Tag Archives: Politics

Gender Equality, Politics

Trump’s Pornstar Infidelity Highlights the Evangelical Hypocrisy in America

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Yesterday, Donald Trump was indicted for having paid over a hundred thousand dollars to the porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about their sexual encounter shortly after his wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen admitted to the crime, calling it a “sex scandal of biblical proportions” and admitting that it was done on Trump’s orders.

Trump also accidentally admitted to the crime in 2018, but has since denied it. He is really bad at playing innocent – he recently threatened “death and destruction” if he is charged. Several of his supporters call it persecution and communism that he is being charged – they do not care that Trump himself has already admitted to it.

The millions of (white) evangelical Christians who still support Trump also do not seem to care about his infidelity with porn stars and other women. In fact, after the infamous video where Trump boasted about committing sexual assault (“grab them by the pussy”) and sleeping with married women was released, he became more popular among white evangelicals.

This is largely due to the fact that many white evangelicals value traditional patriarchal masculinity, as historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez shows in her book Jesus and John Wayne. While they verbally condemn sexual assault and infidelity, it is something many evangelical men engage in themselves and are quite impressed by, and women are taught to accept sexual assault and rape in popular evangelical books about marriage and relationships. The book The Great Sex Rescue goes through this in detail and shows that evangelicals who have a so-called “complementarian” view of women and men have significantly worse marriages that often lead to divorce.

These statistics show beyond any reasonable doubt that the white evangelical endorsement of Trump has radically changed their values. In 2011, over 60 percent of them said that an elected official who commits an immoral act in their private life cannot behave ethically in their public life. In the Trump era, this conviction remains among less than 20 percent. Falwell Jr. and other evangelical leaders have convinced millions of Christians that a good character simply isn’t relevant when it comes to leadership, despite there being hundreds of verses in the Scriptures that suggest otherwise.

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Economic Justice, Politics, Spirituality

The Gospel is a Social Gospel

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An article recently appeared in the Christian Post entitled, “Why is the country moving left? The social gospel”. In this article, Nathan Cherry argues that the American church and society has moved to the “left” as a result of mainline churches embracing what is known as the “Social Gospel”. He also states that the Social Gospel is a “reimagining” or “replacement” for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Mr. Cherry says:

Many years ago, mainline Protestant churches began to embrace what is now understood as the social gospel. This reimagined understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ centered on social and economic equality, as well as racial reconciliation and poverty. This new gospel replaced the atoning work of Christ on the cross for the sins of people with a politically charged version of the gospel in which correcting social ills was the highest good and ultimate goal.

I want to offer a brief rebuttal to Mr. Cherry’s article. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has and will always be partially political or social, and the Social Gospel is not a replacement for the Gospel.

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Politics

Christian Nationalism or Mission?

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Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:6-8

Throughout the History of the church there have been times when the church has moved off mission and moved into tyranny.  This has happened when Christians have substituted the Kingdom of God with the Kingdom of humans or fused the two.  Even in the book of Acts, the disciples were yet uncertain how the Kingdom of God was to come when they asked Jesus this question, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

I think it’s hard for humans to grasp that the Kingdom of God is somehow fully other than the nations and reigns of this world.  We have from time to time merged the Kingdom of God with human systems of power. 

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Politics, Spirituality

Four Heartbreaking Stories of Christians Lost to the QAnon Cult

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QAnon has been labelled one of the most dangerous conspiracy theories today. Through the power of the Internet, the antisemitic cult that accuses celebrities and liberal politicians of pedophilia and blood libel and claims that only Donald Trump can save the world from satanism, has grown exponentially and was a dominating force behind the terrorist attack against the US Capitol.

Originating from the anarchist site 4chan which is filled with porn and white supremacy, the cult uses a lot of religious language and imagery similar to Christianity to attract followers from churches. As many American Christians already were Trump supporters and open to conspiracy theories, thousands have fallen victim to the cult, becoming more loyal to the anonymous “prophet” called Q than they are to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here are four testimonies from people close to Christians who have joined QAnon. Make sure to pray for them, and keep warning those around you for the danger of this cult!

“Please help me bring my husband back to reality”

A woman writes on Reddit:

All of this started about a month and a half ago when my husband began watching videos from a “prophet.” We are Christian and he has often watched things about prophets before, but I noticed a lot of the language seemed political which he usually doesn’t get into, and it also seemed a little paranoid.

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Nonviolence, Politics

This is the Full Fruit of Trumpism

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by Alexander Venter.

What we witnessed and are witnessing in the US on Capitol Hill…

…captured in these images of the confederacy flag in the house and the fascist aryan fist raised in the chairperson’s, Vice President Mike Pence, seat of government (the equivalent of displaying the old Apartheid flag and raising the Hitler salute of Eugene Terblanche in our South African parliament)…

…is the full fruit of Trumpism, the full fruit of the root of bad character, mixed in with the ideology of ‘Christian’ nationalism, white supremacy.

Quote from Trump’s speech before the attack, reported by the Washington Post.

Trump himself called for this “stop the steal” “wild protest” on Capitol Hill, publicly in-spirit-ing his followers on The Hill (with words of fraudulent lies of massive election rigging) to do what they did: invade the house and stop the ratification process of the election result.

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Politics, Spirituality

True prophecy in an age of deception

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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.

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Politics

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

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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.

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Politics

The Five Most Embarrassing Evangelical Reactions to the Election Results

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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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Politics

Will Biden Really Promote Peace and Justice?

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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? →

Politics

The Problem with Mixing Church and Government

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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.

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