I don’t have the bandwidth to respond to every absurd thing said by a TV preacher or televangelist or con artist. But this is an exception.
Paula White is not just a millionaire prosperity preacher. She is one of the most trusted Senior Advisors of President Trump and the newly appointed head of the White House Faith Office.
In this recent video she is promising miracles, superpowers, and even your own personal guardian angel… all for the low price of $1000.
You can’t make this stuff up. This is real. But it should not be normal.
Do NOT give this woman your money… she already has plenty. And if you already gave, please hold onto the receipt so you can get a refund.
Angels are not for sale.
I actually believe in angels, and miracles… but thanks be to God’s generous love, they are not for sale.
Trump-evangelicalism is a cult. It is dangerous, deceptive … and apparently very expensive. This heretical version of our faith does a lot of damage to true authentic Christianity as it distorts theology for the sake of wealth and power.
Rebuke it, in the name of Jesus. And don’t give Paula your money.
Trump and his billionaire friend Elon Musk have, in recent weeks, fired thousands of government employees and shut down everything from cancer research to food distribution in Sudan, amounting to billions in aid, in ways that violate the law. Just as in Sweden, it is the parliament that controls the budget and enacts laws, and the president cannot override this. That is why several American judges have recentlyruled that Trump has broken the law and must reverse his decisions, which has sent Trump into a rage.
After quoting the dictator Napoleon on social media with the words: “He who saves his country breaks no law,” Trump has now issued an executive order declaring that only he can “determine what the law is.” Or, as Napoleon’s dictatorial predecessors might have put it: “I am the state.” Trump and Musk have also threatened one of the judges who ruled against them with impeachment, and Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, has stated that judges are not allowed to rule that the president is acting unlawfully.
In reality, it is precisely the judges’ duty to do so! But Trump is now moving quickly to ensure that he can act as illegally as he wants without consequences, like an autocrat, creating a constitutional crisis in the largest country of the Western world.
Among other actions, Trump has fired 17 experienced government watchdogs, known as “inspectors general,” whose long-standing role has been to uncover waste, fraud, and abuse within federal departments. These dismissals were carried out without providing Congress with the legally required 30-day advance notice and specific justifications for each case. The fact that the entire process was illegal does not bother Trump in the slightest, because, according to him, he alone determines what the law says, and no one can stop him from doing whatever he wants.
The fact that he is specifically firing government watchdogs clearly shows that the official justification for Trump and Musk’s dismantling of large parts of the state apparatus—reducing waste and abuse—is not true at all. The destruction of the state apparatus is instead being carried out in tandem with Trump firing everyone in the Department of Justice who was investigating crimes against him and ordering the deletion of all evidence related to the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol—an attack carried out by his supporters to make him a dictator. He is now working tirelessly to achieve that goal—ignoring what the courts say because he considers himself above the law.
The United States has long been, in many ways, a deeply flawed, unequal, and problematic country, but I was not prepared for how quickly and easily its democratic foundations could collapse. Yet, this is precisely what Trump has always aimed for.
The good news is that no authoritarian regime can endure if the people refuse to comply. Research from Harvard University shows that if just four percent of a population engages in nonviolent resistance against an authoritarian regime, the regime almost always collapses. This is where all democratic forces must stand together—especially churches, which have a wealth of experience worldwide in resisting authoritarian regimes!
Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
The day after every U.S. Presidential Inauguration, Washington National Cathedral (of the Episcopal Church) hosts an interfaith National Prayer Service. Normally, this event does not get a lot of attention. It is a mundane tradition of American civic religion. This year was different, however.
Bishop Mariann Budde delivered the homily for the service. In her homily, she took a few moments to remind President Trump of the importance of showing mercy to others, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized in our communities. Trump and his supporters responded to this homily by claiming that Bishop Budde was “politicizing” the faith. Trump specifically called her a “so-called Bishop” and “Radical Left hard line Trump hater”. He also demanded an apology from the bishop and the Episcopal Church.
Food that was supposed to be distributed to millions of hungry people, worth half a billion dollars, is currently being spoiled after Donald Trump stopped all American aid around the world – and the person who revealed this was immediately fired by the Trump regime!
Trump and his billionaire friend Elon Musk have shut down USAID, which was the world’s largest donor and accounted for 40 percent of all humanitarian aid in the world. They claim they are doing this to “reduce waste” and “increase efficiency” – but how is it efficient to let food worth 500 million dollars go to waste instead of feeding starving people? Isn’t that the very essense of wastefulness?
What Trump and Musk is doing to USAID is not only immoral but also illegal, yet Trump and Musk completely disregard what is legal right now by halting aid that Congress has approved in a very authoritarian way. Here are more examples of life-saving measures that have been stopped by Trump and Musk:
Ivory Coast: A US-sponsored program to collect sensitive intelligence information about Al Qaeda-related incidents has been discontinued.
Sudan: Most soup kitchens feeding 816,000 people in Khartoum have been closed down.
Uganda: Aid workers say that around 40 newborns were infected with HIV per day when the USA stopped funding antiretroviral drugs.
Ukraine & Syria: Organizations providing maternal care, vaccinations, and firewood have been forced to cease their operations.
Thailand: Patients were told to leave a US-funded refugee hospital on the border of Myanmar.
Additionally, hundreds of Christian organizations around the world have been forced to halt initiatives to provide food and healthcare to millions of poor people. Several evangelical organizations and churches have now appealed to Trump to restore aid to Christian organizations – something he refuses to do.
At the same time, there are other evangelical Christians who completely rejoice over the closure of USAID because it is seen as “anti-woke” and because they believe in the propaganda that it combats corruption. How does that combat corruption by stopping care for children with HIV and letting food rot, you wonder?
Of course it does not. Instead, Trump and Musk ensure that they benefit themselves and their companies while pocketing billions from aid meant for the poorest. The love for money is truly a root of all evil, as the Bible says (1 Tim 6:10).
Musk was confronted about this by a journalist at the White House, and he admitted he was wrong (without saying that the aid should be reinstated) but claimed that it is still unreasonable to spend 50 million on condoms somewhere because there are too many condoms—despite the fact that the majority of the project is not about purchasing condoms at all, but rather about combating AIDS in other ways!
It is completely incomprehensible how an incredible amount of competence and experience in helping the poor is thrown in the trash when USAID is shut down, while the incompetent, criminal billionaires Trump and Musk have been given more power than anyone else on earth.
And the sad part is that many Christians cheer for them while at the same time cutting back on the massive amount of aid work carried out by Christian organizations. May God bring repentance, sanity and hope to the United States.
Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
Themega-billionaires Donald Trump and Elon Musk have now shut down all aid to poor countries, effectively sentencing many Christian aid organizations to collapse. Elon Musk, currently the world’s richest person, wrote on Twitter that USAID “must die”, and he called out a Lutheran relief organization as “illegal.” Recently, he stated that Trump “agrees” that the entire agency should be dismantled—the only aid allowed to continue is military support.
Just a few years ago, xenophobic politicians had to argue that they still wanted to help the poor and vulnerable in order to justify their restrictions on refugee reception. They falsely claimed they would compensate for reduced refugee immigration with increased aid “in the local region.”
That never happened. And today’s xenophobic politicians don’t even bother with such lies—they are openly hostile to helping poor people, refusing to accept them as refugees or support them through aid.
Now, organizations are warning that HIV-positive individuals worldwide are losing access to life-saving medication, humanitarian operations are being abruptly halted, and millions of poor people are suffering even more than before.
Meanwhile, Trump has granted his billionaire friend Elon Musk access to large portions of the U.S. treasury, even though Congress—the very institution attacked by Trump supporters four years ago—is supposed to have the power of the purse. According to multiple experts, this is a clear sign of an authoritarian takeover designed to ensure Trump never loses power—something he himself has been shockingly open about.
It is encouraging, albeit somewhat late, that U.S. evangelicals are beginning to regret their support for Trump. Now, Christians in Europe must increase their efforts in missions and aid to compensate for the billions that Trump and Musk have cut from the poor. And we must pray—for the poor who are suffering and for the conversion of Trump’s and Musk’s hearts. Many lives are at stake!
Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
Exactly four years ago, Trump and several of his supporters tried to overthrow American democracy by attacking the Capitol, following a two-month-long campaign in which Trump lied about winning the 2020 election.
Since then, it has been revealed how Trump pressured the Department of Justice and other Republican politicians to declare him the winner of the election. When that didn’t work, he incited his supporters in Washington on January 6, 2021: “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore!”
The mob marched towards the Capitol, and several shouted that they would kill Vice President Pence (who was considered a traitor) and Democratic politicians. Lawmakers fled in terror to their offices or bathrooms, many trying to contact Trump and beg him to stop the attack.
Trump, however, enthusiastically watched the attack unfold on TV and told his staff that he certainly had no intention of resigning. After the attack failed to overturn democracy, he of course resigned, but just two months later, Trump told Fox News that the mob were honorable patriots who should not be prosecuted. Over 460 people have been convicted for the crimes they committed that day.
Trump has also called the Capitol attack “a day of love” and promised to pardon those who participated in the attack. In two weeks, he will be sworn in again as president at the same legislature his supporters attacked. He was charged with attempting to overthrow democracy, but those charges are now being dropped as he is re-elected president. He has also appointed ministers who authored the authoritarian plan “Project 2025,” which in great detail describes how democracy should be undermined and the president’s power strengthened.
But no matter how dark Trump’s plans may be, there is someone more powerful than him and all other people. My hope is not in human kingdoms but in God’s kingdom. As the Bible says: “Do not trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save… The Lord watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked.” – Psalm 146:3
Trump has never concealed his desire to stay in power—even after losing an election. If he had his way, he would have become a dictator in 2021.
The message is crystal clear: those who commit violence in Trump’s name, for Trump’s sake, can count on having the president—and the entire state—on their side.”
As I warned last fall, Trump is one of the most authoritarian and anti-democratic politicians the Western world has seen in decades. And yet, it is nothing short of catastrophic that so many Christians continue to see him as some kind of savior.
Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
Theologians, pastors, missionaries and ordinary Pentecostal and Charismatic believers have together signed a statement against Trumpism to show the world that what Donald Trump represents is not in line with their faith. The statement reads:
We who have signed this statement are Spirit-filled Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians who believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Because of this, we refuse to vote for or support Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.
We do not feel that we need to compromise with or ignore our faith when we take a stance against Trumpism. On the contrary, it is precisely because of our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ that we cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump and what he stands for.
The Demonization of Immigrants
At the center of our Pentecostal spirituality is the miracle of Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit united people of various nations through the miracle of tongues. The modern Pentecostal movement has one of its origins at Azusa Street in Los Angeles in which a multi-racial group of Americans and immigrants were baptized in the Holy Spirit together.
Leviticus 19:33-34 clearly states that we should love immigrants as ourselves and treat them as natives. Treating immigrants with love and empathy is a core value of any Christian.
For these reasons, we are horrified when we see how:
Most of the migrants that Trump employ this hateful, vile rhetoric towards are Christians. And most of those he wants to deport to poor, war-torn countries are also Christians. As fellow Christians, we cannot stand behind this.
The Disrespect, Belittling and Criminal Abuse of Women
As Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians, we strive for holiness and to become more Christ-like in all that we do and say and want to support people of good character. Evangelical Christians used to be the ones that emphasized the importance of politicians’ personal morality the most – that has rapidly changed during the reign of Trump.
While we do not believe one has to be perfect to be a president, the Bible emphasizes the importance of good character in both political and spiritual leaders (Deuteronomy 17:17, 1 Timothy 3:2). In particular, greed and sexual immorality are sins that bring God’s wrath upon people as they are equal to idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Donald Trump abounds in these sins without being repentant which has even led to criminal convictions:
Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians have been pioneers for democracy around the world, since our conviction that the Holy Spirit can and wants to use anyone empowers them to make a difference for their lives and their communities. Jesus taught that we should do to others as we would have them do to us (Matthew 7:12) and that leaders should serve rather than rule as kings (Matthew 10:42-45). Thus, we believe that democracy is biblical while dictatorship leads to tyranny and oppression.
Obviously, the fact that we view Trump as a threat to democracy does in no way legitimize or excuse the awful assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life. As Christians, we reject all types of political violence. At the same time, we cannot stay silent about the threat to democracy that Trumpism forms in the light of all the evidence given above.
Conclusion
As Spirit-filled Christians, we affirm the inherent God-given value of all human beings and whole-heartedly oppose all hate and belittling towards migrants, women and minorities. Our primary loyalty is to Jesus Christ, not to a political party, and our faith remains in him. This is why we cannot embrace Trumpism and refuse to vote for Trump in this year’s presidential election.
Thank God many Christians are protesting against Donald Trump! A month ago, a group from Faithful America stood outside the Capitol with an enormous inflatable golden calf dressed like Trump to warn of how the Christian MAGA movement is dangerously close to idolatry.
Instead of repenting or apologizing for any of this, Trump has persistently insisted he has done nothing wrong, and far too many of his evangelical supporters have backed him, calling him the one who will “save” Christianity and Christian values.
That’s why it’s so good to see American Christians protesting against this. Especially Christian women seem to have abandoned Trump to a greater extent after his assault conviction. Much of the election outcome likely depends on them! That’s why the MAGA men are freaking out when they realize that their wives might not vote for the same rapist adulterer as they are for president:
Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
Last year, Donald Trump was indicted for having paid over a hundred thousand dollars to the porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their sexual encounter shortly after his wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen admitted to the crime, calling it a “sex scandal of biblical proportions” and admitting that it was done on Trump’s orders.
While he was in court, Trump shared on social media an image comparing himself to Jesus Christ. As people who have read the Bible might recall, Jesus was in fact never on trial for being accused of paying hush money illegally to a porn star. Sure, Trump’s point was that he was as innocent as Jesus was when Jesus was falsely accused of blasphemy and was put to death by the Romans. But again, Trump had actually admitted that he made the payment to the porn star – thus, he was not innocent.
Lo and behold, Trump was found guilty on 34 charges and became the first former president to be a convicted felon. What happened next, you ask? Trump started to sell Bibles. The “God bless the USA Bible”, which mixed the Holy Words of Scripture with secular, political writings—almost as if the separation of church and state doesn’t mean much to him. These Bibles cost 60 dollars each and while the organization that sells them isn’t owned by Trump it has a “paid licensing agreement” with one of his companies.
As of yet, Trump has made at least 300,000 dollars from these Bibles and as he can’t use those funds for his political campaigns, it is likely that he used them to pay his mounting legal fees after his failed court case with Stormy Daniels.
And here’s the really crazy part. Hardly any evangelical leader that normally supports Donald Trump has rebuked him for any of this. Their loyalty to Trump is clearly stronger than their loyalty to Christ and the Bible. Likewise, they mostly remained silent when he said that he was the most honest human being God ever created or when he was pleased when someone compared him to the second coming of God:
When will evangelicals finally abandon this guy?
Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
I’m writing columns for the main Christian Swedish newspaper, Dagen. My latest one is a word of hopefully sobering warning. The subject is American so-called prophets. They have a following on our side of the Atlantic as well.
A warning has increasingly echoed within me this year: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7b, NASB2020). This warning has grown stronger over the past year, particularly after hearing those who prophesied in support of Donald Trump. In 2016, a supposed prophecy claimed that Trump’s victory would spark a major revival. It would be one thing to suggest a political improvement, but a revival! How did they come to that conclusion?
These so-called prophets declare it a Christian duty to stand behind the prophets as if they were right, despite being wrong. They predicted Trump would win the 2020 election, that Biden would never become president, and, later, that he would soon be removed. It was proclaimed with certainty as the truth. According to the prophets, Trump was “unstoppable,” and neither spiritual resistance nor voter fraud would prevent him. Many of these so-called prophets elevated their desires to the status of the Lord’s word.
Among these prophetic figures, it has become a dogma that God chose Trump as the vehicle for every conceivable blessing. Voting against Trump was said to be opposition to God. Johnny Enlow, a Pentecostal pastor in California, called the acknowledgment of Biden’s presidency a “serious transgression,” foretelling that Christian leaders would lose their spiritual authority, and their names would be erased—a disturbing form of spiritual abuse.
The problem isn’t that this comes from the right. A similar exaltation of political leaders from the left or center would be equally serious. The gravity lies in proclaiming that God’s kingdom stands or falls with a single person. Messages are being presented that everything is at stake in the election, and Trump is de facto elevated to a messianic figure.
I have previously written about how God allows false prophets to emerge, leading their followers astray to test us. But God does not let them remain unpunished forever. “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and reported them and led My people astray by their lies and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them nor command them, nor do they provide this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:32), NASB2020)
A loss for Trump in the election could be an eye-opener for some of them. However, if Trump wins, they will likely become even more entrenched in their delusion. The punishment may be delayed—but risks becoming more severe. And how will they be judged? By their own words (Matthew 12:37). And “in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” (Matthew 7:2).
Lars Gunther is a pastor and Bible teacher based in Hestra, Sweden.
Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!
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