A common adage in American politics, sometimes attributed (though wrongly so) to author Sinclair Lewis, is that, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Pastor Hank Kunneman‘s preachings seem close to matching that sentiment, although in his latest tirade, during an Independence Day prayer event he hosted, it was he who was wrapped around the American flag, and not the opposite.
In a Facebook post he made prior to Independence Day, Kunneman, who heads One Voice Ministries out of Omaha, Nebraska, urged his followers to tune into his program to “pray for the United States of America” on the country’s birthday.
“We are in a new era in the earth and in the United States of America. We’ve got a specific word that the Lord has spoken about this July 4th being such a prophetic moment here in the United States,” Kunneman said.
He asked his viewers to listen to his program, which aired the day before Independence Day. His performance was “spirited” to say the least, highly animated, and claimed that God blessed the United States specifically on July 4th.
Happy 4th of July pic.twitter.com/wv5bdyreuO
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) July 4, 2019
“‘My chariot is riding now,’ says the Lord,” Kunneman said in a video flagged by Right Wing Watch. “‘waiting at my command to release a myriad of angels who have waited to bring, for now, the time is to bring the greatest move[ment] that this nation has seen in its history,’ says the Lord God of hosts.”
At the end of his lengthy rantings, Kunneman approached the American flag, hugging it and appearing to expel a few tears while doing so.
Some Christians may have a few problems with this.
Rev. Richard Brand, for instance, writing an op-ed piece for HuffPost in 2017, took issue with nationalism being entwined with religion, arguing Christianity is incompatible with the growing far-right movements seen around the world.
“[T]he growing nationalism that is worried about one country and only one country, seems to me to be running in the exact opposite of the theological convictions of the New Testament,” Brand wrote.
He added:
“The earth is the Lord’s seems to mean that all creation is God’s and so he care for it all. No nation has or deserves any special privileges or rewards.”
Kunneman has made plenty of outrageous and questionable claims in the past, including espousing the belief that President Donald Trump was picked by God to serve in order to establish some sort of “blood right” that connected the businessman, New York City, the office of the president, and 9/11 all together.
“New York City, the reason why — 9/11, our nation was pierced, this nation has never been the same, the nations of the earth have never been the same, God is trying to re-establish a blood right,” Kunneman said in January 2018. “It’s no coincidence the president is from New York, that is where the towers fell. He also is part of Trump Tower — the towers fell. He is part of world trade — the World Trade Center. God is revisiting this nation to establish a blood right. Whoever gets the blood right gets the legal right to rule.”
Watch the full spectacle, which is over an hour long, below:
Featured image via screen grab
