The Unification Church was established by Sun Myung Moon (“Shining Sun and Moon”) following the Korean War. Claiming that he had received a vision from God, he started out to fulfill his mission of uniting all of Christianity under one headship—his own.
Previous articles in this series have noted that most cults can be identified by what they teach concerning the Bible and concerning Jesus Christ. The Unification Church clearly fits the pattern. Concerning the Bible, it is the official teaching of the Unification Church that “the Bible is not truth itself, but is a text book teaching the truth,” and that it was written for “people whose spiritual and intellectual standard was very low.” Conveniently, and in keeping with every cult that seeks to be aligned with Christianity, only Rev. Moon can properly explain the Bible, so what he says becomes the basis for what is to be taught and believed.
Concerning Christ, the Unification Church teaches that it was never God’s will for Christ to be crucified. Rather, Jesus’ mission was to restore mankind to God’s family by marrying a perfect wife and having children, thus initiating a bloodline free from sin into the human race that would, over time, spread throughout each family. According to Moon, the cross was not supposed to happen, and when it did, Jesus failed in His divine mission. For this, he was cast out of the Trinity. He was raised from the dead, but only as a spiritual being. Those who become followers of Moon, sometimes referred to as Moonies, are taught that there is no redemption in the cross of Christ and no salvation to be had in Him. In fact, they are told that they can become superior to Him by following The Divine Principle, which is an official publication of the Unification Church.
Moonies refer to Moon as Father and believe that the children that came through his second marriage were born without original sin. His followers believe that Moon has taken on the mission that Christ failed to complete and is therefore now accepted into the Trinity. Moon lived the last half of his life as an extremely wealthy man whose followers were zealous to lavish him with money, real estate, and other possessions. He died in September 2012 from a severe bout of pneumonia.
While there are many more blasphemous details to the story of Moon and the Unification Church, these are sufficient to show that Moon was nothing more than another narcissistic false Christ, and that the Unification Church he founded is a false church offering false hope. From God’s first promise to send the Seed of the woman to crush the head of Satan, throughout the Old Testament prophets, to the announcement of Jesus’ conception and birth, and through the writings of the New Testament apostles and evangelists, the crucifixion of Christ is established as God’s own eternal plan for the redemption of mankind. The cross was no accident; it was the focal point of Christ’s divine mission. The Apostle Paul says it this way: “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV)
Also, in regard to the sufficiency of Holy Scripture in all matters of faith, we are assured by its testimony and the witness of the Spirit in our hearts that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV) Any man and any teaching that contradicts God’s Word is just Satan continuing his deceptive scheme to separate man from God through sin. Yet we have Christ’s assurance that not even the gates of hell can prevail against His Church (see Matthew 16:18).
Frank Gantt is pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Loganville, Georgia.