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Subscribe to RSSThe Rev. Sun Myung Moon was known for his controversial practice of officiating mass weddings of thousands of followers. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
Updated at 3:50 p.m. ET: The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the self-proclaimed messiah who turned his Unification Church into a worldwide religious movement and befriended North Korean leaders as well as U.S. presidents, has died, church officials said Monday. He was 92.
Moon died Monday at a church-owned hospital near his home in Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul, two weeks after being hospitalized with pneumonia, Unification Church spokesman Ahn Ho-yeul told The Associated Press. Moon's wife and children were at his side, Ahn said.
Church officials planned to meet later Monday to discuss mourning and funeral arrangements. The church will likely hold a 13-day mourning period and start accepting mourners at its nearby religious center on Wednesday, Ahn said.
Moon founded his Bible-based religion in Seoul in 1954, a year after the Korean War ended, saying Jesus Christ personally called on him to complete his work.
The church gained fame -- and notoriety -- in the 1970s and 1980s for holding mass weddings of thousands of followers, often from different countries, whom Moon matched up in a bid to build a multicultural religious world. His followers were derisively referred to by critics as as "Moonies."
The church was accused of using devious recruitment tactics and duping followers out of money; parents of followers in the United States and elsewhere expressed worries that their children were brainwashed into joining. The church responded by saying that many other new religious movements faced similar accusations in their early stages.
In later years, the church adopted a lower profile and focused on building a business empire that included the Washington Times newspaper, the New Yorker Hotel in Manhattan, Bridgeport University in Connecticut, as well as a hotel and a fledgling automaker in North Korea. It acquired a ski resort, a professional soccer team and other businesses in South Korea, and a seafood distribution firm that supplies sushi to Japanese restaurants across the U.S.
“Words cannot convey my heart at this time,” said Thomas P. McDevitt, president of The Washington Times. “Rev. Sun Myung Moon has long loved America, and he believed in the need for a powerful free press to convey accurate information and moral values to people in a free world. The Washington Times stands as a tangible expression of those two loves.”
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“As controversial as Rev. Moon was in the United States, I got to know him as a man whose heart was focused on bringing together people of different faiths to bridge divides. His call on people of faith to serve others is an important legacy,” Neil Bush, chairman of Points of Light and son of President George H.W. Bush, was quoted as saying by The Times.
The Unification Church claims millions of members worldwide, though church defectors and other critics say the figure is no more than 100,000.
In 2009, Moon married 45,000 people in simultaneous ceremonies worldwide in his first large-scale mass wedding in years. Some were newlyweds and others reaffirmed past vows. He married an additional 7,000 couples in South Korea in February 2010. The ceremonies attracted media coverage but little of the controversy that dogged the church in earlier decades.
Lee Jae Won / Reuters
The Rev. Reverend Sun Myung Moon and his wife, Hak Ja Han, attend a mass wedding ceremony of the Unification Church in Gapyeong, South Korea, March 24.
Born in 1920 in what is today North Korea, Moon said he was 16 when Jesus Christ called upon him to complete his unfinished work. While preaching the gospel in North Korea in the years after the country was divided into the communist-backed North and U.S.-allied South, Moon was imprisoned there in the late 1940s for allegedly spying for South Korea -- a charge Moon disputed.
He quickly drew young followers with his conservative, family-oriented value system and unusual interpretation of the Bible. He conducted his first mass wedding in Seoul in the early 1960s.
The "blessing ceremonies" grew in scale over the next two decades, with a 1982 wedding at Madison Square Garden in New York -- the first outside South Korea -- drawing thousands of participants.
"International and intercultural marriages are the quickest way to bring about an ideal world of peace," Moon said in a 2009 autobiography titled "As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen."
"People should marry across national and cultural boundaries with people from countries they consider to be their enemies so that the world of peace can come that much more quickly."
Moon began rebuilding his relationship with North Korea in 1991, when he met the country's founder Kim Il Sung in the eastern industrial city of Hamhung.
Moon said in his autobiography that he asked Kim to give up his nuclear ambitions, and that Kim responded that his atomic program was for peaceful purposes and he had no intention to use it to "kill my own people."
Oct. 14: Thousands of couples exchange vows during a mass wedding ceremony in South Korea. Msnbc's Alex Witt reports.
"The two of us were able to communicate well about our shared hobbies of hunting and fishing. At one point, we each felt we had so much to say to the other that we just started talking like old friends meeting after a long separation," Moon wrote.
He added that he heard Kim tell his son: "After I die, if there are things to discuss pertaining to North-South relations, you must always seek the advice of President Moon."
When Kim Il Sung died in 1994, Moon sent a condolence delegation to North Korea, drawing criticism from conservatives at home. Kim's son and successor, Kim Jong Il, sent roses, prized wild ginseng, Rolex watches and other gifts to Moon on his birthday each year. Kim Jong Il died late last year and was succeeded by his son Kim Jong Un. Moon sent a delegation to pay its respects during the mourning period for Kim Jong Il.
Moon also developed good relationships with conservative American leaders, including former Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Still, he served 13 months at a U.S. federal prison in 1984-1985 for tax evasion. The church says the U.S. government persecuted Moon because of his growing influence and popularity with young people in the United States, his home for more than 30 years.
As he grew older, Moon quietly handed over day-to-day control of his multibillion-dollar religious and business empire, which included dozens of companies ranging from hospitals and universities to a ballet troupe, to his children.
His youngest son, the Rev. Hyung-jin Moon, was named the church's top religious director in April 2008. Other sons and daughters were put in charge of the church's business and charitable activities in South Korea and abroad. After ending a first marriage, Moon remarried a South Korean, Hak Ja Han Moon, in 1960. She often was at Moon's side for the mass weddings.
The youngest son told The Associated Press in a February 2010 interview that Moon's offspring do not see themselves as his successors.
"Our role is not inheriting that messianic role," he said. "Our role is more of the apostles, where we share ... where we become the bridge between understanding what kind of lives (our) two parents have lived."
Moon is survived by his second wife and 10 children.
NBC News staff and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
VERY few people I'd say this about their death but good! I'm glad the crazy freak is dead. Wonder how much $$$ he left to the RNC. Crazy Moonie Man is a huge benefactor of the GOTP.
Sounds like you need to back away from the kool-aid .
Moonies everywhere are eclipsed in grief.
It is just another one of those Cult Religions like the Mormons. Jump my Butt all you want but in your heart you know I speak the truth.
Hard to tell if he was more of a looney or a con-man extraordinaire. Perhaps some of each. Either way, he made a fortune selling... nothing, though many of his customers insisted they felt much better having bought it. What an interesting world.
Sorry Indy, but Dixie is 100% spot on. This guy is just another lunatic taking advantage of weak people. Sad thing is there will be another lunatic to follow and the weak-minded will line up behind him like sheep.
Money+religion=EVIL
This must be a blow to conservatives everywhere. The Unification Church used to publish (and I think they still do) a magazine called Today's World which had strong conservative bias. It actually contained a lot of good, thought provoking articles, though. I think they were the owner's of the Washington Times which I think was the actual publisher of the magazine. I used to buy it all the time when I was in Washington DC, although I am not a conservative myself. It was just a good magazine. It was a big, thick magazine. Each issue was something between 200 and 300 pages and cost about $10 as I recall. And yes, Dixie May, I think the Unification Church had a strong connection with the Republican Party.
@Indymaverick:
Who needs to back away from the kool-aid? A crazy old coot that thought he was Jesus, or those of us who knew a charlatan when we saw one? Moon was the first wingnut enabler, who set the template for the wingnut enablers we all know and love today. Maybe he did some good in the world, but I sure didn't see it.
Good riddance, I say.
And not a day too soon. " He almost got my 17 year old son, [at the time]. The Red Cross saved his azz from Mooney.
Dogs, don't leave out the major cultist Mohammad.
Knock the dude all you want. He made a fortune selling flowers and pencils. We should all be so lucky.
The church was accused of using devious recruitment tactics and duping followers out of money; parents of followers in the United States and elsewhere expressed worries that their children were brainwashed into joining.
Sounds like every other religion to me! How was this one different again?
FINALLY!!!
I knew one person who had to be deprogrammed way back when...
I feel like singing "the wicked witch is dead" (the Wizard of Oz)!!!!
Grinning "Moonies" I wish I could forget these idiots!
He won't be missed. With a bit of luck his cult "religion" will wither away. I've always lumped the Unification Church into the same category as Scientology, and to some extent the Mormons. If in doubt check into their origin and philosophy.
My opinion and general observation is both the Unification Church and Scientology prey upon the weak minded who are searching for some ultimate "truth". Both require huge investments in both time and money. At least one of them uses sleep deprivation and other brain washing techniques to subordinate its members. Any "church" that requires dues rather than contributions to be a member is not a religion, it's a business --a business to separate the foolish from their money.
I'm betting you have neither, huh Bluelake?
Finally, Bin laden and the devil have a new companion. I sure hope they are having a nice little chat. lol Hey rev. say hello to Nixon and Reagan for me. Just for fyi , among all the corporations he owned and had partnership in. the Washington times is just one of his propaganda machines. He's the guy that got George bush sr. arrange to have a decommissioned nuclear sub sold to china and have them accidently forget to remove the launch mechanism, and then blame it on Clinton by having the transfer date happen during his presidency. But no worries republicans, I'm sure he will save you all a spot in his new world order church, in HELL.
The Rev Moon is dead. I hope his movement dies with him. He sponsored Brain Washing at Kansas University in the 80's. He took good Kansas boys and girls and convinced them to sue their parents for money, land or anything of value. He had armed guards at his New Jersey Mansion where many of these brainwashed young-ins were kept. Safe houses were established across the Country to steal our youth back and place them in deprograming centers so they could get their heads straight and return to the families and society. To me the Rev Moon was a Devil in disguise.
Wow. So, one more Cult Celebrity dies, leaving the GOP with one less potential presidential candidate. Who will they go to once they've burned out their current Cultist Candidate, Mitt Romney?
I guess the KKK's Grand Dragon will be next. Or maybe John Travolta?
What's worse -- the Scientology Volcano nonsense, or Mittens and his Magic Underwear?
Romney truly believes a god is up there, concerned and wringing his hands over every person not wearing magic underwear. And, this is the guy the right-wing wants to put into the White House.
Wow, just when you had enough of Sarah Palin and thought the GOP couldn't go any lower...
Okicize Wicasa Yata Pi...you're wrong. He made his money from the slave labor of the brainwashed and lost children he stole from their families! His illbegotten fortune that has for YEARS supported RW, Conservative causes and agendas with millions in donations to the RNC and it's Candidates.
To those of us who are not GOTPers it is truly bizzare that a Man who claims he is the Messiah sent to finish Jesus' work on earth, a Man who sunders families by brainwashing young people and convincing them he cares more for them than their Parents do, a Man who uses an army of slaves who work only for his glory and enrichment is one of the largest financial supporters of the GOP. It's laughable that Mormonism freaks out the Catholics and Evangicals yet Moonie Cultism doesn't! You people have some really weird ways of seeing things...LDS bad...Moonies good???
He'd kind of fallen out of the public spot light in recent years. But in his heyday he was regarded as either [by his adherents], the Second Coming of Christ, or [by everybody else] a dangerous kook.
Still, he lived to be 92, lived very well, and all he had to do was tell all his moonies to do this and do that.
Not a bad life, all told.
Let's hope some of the vestiges of old-school Korean mind control, including sleep deprivation and endless repetition, dies with the old man.
dman,
"Still, he lived to be 92, lived very well, and all he had to do was tell all his moonies to do this and do that."
If I lived to be 92, I'd consider myself very lucky indeed. I'm only 62 now and feel like I'm 1062. 30 years more seems like an eternity.
I didn't know he was still alive. Schmuck.
@Mickey-1983943
I'm only a couple of years older than you, and I feel like 1064 years old. Maybe BOTH of us need to be taking more Liquid Vitamins, or something.
But, as to that Unification Church nonsense, their Grand Poobah Moonie-Looney MESSIAH proved, after all, that he was nothing more than mortal.
"Bye-bye, Looney Moon!"
@frogmorton...too bad there isn't some kind of magic to make your fool @SS disappear!! @dog6 what I know deep down is you sir are an idiot!
Nataliya,
"I'm only a couple of years older than you, and I feel like 1064 years old."
It's nice to know I'm not alone. Every time get get up in the morning, I'm reminded of that poem by A. E. Houseman that starts:
"When I greet the morning beam, or lay me down at night to dream, I hear my bones within me say, 'Another night; another day'"
The old bones just don't want to perform like they used to.
any religion that thinks the end of the world is a good thing classifies as a dangerous cult.
any religious leader that lives in luxury based on the hard earned work of those "beneath" him (or her) is a con-artist and a thief
Girl, you'll be a woman, soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxLR_VaWkMM
...and all across the world, Sailor Moon fans finally have a chance to be considered the only true Moonies.
Yeah, Moonie got rich off religion. Please keep on sending those contributions because God loves your money. Show the world how much you love god by the amount of your donation. God wants all you got and if you're cheap about it......well, guess where you'll be swimming in a sea of hellfire for eternal life.
Isn't he supposed to come back, like, as a zombie or something? I can never remember how all this religion stuff works.
As usual, you're wrong again Spider. You lose that bet.
Geez, that's too bad, now which way is the buffet?
From reading these comments, it's obvious there are a few younger folks who have no clue who this guy was, but still feel the need to voice their opinion. The guy was a wackjob that brainwashed dimwits such as yourselves. Good riddance to him. Now go update your facebook page with more info nobody cares about...
That anyone of any religion would make fun of anyone of another religion is highly hypocritical. I imagine back before Christianity took off, the Jews said the same things about followers of Jesus that you all are saying about Moon, just like Christians said/say about Islam, and so on down the line. People are so busy making fun of others for their "silly cults," they don't realize they are part of what was once a "silly cult" themselves.
Everyone knew he was a brainwashing cultist and ruined many lives...that is until he began to support extreme right wing politics and then he was all of a sudden A-OK with the Far right wingers.
In college I was on the lecture committee,we had a former cultist and then de-programmer speak along with the showing of a film about a kid sucked in by one of these cults. Of course the local Moonies had to chime in. The leader of the local Moonies was a part time student taking one course each semester (This a ruse so he would have access to campus; not because he was really a student at all) He was strange as can be, calling me in my dorm instead of my student union office (Unacceptable) and even tried to get me to go to a Moonie Retreat (No chance of that). He seemed to be on some kind of drug all the time, very 'not all there' and a bit hazy....FYI he was offered a chance to make a presentation and speech on his 'side' but instead he engaged in a 30 minute diatribe during the event. We felt he more than had his equal time.
I shed not one tear for his (Moons) death.
Once in a while the collective world can breath a sign of relief and exclaim, "Thank the universe this evil person is finally dead." This is one such while.
For those who don't know Moon, he was a destroyer of lives.
He built an empire on exploitation, motivated by his perverted ideology, with the supreme desire to be the first Emperor of the World. That's right, he wanted to be the first world emperor. That's why he built a media empire. He owned the dreaded, hackneyed Washington Times, plus a bunch of TV and radio stations...ownership which used to be illegal for a foreigner, until Reagan changed that law for Rupert Murdoch and Moon.
Moon used his media empire to brainwash Americans into his way of thinking, with which he had realized great success, hence the current state of the GOP ( and all the consequences of the platform of this latest version of the GOP). If you are a middle-class supporter of the GOP, and maybe a big supporter of a distorted social Darwinism that props up the rich and powerful at the expense of your class, you likely came to think that way because of Moon's huge influence, and to your own detriment.
He also owned Century 21, so keep the heck away from Century 21 businesses.
He made his first wealth not by providing proper goods and services, but by conning hard working people out of their assets, savings and income.
You want to learn more about this guy and his currently-above-ground clique, which is still poisoning world politics? Read Blinded By The Right, written by the guy who wrote the slam pieces, The Real Anita Hill and the Troopergate story. Find out what this former Golden Boy/hatchet man of the GOP found out about Moon, Norquist, Murdoch, Philip Mellon Scaiffe and others. Find out just in time for the elections.
You all have the right to your own opinion about Reverend Moon and Unificationism but I would love to clarify a few things for everyone, being a second generation unificationist myself. When you ignore all the noise of the media and critics and just look at what Rev. Moon lived for and what he was teaching, it is really an amazing thing. He never once claimed to be Jesus; He said that he was continuing Jesus' work. He honestly just decided that he was going to save the world when he was 16 and didn't stop since then. And he's done a damn good job doing it if you ask me. For one, he's inspired me to do my best to live a selfless life. Not that I'll get nearly as close as he did but if I can be half as loving and heartistic as he is, I'll be happy. Once he was asked if he was the Messiah. He said "Yes, I am." Then he pointed to each other person in the room and said "And so are you, and you, and you..." Yes, he claimed to be continuing the messiah's work of saving the world but he was extremely humble. He was really saying that anybody can help save the world if they are determined enough. I am so greatful for the life and legacy of this man and, think of him what you will, he was truly an amazing human being.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer nut case. Now who's next?
I'd forgotten, but this nut job owns the Washington Times, the original flagship of conservative media in this country, and the incubator of conservative journalism.
No wonder the right wing is so bat-shyte crazy and impervious to reason and logic. Considering that the major and most prestigious source that disseminated "knowledge" to conservative world was owned by this dingbat...
Trace it back to its source, and this guy is at the roots of modern conservatism. It really explains a lot, doesn't it? :D
Who's next? Billy Graham, hopefully...
ChrisWanker, with that kind of statement, you prove to be true to your last name once again, a wanker. Seriously, though, Billy Graham isn't a con artist. He did what he did out of the conviction of his faith rather than the conning of money from the wallets of people but hey, you're an atheist, you'd NEVER con money out of people and manipulate their minds or cause people to be intimidated through scare tactics to abandon their moral values, right? The "public" school system and evolution and its related ilk, not to mention your counter-moral values, are just as much of a religion as organized religion and, as such, should be and MUST be treated as such, regardless of what you think about it in your life and ditto for anyone that thinks like you and that agrees with you, too. If you plan on taxing organized religion, then organized anti-religion should be the first to be taxed and you who practice it should be the ONLY ones that foot the bill and attend these schools, too. It's only fair, right?
Yeah, I'm counting on Pat Roberson or Jack Van Impe being placed on their family's fireplace next, but when Fred Phelps bites the dust, I'm hoping he is dumped in the ocean in a weighted bag near bin Lauden and the rest of the family sinks in the boat with him during his funeral while people on another boat protests. He would be kind of a waist of a casket, urn or propane if you ask me.
All men who get rich from religion are con men truthteller! Graham isn't the jacka$$ that Robertson is but he profits from selling hope to frightened, unhappy people. He's a charlatain as much a Moon, Hubbard, Jones or Koresh. They live like vampires off the fear of the followers. Some of these cons truly believe but that doesn't make the con real.
khalid - way to swing your left-wing opinion into something that has nothing to do with it. Nicely played. Let's go to the sports page next and show how republican policies lead to the New England Patriots losing both Super Bowls to the Giants.
thetruthteller-3478699,
Sigh... First off, Wanker is an Austrian family name. Grow up!!! Secondly, I'm born and raised Presbyterian. Thirdly, I had to read your rant about 3 times before I understood what you were rambling about.
Taxing atheists and anti-religion organizations? Well... okay... But only if they're a registered organization. So, I agree with you... I think...
hey falsehoodteller, you already have your own (christian) schools AND get federal money to support them, what freaking more do you want? you won't be happy until EVERY school teaches your creationist nonsense and EVERY child is FORCED to pray to jesus along with religious police to make sure nobody works or stays away from church on sunday. at that point the complete downfall of America into superstitious nonsense will be complete and we will be completely converted into a superstitious, backwater, third-world country that the rest of the world will have passed by.
The world can smile at the loss of one less racist.
The moonies weren't racist oreniented just own everything their followers had and indenture them to work for them with no pay. Along with all the Brain Washing they did.
Re-read the quote I offered and think again. Racism was just one of his defects and it was rooted in his overarching "elitism". A perfect candidate for the GOP.
Sounds like the truth to me.
Just another cult preying on the naive. Moonies, Rajneeshpuram, Hari Krishnas. Jonestown. Poor people who can't think for themselves.
HEY, Don't talk about George bush srs. buddy like that , lol
Many people thought that Jesus was a lunatic, blasphemer, or what have you 2000 years ago. It turns out that it's not what people think who someone is that matters, it's what God thinks that really matters. For those of you who think so negatively about Rev. Moon I would like to remind you that's your own thoughts. Why don't you pause for a moment and take some time out to meditate and pray to God and as God what He thinks about Rev. Moon? When you are able to quite your mind and still your heart you may come to a very different conclusion. I wish you all no ills, but if you really want to know the truth about the man, then PLEASE the least you can do is try to get to know the man a little better and you can start by reading his biography, As A Peace Loving Global Citizen, by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. God bless you. God bless America. God bless the world. Aju!
adju
Wasn't Jesus one of the Alou brothers?
gbua...Moon was a liar and thief and I'm betting the new Messiah, his heir, is as bad or worse. Time will tell! There is nothing else to his story! I feel sorry for you and the sad siuation of your life being so bad you threw it away on a charlatain! Such a waste! It's a pity...
Anyone who doubts that this man was a terrible, evil influence in America and Worldwide just look for yourself. DON'T believe me! Google it and see for yourself. Go look and see who's been buying the RNC's ear for decades.
That's right. And my considered thoughts are that after having witnessed this man's effect on his fellow man for well over 35 years is that he was an elitist conman. Are those thoughts negative? You betcha... and they are prompted by his behavior right up to the moment of his death. The thoughts may be negative, but at least they are mine and not those of one of his automatons. Do people have a right to give away their self possession and respect to a con man of his ilk? Absolutely. Do I have the right to criticize and disrespect them for it? Why yes, indeed I do.
The new self proclaimed Messiah we know is worse...he is occupying OUR white house right now!!!
far more accurately, what one bunch of people can persuade others about "what god thinks", which is all religion really is. one bunch of people trying through various means be it hook, crook, fear, force or simply talking, to push their idea of "what god thinks" on the "non-believers.
...and anti-religionists are just as equally, if not moreso, guilty than the religionists, danwill. In comparison to what Communists, Socialists, Fascists, and the Nazis did, the Christians (barring the NWO-serving turncoats known as the Roman Catholic Church) generally have done FAR less killing and looting than the people without religion have done.
Hey "thetruthteller" you still using "buzzwords" to scare the masses? Have you and the RNC nothing else to do but think about world domination? BTW I LOVE how you move the Catholic Church out of the running, and the killing numbers just to make your numbers work, just like the RNC, when something doesn't look right on paper, take it off, ignore it, or shred it...rofl... have a great day and BTW maaybee take off the stupid hat..
the Christians (barring the NWO-serving turncoats known as the Roman Catholic Church) generally have done FAR less killing and looting than the people without religion have done.
in absolute numbers perhaps, but in percentage of affected population, very little difference, in fatc the religionists take the lead for total global population killed
and actually, the communists and ' soviet socialists of china and ussr simply took the place of religion and used essentially the same methods with modern technology, as well as the self delusion in the service of political reality known as "lysenkoism" which led to widespread famine. the YEC creationists are just as much of a danger to science today as lysenko was to agriculture and science in the old ussr
As IF, Danwill. Did you forget that among the largest supporters of Adolph Hitler (who ran as a "conservative") were the Lutheran and Catholic Churches. He was their man, god wanted him to win, and the churches (just like they are now supporting Romney from the pulpit) supported Hitler from the pulpit. Error in judgement? Didn't think they could do that, with the direct pipeline to god's alleged will. Religionists will believe ANYTHING, apparently. And Hitler, anti-abortion, anti-gay, pro-business, anti-tax for the wealthy, was ELECTED, he didn't take over the country against its will.
lou, I agree with you completely, I think you might have been confused by my mistake in not putting the first paragraph in blockquotes ( it was truthtellers comment i was responding to, not my own on the first paragraph and forgot blockquote it).
the conservative religious apologists keep trying to claim the nazis were " atheist socialists" , but they were socialist in name only, they were actually extremely rabid, religious conservatives that told the religious right exactly what the religious right wanted to hear.
just like the religious reich/right wants to hear exactly the same thing again today.
YAY! Another nut gone.
Sadly, there are more that are ready to take his place and fools willing to follow them...
Finally., Rev Moon face the ultimate reality that life is impermanent. He will face his next life based on what he did in this lifetime. If you follow the bright light go for it. If you follow the hazy light, it is not an ideal world. So long Mr. Moon!
It's about time he died. Such a duplicitous evil man who duped millions into supporting his superstitions and ignorance...people like Jonathan Wells who ran to an authority figure and found an excuse to give up thinking for themselves. Good riddance.
I Didn't Trust Him Either!
Reverend Moonie seemed more of a capitalist that a man of God.
The perfect Republican
Rev. Moon's Unification Church is a power-mongering, money-grubbing religion, with a regimented, corporate hierarchy running through the whole of it: just like the Mormon (LDS) Church. Both of those religions fairly scream out "cult of personality".
Nataliya S,
Re: cult of personality. How are the Moonies and the LDS different from the followers of the Red Shoed Gentlemen in the Vatican?
There is no difference Malinda!
or any of the rest of the evangelical , multi-millionaire tv and radio preachers with their lear jets and "give even when you can't feed your own kids" brainwashing? or the most dangerous of all of them, the "new apostolic reformation" and their stated desire to control all media, culture, education, politics, etc. (eleven pillars of society" they want to control)
May he forever burn in the fires of the hell he will be in real soon!
i am korean and i hate his guts!he was a thief that uses god as a excuse !!!!!
Yes, like a Republican here.
That is the purpose of religion Mark. It it thievery. It exists to benefit the few on top and rip off everyone else.
He was a total nut case, he will not be missed
Well, guess he found out what all the religious leaders eventually discover: dead is dead .... nothingness after death .... it was all hype for money after all .....
Wow wasn't he Mitts Pastor: Oh ya he was a morman!
He was not playing with a "full moon". He was one of the ultimate religious con men. Money was the object of his existence. The more he got the more he wanted. Throw in a little religion and you got the "Moon." He didn't have to pull his shorts down to " moon" you!
the world will be a better place without the chief moonie; now let's get rid of the washington times ...
Why judge ....if you do not want to be judged.....? Let God do his work ....we are not God .
You appearntly were not around at the time of the Moonies here in the US. Go thump your Bible Somewheres else.
Why not judge? We ALL judge people all the time! It's human nature and it's a good thing! With "judging" a person you might let the Pedophile from down the street come to your barbeque. Without judging you might hire the crank addict that hangs out at the AM/PM to come help you move some furniture. Without judging people you put yourself in dangerous situations. IMO the sad, loney, lost people this man enslaved should have done a much better job of judging his character!
Judgement is good without it a person might not have the perception or discernment to avoid evil! Yes, there is EVIL~and in my lifetime there have been many incarnations of EVIL~and unfortunately many of those incarnations occurred in this Nation following the Republican banner. As Orwell wrote: when people call good, evil and evil, good and quikspeak is the language (hip-hop, ebonics etc.)~Big Brother will rule and personal privacy will no longer exist. WE ARE THERE NOW! Moon was just one of the instruments Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer, Azeal used to fulfill his plan!
LET's GET SOME HISTORY STRAIGHT, from the words of a founding Editor in Chief of "The WASHINGOTN TIMES" from its founding -- When THERE WAS NO "conservative newspaper" in that city - after the "Washington STAR" folded! ** ARNAUD de BORCHGRAVE's books give great, first person insights -- Among these "inconvenient factoids" -- Dr. MOON NEVER CONTROLLED nor INFLUENCED the editorial / reporting polices of the paper he under-wrote; (b) it became profitable and self-sustaining, within a few short years; and (c) because that newspaper arrived at about the time RONALD REAGAN assumed the American Presidency - "The Washington Post" became a far better newspaper, too! ** How close are SOuth Koreans to AMericans? FIRST, this is one such example of an ALLY in WAR supporting us in peace! ** SECOND, to this day South Koreans consider General MacArthur's brilliant, high risk "Inchon Invasion" as their KOREAN FOURTH of JULY independence day! -30-
sorry gogosian2061, the washington times is a moonie mouthpiece, period.
It sure is and the man made his living enslaving and using 1000s and 1000s of brainwashed people. This liar wasn't a "Messiah" he was just another user who found an easy way to power and wealth!
If you buy that story that Moon never prescribed editorial policy~then i have a Bridge in Brooklyn for yah to buy at your first opportunity!
Now that was great news... this is not a religion but a money making cult... but then again isn't that the modern purpose of all religions/cults?
"The church was accused of using devious recruitment tactics and duping followers out of money; parents of followers in the United States and elsewhere expressed worries that their children were brainwashed into joining."
DUH - a cult...
@Pete, Colorado-301015
And, shall we add that the article says that SUN MYUNG MOON (aka, Rev.Moon) was a self-appointed Messiah! That, in itself, would put that scum-dog into a CULT: all by itself.
And, let's not forget (i.e., let us of my generation not forget) that the U.S. government seized the thousands of acres of Montana land that MOON had bought, back when he recruited those of our American youth who joined the cult and were relocated to Moon's "ranch".
And, ALSO, the article failed to mentioned that when the UNITED STATES shut down that manipulative messianic freak, here at home, he--Moon--bought up thousands of acres in eastern BRAZIL, to start yet another of his weird Moonie Ranches! Moon turned that "Brazil experiment" into a quasi-regimented hierarchy (i.e., similar to the top-to-bottom hierarchy of the mormon church): very "stridently and stringently" conformist, where uniformity and conformity are necessary means to an end.
I am not saddened that that MOON freak has "bit the dust".
Can you see that old worthless p.o.s. begging St. Pete to let him in. " let me true da pearRee gates."
How interesting this man actually started out following "The Real McCoy" - Jesus Christ. Then went totally into a ditch. Jesus rose from the dead to be seated at the Right Hand of the Father. Actually everybody will one day raise from the dead and then give account for their life upon this Earth. From all the accounts I have read of the after-life I would not want to be going where this Moon guy is headed. All His followers - who perhaps - could have received Jesus Christ as Savior will be taking turns tormenting him in this place Jesus called Hell because He led them astray into Damnation versus Glorification. I am so thankful I came to know Jesus Christ as my Savior over 40 years ago - at the time it was kind of a big deal since I had lived a pretty corrupt life and it was hard to give-up those pleasurable entities. But since He "cleans up your act from the inside out" it really is the "Easy Yoke" He promised in The Word of God.
You say: " From all the accounts I have read of the after-life".
What accounts have you read?
Post EXACTLY what you have read.
I am here to tell you that what you have been taught all your life in that area is just not true.
Post what you have read.
Oh man I want to read those "accounts of the afterlife" too!! I have been waiting all my life for proof of a soul, of an "afterlife"! Waiting with baited breath for your evidence of an afterlife! PLEASE prove it to me if you can.
Okay, do you want it the easy way (die a natural death) or some other way (watches shows like 1001 Ways to Die for some answers), those of you who hate religion? By the way, I agree that the guy was a con artist but he was also an Antichrist and you're just glad that he's gone because you get to promote your own little fairy tale but the thing is that you anti-religionists and people like the Roman Catholic Church, the Mormons, and the Unification Church people are ALL a part of the New World Order, regardless of whether you're consciously, unconsciously, aware, or unaware of the true facts. Argue with me all that you want but you will ALL know that you're a part of a very vast and very ancient con game that was began by metaphysical and evil beings several millenia before.
Thanks Tom...the only positive post i have read o far...
Oh "thetruthteller" its you again..did they let you stay up late in the asylum? What "religion" are you?? Come on now out with it.
I wonder how many of those thousands of couples he matched up and married are still together today?
most of them, i am a daughter of one of those couples myself, and FYI my parents are not hypnotized
Of course they are Clara!! They just don't know it.
Another deserving soul is now shoveling coal to stoke the fires of hell. Bon voyage you right-wing P O S.
Not to put down what you say but there is a difference between a GIVING donation and TAKING everything you own.
This guy is worm food now, just like we are all destined to be. There is no afterlife, stop believing in fairy tales. Everything in the universe has a beginning and an end EXCEPT humans? LOL take off the blinders people...
Then quit believing in your lack of a religion, Tim-874396. No one wants to buy your inferior fairy tale anyway and you only attract each other rather than win new converts. Honestly, you no religion types are just as guilty of proletyzing and manipulation as those that you criticize but hey, you can't stand the truth of you being a bunch of hypocrites now, can you? The same goes for all of you that lack a religion, too. All of you religious and anti-religious people, not to mention all of the liberals, moderates, conservatives, and fringe people, are just as guilty of prosletyzing, manipulating, and extorting your fellow human beings to your warped and distorted lies to everyone that you can in your lives rather than living by a good example in your lives to your fellow human beings. Your hypocrisy sickens me and you will bring the nooses around ALL of your necks and the various other punishments as well.
Speaking of the beginning of the universe...
the best news ive had today, the only other thing i would like to read more is obamas obit! ! ! !
retiredsgt:
It's one thing to dislike a person for whatever reason...but you probably just invited some unwanted attention from the secret service.
Sgt...a very pathetic comment.
DSP - CAPT/USNR
I, too, hope you get a visit from the Secret Service.