JD Vance and the Prophets of Trumpism – DNyuz

On September 28, JD Vance spoke at a Christian political event hosted by the most influential religious leader you’ve probably never heard of.

His name is Lance Wallnau, and he is one of the leading proponents of a radical religious doctrine called the Seven Mountains Mandate. He is an election denier. He says Kamala Harris engaged in “witchcraft” in her debate with Donald Trump and that an “occult spirit” is working “on her and through her.” And he is a leader of one of the most dangerous political factions in America: the religious movement that fueled the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.

As Matthew Taylor wrote in his important new book ‘The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy’, Wallnau himself played a major role in the uprising. “I searched hundreds of social media profiles of Christians who were present at the riots and protests at the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” Taylor said. “Interestingly, excerpts from Wallnau’s Facebook Live are rants and links to episodes of ‘Flashpoint’” – a program on a Christian television network called Victory Channel.

The event Vance attended was part of Wallnau’s “Courage Tour,” a series of rallies targeting key battleground counties with the aim of encouraging right-wing Christians to vote and recruiting them to serve as election workers and poll workers . Vance, a Catholic, is not part of this movement (he spoke about drug addiction and answered questions at the event), but his presence signals how important it is to Trump and his campaign. Wallnau’s audience includes many of Trump’s most zealous and loyal supporters. Many of them were among the first to hop on the Trump train, and they were never tempted to get off.

To understand Wallnau and the Seven Mountain Mandate, let’s go back to 2015, the year Trump announced his run for president. At the time, traditional evangelical elites were staunchly opposed to Trump. For example, the Christian news magazine World surveyed 103 evangelical leaders and influencers during the 2016 primary season (I was one of those surveyed), and we firmly and consistently rejected Trump. Marco Rubio won the poll month after month.

And yet, grassroots evangelical voters preferred Trump. Even as early as August 2015, when a dozen other Republican challengers were in the race, he enjoyed the pluralistic support of evangelicals, and there was one category of Christian leaders who seemed more attracted to him than others: Pentecostals and charismatics.

The terms “Pentecostal” and “charismatic” refer to Christians who believe that the supernatural signs and wonders described in the New Testament still occur today. There are differences between the two groups, but they both believe in divine healing and prophetic words. Like virtually all Christians, they believe that angels and demons exist, but Pentecostals and charismatics are more likely to engage in what they call “spiritual warfare” – the use of prayer to attempt to directly attack and defeat demonic spirits.

I know Pentecostalism well because I was a deacon at a small Pentecostal church in rural Kentucky. It was one of the warmest congregations I have ever known. The members of my church loved their neighbors and served their communities. The belief in miracles translated into a radically hospitable spirit; none of your problems, they believed, could withstand the power of a loving God.

Were you sick? God could heal you. Were you addicted to drugs? God could deliver you. Was your partner about to leave? God could revive the love in both your hearts. There is always hope in a Pentecostal church, and the exuberant worship in many Pentecostal churches reflects that hope.

The first Pentecostal revival began in 1906 in a church on Azusa Street in Los Angeles, and was led by a black minister named William J. Seymour. The Azusa Street Revival included both black and white members, but racial divisions emerged early in the movement. To this day, however, Pentecostal churches are often more diverse than their mainstream evangelical counterparts, and the Pentecostal church in South America has grown at an astonishing rate.

But the Pentecostal movement also has dangerous elements. The emphasis on supernatural revelations can make its members vulnerable to charlatans who claim to hear directly from God. Her emotionality can lead to radicalism. And its culture — with its emphasis on divine revelation and miracles that other evangelicals often find confusing or difficult to believe — can lead to an insularity that shields Pentecostals from mainstream news and information sources.

Furthermore, much of Pentecostalism’s notable growth is taking place in independent, non-denominational churches. This means that there is no institutional discipline or accountability for misconduct. There are no real binding statements about theological beliefs. Indeed, there is no consensus at all about Pentecostal theology – apart from the basic principles of belief in Jesus, the high regard for the biblical text and the belief in miracles and prophecies.

When most mainstream evangelical leaders were on the sidelines in 2015 and early 2016, Pentecostal leaders leaned forward, including, most importantly, Paula White, the pastor who became one of Trump’s top religious advisers and chair of his Faith and Opportunity Initiative.

Taylor’s book focuses on one of the most radical Pentecostal movements, the New Apostolic Reformation – a loose network of Christian leaders who claim to be prophets and apostles “anointed” to discern the will of God and the true meaning of Scripture . Taylor maps exactly how the New Apostolic Reformation became what he calls the “point of the spear” of radical Christian Trumpism, and part of that story concerns the influence of prophecy on the hearts of Pentecostals.

I talked to Taylor about his book, and he told me that while only a small number of Pentecostal prophets predicted a Trump victory in 2016, after he won, the trickle of prophecies became a flood. In Taylor’s words, Trump’s victory created a “whole new incentive structure.” Hundreds of prophets and hundreds of prophecies began to flood the Christian media, not just the Victory Channel, but networks like Daystar, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and the Christian Broadcasting Network.

“The choir of prophets,” Taylor said, “creates a sense of certainty and irrefutability.” In other words, as the 2020 election approached, countless Christians were not only certain that Trump would win, they were also certain that Trump had been appointed by God to save the United States of America, either as a figure of king Cyrus (a pagan ruler who helped save the United States). people of Israel) or as a King David figure (a flawed king, but still God’s anointed ruler).

Any dissent from that idea was met with brutal opposition. Although there is relatively little theological oversight within Pentecostal America, political oversight has become widespread. Taylor likened it to a “mafia dynamic.” If you “step outside the line of politics,” Taylor said, “you’re going to feel it.”

At the same time, the Seven Mountain Mandate provided a theological justification for supporting Trump’s quest for power. The core concept of the mandate is simple: it states that Christians can only save the nation if they or their allies gain control of each of the seven “mountains” of cultural influence: the family, religion, education, the media, the arts, business and government.

In 2013, Wallnau wrote a short book with Bill Johnson, pastor of the powerful Bethel Church, a large Pentecostal congregation in California. In a chapter on the Mandate, Wallnau wrote: “These mountains are crowned with high places that modern kings occupy as ideological strongholds.” He said he “felt” God telling him that “he who can take these mountains can take the harvest of nations.”

In Pentecostalism, when people who claim God’s “anointing” for prophecy say they have felt something from God, it is often taken as direct divine revelation.

Worse, elements of the mandate turn Christian concepts of virtue on their heads. Traditional Christianity teaches that Christian virtues are to be applied in all areas of life, that the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control – should characterize Christian commitment everywhere.

But for the Seven Mountain Mandate Christian, that is naive. Spirituality is needed to dominate the church, but other characteristics are needed to dominate the other mountains. As Taylor explained, beauty will help you in the media, so beautiful Christians should orient themselves to television and film. Ruthlessness is useful in business and politics. In those areas, boxing is not only valuable, it is often essential.

Viewed this way, Trump’s anger and rage become assets. “Trump is good,” Taylor told me. “He was baptized by their theology.”

Biblically literate readers will immediately notice the flaws in this argument. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke both tell how Satan tempted Jesus by taking him “to a very high mountain” and showing him “all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.” Satan said to Jesus, “I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.”

What was his reaction? “Go away, Satan!”

Jesus left the mountaintop and died on a cross. Believers in the Seven Mountains Mandate covet the mountaintop. They want to rule. As Wallnau wrote in his book, “The sober truth is that wherever the church fails to exercise its authority, a vacuum is created in which darkness can take up residence.”

In general, Christian nationalism is more harmful to the church than to the nation. It distracts believers from following Jesus to pursue power. It divides municipalities. Yet there is no real possibility that Catholic integralists or Protestant theonomists—people who believe in explicitly religious rule for the United States—will take over, especially when religious belief and practice has declined sharply.

There are simply not enough Christian nationalists to dominate a functioning democracy. But there are more than enough Christian radicals to create chaos. The Christians who stormed the Capitol on January 6 traumatized a nation, and when you understand the prophecies believed and the theology some of them espouse, you can understand exactly why it could happen again.

The seeds are sown. At an event last month in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Wallnau told the audience, “Jan. 6 was not a rebellion; it was an intervention in election fraud.”

Vance’s presence at an event in Wallnau means that Wallnau’s influence within the MAGA movement and within Trumpist Christianity is undeniable. Vance’s presence also illustrates why he refuses to acknowledge that Biden won a free and fair election in 2020. He would directly contradict the prophets of Trumpism, and if you contradict the prophets of Trumpism, you will have to pay.

The post JD Vance and the Prophets of Trumpism first appeared in the New York Times.