Donald Trump was declared “the anointed of God” by a Pentecostal leader, Lance Wallnau. In 2016, Wallnau concocted the wild story that Trump would be the 42nd president of the USA. Then God told Wallnau to pick up his Bible and read Isaiah 42. Why not Jeremiah 42?
According to Wallnau, God revealed Trump would be the new Cyrus – a pagan ruler who would restore power to God’s people. Soon, the entire evangelical tribe swallowed Wallnau’s ridiculous prophecy. The rest is history. With 84% support from evangelicals, Trump won the presidency in 2016.
I questioned the idea of God anointed Trump in 2016. As we head for the 2024 presidential election, I unequivocally state Donald Trump is not God’s anointed. He is not the “strong man” sent by God to rescue the evangelicals from the dastardly liberals.
Instead, Trump is the opposite. He is a weak, sniveling, coward. He is a bully of the worst sort. He calls everyone nasty nicknames. He attacks everyone as weak, stupid, mentally ill, or as liars. His ego knows no bounds. Donald Trump is a weak man.
Trump is King Saul
In 2024, I believe it is only fair to declare there is a biblical character comparable to Trump. Trump is not like Cyrus; he is not the new Cyrus. Trump is King Saul.
The biblical character that aligns more accurately with Trump is King Saul. Samuel anointed Saul as king of Israel: “Samuel took a vial of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him; he said, “The Lord has anointed you ruler over his people Israel. You shall reign over the people of the Lord, and you will save them from the hand of their enemies all around. Now this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you ruler over his heritage” (I Samuel 10:1).
The anointing of God with rulers is not permanent. There’s a covenant involved and Saul broke the covenant with God. Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (I Samuel 13:13 – 15).
God rejects Saul as king over Israel. As God rejected Saul as king of Israel, American voters will reject Trump as our president. He acts more and more like a man running to establish a dictatorship. And his authoritarian loving followers are encouraging him to take control.
When it came to Saul, God suffers buyer’s remorse. “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my commands.”
Trump’s evangelical followers will be angry, but they will not be able to reverse the judgment of God on their favored son.
God Rejects Saul
God sent Samuel to deliver the bad news: “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the voice of the Lord?
Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice
and to heed than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is no less a sin than divination,
and stubbornness is like iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.”
At least Saul had the good sense to repent, but it was too late. Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore, I pray, pardon my sin, and return with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this very day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you. Moreover, the Glory of Israel will not deceive or change his mind, for he is not a mortal, that he should change his mind.”
The story of Saul, anointed of God, ends in tragedy: “Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel” (I Samuel 1:10 – 34).
An even more tragic picture of Saul occurs after the death of Samuel. Saul went to the cave of the witch of Endor and commanded her to bring up the spirit of Samuel.
Saul at the Cave of the Witch of Endor
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress, for the Philistines are warring against me, and God has turned away from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams, so I have summoned you to tell me what I should do.” Samuel said, “Why then do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you just as he spoke by me, for the Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Moreover, the Lord will give Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me; the Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.” Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground filled with fear because of the words of Samuel, and there was no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night.
A weak, pathetic Saul, groveling in the dirt at a witch’s den, no strength left in him is the more accurate picture of Trump. He whines daily of being persecuted, of a witch hunt against him. He tires to conjure up the ghosts of a past election (2020) even as he runs in 2024. His fills his speeches with vitriol, hatred, revenge, and mumbo jumbo. At times he thinks he is running against Obama. At other times, he thinks the wind farms are killing all the birds.
Trump has become the exact opposite of his image. Instead of the strong man, he is a weakling. Instead of the anointed, he is a bully. Instead of being the only person capable of saving his people, he has become the beginning of their demise.
Through all the machinations of Trump, we hear him bragging on Putin, Organ, and other dictators pretending to be democratic leaders. There’s no doubt remaining: Trump wants to be a dictator. “He’s running as a dictator,” Texas A & M Professor Jennifer Mercieca told progressive commentator Aaron Rupar, “He’s determined to destroy the Constitution.”
Donald Trump is a loser. With his financial empire threatened, his claim of being “very rich” now skates on thin ice. With his felony charges, he now faces a possible federal prison term. He is weak.
In the movie, Christmas Story, there is a famous scene where Ralphie decides he will not tolerate the bully ever again. He pummels the class bully, Scut Farkas, until he’s finally dragged off of the crying, defeated bully.
This is a more appropriate image for how the Age of Trump comes to a whining, losing conclusion.
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