Lance Wallnau says Trump’s $2 billion foreign aid plan could help convert people to Christianity

The Christian Nationalist preacher is celebrating taxpayer-funded charity as a “transfer of wealth into the Kingdom of God”

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Weeks after the Trump administration announced that it would be giving a two billion dollar handout to faith-based non-profits, ostensibly so they could perform charity work, at least one prominent preacher is saying that money should be used to convert people to Christianity.

Ever since the start of this term, the Trump administration has been broadly criticized for cutting funding for projects like USAID which saved lives around the world. Evangelist Franklin Graham was among those who defended that decision, which was bizarre since a lot of the work done by USAID funding recipients included faith-based groups with the resources to help those who need it. So while the $2 billion infusion feels like a bandage (USAID received $63 billion in 2023), it’s still a much needed booster shot for groups doing good work, even if they are faith-based.

But the expectation is that even if money is going to faith-based groups, the work being done is still secular in nature. That’s how taxpayer funding is supposed to work.

That’s why it was troubling that the Trump administration said the money would go “to an extensive network of internationally recognized and local faith-based partners including World Vision, Compassion International, and Samaritan’s Purse.” While all three have done commendable work in certain areas, they’ve also been criticized in the past for prioritizing their faith over the needs of the people who need help. These groups have No Jews, No Muslims, No Atheists Allowed hiring policies. And they also make clear that their real goal is to spread the Gospel.

As the Freedom From Religion Foundation pointed out:

Samaritan’s Purse is not just any old charity. It explicitly identifies itself as an evangelical Christian organization whose mission combines aid with spreading Christianity. Its own mission statement says it assists “with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ” and “serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The group says its mission is to help people in need while “proclaiming the hope of the Gospel.”

So there’s an open question about how this money will be used and—given this administration—whether any of it would even be tracked. What are the safeguards? Will there be any oversight? How do we know the $300 million promised to Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse for “immediate life-saving assistance to people affected by natural disasters and sustain humanitarian operations in protracted emergencies” over two years will go toward that purpose?

To be clear, the issue isn’t that these groups are getting the money. They do genuinely important (secular) work and have long been part of the nation’s response to disaster relief. The question is how this money would be used given that the Trump administration was openly crowing about how they’re giving hundreds of millions of dollars to faith-based (read: Christian) groups. The entire press release could have been delivered with a series of sly winks.

But interestingly enough, weeks after that announcement was made, Graham said his group didn’t want any of the money.

… We were honored to be a part of this proposal. While we deeply appreciate the confidence that the State Department has placed in Samaritan’s Purse, after prayer and discussion, we have withdrawn from being a recipient of these funds.

Throughout my history leading Samaritan’s Purse, we have always relied on God, not government, for funding. We thank God for the incredible donors he has led to be a part of upholding this ministry. As we have done for decades, we will continue sharing the hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—his death, burial, resurrection, and coming return—always responding to crises in Jesus’ Name.

Never in history has a Christian evangelist said no to a giant bag of cash. So the idea that they would say no now seems… curious at best. We still don’t know the real explanation for why they’re declining the award. Are there strings attached that we don’t know about? Do they not want to be associated with an administration in rapid decline? In case you’re wondering, though, they’ve received about $94 million in taxpayer dollars for similar work in the past, so the issue isn’t really taking money from the government. Not only are they okay with that, they’ve openly advocated for it. In this case, though, the simplest answer may just be that this much government money with this many strings and all the (theoretical) oversight that would come with it isn’t worth it to them.

Beyond that, The Bulwark actually makes a compelling case for why Samaritan’s Purse stood to gain quite a bit from the destruction of USAID and why its own finances are under unique scrutiny these days after it resigned from the pro-transparency Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. It also doesn’t help that they’re sitting on mountains of cash (which is strange for any non-profit) and paying Graham obscene amounts of money.

Whatever the reason, Christian Nationalist and self-described prophet Lance Wallnau—who believes Christians should take over every aspect of the country through the Seven Mountain Mandate—was overjoyed by the idea that Christian groups might get all this money because he fully believes proselytizing will be permitted.

Lance Wallnau (screenshot via YouTube)

Right Wing Watch has the clip:

"There's billions [of dollars] right now that are on the table for a transfer of wealth into the Kingdom of God, if we can hold on to the government to be able to access it," Wallnau declared earlier this year.

…

"You don't have to bow the knee to Baal and sign away your right to pray and talk about Jesus," Wallnau promised. "You don't have to do that because this is a government that understands why Christians don't want to get involved with government stuff, so they're working to make sure that you don't have to lose your faith or compromise your faith."

Wallnau revealed that the ultimate benefit is the Christian organizations can use the money they receive to fund programs that will allow them to evangelize all those whom they serve.

"That turning of $1 trillion that can be now loosed in the greatest transfer of wealth that's ever happened in American history to energize the local church, because every single one of these projects, one of the things they're looking at is get the local church involved with the project so the church can have a renaissance and a reformation of culture in America," Wallnau gloated. "You know what that means? They don't pay you to evangelize. The government will never do that. They'll shut you down. But if you've got a men's program that can take care of men that are alcoholic or they're not paying their child support or they got a drug addiction problem, and you can get them healed, you can get them help, and you can invite them to church. You're allowed to do that. You're allowed to be their friend and bring them with you. You can befriend anyone that you're helping and these people are getting saved by the thousands because of Christians reaching out to help them."

In his mind, if the grant money is supposed to be used to help people in a foreign country after a natural disaster, then Christian groups can now try to win converts as they provide the help. There’s no longer any obstacle in the way. In Wallnau’s mind, the only reason to help people is for the added bonus of trying to convert them, as if humanitarian relief isn’t enough.

Wallnau seems to know something the rest of us don’t, and he’s saying the quiet part out loud. It’s revealing that even if the Christian charity groups’ leaders won’t admit proselytizing is their unstated priority, one of their biggest mouthpieces is telling Christians it is—and that it now has the blessing of the U.S. Government.

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