One of the distinguishing features of Christians who have become known as "Evangelical" is their way of interpreting the Bible. They claim that the 66 books of the Protestant Bible are "inerrant and infallible in their original autographs." That's difficult to prove, given that the original manuscripts have long since crumbled to dust, though many of the more fundamentalist Christians among the broader Evangelical branch of American Christianity follow that up with the doctrine of preservation, meaning that God has preserved the inerrancy and infallibility of the scriptures, including the King James Version for English speakers.
But, their doctrine of scripture goes further than that. Included in the doctrine of inerrancy and infallibility is a literal, "verse by verse" interpretation of the scriptures which ignores, or is completely unaware of, historical and cultural contexts that existed at the time the writers produced their work. That leads to some real differences in how most Evangelicals see the message of the Christian gospel, and how other Christians, especially those who have clearly devoted themselves to an intense study and analysis of the Biblical text, including the historical and cultural contexts in which they were written.
What I've done here is use Evangelical fundamentalism's literal interpretation of the Christian gospel to point out how completely and utterly inconsistent it is for anyone who accepts that perspective to support a politician running for the American Presidency like Donald J. Trump. From calling him "God's man" to comparisons to King David, Evangelical Trump supporters have made a serious departure from what they claim to be "Biblical truth" and have been deceived and blinded, calling the veracity and sincerity of their faith into legitimate question.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. I Corinthians 11:13-15, ESV
For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of or God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ...These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage. Jude, V. 4, 16 NRSV
These words from the New Testament are quite prophetic in a modern day application, relevant, in any Evangelical context, to American twenty-first century politics. They are so descriptive of the Maga right wing of the GOP, it's as if they were written or spoken yesterday. Read on and familiarize yourself with the arguments, and share them with your Maga friends.
A Conservative, Evangelical Interpretation of the Gospel of Christ and Christian Practice Should Direct Christians Away from Demagogues Like Trump
Those who don't practice a religion, or who don't go anywhere near Evangelical Christianity need to make themselves familiar with their core theology and doctrine. Rather than relying on commonly held perceptions, the benefit that comes with being familiar with what these people actually believe is the ability to see where their spiritual convictions completely disallow and depart from permitting support for the blatant worldliness and, in their terminology, sinfulness of Trump's brand of politics, and of Trump himself.
When politically motivated, far right wing Evangelicals are confronted with the realities of their misplaced support for Trump, they are faced with the choice of either denying, or completely re-interpreting something they have established as an essential doctrine of the Christian faith, or of setting aside those values and virtues, and compromising their spirituality for the sake of their political beliefs. What they are saying, when they do this, is that they do not believe that God's Holy Spirit is powerful enough to achieve His will in the world, and compromising with evil is the only pathway to success.
The context and framework of conservative, Evangelical Christian theology and doctrine makes one of the best cases, outside of the preservation of democracy itself, for rejecting Trumpism, labelling it the worldly, sinful intrusion into this branch of American Christianity that it is, and refusing to cast a ballot for the man if he happens to survive the inevitable guilty verdicts that will accompany his 92 indictments. The scripture themselves make a good case for labelling Trump as an "anti-christ" by definition. So read on, get familiar with the points and use them as often as you have the opportunity to confront those caught up in this political and religious heresy.
Trump Can't Be God's Man, Because he Rejects Christian Soteriology
It makes me ill to hear Christians refer to Trump as "God's man." This is a term that is very clearly indentified in the Bible, and when Evangelicalism's literal interpretation of the scripture is overlaid on this term, it becomes very clear that Trump is not God's man at all, but he is his own man, and that conclusion can be drawn by using his own words.
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9, ESV
A specific, and identifiable conversion experience is at the core of Evangelical doctrine when it comes to Christian identity. By literally following the instructions of a collection of specific verses found in the book of Romans, conversion is called a "salvation experience," and involves a series of steps in which a "lost" person, one who is not a Christian, becomes spiritually regenerated by God's Holy Spirit. This process involves being convicted of one's sinful nature in contrast with God's perfection, repenting of it by acknowledging and receiving the blood sacrifice of Christ at his crucifixion as the divine son of God with the spiritual power to save souls. Having done this, spiritual regeneration occurs as God's spirit forgives the sinful nature and restores the now repentant sinner to new life as a Christian, committed to the virtues and values of the Christian gospel as set forth in the New Testament.
The key point in this conversion experience, according to Evangelical teaching, is the conviction of one's sin, the acknowledgement that one is a sinner, confessing that sin to God in repentance from the lifestyle of sin that is separation from God, in order to receive grace which restores one's spirit to God and brings about forgiveness of sin. That is followed by living the virtues and values of the Christian gospel.
But Trump publicly denies that he has done anything which he must ask God to forgive. That's not a misrepresentation of his terms, that's what he says. It's rare to find any place where he even discusses his own faith at all, and the references to those places where he has said something about it lack any characteristic that Evangelicals could use to point to his conversison, including what he claims to believe about God. He has his "own" belief, mostly kept to him self, none of it resembling anything Evangelicals claim to be essential evidence of Christian faith and practice.
The record of political leaders in the Bible who were designated as "God's man" makes it pretty clear that men who did not submit to God, who were caught up in their own power, and who were put in positions of leadership in theocratic Israel or Judah as kings were judged and removed if they "did evil in the eyes of the Lord," as all of those who served in Israel did after the split from Judah, along with most of those who reigned in Jerusalem. That was what the Babylonian captivity was all about.
So, if Trump isn't committed to the soteriology of Evangelicalism, then he can't be "God's man," because he is his own man. Everything he says on the subject confirms this.
Using King David as a comparison is also not relevant to this point. King David was a committed follower of God, accepting God's spiritual authority over him, though he did, at times, break down and fail to live up to godly expectations. Trump has not followed the Evangelical profession of faith formula at all. He has invented his own perspective of "God" specifically to avoid the kind of submission to his will that Evangelicals place at the core of their theology. He is un-repentant when it comes to his own sins, and in fact, because that kind of worldliness is his brand, he revels in the negative attention attracted by his dishonesty and immorality, flaunting it and continuing with it because it does get him media face time unlike any other American politician gets.
I don't have the kind of spiritual discernment it would take to know for sure if Trump has actually been redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ. But I can use his words, and his lifestyle as his own testimony, and from an Evangelical perspective, he is not only unrepentant, but defiant when it comes to the submission to God that is required to be converted to Christianity. In I John 4:3, the apostle says, "and every spirit that does not confess Christ is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it was coming, and now it is already in the world. [NRSV]. This isn't a matter of making a judgment, then. It is a matter of observing what Trump wants the world to see about himself.
It is not possible, within the context of Evangelical theology, doctrine and practice, to flaunt forgiveness, reject redemption and deny one's need for Christ's salvation and still be Christian. Therefore, Trump cannot be God's man.
Practice of the Christian Faith is Guided by Its Virtues and Values
"So faith, by itself, if it has no works, is dead." James 2:17, NRSV
A conversion experience is empty if it does not lead the convert to understand that the goal of the Christian life is not just to make sure one is on their own way to heaven, but to serve the other people around them. It is not possible to do enough good works to compensate for the sin in one's life, according to Evangelical theology, apart from the confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ. But it is also not possible to have experienced conversion through confession and then not practice the values and virtues of the Christian life. The two things go hand in hand.
Jesus himself emphasized the practice of virtues and their importance and significance in the gospel that he preached and taught. Much of the content of his teaching is found in a narrative known as the "Sermon on the Mount," recorded by both Matthew and Luke, both of which note the emphasis Jesus placed on the practice of virtures as indicators of the presence of an indwelling faith in the life of those who believe in Christ and are Christians, followers of the Christian gospel.
The life example of one who has truly been converted to Christ is the identifiable presence of these virtues. By listing, they include poor in spirit, grief or mourning over one's own sinful condition, meekness, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaking and enduring persecution.
It's not a matter of judgment, but of observation and discernment, to take note of where, in Trump's public appearances, mainly at his campaign rallies, where either he, or those gathered there to support him, are exhibiting any of these virtues. The rhetoric in his speeches, which have become hate filled tirades promising vengeance against his enemies, spewing hatred against non-white ethnicities from backgrounds he claims are "poisoning the blood of the country," continuing to spread lies claiming the election was stolen from him, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary, and pitting his followers against ethnic minorities, as well as people of different social and economic backgrounds.
Where, in all of those diatribes, can be found anything that looks like it was motivated by the virtues Christ declared as identifying characteristics of true Christian faith?
"The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh." James 3:8-12, NRSV
All through his church epistles, the Apostle Paul emphasizes characteristics which identified people who he said were indwelled with the Holy Spirit, having been converted to followers of Jesus, becoming Christians. A clear list, found in Galatians 5:22-23, says that the "fruit of the spirit," the characteristics produced in Christians by the Holy Spirit in the active practice of their faith, includes love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He contrasts these characteristics with their opposites, which come from a spirit that has not repented and experienced forgiveness of sin, including fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissentions, factions, envy, drunkeness and carousing.
Noting that for the purposes of this discussion, it is the Evangelical interpretation of these words that we are using to make our observations. The image that Trump has consistently conveyed, the manner in which he wishes to be known and in which he publicly expresses himself is his own brand of worldliness and he continues to characterize it that way, claiming he regrets nothing he has done, claiming that things Evangelicals call "sin" are not wrong, and denying any need to ask forgiveness for anything.
The second list is the subject of hundreds of Evangelical sermons. This is the stuff they love to preach, stepping on toes and pointing out just how bad the world is and how it is going to hell in a handbasket, in a loud, shrieking voice with lots of hand motions. But when it comes to Trump, who revels in the worldliness characterized by the second list of characteristics, they are silent.
A Very Prophetic Word from the Apostle Jude
At some point during the mid-first century of the Christian church, one of its apostles, Jude, identified as the brother of James, and so, believed to be the half-brother of Jesus, felt led to warn a group of Christians about the infiltration into the church of people promoting a philosophy that was subversive and damaging to the Christian gospel. Apparently, the infiltrators were difficult to detect, ingratiating themselves by appearing to be righteous, and authoritative on the gospel, but who were described by Jude as "ungodly, perverting the grace of our Lord into licentiousness and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."
From the tone and emphasis of Jude's writing, it is clear that these infiltrators had gained acceptance from many of the Christians in the churches where they had embedded themselves, and were influenced into perverting the mission and purpose of the church, allowing congregations to be hijacked for the purpose of promoting a false gospel, or a different belief than Jesus and the apostles had preached and taught.
This epistle, not a common subject of preaching or teaching among Evangelicals, is prophetic in that Jude was dealing with an intrusion of lies and false teaching into the church similar to the intrusion of far right wing extremism in the form of Trump Republicanism into Evangelical churches today. There are conservative Evangelicals who are criticizing some of the actual teachings of Jesus himself as "weak," and "liberal." And they are completely distorting the Christian gospel by introducing practes that are worldly and anti-Christian. Jude says, "It is these worldly people, deviod of the spirit, who are causing divisions." [Jude v. 19, NRSV]
What is happening in Evangelical churches and among the Evangelical Christian community in America fits Jude's description of the ""intrusion of licentiousness" he was addressing in the first century church. Jude recognized that false teachers were able to get inside churches because there was little awareness of the false nature of their teaching. Likewise, the influence of far right wing secular politics has been able to get inside the church and become doctrine and practice, while many Christians seem unable to recognize the difference between truth and a lie. And it is dividing American Christianity, and more specifically Evangelical Christianity.
One of the major appeals of far right wing politics, especially of the Trumpism variety, is a strong appeal to the prejudices, biases and fears of people. Christians are not immune from such influences, especially when they imitate what appears to be the "Christian" thing to do, or when acceptance is gained either because they are unfamiliar with their own doctrine and theology, found in scripture, or they accept the skewed, twisted interpretations and practices which become their own. Churches are still the most segregated bodies in this country, and their waning influence in the culture results from their replacement of the gospel of Jesus Christ with right wing political influence as their own salvation. That may sound harsh, but it is an exact description of what Trump's influence has had on Evangelicalism.
"This is the Spirit of the Antichrist..."
The Apostle John, writing to at least one of the churches he served as an apostle, makes this very clear statement in his first epistle:
"Whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is love." [I John 4:8]
Anything that comes along with the intention of replacing this central, core belief of the Christian gospel is subverting it. Evangelical teaching is very black and white clear on this point and that clarity is based on scripture. Everything that I've pointed out here has come from an Evangelical interpretation of that scripture. There's no gray area in Evangelical teaching, it's either one way or the other.
John is the only one of the apostles who actually uses the term "Antichrist," a word that he defines as being any spirit which does not acknowledge Christ, meaning the acknowledgement that Jesus was the promised Messiah of the Old Testament, and the gospel he preached, based on his own sacrificial death and physical resurrection, was to save humanity from its sin.
Whether or not there is acceptance of this particular belief, in Evangelical theology and practice it is an essential doctrine. To deny it, according to I John 4:3, is to exhibit the spirit of the antichrist.
Everything that Trumpism does to Evangelical Christianity replaces the acceptance of Christ's sacrifice with a loyalty focused on a different kind of "salvation," a false gospel that is deceptive, aimed at using the influence and power of the church for puposes other than spiritual ones, such as becoming a political party of its own making in order to achieve a political goal. That's very short sighted, and dangerous in that it leads to what Paul calls, "anathema," or absolute condemnation. Elevating a political candidate, whose worldly behavior doesn't live up to Christian expectations, to the position of savior, while dismissing core principles taught by Jesus as "too liberal" is anathema. It is also a clear indication that a significant number of Evangelicals have chosen to be part of the Maga base, and have set aside their Christian faith in favor of a heretical, political cult.
If You Know the Truth, It Will Set You Free
So this is left up to the reader. Be an observer and figure this out. To me, this is obvious. If I follow a purely Evangelical interpretation of the scripture, I cannot conclude that Trump is "God's man," nor sent by God, but I must conclude that the whole spectrum of his politics is, as Jude says, they are, "waterless clouds carried along by the winds, autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea castong up on the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved for ever.
It's easy to figure this out. Read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-13, and the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 and compare Trump's rally statements and social media posts to those virtues and values. Find even one that he gets close enough to claim. Just one.
Evangelical followers of Trump and the Maga cult have been deceived.
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. I Corinthians 11:13-15, ESV
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