Editors Note: I am deciding to post this post a day early. As rumors exist that some are planning violence under the guise of God’s will being thwarted, and others manipulating that fear to achieve their own will. That in delaying this post and waiting until violence breaks out would be like the old phrase, “closing the barn door after the cows get out.” So if this post helps at least one person to act more in line with being loving than violent, then I will have considered this post a success.
In the opening of the movie, The Fellowship of the Rings, a famous line is uttered:
- “ . . . some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth.”
Today I want to examine the famous rumor that Kim Clement prophesied that Trump would become president in 2007. But before I do I want to make it clear that I am NOT debating whether or not Kim was a prophet, or even a Christian. I want to tread very carefully as no accusation is to be entertained regarding an elder without two or three witnesses (1 Tim 5.19). And since I never met the man before he passed away and did not know him personally, I refuse to tackle the nature of his faith or calling.
However, with that being said, as for weighing what he said, we are commanded to do so in multiple places in both the Old and New Testament. I simply want to stick to the words and context, to see what meaning we can derive. Remember, there are two ways to evaluate words and meaning; eisegesis (reading into a text that what we know now was what it meant then) and exegesis (deriving meaning from the text and seeing how it applies to us today).
The rumor is that Kim Clement prophesied that Trump would become president long before he was even being considered as running for office.
So here is the famous text. I did my best to cross reference several pro platforms as well as several anti platforms.
April 4, 2007, Redding California:
“I will raise up the Trump to be a trumpet and Bill Gates to open up the gate of a financial realm for the church, says the Lord . . .
It shall come to pass that the man that I place in the highest office that shall go in whispering My name. But God said, ‘When he enters into the office, he will be shouting out by the power of the Spirit, for I shall fill him with My Spirit when he goes into office, and there will be a praying man in the highest seat in the land.'”
First, lets delve into the words and wording:
- Fact, there are two sections and three individuals referred to: Trump / Gates / and the man God will place into the highest office.
- The link between Trump and Gates were that they were men of influence and wealth.
- Trump and Gates are spoken of in the first half section apart from the section in the second half about a man being placed into office. No where in this prophesy at that time did Kim ever suggest that either Trump or Gates will be the the one in the highest office.
Now the Context:
- There is no reason to believe that Kim is referring to any other upcoming election except for the current one of 2008. George W Bush was just finishing his second term and his vice president, Dick Cheney, was not going to declare himself a candidate. So in 2007, the future president was highly speculative.
- Trump may not have run for office in 2008 but he was NOT an unkown candidate as the myth goes. In 1999, Trump quit the Republican Party to join the Reform Party formed by Ross Perot to seek that party’s presidential nomination.
- In both government and prophesy, a trumpet is a herald of people, events, or things to come, not to be confused with the person, event, or thing to come. This would make sense as Trump already had a highly successful reality tv show The Apprentice, which had been on the air since 2004, giving him a national platform to speak.
- Donald Trump wrote in a blog post during the 2008 presidential campaign that Hillary Clinton would make a “great” president or vice president.
Therefore from both the wording and the context, this prophesy in 2007 had nothing to do with Trump himself running for office.
My concern here is for the church and it’s use / misuse / manipulation of prophesy to manipulate others to achieve a goal. My conclusion is based upon what was said. If Bill Gates had been elected president, then people would be looking back and claim Kim Clement prophesied about him becoming president. Or if Hillary had become president, it would be that Kim Clement prophesied that Trump heralded her arrival! Hillary even teased the idea of Bill Gates as vice president for 2106. Is your head swimming yet? And that is precisely why context and wording matter.
Will I convince anyone of what is written here today? I honestly do not know. Rumors still persist as of today of Christians wanting to start a civil war based upon a myth of Trump being the chosen one to save us. Funny thing though, I thought Jesus was supposed to occupy that place in our heart.
Which is why no matter what you believe to not wrangle with words. I make no claim as to what the future holds, I just know that no matter what it holds, that it involves being loving. So love much my friends . . .
Unspoken Theology 