Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition said this recently:
“We’ve never really tried to be the churchgoing version of the party bosses in a smoke-filled room trying to figure out who the nominee ought to be,” Reed said. “We figure the best thing to do is to provide a platform for those candidates and assist them, informally, by letting them know the best way they can connect with and make their case to those voters and pastors.
“After that, we let the market decide.”
Give the people what they want even if its obviously unChrist-like.
Reed said that he was on the phone with Trump’s speech writers “for some time” yesterday, but would not elaborate on the feedback he provided about how Trump should discuss Pence at the conference.
The lived gospel is absent to the point Reed referred to the faithful as "a market." One to be manipulated.
Update 8-14-22: Christian Nationalism is not what our Founding Fathers wanted when they established our country.
Update 9-10-22: A week before the Capitol attack, on a video call organized by a member of a Christian nationalist group, a Pennsylvania state senator who is the Republican candidate for governor in the battleground state prayed that supporters of Donald Trump would “seize the power” on 6 January 2021.
Nine people died that day or as a result of Trump's insurrection. I imagine a number of them were Christians. I can't imagine feeding Trump's insatiable ego is God's Will.
Update 9-17-22: The Red Team updated Jesus' message.
Update 9-24-22: Trump shared a Truth Social post showing him second only to Jesus. Investors backed out of the SPAC acquiring Trump's media enterprise to the tune of $139 million.
Update 9-28-22: Even evangelical theologians call Christian Nationalism a distortion of the faith.
Update 11-6-22: The Amoral Trump "chosen one" market is touring the U.S.
Update 11-8-22: A God commercial is promoting Red Team Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Blue Team Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama are fellow Christians, yet some would say God did not choose them for the job.
Update 11-19-22: Some evangelical leaders found their discernment skills regarding former President Donald Trump, often the least observable Christian in any room.
Update 12-4-22: A Christian Nationalist leader had a Twitter account full of racist rants. Somehow he forgot about what he'd written under a pen name.
Update 12-9-22: A Christian minister said his efforts to influence the Supreme Court "pushed the boundaries of Christian ethics."
Update 12-30-22: Christian Nationalism does not come close to representing the wide swath of Christian belief. It is a distortion of Christian faith.
Update 1-17-23: Trump threw a retaliatory impulse punch at evangelical leaders. That's their price for dancing with the devil of an unhinged President.
Update 2-9-23: The Red Team and Christian Nationalism are deeply intertwined.
Update 2-17-23: Fox News Tucker Carlson called Trump a "demonic force."
Update 5-10-23: Morning Joe noted the deal evangelicals made with Donald Trump and predicted this would come back to bite the faithful.
“This foray into politics has been devastating for evangelicals,” as, he said, more and more young people avoid many churches’ increasingly conservative stance.
Late in his life Rev. Billy Graham came to rue his foray into politics. He warned the “hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.” That fits Donald Trump to a T. It's hard to discern Jesus teachings from observing Trump's life.
Update 5-15-23: One Christian used Jesus' teachings to decide not to vote for another Trump presidency.
Update 5-19-23: Trump's henchmen are using "end times" rhetoric to whip up supporters. A revenge obsessed Trump wants retribution. He bears little resemblance to Jesus and his behavior is the opposite of Christ's teachings.
Update 6-21-23: A conservative Christian said:
“You have in Donald Trump the person who probably most embodies the antithesis of the Sermon on the Mount, the person of Jesus, and the teachings of Jesus."
