Jesus and John Wayne by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
The book has been out since 2019, but it is an excellent "revisionist" history of the political plunge taken by Evangelical Christians in the United States since Reagan embraced them while running against a true Evangelical, Jimmy Carter, in 1980. Carter, a Georgia Southern Baptist whose doctrine and theology reflected the core values of the Christian gospel, and influenced his politics, unlike Reagan, who was very secular in his personal life. And when I say "influenced his politics," I mean that Carter always took the path of compassion, putting the needs of people ahead of his own personal preferences when it came to practicing "righteousness," and he believed that when Jesus said "love your neighbor as yourself," he meant it.
The political brand of Evangelical Christianity that has emerged from the influence of a core group of powerful Christian "leaders" as diverse as Jerry Falwell, Sr., Pat Robertson, James Dobson and Franklin Graham has abandoned Christian theology and doctrine in exchange for the ability to get things done using political power instead of the Holy Spirit's power, and to fight a "culture war" rather than fulfill an evangelistic mission and purpose. It is a cult, by Evangelicalism's own definition, a sinister religion with a set of religious practices that may be drawn from Christian tradition, but which deny the core beliefs of Christianity. Rather than choosing sincere and committed Christians, for whom the gospel's values and practices lead to protecting the rights of all people equally, they chose leaders who push agendas, and who rely on personality and charisma for leadership, who are either nominally connected to religious tradition or, like their later choices, are completely worldly and immoral.
Du Mez says that the attraction of those within American Evangelicalism to Trump, whose personal lifestyle and values are the immoral opposite of Christ's gospel, something he openly proclaims and on which he builds his own worldly identity, is because the "culture war" agenda that includes misogyny, white supremacy and anti-Semitism, opposition to LGBTQ rights and abortion rights, and the use of political power to advance an agenda was already part of the culture and substance of politically engaged, white Evangelicals before Trump came along. They didn't hit it off at first, because Trump was so worldly, so openly immoral and lacking in values. But, having no real convictions himself, he was able to make promises to deliver on things he cared nothing about, specifically abortion and the anti-LGBTQ agenda.
Trump takes any position that will get him what he wants. Once he saw that the things political Evangelicals wanted him to do wouldn't harm his main agenda, he was all in. They saw in Trump the chance to achieve their agenda with political power and were willing to turn their backs on the morality and values of Christ's gospel in order to get their political agenda accomplished. They were willing to dump the morals and values of Jesus in exchange for the political power of a man whose life exemplifies the polar opposite of Christian morality.
They abandoned the evangelistic mission that identifies them within the broader scope of Christianity, and the spiritual power they once believed led to their success in exchange for a political "deal with the devil," and reliance on political power. They couldn't manipulate God in to achieving their agenda, so they turned to someone else.
The Definition of "Evangelical" has Changed
I'm a Christian, and at one point in my life identified as an Evangelical, because I believe that set of doctrines and that interpretation of theology, revealing the person of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ, is consistent with a historical and contextual study of and interpretation of the Bible, specifically the New Testament. What that has become for me, in my life and in the living out of my faith, is similar to that of the doctrine and theology of Jimmy Carter, combined with a heavy dose of Quakerism, specifically, the conviction that being Christian involves repentance, spiritual transformation or conversion, and then living out a specific set of values taught by Jesus, whose words were recorded by the apostles who also commented and instructed at length on how to live by those values.
I no longer identify as an Evangelical, mainly because of the secular political implications of the use of the term. But my church upbringing, supplemented by my own reading and study, along with three years of intense biblical studies in a seminary, have given me the ability to interpret what the scriptures have to say about Christian faith, and the discernment to see that there are major differences between the Christian gospel of Jesus Christ, and the religion practiced by those who have merged their faith with their secular politics. It's been easy for Trumpism, and its worldliness and immorality, to intrude into white, Evangelical churches and denominations because so many members of churches have no knowledge of any real doctrine or theology, and depend on emotions and a set of so-called "leaders" who are celebrities within their own ranks to tell them what to believe.
What the Typical Christian in the Church Pew Believes, or Doesn't Believe, is the Key to Understanding What's Happened to Evangelical Christianity
In illustrating how Southern Baptists transitioned from their claim of being a solidly biblical faith to developing an agenda-driven perspective, in this particular example, patriarchy, De Mez quotes the President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Al Mohler, who lays this out perfectly, based on his personal experience.
"Mr. and Mrs. Baptist may not be able to understand or adjudicate the issue of Biblical inerrancy when it comes down to nuances and language and terminology," he said. "But if you believe abortion...homosexual marriage...should be legal, that's all they need to know."
That's quite an acknowledgement, from the president of the flagship, and largest seminary of the largest Evangelical denomination, that the average member of its churches have no idea what they really believe when it comes to biblical doctrine and theology, and living according to the values of the Christian gospel, taught by and modeled by Jesus. No wonder a false cult has been able to develop inside this particular branch of Christianity and wrap itself around the power of politics to achieve its goals, rather than the power of the Holy Spirit, and the gospel of Jesus Christ, both of whom they have abandoned.
They Didn't Believe in it, Either
For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our Lord into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude, v. 4
These words, from the Apostle Jude, are both prophetic and descriptive of what has happened among white, Evangelical Christians in America. Jude warns the church of an infiltration of falsehoods aimed at perverting the mission and purpose of the church. He attributes their ability to do this on ignorance, that these infiltrators are able to get a platform and a hearing for their false message because the Christians in the church do not know how to defend what they claim to believe.
He uses three Old Testament examples of error and falsehood that infiltrated the worship of God in Israel to describe what was happening in the Christian church, describes the infiltrators as "waterless clouds," "autumn trees without fruit," "wild waves of the sea," and "wandering stars."
These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage." Jude v. 16.
What an absolutely accurate description of the turn toward reliance on secular political power to achieve its ends, which has been happening among white Evangelical Christians in this country since Ronald Reagan, during a speech at a religious roundtable gathering in Dallas prior to the 1980 election, made his scripted remark, suggested by Evangelist James Robison, "I know you can't endorse me, but I endorse you."
The abandonment of evangelistic outreach in exchange for the use of political power to achieve its ends among those prominent Evangelical leaders, many of whom supported Reagan and in so doing, which occurred among this particular group that De Mez names in her book, is the point at which this particular group of Evangelicals ceased being a Christian church, and became a de-facto part of the Republican party. It turned its back on the use of evangelistic outreach and the Holy Spirit's transformation to change the world, and it's convictions and values were already abandoned when Trump came along, making it easy for them to ignore his worldliness and his denial of the core principles of the Christian gospel. They didn't believe in it, either.
There is no Partnership Between Righteousness and Lawlessness
There's a clear separation between Christianity that rests its doctrine, theology and practice of faith on the values and principles of the Christian gospel, taught by Christ and outlined by the apostolic authors of the New Testament, and the religion that white, American Evangelicals have developed by wrapping doctrine and theology in a cloak of politics. De Mez documents the dividing lines in her book. Trumpism has added the element of lawlessness to the mix, which, as far as I am concerned, is what characterizes its complete separation from true Christianity.
The Apostle Paul is actually the one who draws the line that separates any kind of lawlessness from the Christian faith.
"Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? II Corinthians 6:14-16a, NRSV
The boundary line between the religious political extreme and evangelistic Christianity began to be defined following the full emergence of the religious right in 1980. Falwell and the "Moral Majority," Ralph Reed and "Right to Life," James Dobson and his media empire, Marlon Maddoux and his "Point of View" radio program, political activists inside some Evangelical denominations, such as Paige Patterson and Texas appeals court justice Paul Pressler, who led a political takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, along with several noted evangelists, including Franklin Graham and James Robison, have been the preachers of the political gospel that abandoned traditional evangelistic outreach in favor of winning converts to far right Republican politics.
On the political side, media personalities have been largely responsible for formulating the doctrine that helps conservative Evangelicals move past their personal convictions to elevate their desire for political power over spiritual transformation and evangelistic outreach, including the master propagandist himself, Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh never said he was a Christian, and never gave any indication that he shared their spiritual convictions, but he recognized their importance to Republican success, and courted and flattered them so that they would let him shape their thinking, or do it for them. Limbaugh, and others in extremist conservative radio, were the propagandists that separated political Evangelicals from the Christian gospel.
Trumpism brings lawlessness right into the middle of it all. It is the presence of this lawlessness, along with immorality and worldliness that is Trump's personal brand. It's who he is and how he wants to be known. He makes living above the law and bragging about getting away with it his personal achievement. It is this lawlessness that separates what I call the "confessional Christian community" that remains among Evangelicals, those who still practice the Christian gospel and exhibit its valies, and those who turn churches into political action committees and make preachers into political propagandists. The influence of white, Christian nationalism and Trumpism defines them as a cult and separates them from true Christian faith and practice.
And when I say separates, I mean separates. The Apostle Peter says, "Above all, have fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." (I Peter 4:8). And the Apostle John says, "Those who say, 'I love God', and hate their brothers and sisters are liars, for those who do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen." (I John 4:20, NRSV
The political religious right is missing the virtue of love, in multiple ways, especially in its "end times" views and its white, Christian nationalism. And that is what makes them a pseudo-Christian cult, and separates them from true Christianity and the gospel of Jesus Christ. The "No true Scotsman Fallacy" doesn't work on this comparison. Christianity is defined by the biblical record of the life and teachings of Jesus. The religion that has emerged from the merging of extremist MAGA politics with American Evangelicalism is not Christianity.
You can be one or the other. It is not possible to be both.
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