Forget Jesus, Give Us Trump

If someone had told me, when I was on the mega-church stage in front of thousands of adoring people, holding their hands when loved ones died, utilizing the arts to bring healing, encouraging them to hang on in a crazy world, personally mentoring hundreds of young artists, loving a wife monogamously for almost thirty years, and raising two children in a loving, pure and positive environment—that none of them would care about me now, and that most of them would relentlessly shame and condemn me, and render me invisible, I would never have believed it.

The Christian people who poured acid on my heart in 2011 for my affair with a consenting older adult—they were heartless—are the very people who are vocal proponents of Trump, a convicted rapist and cheater, and a publicly known traitor to America. On one hand, it makes my head spin. On the other, it validates what I now know by reading the uncensored, bloody, murderous history of Christianity.

A few weeks ago, someone in Spain asked me if I trusted Christians. I replied, “I trust their cruelty.” They asked, “What do you mean?” I said, “I don’t know exactly, but it seems the truest thing to say.”

Here is how American Christians are rewriting their Bible and ignoring Christian history and world history. One can also look at the Old Testament story of the people choosing Saul as King and warned what would happen.

16 At that time, America had a well-known crook and rapist whose name was Donald Trump. 17 So when the crowd gathered at his rallies, the politicians and preachers asked them, “Which one do you choose as your leader: Donald Trump, or Jesus Christ?” 18 For they knew it was out of self-interest that they ignored Jesus teaching.
“Which of the two do you choose?” they asked.
“Trump,” they answered.
22 “What shall we do, then, with Jesus Christ?” the politicians and preachers asked.
They all answered, “Forget him!”
23 “Why? What crime has he committed?” they asked.
But the crowds shouted all the louder, “Forget him!”
24 When the politicians and the preachers saw that they were getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, they took water and washed their hands in front of the crowd. “We are innocent of this country’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”
25 All the Christians answered, “The blood is on us and on our children!”
26 Then they endorsed Trump. And they had Jesus ignored, and let him be forgotten. For his teachings were woke—the beatitudes a joke.

It is surreal to watch events unfold in America from an objective vantage point in Spain. And yes, it is a confirmation that we did the right thing by leaving America.

I can’t help but think of the many historical accounts of people staying in Germany as it became evident (either by inaction, ignorance, or racism) that the country chose not to stop Hitler from rising to power. Soon these people were trapped and many were imprisoned and killed.

Lest you think I am overreacting, review world history and Christian history for yourself. And read America’s headlines. They are horrifying.

I read a NY Times article this morning by David French that said all Evangelical Christians do not support Trump. But everyone I know (and I know tens of thousands) supports Trump. When asked, last December, who they would support in the 2024 Republican primaries, the majority of white evangelical Republicans said Trump.

They backed Trump in this year’s Iowa caucuses; 70 percent of white evangelicals backed him in the New Hampshire primary; and 71 percent backed him in the South Carolina Republican primary on Saturday.

Most experts agree that if Trump is elected President it will be Evangelical Christians who are responsible. And as their Bible says (but tragically, they’ve forgotten) the blood will be on their hands and their children.