Rev. Joshua Cotter, vice president of the Unification Church USA, said Sunday that “the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, revered by millions as the Messiah and True Parent, who was born in Korea but who lived more than 40 years in America … has ascended.” (WT article)
The Unification Church, commonly called "Moonism" in the United States, claims about 3 million members world-wide.
Moon claimed that Jesus came to him in 1935 and told him to finish the work of establishing the kingdom of God on earth. Moon wrote his book The Divine Principle (published 1945) about his theology and plan to unite Christianity and the world into a one-world/one-religion peace movement.
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. (CARM Unification Church)Moon and his Unification Church have invested very heavily in quite diverse areas over the years. Just a few examples of media investments: Moon founded News World Communications in 1976 which purchased United Press International in 2000. In 1982 they founded the Washington Times.
What this means is that the non-Christian cult of Moonism has great power and influence in the world through many investments. It remains to be seen how the organization will shake down now that the founder/messiah has died.
Moon had instituted a political party in S. Korea called "The Party for God, Peace, Unification, and Home." This political group is now reported to be in charge of every polling station in S. Korea. It was Moon's intent to have this political group spread to Japan and the U.S.
