Article By Stacey Patterson // EEW Magazine // Faith + Politics

Televangelist and T.D. Jakes protégé Paula White says you can disagree with Donald Trump all you want, but he is the only hope for religious freedom and America in general.

The preacher with a largely black audience, who serves as the president’s spiritual advisor, argues that standing up for the controversial leader is akin to standing “against the darkness to keep America shining as a beacon to the world.”

White, 53, made these bold statements during a recent appearance on “The Jim Bakker Show,” in support of her newly-released book Something Greater, reports The Christian Post.

The fierce Trump advocate and acting chair of his evangelical advisory board heaped praise on the polarizing president, acknowledging his efforts to “protect religious freedom in a spiritual war between good and evil that is being waged through the courts and that threatens to outlaw the Bible as hate speech.”

Last month, during Trump’s three-day visit to the United Nations, he focused on what he called an “urgent moral duty” for world leaders to stop crimes against faith, release prisoners of conscience and repeal laws restricting religious liberty.

“Approximately 80% of the world’s population live in countries where religious liberty is threatened, restricted or even banned,” Trump said in a speech, adding that when he first heard the statistic, he didn’t believe it and asked for verification.

International religious freedom is a key priority of his evangelical base. His administration has hosted annual meetings on the topic in Washington, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced during this year’s event that he would create an international alliance dedicated to the issue.

“You have to look in the Word and say, what does God say, and where do I line up?” said White, pushing viewers to focus more on the issues Trump is tackling and less on his abrasive personality.

The senior pastor of City of Destiny in Apopka, FL, told viewers that their voting decisions will impact “how things turn out for you, your children, your grandchildren,” adding that in terms of believers’ political leanings, they will have to “stand accountable before God one day.”

White, who has been a staple at Bishop Jakes’ “Woman Thou Art Loosed” conference for years said, as it relates to politics, “It is a battle of righteousness and wickedness, and it did not start with President Trump. This has been a battle to try to take this nation.”

It’s not that simple for black voters, however—even Christian ones. Trump only won 8% of the black vote in 2016, a tiny percentage, and that was before he made some of his incendiary statements directed at people of color.

President Trump faced fierce backlash after he tweeted in July that Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., should leave the United States.

“Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came,” Trump wrote. “Then come back and show us how it is done.”

That same month, Trump said the late Elijah Cummings’ Maryland district which includes parts of Baltimore was “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.”

African Americans are overwhelmingly unhappy with Trump's job performance, polls have consistently shown. It’s an uphill battle, but the Republican president is trying to win over black voters by citing low unemployment and his own success in signing criminal justice legislation. So far, there is no evidence to suggest that he will succeed.

On the other hand, White’s fervor and sentiment tracks with polling which shows an overwhelming majority of white evangelical Protestants consistently expressing approval of Trump’s handling of his job since his inauguration. Even among white evangelicals, those who attend church weekly have been just as or even more likely to approve of the president over the course of his term, according to Pew Research Center data.

In August, a Pew Research survey found 77% of white evangelical Protestants approving of Trump’s performance. Those who report attending church weekly were more likely to approve than those who attend less often, 81% versus 73%.

“We’re ushering in a great awakening, and we’ll see the greatest harvest ever, and they want to fight President Trump because of what he’s standing for,” said White.

“I want to say really bluntly to my audience: You don’t have to like Trump. In fact, you can hate Trump. That’s your right as an American. But when we see this level of corruption happening in our government, when we see journalists abdicate their sacred calling as journalists to follow a narrative, I have to say, every American should be scared, because if you do not undo this, if you don’t wake up from the dream, it’s the end of America,” she also said.