Posted on 07/03/2018 9:29:35 AM PDT by servo1969
We hear this on a daily, if not hourly basis. Evangelicals have hurt their witness by voting for Trump. Evangelicals have lost their credibility by supporting Trump. Evangelicals can no longer be taken seriously because they're in bed with Trump. And on and on it goes.
It doesn't matter who he appoints to the Supreme Court. It doesn't matter if he improves the economy. Or strengthens the military. Or helps stabilize the Middle East.
Not at all. Trump is a heartless, misogynistic, immoral, narcissistic, xenophobic monster, and whoever voted for him (or continues to support him) is not worthy of the name "Christian."
This has almost become the new orthodoxy: Prove your allegiance to Jesus by denouncing Trump. Failure to denounce him is proof positive that you have compromised your witness.
Sorry, but I'm not playing this game. In fact, I refuse the premise of this game.
First, the very ones driving this narrative are the ones who didn't take our faith seriously before. They branded us bigots and homophobes. They criticized us as Bible-bashers and rightwing extremists. And they're the ones now saying, "We would take you more seriously if you denounced Trump."
I don't think so. They didn't take us seriously before. Why should they suddenly say, "Now that you've put a distance between yourselves and that crazy man in the White House, we'd love to hear your views on abortion and homosexuality. Yes, please tell us why abortion is murder and why same-sex marriage is illegitimate in God's sight. You have so much to offer us."
Not quite!
Second, there are plenty of evangelicals and conservatives who didn't vote for Trump (some were Never Trumpers), yet they still get hated and ridiculed by the left for their conservative views. Did journalists like Ben Shapiro and David French earn the respect of the liberal world by not voting for Trump? Have they become less hated? Are liberal campuses opening their doors saying, "Please speak to us, now that you've proved your credibility by not voting for Trump"?
Third, many of us who did vote for Trump said from the start that we had grave concerns about his character. That we thought he could be very divisive. That some of his rhetoric could be dangerous. And plenty of us have expressed our disagreement with the president since he was elected.
How, then, does our vote for him impinge on our faith?
I've said repeatedly that Donald Trump didn't die for my sins and that he's not my savior. And I will not sell my soul in support of him.
But you better believe I'd vote for him against Hillary Clinton any day of the week. I'd far rather have him picking Supreme Court nominees than Hillary. Or standing against LGBT extremism. Or protecting our religious freedoms. Or standing with Israel. Or facing down Iran.
Please tell me, then, how a vote (with hesitation) for a man who would stand for the life of the unborn and resist LGBT activism in our schools and push back against the assault on our liberties and challenge radical Islam and support Israel is somehow a compromise of my faith.
Yes, when I was a Cruz supporter and a Trump opposer, I was personally sick of the line, "We're not voting for a pastor. We're voting for a Commander in Chief."
Yet it's true. That's who we voted for, with the hopes of him getting certain things done. Some of us loved him from the start and others held their noses as they voted. But to make this a test of our faith is nonsense.
Fourth, the media is framing the narrative and deciding when outrage is called for. "If you don't speak out against the separation of children at the borders you're a hypocrite!"
Frankly, I don't know anyone who likes this, whether the policy goes back to George W. Bush or Barack Obama, or whether Trump is the main cause of it. Of course we want better solutions. But why are we required to join some left-wing, Trump-hating rally to prove we're not evil people?
The fact is, an incredible amount of social good is done every day by evangelicals around the country, from feeding the poor to housing the homeless to fighting human trafficking to adopting rejected children to helping addicts get free to sponsoring refugees. (This is just the tip of a giant iceberg of evangelical good works.)
We don't have to prove our morality by giving our "Amen" to the left's latest cause. (And to repeat: I don't know anyone who was pleased with kids being separated from their parents, and many of my colleagues raised their voices too. But we don't have to dance to the media's tune.)
Of course, there are evangelicals who seem to idolize Trump, who will never differ with him, let alone criticize him, who seem to have double standards when it comes to this president. I concur with those who believe that those types of actions can hurt our witness and make us seem hypocritical. Absolutely.
But to make the denouncing of Trump a litmus test of Christian orthodoxy is utterly ridiculous. I urge my colleagues and friends not to be lured into this game.
Dr. Michael Brown(www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is Playing with Holy Fire: A Wake-up Call to the Pentecostal-Charismatic Church. Connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube.
We elect a Commander in Chief, not a pastor in Chief, not a Bishop, not a Pope.
We elect people to be in charge of our secular government.
We also face a binary choice in elections. Are some critics suggesting that Hillary would have been a preferable choice to people of faith?
I just say “I vote pro-life”. Sometimes it is necessary to repeat several times until they get the message and move on.
A lot of my agnostic friends have thrown this in my face.
When I respond, I always say “If you are so concerned about children, how do you feel about abortion?”
Haven’t had a repeatable response yet.
Liberals hate Jesus except when they are in certain very specific company.
Evangelicals should be aware that before Christianity can flourish, we need to have a level playing field. Religion needs to be respected and revered.
In today’s environment, if you try to proselytize to most of the left, you’ll get run over like a Sherman tank running over a Volkswagen.
We need someone like Trump to try and tame the world so they will at least “listen”. Make America Great Again, entails that theme.
But, many evangelicals get incensed over the women in his past, his multiple marriages, and even his language. Well, If I’m drowning, I could care less about the background of the person who dives in to save my life. We’ll talk later, after I dry out and calm down.
I don’t like that “holier than thou” part of some Christians, and I don’t really care for one-issue voters that much. There’s a lot, a LOT, of things affecting our lives and America right now, and it brings to mind the old song, “ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS”, which tells me that just sitting and waiting for God to swoop down and fix it all isn’t going to work. God has his own plan, and He expects us to handle our own lives and world until He comes back.
We need people to stand up and fight, not hide behind the Bible.
Anyone voting Democrat and claiming to be “Christian Evangelical” is moral fraud.
Good post. I have acquaintances who reject, for example, a faith-based pro-life position as a violation of the separtion of church and state, but attack Christian Trump supporters as not being good Christians by supporting him.
“Any “Christian” who attacks a fellow Christian for voting for Pro life Trump over pro Government funded abortion on demand Hillary is an intellectual and moral fraud.
Anyone voting Democrat and claiming to be “Christian Evangelical” is moral fraud.”
I absolutely agree with this.
Peach
“Liberals hate Jesus except when they are in certain very specific company.”
They love Jesus in two ways:
1) When they can claim something in the bible forces us to have Open Borders.
2) On their death bed.
One should love God and love others and not hate anyone including President Donald J. Trump, at least that my take on it.
God has used imperfect men all throughout history
I think he used a perfect man once.
The LEFT only likes to use Christianity as a weapon.
And any Democrat that claims to be a Christian and supports abortion on demand is a liar.
Our ancestors of the Faith did not have a level playing field.
But they did fight.
Maybe if one's faith is Satanism or Islam, then Hillary would be a suitable choice.
I have served in ministry, and the decision was easy and immediate:
Trump is pro-Freedom and pro-Constitution.
I voted for a president, not a deacon.
Regardless of his own spirutual status with God, he protects religious freedom.
That is: spiritual status.
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