Christian nationalist leaders are telling their followers that Vice President Kamala Harris is under the influence of a “Jezebel spirit.”    

The term immediately conjures up the Biblical story of the evil Queen Jezebel, who persecuted prophets and worshiped false gods. As a result, she  was punished by being thrown out a window, trampled by a horse, then eaten by dogs. 

The term has long been used against women, especially black women. During the 246 years that slavery existed throughout the South, it was used to justify the systemic sexual assault and rape of black women and girls.

It has been used to target other women such as Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama, and to categorize movements such as feminism and abortion rights.

Jezebel 

19th-century painting by John Liston Byam Shaw  

As used by Right-wing white Christian nationalists, “Jezebel spirit” accuses a woman of being under the influence of demons in a spiritual battle between good and evil. Many of those who tried to violently overturn the 2020 victory of Joseph R. Biden were motivated such rhetoric—and beliefs.

The language is used to convince apocalyptic Christians that the next election is “do or die,” said Matthew Taylor, author of The Violent Take It By Force. 

This details the history of the New Apostolic Reformation and its influence in the January 6, 2021 coup attempt. During the attack, people sang religious songs, prayed and blew shofars—a horn in Jewish tradition that supposedly played a key role in the Biblical Battle of Jericho.

“It’s used as a means of justifying aggression. Christians are supposed to love their enemies. But Christians are allowed to hate demons,” Taylor said.

January 6 coup attempt

“People … are hearing this woman is possessed by a demonic spirit that is hardcore, terrible, hates men, hates authority, is going to do whatever she wants to do,” said Anthea Butler, professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book White Evangelical Racism. 

Christian nationalists seek a privileged role for Christianity in American public life—in the same way that Islam holds an all-powerful place in public life in Iran and Afghanistan.

Its leaders claim that “America is a Christian nation” whose followers hold the divine right to base national laws on the Bible and have religious leaders in positions of government.

One such leader is Lance Wallnau, who has one million Facebook followers. He has used “Jezebel spirit” to describe Harris, and says he receives messages directly from God. He’s considered a prophet in the New Apostolic Reformation. 

In a video he posted on X, he said, “With Kamala you have a Jezebel spirit, a characteristic in the Bible, that is a Jezebel spirit. The personification of intimidation, seduction, domination and manipulation. 

“She can look presidential and that’s the seduction of what I would say is witchcraft.”

Kamala Harris

Bradley Onishi, a former evangelical minister who once identified as a Christian nationalist, describes the movement as: “A national renewal project that envisions a pure American body that is heterosexual, white, native-born, that speaks English as a first language, and that is thoroughly patriarchal.

“They….are deeply invested in the notion of spiritual warfare, the idea that we are called as Christians to fight a cosmic battle between good and evil, and that it’s our duty to be boots on the ground for God in that conflict.

“What this has led to some decades later is, the New Apostolic Reformation leaders, the apostles and the prophets that are really at the head of this movement were some of the earliest to support Donald Trump in 2016. And they have remained steadfast in that support.

“They were at the very avant-garde of trying to get the 2020 election overturned in the wake of Joe Biden’s victory and mobilizing folks to be at January 6. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of New Apostolic Reformation Christians at January 6, as an example.”

According to Reverend Cathy Young, a retired pastor with the Presbyterian Church of the USA, the Christian Nationalist movement “is dangerous in its assertion that God has a special bond with the United States and with selected politicians. It is unwise, undemocratic and destructive. 

“A national survey conducted jointly by Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution, found 64 percent of white evangelical Protestants are Christian Nationalism adherents or sympathizers to the movement. Thirty-five percent of Americans have never heard of the term ‘Christian Nationalism.’  

Appeal to Heaven flag of The New Apostolic Reformation

“Christian Nationalism is fueled by white supremacy, the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and should dominate them. They are taught to shun LGBTQIA persons, embrace dominance of men over women and believe that only Christianity—one of 10,000 distinct religions—should rule Congress, state governments and the court system….

“Christian Nationalism is a political movement couched in religious language. Their ultimate goal is earthly power—control over people and issues they don’t like—which is the exact opposite of what the gospels teach us….”

Meanwhile, those who fanatically support Donald Trump have embraced a woman of an entirely different sort: A former illegal alien and porn model named Melania Trump.