Pro-Trump minister alludes to election indictment arrest during first Sunday sermon back at the pulpit

Within Christianity, former President Donald Trump's most ardent support comes from far-right white evangelicals. But not all Protestants are evangelicals, and among Mainline Protestants, one finds a variety of views on Trump. It isn't hard to find Episcopalians, Lutherans and Methodists who are vehement critics of the ex-president.

The Rev. Stephen Cliffgard Lee, however, is a Lutheran minister in the Chicago suburbs with very pro-Trump views. Lee is among Trump's 18 co-defendants in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' 2020 election case.

Lee, according to Religion News, made "veiled references" to his arrest during a sermon on Sunday, August 27.

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Religion News' Jack Jenkins, in an article published on August 29, explains, "He began the service by launching into an impromptu reading of a passage from the New Testament's Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, which has become popular with prominent conservatives in recent years. The section Lee read calls on believers to 'put on the full armor of God' in order to 'struggle' against 'rulers' and 'the powers of this dark world.'"

Jenkins adds, "Ephesians was not among the Bible lessons slated for Sunday's services, according to the LCMS lectionary, the official schedule of readings…. The pastor also appeared to allude to his arrest at the beginning of his sermon, when he praised the congregation and repeatedly thanked those in attendance who had prepared in case of his absence."

Jenkins notes that Lee, in Willis' indictment, is "alleged to have attempted to influence a Georgia election worker in December 2020, after Trump accused her and another election worker of election fraud."

"Police body camera footage shows Lee acknowledging that he knocked on the door of Ruby Freeman, prosecutors say, as part of a larger effort in which defendants 'unlawfully conspired and endeavored to conduct and participate in criminal enterprise in Fulton County, Georgia, and elsewhere," Jenkins observes.

READ MORE: Meet the pastor who was indicted with Trump in Georgia

Religion News' full report is available at this link.