Authorities Seek Motive of Suspect Vance Boelter
Vance Boelter didn’t seem extreme to longtime roommate David Carlson, who told CNN that Boelter’s beliefs didn’t define him. “I didn’t think he was going to do anything like this,” said Carlson. When Boelter texted him early Saturday to warn that Boelter “may be dead shortly,” Carson said self-harm came to mind as a possibility.
Nathalie Nkashama, another friend of Boelter’s, told WIRED, “This cannot be the person I know. I’m wondering what happened.” About her interactions with the suspect, Nkashama said, “It’s more of like, holiness all the time in conversations. I wish we could talk to him. I’m worried about his wife, his family. They’re all nice people, very nice.”
Before a Facebook profile apparently belonging to Boelter was removed, WIRED reported that he had “liked” some evangelical missionary organizations, as well as the Alliance Defending Freedom. Boelter also reportedly liked pages dedicated to evangelists Reinhard Bonnke and Smith Wigglesworth.
Author Matthew Taylor said a quick review of Boelter’s digital footprint indicated that he’s “absolutely not a prominent figure in the independent charismatic world.” Speaking to Baptist News, Taylor said the suspect seems to have “dipped into the world that surrounds the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR), has spent some time in charismatic leadership circles, has some ties in that world, and that seems to have played some role in his radicalization.”
Although Taylor didn’t see much “spiritual warfare rhetoric” from Boelter, he noticed references to Latter Rain theology, which teaches that Christians will take control of the church and government before Jesus returns. Boelter said the church is “out of line,” Taylor noted, “and so God’s going to send apostles and prophets to renew and bring it back into line to correct it.”
After Amy Smith of Watchkeep posted that Boelter had a degree from CFNI, commenters made connections of their own. “He was there while Dutch Sheets ran the school,” someone wrote. “Look him up and it will start to make sense.” Sheets, a CFNI graduate with ties to the NAR, has been linked to Christian nationalism. In 2022, the NAR issued a statement disavowing Christian nationalism.
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About the Watchkeep post, another person commented, “and people are really like ‘no one could have imagined he would do this’??? He went to a Christian Nationalist college – there were signs.”
ChurchLeaders has requested additional comment from CFNI and will update this article with any reply.
