Pastor Andrew Brunson, the preacher who was recently freed from Turkish detention, has asked God to grant President Donald Trump supernatural wisdom, according to White House reporter for the Associated Press, Zeke Miller. Miller made the report via a tweet on October 13.
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Brunson’s release is considered a “big win” for the Trump administration. There were reports of tenuous negotiations for the pastor’s release which undermined the diplomatic relationship between the United States and Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East.
According to Al Jazeera , the pastor was arrested in 2016 after a failed coup attempt in Turkey. Authorities claimed that he had ties to Fethullah Gulen, the man who was blamed for orchestrating the attempted uprising against President Erdogan. Gulen currently resides in the U.S.
There were also claims that Brunson was spreading Christianity to Kurdish communities in an attempt to unseat Erdogan.
Pastor Brunson was charged with terrorism and sentenced to three years, one month, and 15 days in jail. He served 24 months of that sentence and was under house arrest starting in July of this year.
Brunson had been living in Turkey for 23 years and had established an evangelical church there.
The Trump administration imposed sanctions and tariffs on Turkey to force the government to release Brunson. As Al Jazeera notes, this had a negative impact on the value of their currency, the lira.
Trump’s national security advisor, John Bolton, was a leading advocate of this hardline approach.
“Look, the Turkish government made a big mistake in not releasing Pastor Brunson,” he said in an interview with Reuters, as reported by Al Jazeera . “Every day that goes by, that mistake continues, this crisis could be over instantly if they did the right thing as a NATO ally, part of the West, and release pastor Brunson without condition.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — Freed US pastor Andrew Brunson tells Trump ‘you really fought for us,’ asks God to give Trump ‘supernatural wisdom’
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 13, 2018
Pastor Brunson met with Donald Trump at the White House today, the BBC reports.
During their meeting, the pastor prayed with the president and thanked him for championing his cause. President Trump expressed gratitude to Erdogan for assisting with the release and said that the White House had been working “long and hard” to ensure that he could return home.
U.S. Ambassador to Germany @RichardGrenell tweeted a photo of newly-freed Pastor Andrew Brunson kissing an American flag during a stopover in Germany before returning to the United States. https://t.co/pRnzGflSaF pic.twitter.com/u8fqyRPY3b
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 13, 2018
On social media, some doubted that Brunson’s prayer for “supernatural wisdom” for Trump would come true.
“God’s got his work cut out for him on that one,” one person tweeted in reply to Zeke Miller’s post.
“I’m not sure if even God could work that ‘miracle,’” another Twitter user wrote. “But if He could, I’m sure Trump would take credit for it.”
In a meeting in the Oval Office, recently freed American Pastor Andrew Brunson and his wife prayed for President @realDonaldTrump . https://t.co/fAJKg7DyKv pic.twitter.com/3UYS8AdMjh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 13, 2018