Tag: Trump

Trump’s Proclamation on the National Day of Prayer, 2018 Was an Exercise in Idolatry and Faithlessness, as It Has Always Been

Rarely have I seen such a sorry sight as the rows of obsequious, evangelical sycophants lined up on either side of president Trump in the Rose Garden last Thursday.  Basking in the bogus allure of Oval Office access, partisan grins stretched from cheek to cheek, they all had deceived themselves into believed they were actually doing something for the kingdom of God.

Such is the delusion of the American, conservative church today.

Trump’s 2018 Proclamation for the National Day of Prayer is a typically bland pronouncement of nationalistic, idolatrous platitudes.  It is a tasteless porridge perfectly pronouncing the half-baked ideologies of American exceptionalism, nationalism, patriotism and civil religion that erects a spiritual wall of partition, separating so many from the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel of American greatness is a false gospel. Its monuments are pagan altars where U.S. soldiers are sacrificed to the American Baal.  Watching the mindless smiles of these evangelical “leaders,” betraying their gospel responsibilities, fawning shamelessly over the man we call “president” reminded me of the apostate people described in Daniel 11:32:

“With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.”

How much more corrupted can people like Paula White, Pat Robertson, Robert Jeffress, Johnnie Moore and James Dobson become as they continue to violate the new covenant morality of God’s kingdom exemplified by the Lord Jesus?

When did Jesus ever loosen his grip on his Father’s scruples in exchange for political privilege?  Recall that Jesus faced this very offer as a demonic temptation. Yet, Jesus scorned the Oval Office, saying,

“Away from me Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

For too much of the world “making America great again” translates into “keeping them oppressed again,” oppressed by right wing dictatorships propped up by U.S. dollars; oppressed by American-made bombs killing poor, innocent civilians living in poor, desolate countries; oppressed by resource exploitation and environmental pollution at the hands of insatiable American corporations; and oppressed by heartless, economic manipulation as entire nations wriggle under the thumb of more World Bank “austerity measures.”

America has become the Whore of Babylon to much of the world and should be seen this way by all right-thinking disciples.  We are the

“…woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.  She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.  This title was written on her forehead:

MYSTERY

BABYLON THE GREAT

THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES

AND THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

(Revelation 17:3-5)

Trump is Threatening Another War, which is Only One of Many Reasons No Christian Should Be Supporting Him

Once again, our president is threatening to bomb another country.  This time it’s Syria.  In the not-too-distant past it’s been North Korea, Iran and Russia.  The New York Times reports (4/11/18) that President Trump now promises to launch a military strike against Syria and has threatened Russia not to intervene.

It’s one thing to be a bully in private life.  (The numerous allegations of Trump’s sexual assault against women and his criminal business dealings have been amply documented for many years. [Read David Kay Johnson’s books, The Making of Donald Trump and It’s Even Worse Than You Think]).

It is another matter altogether to be a public, presidential bully who imagines the nation’s military, armaments and treasury to be his own personal play things.

We do not need a blustering businessman in the White House – can we finally bury this foolishness once and for all about the importance of electing business people into government?!  We need a diplomat, an intelligent, well-educated person who understands the issues, or at least a leader who believes in the priority of diplomacy and detests war.

Tragically, Donald Trump is not that person.  He is an extraordinarily undiplomatic war-monger.

I believe that every American who professes to follow the resurrected Jesus should take advantage of the democratic mechanisms at our disposal (at least, for the moment) and voice our opposition to our government’s love of war-making.

Here are several things we can do:

  1. Call your Congressional representatives (at 202-225-3121) and ask them to sign the bipartisan Lofgren-Amash letter, reminding the president that, according to the War Powers Act, he must receive congressional approval before authorizing a strike against Syria. No US president has the authority to use military force unilaterally.
  2. While you have them on the phone, tell your elected representatives that you vehemently oppose any further military action in Syria. In fact, urge them to tell the president to implement his earlier plan for withdrawing all US forces from Syria.  As both Trump and Putin acknowledged last year, there is no military solution to this conflict.  Only a cease-fire and diplomacy will help the Syrian people.
  3. Tell your representatives to insist on an independent investigation into the apparent gas attack in Syrian eastern Ghouta. Tell them that our U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley (another neoconservative always in favor of another war), must stop her pro-war saber
    U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley vetos an Egyptian-drafted resolution regarding recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem, during the United Nations Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including Palestine, at U.N. Headquarters in New York City, New York, U.S., December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid – RC19707F9890

    rattling and cooperate with the UN Security Council’s desire to investigate these charges.

  4. Educate yourself, sharpen your critical thinking skills and hone your skepticism. For instance:
  • Did you know that there is no solid, empirical evidence that Syrian president Assad or his troops had anything to do with the supposed “gas attack” in eastern Ghouta? Do not swallow the wall-to-wall reporting fed to us from the corporate media saying otherwise.  For instance, here is an excerpt from a lengthy report from an independent journalist who visited the scene of this “attack”:

“I was told by people I spoke with, in Erbin (a city in eastern Ghouta), that the terrorist factions had carried out the attacks on civilians in that district in order to blame it on the Syrian government, army and Russia.

“While there is no way to fully verify these on the ground reports, it must raise the question – why do western media repeat the narrative fed to them by western backed & financed groups like the White Helmets who are proven to be closely affiliated to extremist groups including Al Qaeda…?”

  • Israel has been lobbying the United States to go to war against Iran for many years. Israel has exploited the current situation in order unilaterally to attack Iranian forces in Syria.  (By the way, Iranian troops are in Syria by invitation.  Ours are not.)
  • Iran is now threatening a counter strike against Israel.  The only reason Israel has not continued its attacks is because of Vladimir Putin’s intervention, insisting on de-escalation.  Yes, Russian is acting as the peace-maker in this situation.
  • John Bolton, Trumps’ new National Security Adviser, is a psychopathic war-monger and a rapid pro-Zionist who has been doing Israel’s bidding for years, insisting on war with Iran.  In fact, Bolton has “promised” that he will effect regime change in Iran before the end of this year!
  • Russia has promised to “return fire” if American attacks Assad’s forces.
  • With Syria, the United States, Russian, Israel and Iran (let’s not forget Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, if things fall apart) all fired up, feeling aggressive, threatened and defensive, we have a frightening stew of international ingredients for a major war.

It is long past time for American evangelicals to stand for peace not war.  Please, make the call today.

Make your arguments.  Demand an accounting.

Let them know that you will not vote for a senator or representative who supports anymore needless destruction in our fragile world.

Sojourners’ “Reclaiming Jesus” and the Sin of Selective Outrage

Jim Wallis and the Sojourners team recently convened a group of Christian leaders at a private retreat in order to pray, lament the state of American politics, and compose a declaration entitled “Reclaiming Jesus: A Confession of Faith in a Time of Crisis.”  The statement’s opening paragraph reads:

We are living through perilous and polarizing times as a nation, with a dangerous crisis of moral and political leadership at the highest levels of our government and in our churches. We believe the soul of the nation and the integrity of faith are now at stake. It is time to be followers of Jesus before anything else—nationality, political party, race, ethnicity, gender, geography—our identity in Christ precedes every other identity. We pray that our nation will see Jesus’ words in us. “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Although I agree with 90% of this statement’s agenda, I am afraid I would not be able to sign it (not that I have been asked) because I believe that it contributes to the very polarization it seeks to condemn.

I, too, am outraged at the conduct and the policies of our current presidential administration, but my outrage did not begin with Trump’s election.  Neither has my personal lament been confined to protesting only Republican administrations.

In this respect, the Sojourners statement is no different from the boiler plate criticisms of religious and political progressives made by the religious right.

Where was Sojourners’ outspoken “concern for the soul of our nation” when President Obama embraced and expanded the many violations of American civil liberties begun under President Bush?

They were mute, along with the rest of the Democratic Party establishment.

They were silent as Obama prosecuted more journalists and whistle-blowers under the Espionage Act of 1917 than all previous presidents combined (here, here, and here).

They were silent when Obama misled us about extending the practice of warrantless surveillance.

They remained silent when Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act enshrining the outrageous practice of “indefinite detention” of American citizens.

They were silent when we catastrophically overthrew the Libyan government, leaving it the failed state of a suffering people that is now free to entertain open-air slave markets.

Where was Sojourners’ call for national repentance when President Obama lied to the American people about the large number of civilian casualties from American drone strikes?

Did they condemn the president as he simply redefined an “enemy combatant” to be any “military aged male” killed by a US drone?  No, they did not.

But, Abracadabra! In a wondrous act of political smoke and mirrors, Obama’s drones suddenly became modern marvels of military accuracy, rarely killing any civilians at all!  (See this report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, or this Atlantic article on how Obama paved the way for Trump’s policies today, or this Reprieve report on Obama’s lies).

Where was the collective lament over Obama’s weekly staff meetings where he gathered military advisers to ruminate over his secret “kill list” – a list that included American citizens! – selecting whom they would assassinate next – all free of any public trial, defense, or offering of inculpatory evidence.

No.  I am sorry, but this call for “Reclaiming Jesus” is a statement of religious hypocrisy writ large.

Followers of Jesus who truly understand that their citizenship in the kingdom of God always takes precedence over every political, partisan or national allegiance, will never limit their prophetic critique to only one political party and its representatives.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is an equal opportunity offender.

The Sojourner’s statement can only become acceptable if its authors:

  1. Confess their sin of selective outrage, acknowledging that their silence during the Obama years helped to enable the evil committed under that Democratic administration.
  2. Admit that their own political partisanship has crippled their ability to speak and to be heard today as true, unbiased witnesses to the gospel of Jesus and the kingdom of God.
  3. Determine that “Reclaiming Jesus” is only the first in a series of non-partisan statements that will seek to hold every administration, every political party, and every elected official to identical standards of public righteousness, according to our best understanding of Jesus’ kingdom ethics.

A Spider’s Web of Corruption

For more on Yemen, here is an excellent summary (from Democracy Now!) on the political machinations and disturbing developments coming out of Washington D.C. over the past few days.

It offers fine interviews from knowledgeable people, a C-SPAN clip of Sen. Sanders on the Senate floor, more about the Saudi crown prince, Trump’s weapons deal, and Yemeni suffering.  It is about 15 minutes long.

I hope you will set aside a few minutes to keep yourself apprised of the many nasty strands that make up the spider’s web of US foreign policy.

Thanks.

Senate Condemns Yemen to Ongoing Slaughter

In a 55-44 vote yesterday, primarily along party lines, the US Senate decided to table the bipartisan S.J.Res.54.  In effect, killing it for the foreseeable future.  The vote was scheduled deliberately to coincide with the state visit of Saudi Arabia’s ruling crown prince Mohammad bin Salman.

Nora O’Donnell’s groveling interview for “60 Minutes” (see good discussions here and here) offered a Marie Antoinette moment for American viewers. Not only did she not ask a single question about the war in Yemen (something that would have never passed muster in the days of Mike Wallace).

But those of us who knew what was happening on the other side of The Hill, watched a repulsive spectacle. The United States Senate and CBS News, a king-pin in corporate broadcasting, were genuflecting before Saudi royalty while telling the Yemeni victims of our illegal war — “let them eat cake.”

Especially noteworthy was the president’s afternoon press conference with the crown prince.  President Trump chose to focus attention on the tens of billions of dollars in arms sales that the Saudis will continue to buy from US manufacturers (what’s the deal with the big visual aids? I kept expecting Trump to poke the prince in the eye).

Obviously, in the calculus of our capital city, Yemeni lives just aren’t worth very much.  At least not when Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Ratheon and other weapons manufacturers stand to make billions in profits.

But, then, this has always been the American way of war and diplomacy.

If you have never read it before, take a look at Marine General Smedley Butler’s important book “War is a Racket” (1935).

Sadly, it has ever been this way.   As the Greek historian Thucydides (c. 460 – c. 400 BC) wrote, “The rich will do what they can, while the poor will suffer what they must.”

The rich have won another round, for the time being.

The poor in Yemen — and others like them who suffer wherever the American Empire (and our collaborators) places selfish, national, economic interests above the needs of humanity — will continue to die of starvation, disease, bombs and bullets.  Each weapon proudly stamped “made in the USA.”

Yesterday’s political maneuvers were signed in blood, by both the Senate and the White House. America’s cup fills to overflowing, and the inspired warnings of John the Revelator (Revelation 18:23-24) were never more relevant:

“Your merchants were the world’s great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her/you was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.”

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, by Durer

Their blood, like Abel’s, will cry out from the ground on Judgement Day (Genesis 4:10).  God keeps close accounts. They will be avenged, and America, with all her leaders responsible, will be condemned.

Yet, followers of Jesus are neither shocked nor discouraged when sin shows its ugly public face, as it did yesterday. Justice and mercy will not always triumph in this world, but Christians know that goodness and love  WILL reign supreme on that Last Day.

In the meantime, we have every reason to continue our witness to see Humanity Renewed here and now through Jesus Christ.

Check to see how your senators voted.   If they voted AGAINST tabling the resolution (as did my two!), call or write and express your gratitude and appreciation.  If they voted IN FAVOR of tabling S.J.Res.54, let them know in no uncertain terms that they have not represented your values. If their moral compass does not change, then they may not remain in office much longer.

And Pray.  Pray for the people of Yemen. Pray for the victims who die every day in the multiple American wars raging continuously around the globe.

Pray for the people of God, especially that Christians in the USA will be conformed to the mind of Christ (Romans 12:1-2) even as we are exorcised of the spirit of partisan politics and of Donald Trump.