Posted on 02/25/2016 1:58:31 PM PST by drewh
While in Nashville at the National Religious Broadcasters convention, Steve Deace landed Rafael Cruz as a guest on his show. In keeping with the convention’s theme, they started talking about religion and its role in politics.
Deace framed his question carefully, asking, “How in the world does Donald Trump win evangelical voters in South Carolina? What does that say about where we’re at as a church, or does it say anything about where we’re at as a church across the board?â€
The question was a great one because Cruz’s son Ted Cruz is running for president and was expected to dominate the Evangelical vote. Trump has somehow ended up doing that in spite of insults to the community and a demonstrated lack of ecclesiastical know-how. Because of this, Cruz was all too ready with his answer:
Well, I think that they’re defining evangelicals in a very loose manner. If we look at the numbers, those that are people that call themselves born-again Christians that are committed to the lord, we won overwhelmingly among that group. Unfortunately — and this is a message that I have been carrying to America, as you said, for several years — there are too many people in the church that have actually become lax about the word of God, that they are being more concerned with being politically correct than being biblically correct, they have diluted the word of God in order to be palatable to everyone.
Questioning someone’s faith didn’t work well for Pope Francis or for Jeb Bush, but it has been a winning strategy for Trump, so maybe the older Cruz is onto something here. Then again, Trump has already beaten him to that punch, accusing the candidate of phony Evangelism:
Wasn’t it posted here a week or so ago that Cruz doesn’t tithe? IIRC, he gives his church only about 1%...? That won’t play well with the majority of evangelical, born-again Christians.
Thank you.
What is wrong with the people on this thread who chose to believe the totally incorrect headline?
What, what, what???
UH OH.. that was a mistake!
Here’s what he said exactly. And yes. He is questioning Christian Trump supporters.
“Well, I think that they’re defining evangelicals in a very loose manner. If we look at the numbers, those that are people that call themselves born-again Christians that are committed to the lord, we won overwhelmingly among that group.
“Unfortunately — and this is a message that I have been carrying to America, as you said, for several years — there are too many people in the church that have actually become lax about the word of God, that they are being more concerned with being politically correct than being biblically correct, they have diluted the word of God in order to be palatable to everyone.”
You have no idea what Ted Cruz gives to the church.
I’m sure he gives a far larger percentage of his modest wealth than Trump gives from his millions.
Why are you being a biddy? (that’s my nice word)
I hear you.
My husband was an atheist when we met and he gradually morphed into an agnostic and now he believes in G-d.
I respected his disbelief and he respected my belief.
As usual... over time... he discovered that his wife was right! lol!
“Here’s what he said exactly. And yes. He is questioning Christian Trump supporters.”
But he didn’t say they weren’t real Christians. Like the headline says.
Evangelicals aren’t a monolithic group and there are many flavors, and some don’t agree with others.
Ted’s dalliance with peep-stone Beck doesn’t help either. Many Evangelicals view Mormons as demonic.
So Evangelical purity is hard for anyone to attain. I suspect Christ Himself might not pass muster with some of these folks.
Ted’s dad has proven himself an ass who thinks he can dictate the perfect mix of politics and evangelism to everyone else. He’s torpedoed Ted with this. The Pope is still smarting from running his mouth about things he should have stayed away from, now it’ll be Ted’s daddy smarting over his opinions of what other people should do and think.
Ted = Jeb at this point.
Word-for-word? You’re right.
But up and down this very thread people are posting the exact quote and that’s definitely what he meant.
“The Cruz camp downturn seemed to start when Beck showed up in Iowa.”
I’ve been gone a big part of the day. With things happening as fast as they are I has a suspicion that Beck would’ve been given the boot today. I guess not, huh?
That fits with what his son told Hannity — that Trump is a “blue-collar billionaire”.
And they accuse Donald Trump of being arrogant.
Now I know where Ted Cruz gets his sanctimonious attitude from.
This Bible believing, blood-bought, born-again, child of God is especially thankful to her Lord right now, for showing me who these people are and raising up Mr. Trump for me to vote for.
Ted, next time around, keep Dad away from the campaign.
The fact that his employees love him is the best endorsement that he can get, IMHO.
He expects them to give their best and they exceed their own expectations. Every one of them says, “He’s a fair man.”
In many ways, I like Trump more for the people who surround him than for the things he says. His employees and his kids speak wonders.
Then you look at Cruz through the same lens...
Ugh.
Well, Sweetie, I read it on FreeRepublic. Just now I Googled these words:
freerepublic.com cruz tithe 1%
Many hits. You can do it, too.
/s/ “Biddy”
How would you interpret what the man said?
To be fair, the ‘judge not’ verse is more of a warning against hypocrisy than a general rule for life. Yet, it still does apply, just in a different way.
At the risk of sparking a theological argument ...(IE: This is what I believe, teach, and confess. I am not interested in arguing this point right now; this is what I believe and what I will use to make the next point.)
Anyways, with that caveat out of the way, the sole mark of a ‘real Christian’ is baptism, because Scripture states that is God’s work within you, and it is the grace of God, won by Christ, that cleanses us from sin. I’m fairly sure that Donald Trump has been baptized, and so I will not call him a false Christian because Scripture teaches that the Holy Spirit is poured out on us in baptism, and it is God laying his claim on us.
Whether Trump partakes of Holy Communion worthily is another matter, but that part is between him, his pastor, and God, not me. If he were a member of my church, however, I’d probably commune him, just because if I am going to err, I would err on the side of grace. Provided there are no obvious unrepentant or deliberate sins.
Yet in another post you judge Muslims as hate-filled and call their religion null and void. And I don’t disagree with you there. I disagree with this kum-bah-yah, don’t judge anybody crap. I wull judge someone like Trump who is going to represent Christianity extremely poorly on the national stage. I judge Obama for doing the same thing.
So he’s fair game now?
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