This morning I was researching the Puritans of the 1600’s and 1700’s. I was curious about their belief system as their goal was to transform America into a nation adhering to their view of Christianity. They too were engaged in a culture war, just as evangelicals have been and are currently. I wondered if anyone else has made this comparison, so I began to google “evangelicals are the new Puritans.” However, I didn’t get that far. I only typed “evangelicals are”, and the results stopped my breath.

Here is the screenshot of my results, displaying that people are searching: evangelicals are immoral, pharisees, and heretics.  I invite you to do the same search, as I’ve asked others to and they received the same result:

Google search displays the most frequently searched items. It is the result of billions of daily searches across the world wide web. People in masse are searching these terms regarding evangelicals. The frequency of search terms may indicate economic, social and health trends. Although I am not surprised by these results, I am heartbroken that this institution has gone so far down a strange path that no longer are they a viable community of Christ.

Evangelicals across the socio-economic spectrum need to take note at their present place in the eyes of the world. Their allegiance to Trump is doing a great disservice to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and it is blatantly obvious to outsiders that something has gone terribly wrong.

I may have lost my religion, however, I still love Jesus Christ. I love what he stood for. I admire his radical sacrifice in teaching love for the broken, non-violence, healing the sick, raising the poor, and standing up for the vulnerable. I find his teachings inspiring, yet also convicting. I have also found the truth of forgiveness and never-ending grace in his words.
There are many broken, hurting people in the world that need love and healing. There are many people at rock bottom who do not know how to rise out because they are stuck in the muck of their guilt and shame. People need to know that they can shed their sins and past mistakes away and begin again. They need to know that they can start over, everyday if need be, and become a different, better version of themselves.

People need to know they are forgiven and loved unconditionally. However, this religion is hell bent on making outsiders feel like horrible people.

Why would we join this institution though? Why would progressives, atheists or agnostics find any reason to walk through the doors of a church celebrating Donald Trump? The hypocrisy is as blinding as the noon sun.

Admittedly, I’ve been losing sleep lately over this entire degradation of the gospel being done by the evangelical/fundamental church. I wake up at 1,3, and 5 with my first thoughts being total disbelief and frustration because it is way over our heads. We are viewing two totally different realities, and the more immorality and corruption Trump displays, the more rigorous the evangelicals support him.

For those of us raised in this church environment, we are completely at a loss of any cognitive ability as to understand this. We were warned continuously about being stumbling blocks. Sins such as swearing, dancing, drinking, or playing cards even were huge “no-no’s” as it could lead someone away from Christ. However, we are forced to watch our religion join hands with the largest stumbling block in American history.

The evangelical church is going to rallies celebrating a man who had sexual relations with a porn star while his wife was home with their newborn. On top of that, he paid her off with hush money to influence the United States election. Not to mention everything he has said degrading women, hispanics, or other minorities. Currently, Trump is bullying a fellow republican, John McCain, while he is on his deathbed. Let’s not forget all of the policies he is making that hurt the poor, sick, and vulnerable.

I was taught that I would know the followers of Christ by the fruit that they displayed. I don’t see any good fruit. I do not see kindness, gentleness, humility, or love. I see bullying, corruption, and immorality. The world outside of the cult of Trump does too, and this google result shows the stain that is now on the church at large.

However, this institution no longer represents the gospel.

The only advice I have for any of us that are completely baffled at the evangelical church is to keep praying. Pray for strength because you might be the only person in your congregation that sees this absurd allegiance, and your community needs you to speak out. We need to pray for diligence to keep going. Keep organizing. Keep registering others to vote. Keep your eyes and heart focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ. For those outside of Christianity, keep your eyes and heart focused on loving others and treating others how you would want to be treated. That is the gospel, and we will keep refusing attempts to destroy that via a theocracy that isn’t based on that whatsoever.

These results are the signs of our times. The evangelical/fundamental church hopefully will soon see this hypocrisy and learn to put love over religious law. They have done that with Donald Trump, therefore, I don’t understand why they cannot for outsiders. Trump is the ultimate outsider. They cannot possibly keep condemning others that don’t belong to their club while refusing to see their complicit behavior in hurting people, and that includes themselves.

I hope and pray that the church soon sees that the world, which includes them, needs love, healing, peace, and grace. Full stop. I hope they take seriously what they’ve allowed Donald Trump to do to their reputation and the gospel, all over greed and power.