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Over the last decade or so, a broad swath of American Christians have changed their core beliefs in Jesus Christ into the very opposite of those embodied in Christ words and actions. Specifically, by remaining followers of former President Trump, they have moved away from promoting the values of love to promoting hatred, forgiveness to revenge, humility to pride, awareness of faults to self-justification, humility to pride, compassion to heartlessness, reassurance to intimidation, unpretentiousness to arrogance, and truthfulness into dishonesty. They have exchanged these specific values preached and lived by Jesus Christ for those taught and lived in the reality show known as Donald Trump. The teachings of Jesus and the world view and mindset Donald Trump have about life are incompatible. Trump voters are not stupid. They know all of this. Even so, his faithful will tell you, God chooses the flawed to carry out his will and God has chosen Trump to lead our country. The source of this revelation has yet to be disclosed. Word on the street is that god did not get the memo.
In making these switches, Trump' disciples have gone from loyalty to a leader who espoused love to one who spews hatred: From: "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."(Matthew 5: 43-44). To: "Always get even. If you don't, people will think they can get away with anything."
From forgiveness to revenge: From: "Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you." (Luke 6:27-28). To: "Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back ten times as hard."
From acknowledgment of our faults to declaration of self-justification/projection: From: "I have sinned." (Matthew 27:4) Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us." (Matthew 7:12). To: "I don't need to be forgiven. I have done nothing wrong." "I did not do it; Hillary, Joe, Hunter (fill in the blank) did it."
From humility to boastful pride. From: "Many who are first will be last will be first. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted" (Matthew 20:16). To: "I love being the center of attention." "I'm really rich." "Nobody knows more about trade (and 20 other fields) than me." "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created." "I alone can fix it." "I'm the least racist person you have ever interviewed." "I'm a very stable genius.""I think I am actually humble. I think I'm much more humble than you would understand."
From compassion to heartlessness. From: "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy."(Matthew 5:7). To: Only losers have mercy."
From the promise of a protective presence and reassurance to intimidation: From: 365 repetitions of some form of "Do not be afraid" in the Bible, from repetitions of divine security in each gospel throughout the Epistles of the New Testament To "If you go after me, I'm coming after you; and "I am your retribution" (that is, your payback). From "I got your back" to "I'll get you back."
Jesus taught that a true leader is a servant (John 13:1-17). Christ encourages people to take the lowest seats at a feast, (Luke 14:11). He washed his disciples feet (John 13:1:17), encouraged being a source of unity rather than division (Mark 9:50), and said good leaders were marked by integrity and honesty ( Mark 7:6-7 ). Trump fired his chief economic advisor on the phone and his Secretary of State while the former head of Exxon Mobil was on on the toilet, pushed the Prime minister of tiny Montenegro out of the front spot of a picture taken of international leaders so he could be in the front row, often publicly criticized his staff and once said : I don't like when people don't tell the truth. I think it's very important to be honest." While President, Trump made 30,573 public documented false or misleading claims during his four-year term in office.
My guess: few of Trump's disciples are going to make a New Year's resolution to convert back from the teachings of Trump to the teachings of Jesus. As TV ads constantly tell us,, Jesus "gets us," but many who claim to be Christians don't "get Him." And many of their pastors have lost their way too. They claim to revere the Sacred Scriptures and the Constitution. However, together with their flocks, they have betrayed them both.
Through it all, Jesus still keeps telling us in the words of the Christian hymn: "Be not afraid, I go before you. Come follow me and I will give you rest." But Trump followers are loyal, first and foremost to Trump. To the bewilderment of their political opponents, they will keep their faith in him, no matter what, indictments, prosecutions, convictions, whatever. Their steadfast loyalty is in not in Jesus, whose life conjures up the image of the Good Shepherd, but in Donald Trump, whose every word and action evokes the invincibility and menacing power of the Terminator. Their kingdom is of this world. His kingdom is not.
Trump's self-styled Christian followers will tell you they have not changed their belief in love above all else to winning above all else, but they will never abandon him even though they acknowledge the anti-Christian immorality that is at the very core of his being: hatred, revenge, self-justification, pride, heartlessness, intimidation, bravado and dishonesty. They would absolutely flip out if their kids hated others, sought revenge, had big heads, threatened others, thought they were better than their friends, and lied all the time. For them, it is a different story with Trump. God has anointed Trump, with all his flaws, to rule our country. In the words of a popular t-shirt, "In God we Trump."
So much for "You cannot serve both God and mammon," that is "anyone who promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of money" (Matthew 6:24). With Jesus, it's God or all the glitz money can buy as the goal of life. Some Christians are trying to have it both ways.
Tim Mannello is a retired hospital executive and business consultant residing in Williamsport.