This Stronghold in America Opens the Door for Demonic Deception

I voted for Donald Trump so don’t accuse me of being anti-Trump. My concern is that so many people put unquestioning faith in the words of certain prophets who prophesied a Trump win and four more years in the White House.

Some of these prophets, to their credit, have since publicly admitted they were wrong. In this article I want to discuss why so many got it wrong.

Is it possible that pride played a prominent role in the failed Trump prophecies? I believe it is not only possible but probable, for as Proverbs 16:18 says, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

I do not want to paint with a broad brush, for I did not hear every prophecy that was issued concerning Donald Trump’s 2020 win and four more years in the White House. I did, however, listen to a number of the prophecies and I must confess that the prophets I heard came across as overly self-confident and tinged with ego and pride.

And when things were not looking good for their predictions after election night, many of the prophets and their supporters doubled down. We were exhorted to “believe the prophets” and were told it was our responsibility to “align with what the prophets have said.”

Some went even further. Dr. Michael Brown pointed out that some prophets issued prophetic threats to those who questioned their words, telling them they had to “believe the prophets or else.”

Interestingly, these prophets did not exhort us to pray and listen to the Holy Spirit. Neither did they suggest we consult our pastors. It was all centered in them and their prophetic words. Such insistence on unquestioning adherence to the revelations of a small group of prophets is dangerous, unbiblical, and smacks of egotistical pride. Such pride opens the door to deception.

The Stronghold of Deception Is Pride

How pride can lead sincere people astray was made very real to me a number of years ago when I was the guest speaker at a prophetic/revival church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The worship service that Sunday morning was festive with people jumping, running, shouting and waving banners and swords.

As I stood at my seat on the front row quietly worshipping the Lord, the phrase, “The stronghold of deception is pride,” flowed effortlessly through my mind. I immediately knew that I was to address the fact that during times of revival people and churches often get an inflated idea of their own importance because of God’s blessing on their lives. They surmise, “We must be special; look how God is blessing us.” The pride then becomes an opening for demonic deception.

In my message, I shared stories of how this had happened to men who had been powerfully used of God. I explained how they became enamored by their own success and became vulnerable to deception because of an inflated idea of their own importance. I shared how God “resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1 Pet. 5:5b).

By the time I finished my message, a solemn quietness had settled over the congregation. After the benediction, the people departed quietly and when they spoke, they did so in quiet tones or a whisper. It was such a contrast to the festive atmosphere before I delivered the message.

There was such a contrast that I was concerned. I shared with the pastor that I hoped I had not squelched the enthusiasm of his congregation. He replied, “Oh no, you were right on target. In fact,” he said, “I may be accused of bringing you in as a hired gun today.”

This 30-year veteran in the ministry then shared how he had had people who had been saved less than a year challenging his leadership. Because they were being powerfully touched by God in the revival and experiencing prophecy and other gifts of the Spirit, they had gotten an inflated idea of their importance. The pride had opened the door to deception.

Why Would God Allow Donald Trump to Lose?

I voted for Donald Trump because his policies supporting life and individual and religious liberty were compatible with my own Christian values and the values of America’s founders. I love America and have written books, such as 1726, arguing that America can see another Great Awakening that will impact our culture and change the trajectory of our nation.

However, America is not the center of God’s love and concern. The church is the object of God’s love, and the purity of the church in America is of more concern to Him than the political success of the nation. It is possible, therefore, that God saw so much ego and pride in the American church that He deemed it unwise to give her four more years of favor and increased political status in a second Trump administration.

America’s founders believed that only a moral, humble and virtuous people could be entrusted with freedom and political power. During the War for Independence, the Continental Congress, again and again, called the populace to both “humiliation” and prayer. Two weeks before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, John Adams wrote to his cousin, Zabdiel, a minister of the gospel, and said,

“Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue” (Hyatt, 1726: The Year that Defined America, 164).

Along with faith, the virtue that is most often associated with answered prayer and God’s blessing is humility. For example, that wonderful promise of a national healing in 2 Chronicles 7:14 begins with the condition, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves.” And after declaring that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble, Peter exhorted his readers, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Pet. 5:5-6).

The Way Forward from Here

This is no time, therefore, for prophetic posturing. This is no time for thumping our spiritual chest. It is a time to fall on our faces before God and cry out to Him to have mercy on us and on this nation.

It is a time to cast our crowns, titles and proud achievements before His throne and acknowledge that we are nothing apart from His mercy and grace. It is a time to remember Isaiah 66:2 (NIV), where God reminded His people, “These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite [broken] in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”

It is not too late for America. If we will take seriously His call to humility and prayer, we could yet see a turnaround that will astound us all—a turnaround initiated, not from Washington D.C., but from heaven.

“If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14, MEV). {eoa}

For the original article, visit biblicalawakening.blogspot.com.

This article is derived from Dr. Eddie Hyatt’s latest book, Prophets and Prophecy, available from Amazon in both paperback and kindle. Check out his website at www.eddiehyatt.com.

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