A Sober Warning from Scripture and An Ardent Prayer for the Church in America As We Continue to Shun Circumspection About Trump

As the days, the weeks, and the months roll on, and MAGA continues to do headstands to sweep the ongoing eruption of evidence regarding Donald Trump’s long, sick record of sexual predation under the rug, it has become tragically obvious: there is nothing that can be found in this man that will restrain our family’s cultish devotion to him. A vast swath of American evangelicalism remains slavishly entrenched in the fog of a very great delusion – defending and championing “Trump” in all circumstances. The facts, contradictions, dozens of credible accusations, and even the quotes from Trump himself, no longer matter. All statements about Trump are measured in terms of whether they paint this one man with positive glory, or negative pall. And negative pall, of any manner, need not apply. All forms of judicious objection are dispatched with assumption, and usually an unhealthy dose of condemnation. We do not suffer one word of criticism being uttered against our President. But we don’t mind issuing many words of criticism against those who bring criticism.

Day after week, and episode after Tweet, our family busies herself explaining away ludicrous, hate-filled, boastful and self-incriminating statements, and executive orders from a man who has lived his entire life in blatant opposition to the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. We explain away his maniacal aggression and pride. We fabricate story-lines to aid his ludicrous assertions about everything from culture, to religion, to economics to diplomacy. And when his pronouncements become too far-fetched (which happens with greater and greater frequency) we’ve become masters of turning a deaf ear, and a blind eye to the tumult and dysfunction that warps this man’s soul.

We spare no energy to keep this con-man’s golden image creditable. We have become the backstage enablers of Elmer Gantry.

The crux of the problem with this level of obeisance is two-fold.
1.) The redactions we prop up shape, and reinforce our family’s definition of what the anointing of God looks like upon a person, and
2.) The way we defend and champion this man and his narratives tells our whole world, “this is what the Kingdom of God is like.'”

And so, when Trump announces that “I myself am peace.” (November 1, 2024 • Warren, MI) and the church remains silent, the world hears our consent: “The ways of Trump are what peace, and achieving peace look like in God’s Kingdom.”

When Trump incessantly threatens other sovereign states and territories, and the followers of Christ nod their approval, we are telling heaven and earth, “Jesus approves of hostile, even militaristic measures, to seize other nations and resources. These actions are compatible with how God’s Kingdom advances in our world.”

When those around Trump claim that he is “saving Christianity”, and even “saving God” Himself, and our evangelical family give these statements a dismissive pass, we are tacitly declaring, “Our God needs aggressive, bold leaders like Trump to bully others into the honor and worship He is deserving of.”

When he and his administration rewrite U.S. history to diminish the truth about our “Christian nation’s” sins against blacks, and native Americans etc., our world hears, “Humility, repentance and contrition are not necessary to the establishment of a righteous nation.” Note that what’s of greatest concern to this Christian Nationalist argument is the glory of the nation – not the integrity of the Bride.

When he and his sycophants backtrack on exposing the truth about Epstein‘s human-trafficking ring, and millions of Christians, and Christian leaders ignore the cries of hundreds of sex-slave victims, while defending Trump from the plethora of incriminating evidence building against him, we are nakedly telling the world, “The Kingdom of God is OK with an individual engaging in sexual predation, chronic adultery, and even child prostitution, as long as he/she is fighting for the well-being of our nation.”

Our loud, confrontative, sponsorship of this man is the greatest subversion of the ideals of Jesus’ Kingdom in our generation, and one of the most consequential in the history of the Church in America.

However, the Lord has not been silent throughout this hour of hypocrisy and betrayal. The King of the universe is, and has been wholly invested in the necessary and thorough work of judging, and disciplining the Bride through this season. The Spirit has unveiled sordid detail after detail – and patiently exposed compromise, after compromise in the heart of our responses to these details. The length of this process has actually allowed for the fruit of our unrighteous ways to become more and more evident to us – so we might see where our hearts, and arguments deviate from the way of our King. This is what the judgments of the Lord are designed to do: a.) to show us the ways of righteousness (Isaiah 26:9), and to b.) increasingly pressure us into our own need to dialogue with the Lord (Isaiah 1:18), to c.) lead us to repentance (Revelation 2:21), and d.) to help us transform and renew our minds (Romans 12:2) bringing our thoughts and values into alignment with the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5). We can either humble ourselves and wholly walk with intimate fidelity through His process of judgment in this midnight hour, or we can continue to make no room for repentance (Hebrews 12:17), and continue to adulterate ourselves to this man of extreme lawlessness – bring dishonor to His Name, and even risk being rejected by our King upon His return – a very real threat that looms before our evangelical family after a full, heated decade of uncircumspectly running to Trump’s defense.

The New Testament is filled with references to those whose radical love for Jesus becomes diluted by other loves. We begin to love the promised results of lawlessness, and our love for the ways of our Lord grows cold (Matthew 24:12). Soon, we begin to draw near to Him with our lips (Matthew 15:8), while the rest of our “selves” (dreams, expectations, strength, will, zeal and logic), remain enamored elsewhere, increasingly desensitized to the rhema of our King. The result is, our perspective regarding our faith becomes distorted, and our commitment to Him becomes significantly out of touch with His evaluation of our lives. This was the tragic condition of five of the seven churches that Jesus addressed in Revelation 2 and 3. (See Revelation 2:4; 2:14; 2:20; 3:1; 3:16-17). And it’s an arresting theme that is salted throughout Jesus’ gospel teachings.

In both Matthew 7:23, and Matthew 25:12, Jesus lays out two scenes at the end of the age when He will have bombshell confrontations with those who fully anticipate joining Him in eternity. He will end these conversations with the terrifying Words: “Depart from Me. I do not know you.”

These will be the most horrible face-to-face encounters in the chronicles of humanity.

“Depart from Me. I do not know you.”

Can you hear the deafening reverberation among the angels, and all of creation as the Lord of Life painfully, and with perfect justice, turns away soul after soul with this verdict?

Friends. It’s extremely wise for us to slow down, and consider these warnings from Jesus Himself. How does He mean for these alarming, future events to equip us to live soberly in the matters which are before us today, in 2026?

First, we notice that Jesus doesn’t make this pronouncement upon those who
a.) don’t know Him, who
b.) don’t seem to believe in Him, or
c.) desire to be with Him.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Depart from Me, you never knew the right things about Me.” He makes these determinations to those who have been doing the stuff in His Name (Matthew 7:23), and in the face of those who genuinely want to be with the Bridegroom. (Matthew 25:12)

This should trouble us to prayer, and a boat-load of honest counsel with the Spirit of internal Truth. Because in these two texts, Jesus is saying that there are at least “some significant number” of “Christian” folk who sincerely believe they are walking faithfully with Him; (ala. #ChristIsKing) who are actually deluded in their assessment of themselves; and are, indeed, in great danger of being turned away by Christ, in the very moment that they expect to be gladly received by Him.

…

Selah.

…

In both of the Matthew texts, JESUS TURNS AWAY THOSE WHOM HE DOESN’T KNOW. This phrase may have one or two meanings. Both of them are terrible.

The first meaning of this statement could apply to those who, in spite of their rhetoric, their theological assertions, and/or their vaunted Christian ministries, actually end up thinking, acting, and looking nothing like Jesus. In essence, Jesus is saying, “I don’t recognize Myself in you.” These ones don’t value loving unconditionally. They don’t forgive. They force their own way. They don’t prize the fruit of the Spirit. They fudged on the holiness they could have enjoyed. They refuse to walk in the deep ways of lowliness. They never cultivated a love for the Father more than everything else in this world. Jesus is saying, “I honestly don’t see Me reflected in the way you live your life.”

The second potential meaning is even more intrinsic and personal than the first. Jesus’ pronouncement is saying the ones He’s rejecting neglected to make themselves known and vulnerable to His holy and gracious gaze. They never discovered the wisdom of coming to Him with a broken spirit. They never applied the Words of the prophets. They refused to expose their baseline selves to the light of His purifying love. They devalued lives that were intimately pliable, and dependent upon the “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23) mercies of the Lord.

In essence, Jesus is saying to the ones He’s rebuffing, “You withheld your self from Me. You did not bare your soul, your sin, your proclivity to sin and unrighteousness to Me. You never let Me in to recalibrate your carnal way of thinking and treating others. You kept returning an eye for an eye – living according to the hostile, anti-meek, unholy spirit of the world that you were born in. You gave yourself to conspiracies, bitterness, idolatries, and self-exonerating rhetoric, and never let Me change the root-loyalties of your heart.”

Am I saying that anyone who continues to defend Trump is doomed to hell? Or am I seeking to divide our Lord’s Bride? This is what I’m saying. I’m urging all of us to consider the things that make for the ruin of the house (Luke 6:28-29) and to not forget that the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15), and to take every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), in order to fastidiously remain true to our King, with the knowledge that many in our ranks today will be eternally grief-stricken when the Lord stands before us separating the sheep from the goats.

When Jesus breaks into our reality, (Luke 18:8) tells us that He will be looking for bonafide faith within His Bride; one that exalts the values of Spirit-empowered, 1 Corinthians 13 love as the means to redemptive, incarnational justice on the earth.

My ardent prayer for myself, and our family as the firestorms of the end of the age increases, is the one the apostle Paul prayed for the saints in ancient Turkey: “We do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father Who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.” (Colossians 1:9-12)

The potential retribution for our faithlessness is great. But the rewards for our deep, and vibrant faithfulness to Jesus is immeasurably greater.

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JSB • (Update) January, 2026