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Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, hugs Wendy Bell, a conservative radio host, on Sept. 9, 2022, at Glades Pike Winery in Somerset.
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New ‘prophet’ on the campaign trail with Doug Mastriano is a prayer-coin salesman who calls Biden the ‘antichrist’

Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette

New ‘prophet’ on the campaign trail with Doug Mastriano is a prayer-coin salesman who calls Biden the ‘antichrist’

Five years before Lance Wallnau joined Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano on the campaign trail, the Texas-based evangelist told his audience in a livestreamed video about how an “anointed cake” baked by prostitutes once resulted in a gay man becoming heterosexual.

“Now, I’m not saying this is going to work for you,” he says in the video, before recalling a story he’d heard of “hookers” in a bar transforming its “very adamantly anti-Christian” proprietor.

“The power of God hit him while he was eating the cake,” Mr. Wallnau said in the clip, first reported by the Dallas Morning News in 2017.

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That same year, Mr. Wallnau, a self-styled Christian “prophet” whose stump speech for Mr. Mastriano blew up on Twitter over the weekend, posted another outlandish rant online, explaining his theory that the Women’s March on Washington and protests of Donald Trump’s inauguration were manifestations of “the spirit of Jezebel.”

PITTSBURGH, PA - AUGUST 19: Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, with his wife Rebecca, speaks to supporters at the Unite and Win Rally at the Wyndham Hotel on August 19, 2022 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During his visit to the state, DeSantis urged Republican voters to stand behind Doug Mastriano. (Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
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“It’s a witchcraft that’s operating behind this stuff … and it’s clearly the work of the devil,” he said.

In 2019, Mr. Wallnau made news as a “prayer coin” huckster who claimed God told him that selling coins would help Mr. Trump get re-elected. The coins — for $45 each — featured images of Mr. Trump and King Cyrus.

“When I asked the Lord, ‘Why the coin?’ the Lord said, ‘Because when you take the coin, it’s a point of contact,’” Mr. Wallnau said during an online sales pitch.

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In the years since, Mr. Wallnau has expounded on a range of other topics, from suggesting COVID-19 vaccines that might be used to conduct “surveillance under the skin” to his belief that environmentalists are possessed by “demons.” He has prayed that God would overturn Mr. Trump’s loss in the 2020 election and praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “good dictator,” while calling President Joe Biden the “antichrist.”

Mr. Wallnau, who grew up in Pennsylvania, recently became interested in Mr. Mastriano, who is running a Christian nationalist-themed campaign that has attracted a growing network of self-described prophets, conspiracy theorists and election deniers. Mr. Mastriano, a retired Army colonel, has largely welcomed their support. Some are helping with his campaign.

Friday, Mr. Wallnau joined Mr. Mastriano and Donald Trump Jr. for a rally in south-central Pennsylvania to support Mr. Mastriano’s gubernatorial campaign. He led the crowd, asking them each to raise their right hand, in a prayer for a “new birth of liberty” and a Mastriano victory in November. The video has garnered millions of views online.

“They cannot outflank us if we move as one,” Mr. Wallnau said. “And I believe Col. Mastriano is anointed to lead an as-one movement. The whole country will be affected by what happens in Pennsylvania. Do you understand that?”

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, a Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, speaks at a primary night election gathering in Chambersburg on Tuesday, May 17, 2022.
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Mr. Mastriano — who is running against Democrat Josh Shapiro, the state’s attorney general — said he appreciated Mr. Wallnau’s support.

“Thank you, Lance Wallnau for being here!” his campaign posted on its Facebook page, along with photos of Mr. Mastriano, his wife and Mr. Wallnau standing together. One commenter responded: “Oh. My. GOODNESS!!! Three of my FAVORITE people. Rebbie, Doug, and Lance.”

On Monday, Mr. Wallnau responded on Twitter to anyone who thought the raised arms at the rally resembled Nazi salutes: “Typical leftist lies on what happens at a Republican event. I should know, I’m the one on the stage. I had the crowd raise their hand and bring it down ‘as one’ to commemorate day 2 Little Round-top at battle of Gettysburg. Nazi? You putz, I’m part Jewish!”

Neither Mr. Wallnau nor Mr. Mastriano responded Tuesday to requests for comment.

Mr. Wallnau, who wrote a book about Mr. Trump called “God’s Chaos Candidate,” is an influential figure in a right-wing movement called the New Apostolic Reformation and a leading proponent of Seven Mountains Dominionism, which holds that Christians should take control of the seven secular “mountains”: education, religion, family, business, government, arts and media.

At Friday’s rally, Mr. Wallnau likened Mr. Mastriano to a Union Army colonel who held off a Confederate assault during the Civil War. (Ironically, Mr. Mastriano has come under fire from Mr. Shapiro and dozens of veterans for appearing in a Confederate Army uniform for a faculty photo when he was a professor at the U.S. Army War College during the 2013-14 academic year.)

“I love this state. I love this man,” Mr. Wallnau said of Mr. Mastriano.

First Published: September 22, 2022, 2:22 p.m.

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Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, hugs Wendy Bell, a conservative radio host, on Sept. 9, 2022, at Glades Pike Winery in Somerset.  (Emily Matthews/Post-Gazette)
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