Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance, left, and former President Donald Trump bow in prayer during the last day of the 2024 Republican National Convention on July 18. (Kamil Krzaczynski - AFP / Getty Images)
The Wall Street Journal took an apparent mocking tone in a front-page story it published about popular Christian speaker Lance Wallnau and his fellow believers who are supporting Donald Trump’s candidacy.
The article was titled, “The Evangelicals Calling for ‘Spiritual Warfare’ to Elect Trump.”
Wallnau posted it Thursday on social media platform X with the caption, “Oh Boy. Front page of Wall Street Journal. Lincoln said: ‘I feel like the man who was tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. To the man who asked him how he liked it, he said: ‘If it wasn’t for the honor of the thing, I’d rather walk.’”
In other words, it’s nice to be honored with a front-page story, but not in this way.
Even the picture the paper chose, making him small in the framing, sent a message about how Wallnau should be viewed.
Oh Boy. Front page of Wall Street Journal. Lincoln said: “I feel like the man who was tarred and feathered and ridden out of town on a rail. To the man who asked him how he liked it, he said: ‘If it wasn’t for the honor of the thing, I’d rather walk.’”https://t.co/Gc5IeidnhM
— Lance Wallnau (@lancewallnau) October 11, 2024
The Christian leader has been traveling the country as part of the “Courage Tour,” conducting tent meetings in swing states, along with evangelist Mario Murillo, exhorting Christians to vote and be engaged in the political life of the nation.
During the 2016 election cycle, when most other evangelical leaders were backing GOP presidential primary candidates like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas or Dr. Ben Carson, Wallnau said he saw God’s hand on Trump and became an early supporter.
Is a spiritual war taking place in America?
He likened the New York businessman to the ancient Persian King Cyrus.
In the Old Testament book of Isaiah, chapter 45, the prophet wrote decades before about the rise of a leader named Cyrus, a Gentile who would free the Jewish people from their Babylonian captivity around 538 B.C.
Wallnau believed that Trump, though not an evangelical, would be a great defender of religious liberty and supporter of Christians in the public square.
The Journal chronicled much of this in its story, but put it in a belittling light.
“Wallnau understands politics as a battle between the forces of good and evil, and his preaching is often infused with an apocalyptic urgency,” the outlet reported.
“Wallnau has said that ‘powers of darkness’ are influencing the presidential election and has called Vice President Kamala Harris a ‘Jezebel spirit,’ suggesting she has literally been influenced by demons. Wallnau and other leaders in the New Apostolic Reformation often call for ‘spiritual warfare’ to defeat political opponents they describe as influenced by demonic forces,” the Journal added.
“Wallnau said he understands that most people would find talk of demons to be bizarre, saying, ‘there’s no territory that’s more calculated to make us sound crazy.’ But he said the reality of disembodied spirits is well-rooted in Christian theology,” the outlet stated.
The Journal’s word choice of “disembodied spirits” suggests to the paper’s readers, “Are you really going to believe this craziness?”
The Bible does record, from Genesis to Revelation, that there is an ongoing spiritual battle taking place.
Satan, the serpent, first shows up in Genesis 3, precipitating the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, and later in the book of Job, then in ancient Israel, seeking to bring down the nation, and throughout the New Testament, opposing Jesus Christ’s ministry.
And the book of Acts tells us that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”
And in the final end-times battle, Revelation says that Jesus will defeat the Antichrist’s forces, led by Satan, and he will ultimately cast him into a lake of fire.
So Wallnau is very much in the mainstream of Christian thought to say there is an ongoing spiritual battle, and that certainly appears to be manifesting in the elections in America with issues like protecting life and the traditional family dividing people into two distinct sides.
Wallnau argued on the Christian commentary show “Flashpoint” Thursday the fact that the Journal, CBS News, The Washington Post and other outlets are writing these derogatory stories is an indication believers are right over the target in the spiritual fight.
“There’s no part of America, [Christians] aren’t what they call [engaged in] ‘spiritual warfare’ to restore back in alignment with God. That’s the attack,” from the media, Wallnau said.
See Wallnau’s comments starting at 17:45 below.
“I’m just telling you, that’s what the enemy’s hearing and I think they’re actually speaking to us what God is doing,” he said.
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