NC Lt. Gov. candidate appeared with religious leader who plans to become king of the US

The Republican candidate for lieutenant governor voiced agreement with a religious leader who says that the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” are the Rothschild family of “international bankers that rule every single ... central bank,” the CIA, China and Islam.

The conversation is part of an interview that Mark Robinson did in 2019 with Pastor Sean Moon, whose father Sun Myung Moon founded the Unification Church, which some have called a cult.

Sean Moon’s Pennsylvania-based church believes that the American government will collapse and that he will ultimately become king of the United States, according to a 2018 Washington Post profile.

Robinson is up against Democratic state Rep. Yvonne Holley to replace Dan Forest, the outgoing lieutenant governor who is challenging Gov. Roy Cooper. Robinson’s campaign has already faced criticism for Facebook posts in which he makes derogatory comments about transgender people, Muslims, a Jewish filmmaker, former President Barack Obama and fellow Black Americans who support Democrats.

But the Greensboro gun-rights activist voices other controversial views in the interview with Moon, which was posted to YouTube and features the pastor wearing camouflage and a crown made of rifle shells.

Moon explains his theory about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, including the comments about the Rothschild family, which is a longstanding anti-Semitic trope about the influence of wealthy Jewish bankers.

Robinson then responds “that’s exactly right. It’s amazing to me, that we live in this age of information where you can go online and you can find all this information, and it’s not hidden from anybody.”

Asked about the interview this week, Robinson’s campaign sought to distance the candidate from Moon’s “Four Horsemen” theory.

“At no point in the interview does Mark talk about the four horsemen, and after the statement is made by the interviewer, Mark goes on to talk about how our culture, and particularly the media, despises Christianity and the Bible,” campaign manager Conrad Pogorzelski said in an email.

He criticized The News & Observer for writing about the video. “This video has under 300 views, and was posted over a year ago. This is clearly the fake news media trying to destroy not only a conservative, but a Christian just two weeks before an election.”

The N.C. Republican Party, which had previously declined to comment on Robinson’s controversial Facebook posts, did not respond to a request for comment about its candidate’s Moon interview.

Also in the interview, Robinson criticizes a Fayetteville church that has gay pastors.

“It’s a homosexual church,” he tells Moon. “You know, those two things don’t go together! ... If somebody had told me when I was 15 that there would be churches that openly allow gay pastors and gay marriage, I would’ve told them they’re crazy.”

As the two continue their discussion of homosexuality in the church, Moon says that “the wage for sin is death,” and Robinson said he’s “absolutely right. ... If you are a homosexual you are more than welcome to come to this Church. We will pray with you that you can deal with that the same way the gambler deals with his gambling, the alcoholic deals with his alcoholism.”

The N.C. Democratic Party blasted Robinson’s comments from the Moon interview.

“Mark Robinson’s posts and comments are homophobic, anti-Semitic, and downright unhinged,” party spokesman Austin Cook said in an email. “He is clearly not fit to serve in elected office, and the same goes for his running mate Dan Forest who has refused to denounce his comments. The fact that the NCGOP doesn’t have the guts to denounce this kind of fringe behavior shows just how out of touch they’ve become.”

Robinson’s campaign does stand behind his comments to Moon about same-sex marriage.

“In the interview, Mark talks about the Biblical definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman and that for a pastor to contradict the Bible would be foolish,” Pogorzelski said.

This story was originally published October 22, 2020 at 11:44 AM.