Those Who Cannot Remember -- 001

CAIN

Perhaps the best term to call Hassan is Cain. Cain could not see the goodness in his brother and used violence. Hassan wants to kill my church like so many persecutors before him. Steve's mind is controlled by low spirits and he cannot think straight. Like Judas he will some day wake up from the fog he is in. Someday America will see that the fear of Moon's followers is like the fear of slanty eyed Japanese-Americans in World War 2. Americans make mistakes but America is basically good and on God's side. Many people around the world see America like Hassan sees Moon. There have been mistakes by Americans, by some Boy Scout leaders who molested children, and by some individuals in the UC. No organization is perfect. But America, the Boy Scouts and the UC are basically good and a force for good. Hassan and his buddies are not good. I believe that the gays who dragged the Boy Scouts through years of legal battles costing them millions of dollars should pay the Scouts. Those who take the UC to court for mind control should pay the UC for damages. I honor free speech so much that I will sue Hassan for saying members of the UC are monsters to be feared. He and his gang have made my life miserable. I am afraid to tell my neighbors about my faith because Hassan has poisoned the atmosphere. Polls show that most Americans see Moon as such a threat that they would fear having a Unificationist as a neighbor and feel it is just fine to have adults kidnapped and jailed until they recant their beliefs. I feel like a Jew in 1930s Germany. I have an idea of what it is to be called a nigger. I can identify deeply with the Japanese-Americans who were taken out of their homes at gunpoint with no notice and shipped to camps throughout America. Hassan would like that to happen to me. He would love to see the police pull my family out of my home and take me to a re-education camp so I can be deprogrammed and get my mind back. And guess who would lead the team of psychologists to do that education? You bet. Steve would love to charge high prices for his talents to break the faith of those he, in his infinite wisdom, has deemed members of those of bad religion. Hassan is just like all the nauseating worms who put people like William Penn and William Bradford in Jail. This book is an attempt to expose his bigotry and stupidity and meanness.

1970s

I was witnessed to in the early 70s by a member of the infamous Oakland, California branch of the Unification Church (UC). They didn't call themselves the UC. The name they were using when I met them was International Re-Education Foundation. This was wrong. It was deceptive.

Onni Durst build an organization of intense hype in the 70s. Her motivation was good but the results of taking college age young men and women out of college and jobs and work them 20 hours a day in a narrow life of chanting, fundraising and witnessing devastated most people who joined. Most left. Several former members of Onni's unbelievably intense commune wrote books about the grueling life they led there -- Steve Kemperman's Lord of the Second Advent: A Rare Look Inside the Terrifying World of the Moonies and Christopher Edward's Crazy for God: The Nightmare of Cult life and Barb Underwood's Hostage to Heaven. I know exactly what they are writing about because I joined in the same house they did in the early 70s. Edwards and Kemperman were Berkeley students who joined and quit school and lived in Onni's childish world of incredible simplicity of constant chanting, constant singing and constant work. No one had one second to themselves to think or reflect or rest. Unfortunately both these authors and thousands like them came and went not realizing the truth of the Principle and the love of True Parents. Both were violently kidnapped. One of them had to deal with Steve Hassan, the former member and premier hater of the UC. Steve has campaigned relentlessly for decades against the UC and many small religious groups. He has several books that tell his story of being a super workaholic for what he sees is a corrupt organization led by a new Hitler.

Hassan has written a book in which he too talks about the long hours he spent fundraising. Usually the charge against the UC is about the bad feelings former members have for making money by going door-to-door fundraising in the 70s and early 80s. There was a around a 10 year span where most members sold flowers and candy and trinkets door-to-door, shop-to-shop, on street corners and in bars late at night. In those years the movement was mainly young people around college age and single who lived in communes and gave up school and career. Hassan, Kemperman and Edwards are representative of this intense period where Rev. Moon had come to America and was speaking in every state and beginning his movement. The pioneers of the UC who stayed would like to portray their life as one of sacrifice and worthy of getting a statue. I fundraised and witnessed on the streets for years. Eventually I couldn't take the deceit anymore and the relentless hours of being a cog in a machine that seemed to go about as far a hamster on a wheel. But I accepted my portion of responsibility as a young adult for my actions. Later I came back. So I know the feelings of these former members perfectly. Like them I felt the exhilaration of leaving the UC and all the other feelings they felt.

Edwards writes that the Oakland family took him fundraising and he watched them say they were helping needy children. After watching a man buy some flowers and trying to argue with the member saying that this was deceitful he was told, "'Well, what's wrong with that? He certainly wouldn't believe me if I told him the truth, if I told him that the Messiah walks the earth and that buying these flowers is an invitation to Heaven.'" Edwards responds saying, "But that's still misleading them. And you know that we aren't even a Christian group. We don't believe in the divinity of Jesus."

"So what? It's for his soul and the glory of heaven. Look, wouldn't you deceive a little to save the man's soul? It's called Heavenly Deception. Not Satan's deception, mind you. It's turning Satan against himself, using Satan's money to build the Heavenly Kingdom." There are times in the Bible that God's champions do things that seem immoral and illegal. Jacob and his mother deceived Isaac to get Esau's blessing. The Principle says that these instances are for restoration. This should never have applied to fundraising, but it was. This was the Achilles heal of the UC. It destroyed it. It became to be seen as some money making machine for some ruthless businessman. The UC was branded as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Moon was called a prophet for profit. The motivation was not greed from Moon or his followers but the grueling hours for money did not lend to honesty and it burned out most members. Kemperman says in his book that he went home for the holidays and was glad to take a break from fundraising that he "hated." I know how he felt. When followers of Moon were kidnapped it didn't take a whole lot for most to give up returning to the MFT -- the Mobile Fundraising Teams. If the members had stayed in school, pursued careers and been as upfront about witnessing as Mormons and not as deceitful as Amway then the UC would have taken over America, in my opinion, in a few decades. Moon could have been admired by everyone and there would have been millions of followers including the entire U.S. Senate. The President of the United States would bow to Father as his Messiah. Father could have seen the Messianic Age in his lifetime. Sadly he created a ridiculous commune life of denial and dishonesty. In fighting communists he became one.

I COULD BE WRONG

I could be wrong. Father is confident, as well as some members, that to get the plane off the ground you have to floor it. Later you can cruise and not burn up the engine. Balance in life is the proper way to live, but there are times in life when we must lead a life of unbalance, of focusing narrowly and letting the rest go for a while. America, to Father, was so soft, lazy, unspiritual and stupid that he felt it needed a St. Francis course for a while. So many have taken a vow of celibacy, obedience and poverty for God and Father probably felt his first followers should do the same for a while. Even so, those days are long gone (with a few exceptions) and members got married and went back to school and started building careers in their 30s and 40s.

RESTORE THE FALL

The Fall of Man is about having our body dominate our mind. To restore that we lead a religious life and take cold showers, fast and tithe. We attend church service and if we are really serious about God, we will witness and therefore carry a cross. Father wanted to begin his movement by creating a few Gideonits I guess. Remember the story of how the leader of his army got it down from thousands to 300 and then they won. It isn't numbers but quality. Also the early pioneers always suffer more than those who came after them. They must pave the way with their blood, sweat and tears. Perhaps Father wanted them to suffer so they could "pay indemnity" and lay the foundation for the future people who would have it much easier. For example, he made getting blessed much harder for the early members than for those who joined later. The second generation, for example, the kids of the early members are mainly going to college, marrying at an early age and pursuing normal career and family lifestyles. The UC is in many ways the opposite of what it was when Hassan and others wrote of their unbelievable difficult life as fundraisers. I don't know if our crazy behavior in the early days laid a foundation for the movement to grow. Mostly I think it was a bust and set us back. On the other hand all that denial and sacrifice of the personal was not all in vain. Father was able to do many amazing things such as befriending leaders of nations and building such things as the Washington Times. He has also done things in his old age to fundamentally change the movement and set it in the direction away from a centralized organization and decentralizing it to families. Parents will match their children and the children will be involved in choosing who is their mate. He has done things that will make the movement grow, but it will be a long time before the wounds are healed from the craziness of the past and from some of the nonsense that is still going on. The UC will eventually do as I write in my books and get smart and get in line with success forces.

I fundraised in the snow and the heat with product sometimes that was embarrassing. In fact, the whole experience was demeaning. There are a few hundred members who will always feel it was an exciting time in which they came closer to God. Many parents were upset and spent many thousands of dollars for people like Rick Ross to kidnap their adult children. Kemperman and Edwards paint a picture of their deprogrammings and are happy they were forcefully made to see the light. In one book it mentions that his parents and former members who talked to him in his boarded up room told him it was a rescue. The problem with this is that, of course, followers of Moon can always walk away. There is no force used on them. Everyone is out to persuade and influence others. The UC did not do a very good job of using insights from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People. It was a socialist experiment and very military like. Some say they grew spiritually from the lack of sleep and no time off to think routine. But the truth is that taking young people out of school and putting them into a frenzied environment that centered on money making was a formula for disaster. It made the UC look like a cult. It will take many years to change this image that the UC is a strange place of asceticism for a leader who has a jet.

Sun Myung Moon pushes his body more than anyone in the UC and as far as I can tell more than any person has in human history. He is an historical person who will be revered forever as the most sacrificial -- as the person who denied himself the most. I don't think he will be seen as never having made mistakes. But the mistakes will not be as great as his accomplishments. Just like Jesus who was betrayed by Judas and then every one of this disciples when he was on the cross, Moon has been betrayed and misunderstood. But even in his own lifetime he has dramatically changed the UC -- even renaming it to Family Federation. The members now live regular lives.

The UC will continue to mature and will eventually sweep the earth. Unlike the major religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Confusciamism and Hinduism, the UC has the ultimate truth that explains God's nature and blueprint for a perfect world -- a utopia -- a kingdom of heaven on earth. Moon is the second coming of Christ and the final leader to lead us into the ideal world. His value is incomprehensible. The criticisms of the anti-Moon group are only about some trees. They miss the forest. Think about it. What kind of lifestyle did Jesus have for his followers? They wandered around the countryside begging for food looking arrogant as they said God was on their side, not the side of the leaders of their society. Religion, Rev. Moon, has taught has always been one of denial -- especially the denial of the flesh.

Follow the logic. If this world is not ruled by God and is a nightmare concentration camp of suffering dominated by the child abuser, Satan, then how could God's champions who have gotten revelations that would uplift mankind be treated fairly? Human history has been one of consistently killing the messenger. The words of God are the truth and the truth hurts so bad and scares people so much that they are possessed by low spirits to form a mob and run the nonconformists out of town. Those who bring new truth have not been taught by their parents and teachers to be open minded and patient and tolerant. Teachers do not teach the fundamental truth that we are fallen and repeat the past over and over again.

The DP is pure logic. God is going to win and eventually there will be peace on earth and goodwill to men. War will end. Complete harmony will prevail someday. But the fight for freedom from Satan will require pioneers willing to give it their all. We can debate the tactics of Rev. Moon, but in the end, he will be seen as the world wide Messiah someday. Truth cannot be suppressed forever when it is revealed. We will never go back to the thinking that the earth is flat. The truth of the DP is so exciting that it is hard to be patient and go slow and see that will take time for everyone to hear it and then accept it. It is a marathon race and the early leaders of the UC built a movement based on the 100 yard dash. The Lord was here and they dropped everything and went from town to town proclaiming the truth. The result was a big turnoff by most people who are immersed in the daily mundane life of going to work and raising a family and having to fight wars like the Korean War.

Most people do not read or think about religion very much. Satan has made the 20th century through his teachers Marx, Engels, Freud and Dewey to be secular. People who are fervently religious are seen as nutty and dangerous. Hassan and company see zealous religious followers of a strong leader as glassy eyed, mindless robots. Were the followers of Jesus in ancient Jerusalem, of Joseph Smith in Illinois, and William Penn in Pennsylvania victims of horrible mind control? There are statues to these men today. They all went to prison. Why do those who write against Moon feel so confident they see things so clearly when practically no one has in human history. The smart thing to do is for people to learn from the mistakes of their ancestors and leave religious people alone. Let them wear orange robes like Hare Krishnas or weird underwear like the Mormons. In fact, if teachers in schools had any wisdom at all they would study and teach what the latest religious guru has to say. Schools should welcome those who challenge the status quo and respectfully listen to what these passionate people feel and think. The fundamental truth of human history is that God works in mysterious ways. The founding fathers were geniuses in seeing that a country should not use force against religious people, no matter how disgusting and irrational they are.

Hassan, Edwards and Kemperman all write how exciting it was to be free of the clutches of Moon and his restrictive and narrow UC. The truth is that we should walk a narrow path. We are supposed to not be a part of this world. We are called to be witnessers -- to carry a cross. Being normal and fitting in is not what God wants. God has a sense of urgency. We are called to proclaim that we must wash our hands before we do surgery. Hassan and company feel freedom in not having to teach God's killjoy philosophy that we have to deny ourselves all the pleasures Satan has. There is no talk in Hassan, Edwards and Kemperman about Satan. You hear a lot about Satan in Moon and all the other conservatives that are seen as the dangerous religious right. Going after Moon is a slippery slope to going after the Republican Party.

I am very critical of the UC for some of the tactics they have used, but I am with them on their great crusade to teach the truth of the DP that will usher in world peace. Those who fear the Christian Right are stupid. What do we do about it? We do not use force. That is bottom line. The goal is to convert people until there are enough that they vote the liberal rascals out. Then we build a libertarian society like Jefferson had in mind. The Right is wrong in wanting to act like the Puritans and use force against those who want to abort their babies, buy a Playboy magazine and snort cocaine. They cross the line on a few issues but they are mostly correct because they believe in free enterprise. When they get in charge they will not act like the Puritans in the 1630s who banished Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. Hassan, on the other hand, is going down a road that ends with the burning of children at Waco. His road is the road of persecution -- of the end of civil rights. He says he is for the Constitution and the UN Human Rights declaration. This is a lie. Criminals have no rights to hurt people and Hassan's list is a list of criminals. He wants to run Moon out of the country or better yet into jail. Hassan wants to stop me from preaching. He sees me as a poison that must be forcefully stopped. I see him as poison but I would give my life for his freedom to criticize. However, I will not stand by and let him go unchallenged. I will also work to educate the Christian Right to not legislate against those they do not like. Prostitutes should be free to sell sex.

Hassan and all those who want to use the force of government to stop those they feel have contempt for and are a threat to law and order and the precious freedoms given in our Bill of Rights, are doing the will of Satan. God is against capital punishment, but he is not for the death penalty. Someday mankind will remember the past and not repeat the killing of Jesus, Joseph Smith, and the innocent men and women who have been denounced as witches and were hung from a tree in America. God's crusade is for Americans and the world to see the greatness of the founding fathers. They are the role models. Rev. Moon has a vision that is greater than theirs. He is the founding father of the ideal world. His words are the truth that will bring total freedom to this hurting world. Based on the revelations given to Moon we can now write a constitution for a world government. The Christian Right has another mountain to climb on this point. Hassan and company will join them in saying that absolute power will corrupt. But the truth is that God is with Moon and there will be a world without passports and everyone will speak Korean someday. Until that day comes we are called to be like Boy Scouts who are moral and tolerant of others who are not. Hassan is an enemy of the Boy Scout's values. Moon is the greatest scout who has ever lived.