SPECIAL PRÉCIS ON THE TERRIBLE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HONEST: HALLMARK OF THE TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD – A MAGA CODICIL

SCRIPTURE. “But above all, my fellow believers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but let your yes be [a truthful] yes, and your no be [a truthful] no, so that you may not fall under judgment.” – JAMES 5:12, AMP

KEY TERM: “JUDGMENT!” ‘Hupokrisis’ [ὑπόκρισις]: “Lit., acting under a feigned participle or pretense; i.e., Hypocrisy.” NOTE: “In the New Testament, ‘hupokrisis’ refers to the act of pretending or feigning to be what one is not, particularly in terms of moral or religious integrity. It denotes a discrepancy between one’s public persona and private reality, often involving deceit or insincerity.”

QUOTATION. “‘I therefore hate the corrupt, slaveholding, women-whipping, cradle-plundering, partial and hypocritical Christianity of the land’… I look upon it as the climax of all misnomers, the boldest of all frauds, and the grossest of all libels. Never was there a clearer case of ‘stealing the livery of the Court of Heaven to serve the Devil in.’ I am filled with unutterable loathing when I contemplate the religious pomp and show, together with the horrible inconsistencies, which every where surround me. We have men-stealers for Ministers, women-whippers for Missionaries, and cradle-plunderers for Church members. The man who wields the blood-clotted cowskin during the week fills the pulpit on Sunday, and claims to be a Minister of the meek and lowly Jesus. …

The slave auctioneer’s bell and the Church-going bell chime in with each other, and the bitter cries of the heart-broken slave are drowned in the religious shouts of his pious Master. Revivals of religion and revivals in the slave-trade go hand in hand together. The Slave Prison and the Church stand near each other. The clanking of fetters and the rattling of chains in the prison, and the pious Psalm and solemn Prayer in the Church, may be heard at the same time. The dealers in the bodies of men erect their stand in the presence of the pulpit, and they mutually help each other. The dealer gives his blood-stained gold to support the pulpit, and the pulpit, in return, covers his infernal business with the Garb of Christianity. Here we have Religion and Robbery the allies of each other—Devils dressed in Angels’ robes, and Hell presenting the semblance of Paradise.” ― FREDERICK DOUGLASS, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845; edited

COMMENTARY. “It is very observable how solemnly the Apostle introduces this command; ‘Above all things, swear not,’as if he had said, ‘Whatever you forget, do not forget this!’ This abundantly demonstrates the horrible iniquity of the crime. But he does not forbid the taking of a solemn oath before a magistrate. ‘Neither by any other oath’ — Namely, unlawful or unnecessary; ‘But let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay’ — Let your discourse be confirmed with a bare affirmation or denial; and use no higher asseverations in common discourse. ‘But let your words stand firm; and whatever ye say, take care to make it good; lest ye fall into condemnation — Expose yourselves to God’s judgments.’” – JOSEPH BENSON, Notes on the Holy Bible, 5 vols., 1811-1818; edited

DK’S TAKE. I have labored for some time now to persuade you to have nothing to do whatsoever with the Christian Nationalist Movement, for one principle reason:

‘It was founded by the human Father of Lies, DONALD TRUMP!’

As I have proposed to you time after time, that Movement both embodies and practices the very same Spirit of American White Supremacy that the first ‘Christian’ colonists began without hardly a wince at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. African slaves were imported aboard the Dutch licensed privateer ship named, appropriately enough, The White Lion.

But long before this, research shows that the very first enslaved Africans in the current boundaries of the United States landed in 1526 in the expedition of Spanish explorer Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón on the South Carolina and Georgia coasts. Some escaped and are thought to have joined Native Americans, if they survived.

EARLY ALERTS. And the alleged precedents established by the famous explorer Christopher Columbus notwithstanding, we got a very early start with the entire notion of White Supremacy beloved. It simply cannot be denied any longer, its implications stretching from centuries past to the present toxins of MAGA (White) Christian Nationalism.

Therefore, to swear an Oath to Christ while at the same time swearing an Oath to inarguably Anti-Christian practices utterly annihilates our witness then, and our integrity as a Christian today. Worse still, it leaves one at the mercy of an arguably very angry God who hates Hypocrisy in His own House possibly more than any other sin.

JESUS PREACHED IT: “Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the ^[b]best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’ 

But you, do not be called “Rabbi;” for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ. But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that ^[i]sanctifies the gold? And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obliged to perform it.’ Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Therefore he who swears by the altar, swears by it and by all things on it. He who swears by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God and by Him who sits on it.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. ²⁴ Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and ^[l]self-indulgence. ²⁶ Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, “If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.”

Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your father’s guilt. Serpents,

Brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 

Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.’” – MATTHEW 23:1-36, NKJV

CODA. I pray fervently that these Words of the True Messiah pierce the leathered layers of many Trumper hearts, that they might recover their testimony. By the Grace, Truth, and Power of the Holy Spirit, may they finally hear Him. To the praise of God alone for their Rescue!

To all those we would shout, with rejoicing: ‘Mazel tov!’