Thread by @TaylorMatthewD

I am glad the attempted assassination on Donald Trump failed, because his martyrdom would have torn the country apart.

But the current outcome is also very bad, not only for how it terrifies/polarizes the U.S., but also for how it ignites the prophecy/conspiracy theory world. 1/

I've argued that a major--& underestimated--rationale driving the violent mobilization for January 6 were a massive group of charismatic Christian prophecies about Donald Trump winning the election.

Millions of Xns believed it was God's will. 2/

icjs.org/charismatic-re…

In the aftermath of J6 & Biden's inaug., there was some reckoning in the charismatic world about reining in the prophets & political prophecies.

Some leaders even produced a signatory Prophetic Standards Statement, admonishing prophets to get in line:

3/ propheticstandards.com

But the reality is that very little has changed or been reformed here.

This is a predominantly nondenominational space w/ no overarching institutions to actually hold renegade prophets in check.

So political prophecies have continued to proliferate. Especially about Trump. 4/

This attempted assassination throws a new, very visceral set of imagery into the prophetic hopper: a world leader, an attempted assassination, a head wound.

These are the sort of topoi/images that come up in charismatic prophecies & conspiracy theories all the time. 5/

E.g., in Rev 13:3 "the beast," an apocalyptic evil tyrant, gets a head wound that heals.

Now, I doubt many evangelical Trump supporters will be pointing to that verse, because they don't want to cast Trump as "the beast," but I bet some Christian Trump-detractors will. 6/

In the hrs since the attempt on Trump, the charismatic prophecy world has lit up like a Christmas tree w/ all the prophets connecting the dots to various prophecies or allusions they've made in the past.

There's huge upside, if you're a prophet, to predicting a big one. 7/

Amanda Grace, who's closely aligned with Michael Flynn's ReAwaken America mad-hatter tour, went live for an hour & a half after the news broke, claiming various connections to her prolific prophecies & some cherry-picked Bible passages.



8/

Not to be outdone, Chris Reed, an up-and-coming young prophet superstar, posted a clip of a prophecy from a few weeks back on YouTube w/ the headline, "FULFILLED PROPHECY!"



He claims (as did Grace) that their prayers helped avert the assassination. 9/

But the most potent (& frankly dangerous) of these supposed prophecies actually comes from a prophet who isn't even alive.

His name's Kim Clement, & I think you'll be hearing a lot about him from your prophecy-believing friends in the coming weeks/months. 10/

Kim Clement is the most famous of the Trump prophets, mostly because he's accredited with being one of the 1st.

Clement was South African & had a distinctive style of prophesying while playing piano or keyboard, a sort of cross b/w a concert & a prophecy worship service. 11/

Clement served on the New Apostolic Reformation's Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders, a respected roundtable of North American prophets led by Cindy Jacobs & C. Peter Wagner.

He is credited with issuing the 1st of the Trump prophecies in 2007 at Bethel Church. 12/

I've intrvwed many ldrs in this world, & this prophecy is held up as proof positive that Trump was anointed & ordained by God for the presidency.

There were a series of mtngs w/ charismatic ldrs & Trump at Trump Tower in the fall of 2015, & Clement was supposed to be there. 13/

Lance Wallnau was in those Trump Tower mtngs, where he claimed to first get the Trump-Cyrus Anointing prophecy. He's said his friend Kim was supposed to be there but suffered a stroke right before.

Clement's health declined & he died in Nov 2016. 14/

facebook.com/ShawnBolz/post…

Nonetheless, posthumously, Clement has become THE iconic Trump prophet.

He's literally part of the iconography of Michael Flynn's ReAwaken America tour, where he appears on all their posters as a sort of hovering oracle, hand-outstretched over their top leaders. 15/

Clement's daugher, Donné Clement Petrushka, is a regular speaker at ReAwaken events, where she'll pull different clips from her father's back catalogue of hundreds of hours of prophecy footage, & connect them with current events, particularly Trump. 16/

instagram.com/officialkimcle…

Roger Stone, ever the skilled infiltrator of far-right subcultures, has even declared that a particular Kim Clement prophecy w/ a "simple stone" used to kill a giant is really about him.



Dismiss this you may, but charismatics take it very seriously. 17/thebulwark.com/p/roger-stone-…

Now, there's also a 2005 Clement prophecy about an assassination attempt on a president, & Donné Clement Petrushka took no time tonight after the breaking news to meme it out on IG along with the image of a bleeding Trump with fist in the air.

18/ instagram.com/p/C9YdxAwh24y/

Here's the full text of the prophecy from Clement's database:



This is what passes in the prophecy world as a striking resemblance to what happened today with the attempt on Trump's life.

This is going to send the prophecy world into a tizzy. 19/houseofdestiny.org/prophecy/word/…

There was already a quasi-messianic attachment to Trump for many in this nondenominational charismatic sector of evangelicalism. It has been the most ardent quadrant of Christian Trump support & militancy.

Prophecy believers were central to what transpired on January 6th. 20/

Watch in the coming days & weeks for more prophets coming out of the woodwork w/ new prophecies or riffing on the Clement prophecy.

I'm very concerned this will fuel more apocalyptic, triumphalist, & martial behavior among Trump-supporting Xns both b4 & after this election. 21/

The more Trump becomes an apocalyptic savior to his followers, the greater the danger whether Trump wins or loses.

If he wins, he can claim a divine mandate (at least to his followers & devotees).

If he loses, these prophecies become rationalizations for militancy & mayhem. 22/