Prison or passivity? American Christians, choose your battle

The next couple of years are going to be very turbulent for those of us who are Christians operating in the civic realm. The paradigm is shifting on us, and the ground beneath our feet is shrinking. And I don’t know if you’ve looked around much, but there aren’t many churches that seem like they're eager to equip us for the times in which we live.

I think we have demonstrated on our show that we are willing to confront some of the elements within the MAGA movement that seem to represent or be encouraging the godlessness rampant in our culture. But right now, I want to talk to the people who are generally more like us and probably cheered when we supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over Donald Trump. Because we are all in this together, folks — as in, we must hang together, or we will hang separately. You know, the Ben Franklin kind of together.

The idea that Donald Trump hasn’t been held accountable for his mistakes is not true. God is better at holding people accountable than we are.

You are welcome to articulate all the most intricate works on biblical and cultural exegesis that you can from the comfort of your prison cell. But it is one thing to be willing to go to prison on behalf of a cause. It is another matter entirely to say “I guess I'll just sit this one out and let them do it to me.” I don't know what honor there is in that.

We must understand the moment we are in. I learned some hard lessons while working for Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign in 2016. After many years of trying since Ronald Reagan's time, we thought we had finally found the perfect Gary Cooper kind of sheriff, the man of dignity you want your sons to emulate and your daughters to marry. But we didn’t grasp the full cost of the failures of the Gary Cooper wannabes of the past. They kept promising to vanquish the banditos but, in the end, always chickened out or found excuses to do something else.

So the people got sick of the entire Gary Cooper act and instead sought out the Pale Rider, the Man with No Name. Except his name was Donald Trump. No more endless death with dignity with Mr. Nice Guy. They wanted a warrior, and whatever collateral damage came along with it was worth the risk.

That is who Trump was in 2016. And he was obviously effective enough at his job that very dark and powerful interests had to contrive fake Russian collusion and fake pandemics to force him out. The banditos came back even worse than before. But the people’s memory of what had been was unshakable. No alternative to the Pale Rider would be accepted, a lesson I again learned via Ron DeSantis. Trump was being punished on their behalf, and they would not desert him. Instead, they would bring him back.

Trump’s accountability — and ours

Biblically speaking, Trump is Samson — a problematic figure who was also greatly feared by the spirit of the age while living in a demonic Philistine culture that wanted to infiltrate and conquer God’s people. And maybe, just maybe, we’re about to find out Trump has a similar anointing following the assassination attempt. Let’s pray that’s true.

But what we must not do is stubbornly cross our arms and act like the Pharisees who said nothing good comes from Nazareth. We must let hope in the door when and if it comes knocking.

Now some of you are arguing that Trump hasn’t repented for COVID or other mistakes of character, so there isn’t really anything to put your hopes on until you see some accountability. But just as Samson was both used by and punished by God at the very same time, so it may be with Trump. He is still facing a prison sentence. He’s lost millions if not billions of dollars. He was one of the most beloved figures in the world, and now he’s a symbol of division wherever he goes. His entire family has had to suffer for that. And, oh, he was nearly murdered, perhaps with the assistance of his own government.

The idea that Donald Trump hasn’t been held accountable for his mistakes is not true. God is better at holding people accountable than we are.

Jesus’ parable of the wedding banquet is also relevant here in showing how American moral leadership is being held accountable. The king sends out invitations to a long-anticipated event, but the people for whom the occasion was meant decide they have other things to do. They’re distracted, they’ve moved on, and they’ve grown impatient. So the king tells his servants to fling open the doors and let anyone who wishes join the festivities.

The churches and pastors who were supposed to form the American spiritual consciousness have forfeited their calling with distractions and equivocations. They’ve got khakis to pleat, sweater vests to unwrinkle, and skinny jeans to iron. Meanwhile, darkness is still out here and the name of God is still being cursed. So God has flung open the doors and says the battle needs to be fought regardless. Come one, come all.

The fight is here and now

There are aspects of Trump and his movement that I don’t understand and probably never will. But here’s the thing: Who has offended the spirit of the age more in the last year, your pastor or George Santos? A gay man offended them so much that they had to expunge him from Congress, but your pastor just shut down his church because Governor Nero the Woke told him to.

Do you have a pastor worthy of being shot at? Maybe the problem in this country is that our pastors aren’t worthy of prison or being shot at. Ask yourselves: Why is this billionaire playboy named Trump out here catching bullets from demons instead?

This is a war. And the war will happen with or without us.

Because he’s a threat and they’re not.

Even when they sit across the street from church, trans the kids, and soul-murder them with drag queen story hour, the shepherds can't be bothered. If the fact that the banditos are shooting the people they think represent us in broad daylight still doesn't indicate that the battle is here and raging, then I don't know what will wake you up until they shoot you.

Wake up. This is the fight. If you miss this, all that godlessness and everything else we’re concerned about will have zero pushback. We can’t sit here with our furrowed brows and crossed arms, passing judgment on people, instead of acknowledging that perhaps they simply have more courage than us.

This is a war. And the war will happen with or without us. Let us not take our light and hide it under a bushel. We have lost so much credibility with this culture and left so many people behind. The other folks over here, the people you laugh at like Cousin Eddie, are the ones on the front lines while we’re over here writing blogs. What the hell are we doing?

We are needed in this fight. You are needed in this fight. We need your wisdom. We need your guidance. We need your principles, but they're of no use to anybody if they're hidden under a bushel. We need your accountability. We need your discipleship. Otherwise, this thing will go off the rails, French Revolution-style.

This is not the time to run away. We have the high ground in a way we haven't had in a while.

Take it and fight!