OPINION:
More than 150 Iowa “faith leaders” have announced they are supporting former President Donald Trump in the state’s forthcoming caucuses. At the same time, Bob Vander Plaats, an influential Iowa evangelical leader, is supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Predictably, Mr. Trump slammed Mr. Vander Plaats as a “scammer.” You stay classy, Donald.
Could this suggest a division within evangelical circles?
These endorsements came days before the release of Tim Alberta’s book “The Kingdom, The Power, And the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism.” Mr. Alberta, a writer for The Atlantic and other publications and an evangelical Christian, quotes Donald Trump as saying during the 2016 campaign that those Christians who supported Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, for president were “so-called Christians” and “real pieces of s—t.”
When that gets around to those who have had blind faith in Mr. Trump, seemingly more than the faith and trust they are commanded to put in the God they claim to worship, will this break the super-glue-like attachment so many evangelicals have for Mr. Trump? Will they continue to dismiss his un-Christian language and behavior? Recall that Mr. Trump bragged he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York and his supporters would not leave him.
Mr. Alberta spent four years embedded in evangelical churches and conservative political circles, persuading many to talk about the reasons they continue to support Mr. Trump. The twisting of Scripture — “God has used bad people in the past to do his will” — is just one of the many rationalizations Mr. Alberta heard.
In one of many ironic and laughable statements, Mr. Alberta quotes Mr. Trump as responding to Russell Moore, who resigned from a top position in the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest Protestant denomination, because he opposed Mr. Trump’s candidacy in 2016. Mr. Trump called Mr. Moore “a terrible representative of Evangelicals … a nasty guy with no heart!”
Look who’s talking.
The book is an indictment of those who have diluted their faith with the cold brew of politics. Have they forgotten the statement by Jesus: “My Kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) and James 4:4: “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.”
How do Mr. Trump’s evangelical supporters rationalize those statements? They can’t, so they ignore them or choose other verses they can twist to wrongly justify the unjustifiable.
Too many have exchanged the power that comes with faith for temporal power that quickly fades away.
I recall what Franklin Graham said after Mr. Trump won the 2016 election: “God showed up.” I wondered at the time if God showed up only when Republicans win elections but is apparently on vacation when Democrats win.
It is a modern form of idol worship specifically condemned throughout Scripture (including the First Commandment). When King David ruled Israel, he wrote: “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save. When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing” (Psalm 146:3-4).
Considerable harm is being done by evangelicals through their devotion to Mr. Trump. What Christians call their “witness” to others is contributing to more unbelief, especially among younger people, who increasingly respond “none” when asked about their religious faith. A recent Associated Press headline said: “America’s nonreligious are a growing, diverse phenomenon. They really don’t like organized religion.”
Could one explanation be that so many evangelicals are not obeying the commands of Jesus, which include “love your enemy” and other admonitions contrary to much of modern politics?
Tim Alberta’s book is not a screed. Rather, it is a revelation of how many biblical illiterates exist in the evangelical fold. One can be for Donald Trump; just don’t mix him up with the kingdom of that other world or the one who is truly “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
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