Bullets & Bible Verses: A Look Inside Sanctuary Church

NEWFOUNDLAND, PA - It’s Sunday morning here in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania. And like so many across the country, I’ve found myself listening to a pastor. Having been raised in the church, I’ve been to my fair share of Sunday services. But none like the one here at World Peace and Unification Sanctuary, also known as Sanctuary Church.

“If you are a Christian, and you believe Jesus is God, then you cannot deny the scripture where your God, Jesus Christ himself, created the assault weapon...an assault weapon, and he assaulted.”

25 miles southeast of Scranton, the church blends into the trees of the Pocono Mountain region. The woods that surround it suits lead Pastor, Hyung Jin ‘Sean’ Moon and his sometimes 5 hour long sermons well.

“It is a Christian duty to have arms and to be able to protect your church and your flock. It’s your duty!”

The 38 year old Harvard Grad is no stranger to religion. His father, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon was a Korean evangelist, a self-proclaimed messiah and leader of the “Unification Movement” also called ‘The Moonies;' known for their mass arranged weddings. In 2009, Sean was named sole successor to his father’s ministry and four years later, he and his wife moved to Pennsylvania where he now leads a church of his own; with a message he says traditional churches are too afraid to preach…

“For us, the Rod of Iron, as the bible describes, is a weapon of tremendous power that allows the people to be in dominion over their environment,” says Moon, “I think the bible is pretty clear picture that the Rod of Iron is an accouterment and it actually says that it will shatter the nations to pieces like the potters’ vessel. It’s an accouterment of tremendous power.”

Inside, upwards of 120 church supporters gather around Pastor Sean whose teachings revolve heavily around a passage in the bible. Revelation 2:26 says “...he will rule them with a rod of iron...” Pastor Sean interprets that “rod of iron,” to mean firearms like the lethal, lightweight and legal in Pennsylvania, semi-automatic assault rifle, the AR-15.

“It’s a serious responsibility that we have to protect our families and to protect our neighbors. It’s loving your neighbor as yourself and taking responsibility,” says supporter Kyle Toffey, “It’s not someone else’s responsibility, it’s my responsibility.”

Toffey began following Pastor Sean’s father when he was 20 years old. But after being exposed to Pastor Sean in Korea, he was inspired to follow. Today he says he now has a real understanding of what God wants for America and for the world; a vision that he learned through what he calls Sean’s ‘Kingdom Series.” He says “I just really felt that there’s a real vision for what the Kingdom of Heaven is supposed to be. You and I are supposed to be kings and queens in reality.”

But Sanctuary Church’s message doesn’t end at the tip of the gun barrel.

It’s quite an intense environment here in a wooded area of the Poconos owned by Pastor Sean. What starts with a prayer, turns into martial arts training, then it’s open shooting. The silence of the forest, and even birds chirping, explodes once shots are fired…

Together, they call themselves the Peace Police or Peace Militia. Churchgoers as young as 17 and as old as 70 gather to train in martial arts and shooting; alternating between handguns and AR15s, under the idea that this is what God wants.

“I think the tradition of training, even having militias in local communities or shooting groups together, is more for personal defense,” Pastor Sean tells PBS39 reporter, K.C. Lopez, “but if the needs be, the personal defense becomes the basis of which a community can defend itself against larger forces.”

Just 30 minutes away, in nearby Greeley, Pennsylvania, Sean’s brother, Kook-Jin ‘Justin’ Moon, owns a business of his own. And while Kahr Arms’ Tommy Gun Warehouse is no church, the talk inside is quite similar.

“If you love God and you love other people then you should put yourself in a position where you can protect them if they need it; to protect the defenseless and that also includes a right to your own self-protection, and your family, or your property,” says Tommy Gun Warehouse employee Bob Smart, “And we do have a second amendment festival or Rod of iron festival, I think it’s called. It’s coming up in October and it will probably be about 5 thousand people here on the property on the 12th and 13th of October.”

Pastor Sean introduced his pro-firearm message in 2015. And in February of 2018, not long after the Parkland school shooting in Florida, Sanctuary Church held a commitment ceremony. There, about 250 couples gathered dressed in white, their heads graced with gold and silver crowns and AR15s in hand to demonstrate their “willingness to defend their families, communities and nation.” Many of whom headed to Tommy Gun Warehouse in preparation...

“I mean there was push back from inside the church a bit because people go, what is this?” explains Toffey, “We’re supposed to be about peace and love. But we need to protect that peace and love.”

Now Pastor Sean’s message isn’t embraced by all. And while some call push back a side effect of non traditional thinking, critics have gone as far as calling sanctuary church a cult with a conflict of interest...

“How do you divide those two; your role as a pastor and your brother’s business, which is doing very well in this area?,” asked PBS’s K.C. Lopez.

“Well I think we look to John chapter two and we see that Jesus himself manufacturers a weapon himself made for assault,” Pastor Sean explained, “So, in the modern day we hear a lot about the assault weapon but at the time we see that right there when Christ spends time to manufacture the scourge, then he overturns the tables and actually uses it against the money-changers in the temple. So we see Jesus himself use a weapon to chase out what he saw as evil and the defiling of the temple which should be a house of prayer.”

But today, many within the Christian Community are left questioning if Pastor Sean and his church are misinterpreting what’s at the center of it all; the Bible’s text.

“We’re not talking about a literal rod of iron, it’s a symbol,” explains Pete Enns, “You can always find passages to do your bidding if you want to hard enough. But then the question is, is this something that anyone would have recognized before? Is this what these passages were meant to say when they were written?”

Pete Enns is Abram S. Clemens professor of Biblical Studies at Eastern University. The Harvard University, PhD has taught at several schools and written, edited and contributed to over 20 books about Christianity and the Bible. He says politics shouldn’t always be kept out of religious life.

“A very healthy way of looking at the relationship between church and any sort of political affiliation to call the powers that be into account when they are acting justly or unjustly,” Enns says, “I would like to see churches call into account the government for mistreating marginalized people for example; now that’s a gospel message.”

In the few years Sanctuary Church has called Newfoundland home, the church has done very well for itself; raising nearly 3 million dollars in contributions in three years; a figure made public on their website. Today their Defend and Build campaign wants to raise 4 million dollars for a new church facility and training center. Moving forward and expanding, Pastor Sean says his hope for the next generation of Sanctuary Church supporters is simple; “To be able to serve their community, live for something greater than themselves and to ultimately bring glory to God. That’s what I hope...”

And so what was first met with some hesitation, has been embraced by the supporters of Sanctuary Church. Today, believers like Kyle say it’s been a learning process, so that their vision of heaven can exist and thrive here on earth...

“It’s really important to know that people don’t necessarily, aren’t necessarily pushing back,” explains Toffey, “Matter of fact, we have a lot of supporters you know and occasionally people will decide to pull over and come into church and see what we’re all about.”