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Sun Myung Moon was a South Korean religious leader who believed he was the successor to Jesus Christ. In 1954, he founded the Unification Church, a religion that was loosely based on Christianity. In 1973, he moved his headquarters to Tarrytown, N.Y, and as his religious movement emerged with what were considered unorthodox principles, it was labeled a cult and its followers were referred to as Moonies. The church was known for its mass marriages, presided over by Moon, with thousands in attendance. In addition to his religious movement, Moon built a multi-billion empire and, in 1982, he was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He died on September 2, 2012 at the age of 92.
Sun Myung Moon was born in a town in what is now North Korea on February 25, 1920, which was recorded as January 6th according to the lunar calendar. His family practiced Confucianist beliefs until they converted to Christianity, joining a Presbyterian Church, when Moon was about 10 years old.
He continued his new faith as a young man, preaching Christianity in Communist-backed North Korea where he was arrested in 1946 and imprisoned by North Korean officials on charges of spying. Moon denied the charges, but served 34 months in prison.
After his imprisonment, he started his religious movement in Seoul, Korea in 1954, blending unorthodox messianic teachings with anti-Communist beliefs and conservative family values. He moved to the United States in 1971 where his movement drew more followers, but also critics who labeled his Unification Church as a cult and his followers "Moonies."
Moon was known for presiding over "blessing ceremonies," mass marriages with thousands in attendance where often couples getting married were meeting for the first time. "People should marry across national and cultural boundaries with people from countries they consider to be their enemies so that the world of peace can come that much more quickly," Moon wrote in his 2009 autobiography.
In addition to Moon's religious movement, he built a multi-billion dollar global business empire. He owned companies ranging from newspapers, including the Washington Times, to hospitals, universities and non-profit organizations. In 1982, his business dealings also drew controversy when he was charged with tax evasion and served a 13-month prison sentence.
In 1996, in hopes of reviving waning church membership, Moon renamed his church the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
After developing complications from pneumonia, Moon died on September 2, 2012, leaving behind a wife and 10 children. According to Bloomberg.com, when Moon was interviewed by religion professor Frederick Sontag about what would happened to his church after his death, Moon said: "I will continue to led the church from the spirit world."
Sun Myung Moon [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/sun-myung-moon-38310, September 04
Origins: Moon was born to parents who adhered to Confucianism until their conversion to Presbyterianism in 1930. Moon claims that in 1935 Jesus appeared to him on a mountain in Korea and told him to finish the work of establishing God's kingdom on earth. By 1945 he had written down the precepts of his new system in the book,Divine Principles. He went to North Korea to preach and was imprisoned in 1946. In April of 1948 he was again sentenced to longer 5 year sentence in Hungnam. In 1950 he was liberated from the prison by the Americans involved in the Korean War. On May 1, 1954, in Seoul, Moon founded the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. In 1958 he sent missionaries to Japan and in 1959 to America. Moon moved to the United States in 1971. He has been invited to the White house and spoken to Congress.
Practices: Mass weddings. In August of 1992 in Seoul Korea, Moon presided over a mass wedding of 3,000 couples.
Teachings: Moon claims to be the messiah of the Second Coming and his wife is the Holy Spirit. He and his wife, called The True Parents where he is the True Father and his wife the True Mother, are the first couple to be able to bring forth children with no original sin. "The cross is the symbol of the defeat of Christianity." The Bible is considered scripture along with Moon's work "Divine Principles." Sin is genetically based. It is not a moral issue. The thieves on the cross represent political movements. The thief on the right side of Jesus represents democracy. The thief on the left of Jesus is communism. Adam and Eve fell because of sexual sin. Eve had sexual relations with Satan. Jesus is a 'true person' though not God in flesh. The Holy Spirit is 'the True Mother,' or 'the Second Eve." The church denies the doctrine of the Trinity.
Nature is dualistic: male and female, positive and negative, external and internal. God has an external and internal aspect called the Universal Prime Energy. It creates, develops, and sustains the cosmos. God's internal aspect of has to do with personhood - motivation, purpose and identity.
People determine their own future place in the spirit world after death through what they do here on earth. Has over 300 financial institutions all over the world including publishers, jewelers, and clothing stores. Moon has spent time in a US prison for tax evasion. Moon claims to receive revelations from God. He has been involved in seances and other occult practices like clairvoyance, trances, etc.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Matthew 24:4 "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
1 Timothy 2:5-6 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time."
1 Corinthians 8:5-6 "For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him."
Philippians 2:5-11 "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
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