Trump's False Prophets
10 “‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, 11 therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 12 When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?”
- - from Ezekiel 13
“To say no to President Trump would be to say no to God”
– Paula White, Trump’s faith leader in the White House
In the Gospels,
Jesus makes it clear that in the end days, a proliferation of false prophets
will appear: “For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform
signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect” (Mark 13:22). But
how are we to discern whether or not someone is a false prophet? Our biggest
clue is perhaps found in the way kings in the Old Testament often gathered
around themselves coteries of yes-men who would prophesy future success for
those kings’ endeavors.
For
example, King Ahab, a wicked king of Israel, called Elijah (a true prophet) a “troubler
of Israel” because Elijah challenged him regarding his immoral actions. (John
the Baptist would later become another “troubler of Israel,” and be put to
death by his own ruler, Herod Antipas, after he engaged in the same behavior).
Ahab summoned four hundred prophets who prophesied success for him in an
upcoming battle. However, one man (another “troubler of Israel”), namely
Micaiah, told Ahab that the four hundred prophets were giving him seductive
false prophecies to mislead him, because the Lord actually intended to judge
Israel through Ahab’s actions. “And the king of Israel said, ‘Seize Micaiah,
and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son,
and say, ‘Thus says the king, “Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager
rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”’” (1 Kings 22). And Micaiah
said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” Ahab then
went into the battle and died. The dogs licked up his blood just as Elijah had
prophesied concerning his end.
1
Thessalonians 5:3 adds further details about specifically what end times
false prophets should be expected to communicate: “When people say, “There
is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as
travail comes upon a woman with child, and there will be no escape.” In other
words, the false prophets that Jesus talks about in Mark 13 should be expected
to give a similar message to that conveyed by Ahab’s coterie of 400 false
prophets: The king will succeed in his endeavors. The king will bring peace
and security to his land. And the Lord will reward us for following and
endorsing the king’s plans, because God intends good for this nation instead of
evil.
This
article from way back in 2017 still carries a truth we see on display in 2025:
false prophets are protecting Trump from criticism and in turn benefiting from silently
overlooking his grievous public sins. This article also reports that
those who have been invited into the White House are not saying publicly what
they’re privately telling the administration:
https://sojo.net/articles/false-prophets-white-house
A major
reason why powerful people such as Trump can amass hordes of false prophets on
their behalf is that people have an innate tendency to hope for the best when
it comes to worldly events, and this tendency is further exacerbated when powerful
people have made it clear that negative prophesying will be unwelcome in the
public sphere. There is a strong “peer pressure” effect that comes into play: anyone who becomes a nay-sayer gets shunned by the many who are smiling, posing
for cameras and putting their thumbs up as they proclaim peace and safety. These pictures below tell a thousand words about
why we’re in the situation we’re currently in:
What jumps out at you about these scenes? In the first two, the false prophets all have their eyes closed. They match Jesus’s description of deaf and blind Israel in Matthew 13:13-15: “In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. / For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’”
In the
third picture, they are smiling along with Trump. These are clearly people who
enjoy the status, fame and wealth that association with Trump lends to them and
their respective churches. By putting their hands on Trump and smiling along
with him, they are making it clear that they pose no threat like the one
Micaiah posed to Ahab. Despite Trump's abusive rhetoric demonizing foreign
immigrants and American minorities; despite the tax giveaways to the wealthy
and the cutting of programs meant to tackle social problems in America and in other countries around the world; and
despite the constant stream of deception and divisiveness that proceeds out of
Trump’s mouth – these prophets, like Ahab’s 400 false prophets, insist on
boosting Trump’s ego and prophesying good for him and for the America that he represents
as its chosen leader.
Trump flatters these faith leaders just as they flatter him in return.
Check out this article where Trump heaps flattery and praise on church leaders:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-expects-report-card-to-determine-entry-into-heaven/
Trump portrays himself here as the savior of institutional
religion in America, claiming that religious leaders all love him because he
has allowed churches to operate free from interference by the state. The
problem is, that’s a lie. Earlier this year, the Trump administration made it
easier for the government to reach inside of churches in order to arrest undocumented
immigrants:
“Churches, schools are no longer off limits to agents
rounding up undocumented migrants”:
At the end of the NPR article, the host notes: “Some school
districts and churches around the U.S. responded to this change in DHS
enforcement guidelines by saying they'll refuse to cooperate with
migrant arrests, posting notices that immigration police aren't welcome on
church or school grounds.” In contrast to the images of smiling and
glad-handing ‘prayer warriors’ bending their knees to Trump, soliciting
benefits for their already wealthy churches and seducing him with pleas for
blessings on America, these church leaders making the difficult decision to
resist Trump’s agenda by standing up to the DHS are putting their churches and
their bodies on the line to stand up for what they believe is right: Providing
food, housing and other assistance to people akin to those the Bible calls “sojourners”
in Psalm 146: “The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the
blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the
righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the
fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.”
False,
Trump-supporting prophets like Robert Jeffress, Jerry Falwell Jr., Franklin
Graham, Paula White, Eric Metaxas, and the long list of many others, are part of the wicked
who will be brought to ruin. They will eventually find out that despite all
of their placating of Trump and his evil social agenda (what Ezekiel 13 calls
their whitewashing of the truth), Trump will only use them for as long
as they can be of service to him.
Make no
mistake: The Lord has plans for grievous judgment on America. Right now the
MAGA delusion is keeping our future judgment in hiding from those many without eyes
to see, but it’s there, waiting to pounce on this nation, and few are bold
enough to publicly prophesy about that - especially now, given Trump’s expanded
police powers, which mean that arrest and deportation might be the eventual result
of speaking out about it. Just yesterday Trump signed an executive order making
it a one year jail sentence if anyone is caught burning an American flag. How
long will it be before Christian protesters receive a jail sentence for, say, going
to a public street-corner and holding up a sign declaring that America is the
book of Revelation’s Mystery Babylon?
"How terrible it will be for
you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You devour widows' houses and say
long prayers to cover it up. Therefore, you will receive greater
condemnation!” – Matthew 23:14
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