'You will be removed in Jesus’s name!': Christian nationalist megachurch behind takeover of California school board

The Christian nationalist leader of a California megachurch is behind the takeover of a local school district board that has led to Proud Boy appearances and police being called in to keep meetings from turning violent, a report claimed Monday.

According to a report from the Daily Beast's Kate Briquelet and Decca Muldowney, pastor Jack Hibbs of the Chino Hills Calvary Church is proud that three of the five members of the Chino Valley Unified School District are affiliated with his church, where they are pushing the type of policies that are dear to the hearts of the growing number of far-right Christians across the country.

Case in point, the election of school board president Sonja Shaw, a fitness trainer who was on the receiving end of national scrutiny after a video of her meltdown on the state schools chief went viral.

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As the Beast is reporting, Shaw is not hiding the fact that her brand of Christianity is the guiding force behind her proposed public school policies, telling a crowd of admirers, "Today we stand here and declare in his almighty name that it’s only a matter of time before we take your seats and we be a God-fearing example to the nation, how God is using California to lead the way. We already know who has won this battle. You will be removed in Jesus’s name! You, Satan, are losing.”

As the report notes, megachurch pastor Hibbs helped Shaw land her position – and he is not done yet.

"Calvary Chapel has boasted on social media of collecting tens of thousands of ballots for state and local candidates endorsed by Hibbs. The church’s ballot collection, a practice it’s engaged in for years, is conducted with help from Hibbs’ political organization Real Impact," the Beast reports, adding, "To concerned observers in Chino, Shaw’s tack is not unlike what’s happening at school boards across the country, with brawls over curriculum, social-emotional learning, and the banning of books that focus on race and LGBTQ issues."

As for Hibbs, he's not settling for just backing a local school board take-over.

"Hibbs has emboldened supporters to fight progressive education bills and prop up Christian candidates. In his sermons, he has tearfully prayed on stage for Donald Trump to win the 2020 election, said COVID-19 vaccines would lead people into accepting 'the mark of the beast,' and called 'transgenderism' a 'sexually perverted cult' and 'an anti-God, anti-Christ plan of none other than Satan himself,'" the report states.

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