The Minnesota assassination suspect had a history of participation in religious groups that speak of a kind of "political warfare" and warned of "demon-possessed politicians."
Family and friends have spoken out about Vance Boelter, the Minnesota man who turned himself in to police in the shootings of four people, killing two, The Atlantic reported on Tuesday. Among the things they've learned: he had contact with "a charismatic Christian movement whose leaders speak of spiritual warfare, an army of God, and demon-possessed politicians, and which has already proved, during the January 6 insurrection, its ability to mobilize followers to act."
Reporter Stephanie McCrummen found that Boelter attended a Dallas, Texas, bible college named Christ for the Nations Institute. The college confirmed that Boelter graduated in 1990. It is described as "a prominent training institution for charismatic Christians," according to the report.
Pentecostal evangelist James Gordon Lindsay helped found the institute in 1970. Lindsay comes out of the revivalist movement, the New Order of the Latter Rain, which began as a protest movement in Canada, wrote L. Thomas Holdcroft for the Fall 1980 edition of the Society of Pentecostal Studies.
Post World War II followers "believed that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit was underway, raising up new apostles and prophets and a global End Times army to battle Satanic forces and establish God’s kingdom on Earth."
It was a philosophy rejected by the main Pentecostal church but was embraced and promoted by the Christ for the Nations group. That ultimately became the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, which broadcasts its beliefs in "megachurches, global networks of apostles and prophets, and a media ecosystem of online ministries, books, and podcasts, becoming a grassroots engine of the Christian Right."
While at the school, the report said he would have been exposed to leaders who view the world as a physical battleground for a spiritual battle between God and Satan.
"He would have been told that actual demonic forces can take hold of culture, political leaders, and entire territories, and thwart God’s kingdom," the report said. Boelter would have been instructed to consider himself a "spiritual warrior."
In the piece, McCrummen found courses offered at the school, such as Prayer and the Supernatural. The class description says, "The Bible is clear that angels and demons are real. This course will cover a wide range of how the Bible and prayer contend against demonic forces. The World is in an era of serious warfare and the Body of Christ must remember that Jesus has already won this war. As in any warfare, the military must know their opponent and how to 'war a good warfare.'"
McCrummen quoted the school founder’s slogan that “Every Christian should pray at least one violent prayer a day.”
In the wake of the shooting, the Christ for the Nations Institute put out a statement saying, "We thought it important to clarify this issue" about the founder's quote. They claim that “violent prayer" means "that a Christian’s prayer-life should be intense, fervent, and passionate, not passive and lukewarm..."
The statement also said about the shooter that they were "aghast and horrified," noting, "This is not who we are."
Boelter purported to have been “ordained” in 1993, the report said. Tax documents show him listed as the president of Revoformation Ministries from 2008 to 2010.