He does. He doesn’t. He does again.
Theologian, Wayne Grudem is really having a crisis of conscience this election season, and he has found it hard to keep his footing.
He’s not alone. Christians across America are being asked to choose between a corrupt, pro-partial birth abortion, abusive crone, and an adulterous, cheating, conniving, sexual deviant, who has for years supported and befriended that abusive crone.
We are being asked to choose between Herod and Ahab.
And the flesh of Christians across the land either rejoices that their deeply repressed sin-nature has now been validated, or it quakes with fear and indecision.
Am I being too harsh? Am I being judgmental?
Maybe a little of both, and that is my own flesh. I will commit to working that out with my heavenly Father, on my knees and with heartfelt pleadings for mercy.
Lord knows I am imperfect, but perfectly loved by Him, and I make no apologies for my faith, nor this rock that my feet are planted upon.
Grudem’s explanation for his swing back to Trump, only days separated from his repudiation of the man is policy based.
“Voting for Clinton and her ultraliberal policies is not an option for me as an evangelical Christian. Therefore I am left with two options: (1) vote for Trump, or (2) vote for a third-party candidate whose hopes of winning belong to fantasy, not reality,” wrote Grudem.
“And if these are my only two options, then voting for a third-party candidate has the clear effect of helping to elect Clinton, because it is taking my vote away from Trump. That is why the liberal media loved it when I said I was finding it hard to decide.”
Grudem went on to note that since he found “both candidates morally objectionable,” he is left with choosing to vote for one or the other based on their promised public policies.
Christianity Today published an amazing piece on October 10, 2016, called “Speak Truth to Trump.” The author of the piece implored Christians to consider Trump’s life of idolatry, as spelled out in Colossians 3:5 (NIV):
“ Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.”
Or to quote from the CT piece (and I urge you, that if you never stop and truly focus on anything said during this election season, become hyper-focused on these passages):
Indeed, there is hardly any public person in America today who has more exemplified the “earthly nature” (“flesh” in the King James and the literal Greek) that Paul urges the Colossians to shed: “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry” (3:5). This is an incredibly apt summary of Trump’s life to date. Idolatry, greed, and sexual immorality are intertwined in individual lives and whole societies. Sexuality is designed to be properly ordered within marriage, a relationship marked by covenant faithfulness and profound self-giving and sacrifice. To indulge in sexual immorality is to make oneself and one’s desires an idol. That Trump has been, his whole adult life, an idolater of this sort, and a singularly unrepentant one, should have been clear to everyone.
And therefore it is completely consistent that Trump is an idolater in many other ways. He has given no evidence of humility or dependence on others, let alone on God his Maker and Judge. He wantonly celebrates strongmen and takes every opportunity to humiliate and demean the vulnerable. He shows no curiosity or capacity to learn. He is, in short, the very embodiment of what the Bible calls a fool.
How much more foolish are those who would trust in such a man to keep his word about anything?
There are scores of students who thought they were going to get a valuable education in business management through Trump University.
They did not.
There are businessmen, contractors, painters, electricians, and other craftsmen who thought they were going to get paid for their sweat and efforts, after working on Trump’s buildings, but they did not. Many of them had to close their businesses down, in ruin, because of one corrupt billionaire who manipulated the legal system and did not pay them an honest wage for honest labor.
Not only has Trump not tried to make right in these cases, but he has doubled down and patted himself on the back for successfully using the laws of bankruptcy to avoid paying these workmen.
If he wins the White House and suddenly takes off the Republican mask he’s been wearing for a couple of years, to reveal the big government liberal that most of us know he is, is he still smart for saying whatever he needed to, in order to gain the trust of Grudem and countless others, just to get in office?
Is he smart, or is he as corrupt as Hillary Clinton?
At least Clinton is honest about her wickedness. She readily owns up to her disgusting beliefs.
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, explained in a statement that “my support for [Trump] in the general election was never based upon shared values, rather it was built upon shared concerns.”
Regarding Grudem’s most recent assessment of voting for Trump, Perkins posted a statement to Facebook wherein he encouraged people to read the Grudem piece.
“As I have said, the situation we are in is far from ideal, but our country hangs by a thread over a raging fire,” stated Perkins on Wednesday.
“I believe we have to remain focused on the issues that will impact America for generations to come: the Supreme Court, abortion, religious liberty, and our nation’s ability to protect itself.”
Grudem, Perkins, and too many others have staked their eternity in creating a Utopia in America, against the very heart and promise of the Scripture.
If you are a Christian, you believe (or are supposed to) that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of God. What part about this world is going to get very bad before it gets any better slipped past Grudem and Perkins?
There is no chance of creating a perfect manmade system of government. Men will fail you. Even the very best of them, and in spite of their promises. We’ve had more than a few disappointments in government, and in government officials, that none warrant our absolute fealty.
Does that mean that Christians check out and not be involved in the government process?
Not at all.
On the contrary, we become vigilant. We become involved on every possible level, not to create a Utopia. Not to create a theocracy, but to craft the most accountable government possible, and one that reflects our values.
Christians failed that test during the primary process.
As I have said, time and again, I will not let fear dictate my vote. If I wouldn’t vote for Trump in the primaries, I certainly won’t vote for him now. He’s the same unrepentant, abusive person he was then.
Perhaps Grudem, Perkins, et al. need to revisit 2 Corinthians 5:7 (AMP):
“for we walk by faith, not by sight [living our lives in a manner consistent with our confident belief in God’s promises]—“
That’s God’s promises, not Trump’s.
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