Enter Donald Trump. By any standard he is the least like what Evangelical Christians are at least supposed to be like. I won't rehash the laundry list of reasons why he is really the antithesis of everything we are supposed to hold dear. It is simply obvious though that many of the former power brokers in what passes for the church are no just holding their noses and supporting Trump but are shamelessly staring up at him adoringly. Yesterday Trump met with a bunch of hobnobs from the religious world to basically lie to them as they applaud him even as they know he is lying. From NPR:
Most Donald Trump events kick off with music from Elton John
or the Rolling Stones at deafening volumes. But praise choruses ruled the day
Tuesday as hundreds of conservative Christians gathered at a hotel in Times Square to question Trump.
Under glittering pink-and-white chandeliers, evangelicals
and conservative Catholics filled the large ballroom, some raising their hands
and closing their eyes as they sang, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God/And
his righteousness/And all these things shall be added unto you."
....
As soon as Trump entered the room, it quickly became clear
this was a largely friendly audience. The moderator, former Republican
presidential hopeful and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, told Trump this
would not be an "inquisition," but rather people had come because
they want someone who will "lead this nation out of the abyss."
I am sure the irony of Mike Huckabee invoking the Inquisition as progeny of the perpetrators and some of the victims of the Inquisition is lost on him. Here we have the perpetrators and the victims of the actual
Inquisition sitting together not on the basis of the Gospel but for political
expediency. I have to imagine a lot of the martyrs from the
Reformation era would look at what we are doing in the name of ecumenicalism
and secular political power and wonder just what it is that they died for. They certainly didn't face torture and death at the stake so a serial adulterer could get everyone to sit around and break bread with one another.
Since Roman Catholics and Evangelical Christians don't even agree on the nature of the Kingdom of God, not to mention the very Gospel itself, and Donald Trump couldn't give you a VBS level explanation of what it is, it seems a bit odd to have people gathered to unequally yoke themselves with false believers in support of an abject unbeliever singing about seeking first the Kingdom of God.
The meeting was a veritable who's who of evangelical personalities: Ralph Reed, who was also interviewed today on NPR and gave a grotesque defense of Trump as "pro-life". Also in attendance was Gary Bauer, James Dobson, Bob Vander Plaats, Mike Huckabee of course, Tony Perkins. I am not sure he was there but Jerry Falwell, Jr. (who invites heretics to speak to the student body at his "Christian" school) has been making the rounds in a picture with Trump, giving him the thumbs up as they stand before a wall that testifies to Trump's narcissism including a cover of Playboy magazine with Trump featured.
Literally a framed pic on the wall of the candidate and a porn star, as a major evangelical leader endorses him. pic.twitter.com/ErYG57zcFb— Nathan Lino (@nathanlino) June 21, 2016
Somehow having someone claims to be a Christian yet who boasts about and revels in his unrepentant sin that Christians shouldn't even break bread with (1 Cor 5:9-13) is OK if it keeps Hillary out of the White House.
Donald Trump may do more to disintegrate the cultural Christianity of America than any other single individual. Sometimes God does indeed use the worst among us to impact his people for good.
Donald Trump may do more to disintegrate the cultural Christianity of America than any other single individual. Sometimes God does indeed use the worst among us to impact his people for good.
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