Christian nationalists dream of taking over America. This movement is actually doing it.
This is the New Apostolic Reformation, a charismatic evangelical Christian movement led by a loose network of self-appointed prophets and apostles, who claim that God speaks directly to them, often in dreams. And they believe that Christians are called to wage a spiritual battle for control of the US.
In the vanguard of an ascendant Christian nationalist movement, they seek an explicitly Christian command of public schools, social policy, and all levels of the government, including the courts. Some scholars claim that NAR is the fastest-growing spiritual movement in the US. Evangelical writer C. Peter Wagner described it as the most significant shake-up in Protestantism since the Reformation. Its laser focus on starting a spiritual war to Christianize America has led the Southern Poverty Law Center to call NAR “the greatest threat to US democracy that you have never heard of.”
Estimates of Christians influenced by NAR vary widely, from 3 million to 33 million. But the number of adherents isn’t the extent of its influence; its main tenets have moved beyond the confines of churches and into the political mainstream, largely thanks to traveling apostles and prophets who preach at evangelical churches worldwide.
Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn has hosted NAR leaders on his “ReAwaken America” tour, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has worked with its apostles.
And just in the last two weeks, GOP vice presidential hopeful Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) appeared in Pennsylvania at an event hosted by Lance Wallnau, a Texas business strategist-turned-NAR superstar. Wallnau, who has called Kamala Harris a “Jezebel” and speculated that people on the political left may be controlled by demons, helped develop Project 19, a right-wing political initiative to win 19 key counties in swing states for Trump.
Since 2016, many NAR prophesies have concerned Trump, whom adherents see as having been divinely chosen to lead the country. And now Vance is joining in the fray.
Interview:
No comments:
Post a Comment