Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

swag

(26,543 posts)
Sun Jan 26, 2025, 12:40 PM Jan 26

The Army of God Comes Out of the Shadows (Gift Link)

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/?gift=8VB4FTPaF7_VnZm7Fs2V-Qk2uzD7j4APNvpt5eKjSVQ&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

Tens of millions of American Christians are embracing a charismatic movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which seeks to destroy the secular state.

By Stephanie McCrummen

Excerpt:

As November’s election neared, I watched the whole juggernaut crank into action to return Trump to the White House. Wallnau, in partnership with the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute, promoted an effort called Project 19, targeting voters in 19 swing counties. He also launched something called the Courage Tour, which similarly targeted swing states, and I attended one event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. It looked like an old-fashioned tent revival, except that it was also an aggressive pro-Trump mobilization effort. Wallnau dabbed frankincense oil onto foreheads, anointing voters into God’s army. Another speaker said that Kamala Harris would be a “devil in the White House.” Others cast Democrats as agents of Lucifer, and human history as a struggle between the godless forces of secular humanism and God’s will for humankind.

A march called “A Million Women” on the National Mall drew tens of thousands of people and culminated with the smashing of an altar representing demonic strongholds in America. With the Capitol dome as their backdrop, people took turns bashing the altar as music surged and others prayed, and when it was rubble, the prophet Lou Engle declared, “We’re going to point to the north, south, and east, and west, and command America! The veil has been ripped!”

The NAR movement was a major source of the “low-propensity voters” who backed Trump. Frederick Clarkson, a senior research analyst with Political Research Associates, which tracks antidemocratic movements, has been documenting the rise of the NAR for years, and warning about its theocratic goals. He believes that a certain condescension, and perhaps failure of imagination, has kept outsiders from understanding what he has come to see as the most significant religious movement of the 21st century, and one that poses a profound threat to democracy.

“Certain segments of society have not been willing to understand where these people are coming from,” Clarkson told me. “For me, it’s part of the story of our times. It’s a movement that has continued to rise, gathered political strength, attracted money, built institutions. And the broad center-left doesn’t understand what’s happening.”

. . . more

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/?gift=8VB4FTPaF7_VnZm7Fs2V-Qk2uzD7j4APNvpt5eKjSVQ&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies

bucolic_frolic

(48,625 posts)
2. Karl Marx posited the "melting away of the State" in the proletarian paradise
Sun Jan 26, 2025, 12:58 PM
Jan 26

'From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.'

Karl was way off, the State is dissolving in a fascist revival, but the wacko right wing nut jobs are tracking along with Karl!

Irony. Enough for a generation.

Lonestarblue

(12,248 posts)
4. Religious Nazis who think that white heterosexual men are the only people who should have any rights.
Sun Jan 26, 2025, 01:22 PM
Jan 26

The Madcap

(904 posts)
5. Disturbing on many levels
Sun Jan 26, 2025, 01:47 PM
Jan 26

And not totally unexpected in a world where so many search for a reason for their own existence.

valleyrogue

(1,665 posts)
6. The NAR is Christian Reconstructionism.
Sun Jan 26, 2025, 02:52 PM
Jan 26

This poison has been infiltrating Christianity for far too long.

What it is is fascism wrapped in religious garb.

lees1975

(6,241 posts)
7. "We're right, and we have an inside track to knowing what God wants for everyone"
Sun Jan 26, 2025, 03:26 PM
Jan 26

Bottom line, power and control equal money.

This end-times fantasy has been around for a while, in different forms.

I had a college professor, back in the 70's, who made note of various Pentecostal/Charismatic movements in the far right wing of American Christianity and expressed concern, even back then, that these people were aiming to rule the world because they believed themselves entitled to it, because they were stewards of a "chosen people," white Europeans destined to bring a post-millenial rule of Jesus Christ to the earth by purifying it spiritually so he could come. He said that these people would be far worse than the National socialists in Germany were, because they believe they are spiritually annointed as God's warriors, so all of the stuff Jesus said about loving your neighbor and loving your enemy, and all those values preached in the Christian gospel are just for a season of time, or a "dispensation" as they call it.

And they do not see any inconsistency in an alliance with a moral degenerate anti-Christ like Trump to achieve their purposes because it all falls in "God's will" as far as they are concerned. Wallnau is just one of the mouthpieces. Paula White, whom Trump considers his "spiritual advisor" is another. By definition, they reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, their conversion is wrapped up in a "signs and wonders" conversion of phony acts including speaking in tongues and getting slain in the spirit.

"Dangerous" is too mild a description for these brain-washers.

slightlv

(4,767 posts)
9. And many of us have been trumpeting their danger for decades...
Sun Jan 26, 2025, 10:24 PM
Jan 26

to no one willing to listen. (sigh)

Latest Discussions»Editorials & Other Articles»The Army of God Comes Out...