If you think the 2020 election will depend on the Democratic candidate, or whether progressives can solidify and get their base, or whether Donald Trump can hold onto his grasp on religious conservatives, you’re missing the entire point. At least that’s what right-wing preacher Lance Wallnau claimed in a recent Facebook video.

Wallnau says that Trump’s critics are aligning themselves with “demonic forces” — and possibly the Antichrist — and the entire election is just a giant spiritual battle for the soul of our nation. Which we might take more seriously if conservative Christians didn’t say the same thing before every election.

“This whole next 10 months coming down to the election night is going to be a battle in the spirit because Satan wants to reset the clock and take back over this country,” Wallnau said. … “I wouldn’t want to be the person who’s against this president right now, because I think a deceiving spirit, I think a deceiving spirit is at work right now, witchcraft,” Wallnau warned. “I would not want to be somebody right now who is looking at what God’s doing, and opposing it.” Wallnau reiterated his belief that the media is the false prophet warned about in scripture. He criticized a recent Christianity Today editorial that called for Trump’s impeachment and removal from office, and he said that 2020 will be a battle of utterances between God’s prophets and “the mouthpieces of the prophets of Baal.” Wallnau claimed that “the spirit of Antichrist has a mouth.”

Why engage with your critics’ ideas when you can just dismiss them by calling them demonic?

Never mind, also, that there is absolutely no reason to believe that ancient biblical prophecies were written with 21st century America in mind.

It’s incredible that so many Christians continue to believe God has a special plan for the United States compared to anywhere else. We may be one of the wealthiest nations in the world, yet we have some of the highest rates of poverty, an inability to provide universal healthcare, self-inflicted wounds due to our obsession with guns, and relatively few social safety nets for workers who need them the most.

If anything, God let Trump get elected to punish us for how badly we’ve hurt our own people. But you won’t hear Wallnau saying that anytime soon.

Wallnau also encouraged evangelicals to register to vote and get others to do the same. Because God may be all-powerful… but he can’t work any miracles in swing states without conservative voters going to the polls.

(via Right Wing Watch)

