A Liberty University-produced film called “The Trump Prophecy,” claims that Donald Trump’s election in 2016 can be attributed to divine intervention, and that Trump is the King Cyrus of our times.
Cyrus the Great was the king of Persia in the second half of the sixth century BCE. He conquered the Babylon and established a huge empire. He allowed the Israelites, who had been exiled there some 50 years earlier, to return to their native land, to govern themselves and to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. For this, the book of Isaiah declares that Cyrus was “messiah”, anointed by God to deliver the Israelites.
For the creators of “The Trump Prophecy,” the comparison with Cyrus has obvious appeal. It emphasizes the global power of the U.S. presidency. It implicitly condemns the previous administration: the exile from God that Trump is now reversing. And it makes Trump out to be the savior of God’s people, permitting them to live and worship as they please.
Although he may be beloved of the Christian right, Trump is no man of God. He is, like Cyrus, a pagan and a “tool of God”. This is often admitted by Trump’s “court evangelicals”. But to evangelicals Trump’s election was God’s plan.
But why would Cyrus do it in the first place? Here is where the equation with Trump becomes most interesting, and potentially revealing. The restoration of peoples to their lands, and the permission for them to self-govern (with Persian imperial oversight), was a broad policy under Cyrus. It was not just the Israelites he treated this way. It is easier to supervise a relatively self-governing group than it is to enforce Persian laws in a foreign and resistant land — but also, and perhaps predominantly, the policy was a propaganda coup. By appropriating local religious beliefs, he cemented his imperial domination and curried favor with the conquered peoples.
This is what happened in Israel as well. The declaration in Isaiah that Cyrus is God’s anointed ruler is not Israelite prophecy; it is Persian propaganda. The biblical writers bought what Cyrus was selling, and elevated him to the level of a David or Solomon. The parallel with Trump and his evangelical prophets is close. Trump too has effectively spoken the language of the religious right, promising them a return to their cherished customs and beliefs. (They’ll be able to say “Merry Christmas” again!)
Like Cyrus, Trump doesn’t care about the actual religious beliefs he is supporting. What he wants is free rein to do as he likes — with the support of those whose local authority he is propping up. He has offered influence, but not real power itself. And they have bought what he is selling. He is quite literally, to be a messiah figure.
It may all seem utterly ridiculous, of course, but there is an important historical lesson here. For though Cyrus restored Israel to self-governance, there would never be another Israelite king. The ceding of power to Cyrus marked the end of Israel’s native form of government. Proclaiming Trump to be a modern-day Cyrus is, implicitly and perhaps even unconsciously, to suggest that our own native form of government may have come to its untimely end. (Joel Baden, professor of Hebrew Bible, Yale Divinity School, published on Religion News Service : https://religionnews.com/2018/10/04/the-trump-prophecy-includes-troubling-parallels-for-american-democracy/).
The support of evangelicals for a man who is a self-adoring huckster and whose every third word is a lie, a man who despises the poor, women and minorities – all this disqualifies them as a Christian sect. They are a political sect, manipulated constantly and expertly. Even evangelicals overseas do not regard them as christians.
Divine intervention? According to logic and evidence, there is no such thing, which is why religionists have struggled for centuries with “the problem of evil.” If there is a god, why does he cause or allow evil? If intervention was a possibility, a living god would have intervened on countless occasions worthy of his attention, such as stopping negative occurrences like natural disasters, preventing unjust wars and murders done in his name. A god who intervenes would also wipe out birth defects, given us the key to DNA for disease prevention and made theft, rape and murder impossible, not just issue impotent edicts against it. No, PRESIDENT Trump is neither a blessing nor a curse, he is what we deserve for decades of corruption in Washington, he is the enema for the swamp.
Here are the facts. President Trump has accomplished almost everything he promised he would do if elected in 2016, despite the tactics of the liberal left, using every dirty trick in the book to stop him, the biased media daily pounding, the witch hunts, the internal resistance and disgusting mob rule, and denial of freedom of speech of conservatives on college campus and social platforms. The left wing still has not understood that **YOU LOST** the election, and that American people have rejected your open borders – high crime policies, and we reject paying high taxes just so Democrats can bribe the poor to vote for them, that’s over now. We reject the decimation of the manufacturing jobs and middle class from over regulation. PRESIDENT Trump has turned the economy around, gave us tax breaks, reduced illegals invading our country, destroyed ISIS, dropped unemployment among Blacks, Latinos and Woman that you claim he hates.
So PRESIDENT Trump is a braggart? I can live with that, and you better get used to it. PRESIDENT Trump lies? Really, about something important? You can keep your doctor under ObamaCare was a YUGE lie that actually mattered and cost Americans millions or billions of dollars. What lie has the PRESIDENT told compared to that? At least he does not claim to be Cherokee!
Mid term elections are coming, time to choose between socialists who want to fix everything with TAX and SPEND, TAX and SPEND and more TAX and SPEND and conservatives that made America respected again and perhaps feared worldwide, we are economically and militarily powerful again, with secure borders accepting properly vetted immigrants by merit, not lottery.
And what do Democrats offer? Transgender bathrooms. Safe spaces with crayons on campuses. And endless caravans of thousands of illegals bringing drugs, disease, and dirt cheap labor to be unfairly abused by unscrupulous business, while costing billions in health, housing costs, food stamps and welfare. No thanks!
Welcome to this blog! We don’t get many comments from Republicans, let alone American Evangelicals, so it does regular readers of this blog ( especially this writer) good to hear the other side of the story. I was maybe too dismissive of the “messiah” story, and insufficiently tolerant. I apologise. Please return for a quiet, calm conversation. Epicureanism is about moderation, even when it comes to party politics! I am happy to conduct a moderate discussion- are you?