Inside Ziklag, the Secret Organization of Wealthy Christians Trying to Sway the Election and Change the Country

by Andy Kroll, ProPublica, and Nick Surgey, Documented

July 13, 5 a.m. EDT


Ziklag, an invitation-only charity organization for rich Christians, aims to take dominion over what it sees as the seven major spheres of public life, which it calls “mountains”: business, science and technology, family, arts and media, church, education and government. Credit:Nesma Moharam, special to ProPublica

Ziklag was the brainchild of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur named Ken Eldred. It emerged from a previous organization founded by Eldred called United In Purpose, which aimed to get more Christians active in the civic arena, according to Bill Dallas, the group’s former director. United In Purpose generated attention in June 2016 when it organized a major meeting between then-candidate Trump and hundreds of evangelical leaders.

According to the Ziklag files, the group has divided its 2024 activities into three different operations targeting voters in battleground states:

Checkmate, focused on funding so-called election integrity groups;

Steeplechase, concentrated on using churches and pastors to get out the vote; and

Watchtower, aimed at galvanizing voters around the issues of “parental rights” and opposition to transgender rights and policies supporting health care for trans people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Mountain_Mandate

One theology promoted by Christian nationalist leaders is the Seven Mountain Mandate. Each mountain represents a major industry or a sphere of public life: arts and media, business, church, education, family, government, and science and technology. Ziklag’s goal, the documents say, is to “take dominion over the Seven Mountains,” funding Christian projects or installing devout Christians in leadership positions to reshape each mountain in a godly way.

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From: https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-ziklag-secret-christian-charity-2024-election