King Cyrus and Orange Jesus

Over the past decade, several friends with stitched faces have asked me the same question in varying forms:

How can Christians support someone for president with the character of Trump?

Having been raised in a fundamentalist family, I was hoping you might help me understand, says Tyler, an amalgam of all of my confused friends.

In response, I begin by asking Tyler if he has ever heard the story of King Cyrus. and Orange Jesus.

Even if I don’t want to hear it, he says, you’re going to tell it anyway, right?

Correct, I respond.

Tyler stares blankly at me with a slight roll of eyes.

The story of King Cyrus is recorded in the 45th chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah, I say, googling a search on my iPhone.

I begin reading -

For the sake of Jacob my servant,

of Israel my chosen,

I summon you by name

and bestow on you a title of honor,

though you do not acknowledge me.

Struggling to connect the dots, Tyler reaches for the bag of Doritos.

The story of King Cyrus is one framed by the prophet as a divine anointing, I tell my friend.

Gut feeling on where you’re going with this, but keep going.

That’s exactly my point., I tell him. Unless you're up on 6th century Persian kings, you would certainly be clueless.

King Cyrus conquered the Babylonian Empire and set up the reign of the Persian Achaemenid Empire. 

To help you understand, I tell Tyler, permit me paraphrase the 45th chapter of Isaiah.

Fresh off ass-kicking the Babylonians, King Cyrus frees most of the nations held in captivity by their dreaded and vile enemy and sets up the Persian Achaemenid Empire.. A cunning and discerning politician, he understood free people made better citizens than captives. Among those liberated by the king were the Jews, who returned to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple.

The point being is that God chooses whoever he pleases to advance his cause, Tyler says, even if it turns out to be Orange Jesus.

Correct, I respond.

So how would that be possible? Tyler asks, licking orange crumbs from his fingertips. How does anyone arrive at such a conclusion?

I smile at him like Jack Nicholson with an axe and type “Lance” into my Vimeo search window.

Tyler, do you remember the Hollywood Access video?

The one about pussy grabbing, he says, still trying to forget.

The thing a lot of people don’t recall is that its release happened just weeks before the election and nearly destroyed Trump’s presidential campaign. As a child of fundamentalism I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, how much the word pussy shakes each of us to the bone. Enough was enough. Trump was declared unfit by a Christian publication in Asheville, World Magazine. Loyal followers from his largest voting bloc - white evangelical Christians – were leaving in mass. The Republican Party and leaders of the Religious Right believed the moral dissonance between Christian belief and Trump’s behavior could no longer be sustained., and urgently called for a new narrative. A guy by the name of Lance Wallnau, a self proclaimed Christian influencer, just happened to have one on hand. - the narrative from the 45th chapter of Isaiah in service of the 45th president of the United States.

I click on a bookmark on my browser. Here is one of the very short videos I have edited for a blog I hope to write, I tell my friend.

Licking more Doritos dust from his fingertips, Tyler says, - Suddenly a vote for Trump was no longer a vote for a self-confessed lecher, but for the chosen one of God..

Correct, I respond. The new Cyrus.

Tyler has to give it to him — Greatest marketing spin of all time.

Much to my shock, Wallnau offered little proof the divine appointment of Trump outside the number 45 — the 45th chapter of Isaiah and the 45th president of the United States.

Did he do a mic drop? Tyler asks.

No one asked for more. Largely unquestioned, the Cyrus narrative moved quickly through a highly coordinated and resourced network of Christian nationalist leaders engaged in right wing politics. On the eve of our current election, it persists and strengthens, if not in details but concept. God can use anyone he pleases. Issues of character do not matter.

In Facebook posts, it reads something like this - God somehow uses people who are extremely messed up; we should believe in God’s sovereignty.

A recent CBS News Report raised a concern about the impact the Cyrus narrative has on voters.

During an interview before the 2016 election, Trump embraced the role of the second King Cyrus the great. He ran this ad.

During his first term as the 45th president, White House staffers reportedly nicknamed their boss, O.J. — for Orange Jesus, I say. You don’t have to look at too many Trump cards to figure out a messianic complex. He believes ‘he alone can fix our country.’

So, what do Christians get in exchange for their votes? Tyler asks.

The enforcement of some highly-prized Christian values - anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-anti-anti transgender, pro guns, pro Israel, pro capitalism, I say.

What about oppression and poverty? Tyler asks. Doesn’t the Bible say far more about these kinds of issues?

Correct, I respond, again applauding his biblical literacy.

After Googling ‘swallow a camel’, I read from Matthew 23. -

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel.. I wish to make clear it’s the religious leaders, bent on power and greed, who are to blame. Most fundamentalists get a bad rap. My childhood growing up in a fundamentalist was filled with magic, play, and love. I despair the rupture of our family in political divide.

It’s the religious leaders undergirding Trump’s campaign that deeply trouble me. Picking up a book from my desk, I begin to read from The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, Tim Alberta’s seminal work on American Evangelical pursuit of political power.

For millions of conservative Christians, America is their kingdom—a land set apart, a nation uniquely blessed, a people in special covenant with God. This love of country, however, has given way to right-wing nationalist fervor, a reckless blood-and-soil idolatry that trivializes the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

My overriding concern, setting off monkeys in my mind, is the answer to a series of questions -

Who appointed Lance Wallnau God or even Isaiah?

Could God choose a discerning and benevolent outsider or does a divine appointment only apply to horrible people?

If yes, should we next expect presidential campaigns for P Diddy, R Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein, or Bane?

What if Trump is just Trump - convicted felon, con man, womanizer, incessant liar, hate monger, great divider, a sad angry old man with some serious scores to settle with the enemy within.?

What if he’s just this guy in garbage collector’s bright orange vest?

Orange, for sure, but far from Jesus.

People like Lance Wallnau say we’ll just have to see.

He doesn’t sound either humble or careful to me, Tyler says.
Correct, I respond. Here’s what it feels like to me.

Buckle up, world.