An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians (Part 3 of 3)

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians 

Final Part 3 of 3 

Khen Lim




The 45th President of the United States Donald J Trump (Image source: Christian Today)

The surreal number ‘45’

In the recent days after the shocking election fallout, both sides of the political spectrum have been asking a lot of questions. The Democrats are doing two things – they are tearing themselves asunder but they are also pointing the finger to blame everyone else except themselves. Meanwhile the Republicans are fighting among themselves for a place in Trump’s cabinet and my guess is that they still have no idea what it was that made the results look so astonishing and unexpected.

Ever since Pastor Jeremiah Johnson revealed God’s message to him, many within the Christian circle have been asking the question, “Is there really a prophetic link to Donald Trump?” And with that, came a flurry of other more pointed questions like, “Could Trump be God’s sign that America must now pay attention before it’s too late?” or “Is Trump God’s final warning to the liberal-infested America?” 

Of course, no hardcore liberal worth his name would heed what they consider to be complete drivel. As we saw earlier, even Christians think this is nonsense. In fact, many of these same Christians point to Trump’s proposed immigration policies and questioned if it is really God’s idea to build the wall, ban Muslim immigrants and deport illegals who are already in America. If this is a so-called trumpet warning from God, then even Christians don’t want any part of it.

Dr Lance Wallnau (lancewallnau.com), an internationally recognised Christian speaker and business consultant, asked the same question and felt strongly that Johnson’s message that Trump could be that Cyrus-inspired leader was real but more importantly, offer Christians a solution worth pondering compared to scandal-riddled Clinton. Trump is said many times to not be a believer but like many in the Bible, God could surely use him to help heal the nation.

The irony here is this – the chapter on Cyrus in the Book of Isaiah is numbered 45. And Trump is aspiring to be the 45th President of the United States of America. Forty-five? This is surreal.  

What Isaiah tells us

Dr Lance Wallnau (Image source: 7mgencamp.com)

Dr Wallnau met Trump for the first time in late December 2015 at the Trump Towers in a meeting where those who attended were essentially strangers to one another but all of them were from the evangelical fraternity. This was a group that represented a community that comprises 30 percent of the entire American population, which works out to be worth 30 million votes.

The Trump that Dr Wallnau met was nowhere near the person painted by the mainstream media. He was not the confrontationist that all of us thought he was. He did not have a close mind and neither did he force his views upon any of them. Instead what he experienced was a restrained but gracious person always willing to accommodate and one who laps up information as voraciously as he filters and compartmentalises them; all this while he scans every individual in the room, reading their body language and ascertaining their influence within this select group.

During that time with Trump, Dr Wallnau had first hand understanding of the man America appears to effortlessly hate and despise. Yet he was experiencing something completely different and diametrically opposite. His expectations were turned upside down. 

In the discussions that took place during that meeting, Trump heard first-hand what Christians thought of him concerning his fiery temperament and how that might be worrisome given that he was vying to be the most powerful individual on the planet with access to the most destructive red button that could simply end the world. And to that, his response was completely disarming and unexpected:

“You know, people aren’t aware of what is coming at me… what I am responding to. Like the storm that broke out when I took a stand on immigration. It can get pretty vicious. You don’t always know the back story. I can say this, I never punch indiscriminately. I’m a counter-puncher… but I fully hear what you are saying. I know where you’re coming from.”

This wasn’t the Trump that Christians thought to be. This wasn’t the person whom everyone anticipated would come out denying everything and blaming someone else. This wasn’t the person whose ungodliness was as unremarkable as his penchant for a fist-fight. Instead what they got was a Donald Trump who was more genuine than everyone gave him credit for. His response was measured and yet it was warmly received and acknowledged.

And as the meeting progressed, Dr Wallnau was treated to some stunning observation from Trump. Not only was he aware of some of the Christian leaders in the room but he was obviously a viewer of Christian TV programming to know who these personalities were. From that experiencing of watching Christian television, he had this to say:

“It’s amazing how antagonistic they (meaning the left-wing) are about people of faith. It was painful to watch… wasn’t always like this in America. This seems to have been going on for a while, hasn’t it?”  

His understanding of how persecuted Christians have been for a good part of a few decades is uncanny but dead accurate. But this was nothing compared to what he then had to add:

“I think we had such a long period of Christian consensus in our culture and we kind of got… spoiled. Is that the right word? Every other ideological group in the country has a voice. If you don’t mind me saying so, you guys have gotten soft.

“I mean, we, myself included, we’ve had it easy as Christians for a long time in America. That’s been changing.”

Trump’s take on the Christian perspective in America is spot-on. It was of course disturbingly correct. Yes, Christians across the entire nation – and also around the world – have been living in fear, knowing that their opinions could cost them everything. The level of intolerance towards Christians and their faith has, since the beginning of the Obama years, escalated inexorably and showed no signs of subsiding. With Clinton threatening to take the keys to the White House, there is every expectation that it would be either just the same or worse. Most Christians know that it would be far much worse.



Obama (Image source: Salon)

Under Obama’s socialism, Christians live in real fear of their faith being removed from them. Many things were apparently on the table, ready to be used against the faith community. There was talk of persecuting Christian families for conducting worship or Bible study in homes. If this proved unfounded, the same could not be said of Christians and Christian-based organisations that were scrutinised by the IRS with the genuine risk of losing their tax-exemption status. 

The same also applied to church pastors who fear that their preaching would land them in serious trouble and even if Trump were to free them up to have discourses that involve politics in church, many pastoral leaders would likely continue harbouring fears that all it would take is for one liberal seated among the congregation to report them.

Dr Wallnau recalled something that Trump then said that others might not have paid enough attention to but it was, again, right on the money:

“People who identify themselves as ‘Christian’ make up probably the single largest constituency in the country but there is absolutely no unity, no punch… not in political consensus or any other area I can see.”

While it took someone so scorned by many like Trump to point this out in such an unlikely meeting, Christians within the fold struggle to grapple with it let alone overcome it. We all seem to understand the divisiveness but there didn’t appear to be any help to bind us together in strength. Perhaps until now.

And so with all this unfolding before Dr Wallnau’s eyes, it was time to look at Isaiah 45:

(Isa 45:1-13, NLT)

“¹ This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, His anointed one, whose right hand He will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralysed with fear. Their fortress gates will be opened, never to shut again.

² This is what the Lord says: ‘I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains. I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

³ And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness — secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, the One who calls you by name.

⁴ ‘And why have I called you for this work? Why did I call you by name when you did not know Me? It is for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel My chosen one.

⁵ I am the Lord; there is no other God. I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know Me,
⁶ so all the world from east to west will know there is no other God. I am the Lord, and there is no other.

⁷ I create the light and make the darkness. I send good times and bad times. I, the Lord, am the One who does these things.

⁸ ‘Open up, O heavens, and pour out Your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together. I, the Lord, created them.

⁹ ‘What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator? Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’

¹⁰ How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father, ‘Why was I born?’ or if it said to its mother, ‘Why did you make me this way?’’

¹¹ This is what the Lord says — the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: ‘Do you question what I do for My children? Do you give Me orders about the work of My hands?’

¹² I am the One who made the earth and created people to live on it. With My hands, I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at My command.

¹³ I will raise up Cyrus to fulfil My righteous purpose, and I will guide his actions. He will restore My city and free My captive people — without seeking a reward! I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

King Cyrus as he enters Babylon (Image source: ancient-origins.net)

At this point in time, Trump was in the midst of the Republican primaries, facing fourteen other candidates, with three having dropped out earlier in the piece. And with that, Dr Wallnau was now attempting to understand the relevance of King Cyrus in the larger scheme of things but nothing sent the chills right through the spine as profoundly as knowing that this was chapter 45 in the Book of Isaiah and the next U.S. President would ironically be number 45.

Scripture tells us that God revealed to the prophet Isaiah a foreigner named Cyrus almost one-hundred and fifty years before he was even born; that he would be His anointed shepherd to His people. He would be God’s emissary to commence the rebuilding of the holy city of Jerusalem. Cyrus wasn’t just a non-Jew; he wasn’t even from the lineage of David. Yet God called him, ‘His anointed one’ (45:1) with the following nine highly significant instances of divine development:  

-         God empowers Cyrus through his right hand (v.1)

-         God will instil fear into the hearts of mighty kings (ibid)

-         God will force their fortress gates forever open, making them vulnerable to Cyrus (ibid)

-         God will flatten the mountains, destroy the gates of bronze and slice apart all the iron bars for Cyrus to advance (v.2)

-         God will provide Cyrus with treasures that were until then, hidden away so that he will know that He is the Lord God of Israel (v.3)

-         God will ensure that even though Cyrus does not know Him, he will still be properly equipped for battle (v.5)

-         God will raise up Cyrus and use him to fulfil His righteous purpose on earth (v.13)

-         God will guide Cyrus so that he may fulfil His purpose (ibid)

-         God will pave the way to reinstate His city and set free His people from bondage (ibid)

The single greatest significance in God using someone like Cyrus is that he was not a believer and neither was he a Jew but again, biblical history has shown in many places within Scripture that He was not averse to doing this. In world history, God has done the same as we witness numerous others who did the same. Of those we are more familiar with whom God used to champion righteous causes, we could think of Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. Each of them overcame evil to restore order to the world and each of them were God-fearing people as well.

In the nine instances mentioned above, it is very clear that God would take up central position to empower Cyrus. He would intercede for him. He would make the way open for him. He would weaponise him. He would even finance him. He would do everything beyond the impossible to make sure that Cyrus would deliver for Him. This set of promises is a tremendous gift and if it resonates with what we’re seeing with Trump, then imagine the numerous conquests in America and the world that lie ahead of him to savour!

Translating Cyrus’ conquest

The Cyrus Cylinder and the ancient proclamations of human rights (Image source: ancient-origins.net)


The Bible goes on to tell us that Cyrus was indeed successful. He not only ended the bondage and humiliation of God’s people but he also paved the way for all the prophecies and prayers to cover Jerusalem in fitting glory. Ezra 1:1-4 (NLT) records Cyrus being given the go-ahead to rebuild the Temple as follows:

“¹ In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy He had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:

² ‘This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build Him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

³ Any of you who are His people may go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you!

⁴ Wherever this Jewish remnant is found, let their neighbours contribute toward their expenses by giving them silver and gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock, as well as a voluntary offering for the Temple of God in Jerusalem.’”

God’s command to Cyrus to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem extended to include others such as King Darius and King Artaxerxes until the prophet Nehemiah who returned from captivity with His people to build the wall around the holy city. Two things bring us to attention with these verses – the Temple of the Lord (in some other translations, it is called ‘the House of the Lord’) and Nehemiah’s return to build the wall. In today’s context, it’s not difficult to think of the Temple of the Lord as His Church. As for the wall, Proverbs 25:28 (NLT) could reveal something interesting:

“A person without self-control is like a city with broken down walls.”

In other words, ‘a city with broken down walls’ being akin to a person void of control over his own self suggests a society in decay, anarchy and badly in need of healing and restoration. Hence when Trump kept exhorting, “build the wall!” it could be symbolically more significant than people assume.

All of this reveals a nation (America) in desperate need to regain control of its senses. After decades of negligence including the last eight years of horrific leftist experimentation under Obama, we now have a country in near-tatters, waiting for a complete breakdown, a country without walls (like Nehemiah’s Jerusalem) and one without the decency of being able to rule herself but instead under the mercy of lesser nations around the world.

A 28-year-old Abraham Lincoln, in his Lyceum address on January 27 1838, said, among other things:

“At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

For the entire speech, go here.

Lincoln might as well be talking about the America of 2016 because the description is hauntingly and undeniably real. Although we see threats and dangers around the world, the most insidious and lethal kinds are the ones that have now surfaced within the nation including the forces of liberalisation and socialism as well as jihadist terrorism sponsored by enemies of America.

If we understand and see the Cyrus correlation with President-elect Trump, we may then envision God having sent into our midst His tough-speaking envoy untainted by Washington politics, ready to destroy the very elements that have been sinking this great nation of America.



Deposed Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton (Image source: thehill.com)

Be it terrorism, corruption, racism, crime, abortion or the insanity of political correctness, Christians are now beginning to peer past the fog of doubt and uncertainty and see the Cyrus anointing in Trump to heal, rebuild and reclaim everything America has lost.

“His (Trump’s) emergence is such a destabilising threat to the vast deal-making machinery embedded in both parties that he has the unique distinction of being rejected by both liberal Democrats and establishment Republicans at the same time,” said Dr Wallnau.

Just as the liberals and hardcore leftists love to misuse the phrase ‘Love Trumps Hate’ to accuse the President-elect of plying hate and bigotry, we too can look to the word ‘trump’ and find how, instead, it is actually used in the Bible. Based on the venerable KJV translation, the word appears at least twice and both times in the New Testament as the indelible trumpet blasts at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and the subsequent resurrection of the dead.

The first is 1 Corinthians 15:52 when the apostle Paul said:

“In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (KJV)

Using the NLT version for a simpler translation, it means:

“It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.”

The second is when he wrote his letter to the church at Thessaloniki in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, saying:

“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first…” (KJV)

A simpler translation from the NLT says this:

“For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.”

The KJV (King James Version) Bible uses the word trump to mean ‘the trumpet call of God’ and in more specific terms, it refers to that last trumpet blast when the dead shall arise on the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, could Donald Trump be God’s ultimatum to America and the world to clean up our act or face the consequences?

The more I look at it, the more convinced I am of that.

Pray for Trump

Evangelical leaders lay hand on and pray for Trump (Image source: Religion News Service)

People have always had a dim view of Trump’s propensity to unleash his tongue as we have witnessed in the build-up to the elections. Many are justifiably worried that he may erupt at the wrong time and wrong place. If he could be so mean against the men and women of his own political party and those of his peers, one can’t imagine what he would say given that diplomacy breaks down with his foreign counterparts.

It is a scary thought especially to those who has not have the opportunity to know his softer accommodating side. For them, Trump can do more harm than good now that he has the opportunity to break America free of her chains. Instead, despite God’s anointing, perhaps the possibility of him dispensing dangerous emotional bile is very real.

For all these fears, this is as good a time as any for all Christians in America and around the world to come together and pray. Remember Trump was delivered victoriously because God heard all our global corporate prayers. And He will hear us again as we pray for restraint.

Perhaps therefore, consider the following ten points when you pray in your privacy and in your church:

1.     Work with the evangelicals

Trump will seek counsel with the leading evangelicals who have brought him success so far. They include Mike Pence, Ben Carson, Michele Bachmann, Mike Huckabee, James Robison and Tony Perkins and many others who have prayed so fervently for him.

2.    Have strength in numbers

Trump will surround himself with people who not only care for the country as much as he does but are resolute enough to make it happen no matter the resistance. They don’t just include Rudy Giuliani but possibly also some members of his own family.

3.    United we stand, divided we fall

Trump fills all the important positions in his Cabinet with deliberate cautiousness, well-thought-out strategy and calculated wisdom. He will need to choose people with strong integrity, honesty and dedication to respect their positions of power and authority.

4.    Pride goes before a fall

Trump will maintain humility and temperance, knowing that the pride and brashness that brought him the presidency can also be the same pride – and brashness – that would ultimate dismantle him and his entire team. He must know that being the President of the most powerful nation in the world isn’t quite the same as being head honcho of the Trump Corporation.

5.    Fill the bench with righteousness

Trump must fully deliver on his promises and of these, the most critical isn’t the Affordable Care Act but the pledge to flesh out the Supreme Court with conservative justices who will honour the U.S. Constitution and not strip the country of its dignity and security.

6.    Stay on track, be focused

Trump must not deviate from his focus to strengthen the Republican narrative in the larger scheme of things. And in that, he must not soften his stance in the way he described how Christianity was compromised by complacency.

7.     Lest you forget who we are

Trump must show he means business by fulfilling the people’s need to see that justice is properly administered and carried out. In being the president for all Americans, he must now not alienate those who have brought him to power by turning his back on them.

8.    Redefine exceptionalism

Trump must show real commitment to heal the nation of brokenness and to put the mending in place through not just structural but also spiritual restoration. He must be mindful to bring back pride of place of what it is to be American and what it means to be inclusive and yet exceptional.

9.    Uphold God’s children everywhere

Trump must do all he can in his power to protect all Christians not just in America but around the world. This means upholding their rights to practise and uphold their faith even if it means overcoming intervention overreach and the insanity of political correctness.

10.                Represent America with pride

Trump must be aware that on a global platform, proper presidential conduct is expected of him when he represents the United States of America. This also means that he no longer has to bow before mere men but to exclusively and unreservedly accept the sovereignty of the Lord God Almighty.

May America rise again. May she honour God and be the light and salt to the rest of the world.



Students at Liberty University pray for Trump (Image source: The Guardian)

Welcome, President Donald J Trump. Don’t forget we, Christians.

Further note: For a more balanced view of your news, this alphabetically-ordered list of recommended conservative news outlets may work for you:

1.     American Renaissance

2.    American Thinker, The*

3.    Blaze, The*

4.    Breitbart News**

5.    CNS News

6.    Condell, Pat*

7.     Conservapedia*

8.    Coulter, Ann**

9.    Daily Caller, The*

10.    Daily Sheeple, The

11.     Drudge Report**

12.    Farrar, Joseph**

13.    Federalist Papers, The*

14.    Fox News*

15.    Geller Report, The (formerly Atlas Shrugs)**

16.   Hewitt, Hugh

17.  Infowars*

18.   Jewish World Review

19.   Jihad Watch*

20.  Judicial Watch**

21.   Levin, Mark*

22.  Liberty Alliance**

23.  Malkin, Michelle*

24.  Media Research Centre*

25.  Morris, Dick

26.  National Review*

27.  New York Post*

28. NewsMax

29. Patriot Post, The

30. Pipes, Daniel

31.  PJ Media

32. Prager University**

33. RealClearPolitics**

34. Red Alert Politics**

35. Rockwell, Lew

36. Rush Limbaugh Show**

37.  Schlussel, Debbie

38.  Sean Hannity Show**

39.   Townhall**

40.   Washington Examiner, The**

41.    Washington Times**

42.   Wall Street Journal (WSJ)*

43.   West, Allen B**

44.   Western Centre for Journalism*

45.   World News Daily (WND)**

Disclaimer: I personally don’t profess to be familiar with all of them. Although much of the list is a combination of what I know and what I can find out online, the ones I am very familiar with and/or the ones I subscribe to and read regularly are those that I have marked with two asterisks. Those with one asterisk each are the ones I read from time to time or have stumbled across them every now and then.