Look Who's Talking by Bridget Gibson January 7, 2002
"In the last nine years, the Church poured eight hundred million dollars in cold cash into The Washington Times. 800 million. You have no idea how much money that is. If you deposited that money into a bank, the interest alone, at 10% a year, would be eight million dollars per month. At 12%, it would be even more. That is one hundred million dollars a year. This is just the money that the Church has invested in the American media. With all the other money put together, Father has invested two billion dollars in the providence in America. This is a fact." - Sun Myung Moon June 16, 1997
In the 1980s, armed with new satellite and digital technologies, the IMF, World Bank and U.S. government forced the deregulation and privatization of the communication industry. The result was the rise of transnational media giants. With only a handful of media "sources" as the conduits of "news", political influence over the content of the news had become common place. Certain key players were becoming proficient at manipulating these media conglomerates to pass on the news - even if it wasn't true. You need to look at the source carefully and one of those sources is the Washington Times.
The Washington Times began in 1982. It did not exist before that time. This was not an "old city newspaper" that was taken over or acquired by new management. This was a paper created for a "purpose." In the first fourteen years of its publication, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon invested over one billion dollars to do so. His designated spokesman, Dr. Bo Hi Pak, explained this as "a most precious investment for freedom," saying that it was now "a must-read for all opinion-makers not only in Washington but all over the United States, and indeed ranks among the great newspapers of the world!"
So, with all of the fanfare and hoopla, it became imperative to find the reasons for the existence of this newspaper. What I have found is highly disturbing. I have found a person with ideas and ideals so contrary to the American society that amazement and concern are constantly competing emotions.
If you are not familiar with Reverend Moon, allow me to show you a few of the more obvious problems with his religious beliefs. Note: When Sun Myung Moon speaks, he refers to himself in an extremely strange way. He does not say "I", he says "Father". I can only suppose that he wishes to make his speeches sound as though they have been delivered by someone else, because no one would give the credence and weight to these words if spoken in the first person. His megalomania would be exposed as the shameful garbage it actually is.
Sun Myung Moon claims to be free of sin. He claims to have more wisdom than Jesus, and he has often said that he is greater than Jesus. Sun Myung Moon teaches that:
"Abraham was the father of faith, Moses was a man of faith, Jesus was the son of man, trying to carry out his mission at the cost of his life. But they are, in a way, failures." (Sun Myung Moon, "Victory or Defeat," from Master Speaks, March 31, 1973, p.1.) He also teaches: "This means that the failures of Adam and of Jesus Christ have been restored by the appearance of True Parents." (Rev. Moon, Today's World, January, 1995, p.8)
I don't know about you, but I was never taught that Jesus was a failure and that there would be a better version, not the return of the messiah, but the replacement of him. Sun Myung Moon believes that he is better than Jesus and he has come to unite the world with the Unification Church and his teachings. The following quote comes from the Unification Church book, and is purportedly a message from Jesus. (pp 61-66) If Moon is to be believed, we need to rewrite the Bible to suit his purpose. I don't think I'm quite ready to do that, are you?
"Bring in the flocks. Bring in the sheep and bring them to the throne of your True Parents. Bring them to the throne of our True Parents, the mighty throne of heaven. And I will place the Crown of Glory on our True Parents' head. I will lead them. I will show them that the Lord of Lords and the Kings of Kings and the King of Glory is our precious Lord Sun Myung Moon and his beloved bride Hak Ja Han. They reign as king and queen of the entire universe. And that I, Jesus of Nazareth, known as the Christ, bow in humility before them. I bow before them. Any who will follow me must do the same. I bow before the name of True Parents. I bow before our precious Lords, our True Parents, Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han." (Purportedly by the spirit of Heung Jin Nim Moon, The Victory of Love, NY, NY: The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity, 1992, pp. 65-66).
It would be quite easy for me, at this point, to completely write Mr. Moon off as complete quackery and for being a devious cult with questionable motives. The reason that I cannot do that is for the love of God. I refuse to yield to such chicanery. But many people do not understand who is talking when they are reading the news. They do not understand the manipulation of facts and stories and the twisting of truths to suit their purposes. The following are other quotes by Mr. Moon:
Father's job is the unification of left and right, but on different levels, the family level, the tribe level, the nation level, world wide level, universal level, cosmic level and God and human beings level. On every level Father is bringing unity. Father united Christian morality and the leadership of this nation. Ever since Father came, since the time of Ronald Reagan, Father has had influence over choosing the right president and Christianity has come to stand more and more on Father's side. This is very important for this country.
On January 13, 2001, there will take place the "Coronation Ceremony of the Royal Parents of Heaven and Earth." In the Garden of Eden, the archangel, Eve and Adam united and lost their position. This means God even lost His position. We need the Messiah in order to restore God's position. That is why the True Parents came, and based on the True Parents' foundation Heavenly Father can be the real king of all creation.
After reading many of Mr. Moon's quotes and beliefs, his use of the term "Christianity" appears somehow misleading. Because Mr. Moon does not believe in Christ. He believes himself to be superior to Christ and has attempted to usurp that role for himself.
So now you are asking, what in the world does this have to do with today? What does this have to do with politics? What could I possibly tell you about Mr. Moon and politics today?
Mr. Moon claims to have written the Reagan Doctrine for SDI, or Star Wars Program. He claims to have sponsored and promoted it to the Whitehouse and defense department in 1984. And that three weeks after this promotion, Reagan announced (in the State of the Union) that SDI would become a part of our national defense program. Now we know from whence that failed idea came. Do you feel sure that the current expansion of that program does not have the same origination?
When Mr. Moon was attempting to expand his media into Argentina, he called upon a long-time friend of his to come and be the keynote speaker. This friend was George Herbert Walker Bush and the following is an excerpt from his speech:
"I want to salute Reverend Moon, who is the founder of The Washington Times and also of Tiempos del Mundo," Bush declared. "A lot of my friends in South America don't know about The Washington Times, but it is an independent voice. The editors of The Washington Times tell me that never once has the man with the vision interfered with the running of the paper, a paper that in my view brings sanity to Washington, D.C. I am convinced that Tiempos del Mundo is going to do the same thing" in Latin America.
What George H. W. Bush said was untrue, in that the first editor of the Washington Times, James Whelan, resigned in 1984, confessing that he had "blood on his hands" for helping the church achieve greater legitimacy.
Mr. Moon was quite excited at this glowing recommendation and felt that Mr. Bush's presence as keynote speaker gave the event invaluable prestige. George Herbert Walker Bush also appeared in promotional videos for the Unification Church. In 1995, he and Barbara, his wife, gave six speeches in Asia for the Women's Federation for World Peace, a group led by Moon's wife. In 1996, Bush addressed the Moon-connected Family Federation for World Peace in Washington. The estimates of Bush's fee for the Buenos Aires appearance alone ran between $100,000 and $500,000, and some have said that the speaking fees that Bush has garnered for his appearances may be in excess of ten million dollars.
By speaking on behalf of Mr. Moon and his organizations, our former president (father of our current president) has lent credence and prestige and an air of respectability to what many might deem as someone downright sinister.
On January 19, 2001, Mr. Moon's Unification Church sponsored an "Inaugural Prayer Luncheon for Unity and Renewal" for George Walker Bush. Two Bush administration nominees were in attendance: Stephen Goldsmith, the former Indianapolis mayor who will promote "charitable choice" initiatives, and Attorney General John Ashcroft. Mr. Goldsmith promoted the Bush plan to give churches federal funds to offer social services, later called the "Faith Based Initiatives". Mr. Ashcroft was the keynote speaker. Another attendee was Jerry Falwell, who has "allowed" Mr. Moon to generously restructure a three million dollar debt for his Liberty University through the Women's Federation for World Peace, which promptly "forgave" the debt.
A Unification Church report describing the luncheon said that these events show Moon's ability to draw a broad cross-section of religious leaders to his events, asserting that the gathering "united Christian leaders black and while, including Robert Schuller, Jerry Falwell, the leader of the Southern Baptist Convention, a representative of the Bill Graham organization, and many others."
The Washington Times is wielding much power. Mr. Moon and his organizations now own many other media outlets, not the least of which is the United Press International (UPI), a newswire service, Insight Magazine, Radio Free Europe (receives 100% of its news from the Washington Times), Atlantic Video, Belleville Press, CARP Monthly, Global Affairs, Global Insight, Harlem Weekly, HeartWing, Heaven & Earth, International Exchange Press, Manhattan Magazine, Manhattan Television Center, New Era Books, New Future Films, News World Communications, Noticias Del Mundos, Paragon House Publishers, Principle Life, Queens Magazine, Rising Tide, D.C., Rose of Sharon Press, Sae Gae Times, Segye Times, Sekai Nippo, Spring of Life, Sunrise, The Pacific Student Times, The Weekly Religion, Ultimas Noticias, Unification News, Unification Thought Quarterly, Visual Arts Society, Washington Golf Monthly, Washington Television Center, Way of the World, World & I Magazine, World Media Association, World Media Conference and World University Times.
It behooves us as citizens of these United States to know the source and who is writing and selling their version of the news. To unwittingly ignore the source only continues to lend the false credibility to those that take advantage of the consolidation of corporate ownership of the media and communications system.
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