A right-wing Christian author has claimed that COVID-19 was sent by God as punishment for U.S. culture being “so pro-LGBT.”
William Koenig has previously claimed that God sends natural disasters as warnings when U.S.-led peace talks pressure Israel to divide its land and blamed droughts in California on same-sex marriage.
In a recent appearance on right-wing ministry leader Jan Markell’s “Understanding the Times” radio show, he claimed that COVID-19 was a “judgment” on widespread acceptance of LGBTQ people, Right Wing Watch reports.
Koenig and Markell also accused LGBTQ people of prepping children to be “groomed and sexualized,” calling it a “war on children.”
Merkell kicked off the attack during her July 29 broadcast by calling LGBTQ rights “the bombardment of one aberration after another.”
She then read an excerpt from Koenig’s newsletter claiming, “The last letter in the LGBTQ is Q for questioning, which is the mission to confuse kids enough that they question their sexuality so that they can be groomed and be evangelized.”
Merkell commented, “It’s so true, Bill, this is a war on children.”
Koenig replied by calling the COVID-19 pandemic “part of [God’s] judgment.”
“We had a national shutdown last summer. We had every major sports league that favored the LGBT agenda, that even took on states for their bathroom bills,” he said.
“When you think about Hollywood was shut down. We thought fashion was shut down. Retail was shut down. All these areas that were so pro-LGBT, the COVID shut them down, and I don’t know if they’ll ever recover.”
Koenig continued: “Don’t touch the children. This crosses the line. It is tragic to see what they’re doing, and our God is going to respond even greater. This is judgment. This is a pattern of judgment. Everything about this fits the pattern of judgment; I’m sorry, there’s no other way to put it.”
End Times author William Koenig says the COVID-19 pandemic is God's judgment on the United States for our culture being "so pro-LGBT." https://t.co/CVgMWWElRz pic.twitter.com/ctrsnjYg7c
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) August 3, 2021
Koenig attends anti-LGBTQ Cornerstone Chapel in Leesburg, Va., whose pastor, Gary Hamrick, has attacked LGBTQ people and decried efforts to support transgender people.
Earlier this year, Hamrick claimed that school board members in Loudon County were “emotionally abusing our children by perpetuating the lie about gender confusion,” after police was introduced to affirm the pronouns of transgender students.
Hamrick called the move “contrary to biology, reality, and the beautiful design of God.”
Koenig, meanwhile, previously claimed that droughts in California were God’s punishment for same-sex marriage.
“We’ve got a state that, over and over again, will go against the word of God, that will continually take positions on marriage and abortion and on a lot of things that are just completely opposed to the scriptures,” Koenig said in 2015.
“Unfortunately, a lot of times when it starts in California, it spreads to the rest of the country and even spreads to the rest of the world. So there very likely could be a drought component to this judgment.”
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Anti-LGBTQ Republican who claimed Bible was his “vaccine” gets COVID-19
Anti-gay pastor who claimed COVID-19 was judgment on gays dies from virus
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