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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1

Thematic dossier

Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2024

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN: UNIFICATION CHURCH

AND JESUS MORNING STAR (JMS)

CRISTINA BAHÓN ARNAIZ

cristina.bahon@uam.es

Assistant Professor in the Department of East Asian Studies and a Research Member at

CEAO (Center of East Asian Studies) at the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain). She

has a PhD in Korean Studies, Master degree in Korean Literature and a double Bachelor

degree in Japanese Studies and Korean-English Translation. Her research interests include

Korean society and culture, Korean literature, and Korean linguistics.

Abstract

Christianity has a relatively short history in Korea, yet it has grown rapidly, consolidating the

biggest percentage of Christians among East Asia. Presbyterian, Methodist and Baptist

churches are some of the mainline Protestant denominations in the country. Furthermore,

alternative Christian groups, also referred to as new religious movements (NRMs), started to

appear in the country after 1907 Pyeongyang’s Great Revival Movement and expanded during

the Korean War (1950-1953). Some of the most dynamic groups at the moment are Guwonpa,

the World Mission Society of God, Shincheonji Church of Jesus the Temple of the Tabernacle,

the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification and Christian Gospel Mission. This paper

will focus on the origin of these two last groups’ core doctrine, widely known as Unification

Church and Jesus Morning Star (JMS) or Providence. Similar to other Korean NRMs, both

founders emphasize their doctrine as new and unique, yet this paper will bring light to show

how their narratives are interrelated and emanate from the same grassroots, namely Kim

Sung-do, Baek Nam-ju and Kim Baek-moon

Keywords

Unification Church, new religious movements, JMS, South Korea, messianism, NRM.

Resumo

O cristianismo tem uma história relativamente curta na Coreia, mas no entanto tem crescido

rapidamente, consolidando a maior percentagem de cristãos na Ásia Oriental. As igrejas

presbiterianas, metodistas e batistas são algumas das principais denominações protestantes

do país. Além disso, grupos cristãos alternativos, também referidos como novos movimentos

religiosos (NMRs), começaram a aparecer no país após o Movimento do Grande Reavivamento

de Pyeongyang, em 1907, e expandiram-se durante a Guerra da Coreia (1950-1953). Alguns

dos grupos mais dinâmicos do momento são Guwonpa, a Sociedade Missionária Mundial de

Deus, a Igreja Shincheonji de Jesus, o Templo do Tabernáculo, a Federação das Famílias para

a Paz e Unificação Mundial e a Missão Evangélica Cristã. Este artigo concentrar-se-á na origem

da doutrina central desses dois últimos grupos, amplamente conhecidos como Igreja da

Romanization of Korean follows the Revised Romanization of Korean system, including for place names.

Individual´s own personal names do not follow a standardized romanization in most of the cases. Therefore,

hangeul was included when necessary to avoid confusion.

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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2021, pp. 32-46

Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

Unificação e Jesus Morning Star (JMS) ou Providência. Semelhante a outros NMRs coreanos,

ambos os fundadores enfatizam a sua doutrina como nova e única, mas este artigo chamará

atenção a como as suas narrativas estão inter-relacionadas e emanam das mesmas bases,

nomeadamente Kim Sung-do, Baek Nam-ju e Kim Baek-moon

Palavras-chave

Igreja da Unificação, novos movimentos religiosos, JMS, Coreia do Sul, messianismo, NMR.

How to cite this article

Bahón Arnaiz, Cristina (2024). Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning

Star (Jms). Janus.net, e-journal of international relations, Thematic dossier “Historical and

Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia”, VOL14, N2, TD1, pp. 33-47, consulted [online] on date

of the last view. https://doi.org/10.26619/1647-7251.DT24.2

Article received on July 15, 2023 and accepted on October 23, 2023

A romanização do coreano segue o Sistema da Romanização Revista do Coreano, inclusive para nomes de

lugares. Os nomes próprios dos indivíduos não seguem uma romanização padronizada na maioria dos casos.

Portanto, o hangeul foi incluído quando necessário para evitar confusão.

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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN: UNIFICATION CHURCH

AND JESUS MORNING STAR (JMS)

CRISTINA BAHÓN ARNAIZ

Introduction

It is not an exaggeration to say that the United States of America has the largest number

of new religious movements (NRMs), some of them with wide international coverage,

such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism and the Church of Scientology. Since the

ratification of the Constitution of the United States in 1788, the free exercise of religion

has been permitted, contributing to the proliferation of significant religious diversity in

the country. The terminology referring to these alternative religions is large, including

cults, marginal religions, sects and new religious movements (NRMs). This last term,

originated in the 1970s, is commonly used by scholars as a neutral, non-pejorative

phrase (Lewis, 2012).

Similar to the US, South Korea hosts some of the most sizable Protestant congregations

in the world. Seoul’s Yoido Full Gospel Church was included in the Guinness Book of World

Records as the largest church in the world in 1993, with around 700,000 members at

that time. While the number of NRMs originated in South Korea from the 19th century is

ambiguous, it is thought that around 500 groups have been established since then,

including those which gradually collapsed (Kim, 1998). Despite the fact that Korean NRMs

are hermetic-secretive congregations, controversies related to these groups have made

headlines in the country, some of them even capturing global attention. The biggest

scandal, concerning former president Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil, Park’s spiritual

mentor, culminated with the first impeachment since democracy was established in South

Korea, and a 22-year prison sentence. Choi Tae-min (1912-1994), father of Choi Soon-

sil, was the founder of Yongsaegyo (영세교, 永世敎), a syncretistic new religion which

combines elements from Buddhism, Christianity, tonghak and Shamanism. In line with

this incident, the sinking of the Sewol ferry, in which more than 300 passengers dead,

including around 250 high school students, was related to a Christian-rooted group, the

Evangelical Baptist Church, better known as Guwonpa, or the Salvation Sect. Yoo Byung-

eun (1941-2014), an entrepreneur-pastor and leader of the cult, was the former chief of

Semo Group, a ferry operator which went bankrupt during the Asian financial crisis. After

This work is part of the research project titled “Memory and Forgetting across the Borders in East Asia

(PID2021-124485OB-I00)”, funded by the Spanish State Research Agency within the Ministry of Science,

Innovation and Universities of Spain.

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

the bankruptcy, Yoo’s family is believed to have continued operating ferry companies,

together with Chonghaejin Marin, the operator of Sewol. Other recent controversies

associated with Christian groups are the involvement of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus

in the spread of the Covid-19 virus in South Korea; the National Revolutionary Party’s

Huh Kyung-young (허경영), also known as the leader of Heaven Palace cult, being a

candidate in the 2022 South Korean presidential election, and the assassination of the

former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. He was assassinated by a man who allegedly

repudiated Abe’s promotion of the Unification Church in Japan as Abe delivered video

speeches at the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), a Unification Church related

organization. These are only some of the recent incidents related to Christian religious

groups, yet more could be mentioned.

Notwithstanding the important contributions related to Korean Christian NRMs in Korean,

the study of these groups in the West is still insufficient, as it only extends to an

introductory overview of these new movements. This article will focus on two prominent

NRMs in South Korea: The Federation for World Peace and Unification, commonly known

as the Unification Church, and the Christian Gospel Mission, better known as Jesus

Morning Star (JMS). The former, founded by the self-proclaimed messiah Moon Sun-

myung in 1954 and established in the US around the 1970s, is probably one of the most

influential Korean NRM in the US and Japan, in terms of political and economic ties with

local governments. The latter, launched by self-proclaimed messiah Jung Myung-seok in

1982, is infamous for sexual abuse and rape allegations, both nationally and overseas

(especially in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan). Similar to other Korean Christian NRMs,

both founders claim to be the second coming messiah, by preaching what they call a

“new” biblical canon or a “new” gospel that Jesus has exclusively revealed to them to

complete his mission on earth. Despite the emphasis on uniqueness and newness, the

fact is that these groups’ narratives are usually interrelated and emanate from the same

roots. This paper will present the origin of the Unification Church’s Divine Principle and

JMS’s Thirty Lessons by introducing the three main figures from whom the core teachings

were derived.

Reverend Moon and the Divine Principle

Moon Yong-myung (1920-2012) was born on January 6, 1920

in the North Pyeongan

province in North Korea close to the Yalu River and Liaoning province in China. He later

changed his name to Moon Sun-myung (文鮮明), probably due to the negative biblical

connotations of the dragon yong (龍), which was the first syllable of his first name. Being

the fifth of eight siblings, his family converted to Christianity after two elder siblings, a

brother and a sister, became seriously ill. On the Easter Sunday of 17 April, 1935, Moon

had his first spiritual encounter with Jesus at the age of fifteen

, while praying on Mount

Myodu (Euh, 2008). During this first mystical experience, Jesus encouraged Moon to

continue his unfinished mission, literally saying “You must take on a special mission on

Earth having to do with Heaven´s work” (Moon, 2009). From that day on, he immersed

himself in what he called “the Word of God” which subsequently became the basis of his

According to the lunar calendar.

Ages are counted according to international age. He was 16 years old in Korean age.

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

biblical exegesis for the Divine Principle. According to Breen (1997), Moon’s teachings

combine a syncretistic interpretation of the Old and New Testaments, with elements

included from other religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, Shamanism and Confucianism.

Further, in October 1945, Moon stayed for six months at Israel Monastery, founded by

Kim Baek-moon (김백문), an important figure in Moon’s theology who will be mentioned

in the following pages.

Up to 1945 North Korea, and especially Pyeongyang, was the epicenter of Christianity on

the Korean peninsula. However, after the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-1953),

Busan, originally considered as the land of Buddhism, became a refuge for Christians

who had escaped from the north. Consequently, Busan became the fortress of Korean

Christianity during that period (Tark, 2006). Moon, who was imprisoned in the North

Korean Labour Camp of Heungnam in 1948 for a public disturbance with a five-year

sentence, escaped to Busan shortly after being freed by the UN troops in October 1950

(Euh, 2008; Moon, 2009). This became a turning point in his life. He founded the Holy

Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity in Seoul in 1954, which later

changed its name to the Family Federation of World Peace and Unification, widely known

as the Unification church. He published the compilation of his doctrine in the book Divine

Principle in 1957 and married for the second time with Han Hak-ja in April 1960; she

became the “True Mother” inside the Unification Church. In 1971, Moon and his family

settled temporarily in the United States where he expanded his religious, diplomatic, and

political influence in the West. The diplomatic achievements of his group include the

sponsoring of the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS), which

recruited more than 900 participants including Nobel laureates; the Professors World

Peace Academy (PWPA); and the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS). Furthermore,

it created the newspaper The Washington Times in 1982, and established NGOs such as

The Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) and the Universal Peace Federation

(UPF), a United Nations-affiliated NGO instituted in 2005, which hosts the Summit for

Peace on the Korean Peninsula with participants from more than 160 nations. The UPF’s

World Summit held in February 2022 was chaired by the former UN General Secretary

Ban Ki-moon, and featured virtual speeches from Donald Trump and Shinzo Abe, and the

attendance of political celebrities such as former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,

and former US Vice President Mike Pence, among others (Pokorny and Zoehrer, 2022).

The Unification Church progressively expanded into a movement named as the

Unification Movement or Unificationism, which aims to extend religious, cultural,

diplomatic, politic and economic influence worldwide, in search for “unity among all major

religions, and, on that basis, build the Kingdom of God on earth or Cheonilguk (天一國)”

(Mickler, 2006: 1).

The Divine Principle or Exposition of the Divine Principle is a compilation of Moon’s main

theological beliefs, written during his stay in Busan with the assistance of Yu Hwo-weon,

an early disciple. The book is divided into two main parts. The first part consists of seven

chapters: the principle of creation, with a section related to the purpose of creation; the

human fall, eschatology and human history, with a section about the last days; the

Messiah — his advent and purpose of his second coming, resurrection, predestination

and Christology, with a section concerning the Trinity and the Holy Spirit. The second

part focuses on the providence of restoration, the period of preparation for the second

For further information about Unificationism in America, see Bromley and Shupe 1979 or Mickler 1980.

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

advent of the Messiah and the second advent itself. Despite its length at 536 pages, and

its complexity, the first two chapters, related to the principle of creation and the fall,

contain the main pillars of the Unification Church doctrine.

In the opening chapter, creation is viewed in terms of the Taoist concept of duality, with

the creation of man and woman being the most complex level of complementary

opposites. The chapter covers the purpose for the creation of the universe and humanity,

emphasizing the three blessings mentioned in Genesis 1:28 which are: “to be fruitful

(mature and ready to bear fruit), multiply and have dominion over creation” (Moon,

1996: 43). Chapter two connects the purpose of creation exposed in Genesis 1:28 with

the fall of Adam and Eve. According to Moon’s exegesis, God created Adam and Eve and

established them in the Garden of Eden with the purpose that they would first spiritually

and physically mature and become God-centered individuals. After this, he would bless

them with a God-centered marriage, having children and multiplying as God-centered

families. These families would eventually populate a God-centered world, receiving the

last blessing of domination over the creation. However, Eve succumbed to Lucifer’s

temptation, which is represented as a serpent in the book of Genesis. She ate the fruit

from the forbidden tree of knowledge of good and evil and then gave it to Adam, who ate

it with her. Before they fell, Adam and Eve were not ashamed of their nakedness, yet

directly after taking the fruit “the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized

they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves”

(Genesis 3:6). Thereafter, in Genesis 3:16, God punished the woman with severe

childbearing pain. These verses illustrate Moon’s vision of the fall as the sin of sexual

immorality, and eating the forbidden fruit of sexual intercourse with Satan represented

as the snake, and afterwards with Adam, before becoming God-centered individuals.

Hence, they sexually “fell” before being ready to receive God’s blessing of marriage.

Accordingly, she received the “essence of his evil nature and multiplied an evil lineage

from which our sinful society descended” (Moon 1996, 64). This ‘original sin

interpretation’ connects with the concept of restoration, the second cornerstone in

Unificationism. For Moon, Jesus was not able to restore God’s Kingdom since he died

before marrying. Therefore, a new Adam must come and conclude God’s mission of

creating a God-centered family, becoming the “True Father” of humanity. In this way,

his wife, or the “new Eve”, would become the “True Mother” and they would begin a new

era called the “Complete Testament”. Furthermore, Moon claimed that the messiah would

be born in Korea between 1917 and 1930, where Moon coincidentally was born in 1920.

Beside the main doctrine compiled in the Divine Principle, Moon continuously preached

further revelations, “centered on the role that he and his family played in laying special

foundations for the restoration of God’s Kingdom” (Barker, 2018: 23).

Pastor Jung and the Thirty Lessons

Jung Myung-seok (1945-), who was born in Seokmak-ri, region of Geumsan, South

Korea, proclaimed himself in 1982 as the messiah and founded the Christian Gospel

Mission, widely known as JMS or Providence

For English bibliography related to Christian Gospel Mission check Nathalie Luca’s PhD dissertation, book,

and articles (1994, 1997, 1998, 1999-2000).

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

Jung, who is the third of five brothers and has one sister, embraced Christianity when he

was still in elementary school after Presbyterian missionaries dispensed free Bibles to

each family in Seokmak-ri. Unable to continue his education at middle school due to

extreme poverty, he was immersed in faith, having his first spiritual encounter with Jesus

at the age of thirteen

. Since then, he claims to have maintained an ascetic life of prayer,

fasting and evangelism, including reading the Bible over 2,000 times over 20 years, which

concluded with the theological enlightenment comprising the Thirty Lessons, which is the

JMS core doctrine. After enlisting for the Vietnam War twice, on June 1, 1978 he departed

to Seoul to start his mission as “the second coming of Jesus”. In 1982, he founded the

MS Gospel Association, which later changed its name to the Christian Gospel Mission

(Jang, 2004). Jung’s Thirty Lessons is divided into three different levels: beginner, middle

and advanced. Despite its length, his core doctrine can be summarized as the purpose of

creation, the fall, and judgment of fire, with the exposition of three different time periods:

Old Testament, New Testament and Complete Testament; the second coming, Holy Son

and the rapture.

Although there are some differences with the Unification Church, which may be the object

for further studies, important similarities can be noticed between the core doctrines of

Jung and Moon. The first is related to the fall. Jung claims to have learned directly from

Jesus, struggling over 18 years, until he realized that the fall was a sexual sin. Likewise,

he emphasizes his own sexual purity as the main condition why these unique revelations

were given to him (Jung, 2016), yet Moon proposed this theory before Jung did. With

regard to the purpose of creation, Jung bases his doctrine on the same verse as Moon,

Genesis 1:28, which introduces three different blessings: be fruitful (the blessing of

growth, self-perfection or individual heaven); increase in number and multiply (the

blessing of marriage, starting a family or family heaven); and rule the creation (the

blessing of governance or heaven on earth). However, Jung developed a theory

proclaiming that human beings were created to become God’s brides (disregarding their

gender)

. Due to the sexual fall, humans lost their value as brides and fell to the level of

servants. Hence, the purpose of creation is to restore to their level to that of a bride. In

this way, Jung is both considered the first bride in front of the Trinity and the bridegroom

of humanity as the Holy Son’s body (Oh, 2010). These two lessons, considered as the

core doctrine in JMS or Providence, connect with the idea of restoration into brides and

the transition to a new time period. Accordingly, the Old Testament is considered a time

of servants, the New Testament a time of children, and the Complete Testament a time

of brides, with its main representatives being Moses, Jesus and Jung respectively (Jung,

2016). Beside these core teachings which emphasize chastity before marriage

similarities with Moon’s Divine Principle can be observed in their vision of resurrection,

the last days, predestination, the notion of a Korean messiah, and the shamanic concept

of spiritual possession and spirits working through the body of a person. In this way,

scholars view the Thirty Lessons as a plagiarism, a sub-Unification Church, a cult secluded

from the Unification Church, or “a sort of updating of the Unification Church doctrine”

(Luca, 1997). In fact, Jung’s name can be found in the Unification Church registers dated

For more details check https://jungmyungseok.net/pastor-jung-myung-seok/.

The bride theory was first exposed by Lee Yong-do (이용도).

In case of JMS, there is a group of people (both female and male) who do not marry and remain celibate,

known as faith stars, who devote their lives to serve God and Jung. According to Taiwan’s JMS data, there

are 110 faith stars in Taiwan, from which 67.2% of them are female (Tsai and Peng, 2022:56).

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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2021, pp. 32-46

Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

1975. He was registered as a member on March 20, 1975, and lectured on Moon’s

doctrines occasionally (Roh, 2013). Jung lately compared Moon to John the Baptist and

himself to Jesus, alleging that Moon’s mission finished in 1978, the year when Jung

proclaimed himself as the second coming messiah and departed to Seoul (Jang, 2004).

Additionally, Jung’s numerology proposed in the advanced lesson “A Time, Two Times,

and Half Time” has also been confirmed as having been first published by the unorthodox

theologian Han Enok (한에녹) in his book Eternal Gospel, published in 1947.

In this way, although Jung himself assures his followers that they have received a unique

and new gospel, which Jesus exclusively revealed to him because of his devotion, chastity

and spiritual submersion, the reality is that Jung’s Thirty Lessons is mainly based in

Moon’s Divine Principle. The question is whether Moon actually compiled his doctrine

himself. In fact, there is nothing new under the sun and despite the emphasis on

uniqueness and newness claimed by both Jung and Moon, their core theologies emanate

from three main sources: Kim Sung-do (김성도, 1882-1944), Baek Nam-ju (백남주, 1902-

1949) and Kim Baek-moon (김백문, 1917-1990).

The Foundation of Native Korean Christian NRMs: Kim Sung-do, Baek

Nam-ju and Kim Baek-moon

In the early twentieth century, two important revival movements occurred in Wonsan

and Pyeongyang, in present day North Korea, which contributed to the growth of

Protestantism and the emergence of native Korean Christian NRMs. Wonsan Revival

Movement (1903-1906), led by Mary Culler White, a Methodist missionary, and Louise

Hoard McCully, a Presbyterian missionary, expanded to Pyeongyang with the rise of the

Great Revival Movement (1907-1910)

. Though this paper does not focus on the possible

reasons for the rise of mysticism and Christian spiritual revival in the peninsula, it is

important to emphasize the syncretism of religions in Korea and how religious tradition,

referring to shamanism, has set the foundation for assimilating new religions into the

ongoing religious history (Chung, 1959). In fact, evidence of shamanist practices

remaining in Korean Christianity are well-known (Martin, 2002). The northern part of the

peninsula became the center for Protestantism and alternative phenomena until the end

of the Japanese colonization in 1945, and the establishment of the communist regime in

North Korea (Tark, 2006).

Kim Sung-do (김성도, 1882-1944) is commonly considered as the founder of native

Korean Christian NRMs. Although she was not the first person who announced a union

with Jesus, or expanded prophetic activities in the country, her theology inspired a large

number of groups that emerged after the Korean War, including the Unification Church

or JMS. Born on July 1, 1882

in Cheolsan, in the North Pyeongan Province of North

Korea, she converted to Christianity after miraculously recovering from a psychological

The expansion of the 1907 Pyeongyang’s revival movement, widely known as the Great Revival

Movement, was documented by missionaries at the time, being a well-studied phenomenon in Korean

Christianity. For empirical considerations on the revival check Gold in Korea (1936) by William Newton Blair.

For further noteworthy sustained academic publications in English check The History of Protestant Missions

in Korea, 1832–1910 by Lak-Geoon George Paik (1980).

According to the lunar calendar.

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

disorder that developed after the birth of her second son in 1906. She visited shamans

and tried conventional medicine, yet none of them relieved her symptoms

. It was after

attending church for three months, under the advice of a deaconess encouraging her to

believe in Jesus, that she totally recovered. Her first mystical experiences began during

the March 1st Movement protests in 1919, when she engrossed in prayer for the country’s

independence, and in 1922, after Jesus encouraged her to pray for the world’s

Christianity. One year later, in 1923, she alleged that Jesus had incarnated within her,

and thus, dwelled in her body

(Choe, 1999). The essence of her theology can be

summarized as follows (Choe, 1999: 37):

a) The root of original sin was not caused by simply eating the forbidden fruit from

the tree of knowledge of good and evil. According to Kim, metaphors in the Bible

should be interpreted. Indeed, original sin did not emerge from dietary disobedience,

but it was due to the sexual intercourse between Eve and Satan, disguised as a

snake, and afterwards with Adam. Hence, Kim was the first person in Korea who

claimed sexual immorality as the root of the original sin.

b) Despite the orthodox belief that Jesus’s crucifixion was part of God’s plan to

redeem the sins of mankind, Kim maintained that Jesus was not supposed to die, but

that he was expected to live and preach the gospel until he naturally passed away.

Therefore, she emphasized the unfair death of Jesus as the result of ignorance and

disbelief by the Jewish people. Furthermore, this exegesis was used to promote the

second coming of a messiah, as the only way to complete the first failed plan.

c) God is filled with sorrow due to firstly, Adam’s sexual fall and, secondly, the death

of Jesus caused by humanity’s scepticism. Between the paradox of free will and

theological determinism, which connects omniscience to predestination, Kim

emphasized human’s free will over omniscience. Thus, none of the incidents above

were part of a divine plan, but the result of mankind’s ignorance.

d) Contrary to the popular belief that Jesus would return on clouds (Revelation 1:7,

Daniel 7:13, Matthew 24:30, Luke 21:27), Kim stated that the clouds represent the

body of a woman, meaning that the coming messiah would be born from a woman,

just like any other human on earth, and denying any divine nature. Likewise, the

shamanic concept of ipsin or union with Jesus’ spirit was emphasized. The chosen

person would spiritually unite with Jesus and become his body just as John the Baptist

received the spirit of Elijah in the Old Testament (Mal 4:5-6, Matt 11:14).

e) The messiah will be Korean, and Korea will become the second Israel, being

admired, and recognized by the world.

Being expelled from the Presbyterian Church in 1925, Kim held services at home, healed

and taught her followers about her beliefs, emphasizing the importance of repenting,

sexual abstinence for married couples and celibacy for those who were single. Soon, her

followers started calling her the New Lord (Breen, 1997). Significant parallels are found

Despite the importance of Kim Sung-do in the field of Korean NRM studies, Choe Joon-hyun (최중현) was

the first person who compiled a detailed bibliography of Kim based on primary sources. Since most of Kim

and her followers’ descendants live in the south, he was able to gather their testimonies, including Kim’s

son memories.

This phenomenon is expressed in Korean as ipshin (入神), which literally means that God enters and

dwells within a body. This connects with the shamanic ritual of kangshin (降神) or spiritual possession.

JANUS.NET, e-journal of International Relations

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VOL14 N2 TD1Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2021, pp. 32-46

Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

in Kim Sung-do’s theology with the doctrines of Moon and Jung, including their core

principle related to the fall as being sexual immorality. In order to understand the way

these revelations were transmitted from Kim to both these founders, two key figures

must be analyzed: Baek Nam-ju and, last yet most relevant, Kim Baek-moon.

Baek Nam-ju (백남주, 1902-1949), born in Gapsan, North Korea, on 3 January 1902,

graduated with honours from the Pyeongyang Theological Seminary, and was specially

recognized for his proficiency in Greek and Hebrew. After graduating in 1930, he moved

to Wonsan and worked at the Wonsan Women’s Seminary, teaching Greek, Hebrew and

his self-translated versions of the Gospel of John, The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A.

Kempis, and The Confessions by St. Augustine of Hippo (Choe, 1999). Wonsan did not

only have a strong Protestant foundation due to the Wonsan Revival Movement (1903-

1906), which led to the Pyeongyang Great Revival (1907-1910), yet it was also the

epicentre of mysticism, along with Kim Sung-do’s Cheolsan region. Wonsan was the

birthplace of Yu Myung-hwa, a former Methodist member who claimed that Jesus had

incarnated in her body in 1927, and thus that she was united with him. Whilst it is not

clear the exact date Baek joined Yu’s prayer meetings, records show it may have been

around 1932. Baek had previously been influenced by the writings of Emanuel

Swedenborg (1688-1772) and Sundar Singh (1889-1929), and sympathized with

mysticism and spiritual phenomena. In June 1932, Yu prophesied the establishment of a

new era, that he named the “Path of a New Life”. The history of salvation was divided

into three different stages: firstly, the Old Testament, secondly the New Testament, and

finally the “Path of a New Life”, each of them guided by a different central figure according

to the age.

In 1933, Baek published a booklet with Yu’s core revelations, including the division of the

three ages, and gave the date of birth of Jesus as January 3. He also emphasized the

importance of prayer and revelations, excluding the Bible as the only source of spiritual

realization, and the possibility for every person to receive the spirit of Immanuel, and

thus, become Immanuel’s body

(Choe, 1999). A year later, in June 1933, Baek and Lee

Yong-do, together with others, followed Yu’s prophecy of building a church, and

established the so-called Jesus Church. In parallel with the Jesus Church, an annexed

monastery that was named Wonsan Shinhaksan was founded, with Baek as the chairman.

The aim of this place was to teach and train future pastors, regardless of their gender,

providing seminaries and practicing ascetic lives. In 1934, Baek’s behaviour drastically

changed. He was spotted entering the room of a female seminary student every night

around 2-3 a.m. and leaving after dawn, yet he maintained that he was devoted to dawn

prayer. Baek, who was married, ordered his wife to undergo a fast for forty days. Despite

her initial refusal, she finally obeyed and died within a month. Two months later, Baek

held a ceremony called “heavenly wedding” (天國結婚) on a snowy night at 3 a.m., and

officially married the student who had recently become pregnant and gave birth to a girl.

As a result, Baek was expelled from both the Jesus Church and Wonsan Shinhaksan

within a year (Choe, 1999). The next place to which he travelled was Kim Sung-do´s

home in Cheolsan region. He was not alone, as he was always accompanied by a faithful

disciple, Kim Baek-moon. When both Baek and Kim arrived to Cheolsan, Kim Sung-do

had around 130 followers, a number that had slightly increased after both of them joined

the group and helped lecturing and holding revival meetings.

Immanuel’s name is used referring to Jesus. Check Isaiah 7:14.

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

According to the memoirs of Chung Su-won, Kim Sung-do’s grandson, Baek was

overwhelmed after listening to his grandmother’s new interpretation of the Christian

scriptures (Chung, 1986). In 1935, Baek registered Kim´s church as the Holy Lord Church

or Seonju Church (성주교회, 聖主敎會), at the Religious Affairs Division of the Japanese

General Government. However, the Holy Lord Church scattered and ultimately dissolved

after Kim’s death in April 1944. Persecutions from the colonial authorities, opposition

from the mainstream churches, Kim’s death and Korea’s division hampered the continuity

of the Seonju Church. Baek’s ministry was not rooted, and he moved to the south in

1946, where he worked as a teacher until his death in 1949 (Choe, 1999). However, the

alternative theology of these ephemeral individuals became a long-lasting foundation for

successive Christian NRMs in the country due to one key figure: Kim Baek-moon.

Kim Baek-moon (김백문, 1917-1990), born in North Gyeongsang province, South Korea,

was the second child of a family of four sons and two daughters. In 1934, he travelled to

Wonsan when he was only 17 years old and became a disciple of Baek Nam-ju. Kim did

not grow up in a Christian family, yet it was due to Kim Nam-jo, a member of the Jesus

Church, that he converted to Christianity and became influenced by mysticism. Baek was

still in Wonsan at the time they met, but he soon left for Cheolsan, after he had been

expelled from both the Wonsan Shinhaksan and the Jesus Church. Kim’s admiration of

Baek endured despite the scandal, and he followed his spiritual mentor to Cheolsan to

join wth Kim Sung-do’s group. When Seongju Church was founded in 1935, Kim Baek-

moon presided at the opening ceremony. Also, he lectured people at Seongju Church and

assisted Baek during his revival meetings. However, his stay in Cheolsan was relatively

short, as he enrolled in Joseon’s Institute of Theology (朝鮮神學院) in Seoul around 1940.

Allegedly having been tortured by the Japanese Government for rejecting Shintoism, he

escaped to Paju, in South Korea, where he later established the Israel Monastery

(Choe,

1999).

On March 2, 1946, an extraordinary phenomenon defined a milestone in the history of

the group. Kim affirmed that he had had mystical experiences since 1937, yet on March

2, 1946 he stated that the Holy Spirit came down to him during a spiritual gathering with

thirty-three followers at 11:00 a.m. During this mystical experience, Jesus appeared, and

Kim started preaching unusual revelations regarding Korea’s role as the new chosen

country, and the second Israel. For this reason, March 2, 1946 was interpreted as the

date of the Jesus’ second advent, which Kim designated as the “Heaven-opened Day” or

Gaecheonjeol (개천절/開天節)

, and he considered himself as being the body of Jesus.

Accordingly, March 2, 1946 was the beginning of a new era, to which was given the name

of the Complete Testament, while March 1, 1946 became the end of the New Testament

(Euh, 2008).

Kim Baek-moon’s relevance in Korean Christian NRMs history lies in his having three

main books published, compiling the basis of this alternative theology for the first time.

It is not clear the exact month or year when the Israel Monastery was founded. Most authors affirm it

was in August 1945, right after the liberation of Korea, yet others debate it was in 1944.

Gaecheonjeol originally refers to the date when Hwanung descended from heaven to live on the earth.

This is related with Dangun and the creation of the first Korean state of Kojoseon in 2333 BC. This day

started to be commemorated from 1909, during the Japanese colonial rule, to vindicate the ethnic

hegemony of the Koreans. At present, Gaecheonjeol is commemorated every 5, October as the National

Foundation Day.

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

Neither Kim Sung-do, nor Baek Nam-ju recorded their doctrines, which meant that they

disappeared with the groups’ dissolutions, and the division of the peninsula. However,

due to Kim’s documenting his efforts, this new biblical interpretation did not disappear,

and was spread to the south and became the canon for countless groups in the country,

including the Unification Church and JMS. Despite the continuation of the books in

Theology of the Holy Spirit (聖神神學) published in January, 1954; Basic Principle of

Christianity (基督敎根本原理) released in March, 1958; and Theory of Personality and Faith

(信仰人格論) published in October, 1970; Kim’s core doctrine can be summarized as three

main ideas (Euh, 2008: 216-221):

a) The history of Salvation is divided into three different periods, connecting it to the

concept of the Trinity. In other words, each entity of the Trinity (Father, Son and

Holy Spirit) fulfils its role during a different time period. In this way, God governed

the Old Testament, the Son ruled the New Testament, and the Holy Spirit controls

the third and last stage when the second advent takes place, named the Complete

Testament. According to Kim’s theological vision, the Old Testament and the New

Testament referred to an old and a new promise respectively. Just as the name the

Complete Testament indicates, it is the time when God completes or fulfils this

promise. Furthermore, March 2, 1946 is considered as the last day of the New

Testament, also as the first day of the Complete Testament. Despite the alleged

uniqueness and singularity of this exegesis presented in the Theology of the Holy

Spirit (聖神神學), the truth is that Kim simply elaborated Baek’s idea of the “Path of

a New Life”.

b) Kim distinguished Jesus’s physical nature and spiritual nature by using two

different names: Jesus and Immanuel. Jesus referred to the human body and

Immanuel to the spirit. In this way, the second coming was interpreted spiritually,

where the spirit (Immanuel) descends to earth and uses the body of a chosen person.

Kim proclaimed himself as being the Messiah, denying Jesus’ physical coming, and

emphasizing his mission to his followers. Once again, the shamanic concept of

spiritual possession was nothing new, but existed as a similar phenomenon among

Kim’s predecessors.

c) The original sin was the result of sexual transgression. Kim differentiated the

concept of salvation into ‘spiritual salvation’ and ‘solving the problem of hereditary

sin’. Jesus’ redemption involved salvation from spiritual death and reconciliation with

God. However, solving the problem of hereditary sin, meaning sexual transgression,

could only be done by a person who reveals the essence of the original sin and guides

humanity, so as to “restore” it to the original state before the fall. Therefore, Kim

emphasized “restoration” beyond salvation. This core doctrine is summarized in the

Basic Principle of Christianity, which is divided into three parts: the principle of

creation, the principle of the fall, and the principle of restoration. To this extent, Kim

Sung-do’s influence is indisputable, yet he enhanced it by including the concept of

restoration, which he used to justify and emphasize his mission as the second coming

messiah.

Similarly to his predecessors, Kim Baek-moon failed to succeed in gathering a consistent

number of followers, and in conserving a well-organized group. Yet his books established

the theological foundation for most of the NRMs that emerged after the Korean War,

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e-ISSN: 1647-7251

VOL14 N2 TD1Thematic dossier - Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on East Asia

January 2021, pp. 32-46

Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

including Unification church and JMS. After his death in December 1990, his group had

only around 25 active members (Choe, 1999). This number progressively decreased to

5 people who still considered themselves as Kim’s disciples in 2002, while none of them

celebrated any gathering at the Israel Monastery (Choe, 2002).

Conclusion

In parallel with the US, South Korea not only hosts some of the biggest churches in the

world, but also produces numerous Christian NRMs, some of which have significant

political and economic ties behind-the-scenes. Despite the continuous scandals and

controversies related to these alternative groups, this topic is insufficiently addressed

within Korean society, probably because of the damage this could cause to the country’s

image, as recently popularized by the hallyu wave. This paper focused on two leading

NRMs in South Korea, namely the Federation for World Peace and Unification, commonly

known as the Unification Church, and the Christian Gospel Mission, better known as Jesus

Morning Star (JMS) or Providence. The former is probably still the largest and most

influential NRM in the West.

Like any other Korean Christian cult, both founders justify themselves as being the

second coming Messiah, as having received exclusive and original revelations from Jesus,

and preaching what they call a “new” biblical canon, or a “new” gospel. However, in

reality the narratives of these two organizations are neither new or exclusive. In fact,

their core doctrines are interrelated and emanate from the same roots, i.e., Kim Sung-

do, Baek Nam-ju, and Kim Baek-moon.

This does not mean that the two teachings are exactly the same, but important

similarities are obvious in both Jung and Moon’s core doctrines. Furthermore, when

compared to Kim Baek-moon’s Basic Principle of Christianity, which was divided into three

chapters — the principle of creation, the principle of the fall and the principle of

restoration — the foundations of the core doctrines of Moon and Jung are clearly visible.

Moon stayed for six months in Kim Baek-moon´s Israel Monastery before establishing

his own movement. Similarly, Jung was a member of the Unification Church from 1975

onwards. The same is true of Kim Baek-moon, since he compiled Kim Sung-do’s and

Baek Nam-ju’s theologies, yet explicitly claimed them as his own original revelations.

To conclude, this paper has identified the origins of the narratives of two major Korean

Christian NRMs. Despite their founders’ allegations of authenticity and originality,

historical evidence demonstrates that there is nothing new under the sun. What has

been, will be again, and what has been done, will be done again.

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Nothing New Under the Sun: Unification Church and Jesus Morning Star (Jms)

Cristina Bahón Arnaiz

Figure 1 – Religions in South Korea, 2018

Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea (2018)

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