Whether You Vote for Him or Not, Donald Trump Is Not Anointed by God

Soon after the tragic assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life, opportunistic partisans began comparing the former president to the consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests in Leviticus 8:22-24. During the ordination ceremony of the priests, Moses sacrificed a ram and put some of its blood on Aaron’s right ear, right thumb, and right big toe. In the Bible, blood atones for sin. The ram had to die to purify God’s priests, who are sinners. Sacrifices like this no longer need to occur because Christ has “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:12). Every sacrifice before Jesus was pointing to the final sacrifice made by Jesus: “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified” (Hebrews 10:14).

Coincidentally, Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet on his right ear. Bestselling false prophet Jonathan Cahn even went so far as to suggest that Trump then touched his bleeding right ear (right thumb!) and, since his shoes fell off, inevitably got blood on his right foot (right big toe!). The implications of this horrendous attempt at scriptural application should be plain: Just like Aaron, Donald Trump is anointed by God. As Aaron the priest was anointed to bring Israel to God, Trump the president is being anointed to bring America back to God.

This heresy (and yes, it’s heresy) didn’t begin with the assassination attempt. McKay Coppins recently analyzed 58 opening prayers offered at Trump rallies and found a similar message. Jesus might save us from our sins (his name is mentioned 61 times), but it’s Trump alone who can save our nation (87 mentions).

As Coppins points out, Americans have a long history of misapplying Scripture by claiming that our nation has a special covenant relationship with God just like Israel did. What’s new, he writes, “is how many Christians now seem convinced that God has appointed a specific leader who, like those prophets of old, is prepared to defeat the forces of evil and redeem the country. And that leader is running for president.” These prayers don’t merely ask for God to bless Trump and grant him wisdom and a heart for justice—an appropriate prayer to apply to any political leader—they assume he already possesses those things, that he’s God’s “servant” or even God’s “warrior.”

The story goes something like this. We are waging a spiritual battle against principalities and powers. Those principalities and powers are represented by the Democrats and woke liberals who are destroying our nation. Donald Trump is the one sent by God to defeat them and restore us back to our covenant with God. In fact, one prayer looked forward to the day, after Trump is reelected, when God, through Trump, will bring “retribution against all those who have promoted evil in this country.”

In some ways none of this is surprising. Evangelicals in America have long championed the right of each individual to interpret the Bible, and we’ve tolerated some gross misinterpretations over the years. But I am stunned that so many would identify Donald Trump–a man who claims he’s never had to ask for forgiveness–as God’s anointed one. But, of course, it’s easy to ignore the facts when we’ve adopted a mythological framework within which we must bend reality to fit.

There’s further irony in the outrage of many who selectively claim reverence for the Bible against their political opponents while simultaneously ignoring the way their political allies obscure their Savior with nonsensical interpretations. The Bible isn’t about Donald Trump. It’s about Jesus. The hope for America and any nation on earth, for that matter, does not depend on a political election. When Jesus walked out of the grave, he gave his disciples the “victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). We don’t live in doomsday fear. The resurrection frees us to “be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord [our] labor is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58). We don’t need an election day victory for our favorite candidate to save us. The victory has already been won. Nothing that happens in history can reverse that.

I’m not writing this to discourage you from voting for Donald Trump. That’s not my job. As Christian citizens, we all must choose the candidates we believe will most uphold justice in this world. I’m writing to discourage you from believing a lie. Donald Trump is not God’s chosen instrument to save America. That job has already been fulfilled.

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