Former Trump campaign adviser Frank Amedia, founder of the POTUS Shield network of dominionist “apostles” and “prophets” who believe President Trump was anointed by God, reported in a January 5 email that he and his wife had attended “a very small and intimate dinner meeting with Vice President Pence and his wife Karen” the previous evening.
The White House released a photo of the event, one of many gatherings hosted by Trump administration officials for Religious Right leaders. Pence, who was a top Religious Right pick for the presidency as far back as 2010, is now a conduit into the White House for Religious Right leaders and views.
Amedia’s email says POTUS Shield is also arranging a live stream with Pence’s office during the group’s March 20-22 gathering in Branson, Missouri, which will be hosted and broadcasted by televangelist Jim Bakker and his wife Lori. Amedia has made multiple appearances on the Bakkers’ show, which devotes a good chunk of its time to spreading warnings about an impending apocalypse and, conveniently, selling buckets of “prepper” food to help viewers prepare for that eventuality. In July, Amedia told Bakker that Trump “receives downloads that now he’s beginning to understand come from God.”
In his January 4 email about the gathering in March, Amedia’s view of politics as spiritual warfare is clear:
I perceive that this timing is critical and strategic as I have been advising that I have received that February is a time of chaos in our nation politically, with flash points on the coasts and in the heartland, as well as the caution of the "ides of March" looming which will try to swallow up the spiritual surge of progress and pierce the heart of our political and church reformation.
As anointed, Potus Shield will be in place to act, hear, see, and move by force.
Our collective power in the Holy Spirit as we merge our mantles and faith is a violent force that the gates of hell cannot prevail against!
Amedia told his supporters that the Pences “are keenly aware” of the group’s work and “asked us to thank each of you on behalf of them and their children, President Trump and his family, and the nation for our relentless commitment to be a shield and weapon of spiritual force.”
Amedia says God told him to start POTUS Shield in the hours after Trump’s election victory. The name not only refers to President of the United States, Amedia has said, but also to the Prophetic Order of the United States that God is using the group to bring to fruition. The group’s leaders believe that Trump’s election will help spark a spiritual revival that will make America a Christian nation and help bring about the return of Christ. Meanwhile, they are praying for God to “sweep away” Supreme Court justices who might stand in their way.
