They’re Not Deceived – Trump Evangelicals Are CHOOSING the Lies

[Gunnar]

They’re Not Deceived – Trump Evangelicals Are CHOOSING the Lies

Pat Kahnke has confirmed for me my growing suspicion from the beginning of Trump's rise to power that the leaders of Trump's Evangelical Fans are not so much deluded by Trump's lies and policies as deliberately complicit in those same lies for their own selfish ends and desire for religious dominance.

Why do so many white evangelicals still support Donald Trump—even after all the lies, cruelty, and corruption? It’s not because they’ve been fooled. It’s because they’ve chosen the lie.

In this video, we hear from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian who resisted Hitler and wrote powerfully about the moral danger of what he called folly—a willful, self-protecting ignorance that chooses comfort over truth, and power over integrity. Other call it his Theory of Stupidity.

As ICE agents shoot civilians in American cities, and Christian leaders like Franklin Graham continue defending Trumpism, we have to ask: What’s really going on? How does religious faith become a weapon of the state? And how do we respond as people of conscience?

See also: "A Christian Case Against Donald Trump" (2024): https://a.co/d/iVSTqny

Pat Kahnke is a writer and podcaster at Culture, Faith, and Politics. He was an evangelical pastor for 20 years. He was active in the pro-life movement and a life-long Republican until Donald Trump. This is his second book about the dangers Trump poses to the Christian conscience. He also wrote MAGA Seduction: Resisting the Debasement of the Christian Conscience in 2020.

and "MAGA Seduction: Resisting the Debasement of the Christian Conscience" (2020): https://a.co/d/1KNX3uQ

"How did we begin by serving a man who hung naked on a cross, but end by serving Donald Trump?" --- Written by Patrick Kahnke, a retired evangelical pastor, life-long Republican, and pro-life activist, MAGA Seduction presents a compelling case for why Christians must reject our association with President Donald Trump.

Written prior to the 2020 election, the book has proven to be prophetic in its warnings to evangelicals about the spiritual damage their continued association with Donald Trump would do. With each year that has passed since then, the evangelical conscience has been degraded even further in subservience to the false idol of Trumpism. Who could have predicted that by 2023 conservative Christians would support a man indicted on several felony counts? Sadly, it would come as no surprise to anyone who read this book before the last election.

It's nice to know that not all Evangelical Christians are mindless Trump sycophants! I have already noted in previous posts another outstanding Evangelical Christian, Katherine Hayhoe who is one of the most prominent and credible climate scientists diligently leading the charge against Trump's insane denial of the reality that our over dependence on fossil fuels is endangering our world and environment. Check her out! What she has to say about climate and what we humans are doing to it is vitally important and rapidly becoming more critical!

[Jersey Girl]

Gunnar this is yet another excellent recommend for a youtube channel that I follow. Even the atheists praise him in the comments! I lack the time just now to participate in discussion of his current video. Thank you for taking time to check into what the youtube faith communities are putting forth!

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Is it any wonder why so many sociopaths end up in Evangelical cults?

[Gunnar]

Is it any wonder why so many sociopaths end up in Evangelical cults?

Or end up in one of many other religious cults who value subjective faith above any amount of reason, no matter how incontrovertible, that conflicts with what they desperately would rather believe. I don't entirely deny the value of faith, though; it is what motivates us to continually strive to improve our knowledge of what is most likely true and act on what we know or think we know, but when it is not tempered by credible evidence, sound reason and respect for others, it can easily cause far more harm than good. As Einstein famously said: "Reason without faith is lame, but faith without reason is blind." If I had to choose between only those 2 choices, I would rather be lame than blind.

[ajax18]

Did religious dominance get such a lopsided interpretation of the FIrst Amendment that it's somehow ok for Don Lemon and his band of reconquistadores the right to jump in and halt a church service? What happened when anti abortionists entered an abortion clinic and sang church hymns? Did freedom of speech save them from a sentence of over a decade in prison from Merrick Garland's partisan political DOJ? If you want to be fair about it, Don Lemon and every other protester who entered that church service uninvited should spend the next 10 years in prison.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Did religious dominance get such a lopsided interpretation of the FIrst Amendment that it's somehow ok for Don Lemon and his band of reconquistadores the right to jump in and halt a church service? What happened when anti abortionists entered an abortion clinic and sang church hymns? Did freedom of speech save them from a sentence of over a decade in prison from Merrick Garland's partisan political DOJ? If you want to be fair about it, Don Lemon and every other protester who entered that church service uninvited should spend the next 10 years in prison.

*yawn*

Did you drink your milk today, übermensch?

[Res Ipsa]

Did religious dominance get such a lopsided interpretation of the FIrst Amendment that it's somehow ok for Don Lemon and his band of reconquistadores the right to jump in and halt a church service? What happened when anti abortionists entered an abortion clinic and sang church hymns? Did freedom of speech save them from a sentence of over a decade in prison from Merrick Garland's partisan political DOJ? If you want to be fair about it, Don Lemon and every other protester who entered that church service uninvited should spend the next 10 years in prison.

Why are you lying, Ajax? No anti-abortion activists were prosecuted for entering an abortion clinic and singing hymns. Garland's DOJ prosecuted protesters who forcibly obstructed the entrance to a Planned Parenthood clinic in violation of the FACE Act. No freedom of speech harmed.

The church protesters likely committed trespass, and I have no objection to them being prosecuted. It was also stupid.

[Jersey Girl]

Pat Kahnke again.

Franklin Graham. I had no real idea what messages FG was putting out. He apparently has selective amnesia about Jan 6th. From a believing perspective this isn't disturbing. It's horrid.

Franklin Graham: A "Court Prophet" for a Corrupt King (with Tihomir Kukolja)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWa1HM5df8E

[Gunnar]

Did religious dominance get such a lopsided interpretation of the FIrst Amendment that it's somehow ok for Don Lemon and his band of reconquistadores the right to jump in and halt a church service? What happened when anti abortionists entered an abortion clinic and sang church hymns? Did freedom of speech save them from a sentence of over a decade in prison from Merrick Garland's partisan political DOJ? If you want to be fair about it, Don Lemon and every other protester who entered that church service uninvited should spend the next 10 years in prison.

Why are you lying, Ajax? No anti-abortion activists were prosecuted for entering an abortion clinic and singing hymns. Garland's DOJ prosecuted protesters who forcibly obstructed the entrance to a Planned Parenthood clinic in violation of the FACE Act. No freedom of speech harmed.

The church protesters likely committed trespass, and I have no objection to them being prosecuted. It was also stupid.

I wonder sometimes if Ajax is even capable of recognizing or admitting to himself that he is lying. I suspect not.

[Jersey Girl]

Trump affiliated Christians, whose voice are you listening to?

John 10:27-28 KJV

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

2 Peter 14-18 ESV

14 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. 15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.