Trump Jr. has openly rejected the teachings of Christ and
when one considers the present Evangelical confusion with regard to the Trump movement's
relationship to Christianity – I'm glad for it. I hope it will wake some people
up and cause them to re-think the roads they've traveled.
The leadership of the Trump movement worships wealth and
power and as such has no interest in truth. Winning is all that matters, and in
terms of the actual Trump family – these aren't just lost people, these are exceptionally lost people who not only
don't know Christ, they in fact hate Him.
Additionally these are not socially or even politically
conservative people. An older generation of conservatives would disown them. Often
the Trump family defies any real ideology. They're thinking is often incoherent
and riddled with contradictions but they do communicate an ethos and its one
that shares great commonality with the Far Right – which is why the Far Right
movements are so appreciative and devoted to Trump. While some of the Trumpite
agenda and ideas can overlap with conservatism and seem to resonate with it at
points – they are in fact built on a different foundation, operate under a
different set of ethics and while the language may at times sound similar, they
in fact are in possession of different goals.
The confusion of the day is further exacerbated by widespread
false Christianity and the myriad pastors and celebrity figures which endorse
this movement, speak of Trump as a Christian, and as a representative of
Christian teachings. They invite these people (the Trump clan) to speak in the
Church, and have in almost every conceivable way whored themselves and the Body
of Christ to these agents of darkness and deceit.
And make no mistake, the Trumpite movement, the American
Right and yes, even the Christian Right hate Christ and his teachings. Their
ideologies, doctrines, and ethics are incompatible with what is found in the
New Testament. Trump Jr. is not the first to point this out. I appreciate the
Baptist News at least challenging Trump Jr.'s assumption that the Right has
lived by the 'turn the other cheek' ethic for the past fifty years. The very
notion is nonsense. The Evangelical Movement which arose in the aftermath of
WWII has always rejected the ethics of the Kingdom as represented in the New
Testament. You can't live by the New Testament and follow its teachings while
pursuing a path to riches, cultural status, and power. The Evangelical Right
quietly rejected these teachings then but did so openly by the 1970's. By the
1990's any pretense of actual New Testament ethics was gone.
Trump Jr. effectively spoke the truth when he admits that
such ethics don't work in terms of political goals and success. And they don't.
They're not meant to. The problem isn't with the teaching of Christ and the
apostles. The problem comes when worldly ideology and the ethics of Babylon are
somehow perceived as Christian and effectively baptised by Christian leaders
and brought into the Church. Trump Jr.'s overt and blatant rejection of
Christ's ethics on this point also represents a call by the larger Trump
movement to embrace extremism. And by implication it's violent extremism that Trump Jr. is calling for – actions that
would far exceed what was witnessed on 6 January 2021. All Christians must
break with this movement. There can be no compromise on this point. Trumpism is
sin.
Another example of this Evangelical doctrinal and ethical
collapse is the forum of Trump Jr.'s statement. Turning Point USA (which again
represents the kind of Christo-American Right-wing confusion being talked about
here) rests on three falsehoods – found on their website and repeated in the
Baptist article.
First, contrary to Turning Point USA, the United States is
not the greatest country in the history of the world.
Such a statement is meaningless to begin with because
greatness has to be defined. If defined in Biblical terms, the claim is certainly
a lie. The US may be rich, powerful, militant, and in control of vast portions
of the Earth but so was Persia, Babylon, and Rome – all identified as beast
powers in the Scriptures.
One would think that Old Testament Israel would at least be
reckoned as 'great' in some capacity by Christians – certainly greater than the
United States but again the statement (and sentiment) is meaningless and
certainly less than profound in its claims. But it tickles ears and that's why
it's employed.
Contrary to Turning Point USA, the US Constitution is not the
most exceptional political document ever written. Far from it. In fact many
would argue that (assuming the model of Enlightenment liberal republicanism for
the sake of argument) numerous better iterations have been produced since the
American document was drafted in the eighteenth century. There's much to
criticise about the US Constitution with regard to its structure, shortcomings,
and internal contradictions. Further, one must ask to what extent it remained
viable in the aftermath of the US Civil War, the post-war amendments, the
internationalism the US embraced during 1901-1945, the sweeping changes with
regard to executive power post-1945, and then of course the structures of the
2001 Patriot Act which largely eradicated specific points and key principles of
the document.
Those that make such grandiose statements concerning the US
Constitution cling to romanticised notions of what the document was and is. It
was never meant to be understood the way they have 'framed' it and it always represented
compromise and unresolved tension as opposed to concrete principle.
Christians necessarily reject many of the document's
assumptions and key ideas as being incompatible with New Testament doctrine and
ethics. It is a product of Enlightenment thought and represents the
Christ-rejecting epistemology and ethics of that period. The document is also
soaked in the blood of unbiblical rebellion.
But again, confusion reigns as many Christian leaders promote
these lies and myths and in doing so introduce syncretism and idolatry into the
Church.
Finally, there are the claims regarding capitalism. First, it
is not a moral system as it is based on usury, speculation, and relies on
marketing which is a form of manipulation and often is tantamount to ethical witchcraft.
It necessarily promotes consumerism and materialism which are immoral and
exploitative. In terms of Christian morality it represents the worship of
mammon which again is incompatible with New Testament Christianity and is in
fact presented as a rival religion, an implied system of doctrine and ethics
antithetical to following Christ. Only Satan working through his servants (as
angels of light) could have convinced the Church that somehow this economic
order represents Biblical teaching and honours God.
The system is decidedly immoral and entire libraries have
been written that demonstrate this in principle and fact. One need not resort
to false political binaries and extremes to make the case. By implication the
Scriptures teach that there is no Christian economic system. So be it, but that
means that it's not capitalism either. Nor is it proven. It's proven to
generate wealth for some – oligarchs and even large sections of nations but at
the expense and exploitation of others – their lives and lands, and yes, souls.
One thing is proven, the system generates suffering, leads to domination, and
feeds and generates war. It might (perhaps) be better than some of the
alternatives but in no way does that make it moral, let alone Christian.
The Christian Right frequently attacks and ridicules those
who syncretise Christian doctrine with the principles of Marxism or Socialism –
those who formulate ideas such as Liberation Theology, Christian Social
Justice, and the like. It's true, these are absurdities, but no more so than
the preposterous notion that somehow capitalism is Christian and a system
rooted in Christian thought. The movement has its hosts of teachers and
exegetes ready and willing to twist the Scriptures and tease out (or in other
cases insert) capitalist principles and they have proven very effective in
deceiving the masses. Once again, their message tickles ear and it's no wonder
that other false teachers have taken what is essentially the same message and
amplified it into its extreme form – the so-called prosperity gospel.
Turning Point USA is a morally and spiritually bankrupt
organisation and a real danger to the Church, if anything for the simple reason
that when one looks at the list of speakers in 2021, it is filled with figures
associated with the Christian Right – apostates and enemies of Christ all.
Trump Jr. may be the only one honest enough to realise it and
in his roundabout way admit it.
And yet the danger is this, this infidel's rhetoric (and the
filth that comes from his father's mouth) are tolerated, and the ideas,
tactics, and style are increasingly embraced by Christians. If Evangelicalism
was heretical and semi-apostate in the pre-Trumpite period, then hang on to
your hat. We're seeing a transformation. Christo-Trumpism represents a
watershed moment. In yet another fulfillment and iteration of Apocalyptic
imagery, the Bride has once more become the Whore.
I was reminded of this the other day when an Evangelical
visited my jobsite – he was there to visit someone else, someone who by all
accounts is no Christian. The Evangelical I'm speaking of who holds a position
in the law enforcement sphere, is an avid Trumpite and gun enthusiast. He showed
up and (in front of the aforementioned pagan he'd come to visit) unleashed a
torrent of profanity. He had a bad day at work and since the pagan used to work
with him, there's a common bond. He was there to talk shop. But what a
testimony! The public cussing Christian and that's just the tip of the iceberg
as I increasingly encounter the sacrilegious and even blasphemous one! Who
would have thought this could happen, but Christianity under Trump is
undergoing a transformation. It's turning downright nasty and functionally
godless. That's always the pattern. Evangelicals sought to change the world and
instead the world changed them and now they're simply becoming the world – or
at least indistinguishable from it.
Up until recent years they were able to deceive themselves
regarding the New Testament and its ethics. They ignored passages of Scripture
and tried to explain them away. But increasingly the response I get from these
people is "Yeah, but...." or "Well, that just doesn't
work."
I appreciate the candor of an unbeliever like Trump Jr. who admits
Christ's teachings won't help their movement and by implication are incompatible
with its goals, but such answers represent a threat and 'red flag' for those in
the Church – or they should. Functional apostasy is underway and it's being
tolerated. The Christ being worshipped is not the Christ of the New Testament
but the Americo-Christ, the Right-wing saviour of their own lost imaginations.