Brendan Clarey

Opinion contributor

President Donald Trump made a speech Friday night at a church known for preaching the “prosperity gospel,” a false doctrine that claims those who give financial support for pastors and churches will become wealthy and healthy.

That Trump’s first appeal in his “Evangelicals for Trump” campaign comes from this church, Miami’s King Jesus International Ministry, sends a clear message to evangelical Christians: Prosperity gospel and Trump’s promises are as spiritually hollow as they are similar.

Both rely on this basic principle: Give something now, get something later.

On one of King Jesus International Ministry’s donation pages, called First Fruits, can be found a core tenet of the prosperity gospel: “God honors our faith multiplying those fruits and giving us a blessed year.” Essentially, with a little faith, God will multiply your January gift into more money year-round.

Another prime example comes from another of the church’s donation pages: “When we bring offerings to God, He brings overabundance to our finances.”

The lie of the prosperity gospel

King Jesus International Ministry Pastor Guillermo Maldonado wrote a book, published in 2009, called “Jesus Heals Your Sickness Today,” which the description yells in all caps: “WHILE THE WORLD IS SUFFERING UNKNOWN ILLNESS AND EPIDEMICS, THIS BOOK BRINGS TO LIFE THE MINISTRY OF JESUS. IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE NEED HEALING, HERE IS THE PERFECT TOOL YOU NEED TO ATTAIN IT.”

The problem with Maldonado and his church’s teachings is that in no way are they supported by Scripture. God doesn’t promise his followers in the Bible that they will receive “overabundance to our finances” if only they cut him a check. Similarly, he never promises he will heal them when they are sick.

If you want to know what following the will of God looks like in practice, look at Jesus, who was brutally tortured and murdered on the cross for our sins. Look at all the apostles and martyrs who died on account of proclaiming the Gospel.

These people didn’t receive back what they lost in earthly prizes or see their bank accounts increase. They sacrificed their lives for the sake of God’s true word in order to receive the gift of heaven. The prosperity gospel is based on the lie that you can get everything you want from the world by following God. The true Gospel is that Christ alone saves sinners like you and me from eternal punishment if we turn from our sin and follow him by God’s grace.

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It appeared Trump preached from an appropriate pulpit Friday night, considering the promises he made to evangelicals. Throughout the speech, Trump tried to sell himself to Christians as a political savior who, if they vote for him, can give them everything they’ve ever wanted politically and culturally.

Trump spent much of the speech trying to convince evangelicals that he has saved their religion from the clutches of the God-hating left. He alone ended the war on Christmas. He alone ended the government’s war on religion. He alone can defend believers and our churches from being silenced by Democratic presidential candidates.

Trump promises to Christians what he cannot give

And in case you had any doubts that Trump is selling what he cannot possibly deliver, listen to what he said as his speech was coming to an end: “With millions upon millions of evangelical voters, Christian voters and voters of every faith, we will preserve our heritage, we will defend our liberty, we will reclaim our destiny, we will strengthen our families, we will build up our communities, we will restore the role of faith and true foundation of American life.”

How will one vote for Trump on Election Day instantly reclaim our destiny (whatever that means)? Strengthen our families? Build up our communities? Restore the role of faith? If these kinds of core cultural changes aren’t happening now, years after Trump took office and became evangelical’s greatest champion in the White House, why should we expect to magically see them take effect on or after Nov. 3?

None of this means we shouldn’t try to elect a president who will uphold our values and protect religious liberty. But that is the work of a politician, not a political savior.

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Trump’s closing lines sounded more like an altar call than a political message: “Today in churches all across our land, believers are defending our God-given freedoms. We need every single person here today to talk to your families, talk to your neighbors, share our message of national renewal.”

But President Trump’s “message of national renewal” is ultimately a false gospel — earthly deliverance in exchange for political support. He cannot keep his promises in the same way that Maldonado and his church cannot keep theirs.

Donald Trump tries to brand himself as the savior of American Christians who will give them everything they want if they give him their votes. But as with the prosperity gospel, Christians must be wary of worldly promises from false political saviors. Christians will only ever have one savior, and he’s not in the Oval Office — he’s at the right hand of God the Father.

Brendan Clarey is an evangelical Christian and a former Collegiate Network fellow for USA TODAY's opinion section. Follow him on Twitter: @BrendanClarey