By Julia Holloway // Faith + Politics // EEW Magazine Online

There is a passage in Jeremiah 23:21 that perfectly characterizes all the professing prophets that falsely proclaimed former president Donald Trump would win a second consecutive term.

It says, “I have not sent these prophets, yet they run around claiming to speak for me. I have given them no message, yet they go on prophesying.”

What sets true prophecy apart from false prophecy is manifestation. This is how we know that multiple political-based prophetic predictions were invalid, and those spewing falsehoods in the name of the Lord were not sent by Him.

To be clear, lots of Christians – though not all – believe that God still speaks today, and prophecy is 100 percent real. Among those that believe in the authenticity of the prophetic office, many will still confess that human fallibility does sometimes get in the way of accurately conveying what God has spoken.

A piece written in Politico titled, “The Christian Prophets Who Say Trump Is Coming Again” highlights this fact. The article explores how devotion to Trump corrupted the so-called divine messaging and undermined the credibility of men and women claiming to hear from heaven.

Writer Julia Duin points out that social media posts, podcasts, and email threads reveal an “overriding emotion” of “anger at the prophets.” While some of the animus is understandably directed toward the individuals delivering false prophecies, the backlash is not only reserved for them. There are other hardcore believers in the Trump prophecies that disapprove of the backpedaling of predictors who apologized for making declarations that proved untrue.

Make no mistake about it, there remains a stand your ground collective that believes Trump will somehow, someway reemerge and reclaim the election that was months ago called in favor of the sitting US president Joe Biden. Duin writes that “a sizable share of believers, at least those active online, seem to be holding out for a Trump resurrection sometime this spring.”

Few can forget the infamous moment last year when Paula White-Cain, who served as Trump’s personal pastor and White House faith adviser, led a prayer for Trump’s reelection and described hearing “a sound of victory.” She also claimed that “The Lord said it is done,” adding, "For angels have even been dispatched from Africa right now,” as well as South America and are “coming here” to the United States to presumably deliver Trump’s victory.

That prayer and seeming prediction of victory was widely mocked on social media and put on full display the extent of evangelical loyalty to the now defeated republican politician.

There is an important lesson in all of this that has nothing to do with one’s political affiliation but everything to do with one’s faith. And that lesson is found in 1 John 4:1: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

There are rumblings that Trump may run again in 2024, and we will have to wait and see. But the 2020 ship has sailed and sunk, right along with the false prophecies proclaiming triumph.