How AI Is Competing with Religion in the Cosmic Battle Between Good and Evil

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., March 29, 2025 

Lance Wallnau is a charlatan campaigning for God and Donald Trump in the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil.  The Wall Street Journal has described Wallnau as “one of the most important figures in the new Apostolic Reformation;” but Walnau now has competition beyond religion with artificial intelligence (AI) and the algorithms of social media. 

AI is competing with religion and reason to define God’s truth on social media, while Wallnau exploits emotional displays and healings among evangelical and charismatic Christians.  John Wesley was a 19th century Anglican priest who warned his followers to be skeptical of the kind of emotional displays used by Wallnau. 

Religion and politics are interwoven with moral standards of legitimacy that originate in religion and  apply to politics.  Standards of legitimacy should be determined by reason and faith; but since popularity has become the measure of success in both politics and religion, AI has mimicked God’s truth on standards of legitimacy that were once the province of religion.

In the greatest commandment Jesus taught that God’s will is that we love God and our neighbors, including those of other races and religions, as we love ourselves. In the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil, God’s will is to reconcile and redeem, while Satan’s will is to divide and conquer; but demagogues like Trump have done convincing imitations of God in politics and the church, leaving the victor in the cosmic battle for God’s truth in doubt.

Altruistic love is needed to promote the common good that’s required to restore political legitimacy in America’s tribal politics; but spiritual warfare based on religious differences has exploited political differences and prevented reconciliation.  Crowds cheering Trump and declining church attendance in mainline churches remind us that we can no longer rely on the church to be the moral steward of American democracy.

AI and its fake news have become major factors in the battle for truth, with internet algorithms challenging reason and religion to define God’s truth.  The standard for legitimacy for all who claim to be Christians should be the altruistic teachings of Jesus as the word of God, but the church continues to promote exclusivist doctrines never taught by Jesus as God’s will.  

In a 2023 commentary on Entering a New Era of AI Without Understanding Its Potential Dangers, I admitted I didn’t understand the dangers of AI--and I still don’t understand those dangers.  The cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil continues unabated.  And so long as unprincipled demagogues like Trump continue to use religion and the misrepresentations of AI to sustain their political power, the victor in the cosmic battle between good and evil will remain a mystery. 

Notes:

Martin Malley has confirmed the deceptions of Trump and Musk that social security will not be affected.  https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/martin-omalley-trump-musk-social-security-florida-seniors-1235302956/.  Musk has even asserted that social security is a ponzi scheme.

“In 2022 JD Vance spoke at a Christian political event hosted by Lance Wallnau, and he is one of the chief proponents of a radical religious doctrine that helped fuel the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. See JD Vance and the Prophets of Trumpism, at https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/06/opinion/jd-vance-lance-wallnau-seven-mountains.html.

“Lance Wallnau, is a self-styled prophet in a fast-growing evangelical movement.  He came down off the stage to lay his hands on people who had requested prayers. Then he explained why re-electing Donald Trump is essential to save America. “Don’t think for a moment that it isn’t possible for this country to veer off course and go over a cliff in November,” Wallnau told about 2,000 people gathered under a tent in late July. “It’s quite possible, and the only thing that can arrest that is an activated, catalyzed body of Christian patriots.” Wallnau is one of the most important figures in the New Apostolic Reformation in evangelical Christianity.  He blends direct experience of the Holy Spirit with a call to engage in politics as a form of “spiritual warfare.” He opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, but his main goal is to elevate Christians to greater influence to transform society.  Matthew Taylor, a scholar who tracks the New Apostolic Reformation, says that no evangelical leader did more than Wallnau to provide a theological rationale for religious conservatives to accept Trump. “Wallnau was already popular,” said Taylor, of the Maryland-based Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies. “But he became a mega evangelical celebrity through his endorsement of Trump.” Now, Taylor sees Wallnau as presenting a threat beyond his advocacy for a political candidate. “I would call Lance Wallnau a Christian supremacist,” Taylor says. “He wants Christians to be in charge of society and to tear down the wall of separation between church and state.”

On Evangelicals Calling for “Spiritual Warfare” to Elect Trump, from  Wall Street Journal at https://apple.news/A6Tr6GeWSRACG9ySoKrW34g.

On  Entering a New Era of AI Without Understanding the Potential Dangers (11/25/23), see 

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/11/musings-on-entering-new-era-of-ai.html.

David Brooks has opined that “the people in AI seem to be experiencing radically different brain states all at once, and it is incredibly hard to write about AI because it is literally unknowable whether this technology is leading us to heaven or hell.”  In the same commentary I cited Ezra Klein who opined, “Science fiction writers and AI researchers have long feared the machine that you cannot turn off.”  I continue to share the doubts of David Brooks and Ezra Klein, and today I am no closer to understanding whether AI is good or bad than I was in 2023.

 

On What Is Truth #40 (August 30, 2015), see https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/what-is-truth.html.

On How Altruistic Values Can Prevent a Dysfunctional Democracy, see commentary #481 (2/3/24), see https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/02/musings-on-how-altruistic-values-can.html. 

Musings on How Reason Can Counter Human Depravity in Religion and Politics

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., March 22, 2025

Human depravity is a theological concept that originated with original sin.  John Calvin believed that depravity plagued everyone and could only be overcome with God’s grace.  I don’t pretend to understand the nature of God’s amazing grace, but I have lived long enough to know that humans have corrupted both their religion and politics with their depravity.

Depravity is not just a theological concept.  It’s the result of popularity being the measure of success in both our religion and democratic politics.  Popularity doesn’t confer either legitimacy or virtue in either domain, and it has corrupted American religion and politics.  It’s now essential that America rely on reason to restore legitimacy to both our religion and politics.

History has proven that power corrupts, and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.  That has been self-evident in the political regimes of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, and Benjamin Netanyahu.  They have nationalized their religions with radical right politics that lack legitimacy and deny the moral imperative to provide for the common good.

Arrogance may be acceptable in politics, but not in religion where the teachings of Jesus make altruistic morality and reason joint priorities for political legitimacy.  Narcissism is now the norm, with human depravity corrupting both democracy and religion.  An emphasis on altruistic morality and reason is needed to save Christianity from the dustbin of history.

The Catholic church has made that moral distinction, but it has failed to condemn narcissistic politicians like Trump.  The Constitution provides legal standards, but it cannot prohibit the voluntary immoral standards of politicians.  Since pastors are reluctant to criticize the morality of popular politicians, the church has lost its power to influence voters.

Thomas Jefferson exemplified the fusion of reason and morality.  He was a Founding Father who drafted the Declaration of Independence, and considered the teachings of Jesus “the most sublime moral code ever designed by man.”  The scholars of The Jesus Seminar recognized Jefferson as “a son of the Enlightenment who scrutinized the gospels to separate the teachings of Jesus as a figure of history from the encrustations of Christian doctrine.”  

Churches have ignored Jefferson’s heterodox views and promoted Christian doctrines never taught by Jesus that trump the teachings of Jesus.  The Jefferson Bible emphasizes the teachings of Jesus that are compatible with reason as the primary standard of legitimacy for Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers who drafted the Constitution.

Most of the miracles of Jesus can be explained by the transforming power of God’s love, and were compatible with reason rather than divine magic.  If the church were to focus on the transforming power of God’s altruistic love taught by Jesus, the church could become a moral steward of democracy and counter human depravity in religion and politics.    

     

Notes:

On John Calvin and human depravity, see Wilkipdia at   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_depravity#:~:text=John%20Calvin%20used%20terms%20like,of%20fallen%20humanity%20than%20Calvin.

On the teachings of Jesus being subordinated to church doctrines never taught by Jesus, see The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus, The Five Gospels: What Did Jesus Really Say? New Translation and Commentary By Robert W. Fink, Roy W. Hoover and The Jesus Seminar,  The Seven Pillars of Scholarly Wisdom, pages 2-5, A Polebridge Press Book, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1993.

         

On The Jefferson Bible compiled by Thomas Jefferson while he was President, see The Preface to the Jefferson Bible, The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, by Thomas Jefferson, The Beacon Press, 1989. Peter Manseau, the curator of American religious history at the Smithsonian, offers his definitive description of Jefferson’s peculiar book toward the end of his account of the work’s reception: “Jefferson did edit and arrange verses from the Gospels to craft a unified account of the life and teachings of Jesus with which he [Jefferson himself] could agree, and which would comport with the dictates of reason. No good faith reckoning with the book itself could lead to any other conclusion.” Jefferson chose each word. Each cut-and-paste of Scripture, including the slicing off of parts of verses, represented a choice, a deliberation that reflected his understanding of Jesus as a man of the Enlightenment—and his sharp dismissal of anything that seemed to violate the laws of nature or communicate claims for Jesus’ divinity. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1120Y_2KWrXoMAoWtS6ACezLMv-HOLhybWmI_JDU4sIU/edit?tabSee also, When Thomas Jefferson rewrote the Bible at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1120Y_2KWrXoMAoWtS6ACezLMv-HOLhybWmI_JDU4sIU/edit?

See earlier commentaries on religion, morality, legitimacy and reason, see Religion and Reason, at https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2014/12/religion-and-reason.html; also on 

Legitimacy as a Context and a Paradigm to Resolve Religious Conflict at

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/legitimacy-as-context-and-paradigm-to.html; and on What Is Truth? at https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/what-is-truth.html, also,          The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves, at 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/the-politics-of-loving-our-neighbors-as.html, also  Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery at

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/03/religion-democracy-diversity-and.html.

Legitimacy as a Context and a Paradigm to Resolve Religious Conflict at

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/legitimacy-as-context-and-paradigm-to.html; and What Is Truth? at https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/what-is-truth.html; also The Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves, at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/the-politics-of-loving-our-neighbors-as.html; also  Religion, Democracy, Diversity and Demagoguery at

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/03/religion-democracy-diversity-and.html.

also, Saving America from the Church at   https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/01/saving-america-from-church.html; 

also, Is Religion Reasonable and Relevant or Is It Ridiculous and Corrupts Our Politics?,  https://www.religionlegitimacyandpoliticscom/2017/01/religion-and-reason-redux-religion-is.html.

Also, Legitimacy as a Context and a Paradigm to Resolve Religious Conflict at

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/08/legitimacy-as-context-and-paradigm-to.html; and Musings on Christian Nationalism: A Plague on the Church and Democracy, at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/08/musings-on-christian-nationalism-plague.html.

Musings on How Congress Has Abdicated Its Constitutional Powers to President Trump

By Rudy Barnes, Jr.

Members of Congress are sworn to support and defend the Constitution with its separation of powers as political checks and balances.  A  New York Times article on March 14 reported that those in Trump’s Republican Congress ignored their Constitutional obligations and “enthusiastically turned over its powers to Trump’s White House.” See  https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-republicans-congress-power.html. 

In 2020 I wrote a commentary on the Demise of American Democracy: Is It Deja Vu All Over Again?  And on March 8, 2025 I wrote on How Trump Has Undermined Trust in America.   https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2025/03/musings-on-how-trump-has-undermined.html.  In February 2025 I opined that if a new majority in Congress is not elected in the 2026 elections, Trump will have the power to end Constitutional democracy as we know it.  A March 14,  2025 article in The NYTimes article indicates that our worst fears may now be realized. https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2025/02/musings-on-demise-of-american-democracy.html. 

 

After Trump’s first term and his campaign promises in the 2024 election We should have seen this Constitutional crisis coming.  Democracy is only as strong as a majority of its voters make it; and it appears that a majority of American voters are split between Trump’s Republican regime.  NBC news reported on February 15 that 53% of voters support the Trump regime.

Polarized partisan politics have corrupted American democracy since the 1850’s, when  Abraham Lincoln led the fledgling Republican Party to assume power before the Civil War.  That terrible war merely reversed the parties in power.  Until the 1960’s South Carolina was a one- party Democratic (blue) state; today it’s a one-party Republican (red) state.

American politics are a two-party duopoly.  Third party candidates cannot compete with institutional partisan political structures, and candidates won’t run for office unless they have a reasonable chance of winning.  That limits candidates to the two major parties; and both parties attract demagogues like Trump and Musk.

 Voters share culpability with Trump and Musk for the Constitutional crisis.  It’s as much about the loss of political legitimacy among voters as it is about Trump and Musk.  Without voters affirming the primacy of the Constitution over autocracy in 2026, the Constitution is in real danger.  The political devastation of Trump’s Republican Congress could be a requiem for the end of American democracy. 

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2025/02/musings-on-demise-of-american-democracy.html. 

Notes:

How a GOP Congress that Ceded its Constitutional Power to Trump Eroded Its Influence https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/us/politics/trump-republicans-congress-power.html.

By Carl Ulse and Catie Edmondson, NYTimes, March 14, 2025.  

The Republican-led Congress isn’t just watching the Trump administration gobble up its constitutional powers. It’s enthusiastically turning them over to the White House.

GOP lawmakers are doing so this week by embracing a stopgap spending bill that gives the administration wide discretion over how federal dollars are distributed, in effect handing off the legislative branch’s spending authority to President Trump. But that is just one example of how Congress, under unified Republican control, is proactively relinquishing some of its critical authority on oversight, economic issues, and more.

As they cleared the way for passing the spending measure on Tuesday, House Republicans leaders also quietly surrendered their chamber’s ability to undo Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China in an effort to shield their Republican cohorts from having to take a politically tough vote. That ended the only legislative recourse that Congress had to challenge the tariffs that are all but certain to have a major impact on their constituents.  Republicans have also stood by, many of them cheering, as the administration has upended federal departments and programs funded by Congress and fired thousands of workers with no notice to or consultation with the lawmakers charged with overseeing federal agencies.

So far, no congressional committee has held an oversight hearing to scrutinize the moves or demand answers that would typically be expected when an administration undertakes such major changes.  “This is us, in a sense, giving the keys to the president to be able to continue to do the great work that they’re doing.” Those were the words of Representative Michael Cloud (R-Tex) explaining his support for the stopgap funding the House passed this week and that is pending in the Senate.  This is us, in a sense, giving the keys to the president,” said Cloud.

But the sentiment he described encapsulates the overarching attitude of Republicans in Congress at the dawn of Mr. Trump’s second term, as they happily acknowledge they are turning control over to the president, who in turn is benefiting from perhaps the most compliant Congress in history, congratulating his supporters and condemning his opponents.

“They are actively giving it away,” Senator Martin Heinrich, Democrat of New Mexico, said of his Republican colleagues’ attitude toward congressional authority. “And they are doing so in an atmosphere where it’s clear this administration is willing to abuse the power they already have.”

In the past, lawmakers of both parties have fiercely protected their turf, pushing back strongly at moments when presidents have attempted to usurp congressional prerogatives. They saw Article I of the Constitution as reflecting their branch’s primary importance in a system of checks and balances.  They saw the executive branch as meaning to administer their designs. Presidents came and went, members would often say, while Congress remained a constant. With the House and Senate so polarized and legislative success so difficult to achieve in recent years, power has been inexorably gravitating down Capitol Hill toward the White House, which has been more than willing to try and exercise it with executive orders and other unilateral action. But Trump is taking the shift to new levels with his iron grip on congressional Republicans exercised through a combination of cultivating warm personal relationships with them and the constant threat that they will pay a hefty political price for crossing him.

“This is the Super Bowl,” Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News in describing how Congress would work with Mr. Trump to change the way government functions. “This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for our entire careers, and finally, the stars have aligned so we can do that better.” But Trump, Musk and other top administration officials have already made it clear that they have little regard for Congress’s authority, and Mr. Johnson has positioned himself more as a subordinate to the president than the leader of a coequal branch of government with its own power. And once lawmakers have yielded their authority, they will find it hard to claw it back.

“For the moment, Republicans do not appear to be concerned with the precedent they are setting. Conservative House G.O.P. lawmakers who typically oppose appropriations bills backed this week’s short-term spending bill precisely because it would hand Mr. Trump much of the authority for funding decisions that Congress would usually reserve for itself. They said they were reversing themselves in part because the Trump administration had already demonstrated it would disregard congressional instructions to allocate money for programs lawmakers voted to fund. Democrats cited that as a reason to reject the bill, but Republicans said it gave them confidence that the administration would withhold money and reduce spending no matter what Congress said.

Republicans’ willingness to allow Trump and Musk to snatch away Congress’s vaunted power of the purse has inflamed Democrats with the power grab for a blank check short-term spending bill. “House Republicans didn’t merely refuse to address the lawlessness we have seen from Trump and Musk,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the senior Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “They would actually empower it with this bill, because the House Republicans’ bill fails to include the typical detailed spending directives, the basic guardrails that Congress provides each year in our funding bills.”

Still, Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, moved on Thursday to line up Democratic votes to allow the stopgap funding bill to move forward in the Senate, arguing that a shutdown would actually cede even more power to Trump and Musk.

Congressional Republicans have also relinquished some of their power on economic issues. They gave up any possibility of holding a House vote this year to overturn tariffs enacted by the president. The power to impose such levies was originally vested with the legislative branch, but lawmakers over time have increasingly delegated it to the executive. Still, under current law, Congress can vote to undo tariffs imposed by the president.  Under language that GOP leaders tucked into a procedural measure this week, that law would effectively be nullified. “They are abdicating their most important Constitutional obligation: oversight over the executive branch on trade,” said Representative Richard E. Neal of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee who had led the effort to force a vote on resolutions to end the tariffs. “Republicans have unequivocally showed us who they are — cowards who kowtow to the president on everything including the economy.”