Letters: For and against criticism of Trump and Jeffress

image_pdfimage_print

RE: Editorial: Even Bob Dylan knows you can’t serve two masters

 

Against

I will not beat around the bush. I am way too old for that anymore. I also don’t believe in trying to sweeten a conversation!

Therefore, I disagree with your article on Trump’s visit to First Baptist Church in Dallas. But I agree we cannot serve two masters. Only God is my master, as well as I am sure he is yours.

But as a Christian sister to you, I see Jeffress having Trump as a guest as a way to try and save our country! The country was founded on religious beliefs. Our love for our Master and Savior is also love for our country! How could it not be?

Yes, this is not our final destination, but it is where we live until the day Jesus comes back. Until that day, do you think we are supposed to just lay down and let the satans of the country run and rule our lives? Absolutely not!

There is nothing wrong with having Trump as a guest in that church, nor for him to speak. As a believer, you don’t know how much this could bring President Trump closer to the Lord!

Jeffress, also (Charles) Stanley and (David) Jeremiah, even discuss the condition of this country. In all my life, I never thought I would hear the country’s top pastors speak about politics from the pulpit! But here we are, going to hell in a hand basket, and we have to have an article criticizing a pastor and the church congregation for inviting a former president to their church!

I do (not) know nor do I care whether you dislike Trump and/or Jeffress or maybe both, and you are entitled to your opinion, but I believe the readers would have profited more from a more uplifting, godly article!

Mrs. Johnnie L. Pitts
Burton, Texas


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


 

For

Religious people began to vote their faith silently, becoming the Silent Majority during Nixon’s presidency.

Billy Graham was the pastor to presidents and probably voted his faith also. This ended with Watergate. He realized he should not promote one candidate over the other, so he could continue being the pastor to presidents. His son has not followed his tutelage.

George H.W. Bush, in losing an election in Texas to Lloyd Bentsen, realized he had to court the churched voters. Jerry Falwell established and the Moral Majority, campaigning for prayer in schools and no abortion. Trump supporters emerged from the roots of the Moral Majority.

Why do we Christians focus on political action rather than spiritual transformation?

In Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis describes the Christian who has substituted a cause for his faith, with pacifism and patriotism as examples. For the 21st-century evangelical, pro-life also might be considered a cause.

In Medical Ethics, John Frame describes when an obstetrician must lie to be ethical. His biblical justifications are the midwives in Egypt, Samuel going to anoint David while Saul is still king, and Elisha opening the eyes of the servant to see the host of defenders against the Amalekites.

This loss of truth applies to much of the pro-life political movement.

How can we as evangelicals who have nurtured the pro-life milieu of deceit as truth now change direction and revere truth? Can we even recognize it anymore?

Indeed, your article shows we applaud the man more than our Christ. The political evangelical only espouses what supports his cause, whether that support is truthful or not. And so, we have lost the truth, not in serving two masters, but rather by substituting a wonderful cause for our faith.

We have lost the truth, our way, and have no life.

Peter Norton
Abilene, Texas

 

The passage of Screwtape Letters Norton cites reads, in part: “All extremes [such as ‘extreme patriot’ or ‘extreme pacifist’] except extreme devotion to the Enemy [by which the elder demon means God], are to be encouraged. Not always, of course, but at this period. Some ages are lukewarm and complacent, and then it is our business to soothe them yet faster asleep. Other ages, of which the present is one, are unbalanced and prone to faction, and it is our business to inflame them” (Screwtape Letters, p. 40 of the 1945 reprint).

Norton’s example is apropos of today. We are given to extremes, none of which seem to be the correct one.

 

Against

Your dislike for President Trump was so clear from the start that none of the biased content that followed was a surprise.

Since you note your shock at the welcoming treatment given to President Trump at the service, here’s a little newsflash: When presidents or former presidents visit a church or other organization, they’re treated a little differently than common folks.

And when a president has done more for the Christian faith and for Israel than any U.S. president in 100 years, special treatment is warranted, regardless of past sins. And that includes made-up sins like referring to himself as “the Chosen One,” which we both know was done in jest.

And most of all, giving a former president the appropriate welcome and treatment in no way indicates the host church is worshipping him or putting him on a pedestal with Jesus. But then again, you and I both know you know that, but that was the theme for your “piece” (double meaning on last word).

I’ve read many articles in your publication, as I grew up Baptist with a minister of music father and organist mother, and have been a member and choir member at a prominent Dallas church the last 30 years, and I can assure you, I’ve not read a bigger piece of garbage in yours or any other publication in a long time.

It makes me wonder how often you jumped on Obama or the other Democratic candidates who visited churches and were welcomed with open arms. I’m guessing never.

I’m guessing you will have a bright future at The New York Times or Washington Post or CNN. So, good luck on the Left.

Bruce Davidson
Carrollton, Texas

 

RE: Review: The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump

I just recently read your review of the book The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump, now two years old. What troubles me is your failure to send up red flags as it relates to Donald Trump and the “Trump evangelicals.”

I was reared in an evangelical home and brought up in a Bible-believing church. My thoughts on the evils of Donald Trump come from:

1. Sunday school teachers who taught me to “hate what God hates and love what God loves.” I don’t have to tell you that Donald Trump, if anything, is a liar.

2. In Sunday school and from the pulpit, I was taught “situational ethics” are not Jesus ethics. No matter how many conservative judges, or how protective of religious “rights,” or appointing anti-abortion judges will not justify the support, defense or voting for someone such as Donald Trump by any Jesus person.

Furthermore, one of the wisest men of all time once warned the reader it is an “abomination” in God’s eyes to call that which is evil, “good”.

In more than 10,000 years of human behavior, entire civilizations and the nation of Israel were destroyed many times over because of the failure of truth-telling men to stop sending up red flags to the people.

Whether from the pulpit or the Christian media, American evangelicals are heading down a dangerous road. The Spiritual Danger of Donald Trump should be read and evaluated, but more importantly, the pulpit and God’s people should be reading their Bible! When God’s people do that, they will find no path forward to support Donald Trump.

J. Bowens
Kensington, Ohio


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard