{"id":3864,"date":"2018-08-28T19:56:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T23:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/susanwright\/?p=3864"},"modified":"2018-08-28T19:56:36","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T23:56:36","slug":"in-white-house-meeting-with-evangelicals-trump-boasts-of-accomplishments-and-stokes-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/susanwright\/2018\/08\/in-white-house-meeting-with-evangelicals-trump-boasts-of-accomplishments-and-stokes-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"In White House Meeting With Evangelicals Trump Boasts of Accomplishments and Stokes Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The amount of deference evangelicals, and in particular, those who fancy themselves \u201cevangelical leaders\u201d give to an unrepentant, adulterous, profane, aspiring despot is the most atrocious, gut-wrenching thing to come out of the age of Trump.<\/p>\n

American Christians \u2013 at least, those morally flexible \u201cTrump Christians\u201d \u2013 have gone to great lengths to prove that their moral foundations are situational, at best.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve said so many times, they are ruining their witness to the world, at a time when it most needs for them to be a light in the darkness, guiding them to the truth of Christ.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ve traded their witness for a cheap red cap and the kind of indulgences that tell them for the cost of their vote, they need not worry themselves with the uncomfortable parts of the Holy Bible.<\/p>\n

Quite the tradeoff.<\/p>\n

On Monday evening, President Trump hosted evangelicals at a private dinner, and after the press had been excused, he launched into his usual litany of lies, knowing the itching ears of those \u201cChristians\u201d in attendance were more than ready to swallow every word, without question.<\/p>\n

Among topics addressed were the upcoming midterm elections and the Johnson Amendment, a law that prevents religious or non-profit organizations from acting as campaign arms for specific candidates.<\/p>\n

Trump, knowing he was with his greatest bobbleheads, loosened his tongue and his brain, and let fly with the absurdities.<\/p>\n

Two things he pressed: He killed the Johnson Amendment (a lie) and if Republicans didn\u2019t win big in November, there would be violence and bloodshed in the streets, as Democrats and leftist groups rampaged into churches and attacked Christians. Only a Trump with power could save them and stave off the savage beasts, waiting to tear down the walls of Christianity in this nation.<\/p>\n

Ok. I finessed the language a bit, but not by much.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of hatred, the level of anger is unbelievable,\u201d he said. \u201cPart of it is because of some of the things I\u2019ve done for you and for me and for my family, but I\u2019ve done them. \u2026 This Nov. 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, it\u2019s a referendum on your religion, it\u2019s a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the GOP loses, he said, \u201cthey will overturn everything that we\u2019ve done and they\u2019ll do it quickly and violently, and violently. There\u2019s violence. When you look at Antifa and you look at some of these groups \u2014 these are violent people.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See what I mean?<\/p>\n

And I get it. I really do. There are leftists in this nation who would love nothing more than to silence even the most vague vestiges of Christianty.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll also agree the Antifa movement is one of several nasty little thug groups that need to be shut down, labeled domestic terrorists, and treated thusly.<\/p>\n

What I don\u2019t agree is that we need Trump, or any of his loyalists to protect us. We\u2019ve got a Constitution that has been doing just fine in that area for several centuries, now.<\/p>\n

Sure. We\u2019ve had challenges, but nobody is going to tell us we can\u2019t worship, and even a halfway competent constitutional lawyer can make the case, should the anti-God squad get too rowdy.<\/p>\n

It seems to me, however, that if you want to build up your defenses, your best bet is to live your faith in the open. You don\u2019t hang that hope on a spiteful, petty, corrupt man, who only needs you for as much as you can carry water for him.<\/p>\n

I promise you. If these evangelical \u201cleaders\u201d were to publicly condemn Trump\u2019s adulteries, foul language and abusive nature, as a unified body, they would see Trump\u2019s public attitude towards Christianity change, quickly.<\/p>\n

Trump persisted in his nonsense.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow one of the things I\u2019m most proud of is getting rid of the Johnson Amendment,\u201d the president said. \u201cThat was a disaster for you.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Several things to note, here.<\/p>\n

First of all, I\u2019ve pushed, over and over again, that the Johnson Amendment doesn\u2019t need to be tampered with. There shouldn\u2019t have been a need for it, in the first place, since churches should have always known that their job is to preach Christ as the answer, not any political system.<\/p>\n

Now that we have it, it really should be one of those laws that\u2019s never tested because our churches should be less interested in campaigning for man and more interested in simply preaching the Word, as it relates to issues like abortion, gay marriage, or even guns. They should then encourage the people to go into the world and vote, based on their faith. They don\u2019t need Trump\u2019s protection for that. That was always their right \u2013 and their duty.<\/p>\n

Secondly, Trump is lying. He didn\u2019t get rid of the Johnson Amendment because he doesn\u2019t have the power to do that. Congress can do it. The Supreme Court can do it, if a law is found to be unconstitutional. Someone would have to bring that case before them to make it happen, and that hasn\u2019t happened, yet.<\/p>\n

What Trump did \u2013 and he\u2019s just dumb enough to not know what he was doing \u2013 was sign an executive order in May 2017 that sought to ease the regulations of the Johnson Amendment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt does almost nothing,\u201d Gregory Magarian, a constitutional law professor at Washington University Law School.<\/p>\n

Politifact, the nonpartisan fact-checking organization, rated Trump\u2019s claim that he had gotten rid of the Johnson Amendment\u00a0\u201cmostly false\u201d<\/a>\u00a0when he first made it publicly in July 2017.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That seems to happen a lot with Trump.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s executive order instructs the Treasury Department not to \u201ctake any adverse action against any individual, house of worship, or other religious organization on the basis that such individual or organization speaks or has spoken about moral or political issues from a religious perspective, where speech of similar character has, consistent with law, not ordinarily been treated as participation or intervention in a political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) a candidate for public office \u2026 \u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, religious organizations can express their religious views, as they always could \u2014 but still cannot formally participate in political campaigns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yeah. Big accomplishment, there.<\/p>\n

Still, Trump is taking that victory lap, patting himself on the shoulder and proclaiming himself the hero of Christianity.<\/p>\n

Trump said to the religious leaders at the White House: \u201cNow you\u2019re not silenced anymore. It\u2019s gone and there\u2019s no penalty anymore and if you like somebody or if you don\u2019t like somebody you can go out and say, \u2018This man is going to be great for evangelicals, or for Christianity or for another religion. This person is somebody that I like and I\u2019m going to talk about it on Sunday.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On Sunday, they need to be talking about the Word of God.<\/p>\n

KEEP THE SABBATH HOLY. It\u2019s one of God\u2019s top 10.<\/p>\n

Yeah, technically, Saturday is the Sabbath, but you know most Christian denominations have chosen Sunday as their day of worship and rest, so don\u2019t @ me.<\/em><\/p>\n

Apparently, evangelicals (mainly) have been testing the limits of the Johnson Amendment, with 2,000 clergy going out of their way to defy the rules of the Amendment since 2008. None of them have faced any sort of punishment, with only one of them facing an IRS audit.<\/p>\n

Trump \u201cdoesn\u2019t have the legal authority to overturn the Johnson Amendment,\u201d Magarian said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would think,\u201d Magarian added, \u201cthat the conservative religious leaders would get impatient at the continued repetition of that claim\u201d that Trump has repealed it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nope. They love the repetition. They love the lies. The delusion of Trumpism is strong in the church.<\/p>\n

And speaking of delusions \u2013 there is no war on Christmas. There has been no war on Christmas. I don\u2019t know anyone who has been prevented from saying \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle thing \u2014 Merry Christmas. You couldn\u2019t say Merry Christmas,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI\u2019m telling you \u2014 when I started running I used to talk about it and I hate to mention it in August, but I used to talk about it. They don\u2019t say Merry Christmas anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump added, to applause: \u201cThey say Merry Christmas a lot right now. It\u2019s all changed. It\u2019s all changed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No. It seriously has not changed. Nothing has changed. You\u2019ve had no effect on it, whatsoever. I\u2019m not sure if these evangelicals in attendance were being polite, or if they actually bought what he was saying.<\/p>\n

He also mentioned one of his more devoted evangelical foot soldiers, Rev. Robert Jeffress, of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had the great Robert Jeffress back there. Hello, Robert. Who said about me: He may not be the perfect human being, but he is the greatest leader for Christianity,\u201d Trump said to applause and laughter.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cHopefully I\u2019ve proven that to be a fact in terms of the second part. Not the first part.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How sad. The greatest leader for Christianity was Jesus Christ. I mean, c\u2019mon. The faith bears his name. He ministered for three years and then died a horrible death, only to rise again in three days, just to bring humanity the truth of God.<\/p>\n

Trump and his sycophants are hitting dangerous levels of cultism. Men like Robert Jeffress are frauds, and have no relationship with faith or adherence to that which is godly.<\/p>\n

And if all of this wasn\u2019t bad enough, Trump was presented with a Bible, signed by 100 of the false \u201cleaders\u201d of the Trump\u2019s Temple church by the thrice married charlatan, Paula White.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/publicroad\/status\/1034395627143290881<\/p>\n

If you look at a world growing darker, seemingly getting worse, and wonder why the prayers of the church are not holding back the enemy at the gate, wonder no more.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The amount of deference evangelicals, and in particular, those who fancy themselves \u201cevangelical leaders\u201d give to an unrepentant, adulterous, profane, aspiring despot is the most atrocious, gut-wrenching thing to come out of the age of Trump. American Christians \u2013 at least, those morally flexible \u201cTrump Christians\u201d \u2013 have gone to great lengths to prove that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3473,"featured_media":1175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[128,1068,41,1065],"class_list":["post-3864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-cult-45","tag-donald-trump","tag-frauds"],"yoast_head":"\nIn White House Meeting With Evangelicals Trump Boasts of Accomplishments and Stokes Fears<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A meeting of the Trump's Temple devotees was held at the White House on Monday night.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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