After catching its breath at the surprise election of Mike Johnson (R-La.) as speaker of the House, the mainstream media is now doing all it can to smear and sully his reputation.
The New York Times wrote, “The new House speaker has put his faith at the center of his political career, and aligned himself with the newer cohort of conservative Christianity that some describe as Christian nationalism.”
An MSNBC journalist wrote, “Mike Johnson’s Christian nationalist track record isn’t a mystery – it’s a tragedy.” David Rothkopf of the leftist Daily Beast warned, “Here’s Why Mike Johnson Is More Dangerous Than Donald Trump.”
But no outlet has dived more deeply into Johnson’s background than Politico, first offering its “55 Things You Need to Know About Mike Johnson” and then following that up with “Mike Johnson is a board member of a Christian publishing house that called ‘monkeypox’ a penalty for being gay.”
That “publishing house” — Living Waters Publications — is a Christian ministry founded and operated by Ray Comfort, an evangelist best known for his sidewalk evangelism. After gaining permission to film an interview, Comfort then asks pertinent opening questions about his guest’s faith, or lack thereof. The interviews are then posted on YouTube and at his website, LivingWaters.com.
The “monkeypox” poke was the first jab from Politico:
Last year, Comfort narrated a Living Waters video, titled “Monkeypox and God: Is It a ‘Gay Disease’?” in which he quoted Biblical scripture saying that those who engaged in homosexual acts would get “in their own bodies the inevitable and appropriate penalty for their wrongdoing.”
Politico failed to provide the source or the context. It is from the Apostle Paul’s letter to members of the Christian church in Rome around 57 A.D., which speaks to our culture today. Wrote Paul:
The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness…
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened…
Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised…
Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.
In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Paul is exactly right:
Person-to-person transmission of mpox [short for monkeypox] can occur through direct contact with infectious skin or other lesions such as in the mouth or on genitals; this includes contact which is … skin-to-skin (touching or vaginal/anal sex) … [and] mouth-to-skin contact (oral sex…).
After viewing Comfort’s video “Monkeypox and God: Is It a ‘Gay Disease?’” viewers are free to come to their own conclusions. But for Politico, Speaker Johnson’s “association with the far-right organization could further tarnish him in the eyes of socially liberal and moderate voters. Democrats could even end up using it as fodder for campaign ads [against him].”
In a podcast from last September, Mike and his wife, Kelly, interviewed Comfort. Mike was effusive in his praise for the evangelist’s role in bringing him to Christ:
I am such a big fan of your ministry and of you, and I cannot overstate what a profound influence you’ve been in my life and my walk with Christ and so many other people that I know and I’m just really grateful for all that you do and the team at Living Waters.
It’s just one of the most outstanding ministries that I’ve ever known or been involved with and keep going brother. God is using you.
Johnson and Comfort first connected as lawyer and client when Comfort’s street ministry crossed local officials still enamored with the false narrative of the “separation of church and state.” After successfully defending him, Johnson was invited to join Comfort’s board of directors.
Politico enlisted the help of Robert Jones, president and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, who also took a swipe at the evangelist, hoping to damage Johnson:
Comfort’s brand of white evangelical Christianity seems like a throwback to 20th century fundamentalism, with its preoccupation with combating atheism and denying evolution, and tactics like street preaching and proselytizing with the distribution of simplistic biblical tracts.
Whatever Jones cares to call it, and whatever Politico thinks about it, it’s working. Comfort’s website has received more than 267 million hits from people watching his nearly 3,000 sidewalk interviews. He’s written more than 100 books, his television program “Way of the Master” airs in 190 countries, and his YouTube channel has more than 200 million views.
So Comfort wasn’t fazed in the slightest over Politico’s attempt to tarnish Johnson through his association with him, saying, “It’s expected that certain media outlets will slant and misrepresent certain facts to suit their own purposes…. But the real facts are available for everyone to plainly see in the videos [Politico] referenced.”
Comfort lives modestly despite his ministry’s enormous outreach and success. In 2021, the ministrty received contributions, grants, and other revenues totaling more than $6 million, a jump of almost 40 percent from the previous year.
As for Johnson, when he is asked about his position on “any issue under the sun,” he responds simply: “Go pick up a Bible off your shelf and read it. That’s my worldview.”
