John Piper’s Minnesota minions are apparently rejoicing in answered prayers tonight as yet another one of their neighbors has been shot dead by ICE.
Two weeks ago, Andy Naselli, pastor of Christ the King Church in Stillwater, Minn., and professor of systematic theology and New Testament at Piper’s Bethlehem Seminary, prayed ICE would be “a terror” and God’s “righteous avengers who carry out your wrath on wrongdoers.”
Citing Psalm 58, Naselli prayed God would use ICE to break the teeth of the wicked people of Minneapolis, and then to tear out their fangs, make them vanish, cause them to fail, to melt like a slug and to become like stillborn children.
Rick Pidcock
His prayer was so popular with violent TheoBros that it was published by the Center for Baptist Leadership.
One week later, Naselli appeared on the Center for Baptist Leadership podcast with Joe Rigney, the Doug Wilson henchman who once was a pastor at Cities Church, where David Easterwood serves as one of the elders while also serving as director of the ICE field office that is overseeing all these murders. Rigney also occasionally flies to Washington, D.C., to preach at Wilson’s Christ Kirk church plant where Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attends.
In Naselli and Rigney’s conversation with William Wolfe, the men called ICE “one of the most critical government agencies in our nation right now,” claiming, “In many ways, they’re the heroes.” They called Jonathan Ross, the officer who murdered Renee Good, an “All American hero.” They also said George Floyd “died of a drug overdose” and Michael Brown’s murder in Ferguson, Mo “was justified.”
So how do the TheoBros who claim empathy is a sin react to a half dozen ICE agents beating and murdering a helpless man?
Wolfe posted on X, “Another foolish person has lost their life trying to obstruct ICE. Here’s my reaction: I don’t care.”
After receiving pushback, he responded by saying: “Your boos mean nothing, I’ve seen what makes you cheer. I’m right. You’re all wrong. This is the appropriate Christian response to the demonic lawless Left trying to destroy our country.”
Wolfe went on to say Minnesota Democrats “need to feel the full weight of a firm hand of discipline from Daddy Trump.”
He called Don Lemon and anti-ICE protesters “Klansmen.”
Then he posted an image from ICE of a stealth bomber flying over a cowboy with the slogan, “We’ll have our home again.”
“God bless ICE and DHS. Total patriots, every one of them. They are the true heirs of the Spirit of 1776,” Wolfe added. “When this is over and we win, we will build monuments to their labors across the land.”
Of course, monuments are built for war heroes. And conservatives have been talking about civil war for many years. They fantasize about it, sing about it, play Canaanite conquest cosplay through Jericho marches and U.S. Capitol insurrections over it. They crave the idea of destroying us all.
Because John Piper platformed and promoted Doug Wilson among his Minnesota minions, we now have networks of complementarian Calvinist church planters and influencers like Naselli, Rigney, Wolfe and the pastors of Cities Church who are openly praying they can experience peace through the violent suppression of their neighbors.
It’s no coincidence the same people defending ICE’s violent murder of their neighbors during the week are led on Sundays by ICE directors and with songs that contain the lyrics, “Praise is the water my enemies drown in.”
Ten days before the 2024 election, then candidate Donald Trump addressed an assembly of worship warriors on the National Mall, as Sean Feucht prayed Psalm 68: “May God arise. May his enemies be scattered. May his foes flee before him. May you blow them away like smoke as wax melts before the fire. May the wicked perish before God. May the righteous be glad and rejoice before God. May they be happy and joyful. Sing to God and sing in praise of his name. Extol him who rides upon the clouds. Rejoice before him. His name is the Lord.”
I wondered then what Feucht and his worship warriors meant by praying for us to be scattered and blown away. Now that our neighbors are literally being scattered and blown away, how is Feucht responding?
He posted, “How to not get shot by ICE: 1) Do not resist arrest. 2) Also, do not resist arrest while touching a loaded firearm.”
Of course, Feucht is repeating the lies of Kristi Noem and the Trump administration. I shouldn’t even have to stoop to detailing how dishonest these people are. We’ve all seen the videos. We’re supposed to believe the person who was being beaten by a half dozen men and then shot and killed was the one being violent and that the men who were beating and shooting him were defending themselves?
“The only people who believe that nonsense are people in a cult.”
We’re supposed to believe Kristi Noem’s claims that ICE is operating with historic safety and their agents have been trained at the highest levels they’ve ever been trained?
We’re supposed to believe that having a concealed carry permit means you’re a terrorist?
We’re supposed to believe a man holding his cell phone and helping a woman was trying to start a massacre?
No. The only people who believe that nonsense are people in a cult. Our conservative family and friends who share the Trump administration’s propaganda about these murders aren’t correcting the record. They’re gaslighting us.
The Trump administration has proved itself repeatedly to be completely untrustworthy. They’ve created a cult. The followers of Trump are no more in touch with reality than the people who followed David Koresh or any of the other cult leaders we’ve seen through the years.
Now the cult of Trump is considering invoking the Insurrection Act, which would unleash the power of the United States military on Minneapolis.
And who is in charge of the Department of War?
One of John Piper and Doug Wilson’s cult members, Pete Hegseth.
In his book, American Crusade, Hegseth wrote, “Our American Crusade is not about literal swords, and our fight is not with guns. Yet.”
At some point, we need to start being honest about what we all know is happening here. Whether or not we want to name what’s happening as a new Civil War, the reality is we are all now the victims of an American Crusade. For the cult of Trump, that has been aided and abetted by mainstream conservative evangelical ministries like John Piper’s Desiring God and Tim Keller’s The Gospel Coalition who platformed Doug Wilson.
They want to scatter us and blow us away.
The reason these men are responding to our suffering not with lament and grief but with smug celebration is that the breaking of our teeth and the death of our bodies are the answers to their prayers.
Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He completed a Master of Arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and produces music under the artist name Provoke Wonder. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.