Joe Nicola has suggested that sometimes mental illness is actually demon possession.
He argues Missouri should “decouple” from the federal government, specifically mentioning funding for schools.
He says there’s no such thing as separation of church and state.
Nicola, a Jackson County pastor, is the Republican nominee for a Missouri Senate seat representing the Kansas City-area suburbs of Independence, Sugar Creek and Grain Valley.
After an August primary win that surprised some, Nicola is promoting a more traditional conservative look to voters ahead of the Nov. 5 election. But critics and a religion expert say his more fringe beliefs, revealed in online writings and sermons, raise questions about how he would govern if elected.
Nicola, who lives in Grain Valley, did not participate in an interview for this story and declined a request to attend one of his church services. He also did not respond to a set of questions from The Star.
To understand Nicola’s positions, the newspaper reviewed one of his books and scores of his online posts, campaign statements and videos of his sermons on Rumble, a platform popular among conservatives. Together, they offer insight into the type of lawmaker he would be in the state Senate — a man drawn to politics by staunch, hard-right beliefs that, at times, delve into conspiracies.
“I think it’s very clear from the way he has been writing and talking in his sermons about just religion and politics and so forth, that he sees absolutely no difference between, you know, his role as a pastor and his role as a state senator,” said Brian Kaylor, a former pastor who serves as the president and editor-in-chief of Word&Way, a Missouri-based Christian media company.
Nicola would “approach those two functions as one in the same,” Kaylor said.
Nicola’s online posts also touch on various right-wing talking points, ranging from criticism of COVID-19 mandates to Black Lives Matter protests to the LGBTQ community. Nicola has said that he refused to shut down his church during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The core of Nicola’s beliefs, outlined in one of his books, is centered on the idea that Jesus intended to create a “systematic, world-reaching government of Heaven” instead of a church — a word he says is an incorrect translation of “Ekklesia,” a Greek word for gathering or assembly.
It’s an argument that aligns with Christian nationalism or a belief that God’s chosen people should be the ones governing and making decisions, said Kaylor, who recently published a book about the dangers of Christian nationalism.
As Nicola is embroiled in a tightly contested general election against his Democratic opponent, state Rep. Robert Sauls, many of the videos and posts highlighting his beliefs have been scrubbed from the internet.
Despite the criticism, Missouri Republicans who spoke with The Star defended Nicola, including Sen. Rick Brattin from Harrisonville, who touted Nicola’s conservative beliefs and Christian faith.
“He’s a common sense, conservative guy,” said Brattin, who chairs the hard-right Freedom Caucus in the Senate. “Very reachable and approachable and would listen well to his constituency.”
‘Christian nationalism’
In his sermons at New Covenant Ministries, a non-denominational church he founded in Independence, Nicola promotes a unique blend of religion and politics.
Nicola, in a July interview with The Star, said he teaches his congregation to be an active part of society, including politics. His church has also donated money to a political action committee that supports his candidacy, a move questioned by legal experts.
“There’s no such thing as separation of church and state,” Nicola said in the July interview about the church donations. “That’s a misnomer.”
While many of his online writings have either been scrubbed from the internet or protected behind a password, some reviewed by The Star using the WayBack Machine internet archive offer insight into his beliefs.
In one post, from January 2020, Nicola wrote that Christianity was being targeted, writing that the Evangelical community was “the last bulwark of our Judeo-Christian Constitutional Republic.” He claimed that people were twisting scripture, using terms such as social justice, environmentalism and climate change, to spread Marxist propaganda.
“Globalism, Sustainability, Social Justice, Immigration, Environmentalism, Collectivism, Economic Justice, Climate Change, Critical Race Theory and other agendas are being used to prey on the heart strings of Christians to change Christianity in America by moving us into Socialism,” Nicola wrote in the post.
Nicola went on to write that some Christian churches compromised with Nazi Germany in the 1930s “and some even had a picture of Hitler and a Nazi flag.”
“Today some churches are flying a different flag, a rainbow flag,” Nicole wrote.
Nicola later built on some of those arguments in a post on his Telegram account, in which he included a lengthy list of terms, such as cancel culture and immigration, that he said were “part of the overall scheme of the globalist cabal.”
“To understand what is happening you must understand the Great Reset that is now underway and brought to you by the World Economic Forum and globalists around the world,” Nicola’s July 2021 Telegram post began.
He ended the post by saying: “We are headed for a one world technocracy unless We The People take a stand.”
Nicola’s teachings appear to be aligned with the New Apostolic Reformation movement or NAR, a movement that emphasizes prophecies by modern-day apostles, spiritual warfare and the call for Christians to take dominion over all areas of society, said Kaylor, who reviewed Nicola’s writings and sermons.
Kaylor pointed to a sermon Nicola gave on the Sunday after supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In the sermon, Nicola asked his congregation whether it was ever right for Christians to be violent.
When several members responded “yes,” Nicola said he wasn’t advocating violence but was advocating for “freedom at all costs and freedom for whatever it takes.” He also encouraged his congregation to stock up on food and water, saying “we are at war.”
“He was clearly excusing violence,” Kaylor said of Nicola’s sermon. “He was clearly not willing to condemn violence in the name of God.”
The NAR movement has leaned towards some “anti-democratic” beliefs, raising questions about whether Nicola would separate his teachings from his role as a state senator, Kaylor said.
“He will be pushing bills, arguing for legislation, voting for legislation, based on what he thinks is God’s will, regardless of whether or not it’s best for all people, best for the people in his district,” Kaylor predicted. “That’s Christian nationalism.”
Nicola did not respond to a question from The Star about whether his teachings were in line with the movement or Christian nationalism.
However, Nicola appeared to push back on the argument in a video he posted on YouTube on Oct. 19.
“If I’m elected, I will have a different role from my pastoral duties,” Nicola said in the video. “My civic responsibility is to serve the people of my district by protecting their freedom and liberty and finding solutions to make all of our lives better.”
‘Demon possession.’
Nicola, on his campaign website, has vowed to address homelessness and mental Illness. However, critics have pointed to a 2017 post on his now-deleted personal website titled “MENTAL ILLNESS OR DEMON POSSESSION?”
“Let me say right off that I am not saying mental illness does not exist,” Nicola wrote in the post. “I do believe, however, that we are overlooking a very important scriptural truth – demon possession. Demon possession is real and is more common then we may think.”
Nicola wrote that Jesus never dealt with a person diagnosed with mental illness. The Bible, he wrote, “tells us they were demon possessed and the only way to deal with it is to cast the demon out, not give it drugs.”
Sauls, the Democratic nominee, said he was troubled by Nicola’s post, saying it raised questions about how he would handle policy decisions such as funding for the Missouri Department of Mental Health.
“I can tell you that PTSD is a real thing, you know, it’s not demonic possession. It’s not something that, you know, you can just hope that it goes away, right? Or pray for it to go away,” he said. “Mental health is a very real thing, and if you live in this society, you see it on an ongoing basis.”
Nicola, in his Oct. 19 YouTube video, clarified his stance on mental illness, saying he was “certainly not against using medications” and supports “finding solutions and real healing.”
He also attacked Sauls, arguing that he has “done more in this area than my opponent has ever thought about doing.”
Nicola pointed to his own military background and said that he understands the struggles of veterans. He also touted his role as a pastor, saying that he has “helped many people find healing over the years in my ministry.”
Education funding
In a campaign video, Nicola said Missouri should “decouple from the federal government everywhere we possibly can” because there are “strings attached.”
The video no longer appears on Nicola’s YouTube account, but a political action committee aligned with Senate Democrats reposted the video online.
“Let’s just say, talk about education, it’s 10% or less is what the money that we’re getting into Missouri from the federal government,” Nicola says in the video. “It’s like we’re addicted to the federal dollars.”
But in the 2024 fiscal year, 38% of the Missouri education budget came from federal sources, with 22% coming from temporary federal relief funds, according to a Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education spokesperson.
Sauls, the Democratic nominee, said he took Nicola’s comments to mean that he would support eliminating all federal funding for public education. He said there were sharp differences between him and Nicola, specifically pointing to the two candidates’ views on education funding.
“If we were to take away the funding for 40% of the schools, you know, how many school districts close?” Sauls said. “Do you raise taxes to cover the difference?”
Inside the Jackson County district
Nicola surprised politicos around the state when he overcame a massive fundraising disadvantage and defeated Rep. Aaron McMullen in the Republican primary. The general election pits Nicola, who is widely expected to be aligned with the hard-right Freedom Caucus if elected, against Sauls, a former assistant prosecuting attorney who has billed himself as a moderate Democrat.
The Senate District 11 race is one of the most tightly-contested legislative races in Missouri this year as Republicans look to flip a district previously held by Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, a Democrat from Independence.
Republican lawmakers and strategists who spoke with The Star appeared confident that Nicola will be able to win the district. He previously ran unsuccessfully for District 8 in 2022.
Since defeating McMullen in August, Nicola’s campaign has largely sidestepped his religious beliefs, sermons and writings. Instead, his ads and posts on social media have mainly focused on his professional background and familiar conservative themes.
He previously served in the U.S. Navy Seabees and owned a motorcycle repair shop. He’s also done volunteer work with organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army and City Union Mission, according to his campaign website.
He’s opposed to an upcoming ballot measure to overturn the state’s abortion ban. He vows to crack down on crime and defend gun rights. He’s touched on social issues in schools, rejecting what he calls “Anti-American Curriculum.” And he’s made property rights a key focus of his campaign, hosting a series of events to help seniors navigate a new property tax freeze.
“He obviously is not too fringe, because a fringe candidate can’t win against somebody who’s that well-funded,” said Jean Evans, a former executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. “When you talk to him, he doesn’t seem fringe at all.”
Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, a Columbia Republican who will leave office after this year, said in an interview that Nicola was “saying the right things” during his campaign. Rowden, who has frequently sparred with the Freedom Caucus, said that Nicola had an opportunity to “surprise some people.”
“There are very few people that go to Jefferson City with the, you know, express intent, in mind of blowing the place to smithereens,” he said. “I don’t think Joe is one of those guys.”
But Nicola’s campaign suffered a blow earlier this month when the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a historically Republican-leaning organization, endorsed Sauls, his Democratic opponent.
When announcing its slate of endorsements, the chamber pointed to “political dysfunction” that derailed the Senate during the 2024 session and “stalled key business priorities, harming Missouri employers and families.”
The Senate has been plagued by infighting between members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus and the more moderate Republican leadership, derailing a slew of GOP priorities over the past four years. In the 2024 session, Missouri lawmakers approved a modern record-low 28 non-budget bills.
Brattin, the chair of the Freedom Caucus, said that he expects Nicola to vote alongside the caucus regardless of whether he joins.
When asked about how Nicola’s religion would guide his policies, Brattin said all lawmakers, from atheists to Christians, govern based on their faith and beliefs.
“Anyone that tells you that they separate the two, run as fast as you can from somebody like that because you cannot trust them in any way, shape or form,” he said. “Joe is a Christian man, and will vote accordingly and vote his values.”
But Kaylor, who has studied Christian nationalism, said the question for voters is whether Nicola will try to implement his religious beliefs over the beliefs of others if elected.
“It’s fine to preach and do whatever you want in your church, but at the point that you’re taking an oath of office to uphold the constitution of the state and the laws, you can’t do that and push Christian nationalism,” he said.
“Can he actually be trusted to govern for all people, regardless of their religious beliefs, or if they have none at all? And that’s the question where there seem to be a lot of red flags that suggest that he’s unwilling to govern that way.”
