Trump Telegraphs Tyranny to Evangelicals – No One Even Notices

Two very significant, telling things happened during Donald Trump’s meeting with 1000 evangelicals this past week.  Both of them portend Trump’s tyrannical ambitions when in the Oval Office.

First, as was previously mentioned – Trump lied directly into the faces of 1000 Christian leaders he was supposedly seeking to win over to his campaign.

He stated that he got a majority of the evangelical vote in the southern Primaries.  But, that is demonstrably false.  Trump garnered an average of 35% of the evangelical vote in most southern states.  35% is far from majority in anyone’s math textbook.

In fact, that literally means that around 2/3 of evangelical voters voted against him – choosing other candidates.

The sad reality is that none of these so-called “Christian” leaders called him on the lie; not even after the event.

But, that’s not the worst of what transpired.  Everyone knows Trump has a problem telling the truth and exaggerating his performance on just about everything (Remember, he’s “a tremendous believer”!).

For him to lie to the faces of Christian leaders may be deplorable, but it is not out of character for the author of “The Art of the Deal.”

No, the more ominous statement Trump made was greeted with warm applause by the gullible group seated on Trump’s home turf.

Trump promised to get rid of the Johnson Amendment.  The Johnson Amendment, named after then U.S. Senator – Lyndon B. Johnson – was added to a bill passed into law in 1954. 

It has had the effect of stifling religious political speech in churches – something Johnson and other segregationists favored in an effort to quash the civil rights movement of the 50s and 60s.

Essentially, it has kept pastors from taking public stances on political candidates and elections in their churches for over 70 years now.

It is an onerous piece of legislation that has never been challenged in the courts.

Of course, Christian leaders want it gone.  That is not the problem.

The problem is the fact that no matter what Trump promises, he would have no authority as President to make it null and void on his own.

Constitutionally, it would have to be repealed by both houses of Congress and then he could sign it into law if he was President at the time.

But, unless he plans the same unconstitutional power grab as President Obama has attempted with his “executive order pen”, a President Trump cannot end the Amendment on his own.

To tell this group of leaders otherwise is disingenuous at best.  At worst, it is a downright lie.

Unless, that is, that Trump has already planned to be an imperial President cut from the same cloth as Obama - doing what he wants and the Constitution be damned.

Given some of his other public statements, it is clear he has no understanding of the Constitutional “checks and balances” in the Separation of Powers.

Presidents don’t make or repeal laws; then enact or veto laws passed by Congress.

Obama ignored the Constitution as much as possible in his eight years in office and a feckless, corrupt Congress allowed him to get away with it.

It appears a President Trump would be just as lawless to implement his agenda.

The saddest part of all of this is that the supposed moral conscience of the nation – these 1000 Christian leaders – showed absolutely no morality and cheered Trump’s baited hook to reel them into his obeisance.

So much for being “wise as serpents and harmless as doves”!!

Trump and the Evangelicals – Theater of the Absurd

The news headlines were splashed all across the media this week – "Donald Trump Meets with 1000 Evangelical Leaders."

Social media flamed with story after story about this so-called “historic” meeting with the top Christian leaders in America and the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee.

After the meeting, many of these so-called “Christian leaders” were almost glowing in their recollection of getting to meet “the Donald” in person.

Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his wife even tweeted a picture of standing with Trump – giving a thumbs up.  It wasn’t until later that someone noticed that Trump had maneuvered the unsuspecting Falwells right in front of his wall of magazine covers with the now notorious Playboy cover prominently featured.  (More on that hypocrisy later.)

But, why would so many sincere sober Christian leaders volunteer to appear at Trump’s “dog and pony show”?

As far as was reported, no really tough questions were asked of Mr. Trump.  Questions such as:

-          Why hasn’t he released his tax returns like every other Presidential candidate since 1980 has done?  (His media excuse about being audited has been thoroughly debunked by now.)

-          How can he be trusted to be pro-life when he has glowingly praised the leading source of inter-womb child murder in America – Planned Parenthood?

-          How can he be trusted to follow the Constitution when many of his debate statements were just as Constitutionally illegal as those of President Obama with his magic “executive order pen”?

-          How can he proclaim to be a champion of both religious freedom in America and a champion of the radical LGBT movement at the same time?  (Remember, he said it was the right thing to put Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis in jail for refusing to sign a “same sex” marriage license.)

There are many more questions that could have and should have been asked, but my suspicion is that things were tightly controlled – like all Trump events.  With the likes of Trump sycophants Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson organizing and running the event, they were unlikely to allow anything damaging to happen to their cherished choice for President.

This is just as true of the guest list.  For example, conspicuously absent from the crowd were HSLDA’s Mike Farris and Iowa radio talk show host and political activist Steve Deace.  Since they were seen as too critical of Trump, they were persona non grata.

What also was obvious is that this was a typical Trump set up from the beginning.  Now that he is fading in the polls and claims to have no money, Trump desperately needs evangelicals to come on board if he is to have any kind of remote chance of winning in November.

But, Trump is not the typical politician to show up “with his hat in his hand.”  He needs to appear in control at all times (That’s why he stopped debating – he couldn’t control the narrative on the debate stage.)

Trump’s desire for control was seen in the logistics of the meeting.  Everyone had to come to his headquarters – Trump Tower in NYC.  And, they all needed to pay their own way there.

This is 180 degrees out of phase as to how things should have happened.  Trump should have traveled to meet with these leaders on their turf.  After all, he’s the one looking for their support, votes, and money.

His arrogance refused to allow him to appear as the employee seeking the job of President.  And, the gullible evangelical leaders were all too accommodating to his narrative.  They should have withheld support and enthusiasm until he proved himself to them, not slobbered over his invitation like “Let’s Make a Deal” contestants picked by Monty Hall!

What was amazing is that here was a man seeking support from the Christian community for his Presidential bid and that same man lied directly to the faces of 1000 Christian leaders!

Trump stated that he got a majority of the evangelical vote in the southern Primaries.  The actual truth is that Trump got around 35% of the evangelical vote.  2/3 of Christian voters voted against him.

What is even more amazing is that none - absolutely none of  these Christian leaders called him out on that huge lie!!

It seems far too many of these so-called “Christian leaders” were more than willing to give Trump a pass on just about all of his past and present real ethical problems as long as he said a few “magic” words to them at the meeting.  Words such as:

-          Conservative Supreme Court nominees

-          Religious freedom

-          America first

-          “I’m a tremendous believer.”

But, the sad reality and absolute truth at work here is that “a leopard cannot change its spots.”  Trump was simply working “The Art of the Deal” with a mostly gullible, inexperienced group of sincere men and women who desperately want a voice in this year’s Presidential race.

And, they want that voice so badly; they are willing to compromise their own Biblical standards to mistakenly pursue it.

A few leaders spoke glowingly of Trump’s “Christian” faith.  Never mind he can’t ever remember asking the Lord to forgive his sins.  Never mind he isn’t active in any church.  Never mind his past is full of very anti-Christian causes and behavior.

Now, keep in mind that these people pontificating that we mustn’t judge Trump are the same people who hold high evaluatory standards for anyone they employ in their ministries (and rightly so).

But, just like many Trump voters, facts really don’t seem to matter.  Trump has made an emotional connection with his supporters and that’s all that’s important.

This is just like every confidence artist and corrupt TV preacher has ever done – hook people emotionally and fleece them for all they are worth.

Anyone with the vision and common sense to point out the hypocrisy is seen as a traitor. 

These times are really no different than the times of Jeremiah.  The people want their ears tickled by the false prophets so they don’t have to face the cold hard reality of their sin.  A man speaking the simple truth today is just as likely as Jeremiah was to be put into a pit to shut them up.

When all of this comes crashing down (and it will because God won’t be mocked), everyone who slobbered over Trump will see their ministries and reputations completely ruined.  It is a tragedy waiting to happen.

Some like Falwell, Jr. have become so compromised already they are hardly recognizable as Christian leaders any more.

Instead of apologizing to the Body of Christ for allowing himself to be seen as promoting pornography – with the previously mentioned Twitter picture - Falwell has attacked his critics.

This just doubles his hypocrisy given that his father – Jerry Falwell, Sr. - rightly condemned Playboy as the “gateway” pornography it is.

My how the times have changed – from Moral Majority to moral relativism in just one generation!

Let me just end with one piece of advice from the Apostle Paul from 1 Timothy 3:1,6 – 

“It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. ⁶ and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.” (NASB)

If Paul warned about placing a new believer into a leadership position in the church, how much more relevant is it for a newcomer to the faith not to be granted the most powerful job in the world – President of the United States?

Even if Trump does now believe, as many claim, he has little fruit to show for it so far.  In fact, even his recent behavior has been quite carnal and pagan.

Why any Christian leader would jeopardize their integrity and the integrity of the Gospel to prop up someone who is far from ideal for the office of President is beyond me.

We must accept the fact that we had an opportunity to promote and support a solid mature Christian with government and Constitutional experience to be our President, but far too many Christians sold their birthright for a pot of “promise to make America great stew.”

Now, we are not obligated to fix the coming mess.  In fact, those who helped to create it need to learn a very valuable lesson about being a Christian in the world of politics.

Jesus’s advice is very relevant here and a lesson many still need to learn – Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” (NASB)

I fear far too many of the gathered evangelicals were little more than a flock of sheep easily devoured by the biggest wolf of them all!