Far-right pastor says “demonic spirit” is causing more children to be gay
Televangelist Kent Christmas said children had been "taken over" by homosexuality but he could "change" them
A far-right pastor and conspiracy theorist has claimed that more Christian children are identifying as gay because of a “demonic spirit that comes after our seed.”
Televangelist and mega-church pastor Kent Christmas, who helped spread the lie that Donald Trump won the 2020 election, made the claim during a recent sermon in front of thousands of followers.
In a video shared by Right Wing Watch, Christmas ranted that the change has been “going on for the last couple of 20, 30 years.”
“While we’re building the biggest churches, never have Christians’ children been more taken over by homosexuality than they are right now,” he said.
“If I asked each and every one of you to stand that has a son, daughter, or a niece or a nephew, or a brother or sister, that is gay, half of you would stand up in this building, because it is a demonic spirit that’s come after our seed and the church that God has raised it up in this hour is going to have authority over that,” Christmas continued.
In what appears to be an advocation of widely debunked conversion therapy, which claims to change a person’s sexuality or gender identity, Christmas said that rather than tell LGBTQ people that they are “scum,” he was going to “change” them.
“We’re not gonna tell ’em they’re going to hell, we’re not gonna tell ’em they’re scum. We’re gonna tell ’em that they’re born of God, that God will set them free, and change them by the power of the Holy Ghost,” he said.
“We’re going to put them on our platform to sing that our God is an awesome God. By the power of the Lord!”
Right-wing pastor Kent Christmas says that Christian children are being “taken over by homosexuality”: “It is a demonic spirit that has come after our seed.” pic.twitter.com/dKWlSZNTne
— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) September 22, 2021
Christmas’ own son is gay, something he revealed to his followers in 2018, saying, “I know that he wasn’t born that way.”
However, he claimed that his son no longer identifies as gay, adding, “I watched the Holy Ghost deliver him and set him free.”
Last year, the United Nations urged a global ban on conversion therapy, labelling it “cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment” and saying it “may amount to torture depending on the circumstances.” In December, more than 370 religious leaders from around the globe called on lawmakers to ban conversion therapy.
Related: Minnesota becomes 21st state to ban conversion therapy
Research has found that conversion therapy more than doubles the risk of suicidal ideation among gay and bisexual adults, while transgender people subjected to conversion therapy as children are four times more likely to attempt suicide.
In addition, a number of former “ex-gay” leaders, who touted the efficacy of conversion therapy in attempts to force others to undergo the practice, have since come out as gay and decried the practice, admitting the harm it can cause to LGBTQ people.
Earlier this year, Christmas claimed that God would begin to “kill wicked men and women in this nation.” He claimed that God had spoken to him in 2015, revealing that Donald Trump would become president. Christmas then falsely claimed that Trump won re-election in 2020 “by about 80 million votes.” (Trump lost by more than seven million votes to President Joe Biden.)
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