The Evangelicals for Trump campaign kickoff begins Friday in Miami at the church of self-described “apostle” Guillermo Maldonado, founder of King Jesus International Ministry, which his website calls “one of the fastest-growing multicultural churches in the United States.”
Maldonado is associated with dominionist “prophets” and “apostles” like Lou Engle, Ché Ahn, and Cindy Jacobs. Pro-Trump “prophet” Lance Wallnau promoted the Evangelicals for Trump launch during a “2020 Prophecy” video livestream on New Year’s Day, portraying the 2020 election as a spiritual battle and repeatedly urging his supporters to attend the Friday night rally.
Like other pro-Trump “prophets,” Maldonado believes that God has raised up President Donald Trump as part of his plan for the End Times and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Speaking at the 2019 Global Prophetic Summit hosted by Jacobs’ Generals International in November, Maldonado said God told him, “America, I have prepared this time, I have raised somebody in office to open the doors for my gospels.”
“And the Lord said, ‘America, open your eyes. Do not miss the time of your visitation. Do not miss the time of your visitation,’ says God,” Maldonado continued.
Maldonado said God had revealed to him the order of events taking place in the End Times cycle we are now in. There will be “shaking” around the world that will cause people to seek God, Maldonado said, bringing about a global revival. Part of the shaking will be civil wars as well as a holy war between the “seeker-friendly artificial church” and “the real, supernatural remnant church.”
Maldonado said God told him that civil war was coming to America. “The Lord showed me what is going to happen in America,” he said. “The Lord said, ‘What you saw, there’s a white horse that has been released upon the earth of civil wars,’ and then he said, ‘That horse is coming upon America.’”
Maldonado is one of the Hispanic evangelical leaders that have promoted Trump and defended him from critics of his anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. He signed a recent religious-right letter opposing Christianity Today’s recent editorial in favor of Trump’s impeachment.
Maldonado has reportedly told undocumented members of his congregation that they shouldn’t worry that Trump is showing up at their church on Friday. The pastor said Trump’s campaign chose the location. Newsweek reported:
Maldonado told parishioners he didn’t think the president would “do such a thing,” referencing immigration raids. To attend the event, parishioners had to register on Trump’s campaign website and as their “spiritual father and pastor,” Maldonado affirmed they didn’t have to be a citizen.
“If you want to come, do it for your pastor,” he said, according to the Miami Herald. “That’s a way of supporting me.”
Maldonado has been welcomed into the Trump White House. He was part of a group of religious-right leaders who met with Trump in October to express their continuing support and to criticize the impeachment inquiry. Maldonado was also part of a White House visit in January 2019, when he and other Hispanic evangelical religious leaders gave Trump cover on his immigration policies. From a Christian Post story on that meeting:
“We’re here to support you, Mr. President. You know, there’s misconception in the public, thinking that Spanish community is for illegal immigration. There’s a misconception also that we want open borders,” Pastor Guillermo Maldonado of King Jesus Ministry in Miami said.
“Dealing with people every single day, I see that our community support what you’re doing. We don’t want open borders. I’ve been in 70 countries, preaching the Gospel, and every country has laws and order. And every country we go, America has been so gracious, opening the doors and opening the doors for every person that comes,” he continued. “… We’re here to support you, and what you’re doing is great. The lowest unemployment for Spanish people — 4 percent — that’s incredible.”
Maldonado claims to be the “spiritual father” to hundreds of churches in 50 countries, “which form the Network of the Supernatural Movement” and is the founder of the “University of the Supernatural Ministry.” His show “The Supernatural Now” is broadcast on Christian television networks Daystar and Trinity Broadcasting Network. In March, Maldonado preached about spiritual warfare, which he said will reflect increasing demonic activity as we near the End Times. “In this house, I am training you to be militant,” he said, urging people to pray that God would give them hate for the devil and his works.
Maldonado is also on the executive committee of the Latino Coalition for Israel, led by another Trump-promoting pastor Mario Bramnick, which has lobbied Latin American governments to follow Trump’s lead in moving their embassies in Israel to Jerusalem.
At the Global Prophetic Summit in November, Maldonado also preached about God’s remnant getting access to wealth, and told people they could “shift” their personal economies by being “aggressive” in “sowing a seed”— by giving money to Jacobs’ Generals International.
