Heung Jin Moon
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Heung Jin Moon (October 23, 1966 - January 2, 1984), also referred to by members of the Unification Church as Heung Jin Nim or Lord Heung Jin Nim, was the second son of Rev. Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han, the leaders of the Unification Church (later renamed Family Federation for World Peace and Unification). He is officially regarded to be the "king of the spirits" in heaven (ranking higher than Jesus), now conducting seminars in heaven for departed souls who led lives of religious or political significance.
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[edit] Death at age 17
In December 1983, his car collided with a jacknifing tractor-trailer on an icy highway (State Route 9 in Hyde Park). According to reports from his two passengers, Jin Bok Lee and Jin Gil Lee, he swerved to take the brunt of the impact on himself, saving their lives.[1] After weeks in a coma, he died on January 2, 1984, a day regarded as his "ascension" into Heaven by Unificationists and observed as an annual church holiday: the "Day of the Victory of Love."
[edit] Posthumous marriage
Heung Jin Moon's death came before his planned arranged marriage to ballerina Julia Pak, daughter of Rev. Moon's then right hand man, Bo Hi Pak. According to the tenets of Unificationism, only married couples may enter the highest level of heaven. His parents conducted a posthumous marriage ceremony three months later, February 20, 1984.
[edit] Significance of Heung Jin Moon's death
Rev. Moon explained that his son's death was a great victory as it saved his own life; that his assassination by leftist terrorists was foiled on the same day as the accident, and his sacrificial act was merely representative of a similar, longstanding frame of mind, and that there was a karmic connection between the two events.
[edit] Posthumous, widespread channeling by ordinary members
After Heung Jin Moon's death, many ordinary Unification Church members in various countries around the world spoke to small groups of members, saying that the messages they were conveying were from Heung Jin Moon, being received by them spiritually (see Channelling (mediumistic)). Other members said they experienced automatic writing from him, or other kinds of spiritual communications from him. Typically these messages were ones of love and support.
[edit] Members' channeling replaced by official, continuous channel
A Zimbabwean member named Cleophas was then accepted as Heung Jin Moon's continuous channel, and became known as "the Black Heung Jin Nim." With Sun Myung Moon's approval he toured the world visiting Unification churches in a number of countries over several months, accompanied by church leaders and security guards. Those members who confessed to certain sins received beatings; Damian Anderson (still a current Unification Church member) reports seeing him "knock people's heads together, hit them viciously with a baseball bat, smack them around the head, punch them, and handcuff them with golden handcuffs." Rev. Moon's right hand man Bo Hi Pak received a beating that was potentially life-threatening and required hospitalization. Anderson was particularly upset that top church officials and their assistants prevented people by force from leaving. Eventually Cleophas was sent back to Africa. Anderson continues, "He left the country with the FBI and other authorities after him for his brutal crimes."
[edit] References
- Moon's Son, 17, Dies After a Car Accident. AP story, January 3, 1984. Accessed Saturday, August 19, 2006 from the New York Times Archives.
- True Love, Volume One, The Restoration of True Love, by Reverend Sun Myung Moon: Chapter 2 - Part 4 of 4: The True Parents
- Reverend Sun Myung Moon Speaks on the Day of Victory of Love, January 2, 1992
- Excerpts, Hong, Nansook. (1998). In the Shadow of the Moons: My Life in the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Family. Little, Brown. (ISBN 0-316-34816-3)
- Theological Uproar in Unification Church; Rev. Moon Recognizes Zimbabwean as His Reincarnated Son by Michael Isikoff, Washington Post Staff Writer. Accessed Saturday, August 19, 2006.
- Black Heung Jin Nim in DC by Damian Anderson
