https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5123626/christian-nationalist-election-workers-lance-wallnau
I know - everyone is tired of the 2024 US election. I'm no exception, but as the dust settles it helps to consider all the angles in order to understand what happened and why - especially in the context of the Church. This will help us (the Church) to understand what's coming in the years ahead.
Over the past several years the Christian Right has turned its political rallies into a kind of hybrid worship service. The sacralization of the world order lends to this - business and politics become sacred. Or to view it from another angle - nothing is sacred anymore. Dominionism was born within the halls of the Reformed theological academy but in the late 20th century it spread across the Evangelical spectrum. It has not remained pure in the way its architects envisioned, and in fact it has undergone sundry permutations. The most potent and consequential of these is within the Charismatic movement and that's why people are talking about Lance Wallnau. He played a critical role in translating Dominionist Theology into Charismatic categories and some twenty years later he's still an important and very influential figure.
Given the sensationalist nature of the Charismatic movement, Wallnau comes across as more extreme and explicit than the more carefully guarded language one finds in many Evangelical quarters, and I do not doubt many pro-Trump people within Reformed circles would cringe at some of his statements. And yet I would argue they are simply the logical end of this trajectory. Wallnau's bluntness is actually helpful - his heresy is on full and naked display.
I suppose most Evangelicals and Confessionalists read books like Isaiah and Jeremiah and assume the false prophets they contended with are akin to the liberals within today's political order. On the contrary, the false prophets were men exactly like Wallnau and the theologians which inspired him. They trample the poor and weak to line their pockets and they strengthen the hands of those that do evil - those in service of nationalist pride and narratives of aggrandizement and glory. In the New Testament, Paul speaks of those who think godliness is gain and who (for their deeds) cause of the way of truth to be evil spoken of.
The spiritual threat to the faithful wasn't from the Philistines or Amorites or even really from the Dan-Bethel and Baal cults of the Northern Kingdom - which were never a serious temptation to the grounded faithful. The threat was from the court prophets and theologians in Judah - those who pushed nationalism apart from repentance and obedience, and those who were obviously connected to those wielding the wealth and power. They sought to provide a theological veneer and justification to the deeds of these powerful but disobedient and evil men. It's no different today. Heresy is much more effective when it masquerades as orthodoxy. The prophets often faced scenarios in which heresy was the orthodoxy of the day. Once again, our times are no different. The New Testament warns of this - of these people whose god is their belly, who make merchandise of God's people and manipulate them to their own evil ends. And make no mistake these false prophets that Peter warns of are filled with the pride of Babel, reaching for the stars and plan to pull them down and cast down the thrones and powers of the nations that oppose them. They are of the same stock as Bar-Kochba and the other false messiahs that have plagued God's people for ages. They are little different than the popes who laid claim to ultimate power - all in the name of God of course.
Wallnau promises liberty but instead brings bondage and like every other false prophet he stands condemned - lost in the tangle of the world and dragging multitudes with him. They will answer for themselves but he too will give an account for his endless series of lies.
The ironic thing is these people would erect an authoritarian society and yet under such an order, people (like Wallnau) that oppose the state and scheme against it would face swift and severe punishment. The fact that the January 6 insurrectionists were inspired by him would be enough to throw him into a dungeon for the rest of his days. By the standards of the Old Testament he would deserve death.
In the New Covenant era, the Church does not wield the sword and as such I would not silence Wallnau and his ilk by means of state power, but pray that God would do so. For my part, I have no doubt they are part of God's judgment on the American Church. What we need to do is denounce them and have nothing to do with these heretics who lay snares and traps for souls, who are Satan's agents even while they think they do God service. These are the people in Matthew 7 who are in for a terrible shock when they stand before the Throne of God.
Walk away from them knowing that to do so at this point in time means that we walk alone - we stand as a tiny remnant at best. They dominate the field (as it were) and they think they're scoring great victories and are close to winning the day. This is simply because in their clouded judgment they have re-written and re-defined the rules and the very nature of things. Their victories are vapours, their triumphs are in fact compromises, capitulations, and defeats. They claim Scripture is on their side and despite their lip service, they've rejected it - but cannot see it. Only the Holy Spirit can help them to do so.
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