The now infamous Jerry Falwell Jr. picture with DT.
Every parent has heard (and I suspect many of them said as a child), “Hey Dad (or Mom), everyone is doing this and if everyone is doing this, how can it be wrong?”
And the classic response from the parent has been, “If everyone was jumping off a cliff would you do that too?”
This week an estimated 1,000 Christian leaders and pastors made a pilgrimage to New York City to sit in the presence of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, Donald Trump. The who’s who of Christendom attended with almost every notable name present. It was initially billed as a limited meeting with only a couple hundred pastors/ministry leaders invited for an opportunity to ask questions of the candidate and “clear up any ambiguity” that lingered with regards to the support of the evangelical Christian community. I was solicited to attend, but decided not to for my own reasons. However, as it turned out, those who were not on the DT train were eventually (and graciously) asked to withdraw. (This was a first-hand report.) Yes, there were questions asked as Governor Mike Huckabee moderated the smaller forum but made it crystal clear there would be no “gotcha questions” allowed. There was also what was described by some as a “DT rally” when the greater group gathered together. While I was not in attendance, I have carefully read about a dozen different reports from numerous angles (both pro and anti Trump) to get a sense of what the time together must have looked and felt like. Fascinating reports came forth such as:
“Trump was clear on SCOTUS nominations and will be unambiguously pro-life”.
“No mention of Jesus was ever made”.
“Trump is clearly aggravated by the hostility towards the Christian Faith”.
“Trump seemed evasive about LGBT rights and Christian conscience”.
The point I am trying to make is there was something that was said for everyone who might support him and something for those who might not. The point of the meeting, in my analysis, was never about “clearing the air”; rather, it was about gathering a large crowd of well-known evangelical leaders and simply saying (while not really saying it), “How can this many notable pastors and leaders be wrong?”
Hasn’t that been the general game plan of the Trump campaign from the beginning? Has that not been the metric he has constantly waved to justify his candidacy and views? Have we all not seen and heard through the primary season the constant drumbeat of DT’s own ego proclaim things like…
“Have you seen my poll numbers lately?”
“Did you see the size of the crowd at the rally?”
“We are breaking records with the number of primary voters!”
All of this is simply a variation of the childhood reasoning which states, “How can this many people be wrong?”; especially if the number includes many of the most well-respected names in evangelicalism. Perhaps some people caught on to this earlier, but it became an epiphany for me this week. Donald Trump’s credibility exists because the “numbers” are giving him cover. And unfortunately, he will maintain his credibility in many churches and Christian circles because this recent gathering of 1,000 fairly notable Christian leaders have provided him the cover he needs to have to maintain his viability in the ranks of the Christian Right. Now the question is whether those 1,000 leaders represent the other 350,000 pastors in America. I guess November will answer those questions definitively, but I just want to reiterate what my parents said to me and I have said to my kids…”Just because everyone appears to be doing it, doesn’t make it right.”
With all due respect to each and every well-known pastor and ministry leader that attended and is supporting DT…I think you’re wrong. You may mean well and have the best of intentions. You may share the exact same goals as I and millions of others have with regards to Christian concerns and issues. You may feel that his candidacy is the only way we can stem back the tsunami of secular-liberalism, relativism, and hostility to the Christian Faith. I respect your desire to engage this election season…but I say again…you are wrong.
Numbers have never meant much to God. I am not suggesting that numbers are bad, but they are not the primary driving force. For example:
The shepherd left the 99 for the 1 (Matt. 18:12).
Jesus runs off 5,000+ by His teaching (John 6).
The Lord whittled Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300 (Judges 7).
David angered the Lord by numbering his army (2 Sam. 24).
Jehoshaphat won a battle outnumbered 3 to 1 (2 Chronicles 20).
400 prophets prophesied victory while 1 prophesied defeat (1 Kings 22)
Numbers can be a deceiving thing. The crowd may indicate a man’s popularity but not necessarily his spiritual credibility.
I’m not impugning the character of the leaders who trekked to New York City for the meeting. I know some were genuinely hoping for a clarifying moment. Perhaps some received that moment. I suspect more than a few were simply caught up in the moment and the numbers. Most people who follow along my commentary on this blog site and social media know that I believe America is on a bus headed for a cliff that the two major parties refuse to redirect. My counsel is simply this…make sure you are following God’s precepts in Scripture and not the crowd headed towards a cliff. Just because there is a thousand…or millions…doesn’t make it right.
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