Dobson, Trump, Faith, and Power

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The major Evangelical leader Dr. Dobson has put out a release talking about Donald Trump’s faith. Now I was under the impression that there was no “religious test… as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust”. But since Dobson brought it up… in the words of Aaron Burr in Hamilton “Ok, so we’re doin’ this”.

His post on “Culture Watch” is available here.

Let’s break it down:

Only the Lord knows the condition of a person’s heart.  I can only tell you what I’ve heard.  First, Trump appears to be tender to things of the Spirit.

Yes, that’s true. Only the Lord knows. However, the bible says a few other things about the heart:

Luke 12:33-34: Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Do we want to consider where Trump’s treasure is? We don’t need to ask, he talks about it time and time again.

Matthew 7:16-18 “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.

Let’s think about what fruit Trump produces. Does he speak what is good? Does he speak of loving your neighbors? What about giving to the needy? How about repenting of sins and turning to God?

Matthew 15:18-20 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Now there’s an interesting one. Adultery and sexual immorality are both things Trump has done but apparently that was before his conversion. Though since he’s said he has done nothing in his life to need forgiveness for…. Theft, well there are the number of lawsuits Trump has been involved in regarding wage theft, or the current one regarding the Trump University scam, but that’s not for me to judge him for. False witness is one of the more obvious ones, take a quick look at these 30 different blatant lies he’s told recently, that’s not even including an additional 60 probable lies. Slander comes under that as well. He spent the entire primary season slandering other members of his party and the media lapped it up. Of course we could look back to his “birther” phase where he spent years attacking Obama’s character and promising to uncover proof that he wasn’t an American only to turn up absolutely nothing. Moving forward he accused Marco Rubio of being in bed with the tech industry even calling him “Mark Zuckerberg’s personal senator”. He accused Ted Cruz’s father of being part of the plot to assassinate Kennedy. Trump had an entire speech the other day attacking Clinton’s character, nearly all of which has already been debunked.. He attacked Clinton’s faith saying: “We don’t know anything about Hillary in terms of religion”. Of course we know that’s blatantly false as we know she’s a Methodist and has been longer than Trump’s recently being born again.

Continuing on:

I also hear that Paula White has known Trump for years and that she personally led him to Christ.  Do I know that for sure?  No.  Do I know the details of that alleged conversion?  I can’t say that I do.

That’s great, but being supported by a Prosperity Gospel televangelist is very different than leading a Christ centered life. If you’re wondering why I pointed out that she teaches prosperity gospel just bring it up to any of the mainstream Christians in the US. There are more than a few issues with the theology behind it.

But there are many Christian leaders who are serving on a faith advisory committee for Trump in the future.  I am among them.  There are about 45 of us that include Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffress, Jack Graham, Ben Carson, James Robison, Jerry Johnson, and many others whom you would probably know.  We’ve all agreed to serve. How will that play out if Trump becomes president?   I don’t know.  It is a good start, I would think.

And now we come to the crux of the matter. Dobson is saying that he is one of 45 Christian leaders who are on Trump’s “faith advisory committee” if he becomes president. So what he’s saying is that if Trump wins then Dobson gets to have a direct line to the president and can give his input on policy. If Trump wins then Dobson gets to use his influence among Evangelicals to gain political power. Think about that for a bit.

If anything, this man is a baby Christian who doesn’t have a clue about how believers think, talk and act.

Oh? I didn’t realize he was that new of a Christian. If so then here’s some advice for Trump: stop lying, stop preaching hate, and stop encouraging violence. Even a brand new Christian should be able to realize those three.

All I can tell you is that we have only two choices, Hillary or Donald.

Actually you’re not legally required to vote for president, or to vote for one of the major candidates. A protest vote for a third party candidate would send a very strong message if enough people did it.

  Hillary scares me to death.  And, if Christians stay home because he isn’t a better candidate, Hillary will run the world for perhaps eight years. The very thought of that haunts my nights and days.

Three points here. First does Clinton scare you because you don’t have any influence with her? Second this is a vote for the president of the US, not the world. Third you know there’s an election every four years right? If Clinton wins just run a better candidate next time and make her a one term president.

One thing is sure:  we need to be in prayer for our nation at this time of crisis.

Yes, you should be praying for your nation. A time in which people have decided that Christianity is a political movement rather than a faith. A time in which people have decided to ignore the thread of Christian intellectualism dating back to at least St. Augustine and pretend that science and reason are the enemy of faith. A time in which those who should be leading christian conservatives in a protest against the worst candidate the GOP has had in fifty years are instead making excuses for him. A time in which fear of our neighbors has been given precedence over loving our neighbors. A time in which the love of money is no longer considered a sin.

Time of crisis? Sure, but it’s a crisis of your own making. Trump sounded the final death knell for the moral majority and it’s descendants when he defeated a sea of christian conservatives for the GOP nomination and instead of looking at what your movement had become and returning to a Christ focused concept you decided to yoke yourself to the antithesis of what you professed to love.

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