After writing the first two posts it has become clear a summary or conclusion would be helpful, so here it is.
SYNOPSIS OF EVENTS:
- Prior to the 2016 presidential election campaign. various prophecies are produced that the Republican candidate (POTUS 45) will win the election.
- POTUS 45 wins the election campaign and is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States of America.
- POTUS 45 appoints an Evangelical Advisory Board. Many of its members are well known conservative Christians and teach dominionism and dispensationalism.
- This blog infers that leading US evangelicals effectively proclaim POTUS 45 is divinely appointed to the role of US president according their dominionist theology.
- During POTUS 45’s term, he is impeached in the House of Representatives (but is acquitted in the Senate) for seeking foreign interference in US domestic affairs from the Ukrainian government. Due to their belief that POTUS 45 is divinely appointed to his role, his evangelical supporters claim that dire consequences will ensue if he is removed from office.
- Whenever POTUS 45 says or does something stupid, his evangelical support board are always ready to reinterpret his actions for the benefit of the news media.
- The 2020 election campaign rolls around. Dozens of prophecies are presented from well known Christian leaders such as Franklin Graham and many others that POTUS 45 will be re-elected.
- Because of dominionist theological beliefs, POTUS 45’s evangelical supporters make dire predictions about what will happen to the USA if he is not re-elected.
- Even after it becomes clear that POTUS’s opponent has won, evangelical leaders continue to claim POTUS 45 will still win the election and promote various conspiracy theories about the elections being fraudulently rigged against POTUS 45.
- At the time of writing, less than one week before the electoral college is due to meet, prophecies continue to be produced claiming POTUS 45 will still win the election. Leading evangelicals continue to hold prayer meetings and rallies to pray for POTUS 45’s success.
Of the 10 events or points listed, all are clearly documentable except for point 4, which is inferred by this blog. As far as any of the above goes, the way events have panned out over the last few years, it really only makes sense if point 4 is assumed to have occurred, that is, that the president’s evangelical supporters have decided that he is divinely appointed to lead a form of theocratic government, as dominion theology suggests. Having this understanding helps us to make sense of the extreme negative outcomes that are being suggested by POTUS 45’s supporters if he failed to be re-elected, or if he had been removed from office by the impeachment process that took place during his term.
If it can be asserted that POTUS 45 is divinely appointed, as suggested in point 4, then it is easy to understand the extreme negative outcomes being suggested are saying that America will be cursed by God because they have removed God’s directly appointed representative from office. This may have actually been the way it was in Old Testament times, but we are not living in those times today. Whilst dominionists may believe POTUS 45’s first term was as God’s man leading God’s government (a putative theocracy), plenty of reputable Christian leaders in the US believe otherwise – Rick Warren being a leading example, as he believes the United States of America is a man made entity. This view is of course completely opposite to the Christian Nationalism perspective outlined in the first article in this series. From here, it is an obvious step to suggest that the modern day State of Israel is a man made creation as well, and not actually divinely mandated by God. Restoring the physical state of Israel makes sense only from a dispensationalist perspective. It happens to be the case that most Jewish people have returned to Israel are not religious and therefore do not practice their traditional faith. The current state of Israel is predominantly secular in nature.
As far as this blog is aware there is no precedent in modern times for the extent to which dominionism has been invoked in relation to the US President in the 2017-2020 electoral term, and it is uncertain that an evangelical advisory board was appointed by any Republican predecessor to POTUS 45. What has become clear during this election campaign is the invocation of strong spiritual warfare terminology in relation to the outcomes. There have been a lot of references made to satanic attacks and campaigns against POTUS 45 and similar strong statements and attacks against the Democrats. Whilst it is quite the normal thing in Christian circles to use such terminology in reference to any type of world events, the extreme nature of many of the statements has undoubtedly been shaped by dominionist beliefs about the divinely appointed calling of POTUS 45.
However it is the viewpoint of this blog that dominionist evangelicals have not proved that POTUS 45 is divinely appointed or that his government has been a theocracy. There is therefore no reason to take seriously the ongoing campaigns and beliefs that POTUS 45 will still be re-elected, nor is there a reason to suppose that God will not be able to continue working in American affairs during a Democratic administration in 2021-2024. As was outlined in Part 2, there is a clear intention by dominionists to divide and rule America. However, the USA is a secular country and should continue to be run that way for the greater benefit and the current political divisiveness overcome. The problem for the dominionist evangelical community is that the division they are creating is not just between the Church and secular society, it is between their heresy and the rest of the Church who have rightly questioned it. Ultimately continuing to pursue the heresy is creating serious division within evangelicalism and frustrating its key purposes.