John Oliver, pyramid schemes and James (Jin Sung) Park’s VEEMA

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On HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver skewered a number of multi-level marketing companies for their pyramid selling structure.

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Jin Sung Park, son of Bo Hi Pak and ex-husband of In Jin Moon, caught on camera promoting VEEMA and being asked if it was a pyramid scheme.

John Oliver Delivers Epic Half-Hour Takedown of Pyramid Schemes

Graham Winfrey             Nov 7, 2016              IndieWire

John Oliver has a message for multi-level marketers: you may be dangerously close to operating a pyramid scheme. On Sunday’s episode of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” Oliver pointed out that multi-level marketing companies use a pyramid selling structure where individuals can make more money from selling products to their newly-recruited salespeople than from selling to actual consumers.

“MLMs hold out the hope that if you work hard, you can take control of your life, start your own business and help your family, but how real is the opportunity?,” Oliver said on the show, before showing news footage of a former distributor for nutritional supplement company Herbalife, who revealed she really made money only by selling to other distributors within the company. “If those earnings come primarily from selling product to the distributors you’ve recruited below you and their sales of product to the distributors they’ve recruited below them…that may be a pyramid scheme, and any business that is set up that way has a big problem.”

Oliver also showed hidden camera footage of an energy drink multi-level marketer explaining to a potential recruit that just by signing up other salespeople, you “kind of” get the money you spent purchasing the goods to sell, back. “That’s as reassuring as hearing a doctor say he kind of knows where your appendix is,” Oliver said.

Watch the full half-hour segment – link to the video.

Video with Spanish subtitles

Complaints about James (Jin Sung Moon) Park’s VEEMA visit to Northern California in 2011

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Selling the Bro Dream: Are Frat Boys Peddling Vemma Suckers?
Vemma, the wildly popular energy drink company, may or may not be a pyramid scheme, but it’ll definitely be on your college campus soon

FTC Acts to Halt Vemma as Alleged Pyramid Scheme

FTC Acts to Halt Vemma as Alleged Pyramid Scheme

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them.

FTC Acts to Halt Vemma as Alleged Pyramid Scheme

Promised Unlimited Income Potential, But Most Participants Lose Money

FOR RELEASE     August 26, 2015

Rolling Stone magazine:

Selling the Bro Dream: Are Frat Boys Peddling Vemma Suckers?
Vemma, the wildly popular energy drink company, may or may not be a pyramid scheme, but it’ll definitely be on your college campus soon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyramid_scheme

A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products or services. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly impossible, and most members are unable to profit; as such, pyramid schemes are unsustainable and often illegal.

Pyramid schemes have existed for at least a century in different guises. Some multilevel marketing plans have been classified as pyramid schemes.

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The unsustainable exponential progression of a classic pyramid scheme (here with a branching factor of 6)

Some multi-level marketing (MLM) companies operate as pyramid schemes and consumers often confuse legitimate multi-level marketing with pyramid schemes.

According to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission legitimate MLM, unlike pyramid schemes:

“have a real product to sell. More importantly, MLM’s actually sell their product to members of the general public, without requiring these consumers to pay anything extra or to join the MLM system. MLM’s may pay commissions to a long string of distributors, but these commission are paid for real retail sales, not for new recruits.”

Pyramid schemes however “may purport to sell a product, but they often simply use the product to hide their pyramid structure”. While some people call MLMs in general “pyramid selling” others use the term to denote an illegal pyramid scheme masquerading as an MLM.

The Federal Trade Commission warns, “It’s best not to get involved in plans where the money you make is based primarily on the number of distributors you recruit and your sales to them, rather than on your sales to people outside the plan who intend to use the products.”It states that research is your best tool and gives eight steps to follow:

  1. Find—and study—the company’s track record.
  2. Learn about the product.
  3. Ask questions.
  4. Understand any restrictions.
  5. Talk to other distributors. Beware of shills.
  6. Consider using a friend or adviser as a neutral sounding board, or for a gut check.
  7. Take your time.
  8. Think about whether this plan suits your talents and goals.

Some commentators contend that MLMs in general are nothing more than legalized pyramid schemes.

Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries or regions including the United States.

John Oliver, pyramid schemes and James (Jin Sung) Park’s VEEMA

Complaints about James (Jin Sung Moon) Park’s VEEMA visit to Northern California in 2011

Unification Church shampoo for evil spirits (this is NOT a spoof)

If you have some problem with evil spirits in your hair, use this Danjobi special shampoo.

The Danjobi brand is only sold by the Unification Church of Japan.

You can buy it at your local church, and your minister will quietly explain to you how it works.

You must believe DaeMoNim’s words. (Her real name was Kim Hyo-nam. She was in charge of the Cheongpyeong Training Center for over 20 years.)

Cost 3000 yen, or $30, for the two bottles – shampoo and conditioner.

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This is a photo of the product which was sold by the UC / FFWPU of Japan

The Unification Church and shamanism. At its heart the UC is not Christian; but it uses a Christian signboard.

Unification Church Indemnity Stick Ceremony

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Another shamanic ceremony in the Unification Church, now known as the Family Federation for World Peace

Three hard hits with a baseball bat, or a heavy stick, are demanded for both the husband and the wife. If the strikes are not deemed hard enough, an elder UC member will step in and do harder ones. At early Unification Church mass weddings participants had no idea about this ceremony and were ushered into a room and suddenly confronted with it. Because they had already been through several other ceremonies, they felt they could not decline this one in the ‘process of restoration’. One participant said: “The atmosphere was horrible”. Two Japanese sisters were hospitalized with spine injuries at that ‘Indemnity Stick Ceremony’.

Moon’s words: The Indemnity Stick Ceremony and the Three-Day Ceremony

“In order to raise up the Israelite people, an angel came and struck Jacob’s hip bone and then blessed him. Whenever the Israelites made an important pledge, they did it with their hands on their hip bone. All men and women in human history have misused the hip bone, and thus man has resentment against woman and woman against man. Without dissolving this resentment, you cannot stand as an original couple who is free of this resentment. Since this resentment came about through woman, the man hits the woman first. The three strikes represent three stages and three ages.

Forty days after receiving the Blessing, there is a substantial three-day restoration ceremony.”

http://www.tparents.org/Moon-Books/bif1/BIF1-4-407.htm

James Beverley: “Couples also participate in what is known as the Indemnity Stick ceremony. With roots in Korean shamanism, this tradition involves the prospective bride and groom beating each other on the posterior.”

page 66 A Guide to New Religious Movements (2005) ISBN 0-8308-2381-6

The ceremony being held at the Unification Church HQ in Chongpadong, Seoul.

Yolanda Elise Brener’s ‘Indemnity stick ceremony’ testimony:

Yolanda’s article: All that Heaven Allows – My sexual re-education in the Unification Church

Shamanism in the Unification Church – and “magical powers”

Shamanism in the Unification Church – and “magical powers”

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We hate Shamanism in the West because it is equivalent to witchcraft. Holy salt; candles for every religious occasion where the candles hold some sort of special powers; holy grounds supposedly holding special spiritual powers; the matching supposedly makes you more holy and closer to God; the indemnity stick beating that no one knew was coming till the event itself and where peer pressure won the day; holy hankies dipped in special liquids from the Moons that prepare you for conjugal, sex, etc., etc., etc.

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1st 1968

Hananim and other Spirits in Korean Shamanism

The Moons and Mrs Choi bow to a pig’s head on a shaman altar.

Sculptures of sex organs found at Cheongpyeong – male and female organs installed outside the Jeongshim Prayer Hall.

The Unification Church and shamanism. At its heart the UC is not Christian; but it uses a Christian signboard.

To “End the Journey of God’s Sperm” is The Purpose of God’s Providence of Salvation

Moon – the “Korean Shaman King”

Moon as San shin, the shaman mountain god

Moon: “It is not me that decided D-day, which is January 13th, 2013. The God of Night and the God of Day decided it together and so nobody can change it.”

Any understanding of the so-called New Religions of Korea would be difficult without some knowledge of shamanistic influences upon them.

Sperm in the Holy Wine of the Unification Church

Drumming at Cheongpyeong invites spirits in

The ‘fall of man’ and shaman practise

Unification Church Indemnity Stick Ceremony

Sperm in the Holy Wine of the Unification Church

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Shamanism: Moon used his own body fluids to influence others

Question:
“When Father couldn’t complete the sex relay womb cleansing ceremony with one of the young ladies because she was in Japan, he would put his sperm in a cloth or pair of panties and send it to her telling her to wipe herself with it in her private parts. This is where we get the holy handkerchiefs for the three day ceremony. My question is… Does the holy wine, which is on the holy handkerchiefs, which we used to wipe ourselves and our private parts with, have Father’s sperm in it?”

Answer:
Four different Korean Unification Church members have confirmed that the ‘Holy Wine’ did contain Moon’s sperm.

Those members include Hyo-min Eu (cousin of Hyo-won Eu who wrote the Divine Principle), Deuk-jin Kim (who wrote many of the UC ‘Holy Songs’) and one other person who joined in the 1950s. A fourth member who joined the UC in the 1960s, and left after 20 years, also gave confirmation about Moon’s sperm in the ‘Holy Wine.’

Dr. Warren Lewis, who was professor of Church History at the Unification Theological Seminary for many years, also explained that Moon’s sperm was in the ‘Holy Wine.’

That is why in the ‘Holy Wine Ceremony’ the wife must drink the first half of the cup of ‘Holy Wine’ before the husband drinks the remainder. According to Moon, Eve must be cleansed first.

There are shamanistic beliefs that if a person can get someone else to imbibe their body fluids, they then can have some influence over the person who drank.

Here are Moon’s own words:
“The holy wine, which is made of 21 ingredients representing all things and levels, is given to the wife first. At the fall, Satan first tempted Eve and then Adam was lost; therefore we first establish the restored woman in a position to find the man. The man receives the wine, representing parents’ flesh and blood, through the wife. By drinking this wine in this way, he comes to stand in the position of having passed through the internal body of mother and makes the indemnity condition for the separation from Satan.

In the holy wine, there is the flesh and blood of parents. The holy wine is the wine of love, the wine of the husband, and the milk of mother. It represents the water of life, the blood of parents, the manifestation of all glory, and the love of bridegroom and bride, and it contains in it the life force of the Father.

Through it I am giving out the life force and forming a connection of lineage.

If some person does an act that defiles him after receiving the holy wine and becoming one with the True Parents, he comes to stand in a position more fearful than Satan’s. Satan defiled and violated the perfection level of the growth stage, but if a person who received the Blessing makes a mistake, he commits the sin of treason against God’s substance in the perfection level of the perfection stage. Therefore, the person will not be forgiven through eternity. That is truly a fearful thing.”

The meaning of the UC Holy Wine

‘Sex and Marriage in the Unification Movement’ by James H Grace (1985) may also give some clues.

Is Hyung-jin going to perform the sperm duty now, to continue the connection to Moon’s lineage?

UC Instructions for the ‘Three Day Ceremony’

Three Day Ceremony manual PDF

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1st 1968

To “End the Journey of God’s Sperm” is The Purpose of God’s Providence of Salvation

Sex organs found at Cheongpyeong – male and female organs installed outside the Jeongshim Prayer Hall.

Any understanding of the so-called New Religions of Korea would be difficult without some knowledge of shamanistic influences upon them.

Unification Church Indemnity Stick Ceremony

To “End the Journey of God’s Sperm” is The Purpose of God’s Providence of Salvation

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The Purpose of God’s Providence of Salvation:

1. End the journey of God’s sperm. (page 61.)

2. God’s wedding ceremony and the start of “Absolute Sex”

3. Absolute Sex and the temperature of Heaven’s love

4. 36.5-38 degrees; 43-53 degrees; 53-120 degrees (11/17/09)

5. Children conceived at the temperature of Heaven’s love

6. Creation of female angels and the completion of the…

Lecture 5

Owner of Peace, Owner of Lineage / World Scripture

August 22, 2012

page 11

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Original Divine Principle “ODP” Workshop

by Rev. Jeong Ok Yu of the Unification Church

Yu-120822-2-5.pdf

Sperm in the Holy Wine of the Unification Church

How “God’s Day” was established on January 1st 1968

Sex organs found at Cheongpyeong – male and female organs installed outside the Jeongshim Prayer Hall.

Any understanding of the so-called New Religions of Korea would be difficult without some knowledge of shamanistic influences upon them.

Hyung-jin Moon, the “Second King of Cheon Il Guk.”

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“After being promoted by Mother, and unable to find theological grounding for his assumed role, Hyung-jin’s message and focus have changed from a strongly centralized world church centered on “Cheon Bok Gung”, to Buddhist meditation, then to “strong Abels” bearing weapons and seeking “retribution”, and now to a denominational church based on autonomous cells, conspiracy theory and biblical fundamentalist messages. On the other hand, his proclamations about himself have changed from the humble slave of the perfect and infallible True Parents who are indistinguishable from God, with blessed families as “slaves and sinners”, to now proclaiming himself the “Second King of Cheon Il Guk.”

Mark Bramwell, End of the Cosmic Conflict

Sources:

  • “The Unification Church is a denomination like Buddhism, Confucianism, and Islam.” (Official International Memo, 2009.7.17)
  • “…we cannot distinguish between God and True Parents anymore…. Since True Mother has finally completed the total unity with True Father in their perfections and thereby True Father and True Mother became the unified embodiment of God Himself as the God of Day without any gap between them, True Mother is not alone.” (H2’s Address at the World Leaders Special Assembly for the Victory of Foundation Day, 2012.9.17)
  • “What Jesus hoped to create for his believers was a “master slave” system… But contemporary Christians haven’t understood it in its original meaning.… According to the Book of Filial Duty in the Eastern thought, a son must choose the way of becoming a slave of his father…. We, as sinners who commit sins every day, must become slaves of the Lord, attending True Parents as our Lord. That is the way of true filial son.” (H2’s sermon, 2011.7. 31)
  • Sanctuary Church’s celebration of the third anniversary of Father’s Seonghwa, 2015.8.30 (on Youtube)

There are currently around 50 religious leaders in South Korea who claim to be “either Jesus, the second coming or God himself.”

There are currently around 50 religious leaders in South Korea who claim to be “either Jesus, the second coming or God himself.”

AFP     November 2016

In the last national census to include religious affiliation, conducted in 2005, close to 30 per cent of South Koreans identified themselves as Christian, compared to 23 per cent who cited the once-dominant Buddhism.

Korean Christianity is particularly muscular and evangelical, sending more missionaries abroad than any other country apart from the United States.

Churches, big and small, have proliferated across cities like Seoul and some are extremely wealthy with large congregations whose members hand over up to 10 per cent of their salary every month.

The traditional spiritual practice of shamanism, which dates back centuries and is deeply ingrained in Korean culture, underpins organised religion.

Many Koreans, young and old, still seek the advice of a shaman on issues ranging from education to marriage and business prospects.

WHAT ABOUT THE CULTS?

There’s no reliable data on how many cults currently exist in South Korea, but there are a large number of fringe churches and groups — estimates range from dozens to several hundred — who have attracted the label.

Some have been implicated in fraud, brainwashing, coercion, and other behaviour associated with cults worldwide. The most sinister have been linked to criminality as serious as systematic rape.

Many groups are Messianic, with a charismatic leader claiming a god-like status, and also highly Korea-centric, espousing a form of spiritual nationalism with the Koreans as God’s chosen people.

According to Mr Park Hyung-Tack, president of the Korea Christian Heresy Research Institute, there are currently around 50 religious leaders in the country who claim to be “either Jesus, the second coming or God himself.”

ANY EXAMPLES?

Many.

One of the largest and best-known is Providence or Jesus Morning Star (JMS) — founded by Mr Jung Myeong-Seok in 1980 as a breakaway from the Unification “Moonie” Church.

In 2009, Jung — who referred to himself as the Tree of Life — was jailed for 10 years for the rape and sexual assault of four female followers.

Another group, Guwonpa “Salvation Sect”, came to national attention in 2014 when its leader, Yoo Byung-Eun, became the target of a nationwide manhunt.

Yoo and his family ran the firm which operated the Sewol ferry that sank in April 2014, causing the loss of more than 300 lives — most of them children.

On the run from charges of corruption and negligence, Yoo’s body was found in a field — so badly decomposed that an autopsy failed to determine the precise cause of death.

In 1987, 32 followers of an apocalyptic cult called Odaeyang were found dead at their headquarters in an apparent murder-suicide pact. Among them was the cult’s leader Park Soon-Ja who was under police investigation for embezzlement.

WHY IN SOUTH KOREA?

There are numerous theories but a number of experts suggest cults (and religion in general) flourished during traumatic periods in modern Korean history — the 1910-45 Japanese colonial period, the 1950-53 Korean war and the decades of military rule [Park Chung Hee, etc.] that followed it.

Religious groups with strong, unambiguous ideologies that offered comfort and salvation appealed strongly to people struggling with a crisis of national identity during times of deep uncertainty.

The more modern versions have claimed a unique knowledge of the path to material and spiritual prosperity — a message that resonates in a highly competitive and status-focused society.

http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/south-korea-cult-history

“Han Mother said, “I am Hananim” … now you must pray to Heavenly Mother. … which is of course praying to fallen Eve…”

Hak Ja Han is ‘Female Jesus, the only begotten daughter of God, the LSA’ (October 24, 2015)

Hak Ja Han’s mother, Soon-ae Hong, was in Kook-ju Hwang’s sex cult

Another ‘Only Begotten Daughter’

Video: Come to Heavenly MOTHER

Video clip of the coronation of Senyu Ryuka Sama

Yoshiko Nakayama, or Senyu Ryuka Sama

Jung Myeong-seok, a former UC member, started his own cult and is now in jail for multiple rape

Baek-moon Kim talked about “sexual union with God.” He was Sun Myung Moon’s teacher.

Moon was known as ‘Mun Yesu – Jesus Moon’ and the ‘physical Jesus’ in the 1950s.

Sun Myung Moon and Young-oon Kim both followed Yong-do Lee

Young Oon Kim was an enabler for Moon’s pikareum sex with her Ewha University students

Moon claimed authority through his “meeting with Jesus”

Hyung-jin Moon, the “Second King of Cheon Il Guk.”

Korean Pikareum Messiahs – Tae-seon Park

Sects, money and tragedy have history in Korea

Greed before the fall
– New York Times explains the Yoo Byung-Eun Korean cult

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In Ferry Deaths, a South Korean Tycoon’s Downfall

By CHOE SANG-HUN, MARTIN FACKLER, ALISON LEIGH COWAN and SCOTT SAYARE

July 26, 2014

SEOUL, South Korea — After all the lavish galas in his honor at landmarks like the Louvre and Versailles, the tens of thousands of devotees following his religious teachings for decades, the hundreds of homes and businesses reportedly stashed around the globe, Yoo Byung-eun ended up alone, his body splayed on its back and rotting in the weeds, empty liquor bottles by his side.

A very good overview: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/27/world/asia/in-ferry-deaths-a-south-korean-tycoons-downfall.html

Disciples of the messiah, Lee Man-hee

A close encounter with Mannam in Korea (English) by Kyla Polanski:

Branding Korea! How about Culture Shock Day with Mannam? (Pt. 1)

Branding Korea! How about Culture Shock Day with Mannam? (Pt. 2)

Three Moon girls woo Prime Minister Kishi of Japan

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             Nobusuke Kishi and Mr Kuboki at the UC headquarters in Tokyo

The Way of the World – January 1974
Follow Our Heavenly Father
By Reverend Sun Myung Moon
Pages 139-140
“In the early days of the Unification Church in Korea, I would take members to every mountain, field, creek, and river, in order to completely know the country…
Once in Japan, three of our members were assigned to make friends with the then Prime Minister Mr. Kishi. Every day, rain or shine, the three girls visited his office. When they knew his schedule in advance, they went ahead to prepare for him, smiling and waiting. As time went by, the initial hostility of Mr. Kishi and his staff began to melt. Such sacrificial service as these girls gave exists nowhere else. The first time one of the girls talked to him personally, she said, “…I have come to you to get your advice. You are a great leader. Can’t you give us leadership?”… He was struck… He had never seen such patriotism. He began telling his friends… ”
LINK

Prime Minister Kishi of Japan, organised crime and the Moon involvement in Japanese politics gained protection for the UC

Rev. Moon Goes to College by Daniel Junas
Covert Action Information Bulletin Number 38 – Fall 1991  pages 22-27

Introduction to:
Moon Rising: The History and Politics of the Unification Church
by Daniel Junas

‘Privatising’ covert action: the case of the Unification Church
by Jeffrey Bale

Following Our Bliss: How the Spiritual Ideals of the Sixties Shape Our Lives
by Don Lattin
Mose Durst… met a Korean woman named Onni, who gave him a copy of The Divine Principle. His new friend’s real name was Yun Soo Lim, who had joined the church in 1960 in Japan where she was working at the Korean embassy in Tokyo. Onni… was sent to the States by Moon in 1965 to work in the San Francisco Bay Area as a missionary.
LINK

Miss Young Oon Kim Joins the Movement – Michael L Mickler

Miss Kim met Rev. Moon at a private residence in Seoul on December 27, 1954, and at 2:00 p.m. began hearing the new message or “Principle” in lecture form from Mr. Hyo Won Eu. The lecture cycle lasted three days, and though skeptical of certain Bible interpretations, she accepted the teaching…

Miss Kim did stay and remained a full four years at Seoul headquarters from the day she accepted the Principle. During those four years before departing as the first Unification Church missionary to America, she took an active role in church organization, teaching and witnessing. Although expelled from her post at Ewha [Woman’s University] … she took a part-time instructorship at lesser known Konkuk University in Seoul and a full-time position as stenographer in the chaplain’s office at the United States Eighth Army base, where she recruited two Korean aides de camp. [one was Bo Hi Pak] LINK

Choi Soon-yong (Sam Park’s grandfather) “My family has been the prey of the Unification Church” They even used a Honey Trap