Son: Heung-jin Moon (1966-1984)

[Peter Daley]

Heung-jin Moon sadly died at the young age of 17.

Jan. 3, 1984: Moon's Son, 17, Dies After a Car Accident (The New York Times)

One of the 13 children of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, died early today in a hospital here, a hospital spokesman said.

A son of Mr. Moon - Heung-jin Moon, 17, of Irvington - had been in critical condition at St. Francis Hospital since an accident last month in which a car he was driving collided with a tractor-trailer on State Route 9 in Hyde Park.

A few months later, Heung-jin's was posthumously married to Julia Moon, daughter Of Pak Bo-hi. Two weddings were conducted: The dead Heung-jin with Julia Moon, and the (both living) In-jin Tatiana Moon, Heung-jin's sister, and James Pak, Julia's brother.

Nov. 13, 2013: The Fall Of The House Of Moon (Mariah Blake for The New Republic)

The following year, Moon's 17-year-old son Heung-jin smashed his Jeep on an icy freeway and died. This created a theological quandary for Moon, since according to his teachings, only married couples could enter God's kingdom. He solved his dilemma by arranging to have his dead son marry Bo-hi Pak's second-eldest daughter, Julia.

At the same time, In-jin, who was 18, was to wed Pak's teenage son, James, In-Jin was mortified, according to family members. She had no interest in James, who was nerdy and quiet, and she was taken instead with his rowdy, handsome younger brother, Sam. But Moon insisted, and his wife stood by him, despite everything she had endured in her own arranged marriage. She even agreed to co-officiate the macabre ceremony. First, In-jin and James traded vows, then Julia trudged down the aisle holding a photo of the dead Heung Jin, after which James gave a groveling speech. "In a million years, I would never deserve to become the husband of In Jin," he said. "My mission is to work to deserve it for the rest of my life." The whole ordeal left In Jin traumatized. "She felt like it was institutional rape," says one member of her inner circle.

Note: Sam Park claims to be Moon's illegitimate son who was raised by Pak Bo-hi. Unbeknown to In-jin Moon, she hoped to marry a man who could well be her half-brother. It should be noted that those who cast doubt on Sam's claims are members or cult apologists.

And later, according to Moon, Heung-jin's soul returned to earth into the body of a member from Zimbabwe.

March 29, 1988: Theological Uproar In Unification Church (The Washington Post)

Every night last fall, students at the Unification Theological Seminary would gather for the latest revelations from the land of the dead. A senior named Charles was hearing voices -- "channeling," it was called -- and relaying startling messages: Heung-jin Nim Moon, the late son of the Rev. Sun-myung Moon, was speaking from the "spirit world," watching and judging them.

Then last November, the sprawling 230-acre campus in Upstate New York was abuzz. The moment had arrived, seminary officials proclaimed: "Lord" Heung Jin Nim, killed in a 1984 car crash at age 17, had come back, reincarnated in the body of a visiting church member from Zimbabwe.

"About mid-November, I was told there was a black brother from Africa who had been prepared by Jesus . . . and that Heung-jin Nim had assumed his body," said Dick Richard, a former seminary student who recently left the church. "It obviously scared a lot of people there . .. but they went along with the whole thing because it came from Rev.Moon, the Messiah."

March 31, 1988: Moon Church Says Spirit of Leader's Dead Son has Returned (UPI)

April 1, 1988: Moon's 'Lost Son' Sparks an Uproar (The LA Times)

This is possibly my favorite Unification Church-related quote:

"From the bottom of my navel, I don't want to know about this," said Ron Godwin, the Washington Times' senior vice president for business and a former executive of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority, when asked about the new Heung-jin Nim. "I know that such a person exists and that he's been preaching in the church. But I will walk a mile not to get involved.

Much more here. (Tragedy of the Six Maries)

And from the above link, two videos of that Zimbabwean, Cleophas aka "Black Heung-jin Nim", after parting with the Moons. He shares his version of events from 50:00 in the first video and claims it was all Moon's idea and shares knowledge of Moon's many affairs - although given the power differential between a "Messiah" and younger female followers, I don't think "affair" is the right word. And there are a lot of accusations that Black Heung-jin was violent which was one of the reasons Moon changed his mind. One person he assaulted was Pak Bo-hi, kind of his father-in-laa if you accept he was possessed by Heung-jin's spirit.

Part 1: https://vimeo.com/39941021

Part 2: https://vimeo.com/39949809

[Peter Daley]

Jan. 1, 2002: Message from Heung Jin Moon

This message was sent by Heung-jin nim through Hoonmo nim at Cheong Pyeong on January 1, 2002, the thirty-fifth True God's Day. It was addressed to True Parents and read to the seven thousand members gathered at the True God's Day celebration.

After True Parents' heard the message, Father said, "This message is so well expressed, and should be regarded as a clear illustration of the spirit world. Its contents must be published and seen by all members, who should apply it in their daily lives."

In order to establish the realm of religious unity, in December 1996, True Parents called the founders of the four great religions and the twelve disciples of Jesus to attend a forty-day workshop at Cheong Pyeong.

Next, they went through a hundred-day workshop and explored the whole spiritual world. They learned the Principle and came to understand the spiritual world overall. Especially after their blessings, our relationship improved considerably. Through the course of a hundred days at the spirit world training center, these religious leaders learned who the True Parents are, and this brought us into unity of heart. Finally, after the blessing of the four great religious founders, the world religions are able to unite. Through this process, all the difficulties that I had in the beginning were overcome, so I could start working with confidence as the Commander In Chief of the spiritual world. This was possible only because of the love and blessing of True Parents.

True Parents held the blessing ceremony for Daemo nim, Dae-hyung nim and Choongmo nim on August 25, 1995. On December 1, 1997, they proclaimed the "Declaration of the Opening of the Blessing in the Spiritual World," through which Daemo nim and I were given the position to conduct blessings of spirit people. Since then spirits could receive the blessing with the absolute authority of the spiritual world.

The victory of the 40 million-couple Blessing resulted in cutting off Satan's lineage, and as the age when people could be connected directly to True Parents' lineage, the grace was given whereby True Parents' victory could be connected to the spiritual world.

Dec. 2011: My First Encounters with Heung-jin Moon (Richard Bach/True Parents)