Posted on 02/29/2016 12:57:24 PM PST by Heartlander
Editors' Note: The Christian Post has not taken a position on a political candidate before today. We are making an exception because Trump is exceptionally bad and claims to speak for and represent the interests of evangelicals.
We the senior editors of The Christian Post encourage our readers to back away from Donald Trump.
As the most popular evangelical news website in the United States and the world, we feel compelled by our moral responsibility to our readers to make clear that Donald Trump does not represent the interests of evangelicals and would be a dangerous leader for our country.
Trump claims to be a Christian, yet says he has never asked for forgiveness.
While God, in His wondrous creativity, has drawn people to Himself through the saving grace of Jesus Christ in many different ways, there are certain non-negotiable actions needed to become a Christian: One must repent of their sins and follow Christ as Lord and Savior. Trump doesn't talk this way, even when urged to.
Further, his words and actions do not demonstrate the "fruit of the spirit."
Trump is a misogynist and philanderer. He demeans women and minorities. His preferred forms of communication are insults, obscenities and untruths. While Christians have been guilty of all of these, we, unlike Trump, acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness and seek restitution with the aid of the Holy Spirit and our community of believers.
On Sunday, Trump's apparent reluctance to disavow David Duke until late in the day was extremely distasteful. The Ku Klux Klan is an evil, unholy movement representing the worst of America. Anyone who will not immediately denounce their support is unfit to be president.
Trump claims he will "protect Christians." We already have a Protector, and He is not Trump.
The grievances of Trump's supporters are legitimate. Politicians for too long have promised to represent the best interests of all Americans before an election, only to represent the interest of their cronies after the election. But Trump's followers are being fooled into believing that he can help them.
Trump is promising many things that he cannot possibly deliver, but the most frightening part is Trump's stated willingness to ignore the authority of the Supreme Court, Congress and the U.S. Constitution if he were to become president.
Trump has been surrounded by controversy for decades because of his untruthfulness, questionable business practices, reported association with organized crime, and abrupt changes in fundamental positions. Many of these controversies involve defrauding the working class and decisions that compromised American workers. He has taken a political position both pro and con on virtually every subject and major political party. This should give evangelicals great pause and concern about supporting such a mercurial and chameleon-like candidate. Past performance is the best predictor of future behavior.
Trump said he wants to make it easier to sue newspapers that criticize him. When it was pointed out to him Sunday that he would have to amend the Constitution's freedom of speech and freedom of press clauses, Trump was unmoved, simply noting that England has weaker protections for the press.
Many evangelicals, including our friends, have criticized Trump on our own opinion page and elsewhere, such as Matt Barber, Dr. Michael Brown, Kristi Burton Brown, Susan Stamper Brown, Rev. Mark Creech, Wallace Henley, E.W. Jackson, Max Lucado, Dr. Russell Moore and Rep. Reid Ribble. If Trump were to become president we fear he would use the levers of government power to silence them and others.
We are already concerned about the expansion of executive power to dangerous and unconstitutional extremes in the current and previous administrations. Plus, in just the past year we have seen Christians put out of business and jailed for living according to the dictates of their faith.
Trump, an admirer of Vladimir Putin and other dictatorial leaders, may claim to be your friend and protector now, but as his history indicates, without your full support he will turn on you, and use whatever power is within his means to punish you.
This is a critical time in American history and we call on all Christians to pray for personal repentance, divine forgiveness and spiritual awakening for our nation. It is not the time for Donald Trump.
I am an evangelical.and I support Trump. I am an evangelical and I do not appreciate your denigrating my faith. I will not attack your whatever you believe.
Judah was invaded by Nebuchadnezzar because God would not forgive Judah for child sacrifice among other abominations. I find it bazaar that you think DT will bring about a revival when the child sacrifice of today has to stop at contraceptives.
Do you think a wall will stop a God ordained judgment invasion? Just wondering.
Boomers carry their own thunder I guess.
Some folks here prefer Trump to Christians. It’s times like this that it’s worth remembering Matthew 5:10.
Would you crucify them for Trump?
Rolls eyes and groans .... yes because as we all know Hillary Clinton is such a good Christian and we have all to vote for her.
I dont use cheap rhetoric, using people’s faith, to direct their votes.
Yup, and they are also how DT made a lot of money. He knows how that marketing works.
You make my point, and, obliquely, you are saying you despise me (at least the essence of me, my thoughts and theological underpinnings) — which is OK. We could probably get along, you and I; but you are not impressed with the God of the Bible, or with the Christians who proclaim it; nor are you particularly desperate for the Gospel as the Bible declares it. I have had many friends and colleagues and associates who have felt the same way.
Here on FR, we all espouse conservatism, in one of its several forms. In that sense, we have a common interest in seeing the Constitution, original intent, upheld and sustained.
I would reject outright the notion that what I believe is similar to islam. What an insult! It’s OK, though; I take no umbrage. As I said, I know that sentiment is very much in evidence out there in our society, even here on FR.
When I analyze islam, I see a goddie that doesn’t really care about us. I see a culture that has grown up around the koran; it is a political system which does not respect human life at all. Quite the opposite of Christianity. In Christianity, I see a God who made us, tolerated the hardness of our hearts, but then came to earth, did nothing but good, worked wonders, and then died for our sins, for as many as receive Him into their lives.
Obviously, nobody HAS to believe or receive it. It is, however, true.
They are “The CHRISTIAN Post.” Faith is why they exist. Everything is viewed through that lens for them. That’s the whole point. There is no force. People can heed their advice or not.
I do not despise anyone or any faith that harms none. I do despise islam and all its evil.
There are many peaceful faiths and I respect their believers. It’s just that someones faith has no bearing on my own faith nor its implications against me based on faith.
Your post triggered a question in my mind since I had posted earlier today about those who are voting for DT. I wondered if these are the same people who gamble and while I couldn’t find the same breakdown of demographics for casinos, those who play the lottery have the same characteristics...
College Grads Learn Not to Play
The education level of prospective lottery players is perhaps the best predictor of whether they will play and how much they will spend. High school dropouts are far more likely to play the lottery, and to play heavily, than those with college degrees. This tendency is masked somewhat by the fact that those with lower educational levels typically have lower incomes and therefore can’t afford to play as much.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/library/lottery/demographics.htm
In September David Brady and Douglas Rivers of the Hoover Institution took a closer look at the demographics of Mr Trump’s enduring coalition. They painted a picture of Trump supporters as largely older, less wealthy and less educated.
They found that more than half of Trump-backers are female. About a third are over the age of 65. Only 2% are younger than 30. Half of his voters have a high-school diploma, but just 19% have a college degree. Just over a third earn less than $50,000, while 11% make six figures or more.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-35047233
One might call them the “establishment Christians”.
Gee, they didn’t seem to have any problems with Obama and his interesting version of Christian faith, nor did they have any concerns about Obama’s expanding executive orders.
We live in interesting times.
And a corollary to what I said in my first post is that I, for one, believe Cruz would be perfectly capable of governing this country, and that he would not invoke nor try to implement his beliefs about heaven, hell, or armageddon.
But there’s no need to even try to convince the voting public of that.
Which is why I am supporting Trump.
I agree 100%. It’s the ignorance that allows for illegals and pacifies the islam refuge that concerns me the most.
I do. But I did not want to include myself, so as to not bias the question.
I am with you on this.
A lot of people (both on and off this site) thinks a wall is going to protect them. Donald Trump may build that wall, but no wall is going to protect anyone from divine judgement.
I agree with you. I may in fact vote for Trump tomorrow for these reasons. Not because he’d be a good President, but because I want to be a part of the will of God for this sinful country. Suffering brings repentance. At least, it did all those times for Israel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.