Mixing Politics and Religion - A Foreboding

  I had a theological dispute with my mother over what is now called the prosperity gospel. She told me it was okay to pray for good things for myself. I had pretty much turned away from being an observant American Baptist at the time, and this did not appeal to my understanding of Christianity. Until I was over 50 years old did I return to church, then it was the Eastern Orthodox Church. Much of what I found incongruent about Protestantism did not exist in Orthodoxy.

What to Expect from the ‘Heretic’ Pastor Trump Installed in the White House (The Bulwark):

White-Cain has been described as one of the most skilled religious entrepreneurs in modern evangelicalism. She advocates a kind of “hard” prosperity gospel that makes the case for faith in explicitly transactional terms, with material rewards for personal fidelity sometimes quite clearly enumerated. (“Soft” prosperity preachers like Joel Osteen would portray faith as helping to produce a more success-oriented mindset.) Befitting her spiritual theme, her ministry fuses entertainment, self-help, and economic empowerment, making her a singular figure in the American religious landscape.

I will say - as does the essay  - that there are plenty of Protestant criticisms of the prosperity gospel. It just does not seem Christian to wide swatches of Christianity.

White-Cain has long held that Trump was divinely chosen to lead the nation and that he is engaged in an ongoing battle against demonic forces. This rhetoric reached its apex and nadir simultaneously during the 2020 election. In November that year, she led a  prayer service calling for “angelic reinforcements” from Africa and South America to intervene on Trump’s behalf. She also warned that Christians who voted against Trump would have to “answer to God” for their ballots. On January 6th, White-Cain delivered the opening prayer at the Ellipse before Trump addressed the crowd, reinforcing—along with many other Charismatic activists who were there that day—the narrative that the election was not just a political contest but a cosmic battle between good and evil. Even after the violence at the U.S. Capitol, she remained a staunch advocate of Trump’s claims of election fraud while continuing to frame his presidency as a battle between God and Satan.

 In this apocalyptic struggle, White-Cain seems to see her service to Donald Trump as an act of faithfulness to God. And for her service she has now once again been rewarded.

Now consider Donald Trump to sign executive order combatting anti-Christian bias from The Orthodox Times. There is not much there, but I read a hope and a solidarity between the lines. I think the Orthodox will be disappointed; I expect Christianity will be narrowly defined to Ms. White-Cain's ilk.

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