Jehu Destroys the Temple and Statue of Baal, 1569 edition, Maarten van Heemskerck, Prints Department, Royal Library of Belgium

(JTA) – Donald Trump’s fans and critics have compared him to some of history’s most famous monarchs: Cyrus the Great, Adolf Hitler, King David and more.

But on the eve of the election, a prominent pastor named Jonathan Cahn wants his evangelical followers to think of the Republican candidate as the modern-day manifestation of a much more ambiguous leader: Jehu, the biblical king who defeated the morally corrupt house of Ahab. He will be the 10th ruler of the Kingdom of Israel.

“President Trump, you were born into the world to be a trumpet of God, an instrument of God in God’s hands. God has called you to walk according to the pattern,” Cahn told hundreds of Christian leaders who gathered for the National Faith Summit outside Atlanta last week. , he called you in the pattern of the warrior king Jehu, he said. He also shared a clip of his prophecy about Trump on his YouTube channel, which has more than a million followers.

Meaning and cause of Cahn At least one academic from the Christian right says he’s worried – requires some background. Cahn, 65, is the son of a Holocaust refugee and grew up in a Jewish home in New Jersey. At the age of 20, he says, he received a personal revelation that led him to Jesus, eventually becoming the head of a Messianic congregation that blended Jewish rituals with Christian worship and focused on apocalyptic prophecies.

Cahn helped popularize the interpretation of September 11 as an apocalyptic Biblical allegory. In his telling, the terrorist attacks were akin to God’s rebuke of the biblical nation of Israel, and they were God’s warning that the United States would return to a time when religion was more central to society and abortion and gay rights were legalized. It happened because he wanted it. Another. His book on the subject, “The Harbinger,” came out in 2012 and remained on the New York Times bestseller list for months.

Cahn continued to publish commercially successful books and, combined with his social media activities, built a growing and enthusiastic audience for his prophetic warnings.

Then came Trump. Many evangelical Christian supporters during Trump’s first term explained his lack of piety by comparing him to Cyrus, the pagan ruler of ancient Persia who, according to the Bible, served as God’s intermediary by helping the Israelites return home from exile. In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu In the midst of trying to build stronger ties with the evangelical movement He praised Trump as a modern-day Cyrus.

However, Cahn put forward a different prophetic narrative about the new American president. A few months after the 2016 election, he published a book called “Paradigm” that portrayed Trump as Jehu. biblical king He seized control and reestablished the Kingdom of Israel, whose territory largely overlapped with modern-day Israel and Lebanon. Just as Jehu killed the idol worshipers who had taken over the kingdom, Trump would “drain the swamp” of Washington and “make America great again.” In this contemporary interpretation, Hillary and Bill Clinton play the role of Ahab and Jezebel, evil rulers who lead the kingdom astray. Seen on Jezebel as evil in Jewish traditionbut today it is much more prominent in evangelical discourse as a symbol representing feminism, promiscuity, and moral decay.

The replacement of Biden by Harris as the Democratic candidate challenging Trump in the 2024 elections allowed the anti-Jezebel template to be updated and become salient again.

Two weeks before Cahn’s speech at the National Faith Summit, an ally named Ché Ahn reminded the comparison at another mass religious event. Ahn presides over Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California, as well as a network of thousands of ministries around the world. He is the leader of a spiritual movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which aims for Christians to dominate society and government. Prominent Republican figures such as Mike Pompeo, Sarah Palin and Josh Hawley visited Ahn’s church and reflected on their thoughts. increased effect related to Christian nationalism About the Republican party.

On Yom Kippur, October 12, Ahn appeared at the “Million Women March” event on the National Mall and spoke before a crowd of tens of thousands; many wear prayer shawls or blow shofars. Traditional Jewish symbols that highlight this movement’s overlap with Messianic Judaism. .

“Jehu will overthrow Jezebel,” Ahn said and predicted Trump’s victory over Harris.

The social media user who brought the Jehu comparisons to a wider audience through his posts on “(Elimination of) religious prejudice and bigotry”.

“Since Harris became a candidate this summer, we’ve really seen the Jehu image come to the surface a lot more,” Taylor said in an interview. “This is the story (Cahn and Ahn) want their followers to go through their heads, the lenses they use to interpret their choices and the aftermath.”

II. In the brutal Biblical story told in the book of Kings, Jehu, on his way to the throne, kills Jezebel by ordering her to be thrown out of the palace window, then crushes her body with his feet and is then eaten by dogs. The new warrior king then goes on a killing spree, slaughtering the families of Ahab and Jezebel and other Baal-worshipping pagans who were plundering the kingdom.

In his speech to Trump, who also spoke at the National Faith Summit, Cahn said, “Jehu came to the capital with an agenda of draining the swamp.” “Jehu allied himself with the religious conservatives in the country. So it was your destiny to do the same. Jehu destroyed the cult of Baal in which children were sacrificed. That’s why God chose you to overthrow America’s cult of Baal, Roe, and Wade.”

Cahn and Ahn did not respond to JTA’s request to discuss the theology of their latest statements to their ministries.

Neither priest elaborated on the analogy they drew or made an explicit call for violence. But Trump caused widespread concern by mentioning it. revenge, He calls out his political rivals “The enemy within” and I’m talking about Using the military against political enemies if he wins.

Given Trump’s continued promotion of wire fraud narratives and the riots at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, after Trump objected to the election results, independent experts and government agencies They warn increased political violence. Many Jewish leaders are particularly concerned about Trump’s recent blaming of Jews for his potential defeat.

Taylor said he believes the pastors’ followers will be familiar with the biblical story of Jehu and that they are preparing their followers to accept violence during or after the election.

Taylor expressed his alarm in a post on X, formerly Twitter, unearthing the Jehu prophecies.

“If Trump wins this election, the Jehu ‘template’ tells Trump’s Christian supporters: Some real-world violence may be needed to cleanse America of its demons,” Taylor wrote. “If Trump loses this election, especially against their ‘Jezebel’, Kamala Harris, the Jehu template commands revenge.”