Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, A Cult Survivor's Memoir

Part Two: Justification by Works

In Part Two, Neufeld describes being sent from the California-based Oakland Family (which operated as a cult within a cult) to Los Angeles in early 1977, to work with members from the nationwide Unification Church on a team known as the International One World Crusade (IOWC).  The longer he works with the IOWC, the more he comes to believe that the lives of millions of Americans, and possibly the existence of the universe, depend upon his recruiting new members to the cult.  Just when he is nearing a mental breakdown from these extreme psychological pressures, the IOWC is suddenly transferred to the Bronx.  Soon afterward, Neufeld is again moved, this time to Manhattan.  After only a few months in Manhattan, he is again reassigned to the “National M.F.T.,” or mobile fundraising teams, in Baltimore.  On the National M.F.T., his mission is to raise money for the entire American Unification Church.  The longer he remains with the M.F.T., the more Neufeld becomes what he describes as Moon’s ideal for his cult followers:  “total action without reflection:  pure doing.”  But then, unexpectedly, Neufeld (a Canadian), is discovered to be working in the United States without a proper visa, and is sent home to Canada.  Undeterred, Neufeld resolves to work with the Unification Church in Toronto; but then, after only a few months, he is called by cult authorities to return to the United States so he can attend the Unification Theological Seminary in Barrytown, New York.  Through all these sudden moves, and for much of his time as a seminary student, Neufeld remains firmly fixed in his cult identity, doggedly and unflaggingly working to justify his existence (his lifelong quest) by bringing concrete results, be they money or recruits, to the cult.  And, as he does so, Neufeld continues to believe that the entire world is on the verge of a remarkable transformation, in which Moon would soon be universally recognized as the Messiah, thereby ushering in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.