The Holy Blessing Button (sewn on the wrong robe?)

Sun Myung Moon’s Words on his marriages prior to 1960

Let us examine the 1960 Holy Wedding and the conclusion that, according to Hak Ja Han, whom Demian Dunkley quotes,“The one to take on the responsibility of the Second Coming should not have had a family of his own accord before meeting the Only Begotten Daughter.” This is also part of the 7 Lectures, “The Messiah at the Second Coming should not have a family before he meets the Only Begotten Daughter and participates in the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.” Demian Dunkley made this very clear on-line with leader's in March 2025: “Was Father supposed to have wives before meeting Mother? No.No! … And that is all you need to know …Mother made it very clear that Father was not supposed to marry.”  

Again, we are confronted with she said/he said as Sun Myung Moon tells a very different story, which is now being discounted and discarded. Mother ‘trumps’ Father in the Chambumoron (CBMR), and don’t ask any questions! With the benefit of hindsight would it have been better if Father had no relationships prior to meeting Hak Ja Han? Of course. But we were not there, neither was she. Were ladies hurt in the unfolding of Father’s providentially driven mission? Undoubtedly, yes, including Mother, a totally pure, innocent teenager, and her mother, Daemonim, whom Father had to treat, almost brutally, in order to mitigate the resentment and bitterness the ‘unchosen’ sisters felt towards them. But can anyone, even the Hak Ja Han, be in a position to judge Father about how he had to guide himself and others through this most complicated part of his providential and personal lives?

Sun Myung Moon, as I said, guided by the conclusions of the Principles of Restoration, for which he shed tears, sweat and blood to reveal for us, understood that both Jesus and Christ at the Second Coming would marry ladies of very special, purified, but still sinful lineages. Yet Demian Dunkley and the CBMR emphatically choose Mother’s words, that Jesus’ and the LSA’s brides must be sinless Only Begotten Daughters over Father’s that they would have been restored. Jin-Choon Kim even wrote that, “I wish Father had done better at that time.” Why do they choose the conclusion of the totally un-prophesied, unrevealed bride, remember Hak Ja Han was just over one-year-old when True Father married as a 24-year-old, over the words of the revealer of the Divine Principle, the widely prophesied Lord of the Second Advent among spiritual Korean Christians, for whom there so was so much detailed preparation? This can only be because they whole-heartedly accept Hak Ja Han’s claim to authority, that due to her sinless birth she saved Sun Myung Moon, and thus she speaks a greater truth. Let us look at what Father said.

Father’s words on his First Marriage

One must first ask, when did Father do things “of his own accord”, especially in taking this, possibly the most important step in his life’s course, fulfilling the second blessing? He said, "I married Sung-jin's mother [Choi Sun-kil], according to the will of Heaven.”In Global Citizen, “I continued to devote myself to prayer, and I came to feel intuitively that the time had come for me to marry. Because I had decided to follow God’s path, everything about my life had to be done in accordance with God’s will. Once I came to know something through prayer, I had no choice but to follow.” (Global Citizen p.78)

Does anyone believe that Father was just following the expectation of his family, his culture, the suggestion of“an auntie” (Demian Dunkley) rather than God’s will, as revealed to him through his years of prayer, study and suffering? Does anyone think he did not pray deeply and receive confirmation that his wife-to-be was the ‘chosen one’, that he did not include Jesus in his process? Remember this was the man who on October4, 1943 “had gone to the bus stop to catch a bus for Shimonoseki, but my legs wouldn't move.” Thus, he did not get on the Konlin Maru ferry which sank. Such was the nature of his relationship with God. His marriage was 6 months later to the day. This is the man we trusted to choose our spouses for us, because God was guiding him. If he was acting wrongly, making such a major mistake, why did God and Jesus not tell him directly or stop him?

We understand the human portion of responsibility, and all believed Father’s words explaining this marriage’s potential and why it did not work, that is until Mother’s remarks after his death changed the thinking of some/many. Was Sun Myung Moon just mistaken that,“At the time following World War II, if Father's first wife, Sung Jin Nim's mother, had understood Father and received him as the Lord of the Second Advent for all humankind, God's providence could have been completed then. It didn't have to take forty years. The Blessing could have taken place right there. The providence of establishing the family, the nation and the world could have been done easily if Sung Jin Nim's mother had received Father… fully, then beforeFather was forty years of age the providence could have been completed”? (April19, 1996)

Surely Father was totally serious when he said, “If the Allied nations had united with me after World War II, Mother and the True Children would not exist today. They are sons and daughters who were not supposed to be. If Korea had unified centering on Christian culture, without any persecution, the Moon clan and the Choi clan [of True Father’s first wife] would have been the center, establishing the position of parents starting from sons and daughters. A peaceful world centered on one true family and one blood lineage would have been realized.” (God’s Day 1997) Yet, according to the CBMR and Hak Ja Han, he was ‘mistaken.’

In his ‘Critique’ Young Hwi Kim commented: ‘Father made and gave his son the name “Seongjin.” Father’s words about this only appear in one place. At that time, North Korea was under the sovereignty of Satan. So, if he went there, he did not know what would happen to him. So, he said, “If I die, in order for my son to follow behind me and fulfill the will, I made and gave him the name Seongjin.”’ Elder Kim also made the point that, if Father marrying and having a child was so wrong, the March2, 1946 ‘Solomon’ anointing by Baek Moon Kim would simply not have happened.

Which button fits? The 1960 narrative …

So, yes, we have a problem. Who are we to believe? Are we to just “forget everything” Father told us? Regarding the1960 Holy Wedding, according to Hak Ja Han’s views as summarized in Demian Dunkley’s lectures, the narrative is now, “Father was in a critical condition …needed help …I knew I could not prolong the providence any longer.” One Korean elder, Myeong dae Kim, understood Mother’s situation, according to what she has been saying in Korea, in this way: “She (Hak Ja Han) said, “From among the many I observed, I decided I should choose Father.” (How she observed ‘the many’ as a high school student, living in a dormitory, we are not told.)

According to Myeong dae Kim, she said there were dozens of people [like Father]. Dozens of people! Mother said that there were “several people from whom she could have chosen to be the TrueFather. There were several people!” (11/22/2022) Maybe he is exaggerating about the ‘dozens’, but I assume he is telling the truth, that Hak Ja Han said she chose Father, one among several. So, Father could have been, as it were,‘eliminated’ for the error of his first marriage and the providence would have continued, Hak Ja Han being that ‘central pillar.’ She would have just chosen another.

Let us look at her own earlier testimony (remember, according to Demian, Mother is “100% consistent”): ‘When this instruction came from Father, I felt totally selfless. I felt, "Who am I to decide whether this is good or bad? So far my life has been governed directly by God. Whatever the will of God, whatever His purpose or dispensation, I shall be His servant. I shall obey in everything." That was my feeling.’ (April 1977)

Reflecting on the moment she received the engagement notice, Hak Ja Han said, “When I received that decree, I was completely overwhelmed. Because I did not have the capacity at the time to deal with such a monumental issue, I had to empty myself. All I could do was pray."Oh God, I have been living according to Your Will. I will follow and do whatever Your Will is. Whatever Your providential purpose is for me, I will follow as You command.” (03/05/1977)

But if Mother, based on the narrative that she truly knew God and the truth her entire life, had actively chosen Father instead of the reverse, why the passive, unsure voice?

Hak Ja Han was clearly a most exceptional young lady. Mrs. Choi commented about the period between the engagement ceremony and the wedding, “Father would take her every day to the mountain. They talked and talked, mainly about the Divine Principle. Mother's understanding was so enlightened that she could answer every question.” But was she “stepping up to save the providence,” “choosing True Father,” who was “in critical condition”?

Sun Myung Moon’s memory and narrative, which we believed and accepted until his death, are very different: “I intended to marry any woman; I thought to myself that if she is devoted to the providence and ready to welcome it 100 % for me, even the plainest woman would suit me. That is how I ended up marrying the most wonderful person. Mother says she married me without knowing what was happening to her.” https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Books/FathersLife/FathersLife-66.pdf

“When I married Mother, I did not do so saying, "God, I will get married because the time has come for me to get married." I got married because God said, "Get married because the time for you to marry has come." That is in accord with the Principle.Mother, also, was not thinking about marrying me. She was a young lady attending high school. When she was told "Rev. Moon is calling you,"she said "Why? He does not know me; why is he calling me?" When she was told "They say that you are going to get married tomorrow," she responded by saying "Is that so?" She was like that. She did not oppose anything.” https://www.tparents.org/Moon-Books/FathersLife/FathersLife-67.pdf

Was Sun Myung Moon out of his mind when he said things like, “The True Mother would have come out of the Christian realm. Perhaps she would have been a British woman. It could be. Why not? Once the worldwide foundation had been accomplished, I would have picked the True Mother on the world level. Imagine if the royal princess of England had become the True Mother. I am only interested in one thing: how to restore the world”? (May20, 1984)

One other thing that does not make sense to me is that, in her ‘Memoir,’ the Han Mother portrays the image of a couple who decided everything together, yet she could not tell Father about her real identity. “True Mother, the Only Begotten Daughter, who was supposed to see the completion of True Parents’ providence, could not say she was the Only Begotten Daughter, it was not up to me to do it, it was my partner’s responsibility.” (Feb 22, 2024)

Of course, he did say it, but it was just not theologically important to Father. Dr. J.C Kim identified that True Father mentioned ‘Only Begotten Daughter’ 180 times. It was 1500 times for the “Only Begotten Son.” In his typical style, some of those references were that all sisters should become “Only Begotten Daughters.” To me the term “Only Begotten Daughter,” and, sorry to say, the Holy Mother Han, have a very New Testament spirit, not in tune with the Cheon Il Guk age after Foundation Day, which comes after the Completed Testament and the Era after the Coming of Heaven.  

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