Trumpism is Tearing Apart the Evangelical Church in America
For certain people have crept in unnoticed, those who long beforehand marked out for this condemnation , ungodly persons who who turn the grace of our God into indecent behavior and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Jude, V. 4, NASB
The epistle of Jude, the Apostle is often neglected when it comes to content for sermons. One of the shorter books in the Bible, and the only one written by Jude, traditionally identified as one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus and possibly a half-brother or cousin of Jesus, the theme of the epistle is to encourage Christians, most likely in a specific church or region, to "contend" for what had been established as the theology and doctrine of the Christian church. There were those among the churches who were being both deceitful as far as doctrine was concerned, and immoral in their lifestyle, both things which were counter to the core principles of the Christian gospel. Jude's epistle is a warning to Christians to reject these intruders, their false teaching and immoral lifestyle.
Though Jude was addressing a specific issue in a specific place when he wrote his epistle, in spite of its short length and specific address, it managed to be included in the canon of the New Testament because its words have proven to be prophetic, since false teaching and attempts to hijack churches for political purposes or personal gain have occurred multiple times across two thousand years of Christian history.
Jude's words are once again relevant to what is happening in some segments of Christianity in the United States. Under the influence of far right wing and extreme politics, many Evangelical churches have abandoned their evangelistic mission and purpose, along with their former church-state separation principles which were once considered a distinctive practice for conservative Christians in the United States, and are doing exactly what Jude warned that intruders would cause. They are denying the core doctrines and practices of the Christian gospel, preached and taught by Jesus, and are giving their loyalty to a political perspective and a politician, whose personal brand is the kind of indecent behavior Jude describes.
"Tearing Apart" The Evangelical Church
For those who aren't familiar with the Evangelical branch of American Christianity, it is not a "church" or even a "denomination" in the way that Catholics, Methodists, or Episcopalians are structured and operate. Most congregations are independent, and autonomous, even those who affiliate with a denomination. This leads to a wide variety of interpretations of key points of biblical content, and differences of opinion over their practice as it relates to Christian living. It also allows for the intrusion of ideology and practices which are not based on an interpretation using a literal, historical context and linguistic study of the Bible.
In most churches, the only person in the congregation responsible for making sure the church remains faithful to orthodox, correct doctrine and theology is the pastor. So if the pastor is someone who is politically engaged, or a conspiracy theorist, or a control freak, all of which are common occurrences in local churches, combined with an anti-educational bias, the door is wide open for heresy, in the form of Trumpism or any brand of extremist politics, to become the standard for belief and practice. And at that point, the church ceases to be Christian.
Christian faith and practice cannot be separated from the gospel, which is a relatively simple set of principles that guide human beings to live by a set of moral values which Jesus preached and taught, and which he commissioned his twelve disciples, who became the early church's apostles, to also preach, teach and use in their ministry to those who followed this lifestyle. Being Christian requires spiritual conviction and personal commitment. The deeper principles of faith cannot be coerced or mandated by law.
It's quite clear from the words that are recorded as being from Jesus himself that the church he would establish would not be a theocracy, but would be a spiritual kingdom which could exist under any law or political system. He separated the church from the state, and two of his apostles made it clear that Christians were to respect the authority of the civil government which had the responsibility of keeping the social order, while the church had the responsibility for faith practice.
Intruders are Moving Into Churches with a Political Agenda
By contrast, the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things...If we live by the spirit, let us also be guided by the spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 and 25, NRSV
There's no law against any of these virtues, all attributes which, if part of one's faith practice, are marks of their Christian identity. At least, that's what the apostle who wrote these words was saying. There are some Christians who are discovering, by experience, that these things are signs of "wokeness," especially to those who are intent on using the influence, and power, of Christianity on the part of a more extreme political agenda. The question I have for them is that if they are Christian, how does being "anti-woke" exhibit any of these core Christian characteristics?
How, indeed, does the anti-woke agenda, which is attacking leadership in some Evangelical churches, as the link to The Atlantic article above points out, exemplify any of the teachings of the Christian gospel?
The Apostle Matthew wrote a comprehensive narrative, called "The Sermon on the Mount," quoting Jesus' preaching and teaching, which scholars believe probably represents several settings where Jesus taught in front of groups of people. There's a longer, more comprehensive listing and description of moral virtues and characteristics theoretically demonstrating what Christian living should look like, starting with things like "Blessed are the poor in spirit," and those who mourn, and those who are meek, and those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and those who are merciful, who are pure in heart, and who are peacemakers. That is the very core essence of Christianity, that's what Jesus said it should look like.
So does it?
A political intrusion, to which many Evangelicals have become susceptible because they cannot get past the turning of abortion rights and human sexuality into political agenda issues, has removed the practice of the Christian gospel from many churches through misguided leadership. Instead of having a worldview based on the Christian gospel, they have a distorted worldview based on a political agenda, with Trumpism as the primary influence. So it is that a man whose lifestyle exemplifies a worldliness that is diametrically opposite the values of Jesus and the Christian gospel has deceived many Evangelical Christians into exchanging their loyalty to Christ for loyalty to him. He can't tolerate the other.
The "Age of Apostasy" for American Evangelicals is Here
To call David Platt a "woke liberal" is as laughable and ridiculous as it gets. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Platt became the youngest pastor of a megachurch in the country when he was called as pastor of the Church at Brook Hills in the Birmingham, Alabama suburbs. A Southern Baptist, with three theological degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Platt served as Executive Director of the International Mission Board of the SBC, the largest international missionary sending agency in the United States, before becoming lead pastor at McLean Bible Church, one of the largest, multi-campus megachurches in the Washington, DC area.
Anyone who has read any of his books, listened to his preaching and teaching, and has observed his ministry could not objectively label him as anything but a sincere Christian minister of the gospel of Christ, doing what is expected, by biblical instruction and standards, of a Christian serving in his position. Pastors who avoid political statements or endorsements, or who, out of conviction, are openly opposed to the immorality, deceit and corruption of certain candidates are increasingly under attack from those who want to turn the church into a political action committee, unable to comprehend the difference between spiritual conviction and a political agenda.
So far, it appears that the leadership at McLean Bible Church has been able to recognize these intruders and have neutralized their influence in the church, though I think it will probably only be a matter of time before they rear their ugly heads again, and cause more trouble. They are blind to the fact that vengeful hatred of those who are different is not a value of the Christian gospel and they appeal to the biases and prejudices of others to convince them they're right.
Russell Moore and Beth Moore, no relation, both experienced pressure from anti-woke extremists in their respective ministries. Beth Moore is a highly regarded and very successful writer and teacher, especially among women. She has been the best selling author at Lifeway Christian Publishers, which belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention, for multiple years. Her products that are still available there are still outselling everything else. But Beth Moore has been accused of being "woke," though that hasn't diminished her popularity. She has left the membership of the Southern Baptist church where she once belonged for more compatible territory among Christians who understand the free-practice of faith.
Russell Moore, the former executive director of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC), was pressured into leaving his position because he was an outspoken opponent of Trump's candidacy and presidency. That's it. There's nothing to identify Moore as a liberal in any way. But the effort to try and push him out, instigated by a Georgia pastor who was on the Executive Committee, not even on Moore's trustee board, was not about the job he was doing or the positions he was taking in representing Southern Baptists in Washington. It was because he was a never-Trumper, a position that has zero to do with anything related to the Christian faith.
So I will conclude, if David Platt, Beth Moore and Russell Moore are considered "woke liberals," as far as their fellow conservatives are concerned, then their fellow conservatives have listened to the intruders and are deceived apostates in their respective churches. They are leading Evangelical churches into apostasy.
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