Donald Trump's spiritual advisor prays for his safety of 'demonic networks'

Paula White, a wealthy televangelist, reinforced evangelical support for Donald Trump's radical immigration policy

Paula White started by thanking me.

White, President Donald Trump's Evangelical Spiritual Advisor, was at the center of the action on Tuesday night to deliver the opening prayer before the president pronounced himself for re-election in front of thousands of supporters at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. She asked the crowd to join hands and, after a few minutes, interrupted her prayer to speak to the crowd instead of God, as an actress breaking the fourth wall.

"Now, I need you to really come with me here," she said to a cheering crowd.

"At this moment, let every demonic network that has aligned itself against the goal, against the call of President Trump, let it break, let it be demolished in the name of Jesus!"she prayed. She added: "I declare that President Trump will overcome every strategy of hell and every strategy of the enemy - every strategy - and that he will fulfill his call and his destiny."

White didn't specify what demonic networks and enemies Trump was facing.

The theatrical prayer would live up to the protest at a rally marked by disdain for the list of Trump's declared enemies - the media, Democrats, usual suspects - and punctuated with unwavering support for the president's agenda.

White's appearance fits that theme. The rich tele-evangelist, controversial in Christian circles, has strengthened evangelical support for the president's radical immigration policy and used her Facebook account, followed by more than 3 million people, to defend the idea that God had blessed Trump's plans. On Tuesday, as Trump revisited its 2020 vision by renewing calls for mass deportation, White's message echoed the campaign.

"I declare that no weapon has been formed against [Trump], his family, his appeal, his purpose, this council can be formed," said White in his opening prayer.

As the Washington Post Magazine reports in White's 2017 profile, it is difficult to know what influence she has on the president as a spiritual advisor, which is not an official title. But Trump's associates and family members confirmed that the two had a close relationship. She told the magazine that they connected after Trump called her out of the blue to tell her that he had seen some of her sermons on TV, saying she had the "IT"factor.

She would then head an evangelical White House advisory council and give Trump's inaugural prayer. And from then on, she defended him in tumultuous crises, such as public outrage at her government's policy of separating immigrant families.

Some political or religious leaders have turned to the Bible to justify this policy. White proposed a hypothetical situation involving the immigration status of Jesus.

"I think a lot of people have taken biblical scriptures out of context, to say things like,' Well, Jesus was a refugee, '" White told Christian Broadcasting Network in July 2018. "And yes, he lived in Egypt for three and a half years. But it wasn't illegal. If he had broken the law, he would have been a sinner and he would not have been our Messiah. "

Rev. William Barber II, a prominent North Carolina-based pastor and civil rights leader, replied that " Christian nationalists "like White are" capable of biblical interpretations that echo #SlaveHolderReligion."

Its adherence to Trump's immigration policy is not the only reason why it has become a source of discord among Christians. She is also a supporter of the" Gospel of prosperity, " which teaches that those who dedicate themselves to God and give to religious causes will be rewarded with material wealth and spiritual health on earth.

As reported by Julie Zauzmer of The Washington Post in 2016, some Christians associate the Gospel of prosperity with heresy, troubled by the often aggressive solicitation of the gifts of televangelists who teach it. White, for example, encouraged her supporters in January 2018 to give a month's salary (as she does) or a more reasonable amount to Paula White Ministries. She said that they would reap the fruits of God if they made an important gift but risked the "consequences" of God if they did not.

Paula White Ministries was one of the Television Ministries investigated by Congress in 2007 on the misuse of donations by the church and lavish spending, although the report makes no findings three years later.

White's call to God on Tuesday night wasn't the first time she used such language. In May, she declared "every demon network scattered now" during a speech at the White House on the occasion of the National Day of prayer. Speaking of the pulpit earlier this month, she prayed to God to defend it against "any demonic attack" on the president's "special day of Prayer", organized by Reverend Franklin Graham.