COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — Thousands sang, cheered and prayed as several preachers declared Donald Trump as God’s preferred candidate to defeat the so-called “forces of darkness.”
Headlines condemned Democrat Kamala Harris – Trump’s campaign rival – as being influenced by demons and the spirit of the evil biblical Queen Jezebel.
Participants stood and unanimously recited a “Guardian Decree,” calling for a government that honors God and has “just” laws and “biblical” judgments. They promised to “take back and permanently control” leadership positions in areas such as government, business and culture.
“We break every curse against Donald Trump – we break every satanic incantation against his presidency,” declared host preacher Hank Kunneman at the annual Opening the Heavens conference, held in mid-September at the Mid-America Center arena in Council Bluffs.
The conference, one of several of its kind across the country this election year, features exuberant worship services and speeches from influential preachers. It represents a highly politicized wing of charismatic Christianity, a larger movement that emphasizes spiritual gifts such as healings, prophecies and speaking in tongues.
In a sign of this movement’s influence, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance recently appeared at a similar conference called the Courage Tour in Pennsylvania.
The conference’s goals included reaching out to the electorate for Trump and his allies and mobilizing believers to pray and participate in what is being proclaimed a literal spiritual war surrounding the election.
“Get your butt out and vote. Take your voice and raise it,” said Kunneman, who along with his wife, Brenda, lead the Lord of Hosts Church in nearby Omaha, Nebraska. “Let every devil fall.” … We repel any attempt to steal the board position.”
The conference emerges from a movement that emphasizes authoritative leadership from leaders considered state-of-the-art apostles and prophets. It also included Christian nationalism, a fusion of American and Christian identities.
Critics view the movement with concern, seeing it as anti-democratic and supporting a candidate with authoritarian ambitions and inflammatory rhetoric. Many of their leaders supported Trump’s claim that the 2020 election was stolen, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
“The attitude in 2024 is: ‘The demons will probably try to steal this election again, and so we need to wage spiritual war in advance to prevent that,'” said Matthew Taylor, author of the modern book about the movement , “The Violent Take It by Violence: The Christian Movement Threatening Our Democracy.”
“It’s very hard to have a pluralistic democracy,” Taylor said, even though many distrust the electoral system.
Several leaders of this movement were present at rallies in Washington before and on January 6, 2021 to protest Biden’s presidential victory, Taylor said.
Leaders were not among the Capitol rioters, but some issued decrees and prayers that certification of Biden’s victory should be blocked and Trump returned for a second term.
Such ideology “is one of those golden threads” in the social media feeds of many participants in the Jan. 6 rallies, said Taylor, a Protestant scholar at the Baltimore-based Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies.
Headlines at the Council Bluffs conference repeatedly spoke of being in a true spiritual war, merging decisions about political victory and Christian revival.
The “favor of the Lord” rests on Trump, a preacher told Dutch Sheets. “America will be saved, and I believe this election is part of that.”
His brother and fellow preacher Tim Sheets said he saw a vision of a warrior angel firing an arrow that landed in front of the White House, claiming the territory for God.
“We must go to battle for the Lord,” he said. “Beating the drums of spiritual war.”
Preachers repeatedly condemned abortion – one described it as a bloodshed desired by demons – and the “mutilation” of children as representing gender-affirming treatment of transgender youth.
The arena appeared to be a little more than half full with thousands of attendees from multiple states. Many wore T-shirts with slogans such as “Defender of the Territory” and “We the People Trust Jesus,” while some wrapped themselves in American flag fleece blankets in the chilly air conditioning.
Attendees at the Council Bluffs conference, largely but not exclusively white, joined the larger evangelical Christian support for Trump.
According to AP VoteCast, about 8 in 10 white evangelicals supported Trump in 2020. Pew Research Center’s validated voter survey found similar levels of support in 2016.
This year, about seven in 10 white evangelical Protestants view the Republican candidate favorably, an AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found.
Behind this supermajority is a diverse evangelicalism. The charismatic exuberance and focus on the supernatural contrast in tone with the relatively reserved approach of groups like the Southern Baptists, although they are united in their political conservatism and opposition to abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.
And the charismatic movement has its own diversity. This highly politicized branch teaches that in state-of-the-art times God has restored the historic biblical roles of the apostle – an authoritative leader – and the prophet, someone who issues divine proclamations.
The movement is not a denomination. Churches and ministries operate largely independently of each other, although their leaders speak at each other’s conferences, endorse each other’s books, and appear on each other’s programs.
An example of the overlap: At the Opening the Heavens conference in Council Bluffs, there was a segment called FlashPoint Live – a personal version of a television show that mixed charismatic Christianity and conservative politics. It’s one of several such FlashPoint Live conferences this year, moderated by Pastor Gene Bailey – whose recent interview with Trump showed the close ties between the movement and the former president.
The ReAwaken America tour, created by Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, has similarly mixed the political with revival-like rallies and featured members of Trump’s family.
During Trump’s time in office, a number of evangelicals served as denominational advisers, but charismatic leaders stood out.
The Apostles and Prophets movement overlaps with two related, popular ideas: Dominionism, which holds that Christians should take responsibility for society, and the “Seven Mountains Mandate,” which identifies seven areas in which Christians should take the lead – politics, religion, media, business, family, education and arts and entertainment.
Bailey led the promulgation of the Watchman decree in Council Bluffs, which included a pledge to “permanently control positions of influence and leadership in each of the seven mountains.”
Bailey and Kunneman declined interview requests through a media representative.
Taylor said that according to this branch of charismatic theology, Holy Spirit-filled Christians have the power not only to ask God for results but to bring them into being.
“It’s not just about bubbling or saying prayers,” he said. “They believe that with these Watchman decrees they are changing reality.”
He added: “It looks wild when you come across it, but it is very popular and very dangerous.”
Separate from the Council Bluffs conference organizers but with an overlapping speaker lineup is the Courage Tour. It is led by Lance Wallnau, who popularized the Seven Mountain concept and was one of the first supporters of Trump’s candidacy in 2016.
The tour took place in crucial battleground states and mixed religious services, prayers for miraculous healings and open politics – including a call for Christians to become poll workers or poll watchers to “fight the fraud” in swing states.
Taylor said this appears to be laying the groundwork for a campaign to delegitimize the 2024 election results if Harris wins.
While the movement’s leaders talk about spiritual warfare — that is, angel versus demon rather than man versus man — Taylor said such rhetoric can lead some people to take matters into their own hands.
He said it was no surprise that some rioters at the Capitol in 2021 prayed loudly and displayed Christian symbols.
“I’m really worried that there could be a lot more political violence,” he said.
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