Charismatic Revival Fury, Ep 3 Part I: Sean Feucht, Lance Wallnau, and the Seven Mountains
There are two phenomena that we hear a lot about these days in connection to the NAR: The Seven Mountains Mandate and Sean Feucht. The former is a theology, or ideology, or brand depending on who you ask. It proposes that Christians have a call to dominate every sphere, or mountain, of earthly existence--from the economy to entertainment to politics. It was first popularized by Lance Wallnau, a popular figure in NAR circles and one of C. Peter Wagner's closest followers.
But before diving into the Seven Mountains and Wallnau, we need to figure out where another ubiquitous NAR phenomenon came from - the Charismatic Troubdaor Sean Feucht.
In Part I of this episode, Matt explains Feucht's origin story, his rise to fame, and why he represents the power of the NAR movement.
In Part II, Matt connects Feucht's use of mountain imagery to the Seven Mountains theology popularized by Lance Wallnau.
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Axis Mundi In the summer of 2020, at the same time that Che Ahn was defying the California COVID restrictions at his church in Southern California, A new prototype of a religious right leader was just breaking onto the scene in Northern California.
His name was Sean Foyt.
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, is going to shut down all indoor church meetings this week.
Singing has been banned at all church services in California.
This is a new statewide action, effective today.
And I heard that, I was like, okay, it's on.
Possible super spreader concert.
They are packed in front of that stage.
Mostly mascots.
John Ford.
Let us worship.
It's a super spreader event.
You are not welcome.
Of course you guys know what we're gonna do.
We're not gonna back down.
Let's go!
Sean Foyt isn't an apostle or a prophet.
He's a worship leader and a provocateur.
A now ubiquitous, blonde-haired, hippie-looking, charismatic, right-wing Christian nationalist of the first order.
And his rise and his identity have everything to do with the new apostolic reformation.
Welcome to Charismatic Revival Fury: The New Apostolic Reformation, a special series by Straight White American Jesus, created and written by Dr. Matthew Taylor and produced by me, created and written by Dr. Matthew Taylor and produced by me, Brad Our sound engineer is Scott Okamoto.
If you enjoy the series, please think about giving us a review on Apple Podcast, hitting subscribe in your podcast player, and checking out all that we do at Straight White American Jesus on our website and on our Patreon.
Thanks for being here.
Here's the show.
But I want to remind you that the New Apostolic Reformation is the most radical change in the way of doing church since the Protestant Reformation.
That's what we're springing off into the 21st century.
And Jay, who's going to rise up, and we're going to rule and reign through President Trump, and under the worship of Jesus Christ, riots and revival actually erupt together.
Why shouldn't we be the ones leading the way in all spheres of society?
There's this illusion of revival coming.
There's a rushing mighty wind on steroids.
I said many years ago that we would even come to a place of civil war if this continues.
Music.
We'll be right back.
All right, Matt.
So, Sean Foyt is not an apostle, not a prophet, not even really a pastor.
Who is Sean Foyt?
As I said, Sean Foyt is a worship leader.
He's a songwriter.
Sort of a charismatic Revival Fury troubadour.
He looks like a younger blonde Weird Al Yankovic.
He comes most recently out of Bethel Church in Redding, California.
And Bethel, for those who don't know it, is probably the most prominent apostolic prophetic hub in the U.S.
It's led by Apostle Bill Johnson and Prophet Chris Vallotton.
Bethel has incredible influence in what I call the worship music industrial complex.
It has its own music label, worship songs that are being played in countless churches.
It's a real force in that worship music industry.
And Sean Foyt was actually a small part of that Bethel breakout into popular worship.
He released a worship album with them in 2018.
Another central element at Bethel is what is called the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry.
This is a school that was founded right around the same time as Wagner Leadership Institute.
But whereas WLI has always catered to mid-career folks who want to get some more training in, as Wagner put it, impartation and ministry, BSSM has always focused more on college-age folks, getting them while they're young.
And so you have today 2,000-plus students coming from all over the world To Bethel in Redding, California, which is very close to the California-Oregon border.
It's very remote.
They go there to learn how to heal, how to cast out demons, how to prophesy, and even raise the dead.
So that's the world Sean Foyt emerges from.
Intensive worship music, apostolic and prophetic leadership, and expecting miracles around every corner.
Before going to Bethel, Foyt was part of a charismatic apostolic church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania called Life Center.
From 2019 into early 2020, Floyd attempted to run for Congress in Northern California, and he failed badly and lost in the primary.
Anyway, I ran for U.S.
Congress in a very difficult district in the Bay Area, and came in with all the optimism, we're going to flip this thing around!
And the sad reality is the church didn't vote.
They didn't show up.
And California went crazy.
I could not get rid of that feeling of knowing that I saw behind the veil in the political realm.
During Donald Trump's first impeachment in December of 2019, while Foyt was still a candidate for office in California, he and a bunch of Bethel leaders and other charismatic worship leaders from around the country go to the White House to show their support for Trump.
They meet with Trump in the Oval Office, and this meeting produced an iconic photo.
I'd encourage you to go look it up.
You have 50 young, hip, ethnically diverse Christian worship leaders arrayed around Trump, who's seated at the Resolute Desk.
And Sean Foyt is the one guy with his hand out awkwardly touching Trump's sleeve, like he's hoping to get a blessing just by having physical contact with Trump.
If only I could touch the hem of his garment, you know?
There are a lot of charismatic guitar playing worship leaders in the evangelical and Pentecostal worlds.
Sean Foyt's one of many.
So how did he get so famous?
Floyd has been a known quantity in charismatic worship circles for quite a while, but in July of 2020, the middle of the first COVID summer, Just weeks after George Floyd was murdered.
Right about the exact same time that Che On is beginning to defy the California congregational COVID restrictions, Foyt decides he's going to hold a big open-air worship concert on the Golden Gate Bridge.
And this is in violation of local COVID restrictions.
So Foyt decides to call the concert, Let Us Worship.
Let's just begin to clap this song.
Let Us Worship.
Voight and his team make sure that they video this concert.
And within about a day of the actual concert, a slickly edited video is up online showing this group on the Golden Gate Bridge.
And this stunt really strikes a chord and goes viral.
It keys into what a lot of conservative Christians are feeling four months into the pandemic.
They're cooped up, Wanting to get back to in-person church or other gatherings.
Frustrated with restrictions.
Skeptical that COVID is real or really a threat.
Floyd decides to take this Let Us Worship tour on the road.
He hits dozens of cities over the course of the rest of 2020.
He often targets his worship concerts for Black Lives Matter protests in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder.
And sometimes he intentionally plays loudly over the shouts of BLM protesters.
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