A Profound Shift That's Become Visible With The Rise Of Trumpism Is Under Way
First the good news: Americans who identify as “non-religious” has grown exponentially— from 6% in 1991 to about 30% now. The bad news is that, according to a new essay by Stephanie McCrummen in The Atlantic, The Army of God Comes Out Of The Shadows, “the Christians who remain are becoming more radical... 42 percent of American Christians agreed with the statement ‘God wants Christians to stand atop the ‘7 Mountains of Society,’ according to Paul Djupe, a Denison University political scientist who has been developing new surveys to capture what he and others describe as a ‘fundamental shift’ in American Christianity. Roughly 61 percent agreed with the statement that ‘there are modern-day apostles and prophets.’ Roughly half agreed that ‘there are demonic principalities and powers who control physical territory,’ and that the Church should ‘organize campaigns of spiritual warfare and prayer to displace high-level demons.’”
Djupe told McCrummen that these radical Christians “are taking on these extreme beliefs that give them a sense of power— they believe they have the power to change the nature of the Earth. The adoption of these sort of beliefs is happening incredibly fast [and] have seeped into Trumpworld, influencing the agenda known as Project 2025, as well as proposals set forth by the America First Policy Institute. A new book called Unhumans, co-authored by the far-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec and endorsed by J. D. Vance, describes political opponents as ‘unhumans’ who want to ‘undo civilization itself’ and who currently ‘run operations in media, government, education, economy, family, religion, and arts and entertainment’— the seven mountains. The book argues that these ‘unhumans must be ‘crushed. Our study of history has brought us to this conclusion: Democracy has never worked to protect innocents from the unhumans,’ the authors write. ‘It is time to stop playing by rules they won’t.’”
McCrummen explained that “At this point, tens of millions of believers— about 40 percent of American Christians, including Catholics, according to a recent Denison University survey— are embracing an alluring, charismatic movement that has little use for religious pluralism, individual rights, or constitutional democracy. It is mystical, emotional, and, in its way, wildly utopian. It is transnational, multiracial, and unapologetically political. Early leaders called it the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, although some of those same leaders are now engaged in a rebranding effort as the antidemocratic character of the movement has come to light… Trump has harnessed this apocalyptic energy to win the presidency twice.” Elon Musk and MAGA Mike have also worked this crowd.
In the old days “the prevailing view was that God’s mandate for Christians was simple evangelism, person by person; the Kingdom would come later, after the return of Jesus Christ, and meanwhile, the business of politics was, as the Bible verse goes, rendered unto Caesar. The new way of thinking was that God was calling his people to establish the Kingdom now. To put it another way, Christians had marching orders— a mandate for aggressive social and institutional transformation. The idea had deep roots in a movement called Christian Reconstructionism, whose serious thinkers— most prominently a Calvinist theologian named R. J. Rushdoony— were spending their lives working out the details of what a government grounded in biblical laws would look like, a model for a Christian theocracy. [Many movement leaders] were rolling these ideas into what they were calling the New Apostolic Reformation, a term meant to evoke their conviction that a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit was moving around the globe, endowing believers with supernatural power and the authority to battle demonic forces and establish God’s Kingdom on Earth. The NAR vision was not technically conservative but radical: Constructing the Kingdom meant destroying the secular state with equal rights for all, and replacing it with a system in which Christianity is supreme. As a practical matter, the movement put the full force of God on the side of free-market capitalism… Churches interested in growing found that the NAR formula worked, delivering followers a sense of purpose and value in the Kingdom.”
Matthew Taylor told me he sees the movement merging seamlessly into “the MAGA blob,” with the prophets and apostles casting whatever Trump does as part of God’s plan, and rebuking any dissent. “It’s the synchronization with Trump that is most alarming,” he said. “The agenda now is Trump. And that’s how populist authoritarianism works. It starts out as a coalition, as a shotgun marriage, and eventually the populism and authoritarianism takes over.”
In another sense, the movement has never been about policies or changes to the law; it’s always been about the larger goal of dismantling the institutions of secular government to clear the way for the Kingdom. It is about God’s total victory.
“Buckle up, buttercup!” Wallnau said on his podcast shortly after the election. “Because you’re going to be watching a whole new redefinition of what the reformation looks like as Christians engage every sector of society. Christ is not quarantined any longer. We’re going into all the world.”
McCrummen’s account of the convergence of religious zealotry with far-right politics poses a real challenge for the country, intends to trample the pluralistic values on which democracy depends. Without confronting this movement head-on, its capacity to reshape American society in its image will metastasize. The blending of Trump’s MAGA agenda with prophetic endorsements from NAR leaders creates a feedback loop where political loyalty is cast as divine obedience. This alignment threatens democratic norms, as it precludes dissent and justifies authoritarianism under the guise of fulfilling God’s will. And their activate previously disengaged, low-propensity, poorly educated voters through its network of apostles, prophets and media platforms is reshaping electoral politics right before our eyes. Their efforts, including targeted swing-state campaigns, demonstrate a level of strategic sophistication that rivals traditional political machines.
You think the Democratic Party is equipped to deal with this?
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