Who cares if a leader “grab ‘em by the pussy,” just as long as he is committed to overturning Roe v. Wade (abortion) and Obergefell v. Hodges (same-sex marriage), and calls for prayers and reading of the Ten Commandments in school.
Recently, I have been reading about the mixed reactions to the new Biden administration. Many local churches here are disillusioned by the Inauguration of Biden-Harris. They have been praying in groups for a second term for Trump because they are really hoping that Trump would make American (or the World) great again by first and foremost making God great again.
Trump the man was the dawn of a new hope for their faith. He was the believer’s Cyrus the Great, “whose deeds were foretold by Isaiah, and achievements have changed the course of history for the Jewish people.”
He is their Isaiah 45 president, and yes, reading Isaiah 45, and you will find the feats of Cyrus...coincidence or foretold?
Alas, Trump, despite all his eye-rolling shenanigans, was their only hope. He is known as ”the wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness”. And since we are at it, you may as well add ”the elitist establishment” to that wrecking ball list.
And leaders like him don’t come often in this age of post-enlightenment. Trump is rare (as elected Commander-in-Chief). So, you just have to grab him by the brassy, that is, all of him, the good and the bad, when he happens to walk your way...right?
In fact, a more rational and sincere sentiment about the former Twitter-in-Chief came from the feedback of a 33-year-old member of a local charismatic church. He said: “Most Christians I spoke to were very torn during the election. On the one hand, we wished for a Republican victory, on the other, we couldn’t imagine another four years with Trump.”
(reported by Justine Ong - “Biden presidency a relief even as some regret Trump’s exit”).
Another respondent, Mr Ang, prefers Trump because of his support for Israel - including recognising Jerusalem as its capital in 2017 - was more aligned with the interest of Singapore because Israel had helped us build up our military in the 1960s.
In sum, it is about a divine-like compromise, choosing of a lesser evil, between Clinton and Trump, and now between Biden and Trump (yet, honestly, as a side-note, surely it is not about choosing the lesser of two evils, right? But, it is about choosing the one who had, at Calvary, dispelled all evil).
Anyway, coming back to that dastardly choice, even a research professor of theology and biblical studies, Prof Wayne Grudem, said this (when the electoral contest was between Trump and Clinton).
“It isn’t even close. I overwhelmingly support Trump’s policies and believe that Clinton’s policies will seriously damage the nation, perhaps forever. On the Supreme Court, abortion, religious liberty, sexual orientation regulations, taxes, economic growth, the minimum wage, school choice, Obamacare, protection from terrorists, immigration, the military, energy, and safety in our cities, I think Trump is far better than Clinton. Again and again, Trump supports the policies I advocated in my 2010 book Politics According to the Bible.”
Mind you, Biden will not be that different from Clinton. He will let Roe v. wade dogs lie and he is open to the garden-variety types of marriages. You can say that, although they share the same faith, even that of Prof Grudem’s faith, Joe and Hillary are two resonating peas in the same political pod.
I know what I have written thus far doesn’t help with your Sunday morning hangover, waking up to find that a new leader of dubious/pretentious Christian background will be leading a supposedly God fearing nation for the next four years, or god forbid, more than that. Alas, you know where I stand when it comes to Trump - never been a fan before, during or after his presidency.
Yet, I can sympathise with that “torn feeling” many are having between Trump and Biden. You see, both are Christians, declaring the faith in public, yet, one has a character of a pagan and their other the policies of a heathen.
Who then is the real wolf invited to the chicken coop then? Who is more of a Christian, that is, Christlike, Trump or Hillary/Biden? Whose face shines with the real favour of God?
Well, I really don’t know (for sure). There is so much more that I am ignorant of than those things that I can confidently claim I know. But, one thing I am clear of, that is, by their fruit you shall (over time) know who they really are.
The fruit Trump has borne after his departure is quite clear. Just to name a few, he has divided the country, made it worse than before. Under his pandemic watch, the last count is 400,000 deaths. And the raid at the Capitol is the last straw (at least for Congress) of a man’s destructive ambition when he doesn’t get his way.
Having said that, that is, listed the fruit of Trump’s term, let me just caveat that the numbing peril of the likes of Trump is that it is not inconceivable to expect one to swallow whole a rotten fruit and still praise Trump for being juicy and tasty. Nothing ought to surprise you anymore.
Mind you, the appeal of Trump is not at all subtle. It is not a frog-in-the-pot kind of thing. It is more like dialling up a pot full of frogs to full flame from zero in a short span of 4 years, and then, you can still expect many believers to boil over with unconditional support for him. The boil is the confirmation bias the believers need to seal their devotion to Trump. Go figure.
Ultimately, torn or otherwise, history, especially the history of religion, always repeats itself, ad nauseam. Our faith is regrettably a very emotional, excitable and impressionable kind. It is also unfortunately myopic or narrow in nature. Most times, such narrow mindset sees things in binary fashion, driven by a pristine, crusade-like ideological POV. This just raises the yeast of self-righteousness even more.
And, by way of a lamentation, if our faith and hope had been one planted by the good soil of the Sermon on the Mount, that is, one rooted in values that are not of this world, we would not have cared so much about who’s elected, who’s not, or who’s more Christian than who. It seems like no one really cared much about what Jesus once said to Pilate - that my kingdom is not of this world.
In any event, like it or not, we have been repeatedly reminded that politics and faith are potent, even toxic, mix. And if we are not careful, our allegiance can be easily corrupted because you can’t serve two masters and then boast that you are still anchored and unshakably discerning. That boast is nothing but the self-delusion in us preaching.
For when you politicise religion, you weaponise faith with the tendency to exalt self. In other words, you are giving it a power that often grows beyond you, with the aim to overwhelm you, and to bring the most carnal desires inside you out in blinding colours.
Alas, hasn’t history taught us about this before? And no, we are not any different from those who have gone before us. Neither is Trump any different from the leaders before him. The Good News is thus neither new nor old; it is just good, and that should never change.
And it is good because it is not concerned with the often chaotic affairs of this world, but the change of one’s heart - a change that brings real, enduring change, not one just for show, just for a season.
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