Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Jesus of Nazareth as quoted in Matthew 7:15 (the King James version of the bible)
I am always a tad nervous when I quote the Bible, especially when using it to make a point. First, I'm not a theologian and will never pretend to be one. Second, the Bible says a lot of things and all sorts of people can pick out bits of scripture to justify whatever they want to justify. Basically, because there are so many things written in the Old and New Testaments the Bible can be interpreted to say whatever the reader wants it to say.
Lately though, Matthew's quote of Jesus' words feels awfully relevant. A little while back, Paula White-Cain told Donald Trump and the nation, "Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have. It almost cost your life. You were betrayed, arrested, and falsely accused. It is a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us."
No doubt this inspired Donald J. Trump to seek even greater ambitions than those he had already proven to have. Indeed, "Screw this king shit, I'm going really big time." That's right, let them have their, no king's day demonstrations. Donald Trump isn't a king, he is the Messiah.
Shortly afterward White-Cain spoke, Trump posed an AI generated picture of himself as a messianic presence. In it he wore a flowing red and white robe while healing a sick man as those around him prayed, a divine light shone in the background and eagles soared overhead. (Let's face it, the man does have a thing for birds, just ask him about wind driven turbines.) Not long after the post he accused Pope Leo XIV of being weak and a loser. Leo, the first American pope, is the spiritual leader of nearly 1.3 billion Roman Catholics worldwide. That's 48% of all Christians on the planet.
Now that takes balls, or one supposes a new Messiah. A couple of days later, the President seemed to back away from the message that he is Christ when he posted another picture. This one wa of himself seated at a desk while Jesus stands blessing him with his hands. Trump later claimed he thought the original picture was simply him as a doctor healing someone. Vice President J.D. Vance, on the other hand, described the first as a joke and said it was deleted because people didn't understand Trump's sense of humor.
Through all this surreal nonsense and some would say blasphemy, White-Cain has remained publicly silent. Maybe she was too busy sorting all the money she rakes in thanks to her work as a televangelist/internet preacher. Last spring, on her YouTube channel she promised to deliver followers, "seven supernatural blessings," if they donated to her ministry during Passover. The blessings included God assigning an angel to those who pitched in. The angel would then, among other things, become an enemy to their enemies, give them prosperity, take sickness away, and grant them a long life. A pretty sweet deal, right? But wait, there was more. For $125 you could receive an, "olive wood communion set," made in the Holy Land. And for a cool $1,000 or more, you would get, "a beautiful 10-inch Waterford crystal cross."
No wonder this woman is Trump's spiritual advisor. She is his kind of Christian--one who is not only willing to goose his ego to rarified heights but also loves to scam the rubes as much as he does.
White-Cain has been divorced twice--perhaps another spiritual connection--her current husband is Johnathan Cain, best known for being in the rock band Journey. In 1991 she and then husband, Randy White founded what eventually became, Without Walls International Church. In its heyday the church had 20,000 members, making it the 7th largest congregation in the U.S. It eventually went bankrupt, not an easy thing to do since it is reported that between the years 2004 and 2006 alone Without Walls received $150 million in donations. White-Cain maintains she had left the church before the financial collapse and had nothing to do with it.
She is a Christian nationalist as opposed to a white nationalist, claiming to value religion over race. There is evidence of that being true. Black Entertainment Television was one of the venues airing her weekly broadcasts. She was such a hit, Ebony Magaxine once wrote, "You know you are onto something new and significant when the most popular woman preacher on BET is a white woman."
Hey, no fame, no gain. And no access to the President of the United States.
Yes, thanks in no small part to Paula White-Cain, it feels like we have come to the point actor Peter O'Toole reached at in the movie, "The Ruling Class." In the film O'Toole plays a mad English nobleman who believes himself to be Jesus Christ. When asked what made him think he was, O'Toole's character responded, "When I realized that every time I prayed to Him, I was talking to myself."
sic vita est
4-16-26
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