Curt Landry is a Trump-loving right-wing pastor and purported “prophet” who regularly teaches the concept of “wealth transfer“—the theological belief that God will financially reward those who are doing his work on Earth so they will have abundant resources to fund their efforts. In a YouTube video, Landry described a recent $1.6 billion dark-money contribution to right-wing political operative Leonard Leo, who helped engineer the far-right majority on the Supreme Court, as a sign that “The great latter day wealth transfer has begun.”
The idea that God will engineer a great End Times wealth transfer to enable his followers to take dominion over nations is popular among “prophets” associated with the dominionist New Apostolic Reformation. In his 2015 book “The Great Transfer of Wealth: Financial Release for Advancing God’s Kingdom,” the late NAR leader Peter Wagner wrote, “Throughout the course of human history, three things, above all others, have caused permanent changes in society—violence, knowledge, and wealth. And the greatest of these is wealth!”
Prosperity-gospel evangelists portray wealth as a sign of God’s blessing, and use the promise of a coming wealth transfer to urge their followers to sow “seeds”—sending contributions that they promise will open the door to greater financial blessings. “Prophets” like Cindy Jacobs urge Christians to break the “spirit of poverty” and energetically pursue the accumulation of wealth. Some even saw former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election as sign that the great transfer was about to begin.
On Monday, the New York Times reported that a conservative donor had given $1.6 billion to a “new political group controlled by Leonard A. Leo, an activist who has used his connections to Republican donors and politicians to help engineer the conservative dominance of the Supreme Court and to finance battles over abortion rights, voting rules and climate change policy.”
Landry described the massive donation to Leo’s dark-money Marble Freedom Trust as God’s reward to Leo for his years of work helping the GOP, and particularly former President Donald Trump, fill the Supreme Court with right-wing judges and overturn Roe v. Wade.
“The wealth transfer has begun,” Landry cheered. “The great latter rain wealth transfer has begun. Yes, it’s started right now with $1.6 billion being transferred into a conservative community that’s going to be able to fight for constitutional rights and fight for the things that we all want and stand for.”
“I want you to know spiritually why is this happening,” Landry continued. “Why did this group get rewarded of God? The Lord rewards the righteous, but you’re gonna have to read between the lines. This is the prophetic piece right here. … This man, Leonard Leo, was the one who advised Donald J. Trump on his Supreme Court appointments. And we understand that because of the Supreme Court appointments, Roe v. Wade—the dark, murderous Baal structure of a nation who killed babies—got overturned because of this organization’s influence to President Trump to appoint the correct Supreme Court justices.”
“The fact is this organization, this nonprofit was the one that literally used its influence with Donald J. Trump as 45th president to put these Supreme Court justices in—[Brett] Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett—and it’s interesting that that’s what flipped the biggest death curse in the history of the United States of America—[it] was lifted off this nation,” Landry said. “Knowing that God is real and that he rewards the faith of those who passionately seek him, well, $1.6 billion is a pretty good reward.”
Leo has presided over a secretive network of nonprofits and limited liability companies that have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into his efforts to achieve ideological domination over the federal judiciary and pursue other right-wing political causes.
Evangelicals and Pentecostal dominionists may have theological differences with Leo, a hard-right Catholic, but conservative evangelicals and Catholics long ago learned to set those differences aside and work together politically to eliminate reproductive choice, resist the advance of LGBTQ equality, and more.
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