Rod of Iron Ministries: the cult that worships the AR-15 rifle
Revelation 2:27. “He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels“. Say what you like about The Bible, it sure does know how to give its main characters an aura.
The “he” being spoken of there is the son of God himself, Jesus Christ. The “them” is… well, all of us. You see, this is a memorable little snapshot of the Bible concerning the end of days, when the Big Man’s once dead son will return to us to rule the world and separate the faithful from the faithless. There’s a little dispute over the translation here, with a few translations going with the more regal image of “sceptre of iron” rather than the more violent one of “rod of Iron”, but the point remains the same.
Big J is on his way; he’ll be pissed, and his vengeance will be dished out with something big and metallic to hand. The question of whether it’s a rod or a sceptre should be splitting hairs somewhat. Except that about 40 miles away from Waco, Texas (why is it always Waco, Texas?!) is a cult that has a very specific idea of what the iron rod in Jesus Christ’s hand will be. Rejecting the regal in favour of something very, very violent indeed. The AR-15 semi-automatic rifle.
This isn’t an obscure part of their dogma either. In fact, the AR-15 means more to them than a crucifix does to Christians. It’s less a symbol and more a holy artefact, mass-produced and available for as little as $2,000 with a brief background check. What’s more, they know how they’re going to use it. In the upcoming civil war, they’re convinced it’s about to happen in the United States.
Oh yeah, they’re one of those groups.
Where did the AR-15 cult come from?
Surprise, surprise, the founders of the Rod of Iron Ministries (hilariously known as the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church originally) grew up in a cult. Not just any old cult, either, one of the really big boys, too. The founders were the brothers Hyung Jin ‘Sean’ Moon and Kook-jin ‘Justin’ Moon. If those second names ring a bell, it’s because they are both sons of Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, or the Moonies if ya nasty.
When Sun Myung Moon died, a dispute with Sean over the leadership of the church led him and his wife to leave the church and set up what would eventually become the Rod of Iron Ministries. This was in 2015, but it wasn’t until 2018 when Sean went completely off the deep end. He fashioned a coronet of bullets for himself, changed the group’s name to the catchy little number they have today and started holding services where he and his followers would literally worship the rifle as the presence of their God in the world.
It would be very easy to laugh at these fools were it not for the fact that some very powerful people are directly involved in the group. Donald Trump’s former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, addressed the cult directly at their so-called ‘Freedom Festival’. At the same event, Flynn’s associate Ivan Raiklin urged attendees to kill their democratically elected representatives if the election didn’t go the way they wanted it to.
Genuinely frightening stuff, but to me, the most depressing part of it all is the fact that Justin, the deputy leader of a fascist gun cult, owns a firearms manufacturing company. That’s right. This is all just a con to sell more weapons, and they’re willing to brainwash people to achieve that goal. They don’t actually believe in this stuff. They never do. They just want money and power.