A Button Short, the Only Begotten Daughter & the ABSENCE OF PROPHECY

‍Part 1 of Musings  on the ‘Chambumoron’ and Demian Dunkley’s lectures to stimulate ‘Discourse’

Demian Dunkley, in his recent lecture series, repeats multiple times Mother’s words about ‘one button off’, as in, “the Unification movement has been one button off from the very beginning and that Mother is trying to liberate all of us from this misunderstanding, and also liberate Father who is in the spirit world”.I, like many, I would think, though aware that True Father may have been repentant for many things that happened during his life, did not know he needed liberation, after over 12 years in the spirit world.

Our liberation from our ‘misunderstanding’ comes to us, I am assuming, through the content of the Chambumoron (CBMR), which will very soon be available as a text in English, but until now has been explained, to some extent, in a series of 7 lectures, which came from Korea. Also, we can learn through such offerings such as Demian Dunkley’s lectures on ‘True Mother’s Revelations’, sincere, but sometimes pretty bewildering to a Unificationist, if really reflecting the lecturer’s belief, rather than trying to appeal to Christians, e.g. “God was born” 2000 years ago at the birth of Jesus, whom Mary “conceived and gave birth to through the Holy Spirit”. To my surprise, about Mary, I discovered that Demian was just repeating Mother’s words. Many times recently True Mother has said something similar to, “Mary conceived [Jesus] through the Holy Spirit, isn’t that right?”(July 18, 2024). This type of thinking comes due to the focus on, and now continuous use of the ‘Only Begotten’ (OB) terminology for Jesus and True Mother. For as C. S. Lewis put it, “Now that is the first thing to get clear.What God begets is God …”, hence if Jesus is the Only Begotten Son (OBS) for Demian, then God was born 2,000 years ago, but this is something we have never believed, that Jesus was or is God. Then no, it is not correct that Jesus was“conceived by the Holy Spirit” as in the concept of the virgin birth. I believe True Father’s teaching that his father was Zechariah.

The core of the CBMR teaching is truly revolutionary and drastically changes the understanding about the process of restoration held by most, if not all, Unificationists, prior to True Father’s passing. It would seem to be exemplified in the new statues at Cheong Pyeong, which center on Mother alone, and in which True Father is a bit player, if included at all. How many brothers and sisters have noticed this framing, which is set in stone, as it were, in that while the statue of Mother towers above all others, Father can be seen third from the left, in the photo on the right, holding hands with the other man?

It would be an exaggeration of the CBMR, and Demian’s lectures to say True Father is not included, but Demian seems to agonize as how to include and honor Father, while acknowledging his ‘mistakes’ and repeatedly emphasizing the point that Mother should have been the central figure in the process of restoration since 1960. True Father’s primary role, before 1960, was to prepare the way for Mother, then presumably be her main support as she guided the providence.

This would be why, when being deposed in a court case (March 25, 2019), on being asked, “So it's your belief that the Reverend Moon did not start the Unification Church first. It wasn't started until he married you…” Mother replied, “Yes, according to the providence”. There was no objection when the lawyer continued, “In1960, according to your testimony, when the church was created ….” What of May1, 1954?  This is why Demian stated on-line that “the biggest problem was that he (True Father) did not emphasize True Mother’s stature while he was alive, that is the single biggest error that is weighing like a lead splinter in True Mother’s heart”. The statues must be a reflection of Mother’s true stature as is now understood by Demian and the CBMR, and of True Father’s much less significant providential role than we understood he fulfilled while he was alive.

Yes, we are grateful to True Father to understand, “That is why the providence of heaven, the two-thousand-year history of Christianity, is the history to find the Only Begotten Daughter (OBD). Christians do not know this fact.” (16.3.12) But,we all joined because in the Divine Principle we studied, “the ultimate purpose of the providence of restoration is to lay the foundation to receive the (male) Messiah” and we found him, the one who explained the principles of creation, the fall, restoration and the process to change the blood lineage.

In all of True Father’s US tour speeches we heard statements such as “For 2,000 years, Christians of the world have been looking forward to one great culminating day, as prophesied in the Bible — the day of the Second Coming of the Lord” (New Future of Christianity, Sept 18,1974, NYC). Of course, we know both are true, but the entire focus of Demian and the 7 Lectures is that ‘God’s Greatest Concern’ is True Mother, the Only Begotten Daughter, True Father’s primary purpose being to facilitate the fulfillment of her mission. This is quite contrary to the bulk of True Father’s words and teaching, which explained God’s providence as preparing for the male messiah, both 2000 years ago and in our era. Yet for Mother, “the essence and mission of Christianity is one thing only, namely to meet the Only Begotten Daughter”(Sept 9, 2024), not a word about her husband, Sun Myung Moon, the Lord of theSecond Advent.  

Anyway, let me reflect on the missing or troublesome buttons in the narrative from my initial review of the content. If what Mother is claiming is true it raises a very big question as to why there is no supportive prophecy for her assertion. This is the first button I want to check!  

ABSENCE OF PROPHECY. (the big missing button)

“Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets”says Amos 3:7, often quoted in Divine Principle (DP) lectures and in the book itself in the first paragraph of the last chapter. We all know the history of dual prophecy before Jesus was born. Then it is “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne” (Rev.3:21-22),not “her”!

Great importance is given to the spiritual preparation in Korea for the coming of True Father when discussing his life. Early members were often convinced that True Father was the Messiah through their profound spiritual experiences, and this has continued until this day. Read the testimonies of In-Ju Kim, who when praying saw Jesus’ face become True Father’s, or Mother Ok whom God told that, "He (the Messiah) is in Pyongyang now. He is hiding in a room in Gyeongchang-ri", or Seung-do Ji “God told me I would find the Messiah in five years if I prayed. Now God has led me here.”

We all know the dreams of fellow prisoners Kim Won-Dok and Park Chung-hwa guiding them to follow Father. The latter was told, "That young man is the one you have been looking for since your childhood. He is the Messiah. That man is the one.” As Elder Young Hwi Kim wrote, “almost all of our family members who joined in the early days… received evidence from the spirit world that Father is the Messiah”. (Truth of God’s Providence, p.284)

However, apparently Amos 3:7 is not true in relation to Mother’s claims about her birth and life as the First Coming, free of original sin, the Only Begotten Daughter, as the “central pillar of the providence.” It would seem nobody on earth or the spirit world understood this, that it was totally unrevealed by God.

I know of no prophecies of the coming of the Only Begotten Daughter, the kingdom creator, in Christian history, no revelations that the key to salvation and freeing mankind from sin, would come through a woman. Even Mother’s own mother did not receive this understanding at any point while alive. Neither did she reveal it through her medium in Cheong Pyeong. Rather, “I had another dream. A phoenix descended from the heavens. Another phoenix ascended from the earth.They joined together in the sky. The eyes of the heavenly phoenix looked very much like those of the Father. One day, after taking a cold bath, I saw a vision in which I was told that the heavenly phoenix symbolized Father and the earthly phoenix symbolized Mother.” Why not True Mother from heaven and True Father from earth? It seems God’s spiritual preparation only guided us to understand that Mother would be “the one who will become the heavenly bride” as declared by Heo Ho-bin’s mother, or Seung-do Kim’s, “this child is the daughter of the Lord, raise her well”. Yes, we all know that Mother is so very special, with the qualities to be the successful bride for the Lord of the Second Advent, the True Mother of heaven, earth … but that is not the same as being the one “who took away the original sin of the founder”,the key to restoration.    

To my knowledge, no lecturer has asked why this is so, why there is no prophecy preparing us for this new, the CBRM understanding of Mother’s identity and mission, let alone tried to provide ananswer. Another question would be why God, in a sense, misled us by preparing so carefully for the coming of the male LSA, whose life, work, and words could then become a ‘stumbling block’ to accepting the OBD saviour?

If True Father was supposed just to be a ‘Christian leader’ preparing for the Holy Wedding, Demian, how was he expected to control all his followers, for so many years up to 1960, who were told by heaven that he was the Lord of the Second Advent, and desperately wanted to testify to that truth? Also, logically, if the ‘prepared’ Korea had accepted True Father in the period from 1945-48 and his mission had expanded to the worldwide level by 1952, then what? How would True Father have explained that he could not forgive anyone’s Original Sin because he was waiting to find his bride who would forgive his sin in order to become True Parents?  

Many questions can be asked. Here are a few:

1) Asan example, why did the Inside Belly Church, such a prepared group with a female leader, of which Mother’s mother, Dae Mo Nim (DMN) was a most devoted member, not understand or receive revelations about the Only Begotten Daughter? Rather, “As expectation mounted (as WW2 ended and the following year), they bought a beautiful house in Pyongyang for the Lord, assigned twelve disciples and seventy apostles. Heo's sixteen-year-old daughter was prepared as a bride.”(Breen, The Early Years p. 78) Is it not a big mistake to prepare a bride, when Mother was a part of the group, albeit 2 or 3 years old, if she was already the“central pillar”? (Heo Ho-bin’s mother’s words about Mother were spoken after that preparatory providence had failed, when she was 5 years old.)

Remember that it was Heo-Ho Bin, who so carefully, faithfully organized the preparation of the clothes and food for Jesus and Sun Myung Moon, set so many bowing conditions, received the revelation that she would meet the Messiah in prison, yet she did not receive a word about the baby in her disciple’s womb or after she was born.Mrs. Woo Ok Lim testified that Dae Mo Nim was “the most dedicated, hard-working member in these preparations.”

In Mrs. Lim’s testimony, she continued, “After all these external preparations for the Second Coming were completed, Hong Halmonim suddenly received a deep desire and spiritual inspiration: ‘I want inspiration: ‘I want to see the Second Messiah's face." God responded to her through a dream.In the dream, she visited a house with her mother. In one room, there was a closed door, and her mother said, "Don't go in. It must be a very important room." But she had such a great curiosity that she opened the door. Inside, a young, handsome gentleman was studying at a desk. He looked back at her and said, "I am waiting for you. I am studying so I can teach you." He kindly welcomed Hong Halmonim. After she awakened, she had the feeling that maybe the man in her dream was the Second Coming of Christ. Soon after that, she had another significant dream in which she met the same young man again. He said to her, "Soon Ae Hong, would you like to prepare some clothes for me and make travel preparations? Please, Soon Ae Hong, don't change your mind. Keep an unchanging faith." Why did he not tell her that she was the mother of the Only Begotten Daughter, who, I am pretty sure, was already born? (I don’t have an exact timeline for Inside Belly preparations/conditions). What of the other 300 members of that most spiritual church working together with Dae Mo Nim? Why did none of them testify to Mother?                                                                                              

2) Mother herself said, “She had to be born in a Christian environment in 1943, and many Spirit-led pastors and others had to testify to her.” But where are those testimonies? We just have the words of Seung-do Kim from spirit world and Heo-Ho Bin’s mother in 1948. Rather, Mother tells the truth that, “In 1943, theOnly Begotten Daughter was born within a Christian environment. Yet no one knows of this.” (June 27, 2024) One must ask, if Amos 3:7 is true, as it was in the case of Jesus and Sun Myung Moon, why is there a deafening silence when it comes to the sinless Only Begotten Daughter? Why are there so many revelations about Sun Myung Moon and none about Hak Ja Han if she is “the one”?

3) Did any of the ‘Cloud of Witnesses’ testify that Hak Ja Han was the “central pillar”? Why in his letter from spirit world (Sept18, 2005) did Heung Jin Nim not say TRUE MOTHER, instead of TRUE FATHER, solved the problem of Original Sin? “Being incarnated on earth, True Father proceeded to carry out two great providential tasks over the course of his eighty-six years of life and work to block the power of Satan. The first was to liberate God and perform the Coronation Ceremony of the Kingship of God. The second task is the elimination of the Original Sin that humankind carries.”                                                                                                                                                  

Interestingly, I do not think Demian mentions the Coronation Ceremony once in his lectures.After that event, True Parents declared the Era and year one of Cheon Il Guk(CIG), which Mother then redeclared in 2013 after Foundation Day.  True Father said, "The first day when Cheon Il Guk was opened on Oct. 1, 2001. This was the most valuable day during 21 years. (Showing his book) It is written so here.”

I haven ever understood why Mother did not honor the proclamation she made together with Father, and had to re-declare the Era of Cheon Il Guk and begin it again in 2013? Maybe, because it became ‘cosmic’ and ‘substantial’? But then, in reading Mother’s speeches, it would seem that Foundation Day was her doing alone, rather than an event for which Father had a countdown calendar, and which he eagerly awaited.

Here is what she said, “Who opened Foundation Day? (Mother) Heaven instructed me to open Foundation Day. I proclaimed Cheon Il Guk.” (Feb 22, 2024) Why was declaring Foundation Day “the heart to find a single needle in a desert engulfed by a blinding sandstorm”? (Nov 19, 2023 speech) Why did Mother need heaven’s order to do this? Father had been talking about Foundation Day, which he called D-Day, since at least 2010: "We will continue to have assemblies until D-Day." "By D-Day, all indemnity conditions must be established and the Seunghwa Ceremony must be held." (True Father’s speech Dec 31, 2010). Mother herself said in her address for Father’s Seonghwa: "True Mother on earth and True Father in heaven shall simultaneously proclaim the Foundation Day of Cheon Il Guk." 

Mother was not alone on that day. This is the testimony of Dae Mo Nim, through her medium, the day after Foundation Day: “The MC made an opening proclamation;True Father came down to enter. When the MC said: "the entrance of the True Parents," did you only see True Mother or True Father also? True Father put his arm around True Mother; he cried a lot ... True Father was there, butTrue Father had been talking about Foundation Day.” But, instead, Mother claimed she was totally alone.

 4) With so many early members having remarkable spiritual experiences confirming Sun Myung Moon as the Messiah why did none of them testify about Hak Ja Han as the “central pillar” before or after the Holy Wedding as revealed in dreams or spiritual experiences?  Father spoke of a lady who dreamt of him before he was even born. “When I was in Pyongyang, North Korea, I met a woman who was more than 30 years older than I was. She said to me, "I am herewith you today because of the guidance of the spirit world," and then she said, "It is strange….You gave me guidance when I was 24 years old."In other words, she said she had received guidance from me even before I was born.”

Where are similar testimonies about Mother? Dr Sheftick testified how in the USA, “This woman (Dr. Neva Dell Hunter, who pioneered the practice of aura balancing) told me that she was told by the spirit world in 1946 or 1947, to find 140 men to work with the new Messiah. I was ecstatic because she said Iwas one of the people, and she had found 77 of them or so, so far. I joined with her for a while …” As this was after Mother’s birth and she was already the “central pillar of the providence,” why was Dr. Hunter, a woman, not toldto find 144 women to follow a female Messiah/Only Begotten Daughter?

5) Where are the testimonies of members who have received spiritual confirmation, since Foundation Day, that Mother was born without Original Sin, that Sun Myung Moon was born with it and that Hak Ja Han is indeed “the central pillar”? Has anyone had a spiritual experience that True Father needs to be “liberated”, presumably from those mysterious ‘tails’? I just heard the testimony of a new member in Venezuela who was surprised that her leaders were not having dreams with True Father every night, as she is experiencing. Did Mother also appear in her dreams to guide her? No.  

6) What of the other world religions? Can we find any prophecies of the female liberator/saviour? Young Hwi Kim in his ‘Critique,’ tells the story of a 72 couple husband, Choe Dosun,“At the age of seventeen, on the basis of his mother’s devotion to Buddhism, he also became a Buddhist convert. Then he received a revelation that he would meet the Maitreya Buddha, and the Maitreya Buddha he saw at that time looked just like Father. All the major world religions are expecting a male messiah/saviour/mahdi/maitreya …. Clearly, the Divine Principle teaching on‘Returning Resurrection’ needs serious revision to fit the CBMR narrative, if it is included at all.   

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