The religious right was none too pleased at the Women’s March. That was no surprise. But the vehemence of their reaction was staggering, even to this longtime religious right watcher. Apparently, standing up for women being respected and not objectified is a sign that you’re under the influence of either witchcraft or demons. How is that possible? Well, according to one religious right luminary, ANY opposition to the Donald is a sign you’re being influenced by the devil.
On the day after the Women’s March, so-called “prophet” and “apostle” Rick Joyner took to Facebook to claim that the Women’s March was influenced by pure evil a mere 24 hours after Trump took office.
Joyner claimed that when he was in Washington for the Women’s March, “there was a meanness, there was a rage” that could only come from “the Jezebel spirit.” When the Jezebel spirit shows up, it supposedly comes with “great wrath”—which was supposedly present in spades at the march. He says that the Jezebel spirit tempts people into “sexual immorality and the worship of idols.” It supposedly runs rampant in the entertainment world.
Following his lead, fellow prophet Lance Wallnau chimed in on Monday night.
Wallnau claimed that the Women’s March revealed the true nature of “the progressive spirit.” At heart, it’s supposedly driven by “a desire to control and intimidate, manipulate”—just like the spirit of witchcraft.
A week later, Jim Bakker got in on the act. He and his second wife, Lori, talked with Billye Brim—best known as the longtime BFF of Gloria Copeland, wife of leading word of faith peddler Kenneth Copeland—about what they saw at the inauguration and the march.
The Bakkers whined on Monday that while the inauguration was overflowing with “the presence of God” into the wee hours of the morning, the atmosphere in Washington changed overnight when the nasty women started piling in. Brim had a ready explanation—the march was “driven by demons.”
The next day, Bakker claimed that when he went down to the lobby of his hotel on the day of the Women’s March, he sensed “the most evil spirit I have ever felt”—so evil, in fact, that all he could tell his audience was that “it’s dirty, it’s filthy dirty.” Brim said the march was a sign that Christians needed to stand up and “take authority over the darkness.” She called on viewers in the DC area to pray so they could “control the demons that were in those women.”
At first glance, it was yet another case of how the religious right has its head up its butt on domestic violence. But apparently it’s a lot more than that. On Wednesday, Joyner went live again and warned anyone standing against Trump that they’re being played by the devil.
Joyner claimed that the opposition to Trump was fueled by “out-of-control rage” that could only be Satanic in nature. He claimed that Satan always shows “great rage” when being rousted out of his strongholds, and “all those he can control are going to manifest his rage.” But he thinks it’s a sign that “the glory of the Lord” is about to appear—which will cause nations to turn.
So let’s see if we’ve got this right. All of those women standing against a man who finds it acceptable to revel in degrading women were showing “meanness,” “rage,” and “great wrath” and had a desire to “control and intimidate, manipulate.” They were also “driven by demons” that stirred up something “filthy dirty” in them. And for good measure, any form of opposition to Trump is a sign that we’re manifesting Satanic rage.
I’ve seen a lot of contortions and distortions from the religious right, but the bilge from Joyner, Wallnau, Bakker and Brim is one of the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s particularly staggering considering how they attacked Barack Obama. Oh, that’s right—he was a Mooslim, so that was just peachy. In contrast, God supposedly hacked the election for Trump, so we can’t dare speak against him.
File this away, folks. When Trump goes down, we need to make sure the religious right goes down with him—hard.