I have joined this new initiative and invite you to do the same.
The founders, Joel Selby and John Kingston, are both long-term Republicans. A number of the people who wrote chapters for the book I edited (THE SPIRITUAL DANGER OF DONALD TRUMP: 30 EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS ON JUSTICE TRUTH AND MORAL INTEGRITY), have joined this movement and are members (along with me) of a large group of people on the Leadership Committee of CHRISTIANS AGAINST TRUMPISM.
As you can see from the statement below, the people endorsing this movement embrace a range of views. Some agree with more of Donald Trump’s specific policies than I do! But we all agree that Trumpism, violence and political extremism are disastrous and must be opposed.
I invite you to join me in supporting CHRISTIANS AGAINST TRUMPISM AND POLITICAL EXTREMISM. Just click here: www.christiansagainsttrumpism.com.
Here is the full statement of this group:
To counter the dark and divisive voices in the Christian community advancing the politically toxic ideas of our so-called political leaders, “we the people” need to awaken to the ideals that animate us as people of faith and Americans. One of the most fundamental principles of the Christian faith is that we’re better together, so we must pray for and declare our love for all Americans, no matter their political views.
Because the call to unity comes from Christ himself, we ardently seek it.
While it is important to articulate what we are for, we agree with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s sentiment: Christians must speak up against injustice, untruth and division anywhere, as it is a threat to justice, truth and unity everywhere.
We stand in the tradition of God’s people, over the course of history, who have stood against racism, segregation, slavery, child sex trafficking, and all manner of outright evil. The Bible is full of examples of God’s people standing against evil in the dominant culture, and many faithful Christian leaders still are doing just that. That’s why we will promote a diverse cross-section of those spiritual leaders who’ve been sidelined, while others rush to the nearest news camera to minimize and justify the evil emanating from Washington, D.C.
However, we do not stand against a person or people group; Donald Trump and other extremist political leaders are made in God’s image like all of us. But we do stand against the ways in which the actions of our political leaders embolden speech and behavior antithetical to the gospel – among Christian supporters and the citizenry at-large.
Trumpism includes the intentional division and gleeful degrading of others made in God’s image. This emanates from the top but has infected many of Trump’s followers and supporters, including influential Christian leaders. So few Christians in leadership have been willing to publicly decry the president, though they are quick to point it out among others who disagree with their political positions.
Political extremism, whether from the “left” or the “right,” uses violence, chaos, and degrading language as tools for social change. God is not a god of violence and chaos; we know that renewing the health of our church and nation is a primarily spiritual endeavor, not a political one.
Consequently, this is not an effort centered on policy. Many of us find areas of agreement with the president and his supporters in matters of policy. We find clear areas of disagreement with Joe Biden and the Democrats. Many disciples find areas of common cause with certain policies advanced by the far left. However, we believe Christians who use, excuse and embrace toxic rhetoric to achieve specific policy “wins” are short-sighted and wrong.
We are against the demonization of people with different views and the ‘cancelling’ of perceived political enemies. We affirm the right of Americans to protest peacefully, even if angrily. As Christians we weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn. But violent protests are contrary to democratic political processes and undermine our dignity as a nation and as human beings.
Standing against Trumpism and political extremism is an important part of a reformation movement for the declining Church. If we are going to rebound in the next decade, we must once again nail the truest of our values to its door. These values will exist longer than any fleeting political policies that benefit us in the moment.
We aim to defeat this style of politics first in repentance for the ways we have contributed in any way to a culture of contempt. Second, we will pray for our leaders, our neighbors, and our churches — that we’ll come closer to fulfilling the motto proposed for the first Great Seal of the United States by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson in 1776: “E Pluribus Unum.”
Out of many, one.
Indulging in Trumpism and political extremism is like building a house on the sand. We know this story. The house may seem strong, but it will crumble. Christians Against Trumpism & Political Extremism seeks to rebuild on the solid foundations of heart-felt repentance and true spiritual revival.
May it be so.
Invite your friends to join my free blog: ronsiderblog.substack.com.
Donald Trump would never have been President without the support of the evangelical church. The Bible prophesied there would be a great falling away of Christians, at the beginning of the end. This falling away is brought on by the man of lawlessness. He will delude them and as a result, Trump Christians will be rejected by Christ and will not to be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
In order to save those lost to Trumpism, we must look at the relationship between the Biblical anti-Christ and Trump. We need to learn from our past encounters with anti-Christs and what the Bible has to say about future anti-Christ types. Many prophecies have been fulfilled and will occur again in the future, until Christ returns. In 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12, the Antichrist will come on the world scene at the beginning of end times. In verse 1: “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2: not to be quickly be shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3: Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4: who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5: Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? 6: And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7: For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8: And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9: The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10: and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11: Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, 12: in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
This is bizarro world we have here. Multiple times Ron cites opposition to Trump based off of a distaste for violence. Trump (and I didn't vote for him in 2016, lest any reader of this comment think I'm simply a Trump apologist) has been about the least violent President since Eisenhower, not just Republican but any President. He has brokered multiple mid-east peace deals that would have won every single world leader a Nobel prize had they been the broker. For the first time in generations, we have a President who has not actively sought escalated military conflict abroad. Finally, and most importantly, Trump has been as outspoken and actionable on the most violent act in America in this age: abortion. Again, I'm no forever-Trumper, so don't take my comments as being partisan, but it's a signal of willful ignorance to label him violent.