The new Republican fringe is done with the separation of church and state. William "Dutch" Sheets has been trying to tear down that wall for decades

BY TIM DICKINSON

SEPTEMBER 1, 2022

Supporters of former President Trump pray outside the U.S. Capitol in January. WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
DUTCH SHEETS STOOD behind Marjorie Taylor Greene, the palms of his hands held up to God.

Revered by followers as a modern Christian apostle, Sheets told a packed crowd at Gas South Arena, outside Atlanta, to pray with him for the GOP congresswoman, who touts herself as a Christian nationalist, and appeared onstage in a bright-red dress.

“We say she is covered by the blood of Jesus,” Sheets said. “She will not be taken out by evil forces,” he insisted, adding: “We take authority over that in Jesus’ name. And we cover her now with a shield of prayer and faith and say, ‘Be strong! Be blessed! You are highly favored! You will not fail,’ in Jesus’ name.”

Sheets, 68, is one of America’s most influential Christian voices demanding an end to the separation of church and state. He’s been at the forefront of that movement for 20 years, but now the Republican part has come to him, with a growing contingent that’s embracing his end-times vision of America as Christian theocracy. At this July 1 worship event, Sheets told the crowd, “We must marry these two arenas — the civil and the sacred. They are not separate in Scripture,” he added, then insisted, “God never intended for it to be separate.”




Christian nationalism has long been an undercurrent of GOP politics. But with the rise of the MAGA movement and the Republican party’s lurch toward authoritarianism, its proponents have burst into the foreground. Representatives like Greene and Lauren “the church is supposed to direct the government” Boebert have embraced Christian nationalism in Washington, while far-right-media figures like Andrew Torba — the CEO of the platform Gab.com — embrace it as the answer to conservative setbacks in the culture wars, insisting: “We are going to take power in this country, for the glory of God.”

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The right’s new hunger for theocracy is creating an opening for figures like Sheets, who has long preached that Christians cannot only impose their morals on society through the levers of government, but that doing so is Jesus’ most ardent desire.

Inside the arena, Sheets was soon leading the spirited crowd in a recitation of a new document he co-authored called the “Watchman Decree.” It reads like a Christian nationalist pledge of allegiance.

“As a patriot of faith, I attest my allegiance first and foremost to the Kingdom of God and the Great Commission,” Sheets began. (The “Great Commission” refers to the instruction by the resurrected Jesus to his followers to “make disciples of all nations.”) He then led the crowd in a series of theocratic declarations, including:

“We, the Church, are God’s governing Body on the Earth.”
“We have been given legal power and authority from Heaven.”
“We are … delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.”

The audience then read aloud, with Sheets, a list of 13 decrees, including that the three branches of U.S. government will “honor God,” “write only laws that are righteous,” and only “issue rulings that are biblical.” The congregation continued, in unison, “We declare that we stand against wokeness, the occult, and every evil attempt against our nation.”

They concluded with Sheets’ trademark spiritual battle cry: “We decree that America shall be saved!”