Salon: The last temptation of Donald Trump: How he lured evangelicals to follow Satan

[onetexan]

https://www.salon.com/2024/11/03/the-last-temptation-of-donald-trump-how-he-lured-evangelicals-to-follow-satan/
Donald Trump has tempted evangelical Christians just as Satan tempted Jesus — except this time it worked

The first temptation was the offer of turning stones into bread. Jesus would have been starving by that time, but his famous reply was that man does not live on bread alone... Trump has offered the evangelical church a lot of bread, and the possibility to live the way he does. There are invitations to Mar-a-Lago, trips on the Trump plane, tax breaks for the wealthy and, on a larger scale, an economy that is constructed to benefit the richest people in our society, prominent evangelical ministers among them. In every area of life, when money becomes the end goal, community is undermined, art suffers and the truth is distorted. The church is no different. Evangelical leaders, by the way, are terrified of this message. They twist themselves into theological knots teaching and preaching that it's OK to be both a millionaire and a minister to the gospel of Christ.

The devil's second temptation is the offer of protection and safety. In the gospel, he urges Jesus to jump off the roof of the temple — if he is truly the son of God, surely his father, will protect him. Jesus replies that we must not put the Lord God to the test. This is an interesting temptation that we often encounter in life... I see that in the evangelical support of Donald Trump. His offer of protection is clear, and something he discusses all the time. He promises to keep the Christians safe from the evil forces of liberalism. The left is coming for your guns, he tells them. They will persecute you for your Christian faith. Your children are in danger of conversion by the "woke" mob on college campuses, on television, in the big cities. Never fear, believing Christians, Donald Trump will keep you safe.

It should be obvious that Jesus Christ did not live a safe life, a protected life or a comfortable life. Promises of protection and safety would have taken him off course just as Trump's temptations have taken the evangelical leadership away from what should be their true mission.

The final temptation offered by the devil, and by Trump, is the most obvious. The devil offers Jesus power over the whole world, and all he has to do is kneel before Satan and submit to his authority...Power does corrupt, as it most certainly has in the case of evangelical support of Donald Trump. Pastor Robert Jeffress is hardly the only example, but no one embodies the corrupting force of that this temptation better than he does. That man loves the power of the White House and the power Trump has provided him. Jeffress will create whatever theological explanation he has to in his efforts to return Trump to the White House.
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TX state rep James Talarico said evangelicals have replaced Jesus with trump. He's right.

[Blue Owl]

1. K&R x 1,000,000

Now they’re ALL going to hell!

[Kid Berwyn]

2. C-PAC must've changed a lot of minds.

[jmbar2]

3. K&R!

I've been following the machinations of the xtian right in PA - has become ground central in their quest to dominate the world.

A lot of Dominionist/NAR "prophets" have been cranking up followers with 'prophecies" of a war between God and demons. (God being representing by tRump!).

It will be fascinating to see how they deal with the cognitive dissonance after the election. I hope that it punctures the balloon of this awful movement.

[Simeon Salus]

4. I'm shocked it's taken even marginal media to take this seriously

tfg is the avatar of everything they echew

[BoRaGard]

5. The Great Deception (R)

[Maeve]

6. 2K years of warning about Antichrist & then they vote for him