Charisma and Theology Do Not Equate to Character and True Spirituality

By Julio Severo

The four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — show several encounters of Jesus with theologians. Largely, they were not positive encounters, because the theologians thought that they knew much more than Jesus did.

Even though they had the same Old Testament that Christians use today, they could not believe that Jesus was God.

Even though they saw Jesus healing the sick, they could not believe that these miracles were from God.

Even though they saw Jesus delivering people from demonic oppression, they thought that the power Jesus was using was demonic.

Their theology, coupled with a lack of real fellowship with God, hindered them from seeing the obvious reality: Jesus was God, His miracles were divine and He was above their human traditions and theology. They were unable to see such powerful reality, which was visible only to spiritual eyes.

So theological eyes do not equate to spiritual eyes.

Theologians can have massive theoretic knowledge of God — just as the theologians who confronted Jesus had —, but without spiritual eyes theological eyes are blind.

Sadducees and Pharisees, the theologians who saw no divinity in Jesus, had no character and spirituality. Their religion was only formal and nominal theological theories, as Jesus showed when he confronted their empty religiosity.

The same problem often happens to theologians today. They have massive theoretic theological knowledge, but no real knowledge and fellowship with Jesus. Sadducees and Pharisees have inhabited the hearts of theologians for centuries. Pride is an old companion of theoretic theology.

If theology can pose its own challenges by simulating spirituality when there is hypocrisy and false spirituality, a lack of proper Bible knowledge and character can pose other dangers.

The Bible says that Samson had a big strength, and this was a gift from God. He had no character and he was an immoral man, but his gift never left him.

He could stand in the presence of a massive crowd and show his great strength. Weak people could conclude that God’s strength in him equated to God’s character in him. But this was not so. Theology and charisma never equate to character.

Many people who have character has no theology and charisma, and many people with theology and charisma have no character.

If you see a man with big theological rhetoric, it does not follow that he has a big character.

If you see a man showing big spiritual signs, it does not follow that he has a big character.

The biggest scandals in the church happen when people put excessive trust in the theology of a man — this happened with Ravi Zacharias, who had a big theology, but a terrible character — or in the charisma of a man — Jimmy Swaggart was an example.

The spiritual task of a man of God is to point people to Jesus. When he points people to his own glory, going after their money, tragedy follows.

Every human being is prone to fall. But if a man of God points everybody to Jesus, even if he falls, people will continue looking to Jesus.

Theology or charisma without character points people to human glory. Character, even without big theology or charisma, points everybody to Jesus. So if he falls, no one will notice because all of them are with their eyes fixated on Jesus.

More important than having a big theology or big gifts of the Holy Spirit is to have our eyes fixated on Jesus.

Yes, if possible, we should have theology and big spiritual gifts. But without constant fellowship with Jesus, theology and charisma are useless and harm our mission to bring people to Jesus and His Kingdom.

The Bible says,

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” (1 John 4:1 NKJV)

We are taught to test the spirits within the church, especially to see if the theology and spiritual gifts are according to the character of God. We should test the spirit of leaders who have theology and charisma.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV)

God’s Word never deceives. Even the heart of people with theology and charisma can deceive. So we should never avoid the responsibility to test the spirits.

We are taught not to trust in our hearts and in the hearts of other people. We have always to trust in Jesus and His heart.

If you attend church only for a nice philosophical sermon, demons will use it to dupe you. I knew a former Presbyterian minister who had a superb philosophical and theological knowledge. When he fell in adultery and other scandals, his followers were shocked that their idol let them down, because his theological philosophy pointed people not to Jesus Christ, but to himself as a gospel superstar. Many became apostate.

If you attend church because you want to see big miracles but you do not care about the character of the superstar preacher, sooner or later you will be let down.

The only SuperStar in the churches should be Jesus Christ. Beware of any charismatic or theological superstar who points people to himself, not to Jesus Christ.

The church does not need pastors with the strength of Samson but with no character.

The church does not need pastors with the massive theological knowledge of Sadducees and Pharisees but with no character and real spirituality.

The church needs pastors with a sheep spirit for Jesus willing to make sheep for Jesus. Pastors who do not want to have such sheep spirit eventually become greedy wolves.

The best way to avoid such wolves is to beware of leaders with charisma and theology with no character.

Test the spirits. By doing so, you will save yourself from wolves.

Portuguese version of this article: Dons espirituais e teologia não equivalem a caráter e à verdadeira espiritualidade

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Bad News: No Perfect Church to Imperfect People

The Miracle of the Simplicity of the Gospel

Christians need to seek the baptism and supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit

Theological Zombie Tries to Turn Author of the Gospel of Luke into Zombie

Swimming and Driving Is Dangerous… for Those Who Cannot Swim and Drive

Rev. Larry Christenson, a Charismatic Lutheran Pioneer

Rex Humbard, Premier Televangelist Who Blessed Millions

Spiritual Gun Control Is Not God’s Idea

Demon-Expelling: Truths and Confusions

The Perfect Revival?

Julio Severo seeks to move Christians to daily prayer with ‘Prophetic Prayers’

In his effort to produce a film exposing homosexuality in the Vatican to make Pope Francis renounce, Steve Bannon caused backlash from conservative Catholic leaders and was exposed for his own involvement with two notorious pedophiles

By Julio Severo

LifeSiteNews, the most prominent Catholic pro-life website in the world, gave full attention and support when Steve Bannon showed in 2019 his intent to produce a film exposing homosexuality in the Vatican. But in 2020 his intent became an impossible mission, especially after his arrest for defrauding donors.

Steve Bannon being arrested

Yet, every Catholic should understand his intent and what is behind it.

“People will only understand the scale of the problem of the infiltration of homosexuality into the Vatican if they see it on the big screen,” said Bannon in an interview with LifeSiteNews in 2019.

However, LifeSiteNews refrained from saying if people will only understand Bannon after seeing on big screen his own dirty secrets. Convicted child sex offender George Nader visited the White House at least 13 times to meet with Bannon in 2017, records indicate, according to the Washington Examiner, which added that “They were always private meetings.”

After President Donald Trump fired Bannon, Nader, who was known for his links to Saudis, secured a $100,000 speaking fee for Bannon.

This is not the only suspicious problem involving Bannon and pedophiles. According to a 2019 NewsMax report titled “Jeffrey Epstein’s Butler Reveals Bannon Meetings in Paris,” pedophile Jeffrey Epstein entertained Steve Bannon at his Paris apartment. NewsMax said,

“Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist to President Donald Trump, visited Jeffrey Epstein at the convicted pedophile’s Paris apartment in the fall of 2018, an ex-butler who worked at Epstein’s posh digs claims.”

Epstein’s butler said, “I was even his driver in Paris.”

NewsMax also said,

“It’s apparently not Bannon’s only meet-up with Epstein. Last year, The New York Post reported that Bannon secretly met with Epstein at the financier’s East 71st Street townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in August 2018. According to the report, Bannon was seen exiting his SUV and entering sprawling 21,000-square-foot home.”

Epstein was a notorious provider of underage girls to wealthy and famous men.

The LifeSiteNews report, titled “Steve Bannon hints at making film exposing homosexuality in Vatican,” addressed a conversation between Bannon and “French sociologist and homosexual activist Dr. Frédéric Martel, author of In the Closet of the Vatican, where they discussed teaming up to make such a film.”

“It is the book of the year,” Bannon said to LifeSiteNews, which added, “After several lengthy telephone conversations, Bannon and Martel met in person on May 19 in Paris, at the five-star Bristol Paris Hotel, upon Mr. Bannon’s initiative.”

LifeSiteNews granted Bannon and Martel the grace to review its report to guarantee its accuracy prior to publication. Even so, there were several inaccuracies in the report, from a conservative Christian viewpoint. Nor Bannon and much less Martel are Christian conservatives.

“The film’s evident goal: to arouse outrage among ordinary Catholics around the world, and from this outrage, bring about major changes in the leadership at the Vatican,” according to Dr. Robert Moynihan. These changes could include the resignation of Pope Francis.

In my article “Steve Bannon Moves Conservative Catholics to Embrace His ‘Conservatism,’ to Oppose Pope Francis,” I had already shown how Bannon was using conservative Catholics to promote his esoteric conservatism.

Immediately after LifeSiteNews published its report, U.S. conservative Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke issued a statement publicly breaking all relations with the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, a Catholic organization supported by Bannon. Burke had occasionally met with Bannon in recent years and had been honored as the honorary president of Bannon’s Institute.

In his public letter, Burke said,

“I do not, in any way, agree with Mr. Bannon’s assessment of the book in question. Furthermore, I am not at all of the mind that the book should be made into a film. I disagree completely with a number of Mr. Bannon’s statements regarding the doctrine and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church… I was named the Honorary President of the Institute. In recent time, the Institute has become more and more identified with the political program of Mr. Bannon. While I have urged the Institute to return to its original purpose, it has not done so, as is evident in its involvement with this latest initiative of Mr. Bannon. I have, therefore, effective immediately, terminated any relationship with the Dignitatis Humanae Institute.”

This breaking of relations between Bannon and Burke represented a significant breaking of relations conservative Catholics and Bannon’s populism.

The breaking was necessary, because conservative Catholics were being extremely condescending with Bannon because of his opposition to Francis. In fact, they were and are willing to sacrifice any principle to support others who oppose Francis. For example, LifeSiteNews is famous for exposing homosexual militants within the Catholic Church, but it was generously kind to Martel, who considers himself “a French liberal of the left, atheist and openly gay,” just because he was willing to help Bannon make the anti-Vatican film.

To overthrow Francis by using homosexual scandals at the Vatican while at the same time collaborating with the openly homosexual French writer Frederic Martel is not consistent with Catholic or even conservative values.

Catholic LifeSiteNews saw no problem that Martel visited the Dignitatis Humanae Institute accompanied by its director, Catholic Benjamin Harnwell, who took Martel to visit an Italian monastery chosen by Bannon to be the “Western Judaeo-Christian Academy,” which will form future “conservative leaders.” One of the professors Bannon chose for this Academy is Brazilian esoteric philosopher Olavo de Carvalho. Both Bannon’s and Carvalho’s conservatism was inspired by Islamic occultist René Guénon.

Catholics seem to be easily deceived by syncretic Catholics like Bannon. LifeSiteNews loved Bannon’s plan to make a film about homosexual scandals in the Vatican, even though Bannon has his own suspicious connections with pedophiles. And after Bannon’s arrest, Catholic pro-family leader Brian S. Brown defended him. Brown argued that the court prosecuting Bannon is very liberal. Yet, this is the same court that prosecuted pedophile Epstein. So is the court that was not wrong to prosecute Epstein wrong to prosecute Bannon, who had connections with Epstein?

Yet, not only Catholics have been deceived by syncretic “Catholic” Bannon. Charisma, the largest Pentecostal magazine in the world, published an August 27, 2020 report titled “They Just Came After Steve Bannon,” by Amir George.

George mentioned an alleged exclusive Catholic upbringing of Bannon, saying that the following books influenced him:

“Keith Kottler, in his book, Bannon: Always the Rebel, notes the seven books that influenced Bannon, after the one that influenced him most—the Bible—and they are: The Imitation of Christ, The History and Decline of the Roman Empire, The Brotherhood of the Common Life and Its Influence, The History of the Peloponnesian War, The Spiritual Exercise of St. Francis of Loyola, Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans.”

Even though George wrote “The Spiritual Exercise of St. Francis of Loyola,” Kottler’s book never says “St. Francis.” It mentions several times “St. Ignatius of Loyola.” And it says “Exercises,” not “Exercise.”

Yet, George totally dismissed — or, more properly, he hid — that Bannon was also influenced by the books of the Islamic occultist René Guénon, even though Kottler’s book made several mentions of it, including this one:

“Evola and Guénon ultimately connect, for Bannon, to Gerard Groote, The Imitation of Christ, and The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola…”

Kottler clearly mentioned Evola and Guénon as influences on Bannon, but George chose not to reveal it.

Evola, the most prominent adherent of Guénon, was the guru of the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.

There are other books revealing more about Bannon’s occult connections. The main spiritualistic political influence on Bannon was Guenon. Why did George hide this?

Even if Bannon were guided only by St. Ignatius of Loyola, such fact would be problematic for a Pentecostal magazine, because Loyola founded the Society of Jesuits, or Jesus, exclusively against Protestants. To portray Loyola as a real Christian is incompatible with the Bible and Christian principles.

George pointed out that Bannon’s arrest was a plan of the Southern District of New York — which also prosecuted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who also had connections with Bannon. So, for George, was this district persecuting Bannon and Epstein?

The title and the beginning of George’s article are also problematic, because he quoted a socialist statement by Martin Niemöller. It was very unwise to do it, because Niemöller intended his statement only for socialists.

Even though LifeSiteNews, Brian Brown and even Pentecostal Charisma gave a very good reference of Bannon, U.S. President Donald Trump gave him a not so good reference. Trump said of Bannon:

Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican party.

Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of this country.

Steve doesn’t represent my base—he’s only in it for himself.

Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was. It is the only thing he does well. Steve was rarely in a one-on-one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue, whom he helped write phony books.

Cardinal Burke’s and Steve Bannon’s plans for the Vatican were to consolidate opposition to Francis in order to contain the Vatican’s progressive wing. Yet, eventually Burke saw that Bannon has his own personal, mystical agenda to overthrow Francis.

Bannon is taking advantage that “cardinals are working behind the scenes to try to lead the Pope to resign,” according to Dr. Robert Moynihan.

Frédéric Martel said,

From the beginning of our exchange, Bannon tells me that he read my book Sodoma in English and that he “adored” it. A little surprised by my revelations, he had called one of his "henchmen" in Rome (probably the director of the Roman bureau of his agency Breitbart News) to question him about the fact that a very large majority of priests and Vatican cardinals, 80% perhaps, would be homosexuals. “My henchman told me you were wrong: it’s not 80%, but rather 90%,” says Bannon, laughing. “Your book is the book of the year.”

Steve Bannon is intelligent and he has a lot of ideas. He is, basically, a libertarian, and with regard to sexual morality he has no taboos.

He thinks like me that the battle is no longer played in Rome between pro-Francis cardinals who would be gay or gay-friendly, and anti-Francis cardinals who would be homophobic and heterosexual. Everyone, on the right, as on the left, would be fairly homophile or homosexual. Steve Bannon has no problem with this observation: he also came to it himself.

I suddenly understand the plan of Catholic Bannon. The Church may have to abandon its moral positions on sexuality that are hypocritical, anachronistic and, given the large number of gay cardinals in the Vatican, schizophrenic. These questions of sexual morality divide the Church and we must stop this useless and counter-productive battle to focus on the essential topics. In his eyes, the important things are the struggle against federal Europe, against immigration, against Cuban-Venezuelan communism. Above all, it is necessary to wage ideological war, in the name of Catholicism, against China, Iran, Islam and perhaps even Russia. And in the end, for these reasons, we must wage war against Pope Francis.

So according to homosexual Martel, who was not criticized by LifeSiteNews, Bannon wanted to produce the film exposing homosexuality in the Vatican not to make the Vatican more conservative but just to make Francis renounce.

Martel also said,

Bannon is now in an open war against Pope Francis.

The Western Judaeo-Christian Academy that Bannon wants to found in the monastery of Trisulti is part of this fight.

Interestingly, the monastery that had been authorized by left-wing Italian authorities for Bannon’s use was later disauthorized by right-wing Italian authorities.

The original LifeSiteNews article, which was removed after it was condemned by Burke, said,

“It is the book of the year,” Bannon related to LifeSiteNews about the conversation he had with Martel. Bannon said that he has read the book twice and finds it both extremely powerful and completely damning of the Church hierarchy. Bannon said that his own independent sources in the Vatican verified many of Martel’s claims, including that the vast majority of clergy in the Vatican are homosexual, even adding, “I was told it is not 80 percent, it is closer to 90 percent.”

"In the Closet of the Vatican must be read to understand the magnitude and the depth of the problem,” said Bannon. The documentary filmmaker said that he stressed during the meeting the importance of making the book into a film.

Yet, Burke was right. It was not right for LifeSiteNews to give attention to an alliance between Bannon and a homosexual activist just to overthrow Francis because of homosexuality in the Vatican, especially because Bannon had connections with powerful pedophiles. After all, homosexuality in the Vatican is not a problem initiated by Francis. It has existed long before Francis and it was never solved. So why blame Francis for a very old Vatican problem?

LifeSiteNews shared Bannon’s intent to investigate homosexuality in the Vatican, but it showed no suspicion that Bannon, who professedly knows how to investigate, did not investigate that George Nader, who visited him 13 times at the White House and gave him profitable speaking opportunities, was a pedophile.

LifeSiteNews always condemns any connection between gay activists and Catholics, but it did not condemn the connection between gay activist Frédéric Martel and “Catholic” Bannon. In fact, didn’t Bannon’s Catholicism, defined by Martel as having a sexual morality with no taboos, deserve an investigation?

In its article titled “Amazon bishop: Synod document fails to mention area’s huge pedophilia problem, Pentecostalism,” LifeSiteNews said that “the Synod did not address the most pressing issues of the Amazon region, principally its embrace of Pentecostalism.”

LifeSiteNews also said,

“If the Amazon has a Pentecostal majority, it is necessary to address that reality thoroughly.”

Pentecostalism has made a “profound impact” on the cultures and ethnic identities of indigenous people in the region “with its fundamentalist and proselytizing connotations.”

Even in some areas of the Amazon, the Pentecostal majority reaches 80 percent.

So the Brazilian Pentecostalism, which is much more conservative than Brazilian Catholicism, which is very friendly to Liberation Theology, is a big threat.

But if the problem is a sick spirituality, LifeSiteNews should address Bannon’s occultism, whose real roots are in Guénon. At least, Pentecostalism is Christian. But Guénon’s spirituality, which influenced Bannon and his close friends, including Olavo de Carvalho, another Guénon adherent, is perennialistic and occult. Its perennialistic character allows syncretism with Catholicism.

Why attack Pentecostalism, but not Bannon’s Guenonian spirituality?

Why also attack Pope Francis for the historic homosexual presence in the Vatican, but spare Bannon for his involvement with notorious pedophiles, including Epstein, a provider of underage girls for sexual abuse by adult men? Pedophilia is not uncommon in occultism.

Benjamin Harnwell, the director of Bannon’s institute, recognized that Brazilian evangelicals, who are especially charismatic and Pentecostal, were decisive for the victory of Jair Bolsonaro in the Brazilian presidential election in 2018. So Brazilian evangelicals defeated socialism with their spirituality. Even so, Bannon, with his Brazilian Guenonian partner Olavo de Carvalho, seeks opportunistically to take the glory for their own movement.

LifeSiteNews should attack this movement, not its victims. When firing Bannon, Trump made it very clear that he was an opportunist and traitor. There is no better definition for the character of an adherent of Guénon. LifeSiteNews should take this lesson from Trump.

Or is LifeSiteNews’ Catholic hatred toward Pentecostalism so big that they are willing to spare Bannon and his connections with pedophiles and occultism? Are esotericism and occultism less harmful than Pentecostalism?

This is not the first time I expose some problems with LifeSiteNews articles. In 2018 I published my article “Abortion, the Inquisition and Revisionism in the Encyclopedia Britannica” addressing LifeSiteNews’s advocacy of the Inquisition.

In my conservative view, the most pressing issues facing Catholics is Liberation Theology on the left and Bannon’s esoteric conservatism on the right. It is not Pentecostalism, which offers, even imperfectly, a better opportunity for people to have an experience with Jesus Christ.

If the Vatican has such experience, the homosexual problem will have a solution and homosexual priests and bishops will be delivered form their homosexual demons.

If Pope Francis has such experience, he will be delivered from his socialist demons.

If Bannon has such experience, he will be delivered from his esoteric and occult demons.

With information from LifeSiteNews, NewsMax, DailyMail, Inside the Vatican, Washington Examiner and Charisma.

Portuguese version of this article: Em seu esforço para produzir um filme expondo a homossexualidade no Vaticano para fazer o Papa Francisco renunciar, Steve Bannon causou reação adversa de líderes católicos conservadores e foi exposto por seu próprio envolvimento com dois notórios pedófilos

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading on LifeSiteNews:

Abortion, the Inquisition and Revisionism in the Encyclopedia Britannica

Recommended Reading on Steve Bannon:

Steve Bannon Moves Conservative Catholics to Embrace His “Conservatism,” to Oppose Pope Francis

How the Powerful Union of Trump with Evangelicals Saved the U.S. from Steve Bannon and His Occult Plan of a “Traditionalist” Government

Olavo de Carvalho and Julius Evola, parallels of two prominent right-wing occultists of the Traditionalist School

Beware the Traditionalist School, the Esoteric Sect that Uses Anti-Marxism to Promote Religious Syncretism and the Personality Cult of Its Leaders

The Atlantic Introduces the Intellectual and Spiritual Founder of Brazil’s Esoteric Far Right

Steve Bannon and Olavo de Carvalho Together: Two Occultists Promoting an Occult “Conservatism”

Steve Bannon’s Occult Movement, Brazil and Conservative Evangelicals

Spurred by Big Left-Wing Source, Pentecostal Charisma Helps Spread Accusation of Alleged Collusion of Franklin Graham with Trump and Putin

By Julio Severo

When Russia was the Soviet Union, U.S. left-wingers did not see any problem. Now when Christian Orthodox conservatism has come back to the Russian government, there is no surprise that U.S. left-wingers are seeing all kind of problem in Russia. The big surprise is that U.S. right-wingers, including their Protestant supporters, are embarking on a kind of collusion with U.S. left-wingers in the same feeling of hostility to Russia.

Franklin Graham and Vladimir Putin

The most tragic is a Pentecostal media embarking on the same political collusion. I say tragic because Pentecostals and charismatics are known for believing and having prophecies and revelations. But what is the point of believing in revelations if Pentecostals choose to live in the low level of dark, sordid political collusions of left-wingers or neocons, the fake conservatives? Revelations and prophecies are granted by God to give people the chance to see above the low level of dark, sordid political collusions.

In a recent report titled “The Russian Connection: When Franklin Graham Met Putin,” Charisma, which is the largest Pentecostal media in the world, said,

When President Trump stood beside Russian President Vladimir Putin… the subsequent firestorm of criticism included liberals as well as prominent Republicans. But there was one group that kept uncharacteristically quiet: the president’s evangelical advisers.

The Charisma report added,

There are good reasons why some Christian right leaders are less than eager to address Trump’s attempts to warm relations between the U.S. and Russia. For years, American evangelicals have cultivated ties with Russia, highlighted by a 2015 meeting between Franklin Graham, son of the late Billy Graham, and Putin in Russia.

But by the time Trump was inaugurated in 2017, the Kremlin had become what Politico described as "the leader of the global Christian Right," largely based on an alliance with Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill.

Graham’s public relationship with Trump dates back to at least 2011, when he told ABC News, “The more you listen to [Trump], the more you say to yourself, ‘You know, maybe the guy’s right.’” The following year, Trump’s foundation reportedly gave the organization named for Franklin Graham’s father, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, a $100,000 check in 2012, while Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian relief group also run by Franklin Graham, received $25,000 the same year and $10,000 in 2013.

Meanwhile, Putin’s ideological influence over parts of the American religious right dates back to at least 2014.

In March of that year, Putin was featured on the cover of Decision Magazine, a publication of the BGEA, in an issue that included an opinion article by Franklin Graham that offered cautious praise for the Russian president. The evangelical leader pointed to Putin’s decision to sign a law barring the dissemination of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to children.

“It’s obvious that President Obama and his administration are pushing the gay-lesbian agenda in America today and have sold themselves completely to that which is contrary to God’s teaching,” Graham wrote. He later added: “In my opinion, Putin is right on these issues. Obviously, he may be wrong about many things, but he has taken a stand to protect his nation’s children from the damaging effects of any gay and lesbian agenda.”

Then Charisma mentions meetings of Russian Orthodox Christian leaders with conservative evangelical leaders in America as an alleged example of some sort of “intrigue.” The big problem — and you do not need any supernatural gift of prophecy to see it — is that the source for all the accusations of intrigue is not Charisma itself. It is not also some conservative evangelical media. The source was the Religion News Service, which used as its own source… Mother Jones, a famous U.S. left-wing magazine.

Actually, Charisma carelessly reproduced the full report from the Religion News Service, which is plain propaganda against Trump, against Graham and against Russia.

If Charisma had done a diligent investigative report, it would have seen that the Religion News Service was not the original source. The Religion News Service used a very big left-wing source.

The issue is not why Mother Jones and other U.S. left-wingers are worried or even desperate about contacts of conservative evangelicals with Trump and of conservative evangelicals with Russia. The big issue is why evangelicals, including Pentecostals, are allowing Mother Jones and other U.S. left-wingers to dictate to them how should be their relationship with Trump and Russia.

Pentecostals and charismatics blindly following non-leftist sources is bad. But to follow left-wing sources is vastly worse.

In an extensive report titled “What Happened in Moscow: The Inside Story of How Trump’s Obsession With Putin Began,” Mother Jones mentioned Trump’s visit to Russia in 2013 as a worrying point. Another worrying point was the Russian law banning homosexual propaganda to children. This left-wing report was the source for the Religion News Service and ultimately and consequently for Charisma.

Donald Trump and Franklin Graham

Left-wing Mother Jones opened her heart about all her bad feelings on Trump, Russia, Graham and the Russian law against homosexual propaganda, saying:

…the Russian Duma had passed a law that made it illegal to expose children to information about homosexuality. The new anti-gay measure was the latest move by Putin to appeal to the conservative Orthodox Church and ultranationalist forces.

Human rights and gay rights advocates in Russia and around the world denounced the new law. Vodka boycotts were launched. There was a push to relocate the Winter Olympics, scheduled to be held the following year in Sochi, Russia. In the United States, the Human Rights Campaign called on Trump and the Miss Uni­verse Organization to move the event out of Russia, noting that under the new law a contestant could be prosecuted if she were to voice support for gay rights.

The uproar over the Russian anti-gay act confronted Trump with a dilemma—how to distance himself from the law without jeopardizing his big Russia play. The Miss Universe Organization issued a statement asserting that it “believes in equality for all indi­viduals.” That didn’t stop the protests. Bravo talk-show host Andy Cohen and entertainment reporter Giuliana Rancic, who had pre­viously co-hosted the pageant, quit the show. Miss Universe officials scrambled and found replacements: Thomas Roberts, an openly gay MSNBC anchor, and former Spice Girl Mel B.

Roberts explained his decision in an op-ed on MSNBC.com: “Boycotting and vilifying from the outside is too easy. Rather, I choose to offer my support of the LGBT community in Russia by going to Moscow and hosting this event as a journalist, an anchor, and a man who happens to be gay. Let people see I am no different than anyone else.”

This was a godsend for Trump. He granted Roberts an inter­view on MSNBC. “I think you’re going to do fantastically,” he told Roberts, “and I love the fact that you feel the same about the whole situation as me.” Inevitably, the conversation turned toward Putin and whether he would appear at the pageant. “I know for a fact that he wants very much to come,” Trump said, “but we’ll have to see. We haven’t heard yet, but we have invited him.”

Though US relations with Moscow were at this point deterio­rating, Trump was touting Putin as a wily and strong leader. In September, Putin published an op-ed in the New York Times that opposed a possible US military strike against the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria (in retaliation for its use of chemical weapons) and that denounced President Barack Obama for referring to American exceptionalism. The next day, Trump on Fox News commended Putin’s move. “It really makes him look like a great leader,” he said.

The following month, Trump appeared on David Letterman’s late-night show. The host asked if Trump had ever done any deals with the Russians. “I’ve done a lot of business with the Russians,” Trump replied, adding, “They’re smart and they’re tough.” Letterman inquired if Trump had ever met Putin. “He’s a tough guy,” Trump said. “I met him once.” In fact, there was no record he ever had.

Do you have a relationship with Putin and any sway with the Russian leader? Roberts asked him. Trump was unequivocal: “I do have a relationship.” He paused. “I can tell you that he’s very inter­ested in what we’re doing here today. He’s probably very interested in what you and I are saying today. And I’m sure he’s going to be seeing it in some form.”

Trump could barely contain his praise for Russia’s president: “Look, he’s done a very brilliant job in terms of what he represents and who he’s representing. If you look at what he’s done with Syria, if you look at so many of the different things, he has really eaten our president’s lunch. Let’s not kid ourselves. He’s done an amazing job…He’s put himself at the forefront of the world as a leader in a short period of time.”

But Trump had decided to attend the celebration of evangelist Billy Graham’s 95th birthday on November 7 at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina. In Russia, Trump told Goldstone that it had been necessary for him to show up at the Graham event: “There is something I’m planning down the road, and it’s really important.”

Goldstone knew exactly what Trump was talking about: a run for the White House. Franklin Graham, the evangelist’s son, was an influential figure among religious conservatives. When Trump two years earlier was championing birtherism—the baseless conspiracy theory that Barack Obama had been born in Kenya and was ineligible to be president—Graham joined the birther bandwagon, raising questions about the president’s birth certificate. Appearing at this event and currying favor with Franklin Graham was a mandatory stop for Trump, if he was serious about seeking the Republican presidential nomination. And it paid off: Trump and his wife Melania were seated at the VIP table along with Rupert Murdoch and Sarah Palin. Franklin Graham later said that Trump was among those who “gave their hearts to Christ” that night.

So these are the worries of Mother Jones, one of the most left-wing publications in the United States. The mystery is not why Mother Jones and other U.S. left-wing publications are so opposed to evangelical involvement with Trump and Russian conservatism today and Trump’s involvement with Russia. The mystery is why evangelicals, especially Charisma, would used its powerful media to let a left-wing article spread its venom against Trump and Russian conservatism.

The problem is not only a lack of attention to God’s Word and prophecies and revelations. It is a lack of Christian good sense.

While Charisma and some Pentecostals are giving attention to Mother Jones and other left-wingers, the Christian Broadcasting Network and other charismatic channels are giving attention to neocons, the fake conservatives. This is sheer lack of good sense too.

Trump is better than Obama and Russia is not worse than the Vatican. If the U.S. has had a long relationship and partnership with the Vatican, why not with Russia?

Russia is vastly better than the Islamic dictatorship of Saudi Arabia. If the U.S. has had a long relationship and partnership with Saudi Arabia, why is the U.S. left so enraged and desperate to hinder U.S. conservative evangelicals from a partnership with Russia?

Because the anti-Russia pressure from left-wingers and neocons has been so massive, in a time when Russia is more open to cooperation, the U.S. finds itself, even under Trump, seeking all reason and non-reason to impose sanctions, alienate and even provoke Russia.

If the U.S. did to the Vatican only ten percent of what it has been doing to Russia, it would be called, in the midst of outcries, anti-Catholic hostility.

If the U.S. did to Israel only ten percent of what it has been doing to Russia, it would be called, in the midst of outcries, anti-Israel hostility or even anti-Semitism.

The same left that always saw no reason to blame the old Soviet Union today sees all reason and non-reason to blame conservative Russia for everything and nothing. Their inconsistency is glaring to normal eyes but why not also to the Pentecostal and charismatic spiritual eyes of Charisma and other evangelicals?

Left-wingers and neocons are destroying the best chance that the U.S. has ever had of partnership with a conservative Russia.

Perhaps one of the most important signs of such partnership happened in 2014, in Moscow, when the Kremlin held a pro-family conference attended by international pro-family leaders, including me. The conference clearly condemned abortion, the homosexual agenda and Marxism. The late Larry Jacobs, who was a major leader in the World Congress of Families, told me personally that the Obama administration and U.S. left-wingers were threatening conservative Americans attending this conference. Jacobs and other Americans were very courageous to challenge Obama’s threats. Jacobs was a Pentecostal from the Assemblies of God.

Not surprisingly, Mother Jones saw a conservative conspiracy in the pro-family conference in Moscow. But what expect from left-wingers?

Conservative Pentecostals and charismatics should not let neocons and left-wingers — who embrace Saudi Arabia and their bloody petrodollars — guide them in their hateful collusion against conservative Russia.

With information from Charisma and Mother Jones.

Portuguese version of this article: Impulsionada por grande fonte de esquerda, revista pentecostal Charisma ajuda a espalhar acusação de alegado conluio de Franklin Graham com Trump e Putin

Source: Last Days Watchman

Recommended Reading:

Giving Voice to Neocons is Weakening the Prophetic Voice of the Church

What Is Neoconservatism? Who are the Neocons?

Kremlin Hosts International Meeting of Pro-Family Leaders and It is Accused by The Moscow Times of Throwing a Global Neo-Con Party

An Open Letter to President Donald Trump

Trump and Prophecies, and a New Model of National and World Leader

Why the American Left Hates Russia

Why Throw U.S. Evangelicals into the Soros-Provoked Conflict in Ukraine?

Fall of anti-neocon advisers hinders Trump from pursuing his promised focus of partnership with Russia against Islamic terror; new neocon advisers urge the old, traditional focus against Russia

Ronald Reagan: A Christian Example against Communism

Left-Wing and Right-Wing Collusion against Trump’s Original Plan of Partnership with Russia against Islamic Terror