A Fresh Warning for Evangelical Trump Supporters

It seems like I’ve written this piece, or some variation, so many times since June 2015. If the years since the introduction of Donald Trump to the political scene have taught me nothing, it’s that the lesson can’t be taught enough, and that those of us with discernment must push on. We must persevere, even if it seems our warnings fall on deaf ears.

So here I go again, pushing against the tide of worldly sentiment, trying to reach that one more person, who might be willing to listen and rethink their allegiance to the reprobate deceiver in our White House.

This past week saw Trump deem the March for Life to be worthy of his presence. He became the first sitting president to appear – physically – at the rally.

Evangelicals swooned.

Much can be said for the motivations behind the president’s appearance. It’s an election season and polls show that any number of contenders from the Democrat camp could potentially win the White House.

He’s also joined an exclusive club, becoming one of only three presidents in our history found to be so corrupt, that he was impeached.

It would have been four presidents, but Richard Nixon at least mustered the decency to see the writing on the wall and resigned before it could happen.

Of course, no president has ever actually been removed after impeachment. Somehow, the Senate always seems to pull them out of the fire.

In the case of President Andrew Johnson, in 1868, he narrowly (by a single vote) escaped being removed.

With the total sellout of the Republican Party to Trumpism, no one should be surprised if he escapes this latest pit of trouble, thanks to the doorway provided by a complicit GOP-led Senate.

OH – he’ll remain impeached. That stain is on him and it will follow him through history. Unfortunately, he will also remain with us, at the helm of power in Washington, at least through the next election (and possibly another four years).

The fact that his case is now being heard, and Democrats have given a serious, thought-provoking argument for the past week, detailing the breathtaking acts of corruption and abuse of his office for the world to see may have a bit to do with why Trump felt compelled to appear at the March for Life rally.

He wasn’t the first president to speak at the rally. Others have appeared to give encouraging messages, through video, feeling the logistics involved, security and traffic issues, would make a physical appearance inconvenient (and too expensive) for everyone involved.

Still, Trump is about Trump. He loves to be adored by the gullible, and to see how evangelicals gushed over his appearance, you’d think it was the Second Coming.

Which brings me to my next point.

On Friday, one of Trump’s media sycophants and enablers, Rush Limbaugh, made a statement on air that was both alarming, and in a sense, prophetic.

To paraphrase, Limbaugh stated that Donald Trump “owns” American evangelicals.

Yes, he did use the word “owns.”

For those of us who are evangelical and recognize our freedoms come from God, paid for by the shed blood of Christ, the idea of being “owned” by any worldly politician is rather repugnant.

Still, the reactions by some in the church to Trump’s appearance was immediate and heavy with the awe and wonder that should only be given to our Savior.

How many churches will give up pulpit time to praise him in the coming Sundays before the election?

Before and since the 2016 election, we’ve seen Trump supporters all too willing to give up the freedoms granted by God through Christ and the New Covenant, as they seek out a king.

“He’s our Cyrus!”

“Didn’t God choose King David?”

These are the defenses professed Christians are giving for Trump’s myriad character flaws and moral failings.

Cyrus was not a follower of Jehovah God. He was a pagan king, who God used to help the Hebrews rebuild their temple of worship in Jerusalem.

So even if Trump isn’t a Christian, he can still be used by God to benefit Christians and their goals, right?

David was an adulterer and a murderer, but God called him a man after His own heart, and he was used mightily by God to lead His people.

Trump has the adultery thing down to a science, and even though David repented, while Trump has publicly said he doesn’t need to repent, nor does he need God’s intervention, they’re basically the same guy!

Let me say this plainly, and I offer this for consideration by those Christians who see a King Cyrus or King David in Trump: Kings and judges were at work in the Old Testament, under the Covenant of the Law, in order to make sinful humanity see the need for a savior. Father God never intended for us to have kings. He wanted us to seek Him, and only Him for guidance.

In the New Testament, there is no mention of God raising up kings to guide or help His people. He stepped down from glory, in the flesh of His son, Jesus, and showed the way. After Jesus’ ascension to Heaven’s throne, the Holy Spirit fell on His people, filling them with the Spirit of God, and completing the New Covenant. It was not a covenant reliant on our fleshly ability to do what was right, but on the grace of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit within us. We were given freedom to walk as true children of the Most High.

If you’re defending Trump and your allegiance to him by comparing him to an Old Testament king, then are you also declaring the Spirit null and void in your life? Are you willingly dragging us back to the covenant that the Apostle Paul called the covenant of death?

The Old Covenant was good. The laws of God are good, because He is good. That being said, not a single person was saved by the Old Covenant, nor were any saved by kings.

The people of the Old Testament clamored for kings, so God gave them kings – some good, others not so good, at all.

If we possess the Spirit and cling to the Covenant of Grace, we shouldn’t need a “king” to guide the way. We should walk in the Way, and change the world around us.

Part of that is deploring that which corrupts and maligns the reputation of the Church. We should use discernment in determining who is actually for us, and who is using us for their own benefit.

Given the mountain of evidence against Donald Trump, there should be no question that he is of the latter group. Evangelicals are but useful tools and a means to an end.

So once again, I’m calling on Christians to look past the superficial actions of this president and call on godly discernment to see his true motivations. Our path and his path must not intermingle, for he is leading us to ruin, and many will be lost, because American evangelicals have yoked their reputations to that of an immoral con artist.