Franklin Graham, meanwhile\u2013totally *not* endorsing Trump or anything like that\u2013endorsed Trump with the classic \u201cdiamond in the rough\u201d endorsement:<\/p>\n
Graham also compared Trump to two other flawed leaders from the Bible: Moses and David. Reminding the leaders present that no one is perfect and we all sin. Including these two exemplary leaders who shepherded Israel to their best abilities. Both Graham and Jerry Falwell, Jr., who also gave a preliminary speech, assured the audience that Trump believes in Jesus.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A sinner, but with a heart of gold.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Indeed, Dr. James Dobson assured us that a man who denies ever having asked for God\u2019s forgiveness is a \u201cbaby Christian<\/a>\u201c. \u00a0All true Christians should be praying for this fledgling saint as he struggles toward humbly following Jesus\u2019 servant king heart by handing him domination of the most powerful nation on earth, supporting his calls for torture, cheering for the murder of innocent women and children, giving him nuclear launch codes, endorsing his calls to deport 11 million poor people, smash a free press, and stamp out religious liberty for Muslims.<\/p>\n
In the same vein, the Catholic conservative press swung into action as Austin Ruse, writing for Breitbart, quoted Deal Hudson assuring us that \u201c\u201dWe saw the real Donald Trump<\/span>\u201d at the Evangelical confab. \u00a0The man is Born Again. \u00a0One of Us. \u00a0You can kiss your doubts about him goodbye. \u00a0Bottom line: \u201cTrump is a sinner like the rest of us and we should be willing to look past that fact.\u201d \u00a0Only a Pharisee would hard-heartedly refuse to hand this humble, struggling sinner the power to \u00a0incinerate millions \u00a0and millions of people. \u00a0He\u2019s a real, but imperfect man, and with the grace of God and the power of the mightiest military in the history of the world, he could become a veritable St. Paul if only cold-hearted Christians will give him a chance to grow in grace and wisdom and in favor with God and men.<\/p>\n
As to the other baptized Christian in this race, there is, of course, absolutely no doubt\u00a0that she is beyond the reach of God\u2019s grace. \u00a0Prayer for her is pointless\u2013unless it is the prayer<\/a> offered repeatedly<\/a> for her predecessor by Good Christians: \u201cLet his days be few. \u00a0Let another take his office.\u201d \u00a0Because nothing says \u201cFaith in the redeeming power of the Spirit\u201d like wishing death on Democrats.<\/p>\n
The bottom line is this helpful diagram developed a few years ago by Tom Kreitzberg:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Do I hope that Dobson and Co are right that Trump has made some kind of serious effort of faith in Jesus? \u00a0Of course. \u00a0Do I believe he has? \u00a0No. \u00a0Not for one second. \u00a0Does that make me mean and judgmental? \u00a0No. \u00a0It makes me somebody who is trying to be obedient to Jesus\u2019 command, \u201cBeware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep\u2019s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. \u00b6 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits.\u201d\u00a0(Mt 7:15\u201320).<\/p>\n
I see not one indication of the fruits of repentance from Trump, including the slightest sign that he believes he has anything to repent of. \u00a0What I see is a man who knows what his audience wants to hear and gives it to them, confident that they are eager to lie to themselves to rationalize a vote for him. And that\u2019s the real trouble. \u00a0Trump is Trump: a con man. \u00a0I don\u2019t expect anything from him. \u00a0But I do expect Christians to exercise some minimal discernment and not turn themselves inside out to try to convince themselves that the only way to exercise true Christian brotherhood is to let themselves be taken hostage by the notion that a narcissistic bully and aspiring war criminal needs only limitless power and acquiescence to all his most selfish demands in order to become a living saint. \u00a0The whole \u201cdiamond in the rough\u201d narrative is complete and utter garbage, but even if it were true and Trump\u2019s \u201cconversion\u201d were genuine, I would point out the the relentless witness of Scripture from Abraham to Moses to the Judges, to David to Jesus to the apostles is not, \u201cThose called by God immediately receive power, wealth, and acclaim\u201d but \u201cThose called by God immediately receive suffering, self-denial, loss, and heartache.\u201d \u00a0If you really buy the bushwah about Trump\u2019s conversion, the last thing in the world you should be seeking in prayer or deed is to hand him the One Ring of the Presidency.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2026of Donald Trump. So a few days ago, Trump met with a bunch of conservative Christians to signal that he is One of Us by assuring us that the long nightmare of Diocletian suffering we endure in the US will end with his beneficent rule and Macy\u2019s clerks will again say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d. \u00a0With obedient […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[775],"class_list":["post-95994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-never-trump"],"yoast_head":"\n
For those who take seriously the sudden conversion...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"...of Donald Trump. So a few days ago, Trump met with a bunch of conservative Christians to signal that he is One of Us by assuring us that the long\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"For those who take seriously the sudden conversion...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"...of Donald Trump. So a few days ago, Trump met with a bunch of conservative Christians to signal that he is One of Us by assuring us that the long\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-06-28T07:48:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-06-28T00:39:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6033\/5911983087_840d634e90.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mark Shea\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html\",\"name\":\"For those who take seriously the sudden conversion...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-06-28T07:48:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-06-28T00:39:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\"},\"description\":\"...of Donald Trump. So a few days ago, Trump met with a bunch of conservative Christians to signal that he is One of Us by assuring us that the long\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"For those who take seriously the sudden conversion…\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/\",\"name\":\"Catholic and Enjoying It!\",\"description\":\"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5\",\"name\":\"Mark Shea\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mark Shea\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"For those who take seriously the sudden conversion...","description":"...of Donald Trump. So a few days ago, Trump met with a bunch of conservative Christians to signal that he is One of Us by assuring us that the long","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"For those who take seriously the sudden conversion...","og_description":"...of Donald Trump. So a few days ago, Trump met with a bunch of conservative Christians to signal that he is One of Us by assuring us that the long","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html","og_site_name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","article_published_time":"2016-06-28T07:48:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-06-28T00:39:51+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/farm7.static.flickr.com\/6033\/5911983087_840d634e90.jpg"}],"author":"Mark Shea","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mark Shea","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html","name":"For those who take seriously the sudden conversion...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-06-28T07:48:34+00:00","dateModified":"2016-06-28T00:39:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5"},"description":"...of Donald Trump. So a few days ago, Trump met with a bunch of conservative Christians to signal that he is One of Us by assuring us that the long","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2016\/06\/for-those-who-take-seriously-the-sudden-conversion.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"For those who take seriously the sudden conversion…"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/","name":"Catholic and Enjoying It!","description":"Mark Shea's Blog: So That No Thought of Mine, No Matter How Stupid, Should Ever Go Unpublished Again!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/c1a9ac1e557d3c626974fd6692818ad5","name":"Mark Shea","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f287911f45adc932ad24ddbae3597ed5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mark Shea"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/author\/markshea"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}