The recent US election has left many Progressive believers with a difficult choice. For most of us, the hope of making peace is always a draw, and wherever possible, this is the best choice. But what if it’s not the right time to make peace? What if doing so is far more harmful than standing up for the oppressed? Ecclesiastes 3:1-8,
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
To be clear, we are never led by God to hate any individual, but we are certainly called to hate what they stand for, if what they stand for is harmful, unjust, or unmerciful. There are countless injunction in the Bible to defend the oppressed. For example, Psalm 82:3-4,
“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked”
It might be tempting for some to bury their heads in the sand and wait for four years to pass, but the problem runs much deeper than a single president. There is a hateful narrative unfolding that, in my view, we have no choice but to noisily resist. It is not time to plant; it is time to uproot. It is time to tear down, to refrain from embracing, to hate, and to wage war against harmful ideologies and those who enforce them.
Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde is a faithful fellow soldier. I have nothing but admiration for the bishop who, with Christlike grace, pleaded with Trump for the sake of all those he looks set on oppressing. I think this was a marvellous intervention, revealing the stark contrast of true Christian grace and the false and idolatrous version of Christianity so many are lost in. It will serve as a reminder of what is right throughout Trump’s presidency and will hold individuals who’ve heard the bishop’s words accountable to their consciences. On the one hand, we have this gentle, beautiful call for mercy and on the other, we have Trump’s nasty response, which was a personal attack, already taken up by others. She is now the subject of daily death threats, as of course was inevitable, but Trump has only inflamed the hatred spewing out against her instead of asking people to calm down. Which person represents Christ? The answer cannot be ‘both’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACcD8FA15uY&ab_channel=GuardianNews
We cannot fall silent in the face of what’s happening. At this very moment, there will be countless Latino Anne Franks hiding in basements and attics all over the USA, desperate to escape the grasp of ICE. Troops will kill the desperate at the southern border. Transgender people will lose their jobs and have no legal defence, as they are no longer recognised as a group. LGBTQ+ people will live in fear, and they would be sensible to do so, given the hatred towards them in a nation so given to violence.
I honestly don’t know how Christians reconcile worshipping a God who serves his own creation, who washes our feet and tells us to serve each other before ourselves, with an America First president. How do they reconcile the responsibility to be good stewards of the Earth with ‘drill baby, drill’? How do they deal with the many Biblical injunctions to welcome the stranger/sojourner as we would a citizen?
Is Trump in the Bible?
Never before have I offered an interpretation of an End Times prophecy, but this seems to fit, with the beast being the USA and Trump, the boastful little horn. Daniel 7: 7-11,
“After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns…
While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.
Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.”
Make of that what you will, but whether or not Trump is the boastful little horn, it is time to fight. When transgender folk are bullied and harassed, it’s time to stand between them and their oppressors. When undocumented Latinos who have lived decent lives in the States are hunted down, do everything within your power and within the law to help them! When Trump passes hideous laws with a white supremacist agenda, take to the streets and make sure your voices are heard. Call out hypocrisy, even though it is costly to do so. Remember, this is not about Trump – it’s about the future of the US and its impact on the world. If we won’t stand against white supremacy, religious nationalism, and all the other collective obscenities currently on the government’s agenda, how are we any different from those who stood by, silent, in Nazi Germany? What will our legacy be?
We all need to find the courage demonstrated by Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde and unify in our opposition of this hateful administration and the cultural shift it represents. We need to call out our family members and our Christian friends who have drunk the Kool-Aid. I’ve been shocked to discover that some well-respected Christian individuals with really kind and inclusive theology seem to think that doesn’t apply to immigrants or LGBTQ+ people, or at least that’s what their vote tells me. Call these people out and keep calling them out till they repent. make your family, your church, your pastor, and anyone else in league with injustice uncomfortable and do not give up until the fight is won. That is the long and short of it.
Friends, it is time to wage war.
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