GAINESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — A far-right, Christian nationalist pastor, citing the murder of political activist Charlie Kirk, has called for his neighbors to take down their “Hate Has No Home Here” signs, claiming those messages endorse political violence against people like him.
Yet, at the same time he called upon his critics to tone down their rhetoric, Andrew Isker escalated his own language, angrily demanding vengeance against those he perceives to be his political enemies.
As NewsChannel 5 Investigates first revealed, Isker is leading an effort to establish a Christian nationalist community in Jackson County, about 90 minutes northeast of Nashville.
“Blood cries out from the ground for justice,” Isker loudly declared in a sermon video posted on X. He cited Kirk’s assassination and the response by some liberals who appeared to endorse the political violence or, at least, refused to condemn it.
In that video, Isker derided what he described as “many foolish Christian leaders” who have urged people to follow the words of Jesus to love their enemies and to turn the other cheek.
“This great evil must not be tolerated. It must be rooted out and eradicated," he insisted.
That vengeance, he said, would come in the form of government crackdown, not from vigilante action.
In a post in a Jackson County Facebook group, Isker also compared himself to Kirk, saying his views are “more or less the same” as the slain activist and claiming that, as a result of NewsChannel 5’s "irresponsible reporting," he has “received multiple death threats.”
NewsChannel 5 Investigates checked with both the Jackson County sheriff and Gainesboro police. Both said that neither Isker nor his podcast colleague C.Jay Engel has made any such reports to their agencies.
“We have looked, and we haven’t found anything,” said Sheriff Marty Hinson.
“They haven’t reported anything to us about anything,” said Gainesboro Police Chief Mickey Smith.
Still, in his Facebook post, Isker took aim at his neighbors who have placed “Hate Has No Home Here in Jackson County" signs around the area.
“It has been taken to mean you support violence against people you hate,” Isker wrote without providing any evidence that anyone has voiced any such concerns.
“If you really believe the rhetoric needs to be toned down, you will show it by putting these signs away.”
Those signs sprang up around Jackson County following a NewsChannel 5 investigation last fall that drew directly from the words of Isker and Engel.
For example, Isker has downplayed the murders of 14-year-old Emmett Till, Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd, and he has declared that “the very concept of ‘racism’ was literally a creation of communists.”
He has repeatedly mocked members of the LGBTQ community, saying in one post that the answer is to “put these people in jail.”
The podcasters have platformed guests known for spreading antisemitic notions, while Isker has dismissed “antisemitism” as a “20th-century slur.”
And, in a podcast titled "Guys, You Gotta Get Over Hitler," he agreed with far-right Christian pastor Joel Webbon that Jews should be treated as second-class citizens – in Isker’s words, as foster children.
"They get to ride in the car and be treated respectfully in the car, but they don't get to drive," Webbon said.
Isker agreed.
“It's like having a family and you have foster children in your family. You wouldn't even give your own children the credit card or the family budget, but you're definitely not giving it to the foster."
But like the uproar over late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, Isker argued in his sermon for going after journalists who have said bad things about people like him.
"Media organizations who accuse Christians of spreading hate or fascism or white supremacy, or whatever slurs they wish to use, they must lose their broadcast license and be subject to broadened defamation laws,” he said.
“Extreme action must be taken."
Then, in a live podcast on Friday, Isker doubled-down.
"When you accuse someone of preaching hate, they are saying I hope somebody puts a bullet in your neck. That's what that means," Isker claimed.
He also called for a "massive amount of force" against the left.
"I hope every scumbag journalist is shaking in his boots right now," he added.
Similarly on X, Isker shared a post from an account that demanded the following in response to Kirk’s murder: “Declare a state of emergency. Every leftist needs to be purged from every institution…. Remove them from their positions. Confiscate their assets.”
The post added that the "Democrat Party needs to be declared a criminal organization…. Freeze their assets, remove their politicians from office, strike down their laws.”
Declare a state of emergency. Every leftist needs to be purged from every institution, starting with the security services and working systematically, and quickly, through the civil service, academia, media, corporate sector, right down to the local library.
— John Carter (@martianwyrdlord) September 10, 2025
Had pronouns in… https://t.co/4alrxTm7dw
Engel also called on President Donald Trump to “make left-wing activism illegal.”
And, if all of that sounds like Isker is ready to abandon democracy, his sermon suggested that he did not seem to care.
"Nowhere in the Bible does it prescribe liberal democracy as God's form of government, as the ideal form of government," he insisted.
As for his future in Jackson County, Isker's words regarding those "no hate" signs were ominous.
“Gainesboro is my home now. I am not leaving," he wrote. "If the ‘hate’ is me, and I am not leaving, ‘no home here’ means the only way I don’t have a home here is if someone kills me.”
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
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