Armed with AR-15s, the Unification movement ‘expands God’s Kingdom’ to a Texas town

A Pennsylvania church known for worshiping with AR-15 rifles and preaching that Joe Biden is a fake president has found just the location to “expand God’s Kingdom”: Texas.

Pastor Hyung Jin “Sean” Moon, son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon of the Unification movement, leads the church that’s buying a Lake Limestone RV park and marina near Groesbeck, east of Waco.

It’s been renamed from Running Branch Marina to “Liberty Rock.”

“Liberty Rock has now begun!” Moon told the Texas audience at a April opening, later mocking the movement’s derogatory 1970s nickname: “You are coming into the community of the Moonies, so to speak.”

Moon’s Sanctuary Church in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, is known for preaching that AR-15s are the “rod of iron” in the biblical book of Revelation. Also known as Rod of Iron Ministries, the church hosted a mass wedding in 2018 for 250 armed couples.

Moon and worshippers also joined protests in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

After a story Thursday in New York-based Vice.com headlined “Gun Church That Worships With AR-15s Bought a 40-Acre Campground in Texas for Its ‘Patriots,’ “ Limestone County Sheriff Murray Agnew paid the marina a visit.

“They are Second Amendment supporters, and they are conservative and Christian in their values and beliefs,” Agnew reported.

Agnew said he met the new marina operator and it’s “like any business.”

But before it was deleted late Friday, a GoFundMe page posted by a church official said Liberty Rock would “expand God’s Kingdom to the Western and Southern regions” with more than 100 campsites to draw “patriots from Texas and around the country.”

Brandon Moreland, a Limestone County resident near the nearby town of Thornton, wrote Thursday on a Lake Limestone Facebook page: “Whaaaaaaaat this is who bought Running Branch Marina??? ... We mostly all like guns in Texas, but our area is clearly being targeted.”

By phone Friday, Moreland said: “I think they looked at the politics and analytics of some kind and decided this was the place.”

Republican Party county Chairman Lance Phillips of Mexia said he had not heard of the ownership change.

“I haven’t had anybody complain,” he said.

Moon spoke at Liberty Rock as early as Feb. 6, according to a video on YouTube.

“We pray for President [Donald] Trump,” Moon told a handful of worshippers two weeks after Biden’s inauguration.

“We pray for all the patriots — we pray for all the people who will stand for goodness at this critical time and resist the devil.”

In April, Moon was in Texas again to open the marina for the season, complete with biker gear.

After warning worshipers to beware of “usurpers,” Moon said Biden is “the fake president. He is the usurper right now.”

Politically, Moon should feel right at home.

Limestone County voted 75% for Trump.