Why Trump’s Spiritual Adviser Dedicated a Golden Statue to the President
Key takeaways
- According to Burns, Trump was originally scheduled to attend the ceremony in person, but apparently changed plans amid criticism for posting, and later deleting, an A.I.-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ.
- I recently spoke by phone with Burns, who is the senior pastor at the Harvest Praise & Worship Center, in Easley, South Carolina, and the founder of the internationally broadcast NOW evangelical television network.
- How did you come to be a person who is sometimes described as President Trump’s spiritual adviser?
During the ceremony, Trump called in and described the statue as “beautiful.” The event was presided over by Pastor Mark Burns, a longtime Trump supporter, while the idea for the statue came from a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts who support the President, and used its creation to sell a meme coin called $PATRIOT. According to Burns, Trump was originally scheduled to attend the ceremony in person, but apparently changed plans amid criticism for posting, and later deleting, an A.I.-generated image of himself as Jesus Christ. (Burns later took to social media to strongly deny that the statue represented a form of idol worship.)
I recently spoke by phone with Burns, who is the senior pastor at the Harvest Praise & Worship Center, in Easley, South Carolina, and the founder of the internationally broadcast NOW evangelical television network. During our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, we discussed the backstory behind the statue, why Burns believes God told him to support Trump, and why he thinks opponents of the President misunderstand how his supporters really see him.
How did you come to be a person who is sometimes described as President Trump’s spiritual adviser?