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by Jim Powers
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Participation in religion in general has been on the decline in the United States for decades and has rapidly declined over the last 20 years. Participation among younger generations starting with Millennials has seen the most rapid decrease. We should be encouraged then that a new religion is being born in the ashes of Christianity. I find it extremely discouraging, though, reflecting more the decline of the United States over the last decade.
Last week a writer named Helgard Muller published a new book on Amazon titled “President Donald J. Trump, The Son of Man – The Christ.” No, this is not satire. Even the Kindle version of the book is $17.76, so I read the book, so you don’t have to!
Before I get into the meat of the message in the 326-page book, I must note that as religiously sincere as the writer seems to be, he writes with the skill of your average high school student. Despite that, he is perfectly clear that he believes Donald Trump is the Messiah for America. Let me quote him from the book’s introduction:
“PRESIDENT DONALD J. Trump is the King of Kings, And Lord of Lords! The Son of Man who will be seen seated in the place of power at God's right hand and coming on the clouds of heaven! You have read that correctly! President Donald Trump is the Christ for this age! The Son of King David! Prophecies of Jesus and all the prophets point to President Donald J. Trump as the Son of Man, the Christ. People, Christians, and Jews are not aware of how many prophecies President Donald Trump of the United States has fulfilled in his presidency as the Son of Man.”
Because I try to limit these columns to 1,000 words, I’ll just summarize that Muller attempts to make the case that Trump was sent to earth by God as “The Son of Man,” with a very specific role to play in an end of the world scenario. I’ll get back to this idea shortly.
Should you think this writer is just an outlier, not laying out the gospel of an actual new religion, let me introduce you to the high priest of this new religion. There are many other Evangelists who have adopted this some belief sysem. Shane Vaughn is the right-wing pastor of Mississippi’s First Harvest Ministries. He has a huge social media following. And he insists that Donald Trump is the Messiah and has an interesting take on America’s history to support his belief.
Vaughn says that before the founders landed on our shores, they wrote down a chorus that went, “We are going to New Israel.” He says that when they came off the ship, they didn’t plant an American Flag, they planted a Christian Flag. And then George Washington knelt and prayed near his horse where the Twin Towers used to stand and dedicated America to God. That at that point, God broke covenant with the Jews, and engaged in a new Covenant with America. And our founding fathers were all descended from the 12 tribes of Israel.
Now, let me be clear. None of what he says is true. It’s a fractured fairytale version of the founding of this country. There is a famous painting of George Washington kneeling to pray beside his horse, but it is from the imagination of the artist, not from any historical event. But this man is saying this because it must be true to support the foundational beliefs of this new religion, that Donald Troup is the new Messiah. That he is the Son of Man.
So, biblically, who is the Son of Man? Well, Jesus did you use the term, with a very specific meaning. The Son of Man is one who is coming to ultimately judge mankind at the end of history and bring about the apocalypse, ending the world as we know it and destroying all bad guys who oppose God and are oppressing God’s people. The result would be that after this judgement, this Son of Man would create heaven on earth, a new kingdom with God ruling directly.
If you are interested, this concept comes from Daniel 7:13-14 in the Hebrew bible. There is disagreement among Jewish scholars about exactly what the passage means, but Jesus’ view is not unique. And Jesus, according to the Bible, implied that he was both the Messiah and the Son of Man when he came to earth. So, most Christians believe that when Jesus comes back, he will be coming back in the role of the Son of Man, to initiate Armageddon, having already fulfilled the role of Son of God and Savior.
So, let’s tie it all together. Trump supporters, who are buying into this new religion, believe that he is Jesus returned in his capacity as Son of Man, that American is in a new covenant with God, that American is the New Israel, and that Trump is the Messiah of New Israel. The logic of this new religion is that Jesus cannot be the Son of Man because he never led the nation of Israel, which is a biblical precondition of being the Son of Man. Trump was the leader of the United States, the New Israel in their belief, so must be the Son of Man spoken of in the Bible.
This is a rapidly growing theology among Trumps supporters. And it is dangerous.
Yes, it based in utter fantasy. But if you are part of a religion that believes that your flesh and blood leader, Donald Trump, is the actual Messiah, the Son of Man come to light the fuse that kicks off the apocalypse, then you are waiting with excitement for that leader to give you the command to start the war.
It puts the events of January 6 in a whole new light.
