How Trumpism has pushed a fringe charismatic theology into the mainstream

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T

Charismatic Christian prophets have gained new influence since becoming identified with the former president.

(RNS) — This past month, a group of self-styled American Christian prophets released an urgent word from God on YouTube about an impending Islamic uprising in the U.S. Pointing to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses, they declared that an "insurrection is forming that is like unto the communist takeover in Russia. … This is not only about bringing a Palestinian state to the Middle East but an Islamic state to North America and other nations."

The good news, according to these prophets, is that God also says, "If the church repents, I will relent. I will protect your nations."

If this God-speaking-through-prophets-and-warning-nations-about-other-religions business sounds fringy and oddball in modern Christianity, it once was. But such prophecies and these prophets are rapidly redefining mainstream American evangelical theology, practice and politics. They are affiliated with a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, a set of leadership networks whose leaders call themselves modern-day apostles and prophets and believe they are commissioned by God to take over the world.

This NAR movement runs like a golden thread through recent flashpoints of evangelical Christian support for Donald Trump, Christian nationalism and Christian extremism. NAR leaders were central to the mobilization of Christians for the Jan. 6 insurrection, and many apostles, prophets and NAR symbols were present around the U.S. Capitol that day. NAR ideas helped inspire the recent controversy surrounding the Alabama Supreme Court in vitro fertilization ruling. House Speaker Mike Johnson flies a flag outside his office that is closely associated with the NAR's aggressive prophetic politics.

The Seven Mountains prophecy imagines every society as having seven major arenas of influence — religion, family, education, government, media, entertainment and commerce — and the prophecy commands Christians to conquer the tops of each of these mountains so that Christian influence can flow down into broader society. Put simply, the Seven Mountain Mandate is a prophetically derived, systematic program for Christian supremacy.

Shortly after Trump declared his candidacy for president in summer of 2015, he enlisted his friend and spiritual adviser, Paula White-Cain, a charismatic apostle and televangelist, "to be the bridge between him and evangelicals." White-Cain began by inviting many of her fellow charismatic evangelical leaders — Messianic rabbis, televangelists, prophets, NAR apostles and megachurch pastors — to meet with Trump early in the campaign.

These were the first evangelical leaders to begin endorsing Trump, signing on to his policy agenda and offering theological rationales for choosing Trump over other, more conventionally evangelical candidates. The popular idea that Trump was anointed by God (like the ancient Persian emperor Cyrus) to be president and play a special role in protecting Christians was originally championed early in the 2016 campaign by none other than Wallnau, who was involved in the 2015 meetings organized by White-Cain.

A few months later Wagner himself endorsed Trump in early 2016, and Wallnau and the other NAR leaders became the chief Christian propagandists surrounding Trump with theology and prophecy. They have written books, created memes, prophetically appropriated symbolic pieces of Americana and launched massive prayer and spiritual warfare campaigns, all to see Trump victorious.

Charismatics, including a number of NAR apostles and prophets, have made up more than half of all of Trump's evangelical advisory boards, including the new one for his 2024 campaign. In fact, these networks of NAR leaders were the central nervous system of Christian organizing and mobilization for Jan. 6, and many core NAR leaders, including Wallnau, were present at the Capitol that day.

Jan. 6 religiosity may strike many readers as the definition of fringe. How many Christians today actually believe these NAR ideas or support NAR politicized prophecies and spiritual-warfare practices?

To find out, we surveyed 1,500 self-identified Christians in early January 2024, weighting the sample so that it reflected the demographic profile of American adult Christians. Like other surveys, this one was split 50% self-identified evangelical and 50% nonevangelical. The figure below shows agreement with seven statements of charismatic theology which principally originated among the NAR networks. The bars represent the percentage who agree or strongly agree with the statement; the orange bars show that percentage among evangelicals, while the blue bars are the nonevangelical Christian responses.

"The Majority of Self-Identified Evangelicals Agree with NAR Beliefs" (Courtesy graphic)

Strikingly, strong majorities of evangelicals indicate agreement with six of the seven statements, with up to 69% agreeing with the idea that demonic principalities and powers control physical territory. Lagging not far behind is the 66% who agree that the church needs to engage in spiritual warfare to displace high-level demons. Somewhat fewer evangelicals (55%) agree with Wallnau's prophecy that God wants Christians to stand atop the Seven Mountains of society.

Almost 40% of our Christian sample identifies as either charismatic (or "Pentecostal" or "spirit-filled," both rough synonyms for charismatic). A narrow majority (51%) of self-identified evangelicals claim a charismatic identity, but so do 24% of nonevangelicals.