I never thought that I would have to write a piece like this. Even back in college, when my Christianity was attacked on all sides, I held firm to my faith without lashing out to defend myself.
This is a new day in these yet-to-be-United States. Lines are being drawn. And redrawn. I feel the need to clarify what side I’m on, and why. Take from it what you will.
I used to love Paula White. I found her encouraging, uplifting, and very entertaining. Watching her on TBN was like watching Reverend Barbie. I watched her videos from 2005, and I even bought her book, You Can’t Conquer What You Won’t Confront. Her popularity eclipsed that of her then-husband Randy White, who had taught her how to preach. That was my first tip-off that Paula was going to be big. Paula handled her bigness by divorcing her husband, having questionable dealings with male pastors and bishops, marrying again, and then becoming “top spiritual advisor” to the most morally bankrupt President in the history of this country. In a recent video, she declares that 45 “is 100% a Christian, and he surrounds himself with Christians…” I felt so physically disgusted that I could not watch the end of the video clip.
My favorite Christian movie is “War Room”, produced by the Kendrick Brothers. I rejoiced at the success of the movie with mainstream audiences, and I’ve supported their other projects (“Facing the Giants”, “Courageous”). On Election Day, the Kendrick brothers posted this on their Facebook page:
The Kendrick Brothers
WE VOTED! HAVE YOU? Please pray for America and honor God by voting according to His values today. Don’t put it off. Regardless of the party or your past, your first loyalty should always be to God and His Word. Since God established marriage (Genesis 2:24) not man, vote for those who will honor His design. Since He forms all babies in the womb (Psalm 139:13-14) and hates the shedding of innocent blood (Proverbs 6:17), please vote against those who will destroy the helpless unborn. Since God has a covenant with Israel, vote for those who will stand with Israel. Vote for the religious freedom of pastors and your children to live out their faith. Don’t be distracted by personalities. Please pray and go vote today!
Does that sound like they voted for Hillary? I think not. Don’t believe me? Scroll through their Facebook page. Pay attention to the video they shared the day after the election.
And that’s how it’s been since Election Day. White “Evangelical” Christians have been raising their hands and singing hymns as if Jesus Himself had become President. Yes, there were also non-Whites who voted for 45, but that’s another argument. I spent the rest of 2016 trying to figure out how anyone who follows the teachings of Christ could support a man who represents NOTHING Christ-like. There are only three logical explanations: either they allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by 45’s nonsense, they were as racist and unstable as 45, or they had nothing to lose by 45 being in office. Whatever the reason, something is fundamentally wrong with your belief system when casting your vote for a lecherous, woman-hating, racist criminal computes as “the godly choice”.
How do you justify setting civil rights in this country back sixty years? What do you say to non-white Christians who now live in fear and betrayal? Now that 45 has revealed himself to be insane as well as unfit for office, do you still consider him “the godly choice”?
Obviously, we do not serve the same God, even if we both wear the Christian name. I don’t serve the god of the slave masters and the Klan and the Alt-Right Nationalists and this White Supremacist nation that they all represent. Let me be clear about the God that I serve.
I serve the God who delivered displaced Africans from the atrocities of slavery.
I serve the God who sees all human beings as equal, all with equal access to His love, grace, blessings, and salvation.
I serve the God who sent His Only Son down here to show us by example how to love each other without discrimination.
I serve the God who blessed me with my brown skin, my kinky hair, my thick lips and hips, and my warrior spirit.
I serve the God who gave me a mind with which to think, and to learn, and to distinguish the difference between good and evil, and to choose to have a relationship with Him of my own free will.
I serve the God who was with Grandma and Nem during the sit-ins, and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the March on Washington, and every court decision that gave Black people the legal right to be treated like human beings in this country.
I serve the God who walked with President Barack Hussein Obama through eight years—that’s TWO terms!–of hateful, racist push-back—and blessed him with the guts to look it in the face and still represent our country with class and dignity.
I serve the God who commands us to feed the hungry, give generously to the poor and to help those who cannot help themselves—especially if you are ridiculously rich.
I serve the God who America pushed out of our schools and courts (which is why both are upside-down and backwards), yet Who still watches over us, our children and our loved ones, often without our permission.
I serve the God who will judge Donald J. Trump, his syncophants, his enablers, his co-conspirators, and every supporter who chose hate above reason in the name of God or who knew exactly what they were doing when they put a very wrong man in office.
Are we clear about the God I serve? I hope so. Because if you do not serve that same God, then we have a problem. I do not trust you. Betrayal hits hard with me. I will forgive, but I cannot keep company with someone who would sell me down the river as easily as they would praise God. It’s that simple. Even if you identify as Christian; even if I used to listen to your sermons, even if I have your movies on DVD; even if we’re friends on Facebook (which may not last long), if you’re not with me, you’re against me. If you’re not down with who God really is, then just keep it moving. People like me will overcome again, with or without your help. The true and living God is on our side, because He always sides with the underdog, not the privileged.
I am very clear about which side I’m on. Are you?
I was saddened by your title about trusting white Christians. True Christianity isn’t about our skin color, it is about the condition of our hearts. And that is made right only by the blood of Jesus Christ. He tells us not all who say Lord, Lord will enter in.
I agree with you. It is sad that I cannot trust people who say that they worship the same God that I do yet vote against the interests of those who are not like them. I would hope that, in spite of the incendiary title, that you actually read the message. If you did, then you would understand my point and my feelings behind them.
You are absolutely right in saying that true Christianity isn’t about skin color. Tell that to the people who resisted President Obama’s authority every chance they got. Tell that to every “evangelical” who sided with the openly racist administration instead of the poor, the disenfranchised, the disabled, and anyone else in this country who doesn’t have the privilege that you enjoy. Are you saddened by that? Are you saddened by the suffering that 45 has inflicted on people like me, supposedly in the name of God? If so, what do you intend to do about it, as a Christian (“follower of Christ”) who favors the condition of the heart over the color of the skin?
My sister in Christ,
I’ll begin by stating that a) I’m Mexican, b) I’m evangelical and c) that I voted for neither Hillary nor Trump. I actually made the decision to support a third party candidate, in this case, Darrell Castle of the Constitution Party. He was the only pro-life candidate in the field, and I have become fed up with voting for the lesser of two evils.
If you check out my blog posts, you’ll see where I stand on most issues, given that I’m not in the habit of mincing words. I’m pro-gun, pro-life, pro-death penalty, pro-traditional marriage, pro-limited government and I support free-market capitalism. Almost all of my stances are supported by Scripture, and I’m not afraid to admit that.
As an apologist, I have dedicated years of my life to the defense of our faith, as we are commanded to do in 1 Peter 3:15. Imagine my dismay when you mention having your faith challenged in college, but not speaking up in defense.
In case you’re wondering, 1 Peter 3:15 says, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”.
In the original Greek, the word used for “answer” in this verse is “apologia”, which means “positive verbal defense”. This verse commands us to be ready to have a positive verbal defense of our faith. Yet, you chose to be lax about it and keep it to yourself.
I too have heard that President Trump does surround himself with Christians. I can neither confirm nor deny the validity of such a statement, given that my rank of Specialist guarantees I probably won’t meet my new CIC.
Whether he does or not is immaterial. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that the President must be blood bought and sold.
Granted, this doesn’t preclude us from supporting the candidate we see as supporting our own beliefs and values. However, I’m curious how you believe that Hillary Rodham Clinton was ever the better of the two?
First off, as a war vet (I served in Iraq in 2008) I have spent a large chunk of my life infused with the concept that you never leave anyone behind. To do so is literally unthinkable. Countless American warriors have sacrificed their lives in pursuit of this ideal and to minimize that is to invalidate the way those men and women lived and died.
Yet, that’s precisely what she did to the people at the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi. No, I don’t care about Congress’ findings that “Teflon” Clinton didn’t do anything wrong, you simply don’t abandon warriors to their fate. You fight to get to them, even if you know that all you’re doing is recovering their bodies. No. Man. Left. Behind.
It’s even written into the Warrior Ethos portion of the Soldier’s Creed, “I will never leave a fallen comrade.” You should check it out. It’ll help you understand us a bit better.
To see a politician who not only abandoned people under her charge for the sake of political expediency, but then to see her lie about it to the families of the people she abandoned? That’s beyond low.
Yet, you want me, an American Soldier, to entrust my life and the lives of my fellow Soldiers, to someone we know has no qualms about leaving us twisting in the wind? No thanks, I’m good.
Next, there’s that server. No matter how one chooses to look at it, she violated Federal Law by sending even one email to that server. She ought to be in prison, rather than breathing free air. “Teflon” Clinton strikes again.
This woman has demonstrated repeatedly that she is an unprincipled political opportunist, an elitist who views herself as above the law, and an unabashed supporter of Saul Alinsky since her university days. She is a danger to the Oval Office and doesn’t belong anywhere near it.
Next, there’s her husband, a serial adulterer, serial rapist, philadering womanizer who managed to absolutely degrade not only the office of the President while in office, but also hamstrung our military into the unprepared mess it was on the day of 9-11.
You honestly want him wandering unchecked through the White House again? Did no one learn from the first two times he was there? How many interns must fall prey to him before people will finally admit that he’s just as much a monster as she is?
Final point, in the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus states that we must a) pray for those who would persecute us, b) do no evil against those who wrong us, c) walk that extra mile for those who would force us to carry their burden, d) rejoice and celebrate those who speak ill of us. In this post, how much of that have you done?
You proudly state that you serve the God who will judge Trump and company. You seem to relish the idea of their inevitably harsh judgement at the hands of an angry God. Tell me, how do you think He will judge you?
Our Lord and Savior made clear that we are never allowed to rejoice in the suffering of others, even those we deem as “deserving”. Why? Because, as sinners, we are ALL condemned apart from our Lord.
In the Book of Isaiah, it’s stated that our righteous deeds are as filthy rags before our Lord. It’s clear that every last one of us needs Jesus in order to avoid judgement and punishment on that day. I do, you do, Trump does, all of us do.
To somehow judge yourself as superior to him, or anyone else for that matter, is blasphemy. This is what Jesus meant in Matthew 7:1-6, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”
Don’t judge yourself superior to your brother, as Trump is your brother in Christ. Rather, pray for him. Pray that God deal with him justly, guide him rightly in the position he currently occupies and ask the Lord to forgive Trump his many sins.
That’s what must be done, not any of this backbiting and such. It’s bad for the country, and it’s a violation of the beliefs we hold dear. Now more than ever, we need unity and strength, not division. Choose wisely your words, sister. As always, be blessed. 😊
Wow. Sounds like you were really chapped.
In what part of MY posting of MY personal opinion based on MY faith did you feel the need to respond with such defensiveness and condescension? That whole geschichte wasn’t even relevant to the point that I was making, which you still appear to have missed.
You presume way too much. For one, you feel the need to quote scriptures to me that I have studied and applied to my daily walk for over 30 years. Where did that even come from? Does something about me make you feel so insufficient that you had to give me your entire resume, which I never asked for? Check the beam in your own eye.
Also, for someone who didn’t vote for Hillary or Trump, you sound an awful lot like the Trump supporters who defend their decision by trashing Hillary with propaganda that has no basis in fact. Why didn’t you instead defend whatever candidate you did support, instead of throwing dirt on Hillary? That doesn’t sound very Christ-like to me.
Lastly, I don’t appreciate your tone. You’re on MY page, and your “chastisement” of me is out of line. If my personal opinion stepped on your toes, move your feet and keep moving. Don’t give me orders about what you think I should do, or live, or think, or believe. You don’t have a Heaven or Hell to put me in. I take my orders from God, not you.
Now, YOU be blessed.
In all honesty, I wasn’t really chapped. Perhaps it seems that way, but I’m generally very blunt and brutally honest in a way that people find off-putting. I simply just call things like I see them, right or wrong.
I’m a work in progress and I figure I’ll eventually get it right one day. In the meantime, I’ll settle for apologizing for having created the impression of condescension. That wasn’t my intent.
1. The fact of the matter is, your post was public, which I take as an open invitation for outside comment. As a general rule, I encourage people to comment on my posts, especially when they disagree with me. I like an open and honest dialogue. In this case, I haven’t done anything I wouldn’t welcome myself.
I find it interesting that you believe my comment missed the point. It’s actually very relevant, given that I was calling out two main points where you have gone wrong. As believers, we ought to be willing to call each other out. I know I’d like to know if I’m doing wrong, including the relevant Scripture.
It makes no difference if you’ve studied Scripture thirty years or five minutes, if you’re acting contrary to it then you’re wrong. Again, I’d like to know if I’m doing wrong, so, “Do unto others”, right?
2. Now, why did I feel the need to give a basic rundown of myself? Well, it comes down to a couple of factors. First, in this day and age, people will often question a person who speaks against them, and the first question usually centers around a person’s fitness to speak at all. You’ve asked a question along that line. My intent was to forestall such questions by removing the need to ask. It usually works as a time saver.
Second, people tend to make assumptions about me, based upon the very limited information available. For example, my wife tells me that I write like a man, so it’s logical that one can conclude from my writing style that I am a man.
The problem here comes when people look at my political stances, and make assumptions in directions that don’t exist. I’ve been called a racist (illogical given that I’m of mixed heritage and don’t believe in race as a concept), bigot, hatemonger, etc. I even once had someone I was debating tell me that I’m no better than those Islamic terrorists blowing themselves up, nevermind that I’m a Christian and don’t advocate violence.
In short, I’m nixing the idea that I’m a “white supremacist”, or that I live under some nebulous “privilege” as an argument against me. I have neither the time, nor the patience, for such nonsense.
3. Moving on to Hillary. One lesson I took away from my time in Iraq is, never trust the media. They are lying, scheming, verminous rodents who do little more than misinform dangerously at best, and outright destroy innocent lives at the worst. As such, I have a strong preference for doing my own independent research.
The following is the Federal statute Hillary violated by 1) seeking to prevent investigators from gaining access to them, and 2) “unintentionally” deleting huge volumes of emails to prevent their exposure. That investigators found classified documents on an unclassified server (namely hers) doesn’t help her case.
18 U.S. Code § 2071 – Concealment, removal, or mutilation generally
(a) Whoever willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, or destroys, or attempts to do so, or, with intent to do so takes and carries away any record, proceeding, map, book, paper, document, or other thing, filed or deposited with any clerk or officer of any court of the United States, or in any public office, or with any judicial or public officer of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
(b) Whoever, having the custody of any such record, proceeding, map, book, document, paper, or other thing, willfully and unlawfully conceals, removes, mutilates, obliterates, falsifies, or destroys the same, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both; and shall forfeit his office and be disqualified from holding any office under the United States. As used in this subsection, the term “office” does not include the office held by any person as a retired officer of the Armed Forces of the United States. (https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2071)
By the way, this statute makes what she did a felony. Not only that, but section “b” stipulates that those guilty of violating this law can’t hold any public office, ever. This rather hurts one’s chances of becoming President, and she couldn’t have that.
You are an intelligent person, so consider the following. The FBI declined to press charges because they saw no intent to violate the law. Since when does intent ever come into play? If you or I were to do something like this, we’d quickly find ourselves under the prison. Yet, Clinton walks free? You don’t see anything wrong with this picture? Consider the case of Edward Snowden, the whistleblower.
He exposed government wrongdoing to the world. He acted in what he saw was the best interests of the American people, whether he was right or wrong is a matter of debate. (I tend to regard him as a mixture of patriot and traitor) He fought the good fight, and now lives in exile, unable to return to the home he’s known his entire life. Why does Hillary, someone in a much higher position of trust, get a pass, when he has to spend the rest of his life hunted?
4. Then, there’s the incident at Benghazi. That she ordered nearby assets to stand down from their attempts at rescue/recovery of the Ambassador, and the three men who died along with him, is a matter of public knowledge. If I’m not mistaken, the entire mainstream media (regardless of which side of the aisle they’re on) reported the facts of the case uniformly.
Given the fractious nature of the MSM, that’s something of note. They seldom agree on anything, so agreement is a major thing.
To someone like me, a combat-trained Soldier, those actions scream abandonment. She left people under her charge to be brutally tortured, raped and murdered. Those are not the actions of someone I desire as my Commander-in-Chief. If I die in battle, I want it to mean something other than political expediency.
In the aftermath, why is it that she waited so long to finally admit that it was a terrorist attack? Why did she tell the families, in the meantime, that the attack was really a protest over some obscure internet video?
I’ve seen videos far more critical of Islam on YouTube, yet, only parts of the Muslim world are on fire. Why? What was it about this particular video? I’ve studied Islam for years and can tell you that they consider any criticism of Islam blasphemous. Why, then, is the response so disproportionate?
Just those two points are enough to convince me that she is inhumane, cruel, irresponsible, unprincipled and more than a little crazy. Of course, those are just two examples out of many, and I don’t have six months to sit and type it all out.
5. I actually did advocate for my candidate. However, as he was a) running on a third party ticket, b) largely unknown, c) representing a political party that isn’t well-known (Constitution Party), and d) didn’t have the large budget other candidates had, it’s clear he didn’t stand a chance. I voted with my conscience, and would do it again in a heartbeat.
Ahead of the election, I was openly advocating that people not only get out and vote, but that they take a long look at what our other political parties have to offer. Truth be told, I would have voted Libertarian if their candidate hadn’t been pro-choice.
I’m a very strict Constitutionalist. I believe that our government was never meant to be the all-encompassing behemoth it has become, and that this is due to the fact that We, the People allowed it to grow beyond its Constitutional restraints and authority.
What we are governed by is not what was intended, and I spend a great deal of time trying to remind people of that fact. I did swear an oath after all.
6. I have come to the conclusion that our two primary political parties have long since outlived their usefulness. They stopped working for the people a long time ago, and the sooner they go the way of the dinosaur, the better. If you find yourself wondering why our country is falling apart, look no further than the Republicans and Democrats. They have done untold amounts of damage, where they once had done good.
Well, it seems my response has become a bit longer than I had originally intended. My apologies for that, but I felt that it would be best to give my response as separate points.
Oh, Lord in Heaven. Here we go again.
I’m glad that you appreciate bluntness, because I am no longer interested in being polite to you.
Yes, my post is public. Don’t infer that I didn’t know what I was doing when I posted it. I welcome comments to my activism posts because I expect them to be relevant to the issues that I raise. I’ve approved your comments because I don’t back down from an argument, even though this one has gone way off the rails in about three different directions.
Your comments have not been relevant to anything that I brought up in my post. I never intended to re-hash Hillary vs. Trump, which you still insist on doing. You’ve spent days going off on your own tangents, thumping at me with your exalted (arrogant) Christology and blatant Hillary-bashing. That’s why I keep telling you that you’re missing my point, which by the way was “now that the damage has been done, this is where I am”. Do you get now why I have no interest in your arguments?
Let me reiterate…you’re on my site giving me Genesis-to-Revelation on why you don’t think I don’t have a right to feel the way I feel. Public post or not, you don’t have the right to dehumanize someone or invalidate their feelings because you are “saddened” by them, and then sprinkle some Jesus on it to make yourself feel superior to me. That’s what keeps getting my back up. You tout your views while invalidating mine. You should have learned Romans 14:16 alongside those scriptures that you hurled at me. Absorb it, because you and I clearly do not worship the same God.
I haven’t gone to your Ezekiel Project and dictated my unsolicited opinions to you. What gives you the right to think that you can continue to do that to me? What “saddens” me is that we both identify as Christians, but my experience with you has been anything but unifying. I am not compelled in any way to know you or “your God”. Your tone is negative, your apologies are hollow, and your comments will no longer be entertained on my site.
Learn from this, in the name of Jesus.
Um, wow. I came to tell you I enjoyed & can definitely relate to your post.
Ezekiel Project solidified the whole point of your post. A “combat-trained soldier” says he doesn’t advocate violence. Oxymoron, like these alleged “white christians”.
I enjoyed your piece & I am in the same mindset. (I’m a mixed black woman.) They obviously don’t care that their path is toward destruction, my path is following Yeshua [Jesus] to freedom. The Lord told me to no longer identify as “christian” because the disciples weren’t called “christians” they were just individual followers of Yeshua. That’s the narrow path.
I also find it interesting that the first commenter didn’t respond to your response to her, but that’s what they do, pull the “colorblind” card & then they are empty.
May the Lord continue to bless you & keep you. Amen.
Thank you for your comment. Yes, that whole episode bothered me. It took a lot to remember the God in me during that exchange. To answer your question, I didn’t care about that person’s blog then, and I don’t care now. My faith in God has not decreased since 2016, but my faith in certain “Christians”….that’s another story.
Yes, I hear you. God said we are to ONLY have faith in Him, because man will let us down everytime.
Have a blessed remainder of your day!