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Founded in Nigeria in 2002 — the year after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon — Boko Haram has been a frequent source of violence in that country for 23 years. The far-right jihadist group, often compared to al-Qaeda, favors overthrowing Nigeria's democratic republic and replacing it with an Islamist dictatorship governed by strict fundamentalist Shariah law — specifically, a Sunni version. Boko Haram has a long history of violent attacks on both Christians and Muslims (including Shiites as well as fellow Sunnis they consider too liberal).
U.S. President Donald Trump is now threatening military action against Boko Haram, vowing to "protect Christians." And his messaging is specifically focused on Christianity, not Sunni and Shiite Muslims in Nigeria who fear Boko Haram.
In an article published on November 4, Salon's Heather Digby Parton examines the influence that far-right white fundamentalist evangelicals and "Christian nationalists" are having on Trump's Nigeria policy. And one of them is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
"Whatever the case, this appears to be based upon misinformation," Parton explains. "Nigeria is dealing with the Boko Haram extremist group, which does target Christians. But it also threatens Muslims who don't accept its radical form of Islam, as well as those who are sympathetic to the Nigerian government. Most experts and analysts reject the assertion that this is some kind of Christian genocide. Trump may have wanted to give a little something to his 'cherished Christians,' as he sometimes refers to his evangelical supporters, but Hegseth is a much more interesting case."
Parton continues, "This is, after all, a man who wrote a book called 'American Crusade,' which The Guardian described as 'depicting Islam as a natural, historic enemy of the west; presents distorted versions of Muslim doctrine in Great Replacement-style racist conspiracy theories; treats leftists and Muslims as bound together in their efforts to subvert the U.S.; and idolizes medieval crusaders."
Parton warns that evangelical Hegseth embraces an extreme form of far-right Christian fundamentalism. In this book, the former Fox News host calls for "followers of Christ to take up the sword in defense of their faith."
"Hegseth is also a member of an extreme far-right sect called the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches that also believes in militant Christianity," Parton warns. "It's heavily influenced by reconstructionism, a theology that religion scholar Julie Ingersoll describes as believing 'it's the job of Christians to exercise dominion over the whole world.' In short, Hegseth is a serious Christian nationalist, and there could be nothing more satisfying for him than to muster a fighting force to wage war against Muslims in a foreign land in the name of Jesus Christ."
Parton continues, "It sounds medieval, and it is…. Whether they will follow through on this is anyone's guess. At some point, one might hope that a few of the Christians who are clamoring for the U.S. to go into Nigeria with 'guns-a-blazing' might spare a thought for their fellow followers of Christ who are being terrorized every single day right here in America at the hands of an oppressive government that is deporting them to face certain persecution."
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08/12/2025
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Last month, Ché Ahn, a far-right pastor in California, announced that he is running in the 2026 election to become governor of his home state.
Last week, Ahn officially launched his campaign with an event at which he explained how he has been called by God to run for the office.
"On April 28th, I had an encounter with the Holy Spirit at 2:30 in the morning," Ahn said. "The presence of God came upon me and this weighty presence—the kavod of God, the glory of God—came and I felt this incredible knowing. I didn't hear a voice, I didn't see a vision, I didn't have a dream, but I knew I was called to run for governor."
Ahn claimed that he initially resisted the calling and insisted upon receiving a confirmation from God that this is what he has been instructed to do.
"My first reaction, I said, 'Lord, please not this,'" Ahn claimed. "I'll do anything you ask me to do them not run for governor. And yet, I knew that I couldn't shake it. I was up for two hours, until like 4:30 in the morning just praying through this. Then I said, 'Lord, you know my weakness. I need a confirmation. I just can't go on this impression.' ... If I get an invitation from President Trump to come to the White House, then I know this is of you. Two hours later, I get a text saying that I'm going to get an e-mail invitation from President Trump to the White House for the National Day of Prayer at the Rose Garden."
"Now you can't make this up," Ahn declared. "And I said, 'OK, Lord, OK, that's a sign.'"
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As Right Wing Watch reported when he first announced his campaign, Ahn is an ardently pro-Trump Christian nationalist activist and a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation:
The New Apostolic Reformation is a growing religious and political movement that emerged from the Pentecostal corner of American Christianity over the past few decades. President Donald Trump’s rise to power was assisted by NAR leaders who declared that Trump was anointed by God to lead America; in turn, Trump and his spiritual adviser Paula White have given dominionist leaders a level of access and influence they have never had before.
The movement’s leaders, like Ahn, believe that Christians who share their religious and political worldview are commanded to transform whole nations by taking “dominion” over every sphere of influence in society, including government, and "occupy" them until the return of Christ. Ahn’s campaign website says he is running “not out of ambition, but out of obedience.”
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'Fits a profile': More assassination attempts feared as suspect's Christian ties come to light
In this handout provided by Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Vance Luther Boelter poses for a booking photo on June 16, 2025 in Green Isle, Minnesota.
Jordan Greenand Raw StoryJune 19, 2025
Since the fatal shooting of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband in an act described by a federal prosecutor as a “political assassination,” scrutiny has turned to suspect Vance Boelter’s ties to independent charismatic Christianity, in particular a movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).
Boelter is alleged to have posed as a police officer as he gunned down Democratic Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, in the early hours of June 14. In a separate shooting, he wounded state Sen. John A. Hoffman, also a Democrat, and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. Investigators say Boelter visited two other lawmakers and had a list of 70 targets, including Democrats, civic leaders and abortion providers.
Boelter was described in a court filing supporting federal charges as embarking "on a planned campaign of stalking and violence, designed to inflict fear, injure, and kill members of the Minnesota state legislature and their families."
Researchers who study the Christian right have homed in on Boelter’s attendance at a Bible college in Dallas in the late 1980s and missionary work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he delivered sermons critical of abortion and LGBTQ+ people.
Christ For the Nations Institute (CFNI) confirmed that Boelter attended the college from 1988 to 1990, graduating with a “diploma in practical theology in leadership and pastoral.”
Christ For the Nations Institute has been a “merging space” for trends in independent charismatic Christianity, Matthew D. Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic Christian Jewish Studies, told the “Straight White American Jesus” podcast.
Those trends include dominionism — the idea of Christians taking control over the world — and NAR, which emerged in the mid-1990s.
Frederick Clarkson, a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, described NAR to Raw Story as a movement whose adherents believe God speaks directly to modern-day apostles and prophets, and which seeks to “restore their vision of what they think 1st-century Christianity was.”
Both Taylor and Clarkson note that Apostle Dutch Sheets, one of the major proponents of New Apostolic Reformation, attended CFNI in the 1970s and taught at the college in the following decade, potentially overlapping with Boelter.
Sheets reportedly met Trump officials at the White House one week before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Staff at Dutch Sheets Ministries declined Raw Story’s request for an interview.
In the early 2010s, Sheets was executive director at CFNI, where a sign in the lobby displays a quote attributed to founder Gordon Lindsay: “Every Christian ought to pray at least one violent prayer a day.”
Following the Minnesota shootings, the institute said its leadership was “absolutely aghast and horrified that a CFNI alumnus is the suspect,” and that it “unequivocally rejects, denounces, and condemns any and all forms of violence and extremism, be it politically, racially, religiously or otherwise motivated.”
The statement rejected any notion the college’s teachings were “a contributing factor” to Boelter’s “evil behavior.”
The statement also claimed Lindsay’s comment about “violent prayer” has been misrepresented.
“By ‘violent prayer’ he meant that a Christian’s prayer life should be intense, fervent, and passionate, not passive and lukewarm,” the statement said, “considering that spiritual forces of darkness are focused on attacking life, identity in God, purpose, peace, love, joy, truth, health, and other good things.”
‘Five soccer balls’
Researchers who track the Christian right have taken note of a sermon Boelter preached in Congo in 2023.
“They don’t know abortion is wrong, many churches,” Boelter said, in comments first reported by Wired. “They don’t have the gifts flowing. God gives the body gifts. To keep balance. Because when the body starts moving in the wrong direction, when they’re one, and accepting the gifts, God will raise an apostle or prophet to correct their course.”
Clarkson told Raw Story Boelter’s rhetoric had a familiar ring.
“Nobody but someone influenced by the New Apostolic Reformation movement would say something like that,” Clarkson said.
But Taylor saw a broader strain of charismatic Christianity in Boelter’s sermonizing, connected to the Latter Rain movement, a precursor to NAR that emerged after World War II.
“Many people today would say those are NAR ideas, but they were Latter Rain ideas before they were NAR ideas,” Taylor said. “I don’t know where he picked up these ideas. He’s very clearly charismatic in his theology and in his preaching as well.”
In a sermon in Congo in 2022, Boelter used an odd metaphor involving soccer balls to suggest he was burdened with regrets.
“Do you understand what God has given us?” Boelter asked. “He’s given us eternity — with Him. And what does he ask? He says, ‘Life didn’t go the way I wanted it for you. But it wasn’t my fault. Vance, you sidetracked. You messed up your life. You took your five soccer balls, and you wrecked ’em.’
“But He says he loves us so much he came and he died to pay for it all. And he says, ‘Vance, do you want to trade your five wrecked soccer balls for all of these? Do you want to live forever with me? Then get on your face, Vance, and repent of your sins.”
Clarkson told Raw Story he thinks both personal troubles and exposure to ideas in the realm of charismatic Christianity could have factored into Boelter’s turn to political violence.
“If he’s in NAR all the way, and his marriage and his finances are falling apart, he may lean into his faith to find purpose,” Clarkson said. “If he thinks his life as he knows it is over, he may be thinking about trying to go out in a meaningful way.”
Boelter reportedly texted his family after the shootings: “Dad went to war last night.”
“He’s been planning these things for a long time; he was armed for it,” Clarkson said. “It was literally war. He did seem to assume he would be killed … When people commit violence out of religious motive, that’s profound.”
‘Priming the pump for violence’
Clarkson said that if it turns out Boelter is an NAR adherent, “this would be the first major example of the violent vision and rhetoric of the New Apostolic Reformation movement manifesting.”
On the other hand, Clarkson said, “if it turns out that he’s not NAR, it’s still the case that there are all these NAR leaders that have been teaching people that they are in an end-times war. They’re priming the pump for violence in their lifetime.”
Taylor suggested a different way of looking at Boelter’s attack.
Political discourse in the U.S. is “at a high boil,” Taylor said. While Boelter might have been influenced by hostility towards abortion and LGBTQ+ rights in right-wing media, Taylor noted that political violence is manifesting against an array of targets, with a firebombing attack against Jewish demonstrators calling for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza in Colorado this month only one example.
“There’s so much of this bile in the far-right and right-wing and independent media spaces about abortion, and about LGBTQ+ rights,” Taylor said. “And that’s something that Boelter touches on in his sermons as well — about trans people, about Muslims, about immigrants.
“I worry that this is the harbinger of what’s to come. And we could see more attacks like this in the coming time, because he fits a very common profile.”
NOW READ: Trump now faces the same terrible choice
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Frederick Clarkson @ Religion Dispatches: Praying for God to Snuff Out Judges in the Name of Revival
When the events of January 6th roared into US history, many in the crowds that stormed the Capitol that day hoisted an unusual flag like it was the Jolly Roger. While the Appeal to Heaven flag, a green pine tree on a field of white, was originally used during the American Revolution, in recent years it’s been repurposed as the de facto battle flag of the neo-Charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. And the man primarily responsible for this transformation is a leader of this dynamic movement, Apostle Dutch Sheets of South Carolina.
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01/21/2025
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Dominionist pastor Ché Ahn appeared on the Christian nationalist program "FlashPoint" last week, where he declared that those who oppose President Donald Trump or anyone in his administration are "fighting God."
"Concerning all the [cabinet] candidates, I really believe we're seeing Daniel 2 played out where God says I'm going to remove leaders and replace them," Ahn said. "That's what we're seeing. God, in his sovereignty and his mercy on our nation as we have prayed and repented of our sins, he is answering our prayers."
"He's put Trump into position," Ahn continued. "But not only that, [Vice President J.D.] Vance. Are you kidding me? This incredible vice president and as well as the cabinet member, it's like an all-star team, a dream team that you couldn't even figure out or make up. God's doing it and so whoever fights them is really fighting God."
With Trump and his cabinet in place, Ahn proclaimed that America will "have incredible revival and reformation as a result of that for four years and beyond."
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Ahn, a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation and head of Harvest International Ministries based in Pasadena, California, was active in the right-wing effort to keep Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election, appearing at a rally on Jan. 5, 2021—one day before the Capitol insurrection—where he proclaimed that Trump would stay in power and told rallygoers that they would “rule and reign through President Trump and under the lordship of Jesus Christ.”01/21/2025
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Dominionist pastor Ché Ahn appeared at an event in Oklahoma last night that was organized by the Christian nationalist program “FlashPoint,” where he bragged that several members of his congregation are on the ballot for the November elections in California.
Ahn, a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation and head of Harvest International Ministries based in Pasadena, California, was active in the right-wing effort to keep former President Donald Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election, appearing at a rally on Jan. 5, 2021—one day before the Capitol insurrection—where he proclaimed that Trump would stay in power and that they would “rule and reign through President Trump and under the lordship of Jesus Christ.”
While Trump did not remain in office, Ahn is still intent on seeing his fellow right-wing Christians “rule and reign” over this nation.
“It is time for the church to rise,” Ahn told the FlashPoint audience. “We have the answers. We are the ones and we can’t just wait for the government—you are his ekklesia, you are his legislative body of the Kingdom of God and you need to be involved.”
“We’re encouraging people to run for office,” he continued. “For the first time in my network of churches … we have had seven people run in the March 5 primaries. They all ran because we gave them money to win and now they’re facing the election in November. They all won (their primaries). Not one lost.”
The mission of the New Apostolic Reformation was explained in a recent Right Wing Watch review of André Gagné’s book, “American Evangelicals for Trump: Dominion, Spiritual Warfare, and the End Times”:
NAR’s political mission is “no less than the sociopolitical transformation of nations with the goal of bringing about the Kingdom of God on earth,” Gagné writes. Of course, their view of the Kingdom has no room for people who do not share their religious and political worldviews. “Spiritual warfare” must be waged constantly against God’s enemies—which in the U.S. context includes Trump’s opponents—who are under “demonic control.”
As Gagné notes, “This spiritual warfare theology creates conditions which lead to the demonization of peoples, cultures, and political communities.” And that contributes to a toxic political culture in which compromise and pluralism are seen as sinister rather than essential to healthy society and governing, and in which some “prophets” urge people to stockpile weapons and prepare for civil war:
*These Charismatic leaders showed unwavering support for Trump and for his policies an viewed any opposition to the former president as spiritual warfare. They stigmatized and delegitimized their critics, claiming their enemies to be under demonic influence. These enemies include political and religious leaders who do not share the same enthusiasm for Trump and his vision for the United States. Some Charismatics have even prophesized the coming of a second American civil war—encouraging Christians to defend themselves against all opposition to Trump and their plan for a Christian hegemony. Many of these Trump-supporting Charismatics view democratic pluralism with suspicion and often try to silence church leaders who disagree with them. Pluralism is simply—and literally—demonized.
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after Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) was confirmed as House speaker, countless pundits noted that he has a much different temperament from Rep. Jim Jordan — the Ohio Republican, far-right firebrand and speaker nominee who had lost three votes in a row. Jordan is flamboyant, theatrical, performative and in-your-face; Johnson, in contrast, is much more reserved.
Yet from a policy standpoint, Jordan and Johnson aren't far apart. Johnson is a far-right Christian fundamentalist known for his-gay and anti-abortion views as well as his efforts to help former President Donald Trump stay in office despite losing the 2020 presidential election to now-President Joe Biden.
In an article published by the conservative website The Bulwark on October 30, religious scholar Matthew D. Taylor emphasizes that Johnson's politeness doesn't make him any less extreme.
"Hot-off-the-presses profiles of Mike Johnson, the new speaker of the House, contain a seeming paradox," explains Taylor, a prominent figure at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. "Some emphasize that he is a 'mild-mannered,' 'soft-spoken,' and temperamentally courteous individual. They similarly describe him as a 'Christian conservative' and a 'deeply evangelical Christian.' But many of the same profilers have also highlighted Johnson's troubling activity surrounding the 2020 election and Trump's attempt to overturn the American people's verdict. Johnson’s involvement was substantial enough that he has even been labeled the 'mastermind of the January 6 plot' and “a threat to democracy.'"
Taylor continues, "So, which is he: an anti-democratic politician and an insurrectionist, or a mild-mannered Christian? Part of the problem is that we have come to imagine that a person cannot be both at the same time. Mike Johnson shows that you can."
The religious scholar notes that he has "spent nearly three years researching the Christian theologies and Christian leaders that drove the January 6th insurrection," emphasizing that "many of them are mild-mannered, conservative, deeply evangelical."
"There are principled, conservative Christians with heartfelt moral views on abortion, LGBTQ-rights, and a host of other cultural issues who value democracy and pluralism and recognize their preferred policies won't always win the day," Taylor argues. "Think Russell Moore and David French. And there are politically extreme conservative Christians who might hold the exact same views on the same issues as Moore and French, but who are also willing to upend democracy to see their agendas realized, which Moore and French simply are not."
READ MORE:Mike Johnson once agreed to speak at 'Kill the Gays' pastor’s conference*
Taylor continues, "Politically extreme conservative Christians were some of the foremost leaders who bought into and bolstered Trump's 2020 election lies, who used theology to justify their own authoritarianism, and who have brought their extremist theologies into the heart of right-wing politics. Mike Johnson can be located in this group."
Taylor goes on to point out that the "key Christian instigators of January 6th" who he has "tracked" are "part of an amorphous, nondenominational network called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR)."
"They believe and propagate extreme theologies that provide a mandate for Christians to take over society, and they have become increasingly influential in Republican politics in the past eight years," Taylor observes. "Several New Apostolic Reformation leaders — they usually call their leaders either apostles or prophets — were influential evangelical advisers to Donald Trump. Presumably, some of them still are."
The religious scholar adds, "While he is not formally attached to the NAR movement, Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist, has spent years hanging around with NAR leaders, looking to them as mentors and friends, and pursuing their agenda."
READ MORE:GOP's Big Lie about 2020 is 'more about identity than evidence': expert*
*Read Matthew D. Taylor's full article for The Bulwark at this link.
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https://www.salon.com/2022/07/04/hes-on-a-mission-from-god-pennsylvania-candidate-doug-mastrianos-with-the-world/
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INVESTIGATION
He's on a mission from God: Pennsylvania GOP candidate Doug Mastriano's war with the world
Exclusive: Pa. GOP candidate closely linked to Christian extremists who want "spiritual warfare" against America
By FREDERICK CLARKSON
PUBLISHEDJULY 4, 2022
An animating element of politics in the age of Trump is that some people are increasingly living out religious metaphors. These metaphors are derived from contemporary understandings of the Old Testament by new elements within Christianity. This has been central to the campaign of Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who recently won the Republican nomination for governor. (He will face Democrat Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania's current attorney general, in November.) These metaphors are also integral to a movement of the post-insurrection religious and political right that is still in its formative stages.
As reporting by the New Yorker, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Word & Way and Paul Rosenberg at Salon has shown, there is something going on in Pennsylvania that is transforming politics in the state, and maybe on a larger scale as well.
Mastriano, a retired Army strategist and intelligence officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, appears to have a disturbing understanding of the relationship between metaphor and reality when it comes to biblical narratives. He suggested to an interviewer that today's Christians should emulate the warriors of Old Testament Israel.
[RELATED: Trump's army of God: Doug Mastriano and the Christian nationalist attack on democracy
"God can intervene in history," he said, adding that such interventions are carried out by "a man or a woman," such as the biblical Queen Esther (who got authorization from the King of Persia for the Jews to kill all their enemies); and the prophet Gideon (who led 300 soldiers against a far greater force).
Mainstream media generally describe Mastriano as an "election denialist" and a "Christian nationalist." He unconvincingly denies the latter, but he and his supporters are also more complicated than the label usually suggests. He is well known for having spoken at the Jericho March in December 2020 that unsuccessfully called for the Electoral College to switch its votes to Donald Trump. He was also slated to speak at the "wild protest" on Jan. 6, 2021, organized by "Stop the Steal" activist Ali Alexander, along with the likes of Roger Stone, theocratic activist Lance Wallnau and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz. And of course, promoting the Big Lie has been central to his politics since Trump's election defeat.
But there's more.
Some religious leaders who back Mastriano's campaign say they are in direct communication with God, see themselves as God's army, and see Mastriano as a general in their war for the world.
Mastriano's core support is a fusion of QAnon, the far-right Patriot movement and the revivalist New Apostolic Reformation — which views him as a military and political leader in advancing the biblically prophesied end times. We see this in his role in the Jericho March during the run-up to Jan. 6, and more recently when he joined members of the "Shofar Army'' in a ceremony of "spiritual warfare" on the Gettysburg battlefield, and as the headliner at a conference, Patriots Arise.
May the metaphors be with you
The Jericho March was derived from the biblical story of the battle of Jericho, which took place during the journey of the Israelites, led by Joshua, to the Promised Land. God had instructed them to march seven times around the city blowing shofars. The walls of the city collapsed, and the army rushed in, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and killing everyone in the city. The Ark of the Covenant, as fans of the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" film (among others) will recall, is a chest containing the two stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses.
Religious extremists who back Mastriano's campaign say they have direct messages from God, and see him as a general in God's army of conquest.
The story of the 2020 Jericho Marchpurportedly began with God giving two different individuals the same vision, calling them to set up a march in Washington as well as in the capitals of the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the days before the presidential electors were to cast their votes. (They were ultimately held in other states and Canada as well.)
Supposedly God wanted the marchers to oppose alleged corruption and restore election integrity — as well as Donald Trump's presidency. In Washington, crowds marched around the Capitol, the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court.
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"God commanded this to happen like he did to Joshua," Apostle Abby Abildness explained on a religious talk show. "We believe God is gonna move'' and "that there will be that victory," she continued. There was "great hope" that Pennsylvania's electoral votes, which Joe Biden had won convincingly, would "go to the president." Of course that did not happen.
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In instances like this, believers see a difference between a foretelling of events and a prophecy that reveals God's intentions. If an event doesn't turn out as expected, they believe, it is necessary to keep on trying, to ensure that somehow, someday, God's will will be done.
Her immanence
Apostle Abby Abildness is a quietly powerful national and international religious leader, as well as a legislative lobbyist at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg. She says she meets with legislators at least once a week, praying and "bringing forth a religious freedom agenda." She also led Jericho marches in Harrisburg.
Her manner is more that of a soft-spoken college professor (which she used to be) than a political preacher. She is nevertheless an important leader in the contemporary religious movement called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), a dynamic theological and organizational revamping of much of pentecostal and charismatic Christianity. For decades, NAR has led the abandonment of traditional mainline Protestant and evangelical denominations in favor of prayer networks.
These prayer networks are led by what is known as the "fivefold ministry" as mentioned in the biblical book of Ephesians: Apostle, prophet, teacher, pastor and evangelist. The networks comprise both physical churches and prayer groups of various sizes.
Abildness is a leader in several such networks, which aim to take control of what they call the "Seven Mountains" of society in order to achieve Christian dominion. These metaphorical mountains are religion, family, government, business, education, arts & entertainment and media. Abildness, whose chosen mountain is government, is working with her allies to increase electoral engagement in apostolic networks, and to involve them in pushing for legislation. She heads the Pennsylvania Apostolic Prayer Network and plays leading roles in other important international networks, including the Oklahoma-based Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network headed by Apostle John Benefiel and the Texas-headquartered Reformation Prayer Network, led by Apostle Cindy Jacobs.
The NAR has generally abandoned written doctrines along with denominations, in favor of its own notions of Old Testament biblical law. Its movement is further informed by revelations from those understood to be apostles and prophets revealing what God wants. They believe God wants Doug Mastriano.
Dancing with the ones who brung him
Last year, Mastriano denied to Eliza Griswold of the New Yorker that he was a Christian nationalist. "Is this a term you fabricated?" he asked. "What does it mean and where have I indicated that I am a Christian Nationalist?" Of course Griswold did not invent the term, which has been used by scholars and journalists for decades.
Mastriano doth protest too much. He has sponsored several bills based on models found in the Christian nationalist legislative playbook formerly called "Project Blitz." These bills would have mandated teaching the Bible in public schools and made it legal for adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples. In the face of organized opposition and intensive media coverage by the New York Times, the Guardian and Salon, among others, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, which published the Project Blitz legislative playbook, scrubbed all mention of Project Blitz from its website in 2019. But the affiliated Pennsylvania State Legislative Prayer Caucus remains. Its state director, then as now, is Abby Abildness.
[RELATED: A grassroots Christian movement joins the fight against Christian nationalism
Mastriano has denied that he works directly with NAR, but has clearly had a close relationship with Abildness and the wider NAR movement. She has, for example, interviewed him on her podcast and worked with him in the legislature. She calls him "a military strategist" who leads a group of about 30 conservative state legislators (although he's only been in the legislature since 2019). She also introduced him at a regional NAR conference of several hundred people in October 2020, in Gettysburg, which is in Mastriano's senatorial district.
On the Fourth of July in 2019, Mastriano joined Apostle Abby Abildness on the Gettysburg battlefield, where they prayed to "preserve the monuments" from antifa. They were victims of an internet hoax.
There, Abildness told the story about walking the Gettysburg battlefield with Mastriano, his wife and a "prayer team" on the previous Fourth of July. The senator and the apostle went to "pray to preserve the monuments" from antifa, which she believed might be coming to destroy them. She had trepidations, she said, but explained, "When the people pray, God is with us. We're not to fear, we have God. We need to stand up. Speak out. And move forward in this battle. Amen!" (Hundreds of armed militia members, bikers and others who had also heard the rumors showed up to defend the monuments and prevent the burning of the American flag. It turned out the whole thing was a hoax perpetrated by a troll on social media and then hyped by right-wing media.)
The conference's headline speaker, Apostle Chuck Pierce from Texas, was preceded by the sounding of the shofar by the Shofar Army, which then led the crowd in shouting, "Arise, oh God, and let your enemies be scattered!" This refrain is from Psalm 68, one of many Old Testament imprecatory prayers in which the faithful ask God to smite his enemies.
A new Joshua
Reported here for the first time are two videos featuring Mastriano before his run for governor. Filmed on the Gettysburg battlefield on July 18, 2020, just days after his prayers against antifa with Abildness, the videos reveal his involvement with a group called the Shofar Army. In the videos, Mastriano performs a ritual act of spiritual warfare — blowing shofars with the Shofar Army and Prophet Bill Yount of Blowing the Shofar Ministries. But as later became clear, they understood the warfare as physical, not just spiritual.
Some of these Christians wore the Jewish prayer shawl or tallit, and wielded the three-foot-long hollowed-out ram's horn called a shofar, which was used by ancient Israelite armies to sound battle commands and community alerts, and is used today in religious services for the Jewish High Holidays.
In one video, the leader, Earl Hixon, prays, "Thank you, Father. We tread upon the enemy." Pointing to Mastriano, he continues, "Father God, I am looking to our new general here, that you have appointed, this Joshua. In Jesus' name!" Mastriano raises his outstretched arm in apparent acknowledgment. A year later, Warren Baker, a member of the group,sounded the shofar at the launch event for Mastriano's campaign for governor. (Former national security adviser Michael Flynn and Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis also attended the launch.)
In the second video, Hixon follows the Army's shofar blasts by declaring he wants to "mark this day in the history of eternity." He then leads the Army in shouts of the imprecation, "Arise, oh God, and let your enemies be scattered!"
Salon asked André Gagné, professor of theological studies at Concordia University in Montreal, and author of a study of Trump's evangelical followers, to help interpret the videos.
Hixon recognizes "the 'angelic hosts, the warring hosts that have gathered here on this journey,'" Gagné explained. "This is a reference to the assistance of angelic beings in the battle to be waged. Hixon thanks God for this 'Joshua,' pointing to Mastriano, believing that from this moment there will be new 'anointing' on him."
Joshua, of course, led the Jews to the Promised Land, fighting the Canaanites along the way, including the genocide at Jericho.
Gagné continued, "Hixon also says that Mastriano now has 'got new eyes, the new eyes of a seer' and connects it to the idea that we're on the physical ground, yes, there's the grassroots, but there is a double-edged sword as well in Jesus' name."
This, Gagné says, refers to the "opening of Mastriano's 'spiritual eyes' and the presence of the 'angelic and warring hosts.'" It may also refer to the need to wage war on two fronts, both the physical and the spiritual.
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"This entire ritual," says theology professor André Gagné, builds a bridge between the language of 'spiritual warfare' and possible physical violence."
"This entire ritual," Gagné continued, "potentially builds a bridge between the language of 'spiritual warfare' and the physical realm, where possible physical violence could eventually be enacted to push back against the forces of darkness and establish the Kingdom of God."
"Now, the blowing of trumpets," he concluded, "is found in different contexts in the biblical record, and the ritual means different things for Christians. But in this specific 'spiritual warfare' ceremony, the most likely meaning is associated with the expectation and possible eruption of physical warfare."
Rising and shining
Mastriano was the star of a two-day Patriots Arise conference at a hotel near the Gettysburg battlefield the following year, in April 2021. The small stage was festooned with flag bunting and "Mastriano for Governor" signs. The event announcement declared,
It is TIME (sic) for the Patriots to Arise for God & Country! Just as they did in the first American Revolution during 1776.
The conference opened with a sounding of the shofar by 10 members of the Shofar Army. The call, blown three times, was what leader Don Kretzer called "an alarm sound that has been around for almost 4,000 years."
"Blow the trumpet in Zion! Sound the alarm on holy mountain! The day of the Lord is here!" Kretzer declared. Paraphrasing (and embellishing) God speaking to Moses in the Old Testament book of Numbers, he continued:
When you go into a land against an enemy who appears to be stronger than you, that tries to oppress you;when I hear the sound of alarm, I will remember the covenant I've made with you, and I am coming to rescue you, America!
The Shofar Army and NAR leaders envision themselves as waging "spiritual warfare" against a host of enemies, whom they understand to be possessed or controlled by demons. So when they repeatedly ask God to smite his enemies in this way,some people, as Gagné suggests, may feel compelled to act out the metaphors in more literal fashion. (It's probably fair to wonder whether that informed what happened on Jan. 6.)
The conference hosts, "apostolic and prophetic" leaders Allen and Francine Fosdick, auctioned items as a fundraiser for Mastriano ("our dear brother in Christ warrior") but not for any of the other far-right Christian GOP primary candidates from Pennsylvania and Maryland who were also present.
Prophet Julia Green of Iowa preceded Mastriano at the podium. She said Mastriano had heard about a prophecy God had given her, and that was why he had invited her to appear at his events. She read the prophecy from her laptop while Mastriano waited to speak at a nearby banquet table:
Doug Mastriano, I have you here for such a time as this, saith the Lord. It is now time to move forward with the plan that you have been given. Yes, Doug, I am here for you and I have not forsaken you. The time has come for their great fall; for the great steal to be overturned. So keep your faith in me.
Green further prophesied that current Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, would be "removed by my hand" in the wake of a scandal, and that "Treason will be written on him for all eternity." The crowd cheered. Wolf's allegedly treasonous acts were not identified (and have not surfaced to this point). Mastriano said nothing.
The conference began with a dramatic QAnon video comparing conspiracy-theory adherents to American soldiers. It was followed by anti-vax, anti-mask and anti-tax speakers, as well as Bobby Summers, an advocate for the idea of "sovereign citizenship."
Making the demons tremble
The event was similar (albeit much smaller) in terms of theme, tone and content to the ReAwaken America tour, led by Michael Flynn. There have been 15 such conferences since April of last year, drawing thousands of people to each event.
These events are headlined by such figures as Roger Stone, Jenna Ellis and Eric Trump, along with anti-vax and anti-mask presentations and, of course, endless propaganda about alleged election fraud. There is also a strong revivalist Christian component, including opening the event with the blowing of shofars, and speeches by pastoral provocateurs such as noted book-burner Greg Locke.
At a ReAwaken event last year, Prophet Amanda Grace explained the meaning of blowing the shofar, saying it had driven some of God's greatest biblical victories:
When the shofar was blown the walls of Jericho fell. When the shofar was blown, Gideon and an army of 300 men defeated over 147,000 Midianities. It's an announcement to the enemy that his stronghold is about to fall. Demons tremble at the sound of the shofar.
She calls the shofar "a weapon of our warfare. And when we blow it, the power of God comes full force into that situation."
One aspect of the tour is the evident cross-fertilization of the factions of the religious and political right that is reshaping American conservative politics and public life, from the MAGA movement to Jan. 6 to the Mastriano campaign.
Controversial right-wing activist and publisher Floyd G. Brownexplained a bit about how this works in his introduction of tour regular Pastor Dave Scarlett at an April 2022 ReAwaken event in Salem, Oregon. Many people who watch Scarlett's "His Glory" show are Christians, Brown said, "but many of them aren't."
"They are Patriots," he continued. "And I've heard him say many, many times, if you watch 'His Glory' and you're a Patriot, you often become a Christian. And if you watch 'His Glory' and you're a Christian, and if you don't know what's going on, you slowly become a Patriot."
Brown announced that "His Glory" would air on his new commercial streaming service, Liftable TV, which seeks to promote a "biblical worldview" and "truth-centric news." It's like a Reader's Digest of Christian-right streaming, rebroadcasting shows from the likes of anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, 7 Mountains Dominionist Lance Walnau and, of course, Dave Scarlett, who often hosts Julie Green as a guest.
Green's May 25, 2022, interview with Scarlett illuminates much about the Mastriano campaign and the wider movement. Green says that Mastriano campaign functions "are not a normal, everyday political event. … They are all focused on the Lord. They are powerful! They are anointed!" She calls Mastriano "a very powerful man of God."
Scarlett replies that he has talked with a "certain general" (without naming him) who said, about candidates he supports, "that these rallies in the 2024 cycle will start out with [evangelical Christian] praise music, then the candidate, who is a Patriot Christian, will come forward, give whatever their message is, then it will end with revival. It's going to end with altar calls."
Green replied that this was "already happening" at Mastriano's events.
Throughout Mastriano's rise, those around him have been open about their intentions. In a December 2020 broadcast of "The Damascus Road," host Earl Hixon explains their common purpose, to murmurs of agreement from his panelists: Abby Abildness, shofarists Don Kretzer and Bill Yount, and Pastor Brett McKoy, whose Maryland church hosts the broadcast.
Mastriano was supposed to be present, but was under COVID quarantine at the time. Hixon says that in light of that, they wanted the group to serve as Mastriano's "surrogate":
What we have here is the introduction of an army. This is what our King is endeavoring to do — especially on this battlefield we call the United States. This is what we are here for. ... We are all on the front lines. We are aware of what's happening in this country ... that's why we're here, talking about the Mountains of Dominion.
A time to "break the bonds"
Those around Mastriano and his campaign — from Abildness to the Patriots Arise conferees, the Shofar Army and Prophet Julie Green — see themselves as entering a future where the temporal meets the supernatural.
When God is ready, they believe, the heavens will open and angelic forces allied with Christians of the right sort will battle the demonic forces of Satan to the end. This apocalyptic vision drives their support for Mastriano.
Those around Mastriano believe that when God is ready, angelic forces allied with Christians of the right sort will battle demonic forces to the end.
There is always some tension, in this domain of Christianity, between what people believe may be imminent and what may turn out to be a long way off. Regardless of the timing, they have no doubt about God's intentions, and about their commitment to carry them out.
Abildness made this clear in her keynote on the second day of Patriots Arise, when she revealed an experience she had on the Gettysburg battlefield. God had called her there, she said, because he was ready to answer a general's 150-year-old prayer. She and members of her apostolic network found themselves "in a portal where the general had prayed."
"We realized heaven is watching," she said, and that "we are joining heaven. We are joining the people of the ages in this prayer." The time was coming, she said, to "break the bonds" with "a government that is not leading the way they should."
"We realized that heaven is with us."
Mastriano himself declared, later that day, "We will win in November, and my God will make it so."
Read more on the rising force of Christian nationalism:
From the Pilgrims to QAnon: Christian nationalism is the "asteroid coming for democracy"
Christian nationalism drove Jan. 6: Now it's embraced the Big Lie, and wants to conquer America
How Christian nationalism drove the insurrection: A religious history of Jan. 6
By FREDERICK CLARKSON
Frederick Clarkson is a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank in Somerville, Massachusetts.
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- Alex Henderson @ Salon: Plaintiff in Florida GOP primary loser Laura Loomer fraud lawsuit drops out: “I’m not going to lie.”
- Justin Horowitz @ Media Matters: Turning Point USA chapter enlists two cronies of white nationalist Nick Fuentes as featured event speakers.
- Will Sommer and Philippe Naughton @ The Daily Beast: Man Murdered Wife, Shot Daughter After Being Sucked Down ‘Q Rabbit Hole,’ Family Confirms.
- Aaron Pellish and Marshall Cohen @ CNN: Republican congressman presents convicted January 6 rioter with flag flown over US Capitol after her release from prison.
Tags: Brandt Wiggins Kai Schwemmer Laura Loomer Lauren Boebert Louie Gohmert Simone Gold Tyler Russell New Apostolic Reformation QAnon Round-Up Turning Point USA