There have been two assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump this election cycle, but that is not stopping the Rod of Iron Ministries from holding a raffle for a Trump-themed AR-15 at its annual Freedom Festival this weekend.
People are encouraged to register early for the Freedom Festival to receive free tickets and the chance to win a “Trump AR-15.”
The festival is put on by the Rod of Iron Ministries, a group headquartered outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, that allows its congregants to bring their weapons to church. The group offers courses for pistol and rifle marksmanship, home defense shotgun and the “art of the draw.”
Newsweek reached out to a representative of the Freedom Festival for comment.
An AR-15 is held in Auburn, Georgia, in a file photo. A Donald Trump-themed AR-15 is being raffled at the Rod of Iron Ministries’ annual Freedom Festival in Pennsylvania.
AP Photo/Lisa Marie Pane, File
Sunday services, which the group calls “Sanctuary Church,” focus on scripture while also supporting “the right to bear arms and focuses on where God’s word, politics, morality and culture intersect,” according to the website.
Pastor Sean Moon, founder of the Rod of Iron Ministries, believes the AR-15 is an instrument of God’s justice, the “rod of iron” from Revelation 2:27. Moon is the son of the late global religious leader Sun Myung Moon, founder and leader of the Unification Church.
“The citizens of the Kingdom of God, who will share in Christ’s sovereignty, bear the responsibility to defend their family, neighbors, and nation with their own rod of iron,” Moon wrote in his book, Rod of Iron Kingdom, according to Rolling Stone.
The ministries’ rallies are meant for “Christian patriots.” The website says that they stand for issues of law and order, traditional families, medical freedoms, life and the U.S. Constitution.
“We are Constitutional Christians who are serious about electoral integrity and also believe in Making America Godly Again,” the website says.
Moon’s prayers to his community for “a kingdom of peace police and peace militia where the citizens, through the right given to them by almighty God to keep and bear arms, will be able to protect one another and protect human flourishing,” Business Insider reported in 2018. The ceremony blessed the group’s marriages as well as their weapons.
Moon has given other sermons, like one from 2023, in which he said “all human beings should have the right to self-defense” and that “God sent good men with guns.”
This year’s Rod of Iron Freedom Festival, which starts on Friday, will feature the premier of Retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn’s movie Deliver the Truth. Whatever the Cost. at the Tommy Gun Warehouse Grounds in Greeley, Pennsylvania.
Flynn was the White House national security adviser under Trump for less than a month before he resigned and was charged with lying to the FBI about conservations he had with Russians on Trump’s behalf.