I was struck by former President Bush’s characterization of Trump insurrectionists as being possessed by the same evil spirit as the 9/11 attackers. As a lifelong Christian who spent several years attending an evangelical church in the 1980s and early 1990s, I understood what he was saying. I witnessed with my own eyes how the church steadily became fertile ground for the Republican Party to create its own zealous army. I saw the first breakthrough in my church when one prominent member became political.
I recall listening to his provocative proclamation that America was a Christian nation. He said that the founders were all Christians. He claimed that America was chosen by God as a beacon of light for the nations. He claimed that there was really no such thing as a separation of church and state. Then, he also said that our nation was in danger of God’s judgement if we allowed the sins of abortion and homosexuality to continue.
Gradually pastors began to take up the conservative cause primarily using the old testament scripture, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. ” (2 Chronicles 7:14) This scripture became a call for national salvation as opposed to personal salvation. Jesus did not teach a national salvation or that God was still in the business of judging nations. Scriptures like, ” For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” (Psalms 139:13-16) were used to argue that abortion was murder. And multiple scriptures against homosexuality were invoked, especially how God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of it.
As churches became more active in their support of Republican candidates and its agenda to “save” America from God’s judgment, I was learning more in graduate school about American and world history. I was learning about other worldviews and I was learning to think critically about ideas presented to me in the media, from the lectern, and from the pulpit. I came to reject the core ideas behind the move to “save” America as the history of America itself belied the notion that this was in fact a Christian nation, that it was ever a Godly beacon of righteousness, and that the founders were all Christians. I saw the horrifically bloody history of state mandated religions and the historical folly of violently forcing one group’s religious rules onto non-believers. I also started reading scripture with a more critical eye. It is no wonder that conservatives have raged war on Universities and now on critical race theory. The truth, critical thinking, and even common sense are a threat to the nonsense they are promoting.
I finally recognized that the scriptures evangelicals pointed to against abortion didn’t support their stance of murder of a living soul, but that abortion was the interruption of a body being formed in the womb, an occurrence that more often happens naturally in the form of miscarriage. I recognized that immorality wasn’t limited to sexual behaviors, but included lying, idolatry, and greed. And most importantly, the only judge and punisher of these immoral behaviors was God and that on an individual scale, not a national one. In this all out effort to “save” America from abortion and homosexuality, evangelical Christians pretty much abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ that calls for personal salvation, love of neighbor, the stranger, and our enemies. Jesus called for generosity, kindness and hospitality to the poor, immigrants, imprisoned, and distressed. The Republican Party platform represents the opposite.
Evangelicals would do well to listen to these words spoken by Jesus, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’. Matthew 7:21-23 What law did they break? The law that Jesus Himself gave us: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” Luke 10:27.
It has become apparent to most onlookers that the evangelical Christian community no longer operates from a place of love, but a place of political ambition, idolatry, and tyranny based on a corrupted notion of following Christ. Their idea of freedom has been distorted to include their freedom to carry guns, to be xenophobic, to be homophobic, to go unmasked during a pandemic, to ignore climate change science, to prevent democrats from voting, and to force their interpretation of narrow pieces of the Bible onto others. They have embraced lying, cheating, meanness, and especially the liar who leads the Republican Party. They willingly fight to limit the human and constitutional rights of others, unwittingly misinterpreting both the Bible and the Constitution.
Republican strategists did a good job picking vulnerable segments of society to use as their army to strengthen their political aspirations. They picked people who were primed to believe what they are told without evidence. They picked people who were primed to believe that the person standing in the pulpit is God’s representative. They picked people who were primed to believe that they have the lock on godliness, when in reality they have become possessed by the same evil spirit that has lead to bloodshed and heartache throughout the human history. Combining white supremacy groups with evangelical Christians, the Republicans, lead by Trump, have forged a very dangerous coalition that is no different from Hilter and the Nazis, ISIS, Al Kaida, or the Taliban. As Bush said, they are possessed by the same evil spirit.
My prayer for my evangelical brothers and sisters is that they will allow the truth to free their minds and their bodies from the evil spirts who are leading them astray as sheep to the slaughter. Who of their family and friends is brave enough to expose them to history, a critical read of the Bible, and a run through of the Constitution? If no will speak the truth to them, then another civil war is in our future.