As a pastor I was always uncomfortable using God’s word to pressure people to give money to the church. It seemed like a dirty trick: Play on the fear of disappointing God by convincing people on fixed incomes to provide for my livelihood. So I never did, much to the chagrin of my board of trustees. For the past 70 years, however, evangelical leadership has used this fear of God to raise billions of dollars to fight those the evangelicals have deemed to be the enemies of God. This naturally requires a private jet, a television network, a super PAC and a con artist pastor and politician to lead the way.  

The first set of enemies were of course the feminists, the pro-choice advocates and the LGBTQ community. Jerry Falwell Sr. said in 1980, “We must stand against the Equal Rights Amendment, the feminist revolution and the homosexual revolution.” From that point forward, the blueprint to effect political change for God — and to raise money for that cherished cause — was created. God’s call was clear, or so the congregations were told, and the […]