Letter to the Editor
February 2, 2023
Dear Editor:
I read Robert P. Jones’ perceptive article on Donald Trump and his allegedly disloyal white evangelical supporters and wanted to endorse it. Trump is outraged that Christian leaders are hesitating to give him their exclusive, uncritical support.
Jesus expects believers to follow him, while Trump expects them to follow him. Christians — and that includes white male evangelical Christians like me — need to follow Jesus in all our ways and not a man unless we are pretending to be Christians.
There’s a temptation in some parts of the church to define God’s moral priorities differently than how God does. The Old and New Testaments give lists of sins that will exclude someone, anyone, from heaven. Reading the Bible tells me God is pro-life for all of life and not just the first nine months after conception. It would be unrighteous to try and manipulate people’s opinion (for political gain) by highlighting the sanctity of life for the first nine months but ignore the sanctity of life after the baby was born.
The same God who told us to pay our tithes in Malachi 3:10 also said in Malachi 3:5: “And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against perjurers, against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, and against those who turn away an alien — because they do not fear me.”
Jesus described defilement in the heart. All these characteristics of the heart are completely offensive to Jesus. See Matthew 15:19-20 — “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man.” And see Romans 1:29 — “Being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness.”
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. The commandment demands that we do not give a false statement about our neighbor. See Revelation 21:8 — “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
God likes the truth, and included in the list of usual suspects for sin is lying, deception and covetousness. Covetousness is the desire to have more in a bad sense. There is a sense of greediness and the implication of deceitful gain or fraud. These sins don’t always get the same attention in church as the others.
“I remember when lying was a sin. A liar will be in hell just as much as a murderer.”
I remember when lying was a sin. A liar will be in hell just as much as a murderer. And the covetous will be there as well.
Donald Trump is not known for his love of the truth. Alternative facts don’t cut it with God. How is it that so many white male evangelical believers, 63% in fact, look favorably on a man with this record? Why have they been so easily persuaded?
If your neighbor’s house was burning and you could see them inside unaware, wouldn’t you warn them? If you love your neighbor but they were not truthful or didn’t love their neighbor and faced eternity in an inferno you should warn them, not give them uncritical support.
I can only identify two reasons why Bible believing Christians would tolerate the sin of lying and not call it out. The first is the example of the lying spirit that went out into the prophets of Ahab in 1 Kings 22:20-23. The second is that God himself will send strong delusions to those who do not receive the love of the truth. See 2 Thessalonians 2:10-11.
The followers of Jesus are meant to be the yeast of society, raising the standards and values of that society to God’s standards, not flatlining with the sinners.
No politicians are perfect, and political parties are not churches. We should vote for someone, but if we are going to support a politician, we need to love them enough to be a witness to all the values of Jesus.
Michael McKeon, Brisbane, Australia