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Selling Out the Savior: Pompous Political Posturing
“We proudly support Vice President Kamala Harris as she champions true Christian values embodied in the teachings of Jesus.”[1]
“Evangelicals don’t have to change who they are, they just need to reaffirm who they are by voting for someone who better reflects Christian values.”[2]
“Kamala’s life of public service is a reflection of her faith in Christ.”[3]
“The LORD hates . . . hands that shed innocent blood”[4]
“Their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed innocent blood”[5]
And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”[6]
Introduction
At times, nobody wants Jesus. Yet, at other times, everybody wants Jesus – not the Jesus of scripture, mind you, but some fictive Jesus “meek and mild.” Folks trot Him out as a prop to be used for validating some other agenda. We are seeing this abundantly this Fall as political pundits seek to persuade the persuadable that voting for their candidate aligns with Jesus and His values.[7] How are we to think about this Christianly? Let’s get to the gist.[8]
Pietism and Public Retreat?
Some Christians simply (or smugly) throw up their hands and reject any political engagement whatsoever. This is a form of Gnostic pietism and is foreign to a fully-orbed Christian view of life in this time between Cross and Consummation. The Christian faith, rightly lived, is personal, but not private. Why so?
Moral issues do not cease to be moral simply because they may be expressed as matters of policy. In fact, all legal and political matters express or presuppose some moral, some ethical commitment. One of the consequences of the Truth being exchanged for the Lie[9] is that ethics become compromised: unrighteous practices occur because of the idolatry that comes from worshipping the creation instead of the Creator.[10] Pagan worship produces pagan practices, including pagan political policies. And, righteous worship should produce righteous practices, including using God’s moral precepts to constrain evil.[11]
Pagan practices and policies take many forms, boldly overt[12]as well as seductively subtle. And, this “truth exchange” can be deceptive – evil itself can be disguised as angels of light, servants of righteousness, or even apostles of Christ:
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.Their end will correspond to their deeds.[13]
Wrapping one’s agenda in Jesus’ name in no way guarantees the agenda’s fidelity to Christ and His mandate.
One way this deception operates seeks to draft Jesus into an unrighteous agenda – calling good evil and evil good.[14] This is done by invoking familiar tropes like the call to “love our neighbors” or referencing the “Good Samaritan” and “the Golden Rule.” Of course, Satan himself quoted scripture in tempting Jesus.[15] As a result we should not be shocked to see partisanism affixing Jesus to its message in an effort to attract the religiously sentimental – and their votes.
Today we see this in the battle for the White House. So far, no less than two organizations claim that Vice-President Kamala Harris “better reflects Christian values” [16] because she “champions true Christian values embodied in the teachings of Jesus.”[17] These claims manifest a number of fatal errors.[18]
Errors As to Worldview
First, from a worldview perspective, notice what’s “underneath” this claim: the reduction and conflation of God’s agenda to a political agenda. This is not unlike how the people feted Herod, a politician, by identifying his oration with the very “voice of a god.”[19] This did not end well for Herod, as God’s angel struck him dead, and he was immediately consumed by worms.[20]
God’s people should we wary of equating any political agenda with God’s. Nevertheless, moral issues do exist in God’s universe. And, we can certainty identify specific issues that God addresses without ambiguity. When political advocates claim that their candidate and party “align” with God’s moral agenda, but actually do not do so, this is yet another example of paganism: the Truth being exchanged for the Lie – attributing evil to God instead of the glory due His name.[21] Be wary of worldview errors.
As to Methodology
Second from a methodological perspective, notice that both groups assert that the Vice-President “reflects” “Christian values” “embodied in the teachings of Jesus.” This sounds like an innocuous claim. However, this too is a form of improper reductionism in the sense that the Christian worldview stems from “every word that comes from mouth of God,” not simply what Jesus incarnate taught.[22] In other words, we simply cannot be “Red Letter Christians”[23] as syrupy pious as that sounds. Why? Because, being a “Red Letter Christian” creates a “canon within the Canon” and thus wrongly “breaks the Scripture.[24] All of Scripture is about Jesus and the Faith – not simply the red letters.[25] Accordingly, claiming that a candidate’s political position “embodies Jesus’ teaching” is incomplete without more. This sort of peddling comprises an emotional claim, not an ethical claim – everyone wants some amorphous “Jesus” on their side – “little baby Jesus.”[26] Be wary of defective methodologies.
As to Invoking Scriptural Mantras
Third, merely invoking scriptural shibboleths – devoid of scriptural content – does not establish that a candidate’s position coheres with scripture. For example, if someone says, “love your neighbor” and nothing more, the cannibal can say, “Yes, I love my neighbors; they’re delicious!”[27] In the same way, the invocation of the Good Samaritan parable or the Golden Rule[28]– without more – may feel good, but projects ethical indeterminacy. In other words, not unlike the slogans “Hope and Change”[29] or “Make America Great Again,”[30] these may create affinity and “belonging,” but fail to convey specific ethical content. The same is true for the Vice-President’s newly minted mantra, “A New Way Forward.”[31]
Now let’s put on our worldview glasses: What does it mean when verbal repetition and sloganeering occurs, but is devoid of meaning? Jesus of Scripture tells us that that is how pagans operate, even when doing “spiritual things” like praying:
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.[32]
Bumper stickers and tweets – without more – do not meaningfully convey solid ethical content and therefore, cannot justify supporting any candidate. Be wary of the repetition of familiar religious terms that are drained of ethical content.
As to Ethical Content
Fourth – and aside from the forgoing fatal defects – one needs to compare the actually known policy positions of the candidates and their party with the actual ethical strictures of Scripture. Remember that the claim being advanced is that “Christians” and “Evangelicals” can and should support the Harris ticket because Harris/Walz embrace and reflect Jesus’ values. Time to fact-check.
In this situation, the policies and practices of both Vice-President Harris and Governor Walz exist, are unambiguous, and are decidedly contrary to biblical ethics at crucial junctures. In truth, these candidates embrace pagan positions that these activists are labeling as Christian – in other words, these activists are calling evil good and good evil.[33]
As to Abortion
Let’s be clear: Scripture condemns the destruction of innocent life.[34] In fact, God hates those who shed innocent blood.[35] Those who are evil are described as those whose words and acts run to cause destruction and death:
For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity. . . .
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
Their feet run to evil,
and they are swift to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.[36]
The love of death characterizes those who themselves hate God: “[A]ll who hate me [God] love death”.[37] And, Jesus teaches us that violence and death characterize those who oppose Him:
All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.[38]
Let’s just take one issue: Abortion. The records and advocacy of both the Vice-President and the Minnesota Governor are extant, knowable, and unambiguous: they represent the most aggressively pro-abortion duo in elected history.[39]
The Harris Record
As California Attorney General, Harris enforced regulations that required pro-life counseling centers to inform their clients about the availability of government-funded abortions. This regulation not only took innocent life, but also violated the clinics’ speech rights protected by the 1st Amendment. Thankfully, a lucid majority of the Supreme Court stopped this unconstitutional and ungodly action by Harris and her successor, Xavier Beccera, who now serves the Biden Administration as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.[40]
Harris’ record as Senator confirms her commitment to the destruction of unborn human life – euphemistically called “access to and guarantee of reproductive health.”[41] And, abortion now forms a centerpiece to her Presidential campaign[42]– unlike virtually all prior Democratic candidates who avoided using the term “abortion,” Harris embraces it.
The Walz Record
Governor Walz also produced an unambiguous and bloody trail of pro-abortion policies, including signing legislation that prevented hospitals from administering medical treatment of infants born alive after botched abortions – in other words: countenancing infanticide.[43]
Let’s recall that scripture links the destruction of the next generation to pagan idolatry. Note how Molech worship is designated. The prohibition of this practice occurs in the context of rampant sexual perversion – just as Paul notes in Romans 1:
And you shall not lie sexually with your neighbor’s wife and so make yourself unclean with her. You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.[44]
Any candidate or party that celebrates “access” to “reproductive health” positions themselves in opposition to the God of life. Why? Because abortion is a pagan sacrament; it derives from idolatry, the worship of creation in place of the Creator.[45]
As to the LGBTQ Agenda
With the same fervor they manifest promoting abortion, both Harris and Walz embraced, have promoted, and promise to further advance the LGTBQ agenda, including in Walz’s case, signing legislation that permitted the mutilation and sterilization of confused minors – all without parental notification, let alone permission. Here’s one report describing the Governor’s policies:
Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for Vance, told Newsweek via email on Sunday afternoon, “The letter of this law is clear: a parent who dissents from their child receiving so-called ‘gender-affirming care’ can lose custody. Anyone who says otherwise is lying about the law because they know just how radical it is.”
Beyond partisan rhetoric, here’s an overview of Walz’s gender-affirming care and LGBTQ+ legislative record.
In April 2023, Walz, who has been the state’s governor since 2019, signed a Minnesota law aimed at protecting the rights of the LGBTQ+ community to access and receive gender-affirming health care—which can include a range of medical procedures and care such as surgery and puberty blockers—without intervention of out-of-state laws.[46]
Harris’ record and rhetoric are to the same effect, as the leading LGBTQ activists gleefully effuse:
“A Harris Administration would not only uphold but also expand upon the protections for transgender Americans established by the Biden Administration,” Advocates for Trans Equality said in a statement endorsing Harris for president. “Her leadership promises to fortify and enhance the efforts to address and meet the needs of transgender people, ensuring continued progress in our nation’s history of civil rights.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest and most powerful gay lobby, also threw their support behind Harris saying she would be a trusted activist for their priorities in office.
The White House has been a top national advocate for irreversible gender transition procedures and drugs for children in the country, despite the fact that there is little evidence the interventions work, and a growing amount of evidence that they are actually harmful.[47]
So, Harris/Walz support and seek to expand policies affecting children that sever parental care, administer poisonous puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones (that produce irreversible sterility), and then fund mutilating surgery that attacks healthy functioning organs and systems. Hmmm. That seems to be hurting, not helping, the least of these among us. Jesus holds a different view:
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.[48]
The activists claiming that Harris/Walz’ policies and positions reflect Jesus’ teaching may be at the moment basking in a flood of acclamation, momentum, and applause, but the waters they are hearing may simply be waters that baptize them ala Pharoah.
We need more than slogans; we need substance. Loving one’s neighbor contains ethical content, not emotional claptrap:
If we truly love our neighbors, we will bear witness to the fullness to which they are called. If we truly desire their welfare, we should proclaim the thickness of moral obligations that God commands as the gifts to channel us into flourishing, and labor in hope that these might become the laws of the land, though with appropriate levels of expectation. This would be political action that recognizes that humanity’s natural end is supernatural, that the fullness of human being is elucidated in the gospel, not the minimalism of “nature.”[49]
When we consider living faithfully and publicly, especially in times of political indeterminacy and turmoil, we would do well to heed Peter’s admonition for holiness, including political holiness:
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”[50]
Come and see ways to engage faithfully by attending our Symposium, Every Square Inch held at Providence Christian College (Pasadena, CA), August 30, and 31. Jesus claims every square of reality; it’s time for His followers to act like it with moral clarity, moral conviction, and moral courage.
[1] Christians for Kamala, https://johnpavlovitz.com/christiansforkamala/
[2] Evangelicals for Harris, https://www.evangelicalsforharris.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2ou2BhCCARIsANAwM2H49mCDs4Fa45J9qOKb4t2ZezNEc87h2_mYCs8u8BKxnTC6LMaTUoUaAnf-EALw_wcB
[3] Evangelicals for Harris, https://www.evangelicalsforharris.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2ou2BhCCARIsANAwM2H49mCDs4Fa45J9qOKb4t2ZezNEc87h2_mYCs8u8BKxnTC6LMaTUoUaAnf-EALw_wcB
[4] Proverbs 6:16. 17
[5] Is. 59:7
[6] Acts 12:22
[7] Presently, we see two groups of activists, both invoking Christ to support Vice-President Harris’ candidacy: Christians for Kamala and Evangelicals for Harris. If similar groups form to support President Trump’s candidacy, we will analyze them in due course.
[8] TxC neither endorses nor opposes candidates for elective office; though if it did so, that would be protected speech under the 1st Amendment, despite the vapid saber-rattling of the IRS. Nevertheless, this Dicta edition focuses on the ethics of policy issues and whether the claim that those policies reflect a Christian worldview holds water or are instead something different.
[9] Romans 1:25
[10] Romans 1:24, 26-31
[11] This is traditionally labeled the “second use” of the law. https://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/threefold-use-law
[12] Romans 1:29–31: “They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”
[13] 2 Cor. 11:13-15
[14] Cf., Is. 5:20
[15] Matt. 4:5, 6
[16] Evangelicals for Harris, https://www.evangelicalsforharris.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw2ou2BhCCARIsANAwM2H49mCDs4Fa45J9qOKb4t2ZezNEc87h2_mYCs8u8BKxnTC6LMaTUoUaAnf-EALw_wcB
[17] Christians for Kamala, https://johnpavlovitz.com/christiansforkamala/
[18] Note plainly: the burden here evaluates the activists’ claims that their candidates’ policies and practices comport with Jesus’ actual teaching. This is no way seeks to oppose or endorse any particular candidate. Rather, because these candidates’ positions have been claimed as “Christian” by these advocates, those positions will be evaluated on that basis. The question therefore is not whether these policy choices are per se good or bad, but rather whether they reflect Christian ethics as claimed. They do not.
[19] Acts 12:22
[20] Acts 12:23
[21] This is explicitly why the angel killed Herod: “he did not give God the glory” – Acts 12:23
[22] Jesus in Matt 4:4 quoting Deut. 8:3
[23] See, https://redletterchristians.org/about-us/our-team/ – this “movement” arose from efforts of Progressive religious folk – Tony Campolo, Jim Wallis, and Shaine Claiborne – claiming to be Jesus followers. Notice that their website as of today (August 23, 2024) features an article on the “Mystic Jesus” by New Age cultist pagan Marianne Williamson. For a critique of Red Letterism, see Ian Paul, The serous problem with being a Red-letter Christian, [capitalization in original] https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/the-serious-problems-with-being-a-red-letter-christian/
[24] John 10:35
[25] Luke 24:27: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
[26] A parody of this sort of nonsense appeared in the film Talladega Nights.
[27] Vice-President Harris invoked “love thy neighbor” urging citizens to administer and take the COVID-19 vaccination: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEFhSgRaqBY
[28] Vice-President nominee Tim Walz cited his “golden rule” to justify expanding abortion in his state: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GdpQ9PQL-s
[29] Obama’s 2008 mantra
[30] Trump’s 2016 mantra
[31] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF99lvan4co, which evidently means “not Trump” but little else.
[32] Matt 6:7,8
[33] Is. 5:20
[34] See the 6th Commandment and the exposition of it: The sins forbidden in the sixth commandment are, all taking away the life of ourselves, or of others, except in case of public justice, lawful war, or necessary defense; WLC, 136
[35] Proverbs 6:16, 17
[36] Is. 59:3-7
[37] Proverbs 8:36b
[38] John 10:8-10
[39] President Trump has jumped onto the abortion bus as well, posting on August 23, 2024: “My Administration will be great for women and their reproductive rights.” However, he did not sprinkle this position in “Jesus dust.”
[40]https://nifla.org/nifla-vs-becerra/ and https://harvardlawreview.org/print/vol-132/national-institute-of-family-life-advocates-v-becerra/
[41] For a consistent cataloguing – from a progressive source, NPR – of Harris’ view and actions, including suing pro-life advocates, see https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/democrats-hope-harris-bluntness-on-abortion-will-lead-to-2024-wins; from a more moderate news source, which includes her historic visit to a Planned Parenthood abortion mill, see https://time.com/7001208/kamala-harris-views-abortion-economy-immigration-israel-gaza/
[42] https://www.youtube.com/embed/HZla4xLVjBc?si=Q2WkRtxewc2Iv-ok
[43] https://catholicvote.org/tim-walzs-history-with-forced-abortions-scrutinized/ see also, https://apnews.com/article/tim-walz-governor-record-minnesota-vp-1d03387a8941cc1952e03fcf09fc1390
[44] Lev. 18:20-23 – these prohibitions form the ethical preface to the often invoked yet decontextualized command to “love your neighbor” first found in Lev. 19:18. “Loving neighbor” rightly construed includes ethical structures.
[45] As the largest abortion mill, Planned Parenthood, unabashedly affirmed: Abortion is sacred. And, the Supreme Court can’t take it away from us. [capitalization in original] https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-illinois/blog/abortion-is-sacred-and-the-supreme-court-cant-take-that-away-from-us Note that the author here identifies as “queer” – Sexual deviance and abortion are ethical fellow travelers.
[46] https://www.newsweek.com/tim-walz-policy-transgender-minors-explained-1937598
[47] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3101333/kamala-harris-expected-to-expand-bidens-child-gender-transition-agenda-if-elected/
[48] Matt. 18:1-6
[49]James K. A. Smith, Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology (2017), 163 – I recognize that this author supported the election of President Biden and supports certain LGBTQ initiatives. Yet, his statement here coheres with the Truth instead of the Lie – be grateful for blessed inconsistencies.
[50] 1 Peter 1:13-16