“The Lord is summoning A Million Women, Esthers, young and old with their husbands and children to gather to the Washington, D.C., Mall October 12, the Day of Atonement, in a LAST STAND moment for America,” said Lou Engle’s announcement for last Saturday’s event.
As it turned out, tens of thousands of people showed up to join Engle, Lance Wallnau and other self-declared prophets, apostles and Christian Dominionists for a time of prayer, worship and apocalyptic partisan politics 24 days before the Nov. 5 elections.
Lou Engle
The event occurred on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. (See an edited video of the 10-hour event here.)
Engle, who says God calls him to organize events through visions and dreams, served as emcee, introducing guests and praying for God to bless America as his body swayed rhythmically.
Wallnau, part of the New Apostolic Reformation, derided those Christians who plan to sit out this year’s election, saying they’ve been “bombarded by woke preachers and apathetic Christians.” Other speakers included Michele Bachmann, who works with James Dobson Family Institute and serves as dean of Pat Robertson’s Regent University, and the Messianic Jewish author Jonathan Cahn.
Thousands in the crowd wore pink shirts reading “Don’t Mess With Our Kids,” a reference to fears about “gender confusion” and transgender treatments Republicans are using to turn out the vote.
Participants in A Million Women smash s cultic altar built just for the event. (Screencap)
Jennifer Donnely of Her Voice Movement has hosted anti-trans gatherings in 50 state capitals. She told the crowd Democrats would usher in a society where “it’s going to be OK for a 54-year-old to be married to a 4-year-old.”
Unlike the Courage Tour and FlashPoint Live tour that have taken pro-Trump “prophets” around the country to drum up support for Republicans in the closing months of the 2024 election season, A Million Women was a one-time event organized by Engle, who has spent the last 25 years traveling the world and organizing massive events that condemn homosexuality and abortion while seeking to motivate voters.
The attendance at Saturday’s women event was a significant decrease from Engle’s signature event, The Call DC, which brought some 400,000 people to the National Mall in 2000.
More election-related events are planned in the next few weeks. Worship warrior Sean Feucht, who calls Engle a mentor, brings his “Kingdom to the Capitol” event to D.C. Oct. 26, and the pro-Trump group Turning Point Faith is hosting its National Day of Prayer and Fasting two days before the Nov. 5 election. The Turning Point event was promoted at Saturday’s women’s event.
Engle’s events seamlessly blend the otherworldly and the political. “The blood (of Jesus) is our weapon,” he said at one event. “Just begin to pray the blood of Jesus over your state, over your city.”
Matthew Taylor
These events showcase the politicization of America’s independent charismatics and neo-Pentecostals and the “charismaticization of right-wing politics,” according to Matthew Taylor, author of The Violent Take It by Force. Taylor attended Saturday’s event in D.C. and was interviewed by two major outlets that covered it: NBC News and The Guardian.
Taylor summarized Saturday’s event for NBC’s Mike Hixenbaugh, author of They Came for the Schools: One Town’s Fight Over Race and Identity, and the New War for America’s Classrooms.
“This is about activating the most ardent Christian supporters of Donald Trump, putting them into an apocalyptic mindset that says this election is do or die for America,” Taylor told NBC. “The danger is that these folks can easily be converted over into Capitol rioters if the right circumstances come about and if their leaders give them that guidance.”
Taylor said Engle has been affiliated with People of Destiny, the Vineyard movement and Peter Wagner, who helped launch the New Apostolic Reformation and align it with Trump before his death in 2016.
The website for Lou Engle Ministries, which is based in Colorado Springs, says he is “prophetically declaring that we are on the verge of the third great awakening, and Jesus the evangelist will be manifested in great salvation and deliverance power. … Billy Graham’s mantle is falling on a new generation of evangelists, and streets and stadiums will be filled with a new song of God’s salvation.”
Engle’s ministry did not respond to requests to discuss the women’s event in D.C. He did discuss the event in an October appearance on the Family Research Council’s “Live with Tony Perkins.”
Engle’s increasing his involvement with politics led him to create a 501(c)4 charity that allows him to do lobbying and partisan activism, according to People for the American Way.
Engle is outspoken in opposing and demonizing LGBTQ people. He has said homosexuality is demonic, called for gay sex to be criminalized and lent his support to sponsors of legislation in Uganda authorizing the death penalty for gays and lesbians.
Engle’s isn’t the only group trying to capitalize on unfounded claims of a “million” supporters. The American Family Association operates the websites OneMillionMoms.com and OneMillionDads.com to rally Christian activists to contact companies asking them to drop their advertising from objectionable TV shows. But AFA declines to say how many people actually support these boycott efforts.
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