As far as it depends on me

My struggles to show the grace of Jesus to my fellow believers

While scrolling through my Facebook feed, I found an item about country music singer Jason Aldean which read, “Jason Aldean Rejects $500 million Music Collaboration With Taylor Swift, ‘Her Music is Woke, No Thanks.’” In light of Swift’s recent endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s presidential election, Jason Aldean’s popularity with Trump supporters, and the awful grammar in the post, this item set off my “fake news” radar. I’ve written previously about propaganda techniques using celebrities, and this item had all the indicators:

This tactic is a well-known propaganda technique called testimonial, “when some respected celebrity (or alternatively someone generally hated) claims that an idea or product is good (or bad). This technique is used to convince us without examining the facts more carefully” (University of Vermont).

It could also be a case of transfer, “when a symbol that carries respect, authority, sanction, and prestige is used along with an idea or argument to make it look more acceptable” (Ibid).

In either case, it’s the association of a famous and popular figure with an idea to give it credibility, or you can associate it with a notorious figure if you want to have the opposite effect.

A quick Internet search revealed that the article was satirical. However, satire is lost on people these days in our polarized culture, where we seek every opportunity to elevate our tribe or disrespect others. I have always believed Christians must be purveyors of truth to the best of our abilities and knowledge. I practice this personally, doing extensive research before I share anything or correcting myself publicly if I find something I promoted is false. I offer the advice that doing the former means I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to do the latter!

However, using a famous Facebook term, “it’s complicated,” when contemplating the correction of a fellow Christian. In this particular instance, the person was a dear and long-time friend, the wife of the pastor who brought me back to my Christian faith after over a decade of being unchurched and disengaged from the work of the Kingdom and my personal spiritual journey. She is as sweet as Southern iced tea and a beautiful person inside and out. Because I love and respect her and her husband so much, I determined I wouldn’t post a correction to the article she shared on her public feed. Instead, I sent her a private message, and she thanked me for letting her know. She shared some health struggles for which she desired my family’s prayers, and I was happy to offer our divine petitions and loving support.

I thought I’d look in on her Facebook feed to see if she had removed the post or shared the correction I sent to her. Much to my dismay, the post was still in place without a correction. Charitably, her health issues are a factor, but as I read responses like, “Way to go, Jason. Your soul is worth far more than $500 million!”, I became frustrated and mournful about how the culture wars have soiled our Christian witness to the point no one wants anything to do with the loveless, arrogant, hateful religion we’ve embraced as a substitute for authentic Christianity.

What does this satirical post, this bald-faced lie, have to do with anyone’s soul? How did “owning the libs” become a priority over denying ourselves and esteeming others so we might bring them to Christ? What does this do to show Christian love and make disciples for Christ? Does anyone care that we’re driving away people we’re supposed to be inviting to Christ’s banquet table?

Adding to my frustrations were the comments from people I knew at my previous church regarding the viral and false story about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, killing and eating household pets. This lie is being fueled by former President Trump and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Senator J.D. Vance, who thinks it’s clever to spread it even though he acknowledges that “all these rumors will turn out to be false.” Vance insists that making up a story to disparage innocent people is acceptable if it calls attention to issues of importance to him:

“The American media totally ignored this stuff until Donald Trump and I started talking about cat memes. If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

While Vance claims the falsehoods are “firsthand accounts from my constituents,” city officials and the governor of Ohio flatly reject them. Governor DeWine was furious at the continued focus on this story:

“This is a piece of garbage that is simply not true. There’s no evidence of this at all. Discussion about Haitians eating dogs is just not helpful. And, again, these people are here legally. They’re here legally, and they want to work, and they are, in fact, working. This discussion just has to stop. We need to focus on moving forward and not dogs and cats being eaten. It’s just ridiculous.”

However, some of my Christian friends on social media are in agreement with Vance, calling it a “brilliant” way to call attention to the scourge of illegal immigration in communities across America. Trump has even used the lie to augment his pledge to conduct a mass deportation of immigrants, saying that he’ll start with Springfield and Aurora, Colorado, the location where another lie about a Venezuelan gang taking over an apartment complex has spread like wildfire.

Setting aside for a moment the bogeyman that this recent iteration of the GOP has made of the issue of immigration, the Haitian immigrants in Springfield, as Governor DeWine stated, are there legally under Temporary Protected Status granted to them by the U.S. government. The more pernicious effect of this lie is to perpetuate harmful stereotypes about people of color, giving people license to hate and, at times, act upon their hatred.

One Haitian migrant said, “We came here to work and raise our family, but the pressure here is too much for many. We were already worn out from what is happening in Haiti. We didn’t come here for this.”

Russell Moore, a pastor and editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, mourned Christians’ role in this sordid episode:

When we are willing to see children terrorized rather than stop telling lies about their families, we should step back, forget about our dogs and cats for a moment, and ask who abducted our consciences. That’s especially true for those of us who, like me, claim to be followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who told us that on the Day of Judgment, “people will give account for every careless word they speak” (Mt 12:36).

The Bible’s Book of James tells us, “How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness” (Jas 3:5). The Bible goes on to say that the words we use for other people are not just rhetoric to be deployed against our would-be opponents. The words themselves reveal the moral state of our soul. Of our capacity for words, James wrote: “It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (Jas 3:8–10).

To sing praise songs in a church service while trafficking in the bearing of false witness against people who fled for their life, who seek to rebuild a life for their children after crushing poverty and persecution, is more than just cognitive dissonance. It’s modeling the devil himself, whom Jesus called “the father of lies” (Jn 8:44). That’s especially true when the lies harm another person. “Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer,” the apostle John wrote, “and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him” (1 Jn 3:15).

Too many Christians have aligned themselves with darkness, even if they declare it to be light, and they aren’t fooling God with their performative piety on Sundays:

"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:21-24)

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. (Matthew 23:23-28)

However, I confess that my frustrations have occasionally brought me to a place where I shouldn’t be as a spiritually mature Christian. Let me illustrate this with a story.

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I came across an article in my news feed written by writer Aramide Tinubu, who currently works as a TV critic for Variety. I encourage you to read the whole article to understand her perspective fully. However, her final paragraph jolted me and made me question whether my frustrations with my fellow Christians and their embrace of Trump and his lies and cruelty had corrupted me as well:

I am hopeful, but my joy is stilted. Should Harris take office without the Democrats holding their Senate majority or at least flipping the House? We are still on an untested road, but I do believe we can move forward. However, I haven’t forgotten my fellow Americans’ complicity in electing Trump and unleashing havoc on us all. For that, I will never forgive them.

I don’t know Ms. Tinubu’s spiritual beliefs or if she has any, but her declaration that she “will never forgive them” gave me pause. After all, forgiveness is fundamental to our faith; Jesus forgave us once and for all time through the atoning work of his death, burial, and resurrection. Without it, we would still be condemned in the presence of a holy God because of our sins.

Moreover, He forgave us even though we weren’t worthy of it. “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus even asked forgiveness for his crucifiers, declaring, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

Because we were forgiven without condition, we are called to be equally gracious and generous in forgiving others. Jesus was explicit with Peter when he asked Him how extensive their forgiveness should be.

Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Another time, Jesus tells His disciples, “Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them” (Luke 17:4). When teaching them how to pray, He tells them to ask the Father to “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12), explaining, “For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matthew 6:14).

Because Jesus had mercy on us and canceled all our debts, we should show our thanks by doing the same to others. When I read Ms. Tinubu’s declaration, “I will never forgive them,” I asked my family in a private group chat, “How many people feel that way…and do I come across that way?” Am I unwilling to forgive my Christian brothers and sisters who don’t see the dangers of associating with Trump and endorsing his ways?

For a long time now, I have been critical of professed Christians who, in my opinion, decided the Kingdom of Heaven wasn’t arriving fast enough to suit them and decided to enable a destructive and damaged man to achieve their vision of a holy nation. While I am upset at what they have helped to unleash on this nation, I am distraught at what they have done to the reputation of the Christian church in America. Eight years ago, a significant portion of the evangelical community became captivated by Trump and a promise he made in January 2016 to an audience at a small Christian college in Iowa:

“Christianity will have power. If I’m there, you’re going to have plenty of power, you don’t need anybody else. You’re going to have somebody representing you very, very well. Remember that.”

At the time, I wrote, “The gospel of Jesus Christ, however, does not need politics to accomplish the Great Commission - period.” I understood then and now how seductive a promise of power over one’s adversaries could be:

Christianity, however, should never seek power as a tool with which to advance itself. It's bad enough that the God-sized, life-saving and everlasting message of salvation through Jesus Christ is being shoehorned into a box that not only constricts its reach, but has only enough room for those who agree with the political message therein. When the Gospel is relegated to a political faction, the good news is corrupted because the faction does not seek salvation for all mankind, but power for some.

The consequences are playing out before our eyes. People are leaving church at a record rate in the United States. Church attendance is declining; an estimated 40 million people have stopped attending church in the last 25 years, the most significant shift in church attendance in American history. The percentage of Americans who are members of a church is below 50 percent for the first time in our history, and the cohort of non-believers is at an all-time high, rivaling the cohorts of evangelicals, Catholics, and mainline Protestants.

Research by the Barna Group reveals that “80% of practicing Christians have a positive view of the church. Only 21% of non-Christians think of the church in a positive way.” We are failing at our primary mission, our only mission, to make disciples; the reason the apostles Paul and Peter were so insistent on the church having a good reputation with outsiders wasn’t to appease the culture but to glorify God so people would be drawn to Him. Somewhere along the way, the American church became exclusive, Pharisaical, and mean, and rather than leaving the 99 to go after the one, we’re pulling up the ladder behind us and throwing stones at the ones left behind.

As a Christian who is more passionate about the Great Commandment and the Great Commission than the ebb and flow of American politics, I am finding it hard to be forgiving. My Christian brothers and sisters who believe differently than me don’t want my forgiveness, nor do they feel they need it, and they think I’m the one who should repent for being blind to the spiritual war in which they’re engaged. Frankly, that makes it easier to justify withholding my forgiveness from them.

However, that’s not what Jesus commands me to do. I’ve concluded that my reaction makes me guilty not only of failing to forgive as I’ve been forgiven but also of putting God in a box, something I accused other Christians of doing for resorting to temporal means to achieve eternal objectives that God has already ordained will come to pass:

“I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’” (Isaiah 46:10)

Our church is studying the book of Romans, Paul’s magnum opus, and it has opened my eyes to what pastor and friend Jamie Overholser calls “relational grace.” We rejoice in the salvific grace that Jesus Christ granted us, but Paul reminds us that we must also show grace to one another and all people, even those who treat us poorly. In short, our only responsibility is to love lavishly without exception; God has the rest in His hands. Romans 12:19 says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

As I reflect on Paul’s words, I realize that, in my anger at what political idolatry is doing to the church, I am implicitly stating that Christ’s church cannot withstand this season of conflict, even though Jesus has already declared “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). I have levied the accusation that Christians who pursue earthly power to impose their vision of the Kingdom of Heaven on our nation are laying bare their lack of faith in God’s plan. However, in assuming that these Christians are capable of destroying the church, I am guilty of the same.

The funny thing is that I had more faith eight years ago when this alliance between Trump and the evangelical community was emerging. As I looked ahead to what could happen, I sounded a note of optimism for the future of the church:

I believe in an intentional God, and I am absolutely certain that He's not looking at Donald Trump and exclaiming, "Well, I didn't see him coming!" Jesus assures us that "My Father is always working, and so am I." Even before the "year of Trump", I indicated that Christianity in America would undergo a culling of the ranks as social changes compelled us to choose between the "The Earthly City" and the "City of God", to quote St. Augustine. That process is accelerating with the rise of Donald Trump, and what emerges from it, I believe, will be a faithful, sacrificial remnant of believers, less concerned with being a dominant cultural and political force in America and more concerned with winning as many souls as possible to inhabit the City of God. As with Gideon's army, once the Lord winnows us down to the ones who truly love and obey Him, the victory which follows will bring Him, and Him alone, the glory.

I am reminded of a purported conversation between Napoleon Bonaparte and a Catholic cardinal in which the emperor threatened to destroy the Catholic Church. The cardinal is said to have replied, “Your Majesty, we Catholic clergy have done our best to destroy the Church for the last eighteen hundred years. We have not succeeded, and neither will you.” I must remember that man is incapable of destroying the things of God, and the church will be in form and function what He declares it to be.

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So I will strive to be forgiving of others and faithful to my “life verse,” Romans 12:18, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” I've been deeply invested in the evangelical church since 1993 and in the GOP from my appointment to the Bush administration in 2001 until I repented of political idolatry and removed myself from partisan politics a few years ago. As a result, I have dozens of close friends and thousands of acquaintances on social media who are determined to vote for Donald Trump and are very public in their support for him and their contempt for his opponents and the culture that rejects him. Any information that challenges their beliefs is immediately discredited, which is alarming in and of itself; how can anyone possibly believe that their "side" is beyond reproach or questioning? "There is no one righteous, not one" (Romans 3:10).

Although their beliefs weigh heavily on my heart, I am not credited with loving only those who agree with me, nor am I elevated in the eyes of God for arguing with those who don’t. Therefore, I will continue to make concessions to keep the peace. I don't post anything about politics on my personal Facebook feed; a few people in my church who read and enjoy my articles on Substack will share them and tag me in their posts, but I hide those tagged posts from my profile to not ruffle anyone’s feathers, while quietly thanking my friends for their endorsement. I unfollow friends who post too much Trump-idolizing or hateful content, so I don't see it in my feed, but I remain friends with them in the hope they will cease such posts in time. If it's someone whose association with me is purely political and not personal, I unfriend them, essentially shaking the dust off my feet and ceasing the connection.

Disengagement is my preferred way to keep the peace because if I’m trying to de-escalate, it means I’ve engaged and failed. Is disengagement enough? Part of me thinks I’m retreating and that I should be doing more to persuade my fellow Christians to abandon this quest for earthly power, but that’s not living peaceably, and I doubt I’m going to change their minds anyway. I’m leaving it up to God, and if I’m the one whose mind needs to be changed, I’m confident He’ll make it known to me, and I’ll do my best to be humble and open to change. In the meantime, if I can connect with people outside of politics and they don’t inject politics into the relationship, I stand ready to do that.

Since I started with a reference to Taylor Swift, I want to finish with one. I don’t know anything about Taylor Swift’s faith, but I know that one of the reasons she is the most popular entertainer in the world, aside from her talent and work ethic, is her generosity. She is quietly and exceedingly generous with her wealth, giving substantial sums to food banks, disaster relief, charities, individuals with medical needs, and more while refusing to comment about the gifts or the amounts. While her gifts can’t go unnoticed, she doesn’t crow about them or make them about her. She’s also generous to the crews that support her shows, as evidenced by this amazing story:

According to unnamed sources cited by People magazine, the bonuses Swift doled out totaled about $55 million, and they included dancers, riggers, sound technicians, catering, video, audio and lighting—everyone who played a part in taking the show across the country.

Michael Scherkenbach, founder and CEO of Shomotion, one of the two trucking companies used by the tour told CNN that truck drivers got $100,000 each. Between the two companies, 50 workers got the hefty payout.

According to Scherkenbach, Taylor’s father Scott made a speech at a meeting and then handed out personalised handwritten letters of appreciation by Swift herself, tucked in envelopes with wax seals with her monogram.

I recently read about a church raising money to forgive the medical debts of over 3,900 families in their local area. Their missions pastor explained their decision as an extension of what Jesus did for all of mankind:

“We want to love not just the people at our church, but we want to love our neighbors,” Morrison said. “And Jesus said in Matthew Ten, he said freely, ‘you have received so freely give,’ and we believe that he paid our debt when we didn’t deserve it. This is just a beautiful example of what Jesus did for all of us by just paying the debt for people that many will never meet. And what…relief of a burden. And to get that letter in the mail saying your debt is forgiven, you don’t owe anything else, and we love you. And that’s really our message. It’s like God loves you, we love you, you’re seen, and we believe in you. And we want to relieve this burden from you and your family.”

I recall thinking of how such a gesture probably did more to attract people to Christianity than all the ridiculous culture war memes and social media posts combined. Thousands of years ago, Christians were showing charity to the people of Rome, and Julian, the last pagan emperor, took note of it:

“When it came about that the poor were neglected and overlooked by the [pagan] priests, then I think the impious Galilaeans observed this fact and devoted themselves to philanthropy. [They] support not only their poor, but ours as well, all men see that our people lack aid from us.

“It is their benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead and the pretended holiness of their lives that have done most to increase atheism [in this context, rejection of the pagan gods].”

There are so many needs in our communities, and meeting them can bring so much goodwill. Can we return to this regardless of whether the church grows in number, resources, or cultural influence? Can we make Christ’s church famous for its lavish giving without expectation?

Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. (Deuteronomy 15:10)