“It’s incredibly troubling,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of
Americans United, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the separation of church and state.
“Trump is conferring unparalleled privilege on one narrow slice of religion,” Laser said. “He confers privilege in exchange for constant loyalty at the ballot box, no matter what he does.”
The unlikely alliance between those nominally following biblical interpretations of right and wrong, and a thrice-married man who has been credibly accused of sexual assault and infamously paid off a pornographic actor, has thrown up a rich – and bizarre – cast of characters.
A sustained effort by influential Christian voices to justify Trump’s personal misdeeds and political cruelty has led to the frequent portrayal of Trump as a flawed vessel for God’s will. In particular, Trump has been compared to King Cyrus, who, according to the Bible, liberated the Jews from Babylonian captivity, despite himself being a Persian ruler.
One of the first to make the Trump-Cyrus connection is Lance Wallnau. Wallnau, a business consultant who styles himself as a doctor – his LinkedIn page credits Phoenix University of Theology as his alma mater, but the university had its 501(c)(3) status revoked by the Internal Revenue Service in 2017 and its campus appears to be a PO box in Arizona –
claims the “the Lord spoke” to him during the election period.
According to Wallnau God said, specifically: “Donald Trump is a wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness.”
Wallnau is not alone on this. Mike Evans, an evangelical leader who was invited
to speak in front of Trump at a White House faith dinner, is also onboard with the Cyrus analogy. He explained the idea to the Christian Broadcasting Network
in 2017.
“[Cyrus] was used as an instrument of God for deliverance in the Bible, and God has used this imperfect vessel, this flawed human being like you or I, this imperfect vessel, and he’s using him in an incredible, amazing way to fulfill his plans and purposes,” Evans said.
At a campaign rally in Florida last week to launch a push for evangelical support Trump was introduced on stage by the Miami megachurch pastor Guillermo Maldonado as Cyrus. “Father, we give you the praise and honor and we ask you that he can be the Cyrus to bring reaffirmation, to bring change into this nation, and all the nations of the Earth will say America is the greatest nation of the Earth,” Maldonado said.
Rank-and-file evangelicals have also embraced the imperfect vessel concept, and Wallnau is now selling Trump-Cyrus “prayer coins” – the king is in the background, a brooding profile of Trump is in the foreground – for $45 a coin.
“If you’re a faith community and you make a political deal with the president, and sell your soul, you stretch to come up with a theological justification, and this seems to be the go-to, this idea,” Laser said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/11/donald-trump-evangelical-christians-cyrus-king
So white Evangelicals see Trump a womanizing serial sexual assualting, serial lying, thin skinned, immature, vindictive, con artist, reality tv host as their savior!!! If you are looking at Trump to be your savior the you probably aren't worth saving.
