Current Events in the 2024 Campaign
The teachings of Jesus and Trump are not reconcilable. If you have evidence, based on facts, or wish to raise different bible passages or different interpretations of the passages cited, please do so, we will be glad to hear from you, but as it’s a theological discussion consider using words appropriate for church. Time Magazine, for its part, makes a solid argument that comparing Trump to Christ is blasphemy.
For people like Franklin Graham or Mike Huckabee. Trump is supposed to be in the White House on a mission from God and Cyrus. King of Persia from Ezekiel 45 is the model for Trump President 45. Ezekiel 45 does identify Cyrus as anointed by God and a worshipper of Yahweh, but he is not described as a teacher, a prophet, or the messiah, because Jesus and Christianity came into being about 500 years later. So, How does any of that justify the arrival of a heaven-sent man to preach the opposite of Jesus' teachings, and who claims he will rise up and render judgment and retribution? (“I am the storm”) According to the gospel, it is Jesus who is to come with angels to separate the good, who receive the reward, and the bad who burn with the chaff, based on the verses cited in the previous section. Blasphemy indeed.
General Flynn, who was briefly Trump's chief of staff, and who was also the recipient of a Trump pardon, has launched the Reawaken America tour with rallies that resemble old-time revival meetings.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/michael-flynn-reawaken-america-tour/
On this tour, Flynn describes America as being involved in a spiritual as well as political war of good v evil. ( Maga good, Liberals evil). According to the gospel of Flynn, America needs to return to what he says are its roots, declare itself a Christian state, and become the Christian equivalent of a Muslim caliphate. He is wrong on history, the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution, and the Bible.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/michael-flynn-government-insider-holy-warrior/
https://baptistnews.com/article/dear-general-flynn-you-are-wrong-about-us/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URqG2N5c-Qs
In the YouTube sample, Gen Flynn first invokes the Declaration of Independence as a quick read and notes the God-given rights invoked by Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson rejected Jesus as a divine figure and considered him a teacher of excellent morals. He commissioned a bible with the teachings of Jesus from the gospel but removed all mentions of miracles or references to Jesus as divine. Thomas Kidd explains Jefferson’s beliefs and rejection of the holy trinity and resurrection of Jesus. You can read a summary of these beliefs in the blog cited below or in his new book, Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh (Yale University Press).
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/evangelical-history/jefferson-bible-founders-deism/
https://www.amazon.com/Jefferson-Bible-Biography-Lives-Religious/dp/0691205698
James Madison was also a Virginian and is credited with writing much of the Constitution and in particular the Bill of Rights. He is credited for the adoption of a freedom of conscience clause in Virginia’s constitution https://ffrf.org/ftod-cr/item/14257-james-madison
The same source includes Madison defeating a measure that would have imposed mandatory tithing and his regret over providing for the appointment of chaplains for each house of Congress as inconsistent with the Establishment Clause. He was baptized Anglican, but it was argued he was perhaps a deist but his exact faith is an open question. What is clear is that he was against the concept of one people one god or the state forcing any religious beliefs or church on any citizen.
https://www.montpelier.org/learn/religious-freedom
https://academic.oup.com/book/26109/chapter-abstract/194101247?redirectedFrom=fulltext
In the YouTube video”, General Flynn turns to New England where the Puritans came to establish the “City on the Hill”.
The story is not as simple as Geersl Flynn suggests. The Puritans did leave England to escape persecution, but they were rigid and intolerant themselves. They did not separate church from state, and they burned witches. They banished Anne Hutchinson, a deeply religious woman, because she accepted the concept offree will over the doctrine of predestination.
They also banished Roger Williams, who left and founded the colony of Providence which became the state of Rhode Island. He established a separation of church and state in order to preserve the integrity of the church. Providence enjoyed freedom. of religion, even for groups like the Quakers who Williams disagreed with. He espoused the religious liberty of the First. Amendment even before James Madison wrote it down.
https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/roger-williams/
Flynn’s theology as applied to politics, may be more upside down than his history. Liberals have no souls and will go to hell for their beliefs (and may be subjected to imprisonment here under some form of martial law). Nancy Pelosi, who said we should hate the sin but show love to the sinner, has been promoted from Darth Pelosi to Demon. Likewise, Joe Biden got bipartisan legislation passed which many Republicans voted against but now want to take some credit for, and has been dealing with the issue of a prodigal son who has become a target for his political opponents. Now, he, who has not abused power to protect his son, is a demon? Any Covid relief and economic stimulus he has pushed, are included in the tasks for Christians who seek salvation in the Gospel should be striving to do. Mathew 25:31-46 & Mathew 19:16-22.
When General Flynn’s preaching is compared to the gospel teachings, it is not the pathway to heaven, it’s the highway to hell.
Speaker Mike Johnson, this Republican House’s second try to elect at electing a speaker and attempt to govern, Speaker Johnson is polite, un-pugnacious, and largely unknown. Which made him a good candidate for Republican Speaker of the House, but not necessarily a good leader or someone who should be second in line of succession to be president. As more has become known, more questions arise.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/25/who-is-mike-johnson-republican-2020-election
According to the Guardian. Speaker Johnson self-identifies as “scriptural originalist” is oxymoronic since the colonies were first populated by people fleeing the Theocracies of Europe. Many of the founders know and respected that--as previously discussed in the beliefs of Madison and Jefferson. Religion requires a leap of faith, decision making is better made on looking at facts and history. He has declared that we do not live in a democracy but in a biblical republic akin to Muslims living under sharia law. Johnson has also been a “young earth creationist” under which the earth is only a few thousand years old and humans lived alongside dinosaurs. The problem of time in the bible not matching time in science was explored in the Scopes trial or “monkey trial.”
https://www.britannica.com/event/Scopes-Trial
Portrayed in play & movies Inherit the Wind e above cited film version starred Spencer Tracy in the Clarence Darrow role. Not allowed to bring in experts or challenge the constitutionality of the Butler Act, Darrow cross-examined William Jennings Bryan on the internal inconsistencies of the Old Testament. According to Genesis 1: 14-19, the sun was not created until the fourth day, so how was time being kept before the sun existed and hours could be measured.?
That is not the only question of time and the sun: In Genesis 10: 12-14 As Joshua for the Jericho the lord directed the sun and the moon to stop, and according to v14, they did stop for “about one day.” One answer, if the New Testament is considered, is 2 Peter 3: 8-9 “…With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” In this context, time is more flexible, and looking at the world today, it may take a lot more time to have even most of the people saved.
Mike Johnson has been a supporter of Trump, served on his legal team, and was involved in Trump’s plan to stay in power after the election. Whether he envisions replacing the teachings of Jesus with those of Trump like General Flynn, or whether he plans to restrain man’s evil nature by establishing a Puritan State, one people is yet to be determined.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/house-speaker-mike-johnson-not-fun-facts.html
See also https://time.com/6342955/mike-johnson-house-speaker-republicans/
Jesus and the angels will render God's judgment in the end. But we have received some warnings to follow as Christians, examples:
Mathew 24: 4-5 warning that many may come and claim to be the savior (or me) but do not be deceived. Repeated in Mathew 24: 24-25 that false prophets and false savior will appear. (similar words appear in Mark and Luke)
Mathew 7:15 warns of false prophets who come in sheep’s clothing but are hungry wolves who will deceive the elect.
Acts 20: 29-30 warns elders to protect the flock (elect) from the wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Romans 16: 17 “I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them. 18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of naive people.”
Flynn’s Reawaken America Tour and the campaign message it spreads is what the Bible passages referred to above are warning Christians about.
Two denominations have organized counter-protests to the ReAwaken America Rallies and come out in opposition to the blasphemous elements in the campaign: Baptists as cited in the links above above and the First Disciples of Christ. https://wordandway.org/2023/08/08/disciples-confronting-christian-nationalism/
The remainder of the opposition to the movement embodied in the Reawaken America Tour and Trump campaign dogma is from individuals, pastors, and even congregations. The Catholic Church
At the close of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what we had, and his reply was a republic if you can keep it.
The US Constitution includes the First Amendment specifically separating the Church from the state. 2024 is a year where the presidential election decides if we keep our Constitution our Republic, and our separation of our church from our state. Vote Republican for Nikki Haley or Vote Democrat for Joe Biden, and they are saved for at least another term. Elect authoritarian and blasphemer Trump and acolytes such as Speaker Mike Johnson, and they are lost, possibly forever.