Living A Lie And Quite Proud Of It
A shameless existence in the gospel of success
Some of the stuff you hear and read from the president is incredibly dispiriting. To rationalize his ascension to the oval office is difficult to wrap your head around yet, what is worse is how supposedly proud and principled citizens make allowances for what Trump continues to do while in the oval office which is devoid of any gravitas for becoming the president of the United States.
We are all lying to ourselves when we fail to align ourselves for the good of the nation. We are truly lying to ourselves when we can’t admit to faults that necessitate correcting. We are lying to ourselves for assuming that this is what’s right for the country. We are definitely fooling ourselves if we think that Trump’s electoral win in 2016 is divine intervention.
Nearly two-thirds of white evangelicals said Trump has not hurt the dignity of the presidency. By contrast, majorities of all other religious groups said Trump has damaged the image of the office.¹
The gospel of success
The spiritual advisors surrounding and praying for Trump are hoping for some matthew effect in kind because what they believe to be divine favor or prosperity bestowed to Trump will grow with them like seed faith. When Trump ascended upon the presidency, it was largely seen that it was ordained due to his wealth when he basically bragged obsessively about in apparently convincing fashion.
Having wealth to most Christians means you are blessed and therefore close to God because it was God’s will that you have accumulated or have come into wealth. This means the opposite is also true, that those without wealth means you are not one of the chosen by God, nor are you blessed in that way and obviously not worthy or unequal.
This is a lie though. The bible itself is rife with instances where the chosen people are the downtrodden and poor. They are the ones who receive the most attention in scripture and guidance by God. They are also the ones that are exploitable and enable the rich to get richer and more powerful. The prosperity theology is dominated by televangelists of many christian denominations and ironically they promote idolatry of wealth in those who are essentially charismatic charlatans.
According to Luke 19:1–10, Zacchaeus was overcome by Jesus’ kindness, prompting the wealthy man to publicly proclaim that he would give half his possessions to the poor and pay back anyone he defrauded four times over.
President Trump certainly loves his narcissistic supply of unwavering support no matter what sort of corruptible or impaeachable offense he commits in office. In exchange they have been rewarded in ways that ingratiate them with the appearance of influence in the country. An influence that is overestimated to represent a moral majority.
White evangelicals do not represent nor behave in any way, shape, or form as the moral majority. They are more aptly the political and social right-wing republican support and base for the party who is seeking to usurp preferential power in America.
We are also fools to think that this is okay because they have prayed about it and they are giving Trump their blessing because they are devout with their religiosity.
We are lying to ourselves in believing that racism of any kind, degree, or scope is excuable or justifiable. The policies that the Trump administration has enacted by presidential order or decree has profound elements of racism. Slavery advocates have similarly used the bible or have cherry-picked verses of the bible to justify dehumanizing and or the suffering of Africans or African Americans and other people of color as if it were ordained.
If you also apply Romans 13 to exemplify Trump’s self-proclaimed, so-called authority to do whatever he wants as president and that impeachment is a witch hunt then you are fooling yourself.
…yeah, yeah, yeah, Trump is not a minister of God. You should disabuse yourself of this subversive inculcation, misinterpretation, and misapplication here. It is conveniently used to support the agenda to oppress opposition or resistance to fairness and equality.
If Americans don’t implore Congress to impeach and remove Trump then we will continue to live this terrible lie. We are living a lie if we continue to placate or dismiss Trump as a plausible or competent president of the United States. We are lying to ourselves if we allow the divisive nature of his presidency to continue to wreak havoc on our mental and physical states as fellow Americans in arms and in trust dor our democracy. We simply can’t make up something to be proud about when every bit of this presidency has been something to be absolutely ashamed about.
