SPECIAL PRÉCIS ON CHRISTIAN HUBRIS & HUMILITY: AN URGENT CRY TO AMERICA’S MAGA CHURCH – (WITH VIDEO)

I. THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “You [are like] unfaithful wives [having illicit love affairs with the world and breaking your marriage vow to God]! Do you not know that being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the Scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, ‘The Spirit Whom He has caused to dwell in us yearns over us and He yearns for the Spirit [to be welcome] with a jealous love?’

But He gives us more and more grace (power of the Holy Spirit, to meet this evil tendency and all others fully). That is why He says, God sets Himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace [continually] to the lowly (those who are humble enough to receive it). So be subject to God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him], and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

[As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins]. Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].” – JAMES 4:4-10, AMPC

KEY TERMS:

• • “THE PROUD.” ‘Huperephanos’ [ὑπερηφάνοις]: “Arrogance, pride; appearing above others (conspicuously); haughty.” NOTE: “The Greek word ‘huperephanos’ is used in the New Testament to describe a person who is proud, arrogant, or haughty. It conveys a sense of ‘Self-Exaltation’ and an attitude of superiority over others. This term is often used in a negative context, highlighting a character trait that is contrary to the humility and servitude encouraged in Christian teachings.”

• • “THE LOWLY.” ‘Tapeinos’ [ταπεινοῖς]: “Humiliated in circumstances, condition or disposition of mind accompanied by piety toward God.” NOTE: “The Greek word ‘tapeinos’ primarily denotes a ‘State of Humility or Lowliness.’ It is used to describe a person who is humble in spirit, not seeking self-exaltation, and is often associated with a ‘Modest or Unpretentious’ demeanor. In the New Testament, ‘tapeinos’ is frequently used to highlight the Virtue of Humility as a characteristic of those who are righteous and favored by God.”

QUOTATION. “Men sometimes speak as if Humility and Meekness would rob us of what is Noble and Bold and Manlike. O that all would believe that this is ‘The Nobility [or ‘Quiet Dignity’] of the Kingdom of Heaven,’ that this is the Royal Spirit that the King of Heaven displayed, that this is Godlike: ‘To humble oneself, to become the servant of all!’” ― ANDREW MURRAY, Humility: The Journey Toward Holiness, 1895; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘But He — God, giveth more grace’ — To all those who, while they shun those tempers, sincerely and earnestly pray for it. ‘Wherefore He saith,’ [see the margins] ‘God, resisteth the proud!’ — ‘The Unhumbled;’ those that think highly of themselves, and put confidence in their own wisdom, power, or holiness, and who seek the praise of men rather than the praise of God; against these ‘God sets Himself in battle array,’as it is expressed, Proverbs 3:24. He rejects them, and will not allow them access to, or Communion with Himself. He thwarts their undertakings, and renders their schemes abortive. 

‘But giveth grace unto the humble’ — Unto those that are humbled under a sense of their ignorance and weakness, their guilt and depravity, and therefore have no confidence in any thing they are or have. ‘Submit yourselves’ — Or ‘be subject,’ as υποταγητε signifies, ‘therefore to God’ — Pursue your lusts no longer, but yield an humble obedience to God in all things. ‘Resist’ — With faith and steadfastness; ‘the Devil’ — The Father of Pride and Envy; ‘and he will flee from you’ — And your progress in Religion will become greater, and your victory over your spiritual enemies more easy and evident day by day. 

‘Draw nigh to God’ — In faith and prayer; ‘and He will draw nigh unto you’ — By His grace and blessing; which that nothing may hinder, ‘cleanse your hands’ — From doing evil; ‘and purify your hearts’ — From all Spiritual Idolatry, from all vile affections and corrupt inclinations, from the Love of the World in all its branches; ‘Be no more double-minded’ —Vainly endeavouring to serve both God and Mammon. 

‘Be afflicted’ — On account of your past sins, especially your ingratitude to God, your abuse of his blessings, and unfaithfulness to His grace; ‘and mourn and weep’ — For the miseries to which you have exposed yourselves. ‘Let your laughter be turned into mourning’ — Because of the heavy judgments that hang over you; ‘Humble yourselves in the sight and presence of the Lord, and He shall lift you up!’ — Comfort you with a sense of his pardoning mercy.” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

 

II. TEACHING

THE “AMERICA FIRST” BLASPHEMY. Beloved, do you not see the grotesque violation of virtually every single Word of the Scriptures here in the very phrase, “American First!” By Definition, it lifts US, that is, the United States of America, far above even God as a Life-Narrative, as a Raison d’etre!

We turn here to Christian blogger and author, VANCE G. MORGAN who drives straight down the middle of The Controversy with this title: “‘America First’ is a Theological Heresy” (Patheos, May 30, 2018; edited).

Let’s take a look at his MAJOR POINTS as he mounts a case for this serious charge.

• • PATRIOTISM. “Memorial Day Week is a time for Solemn Remembrance. It also tends to be a time in which Americans express their Patriotism with Flags on their lawns and with slogans like ‘America First’ and ‘America—Love it or Leave it.’ How should persons who profess the Christian Faith think about American Exceptionalism and Exclusivity?”

• • TRIBALISM. “‘Tribalism, Exclusivity, and “Us vs. Them” thinking is so natural to human beings that it seems to be embedded in our collective DNA.’ This is one of the most challenging aspects of the Radical Message of the Gospels—God does not appear to be the least bit interested in what we tend to assume is most important. Many of Jesus’ contemporaries misunderstood him entirely because he spoke of a ‘Kingdom’ that bore little to no resemblance to the Physical Kingdom they expected the Messiah to Reestablish.”

• • KINGDOM. “God’s Kingdom transcends Political and National Differences, focusing instead on issues and matters that cross all human made boundaries. In an ‘AM Joy’ interview, Episcopal Rev. William Barber reminds us: The first thing we hear from JESUS IN LUKE’S GOSPEL [4:18-19] is that: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.’ Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry, in the same interview, reminds us that when asked about the Final Judgment—another way of asking ‘What does God care about most?’—Jesus responded by asking ‘Did you feed me when I was hungry? Did you clothe me when I was naked?’”

• • MISSION. “Bondage, Oppression, Hunger, Poverty, and Nakedness know no boundaries—they are symptomatic of our world and are what God is clearly most interested in addressing. According to all of the great Monotheistic Religions, God’s Purposes on Earth are largely accomplished through human beings. If we are to be the hands and feet that accomplish the Divine Will on Earth, we cannot limit and define our actions with Human Made Boundaries and Borders in mind.”

• • DISTINCTIONS. “‘I read the other day that the difference between Patriotism and Nationalism is that Patriotism is supporting one’s country, while Nationalism is supporting one’s country no matter what it does’ [i.e., Hubris & Idolatry]. Patriotism honors one’s country for its achievements while holding it responsible to the values expressed in its Founding Documents. ‘America, love it or leave it’ fails the responsibility part. Throw in a commitment to following the Principles of the Gospels, and one will have to make choices on a regular basis. As Bishop Curry said in the ‘AM Joy’ interview, ‘I love my country, but I love God First!’ That changes everything.”

AMERICAN MESSIAH.  I have tracked the Rise of Donald Trump for ten years running now, with increasing conviction that our Darkest Days are just ahead. This was preceded by studying Presidential Politics in earnest since the 1960s when The Kennedy’s arrived on the scene and captivated the young idealists among us for a brief season that some thought of as “Camelot,” a romanticized reference to the Court of King Arthur in Western legend.

I say all that to remind us all that human beings of whatever spiritual persuasion are naturally inclined toward ‘Hero Worship,’ a dangerous Inclination indeed. When Donald Trump’s Assassination attempt took place, he was instantly elevated to nearly God-like status in the eyes and hearts of his followers. Though that image is tainted a bit now since taking office, it still holds steady enough to help explain why the entire “America First” Phenomenon still holds sway over so many White Americans.

A superb analysis of this uniquely American State of Political Affairs was penned by MIKE COSPER, Mike Cosper is the Senior Director of Christianity Today Media and the author of several books, including The Church in Dark Times: Understanding and Resisting the Evil that Seduced the Evangelical Movement (2024), and Land of My Sojourn: The Landscape of Faith Lost and Found (2024).

His article: “The Soul of MAGA” (Christianity Today, Sept./Oct. 2024; edited). Here is a brief summary of his MAIN IDEAS.

• • ICON. “Donald Trump stands wrapped in the arms of Secret Service agents—their dark sunglasses and suits blending like a many-armed, many-eyed modern Seraphim. Blood streams from his right ear, and his face is contorted with rage, determination, and pain. He thrusts his fist skyward. Behind him, the Star-Spangled Banner yet waves. You couldn’t pose a more Iconic Image if you tried.”

• • CHARISMA. [“A Personal Magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure [such as a political leader”]. “In the months before the Assassination Attempt, I watched dozens of old Trump speeches and read a stack of his biographies, trying to understand the ‘Unique Charisma’ that enabled him to transform Right-Wing politics in the US and that coalesced in a movement to Make America Great Again—or what we simply call ‘MAGA.’”

• • MOTVATION I. “Enough ink has been spilled on this subject to turn the ocean black, and most of it has been decidedly negative, attributing the movement’s success to: ‘White rural rage,’ ‘racism,’ ‘white supremacy,’ or various forms of ‘Christian or Ethnic Nationalism.’ Some have pointed to the economic turmoil of the past two decades as the force that galvanizes MAGA—the dot-com boom and bust, the gig economy, the economic crises of 2007 and 2008, and the looming specter of AI and automation, which threaten the middle class and the manufacturing economies. But here again, the conclusions tend to be negative: Grievance, Discontent, and Economic Anxiety.” 

• • MOTIVATION II. “While I see truth in these diagnoses, I’m not convinced they get at the root of what compels MAGA. As AUGUSTINE put it, a people is ‘United by a common agreement on the Objects of their Love.’ Which is to say that People’s Affections—their loves, desires, and longings—tell us far more about them than their grievances, their discontent, or for that matter their policy positions.” 

• • MYTHOS. [“The underlying system of beliefs, especially those dealing with Supernatural Forces, characteristic of a particular cultural group”]. “Any political movement would be expected to rally to their candidate after an assassination attempt. But Trump’s bond with his voters is Unique in American culture, and that bond was formed via the larger-than-life images, stories, and portrayals of him in pop culture. ‘The Post-Assassination-Attempt Photo’—in the context of stories cultivated for decades—propped him as not just a politician but a symbol of ‘The Good [Divine] Life.’ And that’s why MAGA loves him.”

• • CELEBRITY. [“The state or fact of being well known, widely discussed, or publicly esteemed.”]. “The Power Trump wields comes from the Status he secured long before he ran for office—not as a politician or a real estate tycoon but as a Celebrity. Ever since his foray into public life in the 1970s and ’80s, Trump was eager to make headlines. According to his niece Mary Trump, Donald not only craved that attention personally; it was part of what his father, Fred, expected of him—The Primary Benchmark of his success for the family business.”

• • MEDIA. “Trump’s [developing] media savvy connected with an Electorate who spent a lifetime watching, on average, six hours a day of Television. Such consumption isn’t without effect. As [American professor and novelist] David Foster Wallace once said, ‘Television, from the surface on down, is about Desire.’ The goal of network (and social media) executives isn’t to challenge or confront or even entertain us; it is much more simply to Keep Us Watching.’ They achieve this by entertaining and even challenging us, but they mostly achieve it, Wallace says, by presenting us with a world of people who are more beautiful than us doing things that are more interesting than we do.”

• • WORSHIP. “Wallace writes: ‘We gaze at these rare, highly-trained, unwatched-seeming people for six hours daily. And we love these people. ‘In terms of attributing to them true Supernatural Assets and desiring to emulate them, it’s fair to say we sort of worship them.’ This Liturgical Quality in media is like that of religious iconography in the Orthodox Christian tradition. It’s not so much that the icon is worshiped or ‘prayed to;’ rather, it is ‘[vicariously] Prayed through.’ The Image provides a glimpse of ‘The Good [Divine] Life’—and the Worshipers engage in acts of prayerful imagination, envisioning their lives caught up in this‘[False] Vision’ of The Good.”

• • PAGANISM. “Along with Augustine’s way of understanding the role of affections in politics, The City of God (426 AD) offers another interesting reference point for our moment. Many Christians—myself included—shared a sense that in 2016 – ‘The Barbarians were at the Gates’ [recall here Charles Colon’s phrase]. Christianity was being pressured in the Public Square in new and alarming ways. Same-sex marriage became the law of the land in a blink, and bakers and florists who conscientiously objected to participating in those weddings went to court to guarantee that. So did nuns who didn’t want to buy birth control. The first Bathroom Laws and accompanying Culture Wars were just beginning.”

• • DELIVERER. “Donald Trump’s promise to ‘Make America Great Again’ seemed to dangle the possibility of a Return to an Era with a different Moral and Spiritual Ethos. And an anxious political coalition greeted him as a modern Horatius, the legendary soldier who stood alone on a bridge to defend Rome from the Etruscans in the sixth century BC.”

• • MARTYR-HERO. “Seeing through this lens, that ‘Iconic Image of a Bleeding Trump’ is far more disturbing. In it, I see something other than the Courage and Resilience of a man who avoided an assassin’s bullet—though I do see that aspect of the photo … ‘[But] I lament that such a Moment was captured so artfully, so perfectly, so iconically. It’s fuel for the flames of Disordered Love.’ I pray for the day when Christian affections will see the picture as tragic rather than triumphant, a cause to weep rather than a catalyst to rage, a call to repentance rather than a Vision of The Good Life.”

III. THE AMERICAN DREAM

Rightly or wrongly, I often think of THE REMNANT’S CHARGE to ‘Remain Faithful in the Last Days’ is not only to do that, but to ‘Resist False Doctrines’ that the Lord and His Apostles prophesied would proliferate the Church at that time. In Old Testament vernacular and practice, that was what God’s servants did when they:

“Took down the High Places!”

The EDITORS of Got Questions describe this important assignment this way: “High Places, very simply, were Places of Worship on elevated pieces of ground. ‘High Places were originally dedicated to Idol Worship’ (Numbers 33:52; Leviticus 26:30), especially among the Moabites (Isaiah 16:12). These Shrines often included an ‘Altar and a Sacred Object’ such as a stone pillar or wooden pole in various shapes identified with the object of worship (animals, constellations, goddesses, and fertility deities). It seems that, at times, High Places were set up in a spot that had been Artificially Elevated.” – Ret. April 11, 2025; edited

THESIS. I propose that one of the most insidious and deeply rooted such Idols in our own Nation and our History is none other than ‘The American Dream.’ I will do short work to conclude our conversation today with the Reasons for that admittedly unusual claim.

• • ORIGINS. “‘The American Dream’ is a phrase referring to a purported National Ethos of the United States: That every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. The phrase was popularized by JAMES TRUSLOW ADAMS during the Great Depression in 1931, and has had different meanings over time. ‘Originally, the emphasis was on Democracy, Liberty, and Equality, but more recently has been on achieving Material Wealth and Upward Social Mobility.’” – EDITORS, Wikipedia, April 6, 2025; edited

• • HYPOCRISY. “‘The American Dream,’ traditionally envisioned as ‘Upward Mobility and a Better Life for all,’ faces significant challenges in contemporary America. Factors like wealth inequality, the rising cost of education, and stagnant wages contribute to a growing sense that The Dream is unattainable for many.While some continue to believe it’s achievable, particularly among those with higher incomes and education, a significant portion of the population feels The Dream is either fading or has already disappeared.”– AI OVERVIEW, ret. April 11, 2025; edited

• • IDOLATRY. “The term ‘American Dream,’ coined by James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book Epic of America, refers to The Belief that: ‘Anyone’—regardless of birthplace or social class—can achieve success through opportunity and hard work. While the United States offers unique advantages in making this dream attainable, in my pursuit of it, God’s grace and mercy taught me important lessons on why I must RESIST IT … ‘We must Resist the American Dream because the American Dream can become an Idol—a Pursuit that replaces our dependence on God with a Reliance on our own efforts. This Idolatry promises fulfillment but leaves us empty, as only God can satisfy our deepest needs.’” – DR. JAMES CHOI, “We Must Resist The American Dream,” Radical Net, Oct. 14, 2024; edited

TRUMP’S AMERICAN (MAGA) DREAM. “The MAGA movement (often referred to simply as MAGA, or Make America Great Again), was founded on the belief that the United States was once a ‘Great’ country but has lost this status owing to foreign influence, both within its borders (via immigration and multiculturalism) and without (via globalization, or the increased integration of multiple national economies). MAGA members think that this fall from grace can be reversed through ‘America First’ policies that would provide a greater degree of economic protectionism, greatly reduce immigration, particularly from developing countries, and encourage or enforce what MAGA members consider to be traditional American values … In addition to its political stances, the MAGA movement is known for its particularly combative character, which exemplifies the extreme partisanship of contemporary American politics. In keeping with that stance, controversial rhetoric as homophobic, sexist, or racist or as inciting violence. The MAGA movement is also known for having an antagonistic relationship with mainstream news media.” – ADAM VOLLE, Britannica, March 14, 2025; edited

IV. LAST THOUGHTS

So there you have it, my friends, top to bottom, why I hate virtually every particle of the Trump Vision for America and the Church. MY DEFENSE? On what must have been King Solomon’s better days, this:

“These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren.” – PROVERBS 6:16-19, AMPC

ABOMINATION. ‘Toebah’ [תֹּועֲבַ֥ת ק]: “A most hideous, detestable, disgusting utterly abhorrent to God; i.e., Idolatry.” NOTE: “The term ‘toebah’ is used in the Hebrew Bible to describe actions, practices, or objects that are considered detestable or abominable in the sight of God. It often refers to idolatry, immoral practices, and Violations of the Covenant between God and Israel. The word conveys a strong sense of ‘Moral and Spiritual Repulsion.’”

I can simply add no other words to My Argument, beloved. You must ASK GOD, face to face as it were, whether I am a Liar or a Truth-Sayer in these grave matters. Then do exactly as He instructs. And not a stitch less!

MEDIA

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/OpiHgrIJANE