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by Bret Aaron Moss
Unlike the membership of some Christian denominations which
believe that they will meet Christ in the air or on the clouds
at the Second Advent, Latter-day Saints are clearly expecting
the Second Advent to occur here on the earth as expressed in
the tenth "Article of Faith": We believe . . . that
Christ will reign personally upon the earth . . ."3 In this
regard, Mormon doctrine is in complete agreement with the Principle.
However, in Mormon doctrine, the question of how he will arrive
on the earth is not as clear. Perhaps the most common understanding
among Latter-day Saints today is that he will come down from
Heaven on the clouds, similar to the way he ascended into Heaven.
About this, the Divine Principle provides new insight and understanding.
The best way that we can come to understand how the Second Coming
takes place is to think about the second coming of Elijah. Based
on the prophecy of Malachi (Mal. 4:5), the Jewish people were
expecting God to send Elijah before the coming of Christ at his
First Advent. They imagined that Elijah himself would come down
from Heaven in a similar way to his departure 900 years before
in a flaming chariot. However, from the testimony of Jesus himself
we know that another man, John the Baptist, was sent by God in
the spirit and power of Elijah, fulfilling the prophecy. (Matt.
11:14, Matt. 17:13) Even so, few believed this at that time.
Similarly, there were two schools of thought concerning how
Jesus would come to earth at the First Advent. These trends were
supported by Old Testament prophecies which give two different
scenarios. On the one hand, the prophet Daniel predicted that
the Lord will come to the earth from Heaven on a cloud (Dan.
7:13). On the other hand, the prophet Micah envisioned that the
Messiah would be born on the earth. (Micah 5:2). Because Daniel
was more popular, and because his concept was widely accepted,
most Jewish people believed that Christ would come down from
the clouds of Heaven. Let's consider why these two apparently
contradictory prophecies actually are saying the same thing.
As we know, Jesus was born in the flesh of a woman, his mother
Mary. So, why did Daniel give the prophecy that Christ would
come down from Heaven on a cloud? In John 3:13, Jesus said that
"No one has ascended into Heaven but he who descended from
Heaven, the Son of man." In the Bible, the word "Heaven"
is frequently used in the context of great holiness, purity,
and greatness. In other words, Jesus was attempting to say that
his birth is special in that he is not tainted by the satanic
blood lineage, but rather he is truly a descendant of God. Because
the Jewish people fell into the trap of taking this prophecy
literally rather than realizing that the prophecy was meant to
distinguish Jesus as the Son of God, they could not unite with
him, leaving Jesus no choice but to face his crucifixion. Let's
consider then, what implications these examples have on prophecies
concerning the Second Advent.
Today many Latter-day Saints are expecting Jesus of Nazareth
himself to suddenly appear in the flesh in various places on
the earth. Many Saints might have great difficulty believing
that Christ had returned if God sent the Lord of the Second Advent
in the same way he sent Jesus at the First Advent, by being born
of a woman. Do we find any prophecy which speaks to this possibility?
In Rev. 12:1&5 it says: "And a great portent appeared
in heaven, a woman . . . brought forth a male child, one who
is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron but her child was
caught up to God and to his throne." According to the Principle,
this male child is the Lord of the Second Advent.
Would we expect Jesus himself to be born again through another
woman, or is it more likely that another man would come in the
spirit and power of Jesus? When we talk about the Second Coming
of Christ, many think that only Jesus could fulfill that role.
This may be in part because people often associate the name "Christ"
with Jesus' last name rather than thinking of it as his God-given
position, which means "Anointed One" or "Holy
Messiah." (2 Nephi 2:6, 8) Is it not possible that God and
Jesus could anoint a new man prepared from before his birth to
fulfill the role of the Second Coming of Christ? In Rev. 3: 12
& 21, Jesus said:
He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my
God; never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the
name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem
which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
He who has an ear, et him hear what the Spirit says to the churches
. . . He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my
throne, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on
his throne.
Through this prophecy, all who long to meet and welcome the
Lord of the Second Advent cannot help but wonder what Christ's
new name is. From these prophecies we cannot help but seriously
evaluate our own heart of attendance to the will of God, knowing
that the possibility of Christ coming with a new identity clearly
exists. Now we turn to the matter of when will Christ come?
Latter-day Saints do not deny that the return of Christ is imminent.
According to Mormon Doctrine:
Four days later, April 6, 1843, at the General Conference of
the Church, while the Spirit rested upon him, the Prophet [Joseph
Smith] said: ". . .There are those of the rising generation
who shall not taste death till Christ comes." . . . It is
not unreasonable to suppose that many young men had babies at
the time of this prophecy and also had other children as much
as 50 or 75 years later, assuming for instance that they were
married again to younger women. This very probable assumption
would bring the date up to, say, the 2nd decade in the 20th century--and
the children so born would be members of that same rising generation
of which the Prophet spoke. Now if these children lived to the
normal age of men generally, they would be alive well past the
year 2000 A.D.4
The Principle concurs with this time period as the era in which
Christ will return to the earth. To show this, we must review
the parallels in history of God's Providence for restoration
between the Old Testament Age and the New Testament Age which
were covered in the section "Parallels of History"
in the previous chapter. The six periods from the time of Jacob
to the time of First Advent of Christ was 1930 years. Likewise,
the period which began at the time of Jesus and has continued
into the twentieth century to the birth of the Lord of the Second
Advent has also lasted approximately 1930 years. Because of slight
variance in the duration of the time periods, we would expect
a difference of at least ten years plus or minus the year 1930
as the year of the returning Messiah's birth. In addition, it
was explained in the section "Global Preparation for the
Second Advent of Christ" in the previous chapter that following
the end of World War I (1918), the era of the Second Advent on
the earth had begun. Therefore the Principle clearly teaches
that the Lord of the Second Advent was born between 1918 and
1940.
If so, why are the Latter-day Saints generally unaware of this
fact? There are at least two explanations for this. First, as
with Jesus, the Lord of the Second Advent did not immediately
proclaim his Messiahship to the world, but rather, he made steady
preparations during a private life from the time he was a young
man until he could begin his public ministry. Secondly, as we
will learn in greater detail in an upcoming section, like Jesus,
the Lord of the Second Advent could not rely on the person whom
God had sent to "make the way straight for the Lord,"
resulting in a forty year wilderness period of great hardship
and suffering in order to prepare his own global foundation to
proclaim the Second Advent to the World. Now the conditions are
right for the proclamation of the Lord of the Second Advent to
go out to the four corners of the earth. If you find the suddenness
of the Second Coming shocking or unbelievable, consider this
passage from Mormon Doctrine:
. . . whenever and wherever the Lord appears, he will come suddenly,
that is "quickly in an hour you think not." (D. &
C. 51:20). His oft repeated warning, "Behold I come quickly"
(D. & C. 35:27), means that when the appointed hour arrives,
he will come with a speed and a suddenness which will leave no
further time for preparation for that great day.5
And
Therefore, the keys of this dispensation are committed into
your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful
day of the Lord is near, even at the doors. (D. & C. 111:16)
With this in mind, let us now inquire as to where Christ will
come again.
Just as Jesus was born with a prepared nation to receive him,
so too, the Lord of the Second Advent was born in a chosen nation
which has been prepared by God. Jesus made it clear in the parable
of the "wicked tenants" (Matt. 21:33-43) that Israel
would not remain the chosen nation at the Second Coming. In this
parable he states: "'Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of
God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing
the fruits of it.' When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard
his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them."
(Matt. 21:43-44) According to the Principle, the chosen people
after the crucifixion are the devout Christians who believe in
the resurrected Jesus. Surely then, the Lord of the Second Advent
was born in a Christian nation. But which nation is it? Let us
address this matter based on the explanation given in the Divine
Principle, which was written with full knowledge of the Messiah's
identity by an early disciple.
What are God's criteria for determining the chosen nation at
the Second Advent? In the Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,
we find our first clue: "But the Son of Man will come as
the sign of the coming of the Son of Man, which will be as the
light of the morning cometh out of the east."6 The Divine
Principle states that Christ will come to a Christian nation
from the East. But which Eastern nation will he come from? From
ancient times, the nations of the East refer to Korea, Japan,
and China. Of these three nations, only one has nurtured Christianity
to the point that we would agree it is a Christian nation. In
fact, both Japan and Communist China have severely persecuted
Christianity. I will now summarize the five explanations the
Divine Principle offers for why God selected Korea to be the
new chosen nation.
First, Korea has fulfilled the condition to establish the nationwide
foundation for restoration through indemnity. As we know, the
First Israel suffered the 400 year slavery period in Egypt in
order to establish the foundation for the separation from Satan
to restore the number forty. Likewise, Christianity, the Second
Israel, faced the 400-year persecution by the Roman Empire to
fulfill the same condition. The nation of Korea, the Third Israel,
fulfilled this condition by suffering extreme persecution as
a vassal state of the Japanese Empire for forty years from 1905
to 1945. After annexing Korea by force in 1910, the Korean people
were completely deprived of their freedom, became imprisoned,
and many patriots were massacred.
Second, Korea is God's front line and Satan's front line. In
the Last Days, the world is divided into two worlds, democracy
and communism. As discussed in the last chapter, when democracy
overtook communism, God could make the final preparations to
usher in the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, centering on Korea,
the Lord of the Second Advent has worked behind the scenes as
the commander-in-chief to bring a demise to atheistic world communism,
knowing deeply the suffering of his fellow countrymen in Communist
North Korea. As God's chosen nation, Korea is an offering for
the sake of the restoration of the world. Just as Abraham had
to cut his offerings in two to separate Satan, God had to allow
Korea to be divided at the 38th parallel into an Abel-type and
Cain-type nation. On June 25, 1950, the Korean War broke out,
which became a world-wide confrontation between democracy and
communism-- in other words, between God and Satan.
Third, Korea is the object of God's heart. In order for anyone
to become the object of God's heart, they must know suffering
as God has known suffering since the fall of humankind when His
precious children gave their souls to the devil. Korea has an
incredible history of suffering and the untold misery of having
been invaded by foreign powers as many of 500 times. At the same
time, there is no record of the peace-loving Korean people ever
invading another sovereignty. The Korean people as a whole, are
endowed with a profound religiosity. As a whole, the Korean people
highly esteem values of loyalty, filial piety, and virtue. This
has been possible largely due to their strong Confucian background
of family ethics as a homogeneous people with a long history
of 4,000 years.
Fourth, there have been prophetical testimonies of the returning
Messiah among the Korean people. Koreans have believed since
the Yi Dynasty, which lasted for 500 years, that the King of
Righteousness, in other words, the Messiah, would appear in Korea,
and establish the Millennium while receiving tributes from all
the countries of the world. Another reality is the fact that
people of faith from every religion in Korea are receiving revelations
that the founder of their given religion will appear in Korea.
Because God established all of the world's religions to ultimately
unite with Christianity, it is no wonder that the person who
can accomplish this task is the Messiah. In the face of so many
revelations and spiritual phenomena clearly pointing to the Second
Advent of Christ in Korea, Christian leaders have chosen to ignore
almost all of these signs. This reminds us of the situation Jesus
faced in his day. In Matt. 11:25 Jesus said, "I thank thee,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these
things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to
babes." This has also been the direct experience of the
Lord of the Second Advent.
Fifth, all aspects of culture and civilization flourish in Korea.
Korea's unique ability to harmonize the two aspects of culture--spirit
and material--have allowed Korea to become one of the fastest
growing developing nations, poised to become an economic powerhouse
in a world economy which is down-sizing and laying off workers.
These signs are now ever-present in economic giants including
the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan. However,
as a nation which has fostered such tremendous religious diversity
and unparalleled religious devotion, Koreans bring a beautiful
spirit of reverence to virtually everything they do. Furthermore,
the ideology of the Lord of the Second Advent has the total potential
necessary to unify all of the modern trends of thought including
politics, philosophy, and theology and thus solve all the social
problems which plague humanity. The Messiah is also calling for
the unification of science and religion to overcome man's two
aspects of ignorance, spiritual and physical, in order to establish
the God's Kingdom on earth. We now turn our attention to the
identity and early history of the Lord of the Second Advent.
3) The Appearance of the Lord of the Second Advent
And angels shall fly through the midst of heaven, crying with
a loud voice, sounding the trump of God, saying: Prepare ye,
prepare ye, O inhabitants of the earth; for the judgement of
our God is come. Behold, and lo, the Bridegroom cometh; go ye
out to meet him. (D. & C. 88: 92)
[Sun Myung Moon] The Lord of the Second Advent was
born in the coastal village of Chongju located near the Yellow
Sea in what is now North Korea on January 6, 1920, by the Lunar
calendar. [See the story to follow in index of Unification Church.]
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