Ralph Drollinger, a Bible study teacher who uses his extraordinary access to top government officials in the United States and abroad to push right-wing policies as biblically mandated, distributed a Bible study Monday telling readers that “it is imperative that committed Christians be praying for an outcome that glorifies our Lord, and that believers will win office.”

“Don’t misinterpret the elections: they are first and foremost a spiritual battle requiring mature, spiritual weaponry,” Drollinger wrote in a Bible study distributed Monday. He also repeated his assertion that the only prayers that God hears and acts on are those of Christians.

In previous writings, Drollinger has demonstrated little respect for Christians who interpret the Bible differently than he does. He has called the “social Gospel” that motivates millions of liberal American Christians “a perversion of scripture” and “not Christianity whatsoever!” He has called Catholicism “one of the primary false religions of the world.” He urges public officials not to take part in “syncretistic” events like the National Prayer Breakfast, arguing that by participating in events that combine different forms of belief, attendees invite God’s wrath rather than his blessing.

Drollinger holds Bible study sessions for members of the House and Senate as well as Trump’s Cabinet while his written Bible studies are distributed widely and used by Capitol Ministries leaders active in state and local governments and foreign governments. Drollinger writes in this week’s Bible study that only people who are “mature in Christ” can be “ideal candidates for public office.”

Drollinger, whose Capitol Ministries is committed to evangelizing public officials and “discipling” them to his biblical worldview, writes that elections are “a critical time” for a public official who is “a soldier for Christ.” Drollinger writes that “when the believer wields the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and Satan reacts through his minions, there will exist critical times or seasons for necessary petitioning—that is, if you are a soldier for Christ.”

In “Oaks in Office,” his handbook for public officials, Drollinger wrote that “the critical and preeminent duty of the Church in an institutionally separated society” is “to evangelize and disciple—to Christianize—the leaders of the State and its citizenry.” Nevertheless, Drollinger insists that he is not a Christian nationalist because he does not believe in changing the structure of government to give the church an official role. He says he supports institutional but not influential separation of church and state.

Among Drollinger’s many fans within the Trump administration is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has used his position to open doors for Drollinger to bring his proselytizing and right-wing-policy-promoting ministry into the inner circles of government in foreign capitals.

This article was originally published at Right Wing Watch and is republished here by permission.

Image: Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead via Flickr