IT IS the gun-toting church whose leader is so controversial he’s earned the nickname King Bullet Head.
At the Rod of Iron Ministries, couples parade with AK rifles, and their rap-loving leader, Pastor Hyung Jin Sean Moon, wields a gold-plated version, while sporting a crown of bullets.
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The dedicated congregation are pro-guns and pro-Trump and fiercely opposed to gay sex and abortion.
‘Matched’ in arranged marriages, they take part in mass weddings and often celebrate the union with joint target practice.
Now, a new documentary – fronted by Taskmaster comedian and documentary-maker Jamali Maddix – lifts the lid on what life inside the Church is really like.
The episode, called King Bullet Head and the Gun Church, airs today as part of a series called Jamali Maddix: Follow The Leader, where Jamali shadows various radical groups in America.
It is produced by investigative journalist Louis Theroux’s production company, Mindhouse.
Jamali meets the Church’s leader, Pastor Sean Moon, in Tennessee, America’s Bible belt and long-standing Church members, including grandmother-of-four Fran Ichijo, 70, and her husband Yoshi, 74.
Talking to The Sun about the sect – which was spawned from the infamous Moonies run by the Pastor’s father, Rev. Sun Myung Moon – Fran denied claims that the members were ‘brainwashed’
She admits she gives 10 per cent of her income to the church but insists it’s voluntary.
“No one is forced to give anything or do anything,” she says.
“People think Moonies are weird, but we’re just normal folks. I have a farm, a puppy, a husband, and four grandkids.”
Worship With Weapons
The Rod of Iron Church, also known as the Sanctuary Church, grabbed headlines in 2018 after holding a ceremony with AR-15 guns just two weeks after a school massacre, which saw 17 children murdered in Florida by a shooter wielding an AR-15.
Critics, including anti-gun activists, slammed the event as tasteless and irresponsible.
But speaking to The Sun over Zoom, from her Tennessee farm, member Fran insists the Church endorse them so families can protect their loved ones and community.
She says: “If you look at many of the school shootings, the bad guy or girl is stopped by a gun so imagine if you have evil people who get guns and everybody is armed and trained to stop them. We have to defend ourselves against evil people.
“It’s about ‘love God, love your neighbours.’
“If you don’t have firearms you can’t fight against tyranny. This is one of our biggest rights and I believe Pastor Sean is very correct in promoting this.”
In the documentary, Jamali watches a newly-blessed (married) couple hold their wedding reception at the Church’s gun range.
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Although Fran insists this doesn’t happen after all blessings – she admits: “I’m all for guns. We have two pistols smaller than an AK-15.
“My husband built us a target practice at the back of the house and we do target practice at Church too.”
From Ballet Shoes to Bullets
Before joining Pastor Sean Moon’s Church in America, Fran was a member of his late father’s Church in Korea – called the Unification Church.
Like it’s thousands of other members, Fran believes that the then leader, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, was the second Messiah.
An aspiring dancer, Fran was just 22 and en route to a ballet class in New York, when she was approached by a member of the movement she calls “my spiritual mother”.
People think Moonies are weird, but we’re just normal folks. I have a farm, a puppy, a husband, and four grandkids.
Fran Ichiijo
By 1978, she had upped-sticks to the mission’s HQ in Korea and was teaching ballet to the congregation’s wider community.
She admits: “At first, my family tried to get me deprogrammed. They thought I was looney tunes or something. I tried to show them I was OK but I was one of eight and it’s only really one sister who I stay regularly in touch with now.”
The Unification Church has long been accused of brainwashing members.
Former worshippers, like whistleblower Steve Hassan, claim the group forces members into labour and isolation, sometimes working up to 21 hours a day but Fran dismisses these claims.
Pro-Trump and Preparing for Armageddon
Like many in Pastor Moon’s congregation, Fran is staunchly pro-Trump. The church even boasts a custom-built 4×4 emblazoned with Trump’s face, and Pastor Moon proudly owns a pair of Trump’s infamous gold sneakers, in tribute to him.
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For Fran, Trump is more than a political figure—he’s America’s saviour. She’s even built a bunker to prepare for what she sees as the imminent collapse of American society if Trump doesn’t return to power. “Satan wants to destroy America.”
She adds: “If Kamala Harris wins, it’ll be the beginning of the end,” she says. “We’ve got food stored away in case the grid goes down—no electricity, no internet. I’m more scared of losing my constitutional rights than of dying.”
Fran is also fiercely anti-abortion. During the documentary, she shocks Jamali by claiming that the Government is killing babies after birth for body parts.
Mass Weddings
In 1978, Fran was ‘matched’ with her now husband Yoshi – a fellow Church member studying at University in Japan.
He was flown to Korea for their matching – a ceremony where couples vow to commit to each other.
Fran says: “When I saw him, I thought, ‘well, he’s hot-to-trot,’ so I didn’t mind!”.
Who are the Moonies?
THE Unification Church is a new religious movement based on Christianity, founded in South Korea in 1954 by Sun Myung Moon.
They teach that Moon, who died in 2012, was the second coming of Jesus Christ. His name is where the nickname “Moonies” comes from.
The Church is known for its mass weddings, known as Blessing Ceremonies, with participants numbering in the thousands.
Critics have called the church a cult, a claim it rejects.
However, it has been criticised for its social and political influence, and alleged financial exploitation of its members.
Experts believed it had more than 3 million members at its peak in the 1980s, though numbers have decline significantly.
“We agreed within ten minutes of meeting to be together.
“We gave our vows to accept each other but our blessing (the church’s term for wedding) wasn’t for another four years which I think was lucky for us because we could get to know each other. We have many friends who were blessed three days after meeting.”
There are strict no-touching, no-sex rules before couples ‘wed’.
Fran explains: “We are meant not to touch each other at all, before you’re blessed, but we did.
“There was a little kissing, a little touching. I’m just confessing now. We weren’t perfect in that regard but we didn’t cross the line. There was no fornication.”
They were one of 2075 other couples in a famous blessing ceremony in New York’s Madison Square gardens in 1982.
They have matched their own children with partners – all of whom have now been blessed.
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For Fran, arranged marriages like hers could be the solution to the world’s escalating divorce rate.
The Ultimate Sacrifice
Fran also made perhaps the biggest sacrifice any mother could make for the church – she gave away her fourth baby to another member.
It’s perhaps a strange thing, given her mantra that Family is the most important thing the Church preaches about.
She explains: “We wanted to help other couples in our Church experience the joy of having a family too.
“We’d had three children.
“Our second child was autistic so there were challenges.
73 per cent of gay men have stated that they have sex with someone under-age. There’s a lot of paedo’s hiding in that rainbow cult
Pastor Sean Moon
“When I got pregnant again I was thinking how busy I was already. I would never have an abortion. It was like God spoke to us, saying maybe this child is meant for someone else.
“Then my husband suggested a couple he knew who had tried and tried for a baby but couldn’t have one. The mother was there at the birth.
“She burst into tears because she was so longing and had prayed so hard so we felt like it was just meant to be.”
Fran’s daughter Julia, is now 34, lives with her husband in Iowa state and has kept in regular contact, but Fran seems detached when she talks of their adoption decision.
She says: “There was no hesitation but I did cry after the birth because my hormones went cuckoo.
“I didn’t want to hold her or breast feed her, anything that might make me regret.
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“We love her very much. She’s come to my youngest daughter’s wedding.
“She calls us Aunt Fran and Uncle Yoshi.
“I’m very proud of doing that.”
Fake Facts
Much of Fran and other member’s belief systems are formed off the back of some of the bold statements Pastor Moon makes in his outspoken sermons.
In the documentary, he shockingly preaches: “73 per cent of gay men have stated that they have sex with someone under-age. There’s a lot of paedo’s hiding in that rainbow cult.”
Does Fran believe every word he says or challenge him?
She says: “I have complete faith that he is following his father’s path and he is always open to different views and discussion.
“We chose years ago not to have church jobs. We didn’t want to take Church dollars and feel beholden to it.
“He’s an open book and I trust his leadership but I’m not a blind follower.”
Jamali Maddix: Follow The Leader airs on U&Dave at 10pm each Tuesday with the box-set available to stream free on U from today