Tuesday's release of photos of a chance encounter between evangelicals and President Donald Trump in the White House, which shows leading evangelicals laying hands on and praying for the president of the United States in the Oval Office, has touched off an angry backlash on Twitter and in the mainstream media.
CNN immediately tied the meeting to reports the administration has become unhinged following the latest allegations of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, which authorities believe conducted a cyberwar and hacking campaign in a bid to disrupt the November election.
Those in attendance at the Oval Office meeting on Monday, however, reported the president was confident, collected, and in total control of his administration's agenda.
Author and evangelical leader Johnnie Moore posted an image of the group prayer to Twitter on Tuesday evening:
In the image, Trump is seen with his head bowed and surrounded by faith leaders, some of whom are resting their hands on him, all in an attitude of devout prayer. Moore says the president's visit with faith leaders was not pre-arranged, and included Vice President Mike Pence and top presidential adviser Jared Kushner.
The image immediately sparked an angry backlash, including allegations that Moore is somehow racist for having a better relationship with Trump than with his predecessor.
Others suggest the image symbolizes a dangerous erosion in the separation of church and state.
One particularly emotional post cursed Moore and "the disappearing line between church and state. It's 2017 people; magic is a party trick for kids."
Moore calls the irate remarks "the most vile, vicious things I've ever seen or received in my entire life," adding: "What's so ironic is that the left sees all of us as the ones who are dangerous, who are dividing America. And yet I can tell you when conservatives lose, we lose with dignity, we lose with class. We get back and win the next time around. You know, we learn from our mistakes.
"That's not the case with the left. The left is in this sort of frenetic, emotional moment, they've lost all rationality, they care nothing about objectivity or truth, and they're just lashing out."
Moore tells Newsmax that he and his fellow faith-leaders were in the White House for an all-day meeting on policy that did not happen to involve the president.
"The president got wind that we were there and insisted that we come say hi," he explains.
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The tenor of the Oval Office visit, he says, ran counter to the mainstream media narrative splashed on the pages of The Washington Post and The New York Times portraying a White House knocked off balance by allegations over Russian collusion.
"The president was totally in control of the situation." Moore tells Newsmax. "We left with unbelievable confidence we're in exceptional hands, our religious liberties are also in safe hands, and [we] didn't see a crisis in the White House.
"You read CNN," he added, "there was a crisis in every direction. We didn't see it. We saw strong, confident leadership. We left even more convinced that things are great again than we did when we came in."
Moore, a former vice president at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, is the author of "Defying ISIS: Preserving Christianity in the Place of Its Birth and in Your Own Backyard."
He says the visceral reaction to a simple image of the pastors praying for the president has exposed the stark cultural divisions in America.
"I think it shows how the left has totally lost its mind that they think it's an extraordinary thing for faith leaders to be praying with the president of the United States in the Oval Office," he tells Newsmax.
More said evangelicals "have a wide open door like never before into this administration," and suggested progressives will have to make peace with the fact that the president of the United States openly prays with leading evangelicals.
"This wasn't the first time, it won't be the last time," he says. "And the principle promise that evangelicals have made to the president, the vice president, and the administration is that millions of us will be praying for him every day."
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