A Call to Post-Trump America: Make the Environment Great Again

by Elias Kruger, originally published at the AI Theology blog.

As electors have cast their vote, we can breathe a sigh of relief: Donald J Trump is no longer president of the United States. Let that sink in! I honestly believe that even those who supported the president will not miss his conduct in the office, his tantrums, and undignified tweets. They may miss his policies but most will gladly dispense with his destructive personality.

The last four years have been a long whirlwind of chaos that I hope our nation never returns to. Just not having to deal with his tweets and the consequent media outrage surrounding it has been refreshing. Moreover, we can celebrate that civility is returning to the White House.

My main hope is that a Biden presidency can make politics boring again unlike the intrusive disruption it was in our lives for the last four years. With that said, this cannot be an invitation for disengagement as the work is far from complete. Let us not repeat the mistakes of 2009-2010 when an Obama presidency was quickly undermined by losses in the mid-term elections. While the electorate sat back, radical factions of the right woke up and mobilized. Their efforts would eventually bear fruit in the election of 45. A vacuum of a common cause that unites that country will invite a resurgence of irrational populism.

Continue reading A Call to Post-Trump America: Make the Environment Great Again

Occupation and Covid: A Strange Christmas in Bethlehem

Guest blog by our friends at Churches for Middle East Peace, originally published here.

Bethlehem, considered the cradle of Christianity, is perhaps one of Earth’s most special places to embrace the Christmas spirit. Located in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, it’s the “little town” where Jesus was born, and it attracts thousands of pilgrims at Christmas. 

Christians have flocked to Bethlehem for centuries to celebrate the Christmas season, and each year the city hosts approximately one million tourists. 

A Sacred City for Three Religions

Bethlehem is the site of the Church of the Nativity, an underground cave where Christians believe Mary gave birth to Jesus. A 14-pointed silver star beneath an altar that the emperor Constantine the Great and his mother Helena had built around the year 338 marks the spot, and the stone church is a key pilgrimage site for Christians and Muslims alike.

Continue reading Occupation and Covid: A Strange Christmas in Bethlehem

These 12 Church Leaders Prophesied that Trump Would Win the 2020 Election

“When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD and the message does not come to pass or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.” – Deut. 18:22

No matter if you like it or not, Joe Biden won the US presidential election. This is very awkward for all the pastors and televangelists who claimed that God had told them that Trump would be reelected. Some of them even claimed that he would do so “by a landslide”.

This video includes false Trump prophecies by Pat Robertson, Paula White-Cain, Kris Vallotton, Mark Taylor, Kat Kerr, Marcus Rogers, Kevin Zadai, Greg Locke, Taribo West, Denise Goulet, Curt Landry, Jeremiah Johnson.

As of this writing, only Vallotton has apologized for his mistake – and even he took his apology down after many of his followers protested.

Of course, this raises the question: if these church leaders were wrong about this, what else are they wrong about? Most of them were not only predicting Trump’s victory, but hoping for it. Some of them described his presidency as “goodness” even as it included a complete disregard for refugees and people affected by climate change.

It’s time to reevaluate what kind of leaders we want to be influenced by.

Continue reading These 12 Church Leaders Prophesied that Trump Would Win the 2020 Election

True prophecy in an age of deception

A sermon by Bob Ekblad, originally published on his blog. You can listen to the audio version here.

Fear and anxiety abound in these days of global pandemic, a US presidential election, natural disasters related to climate change, and economic insecurity. People are searching for explanations, advice as to how to best prepare, spiritual direction, and prophetic counsel. There’s a vulnerability to deception, and false prophecy abounds, visible in declarations endorsing candidates, conspiracy theories like QAnon, and political promises and prognoses.

Jesus offers strong warnings to his disciples:

“See to it that no one misleads you. “For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many” (Mat 24:4-5)

These “many” who come in Jesus’ name who “mislead many” can include those who claim to be Christian prophets themselves—even a majority of them.

In a number of places in the Old Testament hundreds of “court” prophets stand with Israel’s King, over-and-against a lone prophet who speaks for God. Each king of Israel was anointed by a prophet and called Messiah/Christ (meaning “anointed”). God’s prophets brought words of challenge, direction and rebuke—unless they were co-opted, which has largely happened now in the USA.

Continue reading True prophecy in an age of deception

Trump’s Words Have Become America’s Reality: A Response to Bill Johnson

I have learned many great things from pastor Bill Johnson, whom I deeply respect. One of these things is the power of our words. Your words become your reality, Johnson has argued in his sermons. We cannot separate who we are from what we say.

Still, when Johnson defended his political support for Donald Trump in the Christian Post, he wants us to forget the president’s “sound bites” and focus on his actions instead.

Of course, a politician’s policies are important. But so are their words. James, the brother of Jesus, warns us against the power of the tongue, likening it to a small spark that can set an entire forest on fire (James 3:5). “Sound bites” can have disastrous consequences.

Take Trump’s suggestion in April that COVID-19 could possibly be cured by injecting disinfectants in the body, “cleaning” the lungs. Health officials had to immediately warn the public that this would in fact kill you, as poison control centers all over the country reported a significant increase of household disinfectant ingestion.

Trump later claimed that his comment was sarcastic directed at reporters, even though he hadn’t been talking to them but to his medical advisors.

Continue reading Trump’s Words Have Become America’s Reality: A Response to Bill Johnson

Ethiopia’s Pentecostal Prime Minister is going to war: millions of children suffer as a result

We were very glad to see last year that an African Pentecostal for the second time in a row was being awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize. Abiy Ahmed was motivated by his vivid, charismatic faith as he promoted peace talks and reconciliation in a nation filled with ethnic and religious conflict.

Like Denis Mukwege, I was hoping that Ahmed would show the world that the Pentecostal faith is more in line with peace and justice than war and egoism.

It is with a heavy heart that I now see that Ahmed is bringing his country into a civil war, with disastrous humanitarian consequences. The Guardian reports:

Violence in northern Ethiopia will probably drive 200,000 people into neighbouring Sudan over the coming months, UN agencies have warned, where food, shelter and medicine are urgently needed.

[…]

Fighting in the Tigray region has also left more than 2 million children in urgent need of assistance, with thousands more at risk in Sudanese refugee camps, Unicef said.

The agency is particularly worried over the possible spread of disease among the refugees, nearly half of whom are children.

Continue reading Ethiopia’s Pentecostal Prime Minister is going to war: millions of children suffer as a result

The Five Most Embarrassing Evangelical Reactions to the Election Results

When it became clear that Joe Biden had won the presidential race, many white evangelicals and Pentecostals were highly upset. While there obviously are exceptions, a surprisingly large number of white church-goers are convinced that voting Democrat is equivalent to child sacrifice and that this was an election between God and Satan.

Several Pentecostal and charismatic leaders even prophesied that Trump would win. Some, like Bethel Church leader Kris Vallotton, have apologized. Most have not – and they’re now struggling to justify what has happened.

Below is a list of the five most embarrassing reactions among evangelical leaders to the election results. As Trump himself has claimed that millions of votes were illegal, just like he did in 2016 and 2018 without any evidence whatsoever, many of his Christian supporters are trying to convince themselves and others that somehow he will win against all odds. Still, there are clear signs of panic and fear in these responses – a tragic consequence of them equating the Kingdom of God to the populism of Trump.

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Will Biden Really Promote Peace and Justice?

I waited to write this article for PCPJ as I wanted to see who the winner of the US Presidential election would be. This morning (Saturday, November 7th), the news broke that former Vice President Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump.

Full disclosure: I am a member of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, and I donated to Joe Biden’s campaign. I am happy that Trump has lost this election. Donald Trump has always concerned me, and all of us at PCPJ have been critical of President Trump on numerous occasions. Having said that, I am also disappointed in Biden’s election. Joe Biden is simply the lesser of two evils rather than the person we need to advance the Reign of God. Biden’s election could be seen as a battle won rather than the winning of a war. Continue reading Will Biden Really Promote Peace and Justice?

Evangelicals Need to Choose: Influence or Integrity?

“I believe the evangelical alignment with the Trump administration has advanced the kingdoms of men but not the kingdom of God. I worry it has damaged the culture and tarnished our witness for generations.”

This is what Timothy Dalrymple, President and CEO for Christianity Today, writes in a recent article. This conviction does not prevent him from trying to understand evangelical Trump supporters. In fact, he does a good job laying out the logic behind why they act as they do, describing them as the Church Regnant:

The Church Regnant sees the kingdom of God, the end toward which we strive, as a world in which men and women are free to follow their faith, life is held sacred from conception to death, families can raise their children in biblical truth, churches take the lead in charity, and government provides a stable order for the flourishing of meaningful enterprise. […]

The Church Regnant views the election starkly as a battle between good and evil. The vices of the president seem small when the virtue of the world hangs in the balance. Winning political power means protecting the Christian way of life and sowing seeds of truth and goodness into culture, and thus bringing God’s blessing upon the land. Losing political power means the culture spirals into deepening immorality and untruth, eroding the foundations of society and leading to greater suffering for all.

Continue reading Evangelicals Need to Choose: Influence or Integrity?

The Problem with Mixing Church and Government

by Greg Boyd.

Some people insist that the only reason that neither Jesus nor anyone else in the first several centuries of the church tried to dominate the political system of their day was because they were a small minority of people living in a nondemocratic and hostile environment. By contrast, the argument goes, American Christians are a sizable group living in a rather friendly, democratic land, and we are able to at least improve, if not someday dominate, our government and culture.

And since to whom much is given much is required (Lk 12:48), do we not have a spiritual and moral obligation to use this opportunity to the full advantage of the kingdom of God?

In this light, the argument concludes, to shirk the opportunity to rule because we are afraid of compromising our kingdom calling is irresponsible, pharisaical, and cowardly. The argument seems to make so much sense.

Continue reading The Problem with Mixing Church and Government

Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice