The doors of the church are open. Good morning, Saints.
Beloved children of the sun, I want you to turn to your neighbor and say, “Neighbor, the devil is a lie!”
Now turn to your other neighbor and say, “Neighbor, god is not a Republican.”
Saints, did Y’all see all that theological foolishness that went down this week at the Republican midterm convention? Did Y’all see that hot mess?
If you missed it, the Orange Menace promised every adult citizen $5,000 if the Republicans win both the House and the Senate midterm elections. Let’s see Y’all, $5,000 . . . times about 260 million eligible voters . . . equals roughly $1.3 trillion. Now, y’all ain’t nobody gettin’ one red cent. Trump knew that cash-back offer wasn’t gonna close the deal, and that’s why the next night he came back and threatened people with the lake of fire.
Trump stood before the crowd and told them to raise their hand and take a pledge to him as the “greatest president.” He’s a damn lie. He told them people that they should go vote even if they aren’t registered. So basically cheat. And then he capped off his speech by saying that if they don’t vote Republican, they’re goin’ to hell.
Umph.
Saints, tell me, since when did the ballot become a ticket to glory?
If there really is a hell, some of them people are going whether they vote Republican, Democrat, or stay their sinful MAGA asses at home on November 3.
Now, this atheist preacher knows her Bible. And I ain’t seen nary a scripture that says anything about the Lamb’s Book of Life turning into a GOP voter-registration roll on Judgement Day. It don’t say nothin’ about Saint Peter checkin’ people’s ballots or Gabriel workin’ Republican turnout.
But according to America’s president, Jesus has surrendered the keys of the kingdom to the GOP. Donald Judas Trump wants folk to believe that Jesus Christ, the man who lived for three decades and spent his earthly years ministering to all kinds of people, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, raising the dead, welcoming the strangers, snuggling children, fighting for justice, and resurrecting after his own execution is standing at the gates of heaven right now ready to ask folk, “Did you vote red?”
**Proverbs 29:12 told about leaders like Donald Trump: **“If a ruler hearken to lies, all his servants are wicked.”
Church, if we believe Donald Trump, Jesus is gonna be standing there at the gates with a fresh silk press, his beard lined up, face glowing, hands stretched out saying, “Come unto me. Paid for by the Republican National Committee.”
Ohhh, Y’all ain’t ready to hear me preach this morning.
Saints, the news media simply treated what he said as just another one of his outrageous remarks that he makes at his Klan rallies. But this man, who is a criminal, a thief, a liar, a cheat, a sexual predator, a whole degenerate, refuses to accept earthly responsibility for all his crimes. And yet he has the gall to appoint himself the administrator of eternal consequences. He is really out here weaponizing people’s fear of eternal punishment and trying to make partisan obedience synonymous with righteousness.
But Jesus warned us about false prophets who think they can control access to heaven. Matthew 23:13 says, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men.” And Second Peter 2:3 says that false teachers like Donald Trump will use “feigned words” to “make merchandise of you.”
That is exactly what we witnessed at the GOP convention. We saw Trump, a political con man putting heaven behind a partisan paywall. We heard him trying to sell salvation for Republican votes. And we heard him threatening folks with eternal damnation if the votes don’t swing his way.
Church, this is spiritual extortion. Church, salvation is being turned into a campaign promise. Church, eternal damnation is being turned into a voter-suppression tactic. What kind of Christianity tells people to give us your vote, your loyalty, and your obedience or somethin’ terrible is gonna happen to your soul?
The Third Commandment says, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” But Trump has got the Christian god’s name all up in his mouth and using it to legitimize his greedy, evil political agenda.
Saints, this is counterfeit Christianity and we’ve seen it before. Slaveholders quoted Scripture while selling and brutalizing our ancestors. Confederates claimed the Lord’s blessing while fighting to preserve human bondage. Jim Crow segregationists filled church pews on Sunday mornings and lynched Black folks before dinner and ice cream. Trump is continuing that theology of white Christian nationalism by appointing himself as the earthly interpreter of god’s will. And he wants us to believe that if the Republicans lose come November, the election must have been stolen because their god could never permit anybody else to govern.
Saints, turn to your neighbor and say, “Neighbor, god is not a Republican. God is with the oppressed.”
Black Liberation Theology teaches us that any theology that places god on the side of the oppressor is not the gospel that Jesus Christ taught. No, it is the theology of Empire.
A theology of what Isaiah called “unrighteous decrees.” A theology that robs the poor of justice. A theology that Amos says tramples the needy while living comfortably from their suffering. A theology that James says hoards wealth and cheats workers. A theology that Jesus says is peddled by religious hypocrites who shut the kingdom of heaven in other people’s faces.
This atheist preacher knows her Bible. And scripture tells us that god doesn’t care about your vote. God doesn’t care about who you vote for. God doesn’t care about what party you vote for. Your party affiliation ain’t a prerequisite for eternal life. A god worth serving cares about justice or harm that’s produced by your political choices. Your vote is not a condition of salvation.
Amen?!!
Brotha Willie, play your organ.
A god of justice does not direct anger toward people’s voting choices. A god of justice directs anger toward corrupt, evil-ass rulers who crush the vulnerable and at people whose political choices help them. A god of justice directs anger at people who won’t feed the hungry. Who deny healthcare to the sick and dying. Merchants exploit workers. Lawmakers and judges who pervert justice. And religious leaders who help them do it with their blessings and prayers.
Saints, god is not a Republican. You know how I know? Because the Bible says we know false prophets by their fruit. It says so right there in Matthew 7:20: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
Beloved children of the sun, let us inspect the GOP’s fruit.
What is their fruit?
Their fruit is hatred and racism. Their fruit is xenophobia, ICE raids, and mass deportations. Their fruit is family separation. Their fruit is voter suppression and white grievance.
Their fruit is censorship and book bans. Divestment from public education. Taking away access to funding for higher education. Their fruit is greed. Vengeance. Deception. Forced birth without care for living children. Denying healthcare.
Their fruit is cruelty against queer and transgender folk. Their fruit is police killing Black folk and blaming them for their own deaths. Their fruit is unnecessary war and environmental destruction. Their fruit is Christian nationalism and authoritarianism and an endless appetite for domination.
Their fruit is rotten to the core!
And saints, the sad thing is that millions of Americans believe Donald Trump’s rotten theology. That’s because a lot of folks were raised on fear-based Christianity. They were taught that terror and obedience make them righteous. They were taught that you can’t challenge authority. That you can’t ask questions. That you can’t wrestle with scripture or god.
Donald Trump and the GOP know this and this is why he finds value in activating and exploiting their deepest spiritual fears for political gain. Christian nationalism is a theology of domination that replaces Jesus with strongmen and dictators. It is a theology of coercion that swaps discipleship with party loyalty, and liberation with obedience.
But **1 John 4:18 **tells us, “Perfect love casts out fear.”
Saints, don’t miss the message here. Scripture is telling us that a god worth serving gives you what? Unconditional love. That kind of god gives you peace and confidence. That kind of god doesn’t have you walking around with your head on a swivel, ducking and dodging, living in fear and dread. Saints, when you’ve got deep unconditional love, then a strongman’s manipulation and fear tactics lose power over you.
Beloved children of the sun, any religion that’s got to that’s got to yell at you, that’s got to threaten you to make you believe its truth, that’s got to use hellfire and brimstone to terrify you into political submission ain’t worth a damn. That kind of theology doesn’t possesses truth or love.
And Saints, we ain’t got to imagine hell as some distant place far beneath the Earth. No, hell is right here. All around us. Every which way. Human beings have manufactured hell through poverty, racism, sexism, xenophobia, injustice, abuse, prisons, deportation cages, Gaza, apartheid systems, and indifference to suffering. Evil people like Donald Trump keep creating hell for everybody else every single day. Every day. And then they come out every election cycle to demand our votes as proof that the Christian god approves of their political fuckery.
Saints, god is not a Republican. God does not reside in Donald Trump. His name is not written above the gates of heaven. If you are a Christian believer, your Bible has already told you that no president commands the throne of god, and no ballot can purchase anybody’s salvation. Do not outsource your conscience or surrender your soul to a politician who has mistaken himself for god and tells you to “vote republican or go to hell.”
Yes, Donald Trump is a billionaire. He’s got his name on buildings, merch, and his awful face on money. But this false teacher who is Satan’s constant worker, does not have the authority to put anyone’s name in or remove it from the Book of Life. And let that be our closing prayer.
Now let the church say Amen, Amen, and Amen.
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THIS CONTENT IS WRITTEN IN THE AUTHOR’S PERSONAL CAPACITY. ANY OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE THE AUTHOR’S OWN AND SHOULD NOT BE ATTRIBUTED TO HOWARD UNIVERSITY OR MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY.
