Opinion | Angels for Sale. Only $1,000. - The New York Times


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Financial Practices of Evangelical Leaders

The article criticizes the financial dealings of prominent evangelical leaders closely associated with Donald Trump. It focuses on Paula White, a senior advisor to Trump's White House Faith Office, who offered "seven supernatural blessings" for a $1,000 donation. These blessings included things like an assigned angel and prosperity. The article also highlights Lorenzo Sewell, another Trump-supporting pastor who promoted a memecoin and declared profits from it as a blessing from God.

Evangelicals' Role in Trump's Political Success

The author argues that evangelical support has been crucial to Trump's political success, stating that without this group's support, he likely would have lost all three presidential elections. The article suggests a link between financial incentives and political influence within the evangelical community, implying that a critical analysis of such ties is necessary.

Criticism and Conclusion

The overall tone is critical, suggesting that these practices are cynical and exploitative. The author uses the analogy of nailing 95 theses to a megachurch door (alluding to Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses), suggesting a need for reform and a challenge to these practices within the evangelical community.

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America needs to nail 95 theses to the megachurch door.

Last month, Paula White, one of President Trump’s most faithful and powerful evangelical supporters and a senior adviser to his new White House Faith Office, began offering “seven supernatural blessings” for the Easter season.

If you “honor God” during the period of Passover and Easter, “God will assign an angel to you, he’ll be an enemy to your enemies, he’ll give you prosperity, he’ll take sickness away from you, he will give you long life, he’ll bring increase in inheritance, and he’ll bring a special year of blessing.”

The suggested price for these extraordinary gifts is an offering to Paula White Ministries of $1,000 or more, and if health, wealth and an angel weren’t enough, White’s ministry will also give you a gorgeous Waterford crystal cross.

If you think White is alone in her cynical, heretical grift, then let me introduce you to Lorenzo Sewell, another of Trump’s Christian favorites. He’s a Detroit-area pastor who delivered a benediction at Trump’s second inauguration in January.

On the afternoon of Jan. 20, hours after he prayed in the Capitol Rotunda, Sewell posted on X, “The crypto community was kind enough to send me $Lorenzo, so I have permanently locked my tokens into a Liquidity Pool, so that I will never sell on the community but rather just earn fees as our token continues to flourish!”

“Amazing day, all the glory to God,” he added.

At this point, it’s safe to say that evangelicals are more responsible than any other American group for Trump’s political power. It is my community that has made him president — twice. If you removed white evangelicals in particular from his coalition, he would have lost all three of his presidential races by a landslide.

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