In a Dec. 2020 meeting with Christian Nationalists, the man who would become the GOP nominee for governor prayed Congress would “disregard” Pennsylvania’s election results
A WEEK BEFORE Jan. 6, on a Zoom call organized by far-right Christian Nationalists seeking to reinstall Donald Trump in the White House, a man with a booming baritone voice bowed his bald head and began to pray. That man was then State Senator Doug Mastriano, now GOP candidate for Governor.
The prayer meeting — one of a series of nearly two dozen “Global Prayer for Election Integrity” calls organized between election day and Jan. 6 — was organized by Jim Garlow, a prominent figure in the far-right New Apostolic Restoration movement.
Garlow believes that U.S. government should operate according to biblical principles, because, “He knows best how government is to function.” Mastriano’s participation on the call was first reported by Right Wing Watch last year, but the video of Mastriano’s remarks is published in Rolling Stone for first time.
In reference to Jan. 6, Mastriano said: “I pray that… we’ll seize the power that we had given to us by the Constitution, and as well by You, providentially. I pray for the leaders also in the federal government, God, on the Sixth of January that they will rise up with boldness.” Other religious leaders also expressed similar sentiments. Abby Abildness, a well-known, Pennsylvania-based NAR pastor, weighed in with her sentiments during a prayer of her own. “We look for the victory that you have proclaimed Lord that there would be another term for Pence and for Trump to continue the righteous values that they have opened the door for in this nation,” Abildness said. James Goll, one of the movement’s prophets also weighed in. “We say that the Spirit of God is at move,” Goll intones. “And we release the word over senators.” During the call, Goll also attempted to condemn one of the state’s senators saying: “I declare over Marsha Blackburn, I say, rise up, be a spokeswoman, join the Senator from Missouri…. You are you are an Esther, and you’re called to rise up and be a righteous voice that will also say, ‘I will not allow this on my watch.'”
Salon
Rolling Stone and Salon