Rev. Loran Livingston trashed the Trump Bible, but not for the reason everyone thinks

Apr 30, 2024

For over a week now, people have been praising a Pentecostal preacher named Loran Livingston for a fiery sermon he gave on April 14 in which he appeared to denounce the Trump Bible, which he called “disgusting,” “blasphemous,” and a “ploy.”

But a closer look at the sermon shows us that, even if he was implying the Trump Bible had a problem, he wasn’t denouncing Trump, Trumpism, or even Christian Nationalism.

This guy is not your friend.

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Still, a lot of people are falling for it.

After all, a clip posted on TikTok has already received over a million views with the caption, “I don’t know who he is but the American Church better hear man.” Prominent liberals shared the clip saying things like “This evangelical is over Trump.” On X/Twitter, similar posts urged people to check out this “must watch” segment of Livingston "torching” Trump.

Except torching Trump is not at all what he’s doing.

On the surface, it’s not hard to see why a pastor might take that position. The Trump-endorsed $59.99 (plus shipping!) Bible is a Christian Nationalist’s wet dream. It includes the KJV translation along with the texts of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance, and singer Lee Greenwood’s famous song. But more than anything, it’s a way to sell MAGA cultists a book they will never read because it just sounds like something they should own. The fact remains that if you’re looking for a Bible, there are easier and cheaper ways to get one.

Livingston wasn’t really mad because of any of that.

He was mad because the book literally mixes religion with government, and no matter anyone’s positions on the issues, a lot of pastors simply don’t want their faith on the same playing field as politics. They believe their faith (and only their faith) takes precedence over politics. To say otherwise demeans their religion. It’s the same reasoning that leads many white evangelicals to say silly things like church/state separation is about keeping government out of church, but not vice versa.

That’s what Livingston was getting at in that sermon clip. Here’s the relevant portion:

… You think that politics is spiritual stuff. Politics is of this world. You think it's your duty to be political about this, that, and the other. No! Your duty is to serve the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, body, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Don't be talking to me about my “spiritual responsibility to vote.” I don't have a “spiritual… responsibility to vote.” I have a civic privilege. Don't be telling me that voting is spiritual.

See, that's what happens when you don't read and pray. When you don't read and pray… you say, “Wow! There's a Bible out now that includes the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! Isn't that wonderful?”

No! No, it's disgusting! It's blasphemous. It's a ploy! Are you kidding me? Some of you are so encouraged by that?

Let me tell you something: The gospel is not an American gospel. It is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!

“But pastor, I bought the Bible!” Really? You're telling me that you're encouraged because someone took a… document that says “We are of the people, by the people, and for the people”—the people, the people, the people—and you have put it right beside the word of God, which is eternal, unchanging, which says “of Him, by Him, through Him, to Him, from Him are all things,” and you're going to put those together and be happy about it? God forbid!

Now you can get mad if you want to, but I'm going to tell you something. If you glory in that kind of thing, you don't have a prayer life. If you glory in that kind of mess—political mess—you do not know what the word of God says.

I'm going to rear back and tell you something: This is not my home. This world is not my home. I've been sent out just like the 70 were sent out. You've been put here and sent out just like the 70 were sent out. We've been put here as strangers and pilgrims and we are passing through. I am just walking through. I'm just renting an apartment for a little while in this strange and foreign land. No, sir, my real citizenship is in Heaven from which we look for the Lord Jesus Christ, who's going to change our vile body that it may be made like unto His glorious body! 

As far as sermons go, it’s easy to see why people could hear that and believe Livingston is trashing Trump. Those people, however, are sorely mistaken. Livingston is not your ally. He’s not progressive. He and most everyone in his congregation would probably vote for Trump.

In fact, what most posts about Livingston missed was what he said seconds prior to that segment referencing the Trump Bible.

It’s a reminder that this guy isn’t anti-Trump in the least; he’s just upset that people are attracted to a Bible because it’s mixed with politics, as if the Bible wasn’t worthy enough on its own.

So if you don't read the Bible, and if you don't have a prayer life, you will be confused about everything.

People who don't read the Bible and don't pray, who call themselves Christians, get confused about the whole LGBTQ thing because instead of looking at what the Word says, they look look at how people feel, and how they feel, and what's doing to people [sic].

People who don't read the Bible and pray and call themselves Christians will be confused about abortion. Is it a woman's right? On and on… It's murder! It's the premeditated termination of innocent human life. That's called murder!

People that don't read and pray will get politics mixed up with church. They start mixing and meshing together. That’s why some of you bring politics into the church. You think that politics is spiritual stuff… 

People who don’t read the Bible support LGBTQ rights.

People who don’t read the Bible support abortion rights.

People who don’t read the Bible think politics and religion are two sides of the same coin.

That’s his logic. That’s the thinking he opposes. He wants everyone to place his version of Christianity above all things in this world, and mixing the spiritual with the material violates that principle. He’s not against Trump. He’s not against Christian Nationalism as we know it.

He’s only mad because some Christians might buy a Trump-endorsed Bible because it’s Trump-endorsed.

It’s fair for a pastor to be upset about that! But so many people online are misinterpreting the true source of his frustration.

There’s no reason to put Livingston on a pedestal. We’ve heard this all before. He’s not telling his church to vote against Trump (or, at least legally, the issues that Trump is running on). He’s just angry that some people are drawn to the Bible—the Trump Bible—because of politics.

That stance doesn’t make him unique among preachers. He doesn’t deserve praise for what he said because there’s nothing courageous about what he said.