Support for President Donald Trump has been consistently strong among evangelicals, with some professing that he was the best friend Christians had in the White House.
On the first Sunday, since a crowd of supporters trying to overthrow President-elect Joe Biden’s election invaded the U.S. Capitol and five people, including a police officer, died, messages from the pulpits of Christian leaders who supported Trump were as mixed as opinions of the nation’s citizens.
They ranged from unmasked conspiracy theories about who was responsible, to appeals for healing and following Jesus Christ instead of any individual, to sermons that made no mention of Wednesday’s chaos and what it means for the future.
Here is a look at what some preached to their flocks:
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OWENSBORO, Kentucky
Brian Gibson, pastor and founder of HIS Church, spoke to his Christian congregation and online viewers about his bus tour of the United States last month to speak with supporters of President Trump.
“I stand up and represent Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and preach to defend the First Amendment. I intend to keep this nation a free nation. YOUR Church, we intend to keep this nation a free nation, ”he said, referring to the president’s recent ban on social media platforms and restrictions on the church assembly during the pandemic.
Gibson was on stage on January 5 at a “Prayer to Save America” event announced as a combination of cult and rally for Trump the day before the congressional certification of electoral votes. In describing the events of the 6th, Gibson questioned the ease with which the Capitol was breached, raising assertions that antifa supporters were among the violent crowd.
“So now I know some, some bad actors have come in and I believe that there was potentially antifa up there. I think I increasingly know that there was antifa up there, insiders up there that started that action. And I also know that some Trump supporters followed your example without a doubt, because you don’t bring 2 million people together without having some radicals in the crowd or some simple people in the crowd that you could take anywhere, right? ” he asked.
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SACRAMENTO, California
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference who said a prayer in Trump’s inauguration and also advised him, told his congregation on Sunday that America needs to hear a message of repentance.
“We must all repent, even the church needs to repent. The American nation will be healed when the American church repents, ”he said, receiving cheers and applause.
“We must regret making the person who occupies the White House more important than the person who occupies our hearts. We must repent for allowing the donkey and the elephant to share the reason why the Lamb died on the cross, ”said Rodriguez. “We must repent for voting for individuals whose policies go against the word of God and the spirit of the living God.”
Rodriguez, the lead pastor of New Season, said he was praying for a season of “instead of” – “Instead of destroying property, build altars. Instead of confrontation, conversations. … Instead of many under fear, a nation under God. ”
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SANTO ANTÓNIO
Reverend John Hagee of Cornerstone Church, a staunch supporter of Trump, did not mention the president’s name, but criticized the attack on Congress for what he called “a rebel crowd”.
“The Secret Service had to escort the Vice President of the United States out of the Capitol building. Shots were fired. Tear gas was deployed at the Capitol Rotunda. People were killed. … This was an assault on the law. Attacking the Capitol was not patriotism, it was anarchy, ”said Hagee.
His words drew warm applause from the crowd at his mega-church, but shortly afterwards they applauded Hagee on his feet when he gathered support for law enforcement: “This is what happens when you attack the police. This is what happens when you fire the police. ”
“This is what happens when you see a police officer shot and belittle his sacrifice for the public,” he continued. “Wake up, America! America and democracy cannot function without the rule of law. We bet on blue. ”
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APOPKA, Florida
Paula White-Cain, a longtime spiritual advisor to Trump who served as a faith advisor in her White House, made a subtle allusion to the uprising before her Sunday sermon.
Calling the nation “deeply divided”, White-Cain condemned “illegality” and added that “my hope is never in any person, in any man. My hope is in Jesus Christ. “
White, who did a post-election prayer service in which he called for “angelic reinforcement” to help achieve victory, also reaffirmed his commitment to the First Amendment – an echo of some conservatives’ warnings this week that his freedom of expression was threatened.
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COEUR, D’ALENE, Idaho
Rev. Tim Remington, the conservative Christian pastor of The Altar Church, avoided specific references to Trump and the attack on the Capitol, but offered many politically charged warnings.
“The next two weeks are probably the two most important weeks in the history of America,” said Remington, who in the spring led personal services in defiance of the governor’s home order. “I pray that the Lord’s army is ready.”
He directed the media in particular for criticism.
“I rebuke the news in the name of Jesus,” said Remington. “We ask that this false garbage be stopped. … are lies, communism, socialism. I don’t know how we lasted that long. ”
And without going into details, he said that America “is not looking for the truth.”
“They suppress someone else’s opinion – it’s wrong, it’s unconstitutional,” he said. “God have mercy.”
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CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio
Reverend Darrell Scott, the senior black pastor at the New Spirit Revival Center, did not mention the events in Washington.
Scott, one of the first supporters of the 2016 Trump campaign who worked with the administration on urban and prison issues, once praised the administration as “probably the most proactive administration towards urban America and the religious community in my life” .
But there was no conversation about the president on Sunday at a live broadcast entitled “What God has for me,” in which Scott focused on encouraging congregations to recognize God’s involvement in their lives.
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Associated Press reporters Sally Stapleton, Luis Andres Henao and Gary Fields contributed to this report.
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