Jeroboam Derangement Syndrome

Nearly three thousand years ago an ultra-successful business leader of real estate projects in Jerusalem rode a populist wave to the summit of political power in Israel. His Hebrew name, Jeroboam, meant "May the People Be Great," eerily similar to President Trump's motto, "Make America Great Again." Jeroboam was intent upon "Making Israel Great Again." After his stunning ascension to the throne, aided by the interference of a powerful leader of a foreign government, this new king moved into his palace with his beautiful, foreign-born, multi-lingual wife. Quickly he set out to fulfill his Israel-first promises by building his "Wall" and "Draining the Swamp," two acts forever earning him the scorn of ancient Israel's media class, the prophets and scribes. Though successful in bettering his people's lives through creating a vibrant economy, Jeroboam was unrelentingly maligned by Jerusalem's Establishment, which detected in this unexpected king a core corruption overshadowing the significant accomplishments of his administration. The historical assessment of the biblical narrative is thoroughly filled with Jeroboam-hatred which, in the light of today's mainstream media attacks on President Trump, the author diagnoses as Jeroboam Derangement Syndrome. In Midrashic fashion the author allows Jeroboam to offer his side of the story, unheard for three millennia, through his dream of Fox's hit show, The Five, inviting Jeroboam and his family to set the record straight. Jeroboam's claim that the Bible's assessment of his reign is fake news doesn't go unchallenged as the prophet Ahijah, one of the king's fiercest critics during his lifetime, joins the panel of The Five.

Nearly three thousand years ago an ultra-successful business leader of real estate projects in Jerusalem rode a populist wave to the summit of political power in Israel. His Hebrew name, Jeroboam, meant "May the People Be Great," eerily similar to President Trump's motto, "Make America Great Again." Jeroboam was intent upon "Making Israel Great Again." After his stunning ascension to the throne, aided by the interference of a powerful leader of a foreign government, this new king moved into his palace with his beautiful, foreign-born, multi-lingual wife. Quickly he set out to fulfill his Israel-first promises by building his "Wall" and "Draining the Swamp," two acts forever earning him the scorn of ancient Israel's media class, the prophets and scribes. Though successful in bettering his people's lives through creating a vibrant economy, Jeroboam was unrelentingly maligned by Jerusalem's Establishment, which detected in this unexpected king a core corruption overshadowing the significant accomplishments of his administration. The historical assessment of the biblical narrative is thoroughly filled with Jeroboam-hatred which, in the light of today's mainstream media attacks on President Trump, the author diagnoses as Jeroboam Derangement Syndrome. In Midrashic fashion the author allows Jeroboam to offer his side of the story, unheard for three millennia, through his dream of Fox's hit show, The Five, inviting Jeroboam and his family to set the record straight. Jeroboam's claim that the Bible's assessment of his reign is fake news doesn't go unchallenged as the prophet Ahijah, one of the king's fiercest critics during his lifetime, joins the panel of The Five. Jeroboam Derangement Syndrome gives a much-maligned ancient king of Israel a voice that sounds like America's current president. Defending himself against the indictment of the biblical narrative, especially in his building the wall and draining the swamp, he finds himself defending President Trump.

Siegfried S. Johnson is Senior Pastor of Christ of the Hills United Methodist Church in Hot Springs Village, Arkansas. He earned his Master of Divinity degree from Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary in Memphis (1984) and a Master of Arts in Hebrew Language and Literature from the University of Michigan's Department of Near Eastern Studies in Ann Arbor (1989). Honored by the seminary faculty as the recipient of the American Bible Society Award for Excellence in Greek and Hebrew, he has continued to pursue his passion for biblical lands and history by leading and lecturing on over forty faith-based pilgrimages to the Holy Land and other sites throughout Europe and the Mediterranean world. From 2011 - 2017 he served as Senior Pastor of St. James UMC in Little Rock, one of the largest United Methodist congregations in the state with over 3500 members. While a graduate student in Ann Arbor he was a research editor and author of over a dozen entries to the Anchor Bible Dictionary (Doubleday, 1992). After entering the pastorate in the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1995, Rev. Johnson regularly published sermons in the Quarterly Journal, Dynamic Preaching.