Trump Ignites a War Within the Church

[Zorro]

After a week of Trumpist mayhem, white evangelicals wrestle with what they’ve become.

By David Brooks

“Over the last 72 hours, I have received multiple death threats and thousands upon thousands of emails from Christians saying the nastiest and most vulgar things I have ever heard toward my family and ministry. I have been labeled a coward, sellout, a traitor to the Holy Spirit, and cussed out at least 500 times.”

This is the beginning of a Facebook post from Sunday by the conservative preacher Jeremiah Johnson. On Jan. 7, the day after the storming of the Capitol, Johnson had issued a public apology, asserting that God removed Donald Trump from office because of his pride and arrogance, and to humble those, like Johnson, who had fervently supported him.

The response was swift and vicious. As he put it in that later Facebook post, “I have been flabbergasted at the barrage of continued conspiracy theories being sent every minute our way and the pure hatred being unleashed. To my great heartache, I’m convinced parts of the prophetic/charismatic movement are far SICKER than I could have ever dreamed of.”

This is what is happening inside evangelical Christianity and within conservatism right now. As a conservative Christian friend of mine put it, there is strife within every family, within every congregation, and it may take generations to recover.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/opinion/trump-evangelicals.html

[magicarpet]

1. Everything trDump touches turns to shit,... EVERYTHING.

[Thomas Hurt]

2. Dude you dissed their God on Earth, you are an apostate at best, probably Satan's right hand now.

[Make7]

3. Christians against God?

Jeremiah Johnson says God removed Donald Trump from office because of his pride and arrogance, and to humble his supporters.

Do Christian Trump supporters think they know better than God what the supreme being's plans should be? Talk about arrogant...

[Borderer]

6. Their supreme being's plans are whatever Trump supporters think those ought to be.

If their pastor thinks otherwise then they will just shop around until they find another one who is happy to tell them that God's will coincides exactly with their own ignorant and prejudiced views. The Bible is involved in this process only as a quote-mining source. It is a very self-affirming theology which doesn't ever require them to question their views or behaviour, although keeping the pastor in Learjets can be quite expensive.

[LastDemocratInSC]

7. Finding a new church is like shopping for shoes.

You're looking for a good fit which, in the case of a church, means hearing what you want to hear.

[badboy67]

4. Like Jonestown out there in Trumpworld.

[Girard442]

5. I was raised Evangelical but have been an atheist since I was thirteen.

Shocked to see that all those devout born-again churchgoers are just as much atheists as I am.

If they really believed any of that stuff in the Bible, they would be acting much differently than they are now.

[RealityCheque]

8. The reason is simple

Tell the evangelicals that the Bible is NOT subject TO PERSONAL interpretation.

As long as they continue to claim to be “saved” without understanding what Christ, a man of color and a Jew, by the way, did in His life and taught us, they will never “get it”

[Generic Other]

9. I wonder if Marco Rubio

has a Bible verse for that? I should go ask him.

[msongs]

10. $$$$$$$ he is sad cuz its cutting into his grift $$$$$$$$$$$$ its always about money nt

[Marcuse]

11. A man can create a god in his own image.

?w=660

[Karadeniz]

12. I could fill a library with what Christians don't understand about Christianity. In the Prodigal Son

The father never, ever leaves his place...sends no money to his son wallowing with swine, no help, no advice, nada. The son has to live and learn and make his way back to father. In Christian theology, God doesn't intervene in human affairs. Instead, the father gave the son an inheritance. The soul, containing the same DNA as its Source, goes forth... not God... and, in unclean flesh, can guide towards godly standards. Leave God out of it...the system is that it's up to us!