Appearing on the Focal Point radio program this week, the founder of the Christian magazine Charisma had an urgent message for his fellow Christians: When it comes to President Trump, dissent will not be tolerated.

While promoting his book God and Donald Trump, Steve Strang told host Alex McFarland that Christians who refuse to support Trump are much like the biblical “Pharisees in Jesus’ day” who plotted to undermine Jesus.

“Here he was, the promised Messiah, and these are the people who practice Jewish law better than anyone else and they just had a mindset against him and couldn’t see the truth,” Strang said. “A lot of people get a mindset, they think a certain way politically … and they just think that way and they don’t think for themselves.”

Strang, like many religious conservative supporters of Trump, are laboring under the delusion that Trump is some sort of Christian. Trump’s “spiritual adviser” Paula White has convinced many in the evangelical flock that she has “personally” led him to Christ. As The Washington Post pointed out last month, Trump is not a member of any church and once even said that he doesn’t need to ask God for forgiveness. But nevertheless, Trump’s most vocal evangelical supporters insist on insulating him inside a narrative that says he God’s chosen vessel to be a voice for Christianity in the White House.

According to Strang, Christians who dare to speak out against the MAGA brand are “mean-spirited” and “blind.”

When you start making any sort of comparison that even hints that Trump is like Jesus, I think it's safe to say your theology has completely gone of the rails. https://t.co/GJsXgjRIcm — The Fabulous Jarred (@JarredH) January 12, 2018

“Don’t we all know Christians throughout history who have twisted facts to go along with their preconceived ideas?” Strang said without a hint of irony. “It’s one reason why Christians sometimes have a bad reputation in some circles because a lot of times we are kind of narrow-minded and mean-spirited. I’ll tell you, some of the ‘Never Trumpers’ were really, in my opinion, mean-spirited in the way they went after him.”

The fact that Trump has never bothered to identify himself as an evangelical didn’t stop Strang from plastering him with the label.

“If he prayed to accept Christ, isn’t that kind of the definition of being an evangelical even if he has not been one of us over the years?”

Listen to the audio of Strang’s interview via Right Wing Watch:

Featured image via Flickr