On Trump

You may have heard: the US President is a fairly controversial figure who elicits incredibly emotional response from both his supporters and critics. Of late, said President is in some pretty hot water; for only the 3rd time in American history, a President has been impeached by the House. On this occasion, he allegedly used US military aid to blackmail his Ukranian counterpart into smearing Joe Biden, the only Democratic candidate with a decent chance of unseating Trump in November.

A debate among Christian publications ensued: Christianity Today, upset by Trump's seeming lack of decency or propriety, decided that the impeachment was the last straw, and called for his removal. Hilariously, Trump attacked CT, referring to it as a left-leaning liberal rag (or something like that). In response, Christian Post, and specifically Jentezen Franklin, a truly anointed man of God, quickly endorsed Trump, who has in fact, despite himself, proven to be sympathetic to Christian causes.

The dizzying furor leaves a God-fearing believer to wonder: What, exactly, is the Christian response to someone like our fearless leader?  

Complicating matters, it is believed in some circles that said President has been hand-picked by God for the job, confirmed by a prophecy that declared him a modern day "Cyrus", in reference to an OT leader who, although he was a lawless rogue, became a friend to ancient Israel. Hey, you can't argue with a prophecy, right? 

As to the charge that he tried to extort loyalty from the Ukranian President? Given Trump's well documented history, it is not hard to imagine that he actually tried to do this, even if the "quid pro quo" never actually happened. 

No matter what, though, Trump and his most die-hard Christian supporters leverage the "Cyrus" prophecy as a sort of carte blanche that excuses Trump from any wrongdoing. In a bit of twisted logic, Trump's supporters dismiss his lack of morality or ethics because "God raised him up", a mind-puzzle if there ever was one, and a truly dangerous gamble that they don't fully appreciate. 

My take? 

Jesus' kingdom is not of this world and it is folly to invest so much energy into a secular leader. Folks who idolize the US or the US President are setting themselves up for disappointment, because only Jesus satisfies our deepest needs and longing to know God, and only Jesus can "move the dial" of human history in the direction God wants it to go. 

But it is really easy, spiritually, to pick a side in the political game and throw rocks across the aisle. You don't have to be born-again to join that battle. The devil could care less about your politics and will gladly watch as you misapply your energy.

You see, Satan's end-game is hell. 'Ole Slew Foot hates perfectly, and salivates at the thought of torturing souls in hell. 

Satan knows well that the Republican party can't forgive your sins.

The real war is for the salvation of human souls, and this is where things get  gnarly. When you get more excited about the Risen King of Kings than you are about the Republican party,the devil will fight you, tooth and nail. 

Maybe that's why, statistically, almost none of us ever tells a neighbor about Jesus. It is a supernatural act of war to represent Jesus for which few enlist.

Wanna join the fight? 

For starters, you might want to check out some of the t-sciple.com shirts. We offer over 300 designs, in sizes up 6XL, for those of us for whom Jesus - not Donald Trump - is king. Wearing t-sciple shirts is easy to do, our prices are fair. and they put you instantly into the evangelism game. 

We just dropped this one and I like it a lot: 

https://bit.ly/36jeqSU

Happy T-scipling,

Jeff Criswell

Director of Teeology