APn 03/30 1743 Moon-Reincarnation WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some Unification Church members are

APn 03/30 1743 Moon-Reincarnation

   WASHINGTON  (AP)  -- Some Unification Church members are upset
because their church founder, the Rev.  Sun Myung Moon,  believes
one  of  his  followers from Zimbabwe is the reincarnation of his
son, according to a report published Wednesday.

   The affair began last  fall  at  the  Unification  Theological
Seminary  in  upstate  New York, where a senior named Charles was
believed to be hearing and relaying messages from Moon's deceased
son, "Lord" Heung Jin Nim,  The  Washington  Post  said,  quoting
former and present church members.

   Heung  Jin Nim was killed in an automobile accident in 1984 at
age 17.

   According to the Post account:

   Dick Richard, a former seminary student who recently left  the
church,  said that in "mid-November, I was told there was a black
brother from Africa who had been prepared by Jesus ...  and  that
Heung Jin Nim had assumed his body."

   "It  obviously  scared  a lot of people there .. but they went
along with the whole thing because it came  from  Reverend  Moon,
the Messiah."

   The  reincarnation  incident has caused what some followers of
Moon are calling the biggest theological upheaval in the  34-year
history of the Unification Church, in part because the Zimbabwean
reportedly has been slapping church members and elders.

   Officials  at  The  Washington Times, which is owned by church
members, have tried to distance themselves from the affair.

   "From the bottom of my navel,  I  don't  want  to  know  about
this,"  said  Ron  Godwin,  the  Times' senior vice president for
business. "I know that such a person exists and  that  he's  been
preaching  in  the  church,  but  I  will  walk a mile not to get
involved."

   Arnaud de Borchgrave, chief editor  of  the  Times,  at  first
dismissed  the  young  Zimbabwean as a plant from communist North
Korea.

   "The North Koreans have had a very strong presence in Zimbabwe
since day one," De Borchgrave said in an interview from Paris.

   "It just sounds  so  ridiculous,"  de  Borchgrave  said.  "The
nameless Zimbabwean -- that strikes me as suspicious right there.
...   I've  asked  people, `Who the hell is this Zimbabwean?' And
nobody can tell you."

   John  Rees,  co-owner  with  de  Borchgrave   of   a   private
intelligence  newsletter,  "Early  Warning," said de Borchgrave's
"attitude was primarily one of concern that  it  would  make  the
paper look ludicrous."

   The  Zimbabwean,  who has taken the name of Heung Jin Nim, has
been traveling to church parishes around the world, preaching.

   "This guy talks non-stop," said John Raineri,  a  photographer
for  The World and I, sister publication to the Times. "I've seen
him speak for three days  straight  he  doesn't  rest  the  whole
time."

   One  of  the  most  disturbing  aspects  of the affair, church
members say, is violence attributed to the Zimbabwean.

   The president of  the  Times,  Bo  Hi  Pak,  was  admitted  to
Georgetown  Univeristy  Hospital for tests last Dec. 9-17, saying
he had recently fallen down a flight of stairs.  No injuries were
found, but later Pak underwent surgery in South Korea to repair a
damaged blood vessel in his skull, according to Times executives.

   Pak is Moon's closest deputy, and stories  that  he  had  been
injured spread  quickly  through  the  church.    Kate Tsubata, a
church member, was skeptical  until  she  heard  a  church  elder
describe a meeting in which Moon was asked about the reincarnated
son's reported violence.

   The  elder  said  that  "even  Colonel  Pak  had been beaten,"
Tsubata said.  "He  just  let  it  drop.  ...    It   was   quite
significant."

   Tsubata  spoke  of  a friend who was slapped repeatedly by the
Zimbabwean. "He described them as stinging  slaps  to  the  face,
causing  him  to  see  stars," she said. "But afterwards, he felt
good."

   Gordon  Anderson,  secretary-general  of   the   Moon-financed
Professors  World Peace Academy, reported similar behavior during
a church ceremony in the World Missions Center in Manhattan.  The
Zimbabwean walked among the 100 church members present, listening
to their confessions and  instructing  them  to  repent,  usually
through prayers or fasting.

   "He did slap, but he didn't strike hard enough to hurt anyone.
He cuffed me on the ear a little bit," Anderson said.