American Politics and Christian Faith: The Confession of Evangelical Conviction (Part Three)

I’m intrigued by “Our Confession of Evangelical Conviction,” a document signed by well-known evangelical leaders that aims to address the current social conflict and political confusion by making seven affirmations:

1. We give our allegiance to Jesus Christ alone.
2. We will lead with love not fear.
3. We submit to the truth of Scripture.
4. We believe the Gospel heals every worldly division.
5. We are committed to the prophetic mission of the Church.
6. We value every person as created in God’s image.
7. We recognize godly leaders by their character.

I’d like to look at each of the statements and evaluate them in light of current polarizing politics in America.

We affirm that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, authoritative for faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16-17). We commit to interpreting and applying Scripture faithfully, guided by the Holy Spirit, for the building up of Christ’s people and the blessing of his world (John 16:13). We believe any true word of prophecy must align with the teachings of Scripture and the character of Jesus (1 John 4:1-3). Likewise, to lie about others, including political opponents, is a sin (Exodus 20:16). Therefore, we commit to speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), knowing deception dishonors God and harms the reputation of his Church.

We reject the misuse of holy Scripture to sanction a single political agenda, provoke hatred, or sow social divisions, and we believe that using God’s name to promote misinformation or lies for personal or political gain is bearing his name in vain (Exodus 20:7).

Here are the Scriptures referred to (in the NIV):

• ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
• But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. (John 16:13)
• ¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. ² This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, ³ but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)
• You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16)
• Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)
• You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (Exodus 20:7)

The following is excerpted from a 2021 article in Christianity Today by Stefanie McDade, ‘How Could All the Prophets Be Wrong About Trump?’ (for full article click here)

Jeremiah Johnson sent out a “prophetic warning” on November 4, 2020, saying he and a “chorus of mature and tested prophets” were in agreement: Trump had won. “Either a lying spirit has filled the mouths of numerous trusted prophetic voices in America or Donald J. Trump really has won the Presidency and we are witnessing a diabolical and evil plan unfold to steal the Election,” Johnson wrote to his followers. “I believe with all my heart that the latter is true.”

Today, Johnson cringes when he thinks back to that message.

Unlike those who continued to insist Trump won, by early 2021, Johnson had reversed course. Now he barely recognizes the person who wrote that email last year—and neither does his wife, staff, or close friends. Instead, he says, God graciously used the messy fallout over the failed Trump prophecies to begin a “catalytic, dramatic shift” in his life.“

I was as entrenched as anyone was,” Johnson told CT in one of his first media interviews since he publicly repented in January and shut down his namesake ministry in March. “I tell people I feel like I’ve been rescued—I feel the kindness of God; I feel his discipline. I’ve cried so many tears, just thanking the Lord for the wake-up call.”

Johnson is only 33, but there’s a soberness in his demeanor whenever he stands up to preach. Looking back now, Johnson sees how 2020’s Election Day will forever be part of his story and an impetus for refocusing his calling and ministry.

Johnson was a pastor and church planter at Heart of the Father Ministry in Florida when he prophesied in 2015 that Trump would win his first election the following year. When the Republican race was still crowded with candidates, Johnson said he heard from God in a dream that Trump had a “prophetic destiny” to become president and that he would be “like a bull in a China closet.”  Shortly after it became clear that Trump had lost, Johnson said he heard another word from God: “You’re wrong, and I’m going to use this to humble you.”

One of Johnson’s longtime mentors, Denver pastor Loren Sandford, had also prophesied a second Trump term. The two reconnected around the election and released their apologies on the same day, just after the certification of votes was interrupted by an insurrection at the Capitol. Like Johnson, Sandford owned up to his false forecast and faced similar repercussions. What shocked them both, however, was that they got more backlash for repenting than for getting it wrong.

As Johnson and Sandford were feeling contrite, other charismatic leaders were girding up for battle. Many who prophesied Trump’s reelection, along with many pastors, continued to cling to their stances after the election and insisted it was God’s will that Trump remain president. Several doubled down on their prophecies and raised the stakes.

LeClaire (former editor of Charisma magazine) did not prophesy about the president’s second term but had joined the chorus about his first, describing the growing red map of states who voted for Trump in 2016 as “parabolic of the blood of Jesus.”

Now she too is sounding the alarm. “We must begin to unify under the banner of Jesus, even if we cannot unite under the platform of a politician,” she said.

One year after being thrust into the Fox News spotlight for prophesying Trump’s reelection, California ministry leader Shawn Bolz looks back and sees a “messiah complex” among some of the former president’s Christian followers.

“They attached their faith to that so much that when I repented, I became like an AWOL soldier who was no longer on the team,” said Bolz, who faced death threats for apologizing for his prophecy. One handwritten letter warned that “when Trump’s reelected again,” Bolz would be “strung up in front of the White House, killed as a false prophet.”

“No matter what people tell you—I mean, what we watched, and the fruit of people’s behavior—their hope was not in God, their hope was in Trump, period,” said Jennifer Toledo, who cofounded a charismatic church in Los Angeles called Expression 58 with her husband and Bolz.

“We’ve talked about idolatry in politics, [but] there’s idolatry to prophets,” Johnson says. “Nobody talks about that.” He says he believes “prophets became an idol in the body of Christ,” and while “they obviously have been humbled, the people themselves need to repent of worshiping prophets.”

Johnson also worries many believers have lost sight of the primary role prophetic ministry is meant to have: not to predict the future or forecast elections, but to point people to Christ.