Were the Minnesota killings ‘spiritual warfare’? Dallas school tied to extremism | Opinion
The trail of violent religious extremism has led to Texas again, raising questions about a small Dallas school for missionaries.
Christ For The Nations Institute, founded by an Assemblies of God pastor to support world Christian outreach, suddenly had to spell out plainly what should be completely obvious.
The south Dallas Bible school “rejects, denounces and condemns any and all forms of violence,” officials wrote in a statement after a 1990 graduate was arrested in connection with the killings of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband. Authorities said he had a “hit list” of 45 more Democrats to kill.
“ ... Our organization’s mission,” CFNI officials wrote, “is to educate and equip students to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Whatever Vance Boelter, now 57, learned at Christ For The Nations Institute about Christians and the meaning of sermons calling for “violent prayer” or “spiritual warfare,” it was 35 years ago.
Christ For The Nations founder called for ‘violent prayer’
Boelter attended for two years. He graduated with a diploma in practical theology from the charismatic/Pentecostal school founded in 1970 by touring faith healers Freda and Gordon Lindsay.
But Boelter has continued to preach around the world. In one sermon in recent years at a church in Matadi, Congo, he said many churches “don’t know abortion is wrong” and that “God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America to correct his church.”
The very small detail of where he went to ministerial school 35 years ago would not have drawn much attention — if not for one detail.
Christ For The Nations Institute is no longer so small.
Its friends have an outsized role in the surging charismatic/Pentecostal movement dominating the Republican Party in some states and and in turn taking control over government.
On its website at cfni.org/ourhistory, the school lists among its supporters:
▪ Apostle Cindy Jacobs of Ellis County, who preaches to mobilize voters in “spiritual warfare” against opponents and shares leadership in the New Apostolic Reformation churches.
That’s the movement that preaches how Christians must stage a forced takeover of society under a “Seven Mountains Mandate” for influence.
▪ The late televangelist Pat Robertson, a TV star for more than 50 years on the gospel “700 Club” and a 1988 presidential candidate known for connecting famines, epidemics and weather disasters to nations’ belief or disbelief in Jesus Christ.
▪ Dodie Osteen, the 91-year-old mother of TV evangelist Joel Osteen and matriarch of his Lakewood Church in Houston.
‘Seven Mountains’ pastors call for forced Christian takeover
Not listed but very much an influence at CFNI:
▪ Apostle Dutch Sheets, the school’s former chief executive and a prominent figure in the “Seven Mountains” movement calling for a forced Christian takeover of business, government, education, family, religion, media and the arts.
As it happens, Sheets was an adjunct professor at CFNI when Boelter was in school.
▪ And Prophet Lance Wallnau, the Keller-based televangelist who preached “Seven Mountains” theology in a 2013 CFNI magazine online.
His message in 12 words: “If you can capture the high places, you can shape a culture.”
Much also is made online of Christ For The Nations’ motto emblazoned across a wall: “Every Christian should pray at least one violent prayer a day.”
It only means that prayers should be emotional, the school said.
This is not war.
This story was originally published June 19, 2025 at 5:35 AM.
