Religion and hatred infused the first day of the convention. OK, sometimes
they're the same thing.
Especially if the religion - the REAL religion - is money.
Yesterday's invocation at the Republican National Convention was performed by a
substitute rabbi*, Rabbi Ari Wolf, the chaplain of the Cleveland police force.
Tump's supporters didn't miss a beat:
Perhaps
unsurprisingly, the live chat accompanying the Republican National
Convention's official YouTube live stream was bombarded with anti-Semitic
comments and images of swastikas seconds after Wolf began to speak.
"I'm Pastor Mark Burns from the great state of South Carolina! I'm gonna pray and I'm gonna give the benediction. And you know why? Because we are electing a man in Donald Trump who believes in the name of Jesus Christ. And Republicans, we got to be united, because our enemy is not other Republicans -- but is Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party."
And while there were Christian Right advocates galore, favored leaders like Franklin Graham were conspicuously absent.*
And Where Was Paula White?
Trump's supposed "spiritual adviser" is televangelist and prosperity gospel preacher Paul White, perhaps the most controversial and unusual (even by prosperity gospel standards) "pastor," who is, like Trump, adept at selling herself to people willing to fork out "seed money."
Preaching the story of Lazarus who Jesus resurrected from the dead in John 11:38-44, White promised believers in a video appeal that if they would sow the seed and have faith, she believed deliverance would come.
The cost: $1144, of course, because God told her so.
In Scripture.
Consistency, Thou Art A Jewel
If so, then the parallels between White and Trump sparkle like a thousand diamonds:
- Prosperity Gospel preaching is a lot like Trump University: "Give me money, and you'll be rich like me!"
- White was accused of having an affair with Televangelist Benny Hinn. Shades of Marla Maples.
- White refused to give full financial disclosure to Sen. Chuck Grassley's investigation of Prosperity Gospel preacher's lavish lifestyles. Trump refuses to submit his tax returns for scrutiny.
- She's also selling her own cosmetics line (like Trump wine?)
APOPKA, FL -- Paula White is partnering with French cosmetics
company L'Oreal to launch a new line of make-up products aimed specifically at
meeting the significant cosmetic needs of pretend pastors.
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