Imagine...

Imagine reciting “with liberty and justice for all” every morning for years, going on mission trips (foreign and domestic), supporting Voice of the Martyrs and praying for the persecuted Church…and then watching those who fled persecution, (including those who came here through LEGAL pathways) be rounded up from their places of employment, their churches, their homes, sometimes while their unsuspecting children are at school, placed in detention centers (sometimes across the country)…and then being accused of “hating America” or not caring about the law, just for advocating for these vulnerable people.

Imagine believing those who told you that the depravity, untruthfulness, and moral failings of Bill Clinton made him unfit for office only to see the SAME collection of voices rallying gladly behind a convicted felon, serial sexual predator, business conman, and proudly embodied antithesis of the fruit of the Spirit…claiming he is *the* option for Christians.

Imagine believing the pro-life movement when they advocated for the inherent value, dignity, and rights of the unborn because ALL humanity is created in the image of God, no matter its size, age, or location only to have those same people dehumanize their political opponents, those with different sexual ethics, and those who were born in different countries, even propagating ridiculous LIES about them (“they’re eating the pets of the people”), justifying their kidnapping and abuse, and buying or reposting pictures of merch that joke about their deaths or feeding them to alligators!

Imagine believing that integrity was a crucial attribute, not only for individuals, but for nations and peoples, only to watch your professing Christian leaders renege on treaties, appropriated funding and supplies (Ukraine aid, PEPFAR, USAID…including BURNING 500 TONS of food), alliances, and trade agreements.

Imagine believing that freedom was worth defending (and devoting your family’s whole life to actively supporting that with the military for over 20 years) only to see the Commander in Chief legitimize a dictator and war criminal repeatedly, while aggressively belittling the duly elected leader of a sovereign nation who has been fighting to protect his people’s freedom for YEARS…to see that nation blamed for a war that could stop at any time if the *aggressor* would stop attacking…and then to be told this all stems from the CiC’s great love for America and his value for human life.

Imagine pointing at all the ways non-Christians are perverting Scripture, but then being fine when the administration you voted for claims to be acting "under God" while doing things God tells us explicitly in His Word are abhorrent to Him. Imagine coopting a Bible passage calling a prophet to proclaim God's message to His people and applying it heretically to soldiers rounding up residents of our nation to detain them in prison camps. Further, imagine praising such commercials as "finally bringing God back to our government." (Facebook DHS Commercial)

Can you imagine all those things?? Because that’s my lived experience. Do you think I sound like I’m spun up or angry or cynical? Good, because I AM, because so many of the citizens of my true Kingdom are at best silent, and at worst in support of all this. Because “my people” have written me off and tried to gaslight me as a naive bleeding heart in a feeble attempt to assuage their own hypocrisy. Because their collective witness is impacting gospel opportunities negatively.

Shame.

Usually, I try to keep my critical posts focused on singular issues, supporting my position with source documents and clear evidence. Today, I share all of this to illustrate that my dismay, grief, and anger are broad and deep; I’m lonely and discouraged because the voices I’ve trusted my whole life are moving in a direction cannot—WILL NOT—follow; I’m begging you to listen and examine with me!