One of Jesus' twelve apostles, Jude, was believed to have been the author of these words, which are found in the short epistle he wrote, the only work attributed to him in the New Testament Canon. Jude wrote a specific warning to Christians about "intruders" who, even in this mid-point of the first century, were finding their way into various Christian churches, the "ecclesia," or gathered ones as they were referred to, with the intention of subverting, or weakening, the spread of the Christian gospel, or to advance some other philosophical or religious purpose.
In this particular case, Jude identifies their intentions as a "perversion of grace." The idea of grace is central to Christian conversion, so it appears that the intent is to disrupt the evangelistic mission and purpose of the church, and lead potential converts to Christianity into a more "licentious" lifestyle, probably associated with some form of paganism. Using a combination of Old Testament examples and descriptions of pagan practices, Jude identifies the intruders, pointing out that they even help themselves to the church's communal love feasts, "feeding themselves."
He labelled them "waterless clouds carried along by the winds, autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea, carrying up the foam of their own shame, wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever." That's quite a diatribe, for the purpose of identifying these people and the harm they were doing to the church's evangelistic ministry.
The manner in which these intruders were to be handled, according to this apostle, was rejection of their message without condemnation of their person. In a manner completely consistent with the principles of the Christian gospel, Jude's instructions are to proclaim grace, through faith in Christ, while helping these intruders come to an understanding of their error.
"Keep yourselves in the love of God," he says, and in so doing, continue to show the intruders the "mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads us to eternal life." Don't consign them to hell, he says, but show mercy, characteristic of the principles of the Christian gospel. Some of them will need help, because the are wavering, but some will need to simply be snatched out of the fire. "Have mercy with fear," he says, warning of the danger of being defiled themselves.
The Right Wing Extremism of MAGA Fits A Modern Day Definition of "Intruders"
The term "pseudo-Christian" is accurate in describing the political extremists on the far right who have intruded--an accurate term--into conservative, Evangelical Christianity, as well as into other groups of Christians, including many American Catholics. I use the term pseudo-Christian, because many of these people have come from within the churches and denominations of far right wing Christianity in the United States, including a large number of Fundamentalists along the lines of Jerry Falwell, and the Pentecostals and Charismatics along the lines of Pat Robertson.
It would be difficult for Christians, committed to the theology, doctrine and practice of Christianity produced by following the gospel of Christ, to take the lead in identifying the intrusion, and then in isolating the message and preventing the perversion of Christians because so many of the people in these churches have been deceived themselves. One of the characteristics of those within the conservative, Evangelical branch of the American church is a strong resistance to any kind of formal, higher education among their pastors and clergy. This has produced doctrine that is based on a very literal rendering of English translations of the Bible, rather than on any study of the historical context in which it was written, the meaning of its original language, and the use of figurative and symbolic writing, or on any of the traditions that developed in the church, even before the New Testament was officially canonized and recognized as an authoritative document.
So, in this pseudo-Christian political movement, there is as much error, leading to practices that are contrary to every principle of the Christian gospel, and to widespread ignorance among a majority of members of the churches who have little knowledge or understanding of the Bible as an authoritative document for their church's faith and practice. That's made them easy marks for the deceitful phony nature of everything touched by the pathologically lying Trump.
Put a Christian Nationalist Movement in America in the Same Category With the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the Hundred Years War
During the 1970's, when Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were forming the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, for the purpose of bringing revival to the country by "restoring America to its Christian roots,' which was code language for establishing Christian Nationalist rule over the United States, the ability of their movements to succeed in winning enough votes to gain control of Congress and the Presidency was often a discussion in the political science and constitutional history courses at the university I attended.
Jimmy Carter was President at the time, and one of my favorite professors observed that the right wing religious political factions founded and led by men like Falwell and Robertson would not chose an Evangelical like Carter, because his sincere commitment to a lifestyle and faith practice based on the core values, principles, doctrine and theology of Christianity would not permit the kind of corruption that would be necessary to bring about their ability to take over, and control the agenda of one of the two major political parties. Carter's approach to the hot button issues they planned to use to stir up the anger necessary to get their fundamentalist, Pentecostal and Charismatic followers to polls they had shunned for decades gave far to much respect to all sides of the debate in accordance with first amendment freedom of conscience rights, a principle that does not exist in a Christian Nationalist worldview.
He also generated lively discussion in the classroom by suggesting that as this movement grew and gained political power within the Republican party, it would resemble fascist movements of the 1930's, in that party discourse and discussion would be replaced by a single mindedness and party loyalty would give way to loyalty to one candidate or a small group of leaders. He also predicted an increase in military analogies in various faith movements, rhetoric suggesting that some kind of "spiritual warfare" was taking place and that winning these spiritual battles with the forces of darkness were dependent on winning the political battles, terms like "taking our country back" or "taking our culture back" from these spiritual forces of evil, represented physically by those of an opposite political persuasion.
And his most chilling prediction was that these people would claim some kind of mandate from God in order to abandon core Christian values and principles, like "loving your enemies, and praying for those who despitefully use you," and "turning the other cheek," in order to use violence as a means of establishing their world order. He suggested that the extent of their cruelty could rival that of the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition.
"It will be more violent than the Civil War."
I'd like to give him attribution for coming up with some fascinating predictions about something that we did not see fully at the time, but he actually got his ideas from others who were already writing about it at the time. There is more than a little bit of irony in the fact that we are, at this moment, winding down a month-long memorial tribute to President Carter, whose death occurred literally days before Trump's second term begins, and the stark contrast that represents.
Carter, a true humanitarian, a leader who understood how to balance the sincere practice of his Christian faith with the constitutional principles of American freedom, including the separation of church and state, and whose political achievements in peacemaking pale in comparison to the rest of his life's work, is the polar opposite of Trump, a womanizing adulterer and sexual predator, a business failure and repeated fraud, whose licentious lifestyle was his personal brand, and at the same time a visible and deliberate slap in God's face. If the contrast between these two men has done nothing else, as far as American politics are concerned, it has helped us recognize which parts of Christianity in America have become an apostate, pseudo-Christian, false religion.
Build Yourselves Up, Stay Strong, Have Mercy and Hate This Evil
Jude doesn't tell his readers to meekly back down, and don't cause a fuss. That might be what some would conclude a Christian should do, but the advice Jude gives here works, not just for Christians fighting an ideological intrusion of evil that's destroying churches, but for Americans fighting an ideological intrusion stealing their Constitutional Democracy.
First, he says, build yourself up. Confirm the correctness of your convictions and don't allow yourself to be misled, or deceived. Second, have mercy on those who have been deceived. The terms he uses are self explanatory. "Have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy with fear on others, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies."
As an Apostle of the Christian church, Jude recognized two potential dangers to its effectiveness and ability to function as a testimony to God's existence, love, and the grace he offered through Christ. One was that its message and practices would be subject to the persecution of local governing officials who expected loyalty from all of their subjects, and who would use persecution to enforce their demand for personal loyalty, not willing to share that with another god they saw as a rival. The other was that it would be infiltrated as a result of its own intellectual and spiritual weakness, to be used as a tool to achieve some other purpose, political most likely. He wrote to protect it from both possibilities.
The current push toward Christian nationalism comes through this particular branch of the Christian church, classified as "Evangelical" because of a heavy emphasis they place on conversion, and also their distraction from the economic inequalities, class struggles and racial discrimination in society, in favor of an emphasis on the afterlife, and on end-times scenarios and threats of the "judgement of God" on the nation because of the manner in which it has chosen to govern itself. It is a relatively new movement in the long history and tradition of the Christian church, almost uniquely American in its identity, with theology and doctrine created by clergy who lacked any formal education, or theological training.
It has existed and developed into what it is in an atmosphere of complete freedom of religion and conscience, preventing the state from interfering in any matters pertaining to the church, and now, a good segment of it wants to destroy the constitutional democracy that gives them the freedom to believe as they choose. How ironic is that?
Author's Note: The identity of the "intruders" which Jude is warning about has been lost. Some speculation exists that it could be an argument against Gnostics, who were influencing Christian thought during the formulative years of the written epistles and gospels of the New Testament, but no specific characteristics of Gnosticism are mentioned. They were not conforming to Christian morality, as evidenced by the mention of their licentiousness, which can be a fairly broad term in that regard, but the only doctrinal point mentioned is associated with the slander of the "holy ones," or angels. By Jude's description, the false nature of their influence was zapping the spiritual life of the church, seen in his descriptive terms such as "waterless clouds carried along by the wind," or "autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted," which is quite an interesting, angry condemnation.
I consider Jude's words "prophetic," in that they are a fitting description of what Trumpism and his MAGA politics have done to turn conservative Evangelicalism apostate, which includes healthy doses of white supremacy and Christian nationalism, in spite of his own licentious, worldly, immoral, ungodly behavior and his repeated denial of his need for Christian conversion.
There are also some interesting historical parallels. The greatest period of evangelistic activity involving conversion to the Christian gospel in the church's history occurred between the middle of the first century A.D., and the beginning of the third century, when Christians in the Roman Empire were under constant, severe persecution from most of the Empire's governing authorities, including the Emperors themselves. That came to an end with the Edict of Milan, which ended the official persecution against the Christian church under Emperor Constantine, who saw that more than half of the population had become Christian, and needed a way to use the church to add to his own power and influence, and then when the Edict of Thessalonica corrupted the church by making it the state church of the Roman Empire. That's the effect Christian nationalism always has on the Christian church, it turns it away from the Gospel of Christ to the power of politics.
And it loses is character.
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