On July 1, 2022, inside a packed Georgia arena, four religious leaders stood on stage as they recited a blood chilling Prayer Declaration called the “Watchman Decree”:
Whereas, we have been given legal power from heaven and now exercise our authority, Whereas, we are God’s ambassadors and spokespeople over the earth. Whereas, through the power of God we are the world influencers. Whereas, because of our covenant with God, we are equipped and delegated by him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy, we make our declarations: … 3. We decree that our judicial system will issue rulings that are biblical and constitutional. 4. We declare that we stand against wokeness, the occult, and every evil attempt against our nation. 5. We declare that we now take back our God-given freedoms, according to our Constitution. 6. We decree that we take back and permanently control positions of influence and leadership in each of the “Seven Mountains.”
A video of the recitation (shown above) was viewed more than 3 million times on Twitter. In the replies, many people expressed horror at what they had seen. Although few were aware, they had just witnessed the fruits of the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). The NAR is a rapidly accelerating and dangerously under-reported worldwide Christian authoritarian movement. It practices faith healing and exorcism and promotes dominionism, a belief that Christians must take control of government, business and culture in order for Jesus to return to earth. The men on stage included NAR apostles Dutch Sheets (who wrote the decree) and Lance Wallhau, along with two close colleagues, pastors Mario Murillo and Hank Kunneman. The fifth man, pastor Gene Bailey, hosted the event for his show Flashpoint on Victory TV, a Christian network that platforms the NAR and pro-Trump Make America Great (MAGA) influencers.
Disgraced former Trump National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, a retired lieutenant general with an intelligence and special operations background, has appeared on Flashpoint several times and seems to have formed an alliance with the NAR. Longtime Trump advisor Roger Stone, who works with Flynn and has ties to violent extremists, embraces the NAR as well. He, Flynn, and other like-minded MAGA influencers and Christian authoritarian zealots are coming to Pennsylvania for the final stop of the so-called “Reawaken America Tour” (RAT). The tour was founded by Clay Clarkson, a far right podcast host from Oklahoma, and is sponsored by NAR apostle Steve Strang through Charisma News, one of Strang’s media companies. Several NAR apostles have spoken on the RAT. Spooky Nook Sports in Mannheim is hosting the event on October 21 and 22.
The NAR received its name from C. Peter Wagner, a NAR apostle who died in 2016. In 2011, Wagner wrote that the “NAR embraces the largest non-Catholic segment of global Christianity – the fastest growing segment, and the only segment of Christianity currently growing faster than the world population and faster than Islam.”
The NAR, which is non denominational, resembles the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement from which it emerged in that its leaders teach that believers possess supernatural gifts, such as speaking in tongues, prophecy, faith healing, and the ability to cast out demons (exorcism). NAR apostle Cindy Jacobs, for example, claims to have used prayer to cure a woman of insanity. In February this year, NAR apostle Lance Wallnau used Facebook to promote a faith healing event conducted by his colleague Mario Murillo. “Watch Some Miracles and Healing! I had to pull out my camera and catch what was going on as Mario started getting words of knowledge,” Wallnau wrote.
The NAR’s central distinguishing tenet is that “churches should be run by [modern day] apostles and prophets.” These apostles and prophets regularly update their followers on their alleged prophecies, a practice that is ripe for abuse.
Leading NAR apostles are blatantly pro-Trump, and claim their view is supported by God, whereas opposition to Trump is satanic. “Fighting with Trump is fighting God,” Wallnau declared in October 2020. “God does not want” Joe Biden to be president, Sheets claimed in December 2020. “All those witchcraft curses that did not land on Donald Trump are trying to take out his kids,” Wallnau raged in a 2017 video. In a 2017 tweet, he wrote, “Praying for the President-elect at Press Club in D.C. with Lou Engle. Prophetic location. Trump must keep wrecking media witchcraft.”
The NAR also opposes freedom of religion, teaching instead that Christians must exert dominion over all aspects of our society. The NAR isn’t the only movement that espouses dominionism, but it may be the most influential. As explained by Wagner, who fathered the NAR:
“Dominion has to do with control. Dominion has to do with rulership. Dominion has to do with authority and subduing. And it relates to society. In other words, what the values are in Heaven need to be made manifest on earth. Dominion means being the head and not the tail. Dominion means ruling as kings.”
The specific pillars of society over which the NAR plans to “rule as kings” are seven-fold: 1. business, 2. government, 3. family, 4. religion, 5. media, 6. education, and 7. entertainment. NAR leaders call this the “Seven Mountains” mandate. Others call it heresy. (A good discussion can be found here.)
According to Generals International, which is run by NAR apostle Cindy Jacobs (author of Possessing the Gates of the Enemy), “Wallnau is the innovator who introduced the Seven Mountains of Culture as a fresh template to explain how the church must engage culture at the turn of the century.” Wagner similarly credited Wallnau, writing in 2007 that “Lance’s trademark teaching relates to what he calls the seven ‘mind molders’ or the ‘seven mountains.’ These have now become a permanent fixture in my personal teaching on taking dominion.”
As one might expect, the NAR rabidly opposes LGBTQ+ rights and abortion access.
NAR apostles also claim that demons are engaged in “spiritual warfare” on earth. NAR apostle Cindy Jacobs offers a $97 “spiritual warfare” course, and NAR apostle Dutch Sheets wrote an e-book called “Spiritual Warfare for the Lost.” NAR apostle Steve Strang, who sponsors the RAT, recently wrote that, “I believe God raised up Donald Trump and there is warfare going on—satanic activity that is trying to tear down the fabric of this country. *** We need to take authority over the enemy. We are in a movement for righteousness to reclaim our country from the hands of the wicked.” In 2018, Wallnau tweeted. “Some people say I’ve gotten off balance because I focus too much on Trump and politics. Not so. *** I’m a witness to the spiritual war over America that centers on Cyrus Trump.”
NAR apostles also claim that prayers can resurrect the dead. Jacobs, for example, claims to have resurrected a dead cat. “So I prayed over this dead cat, and he came back to life! As soon as I finished praying for him, he jumped up and he ran all around,” she declared in a video. During a prayer service, she also persuaded a group of grown men to “manifest the glory of God” by convulsing and collapsing on stage. You can watch it here:
NAR apostles and prophets have their own individual ministries and extensive overlapping prayer networks, which they use for religious and overtly political purposes. These networks have the potential for massive voter outreach. Harvest International Ministries, which is run by NAR apostle Che Ahn (who sued California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020) “is connected to thousands of ministries,” according to faith healer/pastor Mario Murillo. Ahn also has his own megachurch and apparently claims to have cured a girl’s blindness by licking his thumb and putting it in her eye.
The NAR includes several organizations, although membership is not required. One is the International Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (ICAL), which was previously called the International Coalition of Apostles (ICA). Wagner served as the Presiding Apostle Emeritus of the ICA before he died. The US Coalition of Apostolic Leaders (USCAL) is the US sub-group of the international organization.
Another group is the exclusive Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders (ACPE) founded by Wagner, who served as the ACPE chairman before he died. The ACPE is currently led by NAR apostle Cindy Jacobs.
The NAR is secretive and no longer publishes membership lists for these organizations. But the Bucks County Beacon has found the 2006 ACPE list, the 2010 ICA list, and the 2017 USCAL list. Based on those lists, here are some noteworthy NAR apostles:
– Cindy Jacobs (of Generals International and the Reformation Prayer Network)
– Dutch Sheets (who wrote the Watchman Decree)
– Lance Wallnau (who recited the Watchman Decree)
– Steve Strang (of Charisma News)
– Steve Schultz (of the Elijah List)
– Jim Garlow (of the Global Prayer for Election Integrity)
– Che Ahn (of Harvest International Ministry and Harvest Rock megachurch)
– James Goll (of God Encounters Ministries)
– John Benefiel (of the Global Apostolic Network)
– Chuck D. Pierce (of the Glory of Zion Ministries)
All of them promote the Seven Mountains mandate. (1)
A person whose name does not appear on these lists may still embrace the NAR movement or parts of it. Murillo and Kunneman, for example, recited the Watchman decree with NAR apostles Wallnau and Sheets (at the Georgia arena) and seem to embrace other NAR beliefs, even though their names do not appear on the lists.
Former President Trump’s spiritual advisor, Paula White-Cain, is another example. She has spoken in tongues (consistent with the overall Pentecostal-Charismatic movement) and launched a governmental prayer initiative with NAR apostles Jacobs, Sheets, and Goll in 2019. She has also promoted the “Seven Mountains” mandate with Wallnau. Although she does not appear on the lists, she has had similar beliefs, regardless of label.
In Pennsylvania, NAR apostle Jacobs’ prayer network is led by Abby Abildness of Healing Tree International. Abildness, is also the state director of the Pennsylvania Congressional Prayer Caucus. In addition, Abildness is the Director of the Global Apostolic Prayer Network, a branch of the Heartland Apostolic Prayer Network, which prominently displays a glowing endorsement that it received in 2010 from C. Peter Wagner (the father of the NAR). She says she meets with lawmakers once a week, as reported in Salon. Abildness is the woman in red, below.
Mastriano has reportedly denied working directly with the NAR. But he clearly works with Abildness whose job is to spread the ministry of confirmed NAR apostles Cindy Jacobs and John Benefiel. Abildness’s own book bio says that Abildness “is the Pennsylvania representative for the Cindy Jacobs’ Reformation Prayer Network and John Benefiel’s Apostolic Prayer Network, and was commissioned as an apostle by John Benefiel in 2011.” Healing Tree’s facebook page includes this photo of Abildness and Mastriano together.
Abildness also hosted an event with confirmed NAR apostles Sheets and Pierce in May 2020. Again, the evidence is on Facebook.
On July 1, 2022, Mastriano hosted an event with Abildness at the state Capitol where he denied access to the media, but was filmed hugging Abildness near the podium. He and Abildness had presided over another event in June 2020, which 10,000 people watched, according to Abildness, again as shown on Healing Tree’s facebook page. Abildness “also introduced him at a regional NAR conference of several hundred people in October 2020, in Gettysburg, which is in Mastriano’s senatorial district,” as reported in Salon.
Mastriano, as well as NAR apostles Jacobs and Wallnau, spoke during the Jericho March’s December 2020 “Let the Church Roar!” rally to assist Trump’s effort to overturn the election results. So did Flynn, Alex Jones of InfoWars, and Mike Lindell (the CEO of My Pillow). Abildness led a separate Jericho March/Stop the Steal event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 14, 2020.
The NAR also conducted its own pre-Jan. 6 events. One such event was NAR apostle Jim Garlow’s “Prayer for Election Integrity” series, which included discussions with Mastriano, Flynn, Steve Bannon, MAGA lawyer Sidney Powell, and NAR apostles Jacobs, Wallnau, and Goll. Another was NAR apostle Dutch Sheets’ seven-state prayer tour, “Operation Valkyrie,” which Abildness implemented in Pennsylvania.
Apostle Che Ahn gave a barn burner speech at the Capitol on Jan. 5. He remained there on Jan. 6, but claims he slept through the riot.
On the evening of Jan. 6, NAR apostle Wallnau delivered remarks from the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. He also attended the protest there earlier in the day, as reported in the Minnesota Post. Here’s a photo of Wallnau from Jan. 6. It seems that he used Facebook to cut and paste a message that he had received from an unidentified third party.
There is no evidence that Wallnau entered the Capitol that day. The same cannot be said of former Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, who has worked with NAR apostle Jim Garlow for years. In 2017, Garlow even dispatched her to fight “darkness and deception” as a pastor for the United Nations. At the time, per the Christian Post, Garlow already ran a weekly Christian ministry at the US Capitol for Congress and its staff.
In November 2020, Bachman was so distraught over Trump’s loss that she posted a video of herself praying and chanting and pounding her fist in the air.
On the morning of Jan. 6, she “used her credentials as a former member of Congress to enter the Capitol complex,” as reported by religious extremism researcher Bruce Wilson. By her own admission, she was “skulking about in the Capitol Building, surveying Nancy Pelosi’s fleeing staffers and even keeping tabs on Pelosi as she fled the would-be murderers rampaging into the building,” Wilson continued. She then “went on to the State Dept. office of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, for a chat… while a marauding army was besieging,” Wilson remarked. You can find her videotaped account here, which Wilson posted on Twitter.
You may recall that Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) infamously notified her followers by tweet when Pelosi left chambers at 2:18 p.m. that day. Rioters had breached the building a little after 2:00 pm, and some were hunting for Pelosi.
Boebert is often compared to former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who ran for vice president on John McCain’s presidential ticket in 2008. Like Bachmann, Palin is an apparent NAR enthusiast, as reported by Wilson.
Boebert has NAR connections of her own. She has, for example, appeared on the Victory Channel’s Flashpoint show multiple times, including episodes with NAR apostles Wallnau and Sheets.
Boebert also spoke on a panel with Wallnau in April 2021. Next month, she will speak on another panel with him and others at the “Truth and Liberty Coalition Conference” at Charis Bible College in Woodland, Colorado. Truth and Liberty’s website states that Wallnau is on the Board of Directors and that, “We believe we have a mandate to bring Godly change to our world, through the seven spheres of societal influence.” (Italics added.)
The organization’s president, Andrew Wommack, founded the college and is trying to take over school boards in Colorado and elsewhere (the education mountain), as reported by Frederick Clarkson for Religion Dispatches.
Earlier this month, Wallnau complained on his show that the “education mountain” is the worst mountain in America because universities “poison the brains of your sons and daughters. They are intellectual pedophiles. They molest the minds of your children.”
Meanwhile, the Reawaken America Tour (RAT), which is sponsored by Charisma News (founded by NAR apostle Steve Strang), has traveled across the U.S. since 2021. Strang himself has spoken on the RAT, as has Wallnau. So has Sean Feucht, a Christian singer and Wallnau associate who came from the Bethel megachurch in Redding, California. Bethel was founded by Bill Johnson who co-authored a book with Wallnau called Invading Babylon: the Seven Mountains Mandate.
Former One America News anchor Emerald Robinson has also spoken on the RAT, where she interviewed Eric Trump. In November 2021, Robinson infamously tweeted, “I don’t want a multi-cultural society. I want a Christian society.”
“Prophet” Julie Green has spoken on the RAT too. At the RAT in Salem, Oregon, she declared that God plans to destroy Washington, D.C., and move the U.S. Capitol to Pennsylvania or Florida. She has also “prophesied” that a Democratic leader will die. The image below is not a meme; it’s the graphic she used to promote her video. Naturally, Mastriano has campaigned with her.
Sheriff Richard Mack of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) has spoken on the RAT too. Link to tweet.
The CSPOA claims that “law enforcement powers held by the sheriff supersede those of any agent, officer, elected official or employee from any level of government when in the jurisdiction of the county.” Sheriff Mack is friendly with Flynn and Flynn’s colleague, Mike Lindell. Here he is with cop killer Jared Miller:
The RAT’s most prominent speakers, however, are convicted felons Flynn and Stone (Trump’s longtime advisor). Both men received conveniently timed pardons from Trump in late 2020, as they claimed without proof that the election had been stolen, while courting violent extremists.
Flynn, who supports Mastriano, dog-whistled to the NAR last year by declaring on the RAT that America should have only “one religion [Christianity].”
During another RAT stop, he led attendees in reciting a heretical prayer that he had plagiarized from Doomsday cult leader, Elizabeth Prophet, as shown in a side by side video comparison created by extremism researcher Jim Stewartson.
In June 2021, Flynn used obvious “NAR speak” when he declared that, “We are in a spiritual war.” (Italics added). This earned him a retweet from the Victory channel, which hosted the Watchman Decree event in the Georgia arena.
Flynn threw the NAR more red meat in March 2022 by declaring again that America is in a “spiritual war” and calling Pelosi a “demon.”
Flynn’s apparent alliance with a massive religious movement that wants to take over the world is alarming. This man has already bragged about his use of “irregular warfare.” He and his family have already spread viral internet conspiracy theories and disinformation campaigns, such as QAnon and Pizzagate. Even more troubling is that Flynn has boasted that he has an army of “digital soldiers.” The Department of Justice has identifed these types of conspiracy theories as a domestic terrorism threat (specifically mentioning QAnon and Pizzagate), but Flynn has faced no consequences and keeps upping the ante.
Flynn also “appeared to endorse a Myanmar-style coup in the U.S. at the ‘For God & Country Patriot Roundup’ conference in Dallas,” as reported by CBS News in June 2021. And he encouraged the imposition of martial law before Jan. 6.
Flynn also works with My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, who was recently photographed with NAR apostle Lance Wallnau and attorney Jenna Ellis. Lindell appears to be involved with Christian fundraising involving a shady group called Ziklag, which is connected to United in Purpose (UIP). UIP was founded by a convicted embezzler and was tied to major voter data leaks several years ago.
On Jan. 5, 2021, Flynn somehow facilitated a $100k donation to an organization called Code of Vets, which on Nov. 3, 2020, had tweeted (then deleted) “Oathkeepers trained and standing ready.”
He and Sidney Powell had made a personal $10K donation to Code of Vets in late December. Code of Vets is led by Gretchen Smith (shown below, with Flynn and others).
According to the DOJ, the Oathkeepers and the Proud Boys led the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Ironically, Flynn is working with Roger Stone on an “election integrity” project before the midterm election. In December 2020, Stone declared on the Alex Jones Show that, “I just learned of absolute incontrovertible evidence of North Korean boats delivering ballots through a harbor in Maine.” Stone never produced that “evidence.”
In April 2022, Stone discussed a “demonic portal” above the White House during an appearance on the Elijah List show founded by NAR apostle Steve Schultz. He repeated the claim on the RAT (sponsored by NAR apostle Steve Strang’s Charisma News) in May.
Stone’s involvement with Flynn and the NAR is deeply concerning. More than anyone else in Trump’s inner orbit, it was Stone who injected the Proud Boys into the MAGA movement. The group was founded by Stone’s good friend, Gavin McInnes, who has said of the organization, “We will kill you. That’s the Proud Boys in a nutshell.”
Stone is especially close to indicted Proud Boy leaders Enrique Tarrio and Joe Biggs.
Unbeknownst to most people, Stone also has a friend in the Oathkeepers, Joseph O’Shaughnessy (aka “Captain O”), who called Stone a “hero” and “mentor” in a November 2020 Instagram post.
In May this year, Captain O posted photos of himself at Mar A Lago, along with Mike Lindell and others. Link to Instagram photo.
On Dec. 19, Meggs declared that the Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, and Three Percenters had formed an alliance that week. On Dec. 11, Stone had been filmed on stage with Tarrio in Washington, D.C. It appears that he spent time that day with Captain O as well (based on Captain O’s Instagram photos). A Facebook post dated Dec. 13 shows Stone with Meggs outside Stone’s Florida home. On Dec. 13, Captain O wrote on Instagram, “No more fake militias, no more 3%ers…Proud Boys 4 America.”
The next day, Stone posed for a photo with Florida Oathkeepers inside a replica Oval Office at a Florida cafe. The symbolism was clear: violent extremists were inside the “White House.”
On Jan. 6, after breaching the Capitol, Meggs reportedly searched for Pelosi. He had previously texted to his wife that he wanted to “go on a killing spree. Pelosi first.”
At 2:20 pm on Jan. 6, after the Capitol had been breached, Tarrio texted in an encrypted message chat that, “Make no mistake, we did this.” His text exchange with an unknown individual that night was equally damning::
Person 1: “Brother. You know we made this happen… I’m so proud of my country today.”
Tarrio: “I know.”
Person 1: “Dude. Did we just influence history?”
Tarrio: “Let’s first see how this plays out.”
Stone has nonetheless tried to shift blame to anti-fascists (“Antifa”). So has Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who is also on the RAT circuit and spoke in February at an event hosted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who joked about Hitler. “They say Putin is Hitler – like that’s a bad thing,” Fuentes declared, followed by a laugh.
Rep. Greene’s friend, Anthony Aguero, disagrees with her about Jan. 6. “We were all there. It was not antifa, and it was not BLM,” Aguero said on tape on Jan. 7. “‘It was Trump supporters that did that yesterday. I’m the first to admit it, being one myself.’”
There’s even a video of Aguero inside the Capitol. There’s also a video of Greene’s friend, Genevieve Peters, declaring on Jan. 6 that, “We have breached the Capitol. We are up to the stairs. Move forward! There is no better cause than to be arrested for freedom!”
Below is one of multiple photos of Peters with Greene.
There are also multiple photos of Peters with the Proud Boys before Jan. 6. There’s even a photo of Peters with Stone. As early as 2018, Greene herself had engaged in a “1776” tweet exchange with Biggs.
Rather than condemn Greene for lying about Jan 6 and normalizing white nationalism, the NAR has embraced her. On July 1, Apostles Dutch Sheets and Lance Wallnau prayed over her. This occurred on the same stage, in the same packed arena, during the same Georgia event where they recited that chilling “Watchman Decree.”
Most Americans, regardless of party, don’t want to live in a theocracy. But few are aware of the NAR and its belief in dominionism, much less its involvement with dangerous MAGA hucksters like Flynn, Stone, Boebert, Greene, and Mastriano. The time to warn the public is now, before the midterm election. The NAR is dead serious about achieving its goal of permanent Christian rule, and it has powerful political friends who are willing to help in exchange for power of their own. It’s time the rest of us got serious about stopping them.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Bruce Wilson for walking me through his expansive knowledge of the NAR. Thank you to researcher @LeaLovesUSA (on Twitter) for her incredible open source research (featured in this piece) on Captain O, the CSPOA. and Genevieve Peters. Thank you to @VisionSurreal (on Twitter) for her Ziklag research. Thank you to Pat Bagley for creating the amazing NAR graphic featuring Stone and Flynn wielding giant crosses as they chase Lady Liberty.
Notes
1. (Cindy Jacobs [“We have what we call this 7 Mountains mandate,” which means that, “if we really want to see his kingdom come,” then “every sector of society needs to be governed by the knowledge of God”]; Charisma/Strang [“How the Seven Mountain Strategy Can Reignite Your Kingdom Influence”]; Sheets, Murillo, Kunniman, Wallnau [“We decree that we take back and permanently control positions of influence and leadership in each of the “Seven Mountains.”]; Jim Garlow [“We’re the ones who disciple the nation, and we disciple the nation through those 7 spheres of influence”]; Steve Schultz [promoting “Let the Mountains Tremble! Conquering and Ruling From the Seven Mountains” by Ben Peters]; Che Ahn [“We need to be involved in all 7 mountains to influence the government”]; James Goll [“James Goll prophesied to jo’EL that he will dream of the 7 mountains and raise up people to occupy them.”]; Chuck D. Pierce, author of [“This is the key to the 7 mountains of society; we move from God’s kingdom into the structures of the world”]; C. Peter Wagner [Lance Wallnau’s “trademark teaching relates to what he calls the seven ‘mind molders’ or the ‘seven mountains.’ These have now become a permanent fixture in my personal teaching on taking dominion.”].)
