Jesus teaches us that we are blessed when we are reviled and persecuted and evil is uttered against us falsely on His account. This promise, of course, is the penultimate statement of the Beatitudes, which offer us Jesus’ countercultural insight into the nature of Christ-like living and divine blessing.
The Beatitudes remind us, among other truths, that meekness and mercy, poverty of spirit and peacemaking are essential to a truly Christian way of being in the world. While we at Toward the Truth ardently advocate that we don’t confuse the church with government, we nonetheless realize that our current administration is so closely aligned with the powers of evangelicalism in the US that the lines between church and state are being blurred at a rapid pace. Beyond that, many evangelicals seem certain that Donald Trump has been placed in office by means of the meticulous providence of God and some in the administration seem to concur.
Which makes even more distressing some of the disturbing headlines in recent weeks. The president mocks a professed victim of sexual assault. Trump says of a US congressman, a professing Christian who slammed a reporter to the floor, that “He’s my guy,” specifically referring to the assault for which Rep Gianforte pled guilty. And, when confronted with the reality that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is likely complicit in the premeditated torture and murder of one of his kingdom’s own citizens, Trump seems willing to wave off this atrocity in order to make some profit. (And today, those things seem like old news as the news cycle has shifted to the promise that a caravan of unarmed migrants who will be met by thousands of military troops at the border, in light of the impending vote.)
We could say more, but this should be enough. It should be enough for the average citizen, and it should certainly be enough for those who claim to be followers of Jesus, to realize that this administration neither represents nor defends the cause of Christ. But, as we have observed repeatedly in our posts, evangelical Christianity in the US these days seems to be far less about Jesus and the work of God’s Spirit than it is about attaining secular power, preserving male headship, and declaring how righteous they are.
It is bad enough that some Christians sit idly by while Donald Trump and his supporters corrupt our country. It is worse when Christians join the throng who cheer him on. In terms evangelicals should understand, there will be hell to pay for this. It is ironic and lamentable that those Christians in the US who are most ardent about the doctrine of hell have embraced the mantle of self-righteousness and corruption that Jesus so clearly warned lead to that fiery end.
But there is hope. Even for the religious who have strayed so far from faith and truth, from love, the gospel of Jesus remains our hope. The kind of righteousness lived by Jesus, the genuine righteousness that is found in Him, is righteousness that is inextricably linked to meekness and mercy and poverty of spirit and peacemaking. Of such is the kingdom of God.
If today is any indication, the great reward promised in Matthew 5 would seem to await not the self-proclaimed evangelical Christians who follow Trump but the poor, mourning, and meek souls whom they are currently persecuting. Part of the point of Matthew 5 is that it doesn’t always end up in ways we’d expect. Wouldn’t it be a strange twist, but so like Jesus, for the tables to be turned in this way?
The Beatitudes remind us, among other truths, that meekness and mercy, poverty of spirit and peacemaking are essential to a truly Christian way of being in the world. While we at Toward the Truth ardently advocate that we don’t confuse the church with government, we nonetheless realize that our current administration is so closely aligned with the powers of evangelicalism in the US that the lines between church and state are being blurred at a rapid pace. Beyond that, many evangelicals seem certain that Donald Trump has been placed in office by means of the meticulous providence of God and some in the administration seem to concur.
Which makes even more distressing some of the disturbing headlines in recent weeks. The president mocks a professed victim of sexual assault. Trump says of a US congressman, a professing Christian who slammed a reporter to the floor, that “He’s my guy,” specifically referring to the assault for which Rep Gianforte pled guilty. And, when confronted with the reality that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is likely complicit in the premeditated torture and murder of one of his kingdom’s own citizens, Trump seems willing to wave off this atrocity in order to make some profit. (And today, those things seem like old news as the news cycle has shifted to the promise that a caravan of unarmed migrants who will be met by thousands of military troops at the border, in light of the impending vote.)
We could say more, but this should be enough. It should be enough for the average citizen, and it should certainly be enough for those who claim to be followers of Jesus, to realize that this administration neither represents nor defends the cause of Christ. But, as we have observed repeatedly in our posts, evangelical Christianity in the US these days seems to be far less about Jesus and the work of God’s Spirit than it is about attaining secular power, preserving male headship, and declaring how righteous they are.
It is bad enough that some Christians sit idly by while Donald Trump and his supporters corrupt our country. It is worse when Christians join the throng who cheer him on. In terms evangelicals should understand, there will be hell to pay for this. It is ironic and lamentable that those Christians in the US who are most ardent about the doctrine of hell have embraced the mantle of self-righteousness and corruption that Jesus so clearly warned lead to that fiery end.
But there is hope. Even for the religious who have strayed so far from faith and truth, from love, the gospel of Jesus remains our hope. The kind of righteousness lived by Jesus, the genuine righteousness that is found in Him, is righteousness that is inextricably linked to meekness and mercy and poverty of spirit and peacemaking. Of such is the kingdom of God.
If today is any indication, the great reward promised in Matthew 5 would seem to await not the self-proclaimed evangelical Christians who follow Trump but the poor, mourning, and meek souls whom they are currently persecuting. Part of the point of Matthew 5 is that it doesn’t always end up in ways we’d expect. Wouldn’t it be a strange twist, but so like Jesus, for the tables to be turned in this way?
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