Christian Right Observer Weekly (Volume 10)

CROW's 7 stories on the Christian Right that you need read this week.

1. We’re Christian Internationalists: Apostle Jim Garlow Visits Bolivia Members of Congress

“I'm disappointed they didn't call us Christian Internationalists,” New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle Jim Garlow said at a November 2023 Mar a Lago America First Policy Institute event. Garlow’s Well Versed World Ministry is indeed Christian Internationalism as he travels globally to bring forth Biblical Governance in nations with his most recent appearance in Bolivia. He spoke with Members of Congress and gave them copies of his book Well Versed while reflecting on his previous visit with former Bolivian President Jeanine Anez.

His March 2024 stop, however, focused on the future of Bolivia speaking on "The Manipulation of Public Opinion” at the Congreso International De Politica (International Political Congress) in Santa Cruz. Bolivian media touted Garlow as a former Trump advisor who would be part of the political communication and electoral campaign training conference. Garlow spoke alongside Global Transformation Network Director for Latin America Maria Squillaci.

Squillaci recently prayed at Garlow’s Washington DC National Day of Prayer and Repentance event as a Bolivia representative and joined him at the exclusive Capitol Hill Press Club preevent with members of Congress and Family Research Council Tony Perkins. Squillaci is officially listed on Garlow's website as the Well Versed South America representative. 

With Squillaci working for two Apostolic leaders in South America, what does that look like in the field? She teaches her audiences to disciple nations and have a good government which is the Government of God. In 2023 in Brazil, she emphasized reforming nations to God. And she is an expert on people running for office based on Biblical principles having written a manual on Winning the Election Battle. We must remember that 2024 is what the New Apostolic Reformation calls the Year of Elections internationally.

2. Twelve Apostles, Two PACS, Four ‘You First’ Candidates: Influencing Elections in California and Beyond

“We're gonna rule & reign through President Trump & under the lordship of Jesus Christ,” New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) Apostle Che Ahn on January 5, 2021

Trump is not the only political candidate Christian Dominionist Ahn wants to rule through. He has launched two PACs: Revive California and America Upheld.

“We will provide you finances but also consultations for you to win elections. We want to put as many believers in office with a Biblical Worldview” Ahn told NAR Apostle Jenny Donnelly's Her Voice Movement conference Portland audience.

And Ahn is one step closer to putting believers in office with his Harvest International Ministries (HIM) network of churches, 65,000 churches with 162 in California, fueling seven candidates from the 2024 primary to general election. Several of these candidates will speak at HIMs Global Summit Government Panel in April including Ahn's spiritual daughter Elizabeth Wong Ahlers (CA State Senate), Walnut Mayor Eric Ching (US Congress), and Michelle Martinez (CA State Assembly). 

Current CA State Senator Shannon Grove also appears due to her involvement as one of the 12 called by Che Ahn to the Revive California PAC Apostolic Council initiative. Groves's involvement with Ahn spans a decade garnering her an interview with him where she shared her experience on the government mountain. Both Grove and Ahn were spotlighted separately on NAR Apostle Jim Garlow's World Prayer network calls. Why? Because Garlow is also part of the Revive California PAC along with Ahn's account and marketplace Apostle Phil Liberatore, Bethel Church Pastor Bill Johnson, Revive California Executive Director & HIM VP Tony Kim, and Salt & Light Council Dran Reese.

These Revive California PAC Apostolic Council members held a Leadership Summit & Gala to highlight their candidates in September 2023 paying

Guest Speaker Arizona US Congress candidate Kari Lake $15,000. Lake is not the only big name this PAC has had at their events. The year prior in 2022 Revive California hosted North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson and 

Liberty Counsel Mat Staver for Mobilizing for the Midterms. And also in 2022 Ahn's You First candidates got to meet Eric Metaxas and be prayed over at Ahn's Harvest Rock Church.

Fast forward to 2024 and the You First candidates of State Assembly candidate Raul Ortiz State, Assembly candidate and You First president Michelle Martinez, State Assembly candidate Jessica Martinez, and Walnut Mayor US Congressional candidate and You First Founder Eric Ching are still rubbing shoulders with big names in January at Freedom Fest. You First signifies that the candidates put God first.

Perhaps the biggest networking opportunity happened for Ching at a Council for National Policy event this year thanks to a special invitation by Reese. 

After all, if Ahn, his Council and his candidates want to both “reform government” and “raise one million ekklesia,” they're going to need to take advantage of every single networking opportunity this year. As Ahn announced in a NAR New Jersey worship center last month, other Pastor believers are starting PACs. Will yours be next? 

Finally, Ahn has a backup plan for ruling and reigning nationally should Trump lose the election. He told US Missouri Senator Josh Hawley two years ago “We hope you run for President…We're behind you and would support you in any way.” 

ADDENDUM Ahn just officially commissioned Ahlers, Ching, Martinez and Grove as Government Mountain Apostles at the HIM 2024 Global Summit. Watch the ceremony here:

https://twitter.com/KiraResistance/status/1776216220070551600?t=eB9ii_OAPjtnsuEtGEf0Hg&s=19

3. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts Calls Himself an Abortion ‘Purist’; Wants ‘Not a Single Abortion Happening in This Country’

Heritage Foundation is the lead organizer of Project 2025, an expansive plan for controlling (and in some cases dismantling) federal agencies in the event that Trump or another Republican wins the presidential election this year. 

During an appearance on EWTN Life Weekly before the 2022 midterm election, Heritage President Kevin Roberts (aka the “Cowboy Catholic”) stated that he wants to end all abortion in America, i.e., without exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. 

Here are his exact words: 

“Both you and I and probably your entire audience … are purists, right? We look forward to the day, and it may be awhile, when no abortions happen in the United States. And I believe with every fiber in my being that it’s going to happen. *** But … that’s not going to happen in a year. And in fact we know that even on the political right in the United States there are differences of opinion about how we go about that. So I came up with this phrase a few years ago, ‘radical incrementalism,’ for those of us who are purists, to remind ourselves that we can always work towards the ideal, in this case, not a single abortion happening in this country, and yet take the progress that we can. So come January, when we’re likely to have a conservative pro-life majority at least in the House, let’s go get the bill done that we can and let’s keep building toward that over the next few years.”

After the midterm election, Roberts expressed the same view on his podcast.“We believe as Christians, as Roman Catholics, that no abortion can be morally justified,” he declared. 

This time, however, he acknowledged that this is “not a majority opinion” even in “conservative circles” and said that he was surprised when two pro-life candidates “purportedly” lost their U.S. Senate races in the 2022 mid-term election because they “adhered to that position.” 

To avoid similar losses in the 2024 election, Roberts revealed that Heritage and “some other pro-life organizations” had come up with savvy new “messaging” that “focuses on the mother” without actually changing their position to allow an exception to save the life of the mother. 

4. Leonard Leo’s Network Retaliates Against DC Attorney General Who is Investigating the Network’s Finances

Leonard Leo is an influential Catholic extremist and co-chair of the Federalist Society. He’s reportedly responsible for the confirmation of “hundreds of federal judges” and four Supreme Court justices (Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, and Neil Gorsuch). 

Earlier this year, Accountable.US reported that Leo’s network and the Koch network had contributed $55 million toward organizations advising Project 2025, a coalition of about 100 Christian Right organizations with a plan for the next Republican administration. The plan involves dismantling large swaths of the federal government and selecting who will preside over the remains. Project 2025 is spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation whose president, Kevin Roberts, is a Catholic extremist. 

A few years before the Accountable.US report, ProPublica and the New York Times had reported that Leo had received a $1.6 billion donation from a reclusive billionaire. 

Everything seems to be falling into place for Leo with one major hiccup: an investigation into his network’s finances by Washington DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb. The existence of this investigation was first reported by Politico journalist Heidi Przybyla in 2023. 

A few months ago, Przybyla followed up with an explosive report exposing the Christian Nationalist underbelly of Project 2025, prompting Project 2025 leaders and a far right Catholic bishop to launch a coordinated smear campaign against her. 

Undeterred, Przybyla has released a new report revealing that members of Leo’s network have mounted a “monthslong offensive” against Attorney General Schwalb in apparent retaliation for his investigation of the network’s finances.  

Read the full report here: What happens when an AG dares to investigate Leonard Leo’s network

5. The Wall Separating Church and State in Public Education Is Crumbling

Senior NBC News reporter Mike Hixenbaugh dropped a bombshell report about how “LifeWise Academy has made prayer part of the public school week in more than 300 schools across a dozen states.”

 

According to Hixenbaugh’s reporting “LifeWise Academy is permitted under a pair of little-known, decades-old U.S. Supreme Court rulings that allow for off-campus religious instruction during school hours.”

LifeWise just announced their first program in California. 

Read the full report here: Prayer, Bible lessons and a big red bus: How an Ohio group is bringing God to public school

6. PA State Rep Wants Chaplains in Public Schools

Pennsylvania State Rep. Dave Zimmerman introduced legislation this week that would allow public school districts to hire chaplains. The Lancaster lawmaker’s Student and Teacher Support Act wouldn’t mandate it and would local school board’s to make the decision. This underscore the importance of school board elections, and keeping Moms for Liberty and Christian extremists from power. 

This is a new movement which started after Texas passed a similar law in 2023.  

“Allowing public schools to establish paid or voluntary positions for chaplains will inevitably lead to evangelizing and religious coercion of students,” notes the ACLU. “This violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which, along with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, safeguards the constitutional right to religious liberty.”

Similar bills have been introduced in 13 other states: Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Utah.

“Schools should not be swapping mental health professionals for unlicensed outside adults,” said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. “Students are entitled to qualified help for mental health support or suicide prevention.”

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is one of the ACLU’s coalition partners, which includes more than 200 individual chaplains, 38 faith groups, and 34 civil rights organizations campaigning against this new Republican and right-wing Christian movement. 

“Houses of worship and families are best equipped to provide religious education and spiritual guidance for children and youth,” said Holly Hollman, general counsel and associate executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. “Efforts to put religious leaders in official roles in the public schools invade a realm of religious freedom that is properly protected by the separation of the institutions of church and state.

7. New Documentary to Watch! Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism’s Unholy War on Democracy

A new film to educate the public about the religious right’s decades-old crusade to transform the nation into a theocracy and the danger it poses – especially now with its alliance with Trump and his MAGA  movement – hits the screens. 

 “What ‘Bad Faith’ captures,” writes Variety Magazine’s Owen Gleiberman, “is that Christian Nationalists now have the potential to be the shock troops in a second and far more threatening Trump presidency.”

The film features Anne Nelson, author of “Shadow Network: Media, Money, & the Secret Hub of the Radical Right,” who will be speaking with filmmaker Steve Ujlaki at a screening in NYC’s Cinema Village. Here is a description of the film:

“The forces tearing apart our democracy have never been more frightening or powerful, but who is actually behind them? Bad Faith reveals how Christian Nationalist leaders have spread fear and anger for decades, distorting political issues into battles between good and evil, as they seek to upend the Constitution and impose their version of Biblical law on all Americans. Financed through the secretive Council for National Policy, the movement has succeeded in taking over the Republican Party, turning it into a powerful weapon to demolish democracy from within. Discover the origins of this organized grasp for power and the grassroots coalition of secular and interfaith leaders bravely confronting the unholy forces threatening our democracy.”