When President Trump went to Israel to celebrate moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, he took a couple of preachers with him.
He took one who says Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics (and bunches of Methodists and Presbyterians) are all going to hell.
That’s Robert Jeffress of Dallas.
He took another one who says Hitler was doing God’s will when he put Jews in the gas ovens.
That was John Hagee.
Jeffress did the opening prayer. Hagee did the closing.
“Now why,” folks ask, “did he take those two preachers?”
Most people don’t know the answer.
He moved the embassy mainly to please them.
The president’s base of fundamentalist followers applied the pressure for the move.
They want to “speed up” the Second Coming.

Moving the embassy, they believe, will do that.
They believe when Jesus comes back, he will take up residence on earth and rule the world as king from Jerusalem.
I’m not sure why the Lord would want to do that. He is King of the universe—the power that drives all existence.
Why would he want to be an earthly king—in Jerusalem, or Chicago, or even Azle?
Bad theology here.
And something else bad.
Someone has broken down the wall between Church and state and religious folk are calling the shots in Washington.
And their religion ain’t nothing like my religion.
“Put prayer back in schools,” people holler.
Whose prayers? Mine? Or John Hagee’s?
We don’t pray to the same kind of God.
The president wants a wall. I hope he will rebuild the one between Church and state.