Politics
Evangelicals Vote for Judgment on America
May 4, 2016, may some day be described as the day America died. For me, that day, to quote Charles Dickens, was the “best of times and worst of times.”
That evening I attended the 25th celebration of Shirley Dobson’s leadership of the National Day of Prayer in Washington, D.C. Her celebration was the BEST.
But prior to the evening banquet and prayer time, I was talking with Texas Rep. Louis Gohmert about the past two days he had barn-stormed Indiana with Ted Cruz. While we were talking, the Trump victory in the Indiana Republican primary was announced.
Our hearts sank as we realized that Ted Cruz–the “closest to Reagan” candidate in a generation–had been eliminated.That feeling was the WORST.
This will be the first of a trilogy on the 2016 elections. The second article will discuss how the Republican Party has devolved. The third will state who I plan to support. You may be surprised.
But first, how Evangelicals have voted for judgment on America.
You may think it hyperbole to talk about a day a nation died. Societies usually die slowly, with many slow cuts increasing bleeding until the civilization finally expires.
What prompted the analogy was a recent re-read of Thomas Cahill’s classic How the Irish Saved Civilization. It’s one of my favorite short histories and begins with a scene from December 31, 406 A.D. On that rather routine day, the Rhine River froze solid enough for vast hordes of barbarians to cross over from pagan Europe in a mass invasion of the Roman Empire.
The barbarians had been coming in drips and drivels for years. Roman civilization had also been dying for decades via high taxation and the empty pursuit of human pleasures.
Cahill postulates, “Rome fell because of inner weakness, either social or spiritual; or Rome fell because of outer pressure–the barbarian hordes. What we can say with confidence is that Rome fell gradually and that the Romans for many decades scarcely noticed what was happening.”
Less than four years later, Alaric the Goth stood at the gates of Rome. Caesar dispatched his envoys to make a deal with the barbarian commander. What would be the price of his departure? Cahill recounts the scene:
“Alaric told them: his men would sweep through the city, taking all gold, all silver, and everything of value that could be moved. They would also round up and cart off every barbarian slave. But protested the hysterical envoys, what will that leave us?”
“Alaric paused. ‘Your lives.'”
In that pause, Roman security died and a new world was conceived. On August 24, 410 Alaric sacked the city of Rome and the Dark Ages began. But the tipping point may well have been December 31, 406.
Fast forward seventeen hundred years.
Western civilization and American leadership have been expiring for decades. There has not been a major spiritual awakening for over 150 years. For two hundred years prior, seasons of national decline had been gloriously renewed via revivals in the 1730s-40s, early 1800s, and the Great Revival of 1857.
Those seasons of renewal and moral transformation kept the America nation centered on its belief in God. We reaffirmed the wisdom of His ways in public and private morality. “In God We Trust” gave the United States the courage to lead the world in fighting for freedom.
Then came the 20th century with its biblical criticism, the rise of militant atheism, the growth of Big Government, and the cultural rebellion of the 60s. Today, we are hurtling down slope of moral depravity where even young girls are battling for privacy in using public restrooms.
Sixty years ago, the collapse of the American foundations was stayed by the Jesus Revolution of the 60s and 70s (not a full-blown revival), the Washington For Jesus day of prayer and repentance in 1980, and the Reagan Revolution that followed.
These events at least retarded our Republic’s demise.
But in the 21th century we are running out of time. Moral relativism has poisoned the culture, secularists control education, the US is a weakening giant in its world role and stands arrogantly destitute before a Holy God.
2016 could have been a season of renewal–similar to 1980. As I’ve chronicled, many prayer movements exploded this year to call God’s people to repentance. In the 2016 presidential race, a number of God-fearing candidates stepped forward to call the nation back to its biblical moorings (Mike Huckabee, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Bobby Jindal, Carly Fiorina, to name a few).
One who rose to the top of the pack was Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz was young, Hispanic, a gifted orator and debater, and put together the best national ground-game of any candidate. He then weathered the crowded Republican field to challenge populist billionaire Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
After an upset win in Wisconsin, it looked like Cruz was in striking distance of overcoming Mr. Trump. Then came the real estate mogul’s huge win in New York and a series of victories in the relatively liberal confines of the Northeast. Indiana would be Ted Cruz’s “Alamo” for blunting Trump’s momentum and taking the Republican race to the national convention.
While I was talking to Rep. Gohmert on May 4, the Indiana primary arrived. Indiana contained a large population of evangelical Christians. In Wisconsin, biblical values voters had delivered for Ted Cruz. I was hopeful for the same result in the Hoosier state–and many were in prayer.
Then Indiana voted. Trump – 51%. Cruz – 43%. The race was over. American would not have the chance to elect a “Reagan-like” president in 2016 with strong faith in God and a belief in limited government.
Why did Ted Cruz lose? Because the Church did not vote its faith. And when the Church does not rise to be the salt and light of a culture–including elections–the nation is abandoned to the judgment of ungodly forces.
But it was not just the ignorance of Indiana Christians. Prior to the Hoosier primary, The Washington Post, not usually a champion of traditional values, stated:
“One of the most surprising parts of the 2016 election has been evangelical Christian support for Donald Trump. In the 20 states where primary or caucus exit polls have been conducted so far, Trump has won an average of 36 percent of the vote from white “born-again or evangelical Christians,” good for a plurality in 12 states and only slightly lower than his support (38 percent) among all other Republican voters. Many in the evangelical community have wondered how their religious brethren could possibly back a twice-divorced candidate whose commitment to moral and cultural conservatism appears shaky at best.”
“The key to understanding Trump’s support among evangelicals is to realize that some evangelicals’ commitment to the faith is shaky, too. Trump does best among evangelicals with one key trait: They don’t really go to church. In short, the evangelicals supporting Trump are not the same evangelicals who have traditionally comprised the Christian Right and supported cultural warriors such as Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz.”
Conclusion? Many evangelicals don’t go to church, and those that do don’t vote their worldview and faith.
That “barrenness of knowledge” among American Christians had first been seen when the primaries went through the southern states. This was where Ted Cruz was expected to have a “firewall” of support after winning Iowa but losing to Trump in New Hampshire.
In the South, evangelicals make up fifty to sixty percent of the Republican primary electorate. (They are 25% of the entire US population). Yet, for example, in South Carolina 34 % of evangelical Christians voted for Donald Trump, and in Georgia, Trump got 39% of the “Church” vote.
To be fair, in the Republican primaries so far, 60% of evangelical Christians have not voted for the secular Trump. But nearly forty percent have.
That’s the difference this year. Those millions of professing Christians, by their unwise and unthinking votes, will give the White House to either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton (if she’s indicted–then Bernie Sanders or Joe Biden).
This means that for the first time in 240 years, Americans will not have a choice of a president with either a born again faith or biblical worldview. That void will only accelerate our problems and bring judgment (justice) on a back-slidden nation. The downward spiral of unbelief, morals, debt, division, and weakness will snowball.
We had our chance on May 4, 2016. The Church blew it–there is no one else to blame. In 2008 and 2012 many American Christians didn’t vote at all. In 2016 they voted poorly.
In free nations, you get what you deserve (vote for). Is there any doubt that our civilization deserves judgment?
Two choices remain. Repentance or national implosion. If we continue to go the second route, then a modern-day Alaric may soon appear at our nation’s door.
Next week: The Rise of the Secular Regressives
Donald Trump’s Fatal Weakness
It’s not hard to understand why one third of Republican voters are passionately in favor of a Trump presidency. I will discuss those reasons in a moment.
But as we head toward the finish line in choosing nominees for both the Republican and Democratic Parties, I want to lay out the fatal weakness of Donald J. Trump.
It may surprise you.
I want to be fair about Mr. Trump and discuss why millions of Americans are voting for him. That’s easy to discern after nine months of campaigning
People are fed up with the self-serving and wimpy politicians in Washington, D.C. who are not looking out them. They are scared about the ramifications of liberal/progressive policies that are destroying faith in the marketplace, family values, the economy and national security.
Voters like Trump because he speaks their language about issues that they care about. They don’t mind the brashness and swagger because there’s a lot of angst out there.
For example, Americans are sympathetic to immigration–we are an immigrant nation. But many citizens now realize that both parties have created an open border in the United States–Republicans for cheap labor and Democrats for cheap votes–that is flooding the nation with drugs, criminals and millions of people competing for jobs.
This situation has been exasperated by the Obama administration’s executive orders, lax border security, support for sanctuary cities, unwillingness to deport or lock up illegal felons (think the murder of Kate Steinle), and pushing for driver’s licenses, voting rights, and welfare benefits for illegals.
When Donald Trump bellows “We’re gonna build a wall!” then millions of Yankees say “Yes!”–especially while watching Europe be overrun with immigrants, some of whom are strapping bombs to their mid-section and slaughtering innocent people.
There are other reasons many people love Trump. President Obama can’t seem to stomach stating the obvious about “Islamic terrorists.” He pulled our troops out of Iraq after the Surge had rescued the nation, and left an empty void that ISIS now fills. Libya is in chaos, Syria is hanging by a thread, the Iranians have been given back $100 billion dollars to fund jihad and are building nuclear weapons, and the Democrats don’t seem to care that they are laying the groundwork for World War III.
So when Trump says we should stop all Muslim immigration until we figure out what’s going on, millions of heads nod as they watch body parts fly in Europe and the Middle East.
More recently Trump has been speaking out against the loss of manufacturing jobs. A case in point was the recent decision by Carrier to close their plant in the Mid-West and re-locate it in Mexico–causing the loss of hundreds of jobs. Many Americans believe we are shipping jobs overseas due to bad government policies.
I don’t think they’re right. Rather, free trade means we need to “switch” to what we can do better and cheaper than others. Actually, due to the dropping of trade barriers, more foreign business jobs have come to American than have left. But the “Rust Belt” is still littered with broken dreams of people feeling the pain.
So when Trump says he’ll slap tariffs of the Chinese, negotiate better deals, and “bring jobs back to America,” many hurting people applaud.
Let’s also be clear about other Trump strengths. In our celebrity-obsessed culture, Donald Trump fits the bill as an American icon:
- Money – he was given millions and has made billions. He says that becoming president and riding on Air Force One will be a “step down” because “Trump Force One” is far more lavish–even containing with gold seat-belts.
- Entertainment – He came into the public eye through “The Apprentice” program and his famous firing of those who didn’t fit the bill. That gig made him a TV star.
- Sex Life – he changes wives about every ten years, and because of his many immoral flings and debauched lifestyle, he considers avoiding venereal diseases his “personal Viet Nam.”
I’ve wondered for a long time how Christian leaders can support the moral life of Donald Trump. I was stunned when I watched a group of Christian/conservatives talk about Melanie Trump’s nude photos taken fifteen years ago. They gawked at her beauty, the professionalism of the photo shoot, and what a good mom she is.
She may be a good mom. But the photos were sleazy and intended for one purpose: to stimulate lust in men’s minds. Why does Donald Trump’s family morality get a pass–even from Christian leaders?
To summarize, the phenomenon of Donald Trump’s political rise is rooted in his celebrity-icon status, plain blunt talk, focus on issues dear to the hurting lower and middle classes, and the increasing secular attitudes of Americans.
He is not a professorial narcissist like Barack Obama. He is a celebrity narcissist to a nation in the process of rejecting the Golden Rule for “what’s in it for me?” That message resonates and is highly seductive.
Virginia Hume describes the power of Trump’s seduction:
“If you have ever been truly seduced, you know. You’ll excuse anything your seducer says, the very things you would have always found repellent. Experts who study sociopaths and cult leaders know this.”
“When we’re seduced we grow emotional, lose the ability to think straight, act in foolish ways that we would never do otherwise. We are more pliable and easily misled. For all practical purposes, a seduced person is a crazy person.”
“If you’ve never been in the thrall of a seducer or a narcissist, maybe you still can’t relate. Well, travel back a little farther, to high school, or even grade school. Remember that popular kid? The seductively popular, charismatic one, the one who might have, say, casually mocked a disabled classmate?”
“Remember when you laughed?”
Welcome to the cult of Trump. Which brings us to Donald Trump’s fatal weakness.
We have mentioned the strengths that have propelled him to the top of the Republican nominating ladder. There are many weaknesses that I could also mention including his high unfavorable ratings. lack of political organization compared to Ted Cruz, and his rude and childish behavior on Twitter etc.
But one, more than others, will be fatal to Trump the candidate, president, and human being.
In the past nine months, the most revealing statement I have heard Donald Trump utter took place on July 19, 2015 in Ames, Iowa during an interview with pollster Frank Luntz.
Here’s what the Donald said:
“I am not sure that I have ever asked God for forgiveness. I just go on and try to do a better job from there…If I do something wrong, I think I just try to make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”
I almost dropped my drink when I heard his words. He doesn’t ask God’s forgiveness? He never apologizes or asks other people for forgiveness? (That also came out in the interview.)
A vital human trait for all human beings is humility–the willingness to be honest about ourselves and admit sin or error. It’s how we cleanse our hearts; How we keep a clear conscience before God and people; How we heal broken relationships. It’s how we learn, grow, become more like our Creator.
This morning I got an e-mail from a student. She pointed out that some words in her course syllabus were confusing, contradictory. I looked at it, realized I’d made a boo-boo, and e-mailed her: “Sorry, Stephanie. That was my fault. I’ll correct it. Thanks for pointing it out.”
Primary to that little communication, I’d had my morning devotional time, which included asking God to forgive a careless attitude from the day before. On Sunday our pastor gave a great sermon on the keys to an effective prayer life. One of the points was “Confession.”
I can also remember many times tearfully confessing my faults and sins to God, my wife, and others. Most weeks I say I’m sorry for something, either in thought, word or deed. As Mother Basilea Schlink wisely taught: “Repentance is the joy-filled life!”
Donald Trump’s failure to have any degree of humility over his failures is his Achilles’ Heel–his fatal flaw. It may cost him the Republican nomination because of his inability to pivot, change, even reconcile the splintered Republican Party to himself.
If he becomes president, it dooms him to make incredible mistakes that could set off nuclear wars, destroy international relations, splinter the American nation.
And when he dies, it will separate him from God. The Bible says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).
Sin is our first flaw. Unwillingness to confess and repent is the second.
Proverbs 28:13:
“Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper. But he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
Pray for Donald Trump’s fatal weakness.
And don’t make the same mistake yourself.
Mormons Show Evangelicals the Way
For two hundred years, Christians in the United States have viewed the Mormons (LDS) as a cult.
The reasons for this are many, including the suspect life and practices of the its founder, Joseph Smith, the acceptance of extra-biblical revelation (the Book of Moromon), many questionable doctrines and edicts of the LDS Church, and especially a “works” orientation toward salvation.
I agree that the church’s origins and some practices are cultish.
However, after seeing the results of the Republican caucuses in Utah, it may be time to re-evaluate whether the Mormons are more Christian than Christians.
In their voting, Mormons are showing evangelicals the way.
First a few thoughts on the Mormon Church and religion in general.
I met my first Latter Day Saints when I was a teenager. They seemed like normal people who shared my values but didn’t demonstrate a personal relationship with Christ. They had “religion”–but it didn’t appear to go deep.
They were easy to understand because I was also raised in a religious home–without the power, conviction, and intimate knowledge of Christ. When I became born again in 1968, that experience changed my view of religion and what people need to do to get right with God.
The Bible was clear on the subject: We must be born again through repentance and faith by the work of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a gift of God based on grace, not works.
In fact, during Jesus’ day there were two groups of religious folks who also failed the salvation test. One was the Saduccees. They were the religious liberals of the day, and didn’t believe in spirits, angels, or life after death. The other was the Pharisees. These were the religious work-a-holics that Jesus condemned at many points. They were the fundamentalists of the time.
Jesus told one prominent Pharisee named Nicodemus that people needed to “re-start” their spiritual lives by turning way from self (repentance) and put their faith in Him. The most famous Bible verse ever was given to this seeking Pharisee: “God so loved the loved that He gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
I learned early on that religion–going through the right motions–is not enough. Salvation is about heart change that comes through our yieldedness and the work of God’s Spirit.
Which brings us back to the Mormons. Not only were they similar to my religious background and that of the Saduccees and Pharisees, but they also believed some pretty strange things that put them outside the bounds of mainstream biblical faith.
On the other hand, many Mormons displayed solid Christian virtues including strong and supportive families (with many children), a powerful sense of community, great work ethic and business principles, and a giving, generous spirit.
Thus, many Mormons may not be born again (heart), but they practiced many Christian principles they understood (mind).
I wrote my first book in 1976 on the reverse of that phenomenon–that a person can be Christian in heart but not in mind. The subject was former Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter who was running for president. I know that in his heart he said and appeared to be born again. But in his policies, his “mind” didn’t line up with Scripture.
He was pro-abortion, pro-Big Government and weak on national defense.
Jimmy Carter was the opposite of the LDS Church–biblical in heart but weak in practice. The Mormons were weak in heart, but strong in principles.
Which brings us to 2016 and the Republican presidential race.
I personally believe that as goes the Church, so does the American nation. In the past few political cycles. we have elected a number of poor national leaders and allowed massive disintegration in our culture because many evangelical Christians–even though they have born again hearts–do not have born again minds.
It’s a failure of discipleship. The Evangelical Church has led millions to Christ (heart faith) but have not taught and discipled them into a Christian worldview about government, economics, and the issues of the day.
Evangelicals either don’t vote, or they don’t vote for biblically principled people.
In this presidential election cycle, I am grieved by the ignorance of many evangelical leaders. I don’t need to mention their names. You know who they are. They have bought into the power and charisma of Donald Trump and have provided him the cover to attain victory in a number of states.
Donald Trump is extremely questionable of both heart and mind. He is essentially a billionaire opportunist who is riding the ignorance of Christians to victories in numerous states where the evangelical vote should have gone to the principled Christian conservatives in the race like Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, or others.
Instead, a mind-less Church has put Donald Trump in the driver’s seat toward becoming the Republican nominee.
It’s such a wasted opportunity that one is almost led to weep.
Gary Randall reports that The Christian Post says that while 78% of evangelicals characterize the outcome of this year’s presidential election as “extremely important to the future of the United States,” only 20% of evangelicals are paying close attention to the election process.
Among non-Christian faiths—including Islam, Buddhism and Judaism— 41% are closely following the election campaigns.
Even religious skeptics, which includes atheists and agnostics are more engaged, with 38% paying attention to the elections. Also 38% of Catholics are engaged compared to 26% of Protestants. This is a reversal of the last four presidential elections.
Shame, shame, shame on us.
George Barna shares this concern about unengaged and ignorant evangelicals. About 38% of Americans are self-declared evangelicals, but Barna used the term only to identify persons who are evangelical in their fundamental biblical beliefs–what I call being Christian “in mind.”
By his criteria, only 8% of Americans are truly evangelical.
Not surprisingly, self-declared evangelicals are all over the map politically, some Democrats, some Republicans, but how many are voting biblically? Very few. The sad news is that just 8 percent of the people most capable of influencing America for righteousness are paying attention to the elections as compared to others. (Barna Report; Who Qualifies as an Evangelical?).
To sum up, God’s people in this nation are asleep and ignorant as the United States faces its greatest challenges.
But the Mormons seem to get it.
Glenn Beck (a prominent Mormon broadcaster and author) recently suggested that GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump is incompatible with Christians who take their faith seriously.
“No Christian, no real Christian – I don’t mean a judgmental Christian, I mean somebody who is living their faith – no real Christian says, ‘I want that guy, that guy is for me,’” he said during a broadcast of his radio show. “Nobody, nobody.”
Beck also argued America is moving away from its Christian underpinnings, causing myriads of moral and social problems nationwide.
“I honestly don’t know what else to do,” he said. “We have got to be a people of principles. We are a Christian nation.”
“Are we really?” Beck asked. “Then why are we in so much trouble? Why do we have the same kind of problems that non-Christian nations do with pornography and drugs and everything else?
“We should be setting an example if we’re actually living our Christian faith. The problem is we all say we’re living our Christian faith [and] we’re not living our Christian faith.”
Beck additionally vowed he would challenge any religion or denomination he believes is ignoring its own guiding principles.
“I’ll take on the Jews, and I’ll take on the Lutherans, and I’ll take on the Catholics, and I’ll take on the Mormons,” he said. “I’ll take them all on. You’re damn right. Where are you? You’re not living your principles.”
Where have you heard that prophetic call in the evangelical churches?
Meanwhile, the Republican presidential sweepstakes arrived in Utah–a Mormon bastion–on March 22 after giving Donald Trump ten-to-fifteen victories in the Bible heart-land of America. How did the Mormons vote? The way evangelicals should have:
- Ted Cruz, a principled Christian conservative – 69%
- John Kasich, an evangelical governor – 17%.
- Donald Trump – 14%.
If evangelicals had been as wise as Mormon voters in Utah, then right now Ted Cruz would be well on his way to wrapping up the Republican nomination and going against a weak Hillary Clinton or Socialist Bernie Sanders in November.
Many people believe that Ted Cruz is the closest thing to Ronald Reagan in a generation. Yet, an unengaged, mindless, unprincipled Church is not practicing its faith in the voting booth.
Mormons are showing evangelicals the way. Maybe we need to be born again more than they do.
And show our faith by our works.