Southern Baptist elites have found their scapegoat for declining church membership—American exceptionalism, patriotism, nationalism and Christians who supported Donald Trump. Years of failures in mission strategy and efforts are now conveniently to be blamed on loving America and Orange Man Bad, according Chief Missiologist of the largest evangelical denomination.
“Mixed up in the convoluted concoction of politics and religion is a reemergence of a very unchristian patriotism,” the Southern Baptist Convention’s Chief Missiologist wrote. “Caleb Cohen reminded us that, ‘It does not take an unpatriotic American to recognize that our society has long nursed a heresy of American exceptionalism, equating our national values and interests with those of Christianity itself.’”
Loving your country is now a bad thing, according to these evangelical elites.
Loving America and voting to protect unborn life make you “toxic” to the world.
So, this means Christians must totally rebuild their political brand, according to this article in Christianity Today written by Southern Baptist missions expert Jeff Christopherson. Christopherson is Chief Missiologist of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention and co-executive director of the Send Institute, a partnership of Wheaton College and the North American Mission Board.
Nationalism, bad politicians and Southern Baptist excuses
“What happens to the mission field when our highest calling is to leverage a profound cultural angst into a vitriolic nationalism?” asked Christopherson.
It explains all Southern Baptist missionary and church planting failures. It is an excuse for the fewer baptisms and declining memberships.
“The trajectory of the religiously unaffiliated continues to climb at unprecedented rates, while the great evangelical prize—political significance—will continue to erode,” Christopherson wrote. “The mission field has been torched by our own hand, and the utility of evangelical voting bloc will no longer be desired.”
Convenient.
And Trump voters aren’t spared.
“The public flip-flop of evangelicals on the importance of personal character within public office has created a tsunami of an integrity crisis within larger evangelicalism,” Christopherson alleges.
What is the evidence of this?
Oh, the perception of pro-abortion, and other secularists.
“The collective perception that public figures are held to account by evangelicals, or given a free pass, adjudicated solely on the color of the candidate’s brand is difficult to dance around,” Christopherson wrote. “The moral inconsistency of our positions only leads a watching world to conclude that our religious convictions—the essence of our faith—is up for sale.”
Christopherson engages in a great deception writing these lines. He knows we can’t control how people view our actions. One can act with the best of motives and others view the action through a hostile lens.
Further, why should a Christian voter care how someone perceives their vote? Their duty is to vote for God’s principles—and here is a clue, God’s principles are against abortion and for Christian religious liberty. How a secularist views that vote is irrelevant. We answer to God, not the fickle court of public opinion.
Christopherson’s political argument here is despicable—it is consequentialist. It makes its political judgment on what people think.
Evangelical Elites want you to vote for Democrats
Now we get to the real point of this column. Christopherson embraces the Democratic Party. You know, the party that is pro-abortion and anti-Christian? That party.
He writes, “Rather than clear alignment between evangelicals and any political party, Tim Keller suggested that believers should have some commonalities with both political parties but should be uncomfortable aligning themselves completely with either.”
Both.
Good luck finding common positions with the Democratic Party. It is committed to murder and doesn’t accept candidates who aren’t enthusiastic in support for the murder of unborn children and now even post-birth abortions.
And so, what if that results in the persecution of Christians?
No big deal.
All that matters to Christopherson is public opinion—opinion mostly formed by pro-abortion, anti-Christian bigots
What is going wrong in the Southern Baptist Convention that we empower absurdity like this to lead us?
5 thoughts on “Southern Baptist Expert blames church decline on patriotism, ‘vitrolic nationalism’ & Christians who vote Trump”
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All the evangelical “elites” have sold their soul for Donald (The Golden Calf) Trump. Franklin Graham, Jerry (poolboy) Falwell jr, Jeffress, Paula (glamour shots) White, she is the poster child for narcissism. She’s got more photos of herself dressed up on the Internet then a high school girl has selfies on Instagram. The list goes on and on. The problem is their flock (sheep) follow them. It’s in their very nature. They believe what they are told to believe, as they are unable to think independently. These people bought holy water from Leroy Jenkins and private jets for the false profits teaching prosperity gospel. Oh i’m sorry, false prophets. It can get confusing. With all these false prophets taking false profits. Can’t leave out evangelical Betsy Devos with her nine yachts and billions. Her family shafted people everywhere with their Amway Pyramid scheme. They peddled that crap to many evangelicals in churches back in the 80’s. Now she wants to deny suckered Americans student loan relief. Gotta keep them taxes low, not enough super yachts. You my friend are just another sucker sheep, or another heretic charlatan swindler. With Trump, folks like you have guaranteed the decline of the church. In the end, that may be a true blessing in disguise. I grew up evangelical. My father was a true man of faith and Protestant minister when I was growing up. He led small simple congregations in little towns that focused on good deeds, helping the poor and sick. He was also naive, not seeing through the cloak of many grifters in the evangelical community. We vacationed at PTL for the Jim and Tammy show. The water park was awesome, but even at 9 years old I saw right through it. Luckily i’m Wired differently.
Being pro choice is not the same as being pro abortion. Should men, politicians and the courts really have jurisdiction over a woman’s body and health choices? Let me tell you where that road will take us. First many women will be dying from black market abortion. Then the population of poor minority children will explode, leading to a demand for a larger social safety net. Then republican leaders and elites like Donald (The Golden Calf) Trump will push for forced sterilization. A great way to rid the nation of minorities and force their populations into decline. They will be told they can’t have children because they Don’t Qualify. This will solidify the path to maintaining white supremacy. You may think the white Evangelicals won’t support this, but when the Falwell’s and Graham’s and all the rest of them inform them that it’s God’s will, they (the sheep) will blindly follow and bow to The Calf. They just can’t think for themselves the way the men at the pulpit can. That’s why the men at the pulpit have the private jets while the flock drive their Chrysler Mini vans. It was the Protestants that backed Adolf Hitler, without them, you wouldn’t know his name. He told them how to think, and they blindly followed. The only thing preventing death camps today in America is social media, the Internet, and the 24 hours news cycle. It’s the same reason we don’t carpet bomb anymore. Everyone will see on the TV. The end of women’s free reproductive rights will surely usher in the long game, sterilization. The rounding up of the Jews ( the undesirables) was supposed to be to deport them. They were concentrated behind that barb wired to await deportation or sent to provide low cost labor, the way Latino migrants do at Trump properties and construction sites. Then the burden of cost and logistics brought about the final solution. Those who couldn’t work had to be exposed of in a cost effective manner. It’s the same with Trump, he wants “guest workers” to toil for low pay, with no rights while enduring labor abuses. Only to be expelled when they are no longer useful. Had Trump been President in the 1940’s he’d make Hitler look like an alter boy. The U.S. would have joined the Axis Powers and there would be no State of Israel. Some food for thought.
People like you and Mr. Christopherson make me want to leave the Baptist Church!! You are so wrong! You both must be Liberals!!!. You are what is wrong with the Baptist Convention!!!!
Actually what is fascinating is that since The Hill ran a report on a group called Christians Against Christian Nationalism and then very oddly Google only returns searches in favor of these groups goals. You cannot find any reports negative on these organizations.
Isn’t it also interesting that this is occurring not long before the Democrat Debate.
Too bad there aren’t real news ops looking into this propaganda?