Trump Spoke Derogatorily of Evangelicals’ Prayer Ritual with Him

Last updated on: September 6, 2020 at 9:41 am by Kermit Zarley

Trump Spoke Derogatorily of Evangelicals’ Prayer Ritual with Him 2020-09-06T09:41:42-07:00 Kermit Zarley

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Michael Cohen–Donald Trump’s “personal lawyer” and “fix-it man” for ten years–just had his new, 432-page book released Tuesday entitled Disloyal: A Memoir: The True Story of the Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump. Cohen is serving three years in federal prison (now house arrest due to COVID-19) for breaking the law multiple times while working for Trump, some of them at the boss’s direction.

In Cohen’s book, he describes Donald Trump as “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.” Mr. Cohen, are you sure you didn’t leave anything out? Well, maybe. Cohen, later in his book, designates himself as Trump’s “designated thug.” Obviously, Cohen turned on his former employer. It happened because the FBI raided Cohen’s files and had the goods on him and some on Trump. Cohen eventually testified about these matters in dramatic, Congressional hearings in which he apologized for much of his ill-behavior to American society.

In Cohen’s book, he also explain why Donald Trump has this strange attraction to Vladimir Putin, the current and longtime president of Russia. Of course, Russia and the previous Soviet Union, which included Russia, were the arch-enemy of the U.S. since WWII. Cohen says Trump’s fascination with Putin is because the Russian leader has the ability “to take over an entire nation and run it like it was his personal company — like the Trump Organization, in fact.”

Evangelicals and Pentecostals (they should be distinguished instead of the media just lopping them altogether as Evangelicals) are the largest portion of Trump’s political support. PEW Research Center polled voters right after voting in the 2016 presidential election, showing that 81% of them so identifying themselves voted for Trump. This group, of which I’ve been a member all of my adult Christian life, is now the largest voting bloc in America, consisting of about 27% of all U.S. voters.

Cohen relates that shortly before Trump won the election, he invited Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders to Trump Tower in Washington, D.C. Cohen says at the leaders request, Donald agreed to let them gather around him, laying hands on him, and various leaders prayed for him. Cohen says after they exited the room, Trump said to Cohen, who also was present, “Can you believe that bullshit? Can you believe people believe that bullshit?” He was referring to their laying hands on him and praying for him. That shows what Donald Trump really thinks about Christianity.

“The laying on of hands,” as it is called, is a ritual that some Christians practice. It is verified by the early Christians in their New Testament book of Acts. I’ve been involved multiple times with groups that have done it. But in each case, hands were laid on a person, and prayer was given for that person, who was believed to be a genuine Christian. So, I think in doing that with Trump, the practice was misused. Moreover, IMO, and I have blogged this many times, I believe such professing Christians who supported Trump as president were dupes of the deceiver Donald Trump, who was only exploiting them for his political purposes.

In one of the Apostle Paul’s New Testament letters, he says to his associate in ministry, Timothy, “The [Holy] Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron” (1 Timothy 4.1-2 NIV). Paul later exhorts Timothy, “Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, and do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure” (5.22). Paul refers to this practice of a Christian group laying hands on some particular fellow believer and praying for that person.

I suspect that those Evangelical leaders were not directed by the Spirit of God in laying hands on Donald Trump, no matter how good their intentions. These people included Paula White, who Franklyn Graham, son of Billy Graham, Johnnie Moore, and Jerry Falwell Jr. (See “An Open Letter to clergy who prayed with Donald Trump.”) (President Trump made Paula White his official spiritual advisor, obviously attracted to her Pentecostal prosperity doctrine.) If I’m right about this, the Apostle Paul seems to say they participated in the sins of Donald Trump. If so, I believe there will be a time of divine reckoning for these Evangelical and Pentecostal leaders who helped put Donald Trump in the White House. It looks like that time of reckoning has already begun with Jerry Falwell Jr., who was one of those who laid hands on Donald Trump that day.

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