Many distractions in this life take a person off of their true path. Even as I put these words together, I think about everything unrelated to my writing. I am thinking about my career and need to find work that gets me out of being constantly underemployed. I find myself looking around the coffee shop where I write. I am watching other people talk, wondering about their lives and why they seem to have figured out something I have not.
Sometimes my mind goes back to my history of making historically bad decisions. I think about my bills, kids, past partners, family and sometimes just generally feel sorry for myself. All the while, good work needs to be done. God’s work needs to be done. Yet this world’s distractions and temptations keep me far from the ministry and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Nathaniel Manderson
As I consider the temptations in my own life, I realize the current evangelical leadership has fallen prey to the temptations offered by Donald Trump. Even more importantly, these temptations are eerily similar to the temptations the Devil proposed to Jesus Christ before Jesus began his ministry.
For those who do not know this story, according to the Bible, there was a time before Jesus started his ministry when he went into the desert to fast and prepare himself to do his work. At this time, the Devil came to Jesus to offer the same three temptations that pull everyone off of their true path. These also are the same temptations Trump has offered to the evangelical movement.
The difference is that — unlike Jesus — the evangelical movement has chosen to follow Trump as he leads them further away from God and closer to the path set forth by the Devil himself.
The first temptation was an offer of bread to Christ, who would have been starving then. The reply by Christ was that man does not live on bread alone.
I admit that having more money and more bread is as much a part of me as anyone else. I want to provide more for my daughters, and every time I have to explain to them why I can’t afford this or that, it breaks my heart. And yet the pursuit of money has the potential to take me down a path away from my true calling as a teacher and counselor.
Trump has offered the evangelical church a lot of bread, cheaper bread, more money and the possibility to live like Trump. A couple of invitations to Mar-a-Lago, a few trips on the Trump plane, continued tax breaks, and an economy that mostly benefits the already very wealthy evangelical ministers.
In every area of life, when a lot of money becomes the end goal, services get worse, art suffers, the truth gets distorted and the church is no different.
Evangelical leaders are terrified of this message, by the way. They twist themselves into theological knots teaching and preaching that it’s all right to become a millionaire and be a minister. I don’t know if it is or it is not, but I do know there was a specific message that the temptation of greed hurts the teachings and ministry of Jesus Christ.
“Trump has offered these evangelicals a bag of cash and these leaders will do anything to get their hands on it.”
Suddenly, paying proper wages to the working class, offering opportunities to the disadvantaged in America or welcoming the foreigners are evil things, and providing tax breaks for billionaires becomes the foundation of the Christian faith. Trump has offered these evangelicals a bag of cash and these leaders will do anything to get their hands on it.
The second temptation by the Devil is protection and safety. The reply by Christ was to not put the Lord God to the test.
This is an interesting temptation found in life. A desire for comfort, safety and protection is something most people think about a lot. In my career, I have greatly desired job protection but I have found it difficult when you are committed to telling the truth. Diplomacy never was my strong suit, and my career has been a battle for a long time. I wish it wasn’t that way, but it did prove to me that sometimes job security becomes more important to people than job integrity. I see this in the evangelical support of Donald Trump.
Trump’s temptation for protection and safety is clear. He discusses this all the time. He will keep Christians safe from the evil forces of the liberal movement. The left is coming for your guns, your ability to be public about your Christian faith, and your very children are in danger of conversation by the great woke mob virus.
Have no fear, evangelicals, Trump will protect you.
The problem with this message, besides that it comes from the devil, is that there never was a promise of safety when someone followed the teachings of Jesus Christ. The promise is on the follower to serve, love your enemies, heal the sick, serve the poor and love the prisoners. This is hard to do when someone is home on their couch and interested only in the rights of those who agree with them.
“Jesus Christ did not live a safe life, a protected life or a comfortable life.”
Jesus Christ did not live a safe life, a protected life or a comfortable life. Those conveniences of protection and safety would have been a false temptation that would have taken him off course just as Trump’s temptations of safety have taken evangelical leadership off course.
The final temptation of Satan is the most obvious. The Devil offers Christ all the power in the world. All Christ must do is submit to the Devil’s authority.
I barely have to write this section because the truth of this is louder than anything I can put into words. Typically, people support politicians based on self-interest I am no different. My fight for the working class first-generation college students has been at the heart of anyone I vote for. I do not seek power per se but more opportunity for the population I love. The thought of having more power and influence in this area is naturally a temptation within me, but perhaps that again could take me away from my calling to being on the front lines of this work.
Power does corrupt, as it has in the evangelical support of Donald Trump.
Not to pick on Robert Jeffress, but no one embodies the crumbling into this temptation better than he does. That man loves the power of the White House and the power Trump has provided him. Pastor Jeffress will create whatever theology he has to in order to return Trump to the White House.
I often listen to this guy on the radio. He’s quite a good speaker. As good as it gets. In one story he shared, he spoke about how he managed to charm himself into the Oval Office while on a school trip as a teenager. He has been doing whatever he can to return to that office ever since.
“The temptation of power prevents a person of faith from supporting the opportunity of everyone else they are claiming to help.”
All Pastor Jeffress had to do was submit to the authority of Donald Trump. The temptation of power prevents a person of faith from supporting the opportunity of everyone else they are claiming to help. Once these ministers have tasted that power, nothing else can satisfy them.
My recent employment has been as a hospice chaplain. It’s a job that stays with a person on a very deep level. Every day, I am faced with families trying to say goodbye to a loved one and a person trying to say goodbye to life.
This is not such a peaceful transition as many would believe. There is great anxiety, loss of control, anger. What I have found is that for people of faith, successful people, people who have failed, people who have done things right and people who have done everything wrong, death comes regardless. Their life up until this stage rarely matters.
Those final days are difficult and sad. The comforts of this world have left them. The power, the safety and the money are all gone. These are all empty pursuits in the end. These pursuits keep a person from their true path. They affect relationships, careers, art, writing, politics and faith.
I find the teachings of Christ and the teachings of the evangelical church to be going in opposite directions. The evangelical church is heading closer to the Devil and the temptations of Donald Trump and further away from a man who served the poor, healed the sick, loved his neighbor and taught his followers to do the same.
American evangelicals have stopped listening to Christ, which means they are currently listening to the Devil.
Nathaniel Manderson was educated at a conservative seminary, trained as a minister, ordained through the American Baptist Churches USA and guided by liberal ideals. Throughout his career, he has been a pastor, career counselor, academic adviser, high school teacher and advocate for first-generation and low-income students, along with a paper deliverer, construction worker, package handler and whatever else he could do to take care of his family.
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