Stranger Things

Sept. 28, 1992: Apocalyptic Movement Stirs Social Crisis in South Korea (The LA Times/Internet Archive)

QuoteIm Hwa Ja, bewildered and depressed, has seen her entire world collapse around her. Since last November, her husband of 25 years, a prosperous director of a book-publishing firm, abruptly quit his job, sold the house, began beating her and now, to keep himself "clean," refuses to sleep with her. Im's three sons, the pride of her life, dropped out of their university. As if a malevolent spirit had infected the men she loved and turned them into strangers, they began to shun her as Satan, and they spend much of their days and nights praying at a mysterious church in Seoul.

They--along with an estimated 20,000 other South Koreans--are waiting for the beginning of the end of the world. ...

For instance, some followers--including Im's three sons--are being prepared for "martyrdom" by being told they will die painlessly and, like Jesus Christ, rise again after three days. Lists of appointed "martyrs" are said to have been prepared with names of believers and the precise date and places of their deaths. Some have already disappeared from Seoul, and families fear that they have been transported to North Korea and other places for sacrifice. ...

Although government officials here initially took a hands-off position, saying they could not interfere with religious freedom, mounting social pressure has forced them into action. Last week, Seoul police arrested Lee and charged him with fraud--misappropriating $430,000 in church funds--and illegal possession of $26,711 in American currency.

Oct. 29, 1992: No Doomsday Rapture for S. Korea Sect (The LA Times/Internet Archive)

QuoteFor hundreds of followers of the Dami Mission in Seoul, the most amazing thing about today is that it arrived.
They, like an estimated 20,000 South Koreans, had believed they would be lifted into heaven at the stroke of midnight Wednesday in the beginning of the end of the world. The phenomenon known as the Rapture, prophesied in the Book of Revelation, set off a social crisis in South Korea as scores of believers sold their homes, quit their jobs, abandoned their families and underwent abortions to prepare for the one-way ride to heaven.

At least four followers committed suicide before Wednesday, but no new suicides were reported after midnight. ...

Police took elaborate precautions to ensure that mass suicides would not occur. Besides the 1,500 riot officers dispatched to Dami Mission, ambulances and other emergency vehicles lined the street. Some detectives were placed inside the church for surveillance; stairs leading to the building's roof were blocked and windows barred to prevent suicide leaps. Authorities also opened a damage report center to take complaints of deception or fraud. ...

In Los Angeles, a call to Maranatha Church on Wednesday was answered by a woman who sounded as if she had been crying. Her voice was hoarse. When asked how things were at the church, she replied, " Hyoo-go (Rapture) is over" and hung up. Maranatha, at 605 S. Serrano Ave., has come under fire after one of its 200 or so members died last month following a 40-day fasting and prayer ritual, reportedly in the belief that Jesus Christ would arrive soon. The death of Chang-Young Mun, 36, prompted Koreatown clerics to call for the church's closure.

Former Maranatha members and relatives of present church members have formed the Maranatha Church Victims' Assn. and have demonstrated at the church on Sundays for weeks. A Korean-American elementary school child who left the church--his mother remains a member--said on a Korean-language television broadcast last week that he was not allowed to sleep or go to the bathroom while the congregation was engaged in an all-night prayer preparing for the Rapture.

March 17, 1994: Death of Pseudoreligion Critic Focuses Attention (UCA News)

QuoteThe foremost example was the Dami Missionary Church in 1992. Its leader declared that the world would end Oct. 28, 1992, and he persuaded followers to turn over billions of won in cash and property to him. When police arrested him on fraud charges, they found securities and bonds scheduled to mature in 1995.

Oct. 28, 2012: After The Apocalypse That Never Was (Korea JoongAng Daily)

QuoteOn the night of Oct. 28, 1992 - 20 years ago yesterday - around 1,000 fervent people squeezed into the headquarters of the Dami Mission Church in Mapo District, western Seoul, waiting for a rapture that was predicted for midnight. Some had quit jobs or dropped out of school. What was the point of going to work or school when the world was going to end?

"I bow to you, please answer our prayers," cried the believers.

"On the day of reckoning 20 years ago," recalls Kim Dong-ho, a JoongAng Ilbo reporter who sneaked into the church for 33 days to cover the story, "people in the chapel were awaiting their moment to fly into the sky with their identification cards, which proved their faith in the end of the world prophecy."

The passing of midnight without an apocalypse was a big letdown to the believers. According to the data provided by police in 1992, two believers in the apocalypse theory killed themselves and over two dozen people divorced.

At 12:10 a.m. today, as 1,500 riot police officers, 200 plainclothes detectives and 100 journalists kept watch outside the church, a teen-age boy stuck his head out the third-floor window and yelled to the crowd: "Nothing's happening!"

Eight minutes later, two girls peeked out the same window. They told reporters they never believed in the Rapture anyway, although their parents were inside, crying in despair because they had not been lifted away.

It was Dami Mission's pastor, Lee Jang Rim, who spread the Rapture theory throughout South Korea. Although he was arrested in September on charges of fraud in connection with bilking followers of hundreds of thousands of dollars, 1,000 religious pilgrims nevertheless showed up at the church Wednesday evening.

The JoongAng Ilbo tracked down the pastor of the now-defunct Dami Mission Church, who ran the end-of-the-world campaign that attracted a total of 10,000 followers in Korea and overseas. Lee Jang-rim served a one-year prison term for fraud and is contrite about his role in spreading the belief. Lee didn't respond to interview requests. ...After serving his prison term, Lee changed his name to Lee Dap-gye and founded a church in Mapo District.

When the JoongAng Ilbo visited Lee's church, which is located on the second floor of a building without a cross, 35 people were worshiping, a big comedown from his thousands of followers in the early 1990s. ...In the 1990s, Lee chose a 17-year-old boy, Ha Bang-ik, as his prophet, and Ha came up with the Oct. 28 doomsday date. Ha followed in the footsteps of Lee by converting to mainstream Christianity and is now a Presbyterian minister.

"I was too young to have questions about the apocalyptic predictions 20 years ago," Ha told the JoongAng Ilbo. "After the Oct. 28 Armageddon day passed without the second coming of Christ, I studied real theology out of repentance for what I did in 1992."

A video summary of the above articles:

Nov. 22, 2025: Cults Daily: "Dami Mission" Lee Jang Rim (the Night Shift Podcast)

Where Moon got his theology from (The Tragedy of the Six Marys)

Contains this image showing earlier groups:

QuoteHere is a chart of some of the small spiritual groups active in Korea from the 1920s. Rev. Moon studied the ideas of all of them. Baek Nam-joo taught about the three ages of providential history. Rev. Lee Yong-do heavily influenced both Rev. Moon and Miss Kim Young-oon. She had met him in person; Rev. Moon did not, but he did join Lee's church as a teenager and a pastor from that church performed his marriage to his first wife, Choi Seon-gil. Kim Baek-moon devised the parallels of history which culminated in 1917, the year of his own birth.

Oct. 29, 1992: No Doomsday Rapture for S. Korea Sect (The LA Times/Internet Archive)

QuoteCult expert Tahk Myeong Whan said scores of parents are still desperately searching for children who had been spirited away by the more radical sects preaching the Rapture theory in mountain hide-outs and other secret locations.

Rev. Tark is quoted quite often in the following:

1993: The Korean War & Messianic Groups: Two Cases in Contrast (Choe Joong-hyun, Ph. D - Syracuse University)

March 17, 1994: Death of Pseudoreligion Critic Focuses Attention (UCA News)

QuoteThe death of a Protestant theologian who attained prominence as a severe critic of pseudo-religious sects has focused attention on the state of the Korean religious community. Reverend Tahk Myeong-hwan, 56, was beaten and stabbed to death near his apartment house in northern Seoul the night of Feb. 18 in a possible retaliatory attack by a fanatic from a certain quasi-religious sect.

An estimated 300-400 sects or cults are currently thriving outside established religious structures in Korea, according to scholars of religions. Some scholars refer to these groups as "new religions." ...

Many social and religious leaders mourned his death. Among them were Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou Hwan of Seoul; Reverend Han Kyung-jik of the Yongnak Presbyterian Church; Reverend Song Wolju, a Buddhist leader; and Kim To-hyun, vice minister for culture and sports. Since establishing the International Religious Research Institute in the 1960s to battle pseudo-religions, Reverend Tahk had been threatened, attacked or injured more than 70 times because of his intensive and caustic exposes.

Since the turn of the century, a large number of sects or new religions have taken root in this country, leading one sociologist to label generally homogeneous South Korea "the supermarket of world religions."

About 1.5 million people adhere to these new religions, according to Lee Kwang-ho, professor emeritus at Chonbuk University in the southern provincial capital of Chonju. Some put the figure at 2 million.

In his 1992 book "General Guide to New Religions in Korea," Lee identifies 390 pseudo-religious sects. He says 78 are associated with Buddhism, 76 with Christianity and 36 are cults for Tangun, the founding father of Korea. Of the latter, 10 are of foreign origin, according to the book.

June 2010: Prof Ji-il Tark on Ahn Sahng-hong's World Mission Society Church of God Cult (ICSA Conference)


Aug 13, 2014: The Sewol Tragedy: Searching for Answers (SBS Dateline) Dr Tark speaks from 11:17


July 31, 2017: Religious Use of Politics or Political Use of Religion?: A Case Study of the Relationship between
Politics & Christian New Religious Movements in Korea since the Korean War (Dr. Tark Ji-il/Korea Presbyterian Journal Of Theology)

QuoteThe recent political scandal in Korea has shown again the inappropriateness of the coexistence between religion and politics. The close relationship between the Choi family and the impeached president has caused serious tensions and crisis in Korean society. Politics still uses newly emerged religious groups for political purpose while those groups want to be used for their own desires. Such relationships seem to cause codestruction, not coexistence

Nov. 3, 2016: Part 1/2: Memoir Gives Insight into Choi Tae-min (Korea JoongAng Daily)

QuoteIn a two-part series, the Korea JoongAng Daily will run excerpts of Choi Tae-min's memoir, written in 1988 by Tahk Myeong-hwan (1937-94), a Korean expert on cults. Choi Tae-min is the late father of Choi Soon-sil, who allegedly had access to top-secret national security documents, influenced administration personnel appointments, strong-armed conglomerates into donating lavish sums to foundations and was involved in major decisions, all primarily through her personal relationship with President Park Geun-hye. -Ed.

According to various records, President Park Geun-hye's relationship with Choi Soon-sil stems from Choi Tae-min, who first met Park after her mother, the former first lady Yuk Young-soo, was assassinated in 1974. ...

Nov. 8, 2016: Part 2/2: Wherever There Was Money, There Was Choi (Korea JoongAng Daily)

QuoteAfter first lady Yuk Young-soo, mother of President Park Geun-hye, was assassinated on Aug. 15, 1974, the Blue House fell into despair. According to Tahk Myeong-hwan's memoir on Choi Tae-min, it was then that the cult leader decided to write a long letter to Park, saying he could help her meet her mom in her dreams.

Mystery "Religious" Events That Left People Of Korea Speechless (Yu-jin Kim for Creatrip)

Some recent examples of cult apologism, most related to recent events in Korean and Japan.

Although there were a lot of signs at the CESNUR conference I attended that some were cult apologists, this was the first article I read by Massimo.

Oct. 26, 2022: Abe Assassination, Fake news & The 'Moonies' (Massimo Introvigne for The Asia Times)

QuoteOn January 3, 2019, a teenager entered the premises of the Church of Scientology, of which his mother was a member, in Sydney, Australia, and fatally wounded a Scientologist with a knife. At trial, he was later recognized as not criminally responsible, as two experts pronounced him schizophrenic – but real paranoids have real enemies.

Although he had quarreled with his mother for different reasons, propaganda depicting Scientology as evil may also have excited his feeble mind. Anti-Scientologists told the media, without shedding a tear for the victim, that Scientology was to blame for having allegedly created hostility between mother and son.

While the idea of brainwashing and manipulation are scoffed at by Massimo  etc, any violence against a cult is explained away in terms like the above. Also note the use of the word evil and its purpose: the demonizing of critics. Massimo also explained James Lewis' defence of Aum in similar terms, and another dubious defence of a cult he has close relations with, China's Eastern Lightning.


More loaded langauge (hate campaigns/enemies) to describe critics of the UC and their actions:

QuoteWhat triggered Yamagami's killing frenzy in 2022, and not before? We know for a fact that Yamagami followed the hate campaigns against the Unification Church prevailing in Japan. He interacted on social media with fellow enemies of the Church.

QuoteThe day before killing Abe, Yamagami wrote a letter to Kazuhiro Yonemoto. Although Yonemoto deserves credit for having opposed in the past the practice of kidnapping members of the Unification Church for the purposes of deprogramming or "de-converting" them, he remains an opponent of the Church. Yamagami interacted with the anti-Unification-Church milieu and was exposed to hate speech against the Church, which may easily have turned his weak head.

UC critics knew they were responsible and tried to hide fact? That is a feat of mind-reading and an allegation I have not seen repeated by unbiased reporters/media:

QuoteYamagami hated the Church, and this hate was fueled by the hate speech of the anti-Unification-Church activists. To hide their responsibility, they blamed the Unification Church, which was clearly a victim, as if it were the perpetrator.

Another common tactic is "Innocent Until Proven Guilty and Innocent After Proven Guilty"

Aug. 15, 2022: Shincheonji: Korean Supreme Court Confirms Leader's Acquittal from COVID Charges (Massimo Introvigne  for Bitter Winter/Internet Archive)

QuoteIn a country where accusations raised by prosecutors are accepted by judges in more than 90% of the cases, the result is remarkable. Prosecutors, however, can never totally lose in South Korea, and other charges were added against Chairman Lee. They concern episodes that had allegedly happened long before the COVID-19 crisis started, including mismanaging funds and holding events in facilities whose owners had canceled the corresponding rental agreements under pressure by opponents of Shincheonji.

I have explained elsewhere that these accusations did not make sense, but they served as a parachute for the prosecutors after their COVID case has collapsed. The Supreme Court confirmed for these alleged offenses a sentence of three years for Chairman Lee, suspended for five years. This means that the 91-year-old Chairman Lee will not go to jail for these charges unless he repeats the alleged offenses.

Everybody understands that the additional charges were thrown in to save the face of the prosecutors and the politicians who had backed them. The important point is that all the propaganda about Shincheonji as spreader of the COVID-19 virus has now been definitively exposed as a lie.

March 6, 2020: How One Man's Epiphany on a Seoul Mountain in 1955 Laid the Foundation for Many Religious Sects in South Korea (CNN)

QuoteAt its height, the Olive Tree movement had about 2 million members, according to Massimo Introvigne, a religious scholar and the founder of the Italy-based Center for Studies on New Religions. People joined in droves despite Park's growing list of controversies, including a brief stint in jail for embezzlement, said Introvigne, who in the past has defended new religious groups accused of wrongdoing.

August 13, 2020: The Top 25 People Enabling Scientology, No. 23: The Apologist Academics (Tony Ortega - The Underground Bunker)

QuoteBut apologist academics can be a real pain for legitimate researchers who come under attack from these Scientology cheerleaders.

A good example that happened recently was the time and effort that the best academic in the business, Stephen Kent of the University of Alberta, had to spend cleaning up the mess created by a fake academic publication, CESNUR which stands for "pro-Scientology flapdoodle published in Italy for some reason."

CESNUR had got a lot of Hubbardists excited by claiming that critics of Scientology had never, ever produced evidence that L. Ron Hubbard had ever actually claimed, under his own signature, that he was the recipient of a civil engineering college degree. The notion that Hubbard had falsely claimed to be a college graduate was an impression created by sloppy researchers and some of Hubbard's own employees, CESNUR claimed.

Kent was attacked in the piece, and so he took it upon himself to produce a lengthy and thorough piece utterly destroying the CESNUR claim. In fact, this very website has published two letters written by Hubbard claiming to be a civil engineering graduate.

Anyway, that's just one example of how these apologist types not only muddy the record to benefit Scientology, but then create a lot of work for those of us trying to get out the truth about Hubbard and his creation.

Aug. 13, 2022: The Cult of Cult Apologists: Massimo Introvigne Part 1
Note: This is the best critique of cult apologists I have read. I'll just quote the one paragraph for a simple reason I explain below.

QuoteCult apologist Dr. Eileen Barker, for example, had her "research" into the Unification Church paid for by the Unification Church. Indeed, Reverend Moon paid  her expenses paid to attend 18 conferences held by the Unification Church. This is a clear conflict of interest by any standard. It is no different than Big Tobacco paying scientists in the 1950's to write studies proving that cigarettes were not harmful. Dr. Barker wrote a letter of support for Reverend Sun Myung Moon when he was seeking to move to the UK. How is this not being a paid cult apologist? There is no academic distance whatsoever. Rather, there is direct personal involvement with, and support for, the cult leader from an NRM scholar.

I had been thinking of that very same cigarette company doctor analogy when someone I knew mentioned their understanding of "New Religious Movements" was solidified by Massimo. That person does have some connection to the UC, which may or may not have influenced their thinking. I'll let any interested reader explore the full article at its source, and as far as I know, a part 2 has not been published, but the writer is still active.

Jan. 2023: Cult Apologists, Rational Choice, & The Christian Right (Luigi Corvaglia, Ph. D of Psychology - Research Gate)

Jan. 2023: Greenwashing Cults. How Cult Apologists Poison Wells (Luigi Corvaglia, Ph. D of Psychology - Research Gate)

I found this quote really interesting as I recall chatting to someone recently who described Massimo as one of the most tolerant people they had ever met:

QuoteThis choice of vocabulary evokes frames of absolutism and intolerance, which, as mentioned above, leads to the idea that the speaker embodies the opposite qualities of tolerance, democracy and genuine ecumenism. This creates a narrative in which scholars of manipulation and activists who oppose abuses in totalitarian groups are portrayed as intolerant people, opposed by the heroic figures of apologists under the banners of
freedom waving in the wind.

May 21, 2023: Solidarity With Japanese Ex-Moonies & Responce to Cult Apologists (Medium - Former American Member)

Sept. 25, 2024: The Spy Who Loved Me: CESNUR Betrayed by Pro-Russian Subversive Group (Luigi Corvaglia)

Aug. 24, 2025: Meet the Shadowy Scholars Supporting England's Doomsday Cult (The GuruMag - Be Scofield)

Dec. 11, 2025: Abuse in New Religious Movements (by Sarah Harvey/Cambridge University Press)

The sample pages on Amazon are fascinating, and offer an interesting history of the use of various terms assigned used to describe the darker side of religions.



Jan. 2026: The Prophet & The Pathologist: Stephen Kent, Massimo Introvigne, and the Battle for an Honest Study of Religion (Jonathon Simmons, Ph.D)

QuoteReligious apologists have a playbook for scholars who get too close to the truth. That playbook is a dog-eared, reliable little volume passed down through generations of believers who find the disinfectant of sunlight a bit too harsh for their tastes. My first thought after reading Massimo Introvigne's scathing review of a new book by Stephen Kent, whom I should note was my doctoral supervisor many years ago, was that this was just another case of an apologist attacking a skeptic. The pattern is predictable: dismiss challenging scholarship as reductive, invoke the specter of persecution, and wrap methodological objections in the language of intellectual sophistication.

Undated: Shincheonji, The Cult That Promises You 'The Truth' (University of Melbourne)

Turning now to what is currently online from the UC about The Divine Priniciple, it's pretty much the same:

The Divine Principle, Chapter 4: The Messiah: His Advent & The Purpose of His Second Coming

QuoteIf Jesus' death had been the foreordained outcome for the fulfillment of God's Will, then it might have been natural for the disciples to grieve over his death, but they would not have been so bitterly resentful over it, nor so angry at those Jewish leaders who caused it. We can infer from their bitter reaction that Jesus' death was unjust and undue.

QuoteSince God's Will was thus to have the Jewish people of that time believe that Jesus was their Messiah, the Jewish people, who were trained to live by God's Will, should have believed in him. Had they believed in him as God desired, would they have even entertained the thought of sending him to the cross? Would they have wanted any harm to come to the Messiah whom they had so long and eagerly awaited? However, because they went against God's Will and did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah, he was delivered to be crucified. We must understand, therefore, that Jesus did not come to die on the cross.

QuoteGod's clear intention for the chosen people of Israel, whom He had led through all manner of difficulty from the time of Abraham, was to send them a Messiah and build an eternal Kingdom on earth. Nevertheless, when the Jewish leadership persecuted Jesus and led him to the cross, Israel lost its qualification to be the founding nation of God's Kingdom. Within a few generations, the people of Israel would be scattered over the face of the earth. They have suffered oppression and persecution ever since.

And skipping ahead to the very end, although it was well known that Moon claims to essentially be Christ returns, he is not named, but hinted at in such a way that someone ignorant of the Unification Church who studies the Divine Principal, cannot come to any other conclusion that Moon is the messiah. As it's not overtly stated, the student can feel that they made the connection themselves, thus solidifying the belief. One former member of a group with an almosy identicle Bible study course told me that "Because they didn't tell me outright, I felt I had reached the conclusion on my own". Hence, the "knowledge" felt justly earned rather than obviously spoon-fed.

Chapter 6: The Second Advent

QuoteBased upon which language will all languages be unified? The answer to this question is obvious. Children should learn the language of their parents. If Christ does indeed return to the land of Korea, then he will certainly use the Korean language, which will then become the mother tongue for all humanity. Eventually, all people should speak the True Parents' language as their mother tongue. All of humanity will become one people and use one language, thus establishing one global nation under God.

July 26, 2025: Cults Recruiting on Campus & The 'Walk up Evangelism' Controversy (ABC Triple J Podcast)

QuoteStudents across the country are experiencing "walk up evangelism", and it's not just mainstream religious groups using the tactic. In this deep dive, hack explores how South Korean church Shincheonji uses campuses to recruit, and why cult-like groups prey on uni students in the first place.

Feb.11, 2026: Cult Recruitment Tactics Evolve on Korean Campuses Ahead of Spring Semester (Seoul Economic Daily)

QuoteKim, a 22-year-old student, said, "I joined a restaurant club last year, and it operated like a normal club at first. But after about two months, members started recommending religious studies. Since we had already become close, it wasn't easy to refuse."

March 17, 2026: Cult Activity on University Campuses: Kindness or Recruitment? (Korea JoongAng Daily)

Dec. 29, 1977: A View of the Unification Church Presented by Rabbi A. James Rudin, assistant National Director of Interreligious Affairs, The American Jewish Committee at the American Academy of Religion Convention, San Francisco, California.

QuoteIn my study, ("Jews and Judaism in Reverend Moon's Divine Principle," The American Jewish Committee, December 1976 – see below) I assert that "my systematic analysis of this 536-page document (Divine Principle) reveals an orientation of almost unrelieved hostility toward, the Jewish people, exemplified in pejorative language, stereotyped imagery, and sweeping accusations of collective sin and guilt. Whether he is discussing the 'Israelites' of the Hebrew Bible or the 'Jews' as referred to in writings of the New Testament period, Reverend Moon portrays their behavior as reprobate, their intention evil (often diabolical), and their religious mission as eclipsed. There are over thirty-six specific references in Divine Principle to the Israelites of the Hebrew Bible—every one of them pejorative." Three examples citing collective faithlessness make the point: "The Israelites all fell into faithlessness" (p. 315), "All the Israelites centering on Moses fell into faithlessness" (p. 319), and "The Israelites repeatedly fell into faithlessness" (p. 343). (Emphasis added)

Unification Church supporters claim that such references actually reflect the Hebrew Bible and present a fair description of early Israelite communal life. For me, it is a limp and highly defensive argument. In all cases of alleged Israelite errors and stubbornness, the hope of redemption and atonement was always present. The Hebrew Bible credits the people with the ability to repent. Divine Principle seeks to discredit the ancient Israelites in order to transfer God's heritage to another people. Incidentally, the words "faithless" and "faithlessness" nowhere appear in the Hebrew Bible.

In similar fashion, Divine Principle records some sixty-five specific examples and references reflecting the attitudes and behavior of the Jewish people towards Jesus and its role in his crucifixion—again, every one of them is hostile and anti-Jewish. A few examples will suffice: "...due to the Jewish people's disbelief in Jesus, all were destined to hell" (p. 146), ..."we can see that Jesus' crucifixion was the result of the ignorance and disbelief of the Jewish people..." (p. 145), "As a matter of fact, Satan confronted Jesus, working through the Jewish people, centering on the chief priests and scribes who had fallen faithless, and especially through Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had betrayed Jesus" (p. 357), "Nevertheless, due to the Jewish people's rebellion against him, the physical body of Jesus was delivered into the hands of Satan as the condition of ransom for the restoration of the Jews and the whole of mankind back to God's bosom; his body was invaded by Satan" (p. 510). The last two statements, linking the Jews to Satan, go beyond even the infamous deicide charge—"Christ killer"—that has been hurled for so long against the Jewish people.

Apologists for the Unification Church claim that the Divine Principle passages dealing with this controversial subject have only indicted the "Jewish priests and leaders," not the people. Yet the record speaks otherwise: the "Jewish people" in their collectivity are implicated time and time again in Divine Principle. The four examples cited here are illustrative of many other selections. ...

The Divine Principle has changed slightly over the years, but certainly not significantly regarding Moon's messiahnic mission. I recall I there was a site that had the versions published in different years. I had a quick look for that, but I think given the above, it is worth exploring what is current Divine Principle as posted on current Unification Church sites.

First, here is exposition of the Divine Principle written in 1996. I just skimmed it, and a few caught my eye over a McDonals' breakfast:

Exposition of the 1996 Divine Principle (Hyo Won Eu - True Parents)

Page 103:

QuoteThere was one unanimous feeling evident among the disciples concerning the death of Jesus: they were griefstricken and indignant. Stephen, for example, burned with indignation over the ignorance and disbelief of the Jewish leaders, and he condemned their actions, calling
them murderers and rebels. Christians since then have commonly shared the same feelings as the disciples of Jesus' day. If Jesus' death had been the foreordained outcome for the fulfillment of God's Will, then it might have been natural for the disciples to grieve over his death, but they would not have been so bitterly resentful over it, nor so angry at those Jewish leaders who caused it. We can infer from their bitter reaction that Jesus' death was unjust and undue.

Page 105:

QuoteAnother indication that Jesus' death on the cross was not the Will of God, but rather due to the disbelief of the people, is that Israel declined after the crucifixion. ... God's clear intention for the chosen people of Israel, whom He had led through all manner of difficulty from the time of Abraham, was to send them a Messiah and build an eternal Kingdom on earth. Nevertheless, when the Jewish leadership persecuted Jesus and led him to the cross, Israel lost its qualification to be the founding nation of God's Kingdom. Within a few generations, the people of Israel would be scattered over the face of the earth. They have suffered oppression and persecution ever since

And here, rather large hints at Moon's own mission given he was selected to complete the work that Jesus failed to do because of those pesky Jews:

Page 106:

QuoteWhat would have happened if Jesus had not been crucified? Jesus would have
accomplished both the spiritual and physical aspects of salvation. He surely would have established the everlasting and indestructible Kingdom of Heaven on earth. This, after all, had been foretold by the prophet Isaiah, announced by the angel who appeared to Mary, and expressed by Jesus himself when he announced that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand.

And since Moon claimed Jesus spoke to him, this is an obvious reference to Moon:

Page 109:

QuoteWe have clarified from our study of the Bible that Jesus did not come to die on the cross. We can ascertain this fact even more clearly if we communicate with Jesus spiritually and ask him directly. If we cannot perceive spiritual realities, we should seek out the testimonies of those who are endowed with such gifts in order to properly understand his heart and deepen our faith. Only then will we be worthy to become the brides of Jesus who can receive him in the Last Days.