Christian Militants Are Using Instagram to Recruit—and Becoming Influencers in the Process

Many of these Christian nationalist militia groups also call themselves “guerillas” as opposed to militias, implying that their “enemy” is the government rather than civilian population. While Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the program on extremism at George Washington University, is alarmed by the brandification of overtly accelerationist or Christian nationalist content on Instagram, he’s skeptical that the armed groups pose a genuine threat. “They do their off-the-grid guerilla training, they shoot their video for their Instagram account, and then they go back to their mom’s basement,” he said. “I’m not sure how many of these 16-year-olds are really prepared for a real guerilla warfare campaign against the US military.”

This new movement of Christian nationalist militias online sits at a growing crossover between gun culture and Christian nationalism, a union perhaps best exemplified by the popularity of Christian “guntuber” Lucas Botkin and the company he founded, “T-Rex Arms.” In this Venn diagram of subcultures, culture war rhetoric is paired with exhortations to take up arms to protect Christian and traditional family values.

“The guns help push the religion, and the religion helps push the guns,” says Lewis. “You get these networks that are steeped in that kind of rhetoric, and when you combine that with offline mobilization and weapons training, it doesn’t really bode well.”

Instagram is already home to a sprawling and well-established community of gun enthusiasts, tactical gear brands, and firearms influencers, and abounds with potential recruitment opportunities for this emergent paramilitary movement. It’s not uncommon for groups of firearms enthusiasts to gather in the woods on the weekends to engage in airsoft training or hunting. What sets this movement apart from more legitimate “sports” organizations is their emphasis on recruitment and the fact they conceal their faces in imagery, says Paul. “And then there’s the explicit Christian ideology they’re trying to push.” (WIRED attempted to contact several accounts in this ecosystem; some initially agreed to be interviewed, before growing suspicious that this reporter was “a fed.”)

It’s not exactly clear what this new crop of Bible-thumping paramilitary extremists thinks they’re preparing or fighting for, given that President Donald Trump took office in January and stacked his administration with Christian nationalists.

Since the emergence of the modern militia movement in the late 1980s, paramilitary activity has typically waxed and waned according to whichever political party was in power. Higher levels of paramilitary activity were generally observed during Democratic administrations, as movement leaders could rabble rouse and recruit around perceptions of an overreaching government or looming gun control, as well as conspiracy theories about a coming “New World Order.” (To that end, Kill Evil sells a t-shirt emblazoned with the slogan “Christ World Order.”) That pattern broke during the first Trump Administration, as militia activity surged, galvanized by the mainstreaming of conspiracy theories and anti-government sentiment.

Groups within this new guard make their political views known through the type of content they share to Instagram Stories, which delete after 24 hours: for example, screenshots of posts by white nationalist Jared Taylor about immigration, posts about declining birth rates, or anti-Muslim memes. As for their broader mission, these militant influencers are generally preparing for “end times,” they tend to say, though it’s not always clear what that means. Some take an accelerationist approach, preparing for a conflict that they see as an inevitable response to “degeneracy” and political decay. “There is no more political solution,” one account posted in July, along with a photograph of a Roman bust portraying the Greek god of war, Ares, in Tivoli, Italy. “Some hills are worth dying on, if not for yourself, for your children.” For others, the mission may be more about a primordial battle between good and evil, and coming “armageddon.”

“If you don’t train, you’ll die,” one account posted, along with a photograph of a man in a skull mask and a long gun. “Get together with friends, family, or do it alone. Whatever you gotta do, make sure that YOU aren’t a liability.”