Will Evangelical Leaders Now Reject Trump?http://www.redstate.com/sweetie15/2016/10/13/will-evangelical-leaders-now-reject-trump/Today, I have to say we have lost our national virtue.
I’m sure some will say it’s been gone for much longer. It began slipping away when prayer was removed from schools and that void was filled with drugs and guns.
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It’s an unbelievable figure. There was a time when Christians held a certain moral litmus test for those leaders they supported.
Nobody can be perfect, and often, those leaders would fall short, but few were so scandal-ridden that their deeds could be described as criminal.
Donald Trump and the past year has done more to hurt the Christian witness to the world than 100 Jimmy Swaggart/Jim Bakker moments.
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Trump, on his own, could do nothing to damage the standing of Christianity in this country. When someone of his obvious moral shortcomings is held up as a brother in Christ and the choice of evangelical voters, however, Christians should be really uncomfortable.
They should object. Strongly.
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Ralph Reed, of the Faith and Freedom Coalition is one of those “leaders.”
Reed joined others, such as Tony Perkins, of the Family Research Council, James Dobson, Focus on the Family founder, and Pat Robertson in circling the wagons recently, after the now-infamous audio of Trump declaring that his wealth and celebrity granted him certain lewd privileges with women.
Said Reed:
“Voters of faith are voting on issues like who will protect unborn life, defend religious freedom, create jobs, and oppose the Iran nuclear deal,” Faith and Freedom Coalition president Ralph Reed said in an email to BuzzFeed News. “Ten-year-old tapes of private conversation with a television talk show host rank very low on their hierarchy of concerns.”
Unbelievable. It’s as if character has no place in Reed’s world.
It’s particularly concerning when Reed’s own organization mentions marriage and family.
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There were many who did realize the error of their ways, and in recognizing the importance of character in a leader, withdrew their support.
Wayne Grudem, an evangelical theologian, who gave early support to Trump, upon hearing the 2005 audio, withdrew his support and wrote a powerful apology message in doing so.
His vulgar comments in 2005 about his sexual aggression and assaults against women were morally evil and revealed pride in conduct that violates God’s command, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14). I have now read transcripts of some of his obscene interviews with Howard Stern, and they turned my stomach. His conduct was hateful in God’s eyes and I urge him to repent and call out to God for forgiveness, and to seek forgiveness from those he harmed. God intends that men honor and respect women, not abuse them as sexual objects.
Now that is the proper response for a leader of faith, when confronted with what the audio of this incident revealed about who Trump is.
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How does their allegiance to an immoral, abusive man further the cause of Christ, which is the main objective of all Christians?
It doesn’t.
As has been said before elsewhere, Christians supporting and defending this man, for whatever reason, hurt their Christian witness. They forfeit any right to call out sinful behavior. They forfeit any right to minister to the broken and abused woman, who needs to have a meeting with the Healer. They forfeit any right to go into the streets, the bars, the prisons, and tell troubled young men that though what they do is wrong, there is forgiveness. They forfeit the right to talk about God’s plan for the family, when they’ve held up such a man as the leader of the free world.
At some point, it all becomes too much. There is no excuse to still support this man to be president, when there are better choices among our third parties.
These “faith” leaders show a lack of faith by letting fear of Hillary Clinton be the chain that keeps them loyal to a man such as Trump.
1 Corinthians 15:33 NIV says, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’".........
