American Christians for Truth and Justice

Tag: news

  • Truth, Justice and Peace?

    This blog site (americanchristiansfortruthandjustice) is so named because I am concerned about truth and justice.  I also wish for peace.  President Trump claims to be concerned about these three things as well, but is he really?

    Mr. Trump is so concerned about truth that he started his own media platform called Truth Social. But given his propensity for spreading misinformation and pushing lies (such as that the 2020 election was stolen) it seems clear that what Mr. Trump is concerned about is propagating his own version of the truth over against that version of the truth that seeks to verify what actually happened. He seems to believe that if he states something confidently and repeats it often enough, then it becomes truth, never mind the facts.  A recent example is his version (and that of his officials) about what happened in the shootings of Alex Pretti and Rene Good. In both cases, especially in the case of Alex Pretti, it was clear that the video evidence contradicted the official government narrative.  His people seemingly believed that they could persuade others to accept their official narrative as true even though those who looked at the videos could see with their own eyes what really happened.  Only after a huge popular backlash and the fear of the political damage it could bring did President Trump backtrack a bit and say that there would be a fair investigation into what happened.  We will see if that actually happens.

    Regarding justice, under President Trump’s influence the Department of Justice is about anything but justice.  Mr. Trump always accused President Biden of weaponizing the Department of Justice, although, compared to President Trump. Biden made at least a reasonable effort to keep his distance from their proceedings.  Mr. Trump makes no such pretense.  He boldly and blatantly weaponizes the Department of Justice to go after his political enemies.  Under President Trump, justice has nothing to do with punishing the guilty and acquitting the innocent. Rather, it has everything to do with punishing his political enemies, even if under flimsy or false charges, and rewarding those loyal to him, even if they are clearly guilty of crimes.  We see this in his excessive use of the presidential pardon as well, which is often used to pardon those loyal to him or of some benefit to him.  Especially shocking was his pardon of the ex-president of Honduras, who had been convicted of drug trafficking, and his pardon of Changpeng Zhao, a corrupt Chinse cryptocurrency billionaire.

    Since, under Mr. Trump’s influence, Truth Social is about anything but the truth and the Department of Justice is about anything but justice, what should we think about his new International Board of Peace, of which he has appointed himself the chairman? His interest in peace is evident and as president Mr. Trump has put forth considerable effort to promote peace in Gaza, Ukraine, and other places.  He claims to have ended eight wars.  However, given his track record on truth and justice, I hope I can be excused for having some skepticism about his Board of Peace.  Here are two reasons to be skeptical.

    First, President Trump’s concern for peace seems to be contradicted by his bullying, aggressive, and intimidating behavior towards other nations.  He authorized attacks against boats off Venezuela, killing many on board, which many believed violated international law. He forcefully removed the president of Venezuela.  He tried to bully his way into getting Greenland.  He has threatened to take over Canada.  He has insulted and mocked our European allies.  He has renamed the Department of Defense the Department of War. At the same time, he has engaged actively in peacemaking efforts around the world.  We cannot be blamed for being confused—is he for war and aggression or is he for peace?

    Second, President Trump’s motives regarding his concern for peace seem to be suspect.  He openly declared his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, which is out of character for the type of person that normally wins such a prize.  This suggests a prideful motive to gain honor and recognition for himself.  Even after the prize was awarded to Marina Corina Muchado, he not so subtly pressured her into giving the medal to him.  Who does such a thing?  His thirst for power and wealth has been evident to many and these also make his motives suspect.  By being chairman of the Board of Peace, does President Trump hope to exert and gain greater power globally?  By requiring a head-turning one billion dollars for permanent membership, does he hope to benefit himself financially?  A person of good character might get the benefit of the doubt, but when Mr. Trump has blatantly profited financially since being the president (his net worth has increased from 4 billion to 7 billion in just one year since beginning his second term), one has to wonder.

    What will be the results of Mr. Trump’s International Board of Peace?  Time will tell, but as for me my hope lies in the return of Christ to establish peace, truth and justice in this world. 

  • Do Not Call Conspiracy …

    I am beginning a series of blogs drawing on words from the prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah which seem strikingly relevant in America today. First, from Isaiah 8:12: “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy …” We live in an age of conspiracy theories, and they are especially prevalent on the far right.  White House chief of staff Susan Wiles, even though she supports the agenda of the Trump administration, recently pegged Vice President J. D. Vance as a conspiracy theorist in her interview for Vanity Magazine.  But he is only following the lead of President Trump, who has consistently and repeatedly insisted that there was a conspiracy to steal the 2020 election from him.  Yesterday, January 6th, was the 5th anniversary of the January 6th riots that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election.  The White House has posted on its website a revisionist history of the event in which the rioters are heroes, the capitol police are blamed and their injuries and deaths disregarded, and former VP Pence is the cowardly villain. There is only one problem, and that is the facts of the case.  Judge after judge, both those appointed by Democrats and those appointed by Republicans, rejected the claims of the Trump White House that the election was fraudulent. Fox News lost a case in which they were forced to pay a large settlement for erroneously pushing the conspiracy theory that Dominion election machines were defective, contributing to miscounts. The Constitution required Mr. Pence to do what he did. We saw with our own eyes what President Trump said to the rioters on January 6th, we heard them chanting “Hang Pence” with the President’s approval, and we saw the rioters violently break into the capitol in an effort to overturn the results of a free election. Those who watched the congressional hearing about January 6th saw compelling evidence, not of a conspiracy to steal the election from President Trump, but of a concerted effort by Mr. Trump to steal the election for himself.  This is an example of how he blames others for what he is guilty of. Now, five years later, Trump continues to relentlessly push his false narrative.  The problem is that most of his supporters, including evangelical Christians, believe him.  If you are one of these, I urge you to heed the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls conspiracy.” Look at the evidence yourself and don’t let Mr. Trump deceive you with his confident but demonstrably false claims.

    The passage in Isaiah continues: “do not fear what they fear; and do not dread it.”  President Trump has used his lies and conspiracy theories to raise the fear level regarding the liberal elites ruining our country. He wants you to fear them, and he also wants people to fear him.  Conservative Christians have some legitimate concerns about the liberal agenda, but it is not the liberal elites we should fear nor President Trump.  Isaiah tells us who it is we should fear: “The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy; he is the one you are to fear; he is the one you are to dread” (Isa 8:12b). Next time we will explore this further with some words from the prophet Jeremiah.