The Evangelical (God Moments)

It’s all over but the shouting – that being the 2016 presidential election.  And shouting indeed.  I’ve been reading some of you on Facebook.  And the mood ranges from despondent to euphoric.  That troubles me – deeply.  And so I write.

Early on in life I came to know our Lord Jesus Christ.  Link: The Hallway (God Moments)  And throughout my teens and twenties I found happiness and contentment in pronouncing myself a Christian.  At least that’s how I held myself between my ears.  But I must confess that there were occasions, when the chips were down, that I denied my Savior much like the Apostle Peter did on the night of Christ’s arrest.  Not my proudest moments.  But the good news is that just as Peter before me, Jesus forgave my sins and we moved forward. 

Then came my thirties, forties, and fifties.  And these are the years that many of you who are now reading this came to know me.  Some of you profess your faith in Christ and if forced to pick a single word that would reflect your inner most being, perhaps you’d choose Christian or Evangelical.  Others of you might say Atheist or Agnostic.  Some might say homosexual or gay.  A few might say American.  And some of you might be laughing to yourself at the very absurdity of defining such an incredibly complex being with a single word.  Nonetheless, during these middling years of my life, I defined myself as Evangelical.  Simply put, I tried to live my life according to Christ’s teachings in the gospel.  Each of you probably has a better view of how well I achieved that goal than I do.  And depending on your line of sight, some of that might come as a surprise. 

And then something very unsettling began to happen during the more recent years of my life.  Within our culture, our media, our church, the word Evangelical began to roll into and become synonymous with the word Republican.  Some of you may disagree, but that’s how I see it.  And with a blink of an eye, the gospel that I love was seemingly turned upside down, polluted by the stench of politics.  One small example.  During this election cycle, I’ve read a couple of articles that made a favorable comparison between King David of Old Testament fame to Donald Trump.  Both sinned sexually.  God forgives both and therefore, we the people should forgive them as well.  Both are great leaders.  That was the basic thread of the logic.  Really?  Well, I understand the need to forgive part.  But it’s funny how the matter of repentance was never mentioned.  To my way of thinking King David was a great man and leader because of his humility before and his subservience to God the Almighty.  Sadly, I fail to find those qualities in Donald Trump.

All good lies contain a grain of truth. 

But it is indeed the question of sin where things get messy.  The sins that tempt me and that I all too often succumb – those being idolatry, envy, theft, adultery, lust, false witness, murder, greed, gossip, dishonor, and gluttony to name a few – have been replaced by two end-all, be-all sins, i.e. abortion and homosexuality.  I suppose I should be relieved – not many 64 year old, middle class males have to grapple one-on-one with God on the issue of abortion.  I should find that to be wonderfully convenient.  But no. There is no relief in that place because there’s a nasty little truth on the flip side of that coin – by harping on two sins as worse than all others, the Republican/Evangelical “leadership” has ignored and/or interpreted all other sins into the meaningless.  All other commandments into the hallow.   Indeed, the telling of a blatant lie is met with applause.  The plight of the disadvantaged cheered.  The consequence, perhaps unintended but very real nonetheless, is a toxic political environment and a government teetering on moral bankruptcy.  Both parties, one nation.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

So, to those of you who are despondent with the outcome of this election, I can only give the comfort that I myself find.  God is good.  And I see a God moment in evidence on election night in the manner that Donald Trump snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.  This election result has the fingerprints of God all over it.  But that should be of little surprise.  Romans 13:1 tells us that “the authorities that exist are appointed by God”. 

And to those of you who are euphoric with the outcome, I say cool.  Indeed, there was a God moment.  But I’m also mindful that God works in mysterious ways that are far beyond my pay grade.  Regardless, it occurs to me that perhaps the outcome of this election has less to do with a Supreme Court nomination leading to the abolishment of the blight that is abortion and more so with a tempering discipline directed towards His people, of whom I am one, resulting in the restoration of a fuller, more accurate interpretation and preaching of His gospel.

God will not allow His Word to be mocked. 

Who knows if God will give me many more minutes here on earth, much less decades?  No matter.  But the time has come for me to let go of that “Evangelical” label.  It’s much too confining.  Too prone to misunderstanding.  Oh, I know some of you take pride if not comfort in that term.  And I find you to truly live up to that moniker in so many ways - the right ways.  I’m still with you in spirit and in truth.  But for me, I think it is wiser to make a clear distinction between the name and my faith.  The faith is so simple and pure.  Love Jesus in everything. And love my neighbor as myself.