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The term "Mass Marriage" is actually a misnomer. I titled this section 'Mass Marriages" simply because that is what they are known as. In reality, no one is being married in these mass wedding spectacles. Instead, the "Blessing" as Moonies refer to this event, is a religious ceremony and not actual weddings. Though they are dressed as brides and grooms and repeat marriage vows at these events, the ones that intend to be husband and wife will have to obtain marriage licenses from whatever jurisdiction they reside in. In former years, only those couples that Sun Myung Moon had matched (Moon chose usually complete strangers that would then become husband and wife based on Moon's selection) or those that had passed very stringent qualifications (including from 3 to 7 years of celibacy before marriage) would be allowed to be 'blessed' by Moon. In recent years, these events are often billed as a 'recommitment of marriage' to unsuspecting participants.

The qualifications for 'the Blessing' have now become so lax, that long time members have become disgusted at what appears to them to be the mainstreaming of what was for them the most important and prized achievment of their religious lives as moonies. From the strict qualifications of the past, the moonies have come to the point where they are passing out of cups of 'holy juice' to passersbye in the streets and pronouncing them 'blessed' often without the participant's slightest knowledge that he will now be counted as having been 'blessed' in marriage by Sun Myung Moon through his disciples. The purpose of the juice, is that it contains the church's 'Holy Wine', which contains Moon's literal, physical blood (see below) and is neccessary to drink as part of the blessing ceremony. Besides juice, there has also been a 'holy candy' which is passed out to children and attendies at Movie theaters etc.. Wherever there is a crowd, there may be a Moonie-in-disguise offering free candy and juice with Moon's blood in them so that you can be counted among the redeeemed by Sun Myung Moon. So meaningless is this mass-counting of the usually unknowing public, that some current members have sarcastically attributed a name to this new 'providence' calling it: McBlessing as in 'One Billion Served'.

• DATE OF FIRST BLESSING - January 6, 1960
  The First Blessing was Moon's marriage to his current wife: Hak Ja Han This presents numerous problems because Moon had been married once before this 'special' wedding, and had also produced children from two different women before ever meeting this current wife. Oddly, there appeared to be no special ceremonies or proclamations from any of Moon's previous wives and mistresses. Hak Ja Han was 16 when married to the 40 year old Moon, and some would say that finally Moon had a girl young and inexperienced enough to completely control. Moon admits almost as much, saying that Hak Ja Han was trained by him for seven years to the point of near torture before Moon could allow himself to show any love for her. (Sounds sick to me too!).
• HOW DID THEY EVOLVE INTO MASS EVENTS?
  After Moon married himself to his newest wife and child-bride, he also married three other couples made up of his closest followers. One year later, 33 more couples were married in this fashion, but were lumped together with the first three couples, and are now called: The 36 Couples The 36 couples have a patriarchal status of respect among members. From this point the numbers expanded dramatically with each 'blessing' representing a different providential purpose or meaning. (The main blessings are detailed under 'TIMELINE' below)
• WHAT IS THE PURPOSE?
  In Unificationist teachings, the purpose is the re-establishment of God's lineage upon the Earth. Sun Myung Moon and his wife are the 'true' Adam and Eve that come to establish God's lineage that was lost by the first Adam and Eve. Jesus failed to do this because he was killed before he could be married, according to Unification teachings. (Refer to my section where I critique Moon's teachings on this.)
• WHAT IS THE PURPOSE 'REALLY'?
  Power and Control. It is one thing to leave a cult when you realise that you were lied to and used to keep it's leader living in luxury, but quite another to depart your wife and children! And it will always be in your mind and heart that Moon himself is responsible for your wife and children. It is very difficult to separate these. So, of course, Moon has achieved tremendous control through the 'matching' of strangers for marriage. Aside from this are very obvious legal benefits. Moon has a very difficult time with immigration laws in various countries, and it is much easier to have a Japanese woman marry an American man to get her into the country so she can begin slaving for the false messiah.
• WHAT ABOUT THE GOOD IN MARRIAGE ITSELF?
  The fact that marriage can be successful is not a reason to keep a selfish man like Sun Myung Moon rich, through donations and modern slavery. One of the proposed advantages to these marriages is the reconciliation of the races, but this is merely a line given to the public. The reality is that many people get married to people of other races, nations or cultures without Sun Myung Moon's help (Me for one. My wife is Spanish - I chose her myself :-) And there is also the ominous truth that Moon only marries his Korean children to other Koreans. Why not lead the way, and integrate his own family? The reason is that Moon is a racist. Moon often makes disparaging remarks about other races (particularly blacks) and has even threatened women in the church that he will marry them to black men if they misbehave. The moonies often portray their marriages as more successful with lower divorce rates than outside marriages, but this statistic is skewed and unscientific. The church has not allowed outside review of these figures, and the moonies also don't include those people that leave the cult in that statistic. In fact, one ex-member said that there was an 80% failure rate in the blessing he was a part of. Whether this is reflective of the moonies in general cannot be verified currently, but I can say that I was personally aware of many members (including my own mother) that had received failed marriages from Moon and were now on their second and third marriages given to them by Moon. All in all, to find a person that you can get to know over time before making a decision, and that you may actually 'love' and have things in common with, is a far better course, than a Moon-ordained marriage.

• 1960 - March 16 - Moon and Hak Ja Han are married
  Considered the first marriage 'blessing', this is actually Moon's second legal marriage (third by the church's reckoning) This event is called The Marriage Supper Of The Lamb by moonies, in reference to Revelation 19:9 in The Bible. Christians, of course find that an absolute heresy!
  MARRIAGE BLESSINGS AFTER MOON'S:

• 1960 - 3 Couples - April 16th
• 1961 - 33 Couples - May 15th
• 1962 - 72 Couples - June 4th
• 1963 - 124 Couples - July 24th
• 1968 - 430 Couples - February 22nd
• 1970 - 777 Couples - October 21st
• 1975 - 1,800 Couples - February 8th
• 1982 - 2100 (2,075) Couples - July 1st
• 1982 - 5800 Couples
• 1988 - 6,500 Couples - October 30th
• 1992 - 30,000 Couples - August 25th
• 1995 - 360,000 Couples - August 25th

NUMBERS GAME Obviously, that last figure (360,000 Couples) enters the realm of imagination. Moon did not bless 1 out of every seven people in the world. The answers to this are found elsewhere. Well, the 'spirit world' to be exact. Moon blesses dead people in the 'spirit world' in marriage, and of course since no one can verify it, and Moon doesn't have to pay any money to rent football stadiums, you can see that this is the wave of the future. As high as Moon can name numbers, is how many people he can claim to marry, since they are all 'imaginary' people anyway. And in fact, Moon can count pretty high. They are claiming that Moon has now 'Blessed' several Billion people. (Most of them imaginary, of course). Added to this figure, are the 'juice' and 'candy' Blessings at local theaters, malls and beaches. I suggested that members could simply fill water pistols with Holy Wine and go around 'squirting' people for the remission of sins! That way, they wouldn't even have to wait for someone to accept candy or juice. No one responded to that suggestion! :-)

The Moonies have a huge event planned for the year 2000. Not coincidentally, it will coincide with Moon's 80th birthday celebration. Remember, you heard it here first: Keep your eye on this one! Moon is not about to let the new millenium pass by without making it his largest spectacle yet! Knowing of the religious fervor and even paranoia, that people are experiencing as we approach the change of the calendar, you can bet Moon, always the opportunist, will capitalize upon this. I only pray that it is not sinister. Because Moon is getting old, and has now been exposed as an adulterer through NanSook's book, and with his growing resentment that the world did not crown him as the messiah yet....I am concerned that Moon will try a Jim Jones type of stunt, or maybe even a terrorist activity to try and spark global chaos. I realize that many moonies reading this think this is absurd, and at one time, I would have agreed. But understanding what I believe to be Moon's psychotic nature. He is capable of anything. At one time, we were told as members, that if Dukakis had been elected President of The United States, rather than George Bush, that Moon would order his members to leave America and move to another nation. My own leader in the church, had told me once of a member that had been ordered to have an abortion, because she had not received permission to begin her family yet. This kind of control is always a 'loose cannon' that can explode at any time. Watch and pray that it doesn't happen to the moonies.

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