The Trump Jesus

Toward the end of yesterday's Earth: temporary home of failing species? post was a "Space Opera" alert from a friend at the CIA (Cosmic Intelligence Agency), which I thought could be real and/or allegory for The Trump Jesus phenomenon in America. Under the reproduced "Space Opera" alert below is a USA Today Opinion by an American Evangelical not in The Trump Jesus camp.

Space Opera

Somewhere in Zeta Reticuli there were small beings. They are what are popularly called “greys” in UFO literature. 3-4 feet tall, thin arms, thin fingers. But at one time there bodies looked more like ours, they had more muscle, they had more dexterity. They were a smart race and believed life could be in the Zeta Reticula system. Their whole planet united around a common idea- a common language system, a common health care system, a common method of transport, and it was this last idea that proved the monkey wrench in the works. 

They fired their first solid rocket, and it was both an attempt to escape into the cosmos but also do high speed transport.

It was like putting a target on their back.

In the Zeta Reticuli system there was a far more developed planet, which we will call ZT-2. They noticed the solid fuel rocket. They made first contact with leadership on  ZT-1, and they asked the militaries of the planet to meet with them. A discussion was opened and the military of ZT-1 met with their counterparts world wide.

ZT-2 was far more sophisticated than ZT-1. Biologically they ranged from 6'6" to nearly 8' tall. Otherwise they were similar in biological structure to their counterparts in ZT-1.

The meeting of the Tall Greys of ZT-2 with the Small Greys of ZT-1 was one that would change the Small Greys forever. The Small Greys were a completely biological people and they were impressed at how similar they seemed to their Larger Grey "relatives".

The small greys immediately wanted to catch up to their Tall Grey "relatives". How could they accomplish this ?

The small greys were told that if their governments could work with the Tall Greys, they'd abduct-using mind control- a small number of "small greys"  In exchange, the Tall Greys would provide technology.

They introduced more and more powerful weapons as they abducted more small greys. Seemed like a good deal.

The large greys were augmenting small greys, first by attempting cloning and then by tracking and augmenting small greys with technology.

Eventually the small greys governments found out that they were being augmented, their populace was. So they decided- hey, we're uncomfortable with this.

The Tall greys said, let us take a few Small greys, argument them with a data bus and download massive knowledge amounts.

It started ok, but suddenly, the populace had little to no freewill. Over time, almost all small greys had become augmented. Finally, all small greys became augmented as their elders died off.

Finally, all the small greys knew was augmentation by Tall greys, and control by Tall Greys. Eventually, Small greys became so augmented, they lost the ability to breed and they lost free will. They became mostly bionic, they had no idea of their past history, as they'd been completely autopsied down to the genetic levels, they had no souls to speak of.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, we- on Earth- had bolt action rifles, the Browning Automatic 30.06 Machine Gun, and a belt fed gatling gun. We now have nuclear weapons. We went from Slide Rules to Punch Card Computers to quadcore processors. Some 2020 gaming laptops, I'm talking an individual gaming laptop, it has more power than all the computers in the world circa 1989. Some gaming desktops in 2020 have more power than all computers in the world circa 1994.

The angels warn: Our acceptance of augmentation and technology- by major corporations like google, in our military, we must ask, how in 100 years did we progress farther than we did in the past 1900 years ?

Where is this coming from?

People who saw the real alien autopsy of the Roswell alien agreed it was so freakish because of the way it wasn't an organic being.

Technology that Philip J Corso says was lifted from the Roswell corpse: 1. fiber optics 2. night vision 3. integrated circuitry 4. resistors 5. plastics 6. synthetic collagen 7. tissue samples of grown brain cells 8. it had embryonic cells that were harvestable 9. high speed data transmission we now use as "lan" cables 10. I forgot.

I have close friends who voted for The Trump Jesus in 2016, and are proud of it, and will vote for him again this year, and will be proud of it again, but they will not be caught dead at an Evangelicals for Trump rally. I interjected in bold italics a few of my own thoughts into the USA Today Opinion: 

'Evangelicals for Trump' was an awful display by supposed citizens of the Kingdom of God

Trump mocked his enemies, trafficked in half-truths, instilled fear and expressed zero humility. My fellow evangelicals loved every minute of it.

John Fea

Opinion contributor

I have spent my entire adult life in the evangelical community. I had a born-again experience when I was 16 and I never looked back. I currently teach history at a Christian college with evangelical roots. As a historian, I study American evangelicalism.

But I have never seen anything like what I witnessed last week as I watched President Donald Trump speak to a few thousand of his evangelical supporters at El Rey Jesus, a largely Hispanic megachurch in Miami, during the kickoff to his “Evangelicals for Trump” campaign.

It is no coincidence that this rally took place two weeks after Christianity Today, the historic voice of moderate evangelicalism, called for Trump’s removal from office. The magazine’s editor, Mark Galli, described Trump’s character as “grossly immoral” and warned his fellow evangelicals that their ardent support of the president was damaging to their Christian witness. Didn't Billy Graham found Christianity Today?

While the “Evangelicals for Trump” campaign had been in the works for several weeks prior to Galli’s editorial, it is hard to see the decision to schedule the kickoff event for Jan. 3 as anything but damage control. Even the smallest crack in his evangelical support — especially in swing states like Florida — could result in a Trump loss in 2020.

Before Trump’s speech Friday night, several evangelical leaders laid their hands on the president and prayed for him. “Apostle” Guillermo Maldonado, the pastor of El Rey Jesus, prayed that Trump would fulfill his role as a new King Cyrus, the Old Testament Persian ruler who released the Jews from captivity and allowed them to rebuild Jerusalem.

Paula White, a preacher of the Prosperity Gospel (God blesses the faithful with financial and physical health), prayed against the demonic forces, presumably Democrats, trying to undermine Trump’s presidency. 

As Trump took the podium, the evangelicals in attendance, many wearing pro-Trump clothing and “Make America Great Again” hats, began screaming “USA, USA, USA.” It was clear from the outset that this event would be no different from any other Trump rally. It didn’t matter that the room was filled with born-again Christians. Trump only knows how to sing one note, and it is music to the ears of his evangelical supporters.

Trump bragged about the crowd size, adding that there were “thousands of people” outside “trying to get in.” He called the “Evangelicals for Trump” movement the “greatest grass roots movement in American history.” He reminded everyone that he took the life of Qasem Soleimani. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” the Rolling Stones anthem that has become Trump’s theme song, blared over the church loudspeaker in Spanish when he finished his speech. Maybe “Onward Christian Soldiers” would have been more appropriate.

Trump painted himself as a president who is protecting American evangelicals from those on the political left who want to “punish” people of faith and “destroy religion in America.” One of the evangelical Christians in the audience screamed “Pocohontas,” a racist reference to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Trump was visibly pleased. 

Trump the strongman was on display. Like autocratic leaders before him, he stirred fear among his people and offered them safety under his regime.

At one point in his speech, Trump rattled off the names of the Fox News personalities who carry his water on cable television. The crowd roared as the president read this laundry list of conservative media pundits. 

This rhetorical flourish was all very appropriate on such an occasion because Fox News, more than anything else, including the Bible and the spiritual disciplines, has formed and shaped the values of so many people in the sanctuary. Trump’s staff knows this. Why else would they put such a roll call in the speech?

At times, it seemed like Trump was putting a new spin on the heroes of the faith described in the New Testament book of Hebrews. Instead of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, David, and Samuel, we got Sean (Hannity), Laura (Ingraham), Tucker (Carlson), and the hosts of Fox and Friends.

I am used to this kind of thing from Trump, but I was stunned when I witnessed evangelical Christians — those who identify with the “good news” of Jesus Christ —raising their hands in a posture of worship as Trump talked about socialism and gun rights. Didn't God tell Moses to tell the Israelites they should have no other gods before God? Didn't Jesus tell the people it is more blessed to give than to receive? To worship God with all their heart, mind and soul? To take no thought for their own lives? They cannot worship God and mammon (the ways of this world)? To pray for and do good to their enemies?

I watched my fellow evangelicals rising to their feet and pumping their fists when Trump said he would win reelection in 2020.

Trump spent the evening mocking his enemies, trafficking in half-truths in order to instill fear in people whom God commands to “fear not,” and proving that he is incapable of expressing anything close to Christian humility. Didn't Proverbs say The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom?

His evangelical supporters loved every minute of it. On Friday night, Christians who claim to be citizens of the Kingdom of God went to church, cheered the depraved words of a president, and warmly embraced his offer of political power. Such a display by evangelicals is unprecedented in American history.

I usually get angry when members of my tribe worship at the feet of Trump. This time I just felt sad. Perhaps theirs is a different tribe?

John Fea, a history professor at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, is the author of "Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump." This column is adapted from a post on his blog. Follow him on Twitter @JohnFea1

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