Important!
While not technically a “preacher” (as far as I know), Lloyd Hoffman once again darkens the page of the Sentinel Record with a letter in Sunday’s paper that perfectly embodies a piece John Pavlovitz wrote last year, when he begged evangelical preachers to quit blaming God for Trump:
You’re making from the pulpit and platform, the greatest case for Atheism you could ever make.
You’re aligning God with an ignorant, petulant, narcissistic bully.
You’re putting God’s rubber stamp on unprecedented racism, bigotry, and violence.
You’re attributing to God, the most despicable treatment of women, the greatest intolerance toward the marginalized, the least compassion for the hurting.
In other words, you’re assassinating the character of Jesus in an effort to rub non-Christian’s noses in it.
Read little brother’s letter below, then go back and read John Pavlovitz and weep for America. To restate something I wrote a few weeks ago, little brother’s too-frequent contributions are usually little more than random quotes from Billy’s boy, the oh-so very reverend Franklin Graham, glued together with some Old Testament blood and gore, and sometimes a bit of Robert Jeffress, his favorite Southern Baptist fundie and “senior” pastor of FBC Dallas. The eyes of Texas are a wee bit beamish these days, little brother.
It’s an awkward truth and an unfortunate image, but the real-world antics of little brother’s holy heroes resemble a farmyard pigsty. Surely he knows that once you stray from the protective blinders of “evangelical Christianity” there are good Americans who also profess to follow Jesus (however imperfectly), who think Franklin Graham is a bigot, a warmonger, an Islamophobe, and a rank opportunist riding on daddy’s famous coattails. And right now, just like he played Dubya after 9-11, he’s squealing and squabbling with his fellow piglets Jerry Falwell, Jr. and John Hagee and Robert Jeffress for a sweet spot at Comrade Trump’s feeding trough.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” Little brother, our nation has an out-of-control wolf problem. But your swaggering Trump has promised fantastic wide gates and amazing, so amazing broad ways. And while Trump’s beguiled believers may be legion, they are too blind to beware false prophets, or much of anything else…
— Monsieur Jacques d’Nalgar, Lundi 27 mars 2017
PS — the letter below was in yesterday’s (3/26/2017) Sunday edition of the Sentinel Record. And while little brother’s claim about Abraham Lincoln and the popular vote may be technically true (he only garnered 39.8% of the 1860 popular vote, less than a 50% majority), he still won more popular votes than any of the other three candidates. Sorry, little brother, but your pathetic attempt at deflecting an awkward reality, that your orange narcissist lost the popular vote by millions of votes, only works in the magically delicious forest of alternative facts. The truth is supposed to set you free. If it only leaves you unhinged, you might want to re-examine what you’ve been thinking is true…
Support for Graham
Dear editor:
In his last letter (Friday, March 17), “Doc” Crawford thinks that I would have to have “a twisted mind” to believe that God was responsible for electing Donald Trump as our president. Well, he also should say the exact same thing about the Rev. Franklin, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest Christian leaders of our time!
Rev. Graham said, “The media have offered an infinite variety of reasons why Donald Trump won and Hillary Clinton lost, but I believe there is one crucial component that played a huge part in the election process and the eventual outcome. I’ve called it — ‘the God factor.’
“The church of the Lord Jesus Christ — millions and millions of Christians — called out to Almighty God in prayer throughout the year, asking for His providential hand to restore and guide our nation and also engaged in the political process by flocking to rural and urban polling places to vote” (Decision magazine, January 2017).
In the February edition of Decision he said, “I believe that God intervened to bring about the stunning results. I don’t have any doubt that it was the prayers of God’s people that changed the course of this election.”
“The rise and fall of a nation’s leaders happens under the sovereignty of God … ‘He removes kings and raises up kings’ (Daniel 2:20, 21).”
Also, Romans 13:1 says, “there is no authority except that which God has established.” According to those Scriptures, Donald Trump must have been established by God as our presidential authority.
Keep in mind that one of our greatest presidents, Abraham Lincoln, won the election without a majority of the popular vote. Lincoln also won by getting the most electoral votes. Since that is the way our system is designed, that counts as a legitimate victory. It is way overdue for the left-wing side to stop their carping!
God chose Donald Trump, even though he (like all of us) has a certain amount of flaws. We know from many examples in the Bible that God can use any man he chooses to achieve his purposes (which we may not always understand entirely).
The longtime Christian psychologist James Dobson said recently that Trump had become a Christian a short time ago, so he is still early in his growth and is still a “baby Christian.” If Donald Trump trusted in Christ alone for the free gift of salvation, that means that all of his sins have been forgiven.
Surely a liberal-minded man like you, “Doc,” who likes to emphasize God’s forgiveness, could somehow be liberal enough to forgive him for falling short at times. And if he is as bad a man as you seem to believe he is, I wonder why that he has had the strong support for so long of Rev. Franklin Graham, as well as many other outstanding Christian ministers, such as Rev. Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas?
And no, I certainly do not believe that Jesus was a liberal! A whole letter is needed for that topic.
Keep praying!
Lloyd Hoffman
Hot Springs