Since few of you readers of this blog are conservative evangelical Christians, many of you may know little about what is called the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The NAR, which includes the “7 mountain mandate,” is prominent in the current Christian nationalism movement in the U.S.
The “7 mountain mandate” is part of the dominionism rooted in the teachings of R.J. Rushdoony and forwarded currently by Lucas Wallnau among many others.* The latter is also an ardent supporter of Donald Trump and JD Vance.
C. Peter Wagner served as a missionary in Bolivia for 15 years and then was a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary from 1971 to 2001. He founded the New Apostolic Reformation movement and coined the term itself. He also authored many books, including influential ones on “spiritual warfare.”
The NAR seeks to institute a nation governed by Christians, and it advocates the establishment of Christian dominion (=control) over seven “mountains”: family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government. This article is only about the last of those seven.
“The greatest threat to US democracy that you have never heard of”: that is how the Southern Poverty Law Center characterized the NAR last year.
The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy is the title of a book published this month. Matthew D. Taylor, the author, is a Protestant Christian scholar. Much of his recent writing is about Christian involvement in the events of January 6 (2021).
For detailed information regarding the involvement of conservative evangelical Christians in the latter debacle, I highly recommend viewing the 25-minute movie Spiritual Warriors: Decoding Christian Nationalism at the Capitol Riot, embedded in this 2/24 Substack post by Taylor.
One of the main leaders in the NAR movement for the past decade is Lance Wallnau (b. 1956), notably introduced in the above movie. He has been referred to as the "father of American dominionism," and in 2013 he was the co-author of Invading Babylon: The 7 Mountain Mandate.
Wallnau's influence began to grow in 2015, the year he stated that God asked him to support US presidential candidate Donald Trump—and he prophesied that Trump would win the election. Not surprisingly, after Trump was elected in 2016, Wallnau was regularly welcomed at the White House and Mar-a-Lago.
Currently, he and many other adherents of the NAR still refuse to acknowledge that Trump lost the 2020 election. As clearly portrayed in the movie mentioned above, Wallnau was at the Capitol on January 5-6, leading public prayers for God to lead in overturning the election results.
Several top U.S. politicians have been linked to the NAR and the 7 mountain mandate. They include Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Rep. Majorie Taylor Green (R-Ga.), Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.)—and also Donald Trump’s spiritual advisor Paula White.
Wallnau has been prominently involved in The Courage Tour mass meetings in the seven main swing states in the upcoming election. On September 27-28 that tour was in Pittsburgh, and JD Vance was there—although he was careful not to be photographed with the 7 mountain mandate leader.**
As most of you know, in last month’s VP debate, when asked about the 2020 election, Vance declined to say that Trump lost in 2020. Candidate Walz called what Vance did say a "damning non-answer."
Speaker Johnson is also refusing to acknowledge Trump’s defeat in 2020. Sunday on ABC News’s “This Week,” he would not say that Trump lost the previous presidential election. That is a troubling situation as he is the most important person in the House of Representatives.
As before, I am quite confident that VP Harris will win the popular vote in the November 5 election. I am less confident that she will win the necessary 270 electoral votes, but I still think she will.
Sadly, I have little confidence that Trump—and the NAR—will accept defeat without a fight. November 6 until January 6 could well be worse than all that happened from the 2020 election until Jan. 6, 2021. Let’s pray that it will not be so.
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* Rushdoony (d. 2001) was born on April 25, 1916, and on the 100th anniversary of his birth, I posted a blog article under the title “Reluctantly Remembering Rushdoony,” which you can read by clicking here.
** Vance is linked with the NAR because of Trump, but as a Roman Catholic, he is more closely aligned with what is called Catholic integralism, a form of traditional Catholicism that falls under the dominionist umbrella—and is much older than Protestant dominionism that began only 50~60 years ago.
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Comments have been slow coming in this morning, but I was happy to receive the following from Thinking Friend LeRoy Roberts, who now lives in North Carolina but who is from June's hometown in southwest Missouri.
ReplyDelete"The last sentence of your blog has also been my concern....
"Trump's narcissistic personality will never allow him to admit defeat. Biden may have to call out the National Guard to deal with multiple violent disruptions nationwide."
Thanks, LeRoy, for your comments--and I sadly think you may be right in saying that the president may have to call out the National Guard after this year's election. It is also sad to think how many conservative evangelical Christians there are who support the NAR--or who support Trump even if they don't know about the NAR. Most of them, I think (and hope), would not support violent disruptions, but still they would be aligned with those using violence just as they were on Jan. 5-6, 2021.
DeleteAbout an hour ago, a local Thinking Friend sent me the following comments:
ReplyDelete"What an enlightenment! I didn’t know how pervasive this movement is. Trump is a scourge. The sooner he disappears in the dust of history, the better."
A little later, Thinking Friend Glenn Hinson in Kentucky sent an email with these words:
ReplyDelete"A very illuminating blog, Leroy. I can only express alarm over this development as a Baptist to whom Separation of Church and State is a vital principle of Democracy."
Thanks for your significant comments, Dr. Hinson. Indeed, opposition to Christian nationalism in general and the NAR in particular is partly because of the affirmation of religious liberty for all. That liberty is largely based on the commitment to the separation of church and state which was for so long a major emphasis of Baptists. The turning away from that commitment by Southern Baptist Convention leaders in recent decades is one reason why you and I are no longer SBs.
DeleteThe following comments are by Thinking Friend Brian Kaylor, who lives in central Missouri and is President & Editor-in-Chief of Word&Way, a Christian media company. These comments are not in response to my blog post; rather, they are from "Stopping the 'Jezebel Spirit'," Brian's Substack article posted later this morning--and which can be read in its entirely here (by darkening, clicking, and following the appropriate prompt): https://publicwitness.wordandway.org/p/stopping-the-jezebel-spirit .
ReplyDelete"Vice President Kamala Harris is also being called a 'Jezebel spirit,' most notably by Trumpian 'prophet' Lance Wallnau, a key figure in the New Apostolic Reformation. He’s the guy who popularized the “seven mountain mandate” and the claim Trump has been ordained by God to be a Cyrus-like ruler. Last month, Wallnau argued the 2024 election is 'Trump vs. the Jezebel spirit.' After pushing whey protein products for people to buy, he explained why he thinks Trump will still win and why he thinks Harris is a 'Jezebel spirit.'
Brian, I much appreciate your 10/7 Substack post that included much more than I was able to say in my 700-word post. I wanted to say something about VP Harris being called a Jezebel by some aligned with the NAR, and I was pleased to be able to cite your words regarding that.
DeleteI just now saw that the Tucson Sentinel newspaper posted an article yesterday evening that included the following (my younger daughter lives in Tucson):
ReplyDelete"Proponents of the Seven Mountain Mandate believe 'that Christians are called to dominate seven key spheres of society: government, media, education, business, arts and entertainment, family, and religion.' The New York Times Magazine recently documented how right wing Christian extremist billionaires in Texas have put significant sums of money behind state and national candidates who are true believers in the Dominionist ideologies like those of the NAR and Seven Mountain Mandates."
About ten minutes ago, I received Jim Wallis's new Substack post, and it was largely about the recent NAR "Courage Tour" rally in Wisconsin. Here is just a small part of what he wrote:
ReplyDelete"One of the leaders of this movement [the NAR] is Lance Wallnau. He is the one who has popularized the 'seven mountain mandate' in which Christians are being called to take power over the key pillars of society like government, media, education, business, arts and entertainment, family and, of course, religion.
"Wallnau speaks of 'the demons' which are working against America, particularly from the Democratic Party. And he recently referred to Kamala Harris as a 'Jezebel woman,' an evil female leader in Biblical stories. A frequent visitor to Mar-a-Lago, he regularly talks about his plan and hopes for Christians like him to take power and control over America."
And here is the link to Jim's post (highlight and follow the appropriate prompt):
https://open.substack.com/pub/jimwallis/p/get-thee-behind-me-satan?r=7f2se&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Local Thinking Friend Bob Southard, a retired American Baptist minister, sent me an email with the following comments within the last hour:
ReplyDelete"It seems all this drive to make America Christian controlled is based on FEAR.
Stoking fear is a powerful force for justifying evil. Trying to calm fear with rational thinking/truth or trying to ignore it to keep it from having power or distracting by promoting our better values all can help. (Kamala seems to do these well. Oh, and did I mention that she is American Baptist?!)
"But fear can leap over all these solutions. As fear grows, it may become evil personified as the Devil or a demon. Maybe it is time for an exorcism. Can there be such a thing as a national exorcism? (Vote Trump out!) Or maybe we need a mini exorcism in each one of us. A redeemer. A higher calling to faith instead of fear."
Thanks for your pertinent comments, Bob. I think you mentioning fear is an important point. One brief subsection in the third chapter of my book "Fed Up with Fundamentalism" (2007, 2020) is called "The Fear Factor." I think that that, indeed, is one basis of the political as well as the theological ideas/actions of many fundamentalist and conservative evangelical Christians.
DeleteChristianity may be the most co-opted religion on Earth. From Roman Emperors to early modern capitalists to modern billionaires funding NAR, the steal rolls on. As Jesus puts it, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 7:21) Since Jesus had just finished the Sermon on the Mount, I hope it is obvious what "will of my Father" He referrenced.
ReplyDeleteCraig, how appropriate is your first sentence! My next blog article, which I am now planning to post a week from today, is titled "The Calamitous Co-option of Christianity." In it, I plan to mention both Roman emperors and DJT (and possibly the NAR).
Delete"Ziklag: A secretive ultra conservative Christian society hoping to usher in a 'biblical America' through Trump" is the title of an article in the Times of India (TOI), one of the largest English-language newspapers in the world. Here is part of what is included in that article:
ReplyDelete"Lance Wallnau, a self-proclaimed Christian nationalist and influential evangelist, is a major force behind Ziklag and his rhetoric often frames Trump as a modern-day Cyrus — a flawed leader chosen by God to 'restore Christian America.' Wallnau has been instrumental in connecting the Christian right with political movements, particularly during Donald Trump's presidency. He was the first Christian evangelical to endorse Trump when he ran for the White House in 2016.
"In his talks to supporters and voters, Wallnau often refers to Left-leaning individuals as 'demons,' warning white Christians that if they do not vote for Trump then they 'are letting the Devil dominate your culture.'
"Ziklag frames its mission as a spiritual battle against what it perceives as the forces of darkness. Their strategy documents emphasise the need for prayer and biblical guidance in policy decisions, reflecting a desire to intertwine faith with governance."
The TOI article begins, "Ziklag is named after the biblical city where David found refuge during his conflict with King Saul. The biblical Ziklag symbolises a place of refuge where David planned his strategies and launched attacks against Saul."
https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/ziklag-a-secretive-ultra-conservative-christian-society-hoping-to-usher-in-a-biblical-america-through-trump/ar-AA1s1dLO
Yesterday I received the following comments in a longer email from Thinking Friend Greg Hadley in Niigata, Japan:
ReplyDelete"Thanks for sending ... the link to the documentary, which I have been watching. It is really informative, and I want to spread it to other friends."
I was happy to hear, Greg, that you have been watching the documentary I linked to in this post. I was very favorably impressed by it, and I hope you will be able to share it with many of your friends, especially those in the U.S."
DeleteMarjorie Taylor Greene (Rep-Ga.) who has been a speaker at one or more of The Courage Tour's rallies, continues to make the news (to her detriment). Here is part of what appeared on a HuffPost article yesterday evening:
ReplyDelete"Science is not Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s strong suit. Conspiracy theories are.
"In the wake of Hurricane Helene’s devastation last week, the Georgia Republican took to X (formerly Twitter) to not only suggest that the U.S. government is engineering massive hurricanes, but that Democrats are doing so to target red-state voters and influence the outcome of the upcoming presidential election.
"Yes, they can control the weather,' Greene wrote last Thursday. 'It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.'”