Church plans to hold a ‘blessing ceremony’ for assault weapons owned by worshippers

Parents in Wayne County, Pennsylvania are a little creeped out after it was announced that a local church would be holding a “gun blessing ceremony” next week for its parishioners’ assault weapons — just down the road from a local elementary school.

According to WNEP, the ceremony was planned before the shooting at a Florida high school this Wednesday that left 17 people dead, but since the incident church leaders have decided to ahead with the ceremony anyway, leaving many parents uncomfortable.

Rod of Iron Ministries is affiliated with the controversial Moon family from South Korea, who many view to be leaders of a cult.

Around 600 people are expected to show up the ceremony this coming Wednesday. According to WNEP, many of them own AR-15s, which was the brand of weapon used by Nikolas Cruz in the Florida high school shooting.

“This will be a big thing for us. It’s a new stage for us because it incorporates the rod of iron, as it is in Revelations. Revelations talks about the returning Christ ruling with the rod of iron,” said church leader Tim Elder.

“This rod of iron is the AR-15, in today’s terms,” he added.

Rod of Iron Ministries is an offshoot of the Unification Church which was founded by the late Reverend Sun Myung Moon and preaches the belief that families are obligated to own assault weapons for self-defense.

According to WNEP, the Moon family owns Kahr Arms, a gunmaker that opened up in Pike County, Pennsylvania two years ago.

Watch WNEP’s report on the story in the video below:

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.