As I explained in a previous post (see The Notion of Christian America – Where Did It Come from?), the rise of fundamentalism in the 19^th century was accompanied with a new focus on Jesus’ return to earth to reign for a thousand years with his saints, as suggested by Revelation 20 in the Bible.  This led conservative Christianity to a preoccupation with predicting the future through an examination of prophetic writings in the Bible.  The book of Revelation and other apocalyptic texts are written in highly symbolic language, and provide vivid images that illustrate themes about God’s wrath in the future to punish wickedness.  Interpreting those images to predict the course of human history seems like an impossible task, but that has not stopped many modern-day prophets who managed to build sizable followings with their claims that they have accurate visions of the future.

The Millerite movement was formed by a Baptist lay preacher named William Miller (see featured image above) who used the book of Daniel to predict that Jesus would return by October 22, 1844.  Miller’s followers reacted in various ways when the prediction failed to materialize: some, with great disappointment, abandoned the movement, while others held on to their belief for some time, predicting different dates for the return of Christ.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s, there were sects led by charismatic leaders who thought of themselves in messianic terms, such as Jim Jones and David Koresh.  Jim Jones was the leader of a cult called the Peoples Temple.  Apparently disturbed by fears of a nuclear holocaust and coming apocalyptic destruction, he moved his followers to Guyana, where they founded Jonestown, a place remembered since then as the location of a tragic mass suicide.  In the 1980’s, Vernon Howell gave himself the name David Koresh to declare his spiritual lineage to messianic figures such as King David and the Persian king Cyrus. His story ended in 1993 with the highly publicized siege by Federal agents of the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, where 79 Branch Davidians died.

But the impact of the prophetic movement that grew out of fundamentalism could particularly be seen in the success of mass communications by leaders.  The Left Behind book series and the related movies were quite popular.  Television shows dedicated to Bible prophecies have also had a significant audience for some time.

Today, in the internet era, the prophetic movement appears to be more diverse, as independent individuals are able to utilize social media effectively to reach large audiences with prophetic messages which vary in nature.  In the years of the Trump presidency in particular, the evangelicals who have associated themselves with the former president have abundantly resorted to prophecy not only as a means of encouraging fellow supporters, but also as a way of making a living by producing videos, writing books, giving talks, participating in conferences, etc.

Prophecies about Trump began to appear during his presidential campaign.  Evangelical leaders who supported him, in an attempt to encourage their church members to embrace his presidency in spite of his moral inadequacies, promoted the idea that God himself had chosen him to lead America.  They compared him to Cyrus (the Persian king mentioned above), arguing that Cyrus, a non-believing Gentile, had been anointed by God to rescue the Jews from Babylonian exile as described in Isaiah 45.  Trump, like Cyrus, was not a perfect conduit, but there was no doubt that Isaiah 45 applied to the 45th president of the united States who was anointed to rescue America from its decline into darkness.

Late in the 2020 presidential campaign, polls were not forecasting a reelection victory for Trump.  But some self-proclaimed prophets provided encouragement to his supporters by predicting a victory. Jeremiah Johnson, a 33-year-old man with a substantial following on social media due to his predictions related to the coronavirus pandemic and the makeup of the Supreme Court, announced that he had a dream: he saw Trump tumbling as he ran the Boston Marathon, until he was supported by two frail women who came out of the crowd and carried him to the finish line.  When Biden was certified as the winner, Johnson admitted that he was wrong and even ended his ministry, recognizing that something went wrong not only for himself, but for the entire prophetic movement.  Surprisingly, not only he received death threats, but some of his donors accused him of being a “coward, sellout and traitor to the Holy Spirit.”

Evangelical minister Jeff Jansen is another self-proclaimed prophet who, unlike Johnson, believes Trump never lost the election and is still president.  Jansen insists that the military is currently in charge and is preparing a coup that will reinstate Trump by the end of April.  It will be interesting to see which direction he takes when his prediction fails to materialize.  Unfortunately, his case seems to be no different from the conspiracy theories associated with QAnon.  It has been reported that QAnon never apologizes for making wrong predictions, but merely adjusts them to postpone the date of their fulfillment.

Pastor Robin Bullock, another self-described prophet, is convinced that prophets can, through prayer, call back Trump for three terms.  He explains:

“But you’re going to have to pray for the rightful president, whether he wants to walk back into this or not. You must pray that he wants to do it, because God won’t make him do anything. Is it his will? Yes. Is he the president? Yes. That’s why he could just walk right back in, and God will supernaturally move things out of the way.”

Bullock is one of those who had predicted before the election that Trump would easily win.  He now refuses to admit he was wrong, making instead statements such as the following, as reported by Jason Lemon in Newsweek:

“We’re gonna have to start publicly talking about that he’s the president. I know they will say, ‘Really? Why would you say that in public?’ Because he is!” Bullock continued. “Don’t mess with us, Satan. Don’t mess with us, corrupt political regimes. Don’t mess with God’s people like that, because I’m going to tell you something: If you mess with us, we’ll call him back for three terms. Don’t mess with us.”

Prophecies are not confined to predictions about Trump.  In a Washington Post article, Elizabeth Dwoskin reports that young Christians use TikTok to “act out biblically inspired scenes in which they are forced to take a vaccine for the coronavirus, only to end up splattered in fake blood and on the brink of death.”  This is part of their attempt to propagate the belief that vaccines “could herald the Biblical End Time.”

In my previous post, I attempted to explain how a history of anti-intellectualism has made Christian nationalists more likely to accept conspiracy theories. The vaccination topic is a good illustration of this tendency.  Dwoskin writes:

“Some churches and Christian ministries with large online followings — as well as Christian influencers on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube — are making false claims that vaccines contain fetal or microchips, or are construing associations between vaccine ingredients and the devil. Others talk about how coronavirus vaccines and masks contain or herald the “mark of the beast,” a reference to an apocalyptic passage from the Book of Revelation that suggests that the Antichrist will test Christians by asking them to put a mark on their bodies.”

Unfortunately, the attitude toward vaccination reflected in the above statement is not helpful in the current war to contain and defeat the coronavirus.  Dwoskin explains the reasoning used to associate vaccines and masks to the mark of the beast:

“The Book of Revelation describes the End Time as a bloody battle filled with persecution, during which a beast forces ‘all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads,’ according to the New International Version. ‘They could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name,’ 666.”

So the suggestion is that masks and vaccines will be used as requirements without which people will not be allowed to buy what they need, and this is precisely what the book of Revelation warns about.  Ironically, those who propagate such ideas do not even have to fully believe them.  They only have to suggest them as possibilities, thereby creating hysteria among the public.

Perhaps it is useful to mention that Bible scholars associate the mark of the beast, 666, with the Hebrew letters used to spell the full name of the Roman emperor Nero, a persecutor of the church in the first century.  In other words, code language used by early Christians to communicate without bringing upon themselves the wrath of Roman authorities is used today to promote careless conspiracy theories.

It should also be understood that Jesus himself did not encourage speculation about the future.  When, after the resurrection, his disciples ask him “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” he says to them:

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-7)

In other words, he wants them to focus on their mission, which is to spread the good news about him and his message everywhere, without wasting time in speculation about the End Time.  Elsewhere, Jesus even indicates that he cannot make accurate predictions about the End Time.  But he urges his disciples to be ready at all times:

“But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Matthew 24:36

“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:42-44)

He then provides more illustrations to emphasize the need for preparation, which means Christians must focus, at all times, on doing the will of the Father by following the teaching he gave them.  In so doing, they would contribute to the building of the kingdom of God, the world as God intended it to be.