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Aug. 27, 2021 - QAA
01:13:54
Episode 156: The Matthew Coleman Murders

Horrifying QAnon-related murders shake a community in Santa Barbara California and expose a broader problem — the rise of Christo-fascism among evangelical communities. Before we explore that, we cover the doxxing of famed QAnon anti-semite 'Ghost Ezra', the incorrigible January 6th participant incapable of going offline, and the "siege" of Edinburgh castle in Scotland. ↓↓↓↓ SUBSCRIBE FOR $5 A MONTH SO YOU DON'T MISS THE SECOND WEEKLY EPISODE ↓↓↓↓ https://www.patreon.com/QAnonAnonymous Liv's podcast: http://soundcloud.com/livagar Annie's podcast: http://twitter.com/vaccinepodcast QAA Merch / Join the Discord Community / Find the Lost Episodes / Etc: https://qanonanonymous.com Episode music by Nick Sena (http://nicksenamusic.com), Doom Chakra Tapes (http://doomchakratapes.bandcamp.com)

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What's up QAA listeners?
The fun games have begun.
I found a way to connect to the internet.
I'm sorry boy.
Welcome, listener, to Chapter 156 of the QAnon Anonymous Podcast, the Matthew Coleman Murders episode.
As always, we are your hosts, Jake Brokatansky, Liv Ager, Julian Fields, Annie Kelly, and Travis View.
This week, we're tackling a difficult topic—the recent double murder committed by Matthew Coleman, a 40-year-old man from Santa Barbara, California.
After his arrest, the surf school teacher explained that he had been enlightened by QAnon and other conspiracy theories, which led to his departure from his family home with his infant and toddler.
As his wife grew increasingly worried, Coleman drove down to Mexico, where he did the unthinkable.
In my research, I took a look at media pieces, now-defunct social media profiles, and spoke to three sources familiar with Matthew Coleman and his community.
I've written a main segment that I hope will steer clear of sensationalizing this tragedy, because my goal is instead to provide much-needed context to a story that has been plastered across the media and appears utterly senseless.
But Matthew Coleman had a long history with evangelical and Pentecostal movements, which partake in prophesying, speaking in tongues, and hands-on healing.
The community can be insular, and they protect their own in times of crisis, which could explain why this angle has been little explored in the press.
Coleman was seemingly guided by his interpretation of apocalyptic visions he believed he was receiving, which aren't unusual in the context of what some call the neo-charismatic movement.
Across California, a religious revival is driving a new generation of worshippers to evangelize for Jesus Christ, often through things like contemporary music, surfing, and barbecues.
And for some, this process means adopting right-wing politics, denying COVID, joining hands with Proud Boys, and tumbling down conspiracy rabbit holes.
At first, the story of Matthew Coleman seemed straightforward to me, despite the obvious irrationality of his actions.
But to examine it solely in the context of mental illness would do a disservice to a potential broader story.
A new form of Christofascism, festering in Evangelical America.
But before all that... For my first story, Logically.ai identifies the man behind the Telegram QAnon account GhostEzra.
And this is another huge win for the Logically.ai team, so...
Before we talk about why this is such a big deal, we need to understand who Ghost Ezra is and why he was such bad news.
So, Ghost Ezra rose in popularity on Telegram after Q had gone silent.
He surpassed the popularity of every other QAnon promoter on that platform, amassing over 300,000 followers.
That made him not only the biggest QAnon promoter on Telegram, but also the biggest anti-Semitic account on Telegram.
And considering the amount of anti-Semitism that can be found on Telegram, this was an impressive achievement.
Jake, I'm very kind of disappointed in you for not bringing up Ghostbusters.
This is the classic moment where you could have sung the theme, who you gonna call?
Logically AI.
And they busted this ghost!
They put Ghost Ezra back in that little box, what is it called?
Okay, well in that context, yes.
Logically AI is the Ghostbusters.
I am wary to bring my favorite franchise of all time Into anything associated with Nazism, anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial.
It's just, it's not right.
It's not right to the guys.
You know?
Who's afraid of those Nazis?
Me!
I am!
awful anti-semitic account.
Sometimes he even pushed like out and out holocaust denial.
He flirted with stuff that's often like outside of the mainstream of QAnon like flat earth or body doubles and politicians.
This meant that he was at odds with the more established QAnon promoters.
For example QAnon John, the organizer of the upcoming QAnon conference that'll be held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas in a couple months, referred to Ghost Ezra as a The Ghost Ezra account really worried extremism researchers because it was funneling QAnon followers into straight-up white nationalism.
And for many months, it was a mystery who was behind the account.
But logically, AI were able to identify him as Robert Smart, an evangelical Christian and serial entrepreneur from Boca Raton, Florida.
Logically solved the mystery by following clues that were left by Ghost Ezra himself on his various social media profiles.
He, for example, posted a photo of a local Shell station and the Logically team were able to identify the specific Boca Raton gas station it came from.
Kind of eerie.
I think it's amazing because it's a classic American downfall.
Your hubris was bitching about gas prices.
Yeah, it's also just like, I don't know, it's so impressive.
The only kind of dedication of that level I've seen was, do you remember ages ago when 4chan like set up a crack team to find out where Shia LaBeouf was doing his art exhibits?
Yes.
And they were like literally like tracking flight paths across like the sky to sort of navigate where it would be.
It's kind of that level of detective work.
I think it's really cool.
But this time, they're good guys.
That's right.
Logically, it's exactly like 4chan.
The anti-4chan.
I literally just had them on the show.
Well, you know, one week in fashion, one week you're in, and the next week you're out.
One of the most helpful clues that the Logically team found was a screenshot posted by Gosezra of a YouTube livestream he was viewing.
In the bottom left corner, the phrase, chat publicly as Robert S., was displayed in the livestream chat box featuring a black silhouette and a question mark as a profile picture.
So, with this information, they are able to identify Google and Yelp accounts where a Robert S., with the same profile picture, had posted over a hundred reviews in the Boca Raton area.
This included a review of the local Jewish Center, which Robert Smart gave a one-star review.
Unbelievable.
He also said, not nice.
Not nice.
One star.
Not nice.
Gotta be the dumbest.
Very, very Trumpian review.
Well, when you show up outside the Boca Raton Jewish Center and you're asking them stuff like, do you really believe that six million Jews died in the Holocaust?
They're going to be not nice.
They're not going to be nice to you.
They're not going to be nice to you.
They're not going to be nice.
This is very appropriate for this armchair generation of anti-Semites, because they're trying to do Kristallnacht by doing Yelp reviews.
Yeah, that is how they will destroy businesses.
Yeah, it is the most, like, Protestant, upper-middle class way of being anti-Semitic possible.
After Logically published the report, Robert Smart changed the one-star review to a five-star review.
So doing a little cleanup afterwards.
Oh, you can't, I mean, come on, man.
Imagine, imagine if then, like, logically had to be like, never mind, clearly wasn't our guy.
Yeah, yeah, we got the wrong guy.
It just says nice now.
For my next story, QAnon capital rioter Doug Jensen may be returning to jail.
This is a sad story because it shows how much consuming conspiracist content is akin to a self-destructive addiction.
Now, you may remember the story of Doug Jensen.
This was the man who became famous for chasing a capital police officer up a flight of stairs while wearing a Q Trust the Plan shirt during the events of January 6th.
In a new legal filing, a prosecutor argues that he should be returned to jail because he violated the terms of his release agreement by watching internet videos.
Here is from that motion.
A mere 30 days after his release from the DC jail, defendant Douglas Jensen was found alone in his garage using a Wi-Fi connected iPhone to stream news from Rumble.
This is the Jake setup if he ever gets in trouble.
When confronted with this obvious violation of his release conditions, Defendant provided his pre-trial services officer with one excuse after another.
First, he claimed that the phone belonged to his daughter.
Jensen's daughter, however, later told pre-trial services that she had gotten a new phone almost three weeks ago.
Then, Jensen claimed that his wife, the same individual who swore under oath to notify the court immediately if Jensen violates a condition of his release, facilitated his violation by leaving the news on for him when she left for work in the morning.
Finally, Jensen claimed not to know the password to the iPhone, only to later enter the password for his pretrial services officer.
Jensen eventually admitted to his pretrial services officer that in the previous week he had spent two days watching Mike Lindell's cyber symposium regarding the recount of the presidential election.
I can't believe this.
This guy is throwing his own daughter and wife under the bus.
Just, like, immediately.
Like, no, arrest them, officer.
This guy needs a better lawyer, too.
She was headed out the door.
I begged her.
I said, honey, honey, you have left the news on.
You know, you know that I cannot be watching any kind of news media.
Wait, you got to come back and turn.
Oh, I guess I'll watch two days worth of Mike Lindell.
That motion also says that Jensen's prior claim to have abandoned his QAnon beliefs was all just an act for the court.
In his bond motion, Jensen claimed that he had come full circle, that he felt, quote, deceived by QAnon conspiracy theories, and that he, quote, recognized that he bought into a pack of lies.
But Jensen's swift violation confirms what the government and this court suspected all along, that Jensen's alleged disavowal of QAnon was just an act.
And that his alleged epiphany inside the D.C.
jail was merely self-advocacy.
And that, at the end of the day, Jensen will not abandon the misguided theories and beliefs that led him to menacingly chase U.S.
Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up the Senate staircase on January 6, 2021.
So here's a really interesting thing.
Jensen's lawyer doesn't dispute that Jensen violated the terms of his release agreement.
However, the lawyer asked for leniency by comparing Jensen's behavior to that of a drug addict.
So here's from his lawyer's motion.
If a drug abuser relapses, there is typically a sanction protocol in place to help the person deal with his or her substance abuse issues.
Mr. Jensen requests that this honorable court treat his violation in a similar manner.
I mean, I guess, first of all, I would take issue with the idea that drug addicts are treated with a high degree of compassion in our criminal justice system.
But it is sort of an interesting thing.
Again, it is sad.
The only thing this guy had to do in order to stay out of jail prior to his trial was to stop consuming online content.
And he just couldn't do it.
And he couldn't do it even in a way that was really effective at hiding his tracks.
He was apparently caught by his pretrial services officer.
And, you know, I feel like this sort of this drive to feel like, you know, you're connected to something bigger, this drive to feel like you're uncovering secret information is so powerful that even the threat of jail can't stop him.
I mean, it's again, it is really sad.
It might have enhanced it even, right?
Because it's like, oh, this 1984 state is trying to, like, keep me away from the truth.
Because it seemed like some QAnon people were emboldened by the fact that they were, like, banned on social media sites, because that's, like, the most degree of silencing they've ever experienced.
So I can't imagine, like, if someone is literally going to go to jail if they watch the Mike Lindell Cyber Symposium, that might literally enhance their belief that it's true.
And for our next story, the seizing of Edinburgh Castle.
Hello my sweet little cherubs, it's Annie Kelly here.
I've just popped onto the pod to give you a bit of conspiracy-related news from the United Kingdom this month, this time found in the beautiful Scottish city of Edinburgh.
Which, by the way, we've had people write in to yell at us after Travis pronounced wrong.
It was an email that had no text, just a link to how to pronounce Edinburgh.
Yeah, Americans always really struggle with it.
I've always found it quite sweet, but I guess I'm not Scottish.
We think that it rhymes with Duckburg.
A group of about 20 protesters entered the castle on Tuesday the 17th of August, claiming to have quote seized the landmark under Article 61 of the Magna Carta in order to, among other things, overthrow the Queen.
Now I know when you talk about seizing a castle and overthrowing a sitting monarch, your mind immediately conjures up a picture of something very cool, possibly involving trebuchets.
So I'm just going to need you guys to downgrade your expectations for the video that follows, which mainly just seems to involve the protesters walking into the castle, which is now primarily used as a museum open to the public, and kind of just hanging around for a bit.
But before I go any further, a big shout out to Andrew Burnett, who's a local listener who ripped the Facebook live for me before it was taken down, either at the behest of Facebook or by the streamer known as Janey because of how generally embarrassing it was, I don't know.
We're taking this back.
This belongs to the people.
It's been hidden that Scotland holds the power.
Scotland holds the power.
We have to restore the rule of law in Edinburgh before it can go anywhere else in the world.
So we're here at Edinburgh Castle.
We're taking our power back today.
We're in Edinburgh Castle.
We have seized the building.
We are here.
We are peaceful.
We are sovereign people.
We are taking our building back.
We are sovereign.
We are free.
This belongs to the people of Scotland.
We have been lied to all our life and it's time enough is enough.
We're in Edinburgh Castle live.
Trust me, the police ain't coming.
Call me what you like, they ain't coming.
They ain't coming.
I know, I know what I'm saying.
So we're at Edinburgh Castle.
Here's an article 61 of the Magna Carta.
And we have taken the castle back, which belongs to us, we, the people.
Belongs to the Commonwealth.
I like this new movement.
I dub it Sovereign Tourism.
The would-be besiegers seem to be affiliated with a Facebook group called Practical Lawful Dissent International, whose About page reads We are doing our constitutional duty to protect the realm from treason and tyranny.
We only use evidential facts and constitutional law.
Stand with us in lawful dissent against this treasonous regime.
The group organizes themselves around Article 61 of the Magna Carta, a series of royal charters drawn up in 1215 limiting the power of the monarch, essentially created as a peace treaty following disputes between King John of England and some rebel barons.
Clause 61 in particular has become a bit of a meme in anti-lockdown spaces, with many claiming that by invoking this specific legislation you cannot be fined or forced to close your business under public health laws as it enshrines the right to lawful rebellion.
It may surprise you to learn that this is basically nonsense.
The original version of the Magna Carta granted powers to assail and seek redress from the monarch to 25 barons only, but being a dispute between medieval aristocrats had no particular interests in the rights of quote-unquote the people.
Furthermore, the clause does not actually appear in later versions of the Magna Carta, which legally superseded the original.
Additionally, and perhaps most importantly for our would-be freedom fighters in Scotland, the Magna Carta was drawn up at a time when Scotland and England were separate countries with different legal systems.
As the Court of Session in July last year declared, Magna Carta has no force of law in Scotland.
It is an English document.
And, at the time of its execution, 1215, England was an independent country from Scotland.
Now, this might all just seem like a strange viral misinterpretation by people who are fed up of lockdowns.
But nonetheless, I couldn't help but notice some distinctly-pilled talk creep into the livestream.
We've waited a long time for this.
This is just the start and it's the end for them.
It's the end for the deceivers.
The game's over for them.
So people, wake up and join us.
Take this power back off these people and restore it back to the people themselves and not the false deceivers.
So everybody get sharing.
Edinburgh Castle is under siege by the people.
And share it far and wide.
And let everybody know on your Facebook that we are taking our power back to the people.
No more enslavement.
We've been enslaved long enough.
It's time for the people of the world to take the power back from these corrupt, evil, satanic pedophiles that's been running this country.
What have they been doing to your children for the last what?
70 years?
Yes, using secret societies to cover up their tracks.
Using secret societies to control the law, control and make legislation up to protect themselves.
This is happening no longer.
The Admiralty Maritime Law is over.
The common law and the constitution of the land will be returned.
This is the start of the return of the constitution and the common law for the people, by the people.
So soon, everybody is going to, we're all going to be equal.
There's not going to be any more divide.
We're all going to be living in abundance.
We're going to be free from enslavement.
We're not going to have to be ruled any longer.
By any corrupt pedophiles, any satanic evil people in government that's been ruling us for all these years.
So today the people of Scotland stood up against tyranny.
I kind of have to feel like satanic paedophiles is just the new hot buzzword for conspiracy movements these days.
It feels like if you really believed that you were being ruled over by satanic paedophiles, it would probably be the thing you'd led with when you were trying to gather public support to storm a castle.
Let's not forget that seizing a castle, even with the technological advances that have been made since 1215, still requires a fair bit of manpower, and there's about 20 of them there.
Or woman power, Annie.
You're so right, Julian.
Thank you for being a good ally.
Yes, more women crusaders.
This strangely lacklustre approach continued when the police arrived.
Which, if you'll remember from the start of the live stream, the protesters actually predicted wouldn't happen, as they had served notice to Ian Livingstone, Chief Constable of the Police.
Meaning that under their creative, and crucially very wrong, interpretation of the Magna Carta, he would not be able to respond with force.
Here comes the police.
Notice to compel.
Here comes the police.
Notice to compel.
Hi.
We're here lawfully.
We're here peacefully.
We are sovereign beings.
This castle belongs to the people.
We have no authority over us.
We stand under common law today.
This land, this castle belongs to us.
To the people.
Ian Livingstone knows about it.
We've put him on notice.
He knows all about it.
Everybody go on social media and start filming.
This building belongs to the people of the land.
Right, OK.
We're here peacefully.
Right, give me the notice.
Give me the... Right.
Debbie!
Get up here and film!
Can I have a wee look?
Is that OK?
Yeah.
Right, so we've got the police here.
Ian Livingstone knows all about this.
He's been served notices.
He knew this was happening.
We have been there to Tully Island Police Station.
I have personally put Ian Livingston on notice.
He knows this is going to happen.
You have no jurisdiction over us any longer.
We've had enough of your fake accent statues, which is made up.
No worries at all.
Are we able to have a conversation?
Yeah, of course, absolutely.
been committed, we have the proof, we have the evidence and today we are going to be
restoring the rule of law.
No worries at all. Are we able to have a conversation?
Erm, yeah, can everybody make sure this is scheduled please?
Yeah, of course, absolutely, no worries at all.
It's really just to discuss what time you've come here, what your reason is.
Yeah, so basically this building belongs to the people, the people of the United Kingdom.
We've been lied to all our life by fake monarchies.
Today we're here to restore the rule of law.
So that means we're going to be standing under common law.
We're going to be using Article 61 of the Magna Carta, which is actually the only law in effect.
So we're just sovereign beings.
We are free, we are sovereign and we're here to restore the rule of law.
I'm speaking from my... I'm speaking... If anybody wants to speak, where's John Cross?
Cross?
Croft, come and speak because you know the law. We are speaking for every person.
Yeah, of course you can. I'm not obliged to get you in my name.
Right, listen. Right, listen. Richard, we are peaceful. We are peaceful. We are sovereign.
Yeah.
Can I have a wee look at your trotskyist pamphlet there?
the most casual cool policeman ever She's like yelling that we are free and we are sovereign.
He's just like, so are we.
That's great.
We're on the same page.
His biggest mistake was, could you just tell me why you were here after she was done telling him why she was there.
He was waiting.
He was like, could I wind you up once more for another round?
It's like, oh, painful.
Despite Janie's constant exhortations to keep filming, the livestream ends abruptly after about 13 minutes.
News reports tell us that the group hung around for a couple of hours more before dispersing, although not without a minor scuffle with the police, resulting in one arrest and a police officer reporting minor injuries.
All in all, January the 6th, this was not.
But it did make me think of something Travis said about the anti-vax lobbyists here in the UK, and about how even though many of these conspiracy theories have picked up QAnon-style language for its essential punch, they all miss that crucial element of Q where you have a figure on your side in power.
Watching these kind of events over here, it seems more and more apparent that emboldening effect from powerful figures is what led to events like January the 6th being so violent and out of control, and comparatively why the ones here never seem to take in quite the same way.
One thing that those two events do have in common though, is the way the wider networks involved both scramble to minimise and disavow the perpetrators the minute they get bad press.
Jackie Phoenix, who seems to be the leader of Practical Lawful Dissent International, took to Facebook to immediately disown the Scottish group and, bizarrely, blame them for supposed imminent troop redeployment in Afghanistan.
See if you guys can make sense of this.
There's a shitshow going on at Edinburgh Castle and I need to make things loud and clear right now.
Janie violated her oath.
She is not protected under Article 61.
Period.
Anybody that is at Edinburgh Castle with her right now is at risk.
I told people yesterday that that was a trap.
Nobody listened.
And yet, there is a complete shitshow.
The police are there.
She's trying to scream at people to get their notices to compel performance.
That ain't gonna work because she's not protected under Article 61.
And the shit show she's causing, it is not lawful, it is not peaceful, and it is definitely not PLD.
And this is not redress.
You cannot restore the rule of law in Scotland and not the other countries, for starters.
So, like I said, she has no clue what she's doing.
None.
So I don't know folks, you can either trust me and do this properly, because I'll tell you what, Parliament, we were so close to redress that not only have they started a manhunt for David's evidence, Parliament is resuming session tomorrow.
They're coming back from their holidays.
Why are they coming back from their holidays?
Because they are trying to follow through with the threat they gave me a long time ago.
They're trying to deploy our troops overseas so that they're not here to protect you.
And it's thanks to her.
And it's thanks to people not following the instructions I gave them.
We would have had this in the bag on Friday.
Yeah, we would have had it done.
We'd be waiting right now for the police to bring us the criminals for trial.
Instead, there is a shitshow going on.
This feels like she thinks she's in a movie and she's the main character.
Yeah.
And she has to like stop the bad guys.
Yeah.
It's just a purely virtual world.
She's an NPC from Fallout.
Right out of the wall.
This is the first person you meet standing next to a rusted grocery cart.
I noticed it in that video there, and funnily enough, as I was doing this write-up, I actually noticed that the group members had been posting a lot about something called Redress Day happening today, an international event in which they all work to seize buildings across the Commonwealth and enact common law, with Jackie posting a slightly ominous sounding video outside the Old Bailey in London ending with, let's go end this war.
Hello folks, Jackie Phoenix here.
Welcome to Redress Day.
I'm standing here with part of my team waiting for the rest to get here.
Some are lost.
But we're doing good.
There's Kevin!
Woohoo!
So yeah, we're getting ready to go and the other countries have already been given their orders to head on in, so head to your nearest public building, sit down and use that beautiful right to remain silent.
Let's go and win this war.
Phoenix out.
Now, only time will tell if they are any more successful in this rebellion than what appeared to be the abortive trial run of Edinburgh Castle.
But I think I speak for all of us here at QAnon Anonymous in wishing them the best of luck in their endeavours, and if they do manage to overthrow the Queen, I'd like to be at least considered as a viable replacement.
Can I be the Governor General of Canada, please, if you become the Queen?
Yeah, why not?
Yeah, you're a Commonwealth country, I believe you're, yeah, this is going on where you are too.
I'm gonna make a solidarity movement in Canada for them.
On Saturday, August 7th, 2021, a woman called the Santa Barbara Police Department to file a missing persons report.
She had been planning to go on a camping trip with her husband, Matthew Coleman, and their children, a 2-year-old boy and a 10-month-old girl.
But her husband had left the home unannounced, taking their Mercedes Sprinter van and both kids with him.
Mrs. Coleman was worried about the situation mostly because her husband had forgotten to take a car seat with him for the baby, and he wasn't answering his phone.
The police asked her if she wanted to meet in person, but she declined, believing the situation might resolve itself.
According to the court documents, she, quote, did not believe that her husband would harm her children, nor did she believe they were in any danger.
The next day, on August 8th, she had still received no sign from her husband, and Mrs. Coleman was getting increasingly worried.
This time, a Santa Barbara police officer met her at her home.
Together, they used Find My iPhone on Mrs. Coleman's laptop, and it revealed to them Matthew's last known location, the Mexican town of Rosarito in Baja, California.
Monday rolled around, and still no word from Matthew.
The police had been in contact with the FBI and the Rosarito PD.
A picture of Matthew and his children was circulating among law enforcement.
They had also continued using Find My iPhone, which now revealed Matthew's new location.
He was near the border, apparently about to re-enter the United States.
An FBI agent in San Diego was dispatched to the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
At around 1pm on Monday the 9th of August, Matthew Coleman attempted to cross the border with the same Sprinter van he had disappeared with.
There were no other occupants in it.
He was referred to secondary inspection, where he was taken into custody.
The border officers conducted a search of his car and noticed blood on the van's registration paperwork.
That morning, a Mexican farm worker near the Rancho El Descanso area had noticed a trail of blood outside his home.
He followed it with his dog, and they eventually came upon two small bodies in a ditch.
He was in shock.
They had been gruesomely murdered.
He immediately contacted the manager of the property, who in turn alerted the police.
The bodies matched the ages and descriptions of Matthew Coleman's children.
Coleman was taken into an interrogation room and read his Miranda rights by an FBI agent.
He waved them and agreed to speak to the agents.
Here's from the court documents.
M. Coleman confessed to killing his children.
M. Coleman said that he drove his children to Mexico on Saturday, August 7, 2021.
Because he did not have a car seat, he placed his youngest child in a box and departed without his wife.
M. Coleman stated that he believed his children were going to grow into monsters, so he had to kill them.
At approximately 5 a.m., M. Coleman drove south on Descanso Road.
He pulled off to the side of a road in the area of Rancho Del Cielo.
M. Coleman stated that he first killed his daughter using a spear fishing gun, piercing his daughter in the heart.
M. Coleman stated that his son did not die right away.
M. Coleman described that he had to move the spear around, thereby cutting his hand in the process.
The FBI later observed marks on M. Coleman's hand consistent with his statement.
Photographs showing those marks were taken.
After he killed his children, M. Coleman said that he moved their bodies approximately 30 yards away and placed them in some brush.
Em Coleman provided the agents with the approximate location of the bodies, which coincided with where the bodies were located by Mexican authorities.
Em Coleman stated that he drove a couple miles where he then discarded the spear fishing gun and bloody clothes near a creek.
He threw baby clothes into a blue trash bin somewhere off the side of a road in Tijuana, Mexico.
Em Coleman explained that he was enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories and was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife possessed serpent DNA and may have passed it on to his children.
Em Coleman said that he was saving the world from monsters.
Em Coleman was asked whether he knew what he did was wrong.
Em Coleman stated that he knew it was wrong, but it was the only course of action that would save the world.
Matthew Coleman was charged with the foreign murder of U.S.
nationals.
According to a source I spoke with, who had their child enrolled in Coleman's surf school, Love Water Surf, a cancellation message was sent out on Saturday, refunding those enrolled in that week's lessons two days before the children were found.
It was signed by Matthew, although we obviously can't confirm that he sent it.
It read, I wanted to let you know that unfortunately we are being forced to cancel all of our camps this coming week due to some unforeseen circumstances with our staff.
I know that this puts everyone in a very difficult place and sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.
All bookings will receive a full refund today.
Thank you for your understanding.
Cheers, Matt.
The surf school website is relatively innocuous for the most part.
A bio for Matthew fills in some details about his past.
In 1981, in the heart of Santa Barbara, Matt was born to a small business owner father and an artist mother.
Over his childhood, he quickly adopted a love for the ocean.
Whether it was surfing down at Hendry's Beach, spearfishing Mesa Lane, or sailing to the Channel Islands with his family every summer, it became clear that the ocean was a playground that was always open and ready for adventure.
While spearfishing and sailing were both fun, surfing quickly became Matt's passion.
After years of competing on Point Loma's national champion surf team, he moved to San Sebastian, Spain, where he taught English, befriended the Basque people, and found a launch pad for a surf mission to 20-plus countries around Europe and the world.
After two years teaching and travelling, Matt returned to his hometown to pursue higher education, receiving his Master's from UCSB in 2009.
With a desire to give back to his community, Matt went on to teach high school, coach a surf team, and spend 10 years directing a local non-profit which used surfing as a means for mentoring the community's youth.
One early clue to Coleman's religious beliefs are the mentions of a surf mission in this text, which we'll get into in a bit, and the idea of mentoring the community's youth, which fits in with the larger Christian evangelical communities Coleman frequented.
His website also has a section called Surf Therapy, which reads, Using surfing to heal and empower trafficking survivors.
For the past three years, Love Water has been working with a group of amazing young girls who were recently rescued from human trafficking.
Partnering with non-profits Hope Refuge and 4Kids2Kids, the Love Water team uses surfing as a means to bring healing, joy, confidence, and a renewed sense of identity to those who need it the most.
Now, obviously there's nothing wrong with helping victims of human trafficking, but it's hard not to see the effort in the context of QAnon, especially now that the depths of Matthew's belief have been made public.
The aforementioned source who had their child enrolled in Coleman's surf school told me that they were shocked by the murders, but also surprised to find out that Coleman was religious at all.
They told me, I wasn't aware of the religious part of him as a person, just the philosophy of their surf camp.
If I had to guess, I would have said he was a real liberal, environmentalist, California surf guy.
He seemed really easygoing and mellow.
A second source, which was much closer to the family, described a very different Matthew Coleman.
One that was, quote, prone to black and white thinking, and refused to let his recently divorced father-in-law visit their children, quote, presumably because he had broken God's rules about marriage.
A third source, originally from the religious community in Santa Barbara that Coleman was a part of, spoke to me extensively by email.
This, along with an examination of Matthew Coleman's social media profiles, started to explain the more extreme statements in his testimony to the FBI, especially the part about receiving, visions, and signs.
Christian surfers.
On July 14, 2021, less than a month before the murders, Matthew Coleman eulogized a friend of his on Instagram, thanking him for introducing Matthew to the Christian Surfers Ministry.
He said the organization, quote, changed the direction of my life after, quote, my first Christian Surfers meeting at Jerry Dow's house.
Dow is the founder of the Christian Surfers Ministry, which now has 20 chapters across the United States, according to its website.
I also found several websites, some now archived because they don't exist anymore, indicating that Matthew Coleman was once the director for the Santa Barbara chapter of Christian Surfers.
It's unclear why Coleman left the ministry, but here's a bit about the organization from their website.
With its origins tracing back to Santa Barbara in the 1980s, the ministry of CSUS began as a concerned but caring law enforcement officer named Jerry Dow started noticing a trend in some of his clients.
Many were surfers.
Jerry began spending time at the beach building relationships and sharing the love of Jesus with surfers.
Today CSUS has grown to 20 volunteer-led chapters or surf clubs spread across both the west and east coasts.
The relational style ministry continues bringing life to the full to surfers everywhere.
Jesus Christ is our message.
Surfing is our tool.
Relationships are our method and community is our platform.
Recognizing the opportunity to use U.S.
resources abroad, CSUS organizes many service-based surf mission trips through the year to Central America, Africa, and beyond, as well as joining in the global social efforts of Groundswell Aid.
Christian surfers are linked to a much larger organization, the Calvary Chapel, one of several such Protestant evangelical churches with charismatic elements in the state of California.
Others include the Bethel Church in Reading and the Isla Vista Mission in Isla Vista.
The latter is currently ministered by a man named Jason Lomelino.
On Instagram, Matthew Coleman followed Lomelino's personal and family accounts, as well as the mission's accounts and Jesusburgers, which is a part of the church that we'll get into in a moment.
My source close to his community indicated to me that this was the church that Matthew was the most involved in.
Bethel, Isla Vista, and Calvary Chapel are all part of a California-based movement using culture—surfing, music, parties—to find new converts among the California youth.
These churches, during their services, often practice hands-on healing, prophesying, and speaking in tongues.
The current National Director for Christian Surfers explained in an April 2021 interview, I do think it is important to spread the good news that God likes us and that he loves us and that he is crazy about us.
It's like he has a crush on us.
We go on mission trips where we invite people from the local community and the purpose of the trip is to love on them.
Over the next five years, part of our mission is to launch new chapters so that more surfers can be loved on in new communities.
This term, loving on someone, is recurring across these churches' messaging and practices.
It's very similar to the way cults love-bomb potential new converts.
Although it can vary, it appears that the churches broadly support Trump, and especially Pence, as well as opposing homosexuality, trans rights, and abortion.
But before we get into the political side of things, let's take a look at Matthew Coleman's local church and its practices.
Receiving Visions My source close to the community, by email, confirmed what Coleman's social media follows had already made it relatively apparent, that he attended the Isla Vista Church, including the Upper Room, which they described as a repurposed retail space in the mall downtown.
People go there for all-night worship and prayer sessions.
Matthew was following several Upper Room accounts from different cities.
My source gave me more information on the broad community.
Everyone here is very affluent.
One of the richest communities in California.
Whole foods, essential oils Christians.
Not snake handlers or Southern Baptists.
They're Jack Johnson, I own a bunch of Airbnbs and shop at the farmers market type Christians.
They are reactionary in the same way the New Age world has gotten to be over the last couple of years.
They told me that in 2020 they, quote, My source, who grew up in the community and later left it, got in touch with people they knew in common with Matthew Coleman.
nuts, expecting the end of days. All these people were also anti-vax. My source who grew
up in the community and later left it, got in touch with people they knew in common with
Matthew Coleman. They explained.
Matthew Coleman was part of a community that enabled erratic behavior, acting on "visions"
and "receiving words from God," etc.
The surreal nature of the Trump years and then COVID basically pushed him over the edge.
So when those visions and revelations turned dangerous, he was only going to lean into it.
Because everyone around him had only ever treated him like he was special and particularly faithful for indulging in them in the first place.
Ordinarily, if someone says they're receiving visions or revelations or whatever, people might think it was odd or concerning.
But in a narcissistic, privileged portal-slash-bubble like the one he has always lived in, Santa Barbara, it made him unique and interesting.
I've long called SB a baby pool because it's so perfect.
It's a wonderful place where the idea of something like this happening seems impossible, especially if you're from there, and you're set up by family and church connections to live a pretty blissful life, insulated, safe, small.
In most places and circumstances, his mental illness probably could have been identified sooner, and he and his family might have been equipped to address a situation like this, but no one knew any better.
Looking over Matthew Coleman's social media accounts, which are now offline, there are some signs that his children were included in his visions, although in a very different way than he would later describe to the FBI.
In June of 2020, Coleman said this in the Instagram caption of a photo of his son.
So fun to watch him slowly become all that he was created to be.
The sound of heaven's dove.
One who awakens people to the fact that they are eternally chosen.
Accepted and cherished by a loving father.
A freedom ringer and a joy bringer.
In October 2020, Coleman said this in an Instagram caption of a photo of his family.
"This past Saturday morning, a few seconds before sunrise, we welcomed our daughter into our family.
At 6.49 a.m., in the quiet of her home, she was pulled out of the water and welcomed into her
arms. Her name means 'bright dawn' and 'rain is a symbol for God's blessing,
abundance and fruitfulness towards our family in this season.'"
While waiting for her to come, I kept feeling the sense that she was going to be born at a very pivotal time in history, and that she would represent a dawn or even awakening to years of great blessing for our family and nation.
Another picture that came to me was of God reaching down into a riverbed and picking up a small stone, rock, examining it intently.
Just as David had done before slaying Goliath, God examined the stone and was confident that it was just the perfect one for the battle.
Although it was small, smooth, and somewhat harmless looking, He knew that it would become great when placed into the palm of a skilled hand.
My declaration over my daughter is that she has been handpicked by God to slay the giants in the land, that she has been born with everything she needs to fully accomplish God's plan for her life, and that she will be a great blessing wherever she goes.
And in November of 2020, Coleman posted a cropped image of the two hands almost touching from the Sistine Chapel fresco by Michelangelo.
He wrote this in the caption, "While worshipping with friends this weekend, I had an unexpected
wave of thoughts and images come over me, which, well, brought me a lot of hope. The first image
was one of this historical timeline where the period of the Dark Ages (5th to 15th century)
was contrasted next to the illuminated creative explosion of the Renaissance,
meaning rebirth, 15th and 16th centuries."
The crazy thing about history is that you don't know what your season will be labeled as until years down the road.
And more so, sometimes your time period isn't labeled by what happens during it, but rather what happens after it.
While people were living in the Dark Ages, they weren't thinking it really sucks living in the Dark Ages.
It wasn't until years after the Renaissance that people started to identify that period as the Dark Ages.
And really the main reason for getting the label was due to the striking contrast that it had with the explosion of art, music, inventions, and discoveries that occurred during the Renaissance.
What if we are about to enter the greatest renaissance period that the world has ever seen?
What if we are on the verge of entering into an unparalleled explosion of creativity, art, music, inventions, discoveries, entrepreneurship, cures, community, and revelations of God's love?
To the point that our current period will eventually be seen as another Dark Ages.
What if there is a type of Great American Renaissance following the years of COVID, censorship, and political divisiveness that will empower each person's heart to come alive and explode with innovative ideas, new business models, new music sounds, and never seen ways to build an amazing community?
What if 2020 is just the birthing pains of what is on the way in 2021 and beyond?
It's almost as if God is praying over us.
Quote, I pray that your hearts will be flooded with the light so that you can understand the confident hope.
Ephesians 118.
Much love and hope to everyone.
This struck me as like a very educated person basically describing the Great Awakening in disclosure, but like in terms that are very aware to not make direct references to Q. Yeah.
A lot of the people and organizations Matthew followed on Instagram and liked on Facebook were related to surfing, ministry, or both.
But he also followed a large swath of right-wing figures, including Turning Point USA, Dan Scavino, Benny Johnson, James Woods, Dan Bongino, Kayleigh McEnany, Charlie Kirk, Rand Paul, Sean Foyt, who we'll get to in a bit, and Terrence K. Williams.
Coleman did not follow a single liberal or left-wing figure, but his views on them were probably best expressed by another account he followed.
The underscore typical underscore liberal, which claims to be quote, number one in exposing liberal lies.
Coleman also followed multiple medical disinformation figures, including Judy Mikovits of Plandemic Infamy, Jeff Bark, a.k.a.
Rx for Liberty, and an account called Parents for Vaccine Choice California.
Jason Lomelino is the current pastor of Coleman's church, Mission Isla Vista.
Lomelino runs the aforementioned Upper Room as well as Jesus Burgers.
In 2018, the church made a video to explain their approach to the city.
Welcome to Isla Vista.
Over 25,000 people live here, within one square mile.
Sitting right next to UCSB, Isla Vista is a place for students to live, work, and play.
But most of all, party.
But, unfortunately, it's not all fun and games.
mercy baby Jesus please save us I know I used up my three favors back to center
like a week later new car speed race but unfortunately it's not all fun and games
as Mission Isla Vista we've seen firsthand the need in the city and we
aren't willing to sit back and watch the madness having been sent as ministers of
reconciliation we've moved into this madness to restore hope and love our
city A city full of the next generation's leaders, teachers, doctors, artists, mothers, and fathers.
And we want to see their lives transformed by the love of Jesus.
What would it look like if students experienced this love in some of the most foundational years of their lives?
That's our heart.
To see people transformed.
Every Friday we hand out hundreds of burgers, hit the streets, and share the good news.
We host teams and interns, make music, and have a church service every Sunday where people encounter the healing love of Christ.
And we do all of this as a community, a family.
And that's only the beginning.
This year we purchased a plot of land in the heart of Isla Vista.
With plans to create a mission space, we will be able to host more teams and interns, have a proper studio and classrooms to equip and send out missionaries to Isla Vista and the nations.
Mission Isla Vista is simply a launching pad for the dreams and desires of God's heart.
We need people to partner with us, whatever that looks like.
And there are so many ways to give.
Whether you move to Isla Vista, become a monthly financial supporter, or even simply pray for our city,
we want you to join our family.
That's so like slickly produced. It really has that feel of just completely like social media,
Instagram savvy kind of like religious sort of aesthetic.
Yeah, with all the kind of like young, young people kind of like sort of smiling and dancing and slow motion.
It looks so Instagramable.
There's a generation of people that call themselves the Jesus freaks in California and they were kind of the meeting of hippie culture with this kind of Christian revivalist culture and that eventually developed into I guess what I could best describe as hipster Christianity, a kind of more wealthy, more slickly
produced like you mentioned, and they're camouflaged into the social media
landscape. It looks like other content consumed by people of that
generation, and they also focus on things they love, like music, getting together,
eating hamburgers, partying basically. Lomelino's recruitment techniques were
also laid out in a document he used to fundraise in 2018.
In a section called "Why Isla Vista?" the bullet points include,
"One of the top party schools in the nation, large turnover of students allows for an ability
to influence many, and high impact time in young people's lives."
Later in the document, it's explained that, "Jesus Berger's house and ministry has become
known throughout the city of Isla Vista as a home of love and peace to a city that many have viewed
as a modern Sodom and Gomorrah." A man who later became a pastor for the organization explains on
the website, "After living a lifestyle of parties, alcohol, and women, one night I ran into a bunch
of people at a house passing out burgers for free. The place was called the Jesus Berger's house.
They were not trying to make me a project. They were simply extending kindness and love.
After that, I fell to my knees and gave my life to Jesus."
Although extending kindness and love seems like an admirable goal,
Lomelino in an interview for a TV show called "Praise the Lord"
discussed other aspects of the effort, namely, Give us some of the stories of people that just happened down the party street, happened down by your
What's amazing about this home is like, we're just gonna love you.
You can sit around the fire, you can get a hamburger, you have a place to pee.
This last Friday, a girl's throwing up in a pot.
She's just yakking all over, you know.
We're walking people home.
I mean, whatever it takes, we're gonna do it.
And the city knows that.
I mean, literally, when we started this ministry, there was hostility towards us.
They're like, Are these poisonous?
Why are you doing this?
What's going on?
And the spiritual climate was so heavy in the early years.
Now it's like, man, we got so much authority out there, so much favor.
I mean, people just come.
Yeah, it's literally the biggest party on Friday nights.
Wow.
Down the street, like, our lot is just full.
And then across the street, we have a sign that says, Free Blessing.
And just, it's a modern day fishing net.
And people just flock to it, like, sincerely.
Like, bless me, pray for me.
Signs and Wonders breaks out at the signs.
We prophesy over people.
We just, we meet them where they're at, you know?
And just love them.
Okay.
So I don't know if you noticed that, but he mentions a modern-day fishing net.
This is more consistent with another video The Mission released entitled, The Couch, Isla Vista Jesus Burgers.
In it, young members of Lomelino's flock reframe the conversation from religion to relationship, as in the relational that you had read earlier, Travis, and they attempt to convince often non-religious university students, most of them wasted, to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
So in the video, after some preliminary questions about success and happiness, the young ministers switch gears.
I want to play you this clip, and it's worth noting that they're cutting between multiple subjects.
Have you heard about cheeseburgers?
Cheeseburgers?
Yeah, I've had a bunch of them.
Okay, so tell me about it.
What do you think about them?
A bunch of rad people that are giving burgers out to good people.
Hard years.
What do you think about Jesus?
I believe that... I mean, I don't really... I'm not into the whole religious thing, but... As good as life is, I think there has to be a higher God.
There has to be somebody that created this.
So what do you guys think about Jesus?
Actually, we're both Christians.
Oh, hi boss!
So would you guys say you guys have a relationship with Jesus Christ?
I would have to say no.
What about you?
Seven.
So and so.
If I told you that that happiness when you're searching for it is Jesus, right?
Not religion, but actually Jesus.
Before your 18th birthday, would you be like, man, if that is true, I would want that Jesus to help me out.
So this is the question, I actually feel this for you, is that, would you say yes, right, not religion, but would you say yes to Jesus, helping you on your 18th birthday, giving you the best present ever, of actually what is happiness, Jesus' happiness, would you say yes, Jesus, lead my life?
And he would lead a guy, not religion, but in relationship.
Nothing with religion.
Not religion.
No, no, no, no.
Not anything.
No, like your best friend.
Just like we're talking, he wants to talk with you.
Okay, I'm done.
If Jesus created the world, right?
Let's just say, hypothetically.
He created the world.
He loves you.
And he cares for you, and he actually wants to lead and guide you.
If all four of those things were true, would you want that?
Yeah, because Jesus is like mommy.
Yeah, doesn't he?
He like hooks you up, and he helps you out.
Like I did.
So this is the deal, right?
So all those four things that I just told you are true.
They really are.
So if those are true, which I just said they are true, wouldn't you want Jesus to help you out now instead of in two years?
Yeah.
Yeah, definitely.
And so if it's Jesus, like, would you be like, man, if this God loves me, I would actually want to follow him?
If I found out that he was real, yeah, I'd definitely follow him.
But I need, like, proof.
Totally.
I mean, yeah, I need proof.
so what's proof do you want like uh something if you can't even mean you're a dream or something i
don't know something like that i don't want to like be glib but one thing those videos really
really remind me of are pickup artist videos Yeah.
They're, like, really similar to the exact kind of, even the same kind of framing of just, like, repeating very confidently the same kind of story, the same jokes, and you kind of see them, like, on training channels and stuff on YouTube.
Nearly always two like a yeah a kind of bunch of like drunk young women um and it kind of just like cuts from one to the next to the next and they're all just repeating the same kind of script that they've learned you know very confidently like they're kind of very aware they're on camera they really felt really similar in setup.
There's almost to a certain extent in which, like, they understand community outreach better than even, like, some leftists.
I think of, like, the weather underground is the obvious example.
They were just like, we're gonna do the revolution with no popular support, just, like, do a bunch of bombings or whatever.
But, like, a part of getting popular appeal has to relate to, like, going out and, let's say, helping people or providing them some service.
What do you think about communism?
Would you have a relationship with Marx?
Not politics.
Would you have a relationship with Karl Marx if he was a nice guy and had a birthday cake for you?
I mean, if Karl Marx was real, maybe I would, but I'd need proof.
If he appeared to me in a dream.
Look, look, dude, dude, dude, look, if Karl Marx had a birthday cake and he cut it into 100 perfectly equal slices and everybody each got a very equal slice of the birthday cake, is that something you would be interested in?
The blonde girl that is briefly seen, she's like probably the most wasted and she's about to turn 18 and is eating directly from an entire Ben & Jerry's pint.
Mmm, yeah.
Just incredible, like, college flashback shit for me.
Like, this is, like, every person that would hang out, yeah.
College?
This was two nights ago for me.
Politically, these churches are overwhelmingly conservative.
Tolerant of racial diversity, of course, but opposed to homosexuality, trans rights, and abortion.
Bethel Church, for example, has publicly opposed three bills in California that would have restricted the horrifying conversion therapy practices, which purport to convert gay people to being straight.
They also opposed the Equality Act, and the original head of Calvary Chapel, Chuck Smith, explained once that natural disasters and terrorist attacks were caused by divine wrath against homosexuality and abortion.
The Isla Vista Church has hosted homophobic pastor Roger Joyner, who explained during his sermon,
quote, "We've seen God break in with power to reach people who are struggling with same-sex
attraction." I'm also struggling with same-sex attraction, if you think about it.
It happens to the best of us.
This caused a local Methodist church to protest the homophobic speech.
Jason Lomelino, the pastor in charge of Isla Vista Church, refused to condemn the statement by Joyner.
As a result, Lomelino is now no longer allowed to use the University United Methodist Church building to host Isla Vista Church gatherings.
America's Great Awakening Another prominent voice in the extended community, followed by Matthew Coleman on both Instagram and Facebook, is singer and politician Sean Foyt.
Foyt comes from Redding, California, where the Bethel Church is based, and his music is often played across all of the church gatherings I've mentioned.
He was signed to the Jesus Culture music label run by the Bethel Music subdivision of the church.
In 2020, Foyt's concerts took a political turn as he ran for Congress in California's 3rd District as a Republican.
He focused on COVID denialism and anti-abortion messaging, as well as generally parroting conservative hatred for Antifa, the Black Lives Matter movement, and liberals.
He published photos of himself visiting the Oval Office to meet Trump and Pence.
In the photo he can be seen reaching out towards Trump.
Of that meeting, Feucht said, quote, His main campaign ad is quite something.
What is happening to the identity of America?
Police in riot gear facing off.
We're seeing violent demonstrations.
Five officers were killed.
Streets on streets!
Our leaders are running it into the ground with their liberal ethics and political agendas.
44% would prefer to live under a socialist system.
I'm the boss.
How about that?
It is called the beast, or the train of death.
Well, guess what?
First thing I do is gonna repeal this Trump tax cut.
Family values are being eroded, the unborn are sacrificed, morals are low, and taxes are high.
Our leaders in Congress have failed us time and time again.
America's not just a country.
It's a legacy built on a foundation of hope and truth.
A beacon to the world.
Millions want to come here.
Even more wish they could be like us.
If we lose our identity, how will the world learn from our greatness?
Is there any hope?
Can we trust anyone?
We need a new generation of leaders.
Leaders who don't seek a career, but are willing to sacrifice their careers to fight for what is right.
Leaders like Sean Foyt.
Sean doesn't look like the average politician, because he's not.
A man of faith, a man of mission, a man of character and integrity.
Not driven by ego, but purpose.
A man who knows what feeding the hungry, protecting the vulnerable, and fighting for one's beliefs is all about.
A man with a guitar and a purpose.
A father with a loving heart.
A leader with track record.
Sean is taking a stand.
A stand millions like you and I need to take if we are determined to better the future for our children and grandchildren.
He is known and loved by millions for his music and missions.
Now, he is willing to sacrifice his calling for a greater one.
To restore the identity, values, and morals of this great nation.
How do I know this?
I'm his wife and the mother of his four children.
As a family, we are committed to this race.
For us, our children, and our future.
I'm not going to sit back and watch and wait.
It's time for my generation to step forward and join the fight for America.
Stand with me and let's take action and become the solution.
I'm Sean Foyt and I'm running for Congress.
[Music]
Again, I love the just like casual slipping in of pedophilia stuff and sacrificing children.
Just like in the middle of one sentence.
They're like, yeah, and there's also child sacrifice.
They also are edging the 14 words twice.
Yeah, right?
Yeah, an all white blonde family just kind of walking towards the camera.
Yeah.
Did you guys know that the new Conservative Party of Canada motto is securing the future for your children and grandchildren?
Yeah, I saw that.
I absolutely love the right-wingers being like, it says your, okay?
It's different.
It's not our.
It applies to everyone in Canada.
All of their children are secured, their future.
Which is true, I guess, in the new intersectional fascist thing, which really kind of defines this Sean Foyt thing.
He has people of color in his video, and his churches and audiences are quite diverse, but that is the only difference between him and basically Pat Buchanan or anybody else in the extremist Christian evangelical movement in America.
And also the song, you might have noticed, it's really bad.
It clashes with the video and that's because he wanted to use one of his songs.
And the song says, We won't stop until the whole world looks like heaven.
Which is, I don't... That's pretty sus.
Not great.
Foyt came in third place in the Republican primary, but he wasn't done dabbling in politics.
In the latter half of 2020, Feucht made a point to visit areas where political unrest had occurred, like Minneapolis after George Floyd, Kenosha after the Rittenhouse shooting, and Portland, Oregon, where he held a concert he called Riots to Revival.
The general theme of his often-permitless musical worship tour was, of course, resistance to COVID-19 restrictions and mask mandates.
In fact, the tour was called Let Us Worship.
It was broadly condemned and on one occasion even forced the Bethel Church itself to announce that they weren't involved in a concert he was throwing in their home city.
Up his tour, Foyt said, quote, It's because they don't call it prayer because they don't go to church.
extreme turmoil and despair and brokenness.
I guess they might not say let us pray in these places.
I'm not very familiar with the Protestant way of doing things.
Yeah, no, the Protestants are weird, sorry.
Catholics may not understand them at first glance.
But yeah, they like to say, basically, that, yeah, there is no church, so you're not praying, you're basically, you're kind of getting together to worship.
In fact, the Bethel Church calls itself non-denominational.
They don't even call themselves evangelical, whereas the other two churches I mentioned do kind of call themselves, like, evangelical.
Usually on their own Wikipedias, they call themselves Evangelical, revivalist, and neo-charismatic.
Foyt has not relented.
He seems intent on stirring up far-right culture war issues on social media.
He recently posted a photo of himself hanging out with Roger Stone, retweeted Andy Ngo, appeared on Steve Bannon's War Room, and has used the QAnon slogan, These People Are Sick, on Twitter multiple times.
Foyt hit the road again this year, like in 2020, throwing a series of concerts, including one in Portland, Oregon, on August 8th.
There he posed for a photo with a bunch of right-wing operator-style characters, explaining in the caption on
Twitter, "Thank you to our security team, half-pictured, tonight in
Portland.
These are all ex-military, ex-police, private security, and most importantly, lovers of Jesus and freedom.
If you mess with them, or our First Amendment right to worship God, you'll meet Jesus one way or another."
One of the operators got in trouble for being photographed in Foyt's tweet.
He had been charged in connection with the January 6th storming of the Capitol and is still awaiting trial.
Another was identified as Tusitala Taini Tois, a Proud Boy leader and full-on neo-Nazi who was recently caught in leaked telegram chats saying that if the Holocaust didn't happen, quote, then fuck it, what are we waiting for?
Round them up!
Journalist Sergio Olmos documented the clashes that occurred the night of Foyt's gathering.
The next day, Foyt posted a video to Instagram entitled, Here's part of it.
I want to share with you about what God did yesterday in Portland, Oregon.
I want to set the record straight.
I want to share with you about what God did yesterday in Portland, Oregon. I want to set
the record straight. I want you to hear it straight from my mouth. And more importantly,
I want to give God the glory because He deserves it all.
You know, we have been to over 123 cities now that we have brought Lettuce Worship to.
This was our second time to Portland.
And it was kind of the grand finale of our summer tour.
This tour that we've been doing for, you know, I would say the last four months, we've been to like 55 cities in a row.
And so 8-8, which is August 8th, you know, eight is a biblical number representing new beginnings.
It felt like it was really profound and powerful to finish it in Portland.
And I want to give a little context first.
For 20 years, I have given myself to the nations of the world.
I've gone into really dark, hard places that a lot of people don't want to go into.
A lot of you guys know this.
I've been inside North Korea.
I've been inside Saudi Arabia multiple times.
Iraq at the height of ISIS.
We go to Iraq many times a year.
We have a long-term team there.
Of course, Underground Church of China.
I was in Afghanistan right after 9-11.
I've led worship a lot with bulletproof vests on.
I've gone behind enemy lines.
It is just a calling I have.
In fact, I would say that that really is my lane.
That's the lane God has called me into.
It lines up with the prophetic words over my life.
Anyway, so I am used to pushback.
I'm used to resistance.
I'm actually used to terrorists and intense stuff.
And what we experienced last night is crazy.
It's wild, first of all, that this is happening in America.
And it's wild, first of all, that people are okay with it.
And for any believers, Christians out there, progressives, whatever you want to call yourself, woke people, that are defending Antifa right now, you need to stop.
Because these guys are blatantly demonic.
Foyt is planning more events, including a foray to the Washington Mall set for September 11th.
Here he is in the same video, talking about taking back American cities.
This is the hour for us to take a stand.
We got to be unapologetic.
We got to be bold.
And we got to take our cities back.
Because cities like Seattle and Portland, the last two I've been in, I love those cities.
But they are under attack by demonic forces.
And listen, our battle is not against flesh and blood.
We know that.
It's powers and principalities.
But those powers and principalities actually Our inside of people.
And so we gotta take a stand.
We gotta have discernment.
And we gotta be people that are bold.
We gotta be people that are willing to take a stand.
And that's what happened last night.
Because of the boldness of the Church of Portland, so many people were brought into the kingdom.
Pastors were rejuvenated.
People's hearts were set on fire.
And America saw hope.
And so we're excited.
September 11th to 12th.
We're gonna be on the mall in Washington DC, and listen, we need tens of thousands of you guys to show up.
Now, more than ever, we need to see this.
This is not political, this is biblical, man.
We have a call for revival in this season.
Yeah, no, obviously we're talking about demonic forces, you know, these things that are external to humans, and we're talking about spiritual warfare, but actually the demons are inside people, so we're kind of talking about real warfare as well.
Yeah, yeah, it sounds borderline like an excuse for, yeah, othering an entire part of the population because they are literally demonic, which in the past we've seen has not led to great places.
I mean, once you start treating human beings as if they are subhuman or otherworldly or, you know, animalistic, yeah, then that basically opens the door for lots of historical atrocities.
In the wake of the Coleman murders, much of the press released the usual pieces contrasting the love Coleman seemed to have for his children with the horror of his actions.
People Magazine published an article with comments from a former friend who explained that Coleman and him had pretty typical conversations when they worked out together, until about 2021.
Quote, he'd tell me about stuff he read online, conspiracies, but he'd present it like, I read something really crazy, isn't that ridiculous?
But then he'd start adding things like, Yeah, but when you think about it, it all makes a lot of sense.
It was like he was starting to believe them, and he spent a lot of time looking at these conspiracies.
He devoted a lot of brainpower to them.
It became clear to me that he believed some weird stuff.
The Santa Barbara Independent quoted a former surf student who had taken lessons with Coleman in 2010.
He was always very cheerful and upbeat, sometimes to the point of being a little unsettling.
The senior pastor of Calvary Church in Santa Barbara, tied to the surf ministry Matthew had been involved in, said this to his congregation, This walk for Matthew obviously changed course.
The lack of public reaction by Coleman's religious community isn't unusual.
My source close to the community told me that it would be considered a betrayal of sorts.
He explained, Some people involved are cynical sociopaths, manipulating people for profit, and some are true believers, like Matthew.
I look at this ordeal as a tragic example of what happens in communities that enable someone particularly vulnerable to a breakdown or violent episode.
Zero accountability.
Everyone's just getting themselves and each other high on bullshit.
Questioning the visions of a guy like Matthew would be viewed as a lack of faith, and you'd be ostracized.
The source described a religious community member, when confronted by Coleman's QAnon beliefs, as saying, As of the date of this recording, Matthew Coleman has yet to be indicted by a grand jury.
He remains in custody for pretrial detention, as the magistrate judge determined that he posed a danger to the community and was deemed a flight risk.
the kind of checks that happen in communities like this to stop people from, even if they are
like concerned, you know, presumably some people were concerned, but it would have been viewed as
like a lack of faith or as them kind of like questioning or doubting the religious veracity
of kind of his experiences, his visions, that's such a kind of scary collective attitude that
you can't even offer someone who needs help, help, because then you'll be viewed as, yeah,
as a skeptic, as a non-believer. It seems like a community where reasonable concern is treated like
heresy.
I'd like to thank the sources who agreed to speak to me, as well as Ali Metzi, who helped me track court documents.
You can follow her at twitter.com slash pinealdecalcify.
Thanks for listening to another episode of the QAnon Anonymous podcast.
Please go to patreon.com slash QAnon Anonymous and subscribe for five bucks a month to get a whole second episode every week.
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Liv, where can people find your podcast?
You can find it by just searching Liv Agar on whichever podcast hosting site you use.
I'm currently going to go back into a reading series of Das Kapital, if anyone's interested in that, and just general philosophy stuff.
Annie, what is your podcast?
My podcast is called Vaccine, The Human Story.
Big news, we are now fully searchable on YouTube.
We got out of YouTube jail, so you can find us that way.
But you can also find us on Spotify or any other podcast app.
And we take a look at the history of the smallpox vaccine and the evolution of the historical anti-vax movement.
If you're listening to this now, please go and check out both Liv's and Annie's podcasts.
They are great, and they are great people who we love dearly.
So go support them if you can.
It's very touching.
Thank you.
Listener, until next week.
May the Deep Dish bless you and keep you.
It's not a conspiracy.
It's a fact.
And now, today's Auto-Tune.
Happy Friday everyone and happy 4th of July weekend!
Hopefully you guys are going to be as obnoxiously patriotic as me and my family will be, especially in these days.
I want to thank so many of you for joining with us.
I know there's a lot of new people on here now.
Thank you for joining with us the last week as we've been fighting against big tech censorship and specifically how they've come against my social media accounts.
We have had an outpouring of support from congressmen to senators to the president's own son tweeting in our support and I really want to thank you.
We are going to continue to take a stand in this arena.
But listen, something even more absurd happened last night.
I could not believe it.
I was looking at my phone and I got an alert from the state of California and it said this, California bans singing in church.
And I like, I had to like do a double take and then a triple take.
I'm like, this can't be real.
I thought it was like a Babylon Bee satire article or something.
No, this is literal from the governor of California to the church.
And I want to read the exact ordinance that was forwarded to me from a senator in the state government.
It says this, Discontinue singing in rehearsals, services, etc.
Chanting and other practices and performances where there is an increased likelihood for transmission from contaminated exhaled droplets.
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