Mr Trump’s campaign is in
need of salvation. Is this a task for the churches, or should they be servants of the gospel, and let
Mr Trump work out his own politically salvation if he can?
The most important clue to understanding why Trump has any support at all among
“evangelicals”, is that the Republican Party traditionally
has strong standing among Christians.
So strong that many say: We are Republicans, no
matter who the candidate is, we must support him!
The
Republican Party, some claim is primary a party for the 1 % mega-rich,
to ensure laws and taxes benefit them. But that will not earn them
many votes, so they must have popular and good issues, like “family
values” on the agenda. For many evangelical leaders, abortion
and gay marriage, seems to be the most (even only?) important
biblical issues on their political agenda. No matter other
very legitimate moral questions, like wars, gun laws,
unfair treatments of poor people, and current media culture. MEDIA created Trump, as a celebrity from his TV show, and to give him free publicity due to extreme behaviour and vulgarity. Media love it because "circus" entertains the masses.
Abortion
laws, its an ongoing major political battle in US between pro-life (strict law
against abortion) and pro-choice (abortion laws like in Europe). Republicans mainly support pro-life and
Democrats pro-choice. Same-sex
marriages is another major issue, and again the Republican Party are more against rights for homosexuals than Democrats who do not want to
discriminate.
Usual
Christians concluded that Republican candidates were
better on issues like abortion, marriage and family, and religious
freedom, while Democratic candidates were better on racial justice,
economic justice, and the environment. The
Supreme
Court appointments are paramount issues for the evangelicals and
Trump promises to select only conservative judges that will
supports Christian values.
Many conservative evangelicals despise Obama and now Hillary
Clinton. They see them as "antiChristians", since as leaders for a multi
cultural society they will/can not force a
Christian conservative
view on all citizen.
To
read the attacks on Obama from some Christian leaders will not build
up anyone who believes kindness and understanding should characterize
a Christian.
On
a 2015 Easter Prayer Breakfast in the White House, President Obama said:
"Where
there is injustice we defend the oppressed. Where there is
disagreement, we treat each other with compassion and respect. Where
there are differences, we find strength in our common humanity,
knowing that we are all children of God.” And he makes a reflection
that was not in his written speech; On Easter, I do reflect on the
fact that as a Christian, I am supposed to love, And I have to say
that sometimes when I listen to less-than-loving expressions by
Christians, I get concerned," Obama was talking about the Apostle John’s call to love “with actions and in truth” rather than with words. IF you want to know how Obama stands on Christian core values see his 2016 Easter speech here!
That
makes headlines among Obama haters like:
President
Obama attacked Christians as being "less than loving"!
"Obama
Stomps All Over Jesus At Easter Prayer Breakfast!"
Some leaders sent an open letter to the President; demanding he stops attacking Christians and apologizes.
Who
would YOU think would be the ideal candidate for voters who proclaim
personal morality as their driving principle?
A man who is faithful
to and clearly in love with his wife, who has only been married once,
who is a devoted father, who is deeply religious but doesn’t brag
about it, who is measured in his language and avoids vulgarity.
The
problem for conservative evangelicals is that the politician who fits
this description is Barack Obama,
but their role model must come from The Republican field, NEVER MIND WHO THIS IS!
Those who denounced Democrat Bill Clinton for his immoral yesterday has no problem to endorse Republican Trump today.
Mammon
rules.
America is not a democratic country, because the rich
have a very strong influence. Every important public position, from
President to local law enforcement leaders has to been elected, and this purpose needs MONEY - a LOT!
Who
can give big money for that? The rich once.
And
who will expect to benefit from that investment? The rich once.
Therefore, not at least the Republican party has assured that the mega-rich in
America pays less taxes, and whatever favour they need from the government they can more easily get than the common man. Not to mention
an “army” of well-paid lobbyist, so they can influence the government in a way that will make them even richer.
No NAV in US as in Norway, that care for ALL. Norwegian citizen
who need support due to out of work, sick or a pensioner, will get
support, even if alcoholic, drug user, criminal, or just lazy; - NAV
will take care of you.
No
wonder that a lot of hard-working, low paid, poor, treated unfairly,
feel the government do not care for them when they suffer. It is among
them you find Trump's main supporters. They want to send him to
Washington to brake up this undemocratic system.
For this group of
voters, Trump can as he say; “kill someone, and they will still vote
for me!” The more bully and crazy he act the more they support him
in hope he will make “hell” for the political establishment. They feel, not without reason, badly treated. But any hope that the Republican Party, suddenly will start care for the
“working class” and let the rich contribute, is to hope for a much bigger miracle than Trump to be elected
president.
Hillary Clinton.
Hundreds of millions have been used to turn every stone to find any reason for the slogan “crooked Hillary”. I wonder if any person in history has been more investigated. Still, the biggest "scandal" so fare is her wrong use of an e-mail server. Around 40 books are now in the marked about her, and most of them compete with each other to paint her in black. Not to mention all the conspiracy theories spin around her; she is lesbianism, have deadly sickness, have got people killed, has been unfaithful to Bill, and on and on...
IF we stick to the facts, compared with Trump is she a saint. Numerous biographies have detailed her deep religious belief. She maintained a spiritual relationship with the Reverend Don Jones, the youth pastor in her Methodist church during her childhood in Park Ridge, Illinois, for 20 years.
She carried a Bible while working on the presidential campaigns of 1972 and 1992. She taught Sunday school. She gave sermons about Methodist theology when she was the first lady of Arkansas. She says grace before meals, she has joined prayer groups. When faced with troubles in her marriage, she stuck with her husband rather than seek a divorce.
Even then some “evangelicals” ridiculed her for not ending her marriage, rather than following the teachings of the Bible on this point. There is nothing to suggest her devotion is shallow, while Trump’s purported faith is an obvious fraud. Still, some Christian leaders advocate that Trump is the
best moral choice for president.
What ARGUMENTS can Christian leaders use, to legitimate Trump as the best presidential candidate?
Rick Joyner
is well know and respected, even international, for his long
standing teaching and prophetic ministry.
Personally, I have been more
blessed by his teaching ministry than his more speculate prophetic
statement, who are not free from a political Republican bias. Here with Reinhard Bonke on the platform.
One
of Joyner evangelical friends is Jim Bakker. Remember Jim and
Tammy Bakker, and “Praise The Lord” TV, (PTL club 1876-1987)? He was sentenced to 45
years in prison for defrauding 116,000 PTL followers
out of 158 million dollars. In
prison Bakker write a book "I Was Wrong", where he confronts the “Faith movement”,
that he was a well-known spokesman for. The now 74-year-old pastor served
five years of a 45-year sentence and has again a TV ministry where
Joyner has join him. One must admire Jim Bakker to make such a
spectacular comeback and Joyner for supporting him. In a program together on “Jim Bakker Today”, Bakker asked:
“Why
is the church so boringly uniform?” Joyner replay: In my opinion, it’s because still the evil religious spirit. I’m talking about
an evil spirit, a religious spirit right now has more influence in
the church than the Holy Spirit does.” A good example of the outspoken Joyner!
Like Joyner, Bakker is support of Trump. Joyner has probably always been a strong supporter of the Republican party, and speak against Obama, for his “relentless assault on Christianity”.
Joyner meets with Trump May this year as seen on this unclear photo.
And
believe Trump “has given hope to millions of people that there may
be real leadership yet to be found in this country...”
But
he admits: “I can appreciate why any
Christian would have trouble supporting Trump”, but again ;
“Fewer Christians are choosing a candidate based on the candidate’s
faith. Rather they decide based on who they think will do the best
job confronting the important issues of the time.” (Abortion and
homosexual issues?) Joyner is impressed by Trump’s lack of political correctness (PC) and willingness to say what he thinks.
It's easy to agree with Joyner that one can
be “feed up” with PC, where the only certain view on religion,
immigration, Muslims, socialism, and so on are correct. If any other
opinion, one get the risk of being ridiculed by the mainly liberal media
industry.
He
think Trump “will resist political pressure and do what is right
for the country, instead of for special interests.” To place such a
big trust on a man that easily change his opinion and care less for his
words, and have shown only “personal interests” in his whole life, I
find strange and dangerous. Even
Joyner lamented about; “His behaviour, demeanour, and language...immature
overreaction to criticism and his tendency to try to
bully...Questionable business practices including several
bankruptcies”, and the list can easily be longer to show a person
that is “obviously not a devout Christian”, to say it kindly.
Still
he “can see sound biblical reasons for supporting Trump”
SO HOW DO JOYNER ARGUE FOR THAT?
1.
How Jesus pick leaders.
How
many of us would have chosen the ones Jesus picked to be His leaders?
Why didn’t He go to the religious conservatives to find the future
leaders of His church? Like it or not, the ones He chose were more
like Trump than those we tend to esteem. Even the Apostle John, who
is now known as the great messenger of love, was so reactionary that
he wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume those who
disagreed with them. On the night before Jesus was crucified, the
disciples argued over who was the greatest. Sounds like Trump to me.
2.
Gods support of David after his fall.
How
many of us would continue to support a leader who, after many years
of serving and walking with God as a righteous and just leader, had
an affair, and even worse, had the husband killed to cover it up? Yet
it is said that Israel went astray by following Absalom, who sought
to displace David because of his sin. In contrast, God commended
Zadok the priest and gave an eternal blessing over his family for
being faithful to David in this situation. The Lord knew when He
called David that he would fall like this, but He called him anyway.
3.
Not any leader is perfect.
And
how could God love Jacob like He did? Jacob’s name means “usurper”
and he was a devious liar and cheat, but “God loved Jacob.”
This
should not excuse character flaws in leaders, but there will only be
One perfect leader. Character is important, but an unrealistic
perfectionism can make us incapable of ever choosing a Washington, a
Benjamin Franklin, a Lincoln, or a Churchill. Some character traits
crucial for church leadership could be a hindrance for civil
government leaders. The last person you want in a civil leadership
position is one who “turns the other cheek.” As we see in Romans
13, those in civil authority are given the sword “to avenge
evil”—they would be disobedient to not use their weapons for this
purpose.¨
4.
Religious conservatives were the worst enemies of Jesus
The
Pharisees were resolutely devoted to the character, and Paul, the
“Pharisee of Pharisees,” called himself “blameless.”
However, he was the worst enemy of the church and truth until the
Lord struck him blind. The Pharisees were the most devout religious
conservatives of the time, yet they were the worst enemies of the
Messiah. Consider how they criticized everything He said and did and ultimately were responsible for having Him crucified. Think about how much grace and mercy the Lord had for sinners and how little tolerance He had for the self-righteous.
5.
Even prophets can be wrong.
That
being said, even some of the great prophets in
Scripture, like
Samuel, had a hard time judging people after their heart rather than their appearance. It is hard to even for prophets to see people as they are called to be rather than as they are, but that is what we must seek to do.
THIS
IS JOYNERs 5 sound biblical reasons for supporting Trump, in his own words.
Its
is interesting biblical arguments that are worth consideration. But one IMPORTANT difference between the disciples, Jacob and David and Trump, is that they were able to REPENT in a wonderful way, and God bless them for that!
But for “evangelical conservative Christians” who have certain
moral issues on top of their political agenda, who want, like
Muslims, laws that force the moral codes they favour, on all other
citizens. Is not that politic the Pharisee way?
And
one did not need to go to the Old Testament to find sound biblical
reasons for NOT supporting Trump. Let me just suggest one from NT:
Now the works of the flesh are obvious: ...hatreds, strife, jealousy,
outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy...Gal.5,19-21
No need to provide any interpretations here.
I say as Joyner: Sounds like Trump to me.
AND
if one as Joyner seems to believe that Trump now is a newfound defender of
Christianity then considers this Scripture:
“If
anyone aspires to the office of overseer, . . . he must not be a recent convert or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into
the condemnation of the devil” (I Timothy 3:1, 3:6).
Not all evangelical support Trump.
Peter
Wehner, senior fellow at the conservative think tank, Ethics and
Public Policy Center, writes
in National Review that Falwell jr. is "damaging
Christian witness" by supporting Trump. (Se about Falwell jr. in blog I)
Wehner
says: "For those of us of the Christian faith, the fact that
Falwell is viewed by many as an Evangelical leader makes it that much
worse. We have been pained by the harm that a previous generation did
to Christian public witness because of partisan, reckless, and
graceless comments. Now we have this."
Michael
Farris
The
well know lawyer and Henry College Chancellor, attended the first
meeting of the Rev. Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority in 1980, who
brought together Republican under the premise that "only
candidates that reflected a biblical worldview and good character
would gain our support. He was the Washington state director of the
Moral Majority, and have been a leader of the "Christian right"
ever since 1980 when he believed that Christians could dramatically
influence politics.
-Today,
we see politics fully influencing a thousand Christian leaders, he
say after the meeting of “evangelicals” in trump Tower, NY. (See
blog I)
-While
I don't question the motives of those who are trekking to the Tower,
I strongly dissent from the wisdom of their chosen path," and he
added; “This is a day of mourning. Today,
a candidate whose worldview is greed and whose god is his appetites
(Phil. 3) is being tacitly endorsed by this throng," he wrote.
"They are saying we are Republicans no matter what the candidate
believes and no matter how vile and unrepentant his character. They
are not a phalanx of God's prophets confronting a wicked leader, this
is a parade of elephants.
In 1980 I believed that Christians could
dramatically influence politics. Today, we see politics fully
influencing a thousand Christian leaders.
Still 70 % Christian in US!
The United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world!
A large majority of Americans –
roughly seven-in-ten – continue to identify with some branch of the
Christian faith. But
the percentage of adults (ages 18 and older) who describe themselves
as Christians have dropped by nearly eight percentage points in just
seven years, from
78.4% in a survey in 2007 to 70.6% in 2014.
Some Christians feel under siege, from the
current political developments in the US when the Democratic Party have
had the president.
But
what witness will it be for the American public at large, that
quite a bit evangelicals
gleefully touts morality as the foundation of all policy while
happily turning a blind eye to the behaviour that violates the same
morality they are preaching? And what effect on the common man has the the
hateful language some used in the name of Christianity?
And
what will a president like Donald Trump
 |
| Your FIRED! |
be as a Moral compass and
role model for the whole nation, and as a world leader? That is worth
considering for the evangelicals who still work to save Trumps total
unpredictable political ambitions.
Its almost so one wanted Trump to be President, so all can see "the emperor without clothes".
As one
biographer sums up: the closer you look,
the less there is. Less money, less substance, less meaning.
