Prominent Evangelical pastor warns American Christians that voting for Trump could bring God's judgement on America.

[lees1975]

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2024/07/prominent-evangelical-pastor-warns.html

Politics, especially on the Republican side of things, really ramped up during Reagan's two terms, but it was quite prolific, along with being characteristically vitriolic and hostile toward President Clinton, who was himself a member of a Southern Baptist church, along with Vice President Al Gore. Toward the end of President Clinton's term, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor and denominational leader, Dr. Adrian Rogers, of Memphis' Bellevue Baptist Church, one of the largest Baptist churches in the country, preached a rousing sermon declaring that while political issues were of importance, sometimes they didn't always align with religious values, so in choosing who to vote for, Christians must sacrifice support for potential political benefits to themselves, such as lower taxes, or affordable child care, or the ability to afford health insurance, in order to vote for candidates who demonstrated a high standard of Christian character.

That, according to Dr. Rogers, was really all that mattered, and of course, he added that choosing such candidates was a necessity for the nation to "avoid the judgment of God." That latter statement is actually contradictory to the Christian gospel itself, and I'm sure Dr. Rogers knew that, but it plays well in the pews. The sermon was entitled, "Does Character Count?" and it was aimed at discrediting President Clinton as a professing Christian, based on a judgment of his behavior that included several alleged affairs and the incident with Monica Lewinsky, which prompted the sermon. Dr. Rogers concluded that Christians were obligated to support leaders whose character demonstrated divine transformation, bridging Christian nationalism and Old Testament Jewish theocracy.

I don't hear very many Christian leaders citing Dr. Rogers' sermon now. Insofar as it was a condemnation of President Clinton's behavior being a disqualifying factor for getting the votes of Christians, it likewise does exactly the same thing to Donald Trump. It's not difficult to apply Rogers' admonitions and warnings in exactly the same way, with exactly the same result. Following Dr. Rogers' conclusion, Christians who vote for, and support someone as immoral and worldly as Donald Trump are subjecting this country to the possible judgment of God.

There's no turning this around or walking it back. Dr. Adrian Rogers, former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church of Memphis, and former President of the Southern Baptist Convention has openly told Christians that voting for Trump would be against their Christian convictions and could lead to God's judgment on the United States. Certainly a man who is civilly liable for rape, who is a convicted felon on 34 counts of business fraud, who is a pathological liar, a worldly adulterer who has bragged about his sexual conquests in humiliating each of his three wives, and who led a rebellious insurrection against the United States government would be completely unqualified to serve in office by this Christian standard. Add to that his open rejection of Christian conviction and conversion, and I think it is safe to conclude that Dr. Rogers is instructing Christians not to cast their ballots for Donald Trump.

Dr. Rogers passed away before Trump came on the scene. Whether he would have reversed this position, like almost all of his Evangelical colleagues have done, abandoning principle and shedding their credibility to support a pagan despot, is difficult to say. A lot of effort has gone into ignoring this sermon, an amazing development given that his sermons are still replayed and broadcast and his ministry still collects money. But Dr. Adrian Rogers laid out the best argument against Christian support for an unrepentant, adulterous, grifting scam artist like Donald Trump that exists.

[GreenWave]

1. Like a pandemic?

[Skittles]

2. how do people take these delusions seriously

oh NOW gawd is upset with Trump?

[lees1975]

3. It's a matter of perspective, don't you see?

The sermon that was referenced applies perfectly to Trump, from an Evangelical perspective. But when it was originally written, it was aimed at Bill Clinton. Logically , if Bill Clinton's behavior in office was enough to bring down God's judgment on America, then wouldn't Trump's, as well? That would be a reasonable conclusion, under these circumstances. The hypocrisy zaps the credibility of anyone who is politically inclined to support Trump who used this reasoning to condemn Clinton.

In fact, there's nothing in the New Testament or Christian gospel about God either redeeming or judging "nations" or countries. Faith is a matter of individual conscience and conviction, not the collectively accepted religious belief of a country. Infusing his dominionist perspective into his judgment sermon, Dr Rogers makes this common theological error.

Trump is popular among conservative Evangelicals because they are deluded.

[Skittles]

4. sorry

I see it ALL as delusions.......I wish people would just do the right thing without expecting a reward in the end.

[lees1975]

5. It's not in the culture of these people to do the right thing without expecting a reward.

These churches, for the most part, are oligarchies themselves, run by small groups of influential people, usually because they have money, aimed at achieving their own agenda. The values found in the Christian gospel, things like humility, peacemaking, loving your enemies, the condemnation of violence, are passed over as "liberal talking points" these days.

[Skittles]

6. I behave in a more "christian" manner than all the christians I know

and I am agnostic.

[Bucky]

7. You mean like a deadly plague? Don't be ridiculous!

[lees1975]

8. "God's judgment" on a country, or nation, is not a Christian idea.

It's an Old Testament concept that comes out of the tribal connections of the ancient Middle East, when people believed that worshipping a god or gods was part of their tribal, ethnic origin and that their lives and destiny as a nation was controlled by their behavior and whether or not they were doing the things the deity found to be pleasing. That's the whole history of ancient Israel, the law, and the Prophets. Things went well when everyone worshipped God. But as the surrounding paganism crept in, and prophetic warnings went unheeded, the nation's fortunes went downhill. That's how they explain and deal with the fact that their nation declined in military might, split into two countries, one getting wiped out by the Assyrian Empire, the remnant first becoming a vassal province to the Babylonians, and then being conquered and destroyed.

Jesus taught that redemption and reconciliation to God were matters of individual conscience, not national will. I grew up in an Evangelical denomination, and I know that most of the theology is a jumbled mish-mash of literal readings of Bible passages and verses taken out of their historical and cultural context, and confusing the prophetic instructions and warnings with the teaching of Jesus and the apostles. It has produced various forms of Christian nationalism, because of the moral superiority of Christianity being the qualifying factor for leadership. My response to that is to point to two thousand years of church history, during which most of Europe was ruled by monarchs who used a very distorted version of Christianity to subjugate people and establish their own power. It's one of the bloodiest and most violent and brutal eras of human history. Self-fulfilling prophecy is not judgment brought about by God.

And that's aside from the fact that when it comes to morality, there's not any appreciable difference that I can see between conservative Evangelical Christians and agnostics.