DROPPED SHOE ALERT: Tribune Special Report - Rev Moon and the Black Clergy

[blm]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611050349nov05,1,1588926.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

TRIBUNE SPECIAL REPORT

Rev. Moon and the black clergy
Taking down the cross (and taking trips) part of an unlikely alliance with local pastors
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By Delroy Alexander and Margaret Ramirez
Tribune staff reporters

November 5, 2006

Central United Community Church stands on Chicago's South Side as a storefront sanctuary, serving the needy and spiritually hungry who pass through its doors. The modest church has worn wooden pews and a fiery pastor preaching from a pulpit, but missing is Christianity's most powerful symbol: the cross.

Rev. Joseph McAfee took down the cross and buried it, inspired by the teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial Korean spiritual leader. "If you stop at the cross, you're just preaching pain," said McAfee, who keeps an autographed picture of the Unification Church founder in his office.

The cross may be a symbol of pain to McAfee, but its removal from his church is emblematic of something more--a growing and potent alliance between Moon and black religious leaders across the country.

The unlikely partnership, known as the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), represents the latest chapter in Moon's remarkable evolution from convicted felon and alleged cult leader to influential religious and political figure with ties to Rev. Jerry Falwell and former President George H.W. Bush.

Nationwide, organizers say, thousands of pastors attend monthly prayer breakfasts where they praise Moon and his wife as "Father and Mother Moon." Many have taken expenses-paid overseas trips, including one under way in Japan, Korea and Europe.

And dozens of Chicago-area ministers such as McAfee either have taken down their crosses or participated in those ceremonies. Moon's people, in fact, see Chicago as the model for national growth of the religious alliance.

Moon's outreach to largely Baptist and Pentecostal clergy thrives despite a doctrine that states he is the Second Coming of the Messiah and that Jesus Christ failed to complete the mission God sent him to do.
>>>>>>

[goclark]

1. Sick, sick sick

And where is Rev. Moon in the Haggard mess, he sure has been quiet.

[blm]

3. Rev Moon is his own brand of pervert.

His son's ex-wife spilled the beans on that some time ago.

[blm]

2. Please send to any family or friends who are fundies still believing in Bush.

Ask them to research Rev Sun Myung Moon - Bush - Falwell - Tim LaHaye - Farrakhan

Watch the LEFT BEHIND books pile up in the trashcans.

[phoebe]

4. from 2002 - article from Unification News re: Prayer Bkfst in Chicago

http://www.tparents.org/UNews/Unws0212/aclc_chicago.htm

snip

Rev. James Hampton was called and led us all with a powerful opening prayer. The True Family Values Choir also moved the spirit in the house. Their songs were truly wonderful.

Rev. Ernest Hawkins, Rev. Joseph McAfee, Dr. A Harold White and Rev. Bennie Owens were among those who participated the DP workshop in Maryland and each were given some few minutes to share his/her testimony. Rev. Hawkins said that the Divine Principle is a universal teaching that can be embraced by everyone. And so he challenged everybody to open his/her heart to a new truth and teaching.

Rev. Bennie Owens also said that if we regard our pastors and ministers as our father in our church then Rev. Moon should be called as our "Father" as well. Rev. McAfee also testified that before he went to the workshop, he first of all asked the Holy Spirit if he can go to the workshop and somehow the Holy Spirit told him to go. He told everyone in the audience, "You don't have a clue about the story of Jesus. We are all caught up in a wrong teaching. We did not truly understand Jesus. You know what, after the workshop, my bible study became better. What's for the real deal with Father Moon? He had made hundreds of foundations that can help humankind and everyone can participate across the globe because of his love. We should be teaching this principle in our family. I learned so much from Rev. Moon. I go with Rev. Moon because of the truth. All mankind must come together. If I were to become the mayor of Chicago, I will promote the unity of families in America."

The Holy Spirit is really working in a mighty way here in Chicago. Many were inspired about the testimonies and right away ten people signed up for the DP workshop Dec. 12th-14th. Bishop Kim was very excited in announcing all of the events and was very positive to bring about success in every event.


How is it that a religious man can be so easily persuaded to believe that he has been "caught up in a wrong teaching" by the "Unification" church? We are to understand that it is due to hundreds of foundations..The mind control techniques of this cult are apparently quite extraordinary - or is it just the lure of money? Obviously this is written from the Moonie perspective but it still makes one wonder exactly what is going on prior to these breakfasts? Blackmail? Drugs?

[blm]

5. Money and power is a big part of it - the GOP has used Moon's techniques with

great success over the last 3 decades. Most denominations have fundies who are thoroughly conditioned to accept that politics is the biggest part of their mission.

That was the purpose of the Left Behind books.

[Cell Whitman]

6. 300 views and no rec? Geez. this is a key part of Moon's final plan

Moon uses the ACLC to open doors in the Middle East and to promote his personal United Nations, the Universal Peace Federation. The article could have done more to point out that Moon makes a lot of his cash swindling widows in Japan and that the Washington Times is not part of his empire that "funds" this stuff. In fact, the WT is just a propaganda unit that loses billions, but the article still is a very important piece of reporting. imo....

Find some on Moon swindles here - the Moon organization is NOT about "Family values" as they deceive people into believing:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/8/9/13513/46197

THE ACLC MINISTERS SAY THEY CAN USE MOON'S DIVINE PRINCIPLE "BIBLE" AND NOT "MENTION" MOON.

These people are being deceived on a grand scale. They ARE following him. This is actually a major news - it is just one more bit of of proof that MOON IS WINNING.

Do you understand? Nothing is stopping him. Countries all over the world think MOON is the answer.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611050349nov05,1,1588926.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

The ACLC attracts primarily black clergy even though Moon envisions creating a new human family where his interracial wedding ceremonies eventually will produce a single race that is all "yellow."

As Moon put it in a 1991 sermon: "Little by little the color of black people will gradually become lighter."

While the conference is promoted as a bridge between races and faiths, it also has become a marriage of convenience for Moon and African-American religious leaders.

For the black pastors, the benefits include prestige, a powerful ally and gifts, including watches worth $12,000. For Moon, the alliance brings credibility in poor urban communities, a new audience for his theology and political leverage.

....


In the beginning

The ACLC was born on a Korean mountaintop in May 2000. Moon invited the 120 founding members on an expenses-paid trip where he christened the pastors, presented each with a diamond-studded watch and said they were on a "mission to become one with the True Parents," as Moon and his wife are known in the Unification Church.

Those on the trip included two men who are leaders of the ACLC in Chicago, Rev. T.L. Barrett Jr. and Rev. A. Harold White. With their help, the leadership conference has become Moon's main vehicle in the black community to help unite the world's religions under his philosophy of Godism--in effect, a worldwide theocracy. ...

Moon's unorthodox theology is spelled out in the sacred text of the Unification Church, the Divine Principle. Under Moon's interpretation of the Bible, Jesus failed to complete God's mission for him, to marry and create perfect children.

Moon, 86, also teaches that he and his second wife are the "True Parents" of a new spiritual lineage born without original sin.

The ultimate purpose of Moon's famous mass weddings is to carry out his vision of a world in which most people will have Asian blood. "The Pacific era will come," Moon said in a 1993 speech. "The Asian culture and people will become more dominant." ...

Moon's controversial views don't faze his supporters in the African-American religious community.

"If we could live under the hard oppressive rule of the white man, certainly I have no problem with the Koreans," said Washington, D.C.-based pastor Bishop C. Phillip Johnson. "If God so chooses to raise them up to be the lead and to bring about real true religious and racial harmony, then I have no problem following him."

...

ACLC Ministers in Korea bowing and lying prostrate before a large pictrure of Moon and his wife, the co-messiahs - these are stills taken from Moon's propaganda film.

[blm]

7. Thanks, Cell. It's a tough read but those familiar with the situation will be

along this evening I expect. Lots are volunteering.

I am doing my calling here at home. Kinda cool, though all the talking is making me feel a schoolgirl. I swear I haven't talked as much on the phone since my first boyfriend at 18.

[Cell Whitman]

12. ya, I know folks are real busy

this is as busy as it gets with important things to do and get them done. I hope democrats in congress, as they awaken from the thaw, realize what's happening. Though Moon would have most definitely died on the vine without the conservative movement working with and helping him - if I listed the number of democrats who have sent greetings to Moon's Universal Peace Federation the last year and folks fully understood what the UPF is, it would make people really, really sick. It really is insane. Moon is winning and he is uncontested right now. Most of the media thinks he is the same old dog that he was five years ago and he isn't. He said he had all the pieces in place and all he had to do was organize it, and he meant it and he is doing it right now.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0611050349nov05,1,1588926.story?coll=chi-newsnationworld-hed

A Moon-affiliated group helped fund Minister Louis Farrakhan's Million Family March. Moon's supporters helped to financially bail out Jerry Falwell's Liberty University several years ago, and the evangelist attended Moon-sponsored events through the mid 1990s.

Moon's ties to Bush, the former president, span years and continents.

The former U.S. president and his wife, Barbara, have toured with Moon and spoken at several events sponsored by the Women's Federation for World Peace, which is headed by Moon's wife, Hak Ja Han Moon.

Of that event in 1996, the Washington Post wrote at the time: "The group would not disclose how much it paid Bush and his wife, nor would the former president reveal his fee, but estimates ran as high as $1 million for his six appearances with the group here."

In 2004, Bush sent a videotaped message welcoming Moon and other guests to the ACLC-sponsored Common Legacy Breakfast Summit, held in the Wardman Park Marriott Hotel in Washington. He said: "Barbara and I, and certainly our President, have the same beliefs you do, that strong families, volunteer service and faith-based solutions can help answer many, if not most, of the challenges we face in our communities." ...

In 2000, Barrett attended Moon's birthday celebration in Seoul, where the church leader gave Barrett a Christian Bernard watch valued at $250,000.

[Bossy Monkey]

8. K & R (& throwing up a little in my mouth)

No reflection on you, of course; only on Moon.

[blm]

9. This happened all over DC tri-state area, too.

Moon also owns all that land in Paraguay above the world's largest aquifer, and just sweetdealed the Bush family for a 100,000 plus acres.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

10. K&R

I've seen a number of Cell Whitman's very knowledgeable posts about Moon and the UC. And I appreciate your link to this article in the Trib, which I missed yesterday.

The spread of Moon's empire via fundamentalist Christianity is one of the most bizarre and fascinating aspects of this cult. Does Moon's power emanate from money or mind control? Fundies who already accept an exclusive, authoritarian structure are already primed to accept Moon; his money not only sweetens the pot but enhances his authority to lead.

Moon's infiltration of the most reactionary elements of our society is one of the most important, underreported stories of our day. Thanks for posting.

[blm]

13. And the tie-in is that it was all done with and FOR political power. Bush-Moon

An alliance that has gone under-reported for over 4 decades.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

15. Yes. Since it's just "religion," and Bush is "religious," it gets a pass

But as I know you're aware, it's much more insidious than that.

[SpiralHawk]

11. George AWOL Bush and Chuck A. Moon

cronies.

republicon cronies.

[blm]

14. Except they're now the biggest players in the world's WATER MARKET, Spiral.

That land in Paraguay Bush picked up was part of Moon's acquisition of over a million acres atop the world's largest aquifer, Guarani aquifer.

Last year Bush set up a military base nearby, so they are using our tax dollars for some future expectations.

[phoebe]

16. looks like that land in Paraguay Bushco. bought was Moon owned

http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif252.html

http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif256.html

http://www.rickross.com/reference/unif/unif265.html

snip

Rev. Moon offers land donation to avoid parcel's expropriation
EFE News Service/November 24, 2005

Asuncion, Nov 23.-- The firm representing the interests of South Korea's Rev. Sun Myung Moon in Paraguay is offering to donate 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of land to avoid the expropriation of almost twice that amount of the property he owns in the northern Chaco region.

In September, Congress voted to seize a property encompassing just under 52,700 hectares (130,000 acres) administered by Moon's Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity and located outside the town of Puerto Casado.

The offer to donate the smaller parcel was presented to President Nicanor Duarte and to Congress and also includes the joint exploitation of another 150,000 hectares (375,000 acres) of Paraguayan land owned by Moon, according to a letter signed by association president Jacob Thiessen and printed Wednesday in the daily Abc Color.

In the letter, Thiessen says that the Delaware-sized estate, which totals some 600,000 hectares (1.5 million acres), has not been exploited "rationally and conveniently" and that to provide a social solution to the inhabitants of Puerto Casado, Moon is offering to donate the 30,000-hectare zone which includes the town itself located on the Paraguay River on the border with Brazil.

Article as reminder of the land purchase by Bushco. http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=8963

snip

Photographers from the Paraguayan newspaper ABC Color tracked her down to one restaurant in Paraguay's capital Asunción, where she was seen flanked by 10 security guards, and was also reported to have met Paraguay's president, Nicanor Duarte, and the U.S. ambassador to Paraguay, James Cason. Reports in sections of the Paraguayan media suggested she was sent on a family "mission" to tie up the land purchase in the "chaco".

Erasmo Rodríguez Acosta, the governor of the Alto Paraguay region where Bush's new acquisition supposedly lies, told one Paraguayan news agency there were indications that Bush had bought land in Paso de Patria, near the border with Brazil and Bolivia. He was, however, unable to prove this, he added.

Last week the Paraguayan news group Neike suggested that Jenna Bush was in Paraguay to "visit the land acquired by her father - relatively close to the Brazilian Pantanal and the Bolivian gas reserves".

The U.S. presence in Paraguay has been under scrutiny since May 2005 when the country's Congress agreed to allow 400 American marines to operate there for 18 months in exchange for financial aid.


Coinicidence that Moon happens to own vast tracts of land in the Chaco region? Think not...