Evangelical singer/preacher Sean Feucht has been a prominent figure in the MAGA movement, preaching far-right Christian nationalist views and heading the nonprofits Sean Feucht Ministries and Light a Candle. Feucht, according to Rolling Stone, founded the group Pastors for Trump and said that "America should be governed according to biblical law for the benefit of believers as a way to prepare for the second coming of Christ."
Feucht has plenty of critics within Christianity, including Catholics and Mainline Protestants who oppose Christian nationalism and reject the idea that supporting President Donald Trump is a prerequisite for preaching the gospel. And now, according to Religion News Service (RNS) reporter Jack Jenkins, criticism of Feucht is also coming from evangelical former associates.
In an RNS article published on June 3, Jenkins reports, "Former associates of the evangelical Christian musician Sean Feucht are accusing the COVID-19 closure critic and prominent supporter of President Donald Trump of 'potential financial crimes' as former staffers say they experienced 'spiritual, emotional, and psychological abuse' under his leadership. Over the weekend, a website titled Truth and Freedom Stories filled with written and video testimonies appeared, on which former staffers and associates, many of them making their names public, raised questions about Feucht's leadership."
Feucht, Jenkins notes, "achieved fame during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic for his 'Let Us Worship' concerts protesting pandemic restrictions on churches."
Former Feucht staffers, according to Jenkins, "allege that amid his rise, Feucht used business credit cards for personal expenses on multiple occasions, failed to pay staff minimum wage and may have used donations to invest in personal properties."
"They also say he falsely reported on tax forms that two of his nonprofits, Sean Feucht Ministries and Light a Candle, have no volunteers," Jenkins reports. "The former staffers identify at least six properties owned by Feucht's organizations or Feucht himself. Among them is 'Camp Elah,' a town house near the U.S. Capitol that the former staffers say is classified as a 'parsonage,' despite reports that people are often not present on the property. The staffers say Feucht recently sold a property in California for $1.7 million, which 'suggests a degree of personal wealth.'"
Jenkins points out that Feucht "has been accused of supporting extremists who provided security at events where he performed, including people charged for their role in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol."
Read the full Religion News Service article at this link.
