On June 10, 2023

‘ADOKIMOS!’ NOTES ON THE CHURCH’S BLAMPHEMOUS EMBRACE OF TRUMPISM THROUGH MALEVOLENT COMPASSION

SCRIPTURE. “[Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good.” – ROMANS 12:9, AMPC

KEY TERMS. Sincere; Hate; Hold Fast; Good

QUOTATIONS

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. “As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except negroes.’ When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’ When it comes to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.” ― Lincoln Letters: 1832-1865; edited

JOHNNY CASH. “I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. ‘It’s still my symbol of rebellion’ — against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical Houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.” – Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words, 1975; edited.

I. FIRST THOUGHTS

As I and a number of others wiser than I have written in very recent years, a portion of America is finally waking up to we truly are. And much more painfully, to who we are not.

My own personal experience over these past nearly 80 years on this earth has for the most part have been bathed in what I shall term, ‘An Aura of American Invincibility.’ I have been taught, both directly and more subtly, that America is absolutely unique in the family of nations, and that though she has imperfections she is in the final list analysis the ‘Last Hope of Mankind.’

Now if that claim caught in your cognitive throat just a bit, I promise you that you are on to something.

To state it plainly right up front: This is at best a cultural Myth and at worst a pernicious Lie that is leading countless millions of Americans and Christians to believe that America is God’s Answer for all our problems.

Please let me explain.

THE FIRST SIN. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.” – GENESIS 3:6-7, NKJV

Leading Bible expositors agree that this First Sin was all about PRIDE. It is present across all of human history and is at the heart of both Great Falls recorded in Scripture.

“In the original sin of Adam and Eve, Satan held out to them the promise of attainments beyond what they had experienced to that point in the Garden of Eden. Tempting them, he said, ‘You will be like God, knowing good and evil’ (Genesis 3:5). This helped motivate them to become greater than what God, their Creator, had assigned to them.

In Genesis 1:31, when God saw everything He had made, He declared it to be ‘very good.’ Pride is not ‘very good!’ It was not in them as God created them, but it entered into their thinking in Satan’s presence. The very first exercise of that Pride earned them death and ejection from God’s presence and the Garden.

At some time following his creation by God, Pride arose in Satan, and he uttered this desire, as written in Isaiah 14:13-14: For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’” – JOHN W. RITENBAUGH, “Living By Faith and Human Pride,” Bible Tools, ret. June 4, 2023; edited

THESIS. I propose that America and her Church have “Fallen”as well into this primordial temptation toward Pride. It takes the form of an inordinate obsession of ‘National Greatness and Christian Dominion’ in perverse succession. And it is destroying us faster than I can type these words.

II. REFLECTIONS ON AMERICAN HUBRIS

If there were a phrase captured in every single political speech in the last century but most especially in the last 50 years, it would be this: “America is the greatest nation that has ever existed in the history of mankind.” Or various words and re-phrasings to that effect.

I dare to disagree. I recall watching a JEFF DANIELS monologue about ten years ago that caused quite a stir, and still resonates today. After paying short tribute to the notion of ‘Freedom’ espoused by the Founding Fathers captured in the brilliance of the Declaration of Independence, he noted that of 207 sovereign states, 180 have freedom. But, he continued, the US ranked:

7th in literacy
27th in math
22nd in science
49th in life expectancy
178th in infant mortality
3rd in median household income
4th in labor force, and
4th in exports.

A November 4, 2021 piece by DOUGLAS MCINTYRE writing for the Wall Street Journal listed no fewer than 20 metrics that support Daniels’ claims. On such measures as reading ability, poverty levels, healthcare costs, overall happiness, murder rate and life expectancy, we are way down the list, beloved.

There are reasons for this undeniable Evidence of Collapse, and one in particular.

Author and political pundit for the Daily Beast, PETER BEINART dares to indict American Arrogance in relentless but historically accurate form in his 2010 book, The Icarus Syndrome: The History of American Hubris.

THE ICARUS SYNDROME: “The saying ‘Don’t fly too close to the sun’ is a reference to Icarus’ recklessness and defiance of limitations. In organisations, the Icarus Syndrome characterises leaders who initiate overly ambitious projects that come to naught, causing harm to themselves and others in the process.” – MANFRED F.R. KETS DE VRIES, “The Icarus Syndrome: Execs Who Fly Too Close to the Sun,” Knowledge Insead, July 1, 2019; edited

America Foundation Senior Fellow Beinart traces the numerous instances of Hubris that have often swollen American Pride to the bursting point. He argues persuasively in my view that American Greatness went straight to our heads over a period of 120 years (1900-2020), a period of time I make much of in my previous writings.

This ‘Hubris of Toughness’ [Reason plus Power] led first to success, then to debacle under Lyndon Johnson. Richard Nixon considered ‘Fear’ a more powerful force than ‘Love,’ and thus crafted a political strategy that still has enormous power in America. Jimmy Carter, the national ‘scold,’ gave way to Ronald Reagan … whose devotees still believe he destroyed the Soviet Union. Beinart says otherwise, crediting instead the struggle between China and the Soviet Union.

Following the first President Bush’s defeat of Saddam Hussein in Kuwait, Bill Clinton, after some wheel-spinning and grotesque failure (Rwanda), found success in 1995 with the Dayton Accords [re: Bosnia-Herzegovina]. Then came the ‘Neocons’ [i.e., Cold War conservatives] – Bush II, Cheney and the missed opportunities and miscalculations of the past decade. Beinart persuasively argues that it is time to accept that ‘America’s power and resources are limited.’ Tightly argued and both elevating and profoundly depressing.” – EDITORS, Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2010; edited

Then of course on the heels of all this shocking reassessment, comes the VISION OF DONALD TRUMP of ‘Rule by Brute Force,’ along with the disintegration of the entire Western Christian Idea of the Rule of Law. And here we, at the very brink of reelecting this Barbarian to a second term on November 5th, 2024.

And why? Because he promised to “Make America Great Again!” Selah.

HUBRIS PANDEMIC. As I continued to research and roll out this essay, I came across a fascinating update as it were from the pen of DOMINIQUE MATAILLET, a former journalist at Jeune Afrique and columnist for La Revue. Here he is quoted by the EDITORS at France-Amérique in a piece entitled, “‘Hubris Syndrome,’ A Sickness of Heads of State,” published on September 8, 2022 (edited).

“This term has been a media mainstay for several years. We read and heard it countless times during Donald Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2021, and it has regularly reappeared since Russian president Vladimir Putin sent his armies into Ukraine in February 2022. The word is ‘Hubris.’ In Ancient Greece, ‘Hybris’ described extravagance and pride – traits that the gods despised, at least among humans. It is also used to refer to transgressive acts such as rape, and is the opposite of ‘Logos,’ meaning Temperance and Reason.

Nowadays, we draw on this concept to describe dysfunctional behavior characterized by a feeling of omnipotence and excessive self-confidence. In the past, we would have instead used the word ‘Megalomania.’ This syndrome has struck many political leaders, including Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, Viktor Orbán in Hungary, and Bachar al-Assad in Syria. Opponents of French presidentEmmanuel Macron, who often have a scant sense of moderation themselves, are quick to tar him with the same brush.

This form of ‘Egomania’ appears to be so common among men in power – although women seem to be relatively spared – that we could legitimately refer to it as ‘a sickness of heads of state!’”

On top of all this are recent developments in Israel engineered by the new Jewish strongman, BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, who is forcing his nation to the brink by reconstituting the judicial system to bring them under his direct control.

AMERICAN NARCISSIST. It is significant that I reach beyond our borders to a second appeal from a European observer who focuses on the undeniable Narcissism of Donald Trump. SANDER TOMAES is a developmental psychologist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, whose analysis, “Donald Trump: Textbook Narcissist” (ret. June 4, 2023; edited) is both humorous and terrifying all at once.

“I often use him during my classes. My research is primarily focused on Narcissism. There is no better example than Trump: he is a ‘Prototypical Narcissist.’

You’ll often see that Narcissists happily present themselves as born leaders. And the crazy thing is, especially if they are not too well-known yet within their companies: others will follow them in that presentation. Thus, colleagues will also see the Narcissist as a good leader. It’s the ‘Paradox of Narcissistic Leadership.’ It’s a paradox because after some time, the Narcissist will virtually always be rejected by others. Because what turns out to be irreversible? The Narcissist doesn’t have any leadership qualities. He thinks about himself excessively often, not about the public interest, not about the collective. And they always overestimate themselves. That’s what Trump is doing too: overestimating himself …

‘We know that Narcissists who fail will lash out.’ Children will do so literally. Narcissists blame others for their failures. In their eyes, they have often been snubbed. Or the other has cheated. It’s not uncommon for them to say the most heinous things about their opponents after they’ve lost or received criticism.”

Thus, somewhat prophetically, Tomaes is fascinated with a QUESTION: ‘What will Trump think, feel and do if he loses an election?’ What indeed, beloved, the subject of our next section of discussion.

III. TRUMP’S LOSS AND THINGS TO COME

In what I consider to be a stunning illustration of what Tomaes has proposed,here is a fascinating look at the man who would be king in a compelling piece by Vanity Fair by BESS LEVIN. Her article is entitled, “Donald Trump, Malignant Narcissist, Blames Ukrainian Casualties on ‘Rigged’ U.S. Election” (Apr. 26, 2022; edited)

“In an interview that aired on Monday, Trump’s British pal Piers Morgan asked the ex-president: ‘When you see the scenes, Mr. President, of maternity hospitals being bombed, when you see refugees being attacked as they flee, grandmothers, children, babies, you see the decimation of previously prosperous cities living in a thriving new democracy, when you watch what’s happening, do you agree with my assessment that Vladimir Putin is now an evil genocidal monster?’ … “Yeah, but I also…” “You do?” Morgan asked, barely able to conceal his surprise.

‘Sure, who wouldn’t? What’s happening is horrible,’ Trump said, calling the situation ‘such a stupid war.’ But, of course, he couldn’t help himself. ‘I’ll tell you what I really think,’ he told Morgan. ‘I said, “Isn‘t it a shame, all those people are dead all because of a rigged election.” Because if our election wasn’t rigged, you would’ve had nobody dead.’”

I mean, what?

AMERICA IN 2025. Thus, a SECOND QUESTION that sometimes keeps me awake at night. Not so much out of any fear (as over against concern for my fellow man), but out of a wrenching sense of political curiosity. To that end, I found a fascinating article in New Republic that gives us a panoramic view of what might happen to us if he wins reelection next November.

Penned by GRACE SEGERS and DANIEL STRAUSS on April 19, 2022, in their piece entitled, “What If Trump Wins in 2024? Here’s What 13 Famous Politicians and Pundits Said,” we gain a priceless cross section of the American political class on both sides of the aisle. I will give you a representative sample of THREE, so here we go.

ADAM KINZINGER (Rep. R-Illinois). “If [Trump] wins legitimately, in theory, that’s Democracy in action. The thing that would be concerning to me is, obviously, last time he came in with not a real understanding of how government works and how to use it to your advantage, and now he does. He came in and hired non-loyalists, and now he will [hire loyalists]. But on the broader question of democracy, my biggest concern is … more about the second people lose faith in their vote. That’s when Democracy fails … And that’s why I’m so angry at what Trump has done. He’s convinced half the country that Democracy doesn’t work for them.”

MARY TRUMP (Psychologist, niece, author of Too Much and Never Enough). “In some ways, a second term will be much like his first term—a systematic attempt to undo the policy achievements of his predecessor. It is the differences between the first and the not-improbable second term that should concern us even more. Over the last six years, Republican leadership has been presented with many off-ramps away from Donald and taken none of them—there’s every reason to believe that Republicans in Congress will have moved even further to the right. If Donald regains the Oval Office, that would mean, once again, that the justice system failed to hold him accountable. This will embolden him to an unprecedented degree. And while Donald signs off on every authoritarian, anti-democratic policy the Republicans in Congress try to enact, he will focus on grievance and, above all, vengeance. If you think his first four years were bad, buckle up.”

DONALD TRUMP. [Comments at a recent political rally]: “But I do it for you, and that’s what I’m doing it for. I do it for you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And if you put me back in the White House, their reign is over. Their reign will be over, and they know it. And America will be a free nation once again. We’re not a free nation right now. We don’t have free press. We don’t have free anything. ‘In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add I am your warrior, I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution. I am your retribution.’”

IN A NUTSHELL. “In little over an hour [at the CNN Townhall, May 10, 2023], Donald J. Trump suggested the United States should default on its debts for the first time in history, injected doubt over the country’s commitment to defending Ukraine from Russia’s invasion, dangled pardons for most of the Capitol rioters convicted of crimes, and refused to say he would abide by the results of the next presidential election.” – ZACH BEAUCHAMP, “A Second Trump Administration Would Be Much Worse,” Vox, May 13, 2023; edited

To all our Christian pastors, friends and family members who continue to support Mr. Trump into and beyond the Election of November 5, 2024, A THIRD QUESTION: By what Biblical Doctrine(s) would you justify a second vote for Mr. Trump? Please, I beg you, answer it for yourself ever so carefully and prayerfully.

It just may be that your Eternity shall depend on it. Selah.

IV. THE TEACHING

KEY TERMS. As is our practice, we drill down into the deeper soil of the most Essential Concepts that drive and define this passage.

LOVE. ‘Agapé [ἀγάπη]: “Benevolence, good will, esteem; emanates from ‘Divine Love’ [demonstrated first and foremost by our intense love and loyalty to God and His Word]; properly, love which centers in moral preference, or ‘prefers the good [and loathes evil];’ the proof of love [found in sacrificing self for another]; it is diametrically opposed to hatred.”

SINCERE. ‘Anupokritos’ [ἀνυπόκριτος]: “Unfeigned, ‘without hypocrisy or dissimulation;’ genuine, pure, chaste; properly, not a ‘phony put on’ or pretentious in any way; free from a hidden agenda; undisguised [transparent]; being in reality what it appears to be; not simulated; not assumed or said for the sake of appearance.”

HATE. ‘Apostugeó’ [ἀποστυγέω]: “‘To utterly detest or abhor;’ to hate intensely; to have a horror of; to dislike greatly; to have a great aversion to; to abominate or consider abominable; to consider loathsome, odious to the mind or offensive to the senses; unclean; to hold in extreme contempt; consider repulsive.

WICKEDNESS. ‘Ponéros’ [πονηρός]: “Toilsome, bad, evil, bad, malicious, slothful; hurtful, degenerate, diseased; vicious, malicious; grievous, lewd; properly, pain-ridden, emphasizing the inevitable agonies (misery) that always go with evil; ‘a bad nature or condition that brings peril;’ corrupt, perverse, wrong.”

HOLD FAST. ‘Kollaó’ [κολλάω]: “Unite; glue; hence, ‘I join myself closely to; cleave, adhere (to), keep company (with); of friendly intercourse; adhere to; intimately connected in a soul-knit friendship; used ‘frequently in ancient medical language of the uniting of wounds;’ ‘to cling to closely and firmly,’ in interest or affection.”

GOOD. ‘Agathos’ [ἀγαθός]: “Inherently (intrinsically) good; as to the believer, (agathós) describes what ‘originates from God’ [the ‘Summum Bonum’] and is empowered by Him in their life, through faith; excelling in any respect, distinguished; upright, honorable; pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy; that which is acceptable to God; valid; sound; not weak, false or fallacious; complete or sufficiently perfect in its kind.”

COMMENTARY.“The former exhortations respect Church Officersin particular; those that follow concern all Christians in general. He begins with Love, because that is a ‘radical grace’ … By Love here, you may understand [first] the ‘Love of God,’, [then] of our neighbour: the latter seems chiefly to be intended. The great requisite in Love is this, that it be ‘without dissimulation,’or (as the Word is) ‘without hypocrisy;’ i.e., that it be sincere and unfeigned, 2 Corinthians 6:6; 1 Peter 1:22. It must not be in word and in tongue only, but in deed and in truth, 1 John 3:18.

Abhor that which is evil; do not only avoid it, but hate it, and that as hell itself! The simple verb imports ‘extreme detestation,’ and it is aggravated by the composition: see Psalm 119:104; Amos 5:15.

Cleave to that which is good; be glued to it; so the Word signifieth. Things that are glued together are hardly disjoined. The same Word is used of the union and conjunction between man and wife: see Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:31.” – MATTHEW POOLE, English Annotations on the Holy Bible, 1685 [posthumously]; edited

DK.My Commentary is in some response to a teaching by a former mentor, DR. DEL TACKETT (The Truth Project) on what he rightly calls, “Malevolent Compassion” – Compassion that is absent of any discipline for wrongs done. He thereby sternly warns against the practice of tolerating anything and everything in the name of Love.

But then I wrote a rejoinder to him, a respectful one, reminding that aiming our cannonade at “Outsiders” contravenes the Teachings of Christ.

“For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders (non-believers)? Do you not judge those who are within the church [to protect the church as the situation requires]? God alone sits in judgment on those who are outside [the faith]. Remove the wicked one from among you [expel him from your church].” – 1 CORINTHIANS 5:12-13, AMP

As I have argued annoyingly and repeatedly, this catastrophic Doctrinal Error of refusing to recognize and publicly Repent of our own sin has rendered the Church, to borrow from a phrase by C.S. LEWIS, ethically castrated. Thus the rapid rise of Trump’s hideous ‘Christian’ Nationalism among our ranks since we have not been taught to know any better!

V. LAST THOUGHTS

THE WORD. On the early morning of Thursday June 1, 2023, I heard the following Word (in Greek). Since I don’t speak Greek, I had to spend some time looking it up in two well-known Concordances by Strong and Zodhiates. Here is what I found.

‘ADOKIMOS!’ [ἀδόκιμος]: “‘Unapproved, rejected,’ on the basis of being judged worthless (literally or morally); failing to pass the test, ‘as with a counterfeit; worthy of condemnation;’ deceitful or false;also, common, pitiable; mean, ignoble; castaway, reprobate and, by extension, ‘an apostate’ [destined to Perdition].”

ROMANS 1:28-31 (AMP). “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or consider Him worth knowing [as their Creator], ‘God gave them over to a depraved [adokimos] mind,’ to do things which are improper and repulsive, until they were filled (permeated, saturated) with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice and mean-spiritedness. They are gossips [spreading rumors], slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors [of new forms] of evil, disobedient and disrespectful to parents,without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful [without pity].”

THE APPLICATION. Now then beloved, the hard work here is to IDENTIFY who God had in mind if indeed He gave us this Word to understand and apply. More specifically, just who is it currently engaged in such things as “reprobate thinking, improper and repulsive actions, wickedness and greed, envy, murder, strife, deceit, meanness, gossip, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, disobedient, ignorant, unloving, unmerciful”?

If we are being completely honest, American Christians today would reflexively point to the “Pagan Unwashed,” including Democrats, Liberals, Progressives, and the entire “Woke” community of unbelievers. Right? And yes, they would be essentially right in that assessment, because that is what the Unsaved are!

But more ominously, I am convinced that the angry Finger of Almighty God is aimed first and foremost at Us, the American Church. Selah.

THE MAGA CHRISTIANS. I continue to unapologetically a case for passages like this to apply to those who profess Christ and yet follow hard after the inarguably Narcissist leader DONALD TRUMP. A man who has been found by at least Four Biblical Analyses to fit the theological profile of An (or ‘The’) Antichrist.’

DR. DAVID MURRAY, “Seven Characteristics of the Antichrist,” Head, Heart, Hand, Feb. 20, 2014

MICHAEL LEWIS PARSONS, “Ten Biblical Reasons for Trump being the Antichrist,” My Corner of Eternity, Dec. 4, 2018

DAVID PLYMYER, “The Ominous Similarities Between Trump and Hitler—Trump’s Reichstag Fire and Nero Decree,” Commentary, Jul. 21, 2020

BROTHER PAUL, “45 Biblical Reasons Donald J. Trump Is the Antichrist,” YouTube, 2021

According to one study by CHRISTINE GREENWALD, Trump’s followers behave more like Cultists than Christians. – “Why MAGA Supporters and Christian Fundamentalists are Super ‘Culty,’” Backyard Theology, July 24, 2022; edited.

AUTHORITARIAN LEADERSHIP. “‘Cults are marked by extreme devotion to a charismatic, authoritarian leader.’ That’s the defining characteristic of MAGA followers. Trump can do no wrong, no matter how wrong it is to anybody else. They will even break every historic norm in our country and storm our Capitol with weapons, ready to hunt down and assassinate the politicians that they have been told by their leader have betrayed them. Trump sent them, and that was enough. Like he said: He actually could kill someone in the middle of 5th Avenue and his followers would somehow give him a pass.”

EXCLUSIVISM & ISOLATIONISM. “In MAGA World, and especially once you go even deeper into QAnon Conspiracists (lots of overlap there), there’s a strong ‘In-group Sensibility.’ They believe they have access to secret knowledge and their group is the only one with a proper lens on the world. Even their culture war issues are designed to limit one’s ability to see other perspectives. They couldn’t tell you what Critical Race Theory is, but they know it’s Very Bad and worth taking over school boards to disallow their snowflake children from learning about whatever it is … Viewpoints outside the White Supremacist, heteronormative, patriarchal systems are dangerous. And if you can isolate yourself from other forms of reality, the Cult Mentality can hold.”

OPPOSITION TO INDEPENDENT THINKING. “‘Committed MAGA supporters dive deep into the MAGA universe and surround themselves with a certain version of [Alternative] Reality.’ They won’t watch or listen to “MSM” (Mainstream Media, to the uninitiated), instead intaking a diet of media like Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax. All Trump has to do is declare the January 6 hearings ‘Fake News’ and a ‘witch hunt,’ and poof! All validity of the thoroughly investigated hearings goes completely out the window. The election is stolen just because he said so, not because of any actual evidence supporting such a claim.”

CODA. Based on the preceding doctrinal truths, political realities, and basic common sense and moral reasoning, I propose that the Biblical “Great Falling Away” taking place in America today is overwhelmingly made up of Reprobate Trump Christians who have exchanged the true Messiah for a false Messiah as the only one who can “Make America Great Again.”

Which of course beggars ANOTHER QUESTION: Where in the Scriptures is it written that we are to labor to make our nation better than all the rest? Selah.

The Indictment: ‘MAGA Christians have exchanged the Real Christ for the Antichrist.’

“Because [‘by choice’] they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.” – ROMANS 1:25, AMP

Beloved, after seven years of the most intensive and focused research I’ve ever conducted since earning the Ph.D. degree in 1972, and after over 40 years of studying and teaching in the area of what I call Political Eschatology, I am convinced of these proposals more than any matters of biblical history I have ever engaged.

And why do I write so vehemently? Because neither God nor I desire that any should perish, but rather choose to inherit Eternal Life with Christ. While there is a little time left to us, beloved.

Ever your servant, DK

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/OZ1u2roJxdo