To the many evangelicals who continue to support Mr. Trump in spite of his blackened moral record, we might say this: Remember who you are and whom you serve. Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come? Can we say with a straight face that abortion is a great evil that cannot be tolerated and, with the same straight face, say that the bent and broken character of our nation’s leader doesn’t really matter in the end?
i) The editorialist begins with a tendentious, one-sided version of the impeachment allegations, then, based on his interpretation of the facts, accuses evangelical Trump supporters of presenting a bad witness to the world. His appeal is circular inasmuch as evangelical Trump supporters don't agree with his interpretation of the facts, or his priorities.
ii) Indeed, presidential image takes a backseat to substantive policy. And it's about far more than just abortion. This isn't about "political expediency" but protecting the innocent from secular totalitarians. The attitude of unbelievers is not my moral benchmark. That's mindless blackmail.
iii) The editorialist says nothing about the Democrats vying for Trump's job. How very telling.
iv) Thus far, Trump failed to build the border wall. Instead of a border wall, Trump is the wall. And not just or primarily a border wall. Trump is the wall standing between the secular totalitarian vandals on one side, and Christians, innocent children, &c., on the other side. Evangelicals are supposed to bulldoze the wall and let the vandals swarm in to impose their secular totalitarian regime? Really?
These aren't ordinary times. It's like the difference between wartime and peacetime.
v) The issue of Christian witness cuts both ways. On the one hand is the allegation that evangelical Trump supporters foster a bad image of Christianity, thereby driving people away. I'm dubious about that. Most of Trump's critics were already secular progressives or "Christian progressives." They never were part of or attracted to conservative evangelicalism.
On the other hand, NeverTrump evangelical leaders (e.g. Russell Moore, J. D. Greear, Christianity Today) are projecting a very damaging image of Christianity to the rank-and-file as out-of-touch elites who only identify with fellow elites and not with the plight of Christians, middle class Americans, and working class Americans facing the secular progressive juggernaut, spearheaded by the LGBT brownshirts.
In God's strange providence, Trump is currently the bulwark between Christians and lovers of liberty and the looney Left, that has only doubled-down on their malicious craziness with their parade of anti-religious, godless, socialist, pro-abortion presidential candidates.
ReplyDeleteSure, Trump is unfit. A juvenile, apparently unwell person without many principles. A thrice-married, unrepentant adulterer who makes self-interested appeals to his nominal Christianity. And casually blasphemes in his rallies.
But it isn't like we are to blame, that things have come to this. I didn't ask for it. In part, this happened because the Left could not put forward a single decent man who was not committed to curtailing religious rights, firearm rights, the rights of unborn children, and positively committed to growing government control of the economy and therefore snuffing out free markets.
That said, there will be an "after Trump". Pence would almost certainly make a fine President. And there are plausible contenders for 2024, like Ted Cruz, Ben Sasse, maybe Dan Crenshaw.
Thanks for posting this. Glad to say that we read similar rebuttals from James Dobson and Franklin Graham.
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