How Mike Johnson’s Relationship with WallBuilders Affects His Choices
With respect to James Carville, his You Tube Video titled “James Carville explains everything about Mike Johnson” was a mildly entertaining cornpone commentary that explained more about Louisiana history and geography than about House Speaker Mike Johnson. In the video, Carville describes some of the historical, cultural, and religious influences of the area in which Johnson was born and raised. Those things are worth knowing, but they’re just a starting point—nowhere close to “everything.”
The most-telling—and disturbing—insight about Speaker Johnson and his beliefs comes not from a Louisiana history lesson. Rather, it can be heard in a 2022 episode of his Truth Be Told podcast. In that podcast, Johnson declared the following: “Obviously, this is an increasingly hostile culture. We all know that. We need to understand why that is, and we need to commit to do our part to confront it. The kingdom of God allows aggression.” If that final sentence isn’t enough to send chills up your spine, next comes the most infuriatingly incorrect and disgracefully disturbing portion of his theocratic diatribe. To justify his claim, Johnson cites the Bible, specifically Matthew 11:12. “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.”
An Odious Misrepresentation
That Bible verse has become a veritable mantra for Christian Nationalist disciples. As a longtime evangelical, I’ve heard the verse quoted—and hideously misinterpreted—repeatedly. Isolated from its context, the verse does appear to endorse violence in the establishment of a theological kingdom. But, like any other book, the Bible deserves to be read and interpreted in proper context. So, here is the biblical context (Matthew 11:7-15, in the more-modern, easier-to-understand New King James version):
As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
The surrounding verses have nothing to do with any call to violence—or “aggression,” as Johnson referenced—in the establishment of a kingdom—or of violence for any purpose. The context plainly shows that Jesus was merely using a figure of speech when He spoke of a violent takeover of the kingdom. He was comparing the common people’s fervent response to John the Baptist’s preaching about the kingdom to the zeal of an invading army.
If there was any underlying element of militaristic concept within the verse, it was more likely the polar opposite of the interpretation conjured up by zealously ignorant modern-day Christian Nationalists. Darby’s translation of the verse highlights the absurdity of claiming this line as justification for a violent takeover of a national government. Here’s the Darby version: “But from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and [the] violent seize on it.” In other words, violent people are trying to hijack the kingdom.
If Darby’s translation is accurate, then Jesus was denouncing rather than condoning violent attempts to establish a godly kingdom. And here’s why John Nelson Darby is significant in this discussion about Christian Nationalism. Darby was an early proponent of the dispensational interpretation of the Bible, which will be explained below.
Three Views of God’s Eternal Kingdom
To truly understand Christian Nationalism, we must peel back the onion to its core, to the conflicting views about God’s kingdom. Within Christianity, there are three distinct views on what theologians refer to as the Millennial Kingdom. And while all three views proceed from the same starting point—found most prominently in Revelation 20—a direct line can be shown from one of those interpretations to modern-day Christian Nationalism. Revelation 20 references a 1,000-year kingdom ruled over by Jesus Christ, but when and how that kingdom will come about are elements that profoundly divide Christendom.
View #1: Amillennialism: This view, as the name implies, does not believe in a literal 1,000-year kingdom ruled by Christ on earth. Instead, it sees the Revelation 20 reference—and the many similar passages—as figuratively referring to the undetermined era between Jesus’ first advent and His eventual Second Coming. In other words, we are now living in a figurative millennial kingdom.
View #2: Premillennialism: According to this view, world conditions will continually deteriorate, and at some point during that deterioration, Jesus will return, establish His righteous and peaceful kingdom on Earth, and rule from Jerusalem.
View #3: Postmillennialism: This is the view with the direct line to Christian Nationalism. Postmillennialists believe that the Bible calls Christians to take control of key institutions—including governments—and establish a godly kingdom on Earth, which they will then hand over to the returning Lord Jesus.
Dispensationalism, Darby’s interpretation, comes directly from premillennialism (View #2). The dispensational view makes clear distinctions between eras seen within the Bible. And, as a result, also draws a clear distinction between the Bible’s Old and New Testaments. In this view, the Old Testament was written primarily about and to one people group: Israelites. The New Testament was written primarily about and to a different group, people from all nations who together make up the Church. Hence, interpreting Old Testament passages as applying directly to Christians today is unjustified. Likewise, trying to establish a theocratic government modeled after the Old Testament’s Israelite theocracy has no biblical basis.
In contrast to that view, because postmillennialists make no clear distinction between the Old and New Testaments—and because they often refer to the USA as the New Testament version of Old Testament Israel—establishing an American theocracy seems to them to be a biblical mandate. Convincing them otherwise is futile.
Postmillennial Infiltrations
All that I wrote above is true of theological systems and denominational declarations. But it is not necessarily true of individual churches and congregations. Churches that have historically subscribed to dispensational doctrine have not historically advocated for Christian Nationalism. But in recent decades, many churches that otherwise espouse dispensational views have been infiltrated by groups with Christian Nationalist predilections. So now, Christian Nationalist doctrine is prevalent throughout nearly every stripe of white evangelical churches.
Before postmillennial-inspired Christian Nationalism infiltrated white evangelical churches, first it penetrated many evangelical para-church organizations. Among those para-church organizations are Family Research Council (home of Tony Perkins who famously gave Donald Trump “a mulligan” regarding his many moral failings) and Focus on the Family, where I worked for five years as an editor in the ministry’s public policy division. That division was devoted to battling “godless liberals” on the front lines of “the culture war.”
But probably more responsible for that infiltration than any other evangelical organization is one that calls itself “WallBuilders.” (“Build that wall!”) WallBuilders—which claims to be “dedicated to presenting America’s forgotten history and heroes, with an emphasis on the moral, religious, and constitutional foundation on which America was built”—was founded and is led by a man named David Barton.
Barton presents himself as a serious historian and scholar. But his bio on his WallBuilders website omits any mention about his education. Here’s why: his formal education consists of a bachelor’s degree from Oral Roberts University. For those unfamiliar with that name, Oral Roberts was a prosperity gospel televangelist from the 60s and 70s who made a fortune bilking undereducated, gullible people. (Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?) Roberts’ fame—or infamy—largely sprang from his often bizarre antics such as his vision of a 900-foot-tall Jesus and his contention that God would “take him home” (through death) if his praying and fasting atop his prayer tower didn’t bring in $8 million in donations.
Oral Roberts’ twice-divorced, scandal-plagued son Richard took over his father’s “ministry” and now regularly hosts Barton on his TV show where the two of them pretend to piously pine for a return to the good old days when America was a godly, moral nation. Meanwhile, Barton has built (pilfered) a net worth estimated at $18 million, mostly from the same poor, gullible folks who helped Oral Roberts achieve a net worth of $20 million before his death in 2009.
Johnson’s Ties to Barton
And now back to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, and his ties to David Barton and WallBuilders. The November 10, 2023, issue of Politico reported that Johnson “appeared on Barton’s ‘WallBuilders’ podcast last May to decry the ‘weaponization’ of the FBI to go after pro-life protesters who block access to abortion clinics.” The article then added,
In 2021, Johnson spoke at Barton’s ProFamily Legislator’s Conference, where he talked about the impact of Barton’s teachings on his life. “I was introduced to David [Barton] and his ministry a quarter century ago, and it has had such a profound influence on me, and my work and my life, and everything I do,” Johnson told the crowd.
Meanwhile, the November 3, 2023, edition of the Texas Tribune newspaper reported,
February polling from the Public Religion Research Institute found that more than half of Republicans adhere to or sympathize with foundational aspects of Christian nationalism, including beliefs that the U.S. should be a strictly Christian nation. Of those respondents, PRRI found, roughly half supported having an authoritarian leader who maintains Christian dominance in society. Experts have also found strong correlations between Christian nationalist beliefs and opposition to immigration, racial justice and religious diversity.
That same Texas Tribune article cited Amanda Tyler of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a Christian organization that advocates for church-state separation:
"Baptists, she [Tyler] noted, have a long history of advocacy for strong church-state separations because of the persecution they faced during the country’s founding—a stance that she said [Mike] Johnson has betrayed throughout his legal and political career."
This is the Mike Johnson James Carville only began to warn us about.
This is the Mike Johnson recently elevated to one of the most important roles in our nation’s government.
This is the Mike Johnson who might prove to be even more dangerous than the man he tried so desperately—and illegally—to reinstate to the presidency in 2021.