January 20, 2017

USA: Donald Trump Presidential Inauguration: 6 Faith Leaders To Participate In Swearing-In Ceremony. Love This Lineup! 😊 Full Disclosure: Paula White Has Been My Pastor For Many Years. 💞


Published on Jan 20, 2017:
Prayers and readings at President Trump inauguration January 20, 2017.
Washinton's Top News, WTOP
written by Sarah Beth Hensley
Wednesday December 28, 2016

WASHINGTON — Six faith leaders will participate in the swearing-in ceremony of President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence, the inauguration committee announced Wednesday.

The faith leaders will participate in the Jan. 20 ceremony at the Capitol. They include an array of high profile Catholic, evangelical and Jewish leaders.

Readings and invocations will come from His Eminence Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York; Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and Pastor Paula White of New Destiny Christian Center.

Readings and benediction will come from Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean and Founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; Rev. Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse and The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as well as son of famous evangelist Billy Graham; and Bishop Wayne T. Jackson of Great Faith Ministries International.

The faith leaders will “honor the vital role religious faith plays in our multicultural, vibrant nation,” Presidential Inaugural Committee Chairman Tom Barrack said in a news release.

On Jan. 21, there will be a National Prayer Service at the Washington National Cathedral that will include representatives of all religious faiths. It is not yet clear if the faith leaders participating in the swearing-in ceremony will play a role in the National Prayer Service.

The committee said more details about the prayer service will be released in the coming weeks.

Read more about the swearing-in ceremony and ticket availability on the Inauguration Day event website.

Paula White Ministries uploaded video on Apr 29, 2008: A clip from life coach Paula White with Donald Trump and Robert Kiyosaki on finding your passion in life.

The Washington Post, USA
written by Julie Zauzmer
Wednesday December 28, 2016

Six prominent clergy members — including a Catholic cardinal, black and Hispanic Protestant leaders and a rabbi — will pray at Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The inaugural committee told The Post on Wednesday that Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Rev. Franklin Graham, Rabbi Marvin Hier, Bishop Wayne T. Jackson, the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez and Pastor Paula White will all give readings at the ceremony.

The choice of clergy members to speak at previous inaugurations has drawn criticism, including Barack Obama’s choice of Pastor Rick Warren in 2008 because of Warren’s anti-gay-marriage stance. Trump’s inaugural committee chose some clergy members, including Jackson and White, who were associated with Trump during his campaign, as well as others like Rodriguez, who spoke out against Trump’s views on immigration and other issues of importance to his Hispanic Christian community.

“It’s a particular honor that shows the greatness of America,” said Hier, the first rabbi chosen for an inauguration since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985. When Hier’s selection was announced Wednesday, he mused about what his parents — who fled anti-Semitism in Poland and moved to America before the Holocaust — would think about his role. “Whatever you turn to in the Torah, one can find connections and relevance to whatever period of history human beings live in. So that’s not going to be a challenge.”

Trump chose more clergy than his predecessors, who since 1989 have picked just one or two people to pray at their inaugurations.

Graham previously prayed at the inauguration of George W. Bush in 2001. The son of famed evangelist Billy Graham who now runs the association named for his father and the charity Samaritan’s Purse, Graham defended Trump throughout his campaign against charges that the businessman went against Christian values. When many Republicans were expressing disgust in October over the release of a tape showing Trump speaking crudely about women on the set of Access Hollywood, Graham wrote on Facebook, “The crude comments made by Donald J. Trump more than 11 years ago cannot be defended. But the godless progressive agenda of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton likewise cannot be defended. . . . The most important issue of this election is the Supreme Court.”

Jackson, pastor at Great Faith Ministries International Church in Detroit, hosted Trump for a visit to his church in September. And White, who runs a major ministry based in Florida, helped orchestrate Trump’s meeting with hundreds of evangelical leaders in June and has been called one of his top spiritual advisers.

“In American history Inauguration Day is one of the most sacred and important celebrations we have as a people, not only because it signifies the peaceful transition of power but also because on this day ‘We The People’ appeal to the favor, blessing and guidance of God on our country, on our people and on our new leadership,” White said in a statement.

She is the only woman among the six people who will pray at the inauguration, and the second woman ever to pray at an inauguration, after civil rights leader Medgar Evers’s widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, became the first in 2013.

Rodriguez, on the other hand, debated whether to even show a video message that Trump recorded in May for the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which he runs. “I’m actually very opposed to his rhetoric on most issues,” Rodriguez said about Trump at the time. “At the top of the list, his rhetoric on immigrants, on immigration, is unacceptable.”

Dolan, too, has criticized Trump’s stance on immigration. As the archbishop of New York, he is the most prominent Catholic official in the United States. On Wednesday, he said in a statement, “I am honored to have been asked to offer a reading from Scripture at the upcoming presidential inauguration, and look forward to asking Almighty God to inspire and guide our new President and to continue to bless our great Nation.”

Hier, the founder of the Los Angeles-based human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center, strongly denounced Trump when the candidate first floated the idea of temporarily banning all Muslims from entering the United States. But on Wednesday, he was upbeat about the man whose presidency he will help ring in.

“I have every confidence that President-Elect Trump will do the right thing for America,” he said. He said he planned to pick a selection from the Torah to read that would inspire Americans to take action themselves to improve their communities.

The music at Trump’s inauguration will also have a religious flavor: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, known for its patriotic music at several previous inaugurations and other national events, will sing in the ceremony.
Christian Today, USA
written by Hazel Torres
Saturday January 14, 2017

Like angels from heaven, hundreds of "prayer warriors" have descended on Washington D.C. to undertake a crucial mission: protect U.S. President-elect Donald Trump by building a "prayer shield" around him ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.

Among these prayer warriors are the members of a new group called POTUS Shield (as in President of the United States) who gathered inside the National Press Club on Thursday, CBN News reported.

Pastor Eric Majette from Virginia Beach, Virginia said POTUS Shield is composed of pastors from all over America.

"We're actually a prayer group. We pray for leaders across our nation — a group of pastors come together to pray for our nation and our leaders, particularly the new administration," he said.

Speaking at the gathering, Alveda King, the niece of famed civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the director of Civil Rights for the Unborn, said they are counting on God to bring sweeping positive changes to America.

"We're really not looking for Mr. Trump or any human to change America, but we know God can and will do it," she said.

Pastor Leon Benjamin from Richmond, Virginia addressed the concerns aired by members of the African-American community who fear that the Trump administration will mean trouble for them.

"We must believe for the best," Benjamin told CBN News. "It doesn't matter who is in the White House as long as there is faith that God has not forsaken us and that He has not left us because of a transition of power. That would be dreadful for us as pastors and leaders to say 'Oh my God, we're doomed now!' So we're very hopeful."

Other prayer warriors descended on Capitol Hill to pray not only for Trump but also for Ben Carson, the former Republican presidential candidate and Trump's nominee as Housing and Urban Development Secretary, during his Senate hearing.

Meanwhile, TIME reported that Trump has invited some of his former critics in the Christian community to take part in his inauguration. The weekly magazine found out that Rev. Sam Rodriguez Jr. is expected to stand on the inaugural platform together with Trump and proclaim Jesus' famous words from the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

He will be joined by Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who is expected to read aloud a passage from Solomon's prayer to God when he became king of Israel. "Even one who is perfect among human beings will be regarded as nothing without the wisdom that comes from you," the passage reads.

Both Rodriguez and Dolan were known Trump critics during his campaign.

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