Trump and the New Apostolic Reformation: A Match Made in Hell

Last week I read an interesting article on the Independent, out of the UK. The title is “Meet the powerful evangelicals who believe Trump is an apostle who will reclaim America for Christ”

Now, the Independent does lean left, so keep that in mind, but it’s fascinating to get a perspective on what’s happening in America from outside the US, especially where Trump and evangelicals are concerned.

Here are a few quotes from the article, and I’ll also put a link in the description field should you wish to read it in full.

“It’s October 2019, and in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, then president Donald Trump stands at his desk in a blue suit, his eyes closed. Around him are 25 people, also smartly dressed, and with their eyes shut too. With a few exceptions, they’re mostly middle-aged white men, and those of them nearest to Trump lay their hands on him while the room falls silent in prayer.”

“Among the usual suspects – right-wing evangelicals like American Values president Gary Bauer, First Baptist Dallas senior pastor Robert Jeffress, and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins – are a female televangelist named Paula White-Cain, and the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Samuel Rodriguez.”

“These last two are leaders in a movement that is playing an increasingly significant role in American politics, constructing a religious network determined to see Trump re-elected in November so that he can continue their mission: to turn America into a theocracy. This is the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).”

“The NAR was founded in the mid-1990s by a New York minister and theological professor called C Peter Wagner. Its adherents believe that the idea of apostles and prophets didn’t end in Jesus’s time and that the organisation’s leaders are living prophets and apostles today.”

“It is distinguished by an adherence to Dominionism – the belief that God wants his followers to rise to power through civil systems so Christians can control society. At its heart is what’s known as the Seven Mountains mandate, which offers a blueprint of how the NAR can reclaim America for Christ, by imposing its influence over politics, education, family, the arts, the media, business, and religion.”

“Web magazine Religion Dispatches calls the NAR ‘one of the most important Christian religious and political movements of our time’ and points to the role of NAR leaders in the electoral campaigns of Trump ‘and Trump-aligned figures, from school boards to statewide elected offices’”

“Anthea Butler, chair of the department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on evangelicalism, says that of the politicians courted by the NAR, some are actually involved in the movement, but others, like Trump, see it as an opportunity.”

“‘Trump doesn’t understand it in the religious sense, but he definitely understands that he can use it to put himself forward,’ she says. ‘He understands instinctively that these are people who understand power and want it, and that they will help him get it so that they can get it.’”

“Butler said the attempt on Trump’s life at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July is now being seen in theological terms. ‘This assassination attempt is perfect for him because they will twist scripture to show that he is really God’s man and that God rescued him to be president. This is why they are so triumphant and believe that they’re going to win in November.’”

“James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, a prominent American evangelical organisation, described America as being embroiled in a new ‘civil war’, distinguished by a clash between two irreconcilable worldviews. Dobson was among those church leaders praying over Trump in the Roosevelt Room back in 2019.”

But Butler says the NAR is different to conventional evangelicalism. ‘It’s more like Pentecostalism and neo-charismatic Christianity,’ she says – Christian movements that emphasise spiritual gifts like speaking in tongues or prophesy. ‘Prophesy,’ Butler adds, ‘is what’s inherent in all of this.”

“‘It doesn’t matter that [Trump has] been married to three women and slept with a porn star and did all this stuff. You have to understand that for them, he was a sinner, but that God has redeemed him and used him.’”

“In Britain, it’s hard to imagine a mainstream politician embracing religion in such a massive way in order to gain support. Mixing politics and religion can get you in hot water. But in the US, in today’s Republican party, the opposite is true. Trump’s imperfections or crimes are irrelevant. God has saved him. And he’s now been chosen to lead their battle for the soul of America.”

One image in the article that stood out was that of evangelical preacher Andrew Brunson, as he prayed for Trump in the Oval Office. This picture is chillingly symbolic of how today’s church has bent a knee in subservience to a vile person.

This image also serves as a foreshadowing of how many of today’s Christians will act should Trump win in November. They will see his victory as a confirmation that he was chosen by God, and by extension, how they will be even more subservient to him in the future.

But the overall message of this article is one that should be obvious to all of us. Evangelicals support Trump because they want power in this world. And Trump leans into this evangelical support because he wants HIS own name praised above any other.

Evangelicals are using Trump in order to get worldly power, and Trump is using Evangelicals in order to glorify himself. It’s a match made in hell. ♦