June 12, 2017 by Benjamin L. Corey
I am a Christian.
I grew up in Sunday School memorizing Bible stories as the teacher illustrated and taught each one on an old green felt board.
I grew up going to Church not just on Sunday mornings, but Sunday evenings, too. And of course, there was the Wednesday night prayer meeting as well.
When I grew more and became a teenager, I did what good Christian kids do- I spent my summers on international mission trips overseas.
As an adult? Well, as an adult I became a pastor, went to seminary, and spent eight years of my life studying theology, the Bible, and all the things that good Christians do.
I am a Christian- as committed a Christian as I can imagine one being. I believe in the inspiration of Scripture, sin, the incarnation of Christ, the death and resurrection of Christ, the second coming, and the final judgement.
I am a committed Christian. I love Jesus.
But let me be honest about something else: I’m deeply concerned about the American Christian Taliban.
You see, while I am committed Christian, I am also well aware that there is a very, very dangerous movement happening in our religion right now. It is a movement that embodies everything they claim to hate– but does so cunningly, with an aura of righteousness and superiority– so much so that Christians across the nation are blindly participating.
While this movement is busy warning us on the dangers of radical Islam, they’re doing the very things they are denouncing– right under our noses.
What are they warning us of?
They’re warning us of radical religious extremists who want to take political power, turning democracies into functional theocracies. They’re warning us of people who look at the culture around them, and are concerned that the laws of the land are not the same as the way they interpret the laws in their holy book. They’re warning us of people who think “God’s ways” ought to be reflected in laws which nonbelievers or other religions are forced to live by. They’re warning us of people who seem to care little for religious freedom, other than freedom for themselves. They’re warning us of people who discriminate and treat others as second class citizens, simply for not sharing their own religious views.
They’re warning us of the one who knocks, not even realizing they are the one who knocks.
They warn us of groups like the Taliban, not even realizing they are a group like the Taliban.
Case in point is cultural movements being led by people such as fundamentalist leader, Franklin Graham. Folks like Graham are issuing the rally cry of the Taliban– warning that culture is getting “too progressive”, warning folks that morality is under attack, and encouraging Christians of a very specific flavor to take control of the government at local, state, and national levels. There are frequent calls to “vote the Bible” or to return America to “biblical values.” There’s a need to send the LGBTQ community back into the shadows of society, a need to enshrine in law the right to discriminate against others, the never-ending thirst for power, and the desire to shut down or punish those who have morals that different from their own.
It’s not enough for them to live in a country where they are completely free to practice their own religious beliefs– they need power, and they need others to live under their religious code, too. (Exhibit A: Franklin Graham recently argued that it is good and right for the government to force unwed couples to get married if they live together.)
It’s not enough for them to say, “I don’t believe in X, and therefore I will not engage in X.” The Christian Taliban are the ones who say, “I don’t believe in X, and therefore I’m going to fight to make sure no one has it.”
Yes, there’s an American Christian Taliban, and we ought be concerned.
While they are busy working to achieve their vision through democratic means, the net-goal is not all that different than other religious extremist groups: taking control of culture and government to transform a nation into following the tenets and principles of their own religion.
Not via influence and by wining in the arena of ideas, but through power, control, and dominance.
Yes, there is a Christian Taliban in America, and they are actively working to take over the government at local, state, and national levels.
As freedom loving American Christians, we must stand against this movement. We must stand for religious freedom instead of religious compulsion. We must stand for equal rights that place liberals and conservatives, religious and non-religious, all on equal ground before the law. We must ensure all Americans, no matter what stipe, have equal access to the various areas of society, and that their dignity is maintained in the process.
We must stand for religious freedom, but must stand against religious rule.
We must stand against the American Christian Taliban.
Pastor: Actions of many Christians today would 'frighten Jesus'
Last week I received an email from a prominent evangelical Christian organization with the subject line, “A Win!” The email began: “A few days ago, President Trump announced that he has banned transgendered individuals from serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. President Trump demonstrated courage and rescinded President Obama’s transgender policy in the military. What a relief!”
Really?
I’m not a liberal, pro-LGBT advocate. I’m a conservative, evangelical Christian who is actually the senior pastor of a fairly large church in Pennsylvania. But I’m still reeling from last week, peeved and grieved about two things: how the president is handling the transgender military issue, and how many conservative, evangelical Christians are celebrating. I know there are many English translations of the Bible available today, including the KJV, NKJV, NIV, ESV and more – but it seems that the hands-down favorite of many of too many conservative, evangelical Christians has become the RSV – the Reversed Standard Version. I’m afraid many of us have reversed what the Bible teaches, and someone on the inside needs to say so loud and clear.
There is nothing courageous, humble or gracious about the behavior of our president or many conservative, evangelicals these days – and it frightens me big time. If it were possible, I think it would frighten Jesus.
Many Christians are preaching grace and mercy and we’re very good at saying folks don’t need to get their acts together before coming to Christ as Savior – but our treatment of the lost contradicts our confession. We don’t own the message we’re preaching. Compassion? Love? Are you kidding me? We’re very angry at sinners. It’s obvious – and it’s twisted.
We wonder why people are turned off by Christianity. I have news for us: it’s not Jesus who is offending people much these days. It’s us, his followers. I fear that a large sector of Christianity in America needs to get saved all over again, and I say that with tears, fear and a good deal of trembling.
In the past four years, five well-known American pastors from mega-churches either fell from grace or were disgraced by unethical practices that should have had conservative evangelicals up in arms (and I’m not talking about worshipping on a Sunday morning).
One pastor bought his own books in an attempt to become a New York Times bestselling author.
Another built a 16,000 square foot home (don’t worry, only 8,000sf was “livable space,” he explained), while his church promoted “spontaneous” baptisms that turned out to involve a good deal of planned psychological manipulation to solicit audience participation.
Drinking and anger issues cost another his church and marriage.
The fifth resigned suddenly and walked away – and within six months, his wife filed for divorce. His pièce de résistance was that he assumed leadership of a church consulting company within weeks of resigning. In other words, he wants other church leaders to follow his example. Lord, save us.
Where were the conservative evangelical Christians during these high-profile meltdowns? I don’t know, but one thing is certain: we didn’t hear nearly as much from them as we did about the president’s transgender military move.
The recent release of a photo showing a select group of Christian leaders praying for and laying hands on President Trump is something I would expect to see from Pharisees, not pastors – unless, of course, there is a parallel. (Remember, the Pharisees were among Jesus’ staunchest enemies).
I’m a huge advocate for praying for our president. Love him or hate him, he and our nation need a lot of prayer. But we’re supposed to be doing our acts of righteousness in private, not use them as a public relations tool to garner more name recognition.
I get it: the military exists to destroy the enemy. Accordingly, it must have standards that potential recruits must meet in order to achieve its objectives. That’s common sense. And, I agree that the military should not pay for gender reassignment surgeries. But, can we learn how to express ourselves with compassion for people who, in many instances, would love to have their sexuality as settled as the majority of Americans? Must we bludgeon people in our disagreement? Is that what Jesus did?
Sin is bad, and people definitely need to repent before they can follow Jesus. I’m not disregarding that essential part of the gospel. What concerns me is that many conservative evangelicals have perverted the gospel and don’t seem to realize it. We want people to be perfect before they come to know Christ, and neither Jesus nor the gospel work that way.
At the very time when America needs humble courage, aloof arrogance is running amok.
I think it’s time we put down the false RSV Bible and start reading one of the real translations.
It’s not possible to follow Jesus otherwise.
Michael Anthony is lead pastor of Grace Fellowship of York, Pa (www.GraceYork.com), founder of www.Godfactor.com and the National Week of Repentance (www.WeekOfRepentance.com), and author of the forthcoming book, A Call For Courage (www.CourageMatters.com).
