Victor Marx was deep in the jungle and crippled by a fever when he was attacked.
The self-described “high-risk missionary” and Republican gubernatorial nominee in Colorado claims he traveled to Myanmar to train “warriors” involved in secretive unspecified relief operations. Before accepting his teachings, Marx said the group wanted to assess his skills. Without warning, they swarmed him.
But those soldiers apparently didn’t know who they were messing with. Marx’s 2024 book, “The Dangerous Gentleman: A Call for Men to be Courageous in a Culture of Fear,” opens with this tale of being tested in war-torn Myanmar. According to Marx, when the soldiers charged him, he was able to handily defeat “more than ten” men at once armed only with a “trainer blade” made of “thick plastic.”
Along with this story of a wild skirmish in the jungle, “Dangerous Gentleman” contains multiple tales of Marx doing battle with “demons” who had taken control of people. His detailed descriptions include claims that one man “transformed” in front of him, developing “pointy” ears and “superhuman strength.” In another episode, Marx said a “demonized” teenage girl “turned reptilian” before his eyes.
Improbable stories are a foundational element of Marx’s career as a Christian Nationalist Evangelist preacher and podcaster. Marx, a Marine veteran, claims to hold multiple high-level black belts stemming from his stepfather’s creation of a martial arts system, “Keichu-Do” or “Cajun Karate.” At points, Marx has suggested that he’s used these deadly skills to rescue tens of thousands of women and children from hot zones around the world.
Marx brought his questionable tales of war zone heroics and feats of strength into the political realm when he announced a run for governor late last year. In June, Marx secured the Republican nomination after defeating three other candidates in the party’s primary. As the campaign has progressed, Marx has faced questions about his extraordinary claims of saving thousands of lives and even his martial arts expertise. His answers in multiple tough interviews have not been convincing. Yet the stories of black belts and daring rescues may not even be the most unbelievable parts of Marx’s personal narrative.
“Dangerous Gentleman’s” first supernatural tale comes in its second chapter where Marx describes encountering a captured “ISIS commander” while doing “humanitarian operations” in Iraq in 2017. According to Marx, the man had been captured by Iraqi forces that he was working with “informally.” Marx claimed the alleged ISIS fighter was seemingly set to be executed. As a result, Marx hoped to pray with him and make him “a brother in Christ while he still had the chance.” It did not go as planned.
“His face became contorted, morphing into a hardened, angular mask within seconds. Holy corn flakes, I thought. What is happening here?” Marx wrote, adding, “I and those around me watched as that man transformed in front of our eyes. Muscles bulged out of his forehead. His eyes narrowed. Stranger still, his ears … got pointy.”
Incredibly, Marx said someone on his team captured direct evidence of the very moment the man’s “ears started sticking out from his head and looking sharp, like a troll’s.”
“Somebody else in the courtyard caught photos of the transformation, and it’s all there in living color from start to finish,” Marx wrote.
Marx did not respond to multiple queries from TPM about the claims in his book, including a request to view this purported photographic evidence.
Marx’s descriptions of performing what might be commonly understood as exorcisms have generated questions and concerns during his gubernatorial bid.
Kyle Clark, a reporter with the Denver NBC affiliate 9News, has done extensive reporting on Marx and his various stories. During an incredible interview with Marx in late May, Clark pressed Marx, who refused to provide specific numbers of people he has rescued. In his book and various speeches, Marx has consistently suggested he may have killed people in the various combat zones he has visited. During their conversation, Clark also asked Marx if this was true, and the candidate would not provide a direct answer. After reviewing many of the candidate’s sermons and podcasts, Clark also noted Marx has described himself as a “reluctant exorcist” while detailing specific rituals he has supposedly performed to cast demons out of people. Marx quibbled with that terminology.
“That’s a joke the way I say that,” Marx responded. “But as a follower of Christ and someone who’s very familiar with evil … I believe the word of God that I can pray for people and see people set free from, whether it’s demonic oppression — I never call it possession — I believe there’s levels of demonization where people are suffering because of evil.”
While Marx seemingly tried to downplay his prior tales of “demonization” during the conversation with Clark, in his book, the incidents he recounts are graphic and unmistakably supernatural.
Along with the story of the “ISIS commander,” Marx wrote about encountering a teenage girl in a youth prison who began “growling” and engaging in other shocking behavior as he attempted to pray with her. Marx made it clear he felt her actions were inhuman. Along with describing her as a “demon” and a “creature,” he claimed the girl was “tearing at her own flesh and making otherworldly—or under-worldly—noises.”
“She looked up at me, her eyes mostly rolled back into her head, and an unnatural voice came out of her: ‘I guess you’re going to say I’m possessed,’” Marx wrote of the girl, adding, “Believe it or not, I could actually smell sulfur and rotten eggs, to the point where I thought I would throw up.”
Marx did not respond to specific questions about this alleged encounter and whether he had any evidence it had taken place.
Currently, Marx is seen as a longshot against his Democratic Party rival, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. While the race for the Colorado governor’s mansion is an open one since the current occupant, Democrat Jared Polis, is term limited, Cook Political Report rates the contest a “solid D.” Marx has also proved to be divisive within his own party and among other Evangelicals. On Wednesday, Clark and 9News reported the vice chair of the Denver Republican Party resigned to avoid facing a removal vote after he refused to back Marx. Clark has also noted Marx’s claims about exorcisms have “caused rifts with other Christian leaders.”
While all of this might make Marx seem like a fringe figure, he is evidence of a larger and unquestionably alarming phenomenon.
Rhetoric about “demon” possession has become increasingly common among the religious right. The former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has tens of millions of viewers and has been touted as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, has claimed he was “attacked” by a “demon.” Carlson has also conducted interviews about possession with an alleged exorcist on his podcast. The late influential right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, whose group raised hundreds of millions of dollars for conservative causes, has said “demon possession is real.” Kirk also penned a foreword for “Dangerous Gentleman” wherein he lauded Marx for “confronting demons” and described the book as “a beacon of clarity, virtue, and inspiration.”
Brad Onishi is a former Evangelical minister and research associate at UC Berkeley who has written multiple books about Christian Nationalism. In a conversation with TPM on Thursday, Onishi said the concept of exorcisms or “spiritual warfare” is “extremely trendy right now” on the right in conjunction with the rise of President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement.
“It is no longer fringe. I would point you as evidence to the fact that … Paula White-Cain is the White House faith advisor. She has an office in the White House and she is somebody who prays to cast out demons. She speaks in tongues. And so, she has been the enduring faith representative of Trump and his administration going back to 2016,” Onishi explained. “So, if we start with her, we see a mainstreaming of this kind of religiosity going back a decade into Trump’s political life.”
As further evidence these beliefs are gaining traction in right-wing politics, Onishi also pointed to Carlson’s alleged “demon” encounter, GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson’s ties to the far right New Apostolic Reformation, and broadcaster Alex Jones’ past comments alleging prominent Democrats are demons who smell like “sulfur.”
“It’s one of those things where the fringe has become the fabric. There’s no way to examine American Christianity right now without seeing that the extremist elements have come right into the center,” Onishi said.
Onishi also described Marx and his various extraordinary claims as evidence of a new type of religious leadership gaining ground.
“I think what I would call him is a kind of a feature of the modern ecosystem of the religious right. One of the things that you find in independent charismatic spaces from which Victor Marx comes is an emphasis on prophecy and authority in individuals who’ve been given those gifts by God,” Onishi explained. “And what that means is, rather than having a denominational authority, or a pastoral authority, or an ordination that gives you the right to speak for the community, if you claim that you have the right gifts from God — prophecy, dreams, exorcism — then you can attract a following by dint of the gifts you are claiming to hold. And so, Victor Marx fits very well into that system.”
Onishi also detailed how the core tenets of Christian Nationalism — and particularly claims around demons — are inherently undemocratic and extreme. He characterized the belief system as one that argues right wing Christians should get “more of the country than others” and that they are engaged in “a spiritual battle against those who are blinded by the forces of the devil and by the demons who inhabit them.” Onishi further outlined the goals of leaders who espouse this type of rhetoric.
“It’s not democratic victory with the help of God and the gospel. [The] goal is conquering … to drive out the enemies of God,” Onishi said.
Indeed, the central message of Marx’s book is that men must become “dangerous” to take on nefarious forces in society, including “woke” institutions and the LGBT community.
“Too often, if a kid is raised only by a woman, he picks up effeminate qualities and gives up on the idea of masculinity,” Marx wrote. “The culture throws all these metrosexual, nonbinary lunatics at them, and kids follow that example. It’s sick, sad, and deranged, but it’s happening because men aren’t standing in their proper place.”
Marx repeatedly encourages men to rise up against “moral filth.” Onishi pointed out this type of rhetoric, particularly the dehumanization and literal demonization of political rivals, can easily encourage violence.
“It’s one step from spiritual warfare to actual physical warfare. Because you are saying … that the people across from you are not simply your political opponents who have different policy ideas than you,” Onishi said. “These are not people who disagree with you on what to do as a democratic community. These are people who are demons. They smell like sulfur. They are inhabited by the devil. They are not like us.”
In his book, Marx was clear that he sees “demons” all around us and hopes to encourage people to rise against them.
“If the secular institutions and the demonic forces controlling them are finally calling us dangerous, then why not just go ahead and be dangerous?” he asked.
