Joseph Z Prophet
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'Prophet' Joseph Z appearing on Sept. 11, 2023 livestream.
Last month, a self-proclaimed prophet who goes by the name Joseph Z appeared on the Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint” to warn that “the spirit of antichrist” had led Vice President Kamala Harris to choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate because Walz “fit right in with the wicked overlord lizard mafia that is really driven by their goblin masters.”
Despite the antisemitic and downright bizarre nature of his statement, Joseph Z’s profile has recently been on the rise among the far-right Charismatic Christian vid]
community,
him a program on the Daystar Christian television network and now, apparently, establishing a connection to the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
During a
on Sunday, Joseph Z cryptically reported that a meeting with Trump had been arranged. vid]
“Without going into it, I just got an invitation from another wonderful brother to meet with some of the well, I won’t label it right now but you read between the lines,” he stated. “We’re going to probably go meet with the main party running right now, and I believe the Lord has a word for us to be present in some of these places.”
Later in the broadcast, Joseph Z was a little more forthcoming, reporting that he and others have been “invited to go meet with 45,” which is right-wing code for Trump, who was the 45th President of the United States.
During the same broadcast, Joseph Z made clear that he supports Trump because, he claims, the Harris campaign is driven by a demonic “spirit of seduction.”
‘I ain’t with her,” he said. “They’ve got a serious demonic—what’s the word for it? What Jezebel had?—a spirit of seduction. A seducing spirit that’s trying to get people lulled to sleep, to follow along, and they’re even getting some stupid preachers to go along with it and continue to celebrate that and say, ‘You know, we’re going in that direction.’ Well, of course you are; you’re lulled to sleep by the spirit of antichrist.”
Unfortunately, the idea of a presidential candidate meeting with someone like Joseph Z is no longer that surprising, given that Trump is currently tromping around the country with far-right conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, had dinner with antisemitic white Christian nationalist Nick Fuentes, and remains closely allied with dominionist spiritual warriors like the ones he met online with on the eve of the presidential debate. FlashPoint host Gene Bailey, who elevated Z’s profile by inviting him onto the show last month, was invited to interview Trump at Mar-a-Lago last year.
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Prophet' Joseph Z appearing on YouTube video of Sept. 11, 2023 livestream.pix]
Right Wing Watch reported last week that FlashPoint, a prominent Christian dominionist and MAGA-minded television show, had featured “prophet” Joseph Z claiming that “the antichrist spirit” had chosen Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz to fit in with the “wicked overlord lizard mafia” and its “goblin masters.” Right Wing Watch readers commented that such rhetoric is grounded in antisemitic conspiracy theories, which encouraged us to follow up on that post.
The FlashPoint program was not the first time Z has used such rhetoric. An
of his podcast posted last September is entitled “EVIL LIZARDS ATTEMPTING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD.” In a portion of the podcast focused on the World Economic Forum and its founder Klaus Schwab, Z referred to “wicked lizard goblin pervert mafia scumbags” and “lizard wicked scumbags trying to take over the world.” Z also used the phrases “global domination plan,” “dominion spirit,” and “right out of the antichrist playbook.”
Z’s previous episode is notable because FlashPoint host Gene Bailey, a prominent Trump backer who was invited to Mar-a-Lago last year to interview the former president, vouched for Z on last week’s show, saying he had been watching the “prophet” closely for a year.
The World Economic Forum and its call for an economic “great reset” after the COVID-19 pandemic have spawned an array of conspiracy theories promoted by right-wing media and grounded in the idea that “a group of world leaders orchestrated the pandemic to take control of the global economy.” These claims are variations on an older “New World Order” conspiracy theory, which has antisemitic origins, and taps into the same strain of conspiracist thinking promoted by the infamous antisemitic forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” Among those promoting “great reset” and COVID conspiracy theories has been the vehemently antisemitic far-right broadcaster Stew Peters.
In Z’s earlier “lizard” video, the “prophet” also referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “Castro’s kid” – a reference to another false conspiracy theory that Donald Trump promoted recently during his interview with far-right online personality Adin Ross, who has a history of promoting racism and antisemitism.
In a 2021 NBC story about a conspiracy theory about reptilian aliens hiding among humans to achieve world domination, cultural historian Lynn Stuart Parramore explored its roots in both science fiction and antisemitic conspiracy theories:
The notion of shape-shifting, blood-sucking reptilian humanoids invading Earth to control the human race sounds like a cheesy sci-fi plot. But it’s actually a very old trope with disturbing links to anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic hostilities dating to the 19th century.
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The world-ruled-by-lizard-people fantasy shot to prominence in recent years in part through the
, a popular British sports reporter-turned-conspiracy theorist known for his eccentric ideas. note: **Icke’s son is among the [promoters of Great Reset conspiracy theories.]
Icke would have you believe that a race of reptilian beings not only invaded Earth, but that it also created a genetically modified lizard-human hybrid race called the “Babylonian Brotherhood,” which, he maintains, is busy plotting a worldwide fascist state. This sinister cabal of global reptilian elites boasts a membership list including former President Barack Obama, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and Mick Jagger.
This nonsense is espoused by a variety of internet conspiracy-mongers, including far-right, Trump-loving QAnon adherents, one of whom was accused in 2019 of murdering his own brother because he thought he was a lizard. As many as 12 million Americans believed in this lizard people conspiracy in a 2013 Public Policy Polling survey. It’s safe to assume the number is higher today.
The outlandish trope has roots in the second half of the 19th century, when the Industrial Revolution, Darwin’s theory of evolution and rapid scientific advances upended time-honored traditional ways of life, leaving people unsettled and unsure what to believe. It emerged more strongly toward the end of the century, when anxieties about perceived outsiders, especially Jewish ones, were fueled by waves of immigrants flooding urban centers in Great Britain and the United States in search of economic prosperity and religious freedom. The tide of immigrants ignited cultural conflicts, as well as health and sanitation crises, in cities that lacked adequate infrastructure for the millions of arrivals.
…
Does any of this sound familiar? It should, because today’s internet postings by conspiracy theorists often carry traces of just the sort of anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic tensions that show up in history whenever segments of the population feel betrayed by elites and fear loss of their own social and economic status.
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Billionaire George Soros is a frequent bête noire among this crowd, and he is often depicted as a world-dominating reptile.
Parramore also noted that Anthony Quinn Warner made statements about a conspiracy of lizard people taking over the planet before setting off an explosion in downtown Nashville, Tennessee on Christmas Day 2020. A 2021 Business Insider story on that bombing noted, “Like the lizard-people theory, QAnon draws on centuries-old anti-Semitic tropes.” The Daily Beast reported that a man who stabbed his brother to death—claiming that God told him his brother was a lizard—was also a QAnon adherent and had tried to join the Proud Boys.
Literary Hub cited another example of the lizard conspiracy theory turning deadly:
In August 2021, the owner of a Christian surf school in Santa Barbara, California, drove his two young children to the Mexican resort town of Rosarito, where he killed both children (ages two years and ten months) and left their bodies by the side of the road. He would later claim that his wife “possessed serpent DNA” and he had killed his children out of fear of “interbreeding” between humans and reptilians—a theory he seems to have adopted through the work of ex-athlete and Green Party politician David Icke.
Z’s references to goblins may have been influenced by controversy about whether or not the portrayal of goblins in the Harry Potter books and movies—particularly an evil banker—was promoting age-old antisemitic tropes. Comedian and commentator Jon Stewart was among those who raised the issue, though he later said people were taking his “light-hearted” comments too seriously. When the goblin controversy reemerged last year with the release of the video game “Hogwarts Legacy,” the Times of Israel noted that following Stewart’s comments, the UK’s Campaign Against Antisemitism released a statement saying that “the portrayal of the goblins in the Harry Potter series is of a piece with their portrayal in Western literature as a whole” and “is a testament more to centuries of Christendom’s antisemitism than it is to malice by contemporary artists.”
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FlashPoint" host Gene Bailey interviews "prophet" Joseph Z.
Monday night’s edition of the FlashPoint program on televangelist Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel focused on the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as the Democratic candidate for vice president.
Guest Rick Green, an associate of Christian nationalist historian David Barton, declared Walz a “power-hungry tyrant” who is “perfect for the Communist Democrats.” If Green was hoping that would be the program’s most memorable attack line, he would soon be sorely disappointed.
That honor goes to “prophet” Joseph Z. Here’s part of his answer to his first question from host Gene Bailey, who asked if Z was encouraged or discouraged by what’s going on the country right now:
I believe very clearly the spirit of the Lord is making a way for the body of Christ to go through in this time. And you know even when we bring up guys like Tim Walz and look at what’s going on, people say he’s you know midwestern folksy, I have another word for him, being from Minnesota myself, and it’s weird. The guy’s just weird. You see the way he hugs his wife. You see the way he does everything. I believe the Spirit of the Lord is letting them overextend their reach. I believe he’s giving them a sense of confidence that’s actually going to be a surprise silver lining turnaround in this whole narrative. I believe the spirit of the Lord is going to bring victory and breakthrough. And you know it’s interesting how the spirit of antichrist just loves to pick these people that fit right in with the wicked overlord lizard mafia that is really driven by their goblin masters, and when you’re looking at this, I believe that’s exactly what we’re facing right now—a spirit of antichrist that wants to have its way.
Remarkably, Bailey had just introduced the Colorado-based Z to FlashPoint viewers by vouching for his credibility:
What we put on the air we take very seriously. And who we put on the air we take seriously as well. But that comes even more so when it comes to men of the cloth and prophets. Well, I met Joseph Z over a year ago, and I’ve continued to watch Joseph. My friend Hank Kunneman—we’ve continued to watch him. When he didn’t know we were watching, we were watching to see how he handled things. And I’m glad to say, I’m proud to have Joseph Z on the show tonight.
FlashPoint was launched by the Victory Channel in the fall of 2020 to help rally conservative Christians to support Trump and likeminded candidates, and as Right Wing Watch has reported, “provides a steady platform for pro-Trump, Christian nationalist propaganda and conspiracy theories, as it did on the night of Jan. 6, 2021.” Trump has rewarded the show’s loyalty by calling in repeatedly and sitting down with Bailey for a Mar-a-Lago interview last year. More from RWW:
“FlashPoint” played a key role in spreading lies about the 2020 election and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, with host Gene Bailey regularly welcoming right-wing “prophets” and evangelists like Lance Wallnau, Hank Kunneman, and Mario Murillo on to the program, where they steadfastly refuse to accept the election results.”
Wallnau, a New Apostolic Reformation figure and promoter of Seven Mountains Dominionism, wrote a foreword to Z’s book “Demystifying the Prophetic,” which promises among other things to teach readers how to “identify real and false prophets.”
Last year Green displeased Bailey and other Christian nationalist leaders and activists when he said he thought then-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy could make a good president, and Green was forced to “eat crow” on the program and insist that the nation’s founders said “over and over again” that the country needs “biblical leaders.”
FlashPoint regularly takes its show on the road, hosting events in front of live audiences to rally conservative Christian activists. Promoting a 2023 event to train right-wing Christians how to take over local school boards, Bailey declared, “That sounds like we’re trying to take over the world? Yes, we are. I fully admit that. That’s exactly what we’re doing.”
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