The following is a testimony from Ron Pappalardo, a Unificationist whose son’s suicide spurred him to become a medium and to author two books, Reconciled by the Light: The After-Death Letters from a Teen Suicide (2010) and Reconciled by the Light Book II: Spirit Messages from a Teen Suicide, Adventures of a Psychic Medium (2012). Mr. Pappalardo currently lives in Cary, North Carolina with his wife Connie and works as a professional medium.

I joined the Unification Church in 1975 in Los Angeles and attended the 2,075 couples Blessing in New York. After working at the Washington Times from 1982 to 1986, I came to North Carolina to serve as the State Leader of the church, and I’ve been living here ever since. I then served as the American Freedom Coalition/American Constitution Committee leader here until the mid 1990s, and also received an opportunity to study at the Unification Theological Seminary. After that, I worked as a regional sales manager for a True World Foods company called Shining Ocean until 2003.

That was the year my first-born son, Joshua, took his life. He was 17 and suffering from clinical depression due to a chemical imbalance in his brain. After he passed on, my wife Connie and I were worried that his spirit might be in a difficult place because he committed suicide, so we started working with mediums to try to find him and help him.

Pappalardo family in 1996, on the back deck of the family home in Cary, NC. Left to Right - Connie, Joshua, Nadia, Gabriel, Ari, and Ron.

We were able to find out that Joshua wound up in a safe place, taken care of by the children of other Blessed Couples who had ascended before him. Two of them are Homer Boutte and Andrew Byrne. Through a sister who had the gift of receiving messages from the spirit world, we received detailed letters from Joshua in which he explained what he had been going through, why he took his life, and what happened to him when he arrived in the spirit world.

As the years progressed, Joshua went from a place where he was healing from his trauma to where he joined the team that helped arriving suicides get healed. Sometime after five years had passed, Joshua became part of a Task Force of spirits in the spirit world that work to stop suicide before it takes place. They help people who are struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. Anyone can say a prayer asking for Joshua and his Task Force to help them. They will come immediately and provide a high spiritual energy that provides peace and healing.

The Practice of Mediumship

In 2009, Joshua told me that I was also part of the Task Force, and Connie and I expanded our work in the field of Suicide Prevention. We travel to colleges, churches, and other organizations to deliver speeches and hold workshops. This has been very inspiring and rewarding for both of us.

I published my book, Reconciled by the Light: the After-Death Letters from a Teen Suicide, in 2010to help families deal with the loss of a loved one, and to pass on the amazing messages Joshua gave from the spirit world.

In 2008, I felt led by God to join a Metaphysical Church near my home. I was asked to serve as an assistant pastor and was invited to attend classes for the development of mediumship. I also completed a training course in mediumship through a spiritualist seminary called the Morris Pratt Institute. Through this training, I developed my spiritual senses to the point where I now work as a professional medium. I give private readings and also conduct workshops in which  I teach people how to practice mediumship. Some of my students are Unification Church members, but the vast majority is not.

The Divine Principle teaches that everyone has five spiritual senses, and that as we complete the First Blessing, we will be able to use them. Simply put, that’s what mediumship is. Anybody can do it, if given the proper training. It’s the most meaningful and rewarding work I’ve ever done, because it brings the living and the “dead” into communication, which provides immeasurable comfort and healing for those on earth and in the spirit world. It also enhances and deepens our prayer life, helping us to have direct experiences with Heavenly Father.

The type of mediumship that involves communicating with Heavenly Father is the highest form. It’s called “direct prophecy,” and, in my view, is the most beautiful and profound experience a human being can have. When a person has a direct experience with Heavenly Father, he tells him or her that he or she is loved unconditionally. They come to know – not just believe – that he or she is the precious son or daughter of God. The self-esteem of such people is solidified, as they are embraced and know they are valued just for who they are. It is a real rebirth experience. My new book describes a sixteen-year-old girl’s experience meeting Heavenly Father.

Currently, I am finishing my second book, Reconciled by the Light Book II: Spirit Messages from a Teen Suicide, Adventures of a Psychic Medium, which is already available as an e-book on Amazon.com. The printed copy will be out soon.

My wife also practices mediumship. She and I experience communication with Joshua on a regular basis. He is always at my workshops, and he assists me in my work as a public speaker and as a medium. He still has his funny sense of humor.

Sometimes he makes his presence known when we’re driving in the car. On two occasions, Connie and I both could see him with our spiritual sight (called clairvoyance) at the same time.

For example, in August I had a speaking engagement at the Reading Area Community College in Pennsylvania. On the drive home, he guided us to choose a specific restaurant in New Oxford, where we met a waitress who wanted to know more about the spirit world. She bought a copy of my book, and then she had a spiritual experience with Joshua right in the restaurant! When we continued our drive back to North Carolina, he appeared in the car to Connie and gave her a “high five.” She didn’t tell me right away that she was seeing Joshua. As a test, she asked me a question.

“Think about Joshua right now and tell me what you see,” she said.

I concentrated on Joshua and told Connie I immediately saw him holding his left hand up next to his face moving it back and forth.

“That’s because he wants to give you a ‘high five,’” she said.

We realized Joshua was excited because, as a team, the three of us had helped the waitress.

That’s just one of many experiences we have with Josh on a regular basis. I don’t feel grief or loss anymore, because he’s with me so much I feel very close to him.

“Rev. Moon Will Always Be a Messiah for Me”

My three surviving children don’t attend Unification Church services anymore, although they did when they were younger. They are in college, and honestly speaking, they don’t find the movement relative to their lives now. They don’t think that they are any different from other young people, so the term, “Blessed Child,” is not meaningful to them.

I moved on from the Metaphysical Church a couple of years ago and began attending Unification Church services again during the Lovin’ Life Ministries. Since the recent crisis of leadership, I honestly have had a hard time motivating myself to go. My best friends are still Unificationists, but I’m just struggling with the institution.

The recent passing of Rev. Moon had little effect on our family. I know that he was suffering a lot because of the aging of his body, and that he is totally liberated from that now in the spirit world. So, for me, there wasn’t anything to be sad about. I’ve always been a person who longed for God, and I found the Divine Principle to be a profound and wonderful teaching that helped me revive my relationship with God. So, Rev. Moon will always be a Messiah for me personally, because he helped me reconnect with God heart to heart, and I think that’s the most important role of a Messiah. Unfortunately, in my view, those who have worked to turn him and his family into some sort of deity have done a tremendous disservice to the cause of Heaven. I hope the movement will return to being a God-centered movement that exists to help each individual discover how he or she can create and nurture an individual, direct, personal experience and relationship with God. I think the Kingdom of Heaven will only appear when we each, one by one, make that personal connection with Heavenly Father, so He can walk on the earth through us and in us.

For more information about Ron Pappalardo or his books, go to www.reconciledbythelight.com