The Preacher And The Creature

Donald Trump's greatest con job (and with any great cons, it requires victims who are willing to believe) may have been convincing evangelical Christians that he was one of the faithful.  To that end, it's no wonder that megachurch-style "prosperity gospel" pastors have latched on to Trump as anointed by God to lead America.  You would think then that Trump's spiritual advisers would be the first to serve as a check on Trump's more authoritarian impulses and would act as a moral bulwark against the kind of raging darkness Trump was spewing last night in Phoenix.

If Trump advisers like Pastor Paula White are any indication however, you would be wildly incorrect.

One of President Donald Trump’s most trusted religious confidantes used ominous religious language to defend him this week, drawing on Christian nationalism to argue that resisting Trump equates resisting “the hand of God.” 

During a panel interview on the Jim Bakker show this Monday, pastor Paula White gave several full-throated defenses of the president. White, a wealthy faith leader who originally gained notoriety for preaching a much-maligned version of the “prosperity gospel,” has been described as Trump’s “God whisperer.” She is a longtime friend of the former businessman, was a regular surrogate for his campaign in 2016, and remains one of several evangelical leaders who currently advise his administration. 

But even compared to her brief stint on the campaign trail, White’s remarks this week were atypically political and represent some of the strongest statements yet making the Christian nationalist case for Trump. 

After insisting that America is more than 70 percent evangelical (a claim that is wildly false), White launched into a series of mini-sermons that described Trump’s presidency as “anointed” by God—and proclaimed that his opponents, by extension, are an affront to the Almighty. 

“We are more impressed with a Saul anointing than a David anointing because we are more impressed with what looks right than what is right,” White, whose ministries were once the subject of a failed Senate probe investigating possible financial improprieties, said. “Therefore, we choose things that we think should sound right, should act right. They say about our president, ‘Well, he is not presidential.’ Thank goodness. Thank goodness. Thank goodness … he is not a polished politician. In other words, he is authentically — whether people like it or not — has been raised up by God. Because God says that He raises up and places all people in places of authority.” 

She continued: “It is God who raises up a king. It is God that sets one down. When you fight against the plan of God, you are fighting against the hand of God.”

Now, I'm a bit rusty on my comparative theology studies from 20 years ago, but I'm pretty sure my civics lessons are still valid here, and my memory reminds me that the Constitution of the United States and the Founding Fathers who wrote it both possess a pretty dim view on monarchs in general.

Zandardad is the fellow you'd want to talk to about spirituality in general, but I'd fairly sure he'd tell you that holding up Trump as anointed by God would be incorrect on so many levels it would physically hurt to define them all.

Pastor White is coming across as fully supporting Trump's narcissism as the word of the Lord, and resistance to his rule as resistance to Him.  I wouldn't buy that nonsense even if I wasn't a lapsed Catholic, I know th difference between right and wrong and man, resisting Trump is about as right as it gets.