Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once and for all handed on to the Saints. Jude 1, NRSV
It is impossible to contend for the Christian faith and at the same time, support a politician who is running for office in a constitutional democracy, where people have the privilege of electing their own leadership, whose political platform and personal character defy that same faith, in virtually every way. By following the doctrine, interpretation, and application of the Biblical text that is distinctive to conservative, Evangelical Christians in this country today, I can draw the conclusion that it is inconsistent, and therefore "sinful" by their own definition, to give their political support to a candidate like Donald Trump.
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 God into debauchery and deny our only Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Jude 4, NRSV
Though the Apostle Jude, who was very likely the son of Joseph and Mary, and thus one of Jesus' own brothers, was not giving some future prophecy of the appearance of a politician in the United States when he wrote these words, he was prophetically warning what was then an infant church, residing in a world surrounded by pagan religion and secular philosophy, about protecting their integrity, and the message of the gospel of Christ, from being perverted and distorted, allowing the church to be used for purposes outside of the mission and purpose given to it by Jesus, its founder. The church has been the victim of multiple attempts, over the course of its history, of intruders who were not interested in the message of the Christian gospel, but who were very much interested in hijacking the institution and using it for their own political purposes. Emperor Constantine is one of the better, earlier examples, among hundreds since, which illustrate how the church has been corrupted and co-opted by secular politics.
Trumpism, and white, Christian Nationalism, are just more recent, modern intrusions that set aside the core principles of the Christian gospel, things that were taught directly by Jesus himself, if one holds to the belief that the gospel narratives of the New Testament are accurate transmissions of his preaching and teaching, and the example he set during his public ministry. In following, and giving political loyalty to Trump, Christians set aside a whole long list of their own values, such as integrity, honesty, and truthfulness, sexual purity and marital fidelity, humility, peace, and what Jesus himself said was the second greatest commandment, equal to the first according to him, loving one's neighbor--an inclusive term meaning all other human beings according to his definition of it--along with loving and praying for one's enemies. Jesus also said that those who were peacemakers were worthy of being known as the "sons of God," quite an honor that points to just how important that is to genuine Christian faith.
Of course, no one is perfect. And that's one of the more prevalent excuses conservative Evangelical Trump supporters trot out when this is pointed out to them. That is true enough. But one of the early Christian apostles, in an epistle he wrote to some specific churches, points out that the gospel of Jesus Christ centers on a conversion experience that starts with conviction of one's sinful nature, confession of that sin leading to repentance, and acceptance of Christ's sacrificial death as the sacrifice for sin in order to receive redemption. Trump has, on multiple occasions, when asked to articulate a public confession similar to this one, which is a core part of Evangelical doctrine on which they do not budge or compromise, refused to do so, proclaiming that he has done nothing for which he must ask God's forgiveness, and then declaring that what he believes about God is private, and not open for discussion.
"By this you know the Spirit of God," says the Apostle John, in his first churchc epistle, "every spirit that confesses Jesus has come in the flesh is from God." [I John 4:2, NRSV]
In Evangelical doctrine and theology, this is a confession that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised one referenced by prophets in the Old Testament as the son of God, the one who would become the sacrifice for humanity's sinful nature. So the failure to acknowledge the need for this forgiveness is a failure to acknowledge that Jesus has come in the flesh.
"And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God," says John. "And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you heard that it is coming, and now is already in the world." [I John 4:3, NRSV]
So, in a conservative, Evangelical, interpretation, which would be more literal in its application, someone who refuses to acknowledge their own sinful nature before God, as a result of spiritual conviction, is antichrist. Not The Antichrist, as in what those Evangelicals who hold a futurist interpretation of New Testament eschatology believe is some coming, evil, world ruler, but "antichrist" in that they have rejected Jesus and the gospel he preached.
Now I'm not judging anyone's faith. I'm simply pointing out words that have been spoken, on more than one occasion, by a politician who has confessed, to multiple Evangelical Christian "leaders," that he has done nothing requiring God's forgiveness. Readers are free to draw their own conclusions, based on the Evangelical doctrine and theology that has been pointed out, exactly what that means. And they are also free to decide if that is a position that they themselves, who claim to be Christian by this very confession itself, want to endorse and support in a politician whom they have the liberty to help elect.
The excuses that are being used don't work. "I'm not voting for a pastor-in-chief, I'm voting for a commander-in-chief," is an attempt to separate the political from the spiritual. Unfortunately, this is not possible with Trump and the Republican party, nor with those Evangelical Christians who have made Trumpism and Republicanism part of their doctrine and theology. They do not separate their faith from their politics, their position is based specifically on the union of their faith and politics. So that particular phrase is deceptive and duplicitous, and unworthy of a sincere Christian who desires to reflect the values and live by the vitrues of true Christianity.
Nor does the comparison to King David that some Evangelical leaders have used to justify their support for Trump. If one accepts the historical accuracy of the Biblical text regarding King David, and the manner in which he was used by God, it is clear that he was morally flawed and imperfect. He committed adultery, and then a murder to cover it up. But here's the big difference between King David and Donald Trump in this regard. King David was held accountable by God for his sin, confessed it, along with a whole lot of other sinful behavior in his life, demonstrated true repentance and was forgiven.
But King David was not excused by God from the consequences of his sin. He lost the loyalty of a good portion of his kingdom and his army, and had to work hard to gain back the confidence he lost. Two of his sons were killed as a result of his poor decisions and as a consequence of his sinfulness, and his family life was a mess because of the lack of respect and confidence in his leadership that his behavior caused. The spiritual leadership of the kingdom, which included the construction and consecration of the Temple in Jerusalem, was left to his son, Solomon, a pointed move attributed to God as a result of all of the character issues surrounding the rule of King David.
Does a Candidate's Character Count When Christians Cast Ballots in a Constitutional Democracy? Well-known, Well-respected Evangelical Pastor Dr. Adrian Rogers Says, Emphatically, "Yes, it does!"
This is not the first time in American history, not even in modern American history, that the morality of a politician was considered as a factor in their candidacy for public office, more specifically the Presidency. That's a long, old story. But for Evangelical Christians, Trump isn't the first candidate whose lack of morality and integrity have raised questions about whether or not it is consistent with sincere Christian faith to vote for such a person.
In fact, some of the very same Evangelical leaders who are more than happy to side-step the immorality and lack of integrity of Trump, and come up with every excuse in the world to bypass their own interpretation and application of scripture they consider to be inerrant and infallible, were some of the most caustic, vitriolic, hateful critics of President Bill Clinton, not only when his behavior with Monica Lewinsky was revealed, but also of alleged affairs he had prior to running for office. Many of them declared him morally ineligible and unqualified for the United States Presidency, and worked hard to convince other Christians, specifically Evangelicals, not to support President Clinton with their votes.
On February 8, 1998, Dr. Adrian Rogers, then senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and a leading Evangelical pastor with a large television audience, preached a sermon entitled "Does Character Count?" While he did not make any reference to President Clinton, and avoided specifics that would lead to the conclusion that he was preaching politics, both the timing and the content of the sermon made it clear that Dr. Rogers was telling fellow conservative Evangelicals that voting for politicians whose personal morality fell short of a higher level of expectation for the office to which they aspired was sinful.
Dr. Rogers text came from the book of Romans, chapter 1. Though he never mentions President Clinton by name, he makes strong allusion to the fact that the exhibition of "ungodliness" in leaders leads to widespread injustice, and that ungodliness, in the practice of immorality, comes from spiritual darkness where those who practice it "exchange the truth of God for a lie," interpreted as a veiled reference to the fact that President Clinton was an active member of a conservative, Evangelical church. There is little room for doubt that many Evangelical leaders, and many Republican politicians, picked up on this theme and used it in their condemnation of President Clinton.
It would be interesting to see how Dr. Rogers would deal with Donald Trump, whose total lack of integrity, who gives a whole new meaning to the term "pathological liar," whose multiple affairs with women, most of whom Trump identified, and bragged about bedding, who divorced and married "the other woman" twice, and who was recently convicted of 34 felony accounts of fraud due to an affair he had with a porn star during his third wife's pregnancy and the birth of his youngest son, who was, by any stretch of the imagination, far more immoral and dishonest than President Clinton. I'd also like to see how he would have handled President Clinton's public repentance and confession, something he felt obligated to do because of what had happened while he was in the White House, compared to Trump's declarations that he sees no need to ask for forgiveness.
"We Are Duplicitous, Don't Trust Us!"
There's the message from conservative, Evangelical, Republicans to the voters of the United States. "We are duplicitous, don't trust us!"
"We believe our Christian faith, and our trust in the gospel of Jesus is powerless to achieve anything in this world," they are saying. "Political power is where it's at, and how we get our agenda achieved. To hell with our neighbors and to hell with our enemies."
Christian history is more than 2,000 years of churches finding out that they cannot survive and keep their true mission, purpose and identity as the body of Christ intact when they are loyal to and dependent on politics. What remains of European institutional Christianity, in the heartlands of countries where the link between church and state caused some of the bloodiest and most brutal warfare experienced on this planet, is the empty shell of a dead church which depends on ritual, tradition and in most cases, income mandated by tax dollars, that has no spiritual life or political power. And conservative, Evangelical Christianity, placed in the same kind of context by its own political engagement and alliances with corrupt politicians, is headed for the same fate. That destiny can already be observed.
This election is coming down to a single issue, and that is which party, and which Presidential candidate, is going to be committed to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the constitutional democratic republic that it establishes and sustains. Trump, who led an insurrection against the Capitol, aimed at overturning a legitimate, provably accurate election, has already taken the first step to destroy the Constitution and the democracy "of, by and for the people" that it establishes. And that kind of insurrection is forbidden by New Testament instruction of the early apostles, both Paul and Peter. [Romans 13:1-7, I Peter 2:13-17]
Since The Signal Press has been in existence, we have challenged those who want to disagree with anything we write to post a comment, with credible evidence from a recognized, politically neutral source, to do so. Only a few have taken up that challenge, and so far, none have been able to provide the evidence to support their contention. We do have evidence to support ours, and specific sources are usually directly referenced.
Prove us wrong. Otherwise, vote for President Biden to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
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