The Unification Church is a religious group that was founded in 1954 by Rev. Sun Myung Moon (1920–2012). Another name that the group is known by is the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.
It was started in Seoul, Korea and it is believed to have a worldwide membership of more than one million followers. Currently the group is led by Moon’s wife, Hak Ja Moon.
Members who join The Unification Church are also sometimes known by the nickname the “Moonies”.

The Unification Church has been categorized as a cult by many Christians and ex-members primarily because their theological beliefs and practices veer off from Biblical orthodox Christian beliefs even though they claim to believe in the God of the Bible.
The Unification Church is also known for practicing cultic mind control and brainwashing techniques upon their members in order to intimately control and manipulate the lives of their members. In addition they have been known to use deceptive recruitment techniques in order to get people to join them.

Some of the beliefs and practices of the Unification Church are as follows:

• They do not believe that the Bible is God’s infallible word. They do not believe that the Bible is God’s final authority. Sun Myung Moon instead wrote a book called The Divine Principle which is promoted by the Unification Church as having more weight and authority than the Bible.
• The Moonies are also famous for organizing mass wedding ceremonies for couples or their members. A single mass wedding can consist of more than 30000 couples or participants.
  Moon teaches that “God-centered families are the building blocks of a world of peace, stability, and love,” and that only those who are married through their group will be saved, or qualified, for the kingdom.
• The Moonies also believe that the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was because of sexual sin where they believe that Eve had sexual relations with Satan / Lucifer.
• They do not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ. Instead they believe that Jesus was just a man and not God.
• Only Unification Church members are considered the “True Family” and Moon and his wife are the world’s “True Parents”. Members celebrate as “birthdays” the day they joined the Unification Church.
• The theology of the Unification Church is believed to be a mix of Christianity, Shamanism and Confucianism.
• The Unification Church does not believe that salvation is totally by grace through faith in Jesus but instead they teach that members should earn their salvation by their devotion to the religious activities of the group and also by marrying and producing sinless children (Divine Principle, p. 148).

There have also been many allegations by Moonie ex-members who have testified of being subjected to brainwashing and mind control techniques by leadership. There have also been allegations of authoritative teachings in order to subdue followers and prevent followers from exercising their free will and critical thinking.
It is believed that the Unification Church organizes arranged marriages and many couples who participate in their mass weddings have had no previous mutual or genuine relationship prior to their wedding.
The above beliefs and practices are just a few issues which reflect that even though the Unification Church may claim to be Christian, there is consistent and verifiable evidence that this group does not follow nor believe in orthodox Christianity.

What Does The Bible Say About the Beliefs of The Unification Church?

• The Bible is clear that we should be careful to avoid false teachers and we are warned about false prophets who preach a different gospel and a different Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6-9)
• The word of God is clear that the Scriptures were inspired by God and that the Bible is our final authority for what Christians should believe and how Christians should live (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
  Therefore there is no other book that is written about mankind or spiritual matters that should be elevated or obeyed above God’s word.
• When any group claiming to be Christian denies the deity and Lordship of Jesus Christ then such a group is not a true church. It is a cult or a false church. The deity and the finished work of Jesus Christ are essential to the beliefs of the Christian faith and the Bible tells us that Jesus was not only a man – but He was also God (John 1:1-3,14).
• The sin of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden had nothing to do with sex or adultery. Instead Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of knowledge (Genesis 3:1-24).
• The Church is the body of Christ. All true Christian believers around the world are members of the universal Church or body of Christ. Therefore we must be careful of any single group or “church” that promotes itself as being the “only true church” (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).
• Our salvation is not through our own effort or personal works. Instead, we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). Jesus Christ alone is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Christ (John 14:6).

Conclusion
The Bible clearly teaches us that false teachers and false prophets are on the rise (Matthew 24:11).
Therefore we must be careful to avoid the growing cultic deception that is attempting to distort and destroy orthodox Christianity.
Due to the rise of false teachers and false doctrines, the Bible warns us to not believe every spirit but instead we should test every spirit to see whether it is of God (1 John 4:1-2).
It is important for every Christian believer to be vigilant and to be like the Bereans who studied the scriptures and fact-checked whatever they were taught (Acts 17:10-11).
We are not to esteem any person or religious leader above Jesus Christ. We must realize that we are all equal before God’s eyes and Jesus Christ alone is supreme above any man or founder of any ministry or religious group.
God’s word and God’s teachings must be valued above the teachings of man. We must therefore beware of being deceived by the doctrines of demons and the philosophies of men.

According to many studies, cult leaders are people who tend to be narcissists and they generally exhibit sociopathic and abusive characteristics. Within Christianity they are hardly shepherds, but instead they are actually wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15).
The Bible speaks of false teachers existing in the world and the cult leader is a type of false teacher who exists within the religious realm.
Many cult leaders will claim to be Christians, but in fact, they are deceived instruments of satan who seek to deceive their followers for personal gain and for demonic motives.

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 says the following:
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Throughout the world, many cult leaders will exhibit the same character traits and employ the same manipulative and coercive techniques. By nature, a leopard cannot change its spots. A bad tree will always bear bad fruit (Matthew 7:15-19).

Below are at least 12 Traits or Characteristics of a Cult Leader:

A Spiritual Abuser
The cult leader is a false teacher who not only teaches false doctrines, but he also seeks to intimately control and abuse the lives of his followers. For example, he can control who you should and should not marry; he separates members from their families; he destroys marriages; No major personal decisions are made by various cult members without consulting the cult leader or without his knowledge; He brainwashes his members to perform unethical activities on his behalf or on behalf of the cult.
The cult leader is obsessed with manipulating and controlling his followers through authoritative leadership style and coercive techniques. This ultimately leads many members of the group into a state of spiritual bondage.

They Twist The Scriptures For Personal Gain
Cult leaders will constantly twist and misinterpret the Bible in order to justify their scandals or justify their sinful lifestyle. For example, many cult leaders are known to twist the Scriptures to their followers in order to justify their sexual immorality or polygamous relationships. Some will also twist the scriptures for monetary gain or for demonic mind control purposes.
2 Peter 2:3 says “And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”

Narcissistic Sense of Self
Cult leaders basically believe they were born to be better than others. In fact, they are tempted to believe that nobody can be better than them. They are basically arrogant and are driven and motivated by a spirit of pride.
Eventually cult leaders tend to claim or insinuate to have power, position and authority that is exclusively godlike. They not only claim to speak for God, but they believe and teach their followers that disobeying the leader is equivalent to disobeying God. Matthew 24:24 speaks of the rise in false christs or false messiahs. This scripture does not only refer to people who claim to be Jesus Christ, but it also refers to narcissistic people who will claim to have equal authority to Christ.

Superficial Charm & Charisma
Cult leaders are actors and pretenders. They understand that discovering your weaknesses, needs and desires are a gateway to putting you in bondage. Projecting superficial charm and charisma to members or potential followers is a method of disarming people from seeing the true deceptive and controlling nature of the leader.
In their mind, it’s essential that they draw followers to themselves and therefore they feel the need to stand-out and be noticed because inwardly cult leaders consistently crave attention and recognition from their members. Therefore the charm offensive is an important part of a cult leader’s act to gain trust and admiration from unsuspecting followers.

Lack of Guilt or Remorse
The cult leader is sociopathic by nature and is therefore incapable of showing genuine empathy, guilt or remorse for any sinful behavior. For example, a cult leader may feel no remorse for destroying marriages or for exploiting and abusing his members, because cult leaders are generally proud and arrogant at their core. Sociopaths are generally known to be incapable of showing genuine love or empathy. Instead they project superficial “love” and emotions which always has the deceptive motive of desiring something back in return for their own personal gain and agenda.
1 Timothy 4:1-2 makes reference to false teachers who are hypocritical liars and have a seared conscience. This alludes to the fact that false teachers are incapable of having a good conscience because they feel no sorrow or guilt for sinful behavior. They also see no need to repent as a result. Instead a cult leader usually projects his faults on others such as his own members. Therefore their conscience is so seared or so deceived that they cannot truthfully differentiate between right and wrong.

Pathological Liars
Cult leaders are very skillful speakers and they are never at a loss for words. However, they are also pathological liars. Lying and deceit is part of their inbuilt nature and culture. Hypocrisy is their second nature. Deception is integral to achieving their objective of power and control over others. Even Jesus said of the Pharisees (who were religious leaders) “You are of your father the devil who has been a liar from the beginning” (John 8:44).
In Matthew 23:1-38, Christ also addressed the culture of lying and the hypocrisy by the Pharisees. He not only exposed their deception but He warned them of the consequences of their wickedness.
Therefore a culture of lying, hypocrisy and deception is common among cult leaders.

Authoritarian Leadership Style
Cult leaders are always authoritarian in the manner in which they lead their members.
For example, some cult leaders demand obedience from their members at the expense of obeying the scriptures. Cult leaders will also equate obeying them as being equal to obeying God, therefore insinuating that God and the cult leader have equal authority. It creates fear within the cult members so that they live to please the cult leader instead of living to please God. Cult members are taught to obey the leader even if he is wrong. The cult leader therefore creates the false perception that he is infallible and that his teachings and wisdom cannot be challenged even when he is wrong.

They Take Sexual Advantage of their Members
The issue of money, power and sex are intertwined within a cult. When cult leaders have unquestioned power and authority, it is evident that a cult leader will begin to take sexual advantage of his members.
Cult leaders often have a history of extramarital affairs. Therefore adultery and many different forms of sexual immorality are very common among cult leaders due to their grandiose sense of self and the imbalance of power that exists within the group.
With various cults, sex or sexual immorality is used as a method of control. Therefore the cult leader will have sexual relationships with his own followers as a method of emotional and psychological control over his members. For many cults, sexual immorality is also used by cult leaders as a method of initiating new members into the cult or for purposes of supposedly “bonding” with cult members (see article: How Cult Leaders Use Sex To Control Followers)

Cult Leaders Lack Boundaries & Exploit Weaknesses
2 Timothy 3:5-6 speaks of men who have the “appearance of godliness” but yet they take advantage of “weak women”. Paul tells Timothy in verse 5 that such people should be avoided.
Cult leaders do not respect individual or relationship boundaries. They feel entitled to impose or worm their way without any respect for the personal or relationship boundaries of others.
They are always looking for weaknesses in an individual’s life so that they can manipulate for their own personal gain.
Cult leaders also tend to look for followers who are gullible, easily exploited and weak minded.

They Use Sycophants to Ensure Compliance from Members
Sycophants are informers and self-seeking cult members who usually praise the cult leader in order to gain advantage. The cult leader uses them to spy on other members and to ensure that members are complying with the cult’s values and traditions. Sycophants pass information upwards to the cult leader about who is complying and who is rebelling within the group. They also update the cult leader about what individual members are saying, feeling or behaving within the group.

Cult Leaders View Outsiders as Enemies or Inferior
Cults generally have an Us versus Them mentality where anybody who is outside of the cult is seen as inferior to the cult. This mentality also forms the basis of why cults generally tend to promote themselves under the deceptive guise of “evangelism” as they feel that anyone who is not part of the cult is not fully enlightened. Therefore cults believe that people require the cult’s specific indoctrinations or to be recruited into the group.
The cult leader therefore projects himself as the “best” among preachers and he presents his doctrines as the “best” among other religious groups and anyone who is not part of the cult is considered to be “lost” or unenlightened.
Any non-members who disagree with the cult leader’s theology are seen as potential enemies and likewise cult members are not allowed to associate with any outside religious groups or individuals who are likely to discover the cult’s true deceptive nature.
The leader therefore isolates his group from ex-members or from families or from religious groups that are likely to discern and expose the true nature of the group.

They View People as Assets & Objects
Sociopaths do not really view people as friends. Instead to a sociopath, people are assets; people are victims; people are accomplices; people are fools who can be conned for his own personal gain.
Just like a sociopath, cult leaders are interested in only achieving the objective that meets their personal and selfish gain. As a result, a cult leader views his cult members as inferior to himself and as people whom he is meant to control, manipulate and dominate.

Conclusion: You Shall Know Them By Their Fruits
Jesus said that false teachers are inwardly like “ravenous wolves” by nature. He also said that we shall know false teachers by their fruits (Matthew 7:15-20).
The character and nature of cult leaders clearly reflects that their fruits are demonic and ungodly. Ultimately the majority of cult members become deceived and fall into spiritual bondage as a result of following cult leaders.
It’s important to note that cult leaders are self-deceived individuals. They are also spiritually and psychologically dangerous. Based on the strange activities and tragedies that happen within many cults such as mass suicides, mind control techniques, cultic behaviour, family separations, scripture twisting, sexual scandals and a culture of lying and deception – it is clear that cult leaders are either demon possessed or demonically inspired in their actions.
Cult leaders do not represent Jesus Christ and they preach a false gospel that is filled with false interpretations of the scriptures. Even though they read or preach from the Bible, it is important to realize that these type of false teachers are used by the devil in an attempt to deceive, distort and destroy the Body of Christ.
Titus 1:16 says the following of false teachers: “They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work”
It’s therefore very important that people be vigilant and aware of the false deceptions and the many deceivers who now exist in the world.

1 John 4:1 says: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

Is there a relationship between sexual immorality and the activities of demonic sects such as cults, the new age movement and even the occult? How do cult leaders use sex as a method of control over some of their members?

Jim Jones, a cult leader of the People’s Temple was one of the most well-known cult leaders in the world. He had so much control over his followers to the extent of causing the mass suicide of more than 900 of his own cult members as he manipulated them into drinking poisoned Kool-aid or Flavor-aid.
The other thing that Jim Jones was also known for was his immoral sexual behavior. According to Wikipedia, “while Jones (hypocritically) banned sex among Temple members outside of marriage, he voraciously engaged in sexual relations with both male and female Temple members. Jones, however, claimed that he detested engaging in homosexual activity and did so only for the male temple adherents’ own good, purportedly to connect them symbolically with him (Jones).”

So Jones’ cultic reason for being promiscuous was that having sex with his followers would “connect” his followers “symbolically” to himself.
Jones is also on record as telling his followers that he was “the only true heterosexual”.

In the religious world, there are thousands of cult leaders that exist. One of the major marks of all cult leaders pertains to their desire to manipulate, control and exploit their members for their own personal gain and also for the gain of the group.

Almost every cult leader is known to be abusive, spiritually corrupt and manipulative by nature (see article: 12 Characteristics Of A Cult Leader).
However, one of the key methods that cult leaders use to control their followers is through sex.
Just like Jim Jones and many false teachers throughout the world, it’s difficult to find a single cult leader who leads a group and yet has never had promiscuous affairs with members of his own group. It’s also difficult to find a cult leader who has not manifested any obvious signs of sexual perversion.

2 Timothy 3:5-6
Having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions

2 Timothy 3:5-6 addresses the fact that there are religious men who are predatory in nature and they deceptively desire to “capture weak women”.
These men have the “appearance of godliness” but in fact, they are hypocrites.
They have the “appearance of godliness” but the truth is that they are demonic and ungodly in nature.
These men even enter into people’s homes but their intentions are never truthful or innocent. They seek to seduce, manipulate, control and exploit people.
The cult leader uses his position of leadership to take advantage of his members. He does this to satisfy his sexual lusts and to gain control over them.
Therefore under the guise of “counselling”, “ministering” and “assisting” women with their problems, the cult leader exploits a woman’s vulnerabilities in order to eventually manipulate her for sex.

All over the world many false teachers have been exposed for their promiscuous behaviour. This clearly points to the fact that there is a connection between the unbiblical power that cult leaders give themselves and their immoral sexual relationships.

So the question is this: Why are most cult leaders inevitably sexually immoral? Why do these leaders use sex to control their members?
The answer is found in the fact that the core inspiration behind using sex to control people is simply rooted in demonic doctrines and demonic foundations.

Sex and the Demonic
The demonic concept about sex is the complete opposite to God’s original intention for sex. According to God, sex is an expression of union between 2 married people and it is to be performed only within the confines of marriage for enjoyment and for procreation. Sex is not only physical but it is also spiritual.
However, satan has corrupted the meaning of sex. The demonic concept of sex encourages fornication, adultery, incest, homosexuality and even bestiality. Sexual immorality has a negative spiritual effect in that it causes a person to corrupt his soul and to sin against his own body (1 Corinthians 6:18).
The demonic expression of sex is not related to godly union between married couples but instead the demonic purpose for sex is to express self-gratification, domination, perversion, manipulation and initiation.

Jim Jones hypocritically preached against premarital sex and he banned his members from having sex outside of marriage. Yet ironically, Jones had both homosexual and heterosexual relationships with the very same cult members whom he banned from having sex. What Jim Jones did was an example of him using sex to control his followers.

A cult leader’s motive for having sex with multiple members within his group is also a method of initiating and solidifying the member’s emotional loyalty to himself and towards the group. Jim Jones claimed to use promiscuous sex to “connect” his followers “symbolically” to himself.
Just like Jim Jones, a cult leader does not care if he is behaving hypocritically; he does not care if he has sexual relations with a man or a woman; he does not care if he is committing adultery; he does not care if he’s causing his members to commit fornication or adultery; he does not care if he is disobeying the word of God.

What the cult leader cares about the most, is that he fulfills his demonic sexual appetite and perversions whilst achieving “connection” and control over his followers through the sexual relationships. Therefore sex is one of the tools that he will use in order to accomplish his goal to control.
It’s no wonder that doctrines of demons such as witchcraft, occultism, new age movement and many other sects also include sexual immorality as part of their rites, rituals and initiations.

Even in the Bible, the worship of Baal, a fertility god, had infiltrated the Jewish people according to Judges 3:7.
Baal worship was rooted in sensuality and involved ritualistic sex and prostitution in the temples. Even Jezebel who was a woman associated with sexual immorality, control and witchcraft was a champion for the worship of Baal.
Jezebel married and controlled Ahab who happened to be the King of Israel (1 Kings 16:30-31). Her exploitation and control of Ahab caused the widespread worship of Baal and the demonic doctrines associated with Baal.

1 Corinthians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5; Leviticus 20:13 and Exodus 22:19 all speak against sexual immorality. However, whilst these verses might be preached by the cult leader just as Jim Jones may have done, the cult leader will behave as if such verses do not apply to himself.

Anything that is demonic will ultimately meet its destruction before the Lord. The cult leader and every other false teacher will ultimately meet their demise before God’s mighty hand.
Those who willfully practice sexual immorality and seek to manipulate and deceive others will face a predictable end.
1 John 4:1 tells us to test the spirits because of the existence of false prophets and teachers. The reason we should test the spirits is because false teachers are spiritually motivated by the demonic.
It is therefore imperative that those who fear the Lord should always hate what is evil and cling to what is good (Romans 12:9).