The Iowa Faith Leader Coalition seemed to come out of nowhere toward the end of 2023. Where did this shadowy organization really come from?

We cannot offer certain information, because the religious leaders of the Coalition have not had much to say about themselves. So far, only two pastors from the Coalition have offered statements about their involvement in the group. These content of these statements raises significant reason to wonder whether the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition is an independent organization at all.

Does the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition have any existence independent of the Trump for President campaign?

On December 13, 2023, the Trump for President campaign issued the following statement:

“Pastor Eric Holdeman of Spirit Life Fellowship Church in Dickinson County, Iowa, stated, ‘After assessing the presidential candidates, it is clear that President Trump has consistently fulfilled his promises to the people of faith in America. He has a proven track record of defending family values, promoting religious freedom, and championing moral clarity and biblical authority. Now, more than ever, President Trump is the indispensable leader that Christians and all people of faith truly need.’”

On December 21, 2023, the Trump for President campaign issued a very similar statement:

“Pastor Jamison Plank from Henry County, Iowa, stated, ‘President Trump is the clear choice for people of faith in America. Unlike other politicians, when President Trump promises he will do something, he keeps his promises. President Trump has an unmatched record of defending family values, promoting religious freedom, and championing moral clarity and biblical authority.’"

What’s obvious to anyone reading these two statements is that, although they claim to have been made by the pastors Jamison Plank and Eric Holdeman, they were in fact written by the same person.

These two statements are too similar to have been written independently from each other. One statement is a copy of the other. The long phrase “record of defending family values, promoting religious freedom, and championing moral clarity and biblical authority” is identical, word-for-word, in the two statements. What’s more, these phrases come immediately after similar statements claiming that Donald Trump keeps his promises.

Anybody can see that one person wrote these two statements. One of these statements was slightly edited to create the false appearance that they were made by two people.

Either one of the pastors wrote both statements, and the other pastor lied about making the statement attributed to them, or a third person wrote the statements for both of them, and both Jamison Plank and Eric Holdeman lied about it.

To claim that the pastors actually made these statements is dishonest. It’s bearing false witness, and that’s something that the Bible clearly states is a sin.

This plagiarism from the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition pastors in these statements strongly suggests that the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition is not at all an independent organization, but is nothing more than just a part of the Trump for President campaign.

For Christian pastors to allow themselves to be used as props by a power-hungry politician is a failure of leadership. These preachers claimed to be voices of faith, but they have become mere cogs in a gigantic political machine.

Whatever the truth of the origin of the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition may be, it is clear that the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition has drifting dangerously into immorality.

The dishonesty of these statements is so obvious for anyone to see, we must call into question the moral integrity of the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition and the Trump for President campaign. It was not only bearing false witness for the Coalition and the Trump campaign to release these statements, it was also lazy and sloppy.

If Eric Holdeman and Jamison Plank genuinely are enthusiastic supporters of the Trump for President campaign, why didn’t they bother to go through the effort to write their own statements?

If the Trump for President campaign genuinely respects the opinions of Christian leaders, why did it put words in the mouths of Christian pastors, telling them what to say, rather than allowing them to speak truly, as inspired by their faith?

Both politics and Christianity are being corrupted by the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition.

For all we know, The Iowa Faith Leader Coalition may be the creation of a freelance political consultant, working from an office in San Francisco, California hired by the Trump campaign. We can’t know, until someone from the Trump campaign tells the truth. What are they trying to hide?

The Trump for President campaign should come clean and explain who is actually controlling the dishonest propaganda campaigns of the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition. Until the Trump campaign acknowledges these lapses in morality, and asks humbly for forgiveness, it has broken trust with all Iowans, and all Americans.