A spiritual battle is breaking out among former President Donald Trump’s closest evangelical allies as self-declared “prophets” have begun pointing the finger at each other, declaring the other a "false prophet."
The drama began unfolding on the televangelist political program "FlashPoint."
"FlashPoint" was launched heading into the 2020 election for the purpose of mobilizing right-wing Christians to support Trump and Republican candidates running for office. Airing on Kenneth Copeland’s Victory Channel network, the program from the beginning regularly featured host Gene Bailey with Christian nationalist Lance Wallnau, pastor Hank Kunneman, and evangelist Mario Murillo serving as commentators. Wallnau, Kunneman, and Murillo are all active within the modern-day Charismatic prophetic movement and used their positions as spiritual leaders to support Trump.
In the wake of Trump's loss, "FlashPoint" relentlessly pushed the big lie that the election had been stolen from Trump and Kunneman and Murillo regularly used their appearances on the program to insist that Christians would never accept the result, declaring that accepting Joe Biden as president was a sign of disloyalty to God.
Once Trump left office, "FlashPoint" became a regular part of the Victory Channel's lineup, airing twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, frequently with Kunneman and Murillo as guests. But earlier this year, Murillo announced that he would no longer appear on the program with Kunneman because of Kunneman's ties to "false prophets" Kat Kerr and Robin Bullock.
Kerr and Bullock, like Murillo and Kunneman, are self-proclaimed "prophets" who ardently supported Trump in the 2020 election and refused to accept that he lost. But Murillo has lately grown alarmed by some of the wild things preached by Kerr and Bullock, particularly their insistence that they have been to Heaven on multiple occasions and witnessed everything from dinosaurs to parks made of Jell-O.
While Murillo does not have any ties to Kerr and Bullock, Kunneman has a very close relationship with both of them and has had them preach at his church in Omaha, Nebraska, on several occasions. Murillo claims that he personally reached out to Kunneman multiple times, urging him to disassociate himself from Kerr and Bullock, which Kunneman has refused to do. As such, Murillo now insists that he has no choice but to stop appearing on "FlashPoint" with Kunneman because Kunneman's association with Kerr and Bullock is dangerous and damaging to the church.
But it hasn’t stopped there.
In recent weeks, Murillo has made multiple appearances on conservative Christian platforms, spreading his warnings about Kerr and Bullock on programs aimed at the sorts of Charismatic Pentecostal viewers who might be taken in by the likes of Kerr and Bullock.
On Friday, Murillo appeared on "The Strang Report," a podcast hosted by Stephen Strang, the founder of Charisma Media, a Charismatic Pentecostal multimedia publishing company that produces books, podcasts, and the flagship "Charisma" magazine. Strang, like Murillo, Kerr, Bullock, and so many others in the modern-day prophetic movement, was deeply committed to Trump and heavily invested in his reelection.
During their discussion, Murillo and Strang agreed that Kerr and Bullock are preaching heresy and represent a serious threat to the body of Christ, with Strang going so far as to say that the claims made by Kerr and Bullock "almost borders on mental illness."
"This is ridiculous," Strang said. "In fact, it almost borders on mental illness as far as I'm concerned. And some of these things, by themselves, disqualify, by themselves. I mean, why discuss it? And the fact is that they use superstition—you know, to say that God is going to judge if you don't believe them, that is some kind of superstition. They're trying to make people afraid God's gonna zap them. They should be afraid that God's gonna zap them. When you say, 'Thus saith the Lord' and you're speaking as a false prophet, they're gonna have to stand in front of God. And I believe actually, long before then, these ministries are going to tumble. People need to be warned. People need to avoid these people. People need to quit giving them money, watching them on YouTube unless you're wanting a few laughs. The body of Christ, as we call it—the church, which has many forms—needs to get a life and to see what's going on."
This attack by Strang represents a serious escalation in what has so far been a largely one-sided battle waged by Murillo and those aligned with him against Kerr and Bullock, who have largely remained silent in the face of these criticisms. Amid the growing controversy, Kerr and Bullock have continued to make their regular appearances on the "Elijah Streams" program, produced by the Elijah List, which, like Charisma, targets those in the modern-day prophetic and Charismatic Pentecostal movement.
Interestingly, Lance Wallnau, who joined Murillo and Kunneman as one of the original "FlashPoint" commentators, continues to appear on the program with Kunneman while also maintaining close ties to Murillo, with whom he'll be hosting a "Fire and Glory" event in Florida next month. Last week, Wallnau even featured Murillo on his own podcast for two episodes, providing Murillo with another platform to express his concerns about Kerr and Bullock and Kunneman's association with them.
With Trump struggling to recapture the support of evangelical voters as he bids to return to the White House, the prospect of a spiritual and theological fight breaking out between those who were previously among his most ardently devoted followers cannot be a good sign for the former president. More broadly, what started out as an attack by one leader—Murillo—on other leaders—Kunneman, Kerr, and Bullock—has already shown signs of widening as other prominent figures in the movement weigh in and begin to choose sides. If this smoldering controversy continues to spread, it could burst into a significant conflagration within the larger Charismatic spiritual and political communities.
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