"Evangelicals" Whoring after Power (II of V)

The world is a surreal place, these days.

I've never titled a blog with such loaded terms, but let's be frank. Sometimes strong words are necessary. And sometimes things that need to be said also need to be said when children are not around to hear them.

The prophet Ezekiel used profoundly not-so-family-friendly language from time to time. In lurid terms, Ezekiel graphically described how Israel and Judah had whored after pagan nations and gods. Next to Ezekiel, who felt obliged to describe specific acts worthy of a whore, this blog post qualifies as squeaky clean.

Ezekiel had two basic targets, which kept the task manageable. If I were smart, I'd address the whores in my days as a single entity, but I yearn to give each of the 1,000+ "Evangelical leaders" who recently met with Trump their rightful recognition.

Not for the first time do I find myself wincing as I use such strong words.

And then I remember how these people are behaving: People who claim to serve Jesus Christ and to represent His church and (key) who really do have influence over many godly and gentle (and naive) Christian souls.

In my first blog post on this topic, I gave James Dobson most of the attention. Dobson has since back-tracked from his assurances that Donald Trump gave his heart to Jesus. Now Dobson is not so sure. Do I respond with laughter? Tears? Neither. Dobson's opinions don't merit the energy for either. Let's move on.

A digression. It must be said, others are saying the exact same things I am saying, and they have a bigger audience anyway. I'm just writing my echoing take on matters for personal reasons. I do it as a combination of personal therapy and so that my personal (and public) journal is on record as to exactly who I think Trump is and the state of depravity the American church must have reached for so many church-goers to be voting for him.

I imagine this journal being accessible to my children one day, and God help me if in the year 2016 I didn't speak out against the whore of Babylon and the whoring "Evangelical leaders" who whored after him.

And the other writers are just as blunt. Here's another blogger's post, and I feel that one comment in particular bears repeating.

One of the most startling ironies, is that these are the same self-professed “defenders of the faith”, who for the last eight years have ruthlessly persecuted a President who has not only repeatedly professed personal spirituality, but whose conduct, marriage, and family are everything they claim they’re for. This was never good enough for them to support or pray for him—or even call him a Christian. Yet Donald Trump, in all his philandering, materialistic, racist, bigoted, misogynist glory is somehow worthy of reverence because somewhere deep down (in a way that only these leaders see), he loves Jesus. If you believe that I have some swamp land in Alabama for you.

I am tempted to respond to those good words, but I dare not get too far off topic. Let's move on to the next whore I'd like to give his due.

Ralph Reed attended the meeting that Donald Trump called. You know, the one where "church" leaders seeking power and significance meet with a politician and work out a plan of action designed to deliver
a) power and/or significance to the whores in the church, and
b) millions of votes to the whore seeking election.

Yes, that one. Ralph Reed attended that meeting. So Ralph went in to be with the Donald, and at the podium Ralph had this to say:

As I sat there this morning—we just spent time with Dr. Carson and the next president of the United States, Donald Trump—I thought about two Bible verses. And I’m going to paraphrase just a bit. One is, “For such a time as this,” and the other one is this one, a commandment from our Savior, when he said, “Call unto me, and I will do great and mighty things that you do not know.”

I am guessing Ralph didn't recall that Esther (whose father-figure said to her that she had perhaps been called to power "for a time such as this") is a book that celebrates Esther's standing up against an evil man in power who hated underclass foreigners. After all, Donald Trump is an evil man in power who hates underclass foreigners. Or did Ralph slip into the wrong convention hall? Was Esther just down to the hall and to the right?

I'm guessing none of the other whores in the room caught a whiff of that irony, either. If they did have a nose for that, they wouldn't have been there with Trump in the first place.

So I stop wincing when I use the word whore to describe somebody who:
a) wants power
b) doesn't have a clue what the Bible is about, but who nevertheless
c) claims to speak for masses of Christians, and
d) misquotes the Bible atrociously in order to
e) advocate for the advancement of another evil man in order to
f) amass more "power" for pet church ambitions that are secondary (at best) to the church's true calling


But it takes one whore to like another, so this is a marriage made in Hell. Donald, after all, is the one who said "Nobody reads the Bible more than me" and yet refers to a passage as "Two Corinthians" like a first-week student of a new language. Ralph and Donald were made for each other.

But why stop there? Ralph's second Bible reference is at least as problematic as his first. He mis-attributes a passage from Jeremiah to Jesus. No matter. Both names start with J, right? That's good enough for a whore, if not perhaps what we'd expect from a Christian leader.

Jokes aside, it's no coincidence that Ralph attributed Jeremiah's words to Jesus. Jesus promised rest to those who came to him, but Jeremiah's words hint at power and powerful actions. Jeremiah's words were appropriate to the moment. That's not the problem.

The problem arises when Ralph quotes Jeremiah and think's he's quoting Jesus. Most importantly, given that those at the meeting were drawn to it by the scent of power, Ralph's reference to Jesus doing powerful things says nothing about God's heart but an awful lot about what's on Ralph's mind. A Freudian slip? Ohhhh, yeah.

That's about as much time as I want to burn on Ralph Reed. 998 other whores deserve their due, and I am afraid most won't get as much coverage.

But let us take a moment to reflect on the state of the American church, that men like these have approached the pagan temple of Trump. They have every right to do so. But to do so as proclaimed followers of Christ? Leaders of the church? That demands a response. In this blog series I intend to give at least a few of these whores their due.

Stay tuned...