"When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for the help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." --Benjamin Franklin
John Pavlovitz: Conservative Cringe-ianity
Pavlovitz makes a couple of statements based on his observation of the recent CPAC gathering that is an accurate description of what the intrusion, or invasion, of secular, right-wing politics has done to the churches and denominations in American Evangelicalism who have permitted it, embraced it, or out of fear of losing members and monetary contributions, have ignored its presence. These quotes are my particular favorites.
"While there [at CPAC], you'll also see an endless parade of self-flagellating white, Evangelical ministers advertising their defiance of non-existent oppression, a sea of Donald Trump-as-messiah airbrushed atrocities slapped on bellies and bumpers, and a small army of snarling and flexing "God and guns" supermarket soldiers who regularly pack heat at the Piggly-Wiggly, open carrying Bibles they've never read.
"What you won't see there at CPAC are any actual followers of Jesus. At least, not one from the Bible.
"You won't find his compassionate heart for the poor and vulnerable, his expansive embrace of disparate humanity, or his sacrificial love for those who are hurting at CPAC--nor will you find any of these things in this GOP, or at Trump rallies or in right-wing Evangelical churches. The only thing decent people of faith will find in conservative religion is embarrassment."
The Mission and Purpose of the Christian Gospel
I think it is important for those who are dismissive of all of Christianity out of frustration caused by this aberration of it, described in accurate terms by John Pavlovitz, to have a working understanding of the Christian gospel. What you are dismissing, and what's been described here, is an intrusion that has stolen its way into the church and that has ideologically and philosophically corrupted it in order to use its influence to advance a cause that is contrary to its mission and purpose which rests on a foundation laid by Jesus Christ himself.
In the closing words of Matthew's gospel, Jesus is quoted giving his followers, Christians, and the church that he had established, a commission to "Go, make disciples, baptize them, and teach them all I have commanded you." The primary objective is conversion, leading people to a spiritual transformation that includes the conviction of sin and repentance, leading to forgiveness and restoration to fellowship with God. Baptism is a symbol of this spiritual transformation, an allusion to the ceremonial use of water in the Jewish cleansing ceremony. Those who were baptized were gathered into local congregations, the "ecclesia," or the church, for the purpose of being taught how to live out the gospel of Christ.
That's it. The church is based on the new covenant in Christ, which is the relationship between the individual believer and Jesus, brought about by what Christians believe is the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. Though many of the Jewish people who lived in Palestine under Roman rule believed, or at least, hoped that the promised Messiah of their faith would throw off Roman rule in a miraculous sort of way, like some of the accounts of battles in the Old Testament when outnumbered Israelites defeated surrounding enemies, claim the throne of David as his heir and re-establish a theocratic empire, Jesus made it clear that the kingdom he established, the church, would be a spiritual domain transcending worldly limitations including race, ethnic origins, cultural, social and economic barriers.
Politics Turns the Gospel Upside Down
The Sermon on the Mount is recorded in the 5th through 7th chapters of Matthew's gospel. Many Bible scholars believe this is a compilation of Jesus' sermons, or teachings, to groups gathered to hear him at multiple locations and times during his ministry. It lays out foundational, core principles of the Christian faith, directly from Jesus himself.
The sermon begins with the Beatitudes, a list of virtues which depict the ideal spiritual condition of someone who has become a worshipper and follower of God by grace through their faith in Jesus as the Christ. These inward qualities are the evidence of the spiritual transformation that occurs in the soul when all of the aspects of a conversion experience have happened. Jesus was saying that those who possess these inward qualities as a result of the work of the Spirit in conversion are divinely happy and fortunate.
Jesus uses the analogies of salt and light to illustrate how Christians, whose spiritual transformation blesses them with these virtues as gifts from God, are an influence in the world, in the same way that salt flavors food or light chases away the darkness. They were to be a visible testimony to the transformation that occurs within the soul as human beings are restored to a relationship with their creator. The illustrations are summed up in Matthew 5:26, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven."
It's hard to figure out where being attached to an angry mob intending to disrupt the United States Congress, carrying weapons with the intention of doing physical harm to some of those whom they might encounter, urinating and defecating on the floor of the Capitol Building, beating up and terrorizing police officers and perpetrating violence shines the light of any of those virtues mentioned by Jesus and recorded in scripture and shows any good works leading to glorifying God. Many of those in that insurrectionist mob were carrying symbols or wearing clothing intended to identify them with Christianity.
They were not Christian. They've adopted the rhetoric, symbolism and some of the outer trappings of Christian faith, but their actions demonstrate a rejection of the values Jesus said were a visible sign of spiritual transformation. The term "pseudo-Christian" has been used to describe their political philosophy, in that it appears to be Christian without any sincere practice of its core values.
Two New Testament writers address this issue:
"You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! " The Apostle Paul's Second Epistle to Timothy, 3:1-5 (emphasis mine)
"For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designed for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Jude in his Epistle, Verse 4
So what are we talking about when we speak of this "intrusion" by secular, right wing politics into the conservative, Evangelical church?
Insurrection, violence, calling for civil war and defending and giving loyalty to a politician whose personal values stand in complete opposition to everything Christ did or taught is not merely pseudo-Christian. It is anti-Christian. It is not possible to confess faith in Christ but fail to exhibit behavior that demonstrates any of his values or principles. It is not possible to confess faith in Christ while giving allegiance or loyalty to those who are deliberately manipulating Christians and the church and attempting to conform it to their own selfish purposes.
But Sometimes God Uses Evil Men to Accomplish His Purposes
That's a very simple statement for very complicated circumstances in the movement of human history. Two of Christ's apostles in the early church, Peter and Paul, acknowledge that all governing authorities are allowed to be where they are because of the authority and power of God. There are some events in which the actions of men who, by any measure, were evil. While their actions may have brought about something that the writers of scripture acknowledge as God's purpose or intent, and in that context they may have been "used" by God, there is absolutely no endorsement of their evil character, nor of the means they may have used to achieve their purpose by God. But under the New Covenant, in the Christian church and New Testament, there's no endorsement of or example of God using anyone evil to achieve his purpose.
There's also absolutely no requirement at all that the people of God acknowledge, express their appreciation or give any kind of loyalty whatsoever to these evil men. That argument in no way encourages or instructs Christians to give their personal loyalty to a narcissistic, adulterous, slanderous, lying, money-loving, arrogant, profligate lover of pleasure who is a politician seeking political office in the American representative democracy, including former Presidents. Anyone who senses those kinds of inclinations in their own thinking needs to go back and read II Timothy 3:1-5.
"Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me dressed in white, for they are worthy." Revelation 3:4, NRSV
A true and important message.
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