"The Gospel of Self: How Pat Robertson Stole the Soul of the GOP."

Trump’s looking to the sky, as if looking for a sign from God, and then telling journalists and the world that he is in fact the "chosen one."

Beyond personal grandiosity, Trump’s endorsement of his status as the “Second Coming” and the “King of Israel” were important signals to his two most loyal groups of supporters.

Christian nationalists, and evangelicals, support Donald Trump because they see him as a means of overturning the U.S. Constitution and its rules separating church and state, with the ultimate goal of creating a Christian theocracy. Trump’s racist supporters are buoyed and encouraged by his bigotry. Collectively, these Trump supporters are eager to put an end to America’s multiracial democracy.

Terry Heaton was a television news executive for the Christian Broadcasting Network during the 1980s, where he worked primarily on "The 700 Club," its signature news and talk show. Heaton also served as one of Pat Robertson's advisers during his 1988 presidential campaign.

Terry Heaton is also the author of several books including his most recent, "The Gospel of Self: How Pat Robertson Stole the Soul of the GOP."

In a recent interview with Heaton, he described how and why right-wing evangelical Christians have come to worship and love Donald Trump, a man who is an unapologetic sinner. Heaton also offers insights on the direct connection between evangelical-oriented media such as his former employer at CBN, Christian nationalism, Fox News and Donald Trump’s conquest of the Republican Party and its voters. Heaton also warns about the power and influence of Robertson and his “shadow government” of right-wing evangelicals, who have waged a decades-long campaign to overthrow secular democracy in America.

How do you make sense of Donald Trump’s rise to power and why so many Christians support him, given his evident values and behavior?

One of the things that has always puzzled me about the Trump phenomenon is that he would never have been elected had he not been able to recruit people for whom his policies would be harmful.

But many of these voters consider their faith first. As Heaton wrote in his book "The Gospel of Self," they see affluence around them and in their minds, there is no reason they too can't be rich one day.

The role of evangelicals in the election of Donald Trump is still underestimated because he is such a reprobate. Many people have difficulty believing that the church could possibly be involved in Donald Trump’s election. But again, those who do not want to accept how

If one believes that the rise of Trump means the death of all that is good and holy, then we may be missing out on some real good that can come out of how Trump and his movement are really exposing the deep problems in this country with racism and other social issues. Trump is putting all of America’s problems on the metaphorical table for the whole world to see.

Christians can support Donald Trump are not properly thinking about how this all came to pass in America. "The 700 Club" pushed the Republican Party toward Donald Trump.