1. TRUTH & LIES; MARTYRS & MAKE BELIEVE
On July 13, 2024, if Donald Trump had not turned his head at the moment before the shooter fired, he could have been killed. He says the grace of almighty God saved him.
Some people claim Trump is a changed man; he says that he’s not. Some people are calling him a living martyr. And now there has been another attempted assassination, but he was, fortunately, saved by his security guards at one of his golf courses.
Such violence in a democratic republic is truly disturbing and rightly decried by democrats and republicans.
On the matter of divine providence, I’m a curious, inquisitive soul, and I have to wonder why the grace of almighty God did not save Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick on January 6, 2021 during the violent attack on the Capitol.
I would propose that Brian Sicknick and his four dead comrades are some of the true martyrs of the decade. Above is a picture of Brian in 1997 when he dedicated his life to protecting his fellow citizens of America and upholding the law as a police officer.
Do Christians who support Trump know or care about Brian Sicknick, who was killed at age 42 as a result of Trump’s lies about a stolen election? Are Christians who support Trump even aware of the grief of Brian Sicknick’s beloved Sandra and his mother, Gladys?
Trump’s advisors told him there was no evidence of election fraud, but he knowingly deceived and betrayed his followers, making them believe that the election had been stolen, and that they needed to fight to prevent the transfer of power from himself to Biden.
If you are a Christian who supports Donald Trump, please watch this 12-minute video showing some of the scenes from the attack and let your heart ache for those officers, and even for those he deceived into committing violence. My God, what a horror. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-jan-6-committee-shows-new-footage-of-capitol-attack
And here is a YouTube video of Officer Daniel Hodge who nearly lost his life being crushed by the mob and beaten and taunted by protesters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWRn-RcEodg
It’s the taunts and jeers from the mob that come flooding back to him – being attacked by his own fellow Americans. “They were laying siege to the Capitol of the United States of America, and they were calling us traitors for trying to defend it…They were true believers.” What concerns him most is that the threat to democracy remains. He’s still living with the aftermath of the attack, including online threats and harassment.
Just yesterday, I watched and heard and felt an amazing performance of the song “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” from the musical Les Miserables. I wept for all who have suffered and died for the sake of protecting others from violence and evil.
I can imagine the capitol police officers, those who survived Trump’s riot, anguishing, “My friends, my friends, don’t ask me what your sacrifice was for…” if the people of America reelect Trump as president in light of what he has done and what he has said he will do.
December 6 - the Deception and the Devastation
On January 6, 2021, Trump said to a crowd of thousands,
“All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats, which is what they’re doing… We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved…
You know, I say, sometimes jokingly, but there’s no joke about it: I’ve been in two elections. I won them both and the second one, I won much bigger than the first. OK. Almost 75 million people voted for our campaign, the most of any incumbent president by far in the history of our country, 12 million more people than four years ago…If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election…We’re supposed to protect our country, support our country, support our Constitution, and protect our constitution…
We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore!…”
Transcript of Trump’s speech: https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial
Trump using the words “peacefully and patriotically” early in his 70-minute violence-inspiring speech was like someone using a child’s squirt gun to put two obligatory squirts of water on a tinder-dry forest just before dowsing it with gasoline and setting it aflame. The riled-up, super-charged, angry, “patriotic” crowd heard these out-of-place adverbs as a “wink wink nudge nudge” sarcastic joke.
Trump was informed of the violence that followed. Aides in the West Wing said he watched it unfold on television. When a staffer told him that Mike Pence, who had served faithfully beside him as his Vice President, needed to be evacuated in order to keep him safe, Trump said, “So what?”
Trump watched and waited for over two hours before calling off his mob. Two hours of violence condoned and enjoyed by a man who didn’t care who died as long as he stayed in power.
Is this the presidential candidate Jesus wants His people to vote for?
D.C. Police requested backup at least 17 times in 78 minutes during the Capitol riot.
This video looks into the lack of timely help for the officers. You can hear their desperate pleas in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsQTY9083r8
At least 9,400 people are visible on footage.
The FBI estimates that between 2,000 and 2,500 people entered the Capitol Building. In order to stop the transfer of power from Trump to Biden, Trump’s rioters smashed windows, broke down doors, stormed and occupied the Senate floor… Some of Trump’s loyal followers put up a noose for Mike Pence.
140 officers were assaulted. Many suffered head wounds, cracked ribs and smashed spinal disks as a result of the violence. They were attacked with weapons (sledge hammers, bats, flag poles, table legs, 50-pound fire extinguishers, pepper spray…). They were berated, and threatened with death. MPD Officer Michael Fanone testified hearing the threat, “Kill him with his own gun!”
Brian Sicknick was assaulted with chemical spray. He tried to shake it off and kept bravely defending the Capitol and the people within. He collapsed eight hours later, and died the next day following two strokes which medical examiners attributed to the trauma he suffered during the riot.
The officers were overwhelmingly outnumbered by over 2,000 raging rioters. Imagine the anguish of fighting for your life and the lives of members of Congress – not against foreign invaders, but against your own countrymen, duped by a former president – of the country you’re serving – into believing that the election had been stolen.
After such utter betrayal, how could you live with the horrors of those memories, let alone return to work?
Four of Brian Sicknick’s comrades committed suicide after defending the Capitol from the pro-Trump mob.
Howard Charles Liebengood, age 51; Jeffrey Smith, 35; Kyle deFreytag, 26; and Gunther Hashida, 43 (father of three).
1. Howard Charles Liebengood, 51, died by suicide three days after the insurrection.
2. Jeffrey Smith was punched in the face and hit in the head with a metal pole, resulting in brain injury. You can see Smith’s bodycam footage here if you want to get an idea of what he went through: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeffrey-smith-capitol-riot-suicide_n_6172c53de4b06573573a9ba4
David Walls-Kaufman, a chiropractor and rioter, grabbed Jeffrey Smith’s baton and used it against him. People were shouting, “You all stand with criminals!” “They don’t give a f*. They’re not here to protect the people. They’re here to protect a bunch of f*ing child murderers…”
Jeffrey Smith shot himself in the head on the George Washington Memorial Parkway on January 15, 2021, the day he was supposed to return to duty.
Smith of the MPD and Liebengood of the Capitol Police, had been with their departments for more than a decade.
3. Kyle deFreytag, age 26, died by suicide on July 10.
4. 43-year-old officer Gunther Hashida was found dead inside his home on July 29. Hashida joined the MPD in May 2003, and most recently was assigned to the emergency response team within the Special Operations Division.
He was described as a devoted and loving husband to Romelia and father to three children, Victoria, Gunther Jr. and Josh.
Do Trump-supporting Christians know this? Are they aware of the heinous results of their “hero’s” lies?
Franklin Graham! Do you know this? Do you care?
I’ve heard the excuse, “Trump is a bit rough around the edges, but, hey, there are lots of stories in the Bible about God using people who are rough around the edges.” Yes, but these unlikely heroes repented of their sins!
Three years after the insurrection (Jan/24), according to the United States Attorney’s Office…
Approximately 718 individuals have pleaded guilty to a variety of federal charges.
Approximately 467 have been sentenced to periods of incarceration.
Four of those who have pleaded guilty to felonies have pleaded guilty to the federal charge of seditious conspiracy. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/36-months-jan-6-attack-capitol-0
When Julian Khater (Brian Sicknick’s assailant) was on trial, his attorneys sought to blame Trump, writing:
“A climate of mass hysteria, fuelled by the dissemination of misinformation about the 2020 election, originating at the highest level, gave rise to a visceral powder keg waiting to be ignited.”
Khater was sentenced to almost 7 years in prison for acting on Trump’s lies.
Imagine what this has done to the families of these deceived Trump followers.
Jerod Hughes
I feel a deep grief for people like Jerod Hughes, a 39-year-old construction worker, who traveled 2,000 miles from Montana to help Trump “stop the steal.”
In an interview September 16, 2024, he said, ”The way this country’s headed, my paycheck — you know, my wife’s disabled, and it’s been hell for us to try to, you know, try to make it with the tens of thousands of dollars of medical bills,” he said. “And a lot of us see Donald Trump, the outsider, coming in and trying to — and trying to help us out, trying to help the little guy out against the big government.”
(Little did Jerod Hughes know, Trump was the one trying to destroy the Affordable Care Act.)
Federal prosecutors say Jerod and his brother Joshua were among the first rioters to enter the Capitol building on January 6. Jerod kicked open the Senate Door. He was sentenced to 46 months (almost 4 years) in prison and Joshua 38 months.
You can read about their actions on the United States Attorney’s Office website: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/montana-man-sentenced-46-months-prison-actions-during-capitol-breach-including-kicking
In the interview, Jerod said he still believes the election was stolen and that what he did was patriotic. When asked where he gots his information, he said “social media and Fox News.”
Jerod Hughs’ story is so sad, and yet, as MPD officer Daniel Hodges, who was pinned, punched and beaten during the Jan. 6 attack, said, ”If these defendants are pardoned, then so much of what they believe or believed on that day will be justified in their heads, that they, if they do it again, that they’ll be protected. And it would be just incredibly destructive for the fabric of the country.”
Meanwhile, the true criminal behind it all, Donald Trump, who dowsed and inflamed the crowd with lies, the candidate who wants more power and less accountability, is being supported by his “beautiful Christians” for reelection as the president of the most powerful nation in the world. If he is elected, he says he will pardon those who were prosecuted, and he will arrange things so that he will not have to face trial for inciting the riot. He’s also promised to take revenge on those who failed to support his lies.
Do Christians care about the truth?
I have a lot of questions. Some of them are recognizably rhetorical and may resemble a rant.
- Is all truth God’s truth, whether scientific, mathematical, or biblical?
- Is fact checking a spiritual discipline for Christians – a vital aspect of the gift of discernment in a world of social media where algorithms can lead people into echo chambers of conspiracy theories, fear, and hatred?
- Does Jesus expect his followers to recognize and expose “the father of lies” when they see his work – his “fruit” – coming forth in fellow humans?
- Could Jesus’ words, “Be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” translate today to “Don’t fall for Putin’s polarizing bot farm posts”?
Jesus’ final prayer was
“…that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me…” (John 17:20-23).
There can be no unity without the foundation of a shared reality of truth and a shared humanity that builds trust.
What Is Truth?
Years ago, my husband and took part in a home Bible Study with some dear friends, and we watched and discussed a video series put out by Focus on the Family. According to “The Truth Project”,
truth = reality.
Jesus said, “The reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37).
He also said, “…when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:13).
As I see it today, the problem is, apparently, not all Christians are fluent in “Ghost” (as in “Holy Ghost”), because a copious quantity of Christians are believing lies. That may be partly Putin’s fault (See THE REAL CONSPIRACY in CHAPTER 5).
Unfortunately, it is far easier to deceive a man
than it is to convince him he has been deceived.
Disciplined fact checking, before you get sucked into an echo chamber of conspiracy theories, is vitally important, especially for Christians.
When I read a suspiciously polarizing post, I copy and paste it into Google search followed by the words “fact check.”
Wikipedia gives a list of credible fact checking sites, including a list specifically for the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fact-checking_websites
factcheck.org
“As always, we encourage readers to pass along any questionable political claims they receive via chain email or in their Facebook or X feeds. You can reach us by email at editor@factcheck.org.”
Addicted to Controversy
The good news is there is still such a thing as fact-checked journalism.
The bad news is most people prefer to get their news from social media, and “opinion journalism” because we tend to click on controversy (indignant disagreement) to add some excitement to our lives. Our algorithms will give us more and more of what we crave, dialing it up a notch here and there, to keep us online longer so we’ll see more ads.
Trump Attacks the Media
One of the first things a wanna-be dictator will do is to instill doubt in fact-checked journalism. “The American people do not believe the corrupt, fake news anymore,” Trump said on Dec. 6/21. “… Over the past several weeks, we’ve amassed overwhelming evidence about a fake election… We don’t have a fair media anymore. It’s suppression.”
Fact Checking is shedding LIGHT on darkness.
“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:20-21).
Light is a spiritual metaphor for God’s presence and character, truth, goodness, life, understanding, insight, and divine guidance.
Darkness represents deception, hatred, chaos, and leads to division, weakness, and death.
Trump’s team complained about the fact checking (shining a flashlight on misinformation and disinformation) that took place during the presidential debate.
In terms of the number of lies, Trump won this debate hands down; Harris barely got off the starting block.
Trump and his team complain that the media is fact checking Trump and JD Vance constantly but hardly ever fact checking Harris and Walz. The fact is, you have to lie in order to be fact checked.
If you’re planning to tell the truth, you won’t be bothered by fact checking.
Trump is even complaining about Fox News now. They’ve been fact checking him on some occasions. (This could be partly because the company had to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems for promoting Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.)
JD Vance would only agree to the VP debate if there would be no fact checking. When he was corrected on one of his statements, he complained.
Trump backed out of the traditional “60 Minutes” in-depth presidential candidate interview because they always fact check what is said.
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world” (John 5:14).
We are to let the truth shine. Don’t hide it under a bushel. Fact check and expose the lies!
One example of detailed, fact-checked journalism is The Atlantic. They offer some well-researched criticism of both Harris and Trump here.
“60 Minutes” always fact checks.
Wikipedia is an increasingly trusted source, and my husband and I support this informative site with a contribution every year.
The Washington Post, although considered to be left leaning, offers fact checks on both democratic and republican speeches and comments… for example, the presidential debate: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/11/fact-check-presidential-debate-harris-trump/
One lie the Washington Post caught Kamala Harris on in the presidential debate was her statement that if Donald Trump is elected he will ban abortion nation wide. Although Trump did say this before, he has changed his policy and will be leaving the matter to each individual state to decide. So Kamala needs to update her claim.
The Washington Post also reported on Tim Walz saying he had carried a gun “in war” when he never was deployed to a combat zone. In 2018, when talking to a crowd about gun violence, Walz said, “We can research the impacts of gun violence. We can make sure those weapons of war, that I carried in war, are only carried in war.” In his 24 years serving serving with the National Guard, Walz carried, fired, and trained others on how to use weapons of war, and, although he went to Italy with the National Guard in 2003 as part of support for the US war in Afghanistan, he was never in a combat situation.
What Is a Lie?
Trump claimed on January 6, 2021, that the election had been stolen by the Democrats, knowing there was no evidence to support this claim. He broke the ninth commandment by bearing false witness against his neighbours – the Democrats, and his own Vice President, Mike Pence (saying he could prevent the transfer of power), and he put their lives in danger. Trump also betrayed his own loyal supporters, leading them into a frenzy of fear and hatred based on lies.
In July 2022, eight prominent conservatives, including former federal judges, Republican senators and Republican-appointed officials, said they reviewed all 64 court cases Trump and his allies initiated (challenging the election outcome), saying they had reached an unequivocal conclusion that the claims were unsupported by evidence. They acknowledged there were a small number of cases where authorities found irregularities, but “there was no fraud that changed the outcome in even a single precinct…It is wrong, and bad for our country, for people to propagate baseless claims that President Biden’s election was not legitimate.”
FRANKLIN GRAHAM tweeted, in December 2020, that he “tend[s] to believe” Trump’s assertion that the 2020 election was stolen and criticized the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him after the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol.
Graham had endorsed Trump because he defends the Christian faith. He called Trump’s 2016 victory a sign “God’s hand was at work.” He called for a day of prayer for all churches to pray for God to protect Trump from his enemies.
In August, 2023, Franklin Graham finally admitted that Trump lied, saying, in an interview with Roger Bolton for the Religion Media Centre,
“Of course he (Trump) lost the election. There’s no question about that,” although he recognized that millions of people did not believe that.
https://religionmediacentre.org.uk/news/yes-he-definitely-lost-the-election-says-trump-supporter-franklin-graham-before-london-rally/
Has Trump Confessed?
I John 1:8-10 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
Trump says he is a Christian. Has he confessed that he lied? Has he repented (turned from his sin of lying)? Has he expressed remorse over the death of Brian Sicknick and his fellow officers and the gut-wrenching grief and suffering of their families, and the families of the convicted rioters, and all involved?
Has Donald Trump ever confessed that he has done anything wrong?
After his felony convictions, Trump said, “I am a very innocent man.” Then he went on to claim that under the Biden administration, people from prisons and mental institutions are flooding into America from other countries. Reporters looked for evidence to support this claim and found none. They contacted the Trump administration, but they could provide no evidence. Yet, Trump continues to tell this and other lies, over, and over, and over again.
Stephanie Grisham, who stepped down as Trump’s White House press secretary, said, “Trump used to say to me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie — say it enough and people will believe you.’”
Trump’s lies are too numerous to count. Honestly, this Wikipedia page is quite a mind-boggling list of falsehoods. Even I was amazed that one person could tell this many lies in public (and still be adored by Christians). Commentators and fact-checkers have described the scale of Trump’s mendacity as “unprecedented” in American politics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump
Even after it was proven in case after case that the election results were legitimate, Trump continued to claim the election was stolen. And on August 8, 2024, he had the audacity to say, “Nobody was killed on January 6,” and he has repeated this lie since. In reality, four of his own supporters in the crowd died that day of various causes, and others died within days.
At the Presidential Candidates’ debate on Sept. 10, 2024, Trump was asked:
For three and a half years after you lost the 2020 election, you repeatedly falsely claimed that you won, many times saying you won in a landslide. In the past couple of weeks leading up to this debate, you have said, quote, you lost by a whisker, that you, quote, didn’t quite make it, that you came up a little bit short.
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I said that?
DAVID MUIR: Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?
FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, I don’t acknowledge that at all.
He was asked, regarding the insurrection and violence on December 6, “Is there anything you regret about what you did on that day?”
TRUMP: You just said a thing that isn’t covered. Peacefully and patriotically, I said during my speech…
He went on to blame others for what happened and expressed no regret. “I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech….”
Transcript of Presidential debate: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/harris-trump-presidential-debate-transcript/story?id=113560542
On October 9, 2024, Geraldo Rivera, former Fox News host and long-time friend of Trump posted on X:
“For all he has done and said that offended, insulted and hurt folks who didn’t deserve it, there is one unforgivable thing that disqualifies Donald Trump from again serving as our president. He has forced, coaxed, manipulated and intimidated tens of millions to become liars who pretend to believe he was reelected in 2020, and that the election was stolen.”
In this interview, he talks about his friendship with Trump and says why he has endorsed Kamala Harris: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/politics/geraldo-rivera-tells-us-why-he-finally-turned-on-his-old-friend-donald-trump
Rivera also thinks Trump should be pardoned for the sake of unity in America. I wonder if the injured police officers the wives and children of the dead officers, and the jailed rioters would agree with this double standard. The courts will decide on this one.
The power to decide if Trump is fit to be the President of the U.S.A. lies with the voters.
Christians & Conspiracy Theories
Here’s a question that disturbs me to the core:
Why do so many Christians fall for conspiracy theories?
According to the Survey Center on American Life, three-quarters (75 percent) of white evangelical Christian Republicans say Biden was not legitimately elected. Republicans, especially white evangelical Christians, have been particularly susceptible to conspiracy thinking in the Trump era.
https://www.americansurveycenter.org/rise-of-conspiracies-reveal-an-evangelical-divide-in-the-gop/
Here’s a fascinating theory on conspiracy theories by Joel Lawrence, PhD, a former Baptist pastor, currently the Executive Director of the Center for Pastor Theologians:
“Faith, Apocalypse, and Nationalism:
Why Evangelicals Are Vulnerable to Conspiracy Theories.”
https://www.pastortheologians.com/articles/2021/1/25/faith-apocalypse-and-nationalism-why-evangelicals-are-vulnerable-to-conspiracy-theories
A friend approached him with concerns: “…family members were espousing their belief that the election was stolen, that God has promised to give President Trump a second term, and that the Deep State was at work to thwart God’s will.” That’s what led him to write the above article.
As Christians, we believe there is a story behind what we see, hear, touch, and perceive with our bodies. We have faith in a spiritual realm – a divine narrative. History is His story.
However, this doesn’t mean there’s a ghost story behind every temporal situation.
For example, a virus is actually a virus that needs to be dealt with in a scientific manner; it’s not a conspiracy to inject microchips into our blood stream so Bill Gates can read our minds.
If, in reality (in truth), there is no evidence to support a lie, one needs to let go of the lie. This is not a case where Hebrews 11:1 applies. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This verse refers to faith in God, who works in mysterious ways.
For a Christian to persist in having faith in an earthly, destructive lie, and to base their action on that lie is like building a house on sand.
The challenge is: How do we bring light to the darkness when people prefer the darkness? I don’t know the answer to that. Light can be very painful when your eyes have grown used to the dark. I certainly don’t like to be told I’ve been wrong about something, especially when it involves my faith, my beliefs, and things I’m passionate about. God often corrects me through stories and books and sermons and, of course, the Bible, especially when I’m studying and discussing his Word with others. I’m hoping some of Jesus’ words in this article will shed some light in a way that will help more than it hurts.
Trump’s Promise to his “Beautiful Christians”
According to Trump, these “beautiful Christians” as he calls them, only need to vote for him this one more time. At an event organized by the conservative group Turning Point Action in West Palm Beach, Florida, Trump said:
“Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians…I love you Christians. I’m a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don’t have to vote again…”
In an interview with Fox News in December, Trump said that if he won the Nov. 5 election he would be a dictator, but only on “day one.”
The reason democracy is vital for justice, peace, and freedom is because leaders need to be accountable. Power corrupts. Ultimate power corrupts ultimately. If you vote for Trump, you are voting to lose your freedom to vote, even if he doesn’t do what you want once he’s in power.
Proverbs 6:16-19
There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
According to C.S. Lewis, in his brilliant book, Mere Christianity, the most diabolical sin of all is pride. Not the good kind of pride you feel when your son shares his sandwich with a child who lacks a lunch, but the selfish kind of pride that seeks to undermine and put down others in order to elevate oneself.
Franklin Graham
I was distressed and confused to see, in the face of Trump’s repeated lies and racist baiting, that Franklin Graham highly praised Trump before praying for him at the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2024, referring to him as “President Trump.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhJL9h5qAxY
If Christians believe Christ’s words “The truth will set you free”, how can they also believe that voting for an absolutely unrepentant, pathological liar will make America great again? Great in whose eyes? Jesus’ eyes?
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them” (Ephesians 5:11).
Trump posted on X that Graham had written to him, “President, I love your speaking. Your ability to speak is incredible. Your storytelling is great, but it could be so much better if you didn’t use foul language.”
Trump went on to say that Graham’s advice was “wrong.” He recently called Harris a s**t vice president and said, “Get the Hell out of here.”
I don’t think swearing is the most serious issue that needs to be addressed with Trump. It’s a bit like telling a convict he needs to brush his teeth. Perhaps that’s all one dares say without fear of repercussions for yourself and the people you represent.
Where's Nathan?
If Christian Trump supporters like Franklin Graham really love Donald Trump, would they not screw up their courage as did the prophet Nathan who confronted King David when he was cheating and lying (2 Samuel 12)?
Christian Trump supporters have the opportunity to encourage Donald Trump to repent of (confess and turn from) his lies. If they don’t, they are just using him to accomplish their own agenda with no care for his spiritual health and eternal destiny.
“But as for…all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8).
Maybe Franklin Graham could quote that verse at Trump’s next rally, rather that just John 3:16. (For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.) There is more to God’s Word than John 3:16. And, BTW, “believe” means to “live by”, not just to give verbal ascent.
During the Trump / Harris debate, it became clear, again, that Trump is unable to adjust to updated information about reality (i.e., internalize the inconvenient truth). Trump has ranted over and over again about the 2020 election: “I got almost 75 million votes. The most votes any sitting president has ever gotten. I was told if I got 63, which was what I got in 2016, you can’t be beaten.”
“I was told…” What Trump’s informants neglected to tell him was that, no matter how many votes he got, if Biden got more votes than him and won more electoral seats, then Biden would win.
Trump got 74,223,975 votes, which made him very happy. However, Biden got 81,283,501 votes and won 306 electoral votes compared to Trump’s 232 electoral votes, which means that Biden won.
Even after their 60+ cases of voter fraud were dismissed by judges, including judges who were nominated by Trump, Donald keeps tenaciously hanging onto that original false promise of winning with 63,000,000 votes, as if it’s his security blanket.
To admit that he lost the election would be to admit that he is a loser, and that’s a label he reserves for other people.
If a man is that confused about numbers and how elections work, even after four years of having it explained to him by his own advisors, is he fit to be president?
Maybe Trump needs to hear from Franklin Graham that God loves him even if he lost the election and that the path of repentance, doing what you can to make things right, and forgiveness by God, are an option.
A few Brave "Nathans"
The few Christian conservatives who have stood up to Trump in the past include two former speechwriters for Republican presidents: columnist Michael Gerson and Pete Wehner, an ethicist. Also standing up were: Russell Moore of the Southern Baptist convention (he was kicked out); Mark Galli, the former editor of Christianity Today which editorialized against Trump’s reelection; and David French, senior editor of the conservative website, the Dispatch, and a religious rights expert. There were others. Will there be more?
Even after all that Trump has done in defiance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, according to a Pew Research study, around 3 in 5 US Protestants (61%) say they would vote for or lean toward voting for Trump. This concerns me, and so I plead with American Christians:
Voting is a form of speaking truth to power.
Duped by a Demagogue
The strategy of a demagogue is to feed our deepest fears with delicious deceptions we want to hear, and then repeat them. And then we repeat them until our fear grows into hatred for anyone who differs, and our neighbours become our enemies, and the conspiracy theories wind like tentacles through our brains into deep dark places where the light of truth does not shine. Then the demagogue presents himself as our saviour and calls us “beautiful Christians.”
“I AM your retribution,” Trump declares to those believers he entices to vote for him in exchange for favours, appealing the those Christians who believe they are being persecuted in America.
His lies go back many years. In 2012, he took to Twitter to declare that an “extremely credible source” had called his office to inform him that Mr. Obama’s birth certificate was “a fraud.”
In 2015, Trump retweeted a post that claimed, among other things, that most whites are killed by blacks (which isn’t true). When questioned about the graphic, Trump said that it wasn’t his tweet, that he merely retweeted it. Trump maintained that the graphic came from “sources that are very credible” and added, “Am I gonna check every statistic?” That, in a nutshell, is how false memes get passed around the Web.
Trump lies about abortion (see “Abortion” below).
He lies about the economy (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump)
He lied about child/parent separation at the border. In April 2019, He said, “President Obama separated children. They had child separation; I was the one that changed it.” The truth is that under the Obama administration families were detained and released together and separations rarely happened.
He has lied about his record innumerable times. For example, in 2020, he claimed multiple times that he or his administration had “done more for the black community than any president.” According to historians, his achievements were minor compared to many other presidents, while Trump was faulted for racially divisive rhetoric and attacks on voting rights.
The racist bait he loves to toss about the most is disinformation about immigrants, dehumanizing them, making us fear them and feel superior to them.
Trump has made false claims of a “migrant crime wave” that are not supported by national data. He claimed that “13,000 convicted murderers” had entered the U.S. during the Biden-Harris administration and “freely and openly roam” the country, when that number is for immigrants who’d committed a variety of crimes and entered the country during several administrations, many of whom are jailed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_or_misleading_statements_by_Donald_Trump
“You know, now, a murderer, I believe this, it’s in their genes,” Trump declared recently, referring to undocumented immigrants. “And we got a lot of bad genes in our country right now.”
Last December, he told a New Hampshire rally that immigrants entering the U.S. from “all over the world” are “poisoning the blood of our country.”
For comparison, according to Hitler, “the racial poisoning of our national body creates a cultural decline which even now is terrifyingly manifest,” and way too many Christians in Germany believed him. Hitler was actually inspired by the separation of whites and blacks in America and the fact that it was illegal for them to marry. https://www.newsweek.com/where-donald-trump-taking-us-talk-genes-blood-opinion-1967176
Normalization of Deviance
Here’s a fascinating study:
According to American sociologist Diane Vaughan, normalization of deviance is the process in which deviance from correct or proper behaviour or rule becomes culturally normalized.
Vaughan defines the process where a clearly unsafe practice becomes considered normal if it does not immediately cause a catastrophe: “a long incubation period [before a final disaster] with early warning signs that were either misinterpreted, ignored or missed completely”.
The original example cited by Vaughan is the events leading to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986, but the concept has also been applied to aviation safety, clinical practice in medicine, and the public’s deviance from health measures aimed to stop the COVID-19 pandemic.
The problem persists when deviation from rules is held up by a code of silence, so it’s important that people speak out! It’s our duty as God’s people of truth!
Revenge and Suppression
“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:18).
Trump stokes violence against those who oppose him. He wants his followers to hate the people he hates. He promises to hate the people you hate, especially if you’re a “beautiful Christian.” His plan is for all to join in the pagan game of vengeance.
Regarding the media that fact checks him, he threatened that “fake news” organizations would “pay a big price” if he’s reelected. He said they should be investigated for treason, and he questioned their access to U.S. airwaves. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-threatens-news-media-critical-of-him_n_651189ffe4b088d5608c6c94
Trump posted on social media:”When I win, those people who cheated,” and then he lists donors, voters, election officials, he says “Will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which will include long-term prison sentences.”
Trump recently said: “It’s the enemy from within. All the scum we have to deal with that hate our country. That’s a bigger enemy that China and Russia.”
In a Fox News interview, he said, “We have some sick people – radical left lunatics, and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the national guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
Trump mentioned Adam Schiff as an example, “Adam Shifty Schiff, total sleaze bag who’s going to become a senator, but I call him the enemy from within.”
Imagine the impact this would have on the ethic and morale of professional soldiers and military leaders if Trump uses them to take revenge on American citizens.
“Forcible suppression of opposition” is part of the Webster definition of fascism.
I’m not going to call Trump a fascist, but we do need to observe and compare and be aware when leaders are showing signs of heading in that direction. People who have worked under Trump are deeply concerned.
Trump chose Gen. Mark Milley (US Army General), to be Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he served from 2019-2023. Milley devoted decades of his life to protecting the men and women who served under him, and the people and constitution of the USA. He found it difficult to serve as Trump’s advisor because of Trump’s erratic thinking and behaviour.
After retiring, Milley received a nonstop barrage of death threats that he, at least in part, attributed to Trump’s repeated, aggressive attempts to discredit him. “He is inciting people to violence with violent rhetoric,” Milley told his wife.
Milley said of Trump, “He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist…a fascist to the core” (“War”, Bob Woodward).
Milley installed bullet-proof glass and blast-proof curtains at his home. He fears being recalled to uniform and court-martialled should Trump defeat Harris because that’s what Trump wanted to do to other military personnel who reported their concerns regarding Trump’s actions. It was all Milley could do to talk Trump down from his fierce anger and dissuade him from this vengeful action toward Stanley McChrystal and William H. McRaven.
Former defense secretary Mark T. Esper wrote a memoir describing a federal government under duress in the Trump era. “What would it have done to the military profession for a president to call back to active duty two…retired four-stars and to try and court-martial them for publicly expressing their views?”
Esper said he endeavoured to serve as a guardrail on Trump’s most alarming and inappropriate impulses.
Mark Esper has made it very clear that he does not consider Donald Trump to be fit to be President of the United States of America.
Can’t You Just Shoot Them?
In June 2020, during the “Black Lives Matter” protest, Trump said, “The Chinese generals would know what to do.”
“Trump seemed unable to think straight and calmly,” Esper wrote in his memoir. Trump asked him, “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” When defense officials argued against Trump’s desire, the president screamed, according to witnesses, “You are all fucking losers!”
Esper said publicly that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act, which would have allowed Trump to deploy active-duty military to tamp down the protests. Trump threatened to fire him over the disagreement and ultimately did so in November.
Trump has claimed repeatedly that the Black Lives Matter protesters have not been prosecuted as his insurrection protesters have been. Court records tell a different story.
Wikipedia has a detailed account of the protests. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violence_and_controversies_during_the_George_Floyd_protests
Violence in protests must never be condoned.
One difference between Trump’s insurrectionists and the Black Lives Matter protesters is that Trump’s protesters were basing their actions on a lie and his deceptive and violent rhetoric for the purpose destroying democracy and giving Trump unlawful power.
The Black Lives Matter protesters were protesting based on the truth of decades and generations of injustice, racism, and police brutality, epitomized by the killing of George Floyd, which was a clear indication that the problem is going on and on and on with insufficient action being taken to stop it.
An estimated 93%–96.3% of demonstrations were peaceful and nondestructive, involving no injuries or no property damage. The protests that turned violent often involved police brutality against protesters and journalists, sometimes unprovoked, and there were opportunistic criminals who were not protesters who were wreaking havoc.
By the end of June 2020, at least 14,000 Black Lives Matter protesters had been arrested. By June 2020, more than 19 people had died in relation to the unrest – some protesters and some bystanders.
More than 120 defendants across the United States have pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial of federal crimes including rioting, arson and conspiracy. More than 70 defendants who’ve been sentenced so far have gotten an average of about 27 months behind bars. At least 10 received prison terms of five years or more.
Why can’t you be like the German generals?
Trump asked John Kelly, his chief of staff at the time, “Why can’t you be like the German generals?” Kelly asked, “Surely you can’t mean Hitler’s generals?” And he said, “Yeah, yeah, Hitler’s generals.” Kelly said Trump praised aspects of Hitler’s leadership. “He said, ‘Well, but Hitler did some good things…”
When told that American military personnel swear an oath to the Constitution, not to the president, Trump asked Kelly, “Do you really believe you’re not loyal to me?” Kelly answered, “I’m certainly part of the administration, but my ultimate loyalty is to the rule of law.” Trump also publicly talked about “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” as part of the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and keep himself in power.
Kelly said, ”Certainly the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators—he has said that. So he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist…”
13 former Trump administration officials signed an open letter backing up John Kelly’s criticism of Trump.
One of Trump’s four former national security advisers, John Bolton, wrote in his memoir, “It is a close contest between Putin and Xi Jinping who would be happiest to see Trump back in office.”
You can read more about Trump and the fears of his former military generals here:
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/10/trump-military-generals-hitler/680327/
Support of Christians in Germany for Hitler is well documented in history. Let’s not fall for the temptation of “lust for power and supremacy” again. Jesus inspires us to learn from history – to evolve into His Body on earth – rather than being swayed by false doctrine – again.
It stands to reason that a sheep that is eaten by a wolf is no longer able to follow its Shepherd. And if we want to be found by the Good Shepherd before we get eaten, we need to recognize when we’ve been led into a dark place of fear and vengeance and dependence on a bad shepherd. I know from experience that it takes courage and it’s painful to step into the light of truth when you find yourself in a dark place you never intended to visit, let alone inhabit.
Phobia Indoctrination & Blindly Loyal Followers
Steven Hassan, PhD, is America’s leading Cult Expert. As a 19-year-old college student, he got sucked into the Moonie cult for two and a half years in the 70s. He was willing to do anything, even resorting to violence, for his leader, Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
After a vehicle accident landed Steven in the hospital for two weeks, his family got help for him. Someone showed him a speech by Sun Myung Moon in which Steven recognized the falsehoods.
He finally realized, “He’s a liar. And if he’s a liar, then he can’t be speaking for God, because God is the God of truth.”
He went on to become a psychologist helping others to recognize and recover from being sucked into mind control, either in relationships, companies, religious or other groups. He says, “Intelligent, educated people can be deceived and manipulated and indoctrinated into a destructive, authoritarian cult.”
He lists the characteristics of cult leaders like Sun Myung Moon, Jim Jones, Putin:
Grandiosity,
need for admiration and praise,
lack of empathy,
pathological lying,
believing they’re above the law,
threats,
paranoia,
inability to trust…
Dr. Haasan has written four books:
1. Combating Cult Mind Control (Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults)
2. Freedom of Mind: Helping Loved Ones Leave Controlling People, Cults, and Beliefs
3. Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves
4. THE CULT OF TRUMP: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control
He’s writing another book on Psychological Warfare, dealing with damaging online influences.
You can watch Dr. Steven Haasan’s TEDx Talk here: How to Tell if You’re Brainwashed
Dr. Haasan says, of course, not all who voted for Trump are mind controlled. Some were single-issue voters (e.g., pro-life), some were simply determined to vote Republican no matter what.
What he considers to be cult members are people who are blindly loyal, obedient, black-and-white, all-or-nothing good-versus-evil, no-matter-what thinkers…
To not have a cult, you need a leader who is transparent and accountable, empathetic, and thinking of the good of the people, observing rules of law, and checks and balances have to remain in place…
Trump has always thought he was above the law. Even before he was elected, he said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?…It’s, like, incredible.” He said this to a receptive audience at a Christian college in Iowa.
Dr. Haasan and other ex cult members feel triggered whenever Trump talks, because the way he acts brings up the thought, “Oh my goodness, that’s just like my former cult leader…This should not be in a country that’s free.” When Trump puts somebody down, shames them or threatens them, it’s a strong message to everyone else.
Interview with Dr. Haasan after Jan. 6, 2021:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbUzh7ILotI
Do we, as Christians, ignore the lies and support Trump no matter what he does and no matter how he threatens the “LEAST OF THESE”? Is all of this justified because Trump says he will fight for us – we who consider ourselves to be “the Church”?
Does Jesus call the Church (his Body on earth) to seek earthly political protection and power from a deceitful demagogue?
Psalm 24:3-4
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in His holy place? Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.
Sleepy Christians?
Writing in the journal Public Opinion 1951, Yale researchers Carl Hovland and Walter Weiss labeled their postwar studies on the trick of persuasive messaging regardless of the truth as “the sleeper effect.” They found that a message lingers through repetition, even if factually unfounded.
Ephesians 5:6-15
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
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