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John Fea, Opinion contributor Published 4:00 a.m. ET Jan. 11, 2020

Trump mocked his enemies, trafficked in half-truths, instilled fear and expressed zero humility. My fellow evangelicals loved every minute of it.

I have spent my entire adult life in the evangelical community. I had a born-again experience when I was 16and I never looked back. I currently teach history at a Christian college with evangelical roots. As a historian, I study American evangelicalism.

But I have never seen anything like what I witnessed last Friday night as I watched Donald Trump speak to a few thousand of his evangelical supporters at El Rey Jesus, a largely Hispanic megachurch in Miami, during the kickoff to his Evangelicals for Trump campaign.

It is no coincidence that this rally took place two weeks after Christianity Today, the historic voice of moderate evangelicalism, called for Trumps removal from office. The magazines editor, Mark Galli, described Trumps character as grossly immoral and warned his fellow evangelicals that their ardent support of the president was damaging to their Christian witness.

While the Evangelicals for Trump campaign had been in the works for several weeks prior to Gallis editorial, it is hard to see the decision to schedule the kickoff event for Jan.3 as anything but damage control. Even the smallest crack in his evangelical support especially in swing states like Florida could result in a Trump loss in 2020.

BeforeTrumps speechFriday night, several evangelical leaders laid their hands on the president and prayed for him. Apostle Guillermo Maldonado, the pastor of El Rey Jesus, prayed that Trump would fulfill his role as a new King Cyrus, the Old Testament Persian ruler who released the Jews from captivity and allowed them to rebuild Jerusalem.

Paula White, a preacher of the Prosperity Gospel (God blesses the faithful with financial and physical health), prayed against the demonic forces, presumably Democrats, trying to undermine Trumps presidency.

"Evangelicals for Trump" event in Miami, on Jan. 3, 2020.(Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

As Trump took the podium, the evangelicals in attendance, many wearing pro-Trump clothing and Make America Great Again hats, began screaming USA, USA, USA. It was clear from the outset that this event would be no different from any other Trump rally. It didnt matter that the room was filled with born-again Christians. Trump only knows how to sing one note, and it is music to the ears of his evangelical supporters.

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Trump bragged about the crowd size, adding that there were thousandsof people outside trying to get in. He called the Evangelicals for Trump movement the greatest grass roots movement in American history. He reminded everyone that he took the life of Qasem Soleimani. You Cant Always Get What You Want, the Rolling Stones anthem that has become Trumps theme song, blared over the church loudspeaker in Spanish when he finished his speech. Maybe Onward Christian Soldiers would have been more appropriate.

Trump painted himself as a president who is protecting American evangelicals from those on the political left who want to punish people of faith and destroy religion in America. One of the evangelical Christians in the audience screamed Pocohontas, a racist reference to Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Trump was visibly pleased.

Trump the strongman was on display. Like autocratic leaders before him, he stirred fear among his people and offered them safety under his regime.

At one point in his speech, Trump rattled off the names of the Fox News personalities who carry his water on cable television. The crowd roared as the president read this laundry list of conservative media pundits.

This rhetorical flourish was all very appropriate on such an occasion because Fox News, more than anything else, including the Bible and the spiritual disciplines, has formed and shaped the values of so many people in the sanctuary. Trumps staff knows this.Why else would they put such a roll call in the speech?

At times, it seemed like Trump was putting a new spin on the heroes of the faith described in the New Testament book of Hebrews. Instead of Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Joseph, Moses, David, and Samuel, we got Sean (Hannity),Laura (Ingraham), Tucker (Carlson), and the hosts of Fox and Friends.

Message to evangelicals: Impeachment is about Donald Trump. It's not an attack on you.

I am used to this kind of thing from Trump, but I was stunned when I witnessed evangelical Christians those who identify with the good news of Jesus Christ raising their hands in a posture of worship as Trump talked about socialism and gun rights.

I watched my fellow evangelicals rising to their feet and pumping their fists when Trump said he would win reelection in 2020.

Trump spent the evening mocking his enemies, trafficking in half-truths in order to instill fear in people whom God commands to fear not, and proving that he is incapable of expressing anything close to Christian humility.

His evangelical supporters loved every minute of it. On Friday night, Christians who claim to be citizens of the Kingdom of God went to church, cheered the depraved words of a president, and warmly embraced his offer of political power. Such a display by evangelicals is unprecedented in American history.

I usually get angry when members of my tribe worship at the feet of Trump. This time I just felt sad.

John Fea teaches history at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He is the author of "Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump," which was published Jan. 7.

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DO NOT PUBLISH 'Evangelicals for Trump' was an awful display by supposed citizens of the Kingdom of God - USA TODAY