I remember sitting in Sunday school one day listening to twin brothers tell a story about how a couple of young men began to worship a man after they read a Bible where the man simply scribbled out God’s name and wrote his own name in it. The young men’s blind faith in the man apparently went as far as them to believe that the man they were worshiping was God.
It was difficult for me to fully believe this story when I originally heard it because I did not think people could be so naive to worship a man who simply wrote his name in the Bible in place of God's name. However, as time has passed and the more I hear about people falling prey to false teachers, prophets, and messiahs the story is becoming more believable to me.
I mentioned to a friend that I wrote about how Sathya Sai Baba had the makings of a false Christ during a conversation on Friday. My friend told me to look at a person who goes by the nickname “Reverend Moon”. I decided to follow my friend’s suggestion to read about Reverend Moon or Sun Myung Moon (his real name), and what I read about Moon reminded me of the story the twin brothers told at Sunday school several years ago.
Reverend Moon is the head of the Unification Church, which has a few million members around the world. Reverend Moon claims that he met Christ at Age 15, who asked him to take over His task to establish God’s kingdom on Earth. Members of the Unification Church actually do believe that Moon is the Second Coming of Christ, which is amazing since the Bible-one of the main religious texts of the Unification Church-would completely refute that idea.
- The real Christ said that He, Himself, would come again (not some other person in His place) (John 14:3, Revelation 3:3).
Perhaps the main reason why Moon gets away with claiming that he is the Second Coming of Christ with his members is that the Unification Church portrays the Bible as partial truth. A 536 page book co-authored by Moon called the Divine Principle is considered a new set of divine revelation by the Unification Church (additional statements made by Moon are also believed to be coming directly from God by Unification Church members). Naturally, the Divine Principle has several teachings that completely contradict the Bible. Here are a couple of teachings that contradict the Bible:
“Moon is the messiah of the Second Coming and his wife is the Holy Spirit. He and his wife, called The True Parents where he is the True Father and his wife the True Mother, are the first couple to be able to bring forth children with no original sin”.[1]
“Complete salvation (spiritual and physical) awaits the arrival of the third Adam and his subsequent perfect marriage”.[2]
In addition, Unification Church members engage in the completely unbiblical practice of communicating with the dead.[3]
- Deu 18:10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
- Deu 18:11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
- Deu 18:12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.
Someone has gone through process of analyzing several of Reverend Moon’s religious teachings and statements and providing biblical responses that refute them. If you are curious you can review the biblical responses to Reverend Moon at the following link:
Reverend Moon is another false Christ that the real Christ warned that we would see prior during the birth pangs period (Matthew 24:5). His ability to attract followers by claiming that he is the Second Coming of Christ reminds me of the man who got two young men to worship him by simply writing his name in place of God’s name in the Bible. In each of these cases a person got people to worship them after making ridiculous claim/unbiblical claim regarding their relationship with the divine.
It is sometimes amazing to read about how so many people are caught up in religious cults. People would not get led so easily astray if they simply remain grounded in the Bible and if they tested teachers, people who claim to be a messianic figure, and spirits. The defense against false teachings, lying spirits, and false messiahs is simple, yet not a lot of people seem to grasp it or use it.
References
[1] Slick, Matt. “The Unification Church”. Dec 1. 2010 Last Accessed Dec 1. 2010. http://carm.org/unification-church
[2] “Unification Church”. Dec 1. 2010. Last Accessed Dec 1. 2010. http://www.religioustolerance.org/unificat.htm
[3] Daschke, Dereck W. and Michael Ashcroft. New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader. New York University Press: New York. 2005. 139.
