Cult News

Is it possible that President Bush is now repaying Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s enduring support of his family, through plum political appointments?

Moon certainly has a history of generosity when it comes to the Bush family.

The controversial self-proclaimed “messiah,” who leads the Unification Church and controls a global financial empire worth billions, has given millions to former President Bush Sr. in honorariums for speeches.

Recently George W. Bush nominated Josette Shiner for the post of Deputy U.S. Trade Representative, with the rank of Ambassador. If confirmed she will influence US trade policy throughout Asia and Africa, reports Reuters.

Shiner is currently serving as the associate U.S. trade representative for policy and communications.

Her bio posted by the USTR includes a fifteen-year stint (1982-1997) at the Moon-controlled Washington Times. Shiner’s last position there was managing editor.

But what her official USTR biography doesn’t mention is that Shiner became a member of Moon’s Unification Church in 1975.

The Unification Church has often been called a “cult” and accused of “mind control.” Moon’s followers, historically called “Moonies,” accept him as a “messiah.”

Rev. Moon has very substantial business interests in Asia, which includes North Korea, South Korea and China.

Given Shiner’s background, will her role at Trade pose the potential for possible conflicts of interest?

The future ambassador certainly has a history of staunchly supporting Moon.

Shiner once said, “The Washington Times has been successful not in spite of Rev. Moon, but because of Rev. Moon. It is a fantastic success story.”

Moon reportedly has dumped $1.7 billion dollars into the newspaper, which has never made a profit. Some say its purpose is largely to garner him political influence within Washington.

Has that investment now begun to reap political dividends?

Shiner seemed to recognize Moon’s agenda when she said, “The Washington Times has become the sole source of media power in the world’s most powerful city defending those values which will lead the world out of darkness, panic and fear…I am deeply motivated to help fight this noble battle.”

But the former managing editor of the Times baled on that “battle” in 1997.

Shiner quit the Times to become the president of Empower America, associated with Jack Kemp. And that job helped her résumé as she subsequently moved higher up the Washington food chain

But according to Shiner she not only left Moon’s newspaper in 1997; she left his church too.

In an interview run in the Washington Post Shiner claimed she had become an Episcopalian.

The supposed ex-“Moonie” would not elaborate about her claimed change of heart, other than to say there was no “conversion” necessary. She was “just…received” at the Episcopal Church due to her early Catholic background.

The recently announced Shiner appointment is not the first time this President Bush has called upon someone with a Moon portfolio to fill an important government position.

Longtime Moon follower and political operative David Caprara was tapped by Bush in December to become the new director of AmeriCorps. at VISTA.

Like Shiner, Caprara previously made a professional pit stop at a Kemp connected organization.

Josette Shiner also recently changed her marital status. She divorced husband Whitney Shiner, a union that was once blessed by Rev. Moon.

Mr. Shiner, like his ex-wife, claims to have left the Unification Church. He is an associate professor at George Mason University in Washington.

So what is going on here?

Many “Moonies” did leave the organization in the late 90s after embarrassing details concerning the church’s First Family were made public by Rev. Moon’s former daughter-in-law Nansook Hong.

Hong’s tell-all book titled In the Shadow of the Moons, was published in 1998.

Was Josette Shiner just another disillusioned follower that left Moon orbit to embrace the traditional Christian messiah?

Or, has she simply moved undercover to the dark side of Moon, still helping her former boss and long-time mentor advance his political and global agenda?

Shiner once devotedly stated, “There is one man, one couple, in the world which has taken on the power of the anti-values media. That is Reverend and Mrs. Moon.”

Does she still believe that?

Perhaps this is all not that difficult to understand?

Shiner may have simply dumped her “messiah,” once she sensed he was no longer useful and had become instead a career liability.

The one-time Unification Church VIP, certainly has found favor from a far more powerful leader and lucrative source for future opportunities.

However, so far the soon-to-be “Ambassador Shiner,” hasn’t really explained her change of faith or “conversion” in any meaningful detail.

Interestingly, an old ruse observed as a “matter of faith” by many “Moonies” is called “heavenly deception.” Specifically, this is the practice of deliberate deceit to support a “heavenly” cause as defined by Rev. Moon.

Is Ms. Shiner presently engaged in some form of “heavenly deception” for the sake of her long-time “messiah”? The soon-to-be ambassador’s convenient conversion to mainline Christianity does seem a bit timely.

Most of Josette Shiner’s adult and professional life has been largely focused upon serving Rev. Moon. Where do her loyalties lie now?