It was a pretty busy weekend for our respective binary choice tickets. The big guns effectively chose their personal comfort zones. 
Madame Vice President stayed close to home and managed to coax $28 million more out of an entertainment industry that continues to fire staffers, move productions out of her home city, state and country and appears incapable of producing an original breakout success. Fat Orange Jesus chose to spend the afternoon calling her “mentally impaired” at a sparsely attended rally in Michigan and then quickly flew to a more inviting environment in Tuscaloosa, Alabama to catch what turned out to be a darn good college football game. If he was merely looking for football, he could have saved on Trump Force One’s fuel bill and gone to Ann Arbor to catch the defending national champion Wolverines, but, nope, Tim Walz, whose Minnesota Golden Gophers were the opposition, filled that niche. It was likely not his best day; his team lost 27-24 and he was mercilessly booed by a large portion of the crowd.
Well, he was venturing into enemy territory at least football-wise. And Walz still demonstrated more courage than did his opponent, ironic considering where he chose to spend part of his weekend. As the OHIO CAPITAL JOURNAL’s Peter Hall reported early this morning:
Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance attended a Christian revival on Saturday near Pittsburgh headlined by self-described prophet and apostle Lance Wallnau, who is a “rockstar” in the religious movement that aims to secure dominion over American society.
Wallnau’s “Courage Tour” is billed as a “celebration of Jesus Christ’s courage and triumph,” but, with stops in seven key swing states, its goal is to tap the voting power of suburban Christians to reelect former President Donald Trump.
Yes, we’ve told you about Wallnau at least once before. At the time, I actually used him as an example of effective communication that the Democratic party was unwilling to acknowledge or embrace. Here’s what we mused last November:
I’ve written about a particular podcaster I listen to named Lance Wallnau, who participated in and regularly features as guests many of the folks that spoke in North Las Vegas. To listen to his self-effacing description of his roots as an Ashkenazi Jew, morphing into a poor imitation of Jackie Mason when he describes his strong pro-Israel feelings, his ridiculous endorsements of Mike Lindell’s pathetic slippers and coffee, his foolhardy recommendations for his followers to turn their IRAs into precious metal investments because, as the Bible reminds,”the silver is mine and the gold is mine” and his relentless pushing of four-week supplies of carb and calorie-laden dry foods for families to enjoy just in case of a deep freeze or nuclear holocaust, all the while making glaringly incorrect references to even Biblical chapters he cites in his preaching can give some comfort to those who fear that Christian nationalism is being led by anyone who is actually intellectual.
Then again, the man who he continues to assert is a modern-day Cyrus who he prophecized would be our leader is indeed leading those polls. And this week Wallnau is over the moon with glee, literally shrieking his joy at the prospect even he wasn’t willing to assume was a given. “TRUMP!!!!!!!” , he maniacally and triumphantly shouts.
He was more obscure then than he is now, especially after he was a focus of the documentary GOD AND COUNTRY that was released in Februarywhich Rob Reiner executive produced, and has been fortified with alliances even closer to his prophesized vision of leadership and annointing. And he’s caught the attention of THE INTELLIGENCER’s Ed Kilgore:
Lance Wallnau is a scary dude. A self-styled charismatic Pentecostal “prophet,” social-media wizard, and political activist, he’s the principal popularizer of the Seven Mountain Mandate, a doctrine that conservative Christians are literally called by God to impose their views in all seven spheres of influence in society (education, religion, family, business, government and military, arts and entertainment, and media).
Vance’s decision to join this traveling circus of prophesy and conspiracy-mongering shows how deeply the Trump campaign is committed to tending its MAGA base as the key to winning battleground states. It’s as though Tim Walz had suddenly agreed to appear with a prominent Antifa leader. It’s one thing for Trump and Vance to distort Kamala Harris’s record in order to accuse her of being a Marxist or even a communist. But Lance Wallnau has deployed a different kind of abuse toward Trump’s opponent. Harris is a devil woman straight out of a biblical nightmare, as (SLATE’s Molly) Olmstead observes:
“She represents an amalgam of the spirit of Jezebel in a way that will be even more ominous than Hillary because she’ll bring a racial component, and she’s younger,” Wallnau said in a video about Harris. In another, he said that she appeared presidential only because of “witchcraft.” Murillo appeared on Wallnau’s podcast to discuss the “demonic power” at work in the new Democratic nomination. “That’s why God spared Trump’s life, for such a time as this,” Murillo said .
And he also caught the attention of Judd Legum and Noel Sims in their JUDD AT POPULAR INFORMATION newsletter that also dropped this morning:
In a September 19 appearance on “FlashPoint,” Wallnau said that he was shown by God that “Kamala Harris was the one the devil was going to use to push through the White House.” According to Wallnau, he had a “vision from the Lord” that a Harris presidency is “how the devil intends to bring in the destruction of this country.” Wallnau said the Courage Tour, with stops in key swing states, is an effort by God to stop Harris and the devil.
At the conference, Wallnau described himself as a “Christian patriot,” not a “Christian nationalist,” because the latter term was “contrived by the left to create a negative brand image.” But, during the conference, Wallnau used “Christian nationalism” and “Christian patriotism” interchangeably. “Yes, I am a Christian nationalist,” Wallnau said in a 2021 Facebook video, “I will take the flag that God gave us with his blessed freedom and blessed government and blessed nation. And I will take that flag and lead them to the cross.”
The Courage Tour is how Wallnau is executing this strategy. In a presentation shortly before Vance’s town hall, Wallnau suggested America was faced with a choice between anarchy, a Satanic agenda channeled through Democrats, and embracing Christianity under Trump’s leadership. This was a theme throughout the weekend. On Friday, right-wing author and media personality Bill Federer said “the left” was pursuing a “satanist theocracy.” 
Right after Vance’s appearance, there was a presentation detailing how Christians who believe Trump’s lies about election fraud can become paid election workers “in 4 easy steps.” 
Joshua Standifer, founder of the Lion of Judah, said that participants can “monitor polling stations for suspicious activity,” and when “they kick all the volunteers out, you can be on the inside making a difference.” Standifer described this as a “Trojan Horse” strategy.
Legum and Sims also more accurately defined Wallnau than many others have:
During the Courage Tour, Wallnau and other speakers use many terms to describe themselves and their religious movement: “evangelical,” “pentecostal,” “charismatic,” “revivalist,” “prophetic.” One term that is never used is “New Apostolic Reformation” (NAR).
According to Matthew D. Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies and an expert on the NAR, the movement was founded by C. Peter Wagner, an evangelical teacher and pastor, in the 1990s. Importantly, the NAR is not a denomination and does not have the formal organization and hierarchy…Wallnau is one of the most important figures in the NAR and was instrumental in forging the political aspect of its theology. It wasn’t until C. Peter Wagner met Lance Wallnau in 2001 that the movement began to turn its focus to the world outside the church.
At the Pennsylvania Courage Tour event, Wallnau insisted that the seven mountains mandate is only about influence in each sphere, not about control. According to Wallnau, the media only calls him a “dominionist” to discredit him. But in Invading Babylon: The 7 Mountain Mandate, a book Wallnau published in 2013 with other NAR thinkers, he described the mandate in terms of a spiritual battle with existential consequences for Christians. He wrote, “It will require nothing less than the government of God to dispossess and occupy the territory dominated by the gates of hell.”
This sure sounds like a comfort zone for the likes of a senator who has essentially dismissed the testimonies of hundreds of his own constituents about the validity of the absure claims of the dietary habits of legal residents of Springfield, Ohio for the sake of “advancing a needed conversation”.
Since we last addressed Wallnau, it would appear he’s put on a few pounds and aged somewhat. Maybe he might just need the latest snake oil remedy he’s been hocking with Vance as an allure, another point of fact Legum and Sims pointed out:
Over the weekend, the Courage Tour was selling a much more expensive product: stem cell therapy. Although stem cell therapy can be a legitimate treatment, it was repeatedly promoted at the Courage Tour as a near-instantaneous solution for many ailments. Wallnau has lauded stem cell therapy by Level 10 Matrix as “the ultimate fountain of youth” and is the author of an ebook promoting the company.
Pastor Shirley Mitchell Williams was repeatedly featured on the Courage Tour stage to promote the company. “This is an opportunity where we are seeing the natural and the supernatural converge,” Williams told the audience on Saturday afternoon. She went on to describe several people being miraculously healed, including one man who was cured of hearing loss by the time he got home from the clinic. (According to the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, stem cell treatment for hearing loss can take between 90 days and two years to take effect.)
Was there any scientific basis for Williams’ claims? She said not to worry about it and to reject medical diagnoses entirely. “Mind you, this is not to ‘treat’ or ‘cure’ any ‘disease,’” Williams said. “Do you know that you’re not your diagnosis? Hallelujah…. And if somebody tries to come and tell you you’ve got something, just reject it.”
According to Williams, each treatment costs $3,500 to $6,500 and “could be what you have been praying for.” For some treatments, Level 10 Matrix recommends more than one session. Wallnau’s role with Level 10 Matrix is unclear and the company has a minimal online footprint.
Well, Judd and Noel, let me clear it up for you. I still listen to his ranting, rambling podcasts, these days mostly because much like a Trump rally they help my insomnia in ways most others do not. And nary one goes by where there’s not a blurb for his Level 10 Matrix, which of course is merely a gateway to getting one to cough up way more than a tithing for something that’s anything but proven.
Much like most of what comes out of J.D. Vance’s mouth these days.
Since apparently Walz didn’t spend quite as much time preparing for his debate as his running mate did for hers earlier this month–you know, that football thing–may I humbly suggest that he casually ask his opponent where he was over the weekend, why he was there and what did he hope would come out of it?
Maybe give a few examples of what was shared just this morning by reporters on the scene? Or perhaps play a clip of the screeching, scarily zealotic wails coming from Pastor Shirley, as she’s known, and her disciples that served as a soundtrack for much of this past weekend’s extended podcast drop that actually woke me out of the slumber Wallnau’s shtick had brought about minutes before?
At the very least, it might leave Vance tongue-tied, something that usually happens to him in donut shops. Perhaps it might have the same kind of impact that Lloyd Bentsen delivered at the last vice presidential candidate with the level of experience and youth that Vance offers–that master of spelling and child-rearing, Dan Quayle.
Given how close things are with roughly a month to go before Decision Day, it’s high time that some Democrat took the time to actually point out the sheer lunacy in minds beyond the Republican nominee, and the fact that there are folks gullible enough to see someone like Wallnau as credible. Walz has arguably been far too nice and quiet so far. It’s time for him to step up and be as confrontational and adversarial as his opponent, because he can’t necessarily count on the level of histrionics and distraction that Fat Orange Jesus demonstrated. And if somehow Vance does echo his running mate’s degree of thin-skinnedness, so much the better.
That, believe me, would be far more exemplary of “courage” than anything anyone did in Allegheny County this past weekend.
Until next time…