Recycled prophecy

The upcoming film!

“The Trump Prophecies” is a bestselling book by Mark Taylor and Mary Colbert. Taylor claims to be a prophet chosen by God to deliver messages about Trump and the immediate future of America to the Church. Mary Colbert and her husband Don Colbert own and operate a medical facility based on natural remedies, a facility apparently popular among evangelical leaders in the US. Both the Colberts and Taylor were heavily involved in organizing large prayer meetings for a Trump victory during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Taylor, a former firefighter from Florida, seems to be a troubled soul, who has experienced spiritual visions (both good and bad) most of his life. He also claims to have been stuck in the birth canal of his mother for *three days* as an infant. In 2011, Taylor had a particularly dramatic vision, similar in some ways to an out-of-body experience. Shortly thereafter, he received a prophecy concerning Donald Trump. The prophecy is obviously about the 2012 presidential election, as made clear in these lines: “The Spirit of God says, in this next election they will spend billions to keep this president in [i.e. Obama, who wasn't elligible to run in 2016]; it will be like flushing their money down the toilet. Let them waste their money, for it comes from and it is being used by evil forces at work, but they will not succeed, for this next election will be a clean sweep for the man I have chosen [i.e. Trump will defeat Obama].” Even Taylor himself interpreted the prophecy as being about the 2012 race, but later changed his mind (perhaps under the influence of the Colberts) and decided that it was really about 2016. Thus, we are really dealing with a recycled prophecy which has already failed! A humorous detail is that the prediction claims that the media will support Trump. When hell freezes over, maybe…

During and shortly after the 2016 campaign, Taylor made several other predictions. One is that Trump will appoint five new Supreme Court judges. Of the present judges, one will die, one would retire and three will be forced to resign after some kind of scandal. Then, Roe vs Wade will be repealed. Another prediction is that the US and Israel (sic) will become energy independent thanks to oil, while OPEC will be busted. Interestingly, Taylor isn't anti-Russian, but predicts that the US and Russia will jointly take out ISIS in Syria. These predictions aren't completely farfetched (except for tiny Israel becoming energy independent), but that in itself suggests they aren't supernatural. Taylor is simply guessing what Trump might do on the basis of current trends. Due to the mercurial character of The Donald, I say his guesses are as good as any!

Sometimes, Taylor comes across as something of a crank. Thus, he claims that God gave him predictions about two race horses, Secretary and American Pharaoh, and that their wins somehow symbolically foreshadowed Trump entering the presidential race. He further claims to have been freed from an ancestral Masonic curse by the power of intercessionary prayer. God gave him a warning about a terrorist attack in France by letting paranormal crows smash against his car! Apparently, God also gave Taylor a new name during one of the visitations: Shakina Kami (Shekinah + kamikaze). Mary Colbert comes across as extremely naïve when she promotes Taylor, for instance when she claims that his original “Commander-in-Chief Prophecy” (already disproven) must have been real because of its “rhythm”. Apparently, the rhythm sounded “Biblical”. Of course it does – Taylor has successfully mimicked the dramatic style of certain English Bible translations…

It's not overtly clear where Taylor stands theologically, but he seems to be some kind of charismatic. Perhaps he is also inspired by the Word of Faith movement, or by some brand of Dominionism. He explicitly rejects the notion that the end is near (“the counterfeit timeline”), claiming instead that America will be made strong, prosperous and more Christian by the hand of God. He even says that America isn't under judgment – only the Church is, due to its lukewarm attitude. His claim to be a prophet in the same sense as Moses or Paul will surely rub some people the wrong way. In one vision, Taylor met both God (in the form of a dark cloud) and an angel (a luminous ditto). He also believes in conspiracy theories about Illuminati, the Satanic architecture of Washington DC, and the New World Order, confidently prophesying that the latter will be smashed by Trump.

“The Trump Prophecies” isn't a particularly well written book. It's a rag tag collection of very different chapters, and most of it is filler. I think it's interesting only in the sense that it (presumably) reflects the hopes in a Trump presidency held by a sub-section of the Christian charismatic community. Genuine supernatural prophecy it is not.