CONCORD, N.C.—Former President Donald Trump addressed the “Eleventh Hour Faith Leaders Meeting” at the Concord Convention Center near Charlotte on Oct. 21.
Trump told the audience he would protect Christians if he returned to the White House.
“I would create a new federal task force on fighting anti-Christian bias, that will begin immediately,” he said.
The forum was organized by Dr. Ben Carson, who served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Trump and is now his campaign’s Director of Faith Outreach.
Minister Franklin Graham and Eric Trump, the former president’s son, also appeared as keynote speakers.
Ann Sprinkle—who pastors a church with her husband, Steve, in China Grove, North Carolina—stood outside the Concord Convention Center and told The Epoch Times that it is “inspiring” that a presidential candidate “surrounds himself with faith leaders” at a time when “the country needs to turn toward God and not go further away from Him.”
“We can’t keep church and government separate anymore. God was a central part of our country starting with our founding fathers, and the church has stood back way too long,” Sprinkle said.
“Look where we are now, with all of the spiritual warfare and Christianity being attacked right here in our own country.
“I would like to see more events like this with elected officials and faith leaders. We need this to become commonplace in our country.”
Rosemary Jenkins stood outside the Concord Convention Center with her son, 16-year-old Joshua Snyder, and applauded the “open display of Christian faith among our nation’s leaders.”
“The country was founded on God. When I was a child, Christian faith was part of our schools. History has shown us that the further we get away from faith, the more distorted things become,” Jenkins told The Epoch Times.
The faith leaders’ gathering was Trump’s third campaign event in North Carolina on Oct. 21.
He visited Hurricane Helene-impacted western North Carolina, where he spoke in Swannanoa. Then he held a rally in Greenville before joining Graham and Carson at the Concord Convention Center.
Trump won North Carolina by 1.3 percent in the 2020 presidential election.
“This election is not about Democrats and Republicans. This is about whether we are a secular nation or one nation under God,” Carson told a packed room of more than 2,000.
Carson noted that around 20 million evangelical Christians did not vote in the 2020 presidential election and said that people have told him they believe both major political parties are corrupt and they would rather not vote. He said that “you’re always choosing between the lesser of two evils.”
Graham said that “no one in the history of the United States has put on rallies like Donald Trump” but “rallies and positive poll numbers are not going to win this election. It’s going to be God.”
“There is a spiritual element at work. There are dark forces against this man. Tried to put him in prison. They tried to assassinate him twice. He’s attacked every day in the media. The only hope for Donald J. Trump and our nation is God,” Graham said.
Trump talked about how surviving the first assassination attempt over the summer strengthened his belief in God.
“My faith took on new meaning on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, where I was knocked to the ground, essentially by what seemed like a supernatural hand,” Trump said.
“And I would like to think that God saved me for a purpose, and that’s to make our country greater than ever before.”
At a rally last week in Wisconsin, Vice President Kamala Harris spoke about her support of abortion, drawing a response from two college students who proclaimed “Jesus is Lord!” and “Christ is King!”
Harris responded, “Oh, you guys are at the wrong rally. No, I think you meant to go to the smaller one down the street.”
Carson quoted Biblical scripture from Matthew 12:34 in response to what Harris said.
“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. She just said what’s in her heart. Maybe she’s the one that doesn’t belong,” Carson said about Harris.
Near the end of his address, Trump listed what he would do, if elected, drawing loud applause from a crowd of around 2,000.
He said he would take “historic action to defeat the toxic position of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders, male and female” and “we will proudly say ‘Merry Christmas’ again.”
Trump said that on day one, he would sign an executive order banning schools from promoting critical race theory.
“I will take historic action to defeat the toxic poison of gender ideology and reaffirm that God created two genders, male and female,” he said.
Trump also vowed to “stop the migrant invasion” and begin “the largest deportation operation” while addressing inflation and returning America to energy independence.
“Frack and drill, baby. You know, we were energy-independent just four years ago,” he said.
Trump encouraged evangelical Christians to vote early and contribute to creating “a landslide too big to rig.”
“We tell Christians to get out and vote. You don’t have the choice of sitting out this election, because if Kamala Harris gets four more years, the radical left is not going to leave Christians alone,” Trump said.
“It’s going to get worse and worse. You’re going to suffer greatly. They will come after Christians all over the country.”
Trump has faced some criticism about his pursuit of the evangelical Christian vote.
Before Trump arrived in Concord, Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles chastised the former president for what she deemed his misuse of faith-based organizations, including selling Trump-branded Bibles.
Leah Daughtry, a clergywoman who was CEO of the 2008 and 2016 Democratic National Convention committees, told a North Carolina NPR media outlet that last week, Trump “turned a Catholic church charity dinner into a venue for vulgar insults aimed at his political rivals.”
“He has told members of our Christian faith that they should vote for him because they will never have to vote again,” Daughtry said.
