The basic idea of his “gnostic medicine” was that we’re sick only because we think bad thoughts. Illness and death are an illusion.
.. The Word of Faith movement was largely the brainchild of E.W. Kenyon (1867-1948), who blended Quimby’s Emersonian transcendentalism with his more evangelical “Victorious Life” beliefs. “I know that I am healed,” he wrote, “because [God] said that I am healed and it makes no difference what the symptoms may be in my body.”
.. Kenneth Hagin, revered as “granddaddy” in Word of Faith circles, gave the faith-healing movement its theological core. It included odd teachings about us all being “little gods.” Those who are born again, Hagin said, “are as much the incarnation [of God] as Jesus of Nazareth.” “You don’t have a God living in you,” says Hagin’s student Kenneth Copeland. “You are one.” Creflo Dollar adds, “[The] only human part of you is the flesh you’re wearing.”
.. In the 1950s, American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr described Peale’s message as a false gospel: “The basic sin of this cult is its egocentricity,” he said. “It puts ‘self’ instead of the cross at the center of the picture.”
.. the movement teaches that Jesus went to the cross not to bring forgiveness of our sins but to get us out of financial debt, not to reconcile us to God but to give us the power to claim our prosperity, not to remove the curse of death, injustice and bondage to ourselves but to give us our best life now. White says emphatically that Jesus is “not the only begotten Son of God,” just the first. We’re all divine and have the power to speak worlds into existence.
.. God spoke and created the universe; you have creative power to speak life and death! If you believe God, you can create anything in your life.”
.. Of course, to be a “little god,” you have to do your part, often involving a financial commitment. It’s what they call “seed faith.” White even gives her viewers the words to tell themselves: “So I’m going to activate my miracle by my obedience right now. I’m going to get up and go to the phone.” When you do that, she says, and “put a demand on the anointing,” you’re “going to make God get off His ivory throne.” “Don’t you miss this moment! If you miss your moment, you miss your miracle!”
.. In fact, one gets the impression that God isn’t necessary at all in the system. God set up these spiritual laws and if you know the secrets, you’re in charge of your destiny.
.. But it is striking that Trump has surrounded himself with cadre of prosperity evangelists who cheerfully attack basic Christian doctrines. The focus of this unity is a gospel that is about as diametrically opposed to the biblical one as you can imagine.
Trump’s religious dealmaking pays dividends
“We don’t need a religious president,” said Burns, who was touched by the gift and recounted the story in a recent interview. “We need a president who can build relationships with people.”
.. And now, that transactional cycle seems likely to shape his White House agenda on issues of interest to the religious right.
.. But as much as religious conservative leaders respected Bush’s personal evangelical bona fides, they say that Trump — a man who has struggled to articulate his faith principles and is unapologetic about his tabloid-worthy personal life — has made more concrete commitments. They range from his pledge to appoint only Supreme Court justices who oppose abortion rights — a commitment Bush wouldn’t make — to his vow to defund Planned Parenthood.
.. He ultimately won the support of nearly every politically prominent Christian leader and landed 81 percent of the evangelical vote, a higher percentage than Bush netted in 2004.
.. “I think that he understood that his best and likely only chance to win the nomination and ultimately the presidency was to compete for and win the support of voters of faith,” said Ralph Reed
.. “I will say, having been involved with administrations from Reagan’s forward, this is the most solicitous that any incoming administration has been for input from evangelicals concerning personnel decisions that I’ve experienced,” Land said
.. ‘He’s very grateful for the faith community, he wants your input.’ That didn’t even happen under George W. Bush. They were willing to take our recommendations, but they didn’t actively solicit them three times before inauguration.”
.. He has not yet reached out to National Presbyterian Church, which has a rich political history — Ronald Reagan attended services there, Dwight D. Eisenhower laid a cornerstone there
.. “I think Norman Vincent Peale is the definition of a kind of transactional religion where it’s all about getting ahead,” said Blair, who has also written about Peale’s effect on the Trumps.
.. “Norman Vincent Peale’s message was, do whatever it takes to be successful, everything is transactional,”
.. Members of the evangelical advisory board certainly don’t question Trump’s faith, but they tend to be more voluble in describing his policy promises than in the particulars of what he believes. And to them, that’s what matters most.
.. “He said, ‘the only way I’m going to get to heaven is by repealing the Johnson amendment,’” which restricts tax-exempt churches from engaging in political activity, Land recalled. “Immediately, one of our people on the call said, ‘No, sir, the only way you’re going to get to heaven is by trusting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.’ Mr. Trump said, ‘Thank you for reminding me.’”
Overlooked Influences on Donald Trump: A Famous Minister and His Church
“They said, ‘We understand this is where Marla Maples met Donald Trump,’” recalled the choir director and organist at the time, Kevin Walters, “‘so we thought we’d come and see if we could hook up with a billionaire, too.’”
.. He describes himself as a Presbyterian, but Marble is not a Presbyterian church — it is part of the Reformed Church in America,
.. the Trumps were prominent parishioners at a church close to their home, First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, Queens. Like Marble, it is a church with a history: It describes itself as the oldest continuously worshiping Presbyterian congregation in the country.
.. But in the 1960s, the Trumps gravitated to Marble. The lure was Dr. Peale, a household name since the publication of the 1952 best seller that transformed “the power of positive thinking” into a national catchphrase.
.. “Everything he does is about winning,” Gwenda Blair, the author of “The Trumps: Three Generations of Builders and a Presidential Candidate,” a biography of the family, said in a recent New York Times podcast. “It’s only about winning and losing — those two are the only principles that are involved. That’s a very Norman Vincent Peale notion — that notion of success above all.”
.. Richard M. Nixon worshiped at Marble after he lost to Kennedy, and Dr. Peale supported him even as the Watergate scandal doomed his presidency.
.. “I don’t respect Mr. Trump very much,” he was quoted as saying. “I don’t think the image of Norman Vincent Peale that comes through Donald Trump is any connection to the idea I have of him.”
.. Mr. Trump said that contrary to what the two women had told the usher — and contrary to a famous tabloid headline, “They Met in Church” — his first encounter with Ms. Maples was not at Marble. But as the relationship developed, so did the awkwardness for some at the church.
.. This was really embarrassing, that this man was married and having this big-time affair and the church was connected with it.”