Has the Messiah Appeared?

Is Donald Trump the Messiah Evangelicals have been clamoring for these past several years? Or at least since the first election of Barack Obama?

In fact, one noted Evangelical pastor suggested that if Trump is not he Messiah then perhaps the forerunner of the coming Messiah, suggesting that he may be preparing the way for the return of Christ and the thousand year reign.

These are disingenuous and dangerous calculations in my opinion.

But such assertions say a lot about the state of Evangelical Christianity in America today; or at least a certain sector of Evangelical Christianity. Not all Evangelicals are this naive. 

The stunning announcement last year, that the then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump had “accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior” by Evangelical Pat Dobson, was not surprising.

If Evangelicals are going to throw their hat in the political ring with anyone then certainly a born again candidate is a must. It would not be appropriate to support an “unbeliever.” Supporting a Mormon would have been bad enough (many did in the last election) but an unbeliever? That's a whole different issue.

I guess it didn't matter that Trump had already confessed to have been a member of a Presbyterian Church, which would have implied he was a baptized Christian. That would not have been enough I suppose.

“So let’s do what we can to get our candidate to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior so that he can become a member of the born again tribe, just like us.” 

Such was the thinking of these particular Evangelicals. 

So why hasn’t anyone called such theatrics into question? Why hasn’t there been anyone that I’m aware of that has had the courage to question such theatrical hogwash for the sake of political pragmatism. 

And let’s not forget that politics is a very dirty and pragmatic business that all too often exploits Christians in order to garner votes.

Is it the fear of being too judgmental that has prevented people of faith from publicly decrying such superfluous use of Christianity for the purpose of political gain? 

Well didn't Jesus suggest that we would know a follower of by the fruit he or she bears?

It just looks awfully suspicious to me that Trump’s reported conversion beyond his confessed Presbyterian faith is nothing more than a theatrical political ploy to win Evangelical votes. Look, at least Jimmy Carter came into the presidential race already a bonafide “born again” candidate and his presidency was nowhere close to being Messianic (and he would acknowledge this today).

Well white Evangelicals got their man, or at least 81% of them did. They got their perceived Messiah in Donald J. Trump. He’s going to make America great again as any good messiah would do. 

A savior unto us has been elected!

Yet for those of us who already have thrown our hat into the ring with the real Messiah (Jesus) the next few years are going to be a challenge. 

The first thing we can do is acknowledge that no President is the Messiah, since that true Messiah has already come. He has already launched his Kingdom (of which we are citizens) and it in no way resembles the kingdoms of this world or their secular values. 

The second thing we can do is to prayerfully engage the political process based on our faith in the true Messiah. Become the yeast that marinates the bread. Become the mustard seed that mightily grows. Become the one who cares for the least of these. Become the subversive influence letting our representatives know that they are going to be held accountable for their actions and their upcoming political decisions. 

Remind them that America is a government of the people, for the people and by the people. 

Shout that mantra loud and long.

The third thing we can do is stop complaining about who is going to be in the White House the next four years. Granted less than nearly three million of the majority of American voters voted for Trump. Only 27% of the overall electorate voted for him. He did not get an overwhelming mandate. 

But this is no reason for Christians who serve the true Messiah to stick their heads into the proverbial sand and hide for the next four years; or to become nauseatingly apolitical, as if politics and faith are not to kiss one another; or understand our faith as some spiritual thing and not relevant to the real world; or for the next four years whine and complain as others did over the Obama presidency.

Thank God that Jesus is the true Messiah. 

He was not a politician even though he was political as we are. But our politics must conform to the values of the full Gospel as much as possible. It is to this reality that we are called to hold our leaders accountable. Our faith demands that we do. Our Messiah expects no less.

So let us do so with the courage and dignity necessary to withstand the rancor of those who have eyes that do not see nor ears that do not hear.