Tim Alberta.
“God did not ordain Donald Trump to rescue the American church, or revive the American church, or redeem the American church. God ordained Donald Trump to test the American church. And the American church has failed.”
Post pandemic congregants not returning to the pews. Evangelicals under Orange Jesus’s spell. Secularism running amok.
As if that’s not enough Oregon spanked Liberty 45-6 in the Fiesta Bowl. Add to that, today’s ESPN headline, “Grambling women beat College of Biblical Studies 159-18”.*
Don’t be surprised if historians point to the College of Biblical Studies loss as the church’s low point.
*Reminds me of one of the youngest’s middle school basketball games, which her team lost 49-7. “Dad,” she said afterwards, “we lost by the square root!”
The last one in this short/live update from Jonathon Swan in the NYT on Trump’s Tuesday night speech at Mar-a-Lago.
“One theme to watch in the speech is how Trump portrays the nature of his victimhood. His advisers and allies have explicitly referenced scripture and the fate of Jesus Christ — a play to rally evangelical voters. Trump’s campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, on Monday tweeted out a picture of a Trump supporter by the roadside in Florida holding a large wooden cross. Mr. Cheung quoted Ephesians 5:2, implying that Trump was imitating Christ’s sacrificial love through his handling of his criminal indictment in the porn star hush money case.“
Someone PLEASE tell me we’ve bottomed out.
Early Christians believed that following Jesus Christ transforms a person into a well of compassion, humility, kindness, and generosity. They put the needs of others before their own.
Theocracy does not require such an inner transformation; the evangelical-right base and its prophets are quick to condemn cherry-picked sins. Jesus, by contrast, said that the important matters of God’s commands are “justice, mercy, and faith.” I don’t think Jesus himself would fit with today’s evangelical base.
Reverend Vanessa J. Falgoust
Natchitoches, La.
Pressing Pause 