CHRIST-APP by philtierneyblog

9.    Trump and His Administration’s Policies Were Cruel and Completely Lacked Jesus’s Compassion.              

Jesus consistently demonstrated compassion and taught His disciples to do the same. He didn’t turn His back on people in need. Whether it was lepers, large crowds of hungry people, those who were sick and disordered or those who were rejected by others for their sins, Jesus met them where they were and offered God’s provisions. He did it as a tangible sign that God’s saving grace was available and that He came to provide it. He did it to demonstrate God’s loving compassion and to show how to emulate it. 

Do you remember this parable?

Jesus said this: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”  (Matthew 25: 31-46)

Jesus wanted His followers to know that compassion matters and to act compassionately. It was stories like this one that inspired centuries of Christians to understand Jesus’s return in concrete terms. Many saw those in need or trouble, whose paths they crossed, as Jesus returning to them in disguise. That shared understanding inspired outreach to the needy and hospitality to strangers and the poor.

Likewise, this understanding inspired the “social gospel” movement in late 19^th and 20^th century America. That, in turn, gave rise to the social programs of United States’ government during that period and after. The intent was to institutionalize Jesus’s teachings about compassion and to render them more comprehensive and effective.  

The Social Gospel movement was rooted in the belief that Jesus wanted Christians to spread the Gospel in deed as well as by word of mouth. It believed that God wanted the world to be ruled by God’s love, justice and peace, promoted by charitable government policies. They believed that Jesus would return after the world applied His teachings. And so, it inspired charitable social programs through government.

That Christian movement was contradicted by another movement. As time went on, a new Protestant Bible was printed in 1909. The “Schofield Reference” Bible was widely disseminated among Fundamentalist Protestants. It was a highly interpretive version of the Bible, which taught that there were seven distinct epochs of God’s dealings with humans. That version of the Bible stressed the apocalypse, the End Times, and taught a premillennial view that Jesus would return before, and not after, His return to Earth.

It was embraced by fundamentalists and conservative Evangelicals. They believed that it was most important to prepare people for Jesus’s return by converting individuals to Christianity. And so, they emphasized evangelism rather than charity, and abhorred the Social Gospel as a humanistic diversion from Christians’ true mission to proclaim the Gospel and save souls.

As time passed, such Christians have worked to dismantle the social welfare programs instituted by American administrations that had implemented the Social Gospel. They believed that such programs, far from helping those in need, actually encouraged laziness and immoral behaviors, instead. Personally, they also resented taxes taken from their hard-earned money being used to support people, who they believed weren’t contributing their fair share. That perspective inspired giving charity to individuals and through Christian organizations, but discouraged curing social ills through government programs.

This dispute among American Christians seems a perfect illustration of what Jesus and St. Paul talked about. Jesus scolded His apostles for arguing amongst themselves about which one of them was the greatest.       (Luke 9:46f) And, writing to the Christians in Corinth, Paul used the metaphor of the body to correct their controversies over which of their gifts was best. (I Corinthians 12) It should have been possible for Christians in America to complement their different approaches instead of rejecting each other and turning to politics.

By complete contrast to Jesus, Trump has consistently demonstrated a singular lack of compassion for those in need. Trump started a “university” ostensibly to help people improve their lot in life. That university was supposed to have provided education and training in entrepreneurship, how to make money in the real estate market and real estate development. He charged students from $1,500 to $35,000, depending upon the course of study. Little education or training was provided in return, though. A settlement of 25 million dollars was awarded to 3,700 former students in return for the fraud.

In a similar vein, Trump created the Donald J. Trump Foundation. It was established as a 501(C)3, nonprofit and tax-exempt organization. Such organizations, sometimes family foundations and tax-deductible, are dedicated to the purpose of supporting charitable and other non-profit causes. Trump contributed 5.3 million dollars to the foundation and others contributed 9.5 million dollars. No funds were given to charities. The vast preponderance of the money was used by Trump to legal expenses and for his first presidential campaign. The Foundation, like the university, was used fraudulently to make money for Trump instead of to show compassion by giving to those in need.

Characteristically, self-professed billionaire Trump has been soliciting funds to pay for his own legal bills. He has consistently asked his followers, many of them American Christians, to contribute to his defense costs. Between his Save America PAC and his Defense Fund Trump has been given about 500 million dollars in donations during the past four years. He has spent at least 100 million dollars on legal fees and has decisions against him amounting to amounting to 563 million dollars in civil penalties for his crimes. This billionaire will continue to ask Christians, many of whom can little afford it, to pay his bills for him. It’s unlikely that he will ever return any money that may be left over.

Likewise, the Trump administration, showed little compassion. Bolstered by his followers, most of whom are Christians, Trump’s administration enacted policies that hurt people. He made legal attempts to end the Affordable Care Act without replacing its provisions with an effective healthcare alternative. Trump’s administration continued to make every effort to remove ACA health protections at the very time when Americans were battling the COVID pandemic. Trump and his administration continued to pursue removal of ACA provisions with more than 40 million having lost their jobs in the wake of the pandemic. At a time when people needed healthcare services more than ever, with fewer covered by employer provided insurance, the Trump administration and its supporters had no plan other than to end the Affordable (Health) Care Act. 

During the Trump presidency there were almost eleven million American children, who didn’t have enough to eat. SNAP is the U.S. government’s Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. His administration excluded five million children from receiving SNAP food assistance.

To mention just a few of Trump’s human rights violations include the following: His administration separated immigrant children from their parents as virtual government hostages. Trump has categorized refugees from sex traffickers and household violence as criminals. His administration removed protections of American children from healthcare, subsidies for family housing, limits on toxic chemical emissions into the air and water from factories, protections for women in the workplace, protections for sexual assault on college campuses, and wildlife protections.

Christians supporting Trump should make no mistake. Others regard them as complicit in Trump’s cruel policies. That discredits their witness in the minds of others, as heartless, and also discredits Jesus by association. This is not Jesus’ way. Jesus was the soul of compassion and called his disciples to be the same. Are American Christians disciples of Jesus or of Trump? They are mutually exclusive. Don’t claim to be Jesus’s follower if you follow Trump. It gives Jesus a bad name.