OK, so I admit I’ve heard some really crazy, off-kilter, WTF things during this current Presidential campaign that have made me scratch my head and wonder just how massively ignorant some in this country have gotten, but what pastor Rick Joyner said this week is perhaps the most bizarre and inscrutable thing I’ve run across in a very long time.
On his TV show (yes, they will apparently give just about anyone a show on TV these days), Pastor Rick thought he’d weigh in on the subject of Donald Trump, he began with this:
“Most seem to think that Trump is either a messenger from the Messiah or from the antichrist, and few are in-between. Some Christians are shocked that other Christians would vote for Trump, yet polls indicate that more than half of evangelical Christians are voting for him. Why?”
Oh, I know this one! It’s because so many right-wing evangelical Christians are gigantic hypocrites who say they follow Jesus and then embrace an epic douchebag like the Donald.
Alas, Pastor Joyner said I’m incorrect and that it’s actually because the feel like they’ve been conned by Republicans who who say share their beliefs but then get to Washington and don’t legislate their narrow-minded beliefs in Congress, probably because they know that kind of crap cannot gain a majority or be signed into law by a President who has actually bothered to read the Constitution.
Then Joyner tried to use the Bible to claim that Trump is indeed chosen by God:
“Even the Apostle John, who is now known as the great messenger of love, was so reactionary that he wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume those who disagreed with them. On the night before Jesus was crucified, the disciples argued over who was the greatest. Sounds like Trump to me.”
Uh, no. Matter of fact, Pastor, I think you may have just committed a form of blasphemy. Here’s Joyner’s final rationale for Trump and why Christians should vote for him:
“Even if you don’t like many of the things Trump says, the sense that he will fight back, and fight hard, is more appealing to Republicans now than the empty rhetoric and promises of those who claim to be conservatives but did not act like it. The establishment made Trump inevitable. The more the establishment tries to stop him, the more inevitable he will be.”
How can we possibly argue with such perfectly screwed-up logic? Easy. Our brains, unlike those of Pastor Joyner or Trump’s acoylytes, are actually functional.
The simple truth is this. The evengelical extremists are no different than the Islamic extremists. They have been wanting the rapture for centuries now. They figure they can help to bring it about.
What they fail to realize is that “It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed.” (1 Corr. 15:52) is not talking about the rapture and second coming. It’s talking about a nuclear blast and total annihilation. It’s not that these people don’t believe in climate change. They simply don’t care so long as they think they’re going to heaven. It’s very much the same when referring to suicide bombers who want there 72 virgins when they get to heaven!