'Prophet' says his 'vision' revealed God will 'use' Ron DeSantis 'in a powerful way' as president

16 February 2023

Editor's Note: In AlterNet's original report, we failed to mention that a source made the widely-believed, yet erroneous, statement that Trump held a Bible upside-down. AlterNet regrets the error.

Christian evangelical "prophet" Charlie Shamp claims he received a "vision" predicting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will be used by God "in a powerful way" for the 2024 presidential election, Rolling Stone reports.

As a recent guest on televangelist Jim Bakker's show, Shamp asserted, "There’s something about Ron DeSantis that we need to begin to pray for. Because his ultimate future is to have a position in the United States as the president."

Nearly three years ago, during former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, Rolling Stone reports the self-proclaimed prophet said, "God had 'singled [Trump] out for favor and promotion, declaring: 'I prophesy that he will be elected to a second term!'"

Now, as DeSantis teases a possible 2024 presidential bid, Shamp is publicly hailing the governor as a "'tree of righteousness' that God would replant in Washington, D.C. to stand strong against 'the storms.'"

Rolling Stone reports:

Shamp shared a 'vision' he’d received of two palm trees — one planted in California, the other in Florida. He’d asked, 'Lord, who are these two palm trees?' And God responded: 'This palm tree from California is Ronald Reagan. This palm tree that is in Florida is Ron DeSantis.'

Per The Guardian, a recent national survey taken by the Public Research Institute and Brookings Institution found most Republicans sympathize with Christian nationalism.

The survey revealed "50 percent of devout Christian nationalism supporters and 38 percent of sympathizers favor the 'idea of an authoritarian leader' who is willing to break some rules if that’s what it takes to set things right."

Max Boot, a columnist for The Washington Post notes the likelihood that a DeSantis presidency would be "even more 'dangerous' than Trump" due to his authoritative approach to leadership.

He says DeSantis' "actions may not be as blatant as inciting a mob to attack Congress, but his record reveals a troubling pattern of authoritarianism and vindictiveness that would be extremely dangerous in the Oval Office. Just because DeSantis is smarter than Trump doesn’t mean that he is any less dangerous. In fact, he might be an even bigger threat for that very reason."

Matthew Taylor, an Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS) protestant scholar emphasizes DeSantis’ appeal to the Charismatic Christian community, who "built an unlikely bond with Donald Trump over more than a decade."

"In the world these folks inhabit," Taylor says, "the 2020 election was stolen from Trump by demonic powers in collaboration with Democrats and disloyal Republicans."

However, AlterNet reports that many evangelical voters who supported Trump in 2016 — like Shamp — forfeited their support of the former president in 2020 and have since directed their focus towards DeSantis.

For Religious News Service, Tyler Huckabee wrote:

Admittedly, DeSantis is about as charismatic as a box of sand, but that might be part of the appeal. No Stormy Daniels. No FBI raids. No church photo ops with an upside-down Bible. Just standard conservative policies and a few choice culture-war bombs.

It should be noted that the notion that Trump held his Bible upside-down has been disproven.

Rolling Stone's full report is available at this link.The Guardian's is here. The Washington Post's is here. Religion News Service's is here.

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