Donald Trump is who he is. He is not the Savior of America. God has not inspired modern day prophets to prophesy about him. He is not the Messenger of Q mythology. Donald Trump is a flawed human being who just happens to be the President of the United States right now. I wanted to provide some clarity on my own position on all things social and political at the moment; particularly since there is clearly a cult following of Trump at this point.
There is an astounding amount of deception in the air in this political moment. Much of that is framed by a false-dilemma. People think that either you must be for Biden/Harris, or that youβre for Trump/Pence. Personally, I do think that if we are going to have any consequence in the political process we will be for one or the other in this combine. But there is a way to be for either party. Unfortunately, and this is what my reference to a false-dilemma is about, people on either side seem to think that there must be a religious and worshipful veneration of either the democratic platform, or the republican. What I want to highlight is how this is being manifested on the Trump side. If you are on social media (and you must be because youβre reading this post) it becomes quickly apparent (especially on Twitter) how Trump is being literally worshiped, even while in the name of Jesus Christ. There are people like Matt Couch, Anna Khait et al. who are claiming that modern day prophets have prophesied that God has sent Trump to βsaveβ America. I donβt doubt that America needs to be saved, but the idea that Donald Trump has been sent by God to do that is erroneous at biblical best. God certainly and providentially raises up and puts down kings (presidents) as He sees fit; for His purposes. But this is different than maintaining that there are modern day prophets (which is also exegetically erroneous) who have come to tell the world that Trump is something like an iteration of King David shown up to usher in the Kingdom of Christ through a dynastic purge of contemporary Baal and Mammon worship.
In contradistinction to these false prophesies the New Testament is rife with themes and motifs that are staurological or cruciform in shape. In other words, typically the way God acts among His churches, in the church catholic, is to bring discipline in order to prepare and purify His bride for the Kingdom come and coming. Pope Peter writes:
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And βIf the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?β Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good. βI Peter 4:12-19
When we look around at the churches in America, and in the Western world in general, we see churches that are consumed by the immorality of consumerism. We see churches that look like the world itself. For my lights what it looks like to me is that God is allowing the judgment already at play in the world (Romans 1:18ff) to be unrolled even further; to the point that the evil and darkness in the world is simply coming out into the open to be seen for all that it is (Iβm referring to political deep-statism, election frauds, globalism, pedophilia, occultism, human sex-trafficking, human child sex-trafficking, abortion/euthanasia so on and so forth). But it is this very culture of death and wickedness that the consumerist churches have been imbibing, maybe even only in passive ways (for some), for many decades in America. I would contend that the oppression and evil that the Biden and democrat side, along with the establishment republicans, has come to represent might well be Godβs judgment rather than an unrestrained evil attempting to overtake the world order; or it might be both (in Godβs providential ways).
What I am attempting to underscore is that Christians should not be about worshiping a man named Donald Trump or Joe Biden; no matter what the fervor is, in regard to all the political implications of all of this. And yet this is exactly what is happening, and in many cases it is Christians themselves; often, and from what I have seen, on the extreme charismatic side of Christianity. This seduction is tempting, to a point. But all those with the Spirit, who is Holy, ought to be able to finally discern how unhealthy it is to place all of their hopes in Donald Trump. Christians worship the triune God, and Jesus Christ as the King. We are on this earth as ambassadors of Jesus Christ; we are to bear witness to the truth (even on political matters). But we are not here to blindly elevate and worship a human being, no matter what political persuasion, and no matter what political and social realities are at stake. Christians do have a prophetic role: we are to tell the world that Jesus is King; that He loves them; that He has been judged for them; but that being outside of Him will result in Him coming in final judgment and sudden wrath wherein all those not βin Christβ will spend an eternity in a Gehenna of Hell.
A timely and theologically reasonable (Biblical) admonition. Thank you, Bobby.
I agree with this comment. Bobby is good at causing us all to think Biblically in all areas of life. Often offering admonishments to the church.
Well said. I too am very surprised at how rabidly political christian believers in America have become. Rather our Lord made it very clear: “My kingdom is not of this world”. It is an everlasting kingdom which can not be hence represented by any earthly authority. May we all be in these growing days of darkness people of faith, of whom this world, or political parties, are not worthy.
Quistian, I ultimately agree. There is a sort of dialectical relationship though between the Christian reality and the political in this world system. We ought to bear witness to the political order of the Kingdom of Christ, but at the same time we inhabit this world system; we inhabit the polis, we aren’t, in my view, a separate polis, per se. This is a scandalous point, but just as the incarnation of God did not ‘escape’ the particularity of humanity and this created order, likewise I think we must inhabit it with this same sort of orientation vis a vis the world. We are distinct as God’s saints indeed, but we are still inhabiting the simul that Luther referred to; as such, it is a tricky negotiation to have our politics in heaven, and then realize that we are also in this world (and in our case, as Americans). IOW, I’m not an Anabaptist π .
Jim, thank you.
Richard, thank you.