If We Reject Trump, We May Be Inviting Persecution
When the election is Constantine vs. Diocletian, Christians don't get to stay home.
https://stream.org/if-we-reject-trum...g-persecution/
Should Christians get behind Donald Trump?
As I’ve demonstrated here, on every criterion of politics, it seems to me that electing Donald Trump is less dangerous to the preaching of the gospel, the safety of Christian institutions from colleges down to the family, and the lives of unborn children.
We don’t have to believe the claim that he’s even a “baby Christian” to recognize that this is true.
Winston Churchill wasn’t any kind of Christian, but
he defended our institutions and our freedoms, and
that was all we needed. It is all the church ever needs.
Given our own failure to evangelize the culture, it may be more than we deserve.
But aren’t Christians all about asking God for exactly that — more than we deserve?
If it sounds like I’m saying that the election of Donald Trump might be a moment of unmerited grace for the United States of America. … Yes, given the only live alternative, that is
exactly what I mean.
I think that some Christian resistance to backing this candidate comes down to simple distaste — some of it justified. This is a man with multiple divorces, a flashy and hedonistic lifestyle, a penchant for juvenile insults — the list could go on and on. It can wear down the soul just to think about it, and that’s for a simple reason: It’s gossip.
The sins of other people aren’t meant to be fodder for our spiritual reflection, though the devil tells us otherwise. The flaws that matter in a political leader are those that connect to his likely performance in office, compared to the real-world alternatives. When we say we prefer the hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, racist agnostic Winston Churchill, we mean
compared to Adolf Hitler. It’s
nonsense to line up every leader next to Jesus or even our ideal politician. I promise you, they will
all fall far short.
Besides, there’s a long history of Christians humbly setting aside their craving for a fully admirable leader, in recognition of a stark reality: In a fallen world, we are subject to violence. Those we are called to protect, from our own children to those in the wombs of desperate strangers, demand that we find a way to defend them.
If we look at the sword which God has left in our path, and sniff that it isn’t shiny enough or might be caked with mud, and leave the innocents to suffer — make no mistake, we will answer for it....