On November 16, 2020, court evangelical Eric Metaxas shared a story from the conservative website “American Thinker” on his Facebook page. The story was titled “The Dominion software story keeps getting worse.” The piece claimed that Dominion software “churned out impossible pro-Biden results in the wee hours of November 4 in Democratic-run states following a Trump wave.” The Dominion story was an important piece of Donald Trump’s “election fraud” claims and was propagated by Michael Flynn’s lawyer Sidney Powell.
Yesterday we learned that “American Thinker” has retracted all of their Dominion software conspiracy theory posts:
American Thinker and contributors Andrea Widburg, R.D. Wedge, Brian Tomlinson, and Peggy Ryan have published pieces on www.AmericanThinker.com that falsely accuse US Dominion Inc., Dominion Voting Systems, Inc., and Dominion Voting Systems Corporation (collectively “Dominion”) of conspiring to steal the November 2020 election from Donald Trump. These pieces rely on discredited sources who have peddled debunked theories about Dominion’s supposed ties to Venezuela, fraud on Dominion’s machines that resulted in massive vote switching or weighted votes, and other claims falsely stating that there is credible evidence that Dominion acted fraudulently.
These statements are completely false and have no basis in fact. Industry experts and public officials alike have confirmed that Dominion conducted itself appropriately and that there is simply no evidence to support these claims.
It was wrong for us to publish these false statements. We apologize to Dominion for all of the harm this caused them and their employees. We also apologize to our readers for abandoning 9 journalistic principles and misrepresenting Dominion’s track record and its limited role in tabulating votes for the November 2020 election. We regret this grave error.
But let’s get back to Metaxas. After he shared the false Dominion story, his Facebook followers responded with enthusiasm. Here are few of their comments:
“I believe that we need to pray not only that fraud will be exposed but that it also will be repudiated and cancelled, i.e., nullified.”
“The name says it all. They are guaranteeing that they get dominion over Americans, knowing that they have to cheat do it.”
“I am dumbfounded that every American is not outraged about this.”
“This explains everything…because its so vast, so easily done, and how the pattern of votes all seemed to reverse themselves in unison after the close of the election centers…it’s all the more tragic the media across the board has so resolutely put on blinders.”
“I’m in the UK and I think the media blackout of this is intentional and orchestrated.”
These followers believe the Democrats stole the 2020 election, a belief built on debunked conspiracy theories that Metaxas and others have spread.
This is why we teach history students to read critically, evaluate sources, and consider bias.
As I write, Washington D.C. is an armed camp. 25,000 National Guard members are ready to defend the U.S. Capitol during Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony on January 20.
Meanwhile, people are still dying of COVID-19. Incoming President Joe Biden is doing his best to deal with the pandemic and its effects while outgoing twice-impeached president is holed-up in the White House meeting with MyPillow guy Mike Lindell.
Yesterday a Liberty University graduate published a piece at The Bulwark that called the Falkirk Center a “slime factory.”
Apparently the Falkirk Center believes that American companies are “the left.” So much for free enterprise. Businesses can refuse to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, but they do not have the right to silence conspiracy theorists?
Many on the left celebrate the silencing of their opposition rather than support open dialogue with them.
Censorship comes from the fear that someone else’s ideas may be better than yours. The left wants you to submit & stay silent — never comply with that. pic.twitter.com/dfr5eH5vOK
Charlie Kirk forgets about the time the MyPillow guy bailed out Kyle Rittenhouse:
Could you imagine the outrage if any Republicans donated to bail the Capitol Hill Rioters out of jail right now—the way Kamala Harris encouraged her supporters to do with the terrorists who burned down Minneapolis through the Minnesota Freedom Fund?
Lance Wallnau tells his followers that impeachment is really about the elites screwing the working class. The elites currently control the “seven mountains” (as in Seven Mountain Dominionism), but the Christian working class will overthrow them. Wallnau claims that in 2014 the late “prophet” Kim Clement prophesied the words “impeach, impeach.” The interpretation? Trump would be impeached twice by elites in both political parties and the people would rise up in a “new kind of war.” According to Wallnau, this all has something to do with China and COVID-19. It also has something to do with a Jezebel-spirited “witch” in the White House.
Court evangelical David Brody talks with “presidential historian” Doug Wead about Trump’s legacy. Wead expounded a conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton trying to get control of the Catholic Church. He also claims that Amazon is no longer selling the books of “distinguished” theologians. Wead says that “two impeachments will only get historians to notice all of Trump’s great accomplishments.” I beg to differ. I think two impeachments will get historians and millions of school children to notice that Trump was the only president to be impeached twice. 🙂 Wead calls for national unity. He says Biden doesn’t care about national unity because he called U.S. Capitol insurrections “terrorists.” Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up!:
@Twitter and @TwitterSupport, even my family and staff have to follow me again since you disconnected us. Why? Is this the ideological inquisition? Is this a purge of Pro-Life, Pro-Religious Liberty, Biblical justice Christians?
On Facebook, Jim Garlow calls attention to Trump’s “accomplishments” and still manages to get in a shot at the tech corporations who are persecuting him. He writes: “Never has a modern President accomplished so much (and been hated for doing so much good). If you want to see this before others (those who are re-writing history) remove it, you need to copy it now.” (He links to this article).
What happened today? 1. Highest number of Covid deaths in the US ever. Horrific. But Congress obviously had more important (and nefarious) things to do than to care about the American people. 2. And… 232 “Benedict Arnold” traitors of the US Constitution killed our precious Constitution this day, defying it’s very meaning … and – filled with hatred unlike anything we have ever seen – they are trying their best to destroy Donald Trump and the more than 74,000,000 people who voted for him. What a disgrace. Other than that, not much happened today.
On the same day, Garlow said this about the ten Republicans who voted to impeach Trump: “Remember the story of the 10 wimps who went into the Promised Land but they had no courage? “Well – they now have competition.” (He then lists their names). Here are some of his follower’s comments:
“They just flushed their career down the drain.”
“Every single one of them need to be aggressively primaried”
“Hope they enjoy their shortened career.”
“They betrayed our president”
“Just pray we have an election in 2020”
“Backstabbers”
Garlow also shared this post on Facebook from a “friend”:
Today is a day that will live in infamy. One of the greatest Presidents of all time, probably top 10 and certainly the greatest since Reagan, was for the second time the victim of a purely petty, partisan, pathetic, vindicate and groundless impeachment. That Trump has endured 4 years of illegal investigations, spying, lying and corruption and then had the election stolen in the most blatant and obvious fashion and HE is attacked for the VERY things they have done for the last 5 years! It is truly breathtaking and history will show that Trump was correct and that the Left, the Media, and the pathetic spineless RINO’s are the most shameful group of corrupt cowards ever to stain the floors of our Capitol. These are the 10 Republican lawmakers who supported the move to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection”
Again, this post drew some interesting comments, including:
“Disgraceful and utterly absurd. The evil in the hearts of men is actually beyond my comprehension in this current day.”
“Well, they are soon going to regret their act of treason. They need to repent quickly.”
“Definitely top 10 and I would say top 5!! Republicans who voted to impeach, NOTED.”
“I hope every single one of them is voted out. They are nothing better than traitors”
“Shame forever”
“Not just spineless. Traitorous.”
Robert Jeffress had a run-in with Illinois GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger. In a now deleted tweet, Kinginger wrote: “I believe there’s a huge burden now on pastors and clergy who openly spread the conspiracies of a stolen election, like @robertjeffress @beholdIsrael @FranklinGraham among many others, to admit their mistakes and lead their flocks out of darkness to truth.” Jeffress claimed he never said the election was “stolen.” (This is true. Although he came close). Jeffress, always ready to turn the other cheek, responded:
Adam, you need to get your facts straight. I’ve never once claimed the election was “stolen.” If anyone needs to “admit their mistake,” it’s YOU. Will be awaiting your apology.
You know sir? You are absolutely correct. You did act honorably, and while my point remains about the Church and the need for pastors to lead, you did not press those stolen election conspiracies. I am sorry for including you in that. https://t.co/8mQaBuV1p9
Jeffress’s exchange with the congressman seems to have re-empowered him. He was back on the Lou Dobbs show on FOX News last night to defend Trump’s legacy. Jeffress doesn’t regret a thing about his support of Trump and calls the twice-impeached, insurrection-inciting leader the greatest president in his lifetime. He talks about an “axis of evil” that tried to take Trump down and tells Dobbs to keep exposing the “darkness” and “lies” that are “sure to come” in the Biden administration.
Ralph Reed just can’t seem to let go. Trump lost. Loeffler lost. Perdue lost. This is a pretty risky thing to say in light of January 6, 2021. Does Reed really think that Biden’s inaugural will not be “marred by violent protests?”
In a video released tonight, President Trump denounces the mob violence at the Capitol and calls for no violence or vandalism at Joe Biden’s Inaugural, in contrast to his own Inaugural, which was marred by violent protests. https://t.co/FM9TdbGNXj
Like Jim Garlow, Gary Bauer also turned to Facebook to call out the ten House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. Here are some of the comments from his followers after he shared this Washington Examiner article:
“Remember that next Election Day; oh, I forgot–there will never be a fair election again.”
“They are so blind and deaf, they are Democrats in wolfs clothing, I call for them to be removed/recalled and even kicked out of the GOP”
“praying for their hearts and eyes to be lifted up to Jesus to bring healing and deliverance from deception and unbelief…”
“Satan worked on their emotions and won. Their hearts were hardened.”
“Wicked doesn’t even describe what they have done and will continue to do. The evil devils in the demonkkkrat (sic) party along with their friends the liberal activists in the media have no qualms about using and abusing some one else for power.”
A moderate Democrat and devout Roman Catholic will be inaugurated President of the United States on January 20, 2021 and James Dobson believes that “America and Western Civilization will never be the same.” Here is a taste of his monthly newsletter:
The Left has now achieved ultimate power in the White House, in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate. Consequently, as I warned in December, there will be no checks and balances within our system of government. The most radical ideas promoted by President Joe Biden and his majority party will be enacted. We can infer from what they have told us that the years ahead will bring more regulation, less freedom, more taxation, less religious liberty, more socialism, less democracy, more funds for abortion, less support for the sanctity of human life, less funding for the military, more illegal immigration, more restrictions on speech, less patriotism, more wasteful spending, less support for families, more regulations on business, more appeasement of China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea, less support for the electoral college, trillions more dollars for climate nonsense, more LGBTQ propaganda, less moral compunction, more governmental corruption, less oversight of elections, more “cancel culture,” fewer police officers, more gun control, and less government of the people, by the people and for the people. We can also anticipate quick passage of the horrendous “Equality Act.” You might want to keep track of these items as they occur. This is just the beginning.
America and Western civilization will never be the same, because it is not possible to back up on a freeway. Once radical changes are implemented, they will become ensconced in law and culture. I am most concerned about what all this means for the next generation. Children are extremely vulnerable to leftist curricula in the public schools. Specifically, I am worried about parental rights and the legality of home schooling. It is the only protection for kids.
In conclusion, I will let you interpret this Franklin Graham tweet:
The Bible says, “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out,” (Acts 3:19)
While court evangelical Eric Metaxas is invoking Dietrich Bonhoeffer to “stop the steal,” the real Bonhoeffer scholars are calling for the removal of Donald Trump from office. Here is the official statement by the executive board of the International Bonhoeffer Society:
January 11th, 2021
In light of the domestic terrorist attack on the Capitol and Congress of the United States of America, fueled and facilitated by white supremacy, invigorated by false narratives about what was a free and fair election, and incited by President Trump himself, the Executive Board of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section calls for the immediate removal of Donald Trump from office by the invocation of the 25th Amendment or impeachment.
In February of 2017, the IBS-ELS Board of Directors expressed our grave concerns about the rise of hateful and divisive rhetoric, violence, and distrust that came in the wake of Donald Trump’s election (February 2017 Statement). In January of 2020, we leaned into Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s legacy to see the world from the perspective of those who suffer, and expressed our concerns about threats the Trump administration posed to the most vulnerable among us, including people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, religious minorities, immigrants, and the poor. We called for “ending Donald Trump’s presidency” (January 2020 Statement). In both statements, we offered theological and ethical insight from Bonhoeffer on discerning responsible actions in times of crisis. The threat posed to American democracy by this insurrection amplifies the need for immediate action.
On the day of the baptism of his godson, in May of 1944, Bonhoeffer speaks into a context much like our own, where the dominant church, consumed by the pursuit of its own power and preservation, has not only tolerated but supported authoritarian leadership. Bonhoeffer argues that given this troubling reality, Christians have lost their ability to proclaim a life-giving word to the world. Because “the words we used before must lose their power … we can be Christians today in only two ways, through prayer and in doing justice among human beings.” We call on Christians to band together with all persons of conscience and all institutions dedicated to truth and justice to fight for the preservation of democracy and seek justice for all human beings by holding accountable the leaders who have threatened American democratic foundations.
Jennifer M. McBride, President IBS-ELS Lori Brandt Hale, Vice President IBS-ELS Gaylon Barker, Treasurer IBS-ELS John Matthews, Secretary IBS-ELS Christian Collins Winn, Board Member Michael DeJonge, Board Member Stephen R. Haynes, Board Member Matthew K. Jones, Board Member David Krause, Board Member Michael Mawson, Board Member Keith Clements, Emeritus Board Member Clifford J. Green, Emeritus Board Member Barry Harvey, Emeritus Board Member Michael Lukens, Emeritus Board Member
This is very disturbing. It comes from a pro-Trump prayer meeting organized by court evangelical Jim Garlow. Thanks to Right Wing Watch for capturing it on video.
I am not one to criticize people’s prayers, but what Metaxas does here deserves some interpretation.
I am not sure what to call a prayer to God premised upon the belief in a false conspiracy theory.
The Metaxas’s introduction to the prayer, and the prayer itself, is filled with words of victimization. Metaxas complains about losing his Twitter feed and getting criticized by The New York Times. Is losing one’s social media accounts for promoting a false conspiracy theory the mark of religious persecution? Metaxas speaks like he is now part of an underground evangelical congregation in Stalin’s Russia. He says that he and the other Trump evangelicals are experiencing “oppression.”
Metaxas reaffirms his belief that it was probably Antifa who invaded the U.S. capitol last week. He says that liberals have “seized on” the insurrection “in the same way the Nazis seized on the Reichstag fire to use it as a way to demonize their political opponents, an incredibly wicked thing.”
Metaxas reaffirms his belief that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. He repeats several debunked stories.
Metaxas really believes that when he prays against the Democrats and the Left he is praying against satanic evil.
I’ve written this before, but I believe Metaxas is under the delusion that he is the Dietrich Bonhoeffer of this generation. (By the way, that makes two court evangelicals who believe this. The other is Johnnie Moore). At one point he prays that God would help his fellow evangelicals to have “the courage” of Bonhoeffer and the early Christian martyrs who “went to their deaths singing hymns.” I will be praying tonight that some crazy pro-Trump evangelicals do not show-up at the inauguration with hymn books to “courageously” die in order to help God answer Metaxas’s prayer.
Metaxas prays for a miracle to take place between now and January 20. He doesn’t specifically mention the nature of the miracle, but everyone watching this prayer meeting knows he is praying for a second Trump term.
Eric Metaxas, radio host and fellow at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center, is encouraging everyone to trust God in midst of this intense period of persecution for the church. The persecution, he claims, is coming from Marxists who removed him from Twitter for twelve hours yesterday. He quotes Patrick Henry famous phrase, “give me liberty or give me death.” The difference between Henry and Metaxas is that Henry was responding to facts and Metaxas is responding to a conspiracy theory about the supposed stealing of the 2020 presidential election. He is still expecting God to perform a miracle that will allow Trump to stay in office and restore all social media accounts. Finally, Metaxas says not to “demonize” people. This is rich coming from a guy who has has used his platform to demonize Democrats for four years, even calling them Satanic. When he demonizes others he quickly says that he was “joking” about it. Watch:
One of Metaxas’s guests today was former Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachmann. She was apparently in the U.S. Capitol as part of a “prayer force” when the insurrection took place on January 6, 2021. She was there to pray that Congress would not certify the 2020 Electoral College votes. Both Metaxas and Bachmann once again suggest that very few of the insurrections were part of the “happy” and “joyous” Trump supporters in Washington that day. Bachmann describes the entire riot as “identity theft.” The Left, by spreading this narrative of the violent Trump supporter, is stealing Trump’s identity as a great leader. What happened during the 2020 election, Bachmann believes, was a political coup–a takeover of a legitimate government. She is 100% sure that the Democrats stole the election. Metaxas and Bachmann are preparing for persecution.
Metaxas and Bachmann say that evangelicals who criticize them for their views on election fraud are “conforming” to the world. Neither of them present any evidence of election fraud. Metaxas just has a feeling about it based on the way Biden behaved in the weeks before the election.
Watch:
Bottom line: The Trump presidency may not make it to January 20. Metaxas and Bachmann are going down with it. Metaxas is positioning himself as the evangelical voice of Trump’s lost cause. Bachmann is doing the same thing from her new post at Pat Roberston’s Regent University.
The Falkirk Center at Liberty University is also talking about free speech. White evangelicals are in full victimization mode.
They’ll tell us it’s righteous to have your access to the online world stripped away.
First by leftist monopolies, then by authoritarian politicians.
Politics is downstream from culture, but if culture is already so authoritarian, our politics is about to be as well. pic.twitter.com/RVASK6odRG
Believe it or not, Falkirk Center (Liberty University) founder Charlie Kirk did not tweet today. Did he get banned?
Kirk is now calling for unity. Over the last four years Charlie Kirk has been one of the most divisive people in the United States. As David Blight taught me years ago through his book Race and Reunion, calls for unity often ignore the unjust things that happened in the immediate past. They tend to paper over injustice. Historians will hold Kirk and his rhetoric partly responsible for the first attack on the U.S. Capitol in American history. These commentators on Majority Report are absolutely correct:
Samuel Rodriguez says repentance begins with him:
The American nation will be healed when the American church repents. It begins with me. #2Chronicles714
On Sunday, Rodriguez called the evangelical church to repentance for making “the person who occupies the White House more important than the one who occupies our hearts.”
Court evangelical journalist David Brody says that the insurrectionists did not represent “#MAGA Nation”:
For those in the media and other places that need to hear this again, let’s be clear: the crazy fringe that violently stormed the capitol do not represent #MAGA Nation. They just don’t. Ask yourself this: does antifa represent Democrats? No. Sick Wackos on both sides.
A quick word about this tweet. As I argued earlier today, I don’t think those who stormed the U.S. Capitol represent American evangelicals (Brody’s primary audience). Nor do they represent all Trump voters. But they certainly represent the kind of people who attend rallies and scream “Make America Great Again.” I would like Brody to explain the difference between these people and the people he calls #MAGA Nation.”
I am still wondering what evangelicals did before Twitter and Facebook. At a time when they should be mourning the near collapse of American democracy and reflecting on how their view of Christian politics led to the enabling of Donald Trump, they are playing the victim. This is par for the course. Here is court evangelical Richard “unprecedented access” Land complaining about free speech.
5/6 When even the ACLU is concerned, we have a real and direct threat to the freedom of speech of every American. If they can silence the President, they can silence you.
Jack Hibbs, in an apparent act of protest, has left Twitter. He is fleeing persecution by retreating to his personal web page.
(2/2) willfully chosen to delete my Twitter account within the next 24 hrs and move elsewhere. To stay in touch with ministry and updates I encourage you to go to: https://t.co/QxqWDJkQnM
Robert Jeffress has no clue that he empowered this twice-impeached president. History, however, will remember.
Great talks today with President @realDonaldTrump and @VP@Mike_Pence. When reporter asked if I regretted my support I said “Absolutely not! Most pro-life and religious liberty President and VP in history!”
You can’t make this stuff up. Franklin Graham asks “Where does this hate come from?”
I don’t think I have ever seen the level of hatred we are seeing around us today. It’s chilling. Where does this hate come from? It comes from the human heart.
New York Times religion reporters Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham just published a piece on evangelicals and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday.
Here is a taste:
Lindsay French, 40, an evangelical Christian from Texas, flew to Washington after she had received what she called a “burning bush” sign from God to participate following her pastor urging congregants to “stop the steal.”
“We are fighting good versus evil, dark versus light,” she said, declaring that she was rising up like Queen Esther, the biblical heroine who saved her people from death.
“We are tired of being made out to be these horrible people,” she said, acknowledging there was some violence but insisting on the falsehood that Antifa was behind it.
And this:
Oren Orr, 31, an arborist from Robbinsville, N.C., where he goes to Santeetlah Baptist Church, rented a car to drive to Washington. He carried his American flag right up below the officers on the bleachers, and his wife had a Christian flag. Mr. Trump could be the last president to believe in Jesus, he said. (Mr. Biden speaks often about his lifelong Catholic faith, and unlike Mr. Trump, attends church services frequently.)
Mr. Orr said he brought a baton and a Taser to Washington but did not get them out. “I know the Lord has my back no matter what happens,” he said.
Are Lindsay French and Oren Orr representative of American evangelicals? No. Most white evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 not because they liked him, but because Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were pro-choice and posed a threat to religious liberty. Most of them are horrified by what happened at the U.S. Capitol last week, but few of them see any connection between their vote in 2016 and the events of January 6. At the same time, many also believe the Democrats stole the election. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of evangelicals embrace the views of people like Lance Wallnau, Eric Metaxas, Charlie Kirk, and the rest of the Liberty University Falkirk Center and court evangelical crowd.
Here is Dias and Graham again:
In a Facebook video shot in Washington on Monday night, Tennessee pastor Greg Locke referred to himself as part of the “black robe regiment,” a reference to American clergy who were active in the American Revolution. At a rally the next night, Mr. Locke preached to a crowd of Trump supporters in Freedom Plaza, predicting “not just a Great Awakening, but the greatest awakening that we have ever seen.”
There is a lot going on in this excerpt. We have written about Locke’s “black robe regiment” before. This reference to eighteenth-century patriotic clergy got traction during the Tea Party movement that emerged in the early Obama administration. It also draws upon QAnon conspiracy theories that predict a national and religious revival is coming to America.
Most evangelical pastors are not like Lindsay French’s pastor or Greg Locke. They do not preach politics from the pulpit (even though many of them voted Trump in 2016 and 2020), they do not encourage their congregations to “stop the steal,” and they do not invoke the Black Robe Brigade in their sermons. I have communicated with dozens and dozens of evangelical pastors over the last month or so. Most of them never mentioned Trump’s name (or Joe Biden’s name) in official church settings. (Nor did they condemn Trump or Biden). Most of them are striving to steer their divided congregations toward some form of Christian unity as they try to figure out how to respond to the power that Fox News (and now Newsmax and One America) and social media have over their congregations. They wonder if their congregations will come out of the COVID-19 pandemic in tact. Many of them are trying to educate their congregations about race. Whether you are sympathetic or not to the struggles that these pastors are facing, they are an important part of the larger story of evangelicals in the age of Trump.
The best histories of evangelicals in the Trump era will tell a complex and complicated narrative.
Roughly 81% of white evangelicals voted for Trump in both elections. History will show that they enabled this president. I stand by every word I wrote inBelieve Me.
But history will also show that evangelical support for Trump took on different levels of commitment. Some followed him deeper into the abyss than others. It is important for future historians to capture this nuance and avoid the media’s efforts to paint evangelicals with broad brushes.
There is a good chance that by the end of the week Donald Trump will be the first president in United States history to be impeached twice.
Once again, I am reminded of Billy Graham biographer Grant Wacker’s words about Graham’s relationship with Richard Nixon at the end of Watergate:
The details of the low-level crime and high-level mendacity that led to Nixon’s impeachment and forced his resignation in August 1974 have been rehearsed many times and need not detain us. The crucial point is that Graham continued to defend Nixon long after most Americans smelled a rat. When the first hint of something amiss came to light in 1972, Graham dismissed it as pettifogery. He pointed out that illicit undercover behavior was no stranger to the White House. Through 1972 Graham allowed that the Watergate events themselves were troubling but insisted that Nixon had nothing to do with them. As late as December he privately assured Nixon of his personal affection and “complete confidence in your personal integrity./” Graham maintained that posture through January 1974.
OK, what’s the CRAZIEST conspiracy you’ve heard lately? I’ll start: The American voters elected Joe Biden to the presidency. Of course it’s embarrassing to admit, but I know people totally CONVINCED it happened, despite the obvious lunacy of it & all the evidence to the contrary.
Metaxas is also trusting God to save him from this Satanic conspiracy. Again, on Facebook:
When the left is THIS desperate, be sure their end is nigh. They have pushed their narrative as far as it can go & many have been blinded to anything else. BUT GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER. This is a spiritual battle. God alone can deliver from this Satanic conspiracy. He will do it.
And more attacks from Metaxas on the purveyors of evil who do not believe the election was stolen (and a Hitler reference for good measure):
The idea that the left (and some lost souls on the right) are trying to demonize everyone who supports Trump as violent insurrectionists TELLS YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW. All liars cast their lost with the father of lies. Please make a note of it. FYI, Hitler did this.
Jack Graham is concerned about his grandchildren. I am also concerned about my grandchildren. As an evangelical Christian, I do not want my children to grow up in a world where evangelicals empower someone like Donald Trump.
The importance of training the next generation to be champions for Christ cannot be overstated.
Our country has strayed so far from God’s light, & we have a moral duty to step up with boldness to bring our national culture back to God & His Word.@jackngrahampic.twitter.com/VjLkCtmlog
At a time when Liberty University’s Falkirk Center should be thinking again about the fruits of their culture-war approach to Christianity, they have decided instead to double-down with “courage” and “boldness.”
Many politicians no longer believe in American ideals & will use their power to punish dissenters of their decrees.
Now more than ever, Americans must demonstrate courage & boldness to stand up for what is right when the government will be ruling by what is wrong. pic.twitter.com/HPXugUFBZY
Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of the Falkirk Center at Liberty University, may be partially responsible for what happened on January 6. He apparently deleted this January 4 tweet in the wake of the insurrection:
Lance Wallnau, who believes the insurrectionists were members of Antifa (and not Trump supporters), does not like Twitter’s decision to remove Trump:
Twitter Insulted 80 million people by punishing their President and humiliating him, taking away his voice. Just as fascists silence people whose views they disagree with, Twitter silenced Trump and in doing so attacked His 80 million supporters. They want Twitter broken up now.
When Metaxas writes on Facebook he gets a few hundred views, maybe a couple thousand on a good day. Wallnau gets a quarter million views and more the 10,000 comments on an average day. In the video linked in the last sentence he essentially tells his followers that he may have to go into hiding because the social media companies are after him.
Court evangelical journalist David Brody is interviewing Alan Dershowitz. (Who is the “Senator Tom Cruise guy?”). Dershowitz believes the House of Representatives’ attempt to impeach Trump is unconstitutional:
Hey Samuel Rodriguez—were your children “watching” the last four years of the Trump presidency?
We must repent for permitting the donkey and the elephant to divide what the Lamb died for on the cross. We must repent because our children are watching! Our children are watching! Our children are watching! When the American church repents, the American nation will be healed.
More and more evangelicals are telling their followers how to stay in touch with them because they are suffering persecution at the hands of social media companies. Jack Hibbs is one of them. Here is Hibbs today on his FB page:
DEAR ONLINE FAMILY: we will be posting and streaming today’s messages (all three services) but we are now aware that we may soon not be on FACEBOOK or YOUTUBE due to the fact that we preach the truth and that we are relevant (to relevant apparently) as a church. KEEP YOUR EYES ON JESUS. we will inform you to the best of our ability as to where we are going to preserve the going forth of His word from Calvary Chino Hills.
One of Hibbs’s followers wrote in response: “They will never be able to stop the word of God, men and the Devil have tried for centuries to no avail the word of God will live forever! God bless you Pastor Jack!”
Robert Jeffress is on Fox News talking about healing. He is the last person who should be talking about this right now. He empowered and enabled the president who, in turn, empowered the insurrectionists. Robert Jeffress is not above this. But at least he believes that Biden is the president-elect. Watch:
Here is James Robison talking about how Satan is trying silence him. One wonders what how he got his message out before Twitter and Facebook.
Tune in NOW – Where do we go from here? James Robison will be on LIFE Today Live, the online Facebook show hosted by Randy Robison, to share his heart and answer questions.https://t.co/pWNN3ZoGQt
Eric Metaxas, the evangelical author, radio host, and “fellow” at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center, has been one of the most outspoken defenders of the belief that Joe Biden and Democrats rigged the 2020 presidential election. We have covered him extensively over the last several years.
Nero demonized Christians as the ones who burned Rome down. Hitler demonized Jews as the real reason for Germany’s woes. Dems are demonizing Trump supporters because we dare to object to the monstrous theft of a presidential election. And bc we love liberty & our country & God.
On December 9, 2020, Metaxas appeared on Charlie Kirk’s podcast. Kirk is a fellow court evangelical and colleague at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center. During that show Metaxas said, in the context of supposed election fraud, that “we need to fight to the death, to the last drop of blood” to preserve Trump’s apparent victory in the 2020 election. You can watch that conversation here.
On January 6 in Washington D.C., pro-Trump rioters invaded the United States Capitol building. Who is responsible for this insurrection? I see four levels of complicity:
Of course the men and women who stormed the U.S. Capitol deserve blame and should be arrested. Many of them already have.
Those Trump-supporters with platforms who are pushing this election fraud narrative deserve blame. I place Metaxas in this category, along with Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Newsmax, One America News, and a bunch of other folks, including many evangelical leaders.
Those who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 are complicit. You helped him get into office despite all the warnings. Of special note here are all those who refused to criticize Trump during his presidency. This includes many evangelicals.
Recently, Simon & Schuster re-issued an edition of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship. Someone at the venerable publishing house asked Eric Metaxas to write the foreword. As some of you know, Metaxas wrote a popular biography of Bonhoeffer that was widely panned by Bonhoeffer scholars.
Your embrace of Trump is eerily reminiscent of German Christians’ attachment to Hitler in the early 1930s. I make this point not to convince you that Trump is Hitler but to remind you of the troubling ways Christians have compromised themselves in endorsing political movements in which they perceived the hand of God. I developed a scholarly interest in the churches’ role during the Nazi era in part so I could help ensure that Christians would never repeat the mistakes they made under Hitler. Similarly, Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of my heroes in part because he was able to resist the wave of Hitler worship that swept up many German Protestants.
Being familiar with this history, I have been struck by how reminiscent many of your responses to Trump are of the way Christians in Germany embraced a strong leader they were convinced would restore the country’s moral order. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, many Christians in Germany let themselves be persuaded that Hitler was a deeply pious man, placed in power by God through a graceful act of intervention in German history. Hitler encouraged these ideas not by claiming any allegiance to Christ but by employing vague religious language, promising a return to the “good old days,” and posing for photographs as he left church, prayed, and entertained ecclesiastical leaders.
Here are a few examples of how Protestant Christian leaders in Germany spoke about God’s role in Hitler’s accession to power:
• “With National Socialism an epoch in German history has begun that is at least as decisive for the German people, as for example the epoch of Martin Luther.” • “No one could welcome January 30, 1933 more profoundly or more joyfully than the German Christian leadership.” • “Adolf Hitler, with his faith in Germany, as the instrument of our God became the framer of German destiny and the liberator of our people from their spiritual misery and division.” • “[Hitler is] the best man imaginable, a man shaped in a mold made of unity, piety, energy and strength of character.” • “[Hitler], the most German man, is also the most faithful, a believing Christian. We know that he begins and ends the course of his day with prayer, that he has found in the Gospel the deepest source of his strength.” • “If the German who truly believed in Jesus could find the Spirit of the kingdom of God anywhere, he could find it in Adolf Hitler’s movement.” • “In the pitch-black night of Christian church history, Hitler became like a wonderful transparency for our time, a window through which light fell upon the history of Christianity.” • “[God has granted us an] hour of grace . . . through Adolf Hitler.” • “God has once again raised his voice in a singular individual.”
Compare these statements with those made in recent months by American charismatic and evangelical leaders
• “God raised up . . . Donald Trump” (Michelle Bachman). • “God has righteously chosen [Trump] to affect the way that this nation goes forward” (Chuck Pierce). • “Donald Trump represents a supernatural answer to prayer” (James Robison). • “God had raised up [Trump] for such a time as this” (Stephen Strang). • “Donald Trump actively seeks God’s guidance in his life” (James Dobson). • Trump’s victory “showed clear evidence of ‘the hand of God’ on the election” (Franklin Graham). • “[Trump is] a bold man, a strong man, and an obedient man” (Kenneth Copeland). • “I see this as a last-minute reprieve for America, and the Church” (Rodney Howard-Browne). • “[Trump] does look like he’s the last hope” (Phyllis Schlafly). • “God was raising up Donald Trump as He did the Persian king Cyrus the Great” (Lance Wallnau). • “[Trump is] a man of faith . . . truly committed to making America great again through principles that honor God rather than defy Him” (Stephen Strang). • “In the midst of . . . despair, came November the 8th, 2016. It was on that day . . . that God declared that the people, not the pollsters, were gonna choose the next president of the United States. And they chose Donald Trump” (Robert Jeffress). • “We thank God every day that He gave us a leader like President Trump” (Robert Jeffress).14
How is Trump able to convince these Christian leaders that he is worthy of their support? Mostly by paying attention to them, inviting them to Trump Tower, and indulging their need to be listened to in an increasingly post-Christian culture. It is truly remarkable that they have been taken in by Trump’s vague and barely comprehensible statements about his “faith,” such as “I’ve always been spiritual,” “belief is very important,” and “I’m going to do a great job for religion.” Honestly, Hitler was better at pretending to be a Christian.
Metaxas thinks he is following Bonhoeffer’s example by challenging the results of the 2020 election. He believes that Democrats are the Nazis and he and his fellow conspiracy theorists are the resistance.
But there is another angle to this story. Last week Simon & Schuster canceled the book contract of Missouri senator Josh Hawley after he objected to the results of 2020 Electoral College. In a public statement, Simon & Schuster said:
“As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: At the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat.”
Eric Metaxas may actually have more influence over rank and file Americans than Josh Hawley.
Let’s hope Simon & Schuster does the right thing here.
One final note. The Amazon page for the Metaxas edition of Cost of Discipleship says the edition with the Metaxas foreword was published in 2012. The Simon & Schuster page lists the publishing date as 1995. The 1995 listing cannot be the Metaxas edition because he did not write his Bonhoeffer biography until 2010. So I’m confused. Did Metaxas write the introduction to Cost of Discipleship in 2012, or did he write it more recently? Either way, I think it is time to remove his foreword.
It’s been a very ugly week in America. By this time next week, Donald Trump may be the only United States president to have been impeached twice. We are getting more and more disturbing images and videos from Wednesday’s invasion of the U.S. Capitol. Here is one of the latest:
On Parler and Facebook, Eric Metaxas shared an article suggesting that the insurrectionists were not Trump supporters, but members of Antifa.
Metaxas is a fellow at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center. The center’s Twitter feed is rallying the troops:
Those who are willing to surrender liberty for comfort, deserve neither, and will receive neither. Those who turn a blind eye when rights are being revoked, will soon realize they were complicit in their own deprivation of freedom. pic.twitter.com/XS3vx1S7lb
What, does the Falkirk Center mean by the “power of the Gospel?” Is the tweet below a reference to the transforming power of the good news of Jesus Christ or the power of Trumpism? Is the Falkirk Center asking followers to plant seeds of faith or seeds of Christian nationalism?
In these tumultuous times, the greatest thing we can offer our culture is the unrivaled, transformational power of the Gospel. The fields are ripe for evangelism, Christians! Start planting seeds. pic.twitter.com/22I8ZcFq0K
The problems we face today cannot be solved by worldly standards. Without the absolute standards given by God, we are crippled with respect to issues of morality, of virtue, & of all other cultural, religious, & political matters.@aigkenham@RHelfenbeinpic.twitter.com/h3GYFVYsGK
Thousands of Trump supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol and court evangelical journalist David Brody and David Barton crony Rick Green are playing the moral equivalency card. “But what about the Democrats!?” Sorry David Brody, the Democrats did not storm the seat of American government.
David Barton, the GOP activist who uses the past to promote his political agenda, retweeted Kentucky representative Thomas Massie. Barton and Massie believe that Twitter’s decision to ban Trump was the most “dystopian” thing that happened this week.
What the hell is happening?
Twitter and Facebook are shutting down accounts.
Apple and Google are shutting down Parler as people try to migrate there.
Are we living out some kind of dystopian novel this week?
Jack Hibbs believes Twitter’s decision to ban Donald Trump is a violation of the First Amendment. Last night he wrote: “If it seems like the first amendment and the Constitution has been abolished it’s probably because it has. The Church is next.” Not really. Twitter is private company. They can ban anyone they want to ban. Also, Twitter has no power to “abolish” the Church.
Hibbs was in Washington D.C. on the day of the insurrection. Why would an evangelical pastor from California be in Washington D.C. on January 6? How is showing-up at a pro-Trump rally part of Hibbs’s pastoral vocation? He believes that the insurrectionists were members of Antifa. He claims that the rioters at the Capitol on Wednesday were “of the same spirit” as the British who invaded Washington in the War of 1812. Both groups, Hibbs says, want to “destroy our Judeo-Christian nation.”
Finally, Hibbs says that “freedom is always purchased with blood…liberty and freedom is a bloody work…Jesus went to the cross and bled for our freedom from sin.” He then compares Jesus’s death to the “blood and sacrifice” of people who died to create the United States and broke rank with” a tyrannical government. Earlier in his little speech, Hibbs extolled the evangelical pastors who promoted liberty from their pulpits during the American Revolution. These pastors mixed American liberty and Christian liberty and, in the process, manipulated the teachings of the Bible to advance their political agenda. I wrote about this extensively in Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction. Hibbs is doing the exact same thing here. Finally, Hibbs reminds his followers that he embraces a dispensationalist, pre-millennial, pre-tribulational eschatology.
Jim Garlow, another court evangelical who appeared on this television show with Hibbs, said that Hibbs has “brilliant insights.” Garlow compared the insurrectionists with the civil rights movement. Watch here.
Robert Jeffress says that when the insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol they were committing a “sin against God.” He calls for peace and unity, but says nothing about the fact that he provided cover for Trump during his entire presidency. Jeffress never uttered a negative word about the man. He is one of the many evangelicals responsible for what happened at the Capitol this week.
Many court evangelicals want to move beyond Trump’s assault on American democracy. They prefer to attack a private tech company:
Tony Perkins, who has built his entire career scaring evangelicals into believing that liberals are taking away their “rights,” tweets a quote from Peter Marshall:
John Hagee believes that the insurrection on Wednesday marks the “advent of the New World Order”:
Another major event marking the advent of the New World Order is the destruction of patriotism. To be a patriot is to love your country, be willing to defend it, and give your life if necessary to preserve its freedom. pic.twitter.com/LQJFaCmPf1
We are learning more and more about the mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. They were Trump-supporters, extreme Christian nationalists, QAnon believers, militia groups, and other assorted thugs. Mo Brooks, a Republican representative from Alabama, still believes that Antifa was behind the insurrection:
4. Evidence, much public, surfacing that many Capitol assaulters were fascist ANTIFAs, not Trump supporters.
Again, time will reveal truth. Don’t rush to judgment. Don’t be fooled by #FakeNewsMedia whose political judgment drives their reporting.
On Wednesday, Trump spoke to his followers. He said that he loved them and called them “special.” Watch:
Last night, Trump read another statement:
This is Trump conceding the election without officially conceding the election.
It is worth mentioning again that Trump cannot give a speech without lying. He did not “immediately employ the national guard.” In fact, he initially resisted the idea. There is nothing in this speech about the fact that Trump created this mob or that he is ultimately responsible for what happened. On Wednesday, he was sending his love to the insurrectionists and calling them “special.” Last night he wanted to throw them in jail.
Does anyone believe anything Trump said in this video? Does he really care about national healing and reconciliation? He released this second video because he is scared. His advisers and cabinet members are resigning. The House and Senate are calling for either the 25th Amendment or another impeachment. And what did he mean when he said “our incredible journey is only just beginning?” Maybe it has yet something to do with this:
Eric Metaxas had self-professed prophet Lance Wallnau on his radio program. He starts the conversation by asking Wallnau if “the prophets got it wrong.” I listened several times to Wallnau answer this question and I have no idea what he is talking about. I think he is just making it all up. Wallnau, speaking with apparent prophetic authority, says that the insurrectionists were Antifa members. Metaxas agrees. He calls the insurrection a “Marxist coup. Metaxas also floats the idea that Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington D.C., was behind the rioting. Finally, Wallnau says that he and Metaxas are part of a Christian populist movement led by Donald Trump. Trump, he says, “is not finished.” He describes this “movement” as “righteous.”
Metaxas also talked to Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Liberty University’s Falkirk Center. Kirk admits that Biden will be the next president. He says that a “lot of people were misled” to believe that Trump was actually going to win. Metaxas admits that he was one of those people, but Kirk lets him off the hook. Then they start talking about the possibility of a God-sized miracle that will get Trump into office.
Kirk, “constitutional scholar” that he is, criticizes Mike Pence for doing his constitutional duty on Wednesday night. He said that Pence did not act with “courage or clarity” when he agreed to certify the votes of the Electoral College.
Watch:
Court evangelical journalist David Brody on “smart analysis”:
It’s pretty rich to see the national media talk about how Trump incited violence with his rhetoric. The liberal media has been stoking division with their lies, sky is falling, fear-inducing, anti-Trump coverage throughout his presidency. Look in the mirror. @realDonaldTrump
Good news! I’ve lost 500 followers today on Twitter because I asked people not to follow me if they thought the people storming the capital were patriots.
Richard Land rejects the violence at the U.S. capitol, but he says nothing about his role in empowering Trump and, by extension, those who stormed Congress. Remember, it was Land who bragged about having “unprecedented access” to the White House during Trump’s presidency.
Jack Hibbs is talking with fellow court evangelical Tony Perkins about the “spiritual battle” for the U.S. capitol. Perkins says that when Trump was elected in 2016 he felt a demonic presence in Washington D.C. trying to stop the inauguration. The women’s march, according to Perkins, was part of this evil presence.
Ralph Reed praises Mike Pence:
Thank you, @VP Pence, for the dignity, grace, and courage with which you carried out your duties and responsibilities on a very difficult day. I am grateful for your service to our nation. https://t.co/5V5mD0paew
Trump has two weeks. I think it’s a little late for advice:
Trump is presented with two leadership problems: how to be successful as a conservative political leader late in the Reagan era and how to be successful as a moral leader in an age that no longer recognizes the “laws of nature and nature’s God.”
Franklin Graham–yes Franklin Graham–wants us to stop the finger-pointing:
Pray that everyone will stop the finger-pointing and realize that both parties bear responsibility for the problems we face today. Pray that they will come together and work together for the good of all of the American people.
My entire family, both sides, has been destroyed over the last 4 years. Some of them are actually related to you. You gave a religious shield to white supremacist nationalism by supporting a mad man who spoke with violent rhetoric and whose policies were corrupt.
We all know what happened today. I wrote about it earlier tonight in a post titled: “What happened today is a fitting ending to the worst presidential administration in American history.”
The court evangelicals, a group of pro-Trump evangelicals who regularly visited the White House during the Trump presidency for the purpose of flattering him, “advising” him, and getting their picture taken, are partly responsible for today’s insurrection.
Let’s see what they are saying (and not saying) today:
Conservative anti-Trumper Rod Dreher wants court evangelical Eric Metaxas to “own” what happened today:
Hey @ericmetaxas, you own this, friend. You were the one telling all your followers that we need to be prepared to shed blood for Trump. And now look. Repent! https://t.co/EsCxm0v8is
Tonight, Metaxas joined other court evangelicals in a “prayer meeting.” According to Bob Smietana’s reporting at Religion News Service, the participants prayed for a miracle. Michelle Bachmann said that the mob who invaded the U.S. Capitol today were “paid rabble-rousers.” “Don’t think for a minute,” Bachmann said, “that these were nasty, naughty, ridiculous, hillbilly Trump people.” Metaxas then prayed: “We need to wake up to the tactics of the enemy who will do anything to win, because there are no values but power.” Bachmann and Metaxas continue to see this as a spiritual battle.
Earlier today, Metaxas tweeted: “There is no doubt the election was fraudulent. That is the same today as yesterday. There is no doubt Antifa infiltrated the protesters today and planned this. This is political theater and anyone who buys it is a sucker. Fight for justice and Pray for justice. God bless America!”
This is why people thinks Metaxas has lost his mind. He claims, with no evidence, that Antifa was behind today’s riot.
Jenna Ellis of the Liberty University Falkirk Center has decided to stake her future on Trumpism:
93-6 in the Senate to ratify the illegal certification in Arizona.
I am deeply disappointed in @Mike_Pence. The Constitution constrains, yes, and that’s why we worked hard to provide him with a constitutional option to protect election integrity.
BUT, he should not have been in that position—state leadership was cowardly first; SCOTUS was also.
The Liberty University Falkirk Center is calling for prayer. Will the Falkirk Center season of prayer be focused on repentance? After all, the Falkirk Center’s primary mission is to promote division in the country. The Falkirk Center also seem to think the Trump era has not damaged the proclamation of the gospel. Here’s the tweet:
We are calling on everyone who sees this to join us in prayer and fasting for the next 14 days. Our nation is divided more than ever before, and now more than ever, the church must step up and proclaim the gospel unashamedly and without fear. pic.twitter.com/Nz2tSBiiz0
Court evangelical journalist David Brody thinks Mike Pence got a raw deal:
Straight up: Mike Pence deserved better than how he has been treated. He has been 100% loyal to @realDonaldTrump and this is what he gets in return? Nope. Not cool. @VP#Pence
Brody is also retweeting Kayleigh McEnany on the Georgia election:
Does anyone truly believe that an anti-military, anti-police, Fidel Castro-inviting, Reverend Wright-loving Marxist embroiled in a child abuse scandal won fairly in the state of Georgia?
The other day Brody said that “journalism is dead.” And today he retweeted the president:
States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval. All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!
The violence underway at the Capitol is unacceptable & anti-American. We are a nation of law & order & we must work within our system of law. Pray for our nation, for our leaders, & our people, that we might uphold our Constitution & preserve our nation peaceably. pic.twitter.com/g0UqubSvJ8
The violent, lawless actions at the U.S. Capitol building against Congress and Capitol Police are wrong and dangerous for our republic. Lawlessness is not the way, and such actions makes it difficult for law-abiding Americans to fight the good fight. Pray for our Republic!
I always have and will denounce violence, lawlessness and anarchy in any and all forms. I have deep convictions for all people to have protection over the 1st Amendment and freedom of speech. We should be able to do this without becoming violent. I ask all to continue praying
Please pray. Millions of freedom-loving Americans feel they have been robbed. I have asked Pres. Trump to encourage everyone to take a knee and pray. I believe Trump wants what’s best, and we know God—who knows best—answers prayer. Violence is not the answer and must not be used.
I am deeply saddened by what took place in our nation’s capital today. Our country is in trouble. We need God’s healing and we need God’s help. Pray for peace and the protection of our nation. Let’s come together—on our knees.
What we are seeing in Washington now is the refutation of our American commitment, a form of unleashed anarchy which is the enemy of ordered liberty, and President Trump is responsible now for unleashing mayhem. Pray that God will rescue is from this.
I am glad that these court evangelicals condemned the violence, but there words could not ring more hollow. There is no recognition that these men and women empowered Donald Trump or encouraged their followers to vote for him. These court evangelicals spent four years praising Trump as the greatest Christian president in American history. They used their platforms and influence to support the president who triggered the insurrection in Washington D.C. today. Now they pray for peace, unity and the preservation of the American republic. But there is no moral or intellectual equivalency here. One side believes in facts, evidence, science, the rule of law, and the Constitution. The other side believes in conspiracy theories, lies, an unhinged president, and an absolute certainty in their knowledge of the will of God. These two sides cannot be reconciled. What are Franklin Graham, Metaxas, and the Falkirk Center praying for?
Only Mohler, the guy who convinced thousands and thousands of Southern Baptists that it was OK to vote for Trump in 2020, said the president is responsible for what happened today.
It would be best if these court evangelicals (and Mohler) just kept quiet. Or better yet, they could admit their complicity in the insurrection and political terrorism that occurred in Washington D.C. today and repent.
Earlier today, I wrote about some of the highlights of the last ten days. I mentioned the Nashville bombing, Trump’s handling of end of the year legislation, the president’s continued attempts at overturning the 2020 president election, and the support he is now receiving from at least twelve U.S. senators. Read that post here. It provides the necessary context for this post.
So what have the court evangelicals had to say since our last update on December 24, 2020?
The Falkirk Center at Liberty University, ground zero for evangelical conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election, is getting heat from the Liberty student body. As of December 30, 400 Liberty students and recent graduates have signed a petition calling for the university to close the Falkirk Center. The petition states: “We are also concerned that the Falkirk Center has become a gateway for many wolves in sheep’s clothing–people who claim Christ’s name because it is convenient for their personal or political gain.” It specifically calls out Falkirk “fellows” Eric Metaxas, Allie Beth Stuckey, Sebastian Gorka, Jenna Ellis, Ryan Helfenbein, and co-founder Charlie Kirk.
The petition is similar to what I wrote about the Falkirk Center in a Religion News Service piece on September 9, 2020.
The Falkirk Center’s social media feeds did not address the petition. They continued to double-down on abortion, church closings due to COVID-19, and “socialism.” Perhaps this tweet was meant as a subtle response to the petition:
Christians, we must never vacate the political sphere. To do so is to abandon essential issues of significance, like those of the life of the unborn & religious liberty. If we wish to have liberty & justice for all, we must be willing to fight the political battles.@RHelfenbeinpic.twitter.com/ZgoFsmjIqo
Charlie Kirk, the founder of the Liberty University Falkirk Center, did not mention the student petition, but defended Trump’s veto of the Defense Authorization Act on the grounds that it would rename military bases named after Confederate leaders:
Any Republican who voted WITH Nancy Pelosi AGAINST Trump's veto to maintain Section 230, rename military bases, and fund more endless wars needs to be aggressively primaried in 2 years.
He is also attacking Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensberger for his refusal to “find votes” for Trump:
Imagine calling yourself a “Republican” and secretly & maliciously recording a call with the leader of your party & President of the United States THEN leaking it to The Washington Post
Georgia’s Brad Raffensburger is a total disgrace and he should immediately resign in shame
And yes, he still believes that the Democrats stole the election:
Anyone worried about the "unwise precedent" of ensuring fair elections is saying they are okay with the precedent of Democrats stealing every election from here on out.
The election was rigged and everyone who loves the Constitution knows it:
Every American who loves our Constitution is rightly upset that this election was rigged and that the Supreme Court and state legislatures refused to do anything about it.
“The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him.”
All she has done is part of the sovereign will of God:
I am grateful for God’s providence and sovereignty over the past year—the opportunity to serve my President, my country, and defend the Church. It has been an immensely difficult year for the world and our nation, and I hope we step into the New Year seeking our Lord Jesus. ❤️🥂
But at least she will keep speaking truth and reminding everyone that she is trending on Twitter:
“Jenna” has been trending all day on Twitter because I took a stand for the Constitution & rule of law, & vile leftists want to keep tweeting vulgar, stupid remarks.
Another Liberty University Falkirk Center fellow, Eric Metaxas, continued to claim that “the election was stolen.” He describes the 2020 election as the equivalent of “stabbing Lady Liberty in the throat,” “murdering Uncle Sam,” and “desecrating all the young men who died for liberty over the centuries.” Metaxas believes that if Joe Biden gets inaugurated on January 20, 2021 it will be a “miracle.” Biden, Metaxas says, “was involved in one of the most wicked, treasonous acts in the history of the greatest nation in the world.” Watch here (after the five minute mark).
In other court evangelical news:
Self-proclaimed prophet Lance Wallnau is worried that Biden and Harris will “rule” America:
THIS IS IT! do this OR Biden and then Harris advisors will rule you! https://t.co/FljNmwKOBq
It is all a spiritual battle for “rulership on earth”:
Make no mistake, the kingdoms of light and darkness are contending for rulership on the earth, but when you occupy what was assigned to you, it pushes back on every devil assigned against you.
On Wallnau’s Facebook page he says that we are “in the spiritual fight of our lifetime” and we are entering a week that will “change America.” His source is Trump election fraud lawyer Sidney Powell. He believes that any member of Congress up for election in 2022 should be protesting the Electoral College results on January 6. Christians must “enlarge their presence” to make sure Trump stays in office.
Court evangelical journalist David Brody believes journalism is dead.
The liberal national media is a disgrace. They took ZERO initiative to truly investigate these claims of major election fraud. They gave it NO oxygen despite loads of voting irregularities. They should NOT be trusted. Be smart. Stay away. #2020Election#JAN6@realDonaldTrump
This next tweet may be true. But it says more about evangelicals than Trump:
Just a reminder that @realDonaldTrump is the best president evangelicals EVER had. Not even close actually. There have been so many Judeo-Christian policy victories plus @POTUS gave them access to influence policy. He treated them marvelously. Match made in Heaven.
Brody gives a signal boost to violence on January 6:
There’s quite a bit of talk about violence on January 6th. Are you showing up in DC that day? If so, what’s your plan? Protest and then what? #January6thDC#StopTheSteaI
I’m not making a threat, but rather simply saying a fact, when I say that any Republican member of the House or Senate who refuses to object to election fraud next week is basically finished as a leader in the Republican Party. Time to start packing!
The Swing States did not even come close to following the dictates of their State Legislatures. These States “election laws” were made up by local judges & politicians, not by their Legislatures, & are therefore, before even getting to irregularities & fraud, UNCONSTITUTIONAL!
Hibbs is also going on Newsmax in support of Trump. Just another court evangelical doing his part.
Jim Garlow’s prayer meetings for election integrity are continuing into the new year. Last week he was marching around the Georgia capital with a few followers, including Messianic Jews with shofars.
Garlow also engaged in a Twitter debate over who is the “adult” in the Senate:
Hawley – bold, courageous, patriotic. HE is the adult.
Robert Jeffress continued to remain quiet on election fraud. He is back to his usual talking points about the Democrat “administration of death.” There is an interesting and ironic part of this interview in which Jeffress criticizes liberal Protestants for getting too political.
Donald Trump continues to claim he won the 2020 presidential election, refuses to sign Congress’s COVID-19 relief package, and pardoned two murderers and two members of Congress who pleaded guilty to crimes. As I type Trump also pardoned Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner’s father. The latter committed a crime that Chris Christie, the prosecutor of his case, called “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes” he has ever prosecuted. Meanwhile, thousands and thousands of people are dying from COVID-19, health-care workers are at the breaking point, and Americans are standing in food lines.
Just another day in Trumpland.
The number of the president’s advisers and friends is getting smaller and smaller by the day. We are now in a race to January 20, 2020 and are all hoping the lame duck president does nothing stupid. As I type, David Gergen is on CNN saying that this is the “most dangerous point of the Trump presidency.”
Meanwhile, the folks at the Liberty University Falkirk Center are still fighting for the president. They are still talking about “standing on truth.” This is getting embarrassing. What “line” are they holding? What “stand” are they taking? They support a president who pardons murderers and crooks, cannot tell the truth, vetoes aid to suffering Americans, and is trying to undermine the presidential election. Is this standing up for the Gospel? Really?
Believers, we must stand united against any movement that is antithetical to the gospel. Our mission is simple: Stand for truth. The gospel is the embodiment of truth, and we will never give up the fight in preserving it in our pulpits, our culture, & our nation.@RHelfenbeinpic.twitter.com/aKkY8S2ZPy
Humility and repentance? Seriously? Have you read your Twitter feeds lately?
As believers, we must be in a constant state of humility and repentance. We are fallen creatures. At the same time, we should be overwhelmed with thankfulness that we serve a God who forgives us when we repent. Our sins have been atoned for by the blood of Christ. pic.twitter.com/jI2HyYOgBu
Charlie Kirk is the founder of the Liberty University Falkirk Center. He is upset about the COVID-19 relief bill and wants the government to give more money to the American people. I think Kirk and the Democratic Party may have found some common ground. I am sure Nancy Pelosi would love Kirk’s help in getting more cash to ordinary Americans.
BREAKING:
President Trump just vetoed Congress’s insane spending bill
Good!
RT if not a single dime of taxpayer dollars should go overseas while millions of Americans are out of a job!
Kirk is saying nothing about Trump’s veto of the bipartisan defense bill. Trump vetoed the bill because it would provide the funds necessary to rename ten military bases currently named for Confederate leaders.
Jenna Ellis, a fellow at the Liberty University Falkirk Center, is also in favor of more government spending on the stimulus. Maybe she should be working for Pelosi instead of Trump.
Congress should reconsider the stimulus bill.
Trump is proving he’s willing to veto outrageous spending in conflict with the priorities of the American people.
Eric Metaxas is in legal trouble. But he is still pushing the election fraud narrative. He claims that there are “forces at work that are as wicked as we have ever seen” and Americans don’t truly understand “evil.” Then he compares anyone who “looks the other way” on this so-called “election fraud” to the “evil” of the Chinese communists. “If you can’t take this seriously,” Metaxas says, “I can’t take you seriously.” He says that unless Biden is stopped “we cannot move forward as a country” because God is on Trump’s side. He knows a Trump victory is “God’s will.” Watch:
Lance Wallnau also believes God is on Trump’s side:
God has a greater purpose for America and He is at work in this cosmic conflict as He overturns thrones, dominions and posers. Drop a 🙏 if you are praying with me for God to do what only He can do! pic.twitter.com/fC9lmGnFG9
Court evangelical David Brody interviews Metaxas. Metaxas thinks Trump will win because “more and more Americans” believe the election is rigged. This is interview clarifies the nature of Metaxas’s mission right now. He wants to instill enough doubt and fear in the minds and hearts of ordinary evangelicals so that they do something to stop Biden’s inauguration. What will happen when the Senate certifies the vote of the Electoral College on January 6 and when Biden is inaugurated on January 20. Does that mean he was wrong about God’s will? Will he call for an insurrection–a holy war of sorts?
Brody also interviewed Newt Gingrich. The former Speaker of the House believes the Democrats stole the election, but the legal team needs to do a better job:
Christmas is tomorrow, but David Barton is still fighting over the Thanksgiving. In this piece, he tries to argue that there are two Americas. One has its roots in Jamestown and slavery and the other has its roots in the Pilgrims and liberty. And, of course, he calls us to follow the example of the Pilgrims. (Of course he fails to note that much of the theology the Pilgrims brought to America influenced pro-slavery ideas in the 19th century). This reminds me of when Barton was on the Eric Metaxas show and said that both Jamestown and Plymouth were “Christian” colonies, but only Plymouth was “biblical.”
Former Minnesota congressperson Michelle Bachmann will lead the Pat Robertson School of Government at Regent University. She is hoping to expand the university’s “biblical worldview.” Tony Perkins is very excited about it:
Congratulation to both Regent and former Congresswoman Bachmann. Michele Bachmann Named Regent University Dean of Robertson School of Government https://t.co/QiVpq5SfKZ # via @charisma_news
Jack Hibbs supports the president’s decision to veto the stimulus package:
This is an absolute must see. Pure truth and perhaps too much reality for Democrats and Republicans who want to play politics with your life and money. https://t.co/IuIivVh9qI
The last time we saw Jim Garlow he was hosting Alt-right leader Steve Bannon on his “election integrity” prayer call. Today he is on FB pushing this conspiracy theory and telling some of his court evangelical and political friends to “get this to the right people”:
Went to vote today 12/21/2020 early voting and while standing in line; a white car parks across the street in front of Island’s Library on Whitemarsh Island, GA in front of voting entrance. The car is not in a parking space and the driver had on the emergency blinking lights. They rushed to the voting area door and went inside. I took a picture of their car when I noticed it had a Florida tag. A few minutes they returned with a green plastic container. They opened their trunk and then went to the back seat of the car and removed bags that looked like empty suitcases and put them in the trunk. One lady grabbed a small bag that had writing on it saying “Secure the Vote”. They packed the green plastic container, put it in the car and drove off. They could be legitimate but I was left wondering after I enlarged the picture of the container and it said, “Absentee ballots to be processed”. Tell me if you are suspicious?
Robert Jeffress is on Fox News giving leadership advice, praising Trump for his leadership, and attacking Biden. He calls Trump “President Trump” and he calls Biden “Joe.”
I’ve known former Speaker of the House @NewtGingrich for a number of yrs. He might be one of the smartest people in politics today. In this article he shares his perspective of where we are today politically. It’s something you might want to read… https://t.co/WBBI6JG7jU
Finally, I am struck today by how the Twitter feeds of the court evangelicals are filled with tweets about Christmas miracles interspersed, almost seamlessly, with election fraud tweets. This is sad. Because these Christian men and women are enabling the worst president of the United States. This president’s immorality and shamelessness make Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, and Richard Nixon look like saints.
Eric Coomer, director of product strategy and security for Dominion Voting Systems, is receiving death threats and other harassments from the Trump campaign and right-wing media for his supposed involvement in election fraud. He is suing Donald Trump for President Inc., Joseph Oltmann, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, One America News Network, Newsmax, Gateway Pundit, Michelle Malkin, and evangelical radio host Eric Metaxas, among others, for “relentless defamation and ongoing threats.”
Spreading false conspiracy theories about American election workers can have devastating consequences. This is such a case. Specifically, this case is based on Defendant’s false and baseless assertions that Dr. Coomer…sits at the center of a national conspiracy to fraudulently elect the President of the United States. Defendants, by their actions, have elevated Dr. Coomer into the national spotlight, invaded his privacy, threatened his security, and fundamentally defamed his reputation across this country.
The primary culprit appears to be Oltmann:
Defendants relied heavily upon false allegation made by Joseph Oltmann, a politically-motivated individual, business owner, and podcast host, to support their conspiracy theory. Oltmann has founded a nonprofit and media business for the alleged purpose of building a political movement to preserve freedoms he perceived as threatened in the United States. This allegedly included efforts to uncover and reveal Antifa activists conspiring against Oltmann. Oltmann claimed to have infliltrated a conference call with such Antia activists. Oltmann claimed on this call he purportedly heard someone identified as “Eric from Dominion,” and that this “Eric” stated he would ensure the election went to President-Elect Biden. Oltmann provided no explanation for how he learned of this purported call or gained access to it…With no legitimate attempt to confirm the identity of these alleged speakers, Oltmann attributed their alleged statements to Dr. Coomer. With no additional evidence, Oltmann then used these statements to falsely assert that Dr. Coomer subverted the results of the election. Defendants seized on and perpetuated these false allegations to further their own interests.
Here is what Coomer has had to endure since November 3, 2020:
Defendants knowingly circulated and amplified a baseless conspiracy theory to challenge the integrity of the presidential election. While this theory has been thoroughly rejected, its immediate and life-threatening effects remain very real. The deluge of misinformation has caused immense injury to Dr. Coomer’s reputation, professional standing, safety, and privacy. Once an esteemed private election technology expert, Dr. Coomer has been vilified and subjected to an onslaught of offensive messages and harassment. In response to multiple credible death threats, Dr. Coomer has been forced to leave his home in fear for his safety. Without concern for the truth or the consequences of their reckless conduct, Defendants branded Dr. Coomer a traitor to the United States, a terrorist, and a criminal of the highest order.
Here is the section on Metaxas:
Similarly, Eric Metaxas hosted an interview with Oltmann…on his radio talk show and podcast on November 24, 2020. This interview was published on Metaxas’s YouTube channel, The Eric Metaxas Radio Show, which has approximately 185,000 subscribers. During the Metaxas interview, Oltmann again falsely alleged that Dr. Coomer was an anonymous Antifa activist on a purported call Oltmann claimed to have infiltrated well before the election. And again allegedly determined from this call that Dr. Coomer subverted the presidential election. Metaxas also published these false statements despite their inherent improbability, the unreliability of his source, and the lack of credible evidence that an “Antifa conference call” actually happened.; that Dr. Coomer was present on the call; that the comments attributed to Dr. Coomer were actually spoken; and that the alleged election fraud actually occurred. Metaxas also took no actions or efforts to corroborate or verify the baseless allegations before publishing them and disregarded reliable sources establishing the contrary. Following this interview, Metaxas…published additional false statement in tweets, promoting his interview of Oltmann and the allegations of fraud to his followers. Like Oltmann, Metaxas conceived of a story that the result of the election were fraudulent and consciously set out to establish that Dr. Coomer perpetuated this fraud.
But the Trump presidency will leave gaping wounds nearly everywhere, and ruination in some places. Truth as a concept has been battered from the highest office in the land on an almost hourly basis. The Republican Party has been radicalized, with countless Republican lawmakers and other prominent figures within the party having revealed themselves to be moral cowards, even, and in some ways especially, after Trump was defeated. During the Trump presidency, they were so afraid of getting crosswise with him and his supporters that they failed the Solzhenitsyn test: “The simple act of an ordinary brave man is not to participate in lies, not to support false actions! His rule: Let that come into the world, let it even reign supreme—only not through me.”
During the past four years, the right-wing ecosystem became more and more rabid. Many prominent evangelical supporters of the president are either obsequious, like Franklin Graham, or delusional, like Eric Metaxas, and they now peddle their delusions as being written by God. QAnon and the Proud Boys, Newsmax and One America News, Alex Jones and Tucker Carlson—all have been emboldened.
These worrisome trends began before Trump ran for office, and they won’t disappear after he leaves the presidency. Those who hope for a quick snapback will be disappointed. Still, having Trump out of office has to help. He’s going to find out that there’s no comparable bully pulpit. And the media, if they are wise, will cut off his oxygen, which is attention. They had no choice but to cover Trump’s provocations when he was president; when he’s an ex-president, that will change.
Today on court evangelical Eric Metaxas’s radio show he played white nationalist Alt-right leader Steve Bannon’s speech to the “election integrity” prayer meeting run by fellow court evangelical Jim Garlow. In August, Bannon was indicted for wire fraud and money laundering in relation to the We Build the Wall fundraising campaign. Metaxas says that “every syllable” Bannon uttered during the prayer meeting was “gloriously important.”
Watch:
Bannon tells the evangelical leaders on the call:
“If we lose this fight to really secure and close on this massive landslide victory that President Trump won on November 3, we’re gonna cease to be a republic.”
That Trump’s victory in 2016 “was providential” because he “stood up to the elites.”
That Trump “overwhelmingly” won Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Arizona, and New Mexico.
To “put pressure” on their state legislatures.
Not to let Joe Biden “take control of this government.”
To call Georgia governor Brian Kemp and Arizona governor Doug Ducey even if they do not live in that state.
That Trump gave them a voice.
If one of the “contested” states decertifies the election, people will take to the streets and it will make June [2020] look like a church picnic.”
They must “bet it all” on Trump because the “Holy Spirit works through human instruments.”
That on November 3, “we had an election stolen in the dark of night.”
Garlow gets on after Bannon is done and says that this is a “battle between good and evil.” Then he promotes Bannon’s Alt-right radio program.
Metaxas listens and takes notes. I have never seen him this quiet for so long.
The waning days of the Trump presidency are upon us. It seems like more and more of Trump’s supporters are accepting this reality, but the president has not. Over the weekend Trump met with Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, Sidney Powell and Peter Navarro to talk about how to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Meanwhile, outgoing Attorney General William Barr said, once again, that there was no election fraud.
Russia is attacking the United States. But Trump, who rarely reads intelligence briefs, thinks it is China. Barr believes it is Russia. So does Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. So does just about every other else.
More and more people are getting the COVID-19 vaccine. Trump could take credit for this vaccine and thus end his presidency with what Mitt Romney recently described as a “victory lap.” But why would Trump do this when he can get the old gang back together (Bannon, Flynn, Giuliani) and try to overturn the 2020 presidential election?
COVID-19 is at an all-time high right now. Mike Pence got the vaccine. But Trump is retweeting anti-maskers.
The Liberty University Falkirk Center is fighting to the end. Jerry Falwell Jr. might be out at the Christian university, but his legacy at Liberty University lives on through the Twitter feeds of Charlie Kirk, Jenna Ellis, Eric Metaxas, Sebastian Gorka, and others.
Critical thinking?:
The culture today does not understand the importance of critical thinking; of asking tough questions. We merely follow the popular narrative and buckle to societal pressure. Be a critical thinker!@RHelfenbeinpic.twitter.com/TSiMjbzx4L
We don’t ask the government for permission to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Spend Christmas with your family and ignore anyone who tries to tell you to do otherwise. It’s that simple.@MattWalshBlogpic.twitter.com/XsdUqRYNlR
Earlier today, I posted about Charlie Kirk’s election fraud claims. Either Kirk knows nothing about basic civics or he is deliberately lying in order to deceive his followers.
Eric Metaxas is running a video of a Los Angeles pastor interviewing Mike “My Pillow Guy” Lindell about election fraud. Lindell is a conspiracy theorist on steroids.
And in other court evangelical news:
Lance Wallnau is also pushing the “Trump won more counties than Biden” narrative.
In this video, Wallnau worries that evangelicals are assimilating to the fake news about the Biden victory.
Richard Land is “thinking intensely”:
2/2 controversial action of Attorney General William Barr in withholding the information concerning Hunter Biden and his uncle Jim (Joe Biden’s brother), and possibly others being the subjects of a criminal probe by the FBI, the IRS and at least one U.S. attorney.
Alt-right Trump adviser Steve Bannon joined Jim Garlow’s prayer meeting for election integrity:
TODAY – SUNDAY – HEAR STEVE BANNON. The GLOBAL PRAYER CALL Updating us on this call will be STEVE BANNON. Today, Dec 20, 5pm Pacific, 6pm Mountain, 7pm Central, 8pm Eastern with 4,000 -7,000 persons as we pray for election integrity/against election fraudhttps://t.co/0dfBTreiWc
Since the 2016 election, @POTUS@realDonaldTrump has been falsely accused, maligned, and attacked. He told us his campaign was spied on. He was right. He told us there was no collusion. He was proven right. When he says this election was rigged or stolen, I tend to believe him.
Russians are hacking the U.S. government and Trump remains silent. Thousands of people died today from COVID-19 and Trump remains silent (except when he takes credit for the vaccine in a tweet about the stock market).
Meanwhile, Trump continues to raise money on his election fraud claims. Today I received e-mails urging me to “reject socialism,” enter a raffle for a signed MAGA hat, claim (with a donation) my “free Christmas gift,” order my Trump Christmas ornament, and help stop Biden from overturning Trump’s “accomplishments,”
Many of Trump’s most ardent Christian supporters–the court evangelicals–are carrying water for this lame duck president. Let’s see what they have said since our last update.
The gang at Liberty University’s Falkirk Center remain Trump’s most vocal Christian defenders.
Hundreds of thousands have died of COVID-19 and a “think tank” at a Christian college is questioning the “expertise” of scientists and doctors:
What is the price of the overconfidence of experts? What is the price of centralized planning & government overreach? What is the price of public lies & what is the price of panic? @DrJayRichards wrote a book about it and he joins us to discuss! https://t.co/XtWYgFllAX
While everyone is complaining about the “war on Christmas,” the Falkirk Center is engaged in the war on Mother’s Day and Father’s day. It almost makes one wonder if the Center owns stock in greeting card companies.
For those keeping score, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are now offensive if not including a third option (or fourth, fifth, ninth…) https://t.co/oQkkErEnOE
Pastors who follow science, public health professionals, and state governments are “submitting to power hungry tyrants.”
Many pastors have abandoned their duty as leaders during this pandemic by submitting to power hungry tyrants. Pastors, the data is in, the tyranny is showing. Now is the time to defend your church, not abandon it; open your church.#ChurchisEssential@charliekirk11pic.twitter.com/eMqt8mrdKZ
Kirk continues to undermine the democratic process with his unprovable election fraud claims:
If you believe that someone who had less than 100 people show up to his “speech” in Georgia today was able to earn 81 million votes legally & fairly, you’re not being honest with yourself.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Wallnau is not happy with Beth Moore. On Wednesday he shared this Facebook post from someone named Johnny Enlow:
Response to Beth Moore’s Tweet of Dec 13, 2020 (Twitter@BethMooreLPM)
Beth Moore, I was sent your tweet this morning and you wanted to hear from fellow leaders. Your rebuke was public so therefore this too is public. My goal is that this be an entreaty more than a counter rebuke. Now, I pray you will listen to a fellow leader. To acknowledge and recognize that God’s key governmental instrument is President Trump is not “Trumpism”. Nor is it denying Jesus any preeminent place. The reason God has Cyrus’s and Davids and Esthers and Moses’s and Pauls and Elijahs and Gideons and Joshuas etc. etc. is because He uses human instruments. If I applied your logic to your very ministry I could conclude that you are unnecessary to give a message because Jesus as King will take care of it. You seemingly have faith for Him to handle all governmental matters personally without need of an instrument but not religious or spiritual matters. I think it self-evident He would not call us the “salt” of the earth and the “light” of the world if He as King Jesus would handle everything.
What if King Jesus has Himself sanctioned and raised President Trump as His key instrument at this time? Would it not be an egregious offense before Him for a leader in the Body of Christ such as yourself to not recognize that reality because of some personal wound, grudge, blindness or preference? And worse to then encourage other leaders towards similar mutiny equivalent? What if some leaders in Moses’ day would have reached out to the people and messaged “We have no need to follow Moses! We must only follow God? God will open the Red Sea before us whether we honor or follow Moses or not”. Would that “zeal for Jesus” have been looked upon kindly by God? I think not. It would be a zeal devoid of wisdom. Apply that to every Biblical character of renown that God used as His key instrument. Israel repeatedly faced judgment for ignoring who God had sent as His key instrument. That was true all the way into the New Testament. The Pharisees could not receive Jesus Himself because of their “zeal for God”. They disrespected the instrument God sent because He was not in the package they expected- and He was actually God Himself! Would not anyone championing “God” above honoring the leader this very God had chosen– actually be in rebellion to God?
Beth, I must tell you that as much as I have respected your ministry to the Body of Christ for many years that this is where you find yourself today. You not only are in resistance to God’s instrument of choice of the hour but you are using the very platform God has given you to champion foolishness against God. While there may or may not be “Trumpism” the actual reason there is so much passion in the Body of Christ towards President Trump and what he is fighting for, is because there are millions of believers in this nation discerning God’s will and His instrument of deliverance for our nation. You have done them and the Body of Christ and the general populace itself a great disservice by calling their proper discernment into account. May you back down from your self-righteous stand and properly discern the day and the hour we are in. May the accountability you have projected onto leaders in the Body of Christ be properly felt by you, yourself, as it is serious. –Johnny Enlow
Court evangelical journalist David Brody interviewed new Christian convert and convicted felon Roger Stone:
Eric Metaxas is explaining his “controversial” comments at Saturday’s Jericho March. He tries to separate himself from Alex Jones, his anti-Catholic remarks, and his blatant plugs for the My Pillow Guy.” He also mentions Rod Dreher’s criticism of his appearance at the Jericho March. Rule of thumb: when you need a ten minute segment to clarify your statements, something might be wrong.
He also addresses those criticizing him on Twitter about his belief in election fraud. He specifically mentions Karen Swallow Prior, Kevin Mattingly, and Rod Dreher. He says that their criticism is wrong and “sloppy.” Then he tries to compare the Jericho March with the Civil Rights Movement.
Here are some of the comments on these Metaxas videos:
None of this is okay! Biden is NOT OUR PRESIDENT!!! I will NEVER ACCEPT BIDEN OR HARRIS!!!
Joe Biden and his campaign TOOK IT BY STEALING so they had to physically “show” that he was “President elect” with signs lol because they themselves know it is fraudulent! Their guilt shows EVERY SINGLE DAY!
He calls himself President Elect. He also announced publicly that he and others put together the most comprehensive voter fraud organization in the history of America. Which of these statements is true?
We need to be in a position that we are standing in Faith and we’re not giving up! Don’t let them see us sweat! God got this! This is not over!
I don’t understand why people are “moving on” from this or letting it slide. Ignoring it. Not standing up to obvious fraud. It makes my heart so sad. Justice and honesty are not being honored. And all the people who voted and put in the effort to abide by the rules have been dismissed. It’s so disrespectful of our nation and our principles. And the implication that anyone who won’t let it go is somehow wrong or imbalanced. I so appreciate your attitude towards this. And the people who are involved. Speaking the truth in love. Bless you bless you bless you.
I absolutely 100% agree with you. But Biden doesn’t have have a decent bone in his body. And doesn’t care if all of American thinks he is a lier and crook, which he most obviously is.
Don’t forget the pastors of the 1700s who were key in the founding of this nation!
Eric, this is part of persecution because we are standing up for Righteousness, Truth, Freedom, and Justice. Persecution will be heavier but remember that you are doing the right thing in the eyes of the Lord. Jesus also said, the world hated Him therefore the world will hate you so count that as a blessing (paraphrase) Matt 5:10. Just a few nights ago, I had a dream and a man in my dream spoke loudly and distinctly the word PERSECUTION. I knew God was showing me to be prepared for it. So be prepared and be blessed for standing on the side withJesus! Paul says in 2Corn 12:10, for Christ, he delights in hardships and persecution.
I am stunned people do not want to see or know the truth. We have Forensic research stating Dominion machines have a 68% error rate. Thousands of affidavits from American citizens. Video of fraud taking place. Why should we accept their fraud. NO and HELL NO!
The Electoral College has voted, but Jack Hibbs is still holding out hope:
Jim Garlow shames all evangelicals who did not vote for Trump. They are all baby-killers, socialists, freedom-haters, anti-marriage, totalitarians, and opponents of religious freedom. Here is what he wrote this week at his Facebook page:
81% of evangelicals voted for life in the womb, the sacredness of authentic marriage, for Israel, for choice-based economics/ free market, a job expanding employment which produced the greatest socioeconomic lift to minorities ever recorded …and for liberty and freedom.
But 14% of so-called “evangelicals” (which used to mean Bible believing) knowingly voted for the dismemberment of babies, the destruction of biblical marriage (yesterday I posted an article about Biden appointing a transgender to high office and it was immediately removed), socialism (which inflicts staggering human pain), economic policies which result in the poor becoming a permanent and dependent underclass, an anti Israel stance (which brings God’s judgment – Genesis 12:3), for authoritarianism and totalitarianism (think Cuomo, Newsom, Whitmar, Lightfoot, Pelosi all making rules for “the deplorables” while they violated them!) and – even though the 14% of “evangelicals” were warned that it would cost us religious freedom – tyranny for those who hold to a distinctly biblical faith. Read this article carefully. Very carefully. These are the causes which 14% of so-called “evangelicals” openly supported, and helped destroy what is left of this wounded and tattered nation. At what point, will they repent?
This has little to nothing to do with specific candidates or parties per se. It is not Republicans vs Democrats. It is not Right vs Left. At its core, it is not even Trump vs Biden. It has everything to do with right vs wrong, with good vs evil. It has to do with policies. With principles. Some biblical. Others radically anti-biblical.
Where is the shame among the 14%? Where is the repentance? Look what 14% supported. I am not angry. I am sad. I grieve for them. Read the article carefully (Leftist “evangelicals” – as if there can be such a thing! – are referred to.)
I am assuming that the so-called “14%” will not be part of this (also on his FB page):
A wild question. In the midst of our national demise, is there a chance we are on the cusp of the Third Great Awakening in America? My gut feeling – and I might be totally wrong – is that the 3rd Great Awakening just MIGHT be 1.Very different from the 1st and 2nd Great Awakenings and… 2.There is a possibility – maybe – that we just MIGHT already be in it, given the massive prayer movement that is in the US – along with many other nations praying for us during this horrific time. However, we don’t yet recognize it for the revival it is, because it gets overshadowed or overridden by the political nuances since the spiritual awakening is flowing primarily out of a royally botched, fraudulent election.
In other words, prayer for “election integrity” will lead to a revival.
Robert Jeffress has been pretty quiet on the “election fraud” front. Yesterday he tweeted about Santa Claus:
“Why did the Swing States stop counting in the middle of the night?” @MariaBartiromo Because they waited to find out how many ballots they had to produce in order to steal the Rigged Election. They were so far behind that they needed time, & a fake “water main break”, to recover!
Swing States that have found massive VOTER FRAUD, which is all of them, CANNOT LEGALLY CERTIFY these votes as complete & correct without committing a severely punishable crime. Everybody knows that dead people, below age people, illegal immigrants, fake signatures, prisoners,….
So now that the election is in the books, what are the court evangelicals saying? (Let’s also remember that some of these court evangelicals are coming off a very “big” weekend in Washington D.C.)
We begin by checking-in on the Liberty University Falkirk Center gang. They are the subject of a new Politico investigation.
Saturday afternoon’s Jericho March looked like an extension of Eric Metaxas’s radio program. He may be angling for a late-night talk show gig on Newsmax.
Yesterday he did his radio show from a hotel room in Washington D.C. because he was going to Mike Pence’s Christmas party. The Liberty University Falkirk Center fellow jokingly called the party a “super-spreader” event. Not funny.
Metaxas spent close to twenty minutes talking about his “music video and his role in the Jericho March on Saturday. We learned that the video’s lyrics were written by John Smirak, a writer at court evangelical James Robison’s blog The Stream. Metaxas described the video as both “funny” and “speaking the truth.”
Falkirk Center fellow Jenna Ellis joined her Center colleague Sebastian Gorka on his radio show. Ellis said that the Supreme Court was wrong in their 9-0 decision to throw out the Texas election fraud case. Yes, you read that correctly. Jenna Ellis told the United States Supreme Court that it does not know how to interpret the Constitution.
She also said Congress will be engaging in a “false certification” on January 6 when it meets to certify the results of yesterday’s Electoral College vote. Ellis told a group of people she describes as “Trump delegates” to storm Washington D.C. and demand that their votes be counted.
And she is “completely dedicated to God and Country”:
Thanks so much to @DavidBrodyCBN for wanting to write this and give people an *honest* insight into who I am and why I love God, my country, and the Constitution! 😊❤️🇺🇸https://t.co/mxOlzYpdPJ
Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Liberty University’s Falkirk Center, still doesn’t believe Biden won:
I just watched Joe Biden’s “speech”
I have an incredibly hard time believing that 81 million Americans came together and voted to entrust our nation to someone who is so obviously mentally & physically unfit
Wallnau also has opinions on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Texas case. Yesterday, while wandering around Washington D.C. with his daughter, he blamed the Court’s refusal to take the case on Catholic justices. If Trump had appointed evangelical justices who were “time-tested spiritual warriors” things would have been different. I knew it would only be a matter of time before evangelicals played the anti-Catholic card on Kavanaugh, Roberts, and Barrett.
Over 250,000 people watched Wallnau’s video.
Here is Jack Hibbs yesterday on his Facebook page: “Turn off Fox News and CNN people because they’re not telling you the whole truth regarding today’s electoral college.” He then embedded this tweet from a former New York City police commissioner and convicted felon:
HISTORIC AND UNPARALLELED – PA, GA, MI, WI, AZ, NV, and NM all had GOP electors cast votes for @realDonaldTrump. That preserves @POTUS’ right to remedy fraud with his own electors.
After the Supreme Court threw out the Texas lawsuit on Friday, Allen West, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, wrote:
The Supreme Court, in tossing the Texas lawsuit that was joined by seventeen states and 106 US congressman, has decreed that a state can take unconstitutional actions and violate its own election law. Resulting in damaging effects on other states that abide by the law, while the guilty state suffers no consequences. This decision establishes a precedent that says states can violate the US constitution and not be held accountable. This decision will have far-reaching ramifications for the future of our constitutional republic. Perhaps law-abiding states should bond together and form a Union of states that will abide by the constitution.”
Court evangelical Tony Perkins agreed with West’s call for a secession movement:
Agreed; perhaps it is time to political recognize the ideological divide in our nation. We could have the Constitutional States of America and the Lawless States of America where cities are burned and looted and elections are stolen. https://t.co/FHXgxLiP7c
I am praying God will expose things tonight! May your eyes be open to every deceiver sent by the enemy to destroy your life & purpose in the name of Jesus!
Franklin Graham seems resigned to a Biden victory:
People have asked if I’m disappointed about the election. When I think about my answer, I have to say that I’m grateful to God that for the last 4 yrs He gave us a president who protected our religious liberties, defended the lives of the unborn & more… https://t.co/1przPSuiQG
I would love to know what Johnny would say to Franklin today:
Did you know that my father @BillyGraham made an appearance on the @JohnnyCash show at the Grand Ole Opry & had a part in a Johnny Cash song? Take a look back in time & watch to the end as Johnny Cash asks him to come down & share more of the words of Jesus! pic.twitter.com/ASDPf4bV8p
Today pro-Trump evangelicals and their friends gathered in Washington D.C for a “Jericho March” to “stop the steal” of the 2020 election. Eric Metaxas, the creator and star of the recent Joe Biden parody video in which he transposed a political message over the lyrics to a Christian song performed by acapella group Pentatonix, was the master of ceremonies for a non-stop parade of bombastic, reality-denying speakers. I did not get to watch the entire event, but I live-tweeted through most of it.
The rally got off to a “good “start when Metaxas asked if anyone in the audience had a bazooka so they could shoot down a media helicopter flying over the event.
The day ended with Metaxas blowing a red, white, and blue shofar and the “walls came tumbling down.”
Mike Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who told special counsel Robert Mueller that he “willfully and knowingly” made “false, fictitious and fraudulent” statements to the FBI about conversation with Russia’s ambassador, was one of the day’s featured speakers:
Michael Flynn on 2020 election: We're in a spiritual battle for the heart and soul of the country…and we will win because the truth will prevail. We must fight with our faith and with courage. No one will take away the fresh air of liberty from me. #JerichoMarch
I got a complementary copy of the Epoch Times in the mail the other day. Nearly every article was about voter fraud. This was not the first time this rag was mentioned today:
Flynn: "The media is doing a terrible disservice to this country." Only the *Epoch Times* is doing a good job. #JerichoMarchhttps://t.co/CvxZsvP92P
Midway through Flynn’s speech, another helicopter made several passages over the event:
Michael Flynn: "Every time they throw an arrow at [Trump] they throw an arrow at us." (As Trump flies over the crowd in a helicopter and the crowd cheers). #JerichoMarch
Trump's helicopter passes by this event multiple times. It's unclear if Trump is actually IN the plane, but most of those on the ground at the #JerichoMarch believe that he is. Flynn says, "That's serious stuff right there."
Flynn had several family members on stage with him:
Member of Flynn family (I think it's his sister): "Our Lord Jesus Christ came here to divide and set the world on fire." This is why we "must keep fighting for the children." And now she is singing "God Bless America." #JerichoMarch
The election is over. Joe Biden the Electoral College will formally elect him on Monday. He will be inaugurated on January 20. Yet Trump is not going to go away. His followers, like the evangelicals who came to this Jericho March, will be the ground troops for a Trumpian lost cause. This lost cause movement was on display today:
Crowd is now booing Dominion voting machines. Speaker is hitting platform with a gavel. Everyone is yelling "no King but Jesus" whenever she hits it. #JerichoMarch
Now a "prophetic word" from Messianic Jew Curt Landry connecting what is happening at #jerichomarch to the second day of Hanukkah. "God is releasing oil from heaven" to overthrow the election. He is "Seamlessly" moving between the Pilgrims, Jewish history, & biblical verses
Landry describes a "vision" he had–something to do w/ Charlton Heston, the parting of the Red Sea, lions, & Malachi 4. Unclear how it relates to "election fraud," but he does reference the "deep state." #jerichomarch: https://t.co/CvxZsvP92P
As Messianic Jew Curt Landry speaks, a split screen emerges w/ a "My Pillow" ad. Then Landry leaves the stage to the sound of Quad City DJ's "C'Mon 'N Ride It (The Train). I'm serious. You can't make this up. https://t.co/aPCzCRIQ5T#courtevangelicals#jerichomarch
Alex Jones: "God ordained this republic to stand against the great Satanic empires." Not sure what this has to do with election fraud, but the crowd goes wild. #jerichomarch
Alex Jones at the pro-Trump march in Washington, DC: "Joe Biden is a globalist, and Joe Biden will be removed, one way or another!" pic.twitter.com/ujIc7XZcLb
The organizer of the rally, Ali Alexander, looks like Sammy Davis Jr.
I think Sammy Davis Jr. was reincarnated to run the "Stop the Steal" movement. "I'm a dangerous Black man who knows Roberts Rules of Order." #jerichomarch
Organizer of a group called "Stop the Steal" giving shout -outs to Newsmax, One America News, Epoch Times. Then says "We don't need Fox News anymore. do we." #jerichomarch
A Black pastor is now speaking on behalf of Trump. He has a shofar in his hand and talking about a "fresh anointing that is coming on this nation." #jerichomarch
Pastor (missed his name): "Some has said this is not a Christian nation. But this IS a Christian nation…and God has an umbilical cord tied to Israel that will never be severed." #JerichoMarch
Now the speaker (missed his name, but he is wearing a MAGA hat) is calling out evangelical pastors for not fighting against election fraud like the so-called "Black Robe Regiment." https://t.co/6h1TnaMLcu#JerichoMarch
Former Minnesota congresswoman Michelle Bachmann spoke via video:
Michelle Bachmann: "This is a Hebrews 11 moment." She adds: we are standing in our faith for our nation believing "a miracle is about to take place in the United States." (Miracle=Trump election victory). #JerichoMarch
Pro-life advocate Abby Johnson was way over the top:
Abby Johnson: Joe Biden is not my president and I will spend every day fighting against his fake presidency and anti-God administration. Challenges the "spineless clergy" who stand on "ungodly principles." Then she attacks the Pope. #jerichomarch
Not entirely sure how abortion relates to election fraud and the Dems "stealing" of the election. I guess those at #jerichomarch believe God would never let someone who supports abortion win the election. (This, of course, doesn't explain Clinton and Obama).
Self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs speaking. God told her that the "theme" in 2021 is "The Stand." In 2015 she prophesied: "I have a Trump card in my hand and I'm gonna play it and I'm gonna Trump the system." She leads prayer walks through swing states. #jerichomarch
And yes, there were threats of violence at this evangelical Christian event:
Guy from Oath Keepers speaking at #jerichomarch. Says Trump should use the Insurrection Act to stop the "insurrection" against his presidency. He calls on Trump to form a militia to stop this insurrection or else Oath Keepers will need to do it later in a "bloody war"
Lance Wallnau prepared the audience for spiritual war to win back the country.
Lance Wallnau is now speaking about the "spiritual warfare presidency." He continues to talk about a "Christian populist movement" and adds "here comes the backlash." In the South in the 1870s they called this backlash "redemption."
He was convicted of witness tampering and lying to investigators, but then he converted to evangelical Trumpism:
Roger Stone: "It was Jesus Christ who gave our president Donald Trump the courage and the compassion to save my life when I was unfairly and illegally targeted in the Mueller witch hunt." https://t.co/9uVZlmURgK#jerichomarch
And now we have moved on to the libs who want to "cancel Christmas." This move comes to us compliments of an evangelical "Moms" group. ("They" also "bullied us" to stop celebrating Thanksgiving). She did not vote for Trump in 2016, but did in 2020. #jerichomarch
Mastriano calls Trump's loss in yesterday's Texas lawsuit a "gut shot," but America has been "down" before. By the way, Washington didn't "push-on to Monmouth" in 1776 after the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Battle of Monmouth occurred in 1778. @SenMastriano#JerichoMarch
Messianic Jew Jonathan Kahn is ending with a "prophetic word." America is heading for judgment–the "biblical template of national judgement has begun." Why? Because of racial protest, tearing down of monuments to founders, and the Biden victory. #JerichoMarch
But not before Metaxas blew a red, white, and blue shofar. And the “walls came tumbling down.”
What is the Cost of Discipleship? Ohhh I know! Rocking an American flag shofar at an anti-democratic fascist rally. Thanks @ericmetaxashttps://t.co/qhTk5zAP5Z
