Abolitionist Frederick Douglass once wrote,
“Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference – so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked. I love the pure, peaceable, and impartial Christianity of Christ; I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of this land. Indeed, I can see no reason, but the most deceitful one, for calling the religion of this land Christianity.”
Since Sunday, after a conversation with some dear Christian friends, I have been disquieted over an unasked question. Yesterday, I asked my social media friends who supported President Trump what they thought he meant by his assertion on the White House’s Instagram that he is a “king.” As I scrolled through the hundreds of faces who viewed my story, I realized a bigger question had been plaguing me since Sunday and, indeed, since long before then, when I read the above quote from Douglass in my morning devotional:
Is the Christianity of Donald Trump the Christianity of the friends I was raised up with and the Christianity of the friends I worship alongside?
Not the politics, not the personality, not anything else but the religion of the man who so many of my friends have called “a great man of God” indictive of the kind of faith I participate in?
I’m asking this question so that you, dear reader, will ask yourself. Is Donald Trump’s example and practice of Christianity your practice? An unbelieving world is waiting on your answer. I know because they are DMing me, texting me, confronting me in my living room. Is this the Christianity I believe? And if not, how does it differ? If no one in your life has confronted you with this question, allow me.
Go into a quiet room, get yourself out among nature, or sit in an empty cathedral and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the kind of Christianity you believe in and if the leaders the Church considers to be Great Men of God align with that view of Christianity.
If the answer for you is yes, Donald Trump represents my conception of Christianity, then I have no choice but to let God judge between you and I. You can stop reading here, and I thank you very much for your thoughtful and prayerful engagement with this question poised at me. Thank you for sharing my burden. I pray our God goes with you.
If the answer for you is no, Donald Trump does not represent my conception of Christianity, then I have to ask you to speak up and speak out. Not against his policies if you agree with his policies, nor against his personhood if you resonate with his being, but against his association with your faith if you find his faith does not represent yours. I ask you this not for my own benefit, for my salvation is assured, but on behalf of an unsaved world desperate for answers.
Our sole mission, our sole focus on earth is to make disciples of Jesus and right now, the Christianity of Donald Trump is a stumbling block for unbelievers. The future of souls depends on how you navigate this crisis and if you think it a worthy enough challenge to confront. If you think it is important, and if you would like to engage in this work, here are a few thoughts on where we go from here.
Timothy Snyder’s first lesson on tyranny is “Do not obey in advance.” For Christians, I’m going to shorten this to “Do not obey.” When I think of our long history as people of God seeking to represent heaven amidst the Empires of this world, I think of three Jewish men’s courage in the face of a tyrannical king as told in the book of Daniel:
You, O king, have made a decree, that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, shall fall down and worship the golden statue, and whoever does not fall down and worship shall be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men pay no heed to you, O king. They do not serve your gods, and they do not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar in furious rage commanded that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego be brought in, so they brought those men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods and you do not worship the golden statue that I have set up? Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, drum, and entire musical ensemble, you should fall down and worship the statue that I have made. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be thrown into a furnace of blazing fire, and who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to present a defense to you in this matter. If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
Daniel 3:10-18 NRSVue
Do not obey anything that a King asks you to do that the LORD has asked you not to do. Do not participate in anything that a King asks you to do that the LORD has asked you not to do. I wish that in my younger years, I would have thought more critically and more principally about my faith as it relates to my citizenry. There are wars I bought into, hatred I justified, and beliefs I allowed to be warped by the head of the government I lived in. I would like to be different moving forward. I would like to submit myself only to the authority of God, no matter the cost.
Do not obey.
Snyder’s fourth lesson on tyranny is to take responsibility for the face of the world. Snyder instructs people to look out for and remove signs of hate from the face of your world. I believe this is the call of the Christian as well. Although we are visitors and ambassadors to the world, we have a responsibility to ensure that our communities point towards God whenever possible.
In the Gospel of John, an oral history of Jesus left out of the original gospel but inserted by early scholars familiar with Jesus’ life, tells the story of a woman the scribes and Pharisees caught in the sin of adultery. The scribes and the Pharisees are a group of religious and government officials who Jesus feels do not represent Judaism well. Notice how he takes responsibility for the face of the world in the following story:
Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and, making her stand before all of them, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”
John 8:2-11 NRSVue
Jesus takes responsibility for the face of the world in two ways here. First, Jesus prevents the pious authorities from stoning the woman to death. He recognizes hatred for what it is and acts to intervene against it. Secondly, Jesus encourages the woman to make healthier choices. Reject the Enemy’s narrative that the world is something that happens to you instead of being something you help to create and define. If hatred exists in your community, even if you were not the one to introduce it, you are responsible as an emissary of God to undo any and all binds of hatred to the fullest extent of your power.
Do not obey and take responsibility.
Snyder’s eighth lesson on tyranny is to stand out. As children of God, this call should be familiar to us. Rather than conform to the ways of the world, we are to stand out as something set apart which often means going into the places of suffering that others are comfortable to ignore.
An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and took off, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while traveling came upon him, and when he saw him he was moved with compassion. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, treating them with oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and when I come back I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Luke 10:25-37
Jesus instructs us to stand out and to stand apart, to go against the grain of other’s behaviors. We are to demonstrate mercy to those who are suffering. We are not to evaluate how bad their suffering is, nor are we to evaluate whether they are worthy of our help. Instead, we are to be a people who habituate mercy, who have no choice but to lavish it on the poor and needy around us. I am imploring the Church, as Jesus did, to stand out for mercy.
Do not obey, take responsibility, and stand out for mercy.
Snyder’s twelfth lesson on tyranny is to make eye contact and small talk. In other words, Snyder instructs people to participate in and build community for community’s sake. It is hard to believe the false words of a Tyrant badmouthing our neighbor when we greet them with eye contact and talks of the weather each day. Build a community and participate in it. More than attending a Sunday service once a week, seek out likeminded believers who are also interested in a Christianity that stands out and stands apart. We were not meant to live our lives, secularly or as Believers, in isolation of one another. The early church did everything together. I believe that in this day and age, as the culture seeks to isolate us from one another and highlight our individuality, it is more important than ever to return to our communal roots. As it is stated in Acts:
Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common. With great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
Acts 4:32-35
When I pray for revival, this is the revival I am praying for. I’m praying for a revival in which the houses of God are community centers for a battered world, engaging in mutual aid, prayer, testimony, and ordinary banality. I’m praying for a Christian community deeply embedded into the daily lives of one another. Friends, our world needs to know community exists now more than ever. Let us drink wine and break bread together. Let us open our doors and demonstrate radical inclusion and abundance. What would happen if today, right now, the Church decided that no one in our community should go without?
Do not obey, take responsibility, stand out for mercy, and build community.
In Cramer and Werntz’ Field Guide to Christian Nonviolence, they write this in their chapter on nonviolent discipleship:
The god of scripture – from beginning to end – calls forth a people who trust not in violence but in God for their lives.
What does it mean to trust in God instead of violence? What would that look like? As Jesus draws near the end of his life, I think he paints a memorable picture:
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
John 18:10-11
When we are afraid or confronted, we are tempted in our humanness to lash out, oftentimes in violence. The way of Jesus offers a radically different way: surrender. Because we trust God’s ultimate authority in our lives, we can accept whatever, good or bad, the world throws at us. Friends, I implore you to drop your trust in swords when your God is asking you to bleed and hang. God can do more work with our surrender than we can do with our effort.
Do not obey, take responsibility, stand out for mercy, build community, and trust in God.
Here is Cramer and Werntz again in their chapter on nonviolence as Christian virtue:
War produces new divisions within humanity and justifies practices that reinforce those divisions in all kinds of normal ways: taxation, nationalist rhetoric, racism, and so forth. Not only does nonviolence bear witness to a completely different way of viewing the world, but practicing it forms us toward God’s kingdom by forming in us a wholly different set of virtues.
Beyond our leaders, does my Christianity represent my faith? Does yours? When people look at us, at the values and the virtues of our life, do they see a reflection of God’s kingdom on earth or a reflection of the Empire? When people look at me, I hope I live my life in such a way that a messy glimpse of God is caught by those around me. I am imperfect and deeply broken but I hope I’m at least pointing in the direction of a perfect and just God. Hear the words of Jesus again:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:13-16
I believe, with the evidence of the atheists in my life who source their disbelief in God in the tangible actions of Christians, that we as a body have lost our saltiness. I implore the Church to be a light on a hill, proudly and boldly declaring their life, even in the political sphere, to belong to and point towards Jesus. Our virtues cannot be aligned with the empire; our virtues can only be aligned with the Kingdom of God. I ask, in a moment of dark democracy, if you would be willing to be a light for Jesus.
Do not obey, take responsibility, stand out for mercy, build community, trust in God, and adhere to Christly virtues.
In addition to a certain set of virtues, the world is also hungry for us to collapse under the weight of busyness and noise. The Enemy hopes that if he can inundate us with enough social media notifications, news headlines, and responsibilities, we’ll forget to build up the Kingdom of God. This is why silence is not just a good spiritual practice but an essential one. As Cramer and Werntz write:
“(Mystical) nonviolence is rooted not in taking political action or calculating effectiveness but in a transformative encounter of the soul with God.”
If we want to truly detach from the virtues and the Christianity of this world, we have to deliberately reconnect with the true source. Get offline and spend time in the silence and darkness that God can be most clear to us in. Practice prayer, not as a petition before God, but as a very way of life that connects you to the entity responsible for filling your very lungs with oxygen. If we want to not be of this world, we have to get ourselves out of the world. As Jesus did, we need to spend time in the wilderness, praying to God in silence our deepest and darkest fears:
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter and James and John and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me, yet not what I want but what you want.”
Mark 14:32-36
We cannot hope to surrender to the mission of God if we do not surrender our time and heart to God in silence first. God is going to ask a lot of the Church in the coming years of warfare and strife. To be good, obedient, and helpful soldiers, we need to spend time in the silent presence of God. God is our source and it is only by filling up on God that we can hope to spill out God to others.
Do not obey, take responsibility, stand out for mercy, build community, trust in God, adhere to Christly virtues, and spend time in silence.
Finally, Cramer and Werntz quote from two worksauthored by archbishop Hélder Câmara:
“No power can last long, even by force of arms, against a whole population that refuses to obey it and recognizes another power instead.
Your youth must force people to think and take up a position: let it be uncomfortable, like truth, demanding, like justice.”
Following on the way of Jesus necessities fighting for liberation from oppressive powers. The life of a Christian should be risky and dangerous, full of martyrdom and cross-bearing. Let me be clear: God will have liberation on the earth. Liberation is not in question – your participation in liberation is. If you decide to be passive in this moment and in the moments to come, God will have victory, but God will have victory without you in the parade. I can’t make the decision for you, friend, but my hope and my prayer over you is that you would be interested in participating in God’s liberation of humanity from the bondages of sin and death.
Before each of us is a choice like that posed to Esther:
Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
Esther 4:13-16
How will you interact with the American King moving forward? Will you lead with faith in the face of fear? Will you fast and pray for deliverance? Will you risk death in pursuit of a larger dream? Wil you partner with God to bring liberation to the earth?
I cannot make any decisions for you. I cannot evaluate if Donald Trump is the type of Christian you want to be. I cannot evaluate if your faith is worth living radically and dying early for. I cannot decide how you navigate tyranny nor the threat of it. I cannot decide what your life will witness to the unbelievers around you. But if I could give you a recommendation, I recommend you join me on this messy, scary journey of a way of Jesus going against the forces of Empire. I pray you will join me so as to not accidently or intentionally further the Enemy’s very real Kingdom of Darkness.
The time has long since passed for you to decide what kind of faith you have on display to those around you.
Do not obey, take responsibility, stand out for mercy, build community, trust in God, adhere to Christly virtues, spend time in silence, and partner with God’s liberation.
I believe that the Church’s time to rise up is now. And I’m asking you to join me in praying, walking, and working towards mercy toward our neighbors.
Bryce Van Vleet is the #1 selling author of Tired Pages and Before We All Die Let’s Have One Last Chat by the Fireside. He also hosts the podcast Death in Dakota, sells poetry art here, and masquerades as the spoken word artist Liihey. You can support him by clicking through blog posts or donating (scroll to the bottom of the page).
Living Beyond 
Leave a comment