The First Time I Met Reverend Moon
The first time I met Reverend Moon was in the autumn of 1983.
In the Unification Church, one should go through a repentance course in the first six months after one has joined. It is a series of workshops or retreats totaling 70 days, a weekend workshop, seven-day, twenty-one-day and forty-day. Many had never been to a forty-day within that time frame, if at all, since the education system in the United States had not provided one on a regular basis, to my knowledge.
A respected Korean elder, Reverend Ahn, was directing the forty-day workshop I was attending and giving some of the lectures. He was known for the depth of his lecture content and ended his lectures bowing to his students. He passed into the spirit world a year or two ago.
We were staying in the New Yorker in midtown Manhattan. There were well over twenty people in attendance. At least half were new to the church. One was a man from Kentucky named Dan some years older than myself. I was 19 at the time. Another a Vietnam Veteran a good ten years older than myself, and quite tall, named John. In the coming years I would come to realize I had a problem with tall people. Yes, at times John just found me too much to put up with, but we all got along fairly well. My family name literally means ‘short’ in German.
In the Unification Church teachings overcoming historic conflicts, the sins of your fathers so to speak, or the sins of one’s race or nationality is part of one’s course. Explained simply, we are responsible to break down the walls of race, nationality and religion that keep the family of man divided and in conflict. I guess height would be included in that list in my case (so many stories).
One Sunday we all had the opportunity to go to Belvedere, Reverend Moon’s family residence at the time, in Tarrytown New York. Several church leaders lived in the immediate area also. Early morning, with the sun barely rising, we reached the gates and security station. A quick check and we were through, parked and went scurrying toward a converted coach house built into a hill. We entered from below, removed our shoes and maneuvered up a shoe covered staircase entering the back of the hall. A pair of large garage doors were open and the crowd extended outdoors. The three of us found a small opening on the floor and sat down. All the men or ‘brothers’ sat on the right side of the room and sisters on the left.
We rose and everyone made a standing bow towards the center of the room as Reverend Moon entered, coming down from the main house. I turned up my head slightly and seeing Reverend Moon through the crowd the first thing I thought to myself was; ‘He’s very short.’
There was a prayer and Reverend Moon began speaking. I believe it went over the typical two hours, usual for such a gathering. The topic was the campaign to bring 30,000 new members. It was far from lighthearted. It was serious and intense. It was near the end of a three-year campaign. International One World Crusade teams (I.O.W.C.) had been traveling from State to State working with the local Churches with spotty results nowhere near the 30,000 goal.
It was a time when communism was still the greatest threat facing humankind. According to the Church’s teaching communism represents the ‘Cain’ world and the democratic world the ‘Abel’ world in the final struggle between good and evil. Stalin having been the anti-christ. In this historic battle between God and Satan for the ownership of man the United States, the fruit of Christian history, and center of the ‘Abel’ world was/is in a crucial position.
As Abraham pleaded before God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, the goal of 30,000 was not simply to achieve the goal of Unification Church membership numbers, but also a condition for the United States to be claimed by God, to fulfill God’s providence. A condition to save this nation from immorality and decline, not only for its own sake, but for the sake of the world. A condition offered on man’s part that allows God to work. In the Unification Theology, for God to overlook man’s responsibility is contradictory to His entire purpose of creation. “According to the ‘Principle of Creation,’ God’s purpose of creation can be realized only when human beings complete their portion of responsibility.”
I have to paraphrase Reverend Moon’s speech from memory and it was through a translator but the message was clear and direct. ‘If we cannot accomplish this goal your children will shed their blood fighting the communists in the jungles of South America.’ He spoke of the need for unity between the I.O.W.C. leaders and the State leaders.
From almost the very beginning the shoving started. Maybe it would be wrong to call it kicking, but something just short of its definition. Yes, it was very packed and it is far from easy for a westerner to sit cross-legged on the floor for any length of time. Obviously we had imposed on someone’s space and they were letting us know.
All the time Reverend Moon conveyed to the attendees the importance of the goal of the witnessing effort. Far from pleading, but more in the line of a drill sergeant trying to kick his soldiers into shape. ‘You do not understand… Your children will have to shed their blood fighting the communists…. If the United States fails…. If communism isn’t stopped…’
I fought hard to focus on this moment I considered very important in my life. First it was John who gave up in disgust. He got up and moved to stand in the back. Then it was Dan. About five or six around us pushing from all sides so they could lean back and stretch their legs was too much for them to put up with. Everyone else in the room seemed satisfied with the conditions they found themselves in. Where three had sat cross legged, I sat with my arms wrapped around my legs knees pushed up to my chin listening intently.
I didn’t take notes and after, hearing more than a few speeches remembering every point escapes me, not to mention the the inability to follow intensity and power with which Reverend Moon spoke. It left everyone feeling drained, outright exhausted afterwards. (We were actually specifically invited back, the next week I believe, to hear a much more hopeful message) He continued on with the importance of this time. The importance of this goal and the dangers if it was not fulfilled. The importance of the leadership, State and I.O.W.C., to unite and bring a victory.
Then Reverend Moon asked all the State leaders in the audience to raise their hands. At that time, the Church was in the process of replacing all the State leaders with seminary graduates. The Unification Theological Seminary having been established in 1975. Many of the earliest members from the United States were in mission countries, 120 across the world including the communist block, and others had been called to greater missions and various organizations working with religious and political leaders and the media to mention a small spectrum of the scope of their work. A State leader was in some ways a glorified event organizer, which detracted from the responsibility of spiritual counselor. A position of spiritual leader that nearly no one thought they would find themselves in or saw as part of their life goals before they joined. Then they joined the Unification Church.
Yes, you know it. They were all State leaders who had been pushing, prodding and showing displeasure at our intrusion. But people acting in a petty fashion can be found anywhere, in any organization of any type. It would be petty of myself to consider that a reflection on the larger movement. Then again, for those who may have joined because they got a free meal and people were nice to them such incidents may be a very big deal. Without a complete picture of the movement can anyone decipher the controversy those who left have created around the Unification Church?
A short time later I felt I had reached a point where those around me could no longer hold an expectation of respect. I dropped my knees and took a more comfortable position pushing back against those around me. The translator was speaking. I thought for a moment that Reverend Moon almost cracked a smile. …Maybe.
He went on with the urgent message at hand. ‘You don’t understand, the Unification Church will have no safe place if communism succeeds. Your children will shed their blood fighting the communists in the jungles of South America.’ To say His face was stern would add brightness to Reverend Moon’s demeanor that was not there.
Afterwards Reverend Moon went on to a leader’s meeting as usually. The weight of the message left many, including our workshop staff, in silent heavy reflection. There were those few that seemed intent on playing down the message. One elder ‘brother’ tried to convince me that it was not a literal message but that developing the proper ‘heart’ was the purpose. I have come to disregard those Americans in the movement who continual refer to ‘heart.’ A word and ideal important in the Unification Church worldview but often misused.
That December Reverend Moon went on a sudden whirl wind tour of Korea under Victory Over Communism (V.O.C.). V.O.C. had at that point done extensive anticommunist education work across the Far East, most significantly in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. It was a multi-city tour that brought overflow crowds across the nation. The same year the Soviets shot down KAL flight 007, with U.S. congressman Lawrence McDonald aboard. The tour drew so much attention, that intelligence reports revealed that several assassins had been sent to the final event. Arriving an hour before only to find the auditorium already filled with thousands waiting outside to listen over loudspeakers.
Heung Jin Moon, Reverend Moon’s second oldest son, was known for his devotion to his parents. Known for challenging security and members, “Are you willing to die for True Parents.” as Reverend and Mrs. Moon are known. About the same time as that final speech, on December 22nd in the United States, an oncoming truck jack-knifed in front of Heung Jin Moon's car. Contrary to ones survival instincts, he, the drive took the full force of the impact as there were two others in the car. They both survived. I saw the car some time later stored in an outbuilding on the Seminary grounds. It took hours to extract him from the vehicle. He passed into the spiritual world on January 4th, 1984.
One of my formative experiences in the Unification Church. To this day, the goal of 30,000 new members has not been met in the United States though ecumenical activities have advanced significantly.
In the Unification Church, one should go through a repentance course in the first six months after one has joined. It is a series of workshops or retreats totaling 70 days, a weekend workshop, seven-day, twenty-one-day and forty-day. Many had never been to a forty-day within that time frame, if at all, since the education system in the United States had not provided one on a regular basis, to my knowledge.
A respected Korean elder, Reverend Ahn, was directing the forty-day workshop I was attending and giving some of the lectures. He was known for the depth of his lecture content and ended his lectures bowing to his students. He passed into the spirit world a year or two ago.
We were staying in the New Yorker in midtown Manhattan. There were well over twenty people in attendance. At least half were new to the church. One was a man from Kentucky named Dan some years older than myself. I was 19 at the time. Another a Vietnam Veteran a good ten years older than myself, and quite tall, named John. In the coming years I would come to realize I had a problem with tall people. Yes, at times John just found me too much to put up with, but we all got along fairly well. My family name literally means ‘short’ in German.
In the Unification Church teachings overcoming historic conflicts, the sins of your fathers so to speak, or the sins of one’s race or nationality is part of one’s course. Explained simply, we are responsible to break down the walls of race, nationality and religion that keep the family of man divided and in conflict. I guess height would be included in that list in my case (so many stories).
One Sunday we all had the opportunity to go to Belvedere, Reverend Moon’s family residence at the time, in Tarrytown New York. Several church leaders lived in the immediate area also. Early morning, with the sun barely rising, we reached the gates and security station. A quick check and we were through, parked and went scurrying toward a converted coach house built into a hill. We entered from below, removed our shoes and maneuvered up a shoe covered staircase entering the back of the hall. A pair of large garage doors were open and the crowd extended outdoors. The three of us found a small opening on the floor and sat down. All the men or ‘brothers’ sat on the right side of the room and sisters on the left.
We rose and everyone made a standing bow towards the center of the room as Reverend Moon entered, coming down from the main house. I turned up my head slightly and seeing Reverend Moon through the crowd the first thing I thought to myself was; ‘He’s very short.’
There was a prayer and Reverend Moon began speaking. I believe it went over the typical two hours, usual for such a gathering. The topic was the campaign to bring 30,000 new members. It was far from lighthearted. It was serious and intense. It was near the end of a three-year campaign. International One World Crusade teams (I.O.W.C.) had been traveling from State to State working with the local Churches with spotty results nowhere near the 30,000 goal.
It was a time when communism was still the greatest threat facing humankind. According to the Church’s teaching communism represents the ‘Cain’ world and the democratic world the ‘Abel’ world in the final struggle between good and evil. Stalin having been the anti-christ. In this historic battle between God and Satan for the ownership of man the United States, the fruit of Christian history, and center of the ‘Abel’ world was/is in a crucial position.
As Abraham pleaded before God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, the goal of 30,000 was not simply to achieve the goal of Unification Church membership numbers, but also a condition for the United States to be claimed by God, to fulfill God’s providence. A condition to save this nation from immorality and decline, not only for its own sake, but for the sake of the world. A condition offered on man’s part that allows God to work. In the Unification Theology, for God to overlook man’s responsibility is contradictory to His entire purpose of creation. “According to the ‘Principle of Creation,’ God’s purpose of creation can be realized only when human beings complete their portion of responsibility.”
I have to paraphrase Reverend Moon’s speech from memory and it was through a translator but the message was clear and direct. ‘If we cannot accomplish this goal your children will shed their blood fighting the communists in the jungles of South America.’ He spoke of the need for unity between the I.O.W.C. leaders and the State leaders.
From almost the very beginning the shoving started. Maybe it would be wrong to call it kicking, but something just short of its definition. Yes, it was very packed and it is far from easy for a westerner to sit cross-legged on the floor for any length of time. Obviously we had imposed on someone’s space and they were letting us know.
All the time Reverend Moon conveyed to the attendees the importance of the goal of the witnessing effort. Far from pleading, but more in the line of a drill sergeant trying to kick his soldiers into shape. ‘You do not understand… Your children will have to shed their blood fighting the communists…. If the United States fails…. If communism isn’t stopped…’
I fought hard to focus on this moment I considered very important in my life. First it was John who gave up in disgust. He got up and moved to stand in the back. Then it was Dan. About five or six around us pushing from all sides so they could lean back and stretch their legs was too much for them to put up with. Everyone else in the room seemed satisfied with the conditions they found themselves in. Where three had sat cross legged, I sat with my arms wrapped around my legs knees pushed up to my chin listening intently.
I didn’t take notes and after, hearing more than a few speeches remembering every point escapes me, not to mention the the inability to follow intensity and power with which Reverend Moon spoke. It left everyone feeling drained, outright exhausted afterwards. (We were actually specifically invited back, the next week I believe, to hear a much more hopeful message) He continued on with the importance of this time. The importance of this goal and the dangers if it was not fulfilled. The importance of the leadership, State and I.O.W.C., to unite and bring a victory.
Then Reverend Moon asked all the State leaders in the audience to raise their hands. At that time, the Church was in the process of replacing all the State leaders with seminary graduates. The Unification Theological Seminary having been established in 1975. Many of the earliest members from the United States were in mission countries, 120 across the world including the communist block, and others had been called to greater missions and various organizations working with religious and political leaders and the media to mention a small spectrum of the scope of their work. A State leader was in some ways a glorified event organizer, which detracted from the responsibility of spiritual counselor. A position of spiritual leader that nearly no one thought they would find themselves in or saw as part of their life goals before they joined. Then they joined the Unification Church.
Yes, you know it. They were all State leaders who had been pushing, prodding and showing displeasure at our intrusion. But people acting in a petty fashion can be found anywhere, in any organization of any type. It would be petty of myself to consider that a reflection on the larger movement. Then again, for those who may have joined because they got a free meal and people were nice to them such incidents may be a very big deal. Without a complete picture of the movement can anyone decipher the controversy those who left have created around the Unification Church?
A short time later I felt I had reached a point where those around me could no longer hold an expectation of respect. I dropped my knees and took a more comfortable position pushing back against those around me. The translator was speaking. I thought for a moment that Reverend Moon almost cracked a smile. …Maybe.
He went on with the urgent message at hand. ‘You don’t understand, the Unification Church will have no safe place if communism succeeds. Your children will shed their blood fighting the communists in the jungles of South America.’ To say His face was stern would add brightness to Reverend Moon’s demeanor that was not there.
Afterwards Reverend Moon went on to a leader’s meeting as usually. The weight of the message left many, including our workshop staff, in silent heavy reflection. There were those few that seemed intent on playing down the message. One elder ‘brother’ tried to convince me that it was not a literal message but that developing the proper ‘heart’ was the purpose. I have come to disregard those Americans in the movement who continual refer to ‘heart.’ A word and ideal important in the Unification Church worldview but often misused.
That December Reverend Moon went on a sudden whirl wind tour of Korea under Victory Over Communism (V.O.C.). V.O.C. had at that point done extensive anticommunist education work across the Far East, most significantly in Korea, Japan and Taiwan. It was a multi-city tour that brought overflow crowds across the nation. The same year the Soviets shot down KAL flight 007, with U.S. congressman Lawrence McDonald aboard. The tour drew so much attention, that intelligence reports revealed that several assassins had been sent to the final event. Arriving an hour before only to find the auditorium already filled with thousands waiting outside to listen over loudspeakers.
Heung Jin Moon, Reverend Moon’s second oldest son, was known for his devotion to his parents. Known for challenging security and members, “Are you willing to die for True Parents.” as Reverend and Mrs. Moon are known. About the same time as that final speech, on December 22nd in the United States, an oncoming truck jack-knifed in front of Heung Jin Moon's car. Contrary to ones survival instincts, he, the drive took the full force of the impact as there were two others in the car. They both survived. I saw the car some time later stored in an outbuilding on the Seminary grounds. It took hours to extract him from the vehicle. He passed into the spiritual world on January 4th, 1984.
One of my formative experiences in the Unification Church. To this day, the goal of 30,000 new members has not been met in the United States though ecumenical activities have advanced significantly.
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