“Exile remains exile, and Babylon remains Babylon,
but both are penetrated, are charged, by the promise of deliverance. For Old
Testament Israel, deliverance is understood as return and rebuilding of
Jerusalem. For New Testament Israel, deliverance is arrival at the destination
of the long pilgrimage toward the New Jerusalem.”
-
Father Richard John Neuhaus – “American
Babylon” (2009)
Ever since Donald Trump announced his candidacy for
President, I’ve argued as passionately as I could that he was not presidential
material. I spent a lot of time outlining why, from policy differences where I
could find them and by trying to determine his character traits based on the
wealth of information that was readily available. To me, and many others, he
was manifestly unfit for the high office he sought.
That was months ago. Since then, he has swept
through a small army of Republican candidates like a hot knife through butter.
That list included the candidate I was supporting, Marco Rubio. We’re now a
month out from the general election and it appears that the Republican Party,
and Donald Trump, are on the cusp of an unmitigated disaster. While I can’t
predict it with certainty, I suspect that Donald Trump will lose to Hillary
Clinton and the Republican Party may well lose the House and Senate. It’s the
doomsday scenario that would give Hillary Clinton complete control of the
agenda, including the nomination of Supreme Court justices, expanding the
Democrats’ battle with the pro-life movement by repealing the Hyde Amendment
and continuing America’s retreat from principle on the international stage.
Over the past few days I’ve been interacting with
some of the people I know on Facebook. Most, but not all, are fellow
Christians. Some aren’t pleased with me because of the positions I’ve taken vis
a vis Mr. Trump. That’s fine. We’re all free moral agents.
I find the vast majority of their arguments in favor
of a Trump candidacy unpersuasive, but there is one that I believe I need to
consider. The argument they’ve forwarded is that Donald Trump is now a
Christian and because of that he deserves a chance to be the President.
Does he?
I’m sure there are a lot of people who are howling
that the idea that Donald Trump is now an Evangelical Christian. The internet
is buzzing from coast to coast. The gloating is palpable, even through the
airwaves. I know a few people here locally who’ve been savaging Trump since the
now famous audio tapes were released. I get it. The defeat of their nemesis is
immanent and they’re gloating, like the Philistines taunting Samson in the
temple of Dagon or the Pharisees mocking Jesus at his trial. It’s going to be
happening for a while, particularly as more and more revelations about Donald
Trump surface. Trump’s adversaries and critics aren’t done and there’s not much
we can do about it.
Is Donald Trump’s conversion sincere? Most would say
no, but I’m not one of them. I take it at face value, in the same way I
accepted Bill Clinton’s public repentance after the Lewinsky affair. I’m sure
that a lot of people don’t accept Bill Clinton’s turnaround. But, as Abraham
Lincoln said in his second inaugural, “let us judge not, that we be not judged.”
Having said that, does it now follow that I should
vote for Donald Trump?
I don’t believe it does.
First, conversion doesn’t erase all of Donald Trump’s
character flaws in an instant. They were years in the making and I suspect
rooting them out will also take years. Conversion to Christianity is just the
beginning of what is, or should be, a life-long pilgrimage.
Second, and most important, I’m bothered that some
Trump supporters, particularly Evangelical leaders, continue to push his
candidacy. Why? Can’t they see that what they’re doing is lighting even more
candles to entice the moth. If they truly care about Donald Trump and his soul they
would do the things necessary to eliminate the temptation of political power
and the obstacles the limelight have placed in his path. They need to ask themselves
what is more important, temporal power or Donald Trump’s eternal destiny. They
need to ask themselves, “Is my interest more in preserving my place of
privilege and power than it is in Donald Trump’s soul?”
Donald
Trump needs time and space, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to get it. I
doubt that he’s read about the parable of the sower (Matthew 13), but many of
his enablers have. They know full well that the early days after conversion to
Christianity can be perilous. They know that the seeds of hope are sometimes
sown into thorny ground, where “the worries of this life and
the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
If Donald Trump is to have any chance of making his “confession”
real, he needs to be separated from the thorny ground of politics. I fear that
his enablers aren’t going to let that happen. Do they care more about maintaining
their lofty perches than they do about Donald Trump? The best that I can say is
that I’m suspicious of their motives.
I’m going to follow with the accounts of three
people that will, I believe, demonstrate conclusively that what I’ve said is
true. The first is Paul, the man who is considered one of the New Testament
giants. He’s called an apostle. The second is Charles Colson, Richard Nixon’s
former White House counsel, and the third is me.
Almost every Christian knows the story of Paul. The
account of his conversion from Judaism to Christianity on the Damascus Road is
high drama, particularly when Saul, as he was known prior to his conversion,
was zealously persecuting Christians. The New Testament accounts shortly after
his conversion show that there was a great deal of fear within the Christian
community about him. Was his conversion sincere? There were, understandably,
doubters.
What did it take to convince them? Time. Paul spent
three years in Arabia, learning, absorbing, and having Christian truth “revealed”
to him. You can read about it at the end of the first chapter of Galatians. It
was time well spent. Well over half of the New Testament letters were penned by
Paul. His missionary journeys brought Christianity to the Gentile world. In one
sense, he established what has become, in some circles, a tradition. Graduate
studies in theology are generally completed in a three year period.
There may have been doubters when Paul was “born again.”
Time and Paul’s sincerity convinced them that he was indeed a Christian.
Charles Colson was once considered Richard Nixon’s
hatchet man. As Nixon’s White House counsel, he was a key player in the
skullduggery that became known as Watergate. He was ruthless. It was said he
would have run over his own mother if it meant protecting Richard Nixon. Like
the rest of the Watergate conspirators, he got caught. Unlike many of the
others, he went to prison. While in prison he was, as we Evangelicals say, “born
again.”
Was his conversion sincere or was he just lobbying
for a reduced sentence? There were many skeptics.
In the end, he proved them wrong. Colson’s
conversion was real. As I sit here, I’m looking at a couple of his books, “The
God of Stones and Spiders” and “Against the Night,” which I’ve read. I’ve also
read his classic, “Born Again,” which I’ve read but don’t have a copy of.
While in prison, he started what has become one of
the most dynamic Christian ministries in the world, Prison Fellowship, which provides
support to inmates and their families on the outside trying to hold their lives
together.
I’ve read many of the essays he penned over the
years for Christianity Today. They reveal a man of remarkable insight and
faith.
In 1993 he won the prestigious Templeton Prize for
religion which” honors a living person who has made an exceptional contribution
to affirming life’s spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or
practical works.”
Charles Colson died in 2012. I have absolutely no
doubt I’ll see him in heaven some day!
I present myself as a third witness, not because I
consider myself part of the pantheon, but because the process of my conversion
demonstrates the same pattern.
People who knew me in the mid-sixties saw an amoral,
ruthless man. In those days, I wouldn’t have hesitated to hurt, or even murder,
if I felt I could get away with it or it was going to be to my advantage. That’s
the man I was.
But, Christ changed me, from the inside out. I was “born
again” in August of 1969.
People who knew me prior to my conversion were
skeptical. I don’t blame them.
The last thing I needed was the limelight.
Thankfully, I was assigned military duty in Panama. When I got there I discovered that
while I went to work, I really never had any work to do. That freed me up to
study the Bible, which I’d never done, to meditate on what my conversion meant,
and pray. I was able to spend extended
leave time with an Australian missionary, Bruce Haste, at his ministry base in
the mountains. I still have fond memories of trekking up the mountains with
Bruce and his trail ponies, visiting villages and delivering villagers from the
scourge of superstition and witch doctors. I can still hear the voices of the
Lutheran Hour and Billy Graham crusades flowing from the short wave as we
rested at his home in the foothills prior to our next adventure.
I needed those eighteen months. They gave me the opportunity
to start my pilgrimage as a grounded Christian who understood what his faith
meant.
That’s what I believe Donald Trump needs. Unfortunately,
that may not be what he’s going to get. The power brokers are being merciless.
I believe they’re throwing him right back into the fire in a desperate attempt
to protect their positions of power and privilege.
It’s a battle they’re going to lose. It’s a battle
the Republican Party is going to lose and it’s a battle people of faith are
going to lose. The barbarians are at the
gates and they’ve almost knocked the hinges off.
What’s next? What does this
mean for the Christian community?
In a word, it means captivity. In two words, it
means Babylonian captivity.
What do I mean by that?
It’s interesting. Some current Trump supporters are
saying that they’ll still vote for him. But, their anger is so kindled that
they’re promising to vote out every Republican who has either disavowed or
distanced themselves from Donald Trump. That opens the very real possibility of
the Democratic Party re-taking the House and Senate. If I were a Democrat, I’d
be salivating at the prospect. I can only imagine what they’re thinking.
Reconciliation? Come on, now, you know that’s not true. How does it go? Revenge
is a dish best served cold!
Before he died in 2009, Father Richard John Neuhaus
penned a remarkable essay that foreshadowed where we are today. Toward the end
of the essay, he cites the work of Scottish philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre:
“Abandoning the idea of moral truth, politics is no
longer the deliberation of how we ought to order our life together but is now,
in the words of Alasdair MacIntyre, warfare is carried on by other means. All
politics is combat politics. There is no longer, some say, a common American
culture, and we should stop pretending that there is. There are only
subcultures. Choose your subculture, take up its grievances, contentions, and
slogans, and prepare to do battle against the enemy. Liberated from the
delusion that we and our opponents can together say “We Hold These Truths,” we
are urged to recognize the futility of being locked in civil argument and
accept the fact that there is no substitute for partisan victory.”
By the early evening on November 8th, I
believe we’re going to see that a great battle has been lost. The Babylonian
captivity will begin.
Laws will change, gradually. In time the composition
of our courts will change. There won’t be brown shirts marching or Nuremberg-like
rallies. There won’t be any evidence of gestapo tactics. It will be done with
the precision of changes in law. Social mores will continue to shift, from our
current speed of a ballistic missile to light speed. Targets beyond groups like the Little Sisters
of the Poor will increase in numbers. People of faith will become the minority
report. They will have no say in the decision making processes. For all intents
and purposes, they will become the captives.
I’m painting a bleak picture. Believe me, I hope I’m
wrong. But I don’t believe I am. Hillary Clinton is going to take control and
she’s been waiting in the wings, like Madame Defarge at the foot of the
guillotine, for a long time. She’s going to be releasing all that pent up energy on
those she’s affectionately called her “enemies” for years. Once that happens,
it won’t be long till those of us who are members of the household of faith
will be “hanging our harps on the willow trees.”
The road ahead is going to be difficult. We’ll be
passing by the “slough of despond” and the “pillar of salt.” We’ll be tempted
to go along at the “hill of lucre.” It’s going to be a long, difficult journey.
But, I remain hopeful. At the beginning of this
essay I offered the following snippet from Father Neuhaus’s masterwork, “American Babylon.” He said, “For New Testament Israel, deliverance is arrival at the
destination of the long pilgrimage toward the New Jerusalem.” I believe it's critically important for people of faith to embrace those words.
The Christian church has, unfortunately, needed the
chastisement that’s about to come. We’ve been stiff-necked and rebellious. Too
many of our leaders have lusted for power and prominence rather than taking the
Biblical road of servanthood. We’ve had a decades long affair with temporal
power and we’re going to pay a heavy price for our rebellion.
Until that redemptive work is done, we’ll need to
endure the taunts of those in power. We’ll have to stand firm in the face of
their edicts.
But, if we’re patient and faithful, we will pull
through. The grace we’re about to receive may seem to be painful, but it will
be what we need.
Selah!
