Banes S. Lal
Not everyone will accept that Joe Biden won the presidency fairly, especially evangelicals on both sides of the U.S./Canada border. Yet, all law enforcement agencies in the U.S. declared that the 2020 elections were the most secure election in history. However, in the end, Christians pressed on with their man—the born-again discovered in themselves a higher tolerance for sin.
While over 300,000 Americans have died, and more will continue to perish as I write this, Trump's team smile and parade their cacophony about election fraud as people die. The Republican party will attempt to, but this time, they won't be able to wash all the blood off their hands.
Not even a pandemic turned Evangelicals from their earthly saviour. For Evangelicals, the by-product has a more profound spiritual tone. What does it benefit from obtaining a whole country and then squander the essence of its soul?
I learned in Church; you can't evangelize to anyone if your testimony is flawed. Scripture tells us, "But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out." Christians had more to lose than Republicans, and the price is their Christian witness, the credibility of their salvation by God.
The elite celebrity preachers such as Pat Robertson, Paula White, Jack Graham, Franklin
Graham and Jerry Falwell Jr. describe the role of the Church in current events as "supernatural." That "demonic" forces were supposedly trying to "hijack the will of God" for the election. What an asinine statement! Furthermore, they cynically cash in on the anxieties of rank-and-file believers.
Let's be very clear; Trump's spiritual advisors are "not evangelical leaders."
They're people who have had their status advanced further because they hung around the White House. These personalities were virtually unknown until all this transpired. They became darlings of Tinker Bell T.V. (Fox News) as fake news bled into a psychopathic universe. Many of these so-called "Christians" promise their followers health and prosperity in exchange for faithfulness and donations. This teaching isn't the New Testament, nor is it Christianity. Just positive thinking, and it isn't incredibly reassuring.
People in this group are far more accepting of the president and his behaviour than any other group. These evangelical leaders exploit religious elements not to further the objective of faith but to achieve their personal political outcome. That's why they make such an effort to weaponize religion, indifferent to the countless Christians who go about the laborious work of expanding their faith and applying it to support the distressed.
No one should weaponize the teachings of the Bible. It is not a collection of books from which one should choose verses to exclude or marginalize anyone, let alone advocate violence toward anybody or a group of people. Most of these evangelical beliefs depend on the extremely selective use of Bible passages, applied in some instances sincerely, in other situations to support one's political views.
This is cherry-picking of Bible verses and, when used out of context, can be quite dangerous. They have replaced the truth for a lie. 1 John 2:4-5 tells us: “Whoever says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.”
I remember how Evangelicals brooded on the issues of morality and virtue. These people would talk about character and how you can't vote for someone because he had affairs. Then came Trump, and then it was all about abortion and judges. Declaring themselves persecuted by the Democrats, they found a morally broken bully who would become their swordsman. This man was oblivious to scripture, but he quickly realized a war existed—a war where Christians became the tip of his burning spear. Leading Christians to make moral compromises never tolerated before, and during the last four years, the definition of morality narrowed to the size of a pinhole.
Their champion would spread the fanatical message that Christianity is "under attack," matching what evangelicals themselves believed and want to hear. For most of them, the definition of "religious freedom" is the power to discriminate against members of other religions and impose their narrow interpretation of Christianity on those who do not share it. There is no doubt that many evangelicals in the U.S. genuinely fear a Biden administration will persecute them.
In the Gospels, Jesus calls on his followers to go out, spread his message, and baptize people. Has this group of 'evangelical leaders' aligned with Trump hurt the Church's ability to connect with people outside the Church? The undeniable association between Trump will make that work harder, and recovering from the Trump era will not be so simple for the Church. We Christians have a lot of ground to make up now against those evangelical Trump followers whose devotion to him bordered on the idolatrous.
Regrettably, the public attention on these self-promoting evangelical opportunists risks overshadowing Christian churches' selfless work and missions that help homeless, poor, hungry, and sick people.
In the New Testament, Jesus frequently advises his followers to care for not only the poor but the stranger. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says that caring for the "weakest" among us, including the stranger, is comparable to caring for Jesus himself. If that kind of love is absent, we are nothing more than loud gongs or clanging cymbals. We grasp from the parable that everyone is our neighbour.
Many of our Christian peers have left their faith, fed up with hypocritical selfishness. I recall a church leader who I’ve known for the last twenty years. He was so enthralled with Trump and the U.S. election that he would become furious if you disagreed with his point of view. It's easy to be with people that mirror your thoughts and viewpoint. But if people in your congregation are not in-line with you, it can become an uncomfortable situation. He left, embracing a lifestyle of sudden inherited wealth. While others only enjoy the spectacle and pour more gasoline into the fire. Divorces are running rampant. Young believers are leaving the congregations, and backstabbing for a position is the new norm.
A friend recently mentioned that he doesn't like Trump but voted Republican because of their policies and conservative values.
What happens to your values if they're sold to the devil? Then you become a caricature, a dead man walking. Instead of drinking from the Lord's cup, you drink the bile from the river. The leaders have failed to lead.
These so-called Christians moved away from scripture they held so dear. Even if they don't want to admit it, they certainly need a Saviour, whether they like it or not.
But there is a bright side. Young evangelicals across North America are tackling the tradition of testimony in their communities, broadening the narrative of how God is empowering them to speak on climate change as an act of love towards the world and toward their neighbours. They are grabbing microphones in churches, leading Bible studies, navigating conversations, and reaching out for coffee with skeptical friends. Young Christians are active in writing op-eds, marching in the streets, and engaging with their elected officials. Young evangelicals are even transitioning to online video group meetings in the era of COVID-19-induced distance learning.
Remember the great commission, Jesus calls on his followers to go out, preach his message, and baptize people. Those of us who remain are shaping a new way forward. One steeped in evangelical values, characterized by an unapologetic testimony, and is shaped by a broad ethic of life that understands abuse of power, environmental change, and our neighbours' demonization as equal assaults on God.
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