"In The Shadow of The Moons"
by
Nansook Hong
Book Review
by Pat Lamb
Sun Myung Moon, a Korean electrical engineer by trade was instrumental in creating the Unification Church, the church's members known as Moonies after their 78 year old charismatic leader, the Reverend Sun Young Moon a native of Korea. A Presbyterian by birth, Presbyterianism fell by the wayside the year of Moon's sixteenth birthday when, according to Moon Jesus appeared to him telling him that God wanted him to complete Jesus' "unfinished work" on earth, i.e. to restore the Garden of Eve on earth, fulfilling a prophecy that God would appear at a later time in Korea.
Moon was married (the first of three marriages) in l945, Moon leaving three months following the wedding upon receiving a revelation that he and his wife would be the first true parents. Upon Moon's return the couple were divorced, Moon's wife declaring Moon's infidelity as the reason for divorce, Moon's having strayed not with one but with many women.
Nansook Hong's parents became members of the church, the parents beliefs being passed on to their her. Nansook's parents, emissaries of Moon's doctrine, put Moon's church first, their hungry children a sad second. Bible stories were often shared with the children of Moon's disciples from the perspective of church doctrine that emphasized Moon's elevated position relative to Jesus.
In 1971 Moon, as "directed by God", made an important move by importing his Unification Church, organization and teaching to America. Financial support in the American branch of the Unification Church was done through organizing teams of young members to canvas street corners, campuses and suburban areas within most of the major cities in the United States and sell various items such as flowers, candy and other interesting products that would net modest to moderately expensive prices. Those members who worked in this way were usually new recruits, freshly indoctrinated from week-long seminars and ready, willing and able to commit themselves to this mission to support the church's work here in the United States and elsewhere around the world.
Nansook was chosen to be betrothed to Moon's eldest son, Hyo-Jin. Nansook, at the time, fifteen and Hyo-Jin seventeen years of age. Following a short honeymoon Nansook finally faced reality when confronted with a husband who was hooked on tequila. However, Mrs. Moon informed Nansook that she had been chosen to change Moon's son, Hyo Jin. from leading the promiscuous drugged life that he reveled in.
Although the Reverend and Mrs. Moon had sired thirteen children, when a child would be born, the baby would be assigned to a church sister as nanny and nursemaid, the Moon's shirking their God given responsibility to raise their own offspring.
The Reverend Moon would plead guilty to filing a false income tax report, and he was slapped with a fourteen year sentence, Moon actually serving eighteen months and paying a $25,000 fine. Shortly following his release from prison, Moon crowned his wife and himself as Emperor and Empress of the Universe. There was no higher authority.
Nansook's life, one of solitude, revolved around high school and child care of the first of five children as her husband bedded many women, he fed his addictive habits.
The author goes from left to right from up to down as she calls Moon "the bravest man on earth , and speaking in diametrical tones of the open secret of an affair between Moon and a church member, of which there were uncounted numbers.
She recounts a widely known event in which Moon officiated at the wedding of an elderly woman to Jesus Christ of all people.
Fearful of her life at the hands of her husband whose use of the words ugly, fat, and stupid were daily occurrences it was often that Nansook would be given ice by her children for a blackened eye.
Finally, the author realized that she needn't stay. I recall an episode where she had been forced to stand naked at the foot of his bed while he mocked her.
At long last Nansook contacted a lawyer. Aha, the princess awakens; the pea lies under the mattress!
Wonder seized me that she had made the effort. Hadn't she seen through the sham, the hypocrisy, the lies, the deceit? Why, anyone in their right mind would have.
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