A few days ago, pastor and MAGA supporter, Donna Rigney was a guest on a Christian podcast, ElijahStreams. She pronounced on the podcast that a portal had opened over the White House and over Mar-a-Lago. These portals are the conduit, according to Rigney, for Trump “to get intel from the Holy Spirit.” Luckily for the nation, she also claims this portal will stay open for presidents after Trump’s term ends, well, if they are serving God. While this statement is somewhat salacious and perhaps mockable, there is something much deeper here that needs to be put into context. ElijahStreams promotes itself as a conduit to connecting believers globally, with “prophetic voices, revival messages, and transformative teachings for such a time as this.” They claim to “broadcast the uncompromised Word of God, featuring renowned prophets, teachers, and revivalists who carry fresh revelation for the body of Christ.” They are a missionary organization that wants to “see heaven invade earth through the power of prophetic declaration and to witness the greatest harvest of souls the world has ever seen.” So, one would think that their guests would be focused on the souls of the world, through religious leaders.
Yet, when one looks through the list of guests on the podcast, there are many non-religious leader voices. We find politicians, conspiracy theorists, and what they term as “patriots.” This is important, because under the salacious of conspiracy theories, the bits involving portals, lizard people, and backroom theories, we find the articulations of injustice (real or perceived), anger, distrust, and complete fear. Conspiracy theories provide believers with a sense of control over all the chaos, and the things believers fear. If you know why something is happening and who is behind it, because nothing happens due to coincidence, then you know both what to expect and how to fight against it. When you converge religion into these conspiracy theories you can justify your actions, your potential violence, policies that may harm who you believe are “evil” all because you are on the side of the eternal. This conspiracy convergence intersects religion, radical politics, the occult, and conspiracy theories that provide a worldview and the impetus/validation for fighting back. When news articles come out that focus on the ridiculous I always dig deeper (ok, full disclosure I may have a giggle or two first), to find where the convergences are happening. For decades we have dismissed conspiracy theorists (and some Christian nationalists) and that has been to our own political demise.
The guest list for Elijahstreams is the epitome of conspiracy convergence. Primarily their guests are “Prophets” from the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). New Apostolic Reformation “prophets” have focused heavily on the role of Trump as God’s “chosen one.” NAR is a movement of Christians who believe they are living in an age of new apostles and prophets, who receive revelations from God. The prophetic success is through rolling prophecy, that are small prophecies made consistently that can be interpreted as success. Those prophecies which do not come true are simply swept under the carpet. There is a belief that Jesus is returning any minute and that they have to exert dominion over the world. NAR argues that their enemies in this earthly realm are working on the behalf of the devil. Within the spiritual realm a battle is happening where angels and demons battle, and this battle is then articulated in our world through earthly politics. If you want to know about NAR, then I highly recommend you read/watch material from Dr. André Gagné who is an expert in this movement.
The most famous of NAR prophets, in my opinion, is Lance Wallnau. He has authored numerous books in support of Trump as God’s candidate, but his most influential book is the Seven Mountain Mandate. This is a revisioning of dominionism, which is the belief that Christian need to infiltrate and take over the institutions of society (media, politics, academia, etc). Basically this is a Christian nationalist form of a metapolitical movement. This is the infiltration of political parties, public administration, universities, and media. Here the emphasis is on the use of cultural power over policy making. This is not just a political movement, but shaping and creating an ideology for society. Trump is the conduit to this. Trump is as Lance Wallnau described is a Cyrus figure, whose actions will bring the return of Christ. Wallnau also “correctly” prophesized the election of Trump, after having read chapter 45 of the Book of Isaiah and was told Trump is the modern day, Cyrus. In 2019, Wallnau and disgraced preacher Jim Bakker, began selling a Trump/Cyrus coin that they claim is a point of contact between God and the holder as they pray for Trump in the 2020 election. Wallnau explains that God told him this information, and as the person prays they should remember “God put something in your hand that you have a role in.” The gold plated coin sold for 45.00. Wallnau has visited the White House numerous times and provided a private briefing to Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner on his Middle East peace plan.
At a Day of Prayer dinner at the White House during Trump’s first term, Wallnau posted a video of himself attending to his YouTube channel. At one point he speaks about himself as being Mordecai from the Bible. He states this is a Mordecai moment for him, then explains that Mordecai was the person who saved the king but did not get invited to the party for two years. “Not that I have bitterness and resentment and forgiveness. I do what I do for the love of the cause not for the celebrity status.” His own video contradicts this statement, as he records the room and drops names of well-known religious leaders. At one point a person wearing a turban is seen at one of the tables, and Wallnau states he does not know that person, and they “can’t be as important as me.”
Wallnau and many other NAR Prophets have been guests on the Elijahstreams podcast, including another important prophet Ché Ahn. Ahn is a Korean American pastor in California, who also established the Harvest International Ministry in 1996. This is an apostolic network that connects more than 25,000 churches and ministries across more than 60 countries. From the Bethel School, also in California guests have included Abi Stumvoll, Bill Johnson, Danny Silk, and Cal Pierce. There are too many prophets on their guest list to name, but almost every one listed as a prophet is from NAR. A few stood out though, like Andrew Whalen from Vanquish Ministries. He leads a community of Prophetic Warriors who are “spiritual special forces.” Barry Wunsch has been on the podcast 57 times. He is a NAR prophet from Alberta, Canada. He also refers to himself as The Canadian Hammer.
The concept of “warriors” becomes an important trope in the guests on the podcast. For example Amanda Hastings (a guest 9 times) and her husband Major Henry Hastings (11 times on the podcast) operate Shoot, Move, Communicate (SMCTribe). SMC is a modern day minutemen organization to “restore biblical masculinity to the church.” The Minutemen were civilian militias during the Revolutionary War and have continued to be the moniker for many militia groups since. SMC exists to “raise up valiant men in the spirit of King David’s might warriors.” It began as a three-day tactical shooting training event, and is now a virtual community and academy. Based on the levels of involvement it is a militia for God, including a punisher logo for their SMC Tribe Courses. The punisher logo has long been associated with extremism, militias, and police brutality. The SMC also has a podcast that “blends tactical wisdom, spiritual equipping, and interpretation of current events.” Here we are seeing the convergence begin to take shape with religious validation for taking over the institutions of society, and now a militia movement of God’s warriors.
This violence and potential criminality also is supported by other guests to the podcast including Jake Lang. Lang, who was a participant in the insurrection on January 6th and served four years in prison for it. He was pardoned by Trump. He then ran in Florida in 2026 for the senate special election. His criminal activities were not finished though, he was charged with threatening a Capitol police officer at the fifth anniversary of January 6th events. He is currently facing a felony for defacing an anti-ICE sculpture in Minnesota, and then last month he was arrested in Texas for making a terroristic threat. Lang was not the only Jan. 6 person who has been on the podcast, Nick Alvear has also been on the show. He is best known as the “Capitol Rotunda Doobie Smoker” I guess God is ok with weed, and as a Canadian I have to spread this gospel.
Conspiracy theories are also a hallmark of the Elijahstreams podcast. Bryan Ardis has been on eight times. He is a well-known chiropractor and alternative health proponent, who was outspoken about the “hoax of COVID19” and promotes nicotine as a remedy. Although honestly my favourite conspiracy associated with him, was his belief that vaccines were linked to snake venom. The venom was also put into water supplies to poison us, thus his reference to calling the venom conspiracy “Watch the Water.” The main conspiracies that are promoted on the podcast are QAnon based and 2020 election denial/rigged election. QAnon influencer SG Anon has also been a guest for the podcast.
Catherine Engelbrecht, who is listed as a Patriot on the guest list, is one of the founders of True The Vote and King Street Patriots (Tea Party organization). True the Vote made claims that there were ballot stuffing incidents in the 2020 presidential election in Atlanta. Both Engelbrecht and former True the Vote board member Gregg Phillips were jailed for contempt of court, for not revealing sources that told them there were inaccuracies with Konnech technologies. Guest Dave Bryan spoke in defense of Tina Peters at her trial. Peters a former county clerk and recorder was sentenced to nine years in prison for her role in the breaching of her county’s elections system in 2021. In June of this year, she was released from prison after the Colorado Governor Jared Polis (Dem) commuted her sentence. Jerome Corsi, a well-known conspiracy theorist, especially linked to President Obama “birther” conspiracies has been a guest on the podcast as well. He recently discussed his support of Trump to take control of the midterm elections, to ensure they are not rigged like 2020, so he too is an election denier. Lara Logan was a former CBS News correspondent, but now appears on far-right podcasts, including Elijahstreams, spreading conspiracy theories about COVID19 and election denial. She also was the narrator for Mike Lindell’s election fraud film Selection Code. Lindell himself has been on the podcast as well.
Lindell is not the only ‘famous’ person to be on the podcast, Jim Caviezel, who was the lead in the QAnon film, Sound of Freedom, Juan O Savin a QAnon influencer (1-0-7 representing the 17th letter of the alphabet: Q), Kevin Sorbo, Roger Stone, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Dr. Ben Carson, and General Mike Flynn (5 times). Clay Clark has been on 24 times, listed as a patriot, of course. Clark emceed and hosted General Michael Flyyn’s ReAwaken America Tour and is the host of his own podcast Thrivetime.
In the Reawaken America tour picture we see the very same conspiracy convergence that Elijahstreams promotes. In the image we see some political figures, and this podcast has theirs as well. Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Kash Patel has been a guest 8 times. Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law and aspiring singing sensation Lara Trump has also been a guest. Outside of the luminaries we also see “characters” on the podcast guestlist as well. Preacher David Herzog has been on 19 times. His promoted miracles include instant weight loss, the appearance of gold teeth, and healing of baldness. He also fundraises in travelling healing miracle tours for his ministry in Arizona.
Derek Johnson listed as a Patriot has been on 13 times. Johnson is a veteran who is now a country singer. He has a merchandise site, rattletrap 1776, that sells his children’s book. He also is very active on Telegram, where he denigrates Democrats and left, even going so far as stating that all democrats should be deported. His comment was because Trump’s plane that was gifted to him, was decommissioned, so Johnson attacked democrats for it. The channel also has anti-Transgender posts, attacks on Hillary Clinton, attacks on the gender of Michelle Obama, QAnon theories, and stolen election conspiracies. He also provides links to his conspiracy theories for the Elijahstreams audience.
What started as an new piece focused on the pronouncement of one NAR Prophet, has revealed the power of these alternative/Christian media sites. Elijahstreams claims they have 850,000 monthly views and 125,000 active subscribers. Their audience are not just receiving the word of God and prophetic souls, they are having current events, politics, and conspiracy theories fed to them. The impact of this convergence can be seen, and sadly felt, globally as far-right Christian populism gains momentum, and in some place control. We can’t simply stop at the giggle with the salaciousness of conspiracy theories, we must dig deeper to understand the impact, politically, ideologically, and on society/democracy. We can’t mend what we mock and dismiss.