(Picture supply: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Occasions)
On January 6, 2021, I learn post-after-post on social media, reporting that Trump-supporting protestors had stormed the Capitol Constructing the place Congress was certifying the electoral votes that put Joe Biden into the presidency. Given my proximity to what can be a defining second in America’s historical past, with out taking time to ruminate on the potential penalties of my choice, I placed on my footwear and my hat, grabbed my coat, and paced towards the Capitol Constructing to witness the occasion for myself.
Upon arriving on the Capitol Constructing, I used to be greeted by a “Jesus 2020” signal, in addition to a myriad of individuals—from Proud Boy extremists to seemingly common youngsters taking selfies, whereas what seemed like club-music performed within the background. I stood on Capitol grounds dumbfounded. However I additionally felt like I used to be in an eerie, familial house. The protestors had been like individuals I grew up with, simply common white, blue-collar American of us who professed a love for God and nation.
I had moved to the world on January 2. On January 3, I made a decision to take a stroll via the neighborhood and stroll towards the Capitol Constructing. The climate was chilly, grey, and misty, so there weren’t many individuals round. Upon arriving on the Capitol, I observed a bunch of about twelve or so people dancing in a ballet-esque vogue, at the very least one particular person with a shofar, and the ethereal, heavy-pad drones and repetitive lyrics that exemplify modern Christian worship music.
Having grown up Pentecostal myself, I knew what the individuals had been doing: they had been conducting “non secular warfare”—the apply of performing particular non secular acts (praying, fasting, singing) to battle demonic forces from the supernatural realm which have real-time results on our bodily realm. For me, the occasions on January 3 and 6, 2021, tied the connection between “non secular warfare” with the rise of Trumpism in America, and what propelled sure teams of Trump supporters to storm the Capitol Constructing that haunting day.
And so, I used to be instantly intrigued and excited to listen to concerning the launch of Matthew D. Taylor’s guide, The Violent Take It By Drive: The Christian Motion That Is Threatening Our Democracy. Taylor is the senior Christian scholar on the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Research in Baltimore, Maryland, and an professional on American Christianity and non secular politics. Taylor’s guide covers what’s known as the “New Apostolic Reformation” (or NAR for brief)—a particular group of Unbiased Charismatic Christians who function with a loosely-connected but semi-hierarchical system run by modern-day “prophets” and “apostles.” The NAR, Taylor argues, was a serious instigating pressure for the riot on January 6, and is reshaping the aesthetics, strategies, and guidelines of political engagement throughout the American proper right now.
By way of describing the important thing gamers, theologies, and techniques of the NAR motion, it is a primer guide. For an outsider wanting to raised perceive this section of Christian help for Donald Trump, it highlights a motley crew of people—from Trump’s Senior Advisor to the White Home Religion Workplace Paula White-Cain, to the extra professorial Peter Wagner (who coined the phrase New Apostolic Reformation). These individuals and this section of evangelical Christians turned among the first enthusiastic evangelical supporters of Donald Trump in 2015. On the similar time, Taylor makes clear that there’s a particular worldview driving this crew-–one which sees the world as zero-sum and Manichean, the place both angels or demons are working in particular geographic areas or entities, together with American politics. Their set of beliefs impressed their involvement within the January 6 riot, in addition to Trump’s first and second electoral wins.
Based on Taylor, the time period “Christian nationalism” that’s been used to explain many January 6 insurrectionists doesn’t totally seize the contours of this section of MAGA Christian Trump supporters. Whereas the guide does point out the time period “Christian nationalism,” Taylor’s arguments and historic account of NAR visibly mark the deficiencies of the time period. Taylor writes, “In fact, there’s no such factor as a generic American Christian nationalist; as a substitute, there are regional varieties, theological subcurrents, sectarian identities, racial prejudices, and potent spiritualities that each one feed into the phenomena we label ’Christian nationalism.’”
Fairly a couple of books that try to function “evangelical whisperers” behind evangelicalism’s help for Donald Trump normally spotlight both its patriarchal programs and fixation on hypermasculinity, its innate racism, or the perceived lack of standing inside a “secularizing” America and the sensation of being “beneath siege.” However in comparison with Reformed “Theobros” or the Southern Baptist Conference, the NAR—and, I’d argue, your complete Pentecostal-Charismatic motion—, as Taylor factors out, “is extremely multiethnic and even transnational in its orientation.” Its management mannequin can also be extra egalitarian vis-à-vis gender than its evangelical Christian counterparts. In different phrases, as Taylor highlights on this wonderful article for The Revealer, we should always not assume that is an all-white and largely male motion. Charismatic Christians are racially various with girls in positions of energy.
This was made clear in February when Trump named Paula-White Cain—the Charismatic televangelist to whom Taylor devotes a whole chapter—as head of the White Home Religion Workplace. This precipitated a little bit of competition amongst conservative Christian leaders inside Trump’s orbit, particularly from those that maintain conventional gender roles or forbid girls from becoming a member of the clergy. However this very function is what drives the expansion of the NAR and Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity—its openness for ladies and folks of shade to participate in its management and missions, particularly in locations like Central and South America.
Trump’s 2024 reelection noticed the Democratic Occasion’s historically extensive lead with Black voters lower by 20% over the past 3 years. Trump additionally noticed a 14% improve of help from Hispanics in comparison with 2020. The Democratic Occasion’s lack of Hispanic voters was, partly, attributable to their shifting of spiritual beliefs towards Pentecostalism. One conclusion to attract from this previous election’s outcomes is that, whereas identification is a crucial consider elections, one other necessary ingredient in figuring out voter preferences is one’s worldview and the theologies informing it.
A phrase from the guide I discovered stirring:
“If ‘comply with the cash’ is an efficient journalistic dictum, ‘comply with the theology’ is a crucial corollary.”
Beliefs and theologies concerning the world and humanity’s place inside it play as a lot a job in an individual’s politics as their identification or financial standing in society. This level turns into extra pivotal when Taylor’s framing and understanding of evangelicalism in the USA right now (and American society general): the pitting of “elite” versus “populist.”
***
A key populist determine that Taylor describes in a single part of the guide as “The Most Essential Evangelical Political Theologian Of Our Time” is Lance Wallnau. Wallnau, the primary particular person to explain Trump as a “King Cyrus” determine—the Persian King who introduced the Historic Israelites from their imposed exile in Babylon again to the land of Israel. In American evangelical circles, Wallnau is most famous for his educating and popularization of the “Seven Mountain Mandate”—the educating undergirding help for conservative Christians to manage key sectors in American society (the media, enterprise, authorities, and so on.). He has over a million followers on Fb, and he’s a key political actor within the GOP. In September 2024, then-vice presidential candidate JD Vance attended a Christian city corridor in Pennsylvania organized by Wallnau. And, Wallnau has been welcomed on the White Home and has repeatedly held conferences in Trump’s resort in DC.
I wouldn’t describe Wallnau as a “theologian” insomuch as he’s an influencer—and a extremely influential one at that. He’s not academically educated as a theologian, however he is aware of bundle and market already deliberated theological concepts to huge swaths of Pentecostal-Charismatics in the USA. Nonetheless, Taylor is appropriate that Wallnau’s affect is immense. The rise of Wallnau’s star in grassroots evangelical Christianity speaks extra concerning the Pentecostal-Charismatic theological ecosystem—one which creates and derives authority from those that can artfully make the most of the newest social platforms—than about Wallnau’s theological gravitas.
Wallanu, in accordance with Taylor, was one of many first distinguished evangelicals to endorse Trump in 2015. And, Taylor makes an fascinating level that tends to get missed when speaking about evangelical help for Trump: the historic “power-centers” of American evangelicalism like Christianity At present (whose editorial in 2019 known as for Trump’s 1st impeachment) and the Nationwide Affiliation of Evangelicals, “had been really outposts of resistance to Trump early on.” Taylor writes: “Donald Trump uncovered a stark divide between the elite institution evangelicals (the genteel and media-savvy leaders) and grassroots evangelicals. Lots of the elite evangelicals, over time, adopted go well with and got here round to tentatively supporting Trump—ultimately—however the evangelical alignment round Trump has not not [sic] emanated from elite evangelicalism. No, it got here burbling from the evangelical hoi polloi.”
The genius of Trump and the MAGA motion is efficiently using populist aesthetics and discourse—an attribute that describes even the earliest days of Pentecostalism—whereas championing home financial insurance policies which can be Reaganite at finest. This stress is extra prevalently seen because the world’s richest billionaire is at the moment slashing the federal government on behalf of the President.
***
In a type of eerie, poignant foreshadowing to the second Trump period, Taylor describes the management mannequin throughout the NAR as a type of “non secular oligarchy.” Taylor devotes a whole chapter to Peter Wagner, a former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and the founding father of a number of Unbiased Charismatic organizations that might encapsulate into what’s understood because the New Apostolic Reformation. Wagner, in accordance with Taylor, wished to create a management mannequin that might enable for a construction of management that any motion must correctly operate, however with out the institutional boundaries and controls that create forms and would decelerate the motion’s velocity. Based on Taylor, Wagner envisioned an oligarchy of apostles and prophets who would work collectively in “searching for revival” and “take over the panorama of church buildings.” Taylor writes: “Wagner was attempting to create relationships and power-sharing agreements among the many most proficient leaders of the Unbiased Charismatic world in order that they wouldn’t struggle with one another over which church belongs to whom. As an alternative, they might work as companions. Wagner was constructing an ideology and an infrastructure for this charismatic non secular oligarchy.”
The time period “oligarchy” has taken on new life since former President Joe Biden warned of a rising oligarchy and “tech-industrial advanced” threatening American democracy in his farewell deal with to the nation. Describing the USA in oligarchical phrases was normally solely present in left-wing parlance that many deemed too radical for the mainstream politician 10-years in the past.
At present, the Trump administration has employed the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, to guide (in a legally imprecise capability) the Division of Authorities Effectivity to chop sure authorities spending and, in some instances, utterly dismantle authorities companies like USAID—the arm of the U.S. authorities that gives humanitarian assist to international locations all world wide.
Whether or not probably the most prevalent risk in opposition to American democracy is a techno-oligarchy or a NAR-run theocracy (or one other iteration of Christian nationalism) is dependent upon if the nexus of energy lies with Silicon Valley billionaires or megachurch pastors and non secular influencers (or maybe one other loosely shaped “power-sharing settlement” between Silicon Valley and MAGA’s non secular elite can be so as). Apparently sufficient, Silicon Valley is reportedly experiencing a surge in Christianity in latest months; Peter Thiel, the previous CEO of PayPal who bankrolled JD Vance’s rise to politics, and a religious Christian, has gone on a talking tour warning about the approaching “Antichrist.” Elon Musk has not too long ago described himself as a “cultural Christian,” a newly adopted moniker that shifted Musk’s beliefs from his reported agnosticism.
If Musk’s adheres to a quasi-form of cultural Christianity—one which additionally eschews empathy— he practices it via a “First Rules” methodology of downside fixing – a system of breaking issues all the way down to the naked fundamentals and rebuilding one thing new from the bottom up; it definitely has pushed his administration of each X (formally Twitter) and ostensibly DOGE. It provides a sheen of rationality, whereas ignoring that even science as a data base is constructed from the work of scientists and their experiments which have come earlier than. The various cuts to analysis funding on account of DOGE’s authorities slashing, partly, led to an unsuccessful effort from hundreds within the international scientific neighborhood to expel Musk from the distinguished British Royal Society.
Studying Taylor’s guide, I considered Anne Applebaum’s article in The Atlantic, during which she describes the brewing milieu forming with authoritarian governments and societies world wide as a “New Obscurantism.” If the 18th century Enlightenment valued purpose and empiricism for higher understanding the world, the “previous” obscurantism was a set of antithetical values of these Enlightenment beliefs – “darkness, obfuscation, [and] irrationality.” As one instance of political leaders who’ve “veered into the occult,” Applebaum cites Tucker Carlson’s account of being attacked by a demon that left “claw marks” on his physique. Importantly, experiences like demonic assaults should not extraordinary in non secular warfare narratives throughout the Pentecostal-Charismatic world.
Applebaum writes: “However the prophets of what we would now name the New Obscurantism supply precisely these issues: magical options, an aura of spirituality, superstition, and the cultivation of worry. Amongst their quantity are well being quacks and influencers who’ve developed political ambitions; followers of the quasi-religious QAnon motion and its Pizzagate-esque spin-offs; and members of varied political events, throughout Europe, which can be pro-Russia and anti-vaccine and, in some instances, promoters of mystical nationalism as properly.”
If “Christian nationalism” doesn’t totally mirror the Unbiased Charismatic Christianity coated in Taylor’s guide, maybe we are able to see it as an extension of Applebaum’s “New Obscurantism.” This can be a growth occurring inside components of the worldwide “elite,” in addition to swaths of huge populations world wide ensuing, partly, from a mistrust of institutions-–political and non secular. And it’s exactly this deinstitutionalized environment beneath which, as Taylor notes, “the apostles and prophets thrive.”
Maybe one can have a look at Silicon Valley’s non secular explorations as derived, partly, from a marketing campaign to affect media and know-how to satisfy their “seven mountain mandate.” Possibly there’s a real thirst for religion and spirituality to maintain the existential wants that scientific materialism and atheism – worth programs historically related to technologists and their ilk – don’t all the time fulfill. Or, if one’s extra cynical, right-wing Silicon Valley billionaires see the worth in adopting Christian aesthetics to realize help to plan their very own variations of American society. I think it’s a combination of all of the above.
It’s onerous to discern whether or not private curiosity by way of decrease taxes or heartfelt convictions drive Thiel and Musk towards some type of non secular beliefs. There may be one factor that can seemingly be sure: no matter insurance policies the Trump Administration enacts, Trump’s Pentecostal and Charismatic supporters will decree God’s blessing on them.
Per week after the contentious assembly between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Lance Wallnau posted a video on Fb highlighting the shared values between Putin’s Russia and American conservative Christians. NAR Apostle Che Ahn asserted in an interview that opposition to Trump and his cupboard was opposition to God.
However whether or not MAGA help is derived from the financial pursuits of techno-billionaires or social-policy pursuits of Charismatic prophets, each teams consider they’re finest carried out in an oligarchy usual on Earth as it’s in heaven.
***
The climate on January 6, 2025, made for a stark distinction from 4 years prior. Heavy snowfall hit the DC-area, and because it was the day Congress was certifying the electoral votes for Donald Trump’s second presidential win, fences and police lined up alongside the streets resulting in the Capitol Constructing. As I walked via the six-inches of snow on the Nationwide Mall, solely a smattering of individuals assembled within the space. However a small group of older people walked towards my course carrying a shofar, after which stopped to speak with a bunch of twenty-somethings forward of me, when one younger lady within the group requested them concerning the instrument they had been carrying.
I believed to myself that this youthful group was about to have an fascinating dialog.
Because it turned out, I acknowledged these “twenty-somethings”—they had been my pals from work. I made a decision to cease and break the ice in case they had been uncomfortable and tried to strike up dialog with the shofar-carrying crew. The group defined that they had been there to wish for God’s safety over the certifying-process, in addition to to prayerfully fight the wiles of the “deep-state.” Maybe recognizing that they had been speaking to a bunch who may not share their politics, considered one of them defined, “And the deep state is present in each events.”
A lady in my group determined to not interact with them additional and walked away. Involved, I excused myself to ensure she was okay. Those that stayed to converse recounted that the shofar-carrying crew instructed them that they had obtained phrase from God that they had been going to be led by an angel to their subsequent vacation spot.
As they had been speaking, an individual of their group noticed a snow angel on the bottom a couple of yards away in direction of the Capitol Constructing, which the shofar crowd took as a divine signal to guide them on their means of their holy mission for the USA.
Miguel Petrosky is an essayist, author, and journalist based mostly in Washington, D.C. and has written for The Revealer, Sojourners, ARC Journal, and Christianity At present. You’ll be able to comply with him on Bluesky @miguelpetrosky.bsky.social.
(Picture supply: Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Occasions)
On January 6, 2021, I learn post-after-post on social media, reporting that Trump-supporting protestors had stormed the Capitol Constructing the place Congress was certifying the electoral votes that put Joe Biden into the presidency. Given my proximity to what can be a defining second in America’s historical past, with out taking time to ruminate on the potential penalties of my choice, I placed on my footwear and my hat, grabbed my coat, and paced towards the Capitol Constructing to witness the occasion for myself.
Upon arriving on the Capitol Constructing, I used to be greeted by a “Jesus 2020” signal, in addition to a myriad of individuals—from Proud Boy extremists to seemingly common youngsters taking selfies, whereas what seemed like club-music performed within the background. I stood on Capitol grounds dumbfounded. However I additionally felt like I used to be in an eerie, familial house. The protestors had been like individuals I grew up with, simply common white, blue-collar American of us who professed a love for God and nation.
I had moved to the world on January 2. On January 3, I made a decision to take a stroll via the neighborhood and stroll towards the Capitol Constructing. The climate was chilly, grey, and misty, so there weren’t many individuals round. Upon arriving on the Capitol, I observed a bunch of about twelve or so people dancing in a ballet-esque vogue, at the very least one particular person with a shofar, and the ethereal, heavy-pad drones and repetitive lyrics that exemplify modern Christian worship music.
Having grown up Pentecostal myself, I knew what the individuals had been doing: they had been conducting “non secular warfare”—the apply of performing particular non secular acts (praying, fasting, singing) to battle demonic forces from the supernatural realm which have real-time results on our bodily realm. For me, the occasions on January 3 and 6, 2021, tied the connection between “non secular warfare” with the rise of Trumpism in America, and what propelled sure teams of Trump supporters to storm the Capitol Constructing that haunting day.
And so, I used to be instantly intrigued and excited to listen to concerning the launch of Matthew D. Taylor’s guide, The Violent Take It By Drive: The Christian Motion That Is Threatening Our Democracy. Taylor is the senior Christian scholar on the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Research in Baltimore, Maryland, and an professional on American Christianity and non secular politics. Taylor’s guide covers what’s known as the “New Apostolic Reformation” (or NAR for brief)—a particular group of Unbiased Charismatic Christians who function with a loosely-connected but semi-hierarchical system run by modern-day “prophets” and “apostles.” The NAR, Taylor argues, was a serious instigating pressure for the riot on January 6, and is reshaping the aesthetics, strategies, and guidelines of political engagement throughout the American proper right now.
By way of describing the important thing gamers, theologies, and techniques of the NAR motion, it is a primer guide. For an outsider wanting to raised perceive this section of Christian help for Donald Trump, it highlights a motley crew of people—from Trump’s Senior Advisor to the White Home Religion Workplace Paula White-Cain, to the extra professorial Peter Wagner (who coined the phrase New Apostolic Reformation). These individuals and this section of evangelical Christians turned among the first enthusiastic evangelical supporters of Donald Trump in 2015. On the similar time, Taylor makes clear that there’s a particular worldview driving this crew-–one which sees the world as zero-sum and Manichean, the place both angels or demons are working in particular geographic areas or entities, together with American politics. Their set of beliefs impressed their involvement within the January 6 riot, in addition to Trump’s first and second electoral wins.
Based on Taylor, the time period “Christian nationalism” that’s been used to explain many January 6 insurrectionists doesn’t totally seize the contours of this section of MAGA Christian Trump supporters. Whereas the guide does point out the time period “Christian nationalism,” Taylor’s arguments and historic account of NAR visibly mark the deficiencies of the time period. Taylor writes, “In fact, there’s no such factor as a generic American Christian nationalist; as a substitute, there are regional varieties, theological subcurrents, sectarian identities, racial prejudices, and potent spiritualities that each one feed into the phenomena we label ’Christian nationalism.’”
Fairly a couple of books that try to function “evangelical whisperers” behind evangelicalism’s help for Donald Trump normally spotlight both its patriarchal programs and fixation on hypermasculinity, its innate racism, or the perceived lack of standing inside a “secularizing” America and the sensation of being “beneath siege.” However in comparison with Reformed “Theobros” or the Southern Baptist Conference, the NAR—and, I’d argue, your complete Pentecostal-Charismatic motion—, as Taylor factors out, “is extremely multiethnic and even transnational in its orientation.” Its management mannequin can also be extra egalitarian vis-à-vis gender than its evangelical Christian counterparts. In different phrases, as Taylor highlights on this wonderful article for The Revealer, we should always not assume that is an all-white and largely male motion. Charismatic Christians are racially various with girls in positions of energy.
This was made clear in February when Trump named Paula-White Cain—the Charismatic televangelist to whom Taylor devotes a whole chapter—as head of the White Home Religion Workplace. This precipitated a little bit of competition amongst conservative Christian leaders inside Trump’s orbit, particularly from those that maintain conventional gender roles or forbid girls from becoming a member of the clergy. However this very function is what drives the expansion of the NAR and Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity—its openness for ladies and folks of shade to participate in its management and missions, particularly in locations like Central and South America.
Trump’s 2024 reelection noticed the Democratic Occasion’s historically extensive lead with Black voters lower by 20% over the past 3 years. Trump additionally noticed a 14% improve of help from Hispanics in comparison with 2020. The Democratic Occasion’s lack of Hispanic voters was, partly, attributable to their shifting of spiritual beliefs towards Pentecostalism. One conclusion to attract from this previous election’s outcomes is that, whereas identification is a crucial consider elections, one other necessary ingredient in figuring out voter preferences is one’s worldview and the theologies informing it.
A phrase from the guide I discovered stirring:
“If ‘comply with the cash’ is an efficient journalistic dictum, ‘comply with the theology’ is a crucial corollary.”
Beliefs and theologies concerning the world and humanity’s place inside it play as a lot a job in an individual’s politics as their identification or financial standing in society. This level turns into extra pivotal when Taylor’s framing and understanding of evangelicalism in the USA right now (and American society general): the pitting of “elite” versus “populist.”
***
A key populist determine that Taylor describes in a single part of the guide as “The Most Essential Evangelical Political Theologian Of Our Time” is Lance Wallnau. Wallnau, the primary particular person to explain Trump as a “King Cyrus” determine—the Persian King who introduced the Historic Israelites from their imposed exile in Babylon again to the land of Israel. In American evangelical circles, Wallnau is most famous for his educating and popularization of the “Seven Mountain Mandate”—the educating undergirding help for conservative Christians to manage key sectors in American society (the media, enterprise, authorities, and so on.). He has over a million followers on Fb, and he’s a key political actor within the GOP. In September 2024, then-vice presidential candidate JD Vance attended a Christian city corridor in Pennsylvania organized by Wallnau. And, Wallnau has been welcomed on the White Home and has repeatedly held conferences in Trump’s resort in DC.
I wouldn’t describe Wallnau as a “theologian” insomuch as he’s an influencer—and a extremely influential one at that. He’s not academically educated as a theologian, however he is aware of bundle and market already deliberated theological concepts to huge swaths of Pentecostal-Charismatics in the USA. Nonetheless, Taylor is appropriate that Wallnau’s affect is immense. The rise of Wallnau’s star in grassroots evangelical Christianity speaks extra concerning the Pentecostal-Charismatic theological ecosystem—one which creates and derives authority from those that can artfully make the most of the newest social platforms—than about Wallnau’s theological gravitas.
Wallanu, in accordance with Taylor, was one of many first distinguished evangelicals to endorse Trump in 2015. And, Taylor makes an fascinating level that tends to get missed when speaking about evangelical help for Trump: the historic “power-centers” of American evangelicalism like Christianity At present (whose editorial in 2019 known as for Trump’s 1st impeachment) and the Nationwide Affiliation of Evangelicals, “had been really outposts of resistance to Trump early on.” Taylor writes: “Donald Trump uncovered a stark divide between the elite institution evangelicals (the genteel and media-savvy leaders) and grassroots evangelicals. Lots of the elite evangelicals, over time, adopted go well with and got here round to tentatively supporting Trump—ultimately—however the evangelical alignment round Trump has not not [sic] emanated from elite evangelicalism. No, it got here burbling from the evangelical hoi polloi.”
The genius of Trump and the MAGA motion is efficiently using populist aesthetics and discourse—an attribute that describes even the earliest days of Pentecostalism—whereas championing home financial insurance policies which can be Reaganite at finest. This stress is extra prevalently seen because the world’s richest billionaire is at the moment slashing the federal government on behalf of the President.
***
In a type of eerie, poignant foreshadowing to the second Trump period, Taylor describes the management mannequin throughout the NAR as a type of “non secular oligarchy.” Taylor devotes a whole chapter to Peter Wagner, a former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and the founding father of a number of Unbiased Charismatic organizations that might encapsulate into what’s understood because the New Apostolic Reformation. Wagner, in accordance with Taylor, wished to create a management mannequin that might enable for a construction of management that any motion must correctly operate, however with out the institutional boundaries and controls that create forms and would decelerate the motion’s velocity. Based on Taylor, Wagner envisioned an oligarchy of apostles and prophets who would work collectively in “searching for revival” and “take over the panorama of church buildings.” Taylor writes: “Wagner was attempting to create relationships and power-sharing agreements among the many most proficient leaders of the Unbiased Charismatic world in order that they wouldn’t struggle with one another over which church belongs to whom. As an alternative, they might work as companions. Wagner was constructing an ideology and an infrastructure for this charismatic non secular oligarchy.”
The time period “oligarchy” has taken on new life since former President Joe Biden warned of a rising oligarchy and “tech-industrial advanced” threatening American democracy in his farewell deal with to the nation. Describing the USA in oligarchical phrases was normally solely present in left-wing parlance that many deemed too radical for the mainstream politician 10-years in the past.
At present, the Trump administration has employed the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, to guide (in a legally imprecise capability) the Division of Authorities Effectivity to chop sure authorities spending and, in some instances, utterly dismantle authorities companies like USAID—the arm of the U.S. authorities that gives humanitarian assist to international locations all world wide.
Whether or not probably the most prevalent risk in opposition to American democracy is a techno-oligarchy or a NAR-run theocracy (or one other iteration of Christian nationalism) is dependent upon if the nexus of energy lies with Silicon Valley billionaires or megachurch pastors and non secular influencers (or maybe one other loosely shaped “power-sharing settlement” between Silicon Valley and MAGA’s non secular elite can be so as). Apparently sufficient, Silicon Valley is reportedly experiencing a surge in Christianity in latest months; Peter Thiel, the previous CEO of PayPal who bankrolled JD Vance’s rise to politics, and a religious Christian, has gone on a talking tour warning about the approaching “Antichrist.” Elon Musk has not too long ago described himself as a “cultural Christian,” a newly adopted moniker that shifted Musk’s beliefs from his reported agnosticism.
If Musk’s adheres to a quasi-form of cultural Christianity—one which additionally eschews empathy— he practices it via a “First Rules” methodology of downside fixing – a system of breaking issues all the way down to the naked fundamentals and rebuilding one thing new from the bottom up; it definitely has pushed his administration of each X (formally Twitter) and ostensibly DOGE. It provides a sheen of rationality, whereas ignoring that even science as a data base is constructed from the work of scientists and their experiments which have come earlier than. The various cuts to analysis funding on account of DOGE’s authorities slashing, partly, led to an unsuccessful effort from hundreds within the international scientific neighborhood to expel Musk from the distinguished British Royal Society.
Studying Taylor’s guide, I considered Anne Applebaum’s article in The Atlantic, during which she describes the brewing milieu forming with authoritarian governments and societies world wide as a “New Obscurantism.” If the 18th century Enlightenment valued purpose and empiricism for higher understanding the world, the “previous” obscurantism was a set of antithetical values of these Enlightenment beliefs – “darkness, obfuscation, [and] irrationality.” As one instance of political leaders who’ve “veered into the occult,” Applebaum cites Tucker Carlson’s account of being attacked by a demon that left “claw marks” on his physique. Importantly, experiences like demonic assaults should not extraordinary in non secular warfare narratives throughout the Pentecostal-Charismatic world.
Applebaum writes: “However the prophets of what we would now name the New Obscurantism supply precisely these issues: magical options, an aura of spirituality, superstition, and the cultivation of worry. Amongst their quantity are well being quacks and influencers who’ve developed political ambitions; followers of the quasi-religious QAnon motion and its Pizzagate-esque spin-offs; and members of varied political events, throughout Europe, which can be pro-Russia and anti-vaccine and, in some instances, promoters of mystical nationalism as properly.”
If “Christian nationalism” doesn’t totally mirror the Unbiased Charismatic Christianity coated in Taylor’s guide, maybe we are able to see it as an extension of Applebaum’s “New Obscurantism.” This can be a growth occurring inside components of the worldwide “elite,” in addition to swaths of huge populations world wide ensuing, partly, from a mistrust of institutions-–political and non secular. And it’s exactly this deinstitutionalized environment beneath which, as Taylor notes, “the apostles and prophets thrive.”
Maybe one can have a look at Silicon Valley’s non secular explorations as derived, partly, from a marketing campaign to affect media and know-how to satisfy their “seven mountain mandate.” Possibly there’s a real thirst for religion and spirituality to maintain the existential wants that scientific materialism and atheism – worth programs historically related to technologists and their ilk – don’t all the time fulfill. Or, if one’s extra cynical, right-wing Silicon Valley billionaires see the worth in adopting Christian aesthetics to realize help to plan their very own variations of American society. I think it’s a combination of all of the above.
It’s onerous to discern whether or not private curiosity by way of decrease taxes or heartfelt convictions drive Thiel and Musk towards some type of non secular beliefs. There may be one factor that can seemingly be sure: no matter insurance policies the Trump Administration enacts, Trump’s Pentecostal and Charismatic supporters will decree God’s blessing on them.
Per week after the contentious assembly between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Lance Wallnau posted a video on Fb highlighting the shared values between Putin’s Russia and American conservative Christians. NAR Apostle Che Ahn asserted in an interview that opposition to Trump and his cupboard was opposition to God.
However whether or not MAGA help is derived from the financial pursuits of techno-billionaires or social-policy pursuits of Charismatic prophets, each teams consider they’re finest carried out in an oligarchy usual on Earth as it’s in heaven.
***
The climate on January 6, 2025, made for a stark distinction from 4 years prior. Heavy snowfall hit the DC-area, and because it was the day Congress was certifying the electoral votes for Donald Trump’s second presidential win, fences and police lined up alongside the streets resulting in the Capitol Constructing. As I walked via the six-inches of snow on the Nationwide Mall, solely a smattering of individuals assembled within the space. However a small group of older people walked towards my course carrying a shofar, after which stopped to speak with a bunch of twenty-somethings forward of me, when one younger lady within the group requested them concerning the instrument they had been carrying.
I believed to myself that this youthful group was about to have an fascinating dialog.
Because it turned out, I acknowledged these “twenty-somethings”—they had been my pals from work. I made a decision to cease and break the ice in case they had been uncomfortable and tried to strike up dialog with the shofar-carrying crew. The group defined that they had been there to wish for God’s safety over the certifying-process, in addition to to prayerfully fight the wiles of the “deep-state.” Maybe recognizing that they had been speaking to a bunch who may not share their politics, considered one of them defined, “And the deep state is present in each events.”
A lady in my group determined to not interact with them additional and walked away. Involved, I excused myself to ensure she was okay. Those that stayed to converse recounted that the shofar-carrying crew instructed them that they had obtained phrase from God that they had been going to be led by an angel to their subsequent vacation spot.
As they had been speaking, an individual of their group noticed a snow angel on the bottom a couple of yards away in direction of the Capitol Constructing, which the shofar crowd took as a divine signal to guide them on their means of their holy mission for the USA.
Miguel Petrosky is an essayist, author, and journalist based mostly in Washington, D.C. and has written for The Revealer, Sojourners, ARC Journal, and Christianity At present. You’ll be able to comply with him on Bluesky @miguelpetrosky.bsky.social.
