Posted on 04/23/2018 3:38:36 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
CBN News has confirmed that at least a few people walked out of an intense invite-only evangelical meeting this week at Wheaton College after the affair turned into crazy Trump bashing.
The two-day gathering involved a group of faith leaders and was billed as a discussion of the evangelical movement in light of Trumps presidency. But it became more than that.
Two sources with intimate knowledge of the meeting say the first day turned into a lot of one-sided venting against President Trump and the majority of evangelicals who voted for him.
Both sources confirm that the issue of sin came up in discussing how evangelicals could vote for Trump. The conversations were difficult, according to one source who attended both days of the meeting. There was a lament.
After that first day, a few people felt so uncomfortable with the rhetoric against Trump they left, forgoing the last day of the conference.
Its important to note that no members of President Trumps faith advisory group were present or ever officially invited.
Rather, this group of evangelicals consisted of many who hold more moderate or progressive views on certain public policy issues.
Pastor Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas is part of the presidents evangelical advisory group and says this gathering is of no consequence.
Its a meeting that will have very little impact on evangelicalism as a whole, Jeffress told CBN News. Many of them are sincere but they are having a hard time understanding that they have little impact on evangelicalism.
Richard Land of Southern Evangelical Seminary also questioned the weight of the meeting given the absence of some well-known names.
Any definition of thought leaders and any definition of evangelicalism that excludes the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Franklin Graham is a pale imitation anemic and incomplete, said Land.
Other members of Trumps faith advisory council spoke to CBN News off the record, one voicing his concern over what he sees as this group of evangelicals trying to steal the microphone from those who support Trump. He pointed to the fact that many invited to participate are part of the anti-Trump movement and hold more progressive views on public policy than traditional evangelical Christian voters who supported Trump in 2016.
Johnnie Moore, an unofficial spokesman for the faith advisory council, was among the many pro-Trump evangelicals not invited.
We dont take it personally; we just pray for them, Moore said in a statement to CBN News. Ive said it many, many times, but Ill say it again: we have been honored to fight to protect religious liberty that even extends to protecting the rights of those who disagree with us on religious grounds, even when they are unkind.
In total, the meeting included about 50 faith leaders and scholars and was spearheaded by Doug Birdsall, Rev. Dr. Gabriel A. Salguero and Jenny Yang.
Salguero was appointed as a member of President Obamas Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and has spoken at the Democrat National Committee Convention in the past.
Other attendees included Timothy Keller, Mark Labberton and A.R. Bernard who was once a Trump evangelical advisor.
Do the evangelicals ever have discussions about how some evangelicals could have voted for Hillary? I’d like to hear that.
Trump bashing??? Wow.
A few observations from my faith life :
1. We elect a president, a Commander in Chief, not a pastor in Chief , not a theologian.
2. We pray for whoever are in political leadership positions.
3. I’ve heard many who are better versed in scripture than I am, note how God used many imperfect or flawed individuals, and worked through such people.
4. We faced a binary choice in the election, and the alternative was Hillary.
Article reads.....”..Its important to note that no members of President Trumps faith advisory group were present or ever officially invited.”
bmp
Sounds to me like this bunch of leader-lites would have had an easier time embracing climate change proposals and sex-change dynamics and preferable homo techniques than discussing whether our Constitution still matters.
And to think it took place at my fast-fading alma mater.
3. Ive heard many who are better versed in scripture than I am, note how God used many imperfect or flawed individuals, and worked through such people.
Moses was a murderer before God chose him to lead the people out of Egypt. Even so, he argued with God about it.
Saul persecuted and killed Christians before he became Paul, the greatest evangelist in Christianity.
Peter cut off the slaves ear and denied Jesus before he became the Father of the Church
King David sure did not have the best record on morality....
It appears God has special favor for the biggest screw ups.
Glad this bunch didn’t meet to discuss King David.
And they bashed Trump - no kidding?!
The liberal definition of sin excludes entire categories of sin, simply ignores other sin and trumpets the sins of conservatives they disagree with.
I have gone to saying that as a Christian I cannot vote for someone that promotes abortion.
Does that make me a single interest voter (again)?
The proper response would have been to begin singing and praying.
Perhaps “Jesus Paid It All” and other hymns focused on Christ alone.
Yeah. And where is any evidence of conversion of Hillary as there is for Trump?
Pharisees all. Know not about God’s grace and metanoia.
In that crowd, or most of it, justifying a vote for Hillary wouldn’t have come up.
I am not an evangelical, but I have wound up defending the Trump supporters to non-evangelicals who can’t get why evangelicals could vote for him. I usually go through the dark history of Hillary as a person and a political figure. One guy backed off and said he had really hoped for a race between Kasich and Bernie.
Evangelicals may not like Trump’s personal life, but they can be sure as Hell that if Hillary was president, the Executive Branch would be doing everything it could to promote abortion, gay rights, transgender rights, the Justice Department would be prosecuting Christians for not conforming to liberal orthodoxy on those issues, and we’d have a raging Lib as a Supreme Court justice.
Supposedly 25 percent of evangelicals went for Mrs. Bill.
For His Glory that He chooses such broken people.
I think people have decided not to keep quiet anymore even though it is risky to speak out with a different view than what we hear through the major media. The leftists are bullies and they are intimidating. That is why this nation does not know what people are thinking and that is why President Trump won. The polls do not reflect the real views of this population.
Who walked out? I want names.
Agree!!
The term "evangelical" was invented by the media in the 50s. We usually only hear that term around election time when the media gets all hot an bothered about Christians putting forth any sort of conservative voice.
Evangelical is not a term generally used outside the confines of the media.
Christians should be very skeptical by the usage of that term.
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