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Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 15, 2014 - Pages 27-50

The Unification Movement (UM) experienced unprecedented turmoil during the last years of Rev. Moon’s ministry. The movement had encountered significant external opposition before. However, from 2009, it was racked by intra-movement conflict that pitted members against one another. Lawsuits over UM assets, ongoing on three continents, were an expression of this.[1] Apart from litigation, there were disagreements about the UM’s core identity and mission. Previously, the wellspring of movement inspiration filtered exclusively through the prism of Rev. Moon. However, prior to the last years of his ministry, he had offloaded major responsibilities to three of his adult sons and one daughter who assumed leadership roles. They implemented new ministries, new interpretations of theological doctrines, and new models of the church.[2] As a result, inspiration refracted through new prisms and went in new directions.

At the same time, the UM’s core ministry continued to be that of Rev. Moon. During the years covered in this article, from 2009 until his passing in 2012, he did not alter his approach to ministry in response to movement turmoil, his children’s emerging ministries or his advanced age and physical decline.[3] In fact, he maintained a daily schedule that taxed attendants to the point that they had to work in rotations in order to keep pace. He remained wholly focused on Cheon Il Guk, the Unification equivalent of the Kingdom of Heaven. Rev. Moon proclaimed Cheon Ju Pyeong Hwa Tongil Guk (Nation of Cosmic Peace and Unity), abbreviated as Cheon Il Guk, in 2001.[4] The Cheon il Guk Erareferred to the time period during which the foundation of Cheon Il Guk was to be established. He envisioned this extending twelve years, until “Foundation Day,” set for January 13, 2013. However, Rev. Moon passed away unexpectedly due to complications from pneumonia on September 3, 2012. This was prior to the 2013 Foundation Day target date toward which he and the movement had focused their efforts since 2001. Subsequent to his passing, Hak Ja Han Moon, Rev. Moon’s widow, made it clear that she would carry on his ministry to Foundation Day and beyond.

During the last years of his ministry, Rev. Moon’s activity followed three main lines. First and foremost, he continued to proclaim the Cheon Il Guk word, both in oral and written form. Second, he continued to fulfill ceremonial and liturgical responsibilities. These included coronations, marriage blessings, providential declarations, and speaking tours which had ceremonial as well as evangelistic purposes. Third, he continued to pursue his vision of social and cultural transformation. This included initiatives connected to Las Vegas, soccer, fishing, and the United Nations. There were antecedents and precedents for all of these activities. However, Rev. Moon invested each of them with fresh meanings and new directions. This article covers the three main trajectories of his ministry from 2009-2012. A concluding section describes the beginning of Hak Ja Han Moon’s ministry and its relationship to that of Rev. Moon.

Rev. Moon gave special attention to the compilation of his words. In fact, there was a sense in which he regarded his words, as embodied in a set of selected texts, to be his true successor. Earlier, he saw to it that selections from some 500 volumes of his speeches delivered from the 1950s were collected into the 2500-page Cheong Seong Gyeong or Heavenly Scripture.[5] The original text was compiled in Korea during the first years of the Cheon il Guk era[6] and translated into ten languages by 2006. He subsequently directed that his more recent Pyung Hwa Shin Gyeong (Messages of Peace), a series of complete speeches delivered on public occasions, be collected into separate booklets. In 2012, Rev. Moon prepared what he termed his “last words” to humankind in the form of “Eight Great Textbooks.” They were:

Copies of the eight texts were presented to qualified members and others in Cheon Bok (Heavenly Peace) Arks, a clear reference to the Ark of the Covenant which housed the Ten Commandments.

These compilations were consonant with previous efforts. However, Rev. Moon broke new ground in publishing his autobiography, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen (2009). The idea was first proposed by Gimm-Young Publishing Company, a leading Korea publisher. Its president, Ms. Pak Eun-ju, a practicing Buddhist, approached the church in 2008, and gained access to movement documents. The most important single source was True Parents’ Life Course (12 vols.), a work comprised of excerpts from Rev. Moon’s speeches arranged chronologically in the form of an autobiographical account.[8] Church representatives worked with the publisher’s writers to craft the final product which made Korea’s non-fiction best-seller list.

The work, itself, consisted of eight chapters which followed the general chronological flow of Rev. Moon’s life. The earlier chapters were especially rich in autobiographical detail surrounding his family background, early upbringing and call to faith. The account pulled no punches in describing his torture at the hands of Japanese and North Korean interrogators as well as his imprisonments in South Korea and the United States. The later chapters focused on his marriage and family ministry and initiatives for world peace. Initially written for a Korean audience, he contended that Korea was “poised to take a central role” and would become “the lead actor in a new world history.”[9]

Rev. Moon’s autobiography reinforced his ongoing ministry. On June 1, 2009, the movement hosted a commemoration of the autobiography’s publication at the Seoul Convention and Exhibition (COEX) Center for 3,500 people which included 200 foreign dignitaries. An English translation was ready by May 2010, a parallel U.S. launch event followed, and members were asked to purchase 430 copies at $5.00 each for distribution to contacts. One hundred thousand were purchased by the church for internal sale prior to public release. Many members welcomed this as a providential condition that was achievable, and testimonies of break¬throughs proliferated in online sites and publications. Las Vegas, where Rev. Moon had launched a multi-faceted mission, was a particular focus. Initially, he set the goal of distributing 50,000 copies there. He later raised this to 100,000 and 120,000. The movement purchased advertising on a large billboard near the Las Vegas airport and members were mobilized from all over the country to participate in distribution teams. Rev. Moon described the autobiography as an “honest and candid account.” He said it “expresses about 80 percent of his life.”[10]In another speech, he said he had “as much faith” in his autobiography as in the Eight Great Textbooks.[11]

As a supplement to published texts, Rev. Moon convened a series of Original Divine Principle (ODP) workshops. He initiated the first of these in late 2008 for 163 movement leaders. The workshops augmented Exposition of the Divine Principle, the church’s core theological text, with content not revealed at the time of the text’s composition. The new material focused primarily on lifestyle questions, or as one ODP workshop notice put it, “the way we should live in the Kingdom of Heaven.”[12] Rev. Moon’s teaching on “Absolute Sex” was a particular emphasis. The teachings upheld strict heterosexual monogamy not so much as a bulwark against sin but as the fullest exemplification of divine love and human intimacy. In other words, absolute sex took its cue not from the human fall but from the original creation. The workshop also detailed core principles of Rev. and Mrs. Moon course as “True Parents’ Life Course,” which established a pattern that members were expected to apply to their lives.

“Absolute Sex” and “True Parents’ Life Course” were not new teachings. Rev. Moon had expounded on these matters since the 1990s. They were more of an effort to systematize content given in a myriad of previous speeches. The novel material in the ODP workshops came from Rev. Moon’s recent teaching on the “God of Night” and the “God of Day.” Members puzzled over this, questioning whether Rev. Moon was referring to two Gods, to God as the source of masculine and feminine natures, to God before and God after creation, to God before and God after humankind’s fall, or to an incorporeal God and a corporeal, visible, incarnate God in the sense of Jesus’ statement, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). There were grounds for each of these interpretations in Rev. Moon’s talks, many of which were extemporaneous. A consensus eventually emerged around the view that the God of Night referred to the eternal Godhead, transcendent of time and space, the creator God. The God of Day, in turn, referred to “perfectly completed Adam and perfectly completed Eve coming together as one couple, aka True Parents, or more correctly the Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.”[13]

This conceptualization was consistent with previous Unification teaching, but it also broke new ground. Since humankind’s first parents fell away from God, a gap opened between the God of Night and the God of Day. That gap had yet to be bridged. Jesus partook of the divine nature but did not restore a bride. Rev. Moon likewise was reported to have said, “I am fundamentally different from all of you. I am managed by God of Night. You are all managed by God of Day.”[14] This had significant ramifications for Unification Christology. Hyung Jin Moon, Rev. Moon’s youngest son and International President of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU, aka Unification Church), inter¬preted it as a “new and revolutionary teaching,” a “progressive revelation” on Rev. Moon’s part of his “messianic awareness.”[15] Others claimed that Rev. Moon was “sent not called,” thereby emphasizing his divine rather than his human origin.[16]

This opened up whole new realms of debate and discussion, as it did for early Christianity. However, it was consistent with Unification teaching that the mission or work of the messiah was that of atonement. Atonement refers to the reconciliation of God and humankind, or in Rev. Moon’s terms, the reconciliation of the God of Night and the God of Day. There were innumerable components to this mission of reconciliation, but the key element was the restoration of the “Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind.” They were to be the model of human fulfillment. True Parents Life Course as taught in ODP workshops clarified these points. Rev. Moon, coming from the very seed of God, was understood to have restored Hak Ja Han Moon from among women of the world “to the position and role of complete and perfected Eve.” She “had to not only recover Eve’s position, but all the content lost by Eve at the fall, including daughter’s heart, younger sister’s heart, wife’s heart, mother’s heart, grandmother’s heart, queen’s heart, the heart of the substantial perfect Eve, and the heart of the wife of God.”

Foundation Day was to be “the date when the ultimate last piece is put in place.” According to this explanation,

This was the internal meaning of Foundation Day, 2013, the day for which Unificationists had been working since Rev, Moon proclaimed the beginning of Cheon Il Guk in 2001.

Foundation Day also had an external meaning. In addition to a marriage Blessing, essentially God’s marriage, True Parents were to be given a royal seal, emblematic of their ascension as the God of Day. This linked Foundation Day directly to the Cheon Il Guk nation. Cheon Il Guk, the Nation of Cosmic Peace and Harmony, was to rise on an impregnable foundation. As a leading church lecturer put it,

The hope of Unificationists was to ascend with True Parents. To do so, they needed, in the idiom of Rev. Moon, to “cast off their clothes,” that is, rid themselves of “satanic rags.” Second, they needed to resemble God and True Parents. That was the purpose of the Original Divine Principle, later re-titled “Original Substance of the Divine Principle” (OSDP) workshops.

The ODP/OSDP workshops accomplished two important purposes. First, they relativized the conflict and turmoil that was afflicting the wider movement, particularly among the Moon siblings who had assumed public responsibilities. In the context of cosmic purposes being fulfilled, struggles over position and money were secondary considerations, nothing more than surface phenomena. The deeper current or, more accurately, the taproot of history was being set. That was Rev. Moon’s focus and the mindset of most members as they approached Foundation Day.

Second, the workshops revitalized Rev. Moon’s ministry. Rev. Moon, at age 90, kicked off a workshop for “world ocean leaders” at Yeosu, Korea on July 1, 2010, by reportedly speaking for 23.5 hours, beginning at 4:30 a.m. and continuing until 4:00 a.m. the next day. He had been known for marathon speeches, but this was unprecedented.[19] His intent may have been to demonstrate literally that day and night were no longer separated. Whether or not that was his motivation, Rev. Moon was on fire to proclaim the unfolding kerygma. He convened “Cosmic Assemblies to Proclaim the Words of God's Substantial Body that has Settled as the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind” in New York, Las Vegas and Seoul. These brought together members, clergy, “ambassadors for peace,” and public contacts in 2010. The assemblies continued the following year in a “Founder’s Tour” with stops in Korea, Spain, Italy, Norway, Greece, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, and Las Vegas.

Rev. Moon also proclaimed Korea as “God’s homeland and hometown.” This was complicated, since the Unification movement was internationalist in orientation and repudiated narrow or self-centered nationalism. Still, Rev. Moon contended that God, no less than human beings, longed for a homeland and hometown. Korea’s dignity rested primarily on its having “given birth to the True Parents.” Beyond that, Rev. Moon was ambivalent. On the one hand, he spoke of how “God quietly raised and prepared the Korean people over a period of thousands of years” and extolled Korean virtues. On the other hand, he denied that Korea, in and of herself, had any reason to boast,

In a 2012 speech, he stated,

Rev. Moon, of course, was committed to Cheon Il Guk, the nation of cosmic peace and harmony. However, Cheon Il Guk had a distinctly Korean flavor.

This was apparent when Rev. Moon invited 172 representative American clergy to Korea at short notice in September 2011. He called for “forty-three American ministers from the north, south, east and west, representing 4,300 years of Korean history and the 430 years of Israel's bondage in Egypt before their final liberation.” Rev. Michael Jenkins, chairman of the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), spearheaded the mobilization. Jenkins noted that in addition to “studying the Original Divine Principle,” they “had the mission to receive a Korean family name and engraft into a Korean family.”[22] Rev. Moon visited the group thirteen times during the two weeks they were in Korea and bestowed Korean surnames in a ceremony that included 172 Korean clan representatives. He commissioned each of the ministers to establish twelve others, “as Jesus did,” all whom would receive OSDP education and register for “God’s Kingdom and Fatherland.” Rev. Moon called for 1,200 faith leaders to assemble in Las Vegas to launch that work the following month. Jenkins reported that ACLC had reached the goal of educating 3,000 ministers on December 17, 2011. At that point, Rev. Moon directed ACLC leaders to educate 10,000 more.[23]

In May 2012, Rev. Moon convened what he called “closing door education,” the “last education I have to provide” and the “final mobiliza¬tion.” He called 358 leaders who had public missions in Korea and requested that they participate in a 30-day OSDP workshop. He then expanded it to 3600 “tribal Messiahs” (i.e., grassroots members) who completed five cycles of the six-day workshop in mid-June. A major purpose of the workshop was “to train members to give OSDP lectures.” Participation was seen to be a new beginning for the movement’s membership, a condition to ascend with True Parents on Foundation Day, and evidence of a commitment to carry on True Parents’ work. Rev. Moon spoke of expanding OSDP education worldwide, “east, west, south, and north” to “fives seas and six continents.”[24] However, due to Rev. Moon’s hospitalization in August and passing on September 3, 2012, implementation of closing-door education was limited to Korea.[25]

In addition to his ministry of proclamation, Rev. Moon continued to fulfill ceremonial and liturgical responsibilities. This included presiding over daily Hoon Dok devotional sessions,[26] the church’s extensive holy days, and special celebrations. Rev. Moon’s most well-known ceremonial and liturgical role, and the one for which he was famous, was as the officiator, with Mrs. Moon, of International Marriage Blessings.[27] Rev. Moon delegated some blessing work to his youngest son and even to church leaders when blessings were conducted in conjunction with OSDP workshops. However, he continued the major work, not on the scale of the mass blessings he conducted during the 1990s, but several commanded extensive news coverage.

Two features distinguished the blessings he conducted from 2009-2012. First, they were increasingly dominated by the church’s next or second-generation participants. Second, the World Peace Center, with a reported seating capacity of 25,000 constructed at the UM’s Cheong Pyeong Lake complex, Gapyeong, Korea, became the main blessing venue after its completion in September 2011. The combination of attractive young people participating and the massive new structure sparked renewed media interest. Rev. and Mrs. Moon were the officiators for an “International Holy Blessing Ceremony of Unification” for 5,200 couples on March 24, 2012, and news outlets from some 100 countries covered the event. The BBC aired a special, “Married to the Moonies,” which also aired in a modified form under different sponsorship in the U.S.[28]

Rev. Moon was an irrepressible liturgical innovator. He took a major step in February 2010 when he proclaimed the start of a new “heavenly calendar.” He declared that the Gregorian and Lunar calendars would “now stand in the positions of Cain and Abel and serve the role of supporting the Heavenly calendar.” Practically, the heavenly calendar was based on the lunar calendar. Months and days of the heavenly calendar, in fact, corresponded precisely with lunar months and days, the only difference being that the heavenly calendar started from year one. According to Rev. Moon, the introduction of the heavenly calendar was part of the preparation for the new era to come. In this sense, the heavenly calendar was continuous not only with the Cheon Il Guk but also with the dawn of what Rev. Moon termed the “Pacific Rim Era.” The church began celebrating important events, holidays and anniversaries according to the heavenly calendar from April 2010. Internal communications and memos indicated dates according to the heavenly calendar but included Gregorian calendar dates in parenthesis.

“Memorial Festivals of Ascension (Seunghwa) and Unity,” referred to as “Legacy of Peace” festivals or programs, were another innovation. Members had referred to funerals as seunghwa (“heavenly ascension”) ceremonies since the mid-1980s. Rev. Moon taught that death signifies “rebirth or a new birth into another world” and shouldn’t be “gloomy or mournful” occasions. Seunghwa ceremonies, in fact, were to be “regarded as more beautiful, enlightening, and joyful than even the Blessing ceremony.”[29] Rev. Moon was inspired to revitalize and extend this tradition to the public upon learning of U.S. General Alexander Haig’s passing on March 2, 2010. As a young officer, General Haig participated in the U.N. military attack on North Korea's Hungnam labor camp in October 1950 which freed Rev. Moon after nearly three years of confinement. Haig later supported The Washington Times and participated in various UM events. Rev. Moon directed church leaders to attend Haig’s funeral services at the National Cathedral and place a large gift of flowers at Arlington National Cemetery. A few days later, top movement leaders, including the publisher of The Washington Times Douglas Joo, hosted a private memorial dinner at the Sheraton National Hotel attended by General Haig’s son, Alexander P. Haig, who thanked the movement and Rev. Moon for their support.

Afterwards, Rev. Moon directed the UM-sponsored Universal Peace Federation (UPF) to hold a larger, more public event at the United Nations. UPF leaders suggested that the event recognize more than 100 UN personnel killed in a recent Haiti earthquake as well as Rodrigo Carazo, the former president of Costa Rica, who died the previous December and other peace advocates, particularly those who had supported the movement’s work. The Memorial Festival of Ascension and Unity, convened in the United Nations Secretariat Building on March 18, 2010, was highly successful. It gave birth to Legacy of Peace events elsewhere in the United States and throughout the world. In addition to honoring the recently deceased, the events provided a platform for communicating movement views on eternal life and the marriage blessing as an instrument of peace. This was especially apropos since Rev. and Mrs. Moon were observing their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Legacy of Peace events included interfaith prayers, photos of honorees which lined the stage, and congratulatory remarks by dignitaries such as Neil Bush who spoke at the Las Vegas event at the Aria Hotel on May 9. In some venues, the movement coordinated festivals of ascension with conferences on such topics as forgiveness and reconciliation.

Rev. Moon continued to pursue initiatives related to his vision of social and cultural transformation. One of his main targets was Las Vegas. In 2008, he established a residence and stated his intention of “transforming” Las Vegas into “a special vacation spot for families” and a venue for education programs. Leaders spoke of his vision to reposition “Sin City” as a “Shining City.”[30] Rev. Moon began implementing his vision in 2009 when he made Las Vegas the site for ODP workshops. The movement convened dozens of these for members, clergy and contacts over the next three years. The movement also concentrated its campaign to distribute copies of Rev. Moon’s autobiography there, mobilizing volunteers and purchasing high-visibility billboard space. Las Vegas was the site for the largest Legacy of Peace event, the concluding stop in Rev. Moon’s 2011 “Founder’s Tour,” and increasingly a venue for prophetic declarations. Rev. Moon proclaimed Las Vegas to be the new internal capital of America. He viewed the city’s close proximity to Lake Mead and relative proximity to the Grand Canyon and Sedona red sandstone formations to be an auspicious intermingling of urban and natural environments. Rev. Moon spent an equivalent amount of time in both environments. According to movement sources, he set rigorous “conditions” on Lake Mead, spending freezing nights fishing, teaching and praying. He also visited “dark, low and vulgar places.”[31]

The movement began purchasing additional Las Vegas real estate in 2010. According to a media report, the church acquired a dozen properties covering 21 acres for $15 million in the previous two years.[32] This included a 5,800-square-foot home on 2.25 acres near Las Vegas Boulevard dedicated as the Cheon Hwa Gung or Palace of Heavenly Peace. It served as “providential” headquarters of the U.S. and worldwide church when Rev. and Mrs. Moon were in residence. The movement also purchased a commercial property as a site for the Wongu Peace and Happiness University (WPHU), a graduate school of oriental medicine. It received approval for the State of Nevada Board of Oriental Medicine on April 18, 2012.

The movement’s largest single purchase was a 135,000-square-foot warehouse near McCarran International Airport for $11 million in 2011. Initially, the massive warehouse was the venue for the unveiling of an innovative 28-foot Won Mo sport fishing boat, invented by Rev. Moon and developed by the movement’s Master Marine corporation. It featured a resin plaster mold hull and helium tanks that rendered it unsinkable while moving through the water at up to 45 knots, lighter and faster than other vessels in its class.[33] The movement later obtained approval from the Board of County Commissioners to convert the front third of the warehouse into a “major training facility, convention facility and dormitory.”[34] Rev. Moon envisioned this as an extension of the movement’s Peace Palace at its Cheon Pyeong Lake complex in Korea.

Rev. Moon’s pattern of maintaining continuity with earlier initiatives while introducing innovations also characterized his soccer ministry. He established the Sun Moon Soccer Foundation and launched a high-profile “Peace Cup” competition in 2003 following the FIFA World Cup in South Korea a year earlier. The $16 million inaugural event attracted eight of the world’s top soccer clubs to Korea where they competed for $2 million in prize money that went to the winning team. The Peace Cup competition continued on alternate years in 2005 and 2007. In 2009, Rev. Moon agreed to have the FIFA-authorized Peace Cup competition in Spain. The field expanded to twelve teams, including the Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, and the purse was increased. The English professional club Aston Villa defeated Juventus, a top Italian team, to win that year’s Peace Cup. Attendance at the six stadium venues was disappointing, since Spanish fans turned out in large numbers only for Real Madrid. However, media coverage was extensive. Rev. Moon called for a parallel women’s competition and began a “Peace Queen Cup” competition for national women’s teams in 2006. The United States national team won the tournament in 2006 and 2008. South Korea won the cup in 2010.

In his 2009 autobiography, Rev. Moon stated, “Soccer… is the one sport I continue to enjoy into my old age.” More importantly, he viewed it as having “the potential for significantly influencing countries and increasing their cooperation toward peace.” In his view,

Another attraction soccer had for Rev. Moon was its spherically-shaped ball. For him, this symbolized harmony, unity and peace. In some of his speeches, he rhapsodized about how round balls symbolized the harmony of male and female, sperm and egg, top and bottom, front and back, heaven and earth. He also was inspired by the observation that in ball sports everything can change in a single second, a deflection, a bad or misjudged bounce, a scored goal. For him, this was directly related to providential history. Or as he put it, “Within one second, the cosmos could change from the Era before the Coming of Heaven to the Era after the Coming of Heaven.”[36]

All of this fed into Rev. Moon’s launch of the Round Ball Peace Cup Cain-Abel Cosmic Harmony Tournament in April 2009. He began it on the occasion of his and his wife’s 50th wedding anniversary (by Korean count). This was run on a smaller scale than the Peace Cup but had, if anything, a larger vision. Rev. Moon declared it would eventually eclipse the Olympic Games. Dr. Chang Shik Yang, North America Continental Director, said, “It will become part of the culture of Cheon Il Guk.”[37] In addition to soccer, basketball, volleyball, dodge ball, table tennis and golf (all round ball sports), the initial competitions included Wonhwa Tongil, a “Unity and Harmony” round ball game devised and demonstrated by Rev. and Mrs. Moon. Competitions, held in 2009, 2010, and 2012, included mainly though not exclusively the movement’s next generation youth and were conducted in conjunction with international marriage blessings.

In addition to proclaiming the word, fulfilling a wide variety of ceremonial and liturgical responsibilities, and pursuing initiatives related to cultural and social transformation, Rev. Moon remained focused on the “ocean providence.” In a chapter of his autobiography titled, “Master of the Sea and the Future of the World,” he stated, “Anyone who cannot rule the ocean cannot become a leader in the Pacific age.”[38] From 2009, if he wasn’t at the Cheon Jeong Gung (Original/Root Palace of Heaven) at Cheong Pyeong Lake, or the Cheon Hwa Gung in Las Vegas, he was likely at Cheonghae (Blue Sea) Garden at Yeosu on Korea’s southern coast. He believed that Yeosu was suited to the task of becoming “the center of a Pacific civilization.”[39] His vision and investments there were vindicated, at least to some degree, when Yeosu hosted the World’s Fair, Expo 2012, from May 12 to August 12 that year. Under the theme, “The Living Ocean and Coast,” more than 150 nations and international organizations participated. The 80-exhibition expo site welcomed some eight million visitors.

Prior to the expo, Rev. Moon had turned his attention to the numerous islands off Korea’s southern coast. He stated in his autobiography that he planned “to connect all the islands… with bridges” and “build condominiums where boat-loving people from around the world can come and stay.” He concentrated his effort on Geomun Island, a cluster of three islands 72 miles south of Yeosu, where he dedicated a 46-room Ocean Cheonjeong Palace Hotel and adjacent events annex on September 12, 2011. In December, Rev. Moon made a hazardous trip by helicopter to Dokdo (Lonely) Island, actually two tiny islets and 35 surrounding rocks at the far eastern extremity of the Republic of Korea’s disputed border in the Sea of Japan. Due to high winds, the helicopter was forced to land on top of a police building, and Rev. Moon was stopped from walking to a lone lighthouse due to the wind.

Referred to as Takeshima by the Japanese and in the West as the Liancourt Rocks, the islets are a source of controversy between Korea and Japan. For Koreans, Dokdo is a symbol of subjugation and humiliation under Japan from 1905-45. For their part, Japanese textbooks described Korea’s sovereignty over the islands as an “illegal occupation.”[40] Rev. Moon viewed the islands as a potential connecting point for Korea, Japan, Russia, China, and Europe. However, he concluded, “Those who have common sense, if they visit there once, they will never visit there again.” In the end he expressed a preference for Jeju Island, a much larger tourist destination, as a better link.[41]

The United Nations had been a focus of Rev. Moon’s ministry since his Millennium 2000 proposal to renew the UN through incorporating an interreligious peace council. He subsequently appointed “Ambassadors for Peace,” founded the Universal Peace Federation (UPF) as an “Abel UN,” spoke on UN renewal during world peace tours, and supported a broad-ranging educational and conference program. In January 2009 he proclaimed the “True Parents UN,” which he also referred to as the “Parent UN” or “Peace UN.” In his view, the existing or UN and the Abel UN were in a “horizontal relationship.” The Parent UN had “a necessary vertical role in establishing and maintaining the order and guidelines” according to the family model.[42] He appointed boonbongwangs, usually translated as “viceroys,” to assist in the process. They would be his representatives having the responsibility of educating people in “Heaven’s traditions,” as well as seeing to it that the nations for which they had oversight were admitted to the Abel UN.[43]

Rev. Moon took the additional step of inaugurating an “Abel Women UN” at the Cheongshim World Peace Center on July 16, 2012. Women representing 193 nations, most of them members of the movement’s Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP), attended. He explained,

Women, he said, “are not here merely to help or be protected by men.” Moving beyond “a century of power and technology,” he envisioned women as “the central axis in building a century characterized by its loving, peaceful culture.” Women’s role, he concluded, “will be more important than ever before.” This was consistent with earlier statements he had made about the Pacific Era being the era of women.

The Inaugural Rally for the Abel Women UN concluded Rev. Moon’s ministry. It was, as Mrs. Moon later noted, “the last providential event… [he] hosted on earth.”[45] Shortly afterwards, he caught a cold. It worsened and developed into pneumonia. Complications set in and he was admitted to a hospital in early August for ten days of tests, released for a day and then re-admitted. Members and supporters worldwide prayed for his recovery, but he passed away on September 3, 2012. Before his passing, according to Mrs. Moon, “he put the providence on earth in order.” In his final prayer with her, he emphasized, “I have brought things to conclusion, completion, and perfection.”[46]

Unificationists had worked assiduously for twelve years since 2001 in happy expectation of Foundation Day in 2013, when Cheon Il Guk’s foundation was to be established. Internally, the day was understood to be the occasion for “Holy Wedding of God.” In essence, this meant the union of the Heavenly Parent, also referred to as the Cosmic True Parent, the incorporeal God, with the earthly True Parents. In particular, Mrs. Moon was to enter the realm of oneness with God, becoming, in effect, the wife of God. This was to establish what one leader described as the “Substantial Trinity” (God, True Father and True Mother).[47] The day also was to include the “re-blessing” of UM “blessed couples” who were to be “born again as God’s direct children” and receive the blessings that God had bestowed on humankind’s original ancestors.[48] Externally, the day was to mark the substantial beginning of Cheon Il Guk. As such, there was to be an enthronement and coronation, the presentation of royal seals and scepter, and the declaration of a new sovereignty.

None of these elements were entirely new. They were continuous with ceremonies and declarations that Rev. and Mrs. Moon had made since 2001.The element that was genuinely new in the Foundation Day event was Rev. Moon’s absence. A UM press release reported that “approximately 50,000 attendees from 130 nations dressed in wedding attire” attended. Some 20,000 were accommodated in the UM’s massive World Peace Center indoor stadium at its Cheong Pyeong Lake facility. The rest were on the grounds. An additional “250 former heads of state, religious leaders, politicians, economic leaders, NGOs, women leaders and youth leaders” reportedly attended. Still, Rev. Moon’s absence cast a pall over the proceedings. This was noticeably evident in Mrs. Moon’s dignified though unsmiling demeanor. One member commented,

If Mrs. Moon projected a disconsolate image, it did not reflect her internal state of mind nor the decisive steps she had already taken to ensure the continuity of Rev. Moon’s ministry.

Importantly, from the period immediately following his passing, Mrs. Moon insisted Rev. Moon wasn’t absent, but present. In her message to members on the occasion of Rev. Moon’s funeral or Seonghwa (Heavenly Ascension) ceremony, she stated,

More significantly, Mrs. Moon made it clear that Rev. Moon was uniquely present to her, and they were, in fact, carrying out a joint ministry. As she put it,

Mrs. Moon noted that her relationship to Rev. Moon was of an entirely different order than that of Jesus to the Apostle Peter, and that their unity was such that “Father's thinking is my thinking, and my thinking is Father's thinking.”[52]

Nevertheless, there were a few discordant notes in Mrs. Moon’s efforts to carry on Rev. Moon’s ministry. For one thing, she was less tolerant of her adult children’s ministries and within months of Rev. Moon’s passing had taken steps to dismiss or marginalize them.[53] Secondly, despite assertions as to their unity, Mrs. Moon took additional steps which ran against the grain of Rev. Moon’s ministry. Within a few months, she determined to sell Rev. Moon’s helicopter which he “loved so much”; terminated the biannual the Peace Cup soccer tournaments in which the UM had invested tens of millions of dollars; sold Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, South Korea’s most successful professional soccer club and a great source of movement pride; and closed Pyeonghwa Motors in Nampo, North Korea, the first inter-Korean joint venture in which the UM reportedly invested more than $200 million USD.[54] According to Mrs. Moon, “Father worked on many external things for the sake of the world so that people would come to know us as quick as possible, but it didn't work well.”[55]

On the church side, Mrs. Moon expressed her determination to make the Unification Church “a living and breathing church,” a church “increasing with new members,” and a church “filled with vitality.”[56] She said, “after many decades… I see that we didn’t grow enough based on… true love and care for the members.” The “reality,” as she explained it, “is that we have not seen our church membership increase or our members mature.”[57] Mrs. Moon’s aspirations for growth and vitality were laudable, and she laid the blame for failure primarily on UM leaders. Yet there was also implicit and even explicit criticism of Rev. Moon who, after all, was the top leader. She, for example, noted that Rev. Moon “liked to have meetings and so we always got together” but her view was that families should “be strong first” educating their next generation. In contrast to Rev. Moon’s multi-hour talks, she opined that “our sermons shouldn't be too long.” Pastors, she said, should, if possible, “finish within thirty minutes.”[58]

In addition, there was an unmistakable matriarchal edge to Mrs. Moon’s ministry. In an address to the UM-sponsored Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) 20th anniversary convention in October 2012, she stated,

Warming to the topic, Mrs. Moon remarked in a private session,

Mrs. Moon’s misogynist critique extended to Unification culture and included ambivalence as to her husband’s pronouncements. For example, she noted, “Father spoke harshly to women, telling them they must pay indemnity for Eve’s fall, but now the era of indemnification is over and this is no longer necessary.” On the other hand, she pointed out that Rev. Moon “proclaimed the advent of the women’s era and gave us many words on it.”[61] Still, in addressing Unification women, first rhetorically and then directly, she asked,

One of Mrs. Moon’s most striking innovations was her direction that Unificationists address God as “Heavenly Parent” rather than as “Heavenly Father” as had been the practice under Rev. Moon’s leadership.[63]

It would be unfair and wrong-headed to insist that Rev. Moon’s ministry or the movement he launched be frozen in time. Rev. Moon had been an irrepressible innovator, so why should Mrs. Moon not do likewise? Also, freezing his ministry, words, or memory within a static orthodoxy would endanger the UM, which needed to adapt to new times and circumstances. Mrs. Moon clearly recognized this. She testified to her husband’s ongoing inspiration and presence, but was prepared to build upon his foundation by incorporating her distinctive experience and insights. In fact, she described her ministry as “the second phase of True Parents’ course, centering on True Mother.”[64] Her stated intention to “put Father’s words in order” scandalized some, who protested against editing the Cheon Seong Gyeong that Rev. Moon authorized despite its alleged inaccuracies.[65] “Father built a huge house,” she said. “Now we need to put things in order and make things more presentable.”[66]

The essential continuity between Mrs. Moon’s ministry and that of Rev. Moon lay in her conviction that “Foundation Day is not the end. Until we liberate all humanity and bring back all 6.5 billion people to Heaven, we have to offer our utmost effort.”[67] This was vintage Rev. Moon. She proceeded to announce a “2020 Vision,” which launched the UM on a new seven-year trajectory. Her stated intention was to “substantiate Cheon Il Guk” and, in particular, offer Korea to Heaven on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Rev. Moon’s birthday in 2020. Ambitious plans for home churches, public service, witnessing, expansion of “model ideal families,” workshop programs, public relations, and the selection of strategic and providential nations in which to concentrate activities soon followed.[68]

Mrs. Moon was clearly the driving force behind movement efforts to carry on Rev. Moon’s ministry. However, several of her adult children to whom Rev. Moon had given major responsibilities were strong personalities also wholly committed to preserving and expanding their father’s legacy. In fact, each of them remained utterly convinced that their way forward was the path the Unification tradition should follow. One of them circulated a public letter stating that “the entire Unification Movement” was “totally unprepared and unqualified” to celebrate Foundation Day and continued to lead a breakaway movement that had gained control of significant UM assets.[69] Two others were shortly to begin independent ministries in the United States.[70] In this regard, it is likely that the turmoil that characterized the last years of Rev. Moon’s ministry will continue into the future. Rev. Moon charted a clear path forward in the midst of that turmoil. Mrs. Moon is working to do the same.

[1] Lawsuits were filed in Korea over control of a $2.4 billion Parc1 development project in Seoul, Korea’s financial district on Yeouido Island; in the United States over control of the Unification Church International (UCI) which controlled major UM assets; and in South America over ownership of huge land tracts.

[2] They were Hyun Jin (Preston) Moon, Kook Jin (Justin) Moon, Hyung Jin (Sean) Moon, and Ye Jin (Tatiana) Moon. For a full treatment of their ministries, see Michael L. Mickler, “The Post-Sun Myung Moon Unification Church,” in Eileen Barker, ed. Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements (Farnham, UK: Ashgate, 2013), pp. 47-63.

[3] In his later years, Rev. Moon was afflicted by swelling in his legs, particularly when standing while delivering speeches. He frequently required support when walking and made use of a wheelchair.

[4] Although its exact contours were not precisely defined, Cheon il Guk’s core orientation, character and scope were clear. It would have God as its center. It would have nothing to do with the human fall or sin. And it would encompass all humanity. As Rev. Moon put it,

Cheon il Guk… the Nation of Cosmic peace and Unity… is the one nation that God loves. It is the one nation our families love. It is the one nation our clans love. It is the one nation that white, black, and yellow nations love. (Sun Myung Moon, “Let Us Fulfill the Responsibility of the Third Creators,” Today’s World 22:9 [November/December 2001]: 10)

For a fuller discussion, see Michael L. Mickler, “The Beginnings of Cheon Il Guk.” Journal of Unification Studies 13 (2012): 139-74.

[5] The Cheon Seong Gyeong is considered to be “the holy book for the Kingdom of Heaven.” The first edition consisted of selections drawn from some five hundred volumes of Rev. Moon’s speeches delivered over a fifty-year period, 1956-2006. These were collected into sixteen sections, each with a specific theme. In Rev. Moon’s explanation, the word cheon (in Cheon Il Guk) consists of Chinese characters meaning “two” and “people”. According to him,

When you think of who the two central people in a family are, you think of husband and wife. The separation of heaven and earth came about because a husband and a wife in the Garden of Eden lost the way to love. Therefore, in order for heaven and earth to reach completion, these two people (天 [Cheon]) must follow the holy (聖 [Seong]) way (經 [Gyeong]) in which they must love completely. This way is elucidated in the Cheon Seong Gyeong.… The Cheon Seong Gyeong defines the way for two peo¬ple to walk towards holiness; this way is none other than the family. (Cheong Seong Gyeong [Seoul: Sunghwa Publishing, 2006], pp. 3-4.)

[6] The Cheon Il Guk Era referred to the time period during which the foundation of Cheon Il Guk was to be established. According to Rev. Moon, the movement was on a “tight schedule” of twelve years, extending until 2001-2013.

[7] See Sun Myung Moon, “Cosmic Assembly for the Settlement of the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind and for the Proclamation of the Word by God’s Substantial Self,” Speech delivered at public rallies in Korea, January 8-15, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon12/SunMyungMoon-120108b.htm

[8] It has not been translated in its entirety into English. Today’s World, the church’s main international publication, has run monthly excerpts since August 2007.

[9] Sun Myung Moon, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen (Washington, D.C.: The Washington Times Foundation, 2010), p. 281.

[10] “Father’s Memoirs in Korean Bookstores.” Today’s World 30:2 (March 2009): 30.

[11] Sun Myung Moon, “Ascension and Blessing,” Today’s World 31:4 (May 2010): 9.

[12] “Explanation of the Purpose of the Original Divine Principle Education Sessions,” May 29, 2009. http://www.tparents.org/moon-talks/injinmoon-09/InJinMoon-090528a.htm

[13] Andy Lausberg, “Clearer Explanation about God of Night and God of Day,” February 13, 2102. http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/Talks/Lausberg/Lausberg-120213.htm

[14] Moon, Hyung Jin. “God of Night and God of Day.” January 22, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/moon-talks/HyungJinMoon-12/HyungJinMoon-120122.htm

[15] Hyung Jin Moon, “The Messianic Identity,” Today’s World 33:1 (January-February 2012): 15-16.

[16] See Dan Fefferman. “Schism in the Unification Church: The Theological Dimensions.” http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/talks/feffermn/Fefferman-120927.pdf

[17] Lausberg, “Clearer Explanation.”

[18] Taek Yong Oh, “What Exactly Are the God of Night and the God of Day?” translation of Malsum Iyagi (Explanation of True Father’s Words), from the official website of Tongil Gyo in Korea, August 2011. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Oh/Oh-110800.htm

[19] Sun Myung Moon, “God is the Owner and Victor,” July 1, 2010. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon10/SunMyungMoon-100701a.htm

[20] Sun Myung Moon, “Assembly to Proclaim the Substantial Word,” December 7, 2010. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon10/SunMyungMoon-101207a.htm

[21] Sun Myung Moon, “Strong Korea,” March 7, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon12/SunMyungMoon-120307c.htm

[22] Michael Jenkins, “ACLC Answers the Call.” Today’s World 32:8 (October 2011): 16.

[23] Michael Jenkins, “ACLC Leaders Transformation through True Parents and Registration.” March 2012. http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/Talks/Jenkins-09/Jenkins-120300.htm

[24] Sun Myung Moon, “The Closing-Door Education,” May 17, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon12/SunMyungMoon-120517.htm

[25] The U.S. church prepared a PowerPoint and script package of OSDP content for members’ use. See Tyler Hendricks, “Lovin’ Life Ministries OSDP Package for Home and Church Use,” July 31, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Books/OSDP-LLM/Hendricks-120731.htm

[26] Hoon Dok is a shortened version of Hoon Dok Hae. It refers to “gathering for reading and learning” sessions based on passages from Rev. Moon’s speeches. Church members have been encouraged to practice Hoon Dok Hae between 6:00-7:00 a.m., later 5:00 a.m., since late 1997.

[27] The Blessing is Unification Church marriage rite and sacrament, consisting of numerous elements whereby “men and women came into union with each other, engraft to the true Parents, are reconciled with God, and thereby, according to the movement, reconstitute themselves as a new humanity.” See Michael L. Mickler, “The Unification Church/Movement in the United States,” in Eugene Gallagher and Michael Ashcraft, eds. Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, Vol. 4 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2006), pp. 166-67.

[28] The BBC’s “Married to the Moonies” followed three British youth and their partners as they prepared for and participated in the Blessing. The U.S. version, “Getting Married to the Moonies,” was distributed by TLC. It followed three American youths and their partners.

[29] Chung Hwan Kwak, The Tradition, Book I (New York: HSA-UWC, 1985), p. 204.

[30] Michael Balcomb, “Rev. Moon Concludes Peace Tour in Las Vegas,” May 21, 2011. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Balcome/Balcomb-110521.htm. See also In Jin Moon, “Attitude of Gratitude,” March 27, 2010. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/InJinMoon-11/InJinMoon-110327a.htm

[31] Hur Yang, “God’s Providence by Land and by Sea,” Today’s World (May 2012). Rev. Moon frequented casinos in Las Vegas where he sat at high stakes black jack tables. This was misunderstood. Rev. Moon was aware of the perception and stated, “Some people say, ‘Rev. Moon is now old and can’t work, so he has forgotten about the church and does not recognize God, the nations of the earthly world, or the citizens of heaven, and now he visits the gambling places he likes and keeps company with satanic people, so it looks like he will end up in hell!’ But that’s not how it is at all… I cannot avoid going there… My legs weigh me down so much; I have been limping with the sheer effort to move my legs one after the other. Even my sons and daughters think I enjoy visiting that place. When I tell them to come and visit me, they say, “I can’t go. You are going to an evil place, so I can’t go there.” See Sun Myung Moon, “The Center of the Universe,” Today’s World 30 (December 2009).

[32] Paul Joncich, “Unification Church Owns Large Parcel of Las Vegas Land,” 8 CBS News Now, September 19, 2012. http://www.8newsnow.com/story/19589408/unification-church-purchases

[33] See U.S. Marine Corporation. “Ceremony for the Dedication and Launch of the Won Mo Boat,” August 18, 2011. http://www.tparents.org/moon-talks/sunmyungmoon11/sunmyungmoon-110818.pdf

[34] Yang, “God’s Providence by Land and by Sea.”

[35] Moon, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, pp. 292-93.

[36] Sun Myung Moon, “Owner of Peace, Owner of Lineage,” July 7, 2009. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon09/SunMyungMoon-090707.htm

[37] Douglas Burton, “Unificationist Sports Tournament Aims to Rival the Olympic Games,” September 9, 2010. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Burton/Burton-100909a.htm

[38] Moon, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, p. 303.

[39] Moon, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen, p. 307.

[40] The Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda made that charge in 2012. See “Japanese PM Says Korea ‘Illegally Occupying’ Dokdo” Chosunilbo, December 28, 2012. For a comprehensive assessment, see Mark Selden, “Small Islets, Enduring Conflict: Dokdo, Korea-Japan Colonial Legacy and the United States” The Asia Pacific Journal – Japan Focus. http://www.japanfocus.org/-mark-selden/3520#sthash.q0Zk0cDM.dpuf

[41] Sun Myung Moon, “If I Die without Leaving My Speeches, Everything Will Be Gone,” December 13, 2011. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon11/SunMyungMoon-111213.htm

[42] Sun Myung Moon, “Ninetieth Birthday Speech,” January 30, 2009. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/SunMyungMoon09/SunMyungMoon-090130.htm

[43] “Boon-bong-wang Appointment Letter,” January 1, 2009, in Vision 2020, p. 30. http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/talks/Yang-08/Yang-130308a.pdf

[44] Sun Myung Moon, “Challenging Women to Take the Lead,” Today’s World 33:6 (July-August, 2012): 5.

[45] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Address to Women’s Federation for World Peace 20th Anniversary Las Vegas Convention,” October 27, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-121027.pdf

[46] Hak Ja Han Moon, “True Mother’s Message: We Will Now Make Our Unification Church a Living and Breathing Church,” Letter to Regional Headquarters and Mission Nations, September 23, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-120923.pdf

[47] Rainer Fuchs, “True Father’s Seonghwa and the Unchanging Providence for Cheon Il Guk Foundation Day,” Presentation given at the European Regional Leaders’ Meeting, Livingstone House, London, September 26 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks1/Fuchs/Fuchs-120926.pdf

[48] Fuchs, “True Father's Seonghwa.”

[49] This was Robert Spitz’s cited comment in Ariana Moon, “Upbeat Crowds in the USA Celebrate Foundation Day with Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon,” February 23, 2013. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon-13/HakJaHan-130222.pdf

[50] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Let Us Inherit the Realm of True Parents’ Victory and Open a Future Filled with Hope,” September 16, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-120916.pdf

[51] Ibid.

[52] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Our Coming to Geomun Island has been Difficult,” October 13, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-121013b.htm

[53] Mrs. Moon fired her daughter In Jin (Tatiana) Moon as Chairperson and president of HSA-UWC USA immediately upon learning of her marital infidelity and love child three days after Rev. Moon’s passing on September 3, 2012. She assigned Hyung Jin (Sean) Moon to replace her as head of the American church. This in effect removed him from Korea and his duties as international church president and led to the disbanding of his headquarters staff. In October 2012, she directed that Kook Jin (Justin) Moon to resign as Chairperson of Tongil Foundation, which had oversight of UM businesses and the distribution of funds to the church and UM non-profits. See Mickler, “The Post-Sun Myung Moon Unification Church,” pp. 59-60.

[54] See John Haydon, “Peace Cup Soccer Event Is Shut Down,” Washington Times Communities, October 30, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks2/Haydon/Haydon-121030.pdf; Alister Gale, “Kyu Nam Park Announces: South Korea's Unification Church to Sell Seongnam Soccer Club,” The Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Park/Park-131126.pdf; Won Jean Lee, “End of Pyongyang’s Joint Auto Venture with the Unification Church,” Yahoo Korea, November 27, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Park/Park-121127.pdf.

[55] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Father worked on external things for the sake of the world… but it didn’t work well,” November 5, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/hakjahanmoon/HakJaHan-121105.htm

[56] Hak Ja Han Moon, “True Mother’s Message: We will now make our Unification Church a living and breathing church,” September 23, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-120923.pdf; “Special Assembly on Chuseok,” September 30, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-120930.htm

[57] Hak Ja Han Moon, “True Mother’s Address to the American Leaders,” October 1, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-121001.pdf; “Our Unification Church originated from divine spirit and the truth,” October 1, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-121001a.htm

[58] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Father worked on external things”; “How to Give a Sermon.” November 29, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-121129a.htm

[59] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Address to Women’s Federation for World Peace 20th Anniversary.”

[60] Hak Ja Han Moon, “All the People of the World Sent Father Off,” October 27, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-121027b.htm

[61] Hak Ja Han Moon, “All the People of the World”; “Father’s Words and Achievement Are Like a Gemstone,” January 9, 2013. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon-13/HakJaHan-130109.htm

[62] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Like a Gemstone.”

[63] Doug Burton and Lymhwa Kim, “True Mother Announces New Directions at Leaders Conference in Korea,” FFWPU Newsletter, January 8, 2013. http://www.familyfed.org/members/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4021:true-mother-calls-church-to-pray-in-name-of-heavenly-parents&catid=87:true-parents&Itemid=298

[64] Hak Ja Han Moon, “True Mother’s Address to the American Leaders.”

[65] “Demonstration protesting True Mother’s new versions of Cheon Seong Gyeong and the Peace Messages,” July 21, 2013. http://www.tparents.org/moon-talks/HyunJinMoon-13/ HyunJinMoon-130721.pdf. Dr. Chang Shik Yang, a major UM leaders, delivered a July 14, 2013 sermon, “The Truth Shall Set You Free,” in which he supported the edit. He claimed that the original Cheon Seong Gyeong contained 173 mis-transcribed paragraphs from Rev. Moon’s speeches. He also stated there were significant omissions and excess repetition with 916 paragraphs repeated in the text. See Nikolaus Beutl, “Korean Leaders Deceiving our Worldwide Movement.” August 2, 2013. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Beutl/Beutl-130802.htm

[66] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Like a Gemstone.”

[67] Hak Ja Han Moon, “Foundation Day is Not the End,” October 27, 2012. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HakJaHanMoon/HakJaHan-121027.htm

[68] See FFWPU International Headquarters. “Vision 2020 Slide Presentation.” http://www.tparents.org/library/unification/talks/Yang-08/Yang-130308a.pdf

[69] Hyun Jin Moon, “Letter to All Blessed Central Families on the Meaning of Foundation Day,” February 12, 2013. http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Talks/HyunJinMoon-13/ HyunJinMoon-130216.pdf. Hyun Jin Moon heads UCI (formerly the Unification Church International) and the Global Peace Federation Foundation (GPFF).

[70] Hyung Jin Moon, who had served as the movement’s International President, left that position and began an independent ministry in Pike County, Pennsylvania. On October 29, 2013, HSA-UWC USA President Michael Balcomb issued a “Statement on Hyung Jin Nim’s Ministries in Pennsylvania.” Noting that Hyung Jin was working with his elder brother Kook Jin, he reported, “True Mother is saddened by their decision to work apart from her.” He said Hyung Jin’s decision “to invest in a private ministry at this time is not appropriate” and that it was “not helpful to True Parents for members to be making the journey up to Pennsylvania to join these services, however uplifting they may be.” (http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks/Balcome/Balcomb-131029.pdf). More recently, In Jin Moon, formerly the President of HSA-UWC USA, has begun an independent internet ministry (i-Home Church). See http://www.injinmoon.com.