Altogether, Christians and non-religiousgroups representing over 160 million Americans came to his legal defense.A Senate subcommittee, chaired by Senator Orrin Hatch, conducted its owninvestigation into Reverend Moon's tax case and published its findings ina report which concluded:

We accused a newcomer to our shores of criminal and intentionalwrongdoing for conduct commonly engaged in by a large percentage of ourown religious leaders, namely, the holding of church funds in bank accountsin their own names. Catholic priests do it. Baptist ministers do it, andso did Sun Myung Moon.

No matter how we view it, it remains a fact that we charged a non-English-speakingalien with criminal tax evasion on the first tax returns he filed in thiscountry. It appears that we didn't give him a fair chance to understandour laws. We didn't seek a civil penalty as an initial means of redress.We didn't give him the benefit of any doubt. Rather, we took a novel theoryof tax liability of less than $10,000 and turned it into a guilty verdictand eighteen months in a federal prison.

I do feel strongly, after my subcommittee has carefully and objectivelyreviewed this [Reverend Moon's tax] case from both sides, that injusticerather than justice has been served. The Moon case sends a strong signalthat if one's views are unpopular enough, this country will find a way notto tolerate, but to convict. I don't believe that you or I or anyone else,no matter how innocent, could realistically prevail against the combinedforces of our Justice Department and judicial branch in a case such as ReverendMoon's.

On August 20, 1985, Reverend Moon was freed after completing thirteen monthsof incarceration. Upon his release, major Christian and civil rights leaders,including Reverend Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority and Reverend JosephLowry of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, held a press conferenceto decry the persecution and imprisonment of Reverend Moon and to welcomehim back.

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Return to Homeland

By 1988, Reverend and Mrs. Moon had completed the forty-year wildernesscourse. With myriad followers of all races, nations and religions, the UnificationChurch was firmly established and could be used by God as the instrumentof world salvation. Reverend Moon then began the next phase of his mission.

In 1990, Reverend Moon organized a major meeting of government and mediain Moscow. This fulfilled a pledge he had made in 1976 that one day he wouldorganize a "great rally for God in Moscow." During this conference,on their thirtieth wedding anniversary, Reverend and Mrs. Moon met withPresident Mikhail Gorbachev. Through several interviews, televised and inprint, they gave a message of hope to the Soviet people, urging them toturn toward God.

A crucial step for the establishment of world peace is the reunificationof North and South Korea. Risking his life, Reverend Moon traveled to NorthKorea in December 1991, and met with President Kim Il Sung, under whoseregime he had been tortured and sent to a labor camp. His purpose was toseek ways to bridge the gap between the two countries. The North Koreanruler, who had suppressed religion for forty years, completely welcomedReverend and Mrs. Moon.

On a tearful yet joyful day, Reverend Moon returned to his hometown, tothe house of his birth. He put flowers on the graves of his parents, whohad died during his absence. He was welcomed with tears of joy by his survivingrelatives.

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The Ideal of Woman

In 1992, Reverend and Mrs. Moon inaugurated the Women's Federation for WorldPeace. The Divine Principle teaches that the unity of brothers (Cain andAbel) restores the mother's position, who then brings the family back toGod. Thus the end of the Cold War offers the opportunity to heal the worldbased upon a new women's movement. On April 10, Mrs. Moon as internationalpresident of the Federation initiated this movement at a rally of 150,000in Seoul. In the months that followed, she spoke to more than one millionpeople in over 120 cities and twelve nations.

The Women's Federation brings women together to take action for the moraleducation and healing of our families and society. By nurturing the pureroot of true love between husband and wife, the women of the world willbring harmony and blessing to their families. This in turn will lead tosocieties, nations and a world of peace.

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True Parents

On August 24, 1992, Reverend Moon completed his forty-year wilderness course.At a gathering of 1,000 world leaders at the World Culture and Sports Festival,Reverend Moon declared that he and his wife are the Messiah and True Parentsof all humanity. This marks the beginning of the Completed Testament Age.Mrs.. Moon has given a fitting description of the meaning of the Messiahand the True Parents.

Ladies and Gentlemen, what is the Messiah? The Messiah is
the True Parents of humankind. God's original plan was to
establish perfected Adam and Eve as the true ancestors of
humanity. Satan, however, invaded this ideal, and God, ever
since, has been working toward the emergence of ideal True
Parents through which all humankind can be restored. As true
fathers and true mothers ourselves, we must vanquish Satan,
liberate humanity and build the kingdom of Heaven on earth.
As God's sons and daughters we must inherit God's love, life
and lineage. Moreover, we must also inherit True Parents' love,
life and lineage. Then we will have achieved unity between
heaven and earth, vertical and horizontal, and mind and body.
This will be the starting point for the eternal world of peace.

The following year saw an even greater activism on the part of Mrs. Moon,as she delivered the address, "True Parent's and the Completed TestamentAge" in 44 cities in America, 27 cities in Japan, on 40 universitycampuses in Korea, and 41 nations around the world. This monumental achievementincluded such notable venues as Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., the UnitedNations in New York City, the Kremlin, and congressional buildings in Japan,Korea, and Canada.

With absolute faith, hope and love, Reverend Moon has dedicated himselfto the call of Jesus. Through God's power and Principle, despite persecution,he has accomplished the work which Jesus called him to do. First, aftera long search, he discovered the teachings of the Divine Principle: God'sideal for humanity, the root of evil, and the formula to restore the ideal.Next, he tried to explain his insights to the established Christian churches,but when they rejected him, he began the lonely and difficult path of aprophet in the wilderness. For over forty years, amidst persecution andridicule, he established a church reaching out to people across the globe.

Tens of thousands of Unificationist families, sanctified by God's blessing,are practicing a quality of love which transcends all racial and nationalbarriers. Organizations founded by Reverend Moon in education, the arts,science, communications and international affairs show how every aspectof human life can be centered on God's true love. Reverend Moon has emergedon the world stage to demonstrate God's true heart by loving and embracinghis enemies, the leaders of North Korea and the Soviet Union, who once hadimprisoned him and sought to kill him. He has brought together the leadersof warring religions.

True love has now triumphed over evil. All the satanic barriers have beenbroken down. The Completed Testament Age has dawned. God's true love, whichwas lost at the fall of man, has made its triumphant reappearance in theworld. This love is the power of new life for all individuals, marriagesand families the world over. We pray that this brief testimony to the providenceof God will inspire the reader to study further, and to make a personalcommitment to building the kingdom of Heaven on earth.

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