Depending on the source, anywhere from 73 to 78 percent of white evangelicals approve of how Donald Trump is doing in office. In contrast, Trump struggles to get out of the 40s in most national job approval polls. So how can fundies essentially think Trump walks on water, while the nation as a whole thinks his administration is FUBAR?
Well, for the last three months, the religious right has convinced most of the 81 percent of white evangelicals who voted for Trump in November that the protests and attacks he’s faced are being driven by witchcraft, demons, and the devil himself. Therefore, the reasoning goes, those who oppose “God’s plan for America” are essentially guilty of sedition. When you consider that a significant segment of the religious right base has been conditioned to believe that voting for a Democrat could endanger their salvation, it’s easy to see how so many of them are still bowing to Trump.
People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch recently discovered that one prominent religious right leader drove the point home last week. He told his followers that under Trump, there’s a lot opening up for Christians in this country–and that evil spirits are hellbent on blocking those openings.
Much of Trump’s early religious right support came from the New Apostolic Reformation, an overtly fascist branch of the religious right that believes it can bring about the Second Coming by taking over the world under the leadership of self-proclaimed apostles and prophets. One of those “apostles” is Dutch Sheets. He’s one of the more popular speakers in NAR circles, and oversees a network of NAR-aligned “prayer alliances” in every state.
Last week, Sheets gave his take on the North Korean threat, and a number of other topics. Watch here.
Sheets told his followers what he says God recently told him–“the spiritual realm of darkness is about to start manifesting.” He believed he was seeing it first-hand, based on a number of factors–including the protests against Trump, as well as the increased belligerence from Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. To his mind, all of this could be chalked up to “the manifestation of evil spirits.”
To Sheets’ mind, these evil spirits are in a tizzy because the church is moving into “a season of great breakthrough” after years of praying for one. He likened it to how Israel fought against Canaan, recounting how Rahab told the Israelites that her people had been terrified of Israel for 40 years. Ultimately, they needed to fight or else God would give their land to the Israelites. He believes God told him to tell his followers not to be afraid because “his enemies are afraid.”
Sheets went on to urge his followers to pray for the overthrow of Kim’s regime. That’s something most people on both sides of the aisle want to see happen. But once he claimed that the protests against Trump are driven by evil spirits, he might as well have sounded like a Peanuts adult. He has effectively said that the protests aren’t legitimate.
Here’s a news flash, Dutch. People aren’t resisting and persisting because of demons. They’re doing it because a man who lost the popular vote by over three million votes is pushing this country on a double-time march toward the cliff. If you expect us to remain silent for that, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying.
As unhinged as this is, it’s even more so when you consider that Sheets believes Christians need to realize that they are “God’s governing force on the earth,” and thus have the power to “legislate from the spiritual realm.” Does this mean that these “evil spirits” are supposedly preventing Christians from taking their rightful place as the governing force in this world? Sure sounds like it–though I wouldn’t want to live in Sheets’ kind of world. After all, he also believes that Christians should focus on taking over the world above all else.
This is off-the-charts extreme, even by religious right standards. However, Sheets has a good deal of influence in “mainstream” conservative circles as well. Just months after Sheets called for Christians to focus on taking over the world, Newt Gingrich named him national co-chairman of his 2012 presidential campaign’s “Faith Leaders Coalition.”
It’s simply mind-boggling that even in the face of Trump’s outrages, the religious right seems to have remained loyal to him. Well, now we have the answer–the movement’s leaders are telling their followers that all the opposition to Trump is being driven by evil spirits. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the only reason Trump’s head is still above water in the polls.
(featured image courtesy Sheets’ Facebook)
