Both presidential candidates—Donald Trump and Joe Biden—attended church yesterday. Both candidates attended the services before proceeding to their scheduled campaign events. The dueling candidates attended services as different from one another as their respective platforms.
Biden attended a church he and his wife have been attending for years, St. Joseph’s on the Brandywine Catholic Church in Greenville, Delaware. Trump visited a church in Las Vegas, Nevada he’s been to two other times—a nondenominational megachurch called International Church of Las Vegas (ICLV).
The pastors of ICLV, Paul Marc and Denise Goulet, along with another church leader, Pasqual Urrabazo, showered Trump in praise and blessings during the nearly two-hour service on Sunday.
Pastor’s Prophecy: Trump Will Win Election
The highlight of the service was when Denise prophesied Trump would win the upcoming election. Denise addressed the President after the worship band had sung a few songs:
At 4:30 the Lord said to me, ‘I am going to give your president a second win.’ Now, this has three meanings, a win. You will be the president again and a win, when an athlete is running a marathon, there’s such a thing as a second win….The Lord says he has made your body in such a way that you have been trained in such high pressure places in the last four years, and even before that. ‘He is ready for the next four years and I’m giving him a second win.’ A second wind—is the Holy Spirit. Another infilling of the Holy Spirit. He said to me that you are the apple of his eye. He is protecting you like he is protecting the ancient foundations of our nation. God wants to be in the middle of our nation.
Denise also exclaimed “You’re doing a great job out there! I really want to thank you, Mr. President.”
Urrabazo said he had a vision to share with the president. He shared that in the president’s left hand he saw generosity and in the right hand, stewardship. Urrabazo said that with the president’s stewardship, “we will be able to have enough for this nation and enough for other nations because we were called to be a blessing to all nations.”
Paul Marc wove his praise for the president throughout his sermon. The pastor shared a list of ten reasons why the president deserved honor. The reasons included moving the embassy to Jerusalem, “giving a voice back to the church,” and helping the U.S. become energy dependent. Paul Marc, who is originally from Canada, said his words were not political but in line with the Bible’s teaching to “give honor where honor is due” (Proverbs 3:27).
Paul Marc said he saw a vision of the president standing with a torch like the Statue of Liberty. He said he wanted to make a covenant with the president. The pastor told Trump he would be fasting one day a week for the president until the election and then afterward, through November. The pastor asked who in his congregation would commit to do the same.
Before leaving the service, Trump addressed the congregation, thanking them for their support. “I go to many churches and I love going to churches,” Trump said, speaking to the pastors. He went on to praise them for their “great talent” and for the work they have done to help the city.
Joe Biden Attends Mass
Meanwhile, in Delaware, Biden was met with a very different kind of service. A lifelong Catholic, Biden and his wife, Jill, have attended St. Joseph on the Brandywine for several years now. This is the church where Biden’s son, Beau, is buried and where his daughter, Ashley, was married in 2012. Speaking to the National Catholic Reporter, Msgr. Joseph Rebman said the Bidens “arrive a little late and leave a bit early, just like a lot of Catholics.”
On Sunday, Father Glenn Evers gave the homily, which expounded upon the meaning of Mark 12:13-17. Evers asked parishioners to reflect on how they spend their “capital”—in multiple meanings of the word, including finances, time, and resources. The focus of the priest’s message was on “giving to God what is God’s” in our everyday lives. The homily, as most do at Catholic Mass, was short and sweet, lasting about eight minutes.
Later in the day, Biden campaigned in North Carolina and attended a virtual meeting with African American faith leaders. He held up a small rosary, which he referred to as a prisoner’s rosary (named thus because one could potentially smuggle it into a prison). According to AP News, Biden told the leaders, “I happen to be a Roman Catholic. I don’t pray for God to protect me. I pray to God to give me strength to see what other people are dealing with.”
