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Fascinating connection between Nigerian Pentecostalism, hydroxychroloquine advoacy & COVID skepticism. Dr. Stella Immanuel spoke at press conference promoted by tea party group. She is also the leader of Fire Power Ministries, a charismatic-Pentecostal ministry in Katy, Texas.
The website for Fire Power Ministry is down right now (probably because of all the national attention), but the Facebook page is still up and running. https://www.facebook.com/FirePowerMinistriesWithDrStellaImmanuel/
Stella Immanuel appears to have ties to Dr. D.K. Olukoya, founder of the Lagos, Nigeria based Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries. Immanuel's When Your Levee Breaks includes commentary from Olukoya and a foreword by Louisiana pastor Mark Hankins.
Back in Lagos, Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries didn't reopen in early June. According to the Daily Post, General Overseer Dr. Daniel Olukoya "considered the safety implications of opening the church." The congregation averages 15,000 attendees. https://dailypost.ng/2020/06/06/reopening-of-churches-mountain-of-fire-takes-decision/
Another connection between Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries and American politics can be found in the prayers of Trump confidante Paula White. This development has made news in both Nigeria and the United States. https://www.legit.ng/1298293-donald-trumps-spiritual-adviser-adopts-mfm-prayers.html
In January 2020 @spulliam reported on Paula White's use of the phrase "satanic pregnancies" in a public prayer. In the article, Concordia U. scholar André Gagné noted Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries evangelist D.K. Olukoya's use of the same image. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/01/26/paula-white-miscarry-metaphor/
Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries has also established a presence in the Twin Cities. Minnesota Gophers basketball player Daniel Oturu attends a MFM congregation in St. Paul that was started in 2003 by his immigrant parents. https://www.startribune.com/for-gophers-basketball-player-daniel-oturu-home-is-where-the-heart-is/564290832/?refresh=true
In a Black History Month interview for the Minnesota Gophers, Daniel Oturu noted that his hero is Malcolm X, explaining that "He inspires me with how he approached the situations he had to overcome in his life, and all the hardship and adversity." https://gophersports.com/news/2020/2/17/mens-basketball-black-history-month-our-heroes.aspx
The Twin Cities area is also home to the Nigerian-based Redeemed Christian Church of God's Strong Tower Parish, a congregation that meets in the former home of the Swedish Emanuel Lutheran Church. http://www.strongtowermn.org/
At home and abroad, Nigerian Pentecostal churches are responding to COVID-19. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52189785
I hope that journalists like @spulliam and scholars like @AntheaButler (who has studied the Redeemed Christian Church of God) can shed light on the Pentecostal presence at today's tea party flavored COVID press conference. https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/americas-frontline-doctors-scotus-press-conference-transcript
Also curious what @socofthesacred, @ndrewwhitehead, and Joshua Grubbs make of these connections. Their piece in @jssrjournal finds a connection between Christian nationalism and rejection of COVID-19 precautions, but what about transnationalism? https://twitter.com/socofthesacred/status/1287695767357054976
I haven't seen the article, but I doubt @socofthesacred, @ndrewwhitehead, and Joshua Grubbs added a question about hydroxychloroquine.
It looks like Donald Trump retweeted the same video featuring Stella Immanuel. The video was later removed from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube because it made false claims. https://ktla.com/news/nationworld/facebook-twitter-and-youtube-remove-viral-video-of-doctors-making-false-coronavirus-claims/
But there are still dozens of videos featuring Dr. Stella Immanuel on YouTube (she has 8.51K subscribers), on topics ranging from spiritual warfare to Big Pharma. Ties to Mountain of Fire and Miracles & Redeemed Christian Church of God are also evident. https://www.youtube.com/user/firpowerministries/videos
Fire Power Ministries Deliverance Bookstore has featured books by Mountain of Fire and Miracles evangelist D.K. Olukoya and Dr. Immanuel, including When Your Levee Breaks, which was written during her years as a pediatrician in Alexandria, Louisiana. http://firepowerministry.org/blog/books-by-dr-d-k-olukoya-of-mountain-of-fire-and-miracles/comment-page-1/
In 1999 the Alexandria, Louisiana Town Talk noted the arrival of the Cameroon native at the General Pediatric Care Clinic. A graduate of a Nigerian medical school, she aspired to be a doctor from a young age.
In 2004 she served as the coordinator for Central Louisiana's day of prayer, an event involving 22 pastors.
Today Dr. Stella Immanuel was back in the public eye, in a viral video retweeted by President Trump that the @nytimes said contained "a series of false or misleading medical claims about the coronavirus." https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/1287987411692158977
In 2016 @RiceSociology grad student Leah Binkovitz wrote about the worlds immigrants create in Houston. They are also negotiating the boundaries between religion & science, a topic explored by @RiceRPLP. This week part of that conversation went public. https://kinder.rice.edu/2016/11/22/african-immigrants-help-reinvent-houston
It remains to be seen how these conversations fit into the wider conversation about religion and COVID-19 explored by @socofthesacred, @ndrewwhitehead, and Joshua Grubbs. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jssr.12677
Expressing a deep suspicion of public health officials like Dr. Fauci, Dr. Immanuel of Fire Power Ministries sounds very similar to anti-mask advocates in the Missouri Ozarks and many other parts of the country. That is one reason why yesterday's video went viral.
For a sampling of similar rhetoric from Southwest Missouri, see @springfieldNL reporter @GregHolmanNL's coverage of a debate in his hometown of Branson. https://twitter.com/GregHolmanNL/status/1283861532196179970
Irony of much of religiously framed rhetoric about health experts and COVID (including hydroxychloroquine) is that largest medical grant-making agency in the world is directed by an evangelical, who has worked together with the vilified Bill Gates. https://www.nih.gov/file/38871
Some of themes discussed in @thedailybeast piece on Dr. Immanuel are reminiscent of reptilian and alien conspiracy theories described in Michael Barkun's A Culture of Conspiracy book, as well as Illuminati and New World Order claims. https://twitter.com/thedailybeast/status/1288086831196778496?s=19
And @ADeRogatis has explored religious discourse about demons and sex in @AARWeb journal article and @OUPAcademic book Saving Sex. Dr. Immanuel has preached on incubus and succubus. https://academic.oup.com/jaar/article-abstract/77/2/275/757260
