godanddonaldtrump.com CHAPTER 6 SURPRISING EARLY SUPPORTERS ★★★★★ WHILE EVANGELICAL LEADERS were meeting secretly to pick which candidate to back, a group of mostly charismatic leaders had already met together and one by one decided they would support Donald Trump. The same core group had been assembled four years earlier by New Destiny Christian Center pastor Paula White Cain at Trump’s request. Paula first got to know Trump in 2003 when she got a call from Trump’s office in New York. An assistant told her Trump was on the line, and he was asking to speak to her. She found out Trump had seen her television program, Paula Today, and he was impressed with her ability to apply spiritual understanding to complex social issues and wanted to tap into that. He told her he had a few questions and would be very glad to get her input. So Paula flew to New York and met with him at his office in Trump Tower, and in the course of their conversations she agreed to act as Trump’s “spiritual adviser.”
Over the next several years they spoke often, comparing notes on current events and the situation in Washington. He decided not to run in 2012, and it would be another three years before he would enter the race for the White House. But Paula was there to counsel and pray, and even as the media taunted Trump over his willingness to take counsel from her, they continued to meet and talk through the issues. And when she came forward to pray at President Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, Paula was the first female minister to pray at a presidential inauguration.¹ I have been covering Charismatics and Pentecostals for four decades. I know how they think and how they act. Pentecostal services are usually louder and live- lier than traditional Protestant services, with the kind of spiritual enthusiasm and joy that mainline Protestants refer to as emotionalism. Pentecostal ministers will speak about being “on fire” with the power of the Holy Spirit, and many charis- matic churches hold prayer and worship services in which dramatic healings take place. Members of these churches tend to think of traditional Protestant services as cold and lifeless affairs. The word charismatic comes from a Greek word meaning “gifts,” as in spiritual
gifts. While Charismatics and Pentecostals are subsets of the evangelical move- ment, many traditional Evangelicals reject Pentecostal/Charismatic doctrine that the gifts did not end with the death of the biblical disciples and apostles in the first century. Charismatics (and many Evangelicals) believe that God is central to everything they do, not just on Sunday but every day, and that He has a purpose for every person. He cares whom they marry, how they live their lives, what jobs they hold, and even whom they vote for. Charismatics also believe that God actually speaks to people today, either individually through the “still, quiet voice” of the Holy Spirit or through modern-day prophets. And many Charismatics believed that cer- tain men and women with prophetic gifts would hold the key to the 2016 presi- dential election. As a rule, Charismatics are not politically active, partly because they prefer to focus their energies on spiritual pursuits such as evangelism, missions, or pro- viding assistance for the poor and disadvantaged. And since Charismatics are often ignored or marginalized by their evangelical counterparts, they tend to keep a low profile. As one charismatic leader said to me, “They’re only interested in us
at election time, and no other.”² But the 2016 election was going to be different. As the race began heating up in the fall of 2015, a group of charismatic and Pentecostal leaders began talking about the various candidates and what each one had to offer. Very early on charis- matic leaders began rallying around Donald Trump, partly because of his out- spoken defense of America and traditional American values but also because they felt the Lord had told them Trump had His favor. Few officially endorsed him at that time, but those who attended the meetings in which Trump was invited to speak began to see in him what the majority of Evangelicals would come to see before the election, when more than 80 percent of evangelical Christians supported him. Though he seemed in many ways just a beginner, he was a person of faith, and he had their interests at heart. Paula was instrumental in putting together that first group of charismatic lead- ers, and later she would be chairman of Trump’s Faith Advisory Board, which had weekly phone calls with the candidate before the election. Those meetings have continued with periodic calls after the election, although mainly now with White House staffers. Paula began by inviting people she knew to participate. She rarely
attended the “evangelical” meetings with political leaders, but she wasn’t taking part in any of the events for political reasons. Donald Trump had become a friend, she said, and she wanted her Christian friends to know him and support him as she did. Having known Paula for more than twenty years, I remember her talking about the meetings with Trump in 2003. At that time most people only knew Trump as the billionaire businessman and television celebrity. He was a popular but con- troversial figure, and his widely publicized feuds with celebrities always made headlines. No one would have suspected in those days that he would ever be the president of the United States. Yet Paula and the others who were getting to know him had come to believe that God was laying a foundation for what was going to happen. RECEIVING THE BLESSING In September 2015, someone put an iPhone video on YouTube showing Donald Trump being prayed for at Trump Tower. At that time Trump was ahead in the polls with a 39 percent advantage, up from 26 percent the month before.³ But it
was still four months before the Iowa caucuses, and anything could happen. There’s nothing unusual about a presidential candidate meeting with ministers. Over the years I’ve attended several events with political leaders who were court- ing the evangelical vote. The first was George H. W. Bush, who invited a group of Christian leaders to the vice presidential residence in Washington, DC, in 1986. I also attended in 2008 when candidate Barack Obama reached out to the evan- gelical community—something his opponent John McCain rarely did. That time Franklin Graham, Max Lucado, Sam Rodriguez, T. D. Jakes, and several leaders of mainline Protestant denominations were present. But there were no prayers in any of those meetings, and there was certainly no “laying on of hands,” as there was in this meeting with Trump.⁴ At the end of Trump’s meeting with the charismatic pastors that Paula and her fellow ministers had brought together, there were prayers and several pastors gathered around the candidate to lay hands of blessing on him. Others reached out their hands, and they prayed fervently, one by one, for God’s hand of blessing to be upon him throughout the campaign. Trump seemed to be in unfamiliar territory, but he stood respectfully while holding a Bible. And even though he
looked uncomfortable, at one point he reached over and patted the hand of the man who was praying for him. Kenneth Copeland, the Word of Faith teacher whose daily broadcasts are seen by millions around the world, prayed: “No man can be successful as president of the United States without Your wisdom, Lord. And so we ask You today to give this man Your wisdom, boldly. Make sure and certain that he hears. Manifest Yourself to him. And we thank You and praise You for a bold man, a strong man, and an obedient man.”⁵ Paula prayed last and said, “Even as we lay hands on him right now, let Your hand be laid upon him.” She prayed that “any veil would be removed and his eyes would be open to see the glory and the goodness of God all the days of his life.” ⁶ That a political figure would submit himself to such prayers truly surprised me. I could not envision Mitt Romney or John McCain or even the reserved Bushes standing quietly while a group of pastors prayed in this way. Later as videos emerged of Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, visiting charismatic ser- vices and submitting to their prayers, it seemed apparent that both men may have believed that such prayers not only helped their chances of being elected but also
were helping them to understand the hearts of God’s people. It was just a beginning, but in time these meetings with pastors and Christian leaders would grow to include thousands of Evangelicals of all stripes. Why did this happen? I believe it was because Trump and Pence understood the impor- tance of these events. Yes, they wanted the support of the large evangelical community, but they also wanted to know that they would have God’s blessings in the bare-knuckles political battle they had entered. On the other side the Chris- tian pastors and teachers wanted to know firsthand what kind of man Donald Trump was. It was not just during the election. Trump continued to invite evangelical lead- ers to the White House on various occasions. One example that went viral was when pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, of The River at Tampa Bay Church in Flor- ida, was among a group of religious leaders who met with President Trump in the Oval Office shortly after his trip in July 2017 to meet with French president Em- manuel Macron in Paris. Howard-Browne took a cell-phone video of the moment as several pastors prayed with Trump, laying hands on him. As reported by both Fox & Friends and CBN News, the pastor said he was surprised by Trump’s
looked uncomfortable, at one point he reached over and patted the hand of the man who was praying for him.
Kenneth Copeland, the Word of Faith teacher whose daily broadcasts are seen by millions around the world, prayed: No man can be successful as president of the United States without Your wisdom, Lord. And so we ask You today to give this man Your wisdom, boldly. Make sure and certain that he hears. Manifest Yourself to him. And we thank You and praise You for a bold man, a strong man, and an obedient man.
⁵
Paula prayed last and said, Even as we lay hands on him right now, let Your hand be laid upon him.
She prayed that any veil would be removed and his eyes would be open to see the glory and the goodness of God all the days of his life.
⁶
That a political figure would submit himself to such prayers truly surprised me. I could not envision Mitt Romney or John McCain or even the reserved Bushes standing quietly while a group of pastors prayed in this way. Later as videos emerged of Trump and his running mate, Mike Pence, visiting charismatic services and submitting to their prayers, it seemed apparent that both men may have believed that such prayers not only helped their chances of being elected but also
were helping them to understand the hearts of God’s people.
It was just a beginning, but in time these meetings with pastors and Christian leaders would grow to include thousands of Evangelicals of all stripes. Why did this happen? I believe it was because Trump and Pence understood the importance of these events. Yes, they wanted the support of the large evangelical community, but they also wanted to know that they would have God’s blessings in the bare-knuckles political battle they had entered. On the other side the Christian pastors and teachers wanted to know firsthand what kind of man Donald Trump was.
It was not just during the election. Trump continued to invite evangelical leaders to the White House on various occasions. One example that went viral was when pastor Rodney Howard-Browne, of The River at Tampa Bay Church in Florida, was among a group of religious leaders who met with President Trump in the Oval Office shortly after his trip in July 2017 to meet with French president Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Howard-Browne took a cell-phone video of the moment as several pastors prayed with Trump, laying hands on him. As reported by both Fox & Friends and CBN News, the pastor said he was surprised by Trump’s
openness and felt that was important for people of faith. “I see this as a last- minute reprieve for America, and the Church,” he said. “This is the time for the body of Christ to arise like never before. We have to get vocal. It is crucial.” He added, “I see President Trump as an answer to prayer to give America one last opportunity. We have to pray.”⁷ The screenshot of the video Howard-Browne took of that meeting on July 12, 2017, appeared the next day on the Drudge Report on- line and immediately went viral. While most early Trump supporters were Charismatics, three major non- charismatic evangelical leaders came out for Trump, which was not only a fore- shadowing of evangelical support later, but it also sent a signal to others it was OK to vote for the unconventional business mogul. The first was Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church, who has been quoted many times in this book. In January he told James Robison on a television program that as a pastor he would never “endorse” a candidate. But he met with Trump several times and is pictured standing awkwardly among a group of most- ly Charismatics who were praying passionately over Trump in September 2015. In January, right before the Iowa caucus, Liberty University president Jerry
Falwell Jr. also came out for Trump, and the candidate tweeted: “Great honor- Jerry Falwell Jr. of Liberty University, one of the most respected religious leaders in our nation, has just endorsed me!”⁸ Both Jeffress and Falwell took a lot of heat for their stand. Jeffress was called a hypocrite by the Baptist Standard,⁹ and Fal- well had a near insurrection among some of the faculty and students at Liberty.¹⁰ Then on March 11, 2016, right before the Missouri primary, Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative icon, gave Trump perhaps the greatest endorsement of all. Trump was a former Democrat and had never been involved in conservative political ac- tion. That Schlafly, who would die six months later, would give him her conser- vative stamp of approval sent a signal to the furthest right of the evangelical world that Trump could be trusted to uphold conservative values. “He does look like he’s the last hope,” Schlafly said. “We don’t hear anybody saying what he’s saying. In fact, most of the people who ought to be lining up with him are attack- ing him.”¹¹ The month before, in an interview with Breitbart News, Schlafly said that Trump seemed to be best positioned to defeat the “kingmakers” of the Republican establishment but that Cruz should be his first Supreme Court nominee.¹²
When she died on September 5, Trump tweeted: “The truly great Phyllis Schlafly, who honored me with her strong endorsement for president, has passed away at 92. She was very special!”¹³ When he spoke at her funeral, Trump said: “Her legacy will live on every time some underdog, outmatched and outgunned, defies the odds and delivers a win for the people.”¹⁴ The day she died, Trump posted on Facebook: “Phyllis Schlafly is a conservative icon who led millions to action, reshaped the conservative movement, and fearlessly battled globalism and the ‘kingmakers’ on behalf of America’s workers and families. I was honored to spend time with her during this campaign as she waged one more great battle for national sovereignty.”¹⁵ In her last book, The Conservative Case for Trump, released the day after her death, Schlafly argued that conservative Christians should follow high-profile evangelical leaders, including Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. and Family Research Council president Tony Perkins, and support Trump’s candi- dacy. OPENNESS TO CHANGE
Lance Wallnau, a Bible teacher, consultant, and businessman, attended several of those meetings between evangelical leaders and Trump, and he described one such event for the readers of Charisma magazine.¹⁶ The article was widely shared on the Internet, and Wallnau revealed how much his own view of Trump had changed. His first meeting with Trump, he wrote, was December 30, 2015, in the boardroom on the twenty-sixth floor of Trump Tower. He recognized several of those present, but most of the people in the room didn’t know one another per- sonally prior to the meeting. “It was a rather eclectic sampling of Evangelicals,” he said, “a group within the larger self-described ‘Christian’ community that makes up nearly 30 percent of the American population—some 30 million poten- tial voters.” Wallnau said he was immediately struck by what most people see when they meet Donald Trump for the first time. He is a big man, broad chested, and an imposing figure at six feet three inches tall. “Add heels and hair,” says Lance, “and he grows another inch.” But equally surprising to Wallnau was Trump’s manner. He was much more restrained than what we generally see on television. Wallnau writes, “He was gracious, nonconfrontational, and surprisingly open to
‘give and take.’ I got the impression that Trump takes in information quickly but filters it equally fast to distinguish one idea from another. It’s an executive skill I’ve noticed in CEOs in whatever field I meet them.” As each person spoke, he said, Trump was reading them and weighing their relative authority and grasp of the issues. A Messianic rabbi named Kirt Schnei- der spoke up at one point, saying, “Your comments don’t always represent you in the best light. People want to know you have a presidential temperament. They want to know that you are a person they can trust with a finger on a nuclear but- ton.” At that point Trump paused for a moment, pursed his lips as we’ve seen him do a hundred times on television, and said, “I hear you.” As the conversation turned to some of the well-publicized verbal battles that had transpired during the campaign, Trump said, “You know, people aren’t aware of what is coming at me . . . what I am responding to, like the storm that broke out when I took a stand on immigration. It can get pretty vicious.” Most of those in the room understood his point: they had experienced their own share of con- troversy. Then, looking toward his questioner, he said, “You don’t always know the backstory. I can say this, I never punch indiscriminately. I’m a counter
puncher . . . but I fully hear what you are saying. I know where you’re coming from.” Several of the men and women in the room smiled and exchanged knowing glances. There was no need to drill down much deeper on that subject. It was apparent that Trump understood how his critics in the media perceive him. But, Wallnau said, “there was no flippant or disingenuous commitment to change. He would do as occasion required—till he clinched the nomination.” Some of the pastors in the room that day were taking a risk by even coming to New York to meet with Trump, including a number of African American ministers who were present on the occasion. “Almost to a man,” Wallnau writes, “they described to me the backlash they had encountered for even being willing to meet with a Republican. It was interesting to watch the interaction.” According to Wallnau, Cleveland, Ohio, pastor Darrell Scott spoke up and said, “I wouldn’t change a thing. Be you and keep being consistent. That’s what people like about you. You’re not playing politics.” Trump seemed to be pleasantly surprised by Scott’s words. He looked around the boardroom table and laughed. “So you’re saying, ‘Don’t change’?” he asked.
“Well, that’s interesting!” Scott answered, “Right! People would see you change, they would know it isn’t you. You would start to look political, and that would make you look like everyone else. Just be you!” The majority of African American Evangelicals would be voting for the Democratic candidate in November. That was no secret. But Scott told the candidate he had come to New York with an open mind. “There are three branch- es of government,” he said, “legislative, executive and judicial. You are clearly gifted for the executive branch. That’s what you do.” The conversation continued for several more minutes before Wallnau realized that Trump apparently knew several of the preachers and teachers in the room. He had never met them, but he had watched their broadcasts on television. As he reflected on that fact, he thought, of course! “Media is one of his domains. He is very much dialed in on all sorts of TV programing, including Christian pro- graming.” At one point Trump said he had been flipping around the dial the pre- vious evening and came across the late-night program Politically Incorrect, a pop- ular left-wing talk show hosted by Bill Maher on HBO. “It’s amazing how antago- nistic they are about people of faith,” Trump said. “It was painful to watch.”
As several people nodded in agreement, Trump said it hadn’t always been that way in America. Then, turning toward Jan Crouch, the cofounder of the TBN tele- vision network, he asked, “This seems to have been going on for a while, hasn’t it?” Everyone agreed. Crouch, who died of a stroke before she would have the chance to vote for Trump, could have given a litany of all the attacks she and her husband, Paul, had endured over the years. As Trump scanned the room, he said, “I think we had such a long period of Christian consensus in our culture, and we kind of got . . . spoiled. Is that the right word?” The ministers either nodded or smiled, but then Trump said something that surprised everyone. “Every other ideological group in the country has a voice,” he said. “If you don’t mind me saying so, you guys have gotten soft.” Wallnau said that’s the line he won’t forget. After a brief moment of reflection, Trump looked around the room and corrected himself. “I mean, we, myself included, we’ve had it easy as Christians for a long time in America. That’s been changing.” Trump wanted these pastors and teachers to understand that, in a sense, he was one of them. He might not have their knowledge of Scripture or their level of experience as a believer, but he considers himself a person of faith, and he wants to be in
tune with the beliefs and concerns of Evangelicals. Not long after that meeting, Trump announced that he would propose ending the Johnson Amendment. The ban that then senator Lyndon Johnson had devised to silence his Christian opponents in 1954 had become an IRS sword hanging over the heads of churches in America. Wallnau prayed that would happen, but the truth of the matter, he said, was that even if the Johnson Amendment were lifted, most pastors would be living in fear of offending their flocks. “What [Trump] said next may have been lost on others,” Wallnau said, “but it hit me in a particularly striking way . . . ‘People who identify themselves as “Chris- tian” make up probably the single largest constituency in the country, but there is absolutely no unity, no punch . . . not in political consensus or any other area I can see.’” The point was well taken, but there was at least a hope now that all these things were beginning to change. PLAYING THE TRUMP CARD In meetings like this Trump was gradually winning over more and more Christian leaders. In addition, charismatic “apostles and prophets,” most of whom never
actually met the man, were convinced the Holy Spirit had revealed that the polit- ical battle between the first female and first billionaire nominees for president would turn out to be the most important election in American history. This elec- tion had all the markings of a prophetic showdown. As far back as 2007 the late Kim Clement had prophesied, “Trump shall be- come a trumpet…. I will raise up the Trump to become a trumpet, and Bill Gates to open up the gate of a financial realm for the church.”¹⁷ The first has come true, but we’ll have to wait and see about the second part. “This is the year the tide turns,” Prophet Cindy Jacobs, cofounder of Generals International, told Charisma before the election. “God gave us a word earlier this year that there would be a flood of violence,” she said, “and we’ve certainly seen that happen. He also gave us a word to look to Isaiah 59:19, which states, ‘When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.’”¹⁸ Cindy says the Lord gave her a word long before the campaigns began about a coming conservative revolt. God is “preparing a patriot” to lead our nation, she said. But, she added, we must pray and agree with the Lord if this prophecy is to be realized. Besides Clement and Jacobs, other prophets began saying Trump
would be elected. Before the election, Charisma published an article quoting Bill Hamon, founder of Christian International, who prophesied in November 2015 that God had chosen Trump to be the next president, and his election would be part of a global awakening that would lead to a restoration of biblical Israel, a re- turn of the Jewish nation, and rebuilding of the temple.¹⁹ For those who don’t understand or believe this, it’s important to know that Charismatics believe that God speaks today and that one of the gifts of the Spirit described by the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 12:4–11) is the gift of prophecy. Over the years, I’ve received many prophecies that have come to pass. Most were encour- aging words at the right time. However, another type of prophecy speaks to the nations and informs us of God’s will. I suspect many people, including many Christians, don’t believe in gifts such as prophecy because there have been so many flaky prophecies, such as the Y2K disaster, which never happened. In 2008 one respected pastor prophesied that Rudy Giuliani would be the next president. Obviously that never happened. However, on May 31, 2008, Chuck Pierce, a prophet I respect, predicted Trump would win the White House eight years later. He told me he received this word
during a four-hour “visitation” from the Lord in Liberty Park, New Jersey. He said the Lord showed him many things during the next few years, and he felt the Lord was saying that “America must learn to play the trump card.” Then, three months later, as he was driving to speak at the International Church of Las Vegas and driving past Trump hotel, Pierce said he received another message. “When I drove by the Trump hotel, I knew exactly what God was saying—that it would take someone like Donald Trump, who would not have the political background of ei- ther party, and he would be willing to address the structure that was presently tak- ing America in the wrong direction.” Pierce also told my wife, Joy, and me over lunch early in 2008 when it seemed Hillary Clinton would get the Democratic nomination that Barack Obama would be elected twice, and he was right. OTHER PROPHETIC “WORDS” Three years after Chuck Pierce’s prophecy, another prophetic word came from an unlikely source. In April 2011 Mark Taylor, a retired fireman from Central Florida, said he received a prophecy that God had chosen Donald Trump to be the leader of the United States, to “bring honor, respect, and restoration” back to the nation.
Five years later he shared that word in an interview with pastor Rick Wiles of TruNews.com, and the prophecy went viral.²⁰ The word came to him, Taylor said, on April 28, 2011, in the middle of a debili- tating illness. He told the story online, including a news article on CharismaNews.com. Taylor said that Donald Trump would be elected, but that wasn’t all. There would be a series of dramatic changes around the world, bless- ings and cursings, widespread revival and desperate reprisals unleashed by the enemy of mankind.²¹ Many people who read Taylor’s story said they were con- vinced that God had actually spoken to him, and his early warning ought to be a wake-up call to the church. Cindy Jacobs said in the October issue of Charisma that she didn’t want to pre- dict who would win the 2016 election. But, like Pierce, she had prophesied that God had a “trump card” in his hand, and He was going to play it. In hindsight she believes that was a foreshadowing that Donald Trump would win.²² Pastor Darrell Scott, the African American pastor quoted earlier, told me in a podcast one week before the election that he had predicted Trump would win and would be the greatest president in our history. It wasn’t as much a prophecy, he said, as
it was a political prediction,²³ but he was right on the first part, and we will have to wait and see about the other part. Darrell was a guest on The Jim Bakker Show, along with my friend Frank Ame- dia, a few days before the election. Four months before, I went on Jim Bakker’s show to talk about Trump, ironically the same day I’d been invited to join a thou- sand other evangelical leaders to meet with Trump in New York. I decided keep- ing my appointment with Jim Bakker was more important than flying to that meet- ing. Besides I was hoping for a private interview with Trump, which I got on Au- gust 11. When I was on Jim’s program, I talked about how I was endorsing Trump and how we were working on our October issue, where we wrote about the election. I assumed Jim’s invitation was his way of discussing politics by interviewing me due to the restrictions on nonprofits to be involved politically. But as time passed, Jim invited more guests on the show to talk about the election and sup- porting Trump. Two strong supporters I suggested he invite were Jim Garlow and Frank Amedia, which he did. To me, no one was more pro-Trump than Jim Bakker.
In an interview a week before the election, Frank Amedia told Jim what he had told me privately, that as soon as Donald Trump announced he would run in June 2015, he felt the Lord saying, “My hand is on this man.” He also believed the Lord had given Trump a “breaker anointing” to make a major shift in the nation, the world, and the church. I’ve known Frank for nearly ten years, ever since we met in Israel at the Western Wall. He was the first person I ever heard talking about how Trump would win. He went all out for Trump, and his efforts got him a private meeting with the candidate in March 2015, along with prominent charismatic ministers Sid Roth, Rick Joyner, and several others. That meeting took place at Trump Tower, and immediately afterward Frank began sending out messages and advice on campaign issues, including the importance of moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem—something that made its way into the Republican platform and that Trump has promised to do. Frank says God showed him that Trump would win the primary election—putting him in a position to take on the political establishments of both parties. Frank is one of the boldest prophetic leaders I know. During the campaign he told me in private conversations that he was committed to being a prophetic
voice to the church and secular spheres and that Trump’s journey to the White House was an extraordinary one, destined by God. He didn’t say it just in church settings. He was a guest in June 2016 of liberal radio host Alan Colmes, who was intrigued with Frank’s claim that Trump had a breaker anointing and said on the air that Trump would win by a landslide of the electoral college. Colmes, who said he didn’t know if God existed, conceded that if it did indeed happen, he would believe in miracles. We’ll never know what Colmes thought. He died of lym- phoma at age sixty-six on February 23, 2017, a month after Trump was inaugu- rated. Frank first came to the attention of the Trump campaign when he led excited crowds in “declarations” calling for transformation dealing with all the issues Evangelicals care about and stating that God had raised Trump for this purpose while Trump listened. How did the candidate respond? “Trump was OK with it,” Frank told me. “In fact, he embraced it.” At the conclusion of a rally at pastor Darrell Scott’s church in Ohio, Frank gave a rousing benediction in Pentecostal form, urging those assembled to give a “Jeri- cho shout to the Lord” (a reference to how the children of Israel shouted before
they won the battle at Jericho). This time it was in celebration of the anticipated victory of Trump and Pence, who were standing right behind Frank in the pulpit.²⁴ The event happened on September 21, 2016. In the video we posted at CharismaNews.com, Trump had a big smile and embraced Frank after the prayer.²⁵ Frank was so bold. What if he were wrong? Well, he wasn’t wrong, and I did what I could to put the prophecies of Frank Amedia and many others online and on the record through our magazine and podcasts. Earlier I had recorded a podcast with Lance Wallnau, who said God was raising up Donald Trump as He did the Persian king Cyrus the Great.²⁶ If God could use a pagan king to rescue His people and restore the nation of Israel, why couldn’t He do it again here in America? Wallnau was not the only one to use the Cyrus analogy. Presbyterian pastor Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas made the comparison in a sermon at First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina, a church where the governor and other establishment Evangelicals worship. Without naming Trump or Clinton, he said God can raise up a leader in the most unlikely ways. Thomas asked, “Would you have voted for Cyrus the Great?” According to Jerome Corsi in an article for
WorldNetDaily.com, “Thomas’ point is that Cyrus the Great, a brutal dictator, was raised up by God to serve God’s purpose in returning the Jews, God’s chosen people, to the land of Israel.”²⁷ Without naming the candidates, he made it clear that God can use even the most unlikely people to accomplish His purposes. Of course not everyone agrees. James Robison said he respects those with this view, but God ultimately destroyed Cyrus, who was a wicked pagan king. He doesn’t believe Trump is that type of leader. When the article I posted on Lance Wallnau’s message went viral, becoming our most listened to podcast ever,²⁸ I believed it was a foreshadowing that the evangelical and charismatic commu- nities would come together as never before to bring about Donald Trump’s vic- tory on Election Day. Today we know that’s exactly what happened. As 1 Corinthians 13 says, “Now we see as through a glass, dimly” (v. 12). So it’s never clear how to interpret prophetic words. This is illustrated by a contrarian voice of Tom Horn, a prolific writer of books on the end times and frequent guest on The Jim Bakker Show. In an op-ed on CharismaNews.com that was an excerpt from his new book, Saboteurs, Horn wrote: “Curiously, Cyrus isn’t the only exam- ple of a pagan leader used by God to providentially influence the ancient Jewish
nation. Nebuchadnezzar was also called ‘the Servant of the Most High God,’ and I understand why many modern believers prefer not to think about that example.”²⁹ Unlike Cyrus the deliverer, Horn points out, Nebuchadnezzar was the instru- ment of God’s judgment against Judah, which meant most of the people being brought into captivity and their land being destroyed. The contrast between these two characters raises a very serious question, according to Horn. If Trump is God’s choice for America’s president, is he Cyrus (our deliverer) or Nebuchad- nezzar (our agent of judgment)? “I want to believe Trump was God’s way of putting His foot down on the socialist-globalist runaway agenda to allow a respite and opportunity for spiritual awakening in this country. But what if I’m wrong?” Horn writes.³⁰ First Corinthians 13 also says, “We know in part, and we prophesy in part” (v. 9), so I believe there are many things we cannot understand. We must wait and see. However, it’s clear America needs to repent. And God seems to be speaking to us. Will we listen and obey?