The day after America’s most contentious election left many Believers in dismay – not so much that Hillary Clinton did not win (as many of us found her a non-option in the final analysis) but because so many fellow Christians – particularly white protestant males – came out in droves to vote and support Donald Trump.
My girlfriend, a conservative Republican woke up and said she felt like she wanted to die – she felt sick all day just thinking of Trump in office. This is a pervasive feeling across the country by a large number of Believers while others seem blissfully – even haughtily triumphant about Trump being “God’s pick.”
I found one man, via Facebook (and friend Aaron Smith) who really says everything and more that I want to say. So I am just going to let new friend John Joseph Thompson say it!
“Searching for meaning through the tears. All I have is that sometimes the mask has to be pulled off in order to see the monster beneath. The monster is not Trump. He is just the tiny orange boat riding massive waves of fear, anger, and ignorance. He is the evidence of misplaced bitterness. He is the thug hired to forestall the decay of white privilege. He is the surface blemish that grows over a massive internal tumor. He is not the monster. The monster is the human heart driven by these dark things.
The deepest heartbreak for me is the evidence that so many people who declare that their love for Jesus led them to support the worst candidate for President in my lifetime; a man completely at odds with the Gospel. I hurt for my friends of color as their nation lurches backwards. Please know that more than half of the people in this country did not support this and will not support this and many who voted for him are actually voting against his opponent and not in support of him. The democrats ran a fatally flawed candidate and failed to understand the scope of frustration out there. Please do not read these results as a referendum on your value.
I hurt for the hopeful young people who are trying to make sense of this result as they come to grips with it. Don’t let cynicism harden your heart. We need your passion and energy. I hurt for the immigrants among us who fear for their lives. I hurt for the children who are watching – either fearful and confused about why bad people win, or who gleefully cheer for the same thing as the adults around them celebrate.
Lots of pain and fear out there and we can only combat it on a personal, local level.
Lots of lessons to be learned here, but for now I pray for God’s peace to cover all of us, and for God’s spirit to motivate those who are called by His name to redouble their commitment to love. This campaign offers no answers. The Gospel does. We are truly strangers in a very strange land. Regardless of whomever just purchased the White House, our hope must be somewhere else and there is a lot of work to be done.
We are told that the world will know that we are Jesus people by the love we have for each other – even for those who enabled this disaster. It’s time for that love to be seen. It’s time for that love to move us to live lives that illustrate the difference between the Gospel and empty religion; between grace and power. The mask has been removed and we have to try to love the ugly face beneath, because it is us. If God can find a way to love us – even as we sin against him – then we can do no less.”
““You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?
Be perfect, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:43-48 NIV”
Thank you John!
Azotus Theology & Art 