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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPolitico Magazine: Millions of Americans Believe God Made Trump President
And yeah, I know -- the obvious subtitle should be:
Millions of Americans Are Batshit Crazy
But this Politico magazine is about a book by a Pentecostal writer/publisher that explains their "reasoning":
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/27/millions-of-americans-believe-god-made-trump-president-216537
The volume, written by Stephen Strang, a leading Pentecostal figure and the longtime publisher of Charisma magazine, is an easy readpart spiritual hagiography, part Fox News bulletin and part prophecy. It ultimately says far less about Trump than about the charismatic Pentecostals who were some of his earliest religious supporters and who now view his election as the fulfillment of Gods will.
-snip-
From early in Trumps presidential candidacy, his biggest religious supportersindeed, his only religious supporters for a whilewere charismatic Christians like pastors Paula White and Darrell Scott. They were drawn to Trump, and he to them, because of their embrace of the prosperity gospel. Also sometimes referred to as health and wealth theology, this belief holds that God rewards faith with good health and financial success. By those very simple metrics, a billionaire like Donald Trump, whether his fortune came from family, scams or a higher power, must be a very faithful man.
Other religious conservatives, Strang argues, supported Trump in 2016 for reasons familiar to any Fox News viewer: a fear of globalism, the deep state, George Soros the former Nazi collaborator, wide-scale election fraud. They liked Trump because he said he liked them, told them they were persecuted, and vowed to stand up for them. He said he would bring back Merry Christmas. He told them they were important.
But there were other, more spiritual reasons as well. Strang outlines a string of charismatics who had visionsor who now retroactively claim to have had visionsthat Trump would one day win the White House. A Catholic holy man named Thomas Zimmer who spent much of his life in Italy even claimed to have received a prophesy in the 1980s that Trump would lead America back to religion. And the book is filled with testimony after testimony from Christian leaders who were amazed to find themselves supporting Trump in 2016, who each claim that he was their very last choice up until he won the Republican nomination.
In fact, while some conservative Christians speak about Trumps defeat of Hillary Clinton as the work of God, it seems the real divine intercession was in clearing the GOP field for Trump. The unspoken assumption for each of the religious figures Strang referencesfrom Franklin Graham to Robert Jeffress to Kenneth Copelandis that God would only want a Republican president and so if Trump captured the GOP nomination, then ipso facto he must be Gods choice. And the more unlikely the selection, the better proof it is of divine intent.
-snip-
Once it became clear to the community of conservative charismatics that Trump was Gods candidate, they mobilized to support his campaign. Its in this area that Strangs book is most useful, revealing the devotion and certainty of a faith group that went largely unnoticed throughout the presidential race. Cindy Jacobs, cofounder of the Reformation Prayer Network, organized 10,000 charismatics to prayer walk seven key states for Trump, asking God to move the hearts of voters in those states and to bless their work.
Another network called As One led 40-day prayer walks40 days being a significant time period in the Bibleand cast their efforts as part of a spiritual battle against the forces of evil seen on the secular left and the candidacy of Hillary Clinton. Lou Engle, a prominent revivalist based in California, prevailed upon his supporters to engage in what he called an Esther Fast, which involved three days with no food or water, in order to beg God for mercy and victory.
-snip-
Emphasis added.
Xipe Totec
(43,892 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)wcmagumba
(2,893 posts)frogs or locusts...
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)dalton99a
(81,708 posts)Takket
(21,714 posts)1. Make a list of all the qualities a Christian should have according to the bible and teachings of Jesus.
2. Do the exact opposite.
That's how we get this perversion of Christianity where people like drumpf are considered to be the choice of God.
bobbieinok
(12,858 posts)Me.
(35,454 posts)who says so aside from abusers, liars, grifters, racists, thieves, thugs, mafiosos and so on and so forth.
The Blue Flower
(5,451 posts)For all those who died in violence in Iraq, Iran, south America, and other far-flung places since the end of WWII as a result of our meddling. He will also prove to be a very instructive figure for all those in the future who try to undermine our values and vision.
Botany
(70,657 posts)... so I would follow "his word" and be good and not burn in hell forever, flooded the world in order to
kill everybody including babies because they were all evil, and left a massive fossil record in order to
test our faith in God over science. For many people of faith they just use their believe in a deity to
act like a deity and tell the rest of us how to live. Fuck 'em.
lkinwi
(1,477 posts)God wanted tRump, but Im not hearing it anymore. Its been noticeably quiet from the fundie section lately.
davekriss
(4,644 posts)DavidDvorkin
(19,510 posts)icymist
(15,888 posts)These people actually believe that everything they do is sanctioned by God.
icymist
(15,888 posts)I used to work in a store where the boss was a Pentecostal. This article is point on.