Christian Theologian's Trump Warning to Evangelicals

A Christian Theologian’s Trump Warning to Evangelicals

Christian Theologian's Trump Warning to Evangelicals
Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-2.0
Christian theologian Roger E. Olson warned that Trump is not the modern-day King Cyrus.

Roger E. Olson, a Christian theologian, warned Trump-supporting evangelicals[/tweetit] that the President of the United States will have no problem pushing them away if it fits his agenda. The Professor of George W. Truett Theological Seminary said that Trump's agenda may not necessarily gel with that of the evangelicals.

A Christian Theologian’s Trump Warning to Evangelicals[/tweetthis]

Olson, who teaches Christian Theology of Ethics at Baylor University, Waco, Texas wrote in his blog about a few Trump supporting evangelicals viewing him as some kind of "messianic figure." He then clarified his stand, stating that the above words are not applicable to all evangelicals who voted Trump in the presidential election but particularly targets those individuals who idolize Trump as the new American messiah. He then went on to say that such Trump-loving evangelicals view him as a modern-day avatar of the ancient Persian King Cyrus. The latter is mentioned in the Bible in mostly favorable times.

The theologian then went on to elaborate on this context, stating that Cyrus was a Persian ruler whose 30-year rule ended in 530 BC. During his rule, Cyrus released the then exiled Hebrew population so they could return to Jerusalem. The Hebrews consequently went back and rebuilt the temple which the Babylonians destroyed earlier during their conquests. According to Olsen, the Hebrew people regarded Cyrus as an influential and powerful ally who was sent by God to free them from bondage. The academic noted that a few evangelicals thought of Trump as the modern-day Cyrus who is being guided by God to deliver them from perceived persecution.

Olsen has nothing but criticism for such Trump-loving evangelicals. He holds the opinion that these people regard themselves as the remnants of conservative Christianity which created a prosperous nation, the United States. He said, "Their view of American history is a downward slide toward not true pluralism but suppression of traditional Christian values."

It is an irony that they regard the president as a member of their flock although he is clearly shown to be an immoral person and an unproved criminal to boot. The Trump-loving evangelicals hold the belief that the president was favored by God to reverse the ongoing American cultural trend towards hedonism and total decadence. They believe that he is put in the White House to stop the persecution of Christians being done by bureaucrats sitting in Washington. Their principal grouse is against the Department of Education.

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