During a recent appearance on SkyWatch TV, “firefighter prophet” and right-wing conspiracy theorist Mark Taylor declared that churches that operate under a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status have entered into a covenant with Baal and have a “demonic portal” hovering over them.

Despite the fact that Taylor doesn’t seem to understand what 501(c)(3) status actually is, he is convinced that churches that operate under it do so because they have a “slavery mentality” and have taken a “bribe” from the government.

“It’s almost like they’re having a demonic portal over the top of them,” he said, “so it’s influencing each person and each ministry in a different way, depending on their spiritual maturity. This is why we’re seeing such moral issues, the financial corruption going on in the churches, this is why we’re seeing people leave because they’re tired of this stuff. But it’s that slavery mentality where they want to be governed, basically. They don’t want to be the one to rule and reign, like God called us to.”

“Ninety-five percent of our churches,” Taylor continued, “are under that 501(c)(3). They’re in covenant with Baal. That is a covenant with the kingdom of darkness, basically. They took a bribe from 1954 and entered into a covenant.”