Trumping the Beatitudes on Super Tuesday

~ nycshepherd ~ 5 Comments
PALM BEACH, FL – MARCH 01: Republican Presidential frontrunner Donald Trump speaks to the media at the Mar-A-Lago Club on March 1, 2016 in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump held the press conference after the closing of Super Tuesday polls in a dozen states. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

I want to thank the evangelical community and many of its leaders for helping me clarify my understanding of Jesus, His words and what He values. Prior to recent days I was under the impression that when Jesus gave us the beatitudes, He gave us a model for character and success in God’s eyes. I was under the impression that the Sermon on the Mount where said beatitudes are found should be espoused by all Christians and enacted by them in the real world. Since the word “blessed” carries with it the idea of God’s favor and speaks of someone who is enviable and worthy of imitation I thought that someone who possessed these attributes would be somebody we as Christians would look up to and want in leadership. Maybe even as a President.  Evidently, I was sorely mistaken.

Through many leaders in the evangelical movement and a high percentage of evangelicals this past Super Tuesday I have been enlightened. I now know that Jesus’s words don’t really work in the real world; they only work in the pretend world of the church. I know this because so very many of those who claim to take the Bible seriously and the words of Jesus super- seriously are all in for one Donald J. Trump. When given the opportunity to support individuals of like precious faith and who at least are trying to live up to the beatitudes, some of the most poignant words of Jesus Christ,  they supported someone in the race who speaks and conducts himself in a manner that appears to be the exact opposite of the before-mentioned beatitudes. Donald Trump, with the help of Christians, trumped the beatitudes this past Super Tuesday.

Let me explain. In Matthew 5:3 we read “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” We now know that in the real world what works is “Blessed are those who are rich in the wallet for they can buy anybody off they need to.” We used to think “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4). We are much more evolved now and can say “Blessed are those who are never repentant for their sins or ask forgiveness because they don’t need comforting because they aren’t sorry for anything.” In our naiveté we were under the impression that we were to think “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5:5 ).  Now we understand that in reality it is “blessed are the proud and arrogant because they don’t have to wait for any stupid inheritance, they can grab it now.” How juvenile it was for us to think “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6) was actually a mantra to live by. We need to follow the example of  someone other than Jesus. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for wealth and power and will stop at nothing to get it, they will never have enough but that’s fine, they can just keep going after more, and more, and more and…..”

I don’t want to go on and on so suffice it to say that as Christians in the “real world” we now know that we should espouse “Blessed are those who aren’t merciful because people get what they deserve” and “blessed are those with impure hearts for they are the best at being profane.” I guess it’s also true that “Blessed are the troublemakers, the dividers, for they shall be called sons of…..”, sorry, never mind and “blessed are the persecutors, those who defame other people and their character, for we’ll give them the nomination.”

Please forgive me for my sarcasm. The world has gone mad and the so-called evangelical church seems to have followed. I know we are electing a president not a pastor. That being said, we are electing a leader of the United States of America, one who guides a nation that needs and at one time claimed to desire the blessings of God. That individual’s character matters…a lot, if we are going to experience that blessing.  Holding up the standard Jesus held up is not judgmental, it’s discerning. Maybe we as followers of Christ have lost the ability to discern. My brothers and sisters we are acting as if God’s Word, the Bible, isn’t our final authority but the wisdom of this world is. Some of us are behaving like CHRINO’s – Christians in name only.  When not choosing between the lesser of two evils over the evil of two lessers the foremost thing we must consider is character and the blessings of God. Electability at this stage is not part of the equation because though we may think we elect our leaders, God in fact selects them (Daniel 2:20-21).  As Christians our role is to be salt and light (See Sermon on the Mount again). We need to support those who reflect our kingdom values whenever we can. Now would be a very good time to start doing just that.

In His Service,

Dr. David A. Watson

An Open Letter to American Evangelicals

~ nycshepherd ~ 2 Comments

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Why, tell me why, in this Republican primary process are you supporting Donald J. Trump in such great numbers. Donald Trump may share your anger, but he doesn’t  share your values. He may not even be angry over the same things that you are. He’s just angry.  He most likely won’t make decisions morally but pragmatically. It’s possible he has the same concerns as you but he doesn’t know your Christ. Trump may articulate your fears but he won’t face them with your faith but rather with as much brute force as he can muster.  He’ll bully his way through things. The Donald on occasion may quote the good Book, the Bible, but he lives by his own book…remember it — The Art of the Deal.  He may have the endorsements of some of your leaders — Dr. Robert Jeffers of First Baptist in Dallas, and Jerry Falwell, Jr. President of Liberty University but he doesn’t serve your Lord, Jesus Christ. He has said over and over that he will owe no one anything.

In spite of Trump dropping F’Bombs and S’Missiles in almost every place so far, you evangelicals have given him as much or more support than the evangelicals in the race.  Trump has slandered almost every one of his competitors. I guess defamation of character is an easily forgivable sin, though Mr. Trump says he’s never asked God for forgiveness.  Senator Ted Cruz, Pastor Mike Huckabee, Dr. Ben Carson, Senator Rick Santorum and Governor John Kasich all have bon fide Christian credentials. They are flawed, yes, but they and others give testimony of their faith. So what’s up? Don’t you think that Donald Trump has more skeletons in his closet than the largest cemetery in Queens? The message you are sending to every aspiring Christ follower who would seek public office is frightening. Aren’t you saying that in order for Christians to support you brother or sister you need to mimic The Donald not the Christ.

Is it about the power? Do you actually think The Donald will listen to you because you endorsed him?  People, we are born again but not born again yesterday are we?  Is it about so desperately wanting to win you’ll sell your soul to someone who has made a lot of money building…casinos. Didn’t we used to believe and teach that gambling was bad? Maybe it is because we think the country needs a businessman, a true capitalist, who has built “a great company”. How do you think he did that? I know we are not voting for “saint and chief” but we aren’t voting for “bully and chief” either.

Evangelicals are now nothing more than a voting block. Spend ten minutes listening to any cable news station and you’ll see that this is all that we are thought of as. We are people to whom you can make a certain set of promises that you will never keep because we are just a special interest group. I thought evangelicals had one interest and one agenda, our Lord’s. Where is the kingdom agenda in all of this?

Circus tycoon P.T Barnum famously said, “there is a  sucker born every minute.”  In the circus that is the Republican primary, that sucker is much of the evangelical church and its leaders.  In the words of Judy Collins, “send in the clowns, send in the clowns….don’t bother they’re here.”