Matthew D. Taylor Profile picture
Sep 27 8 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Very important news: J.D. Vance is planning a town hall on Saturday, hosted by the Lance Wallnau Show at the Courage Tour.

This is Vance's endorsement of one of the worst, most conspiratorial, Christian supremacist spectacles in the country. 1/

donaldjtrump.com/news/90bcf4fd-…
If you're not familiar w/ the Courage Tour, get educated ---

@7im:

@FredClarkson:

@anelsona:

@rickpidcock:

@chrissyjones316, @MajorCBS, @ArdenFarhi: 2/rollingstone.com/politics/polit…
religiondispatches.org/wheres-wallnau…
washingtonspectator.org/michigan/
baptistnews.com/article/how-co…
cbsnews.com/news/trump-lan…
In sum, the Courage Tour is a 2020-election-denying, Christian nationalist, conspiracy propagation machine masquerading as a Pentecostal-style Christian revival.

I witnessed this reality distortion field up close at their Eau Claire, WI stop. 3/

At the helm is Donald Trump's most servile theologian & spiritual propagandist, Lance Wallnau, about whom I have a whole ch. in my new book.

Wallnau was a key player in galvanizing & mobilizing Christians be in DC for #January6th & was there himself.
4/

icjs.org/the-violent-ta…
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Even more ominous, Wallnau's Courage Tour is operating hand-in-glove as a functional Trump campaign tour under the guise of a Christian ministry.

Trumpist think tank America First Policy Institute is feeding Wallnau county-by-county voter data. 5/

This Pennsylvania stop of the Courage Tour has had extra build-up & hype, because they're staging it just a few miles from Butler, PA, the site of Trump's 1st assassination attempt.

They believe Trump's survival is a miracle presaging his divinely mandated electoral victory. 6/
If we pay attn to the ramp-up of rhetoric & protests that led to January 6th, the Courage Tour very much fits the pattern of partisan-spiritual-warfare, conspiratorial prophesying, & demonization of opponents that fed directly into the Capitol Riot. 7/

Journalists & editors: The Amer people need to understand what kinds of far-right Christian extremists Vance is cozying up to (Trump is already their snuggle bear).

This signals the further integration of Christian supremacy & anti-democratic mobilization into the Repub core. 8/

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More from @TaylorMatthewD

Sep 25
If we weren't so used to Christians theologizing Trump, his clip of Mike Johnson would be headline news:

"Authorities are est'd by God... It seems apparent to us that God has chosen [Trump] to lead the greatest nation in the world for a 2nd time." 1/


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He said this on a prayer call organized by Trump's National Faith Advisory Board, the latest version of Trump's evangelical advisory council, a group that has theologically propagandized Trump & helped mobilize Christians for January 6th. 2/

rightwingwatch.org/post/michael-f…
I get that Mike Johnson is a very public Christian who rhetorically spiritualizes his government work, but this is shocking!

The *Speaker of the House*, while invoking Romans 13 & referencing the assassination attempts on Trump, says God has chosen Trump in this election. 3/
Read 14 tweets
Sep 2
There's an undercovered, ongoing scandal involving sexual & spiritual abuse by unaccountable nondenominational Christian leaders. Sound familiar?

Except, because this segment of Christianity is nondenominational, people tend not to see the pattern. 1/

julieroys.com/president-morn…
Specifically, the series of abuse revelations are occurring in what are known as "fivefold" or "apostolic & prophetic" ministry circles.

These ministries take their inspiration from Ephesians 4 & believe the primary leadership of apostles & prophets should be restored today. 2/
The fivefold/apostolic & prophetic concepts & leaders are sometimes labeled as part of the "New Apostolic Reformation," but the NAR is merely one set of such networks, & many other similar networks are involved in this scandal. 3/

icjs.org/charismatic-re…
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Read 17 tweets
Aug 28
🧵-- I've spend the past 3.5 yrs researching the Christian leaders, theologies, & movts that gave us the chaotic, Christian nationalist violence we witnessed on #January6th.

We are currently seeing similar (if not more alarming) patterns emerging in this election cycle... 👇 1/ Image
1st, if you're unfamiliar w/ my research, I've argued that a little-understood network of Christian leaders called the New Apostolic Reformation was at the heart of Xn organizing & theologizing of the January 6th Insurrection.

See my audio-doc series. 2/

icjs.org/charismatic-re…
Image
Contrary to a lot of conspiracy-tinged online speculation, the NAR leaders aren't a secretive cabal or Christian Illuminati.

They are a highly networked/loosely affiliated set of Christian celebrities w/ immense sway in nondenom charismatic circles. 3/

wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/a…
Image
Read 29 tweets
Aug 22
Today's ep. of Dutch Sheets' "Give Him 15" podcast exemplifies a LITTLE NOTICED THEOLOGICAL SHIFT in the Christian right that could seriously impact the 2024 election.

In short, many leaders on the Christian right have moved beyond "Rapture theology." 1/

I've had a number of reporters ask me about the phrase "the remnant" that you often hear among New Apostolic Reformation & other Independent Charismatic leaders.

Perhaps b/c of my own background, in the past I've generally chalked it up to a charis. stock phrase, one of many. 2/
I've also noticed that, if there's 1 cocktail-party fact that casual observers of the Christian right can cite, it's the idea of "the Rapture" (Jesus suddenly taking the Xns away to heaven).

More sophisticated watchers will use the phrase "dispensational premillennialism." 3/
Read 21 tweets
Aug 9
This new article from @NormEisen should send a chill down the spine of every democracy-loving American!

Here's the big picture: Trump's friends & allies are actively monkeying w/ vote-counting procedures in swing states in ways that could matter.

Let's look at the pattern... 1/
Evidence 1:

@NormEisen outlines how the America First Policy Institute (Trump Admin 2.0 in waiting) & the new *2020 ELECTION-DENYING MAJORITY* on the Georgia state election board are making it easier for local election officials to halt counting at their discretion. 2/
Imagine a Trump-aligned GA local election official wants to, say, gum up the works of the vote-counting in a probable Harris-Walz county.

Using this rule, they could throw a spanner in the works, & functionally decertify votes on a whim + thin assertion of "irregularities." 3/
Read 14 tweets
Aug 2
Joshua Caleb Standifer's organization Lion of Judah represents an urgent & unrecognized hazard to our democracy this fall.

It's targeting election workers.

I was at this event on Monday. I talked to Standifer himself.

So please, watch this video, & I'll continue... 1/
Lion of Judah poses as a Christian ministry aimed at assisting Christians to register as election workers.

That might sound mostly innocuous-albeit strange-but you have to look at the context in which they're doing it & how they go about it.

They are 2020 election denyers! 2/ Image
This @RightWingWatch video clip was taken from the Courage Tour in Eau Claire, WI on Monday ().

It's a hyperpoliticized revival tour cooked up by Lance Wallnau.

If you don't know Wallnau, here's my podcast episode on him: 3/ thecouragetour.com
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/epi…
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Read 24 tweets

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