The Messianic Martyr with the orange glow halo. . . (Cagle.com)
“It is true that his life currently embodies the 7 deadly sins, but God’s grace can transform any human being. There is a path to healing and salvation for Trump if he chooses it. Redemption begins with repentance. And repentance begins with confession. And confession begins with truth. I do not rejoice in anyone’s suffering — but I do rejoice in truth and accountability. Because truth sets us free. And sin has consequences.”—Shane Claiborne
WN: I too have siblings. They live in Canada. They support Trump: one is clearly a Trumpie. The other is an occasional Trumpie, and sadly an anti-Waynie. (I did attempt reconciliation, but it was rebuffed. I think I mean it when I pray for them both. But I know that. . .
As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.” (Romans 3:10) And:
The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? (Jeremiah 17:9)
Where my son takes his car for repairs, there is a huge flag hanging inside the owner’s shop that looks like the image to the left. It’s a hard-to-escape-from cult.
In 1933, Hitler’s grip on power in Germany became nationwide. “Hitler gained popular support by attacking the Treaty of Versailles and promoting pan-Germanism, antisemitism and anti-communism with charismatic oratory and Nazi propaganda. He frequently denounced communism as being part of an international Jewish conspiracy. (Wikipedia)” It was a not-to-be-escaped-from cult that occasioned/blessed the murder of 6 million Jews and millions of others not of the right “blood and soil.” It also began a World War where 40 to 60 millions died. It was a pre-eminently deadly cult.
Trump the Anti-God-Anti-Christ-man
The Orange Halo Glow persecuted for his All-Supreme MTGA (Make Trump Great Again) Narcissism: The MTGA of Sorrows who just can’t seem to pull off controlling the universe–the most persecuted Narcissist in the history of the world! Motto: “I am a Victim therefore I am.”
Cult members have no clue that their leaders–invariably total narcissists–don’t give a damn about them. They’re dead to him because he’s dead to them. And if they fall out with him, or get in the way, they’re in danger of being literally dead–even if not living on 5th Avenue in New York.
Trump does needJustice. Would that it be the loving kind that drags him (kicking and screaming?) into the kingdom. . .
Christ lived, taught and modelled perfect humanity. Trump lives, teaches and models almost complete inhumanity. The painting to the right by a Trumpie is tragic. It needs the real picture corrective above left: Trump, the Anti-Christ-Anti-God-man. Trump leads a blind cult. Trump the inverse god-man.
There is such tragedy in a “Christian” leader who actually can say:
We the people will stand up against this in November!” she vowed. “May God bless you, my long time friend, President Trump, and may God bless all of us who stand for1 righteousness!”–Paula White
What we saw today has never happened before, and I think for the majority of Americans, it raises questions about whether our legal system can be trusted. Pray for our nation, for God’s guiding hands that this republic will be one nation under God with liberty and justice for all.
He is right though:
What we saw today has never happened before. . .
Trump indeed has never happened before, and would to God he never happens again. . . But he has multiple sycophantic imitators and many more growing up in the wings. . .
But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Or where do they find themselves in Jesus’ statement in Matthew 5:20?:
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Should one add after “surpasses that of“:
“the white American evangelical Christian nationalists and the prosperity gospel preachers”?
And not a one would ever identify with this?:
The fruit of that righteousness will be peace; its effect will be quietness and confidence forever. (Isaiah 32:7)
Or certainly not this?:
Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other. (Psalm 85:10)
Yet again, no way this?:
Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. (Romans 14:16-18)
Finally categorically not this?:
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3:13 – 18)
Hmmmm! It would seem most American white evangelical leaders need Trump’s Bible (that of course he reads more than everyone–since God’s 6-day creation 6,000 years ago!) even perhaps more than everyone. . . It would seem as well that James had Trump firmly in mind when writing the first paragraph. . . Trump: possibly the most “unwise” human since the creation of the world? Trump: perhaps the most superlative man ever?. . .
Okay. Now I must retreat to my confessional booth. There, I might hear:
Wipe that smile and halo off your face! As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one.”–Romans 3:10
Sigh. . .
The Blind Leading the Blind [The MAGAs Leading the GOP] by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1568
Isn’t the conviction of someone who made a hush money payment to cover up an adulterous affair about as straightforward of a tale of moral comeuppance as one could tell?—Michael Wear
Supporters of Trump have maintained that the charges against the former president related to the so-called “hush money” payments constitute election interference in light of his status as the leading Republican candidate and presumptive opponent of President Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election, which is just over five months away.
Leaders in the Evangelical community, which has constituted an important part of the former president’s base throughout his political career, weighed in on Thursday’s verdict. Here are 10 reactions from high-profile Evangelicals:
6. Paula White served as a spiritual advisor to Trump during his tenure in the White House, and described Thursday as a sad day for all Americans as we watched firsthand the judicial system weaponized to go after President Trump for political gain.
Like [Jenetzen] Franklin, White shared pictures of spiritual leaders praying over Trump in a post published on the social media platform X on Thursday.
“We the people will stand up against this in November!” she vowed. “May God bless you, my long time friend, President Trump, and may God bless all of us who stand for righteousness!”
***
5. Shane Claiborne. While most statements coming from the Evangelical community indicated support for Trump or opposition to the charges against him, Evangelical author Shane Claiborne’s reaction to the verdict reflected a different point of view. Claiborne declared in an X post on Friday morning that “No one is beyond redemption, not even Donald Trump.”
It is true that his life currently embodies the 7 deadly sins, but God’s grace can transform any human being. There is a path to healing and salvation for Trump if he chooses it. Redemption begins with repentance. And repentance begins with confession. And confession begins with truth. I do not rejoice in anyone’s suffering — but I do rejoice in truth and accountability. Because truth sets us free. And sin has consequences.
Claiborne vowed that. . .
I will continue to pray for Trump, that he will know the love of Jesus personally and be transformed by that love.
The pinned post on Claiborne’s X account decries. . .
“. . . the heresy of Christian nationalism, the cult of Trump” and expresses support for “ending the war, welcoming immigrants, chopping guns [and] abolishing the death penalty.
10. Dwight McKissic, the senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, shared his thoughts about the verdict on X Thursday. “I’m baffled as to the factual basis as to why white evangelicalism feels like an injustice occurred today,” he remarked.
McKissic cited the reaction to the verdict as the latest example of how
“there are two Americas, and two churches.” He pondered whether the “disappointment & disapproval of today’s verdict” was based on white Evangelicals’ “belief that DJT didn’t have sex with SD,” if it was “based on a belief that DJT didn’t pay $130,000 to cover up his affair so as not to hurt his election chances” or “based on not believing DJT’s own recorded words admitting to such.”
11. Michael Wear, a former advisor to former President Barack Obama, shared McKissic’s perspective on the verdict. In a thread published on X Thursday, Wear commented that
Not much surprises me anymore here, but the fact that the nature of the crime does not provoke a minute of hesitation to those defending Trump today is one of those things.
Isn’t the conviction of someone who made a hush money payment to cover up an adulterous affair about as straightforward of a tale of moral comeuppance as one could tell? he asked.
excerpts:
Dwight McKissic cited the reaction to the verdict as the latest example of how “there are two Americas, and two churches.” He pondered whether the “disappointment & disapproval of today’s verdict” was based on white Evangelicals’ “belief that DJT didn’t have sex with SD,” if it was “based on a belief that DJT didn’t pay $130,000 to cover up his affair so as not to hurst his election chances” or “based on not believing DJT’s own recorded words admitting to as such.”—Dwight McKissic
WASHINGTON — At Nativity grade school, we grew up steeped in the lore — and gore — of martyrs. For their brave deeds and words, these men and women were stoned, crucified, beheaded, stripped of all their skin, shot with arrows and cooked alive on a red-hot griddle.
So I’m a little surprised my siblings would somehow put Donald Trump in those martyrs’ sainted company.
My sister and brother, disturbed by Trump’s constant chaos and slashing insults, saw their hopes for Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley evaporate.
The jurors were not Trump’s peers because Trump has no peer in mendacity.
I called my Republican sibs Friday to see if hearing the word “guilty” ring out 34 times in a New York courtroom had finally severed them from Trump; they are, after all, children of a police detective.
My sister, Peggy, said she couldn’t sleep all night.
“You decided you can’t vote for a felon?” I asked.
“I wasn’t going to vote for Trump,” she said. “But now I am because I thought this whole thing was a sham.”
…
Holy Kafka! Trump’s line about how he’s being martyred for us always seemed risible to me, but I guess it works with some people, even some people close to me.
…
Thepinned poston Claiborne’s X account decries “the heresy of Christian nationalism, the cult of Trump” and expresses support for “ending the war, welcoming immigrants, chopping guns [and] abolishing the death penalty.”
Unlike my siblings, I found the guilty verdicts bracing. A dozen Americans had finally sliced through Trump’s reality distortion field and said, simply, “You’re lying and cheating and it’s not right.” Even though the case was a stretch and not the strongest one against Trump, there was something refreshing about the jury doing what no one else around Trump has been able to do — not the inexplicably sycophantish Republican lawmakers, not the corrupt Supreme Court, not the slowpoke Merrick Garland.
The jurors were not Trump’s peers because Trump has no peer in mendacity. But it was great to see the 12 just say no, you don’t slime your way into the presidency by having your creepy gofer pay off a porn star you slept with while your wife was home with a newborn and call it a legal expense.
Wayne Northey was Director of Man-to-Man/Woman-to-Woman – Restorative Christian Ministries (M2/W2) in British Columbia, Canada from 1998 to 2014, when he retired. He has been active in the criminal justice arena and a keen promoter of Restorative Justice since 1974. He has published widely on peacemaking and justice themes. You will find more about that on this website: a work in progress.
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There, I might hear:
6. Paula White served as a spiritual advisor to Trump during his tenure in the White House, and described Thursday as a sad day for all Americans as we watched firsthand the judicial system weaponized to go after President Trump for political gain.
5. Shane Claiborne. While most statements coming from the Evangelical community indicated support for Trump or opposition to the charges against him, Evangelical author Shane Claiborne’s reaction to the verdict reflected a different point of view. Claiborne declared in an X post on Friday morning that “No one is beyond redemption, not even Donald Trump.”
10. Dwight McKissic, the senior pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, shared his thoughts about the verdict on X Thursday. “I’m baffled as to the factual basis as to why white evangelicalism feels like an injustice occurred today,” he remarked.
11. Michael Wear, a former advisor to former President Barack Obama, shared McKissic’s perspective on the verdict. In a thread published on X Thursday, Wear commented that
