Yes, this is a thing. And I was late finding a mention in the media about this, but I finally found one:
May 21, 2018: Locked and Loaded for the Lord (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2018/05/21/feature/two-sons-of-rev-moon-have-split-from-his-church-and-their-followers-are-armed/) (The Washington Post)
QuoteUnification Church membership figures have always been elastic, ranging from tens of thousands to several million. In 2009, the Washington Times cited 110,000 "adherents." Whatever the correct number, it had peaked by the late 1990s. Yet the Rev. Moon pressed on. In 2003, a double-page ad in the Washington Times trumpeted this news: All 36 deceased American presidents acknowledged Sun Myung Moon's greatness. What's more, each one had written an endorsement letter from the Great Beyond. "People of America, rise again. Return to the nation's founding spirit," said Thomas Jefferson, once characterized as a "howling atheist" by political opponents. "Follow the teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Messiah to all people."
Messages from Former American Presidents (36 Presidents) (http://www.messagesfromspiritworld.info/United%20Nations/United%20Nation3.html)
The following speech by Han Hak-ja doesn't mention the channeled messages from the dead US presidents, but she did mention Lenin and Marx, so it's not really a stretch from those two guys to the likes of Washington and Lincoln. And one member rather rudely confirmed to me that he believed these are genuine. I just hope I live long enough to see Trump's. He's already given some positive endoresments from the physical world aka planet Earth.
Note: I wrote that before I found the quote in the Washington Post piece linked above. But it's still interesting to note that she was in on the act.
The Counsel of Messages From the Spirit World (https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Books/TmAnthology-2017/TmAnthology-3.pdf)
From the PDF: This speech was given at a series of Assemblies to Bring the Unity and Secure Settlement of the
Parents of Heaven and Earth into the Life of the World, held between August 10 and September
30, 2002, in Korea, Japan, and the United States.
QuoteIn our capacity as the True Parents of humanity, my husband and I already have united the entire spirit world. We are receiving messages of support and unity from the founders of the four great religions centering on Jesus, including Buddha, Confucius and Muhammad, and from 120 major disciples of each of these leaders. They sent these messages after having studied our teachings in Divine Principle and Unification Thought seminars in the spirit world. These leaders are filled with hope and feel immense gratitude toward the True Parents.
Even communist leaders in the spirit world, beginning with Marx and Lenin, have completed the Divine Principle seminar in accordance with True Parents' direction. They too are sending tearful messages of repentance and deep lamentation. ....
Soon you too will begin having spiritual experiences. The time has come when your ancestors will
directly observe and guide your life and even your thoughts. Numerous Unification Church members who
believe in and follow the True Parents' teachings are already experiencing this.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you again for coming here this evening. You are truly blessed, because you
are able to live in the historic and providential age when the Messiah, the True Parents of humankind, has
returned to earth.
This is the time when North and South Korea and all other nations will be unified, not by guns and knives
but with love and truth. This is the time when all the religions of the world will become one under the
guidance of the True Parents and when all the sages and ancestors in the spirit world will come down to
earth to live with us and communicate directly with us.
And in this article, it seems like Moon is referencing the dead presidents' messages.
Nov. 5, 2005: Throw out the Moonies' messiah, demand MPs (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-367693/Throw-Moonies-messiah-demand-MPs.html) (The Daily Mail)
QuoteLast year, Moon staged a ritual in the US in which he announced: "Emperors, kings and presidents have declared to all heaven and earth that Reverend Sun Myung Moon is none other than humanity's saviour, messiah, returning Lord and true parent."
And another UC site has the messages (https://www.unification.net/leesanghun/leesanghun20030828.html#Presidents), and it provides a date, location, and names of the "channelers" - one is listed as a sender and one is listed as a receiver. Your guess is as good as mine!
QuoteSender : Dr. Sang Hun Lee, Receiver / Reporter Young-Soon Kim
Date: June 8, 2002 to August 1, 2003
Place: Sun Moon University, Asan Campus
And that one starts with a message from God him/her/their/it self. I like that God wrote it at midnight, and I like the repetition. Not quite as effective as Martin Luther King Junior's "I Have A Dream" speech though. God should have asked Martin Luther for some help. I assume he's in heaven. But well, heaven sounds like a really strange place. As Trump would say: It's full of Moonies". (https://web.archive.org/web/20150525232212/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/26/nyregion/unification-church-insists-trump-apologize.html)
QuoteThe reports quoted the Trump associate saying: "If they don't like a subdivision of Mar-a-Lago, how will they feel when a thousand Moonies descend on Palm Beach every weekend?"
QuoteGod's Message to the United Nations
My beloved Children!
I am Jehovah, Lord of hosts.
I am Jehovah, Lord of hosts.
I am Jehovah, Lord of hosts.
The endless, thorny path, a path of everlasting endurance and patience over the tens of thousands of years I have sought my beloved children has been a path of blood and tears that I, Jehovah, have shed.
I, Jehovah, Lord of hosts, am your parent, the Father of all humanity. I am the parent of humanity, my children, my beloved children!
My dear children! I have cried out for you through endless nights for tens of thousands of years. I have yearned to call out your names and have called for you time and again. Yet, the words "dear children" have been ensnared for tens of thousands of years, so that even though I cried out for you, and my cries echoed around the world, you have been deaf to my calling. Can you understand even a little of this parent's heart, my heart, as I have wandered around looking for my children?
My beloved children, my children participating in the United Nations! Even though your skin colors, characters, languages and cultures are different, in my eyes all of you are equally my children. All of you are beloved children of God; you are brothers and sisters who must love each other.
Imagine how I must have felt as I watched brothers and sisters live separated from each other, hating each other, fighting and killing each other with swords, guns, missiles and brute force. Now, I hope all of you will realize deep down in your hearts that each and every one of you are incarnations of me who are very precious to me.
My children! My beloved children! What would you do if you were to see a child of God, one of your brothers or sisters, dying of hunger? Can't you be done with the past, in which you have lived thoughtlessly, and think of me as your parent, believe in me and follow me? Can you imagine your Lord God's countless days filled with grief and sadness as I have waited for tens of thousands of years with endurance and patience?
United Nations! Wake up. Stand up! Now, you must hold hands and become leaders and fighters in establishing the Kingdom of God. Then wouldn't the people of the world, among whom a vast gap exists between rich and poor, become brothers and sisters who would help and support each other and share everything they have?
I am Jehovah, Lord of hosts.
I am Jehovah, Lord of hosts.
I am Jehovah, Lord of hosts.
I ask you, I plead with all my heart for you to find the right path and follow it before more of the spirits of my beloved children fall ill.
Participants in the United Nations! What would you do if the sound of your children's wailing and moaning from hell rang in your ears? I wouldn't mind going barefoot on a path that is tens of thousands of miles long if I could save my children. I would run down that path in one breath. I have been going down that path for the last tens of thousands of years.
I have been a God of grief, a God of sadness, a God of waiting and a God of pain and suffering. If all the days of the tens of thousands of years could be tied together with a single thread, it would be made of only blood and tears. Look at history to the present day. Look back at our history. How is it possible to express in words everything that has happened in history?
My children who are participating in the United Nations! The problems that are obstacles to attaining peace for all of humankind cannot be solved by force alone. That is completely impossible. I have specially sent Rev. Sun Myung Moon, my beloved son, and the True Parent, as the Messiah to all humanity, so believe in him and unite based on his teachings. If you do so, you will feel, deep down in your hearts, that I am your parent and your Father even though you cannot see or touch me.
Listen to the inner voice in your heart. You will hear it echo, "God, my Father, please be with me always!" I am asking all of you, my beloved children, with all my heart to shoulder the many problems in your nations and solve them. I ask you to bear in mind always that the people of the whole world are one big family of brothers and sisters. Reflect on my heart, the heart of a parent who has to teach his own children, "I am your Father." Think deeply about it.
Jehovah, Lord of hosts
Midnight, August 1, 2003
I'll just post a few messages from the most noteworthy presidents. Suffice to say there is quite an obvious common theme to all of them. And what they lack in verisimilitude, they make up for in... well something? Or nothing? I don't know.
And now let's read about what George Washington was up to in June 2002.
George Washington (1789-1797): First President of the United States
QuoteI, George Washington, am deeply moved to learn through Mr. Sang Hun Lee the identity of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, learn about Rev. Moon's accomplishments and philosophy, and come to a realization that he has appeared as the Messiah. I was introduced to poignant content, including the course of Rev. Moon's turbulent life and suffering that led to his ascension to the position of the True Parent of humankind, his bloody battle with Satan to discover the Divine Principle, his providential victories, and the circumstances of God as he oversaw the historical time periods that existed in parallel from ages past. In particular, I came to the realization that the Messiah is giving unlimited love to the people of the United States, and is offering the most profound sincerity and dedication in order to guide humankind to the philosophy of peace. Yet the people of America are greatly lacking in sincerity and dedication in attending the Messiah. I realize that the American people are blessed by the mere fact that the Messiah is present on American soil. Yet, they appear unable to realize this deeply. I am deeply distressed over this.
The government and people of the United States should accept the philosophy and teachings of the Messiah. They must realize this is a blessing God has given to America. For what purpose did America become the strongest nation in the world? You should remember that when your ancestors founded America, they began by attending God, recognizing him as being the highest pinnacle. But what is your situation now? America must repent. Examine the direction in which you should be going, and the reality of where you are going. Will God guide you to the path of eternal blessing? Only if the people of America repent and receive guidance in the teachings of the Messiah will America become God's eternal Eden.
George Washington; June 9, 2002
Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809): Third President of the United States; Author of the Declaration of Independence
QuoteA great saint, the Messiah, has been born in the calm country of Korea, so I shall speak from my heart with the desire that the bright light from the East shine on all people. The founding spirit of America is second to that of no other country in the world. I take pride in that. Yet in this place, the world after death, I am quite envious of the people of Korea, a calm and quiet country. Where is there any peace or happiness for the people of America, vexed by philosophical and racial struggle, and by numerous incidents of terror? The Messiah, the True Parent of humankind, brings the philosophy of peace for the sake of the world. See what happens when the leaders of America accept these teachings. See what happens when America no longer seeks after only her pride as the strongest country externally but makes an unbiased examination of herself to see what she has done for peace in the world.
People of America, rise again. Return to the nation's founding spirit. Follow the teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Messiah to all people, who has appeared in Korea. There is no inconsistency between our founding spirit and his teachings. Well-known presidents and kings from history are excited by the greatness of his philosophy of peace.
America, rise again. Make America the land of God's new truth and new hope. That is the mission America is called to fulfill in this age.
Thomas Jefferson; June 10, 2002
Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865): Sixteenth President of the United States; Preserved the Union through victory in the Civil War, and issued the Proclamation of Emancipation for the slaves
QuotePeople of America, I wish for you to constantly go the way of obedience, aligned with the teachings of True Parents.
Rev. Sun Myung Moon, Mansei!
Returning Lord and Messiah, Mansei!
True Parents of humanity, Mansei!
I, Abraham Lincoln, have experienced incredibly wondrous and exciting moments, but I am saddened that there is no communication, or crossing back and forth, between the earthly and spiritual worlds. Without doubt, Rev. Sun Myung Moon is the True Parent of humanity. He shows us how to love one another and brings us together as one, with no discrimination among religions or races. He is accomplishing feats on many levels that would be utterly impossible if it were not for True Parents' teachings. People of America, do you think you can bring peace through war and military force? God has appeared before humankind as our parent. While I was listening to the Divine Principle lectures, I had a vision. In this vision, all the souls in this place, including black people, yellow people, and white people, and including Christians, Buddhists, Confucianists, and Muslims, all came together and danced for joy. Then I saw a bright light, that is, the brilliant light of God, and in that instant, I, Abraham Lincoln, wanted to also jump in among them and begin to dance.
People of America, people of the world! Black people are children of God, as are white people. At some time, all of you will have to gather here in the spirit world and walk side by side and live together. I simply came here and experienced this fact before you.
I am making a request to the people of America because I love you with an earnest heart. Rev. Sun Myung Moon has appeared as the Messiah and the True Parent of humankind. I hope that you will attend the Messiah and constantly walk the path of obedience based on True Parents' teachings. War and military force will only serve to create another human hell. Is it not time for the earthly world to declare an end to hell? A philosophy of peace for humankind comes from the Messiah. The life that you now live in the earthly world is only a fleeting and incomplete life. If you are to live in the eternal world with eternal happiness, you must above all else awaken to the truth of the Divine Principle and Unification Thought. This is my solemn request.
Rev. Sun Myung Moon, I respect you. I thank you very much for all you have done. I will attend you resolutely as the Messiah and returning Lord, tear down the walls between races and religious groups, and participate actively in True Parents' Unification Movement.
Abraham Lincoln; December 9, 2002
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909): Twenty-sixth President of the United States
QuoteOnly when you realize the truth about God's work can you know the significance of peace for humanity.
I was very envious of the other former American presidents who reported before me, and I am very grateful and joyful to have an opportunity to also pass on my message to earth. On earth, I became the youngest president in American history, and so I had more progressive inclinations than the others. When I listened to lectures on Rev. Moon's Divine Principle and Unification Thought here in the spirit world, I was so moved that I feel an ever-growing urge to be resurrected on earth every day.
That is because American leaders of today look down on moral values, waste material resources of various kinds on unreasonable projects, provide a declining level of education in matters of morality and character and cannot come up with a clear solution to the chaos of this time. Rev. Moon's Divine Principle and Unification Thought are far superior to the doctrine that America is founded on. Consider the current situation of Israel. Are they serving Jesus Christ and closely following his teachings?
At present, great secrets of heaven are being revealed through the Divine Principle and the Unification Thought. Do you know that an eternal world where people live truly exists? It is a pity that the words I speak cannot fully express the strong emotions and admiration I feel for Rev. Sun Myung Moon's teachings. I am really very grateful to Rev. Moon. Even if he is not the Messiah or the Savior in religious terms, when we consider his doctrine, it is more than enough for us to acknowledge him as the leader of the world.
People of the United States! I implore you to serve the true teacher of humanity and to accept his theology so that you can remain forever as the people of the greatest nation in the world. Rev. Moon has the answers in many different dimensions regarding the establishment of an eternal world of peace. When I see his projects for realizing a world of peace, I cannot hold my head up, because as someone who received the Nobel Peace Prize, I am too ashamed. Only when the American people follow his teachings can America remain as a great nation of prosperity and peace in front of the world. And only when you properly realize, in this time, the truth about who God is can you know the significance of peace for humanity. This is the main point of my message that I want to convey to you from my heart.
Theodore Roosevelt; July 14, 2003
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945): Thirty-second President of the United States; Served four terms as president; Promoted the New Deal Policy in an attempt to solve the Great Depression of the 1930s
QuoteFranklin Delano Roosevelt's Prayer
Heavenly Father!
I think I am too bold to call You Father. Dear Father, You are so miserable! You are a God of great grief and bitter pain. What can I say to bring You words of comfort, Father? I am Roosevelt. At one time, as the president of the United States, I invested all my energy for the welfare and prosperity of the American people, but I didn't guide them in any way to help them prepare for life in the eternal spiritual world. It is this point that has caused my heart to feel untold suffering. Heavenly Father, please forgive me.
And dear God, please lead the American people today to the right path. Most of them are caught up with excessive self-praise and egoism just because they are citizens of the strongest power on earth. They are unable to display tolerance and humility toward the third world countries, they take their own future lightly, their own view of God is deviating from the true path.
Heavenly Father, please shake and wake up America. I pray earnestly for our American people. Heavenly Father, I beg for forgiveness that I was unable to teach them that You are the parent of all humankind. Heavenly Father, I will invest all my energy and prayers here in the spirit world until the day when all the American people become God's true children.
The new truth of the Divine Principle is moving my heart deeply, and is making me repent about everything in my past life. It is the first time in my life that I have had such deep feelings. I realized so many things through the Divine Principle, and the only thing that I can do at this time is lament loudly with tears of repentance.
Heavenly Father, please protect and preserve the throne of the True Parents, Rev. Sun Myung Moon who worked so hard to find and reveal this new truth. Father, I know that this prayer is presumptuous and impolite, but unless I pray and repent in this way before You, I will not be able to endure. I want to offer this prayer to You, dear God. Please accept it.
God's child, Franklin Roosevelt; July 26, 2003
Oh not JFK too! I actually met a UN lawyer last week. I should pass this on to him in case he and other UN staff didn't receive JFK's message to the UN sent from heaven almost 40 years after his assassination.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1961-1963): Thirty-fifth President of the United States
QuoteA Message to the United Nations
Those of you at the United Nations, I am John Kennedy!
I want to declare an extremely important thing to you today. The fact that Kennedy is sending a message from the spiritual world to the United Nations is something that cannot be imagined in your world, and it is very significant news. Through attending lectures of the new truth, Divine Principle and Unification Thought here in the spirit world, I have understood the direction and goal that the world must take today. I want to let the UN know the following.
The people of the world today must live as brothers and sisters, helping and depending upon each other. This is the most urgent and universal value. I want to convey to those of you at the UN this strong message showing our resolution and will, hoping that you will put it into practice. I declare the following:
1. God is the parent of humankind and truly does exist.
2. After people finish their life on earth, their soul continues on to live in the eternal world, namely the incorporeal world (spirit world) which is a reality.
3. Rev. Sun Myung Moon is the Messiah, the Savior and the True Parent of humankind.
4. All of humankind and the UN have to understand the ideology and works of Rev. Sun Myung Moon and they have to accept his leadership and guidance.
5. The realization of an eternal world of peace is only possible when we put into practice the ideology of the True Parents and practice love on the supra-religious, supra-national, and supra-racial levels. A world of peace cannot be realized through wars or through force.
6. The whole of creation, including humankind, exists in reciprocal relationships, namely, both internal nature and external form, and plus and minus (male and female).
7. The beginning of human history went wrong and this has to be restored according to the providence of restoration.
8. We have to clearly know the true identity of Satan (Lucifer) who left a huge stain on the beginning of human history.
9. The gap between the rich and poor is becoming more serious on the earth. The cause of ignorance, sickness, poverty and war has to be completely eradicated.
10. The Divine Principle and Unification Thought are the unique textbooks that can free humankind from suffering and unhappiness.
I sincerely hope that those of you at the UN keep these ten points in mind and in your own countries fulfill your responsibility in this age to lead humankind into a new future. Members of the United Nations, don't ask what the United Nations can do for you, ask what you can do for the realization of the eternal world of peace (the original founding purpose of the UN). I feel sorry to God that during my short term as president the UN did not fulfill its responsibility and, with a heart asking for forgiveness, I send this message.
John Kennedy; July 30, 2003
One more, but not from a US president, and I don't think they'd want this getting any outside attention. I think Mr Rushdie was marked for death for less.
The site's navigation is a little odd in that I can't seem to grab the direct link, but if you go to the homepage here (http://www.messagesfromspiritworld.info/), and then click on the image of Mohammed, you'll be taken to it:
(http://peterdaley.net//images/strangerthings/moonies/messages.jpg)
Why Does Depicting the Prophet Muhammad Cause Offence? (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30813742) (BBC News)
Related 2:Dec. 21, 2017: Holocaust Victims and Queen Mother Posthumously Baptised By Mormons (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/21/mormons-holocaust-victims-baptism-lds-church) (The Guardian)
Mohammed's Message for Muslims and People on EarthQuoteWhen God created human beings, each individual was to be an object of joy to Him. However, against His original will, due to the fall of the first human ancestors, from the beginning human history flowed in a wrong direction. Races divided, religions arose, and different cultures developed depending on the living environment. Nevertheless, the Creator of all human beings is only one, God. How painful His heart must be when He looks at the divisions of humankind into many races, religions and cultures. God is the Parent of all humanity, but when He has to watch His children fighting everyday, arguing over who is right and who is wrong, how must He feel? Earthly people do not know the overall direction and flow of God's providence, nor the relationship between God and human beings, and that is why there has been no harmony among religions for a long time.
God is the Parent of humanity. If examined carefully, the original source of all doctrine or truth is one. What religion would teach people to revere evil. Although their methods might differ, their fundamental purpose is to pursue goodness. Because God is the original being of absolute goodness and love, and every religion teaches about love.
Therefore, the fundamental teachings of each religion are quite similar. Now God's basic desires are to bring the truths and doctrines of all religions together and unite them as one. When it is done, God can finally rest. After countless days of waiting, God finally sent Reverend Sun Myung Moon for this purpose. Through him, the Unification Principle was revealed for the sake of the unification of all religions.
Dear Muslims, you too were born as children of God. I hope that you will unite in one thought. The reason is simple. The only God wants that unification. God at the time of Muhammad and God in this era is the same God, who is our unchanging Parent. Now is the time when we should be able to enjoy one brotherhood and realize world peace. God desires it all the time.
The possibility of world peace is remote without the unification of religions. Dear Muslims, Muhammad is petitioning you. Do not employ our own unique faith and doctrines to cause pain to other religious believers, but accept everyone with open arms and open hearts. By so doing, open doors to conversations on doctrines and join together. The four major religious founders have united in one thought and idea. Jesus accepted Buddha, and vice-versa. We personally experienced God who is rejoicing to see us at the same seminar. Through that experience, we resolved to remain united as one.
Reverend Sun Myung Moon came to the Earth in order to deliver God's will and to unite a divided and scattered humankind. He appears as the True Parent. I hope that my followers will also accept him with a humble attitude.
The one whom you have been attending is God. When you work with other religious believers after accepting God's love, both God and Muhammad will praise you.
And please read thoroughly the Unification Principle in a quiet place. Muhammad opened his heart all the way, after realizing from the seminar that its teaching is a true guide to human life. I know that you cannot do it overnight. However, if it is a path that everyone must go, I hope that none of you will fail in choosing the right and straightest way for your life.
April 9, 2001
Note: This is the only one I've seen so far that isn't written in the first person narrative voice - "I Muhammad can assure you that I am really Muhammad, really!". Perhaps they were being a little more careful with Mohammad, but still this could really piss off a lot of people.
And we can add Han Hak-ja's dead mother to the list, and of course, Jesus.
(http://peterdaley.net//images/strangerthings/moonies/mum.jpg)