Chris Thurman wrote an op-ed on The Christian Post website, trying to convince his fellow evangelicals that they are following the Antichrist into the “Trumpocalypse.” It’s an apt term. What’s also important is Thurman says evangelicals felt backed into a corner in 2016 and gives reasons for why.
I realize this person is but one example. However, he is not the only one. There are others who are speaking out. It’s a start, even if it is a small minority. Regardless of the number, it’s important to note that some evangelicals have come to see Trump for the appalling person he really is.
Thurman opens with, “Fool.” After a short bit, he says,
I believe evangelicals who support Donald Trump are being both blind and foolish to do so and that labeling them as such is not sinful but appropriate and necessary. By support, I’m not referring to evangelicals who voted for Trump in 2016. I’m referring to those evangelicals who continue to hold Trump up as a great leader, say he is God’s chosen one for the presidency, applaud his appalling words and actions, ignore his glaring moral defects, and enable his dangerous presidency to continue by giving him their time, talents, and treasures.
He says that his interactions with enthusiastic evangelical Trump supporters have generally been “unpleasant” in heeding his warning.
He calls out “The Four Evangelical Enablers of the Trumpocalypse”: Ralph Reed; Jerry Falwell, Jr.; Franklin Graham; and Mike Pence, along with providing short descriptions of them. Thurman also provides particular examples of their thinking, failing to see the real Trump, as they mislead Christian followers.
He tells them that they aren’t following what Scripture says, regarding Trump.
You got “bewitched” by an exploitative, pathologically lying snake oil salesman, and your unrestrained support of Trump has not only turned off untold numbers of non-believers to the cause of Christ but brought great dishonor on Christianity. Is Trump Morally Ill Beyond Normal Standards of Human Decency? The simple answer is yes. Given how narcissistic and sociopathic Trump is, he fundamentally doesn’t believe that the rules of moral behavior or social norms apply to him. That is the primary reason he has spent his adult life breaking one biblical commandment, federal law, and social norm after another. As much as people hoped Trump would take a turn for the better after becoming president, he has only grown more mentally and morally disturbed and defiant since assuming the powers of the presidency.8
You got “bewitched” by an exploitative, pathologically lying snake oil salesman, and your unrestrained support of Trump has not only turned off untold numbers of non-believers to the cause of Christ but brought great dishonor on Christianity.
Is Trump Morally Ill Beyond Normal Standards of Human Decency?
The simple answer is yes. Given how narcissistic and sociopathic Trump is, he fundamentally doesn’t believe that the rules of moral behavior or social norms apply to him. That is the primary reason he has spent his adult life breaking one biblical commandment, federal law, and social norm after another. As much as people hoped Trump would take a turn for the better after becoming president, he has only grown more mentally and morally disturbed and defiant since assuming the powers of the presidency.8
8 Thurman points to an article from RealClearPolitics “Trump’s Problem Is Serious — and Getting Worse”
Then, Thurman lists the following values with descriptions of how Trump doesn’t follow them, frequently doing the opposite:
I have to commend Thurman for actually pointing to 2 Timothy 3, although he could have pointed to numerous other passages, like in 2 Thessalonians 2 “The Man of Lawlessness,” which is more pointed and less politically correct for his crowd. While he doesn’t use the term “Antichrist” or “Antichrist Spirit,” as some say, that’s implied by the passage and context of theme. He points to 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV as a key passage:
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.
That passage sounds like a great description of Trump, and Thurman thinks so too. He goes on:
I also believe Trump is so malignantly narcissistic that he claimed to be a Christian simply to get evangelicals to vote for him in 2016. Evangelicals foolishly drank the Trump Kool-Aid and got conned into voting for him. Trump was cunning and conniving enough to know that without evangelical support he wouldn’t win the 2016 election, and he was more than willing to misrepresent himself as a follower of Christ in order to gain the presidency for his own personal glory and enrichment.
I’m so glad Thurman sees Trump for what he is.
Thurman is worried that evangelicals will strongly support Trump in 2020. They would be putting a “clearly morally and mentally unqualified” man in the highest office, again, which would be a “horrible mistake they made in 2016.”
He points to the alarm about the direction of the country and the left’s “desire to regain influence over it.” Also, it’s about the left’s most abhorrent views, which especially center around human sexuality and abortion. Evangelicals, he says, felt painted into a corner and had to vote for Trump because they couldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton.
Importantly, Thurman adds a second reason. Christians are being told to follow Trump by evangelical leaders.
Thurman talks about Trump’s mental health problems and gives an important quote from psychologist John Gartner in the book The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump.
Trump is a profoundly evil man exhibiting malignant narcissism. His worsening hypomania is making him increasingly more irrational, grandiose, paranoid, aggressive, irritable, and impulsive. Trump is bad, mad, and getting worse. He evinces the most destructive and dangerous collection of psychiatric symptoms possible for a leader. The worst-case scenario is now our reality.
He closes the article, once again calling evangelicals foolish and saying that Trump bewitched them. Realizing that Trump has turned the world upside down, he implores them to take the opposite view. Trump is evil, not good. He is darkness, not light. Thurman tells evangelicals to turn their backs on Trump.
If you are interested in understanding more, I would recommend Never-Trumper, evangelical Ben Howe’s book The Immoral Majority: Why Evangelicals Chose Political Power over Christian Values.
It’s important to note: the title of the book is in direct opposition of how this evangelical political movement got started in the first place: Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority.” It was a euphemistic term meant to hide the real purpose of the movement — to uphold white supremacy and patriarchy, which the Salon article talks about. In fact, Falwell rationalized a “white supremacist, misogynistic and homophobic worldview.”
Regarding Howe’s book, he is trying to appeal to evangelicals to see Trump for what he really is and to reject political power, even if Christians think Democrats will lead this country into Hell. Yes, many think that we are in league with Satan.
Howe actually talks about the prophesy many evangelicals point to in Isaiah 45, for the 45th president, referring to King Cyrus the Great of Persia. I talk about that, among other things, in my diary “Re: A Theory for Why Trump’s Base Won’t Budge.”
Interestingly, Howe calls out the hypocrisy of evangelicals who talk about Jesus’ words for personal use, but they ignore that with government. It’s a cognitive dissonance and transference of their patriarchal structure to government. Also, it’s a transference of how many see God.
For what it is worth, I bought the book, which I’m glad I did, to try to understand evangelicals better.
A shout out to David B. Gowler, who posted a link in the comments below — with a slightly different “Four Horsemen” and their hypocrisy. Check out his great Salon article, “The Four Horsemen of evangelical hypocrisy: How they whitewashed Donald Trump.”
One thing to note is that Hitler saw himself as the “Chosen One,” and so did many German Christians. Actually, he saw himself as Christ, the Warrior, while he saw Christ, the Crucified, as weak and disgusting. I talk about Trump and the Hitler connection in my diary “Re: A Theory for Why Trump’s Base Won’t Budge.”
Being that religion sparked some heated conversations in the comments, I am adding this for your consideration...
Maybe you are like me and were traumatized by religion as a child, or you found the hypocrisy too much to bear. I gave up organized religion long ago for both reasons.
Although I’m not a Christian, I’ve studied Christianity, as well as other religions to help me in several ways: understand human behavior in a search for how we can all live peacefully together, give me an understanding of the religion vs. the follower’s beliefs, make me a better person, and allow me to have educated and compassionate conversations with true believers.
There are certainly many Christians who don’t practice Jesus’ words and follow a corrupted form. However, we have to be careful to separate the religion from what the followers do. Jesus’ own words taught people to have compassion and love for their fellow human beings.
Christian dogma is problematic with people taking from the Bible what they want to. I try to follow Jesus’ words about love and compassion for others. At the same time, I try to follow Buddha’s words, which reflect exactly this but without God.
Talking mostly to evangelicals, I’ve discovered that many are not taught Jesus’ words. The churches concentrate on Revelation. That explains a lot. I’ve even suggested to Christian’s that they should get a Red Letter version of the Bible and focus mainly on Jesus’ words.
When commenting, best not to make sweeping generalizations about any group of people, so use “a few,” “some,” or “many” rather than “all.”
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