CHRIST-APP by philtierneyblog

XI

When I told the story about St. Bernard of Clairvaux, I realized that most contemporary American Evangelicals and Pentecostals might very well tune it out.  That’s because American fundamentalists of various orientations have a very strong tendency to disregard the history of Christianity. The vast preponderance tend to believe that they are Christians, but don’t often believe that peoples in other places and times were actually “born-again” Christians, like them, at all.  And so, they disregard any relevance that those Christians might have to them, let alone any lessons they might learn from them.  They believe that they are saved and so were the earliest Christians, in biblical times.  Therefore, they tend to leap-frog from the first century Christians to themselves, possibly only lightly touching down on leaders of the Reformation or the American Great Awakenings and the recent past.

There are several reasons for that.  I’ll mention one.  Disregarding history tends to serve the purpose legitimizing claims that current religious experiences are new, unique and exceptional.  That makes the recipients of such experiences feel more special, and those who led them into those experiences even more exceptional.  That promotes their ministries.  That gains more adherents.  For some, more money is important.  All of that can too easily be born of myopia, ego-centricity, self-interest and pride. 

Since American Christian fundamentalists tend to ignore the history of other Christians, I’d like to approach this matter through a different lens, the lens of moral theology.  I want to raise a very serious theological question.  It’s clear to me, on the basis of the evidence, that Donald Trump is more of an antichrist than a messiah. Why, then, would the preponderance of white American Christian fundamentalists seem to think that he more the latter than the former?  They’re not blind to the evils of his character. Unlike Jesus, do white Evangelical and Charismatic Christians in America believe that God follows an end-justifies-the-means strategy for “saving” America?  Are ethical ways of behaving ignored by God in order to accomplish God’s purposes?   It’s my considered opinion that many American fundamentalists embrace an amoral conception of God, in this case.  Then try to rationalize it by far-fetched biblical cherry-picking, theological contortion and cynical manipulation of American democratic institutions. 

This is how it’s done. Some Evangelical leaders claim that Donald Trump is a Christian. That’s far-fetched. By his own acknowledgment, Donald Trump has never felt the need to ask for forgiveness or even to pray. He has gone so far as to criticize the pope.  He judges and casts aspersions other people’s faith.

Others argue that even if he isn’t a Christian, Christians believe in forgiveness.  But Christians don’t really believe in forgiveness… unless a person repents, of course.  

Still others are aware that President Trump is not a man of faith, but like King Cyrus of Persia, is a pagan ruler who has been chosen and anointed to serve God’s purposes.  They say that God revealed to them that Trump is a messiah, like Cyrus.  Lance Wallnau, a business leadership consultant and self-proclaimed Pentecostal prophet, had a vision.  It was a vision of the number 45.  He understood it to refer to the number of Mr. Trump’s presidency. That prompted him to read the 45^th chapter of Isaiah. That chapter mentions that King Cyrus was a messiah.  And so, since Mr. Trump would be the 45^th President of the U.S. and the 45^th chapter of Isaiah mentions Cyrus, therefore, God revealed to Wallnau that Trump is a messiah like Cyrus.  But if the number 45 seems to be the key, why Isaiah 45 and not, oh say, Ezekiel 45?  Ezekiel 45 states, “But the Lord has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.’”  So, how can one be sure that Isaiah was the book instead of any other book with 45 chapters in it?  For that matter, who’s to say that Mr. Wallnau didn’t go hunting for anything that might promote Mr. Trump?  Any person can claim to be a prophet.  Any person can claim to have received a revelation from God.  And any person can try to cherry-pick from the Bible to confirm what they already want to think.  And any person can be wrong.

Another tactic is to create and play upon Christian hero stories. Like everyone else and maybe more, Evangelicals love hero stories. And here’s one.  Several years ago, there was an Evangelical firefighter, who had been suffering from severe PTSD.  One day, while he was watching TV, he saw Trump.  Then he heard a voice in his mind say, “That will be president.”  Jerry Falwell, Jr., the president of Liberty University, had the school’s media department make a film about that firefighter’s story. And that film has been widely circulated among thousands of Evangelical and Pentecostal churches to promote Trump’s presidency.     

Such religious leaders claim that God has revealed to them that Mr. Trump is chosen and anointed by God to be President of the United States through visions and words of prophecy.  But selecting, cherry-picking, random verses from the Hebrew prophets that related to Israel, 2,500 years ago, and applying them to 21^st century America is rank eisegesis. That refers to people reading their own ideas into Bible verses in order to find proof for their perspectives.  And that is basic to false prophecy.  You may recall that’s what Satan did in his conversation with Jesus in the Wilderness.  He used Bible verses to argue that Jesus should just jump off the Temple in Jerusalem.

I do not use the term false prophecy lightly. It is extremely serious business when some Christian leaders claim that it has been revealed to them that President Trump is actually a messiah when the evidence indicates that he’s more a type of antichrist. That’s false prophecy.  Such persons claim that they’ve received words from God, dreams and visions, which reveal that Trump is the chosen and anointed one sent by God.  Those are Pentecostal views about the ways in which God reveals. Pentecostals find presidents for the gifts of the Holy Spirit in St. Paul’s letters, especially 1 Corinthians. St. Paul was the one who wrote about prophecy and other spiritual gifts of God.  But St. Paul also wrote that it is essential to discern or differentiate between truth and falsehood, to test the spirits.  Not all ideas, whether dreams, visions or words in the mind are prophecies from God.  And, according to the letters in the New Testament, no one gets to call himself a prophet.  As the bumper sticker says, “Don’t believe everything you think.”  And certainly don’t be quick to imagine what you think is revealed by God.

Not all Evangelicals are alike.  Not all Pentecostals are alike.  Not all Christian fundamentalists are alike.  But I know how Evangelicals tend to think, how Neo-Pentecostals tend to feel and how fundamentalists tend to act. I know how vogue ideas spread among Christian fundamentalists of various sorts.  And I know that all too often there is very little actual testing of spirits and virtually no seeking of self-awareness when words attributed to God are advanced by prominent leaders. It appears to me that the spirit driving the frenzy among so many white Christian fundamentalists is less the Spirit of God and more a spirit of impatience, a spirit of frustration, a spirit of fear, a spirit of dogmatism, a spirit of judgmentalism and of lust for power.  A favorite verse, often quoted by Neo-Pentecostal Christians is from the Book of the Prophet Zechariah. It says this: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)  The passion for Trump among so many white Christian fundamentalists in America is born of a passion to use power instead of trusting God’s Spirit.  It’s a failure of trust in God’s timing, of trust in God.