“Advent is the season that, when properly understood, does not flinch from the darkness that stalks us all in this world,” Fleming Rutledge says in Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ.
In these final days of Advent, we are indeed living in dark times. And ironically, it has everything to do with our understanding of Christianity.
Rick Pidcock
“The only thing that has truly served as an anchor of the United States of America is that we have been, and by the grace of God, we always will be a Christian nation,” Vice President JD Vance declared to the Christian nationalist Turning Point AmericaFest gathering. His statement was met with raucous cheers that lasted more than 30 seconds.
And of course, it’s total nonsense. But Vance didn’t stop there. He kept going.
“I’m not saying you have to be a Christian to be an American,” he clarified while making fun of the media for possibly taking his comments out of context. “I’m saying something simpler and truer: Christianity is America’s creed.”
“Nowhere in the Constitution does it say this. He’s just making it up.”
Again, nowhere in the Constitution does it say this. He’s just making it up.
He continued, “The shared moral language from the Revolution to the Civil War and beyond. Across that history, our country’s major debates have always centered on how we could best be [a] people [to] please God.”
Steve Bannon agreed. When he got his chance to address the authoritarians, he said, “We have to re-Christianize this country.”
So apparently, we’re a Christian nation with a theological creed that centers all our policy debates on how to please JD Vance and Steve Bannon’s god.
And who is this deity?
Over at the Pentagon, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was celebrating Vance and Bannon’s god at a Pentagon Christmas worship service with Christian worship leaders Matthew West and Anne Wilson, with the sermon being delivered by Franklin Graham. And while many Christians like to focus on messages of God’s love and God being with us, especially during Christmas, Graham had a different picture of God in mind.
“Did you know that God also hates?” Graham asked. “Do you know that God also is a God of war?”
“Did you know that God also hates?” Graham asked.
It may seem rather dark for a Christmas service to be held at the Pentagon with the secretary of war, who is being accused of war crimes, to promote God being a hate-filled warmonger. But remember, these are Trump supporters. And Trump is the one who creates social media posts on Christmas Day saying in all caps, “MAY THEY ROT IN HELL” and “AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
Speaking of Trump, the Epstein Files that were released Friday were heavily redacted, with some reports saying more than 550 pages were completely blacked out. To make matters worse, CNN reported Monday evening that some survivor names were included in the report against their consent, while the names of the men who hurt them are covered up.
We already know Trump is a sexual predator, given how he’s openly bragged about grabbing women and about walking into dressing rooms to see underage pageant contestants without any clothes on.
John Lastinger
And unfortunately, he’s not the only Republican guilty of treating women and children this way. South Carolina GOP Rep. R.J. May was arrested and charged June 12 with 10 counts of possessing and distributing child sexual abuse material. In September, he pled guilty to five counts.
The special election to replace May is today. And who did the GOP pick as their candidate to replace him?
They chose John Lastinger, pastor of The Edge Church in West Columbia, S.C. According to Lastinger, “Our nation was founded on truth, that we are one nation under God.” In one interview, Lastinger quoted Proverbs 29:2, saying, “When the godly are in authority, the people rejoice. But when the wicked are in power, they groan.”
During another sermon, he said government food programs for the poor are socialism because that’s stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
The Republican Party has turned into a propaganda machine for rich white people. In addition to Lastinger’s words about stealing from the rich, Vance told Turning Point AmericaFest, “In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”
But nobody has to apologize for being white. The willful ignorance of Republicans refusing to face the harm that has been done to nonwhite people in our country over the centuries is enough to make your blood boil.
As I said in Monday’s episode of “Highest Power: Church + State,” we’re literally rounding up nonwhite people based on how they look and are sending them to detention facilities regardless of their legal status or lack of criminal history.
This is what being a Christian nation means to men like Vance, Bannon, Hegseth, Graham, West, Trump and Lastinger as they stalk us with their authoritarian theology.
The news has been heavy to cover this year. As we’re sitting in this season of Advent, the darkness this week is palpable. And despite whatever other issues he may have, perhaps Lastinger was onto something by quoting Psalm 29:2. “When the wicked are in power, (the people) groan.”
Rick Pidcock is a 2004 graduate of Bob Jones University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible. He’s a freelance writer based in South Carolina and a former Clemons Fellow with BNG. He completed a Master of Arts degree in worship from Northern Seminary. He is a stay-at-home father of five children and produces music under the artist name Provoke Wonder. Follow his blog at www.rickpidcock.com.