PART 5: Great Awakening or Great Deception

If you haven't read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of this article series, I recommend doing so before proceeding with this article.  I'll provide a brief review, but it won't cover all the details needed to fully grasp my perspective. If you've already read previous articles in this series, proceed to the section titled "Christian Reconstructionist". I put links highlighted in yellow throughout this article to provide you with the resources backing up my perspective. I am composing this series of articles and the aim is to assist individuals in understanding the current political and spiritual climate in America. What I'm telling you isn't a conspiracy theory. Each of these movements is real and has direct access to the heart of the Trump administration.

The target audience I am trying to educate is those within the Evangelical community. A primary focus of my ministry is to aid believers in "contending for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3), which is also the central goal of this article. I have spent my life voting as a political conservative so the focus of this article will be primarily about what I see happening within the Republican party.

The series of articles I am writing are merely an exploration of the MAGA coalition and my observations. My aim isn't to be political, but to aid people in understanding the spiritual implications of the different ideologies within the MAGA coalition. In my concluding article, I will share some personal and spiritual insights to aid you. Our nation has never been on this journey before, and only God understands the path ahead. While history can somewhat guide us, I advise caution as you navigate through these times, as the fog of war can be quite bewildering. We are undoubtedly experiencing historic and significant changes.

Is this an article about politics or spirituality? It's actually about both, as in modern America, the two are inseparable. Historically, America has always intertwined its political and spiritual spheres, but in Trump's era, we've entered a new phase. We're observing an unprecedented merging of the political and spiritual realms and America is undergoing a transformation. As an Evangelical Christian who upholds to the core doctrines of the faith, I pose the question: Is America heading into a Great Awakening or a Great Deception?

Every perspective I will discuss has used apocalyptic language to describe our current political and spiritual environment. The MAGA coalition consists of four interconnected viewpoints that have united in the belief that the existing American system must be dismantled and rebuilt. However, the coalition does not agree on what will ultimately emerge from what they all refer to as a 'Great Awakening'.

The Differing Views of The Great Awakening

What I am hoping to show you is that there are four main views of what many are calling the 'Great Awakening'. It's actually four spiritually infused political movements that have found home in the MAGA Movement centered around Donald J. Trump. Each has a different idea of what this coming Awakening means and there are a lot of differing characters that have hitched their wagon to the Trump Train.

The former political alliances of the Reagan Republican party have been supplanted. The conventional Republican party is fading as it has been consumed by the MAGA movement. This movement is not merely a political ideology but is interwoven with spirituality. It represents a blend of diverse spiritual concepts that have coalesced into a political ideology, with Trump serving as the central force.

I want you to think of this as more of a Game of Thrones alliance for the sake of power than the traditional power sharing of political coalitions. I'm going to identify four main groups, but you will find some individuals move in varying circles. For instance, Peter Theil is the leader of the Silicon Valley Tech Bro's and a gay Christian.  Lance Wallnau is a Charismatic Gnostic, but mingles with Tech Bros and is a moderate Christian Nationalist. He also appears on Steve Bannon's War Room Podcast. You will find those who get into power positions are chameleons because the core center they operate by is a thirst for power.

1. Dark Enlightenment  ~ Silicon Valley High Tech Religion

2. Opus Dei  ~ Traditional Catholicism

3. The New Apostolic Reformation  ~ Charismatic Gnosticism

4. Christian Reconstructionist ~ Christian Nationalist

This series of articles aims to offer you insight. The 2024 election has shifted the nation considerably to the right. My goal is to define the MAGA coalition and, as a believer in Christ, to exercise discernment. Political and spiritual movements are frequently constructed on myths and propelled by emotion. These movements are often driven by common beliefs, a quest for social change, and the pursuit of perceived justice. It is the desire for a better future, typically drawing inspiration from religious or philosophical principles.  

America is being transformed from within, and I urge you to analyze and think critically. It's progressing rapidly for a purpose. It's chaotic by design. Its goal is to destabilize and overwhelm you. Historically, revolutionary political and spiritual movements are disruptive, aiming to detach you from the past, disorient you, and establish a new reality. It discourages questioning, and dissenters are silenced. Opposition is not tolerated, and those who resist are labeled as enemies.

Let's take a look at the final leg of this four pronged MAGA coalition.

Christian Reconstructionist ~ Christian Nationalist

In all of these groups, you'll notice significant overlap, particularly between the New Apostolic Reformation and Christian Reconstructionist. Christian Reconstructionism advocates for a genuinely Christian government called Theonomy. To clarify, not everyone in the New Apostolic Reformation supports Christian Nationalism; some merely aim to influence the government. However, figures like Denise Peacocke who is one of the leaders of the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders is a Christian Reconstructionist. He is one of the early proponents of the Seven Mountain Mandate before Lance Wallnau popularized it and Denise partnered with Christian Reconstructionist in the late 1980's.

Christian Reconstructionist form the smallest segment of the four pillars within the MAGA coalition, yet they are a highly radicalized group. While it was once considered a fringe idea, it is now becoming more mainstream under the current Trump administration. Christian Nationalists, the Radical Right, Neo-Fascist and the Militia Movement serve as activists within MAGA and I would call them the foot soldiers of the movement. I am not claiming that all Christian Nationalists are White Nationalists, but I will clearly demonstrate that there are connections and shared themes that align.

General Michael Flynn has recently been appointed to a military board by President Trump and is one of the most high profile figures within this movement. He has close ties to Alex Jones and Roger Stone. He is a Traditional Catholic, but due to his expertise in counterterrorism he has proven to be a vital asset in Trump's resurgence to power. He became one of the central figures in the ReAwaken America tour founded by Clay Clark. In watching General Flynn he seemed to be radicalized after he was pushed out of Trump's first administration by FBI director James Comey.

It's hard not to see Michael Flynn as someone who drastically changed. He served under Obama and later became Trump's National Security Advisor. Flynn was sworn in as the National Security Advisor on January 22, 2017. He then resigned on February 13, 2017, after it was revealed that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others. He became one of the key figures advising Trump to invoke martial law as part of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that he lost to President-elect Joe Biden.

I urge you to view this documentary. You might consider it a left-leaning critique aimed at discrediting Michael Flynn. If that's your belief, I especially recommend watching it to challenge your perspective. It's important to consider various viewpoints, as our opinions might not be entirely accurate. Recall that during the Civil War, both sides believed they had divine support.

You have another less well known retired General who is also a religious political organizer by the name of General Jerry Boykin who is a close associate of Rick Joyner. Having been part of this movement for 25 years, I view myself as an insider. I spent 5 years with MorningStar Fellowship of Ministries. Rick Joyner has openly talked about a coming civil war in his book a Second American Revolution. He claims that he has had dreams and angelic visitations concerning one. Rick Joyner started the political organization the Oak Initiative to affect American politics and General Jerry Boykin is a board member. General Jerry Boykin is part of the New Apostolic Reformation and General Michael Flynn is a Traditional Catholic, but they have a common view of restoring America to what they believe should be a Christian Nation.

Political Coalitions

Let me remind you that Political coalitions are like the layers of a phone. What you are going to find is that these four groups that I am explaining differ and sometimes differ greatly. However, if you step back and look at the big picture what you will find is each one layers on top of the other. It's because they all have the same political ideology which is ultimately authoritarian.

Michael Flynn and Roger Stone have ties to the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers both parts of the modern militia movements. It was these two groups who demonstrated open violence against the United States government on January 6, 2021. The groups do not openly promote Christian Nationalism, but they do promote a far right ideology. Here is a recent interview of the Proud Boy's leader from 60 minutes Australia.

I'll let you watch the video and decide.

Charlie Kirk is another figure who can blend into several different parts of the Trump coalition. He was recently appointed to a military board due to his faithful service to Trump. He proved to be a vital force in energizing young people into the MAGA movement during the 2024 election through the organization he co-founded Turning Point USA. He once said “We do have a separation of church and state,” to conservative commentator Dave Rubin in 2018, “and we should support that.”

Charlie Kirk has altered his position. This change, according to political and religious experts, mirrors and bolsters a growing acceptance of Christian Nationalist ideology within the Republican Party during the Donald Trump era. He now claims, “There is no separation of church and state,” Kirk declared on his podcast in 2022. “It’s a fabrication. It’s a fiction. It’s not in the Constitution. It’s made up by secular humanists."

Although technically correct, it is employed by the far right as a tool to impose religion on Americans through the state, which the constitution explicitly addresses. The first clause in the Bill of Rights states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." The founders opposed a state religion and a government sanctioned church because they had witnessed the tyranny of religion being used as a governmental weapon. Christianity should not be a litmus test to citizenship or public office because that is a very slippery slope to ecclesiastical tyranny which was against the ideas of the founding of American constitutional law. It's why we have the establishment clause in the Bill of Rights.

Trump has sought to court pastors and voters who believe America was meant for Christian rule. He has promised to restore evangelical power in government and to begin screening immigrants based on their faith and rejecting any who “don’t like our religion.” The mainstream idea of Christian Nationalism in the Trump Administration for the time being seems to be more on the lines of Hungary than a full blown Theocracy. However, the MAGA movement is a Game of Thrones coalition with varying outcomes possible.

Christian Reconstructionist are the smallest faction of the far right. It's founder R.J. Rushdoony was a member of the John Birch Society and campaigned for Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. Rushdoony was a skilled organizer, but he understood where real power resided. True power lay in creating ideas that could reshape the American system. While the Hippie counterculture movement imagined an America free from the sway of Institutional Christianity, Rushdoony started to envision an American system completely ruled by Institutional Christianity.

            The group of men he gathered such as Gary North, Greg L. Bahnsen and others began to publish articles and books in the 1970’s espousing their ideas in a very scholarly manner.  Rushdoony was a Postmillennialist, but he developed the theology out to its logical end.  He simply concluded that if we have been called to rule the nations as the church, now in this age, then we must have a framework for implementing our ideas. 

            Rushdoony was intellectually honest believing that modern America was being taken over by the false religion of secularism and that the only path to salvation for America was to reconstruct the nation according to Biblical law.  As a Calvinist he believed that America had a covenant with God primarily basing it on the Puritans, the Calvinistic sect that founded Plymouth Rock.

            He was a man who saw no middle ground because to him it was all out war.  He saw the political left as the incarnation of demonic activity.  He argued that the Bible must govern every aspect of American life if we are to restore the greatness of America.  It was a view that looked back to John Calvin in Geneva and the Puritans who have come to be known as the Pilgrims as attempts at establishing the kingdom of God on earth.  It's evident to any honest observer that both experiments concluded disastrously. Nowhere in the modern world or history can you find instances where these ideas haven't resulted in tyranny.

The myth that man can establish the kingdom of God on earth using the state as its vehicle lived on in Rushdoony’s heart till the day that he passed away.  He was never completely embraced by his peers in the Evangelical church because his militant postmillennial dominion theology views carried out to their logical end would look more like ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ than the kingdom of God on earth. 

One of the biggest proponents of these ideas today is Doug Wilson. He is a much better communicator and spokesman for the ideas than Rushdoony. He has grown a media empire from the small town of Moscow, Idaho and it is looked to as a model for Christian Nationalism. An interesting fact is that the Northwestern region of the United States is actually where White Christian Nationalism is the strongest. It makes sense when you understand Mormonism is based on the idea of White Christian Nationalism.

Idaho is a center for Christian Nationalism, and Wilson, who lives in Moscow, Idaho, advocates for a strict patriarchal ideology and opposes the separation of church and state. They favor revoking women's voting rights, preventing non-Christians from holding office, and criminalizing the LGBTQ+ community. His style of Christian Nationalism is the smallest part of the Trump coalition, but it is not without political clout.

Pete Hegseth, once a Fox News Host and author, now serves as the Secretary of Defense. He is a staunchly partisan political figure who supported the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol and leads the entire U.S. military. He advocates for Christian Nationalism and attends a church within the denomination founded by Doug Wilson, known as the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), a small group that endorses Theonomy, or in other words, Christian Nationalism enforced through Biblical law. I'm a firm proponent of freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion being part of the American experiment. Theonomy directly opposes those ideas.

If you read Pete Hegseth book Battle For The American Mind it is a diatribe against Black Lives Matter, Marxism and the evil educated elites who have destroyed America through Liberal indoctrination. Take a look at my book BlackOut: Understanding The End Of The Age as I agree that what I call modern Gnosticism is religious and has spread throughout the entire American System. I perceive its influence as anti-Christ. However, the solution he proposes will in fact damage America and change it into something completely different. It seems he thinks our greatest enemy is American citizens who disagree with him, which is concerning. Christian Nationalists have long dreamed of dismantling the Department of Education and creating a voucher system to fund Christian education.

I was born in 1969 in Dallas, TX and my parents graduated from Dallas, TX in segregated schools under Jim Crow Laws. It took mass protests and finally the Civil Rights Act to get embedded racism dismantled from a segregated South because men's hearts are wicked. Remember it was 60 years ago that this happened and Christians supported this system of racism. If you believe that a Classical Christian education blended with Christian Nationalism will establish God's kingdom in America and eliminate injustices, then you likely haven't read a history book. Texas has now become ground zero for establishing a Voucher system. Good people can disagree because that's what political discourse is about, but I would encourage you to read this article about Classical Christian education.

I've watched this movement grow for the last 35 years and I have a lot of concerns based on personal experience, Biblical understanding and history. I'm not implying that Christians who want to influence society with their faith are racists because that's just not true for the vast majority. I want to have a positive influence on society because we are called to be salt and light. I'm not saying Christian education is racists because you have many black Christian schools. What I am saying is mixing Christianity with the State which is Christian Nationalism inherently leads to some type of discrimination. Show me a time in history where it hasn't happened and I will listen to you.

To me the greatest concern when it comes to these ideas is the radicalization of young men and the growing rise of the Alt-right. I know some will argue that I am making connections that are not there, but I'll make a case that the truth is right in front of us. The far-right, anti-woke movement is focusing on young American men, who are especially vulnerable. Although I concur that extreme woke leftism is harmful to our nation, particularly to young men, embracing right-wing extremism is not the solution.

The militia movement is a Christian Identity movement and both have a long history of violence and racism going back to the early years of our nation. The fruit of Doug Wilson's rhetoric leads to extreme ideology. His disciples the TheoBros are just one step separated from White Christian Nationalism. Doug Wilson is more skilled at using speech and seems less extreme, but the fruit of his teaching can be seen in his disciples. The younger TheoBros: Joel Webbon, Eric Conn, Brian Sauvé, and Stephen Wolfe push an alternative counter culture to what they identify as an evil woke culture. You'll discover that with Christian Nationalism, the boundaries become indistinct, merging into far-right extremism.

If you don't understand history then you are doomed to repeat it. Sadly America has a long history of racism and it could be called our original sin. I am putting this together so you are aware of what I consider wrong ideas and these ideas have seeped into the MAGA coalition. The next step from the TheoBros is the Alt-Right. Politics make strange bed fellows and Patriot Front is part of the MAGA coalition. It was this group that organized the Unite The Right rally in in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11, 2017. It may not be embraced openly at this time, but the ideas are being amplified by Curtis Yarvin, Peter Theil, Elon Musk and J.D. Vance.

It's Neo-Fascism and it may dress up in Christian clothes' sometimes but it's simply putting lipstick on a pig. I'm okay calling it Christian Fascism because that's what it is plain and simple. It's poison to the faith laid out by Christ and the apostolic fathers. If consumed, it creates a caricature in which church and state combine to create an authoritarian regime that has always mirrored the beast that devours the innocent. All governments are beast because their inherent nature is to govern, control, and exert dominance through lawful methods (Romans 13:1-7). The place of the church is to pray for those in authority (I Timothy 2:2), care for the innocent (James 1:27), welcome the forsaken (John 3:16), nurture the hurting (Romans 12:15) and be salt to keep injustice from taking over a society (Matthew 5:13).

I understand that the vast majority of MAGA supporters are not racist, but to deny it's existence in the movement is not possible. The America First ideology of MAGA views multiculturalism, immigration, and diversity as existential threats to its vision of America. Patriot Front also frequently promotes the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which claims the existence of an organized effort to replace “native” white Americans with non-white immigrants. Ultimately, Patriot Front seeks to dismantle the current political system, which it perceives as corrupt and dominated by globalist interests and replacing it.

If you watch this short video you can't help, but here echoes of these same idea as the TheoBros discuss their views on modern America.

I support border control and a balanced immigration policy, but I oppose racism and detect clear racist undertones in this conversation. Downplaying the ties to the far right by suggesting this is typical in political coalitions overlooks a crucial aspect. I contend that the fusion of church and state inevitably leads to extremism which America's founding fathers expressly opposed.

I wish the founding fathers had been as opposed to slavery as they were to establishing a state religion. The founders recognized that merging church and state results in governmental systems where members of the established religion are considered superior, and outsiders are subordinate. You may disagree with Jesse Dollemore's political positions, religious ideas and his language, but his analysis is certainly in line with American ideas of equality and not Joel Webbon's clearly extreme ideas of Christian Nationalism.

Now Joel Webbon is extreme, but it is a growing idea being accepted in Christian circles which should be concerning to us all. I hesitate to use the comparison to Hitler as it can lead to exaggerated language that might cause others to dismiss what I see as concerning parallels. I don't think you can compare 1930 Germany to 2025 America as that is comparing apples to oranges. However, I do believe that Hitler promoted a strong masculine church as a tool in his hands for societal reform, ultimately making Christianity more dominant in German society. Far too many German pastor's promoted Hitler until it was too late because it benefited them. Here is a direct quote from a speech Hitler gave July 22, 1933. The echoes in our current political discourse should concern us all.

“Today Christians … stand at the head of [Germany]. I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity … We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit … We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre and in the press. In short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture, as a result of liberal excess.”

Eric Mextaxas seemed to get the story wrong in his book Letter To The American Church. I'm not sure what history books he read? Hitler fought against Marxism, communism and those he said were destroying the true soul of the German people. The true danger of Hitlers Germany wasn't the Marxist, but the Christian Nationalist who aligned with his authoritarian rule. The Christian church supported him because it gave them power against what they viewed as enemies destroying the church and they saw Hitter's support as benefiting them and restoring the Christian nation. Bonhoeffer was a minority of Christians who opposed Christian Nationalism. He promoted justice and care for the neighbor, especially those who are suffering. Eric seemed to flip the story. He is dishonest, ignorant or deceived.

It's the same thing Mussolini did in Italy. He strategically used the Catholic Church to consolidate his power and gain legitimacy for his fascist regime. He adopted pro-Catholic policies, signing the Lateran Treaty ensuring Catholic support and effectively created a "clerical-fascist" alliance.  Francisco Franco of Spain strategically used the Catholic Church to his benefit and Opus Dei was his tool. He restored it to a privileged position and intertwined state with religion to legitimize his rule and maintain control. It was a strategy known as "National Catholicism". It's what  Viktor Orbán  has done in the nation of Hungary and what Vladimir Putin has done in the nation of Russia.

I am not making the case that Christian Nationalism is Nazism. You can argue that Trump is not a racist, but its hard to argue that he is not a demagogue and a political opportunist. One of my obvious observations since 2020 is that the Overton Window has shifted so far to the right that Alex Jones who was once viewed as a fringe conspiracy theorist is main stream news. Alex Jones is where the New Apostolic Reformation, QAnon and Christian Nationalism meet together. Listen to this video. Forbes is not a left leaning outlet.

Elon Musk X platform has normalized far right Christian Nationalist Groups and normalized Alt-Right talking points.

History will regard January 6, 2021, not merely as an assault on the U.S. Capitol, but as the initial battle for a New America. The fault lines of a divided nation became apparent for all to see. In the last four years large portions of the American public have been radicalized on both the left and the right. On the political right QAnon conspiracy ideology has fed upon white populist evangelical impulses. It's a focus on the apocalypse of their nation and a hope to restore America which they feel has been taken from them by demonic forces.

QAnon and Christian Nationalism combined to form a right-wing political ideology. This is clear in the resurgence of ideas such as the Christian Nation (peoplehood) being portrayed as a victimized but resilient and enduring remnant. These concepts are intertwined with a Christian identity and culture (a myth of origin). This is reinforced by the belief in the U.S. as a "chosen nation" (or "new Israel") within God's providential plan in world history (exceptionalism). It is the same theology as British Israelism and it's not new, but it has been repackaged. It's propaganda wrapped in a simple slogan "Make America Great Again' and its been effective. Alex Jones is right when he says that we are in an information war and Trump has mastered the art of disinformation warfare.

In the 1950s, the battle was against communism, but after the collapse of the USSR, the mythical Deep State emerged as the new threat to be eliminated. It was believed that the external New World Order fueled by the globalists is manipulating America internally through the Deep State. It is believed that the Deep State must be destroyed so that it can be freed to experience The Great Awakening. The video below is from 2017, but has proven to be extremely accurate.

One of the things I find amazing is that the four main ideologies of the MAGA movement are all directly connected to Alex Jones one of the greatest misinformation peddlers of all time. Elon Musk (The Dark Enlightenment) is a great supporter of Alex Jones and helped with his legal problems. J.D. Vance (Opus Dei/Traditional Catholic's) has become an advocate for Alex Jones. The New Apostolic Reformation through Rodney Howard Brown demonstrates that he is considered a prophet in their movement. General Michael Flynn (Christian Nationalist) appears regularly on Alex Jones program and so does Stewart Rhodes leader of the Oath Keepers one of the violent groups of the January 6, 2021 attack on capital. Donald J. Trump is the Alex Jones president!

The greatest deterrence to deception and false ideas is a return to Biblical basics. In my next few lesson's I am going to use the Bible and show why it is important to have a clear understanding of the Bible in three main areas:

1. Sound Theology

2. Sound Ecclesiology

3. Sound Eschatology