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Sen. Josh Hawley Joins MAGA Musician Sean Feucht’s Christian Nationalist Rally on the National Mall

Sen. Josh Hawley joined a pre-election Christian nationalist gathering on the National Mall; Donald Trump thanked its organizers. 

Photo from behind Sean Feucht and Josh Hawley with crowd in front of them and Washington monument behind the crowd.
Sean Feucht and Sen. Josh Hawley at Oct. 26, 2024 "One Nation Under God" rally on National Mall

Musician and Christian nationalist political activist Sean Feucht concluded his two-year tour of state capitals with a pre-election Oct. 26 rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., where he was joined by friend and fellow Christian nationalist Sen. Josh Hawley. Former President Donald Trump, who hopes right-wing Christian voter turnout efforts will put him back in power, posted a video congratulating Feucht for doing an “incredible job” and saying “God will never forget it and we will never forget it.”

Feucht’s rally came just two weeks after his mentor, New Apostolic Reformation dominionist Lou Engle, brought tens of thousands to the Mall for a spiritual warfare rally that featured NAR leader Che Ahn making an “apostolic decree” that Trump would win this year’s presidential election—a decree Ahn repeated this week on Elijah Streams, where he said Trump would “win and bring reformation” to the “government mountain.”

At one point in the day, Feucht mocked journalists for thinking that his gatherings were MAGA political rallies, claiming that they were really all about Jesus. But in reality, the “One Nation Under God” event featured a mix of high-energy worship and right-wing politics, following the model of other “Let Us Worship” events he began in protest of COVID-19-era restrictions on public gatherings, often with the participation of MAGA Republican officials.

On Oct.26, Feucht led repetitive singing of phrases such as “the government is resting on his shoulders,” and he declared that “every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess, that Jesus is Lord over the United States of America.”

Feucht introduced Hawley as one of the people working in the U.S. Capitol who have “an assignment like Daniel.” Hawley joined Feucht on stage shortly after the sun set behind the Washington Monument. “Isn’t it great to be in our nation’s capital and to proclaim that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus is king, that Jesus is in control?” Hawley began. What made America great, Hawley declared, was “the truth of the Bible on which this nation was founded.” What America needs more than anything else, Hawley, said, was a spiritual revival.

For New Apostolic Reformation dominionists like Feucht, spiritual revival is seen as a precursor to political “reformation”—the transformation of nations to bring laws and culture in alignment with dominionists’ “biblical worldview.”

“They’re telling us not to speak the name of Jesus in public,” Hawley shouted. “They’re telling us not to speak the name of Jesus in politics. They’re telling us not to speak the name of Jesus in our schools….We will not surrender the inheritance of this nation! We will stand on the foundations on which this nation was built! And we will rebuild the spiritual foundations of America!”

Noting that Feucht’s gathering was taking place “ten days before a critical election,” Hawley asked, “Can we covenant together now that we will rebuild this nation on the truth of Jesus Christ?”

“That is a powerful word from a man in power,” Feucht gushed, adding, “I’ve got my own dream for what I’m hoping he does one day.”

Feucht said that the previous day, Hawley and others had made it possible for Feucht and friends to worship in a Senate building, where they declared that that God would flip the Senate to Republican control. “They’re gonna stand against the evils of abortion, and sexualization of our children, and Josh is helping lead that way,” Feucht said.

“I pray for spontaneous outbreaks of prayer and worship happening in Senator Hawley’s office, I pray God that people walking the halls of the Hart Senate building and other places that are filled with hopelessness, that they would be drawn into his office," Feucht prayed.  “Raise up a million more like him." 

Other speakers explicitly mentioned the upcoming election. Pastor Russell Johnson told the crowd they were on “the precipice of what will be the most hotly contested election of our lifetimes.” He said God would respond to their worship and prayer and “partner with their obedience for the writing of the history of nations.” More from Johnson:

“The kingdom of God is not a democracy, it’s a theocracy...And let me remind you that one believer who stands with God is in the majority. I am still foolish enough to believe that when men and women add their faith together for prayer that there is a God in Heaven who responds to the agreement of his people on Earth. And we are taking a stand on the National Mall and believe that God would intervene in the affairs of the nation of America and in doing so turn a nation back to its righteous roots. And we’re here to declare tonight that from my house to the White House to the crack house, Jesus is Lord.”

Another speaker called for God to raise up spiritual warriors from Gen. Z who would “take our stand as your ekklesia,” a term used by dominionists to refer to the church as God’s governing body on Earth. He prayed that “from this gathering they would be shot forth as arrows of deliverance in this nation…They will not tolerate Jezebel. They will not be bound by drunkenness. They will not be bound by perversion.”

A preacher who oversaw the taking of communion called on people in the audience to declare out loud that Jesus is “the highest authority” over their states and cities. “We declare that you are Lord, that you are king over DC, over America, over this nation, in Jesus’ mighty name,” he prayed.

After his “One Nation Under God” rally, Feucht traveled south to Georgia, where he joined other Trump-supporting religious-right leaders for an event at which Jentezen Franklin told Trump he was God’s “chosen vessel” like the Apostle Paul.