Rick Joyner

Rick Joyner is an American evangelical Christian leader. He runs MorningStar Ministries with his wife Julie.

Joyner became famous as a leader in the so-called "New Apostolic Reformation" movement which some writers asserted was heavily connected to the church Sarah Palin was a member of in Wasilla, Alaska.

Following Hurricane Katrina, Rick Joyner said the hurricane was a "judgment from God" as a punishment for Southern Decadence, a gay mardi gras festival in New Orleans. Joyner also believes that gay activists—hard at work pushing the gay agenda—are the most intolerant group in the world. But he's not totally heartless towards gay people: no, he thinks that gay rights is just a plot to get people on board with a Marxist/Satanist plot to take over America.

As for the Japanese earthquake — Rick Joyner has an explanation: it's because God is judging the United States for separation of church and state.

Joyner believes prayer can cure amputees by regrowing limbs. Needless to say, he doesn't exactly present compelling evidence: a guy he knew apparently had a finger amputated and it grew back. Notice: no photographs or medical evidence because, well, who needs evidence when you can praise the Lord?

Odd political views
In an appearance with fellow evangelistic oddity Jim Bakker, Joyner claimed that he was a political moderate and that Timothy McVeigh was in fact a left-wing extremist, connections to the militia movement be damned. Joyner also thinks that the US media is the "number one most powerful terrorist organization in the world," but probably not for foisting shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians on an unsuspecting public.

In August 2017, Joyner defended white supremacist groups, first by first spouting the usual right-wing whataboutism comparing white supremacists to Black Lives Matter, and then stating that "white supremacist groups probably would not exist now if it had not been for Obama."

In 2013, Joyner opined that "our only hope is a military takeover", because Barack Obama. He later doubled down on his coup d'etat advocacy, since loudly announcing support for what might be considered actual treasonable activities is such a smart move in the wake of things like the Patriot Act.

Several years later in 2020, Joyner was still dreaming of God-backed "militias" that would "pop up like mushrooms" to fight in "urban warfare" against the "tyranny of Marxism" (which, in Joyner's eyes, is movements like Black Lives Matter, who he called a "Marxist organization" that was a "reverse KKK").

In October 2020, Joyner clarified that this upcoming civil war would only take place in "", where Joyner of course believes all of America's problems are.

Even the Capitol storming shitshow in January 2021 didn't stop Joyner from continuing to spout his tired racist civil war fantasies in March that year.

Joyner loves Donald Trump. Joyner thinks Trump is edgy, hard, and "tough as nails"... just like a disciple of Jesus, apparently. In August 2017, Joyner stated that "God put him in (office) and only God is going to be able to take him out". Of course, after Trump was voted out in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, it wasn't an act of God that removed Trump from office, but bullshit "fraud" conspiracies.

Joyner is a staunch climate change denier, believing it to be a communist plot. (This contrasts with his oldest daughter, Anna Jane Joyner, who is a full time climate activist working in particular to get Christians involved in the environmental movement.)

Heritage USA
MorningStar Ministries is located on a portion of the former Heritage USA site, started by PTL Club's Jim Bakker. The organization owns Heritage Tower, a 21-story building completed around 1986 and apparently never issued a certificate of occupancy. MorningStar Ministries has owned the building since 2005, but, if neighbors are to be believed, has not made the effort to restore the building to use. Some neighbors have a petition to "blow up the Tower." This is not likely to happen any time soon, as MorningStar Ministries took the York County Council to court. For its part, the county council wants to demolish the tower.