Yes, by definition, I'm an Evangelical Christian. That's because I am a member of a church whose theology, doctrine and practice of the Christian faith is held in common with the vast majority of others who hold similar beliefs and are engaged in similar practice of the faith. I have a strong background in theology and doctrine, having attended a university that was affiliated with the denomination in which I grew up, the Southern Baptist Convention, and I also have a graduate degree from one of its seminaries, and I've never been a member of any other kind of church.
Why I'm Not Voting for Trump
I've heard all of the standard arguments conservative Christians use to bypass biblical principle and justify supporting Trump, mainly because he is a Republican, and because as a politician, he figured out how to get the Evangelical constituency of the GOP to give up their convictions, values and the basic principles of their faith in exchange for his appointing justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. Now that he's done this, his Evangelical supporters are stuck with all of the baggage of the worldly image he deliberately projects, they are being characterized as hypocrites and their testimony to the message of the Christian gospel has very likely been permanently destroyed by what appears to just about every other political faction as an endorsement of his lack of character.
The cliches and catch phrases used to excuse support for Trump are theologically and doctrinally bankrupt. "I'm not voting for a pastor-in-chief, I'm voting for a commander-in-chief" is a weak cop-out that is rendered false by Romans 13:1-7 and I Peter 2:13-17. In a nation where Christians have the power of their vote to contribute to the choosing of their own leaders, failing to vote for those candidates whose character matters, especially if they follow the Christian gospel and give evidence of dependence on God for guidance, is careless and wrong. The "lesser of two evils" argument is contrary to biblical instruction. Nowhere does any biblical author provide a rational for degrees of evil.
God has, in the past, used evil men to achieve his purposes. So you're halfway there, in using this excuse, by at least admitting that Trump is evil. But in so doing, God has never, ever asked his people to give their loyalty to such evil. Israel being invaded by Assyria or Babylon was prophetically reasoned as a consequence for their national sin, something that no longer exists collectively under the Christian gospel, so using that as an analogy is a false comparison. And if you want to assert that God used Trump while he was President, go ahead by all means. Those scriptures I cited earlier support that thought. But that doesn't mean God intends to bring him back, or that you have to support his return, either. Joe Biden is now the President, and his presence there is also consistent with the truths both of those Apostles state in those passages.
Trump, and his surrogates, vehemently deny core principles of the Christian gospel. Trump himself has refused, in front of some high profile, well-known, self-proclaimed Evangelical "leaders", to acknowledge his own sinfulness and claims he has done nothing which requires God's forgiveness. That's not only a flat denial of the core principle of Christian conversion, indicating that he has no understanding of the meaning of conversion, but also comes very close to what Jesus called the only unforgivable sin, blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. In Matthew's gospel, chapter 12:31-32, Jesus says blasphemy of the Spirit will not be forgiven and defines it as "speaking against" the Spirit. Denying any kind of conviction of sin, or of one's sinful nature, would fit that definition and to claim that one has done nothing requiring God's forgiveness crosses that line.
Trump's surrogates, including his own oldest son, have openly denied, or been critical of some of the specific points of Jesus' teaching. They've claimed that the concept of loving your enemies is "weak," and their vengeful, hateful rhetoric, and Trump's open plans to use the power of the Presidency and the justice department to go after everyone he thinks has opposed him or crossed him up, and he hasn't ruled out assassination or execution, constitute full rejection of the Christian gospel. Any Christian who expresses a desire to see liberals and progressives who don't share their own narrow ideology suffer under a Trump administration is in sin and is also denying the gospel of Christ.
Don Jr. told a Turning Point Rally in Phoenix that turning the other cheek "has gotten you nowhere in this world." He's saying that, in order to be worldly, and achieve any progress by the use of purely worldly power requires denying this gospel principle in favor of the use of worldly power to achieve one's ends. First of all, the purpose of living a Christian life is not the acquisition of worldly power or recognition. Second, to deny this principle, as he did openly and directly, is to deny the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, who was putting this principle into practice when he was being nailed to the cross.
Jesus could have called together enough spiritual power to knock the soldiers crucifying him to the ground. For that matter, Satan tempted Jesus with the worldly way of getting ahead in the world when he took him up on the mountain and offered him the power of all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus refused because he knew worldly power would fall short of God's will. And what Don Jr. was offering was exactly the same pathway to worldly power and influence with which Jesus was tempted. They are anti-Christian in every aspect of their approach to politics.
Remember all of the criticism Evangelical Christians heaped upon Bill Clinton, claiming he was not fit for the Presidency because of his alleged affair with Monica Lewinsky? Some of the very same Christian leaders who condemned him and made that judgment are not only giving Trump a pass on his immorality, which is far more extensive, but they are embracing him. Are we to conclude, from this support, that American Evangelicals no longer see sexual assault, rape, and adultery as sinful? This unqualified support for Trump seems to indicate an endorsement of the ability of a man, if he's rich and famous enough, to grab a woman by her genitals because she's there and he wants to. It seems to be an endorsement of illicit sex, in seeking out a star of pornographic movies to sleep with while the wife is at home caring for an infant.
Is this an endorsement of divorce on demand? Trump's been through two highly publicized divorces after which he married the "other woman" with whom he was having an affair that caused the divorce in the first place. He doesn't see this as sinful at all, in fact, he has openly humiliated his ex-wives on purpose, blaming them for his affairs, something that's clearly on the record, and for which he has never shown the slightest bit of remorse.
He is now a felon, convicted of sexual assault and now, of illegally using the powers of the Presidency to cover up an affair with a porn star. He was convicted by a jury of his peers, in a fair trial in which most of those who testified against him were former associates and people who worked for him. He had the chance to testify on his own behalf, but his own lawyers, who know his tendency to ramble, to lie through his teeth and his inability to control his ego and be silent when it's necessary, were afraid that allowing that would only lead to his incriminating himself. To consider making such a person a national leader again is irresponsible at best, and for a Christian, a sinful perversion of principle.
Conversely, someone who claims to be Christian lives a life where there is visible evidence of Christian practice. I challenge any Evangelical supporter of Trump to find, in his rhetoric, behavior, demeanor, speeches at rallies or in the general layout of his campaign, anything that resembles the list of virtues found in Matthew 5:1-11, or the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. What you'll find, even with just a surface observation, is fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissentions, carousing, and things like these. I've just described and provided open evidence of all of that, which the Apostle Paul calls the works of the flesh. In supporting Trump, Evangelicals own all of this, too.
A Presidency That Was a Political Disaster
Even if Trump's presidency had been politically successful, it would still be an endorsement of the man's moral bankruptcy for me to vote for him. I could not, under any circumstances, support someone like that as a political leader of my country. But Trump's presidency was a political disaster. He was one of the most corrupt, inept, and ineffective Presidents in American history. He had no plan, no sense of direction and his focus was completely self-serving. The top priority was to cut taxes for the wealthy and prosperous, and he did so while deceptively increasing taxes on those who work for a living. The tax rate did go down, just a very small percent, but the personal exemption was removed as a deduction, meaning that Americans who make less than $100,000 per year wound up paying taxes on 7% more of their income than they had before. For me, that resulted in a 1% increase of my taxes.
He spent more tax dollars, and ran up a bigger deficit than literally every other president before him. His immigration policy was racist, demonstrating his personal contempt for Latinos and Arabs, not effective in keeping out "criminal elements," which he claimed to be the reason for doing what he did. His "wall," was breached before construction even started on most of it, and he never succeeded in getting Mexico to pay one penny for its construction.
His foreign policy was an unmitigated disaster, from his bribery attempt in Ukraine, which earned him one of his two impeachments, to his close "friendships with dictators like Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, Viktor Orban of Hungary and of course, Vladimir Putin. Nothing that would have been in the best interests of the United States ever came out of his meeting with Un, except further coolness and lack of trust from our NATO allies, whom he spurned and disrespected.
His handling of the COVID crisis was one of the most irresponsible, incompetent, inept, and ineffective acts in the history of government around the world. His primary concern was never the well being of the American people, not at any point. It was all about creating an image of being in charge, and then, when the evidence showed he was absent from the job without leave, of damage control to avoid it costing him re-election. It cost a million Americans their lives, and every single one of them deserved better from their President. For that alone, Christians should be condemning Trump, not supporting his re-election.
The man's character and values were on display in his disgraceful, and treasonous, incitement of the insurrection and attack on the Capitol, and on the United States Congress in session. He cares absolutely zero about anyone else but himself. There was not a single patriot in the mob that carried out that insurrection, because no patriotic American who understands this country's foundation and history would have ever acted in such a way. There was not a single sincere Christian in that mob, because a true believer would know the scriptures, and would know that God views an attack on a government to which he has given authority as a direct attack on himself.
Those whose spiritual convictions have not led them to experience absolute horror at that event, and to condemn it in the strongest terms, praying for justice to be done, need to question the sincerity of their own Christian faith, because I'm certainly questioning it, based on Biblical principle.
Is is Too Late for Redemption?
It is never too late for redemption. Repentance always follows conviction of sin. If these things did not bring conviction to my conscience and spirit, I'd be worried that I had lost my connection to God somewhere along the way, and sincerely concerned about whether I could get it back. There is nothing godly or righteous, or patriotic, in anything Trump is offering as a candidate. It's just more of the same that has already condemned so many conservative, Evangelicals in the eyes of people whose opinion and perspective should concern them, if for no other reason that preserving their own reputation and integrity, in order to be a testimony to the Christian gospel.
Stop supporting this madness. Do not cast a ballot for anyone who endorses or supports anything related to Trump's agenda. I'm not suggesting who you should vote for, only you can decide that. But casting a ballot for Trump, or for any politician who supports or enables him, constitutes full acceptance and ownership of everything that goes along with that, including putting yourself in the position of voting for a man who is a convicted felon, standing against the laws of the very country you claim to be defending. And while I'd suggest that your inability to cast a vote for Biden is based on much of the ignorance and false information that's been spread through this whole scenario, staying home on election day would be a move toward redemption.
American Evangelical Christianity has suffered tremendous damage from having been associated with Trump as his most loyal constituency. He claims that he's the only one who can do things for you. Is that what you want? Membership and attendance in conservative, Evangelical churches has dropped by more than 20% since Trump was first elected in 2016, and that's not a random occurrence. It's directly related. Trump hasn't submitted to God, he's claiming God's principles lead to weakness, and that he can do better.
If you've read to this point, you have a choice to make. I hope it's the right one.
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