A group of dominionist “prophets” have decreed that appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett has been anointed by God to serve on the Supreme Court and bring about an end to legal abortion in the United States.
On Tuesday, during an online event hosted by former Trump campaign adviser and POTUS Shield founder Frank Amedia, dominionist and anti-abortion activist Lou Engle recounted anti-abortion activist Matt Lockett’s prophetic dream in which Lockett said he grabbed Karen Pence by the shoulders and told her, “Remember the name Amy Coney Barrett!” Engle added to that dream, claiming the he had a dream about Barrett on Monday night. He then gave two decrees:
Number one, before the principalities and power, before the angelic realm, before the very throne of God, ‘Remember the name Amy Coney Barrett! Remember the name Amy Coney Barrett!’ Yes, we begin to decree it from the throne room of God! ‘Remember the name Amy Coney Barrett!’ Secondly, we’re decreeing that President Trump is the William Wilberforce for the ending of the slave trade of abortion! We decree this in Jesus’ name.
William Wilberforce was a British politician influential in ending the slave trade and slavery in the British empire.
Leaders like Engle who are associated with the New Apostolic Reformation believe that God has granted modern-day prophets and apostles the power to “decree” things that will come to pass on Earth. Engle and others often accentuate the governing power of these decrees by hammering a gavel while they are being made.
Evangelist Alan Parker was also on Tuesday’s call and declared Barrett to be “God’s choice” to replace Ginsburg. “Who but God would take her out on Rosh Hashanah?” he said. “Who but God would throw this chaos into an election, less than 40 days before the election?”
The announcement of prophetic decrees about Amy Coney Barrett started long before Ginsburg’s death. As Right Wing Watch has reported, Engle’s The Call, the banner under which Engle organized political prayer rallies for years, declared in the summer of 2018, before Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy left by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, that Barrett had “the endorsement of heaven.”
That same summer, Judicial Action Group President Phillip Jauregui, an attorney affiliated with the religious-right legal powerhouse Alliance Defending Freedom, was so convinced that Barrett was God’s chosen and “anointed” candidate that when Kavanaugh’s name began circulating as a likely pick, Jauregui told more than 1,000 Intercessors for America “prayer warriors” that God had revealed Kavanaugh to be a “usurper.”
Even after Trump announced that Kavanaugh was his pick, Engle and Lockett were initially unconvinced, and said that Barrett “must not be forgotten” and could be “raised up in the days ahead as a replacement for Ginsburg or someone else.”
The American Family Association also supported Barrett in 2018, and its far-right, bigotry-spewing radio host Bryan Fischer has been reiterating his support for Barrett in recent days, tweeting on the night that Ginsburg died, “Amy Coney Barrett is the one.”
Amedia and his colleagues see a divine hand at work in reports that Trump would announce his choice to replace Ginsburg during prime time Saturday evening, which would place it during or immediately after “The Return,” a major religious-right event that organizers believe will spark a spiritual revival and put Trump back in the White House for another term. Leading national repentance for abortion is a major theme of “The Return” organizers. Parker voiced that sentiment Tuesday night. “We’ve got 40 days to get this next Supreme Court nominee confirmed,” Parker said. “We need to pray. But we need to trust the Lord. And God is doing amazing things. In fact, it now looks like he may announce it on Saturday while ‘The Return’ is going on the Washington mall. Who but God could arrange that?”
Throughout the Trump presidency, Engle has led religious-right activists in prayer that God would “remove” Supreme Court justices who have supported Roe v. Wade. At an October 2017 rally on the national mall, Engle and fellow “prophet” Cindy Jacobs were joined in this prayer by anti-choice leaders including Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, and Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List. Over the weekend and again on Tuesday, Amedia celebrated that God had killed Ginsburg and may soon be taking out others who are resisting Trump and God’s will to outlaw abortion.
Anti-choice activists are backing Barrett so strongly because they believe she has made her opposition to Roe v. Wade—along with the Affordable Care Act and marriage equality—crystal clear.
Barrett’s supporters have already been gearing up a campaign to smear opponents of her confirmation as anti-Catholic. When Barrett was nominated by Trump to an appeals court, they waged a similar smear campaign against Democratic senators, accusing them of anti-Catholic bigotry—a tactic frequently used by conservatives to distract from the substance of nominee’s judicial ideology.
