By Lafe Tolliver, Esq
Guest Column
It is being reported by Newsweek that some white evangelical pastors are being confronted by some of their congregants about their preaching on the contents of the Sermon On The Mount and the Beatitudes.
In Christian circles, one does not underestimate the veneration and attention that Christians place on the authority and primacy of those bedrock teachings.
For in just those two seminal references (among many others), one can discern the heart and spirit of Jesus when he “threw down” nonnegotiable markers of what daily Christian conduct and obedience is characterized by; and how obedience is mandated…not just optional or conditional.
For those white evangelical members who are scoffing at the tenets of the Sermon On The Mount or the seeming rigorous commands of the Beatitudes, their means of avoidance is to term such sermonic admonitions as, “liberal talking points!”
Imagine for a moment that you are professing allegiance to the God-Man Jesus and, at your church, you are confronted by the pastor informing you that those tenets are non-negotiable as being part and parcel of your daily lifestyle.
If you have reached the point of being duped by right wing political propaganda and are in full blown allegiance to Trump and all things Trumpian, you are at a crossroads. A crossroads of either submitting to the voice of God as delineated in scriptures or you are going to compromise your beliefs to follow an agenda that is anathema to the Sermon On The Mount or the Beatitudes.
For anyone to call the contents of the Sermon On The Mount or the Beatitudes words that are merely optional for your Christian lifestyle, is to part ways with the person that you ostensibly declare is your Lord and Savior… and all because you fell under the gaze of Donald Trump.
For in Donald Trump, who is the very antithesis of the gospel of Jesus the Christ (Christ means the anointed one), you are making a critical choice of your allegiance to the dictates of scripture or to the inane follies of a cultic leader who has forsaken all things that the Beatitudes or the Sermon On The Mount instructs and informs followers of Christ.
For in the very act of disparaging any sermon that is Biblically-based as being “left wing talking points,” evidences a spirit that is not born of the Holy Spirit and such a person, who continues in such blasphemy, is an apostate of the faith, who needs to return to his or her first love.
When you examine the cult of Donald Trump and the moral (?) content of the cult leader,
one can only conclude that anyone who professes to know the Christ but scoffs at his moral sayings is living a lie and the truth is not in that person…or in any apostate church that teaches such gibberish.
For any professing believer to belittle and pooh-pooh the sayings of the Beatitudes or the Sermon On The Mount, that invites the wrath of God upon them, unless they repent of speaking foolishly about what they do not know.
Tragically, too many in some white right-wing evangelical churches are bedding down with a person who exhibits characteristics of an (not THE anti-Christ) anti-Christ and they seemingly are at peace with it.
If Jesus or the Apostles Paul, Peter, James, and John were to now walk the earth and were to eavesdrop in on churches that have gone to the dark side regarding not holding to the foundational truths of the gospel, those assemblies would be labeled, “ICHABOD.” Ichabod meaning that the glory of the Lord has departed from that locale.
When churches elevate Donald Trump to be nigh a party in the Holy Trinity and they recklessly profess that Trump is a man of God or that the churches in America need his leadership, “Woe unto them!” is the only sound retort to such nonsense.
When America spends it last bit of spiritual credence by not rebuking the creeping apostasy brought into their sanctuaries by the lies and moral corruptness of a Donald Trump but rather, they make way for him to speak at their assemblies, the only legitimate response is, “Woe unto them!”
To see tongue tied white evangelicals making lame excuses for their acceptance of Trump and his lies and moral degeneracy, is to see the blistering and corrosion of the moral fiber of America which at one time stated, In God We Trust.
The permissiveness of too many evangelical churches and named pastors who continue to defend the ways and wiles of Donald Trump indicates that the moral rot that was outside of their church doors is now inside the church door and it is facing little or no resistance.
To say that Jesus is “woke” makes him a pariah to some people; and that is akin to saying that social consciousness, justice, and righteousness are relics and are culturally disruptive; and therefore are now deemed, “throw away characteristics” that our society should pay little or no attention to.
For in Biblical terms, the usage of the word “woke” emphatically illuminates the words of the prophet Amos as found at Amos 5:24 (among other scriptures) that the God of the universe is opposed to any man-made theology that denigrates the image of man and reduces
the plight of the poor or the oppressed to cartoon characters that can be easily dismissed.
So, was Jesus Woke? More than you could ever imagine or think.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com