Congressional candidate Sean Feucht, a musician and worship leader at the controversial northern California megachurch Bethel, had a busy week. On Wednesday, he touted an endorsement from California Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove. On Thursday, he posted a video denouncing the impeachment of President Donald Trump. And throughout the week he was supporting the Bethel-centered #wakeupolive campaign mobilizing prayer to ask—some would say demand—that God resurrect the 2-year-old daughter of a Bethel worship colleague who died last suddenly Saturday.
Feucht jokes that he has rejected advisers’ suggestions to cut his long hair, making a virtue out of the fact that he doesn’t look like your average politician because he isn’t one. But his video about impeachment sure made him sound like one, as he repeated Republican talking points about impeachment being “a shameful political charade” and claiming there was not a “shred” of evidence that Trump has committed a crime.
“Come on, Congress. Stop these divisive politics,” Feucht said in his impeachment video. “Put down the partisan hatred and stop harassing the president. Too much time is being wasted. We’ve got to get back to work serving the needs of the people.”
Feucht repeated his not-a-politician line in promoting his endorsement from Grove, who Feucht called “a dear friend.” Grove called Feucht “a rising conservative star in California,” according to a campaign press release. “His deep seated faith provides the foundation needed to represent the people of California’s Third Congressional District,” Grove said.
The Democratic Party’s supermajority in the state legislature means that Grove heads a Republican Senate caucus of just 10 members. She is a social and fiscal conservative who once described herself as a “gun-carrying, tongue-talking, spirit-filled believer,” according to the Los Angeles Times. She is a strong supporter of Trump and his hardline immigration policies, and scored just 36 percent on the pro-LGBTQ Equality California’s 2019 legislative scorecard.
As RWW has noted, “Feucht’s congressional campaign is being promoted by big names among in the Trump-supporting dominionist apostles and prophets crowd, including Che Ahn and Cindy Jacobs. But the Sacramento County Republican Party has given its endorsement to Tamika Hamilton, another GOP candidate challenging incumbent Democratic Rep. John Garamendi.”
Feucht and Bethel colleagues were part of an evangelical delegation that met with and prayed over Trump earlier this month. A Bethel pastor preached this month that God would stop the impeachment of Trump and give him a second term because “the Lord wants it.”
When the grieving mother of Olive, the young girl who died on Dec. 14, made an online call for resurrection prayer, Feucht and members of Bethel’s influential music ministry were among those who boosted the call. As the week wore on, social media posts promoting #wakeupolive and video clips of Bethel worship services were increasingly joined by criticism, from Christians as well as non-believers, questioning the theology and wisdom of continuing the effort days after the girl died.
Bethel’s controversial leader Bill Johnson recorded a video defending the ongoing campaign, saying he didn’t know how long they would continue to pray or when they might stop. On Friday, Feucht tweeted, “I’d rather be judged by people for ‘too much faith’ than answer to the Lord for not having enough.”
