An outraged evangelical pastor has slammed Donald Trump’s MAGA Bible as “disgusting” and “blasphemous” in a furious rant.
Loran Livingston spent several minutes of his sermon at North Carolina Central Church in Charlotte destroying the former president’s merchandise.
Last month, the God Bless the USA Bible was released, costing $60 (four times more than normal) to fund Trump’s mounting legal bills.
Your Bible includes copies of the United States Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as a handwritten chorus of Greenwood’s famous song God Bless the USA.
These extras, and the American flag on the leather cover, outraged Pastor Livingston, and he accused anyone who bought it of not knowing the word of God.
Loran Livingston spent several minutes of his sermon at North Carolina Central Church in Charlotte trashing Donald Trump’s MAGA bible as “disgusting” and “blasphemous.”
‘When you don’t read or pray, you say, “Wow, now there’s a Bible that includes the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! Isn’t that wonderful?” the he started.
‘No no. It’s disgusting! It’s blasphemy! It’s a ploy! Are you kidding me?
‘Some of you are very encouraged by that. Let me tell you something. The gospel is not an American gospel! It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!’
Livingston, a hardline conservative who moments earlier criticized “the whole LGBTQ thing” and called abortion murder, mocked Christians who were “encouraged” by Trump’s Bible, including the U.S. Constitution.
‘A document that says: “We are of the people, by the people and for the people.” The people, the people, the people!’ he said, hitting his palm with his fist.
‘And you have placed him next to the word of God, which is eternal, immutable, which says of him, through him, through him, to him, his are all things.
—And you’re going to put them together and be happy about it? God forbid!’
Livingston said he didn’t care if his words angered those listening, and if they glorified Trump’s Bible, they ignored God’s will.
‘If you glory in that kind of thing, you don’t have a prayer life. If you glory in that kind of mess, political mess, you don’t know what the word of God says,’ he said.
Trump last month released the God Bless the USA Bible, which costs $60 (four times more than normal) to fund his mounting legal bills.
Livingston also attacked the faithful who “introduced politics into the church” and saw voting as a spiritual duty.
‘No, your duty is to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, body and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself,’ he bellowed.
‘Don’t talk to me about my “spiritual responsibility” to vote. I don’t have a spiritual responsibility, I have a civic privilege.
“Don’t tell me that voting is spiritual.”
Livingston never mentioned Trump’s Bible by name, but it was clear he was enraged that the book blurred the lines between church and state.
However, his breakup with Trump was only over that issue, as his sermon was about how Christians would be “confused about everything” if they didn’t study the Bible.
Thinking that the God Bless America Bible was something they should buy was just one example, along with classical conservative Christian ideology.
Livingston is a hardline conservative who moments earlier, in the same sermon, criticized “the whole LGBTQ thing” and called abortion “premeditated murder.”
“People who don’t read the Bible, who don’t pray, who call themselves Christians, get confused by the whole LGBTQ thing,” he said.
‘Because instead of looking at what the word says, they look at how people feel and what it’s doing to people.
‘People who don’t read the Bible, pray and call themselves Christians will be confused about abortion. Is it a woman’s right? Unceasingly.
It’s murder! Yes. It is the premeditated termination of an innocent human life! That’s called murder!’
The website that sells the God Bless the USA Bible touts it as “the only Bible endorsed by President Trump.”
The Bible is described as “easy to read” with “large print” and a “slim design” that “invites you to explore God’s Word anywhere, anytime.”
The cover of the King James Version Bible contains the words “Holy Bible” and “God Bless the USA.” and a design based on the US flag.
The website says the Bible is not funding Trump’s presidential campaign, noting that it “is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign.”
Instead, it is one of the latest companies to make money from Trump along with his Trump-branded sneakers and NFTs that show him in cartoon-like images, including as an astronaut, cowboy and superhero.
“Religion and Christianity are what is most lacking in this country,” Trump says in his biblical speech.
‘And I really think we have to get them back and we have to do it quickly. I think it is one of the biggest problems we have. That’s why our country is crazy. We have lost religion in our country.
He goes on to say, “We love God and we have to protect everything that is pro-God.”
He concludes by putting a twist on his campaign slogan, saying, “We must make America pray again.”