Moonies and The Unification Church

Here come the moonies!

In the year 1960, Americans were introduced to the philosophies of Reverend Sun Myung Moon. He is the founder of the Unification Church.

This cult has its birth from Eastern religion interestingly merged with Western Christian ideas. Moon's followers grew quickly but with little growth since the 1970’s, claiming about three million people worldwide. However, the accuracy of this number has some debate.

The church of the “Moonies”, as they are often referred to as, is officialy called the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.

It is known that the church uses multiple pseudonyms to conduct “business”, such as recruitment.

The major books utilized by the church are the Bible, and the Divine Principle. This last book was written by Moon himself in 1952, prior to when the first Unification Church was established in South Korea in 1954.

Reverend Moon teaches that the Bible is scripture and contains some truth but it is not “truth”. Therefore, further word is needed. The Divine Principle makes up the third Testament referred to as the Complete Testament.

The Word of God teaches that the only truth is God, Psalm 119:160. “The sum of Thy word is truth,”. Jesus Christ is the Word (John 1:1, 14) and Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life”, (John 14:6). There is no truth outside of God.

The God of the Bible is very different from the god of the Moonies and the Unification Church. The Almighty Father (Revelations 4:8), has been reduced to a god who is weak, needy, and powerless in many ways. This god is also not eternal, unlike our God, (Psalm 90:2). Their god is both masculine and feminine. He is identified by the Yin and Yang symbols. Moon also taught that man is incarnate god; equal in value (Isaiah 44:6-7).

Jesus Christ never claimed to be God, says Rev. Moon. However John 10:30 reads, “I and the Father are one.”

Moon teaches that Christ is just like the rest of us, only without original sin. The cornerstone of Christianity, the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ were simply a mistake according to Moon. He believes that Christ was originally sent to save man spiritually and physically through the rite of marriage. Due to the fact that Christ could not find a suitable mate, he chose then to die only to save man spiritually. Because the salvation process was only half complete, another Messiah would be required.

Thus, Rev. Moon believes himself to be that messiah. Moon is to complete God’s original plan by finding a bride, marry her and produce “sinless” children. Moon did so when he married his third wife in 1960. (He was convicted and imprisoned for bigamy in 1949, after his second marriage).

Moon believes his marriage this time fulfills the scripture in Revelation 21:9, “the marriage of the Lamb”.

Moonies and The Unification church believes that Christ went into the spirit world after his resurrection, where he still remains, with his disciples. Once again, John 14:6 tells of only ONE way to salvation and that is Christ alone. His death and resurrection were planned (Luke 24:46, Acts 2:23), and were sufficient for all time (John 1:29, Heb 10:10).

The Holy Spirit is not well known among the Unification believers. Moon has allowed them to use alternate spirit guides and other occultic measures for revelations, visions, and confirmation of the Divine Principles' truth.

Moon also teaches that the Holy Spirit is the female attribute that when wed with Christ, the male attribute, creates the “trinity”, or God’s perfect family. This female Holy Spirit has the task of cleansing and purifying all sins caused by Eve.

Moon teaches that Eve had sexual relations with the serpent, then passed this sin onto Adam through their sexual relations thus producing sinful children.

In reading Genesis 3, it becomes clear that no relations occurred between Eve and the serpent. Eve simply fell for the lies of the Deceiver. Throughout the Bible the Holy Spirit has a tremendous role for Christians. It comforts (Acts 9:31), guides (John 16:13), and teaches (John 14:26).

Many Christian terms are used by the Moonies and the Unification church with altered meanings. Terms such as grace and resurrection have taken on different connotations.

Moon teaches that God only saves us 95%, that man must do the rest. Ephesians 2:8 tells us that it is “not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”.

The resurrected bodies of the Moonies refers to the journey of restoration as man gets better day by day. Also, Moon teaches that all will be saved. Romans 6:23 says differently, that all must die for their sins except those granted eternal life through Jesus Christ.

Warning oneself of the telltale signs of any cult is beneficial. Therefore, the Unification church is a cult because it denies the Absoluteness of God, the Deity of Christ, the existence of the Trinity, and the sinfulness and salvation of man, as taught in the Bible.

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