[ Bell tolls ]
-Heavenly Father,
we come to you today.
We thank you for this nation
that was born in 1776.
We pray in 2020
it would be born again.
[ Clanging ]
-The Associated Press said
that Joe Biden is president.
Ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
-Ha-ha, h*-h*, un-da-ha.
-There is no such things
as trans kids.
-Y'all bunch-a Qs, y'all
bunch-a Qs, y'all bunch-a Qs.
-And the deep state
is about to manifest,
and it's going to be a showdown
like you can't believe.
-[ Shouting indistinctly ]
-Yes!
[ Singing in tongues ]
-How far have we fallen
that other people
are not allowed in society
'cause they don't do what
the government tells them to?
-Spiritual warfare is a reality.
-For anybody who wonders
what are the actual dangers
of QAnon, here it is.
-I execute judgment on you,
COVID-19!
- Oh, Lord!
- You destroyer! You k*ller!
You get out,
you get off this nation!
-In America, we don't
worship government.
We worship God.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
We are calling for a great
reawakening of America.
-We are declaring w*r!
-This is spiritual warfare 101.
-This is not politics as usual!
Because we are in a time
of warfare.
-Last time on
"The Search for Q"...
What happens when people feel
like they've been
disenfranchised?
It's not going to be
an 18-year-old
that's gonna overthrow
the government.
-You'd rather hear a lie
than the truth?
Well, that's your problem.
Not mine.
-Can I get a refund?
-This guy, now,
he's from Israel.
-Do you think Q will
ever come back?
- Who?
- Q.
- Q what?
- [ Chuckles ]
- Are you Q?
- I'm asking...
-This guy's Q! Look!
[ Crowd cheering ]
-We found Q!
♪♪
-The Great Awakening
was mentioned by Q
in over 40 drops.
It refers to a watershed moment
where the deep state
will be exposed
and brought to military justice.
-The Great Awakening
has only just begun.
-It is now part of the prophecy
which Anons believe is their
duty to bring into existence.
-But the term wasn't
invented by Q.
In the early 1700s,
the Great Awakening
was a religious revival
that traveled
from colony to colony.
Christian leaders would invoke
spiritual warfare,
Christian nationalism,
and individual sovereignty,
which eventually
encouraged the colonies
to rise up against the British.
Under revival tents like these,
the Great Awakening
has taken on a new meaning.
Led by Lieutenant General
Mike Flynn
and a group of partisan pastors,
the ReAwaken tour preaches
spiritual warfare to thousands.
-Are you angry enough
to take the nation back now?
[ Crowd cheers ]
Now! Now!
-Now! Now!
-But this time around,
the enemy isn't
a foreign overlord.
-At the ReAwaken America Tour,
the Bible is used to justify
the same conspiracies
that Q popularized,
turning American citizens
against one another
and their own government.
-In Christ's holy name we pray!
- Amen!
- Amen!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-This is obviously not theirs.
-You will not wear masks
in this church!
Do not get vaccinated!
Joe Biden's days are numbered!
I said they're numbered!
-In Tennessee, we meet with
revivalist pastor Greg Locke,
a regular speaker
on the ReAwaken tour.
He's at the forefront
of this new class of pastors
whose sermons blend scripture
with politics
and push many of the conspiracy
theories promoted by Q.
-The Pope is an evil man.
He is a wicked, nefarious man
that is a part of
all this child sex trafficking
around the world.
He's a part of it.
I started the church here
at Global Vision 15 years ago
when the town was just really
a lot smaller than it is now.
Just had a real burden
to start a church here
for broken people
and a lot of the people
that the church had forgotten
and kind of marginalized
and pushed to the side.
And so, it's just been growing
by leaps and bounds,
in the midst of a...
Of a huge circus tent
that's been filled up
every single weekend
by just hundreds and hundreds of
people from all over the world.
-It is really big.
I was surprised, when we
drove up, how big it was.
What started as a small church
with 200 parishioners
grew dramatically in 2020,
when Locke took to the internet
and began pushing baseless
claims about the pandemic
and the 2020 election.
-There's no pandemic.
COVID-19 is not a pandemic.
- But what would a pandemic...
-Why would 80% of churches
in America still be closed?
A spirit of fear.
I said Donald Trump is going
to remain the president
of the United States
for four more years.
-Now, thousands descend on this
small Tennessee community
every week to hear a fiery mix
of religion and conspiracy.
-You know, and you get
that many people
inside this big of a tent,
it's wall-to-wall people.
[ Chuckles ] A lot of times,
people just pop in
because it's Nashville
and because of our platform,
"Let's go check out
Locke's place
and see what's going on."
They'll just to show up.
-Saw that you had a...
Roger Stone was...
- Yes.
- Wrote your book.
-Yeah. Yeah. Roger's been here.
Pastor Locke is an amazing man
of both courage and conviction,
and he is precisely
the kind of person
the Lord is calling on
to save this nation.
-He has almost become like a
grandfather figure a little bit.
He'll call me maybe once a month
and be like, "Hey, I just need
you to pray for me.
My life's falling apart."
It's kind of surreal for me
when people like that
are calling me
for, like, spiritual advice.
-What does, like, your average
offering on a Sunday look like?
-I would say on our average,
an average weekend,
in-house and online,
probably...
$85,000.
- That's a lot of money.
- Mm-hmm.
-Why do you think
there's so much enthusiasm
around joining congregations
like yours?
-You know, I think people
are just hungry
for somebody to say the truth.
Sometimes I'll just throw these
nuggets of truth out there,
these nuggets of bombastic truth
out there, for the purpose
of maybe putting a little
blood in the water
to get people to start doing
their own digging,
to do their own investigations.
I'm a truth teller!
If you think for one minute
that those political elites
actually got that vaccination,
you are smoking meth
in your mama's basement.
I don't care what you think
about fraudulent, sleepy Joe.
He's a sex trafficking,
demon-possessed mongrel.
He's of the left.
He ain't no better than the Pope
and Oprah Winfrey and Tom Hanks
and the rest of that
wicked crew.
God is gonna bring
the whole house down.
I said he's gonna bring
the whole house down!
You know, when I say things
like that, people are like,
"Oh, my goodness,
we can't believe that this guy
would say this from the pulpit."
Whereas I'm thinking to myself,
"Well, no wonder
people are so, you know,
shystered and lied to,
because your pastor
is not saying
what needs to be said.
-You're putting this information
out there
for people to kind of
pick up on and...
And draw their own
conclusions...
- Yes. Yes.
- Or investigate themselves.
-What is the conclusion
you're hoping to take them to?
-Huh, to get them to understand
that this is
an absolute epidemic.
And some of the people
that you consider heroes
are perverts that need
to go to prison for life.
-Uh, you spoke about tunnels
under the White House
that were being used
for sex trafficking.
- Mm-hmm.
- Do you honestly believe,
Pastor Locke, that the military
uncovered tunnels
beneath the Capitol Building
and beneath the White House?
Do you really believe
that they found kids?
Yeah.
Both live ones and dead ones.
And if you disagree with that
and if you try to discount that,
you're just as complicit
as Hunter Biden
and the rest of them bunch
of crack-smoking perverts.
-So you must be a big fan
of QAnon, then, if...
- I'm not.
- Alright.
- Yeah, I'm not.
- Why not?
-Because people automatically
put conservatives or people
that are outspoken or bold
in that particular vein,
that particular category,
and I think that's unfortunate.
I'm sure there's good people...
- Well, I'm not putting you
in that category
because of that.
I'm putting you in the category
because the whole thing
behind QAnon is the idea
that it's this network of people
who are telling the world
about child sex trafficking.
-Oh, yeah, they're right
about that.
-These tunnels,
all these things.
-Yeah, they're right
about all that.
I can see a lot of credible
information coming from them.
You know, I mean,
there's still big, well-known,
huge political names that,
you know, are involved in it.
-Which political figures
are you referring to?
-Uh, Mike Flynn.
You know, a lot of these guys
that at least has sided
with them,
you know, in a lot of ways.
Maybe they're distancing
themselves.
-One of your more infamous
statements is going to
your congregation and telling
that God spoke to you
and, uh, informed you
that there were witches
in your congregation.
- Yes. Absolutely.
-You better look in my eyeballs.
We ain't afraid of you,
you stinkin' witch.
You devil-worshiping
Satanist witch.
-What you're describing
sounds wild.
-Oh, yeah.
The veil between this world
and the supernatural world
is much, much thinner
than we've ever imagined.
-Tell us about your
book-burning events.
What inspired you to host that?
-It wasn't a book burning.
It was an occult item burning.
-Pro-Trump,
conspiracy-theory-loving
Pastor Greg Locke actually
held a book burning.
-And so basically what we did
is just, right out here
in the middle a little bit,
made a real big,
you know, 25-, 30-foot square...
- Start throwing it in there!
- and went after it.
There was people
just standing out here
by the hordes, you know.
It was a lot of people
for a Wednesday night.
You know, everybody just went
nuts simply because I mentioned,
you know,
"Bring your Harry Potter books."
And, uh... And I would consider
that certainly
entry-level witchcraft.
- So I didn't mean to laugh.
- No, you're good.
-It's just that the Harry Potter
is an entry level to witchcraft.
-Yeah. Absolutely, it is.
-It's a little...
It's... It's kind of funny.
-Yeah, absolutely.
Well, unless you read a Bible.
-But like, how do you reconcile,
I guess,
the fact that book burning
is associated with fascism?
Because of historical precedent.
It didn't just come
out of nowhere.
-Churches have been
burning things
that they would deem occultic
long before,
you know,
Hitler was ever even thought of.
The message that I'm now
currently preaching...
You know, deliverance
and spiritual warfare...
For some reason
that has really stirred up
more people than anybody else.
-Doesn't the term
spiritual warfare
evoke a pretext
for physical warfare?
-I don't think so.
God's very plain to,
you know, kind of delineate
between the two.
You know, we know in the Bible
when God's talking about w*r
and we know when God's talking
about spiritual warfare.
And that's why he says,
"Look, we're not in a battle
with flesh and blood.
My fight is not with you."
Right? My fight is not
with somebody across town.
My fight is with the enemy.
-I believe in the capacity for
faith to do wonderful things.
- Sure.
- Right? Unite people,
build compassion, build values.
- [ Coughs ]
-But growing up
in the Middle East, I also know
that faith
has been used to justify
some of the worst actions
in humanity.
- Sure. Absolutely has.
-I've seen suicide bombers
invoke the name of God
in order to blow up my bus stop.
I can see some of
your congregation becoming
radicalized
and using God and the context
of spiritual warfare
to justify actual warfare.
-Right.
But it's never happened.
It... It... It's just
never happened.
-It happens all the time
around the world.
-Yeah, but we're talking
about me.
I've never seen anybody
strap on a backpack
and walk up to a bus stop
or a Starbucks
or a synagogue or a church
and say, "In the name of Jesus!"
and blow themselves up.
-But there was a man downtown
who took his RV
full of expl*sives
and decided to blow up
a building
because he believed
in a conspiracy theory
enough that he was willing
to sacrifice his own life.
-Authorities say
the Nashville b*mber,
may have been obsessed
with conspiracy theories
about 5G phone technology.
-There would be an entire
conspiracy built around the fact
as to whether
that's really what happened.
And I was down there
and I don't believe it did.
-Pastor Greg Locke says his w*r
is only with the devil.
But just a few short miles
away from his tent
is a stark reminder
of what can happen
when unsubstantiated ideas
inspire someone to act.
This would be just over
a year afterwards,
and still this quarter
is absolutely destroyed.
-Just destroyed.
-On the morning
of December 25, 2020,
a 63-year-old man parked an RV
outside an AT&T building
and detonated a b*mb.
He k*lled himself
and ripped a massive hole
through the center of Nashville.
-As officers responded,
they encountered an RV
that had a recording saying
that a potential b*mb
would detonate
within 15 minutes.
-Authorities say
the Nashville b*mber,
may have been obsessed
with conspiracy theories
about 5G phone technology.
-The alleged evils of 5G
are a popular Q conspiracy.
But Pastor Locke conducted
his own investigation.
-I'm live downtown, which really
feels more like a w*r zone.
And it doesn't seem
like downtown Nashville,
our beloved Music City, at all.
They know that it was
a nefarious plan.
We don't know
exactly what happened,
but I'm not praying
for a great awakening.
I'm praying
for a greater awakening,
and I believe it's coming.
I traveled in an RV
for 15 years.
Like, I... Yeah, I know
what an RV could do,
and that was not a b*mb
from an RV.
Absolutely not. Even the
video footage will tell you so.
And there were things
in this town,
in some of those buildings,
that, uh...
that needed to be destroyed.
Mayor Cooper,
he's just a Nazified communist.
And it was a cover-up.
I don't care what people
think about that.
It was a co...
-For anybody who wonders
what are the dangers,
the actual dangers of QAnon,
here it is.
This is an early warning
of what millions of other people
feel deeply in their heart,
that they are willing to put
their life on the line
for these conspiracies.
Like, I don't know
why we haven't been
talking about this more.
This type of thing
is what's really destroying
people's lives.
-Yeah, I mean,
this is a terrifying sight.
-I don't know why it's hard
to walk away from this.
I don't know why that...
just, I can't.
When I was a kid,
like, seeing this stuff,
we just, like, made jokes
'cause we didn't know
how to deal with it.
-That's why we're trying
to shed light on it, though.
-[ Sniffles ]
♪♪
Oh, man.
-You know, our... our motto
is "Nashville Strong."
You've got to just get back
on the horse and ride on.
That's my... You know?
Makes the community, I think,
a little bit stronger.
-That was really intense.
-Yeah, I think it just all
kind of, like, hit me
when we went to that b*mb site.
And it just speaks to part of
what's really hard to depict
making a show like this
when you spend four hours
of time with somebody
and you have
lengthy conversations.
And you know,
unlike Mike Lindell,
Greg Locke is someone that when
you're just sitting across from,
even with the outrageous things
that he says,
he says them in
a fairly polite way.
-It feels very different
than when he's onstage.
-And basically between the lines
of each of these sermons is,
these are Q drops.
-When we look at the Q drops
and what Q pushed
in the boards
for those few years,
there are dozens
and dozens of references
to various Bible verses.
A common refrain we heard
from Q supporters was,
"It'll be biblical."
"It's gonna be biblical."
Right?
And if you look
at the biblical references
in the drops themselves,
they primarily reference
Ephesians 6,
which is a passage
in the Bible that says
that you should put on
the armor of God and go out
and fight the authorities
and figures above
who would repress.
-What started in this
is now being preached
from the pulpit
in churches across the country.
And that's just,
I think, outrageous.
-According to a poll, 27%
of white evangelicals
believe almost fully in QAnon.
And when we look at pastors
like Greg Locke,
you can only imagine
how that's gonna grow.
-For people who are looking for
their pastor or their church
to provide guidance
in these uncertain times...
Well, it turns out people
are just going to church
and getting reinforced
that they are spiritual warriors
engaged in a battle
against good and evil,
instead of bringing
people together.
And that's what is so divisive
about what Greg Locke does.
And it's...
It needs to be addressed.
-To interpret the Bible,
to interpret Scripture for you.
And part of that interpretation
is a conspiracy theory
that was propagated on 8kun
and through memes.
There is no line between those
if you're living in a world
where that is part
of your church,
that is part
of your belief system.
-It becomes the church of Q.
-All the church of Q.
♪♪
-What's your impression
of Greg Locke?
-It's about compliance,
is what this is about.
-Christian nationalism
is a plague.
-Y'all better go buy some swords
in the name of Jesus.
-Those who live by the sword
are gonna die by the sword.
- This building is lovely, too.
- It's neat.
-You've had quite a journey
over the last couple years.
On the opposite end
of the religious spectrum
is Vern Swieringa,
a Michigan pastor
whose views on COVID
and his church's role
in politics
suddenly put him on
a collision course
with his own congregation.
-What role did QAnon play in
separating you from the church?
-QAnon has put out this whole
idea of a cabal, you know,
and you got this... this...
This major conflict
between good and evil.
And... And... And that's really
the story of Christianity.
It's a story
between good and evil.
One of my older members
sent me a QAnon video
because she was truly concerned
that... that this was true.
And I wrote her a kindly letter
back and I said,
"This is based 100% on fear."
You know,
the pandemic got absorbed
in that whole thing to the point
where they were saying
this is just Satan's ploy.
I had so many members say,
"I'm not gonna wear a mask,
because if I'm going to die
and if I have to die
or if God has it in my plan
or in his plan
to die from COVID, so be it."
-Just before the pandemic
started,
Pastor Swieringa's wife, Kris,
developed walking pneumonia.
-She talked to her doctor,
and he gave her the advice
that she needs to be careful.
So I-I went to the leadership
of my church and I said
I think it would be better if
we erred on the side of caution.
I thought we should follow
the CDC guidelines.
They were willing to do
some of them,
but not all of them.
And... And the ones they were
really resisting were the masks.
One of my members posted or
shared a video from Greg Locke,
and... and Greg was screaming
and spitting into the camera
about how pastors
who listen to fake news
and want to mask up are
a bunch of namby-pamby pastors.
-And we got these namby-pamby,
limp-wristed preachers who say,
"Well, what y'all just need
to do is understand
that this is about safety."
There is no reason that
any church in the United States
ought to be closed
right this very moment.
-And that's where... where
the separation really started
happening in my heart.
I'm just thinking, "If that's
what they think about me,
then maybe, maybe I don't
belong here anymore."
And I ended up separating
from my church
that I had served
for eight years.
-What's your impression
of Greg Locke?
♪♪
-He's way off base.
Christian nationalism is...
Is a plague in this country.
It's been around
for a long time.
I was brought up with it.
I swam in it.
I, you know, I didn't even know
it was hardly anything.
-Do you view us
as a Christian nation?
-I believe there's a lot
of Christians in here.
I don't think the Constitution
is Christian at all.
I'm a citizen of the kingdom
of God as a Christian,
and I'm a citizen
of the United States of America.
And I... And I hold both
of those things,
realizing that they're not
one and the same.
What Christian nationalism
does is it does this
and it combines those two.
And so, once you think your
nation is a Christian nation,
it's no longer
a pluralistic society.
There's no longer room
for a whole lot of other people
that think differently than you.
And so when I see Christians,
you know, waving their flags
and coming at the... at
the Capitol, I look at that,
I'm just thinking,
"You are fighting this battle
that really is not
a Christian battle at all."
-Are there any Christian
nationalist military figures
that concern you?
-I think of Mike Flynn kind of
going around with this group.
You know, this military strength
and... and presence
that I think a lot of Christians
are embracing
is this is God's army.
-You know, we are at these
events where they will show you
a pastor or a preacher
who will do 20 minutes
on spiritual warfare
and get people really amped up
using quotes like
"buy two swords."
Uh, things that are not subtle.
-So, Peter, in the garden,
when the guards come
to arrest Jesus,
takes out
one of those two swords
and he cuts off one of the ears
of one of the guards.
Jesus rebukes Peter
for doing that.
And he says, "Peter,
put your sword away."
Those who live by the sword
are gonna die by the sword.
And these preachers
don't preach that.
That's... That's where
I'm afraid that, you know,
when I hear, you know,
things like a civil w*r.
This militant kind
of Christianity that I think
is an offspring of...
Of Christian nationalism,
it's heretical.
There's no basis for that
in the scriptures.
I don't think
it's the way of Jesus.
♪♪
-People are being
radicalized online.
You don't need a group anymore.
You don't even need a leader.
-When the pandemic happened,
they were disoriented
and they started to latch on
to whatever theories,
and it fed into their fears
and justified their feelings.
-It's coming down
to authoritarians versus
anyone who cares
about human rights
and rule of law and survival.
-As a young man,
Steve Hassan was recruited
into the Moonies cult.
Since getting out, he's become
one of the foremost experts
on brainwashing
and mind control.
With QAnon, he recognizes
many of the same patterns
that he's studied
over the decades.
-Oh, it's a mind control cult.
It's an authoritarian cult.
Behavior control, information
control, thought control,
and emotional control.
The strength of a mass movement
can be measured
by the vividness
and tangibility of its devil.
You need to have an enemy
that is really ugly and evil.
What I didn't know when I was
shown "The Exorcist"
was they were actually using
subliminals for the first time
in a Hollywood film
to make it scarier.
And what I've learned is that
this is being used
on the internet
with pictures
of opposition candidates,
whether it's Biden or Clinton
or whatever, with demonic images
that people are not
even consciously aware
that it's being flashed
into their minds.
People are being
radicalized online.
You don't need a group anymore.
You don't even need a leader.
You just need an ideology.
-So, to that point
of not needing a leader,
Q has not posted
since December 2020.
We've been going to these events
all around the country,
and it seems to us
that they're still saying
all of the same things
that Q did,
but they're acting like
they've never heard of Q.
- There was never a Q.
- Right.
-People and cults evolve
over time,
and they splinter,
and different leaders show up,
and this is normal.
So what I see what's happening
with what used to be
called QAnon
is very typical and expected.
This is a new variation
of Christianity.
It's not Bible-based at all.
It uses a form of pentecostalism
where the leader says,
"I am a prophet
or I am an apostle.
I get direct revelations
from God.
And to prove it,
I can speak in tongues."
[ Speaking in tongues ]
- He can do it!
- Nonsense.
-He speaks tongues fluently.
-And then they claim
they can cast out demons,
do faith healings, and they...
- Deliverance sessions.
- Deliverance sessions.
-Deliverance exorcisms.
I've had many clients who've
been traumatized by those.
And what's going on, I believe,
is that people are being, um...
They've been hooked like a fish,
and whoever's got the pole is
gonna steer them to the left
or to the right or further
into the lake or... or wherever.
And until people realize,
"Wait a minute, I have a life.
Am I happy?
Is this really fulfilling me?"
- Where we go one...
- We go all!
-Across the country,
we've witnessed that people
are certainly hooked.
-♪ God bless America ♪
-But it's not just
the conservative right wing.
During the pandemic,
one of the most liberal cities
in the country, Los Angeles,
became a hotbed of two
major tenets of QAnon...
-Perverts want to touch
your children!
- Save Our Children
and COVID conspiracy.
-Muzzles are for dogs!
They're not for people!
[ Protesters chanting ]
-At rallies like these,
we began to see a confluence
of what we can only describe
as new-age influencers
marching together with
right-wing political activists.
-Since then, the bridge between
these two extremes
has only gotten stronger.
-You think this is a distr...
-I'm Derek Beres.
I am the co-host and co-founder
of the "Conspirituality"
podcast.
-Do you have,
like, a podcast voice
you could do that for us in?
- [ Laughs ]
-This is my voice
for everything. [ Laughs ]
-Beres' podcast focuses
on a new kind of faith,
which he calls conspirituality.
-Can you define conspirituality?
-Conspirituality is the merging
of the new-age,
predominantly
left-leaning communities
that usually involve
holistic practices,
and right-wing
conspiratorial thinking.
When the pandemic happened
and lockdowns began,
you have a community
in the wellness industry
that is not civically engaged,
that is not politically active.
They didn't know where to turn
for good information
about public health,
for example, or policy.
They just kept looking
on Instagram.
-I'm not an influencer, people.
I am... I'm someone
in the health field.
I'm a... I'm a nutritionist.
-Today, we're finally launching
Medical Freedom for Humanity.
To not allow anyone
to bully you into believing
that you need to cover your face
with a mask
or inject yourself
with an experimental...
♪♪
drug.
-It's the first time in most
people's lives where they say,
"You can't go do that anymore.
You have to stay home."
They were disoriented
and they started to latch on
to whatever theories
kind of fed into their fears.
So much of the wellness industry
is built on expendable income
and just feeding into
people's fears in general.
For example, supplement sales
is something
like a $40 billion industry.
Supplements do not have to be
tested clinically.
You can pretty much say
this vitamin will do something
and not really have to prove it
in any capacity
and sell it
and make a lot of money.
That is how a lot of
the wellness influencers
we're covering
are monetizing
their communities.
-I mean, that's something
that we've seen on the right
for a long time.
Alex Jones...
It's sort of his bread
and butter, right?
We see that with all
the big Q bakers.
They've got their own pills.
Is the grifter side of this
something that also unites
left and right?
-Absolutely. That's a...
Look at Parler, for example.
I'm on their mailing list.
I have to monitor a lot
of these sites for our work.
Half of their emails are about
weight loss and about vitamin C
and about just getting healthier
in some capacity
through powders and supplements.
That has persisted on left
and right for a long time.
Most of your vitamins
are going to be attained
through a healthy diet.
There are very few things
that you need to enhance
to live a healthy lifestyle.
But we've created such an
environment where it seems like
we need to be constantly taking
all these other vitamins.
And that does... that cuts
across political boundaries.
-One of the things
we've also noticed
is these Q-themed events
have shifted from being
in kind of convention centers
into the evangelical churches.
What role does the evangelical
church play in conspirituality?
-The crossover
of the culture w*r issues
is pretty well embedded
between evangelicals
and this conspirituality space
right now.
You've taken on a world view
that your particular world view
is the only one that's true,
and all of the other ones
are misguided or false
or an illusion in some capacity.
ab*rtion comes in.
So, Kelly Brogan, for example,
has been saying that ab*rtion
is anti female rights.
-I was one of those people
who thought that birth control
was like a female entitlement.
Like, it's in many ways the
ultimate tool for oppression.
-That paranoia drives so much
of what we're seeing now
with transgender issues...
JP Sears being a figure
who talks about that often,
actually.
-This just in...
I think I'm menstruating now.
Oh. It's just pee.
-Yeah, they go hard
on the trans issue.
- Yes.
- Like, it's just really
troubling how, like, nobody
is in the room being like,
"That's kind of terrible."
-The Christian right is one of
the most organized sectors
of the American electorate,
period.
They understand politics
as a generational game,
and they specifically put people
through colleges
with the idea of
getting elected into office
to make ab*rtion ill*gal
or to get prayer in school.
And it perpetuates itself.
And it's only been gaining steam
in the time
that I've been studying it.
♪♪
-That's what Jesus said.
"Go buy two swords."
That's what I'm...
Come on, brother!
Come on, man!
- Go buy two swords.
-Y'all better go buy some swords
in the name of Jesus.
- This mother... er right here.
- Pedophile.
- Child molester!
- Yeah!
-Just arrived to ReAwaken,
haven't even made it in yet.
Things are already popping off.
A lot of people
yelling at each other,
calling each other Nazis
and pedophiles.
So, it's pretty exciting stuff.
- This mother... er right here.
- Pedophile.
- Child molester!
- What's up?
[ Indistinct shouting ]
- Hey! I know you!
- You do?
-Yeah, you're on
the whatchamathinger
and you're on the thingamajig
about QAnon.
- That's right.
-I see you have
an antifa mask on.
Are you...
Do you identify as antifa?
- Antifa means anti-fascist.
- So you're anti-fascist,
but you're not a part of antifa.
- I am anti-fascist because
I don't... I don't want one
person telling me what to do.
I don't believe... Just like
I don't believe in dictators.
-If you're looking for a taste
of what America divided
looks like,
the parking lot of a ReAwaken
rally is a good place to start.
-Do you think America is heading
towards a civil w*r?
-Yes, I do.
-We have so much more in common
than... than opposition.
Like, everybody here is like
against fascism, obviously.
Like, we're all really angry.
There's a lot to be angry about.
But we're at odds
with the wrong people.
They should be mad at the people
in charge and the corporations
and all the money in politics.
I think it's too bad that, like,
they couldn't come and see
and just listen,
because I think they would agree
that it's nothing that far out
that anyone's talking about.
I mean, other...
Other than if you're
triggered by church.
[ Organ music plays ]
-Can I... Can I say
something here in Oregon?
Can I say something?
Is that okay?
[ Crowd shouts agreement ]
C-Can I just tell the truth
here in Oregon?
Is that alright?
[ Shouting continues ]
I'm gonna say something
that's gonna make
the liberal media go crazy.
There is no such things
as trans kids.
[ Cheers and applause ]
There are only a*usive parents
and a*usive adults.
[ Cheers and applause ]
There's only two genders.
There's only two.
There's only two genders.
There's male and there's...
- Female!
- Female!
- Say organize...
- Organize!
- And sacrifice.
- Sacrifice!
-Start taking over
your precincts
and start taking
over your school boards.
Start taking it back!
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Chanting, shouting ]
-Pastor Mark Burns was named
Trump's top pastor
by Time magazine,
which makes him a bit of a
celebrity at events like these.
So when he invited us to join
him backstage at ReAwaken,
we were excited to get a peek
behind the curtain.
The Interfaith Alliance,
they said that you are
bringing God into politics.
How do you respond to that?
-So essentially, I believe,
like millions of Americans,
that we're moving away from
the... the foundation of America
and the laws that was created
with a moral compass in mind.
For me, that is evil.
And millions of Americans agree
that is completely evil.
And we got to...
We got to bring God
back to the center of American
politics and American culture.
- You're running for Congress.
- Yes.
-Tell me about that.
What... What do you plan
to do with it?
How are you gonna
turn this around?
-We need to start holding some
of these people accountable.
I've been calling across
the nation that once I'm elected
as the first Black congressman
from the Fourth District
of South Carolina,
we're gonna reinitiate HUAC.
HUAC is the House Un-American
Activities Committee.
-During the Cold w*r,
HUAC investigated Americans
with suspected ties
to communism.
Led by Senator Joe McCarthy,
probe created
a climate of paranoia
that led to
political intimidation
toward anyone
with contrary views.
This era is largely viewed
as a massive infringement
on individual liberties
and a dark stain
on American history.
-It is an old committee that was
in from the '50s and '60s,
and people called it
the Red Scare.
But it wasn't about
the Red Scare.
Yes, HUAC at some point
was... was abused.
-Trying to come back together,
how are we gonna do that
with a new McCarthyism
taking over?
-We start holding the media,
elected officials,
anyone that is doing business
or doing any activity
that is un-American
to the sovereignty of our nation
should be held for treason.
-So, I've heard this term
sovereignty a lot.
Um, tell me
what that means to you.
-There are millions
of Americans who agree
that we should be pulling away
from the medical apartheid
that is happening
in this nation,
that we should have a right
to choose what we put
into our bodies,
which is why there are thousands
of patriots from Oregon here,
because they also believe
the federal government
is stripping away our rights,
our freedoms.
It is a takeover of our
free will, our free speech.
And that comes from medical,
that comes from education,
and that just comes from pure
religious freedom.
-How do you ensure that
nobody in your congregation
or the 4,000 people here
don't get the wrong idea
when you talk
about spiritual warfare,
when you talk about
those things?
How do you know that somebody
won't take that out of context?
-You got to listen to
the whole message.
And me, I'ma talk
about it again today.
I'ma talk about the warfare.
I'ma talk about God raising up
men and women of God
to speak out against
some of the evil policies
of the Democratic Party,
their policies that are contrary
to God's word.
The Bible said that
the kingdom suffers violence.
- Yes. Take it by...
- Violence. Take it by force.
- By force. Yes.
- The problem is,
we've been too cowardly,
too weak,
and we think that man
has authority over us,
when we serve a big God...
- Who... Yeah.
- That has given us power...
- Power and authority. Yeah.
- and authority to tread over
every demonic spirit.
But so... so, if they gonna
knock out a window,
you go knock out two of theirs.
- That's what I'm...
Hey, that's what Jesus said.
Go buy two swords.
-That's what I'm...
Come on, brother!
Come on, man!
- Go buy two swords.
-So, listen, Oregon,
y'all better go buy some swords
in the name of Jesus right here.
Go start knocking out some
windows if they wouldn't...
Look, he's shaking...
- I know he's watching.
-Okay, hold on. Time out!
Let me be clear.
Let me be clear.
-I don't... I don't mean...
'Cause I got Vice here,
and they... they already think
that I'm trying
to start a civil w*r, right?
- Vice is watching us.
-I'm not trying
to start a civil w*r.
- Well, that was special.
- Yeah.
I mean, I think what's so
interesting about watching that
is I think you can see exactly
what we're talking about.
And the terminology
isn't coded anymore.
- Mm-hmm.
-It's not something
that you have to decrypt.
It's just very plain in terms
of making calls to action
for people to get armed,
for people to commit acts
of at least property destruction
in that clip.
Or him doing that interview
right after
we had the conversation
where we're saying,
"Hey, don't you think
these extreme interpretations
are going to encourage
acts of violence?"
"No, you're not hearing
the whole message.
It's about love."
We were...
And then he went right
into that interview.
- Immediately.
- And... And just riled up.
And I'm glad I was standing
right there filming
because I do think
it... it had an impact.
It made him think twice
about what he was saying
and acknowledge
that it sure sounded
pretty violent.
-He's just creating hate.
He's just spewing hate.
But I think that...
-But we're the only ones
in there to capture that stuff.
It just shows, like,
how comfortable they are
in this environment, you know,
to say those type of things
and not be held accountable
for the consequences.
-Such a good point.
♪♪
I mean, this is your operation,
though, right?
Like, you're really
the boss here.
-What just happened?
[ Cheers and applause ]
- Whoa.
Wow!
How are the people in the back?
People in the back.
How you doing in the back?
[ Cheers and applause ]
Doing alright back there?
People in the front, how you
doing, people in the front?
[ Cheering ]
-The Christians are
unpredictable!
You don't know who God's gonna
anoint in this building
to lay hands on the sick,
to raise the dead,
to heal the sick.
[ Cheers and applause ]
So we gotta get 'em mad at us.
Come on, they have
demonstrations out here.
Antifa, BLM, it don't matter.
Get 'em mad, God!
Boop! [ Chuckles ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-America, meet Patrick Byrne,
the enigmatic e-commerce tycoon
that founded Overstock.com.
-After resigning from Overstock
for a relationship
with a Russian spy in 2019,
he co-founded
The America Project
with Mike Flynn
and has become
one of the largest patrons
of the Stop the Steal movement.
-We are in a time of large-scale
government corruption.
-And they have been
quite effective, to the point
that polls show
only about 20% of Republicans
believe that Biden
was legitimately elected.
[ Crowd chanting
"Let's Go Brandon" ]
- Good to see you.
- We've really just got started.
-He also decided that,
for some reason,
he's gonna crash
Pastor Burns' interview.
-A whistleblower has come
forward in Georgia saying,
"I was paid $45,000
to stuff 4,500 ballots.
There were 240 of us."
That set of facts suggests
someone paid about $10 million
to stuff a million ballots
in Georgia.
And when you look
at the videos...
All ballot boxes
have to have a video on it
that the public can get
the data... they get the data,
and what do you know?
At 2:00 in the morning,
you see people go in,
you know, pre things,
six, seven ballot boxes,
sliding 10, 15 ballots in
with gloves on
and taking pictures
of themselves to get paid.
To me, it's super obvious
that the election was stolen.
♪♪
-They should have buried me
when they had a chance.
[ Laughter and applause ]
♪♪
Where's that mainstream media?
There's some of you
mainstream media out there.
Right?
-Alright.
Now, ladies and gentlemen...
Ladies and gentlemen,
our next presenter...
-As we left ReAwaken
with Patrick,
Mike Flynn confronted
our camera operator.
So I stepped in.
-I know. We're... We're just
gonna go hang out for a bit.
Have a good night tonight.
♪♪
-We set out on a journey
in search of Q.
It took us to ReAwaken and on
the path of General Mike Flynn.
-But now there's no way
to understand
where all this is headed
without following Patrick Byrne.
-PBS declared me the kingpin
of the resistance
or the whatever this is.
If your mission is
"in search of"
and I'm the kingpin,
then we are especially well met.
I was in the key meetings.
I was in the January 4 meetings.
I was in the December 18
Oval Office meeting.
I know the whole story.
But you don't know
who the extremist is.
We think you're the extremists.
I was...
-What did you have to do
with January 6th, Patrick Byrne?
-Well, we ended up unexpectedly
sneaking into the White House,
getting into the Oval Office.
I'm sitting with Trump,
Sidney Powell, Mike Flynn.
There were two documents,
and they both basically said
if a foreign government
interferes in an election,
the president really has
extraordinary set of powers.
Remarkably extraordinary.
Everything from investigate
to, like, dramatic...
Cancel an election, rerun it.
For about 20 minutes,
it was so strange watching
the president and Mike Flynn
looking at the language here
and seeing if this language here
meant the language here.
And that's the first time
I broke in,
and I said, "Put...
Put us in, Coach.
Put us in.
You'll win this."
-Does this not sound
somewhat partisan to you?
-Look, if we are correct,
if it turns out someone
hijacked this election,
that they're the extremist.
- Sure. Okay.
If true...
If there is any election...
-Hamdullah, hamdullah.
♪♪
-We're in a time of warfare,
and there's components of it.
One of them is physical.
We're in this physical warfare.
-If our country
was to ever insurrect,
it would be violent.
[ Indistinct shouting, banging ]
-We have a lot
of fake news, right?
We hear this, we hear that.
We don't know
what's gonna happen,
and it just tears
at our emotions.
-America is not gonna die
by m*rder.
America is gonna die by suicide.
-I will go to your... ing house
and I will sh**t you
the... ing face
if I found out that
my kid went to school and
you vaccinated him.
I don't care
who the... you are.
-Could you not block my camera
over there, young man?
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-Believe half of what you hear
and half of what you see.
And go find out the truth.
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02x02 - Conspirituality
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Explore the origins, rise and social impact of QAnon, whose story has been told to the public one outrageous headline at a time.
Explore the origins, rise and social impact of QAnon, whose story has been told to the public one outrageous headline at a time.