The insistent proclamation that Donald Trump is a representative of God has begun to take on apocalyptic dimensions elevating the Presidential campaign to the anointing of a messiah to lead America. The participation of church leaders in this event has taken the indictments of the former President as an offense to God and to the loyal Christian nationalists who follow him.
This ReAwaken America Tour has appropriated the will of God and made Donald Trump into a “false messiah” of the kind Jesus warned against in his forecast of the end times. I am not one to proclaim we are living in those end times, but if we wanted evidence of it, we need only look at the language of prophets and pastors associating with Christ in this Tour.
Below I juxtapose the warnings of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark with some of the statements made in the rally “Pastors for Trump.”
And if anyone says to you at that time, “Look, here is the messiah!” or “Look, there he is!”–do not believe it. (Mark 13:21)
One of the things that the Lord kept bringing up to me is: you need to pray for my son. You need to pray for Trump. (Julie Green, prophet)
[During Holy Week by Marjorie Taylor Greene] “Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government. There have been many people throughout history that have been arrested and persecuted by radical corrupt governments, and it’s beginning today in New York City.”
False messiahs and false prophets will appear and [13:22]
“We know the one in charge up above. And I can tell you he has his hand on Donald Trump, that no weapon formed against him shall prosper, that yea though he walk through the shadow of death he will fear no evil, because God is with him and God is part of this race . . . It is good vs evil and the good shall win” (Lara Trump, wife of Eric Trump).
“That mugshot is the most famous mugshot in the history of the world.” (Lara Trump)
produce signs and omens, [13:22]
“I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters” Donald Trump.
to lead astray, if possible, the elect. [13:22]
“The ungodly are attacking President Trump for trying to protect us. They’re attacking our freedom.” (Rev. John Bennett)
But be alert; I have already told you everything. [13:23.]
“A typical prayer call from this ‘ReAwaken America’ spinoff features only a couple of minutes of actual prayer, with more pro-Trump politicians speaking than actual pastors –the exact opposite you would expect from an authentically faithful event,” Rev. Nathan Empsall, an Episcopal priest who leads the advocacy group “Faithful America”[ Brian Kaylor, “Public Witness”].
“Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government,” she [Marjorie Taylor Green]) said. “There have been many people throughout history that have been arrested and persecuted by radical corrupt governments, and it’s beginning today in New York City.”
Probably this is alarmist talk, and I am guilty of the same apocalyptic language as the MAGA followers who spiritualize the career of the former President. The spiritual invocations of “ReAwaken America,” a campaign led by convicted perjurer and Trump-pardoned Michael Flynn, has begun to haunt me as it gathers followers among Christians, who have portrayed Trump as “messiah,” without using that exact word. The spiritual language of this rally raises my anxiety, as I remember Jesus’ words, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
Donald Trump, himself, has seldom spiritualized himself, since he would rather see himself as a secular hero, but he welcomes Christians who want to elevate him to messiah status. He is carried on the wave of the “Re-Awakening.”
What confounds me is the fervor of Christians as the indictments roll in, as the threatening mugshot is publicized, as the former President threatens the legitimacy of a democracy that many of them owe allegiance to. It is a terrible nightmare, featuring the power of a false messiah, prophesied by Jesus.
It makes me hope for a counter-Awakening of Christians, who see that Donald Trump is a threat to the truth, the stability, the better angels of America. We could yet forestall the coming of the “end times.”