American Christians for Truth and Justice

Tag: god

  • Is it a Trivial Matter?

    Picking up again with the theme of OT prophets whose warnings to the people of Judah at their time echo through the centuries to have relevance for God’s people in America in our political situation, we look next at Ezekiel 8:17: “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!”

    Detestable things. The detestable things God was referring to in Ezekiel 8 were related to idolatry: making idols of metal (v.v.2), creating idolatrous images (v.10), burning incense to idols (v.11), worshipping the god Tammuz (v. 14), and bowing down to the sun (v. 16). There was a progression in the scenes God showed to Ezekiel, each one more detestable than the prior (v.6, 13, 15). 

    Is it a trivial matter? One strategy of the current administration seems to be to flood to zone with so many outrageous statements, executive overreaches, blatant lies, obvious misuses of power to target political enemies, open use of the power of the presidency for the self-enrichment of Mr. Trump and his family, repeated obstruction and perversion of justice, etc. that these actions are normalized.  But we—especially we who claim to be Christians, must not think it trivial that the leaders of our nation do such detestable things, especially when they do it under the pretense of making America a Christian nation again.

    Must they also fill the land with violence? To all the above detestable actions now we add violence—first unleashing unrestrained ICE agents against our own people, resulting in the shootings of Rene Good and Alex Pretti (who, though victims, were  wrongfully attacked and maligned), and now unleashing violence globally in the war against Iran.  My sympathies are with the Iranian people, many of whom hate their own government and welcome US and Israeli intervention with the hope that it will lead to regime change.  I do hope for a positive outcome that will be good for the Iranian people.  But my confidence is not strong that this is high on President Trump’s priorities, and my concern is that the rhetoric and execution of the war are promoting a culture of unaccountability and cruelty, ignoring norms of international law, glorying in the display of our power, and gloating in the devastation that we are causing.

    Look at them putting the branch to their nose!  There is some uncertainty as to the meaning of this phrase, but I favor the interpretation that refers to a form of idolatrous practice that the people of Judah were engaging in.  In our current context, it makes me think of the way people wishing to gain power or benefit from being in the good graces of President Trump openly flatter him and promote a cult of personality in which Mr. Trump is seen as an “anointed one.”  It all borders on idolatry, the very sin that the people of Judah, who claimed to be God’s people, were being called out for in this passage.

    Therefore, I will deal with them in anger.  Verse 17 gives God’s response, which is a warning of judgement. Because the people engage in detestable practices, God says he will deal with them in anger.  He will not have pity on them or listen to their cries for help. As it applies to today, this is a warning for those who claim to be God’s people but support a leader and government that engages in detestable practices.

    In the next chapter, Ezekiel says that the people of Judah should “grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it” (Ezek 9:4). These are to have a mark put on their foreheads to set them apart so that they are not judged with the others. (This is similar to the mark on the foreheads prior to the beginning of the Great Tribulation in Revelation 7:3). If we claim to be God’s people in America today, we should grieve and lament over the detestable things that are done in it.  But instead, many Christians ignore or justify these detestable things and continue to affirm and vote for those who execute them.

  • Trump and Jesus

    Because so many Christians, especially evangelicals, have supported Donald Trump, the names of Trump and Jesus have unfortunately come to be linked together.  Pro-Trump rallies have often had signs favorably connecting Donald Trump and Jesus.  Yet, it is hard to think of anyone who is less like Jesus than Mr. Trump.  Many Christians recognize that his character is a problem but voted for him anyway because he opposes the liberal left and supports some key causes that Christians care about. To some degree, that is understandable. But shouldn’t evangelicals, of all people, believe that character matters?  Do we realize what a big shift it represents to say that character in our leaders doesn’t matter?  During the sex scandal of the Clinton years, evangelicals were insistent that character mattered.  Donald Trump is at least as sexually immoral as Bill Clinton ever was, yet now suddenly it doesn’t matter?  With President Trump’s turn towards authoritarianism, consider what it means that a person of his character has almost absolute power.  If we think that doesn’t matter, we will surely come to regret it.

    Let’s compare the character of Christ, which is our standard as Christians, with the character of Donald Trump.  Jesus taught and modeled love.  Mr. Trump speaks and models hate. Jesus brings people of diverse backgrounds together into one body in Christ.  Donald Trump divides the nation into polarized factions. Jesus is the Truth.  Mr. Trump tells so many lies the fact checkers can’t keep up with him. Jesus was a servant leader.  President Trump is a lord-it-over leader. Jesus promoted forgiveness.  Mr. Trump exacts revenge. Jesus valued all races and peoples equally.  Donald Trump values white workers over diversity. Jesus was single and celibate.  Mr. Trump is sexually immoral and has been divorced and remarried multiple times. Jesus ministered to the poor and marginalized.  President Trump enriches himself while cutting off aid or benefits to the poor.  Jesus sacrificed for others, giving his own life.  Mr. Trump looks out for his own self-interest. Jesus was confident but humble. Donald Trump is arrogant and proud.  Jesus never sinned.  Mr. Trump claims he never does wrong, but the evidence overwhelmingly proves otherwise. Jesus was concerned about justice.  President Trump constantly obstructs or subverts justice.  In almost every way imaginable, Donald Trump’s character is the opposite of Jesus. You don’t need to listen to his political opponents to come to these conclusions.  You can just think about his words and actions that you have seen and heard for yourself.  Indeed, many Christians who voted for Mr. Trump know these things to be true.  It is time that we wake up to the seriousness of these character deficiencies before it is too late.

    There is one thing Jesus and Mr. Trump have in common—both demand absolute loyalty.  But when Donald Trump’s character is so diametrically opposed to the character of Jesus, you can not give absolute loyalty to Mr. Trump without compromising your loyalty to Jesus and his teachings. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money” (Matt 6:24).  The same principle applies here—you cannot serve Jesus and Donald Trump.  Mike Pence tried and found out he could not do it.  And neither can we.

  • Their evil deeds have no limit ..

    The last blog began a series based on words from the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah which are compellingly relevant to our times.  The first text was, “Do not call conspiracy everything they call conspiracy …” (Isa 8:12). We ended with the command not to fear what the conspiracists wants us to fear, in our case, the evils of the liberal left, or conversely, the vengeance of President Trump.  Rather, the one we are to fear and dread is God himself.  Our text today tells us why.

    Jeremiah 5:28-29 says, “[They] have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not seek justice.” Jeremiah said concerning the Israelite leaders and people of his time: “their evil deeds have no limit.” That is how I feel about our present administration each day when I read the news.  Is there no end to falsehoods, bullying, and disregard for justice and the rule of law?  Each day the transgressions seem to be more blatant and bolder: pardoning criminals right and left, including the former president of Honduras, who was rightly convicted of drug crimes and the Chinese billionaire in the crypto-currency business who is an ally of President Trump; openly pursuing vindication against his political enemies, like James Comey and Leticia James, for charges that respectable prosecutors have deemed inadequate; clearly having something to hide with the Epstein files, first refusing to turn them over only to reverse course and say that he would while still refusing to fully release them; rounding up immigrants without due process and treating them harshly as criminals, the vast majority of whom have no criminal record and many of whom have demonstrated decades worth of value-add in our communities; blatantly enriching himself through business ventures while president without any regard for conflict of interest; attacking boats and killing people as adversaries of war without any clear justification that we are at war (and without any authorization from Congress); kidnapping and charging President Maduro of Venezuela in a way that even many of our allies regard as a violation of international law; making further threats of aggression against Canada, Greenland, and Cuba; and on and on it goes. And on and on it will go. 

    God’s indictment continues in the second half of verse 28: “they do not defend the just cause of the poor.”  President Trump has failed to defend the cause of the poor both internationally, with the cut to foreign aid which will result in the unnecessary deaths of thousands of the poorest and most vulnerable around the world, and domestically, with his “big, beautiful bill” which cuts benefits for the poor while providing tax breaks that provide the greatest benefit to the rich. Since Mr. Trump has been president, his net worth has skyrocketed and Mr. Musk has been offered the first trillion-dollar contract, while millions of lower income people in America and around the world find their condition becoming increasingly dire.

    After pronouncing his indictments in verse 28: “their evil dceds have no limit … they do not defend the just cause of the poor,” God asks two questions, “Should I not punish them for this?” “Should I nor avenge myself on such a nation as this?” (verse 29).  The implied answer is of course he should punish them and avenge himself on such a people as this.  That is why God is the one we should fear and dread.  The warning applies not only to the leader, in our case President Trump, but to the nation, for putting him into power and for defending his evils while opposing those who attempt to hold him accountable.