Greg Odogwu
“Today, the Trump Administration officially left the Paris Climate Agreement. And in exactly 77 days, a Biden Administration will rejoin it.”
– President-elect Joe Biden, November 5, 2020.
One of the most interesting aspects of the just-concluded American presidential election was the spiritual angle. For people who are not religiously inclined, it might have been something like a comic relief. But for some of us that are interested in such matters, it was a serious affair. And, considering that America has always been at the forefront of every global spiritual movement, from the Great Awakenings to the New Age Movement, it was dead serious.
While the presidential candidates’ votes were being counted amidst a worldwide nail-biting moment of anxiety, a viral video of televangelist and prosperity preacher, Paula White, surfaced. White is President Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser. Or, to put it formally, she is chair of the evangelical advisory board in Trump’s administration. In the video, the lady was frantically summoning angels from Africa to prevent Trump from losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.
The preacher was chanting prayers and speaking in tongues: “…And strike and strike until you have victory…until you have victory. For every enemy that is aligned against you, let it be that we will strike…I hear the sound of abundance of rain, I hear a sound of victory. I hear a sound of shouting and singing, I hear a sound of victory.
“For angels are being released right now. Angels are being dispatched. Angels are being dispatched from Africa right now…from Africa right now…from Africa right now. They are coming here. From South America, from Africa, they are coming here. Angelic forces, angelic reinforcements.”
On the surface, it was farcical considering that, with Biden on the verge of flipping states like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia into Democratic Party colours, Trump’s advisers thought it was about time supernatural powers were summoned to intervene. The video spawned hilarious reactions, especially from Twitter Nigeria. Many wondered the nature of angels that would originate from a continent with near-zero infrastructure, fractured systems and questionable electoral processes – dysfunctional celestials?
However, a deeper reflection would paint a sounder picture. Trumpism is real; but it is a political ideology so schizophrenic that it finally choked the life out of its head, with its own hands. It is brandished by some American citizens who wanted to paint everything in the mould of good versus evil. But when the chips are down, they discovered that things are not easily identified in black-or-white colours. There is always a middle ground. A grey area. A meeting point. A space for consensus. And a rainbow-like vista that usually appears in order to remind us that no one man’s god can deluge the entire world.
By way of definition, Trumpism is a political ideology, style of governance, political movement and set of mechanisms for acquiring and keeping power, associated with the US President Donald Trump. It is an American version of the right-wing conservative and national populist sentiment seen in multiple nations worldwide. It started its development predominantly in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, denoting a populist political method that suggests nationalistic answers to complex political, economic and social problems. Some schools of thought believe Trumpism rests on three pillars, namely nationalism, religion and race.
A mix of nationalism, religion and race is not only dangerous; it is also confusing, especially in the context of a cosmopolitan and multi-ethnic society like America. Nationalism is not easy to define when anyone – of any race – from any part of the world could become an American citizen at the drop of a hat. Casting a clear-cut religious mould for Trumpist profiling would also be problematic because of the nebulous nature of American theism.
Sadly, it is from this goulash of ideological muddle that all sorts of citizens across the world have cut their own custom-made Trumpist piece of cake. The Evangelicals say Trump is the chosen one to fight the anti-Christ; the white supremacists raise his image as the new face of Caucasian superiority; the New Age conspiracy theorists say Trump will unmask the human flesh-clad reptilian puppet masters running the global system; the Zionists say Trump will help Israel rebuild Solomon’s temple; the Urantian visionaries believe that under Trump, a cosmic energy will surge into the Earth plane and help the “godly citizens” ascend into ethereal dimensions.
In Nigeria, the Indigenous People of Biafra, fired up by the belief that its leader shares the same DNA with Trump especially with their characteristic in-your-face braggadocio, believes that Chukwu Okike Abiama has destined the two of them to eventually work towards a divine agenda – formation of a Biafran nation.
Make no mistake about it, Trump promoters are not charlatans, children or naïve cheerleaders. They are smart, learned and informed individuals, who can hold their own in all fields of endeavour. Yet, no matter how reasonable they appear and sound, beneath the refined surface is an unshakable conviction that Trump is the chosen one to defeat an evil cabal that threatens the good cabal of Jesus people.
To most of them, it makes no difference whether Trump is a sinner or a science denier. As long as he keeps firing at the enemies, he is infallible. Climate change is a hoax. The COVID-19 pandemic is not happening. Trump kept the populist wagon smoking forward, even when it became palpable that the globe is irreversibly warming up; and people are dropping dead from the deadly corona virus. This is why there is something wrong with the public image of the US under the Donald Trump administration.
A country known for galvanising international action in the face of global threats became a shadow of itself. As Mother Nature became vicious, America tended to cower into a psychological corner of superstition and self-defeat. And for some of us who grew up with an enduring picture of interdimensional superheroes clad in American mystique, it was utter pain watching the giant lose its turgid glow, like a pricked Christmas balloon.
If there is something like near-death experience, the US just knew it under Trump. What Paula White did not know was that the African angels she summoned actually came to intervene in the American election at that critical moment. But, they came to help Biden win.
Angels are powerful supernatural creatures. They are sentient like us. They are also political animals as we are. The Holy Bible describes these beings as territorial, jealous, militant, and serving the political purpose of nations under their care. In the Bible (Daniel 10:13), we are told of how an Angel serving the Jewish nation tried to enter the Persian territories, but was forcefully denied entry, until (Jewish) angelic reinforcement came.
African angels tried to negotiate with Trump but he was too arrogant. He thought they had nothing to offer him. He was full of himself. He did not give them a chance. Even when a Cameroonian-American doctor tried to muster African angels to help him in his fight against his perceived enemies, Trump did not recognise the gesture, neither did he acknowledge the angels who mobilised for him. Her name is Dr Stella Immanuel, the African woman whose hydroxychloroquine-promoting video went viral a couple of months ago.
This is why the Black Angels did not answer when White called. They came; but they worked for Biden. They are just like us, they go where they are recognised and respected. And, right now, they are negotiating for the American resurrection, which will happen on January 20, 2021.
