QAnon believers turn against Michael Flynn — now they think he’s a Satan worshipper

Former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn, who’s made headlines for his QAnon eye winks, has now apparently become a target of the conspiracy theory cult himself, The Daily Beast reports.

QAnoners are accusing Flynn of being a Satan worshipper after he led a prayer at a Nebraska church in which he used the terms “sevenfold rays” and “legions” — terms that QAnoners say show he has “flipped on the side of the devil.”

In his prayer, Flynn said: “We are your instrument of those sevenfold rays and all your archangels, all of them … We will be the instrument of your will, whatever it is. In your name, and in the name of your legions, we are freeborn, and we shall remain freeborn, and we shall not be enslaved by any foe.”

From The Daily Beast:

As video of the prayer circulated in online conspiracy theorist groups, the references to “legions” and “rays” soon sparked speculation among Flynn’s right-wing supporters that their hero had been lured to the dark side. Always on the lookout for the Satanic influence they imagine lurks at the heart of the world, they claimed that Flynn had secretly been worshiping the devil. Worse, since the congregation was repeating the prayer after Flynn, the rumor went, he had duped hundreds of Christians into joining the ritual.

Speaking on the Truth Unveiled TV show this week, Flynn rebuffed the accusations, saying that people “need to stop overthinking what everybody is saying” — a statement that according to the Beast, comes on the heels of a “weeks-long campaign” to get back on the good side of the pro-Trump conspiracy cult.

Also condemning Flynn was antisemitic far-right Christian conspiracy theorist Rick Wiles, who runs the far-right outlet TruNews. While Wiles is a consistent proponent of conspiracy theories, he has come out against QAnon in the past, calling it a “deepstate lie.”

“My advice to you is to separate from Gen. Michael Flynn,” Wiles told his audience. “I don’t care about politics, I care about your soul.”

In a post on Telegram, Flyyn claimed the prayer is from his namesake, Saint Michael, which has “great meaning” to him. But as the Beast points out, that explanation didn’t fly with QAnoners.

Hank Kunneman, the Nebraska pastor and self-proclaimed “prophet” whose church hosted Flynn, acknowledged the accusations to his congregation on Sept. 26.

“Can you just give people a break?” Kunneman asked.

While the Beast’s report goes lengths to frame Flynn as a down-the-line QAnon believer, the truth is that his history with the cult is sometimes complex. In February of this year, Flynn appeared on a podcast where he outright denied the core tenant of QAnon in its original form. Flynn took a question from a listener who asked if then-President Trump had ever signed the “Insurrection Act.”

“No,” Flynn replied. “Nonsense.”

“Is the United States military running the country or is that nonsense as well?” host Doug Billings asked Flynn.

“More nonsense,” Flynn replied.

“There’s no plan,” Flynn continued, presumably referring the common QAnon refrain, “Trust the plan.”

“There’s so many people out there [who keep asking], ‘Is the plan happening?’” Flynn said. “We have what we have, and we have to accept the situation as it is.”

[This article has been updated] 

 

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.