Great shot of Trump-voting evangelical Christians celebrating the opening of the embassy:

[kpete]

The event in Jerusalem features corrupt plutocrats, pandering politicians, nepotism hires and bigoted preachers. Israeli security forces have killed more than 40 Palestinian protesters so far.

A religious scholar who escaped a Jesus Camp upbringing explains the significance of this move to evangelicals who believe in dispensational pre-millennialism here. An excerpt:

While that may sound benign (or perhaps nutty) to the theologically uninitiated, they are referring to the “prophecy” of the conversion of the Jews, the second coming of Jesus, the final judgment, and the end of the world — the events referred to as the biblical apocalypse.

I doubt that President Trump could explain dispensational pre-millennialism. I doubt he knows the term. But his evangelical supporters know it. Some of his advisers are probably whispering these prophecies in his ears. Trump might not really care how they interpret the Bible, but he cares that white evangelicals continue to stand with him. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem is one way to affirm his commitment to these evangelicals — reminding them that he, Donald J. Trump, is pressing biblical history forward to its conclusion and that he is God’s man in the unfolding of these last days.

More:
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/05/14/white-evangelicals-celebrate-opening-of-us-embassy-in-jerusalem/#comments

[d_r]

1. The evangelical

Christians sent the buy from 666 5th avenue to represent them at the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. I am sure that their rapture glee is in full force.

[rusty fender]

2. Help me understand this:

How does the U.S. moving its embassy convert Jews to Christianity? I know that their ‘prophecies’ say that several things have to happen for the J-man to return, among them are moving the capitol to Jerusalem, rebuilding a certain temple, etc., but the U.S. embassy being moved to Jerusalem isn’t in their stupid ass ‘prophecies’

How stupid, even by their own pathetic standards, can these people get?

[Hekate]

3. Do you remember GW Bush's presidency at all? Religious dog whistles abounded...

The evangelicals were crazy about him, too, but at least he had a true religious redemption story to go along with it.

Anyway, dog whistles. One was the establishment of Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel, and our ratifying that by moving our actual embassy there. Another was the establishment of the "Biblical boundaries of Israel." Dubya would dogwhistle these people, but I think even he had enough good sense to know better than to give them more than the occasional crumb like abstinence-only sex ed.

If you have an old family Bible with maps inside, look at that and compare it with the modern State of Israel. Or just Google for same. Suffice it to say, if modern Israel tried any such thing, their neighbors would object like hell. There would be war all over the Mideast.

And that would be just dandy with American Christian nut jobs, because they have a long checklist of Things To Do to Bring About the Apocalypse, and all-out war in the ME is right up there.

[rusty fender]

4. I do remember the GWB presidency,

but not those specific dog whistles.

As to the the relocation of the U.S. embassy, it does nothing, in reality, to help the establishment of the capitol of Israel to Jerusalem, but it does so only in the fevered brains of the evangelicals.

And they’re even crazier after all thes years

[California_Republic]

5. Is that photo from "The Ten Commandments" ?

[ck4829]

6. Yep