This is a tough time for Christians to
write and maintain civility because the very nature of what we are going
through requires us to define events as well as people in negative terms.
Unfortunately that’s the world as it is. So what are we to do? Do we let the
hateful agenda of right-wing evangelicals define the faith? Can we turn to
Jesus for guidance? Should we at least try and use his life as an example of
what we should do? How should we respond?
Jesus didn’t hold back in criticizing
the Pharisees. He was the enemy of Rome whether he liked it or not because to
them Caesar was God. Jesus was not. The Caesar of Rome let the Pharisees
(Religious leaders) keep their people in line as long as the money kept coming
in and there weren’t any insurrections.
But for Christians Jesus was Lord.
Jesus was a radical religious LIBERAL. Jesus did NOT go to Caesar for help. He
did not go to Caesar to seek power. He did not try to get Caesar to enforce his
will upon the Roman Empire. It wouldn’t have worked.
Fast forward to today and the right
wing conservative evangelicals have thrown in with their Caesar, President
Trump. They are the Evangelical Party. I already received one of their mailings
in regards to November. They are promoting a huge “Christian” turn out for
President Trump. Their Christians. They, like the Pharisees and Sadducees
before them, are trying to whip their Christians into line for their Caesar by
getting them to vote and act for those that will give them power. They want the
power of Rome exercised through the President and his followers.
Pat Robertson:
“I think, somehow, the Lord’s plan is being put in place for America and
these people are not only revolting against Trump, they’re revolting against
what God’s plan is for America.”
Franklin Graham:
“Hundreds of thousands of
Christians from across the United States have been praying. This year they came
out to every state capitol to pray for this election and for the future of
America. Prayer groups were started. Families prayed. Churches prayed. Then
Christians went to the polls, and God showed up. While the media scratches
their heads and tries to understand how this happened, I believe that God’s
hand intervened Tuesday night to stop the godless, atheistic progressive agenda
from taking control of our country.” (Did God show up when Hitler took
power? Germany was a “Christian” nation as much as the United States is.)
James Dobson:
“The Lord played a role in
the election of Donald Trump. He was raised up for such a time as this.”
Jerry Falwell Jr.:
"Plenty of presidents
have paid lip service to God, but few, if any, have demonstrated a consistent
tendency to walk in Christ's shoes and make the morally correct decision
instead of the politically easy one." (Technically I don’t believe
that Falwell Jr. qualifies as a right wing conservative evangelical. He father
along with Pat Robertson are a couple of evangelicals that put forth the belief
that we had 9/11 coming to us.)
Tony Perkins:
“We kind of gave him, ‘All
right, you get a mulligan. You get a do-over here.’” (A response he gave in
an interview in regards to the Trump and Stormy Daniels affair. A mulligan!
God, please give me a mulligan on that last one! And God said go and mulligan
no more. NIV, Golf Gospel. BTW it’s
reported that he cheats at golf. That might actually qualify as a sin but I’m
not trying to drive a wedge between golfers.)
Donald Trump (In response to a question asking
if he seeks forgiveness.): “I
don’t think so. I think I, if I do something wrong I just try and make it
right. I don’t bring God into that picture.”
Ralph Reed:
“And I say that not as hyperbole but because we did it to Obama. When we
took the House and the Senate, he could do almost nothing. … He couldn’t do
anything on climate change, couldn’t do anything more on Obamacare, couldn’t
raise taxes–legislatively he was a lame duck.” (A response given as to why
Christians should vote Republican in November. I have to admit here that I did
not know that he and his buddies were in charge of Congress then.)
Jeremiah Johnson: “Trump does not fear man nor will he allow
deception and lies to go unnoticed.” (This doesn’t exactly explain why
Donald Trump avoided the draft.)
Here’s scripture that Evangelicals are
using to support President Trump.
“Let everyone be subject to the governing
authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established.
The authorities that exist have been established by God.” Romans 13:1 (NIV)
Evangelicals consider the bible to be inerrant.
This is scripture evangelicals used for
President Obama.
“Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” Psalms
109:8 (KJV) Two options here. Impeached or dead. But wait! Here’s the rest of
the story. “May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow!”
Psalms 109:9. Nope. They just wanted the President dead.
On
the one hand it’s refreshing to see that evangelicals are progressively
flexible when it comes to the inerrancy of the bible. On the other hand their
interpretations are hypocritical.
Judas sold out for silver. What did
evangelicals sell out for? An embassy in Jerusalem?
The
possibility of making getting an abortion more difficult for the poor and
middle class? Protection of their religious beliefs at the exclusion of others?
Their agenda of getting the right to discriminate against others at their
choice? Tax breaks for the friends of
Caesar? Political power? Wealth?
Christians are far from unified in
their opinions of what is taking place in this country. With the faith already
in decline the actions of evangelicals will drive an even deeper wedge between
the faith and the youth that are needed for the future continued viability of
the church. They portray themselves as the voice of Christendom even though
they don’t speak for all Christians (or probably even the majority of
Christians). They claim that this President is a divine leader anointed by God.
(They made no such claim for President Obama.) Evangelicals have become
servants to the rich and powerful. They are servants to their Caesar.
There are evangelicals that believe
that President Trump is fulfilling the prophecies by moving the embassy to
Jerusalem. By helping to get Donald
Trump elected and helping him stay in power they believe they have become the
hand of God. God needs their help!
The Saudis have their “Islamic
religious police” and now the United States of America now has the “Religious
Freedom Task Force” (RFTF) being put in place to enforce the doctrines of the Pharisee
evangelicals. Their goals are about as unchristian as you can get when it comes
to the teachings of Jesus.
If Jesus comes back and tries to
enter the United States at the Mexican border, well, good luck getting past ICE
and armed militia citizens. Jesus was real big on taking care of immigrants,
the poor, the sick, children, the homeless, families and just people in
general. He didn’t care what color they were. Jesus was probably brown. He also
wasn’t super-hot crazy about the rich. He wanted them to give up all their
stuff and follow him. They lived in communes. Crazy, huh!
Support for Trump can’t be because he’s
moral or provides a good example of how a Christian should act. (Good grief,
the Southern Baptist church I was saved at wouldn’t even let a divorced person
hold a position in church.) The man is a veritable fountain of lies and hate.
He has now, after denying it as fake news for months, finally admitted to
paying off women that he was cheating on Melania with. One of which was a porn
star. Unprotected sex with a porn star. Talk about high risk behavior. He put
his wife at risk as well.
Another objective that they are
striving for is to get abortion made illegal. Now, that won’t stop abortions
from taking place. It never has. It never will. They know that. It will just
drive women back to the coat hanger days and “back alley” abortions. They want
women punished. Hell, they want women to suffer. If they see a pregnant woman
out having a little wine they want to be able to sic the police on them for
endangering the child that they’re carrying. A woman having a miscarriage would
be suspect. Did she engage in behavior that put her pregnancy at risk? Send in
agents of the RFTF to investigate.
They want to deny service to those that
they perceive as being sinners. They want to be able to discriminate. They want
to discriminate against the brown people coming across the border. They want
children separated and families destroyed. It is their righteous justice! They
are the mighty evangelicals. They want other religions denounced! They are the
power brokers to the Caesar of today. They are God’s agents. They will be the
arbiters of the American Christian inquisition.
President
Trump is the man that they hold up for America as the idol of their values. He
is the example that they want children to follow. This man that has never said
that it was wrong for him to cheat on all of his wives. This man that mocks
people’s appearance. This man that calls names and insults people on a daily
basis. He encourages violence. A man that mocks the law. A man that lies
constantly. A man that doesn’t ask for forgiveness of his sins let alone admit
that he has sinned. A man of avarice and greed. A man obsessed with himself. A
man that shares the values of racists and white nationalists. They are drawn to
his message. These are the values that
the Evangelical Party now supports.
Pharisee evangelicals certainly
don’t speak for me.