The Church in America has historically been known as standing for Moral Values. In fact Jerry Falwell, founding president of Liberty University and the father to the current university president was known for the movement he called, ‘the moral majority’. Yet in the case of Trump, Farwell, Pat Robertson and many evangelical leaders redefined Morality to exclude perversion of their historical stand on one-man one wife!
The Evangelical movement arose from the fundamentalist movement of the 1940s. Those who redefined fundamentalism and became the fathers of modern day Evangelicalism include, but not limited to, Carl F.H. Henry (founding editor of Christianity today), Billy Graham (the renown world Evangelist) Ronald T. Michen (The intellectual New Testament Greek Scholar) Charles E. Fuller (the Founding president of Fuller theological Seminary) and Kenneth Kantzer (Former Dean: Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) . These men and others defined what we call evangelicalism.
Within their definition Billy Graham proclaimed the salvation absolutes of the Biblical Message: That the Bible is the inerrant word of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That the written word represent the true reflection of the message wanted to communicate to the human race. That Christ is the son of this God and his life death and resurrection represent the culmination of God’s saving love for man. Carl F. H. Henry presented within Christianity Today magazine and his six Volume, ‘God Revelation and Authority’ the case for Christianity as intellectually relevant within all human disciplines: That God is not static but personal and not only does He care, hear, speak, love, but also set the limit to all things including evil!
Michen and Kantzer sought to make Christianity relevant within education. It is here that we see the blooming of Christian Liberal arts Colleges like Wheaton College, Trinity College, Bethel, and many others including the largest Christian University, Liberty university, and Pat Robertson’s Regent University. These schools were encouraged to present students with all secular disciplines like the Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics) and humanities (history, philosophy, geography, linguistics) but within an environment of Christianity. The young Christians coming from American heartland and secular high schools would get an authentic education without succumbing to what Carl F. H. Henry called Secular Humanism of the secular education institutions.
One of the key stands within the evangelical movement is its emphasis on keeping the Divine principle of human re-creation. The movements held to the idea that God gave man the authority to procreate and subdue the earth. That this authority rested within a restrictive relationship called marriage between Adam and Eve (One man One woman). The emphasis on family include the stand against Abortion (life is Sacred) Gay Marriage (the divine principle is man and woman) pornography and any other human practice that goes against the righteousness of God.
It is these historical principles that are perceived by many to have been ignored given that 80% of the evangelicals voted for Donald Trump more than those who voted for Gorge W. Bush or Even Mitt Romney. But to restrict the Evangelicals to this box fails to understand what was driving the Trump Movement. American Evangelicals are people of history. They believe that America was founded on what we call Judeo-Christian tradition: that which is America has the DNA of God’s Revelation and Authority in the Bible.
Therefore, any and all other religions, though allowed within the constitution to function, cannot be allowed to have the same prominence as the Judeo- Christian tradition within culture. That the definition of all life and its expressions through politics, economics, social and education, must find their foundation in, “in the beginning God… and God made man in his own image… male and female… and God said be fruitful and multiply and subdue the earth.” Genesis 1,2. This means even though the constitution is secular, its implementation must submit to this Genesis narrative.
The American Evangelicals believe that President Barack Obama lied to them when he declared himself a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. They argue that his actions within the above disciplines showed him to be sympathetic to a philosophy that was outside Judeo-Christian foundation. Having Hillary Clinton succeed him would mean acontinuation of the erosion of this important historical Principle.
And that is what IS
Teddy Njoroge Kamau (PhD)
CEO Bibilia Broadcasting Network BBN TV Kenya
HTBluff Associates
Diaspora Messenger Senior columnist
The Evangelical Church Abandoning Morality to Elect Trump
Dear Professor,
Logic is what it IS. However, writing like a legal scholar writes in a double-negative, issue-question style of a legal scholar might make this somewhat difficult to understand exactly what you are getting at. I will let Falwell, Robertson, and others speak for themselves, but as far as I know they have not abandoned the one-man, one-woman principle in any way, shape, or form. Given your logic, I understand that if Evangelicals (as individuals and as a group) did not vote for Mr. Trump, they would have to vote for Ms. Hillary or not vote at all, or use a write-in, which is also equates to no vote at all. Some Evangelicals evidently did not want to sit this election out again (by not voting) and thereby allowing the party that does not support their principles win again. Actually, no party can represent all biblical principles, since political parties are not founded upon these principles entirely. So, it is not the man or woman that matters here, but the principles that are included in the representative party’s platform. Is that what you were getting at? If so, you are writing in a legal scholarly format and not as a journalist or even as a theological professor. However, I can assure you and your readers that Falwell and Robertson have not abandoned their principles on the issues you mentioned lest anyone reading this piece might somehow incorrectly assess based upon the attention-grabbing headline (which is after all, a question and not a statement), which you are graciously allowing your readers to answer for themselves. But thank you for introducing your readers to Carl F.H. Henry (who was a great journalist, biblical scholar, publisher, and Evangelical theologian whose ideas formed the foundation of Christian Liberal Arts higher education)! Falwell (the son), Robertson, and other Evangelicals owe much to that amazing father of Evangelical faith-based Liberal Arts education! Also recommended for further reading is Henry’s book: “Twilight of a Great Civilization,” which is more of a warning on what Evangelicals and other Christians need to protect from the founding of this great country than a statement of what IS!
26 Bible Verses about
Hypocrites, is What IS Description Of
Most Relevant Verses
Matthew 23:17
Verse Concepts
“You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
Isaiah 32:6
Verse Concepts
For a fool speaks nonsense, And his heart inclines toward wickedness: To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD, To keep the hungry person unsatisfied And to withhold drink from the thirsty.
Isaiah 65:5
Verse Concepts
“Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.
Luke 18:11
Verse Concepts
“The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
Ezekiel 33:31
Verse Concepts
“They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain.
2 Peter 2:3
Verse Concepts
and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Matthew 6:2
Verse Concepts
“So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
Matthew 23:5
Verse Concepts
“But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.
Matthew 7:3-5
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Luke 13:14-15
But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him?
Matthew 15:1-3
Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?
Matthew 23:23-24
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
2 Timothy 3:5
Verse Concepts
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.
Luke 11:39
Verse Concepts
But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.
Ezekiel 33:31-32
“They come to you as people come, and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. “Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not practice them.
Matthew 23:3
Verse Concepts
therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
Romans 2:17-23
But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, read more.
Isaiah 29:13
Verse Concepts
Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote,
Matthew 15:8
Verse Concepts
‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.
2 Corinthians 5:12
Verse Concepts
We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.
Jeremiah 7:4
Verse Concepts
“Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
Matthew 3:9
Verse Concepts
and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.
Isaiah 58:2
Verse Concepts
“Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, As a nation that has done righteousness And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God They ask Me for just decisions, They delight in the nearness of God.
Matthew 23:15
Verse Concepts
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Matthew 23:14
Verse Concepts
[“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
Matthew 23:6-7
“They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.