CHRIST-APP by philtierneyblog

A Warning to Christians in America: Danger Ahead

This letter is specifically written to Christians in America. It is also intended for Christians throughout the world and and anyone else who might be interested in its message.

Dear American Brothers and Sisters in Jesus of Nazareth, the one true Messiah:

It is with profound concern, born of sincere affection, that I write this letter to warn you that you are in jeopardy of the consequences that St. Paul mentioned in his letter to the Christians in Thessaloniki. More on this later.

Excuse me for being blunt. There is a false messiah among you. He is in position to dominate your nation and possibly other parts of the world, as well. Many of you have been deceived. You have come to honor and empower him. I write to warn you to stop it, if you have ears to hear.

I write to you as one, who has embraced Jesus of Nazareth as Savior and Lord. Raised in the Roman Catholic Church, I was baptized as an infant in 1950 and confirmed by a cardinal of the Church. A devout child, I prayed every night, attended Mass every Sunday and daily during Lent. I was educated at a parochial elementary school and earned the Ad Altare Dei medal from the Boy Scouts of America. During my adolescence, I turned away from God for several years only to undergo an Evangelical conversion accompanied by the charismatic infilling of the Holy Spirit 56 years ago, in 1968. Shortly thereafter, during prayer, I heard what I understood to be a call from God, a voice in my mind that said, “I want you to minister.”

Since I knew that people could deceive themselves, I devoted the next six years to testing that calling. I studied at an Evangelical Christian college, where I earned a degree in Biblical and Theological Studies in order to see if I had aptitude for ministry. While there, I was called upon to serve as student body chaplain in my junior year and elected president of the student body in my senior year. After graduation, I did advanced biblical studies at an Evangelical seminary. After serving as a lay missionary in Canada, I studied in England to earn a post-graduate degree in Pastoral Studies before returning to the United States to complete a Master in Divinity degree at an Episcopal seminary, and later, to study for a doctorate in Pastoral Psychotherapy.

I was ordained an Episcopal priest. I have served in ministries, not only in the United States, but Canada, Britain and Costa Rica. I served as an Episcopal chaplain at two universities, and have served as senior pastor of churches in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, California, North Carolina and Rhode Island. I am retired and serve as called upon to do so.

Together with St. Paul in his Letter to the Philippians, in full knowledge of my sins and failures, “I consider (my works) refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having righteousness that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ…” (Philippians 3: 8b-9) I know what it is to be faithful and I know what it is to be carried away with myself. And have learned to discern the difference.

Sometimes zeal and misinterpreted love can mislead us into deceptions that our passions are from God when they are not, and it is about these matters of deception that I write this letter.

Brothers and Sisters, sadly, I am convinced that many of you are presently in the grip of deceptions that are putting you, your nation and perhaps the rest of the world in grave spiritual and material danger. Given some of the information in the Bible, I am not persuaded that the outcomes of your deceptions are avoidable, but I write this warning for your sake, that you may choose not to be party to them or suffer the spiritual consequences appertaining thereto.

Let me be more specific. I am speaking of the widespread deception among American Christians that Donald Trump has been chosen by God to be President of the United States of America. I am confident when I say that is not God’s perfect will. Permit me to explain my reasons for this conclusion.

The Christian Case AGAINST Supporting Donald Trump

Let’s be clear about something from the start. Jesus did not come into this world to create a cult, a religious ideology, a dogmatic system, a political system, Christian nation, civilization or theocracy. He came to reconcile humans with God. He came to provide a vibrant spirituality. He came to instigate a vital relationship between humans and their Creator as well as with other humans, rooted in active love. 

If He’d come to create a cult, Jesus would have stayed around longer to bask in His admirers’ adulation. If He’d come to create a religious ideology or dogmatic theology, He’d have written at least one book, like Lao Tzu, Muhammed, Augustine of Hippo, John Calvin or Joseph Smith. If He’d come to establish a political system, He’d have written basic tenets of government, like Mao, or schools to train his disciples in leadership, like Confucius.  If He’d come to establish a kingdom on earth, He’d have conquered other governments, like Muhammed. But He didn’t do any of that. He came to provide a way to God and a way of life. That’s why the very earliest Christians referred to themselves not as Christians, but as followers of the Way.  It was and is Jesus’ Way of faith and life that comes form and leads to harmony with God. It is Jesus’ Way of love.

The spiritual way that Jesus provided has always been based on three dynamic components:  trusting the Creator’s grace, commitment to following Jesus ways, and loving God and others. Christians throughout time have tried to systematize “Christianity” with all sorts of other detailed beliefs, practices, rules and rituals, but Jesus came to provide people with a new way of life. Jesus came to make up for our failures and to show and tell us about how to live differently. Jesus showed people how to live in love of God and others and taught us to follow His lead. As soon as Christians go beyond trusting God, following Jesus and putting love into action, we get into the weeds and start to get into trouble. 

That’s the basis of my conclusion that Christians should not support Trump. In no way does he demonstrate harmony with God or any of the three basic elements of Jesus’s way. Indeed, he consistently demonstrates the opposite and claims no affinity for them at all. Those Christians, who do support him, have superimposed certain beliefs apart from trusting God, following Jesus and loving others in their worldview.  Largely, those beliefs are political beliefs, not spiritual ones. 

During the past forty-five years, the better part of two generations, devout Christians have largely been taught that to be genuine Christians they must embrace a particular political ideology. Altogether too many Christian “leaders” have intentionally fused politics and religion. Therefore, many Christians fervently believe that such political ideas and agendas are involved in what it means to trust God and follow Jesus or love others. But those ideas are nothing more than cleverly devised political additions. 

Back when the apostles were actively engaged in their ministries there was an issue. It was a theological issue, but also a political one. Passions ran high over it and it almost tore the young Church apart. That issue was circumcision. The vast majority of Jesus’s followers were Jewish, all of them, at first. Then Gentiles (non-Jews) started to commit themselves to Jesus in droves. Some of the Jewish Christians firmly believed that no one could become a member of the Christian community, if they were not Jewish. They demanded that Gentiles become Jewish before they could be welcomed as followers of Jesus, and that included that they undergo circumcision. That practice was required in the Hebrew Scriptures, but the apostles regarded such legalism as incompatible with following Jesus.

The current political issues that have been fused with Christian faith by many American Christians are like the issue of  circumcision among the earliest Christians. They are passionately felt, but incompatible additions to trusting God, following Jesus and loving others. Moreover they aren’t even anywhere to be found in the Bible. And so, many American Christians contort themselves to try to promote what they personally believe they’re supposed to do in order to make America into what they think God wants it to be. In the process, getting power to control others seems to eclipse trusting God, following Jesus and loving others get lost. Onlookers see that, and it completely discredits the Christian witness and compromises the mission.

Recently, just such a politicized American Christian celebrity wrote a book to urge Christians to vote for Trump. These are the reasons that I urge Christians not to vote for him:

1.    Trump demands loyalty, allegiance and honor that belongs only to God, to Jesus.

Jesus always pointed to and honored God. He never took personal credit, and always redirected people’s praise of Him to God, instead. Scripture and Christian tradition agree that God, the Creator of all that is, is the One in whom we should invest our trust. Psalm 46 is dedicated to the proposition that all people should trust God for their leadership and protection. Verse 3 specifically states, “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save.” 

Trump models and emphasizes the opposite from the message of Scripture and Christian tradition in this regard. Trump always calls attention only to himself and always demands credit. He calls upon Christians to put their trust in him to provide for and protect them. He demands personal allegiance. He tries to discredit, defame, and even seeks to defame or financially destroy anyone whom he considers to be disloyal to him, personally. Consider how he has treated people who honestly testified about him in congressional hearings or court cases. His rallies are virtual worship services, at which he basks in the praise of his supporters. That’s why he does what no other President ever has done; constantly holding rallies to feed his ego with his followers’ praise. He craves the worship of the crowds.

He has gone so far as to compete with Jesus. Looking skyward, he has publicly declared, “I am the chosen one.” You may recall that Jesus foretold of such individuals when the gospels report that Jesus said this: “Jesus said to them: “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am he,’ and will deceive many.” (Mark 13:5f) To offer such devotion to such a man is utterly misguided.

Many of his Christian supporters may protest that they don’t worship Trump. But the word ‘worship’ literally means to offer worth, value and honor or praise. And that is exactly what happens at the rallies that Trump holds for himself. Indeed, the structure and flow of those rallies is similar to the structure and flow of large praise services. People gather to music. They share fellowship. They sing. They stand when Trump enters. They raise their arms aloft and cheer him, personally. Then they listen to an oral presentation. It might be considered a sermon if it weren’t longer than sermons and filled with insults and invective.

The difference between a Christian worship service and a Trump rally is that the center of attention is Trump and his speeches about himself, not God and not a sermon about God or Jesus’s way. Each speech Trump gives is filled with praise showered upon himself, contempt for his latest perceived enemies and, of course, assurances that his people can put their full trust in him. But trusting Trump is very different from trusting God. And Christians should be aware that the way Trump presents himself makes it almost impossible to support him without offering personal devotion and praise to him. That’s worship. And if it’s heartfelt enough, it’s worship of a false god, whether intended or not.   

This is the first of thirty installments.