Brother of Christian "prophet" Jeremiah Johnson blows the whistle on his lies

The Trump-loving "prophet" has done so much worse than making bad predictions

This newsletter is free, but it’s only able to sustain itself due to the support I receive from a small percentage of regular readers. Would you please consider becoming one of those supporters? You can use the button below to subscribe to Substack or use my usual Patreon page!

---

The brother of self-described “prophet” Jeremiah Johnson says that Jeremiah is a fraud, but the bigger story may be the retaliation the brother is receiving for speaking out.

If you’re not familiar with this guy, Johnson is the sort of person who spent years spreading misinformation in the language of Christianity and then pivoted to politics when he realized there was a massive audience awaiting anyone who could convincingly be a MAGA cultist who spoke the language of faith.

Before long, he was saying things like God told him in a dream that Dr. Anthony Fauci was a “big rat” sent by Satan to thwart Donald Trump.

There was also the time he claimed COVID was a “demonic attack” against Baby Boomers in order to prevent Trump’s re-election:

But his most famous “prophecy” was that, no matter what the polls were saying, Trump would be re-elected in 2020. He explained his thinking (a generous term, to say the least) to the conspiracy-spewing outlet Charisma just before the election.

God, he claimed, told him in a dream that the Los Angeles Dodgers would win the World Series, Amy Coney Barrett would be seated on the Supreme Court before the election, and Trump would get voted back into office. The first two had already come to pass. It was now time for the last item on the checklist to come true.

… Now the final [prophecy], Donald J. Trump being reelected, has yet to happen. I believe it will.

… I believe that God is looking for an ally to accompany a remnant that is not going to believe or buy into the lies and acknowledge that God is not done with the church. He’s not done with America; He has set Donald Trump in place for some incredible things that are going to happen in the years ahead.

Trump obviously lost.

That’s when Johnson took an unusual turn. Instead of doubling down on the lie like so many others on the right, he admitted he got it wrong. In a now-deleted post on Facebook two months after the election, he conceded and admitted there was a miscommunication somewhere down the line. He suggested he misinterpreted God because there’s no way God could ever be wrong.

My aim in this public apology is twofold. First, I would like to repent for inaccurately prophesying that Donald Trump would win a second term as the President of the United States. I refuse to blame the saints and say, “It didn’t come to pass because they did not pray enough.” Nor will I proclaim, “Donald Trump actually won, so I was right, but now it has been stolen from him.” I believe the first statement seeks to alleviate the prophetic messenger from the responsibility of what he prophesied, and the second statement is filled with potential pride and an unwillingness to humble himself and admit he was wrong.

I want to go on record: “I was wrong, I am deeply sorry, and I ask for your forgiveness.” I specifically want to apologize to any believer in whom I have now caused potential doubt concerning the voice of God and His ability to speak to His people. As a human being, I missed what God was saying; however, rest assured, God Himself is NOT a liar and His written Word should always be the foundation and source of our lives as Christians.

He went on to suggest where he may have screwed up:

God Himself anointed Donald Trump in 2016 and then removed him from office in 2020 because of his own pride and arrogance. Joe Biden’s becoming the 46th President of the United States is meant to humble not only Donald Trump but all those who worshipped him more than they kept their focus on Jesus Christ.

Johnson made a video series saying similar things:

It was an odd admission because he didn’t admit being wrong in general, just on that One Big Thing. And he was wrong about the reasons, too. Trump didn’t lose just because of his “pride and arrogance”—there was also the racism, bigotry, cruelty, and incompetence. Plus, so many Americans wanted to excise a cancer from our collective lives.

Keep in mind that Johnson never said the actual truth: that he had no special powers, that God never spoke to him, that he was lying to people when he claimed otherwise, and that prophecies were nothing more than lies Christians told themselves to feel better.

As you can imagine, his Christian base revolted.

They wouldn’t accept a Trump defeat, much less one of their religious leaders apologizing for anything. Within a matter of weeks, the backlash grew so large that Johnson announced a suspension of all ministry activity:

That suspension soon turned into a shutdown. Johnson announced weeks later that he was quitting his ministry for good:

… After much prayer and the clear direction of the Lord, we are officially terminating, “Jeremiah Johnson Ministries.” All of our social media accounts will be deleted over the next week. We fully understand what a shock this will be to many on numerous levels. However, we are choosing to radically obey Jesus over any other voices in this season. Yes, there will be tremendous financial loss and the removal of influence that has been well established over the last decade. However, we are willing to embrace the power of the Cross into this new season. We are beyond grateful for the love and support that JJM has received from around the world over the years. I am sincerely sorry to anyone that I have hurt along this journey. Thank you for honoring our family and the ministry God has given us.

…

I am not discouraged nor am I drawing back from my calling. Quite the opposite. I feel God is launching me, my family, and our ministry team further into His purpose for us. In response to God’s gracious correction, refinement, and empowerment, I am choosing to refocus my gaze upon Jesus and the eternal realities of His Kingdom like never before. For many years I offered prophetic commentary on various political and world events. But now I am shifting my attention to the preparation of the Bride for the return of our Bridegroom. I will be turning my attention away from social media in order to focus on what God requires of me…

It wasn’t the end of his public Christianity. Johnson eventually launched a different ministry called The Altar Global where he continues to speak gibberish about demons and prophecy with YouTube thumbnails that look predictably insane:

I hadn’t given much thought to Johnson since the 2020 election and its aftermath. But this week, the Washington Post’s Danielle Paquette published an incredible story about Johnson’s family. It turns out Jeremiah has an older brother, Josiah Johnson, who is also Christian and also ran a ministry… but is also deeply troubled by what his brother Jeremiah has been doing. So troubled, in fact, that he posted about how Jeremiah was “completely and totally fabricating [his] dreams, visions, and prophetic words.”

The brothers actually went into ministry together but went their separate ways after Jeremiah invited their father to counsel members of the church. Josiah couldn’t believe it since their dad had repeatedly physically abused him growing up. He returned to Jeremiah’s ministry in 2018 when he needed money, but that’s when he noticed a different kind of problem: Jeremiah was pilfering sermons from other people without giving them credit:

He recalls freezing when Jeremiah predicted a forthcoming cleansing, according to footage of the event — “a boom in the upper room.”

A boom in the upper room? Nights earlier, when Josiah couldn’t sleep, he’d jotted down a poem called “the boom in the upper room.” He can’t find a copy of it today, he said, but he’d been so proud of the verses, he’d shared them with Jeremiah.

Had Jeremiah just ripped off his poem? And then passed it off as a prophecy?

…

“Josiah, I have been as gracious to you as I can,” Jeremiah replied, according to screenshots Josiah shared with The Post. “I got you your job. Don’t forget that.”

He added: “You shouldn’t be offended. You should feel tremendously blessed.”

Jeremiah later plagiarized a post about Ruth Bader Ginsburg from another pastor. This was no longer just one-off theft. It was part of a growing pattern. Then came the election debacle of 2020.

Jeremiah Johnson (screenshot via YouTube)

The Post article dives into how the brothers grew further apart after Jeremiah returned to ministry after admitting he got the Trump victory “prophecy” wrong. More recently, shit hit the fan to the point that another brother posted a lengthy “warning” about Josiah signed by Jeremiah, several other ministry leaders, and Christians who know them:

Josiah, along with his wife, Jennifer Johnson, have deceived and divided many innocent and unsuspecting people and families by their flattering speech and cunning behavior. Full of envy and malice, Josiah has appointed himself as the chief prosecutor of the church.  

Although he has never been stable or consistent enough to lead any legitimate church or ministry for more than a few months, he boldly lectures others on what a healthy ministry should look like. Any person who lovingly challenges Josiah and objects to his behavior or dares to try and bring him into order is accused of personal compromise, hidden sin, or worse.

In some ways, it’s a family spat. But it’s also a battle between one Christian ministry and another one who’s far more popular and influential in the worst ways. Both of them claim to represent what Christ wants and everyone around them is forced to pick sides.

While the article is fascinating, it’s bizarre that Josiah seems more disturbed by the plagiarism than the actual harmful rhetoric Jeremiah has used over the years. Josiah believes his brother is a false prophet, yes, but he can’t bring himself to admit that’s true of all self-described prophets. And even if he thinks his brother is lying, Josiah says he voted for Trump the past two elections. It’s hard to take Josiah seriously—despite his strong case against his brother—when he’s plenty delusional himself.

(On a side note, there are reports online suggesting Jeremiah was making up those prophecies about Trump, and the Washington Post quotes Josiah using the word “fraudulent” to describe his brother, but there’s nothing in the piece that links up that allegation with the Trump material. The fraud allegations involve the plagiarism. There’s no smoking gun that says Jeremiah purposely made up things about Trump because he thought it would play well with his audience. That said, all “prophecies” are obviously fictional. So while it’s fair to suggest Jeremiah made everything up, I’m not seeing anything that claims he purposely made up dreams about Trump in a way that’s any different from his usual brand of bullshit.)

Josiah posted about the Post’s article on Facebook this week, pleading with people to read it so they can understand the depth of the problems:

… Many church leaders whose name I will be sharing soon have known and benefited from keeping quiet about the spider web of deception Jeremiah has created and insulated himself with. My family and I have paid a genuinely high price for refusing to go quietly into the night and our hope is that people will see how delusional my brothers Jeremiah and Paul are as well as my dad. These men who appear to be sincere on every front have wounded, maimed, manipulated, and lied to the masses in the Name of Jesus and have used His Name to make themselves famous, wealthy, and well-liked.

My brothers have gone to great lengths to try to destroy my life both publicly and privately. While they appear on social media to be the good guys full of God they are extremely vindictive, conniving, and deceptive. This article is the beginning of what we pray will be the exposure that humbles them and teaches them to tell Truth.

The “Truth” is always elusive for people who profit off of lies.

That said, it’s hard to challenge liars when your faith requires you to believe so many different kinds of lies. Criticizing one so-called “prophet” without going after all of them just weakens the entire argument.

Josiah doesn’t deserve harassment. Obviously. Without getting to the root causes of the problems here, though—the beliefs underlying the Christian message—there’s no way Josiah can seriously address the way it’s being practiced by other members of his family.

Kudos to him for saying something, though. That takes courage. It’s a lot more than other family members might do.

---