The Detroit-based pastor folks accused of doing a bunch of hootin’ and hollerin’ during the inaugural prayer this week posted a message following the event to his supporters. He wasn’t exactly asking for tithes and offerings but he did ask for support for his surprising new financial venture.
Pastor Lorenzo Sewell of 180 Church cited Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in the latter end of an energetic, civil rights speech of a prayer for President 47. He already received a number of backlash comments on social media upon the video of what some called a “performance” as folks dragged him for his theatrical hand gestures and vocal growls.
Following the prayer and upon the tide roll of attention he received, he posted a video to social media promoting his new business venture: crypto. Specifically, he’s referencing the so-called “memecoins” that were launched around the inauguration but are known to be risky given their flimsy reliability and lack of intrinsic value, per Bridge Detroit.
“I need you to go buy the official Lorenzo Sewell coin. I want you to be able to see politics become manifest not just in a way where we’re praying over political gatherings but we’re seeing us becoming the hands and the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you help me?” said the pastor in the video.
Sewell said in the video the coin would be going toward what needed to be done in the ministry such as executing plans for transportation, housing, education and medical resources.
“I need you to do me a favor and go and get that coin in order to accomplish the vision that God has called us to do in the Earth. I give God glory for what He has done but we know that [Martin Luther] King’s dream can only be fulfilled if we acknowledge that people are living in a nightmare,” he said.
Folks on social media had negative reactions (to say the VERY least) to his announcement – as most people do to any pastor who opens the floor for donations. However, they came down his block bad.
“Pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who just gave a prayer at Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier, is now hyping his cryptocurrency token while talking about Jesus in the same breath. What a vile fake Christian who’s probably gonna rug pull whoever’s dumb enough to buy his sh*tcoin,” wrote one X user.
“Stealing from the poor is an affront to the Gospel,” wrote another user. Another person called him cheaper than Judas.
According to Bridge Detroit, the value of the pastor’s coin was at a fraction of a penny when he promoted it after the inauguration. After 24 hours, the report says the coin’s value spiked then dropped back to the fraction. Per his latest post, Sewell’s coin is locked in at 42M until the year 2070 (whatever that means). I’ll guess we’ll have to see if the gimmick works out for him.