Tag Archives: Election

PCPJ, Politics

Pentecostal Christians Speak Up Against Trumpism: “Our Primary Loyalty is to Jesus Christ”

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Theologians, pastors, missionaries and ordinary Pentecostal and Charismatic believers have together signed a statement against Trumpism to show the world that what Donald Trump represents is not in line with their faith. The statement reads:

We who have signed this statement are Spirit-filled Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians who believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Because of this, we refuse to vote for or support Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.

We do not feel that we need to compromise with or ignore our faith when we take a stance against Trumpism. On the contrary, it is precisely because of our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ that we cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump and what he stands for.

The Demonization of Immigrants

At the center of our Pentecostal spirituality is the miracle of Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit united people of various nations through the miracle of tongues. The modern Pentecostal movement has one of its origins at Azusa Street in Los Angeles in which a multi-racial group of Americans and immigrants were baptized in the Holy Spirit together.

Leviticus 19:33-34 clearly states that we should love immigrants as ourselves and treat them as natives. Treating immigrants with love and empathy is a core value of any Christian.

For these reasons, we are horrified when we see how:

Most of the migrants that Trump employ this hateful, vile rhetoric towards are Christians. And most of those he wants to deport to poor, war-torn countries are also Christians. As fellow Christians, we cannot stand behind this.

The Disrespect, Belittling and Criminal Abuse of Women

As Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians, we strive for holiness and to become more Christ-like in all that we do and say and want to support people of good character. Evangelical Christians used to be the ones that emphasized the importance of politicians’ personal morality the most – that has rapidly changed during the reign of Trump.

While we do not believe one has to be perfect to be a president, the Bible emphasizes the importance of good character in both political and spiritual leaders (Deuteronomy 17:17, 1 Timothy 3:2). In particular, greed and sexual immorality are sins that bring God’s wrath upon people as they are equal to idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Donald Trump abounds in these sins without being repentant which has even led to criminal convictions:

Notice that Trump has done all this while claiming to be a Christian and without ever apologizing for any of these acts towards women. He also said in 2015 that he has never asked God for forgiveness.

The Threat to Democracy

Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians have been pioneers for democracy around the world, since our conviction that the Holy Spirit can and wants to use anyone empowers them to make a difference for their lives and their communities. Jesus taught that we should do to others as we would have them do to us (Matthew 7:12) and that leaders should serve rather than rule as kings (Matthew 10:42-45). Thus, we believe that democracy is biblical while dictatorship leads to tyranny and oppression.

Donald Trump has become alarmingly authoritarian over time and researchers have found that Trumpism has made the Republican party more akin to authoritarian parties such as AKP in Turkey and Fidesz in Hungary. It has become increasingly clear that Trumpism is a threat to democracy:

Obviously, the fact that we view Trump as a threat to democracy does in no way legitimize or excuse the awful assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life. As Christians, we reject all types of political violence. At the same time, we cannot stay silent about the threat to democracy that Trumpism forms in the light of all the evidence given above.

Conclusion

As Spirit-filled Christians, we affirm the inherent God-given value of all human beings and whole-heartedly oppose all hate and belittling towards migrants, women and minorities. Our primary loyalty is to Jesus Christ, not to a political party, and our faith remains in him. This is why we cannot embrace Trumpism and refuse to vote for Trump in this year’s presidential election.

Signed by:

  • Kenneth J. Archer
  • Inez Bayardo
  • Florian Berndt
  • Josh Bledsoe
  • Michael Brooks
  • Scott Camp
  • Deana Clayton
  • John Cosmo Panzetta Jr.
  • Rev. Kevin R. Daugherty
  • Nelson Banuchi
  • James Marion Darlack
  • Andrea Standley
  • Leonora DeJesus
  • Courtney Firbank
  • Daniel Garland
  • Charlotte Gooch
  • Randy Gordon
  • Celeste Gonzalez-Moreno
  • Eaton Gregory
  • Amber Rose Habig
  • David W Holt
  • Jerry Hudson
  • Kimberly Steed
  • Lynn Ritchie
  • Bethany Robinson
  • Michael Tada
  • Michaela Farrell
  • Paul Mahler
  • Samuel Caleb Lightbody
  • Rick Mencer
  • Gene Mills
  • Robert Rogers
  • Ramone Romero
  • Mary Wolfe
  • Rick Waldrop
  • Maria Hawley Zapata
  • Martin Tengberg
  • Rev. Faith Totushek
  • Cara Pfeiffer
  • Shelly Snider
  • Carol J. Simat
  • Joseph Scordato
  • Dale L. Stoll
  • Amos Yong
Politics

If Anyone Else Said What Trump Has Said About Jesus, Evangelicals Would Call Them a False Prophet and a Heretic

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Thank God many Christians are protesting against Donald Trump! A month ago, a group from Faithful America stood outside the Capitol with an enormous inflatable golden calf dressed like Trump to warn of how the Christian MAGA movement is dangerously close to idolatry.

Sign our petition “Pentecostals Against Trumpism” here!

Remember, Trump has thanked people for “kind words” when he was likened to “the second coming of God.” He’s claimed to be “the chosen one” while looking toward heaven, has said he’s never asked God for forgiveness, and asserted he is possibly the most honest person God has created even though there are literally 30 thousand of documented lies he has told the public. Here’s a video compilation of the five most blasphemous things Trump has said:

Trump also compared himself to Jesus Christ when he was tried and later convicted of bribing a porn star, after having cheated and slept with her when his youngest son was four months old—and appears to have paid for his legal fees for this by selling Bibles!

Instead of repenting or apologizing for any of this, Trump has persistently insisted he has done nothing wrong, and far too many of his evangelical supporters have backed him, calling him the one who will “save” Christianity and Christian values.

That’s why it’s so good to see American Christians protesting against this. Especially Christian women seem to have abandoned Trump to a greater extent after his assault conviction. Much of the election outcome likely depends on them! That’s why the MAGA men are freaking out when they realize that their wives might not vote for the same rapist adulterer as they are for president:

Again, sign our petition “Pentecostals Against Trumpism” here!

Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.

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Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!

Gender Equality, Politics, Racial Justice

Pentecostals Against Trumpism — Sign Our Statement!

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Join your name to this statement below!

We who have signed this statement are Spirit-filled Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians who believe that the Bible is the Word of God and that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Because of this, we refuse to vote for or support Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.

We do not feel that we need to compromise with or ignore our faith when we take a stance against Trumpism. On the contrary, it is precisely because of our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ that we cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump and what he stands for.

The Demonization of Immigrants

At the center of our Pentecostal spirituality is the miracle of Pentecost, in which the Holy Spirit united people of various nations through the miracle of tongues. The modern Pentecostal movement has one of its origins at Azusa Street in Los Angeles in which a multi-racial group of Americans and immigrants were baptized in the Holy Spirit together.

Leviticus 19:33-34 clearly states that we should love immigrants as ourselves and treat them as natives. Treating immigrants with love and empathy is a core value of any Christian.

For these reasons, we are horrified when we see how:

Most of the migrants that Trump employ this hateful, vile rhetoric towards are Christians. And most of those he wants to deport to poor, war-torn countries are also Christians. As fellow Christians, we cannot stand behind this.

The Disrespect, Belittling and Criminal Abuse of Women

As Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians, we strive for holiness and to become more Christ-like in all that we do and say and want to support people of good character. Evangelical Christians used to be the ones that emphasized the importance of politicians’ personal morality the most – that has rapidly changed during the reign of Trump.

While we do not believe one has to be perfect to be a president, the Bible emphasizes the importance of good character in both political and spiritual leaders (Deuteronomy 17:17, 1 Timothy 3:2). In particular, greed and sexual immorality are sins that bring God’s wrath upon people as they are equal to idolatry (Colossians 3:5). Donald Trump abounds in these sins without being repentant which has even led to criminal convictions:

Notice that Trump has done all this while claiming to be a Christian and without ever apologizing for any of these acts towards women. He also said in 2015 that he has never asked God for forgiveness.

The Threat to Democracy

Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians have been pioneers for democracy around the world, since our conviction that the Holy Spirit can and wants to use anyone empowers them to make a difference for their lives and their communities. Jesus taught that we should do to others as we would have them do to us (Matthew 7:12) and that leaders should serve rather than rule as kings (Matthew 10:42-45). Thus, we believe that democracy is biblical while dictatorship leads to tyranny and oppression.

Donald Trump has become alarmingly authoritarian over time and researchers have found that Trumpism has made the Republican party more akin to authoritarian parties such as AKP in Turkey and Fidesz in Hungary. It has become increasingly clear that Trumpism is a threat to democracy:

Obviously, the fact that we view Trump as a threat to democracy does in no way legitimize or excuse the awful assassination attempts on Donald Trump’s life. As Christians, we reject all types of political violence. At the same time, we cannot stay silent about the threat to democracy that Trumpism forms in the light of all the evidence given above.

Conclusion

As Spirit-filled Christians, we affirm the inherent God-given value of all human beings and whole-heartedly oppose all hate and belittling towards migrants, women and minorities. Our primary loyalty is to Jesus Christ, not to a political party, and our faith remains in him. This is why we cannot embrace Trumpism and refuse to vote for Trump in this year’s presidential election.

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Nonviolence, Politics

The United States of Assassinations

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Assassination attempts are always horrendous, evil and sinful, and we condemn the attempted murder of Donald Trump in the strongest terms. No political disagreement is an excuse for violence. Yet, the United States has a dark history of political assassinations – Lincoln, Kennedy, Luther King – as well as assassination attempts. And before Trump, there was Pence.

In this election cycle, many seem to have forgotten the attempted assassinations of Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress on the January 6th storming in 2021 when Trump supporters tried to overturn the results from the 2020 presidential election. Some of them had even made a noose, shouting that it was time to hang Mike Pence for accepting the election results.

Trump has repeatedly supported the January 6th rioters, calling them great patriots, and has even expressed support for those who shouted “Hang Mike Pence” according to his White House chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows.

Of course, this does in no way legitimize or excuse the assassination attempt of Trump. As a peace organization, we reject all typs of violence, both when it comes from Trump’s camp as well as when its directed towards it.

Violence is all too often a vicious cycle: sin that leads to sin that leads to sin. After Trump had been hit and the Secret Service had killed the attacker, his bodyguards wanted to immediately take him to a safe area but the former president ordered them to wait so that he could raise his fist to the audience and shout: “Fight!”

The audience loved it, and even some in the non-MAGA crowd have called it “badass”. At the Republican convention where Trump was nominated as presidential candidate in spite of being a convicted felon, the audience shouted “Fight! Fight! Fight!” as he entered the stage with a damaged ear from the attack.

This conflict narrative of fighting is strangely combined with calls for unity, primarily directed at political opponents. Trump’s speech at the convention, which was his first after the assassination attempt, called for unity and respect for a couple of minutes only to then go after the Democrats for over an hour, calling them dangerous and a threat to democracy that uses the justice system for illegitimate “witch hunts”. Meanwhile, president Joe Biden was asked by reporter Lester Holt to stop pointing out facts about Trump in the name of unity, including when Trump welcomed and laughed about a political opponent being attacked with a hammer.

Do you see the double standards here? Trump and many of his supporters have welcomed political violence and threats of violence multiple times, but when political violence is aimed at Trump the demand is not only that his critics should denounce the violence (which, of course, they should) but also denounce factually correct statements that are critical of Trump, such as him being a threat to democracy with his disdain for election results that don’t go his way. And if calls for unity is incompatible with talking about threats to democracy, why don’t Trump’s supporters criticize him when he described the Democrats as a threat to democracy?

Because of the very fact that we’re against all violence, we feel obliged to remind everyone that the Trump movement is in no way foreign to assassination attempts and deadly threats. Violence begets more violence – what’s needed is the way of the Prince of Peace who tells us to love our enemies and reject all kinds of killing.

Micael Grenholm is a Swedish church historian, author and an editor for PCPJ.

ska%cc%88rmavbild-2017-01-06-kl-21-17-02

Pentecostals & Charismatics for Peace & Justice is a multicultural, gender inclusive, and ecumenical organization that promotes peace, justice, and reconciliation work among Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians around the world. If you like what we do, please become a member!

Politics, Spirituality

Evangelicals Need to Choose: Influence or Integrity?

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“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? →
Politics

Our Politics Betrays the Gospel

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During the 2012 presidential elections in the United States, there was moment during the Republican primary debates that struck me. Ron Paul paraphrased the Golden Rule – do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Another way of stating it is, treat others as you would want to be treated. This statement is very important because it is the foundation of almost every moral system. It is something that is taught to most small children, in many cultures and by most religions and philosophies.

Most importantly, the Golden Rule was taught by Jesus. In Matthew 7:12, Jesus said, “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets”, and in Luke 6:31 He said, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Ron Paul paraphrased Jesus Christ in the 2012 Republican primary debate. He specifically cited this teaching in reference to war, as Congressman Paul has been pretty consistently against war. What happen to Paul is remarkable. The entire audience booed him! A US congressman and presidential candidate was booed for quoting Jesus, and this was in the Republican Party, which is supposed to be the party of Christian values. This incident can be viewed in several places online. I suggest watching it:

Continue reading Our Politics Betrays the Gospel →