This past weekend, infamous FBI fibber Michael Flynn stood on a stage at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio and spoke his truth: âIf we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.â Christian nationalist mic drop. Heâd finally said the quiet part out loud.
Which, to be fair, was maybe not even the craziest thing that happened at Cornerstone last weekend as it hosted podcast host Clay Clarkâs âReawaken America Tourâ â a shitshow so very spectacular that Cornerstone, the church of famed end times Christian Zionist John Hagee, had to release a face-saving statement saying that maybe, just maybe, things had gone a little too far even for them (âCornerstone Church is not associated with this organization and does not endorse their views.â) There was a woman wearing a Jewish-themed prayer shawl and blowing on a ramâs horn, because, as she explained it, âDemons tremble at the sound of the shofar.â There was My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell and disgraced political operative Roger Stone on hand to provide the event with a legitimate dose of illegitimacy. There was Alex Jones growling at attendees that âthe devilâs reign on this planet is coming to an endâ and that Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama know that âthey chose SATAN! AND THEY! ARE GOING! TO FAIL!â There were rousing rounds of the oddly-devised anti-Biden chant âLetâs go, Brandonâ and worship music provided by Sean Feucht, graciously in attendance thanks to his failed run for Californiaâs state legislature. There was also, presumably, nary a vaccinated person in the house. (...)
Lance Wallnau used the Oct. 29 episode of his podcast to rail against the âwoke industrial complexâ and to portray âwokenessâ as âa weird new religion.â Wallnau, a Christian nationalist author, speaker, and life coach who promotes Seven Mountains Dominionism, urged Christians to recognize that proponents of âWokeianityâ are their enemies.
âThe Wokeianity of the Antichrist system is an extorted confession of faith,â he said, âwhere you have to use the gender pronoun arbitrarily chosen by a studentâ even if that studentâs reality âisnât real for you.â
Wallnau reaches a wide audience through his books, podcasts, conference speeches, and appearances on religious-right media. He has more than 735,000 followers on Facebook and more than 60,000 on Twitter. In advance of the 2016 election, Wallnau claimed that former President Donald Trump was Godâs anointed âchaos candidate.â He became enough of an insider among Trumpâs Pentecostal supporters that he was invited to the White House for a briefing on the administrationâs Middle East peace plans. In 2020, Wallnau said that Trumpâs reelection would set the stage for the church to take greater authority in the world. When that didnât happen and Joe Biden was sworn in as president, Wallnau declared Biden to be âan illegal counterfeit.â
On last Fridayâs podcast, Wallnau portrayed the political situation in the United States as a âspiritual battle,â something even more powerful and âsinister,â he said, than the political battles as covered by right-wing pundits on Fox News. âItâs a whole invasion of Western civilization with ideas that are grounded in the destruction of America as weâve known it and freedom as weâve experienced it,â he claimed. (...)
Mr. Gallagher promoted himself as an experienced investor with a Ph.D. in philosophy from Brown University, offering clients a path to financial stability and a better life through âpersonal responsibilityâ and âless government,â with âthe help of God.â
Robinson began his speech by thanking God and declaring that anyone who doesnât agree that the United States is a Christian nation is free to go live somewhere else.
âYou can leave Godâs country, and we will not miss you,â Robinson said.
Later, Robinson told the crowd that they are Godâs regiment on Earth and âthe living embodimentâ of all those who have sacrificed their lives in defense of this nation.
âTell our enemies on the other side of the aisle that will drag this nation down into a socialist hellhole that you will only do it as you run past me laying on the ground, choking on my own blood because I will not give up this nation to you!â Robinson bellowed. âIt is not yours. You did not build it, you did not defend it, and you will not own it. We will. The Christian patriots of this nation will own this nation and rule this nation and help freedom survive for future generations.â
âLetâs be very clear,â Stone declared. âGod himself gave Donald Trump the strength and the courage and the wisdom to pardon me. On the morning I was arrestedâat 6:06 in the morningâthe night before Iâd fallen asleep reading the Bible. And when I heard the pounding on the door, I looked down, and the Bible was open to Psalms 16:8: âI will not be shaken.'â