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1/More #courtevangelicalism w/ Tim Wildmon & Richard Land on the Todd Starnes Show. Wildmon is head of the American Family Association-- a long time Xtian Right organization. Land is the president of Southern Evangelical Seminary and former SBC leader. radio.foxnews.com/2019/05/29/the…
2/They are on Starnes's show to talk about Franklin Graham's June 2 call for prayer on behalf of Donald Trump. billygraham.org/story/special-…
3/ Signers of Graham's call for prayer include #courtevangelicals Robert Jeffress, Michelle Bachmann, David Barton, Gary Bauer, Mike Bickle, Tim Clinton, Kenneth & Gloria Copeland, James Dobson, Mike Evans, Jerry Falwell Jr, Jentezen Franklin, Jim Garlow, Jack Graham, John Hagee,
4/ Mike Huckabee, Harry Jackson, Tony Perkins Cindy Jacobs, Greg Laurie, Eric Metaxas, James Robison, Darrell Scott, Steve Strang, Lance Wallnau, and Paula White. In this interview w/Perkins, Graham notes that other evangelicals refused to participate: soundcloud.com/family-researc…
5/ Notice some of the names that ARE NOT on this list of supporters: Beth Moore, Russell Moore, Tim Keller, Joni Eareckson, Karen Swallow Prior, Anne Graham Lotz, Max Lucado, Rick Warren, Michael Gerson, John Piper, Al Mohler, John MacArthur, Tony Evans, TD Jakes, Andy Crouch
6/ Philip Yancey, the presidents of @CCCU Schools (such as Wheaton, Messiah, Calvin, or Westmont), the presidents of leading evangelical seminaries (such as Trinity, Gordon-Conwell, Southern Baptist, Fuller), and the leadership of the National Association of Evangelicals.
7/ Graham's call for prayer reveals the ever-growing divide in American #evangelicalism. The Wildmon/Land interview with Starnes is revealing in the way it captures the nature of this divide. These #courtevangelicals engage in all kinds of fear-mongering.
8/ Both Wildmon and Land (as well as Franklin Graham) believe that the criticism of Trump is a form of spiritual warfare. In other words, Trump is the anointed one. The forces of evil ("principalities and powers") are threatening God's will. We should obey authority and
9/ anyone who offers criticism--moral, Christian, or otherwise--of this POTUS is opposing the man God has picked to lead the country. In other words, to oppose Trump is sin. Of course, by this standard, Wildmon and Land would have been against the American Revolution.
10/ They would have thought George III was God's anointed and would pray for him against all those revolutionary patriots who wanted to remove him from his God-given place of authority. To take this even further, Land & Wildmon would have to believe that the patriots were forces
11. of evil--Satanic "principalities & powers" out to undermine the British Empire. Yes, let's pray for our president, whoever it is. Christians are called to do this. But Graham is using prayer here as a political weapon. This is not a Christian view of prayer for our leaders.
12/ But if one believes that Trump is indeed God's anointed, then it makes perfect sense that the court evangelicals will pray that he might overcome his political and spiritual (they are one in the same) enemies.
13/ Land has long been the master of fear-mongering. In this interview with Starnes he suggests that the June 2 prayer for Trump will go a long way toward undermining the "deep state" that's out to impeach the president. This reminds me of the section of my book *Believe Me*
14/ where I wrote about the evangelical fear of the Illuminati in the 1790s. Land then tries to divert attention away from the call for impeachment by talking about how Bill Barr will uncover this so-called "deep state" and when he does it will be
15/ "the biggest political scandal in the history of the country." Let's remember that these #courtevangelicals have large followings. When Land goes on Todd Starnes and says things like this, people will believe him. He feeds the fear machine and rallies the base.
16/ The Trump presidency is sustained by this stuff. Listen to Wildmon. He not only says Trump is under "political attack" but also "spiritual attack." Land says we must pray for a "shield of protection" for the president. "This is spiritual warfare."
17/ Wildmon says that if Hillary was elected we would have "lost the Supreme Court," lost our religious liberty, lost our radio licenses, and evangelical Christianity would be labeled a "hate group." Too many evangelicals feed on this Fox News/court evangelical messaging.
18/ Land gets really fired up at the end of the interview as he bashes Clinton. He says she would have been the "worst president in the history of the United States." He then adds: "If Hillary Clinton had won this last election
19/ we would have just participated in the last fully-free election in the United States." This reminds me of when Ted Cruz told folks after Scalia's death that if he does not get elected the progressives will remove stars of David & crosses from gravestones.
20/Land says that Trump was the "lesser of two evils" in 2016. He adds that Hillary Clinton will always be the "greater evil" in any election in which she runs "UNLESS SHE IS RUNNING AGAINST LUCIFER." This is not spiritual politics. It is spiritual warfare politics.
Good catch. Here's the right link. radio.foxnews.com/2019/05/29/the…
