32 Put Downs in 10 Minutes

A Parent’s Lament.

I find the appeal of Donald Trump nearly impossible to explain to my kids who we’re trying to raise with good morals and Jesus-shaped character. Our kids are baffled how this guy gets to run for president while any kid would be permanently in the principal’s office for similar bullying behavior. Add on top of that that his most loyal supporters are Evangelical Christians, and my kids are just looking at me with eyes spinning and cartoon coo-coo noises going off in their heads.

Step into my 10 year old’s mind for a moment, and join Isaak last Sunday evening at church where the Sunday School lesson was about the swift and severe judgment God brought down upon Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 for lying to God and jeopardizing the spirit of Truth and goodness expected among God’s people. Ananias and Sapphira’s corruption was a threat to the pure witness of the nascent church.

The stunningly beautiful character of the church is described in Acts 4 just before this sad episode. The group of believers are so filled with the Holy Spirit that they were of one heart and one mind and so knit together were the hearts of the people that they held all their possessions loosely and willingly shared them with one another, not out of coercion but because they loved one another. Onlookers stood by in amazement, wondering the source of this Light that was now piercing the darkness of a very corrupt Roman culture.

I’m not sure what message my son took away from this lesson, but I’m guessing it included things like “Do not lie, or else!” and “Be good to others, because we represent Jesus to onlooking unbelievers” and “God will judge those who deface His name and the reputation of His church.” Now fast-forward to Tuesday night and join Isaak and me in the basement as we play a few games of pool while the results of the New Hampshire primary races come in on the TV in the background.

From 2016 to 2020 we had to stuff cotton balls in our very young kids’ ears, figuratively speaking, when the news was on the TV lest they hear the former president spewing forth his venom and lies. After a few years of reprieve from this man dominating the airwaves, we are gearing up for another long year of trying to shield or explain the toxicity of his rhetoric to our kids. But they are 4 years older now, and have spent years learning to endure playground talk, school bus bullying, and public school life. So, instead of shielding them with cotton balls, this time I took a different tact with Isaak.

“Isaak, grab a notepad and pen, and go watch Donald Trump’s victory speech. I want you to tally up how many mean things he says about others.” Isaak loves counting, and he’s very sensitive to bullying talk, so he relished the assignment. He caught only the last 10 minutes of the speech, but this photo shows the result.

“That’s 32 putdowns in just 10 minutes, Dad!” Isaak said incredulously.

While his supporters — especially evangelicals — have spent 9 years defending, justifying, excusing, accommodating and desensitizing themselves to his vitriol, our children have not. They are thoroughly confused at the inconsistency of grownups who talk about the Golden Rule on Sunday and then go vote for this man on Tuesday.

One astute cultural commentator points out that the masses of young people who are fleeing our churches today, are not leaving because they don’t believe what Jesus and the church teaches. They are leaving because they are no longer convinced that the church itself believes and practices what Jesus and the Bible teaches.

I travel from college campus to college campus these days, urging disillusioned so-called Ex-vangelicals to not give up on Jesus’s Kingdom just because so many of his followers are drunk on the politics of this earthly kingdom. I tell them our primary calling as Christians is NOT to make America great again, but to make the church Jesus-like again. The most urgent battle isn’t saving America from the Left or Right, but saving the soul of the church’s witness from those who drag Jesus’ name into the mud-slinging antics of infantile politicians.

Both my younger kids and my big college kids instinctively know that Jesus is winsome and good and lavishly loving and patient toward his enemies—political and otherwise. They also know that Jesus could not and would not align his movement with the enemy-bashing, character-smearing, dehumanizing and hateful speech flowing from the former president and his imitators.

Isaak wants to be baptized into the Way of Jesus this coming summer. We’re spending this year talking about what it means to be a public representative of Jesus in this world. The Bible has a lot to say about being a citizen of Jesus’ Kingdom, and putting his Kingdom values on display as a sojourner in this temporary kingdom we call America. One thing I’m teaching him is that our public witness for Jesus’ eternal kingdom is far more important than any political victories we might win for this earthly kingdom that will someday pass away.

I’ll share just one simple lesson I’ll be sharing with Isaak, partly as a warning to all who choose to forego cotton balls in the ears during this election year. It’s a simple but profound truth found in 1 Corinthians 15:33 and is a word for both little boys and girls on the school bus, and grown up boys and girls all too willing to sacrifice their Christian witness in order to kiss the ring of political power.

Before I get to that, the most disappointing part of Trump’s speech in New Hampshire wasn’t his cesspool behavior and toxic speech (I expected that); it was observing the very outspoken Christian, Tim Scott, hovering over Trump’s shoulder, smiling and laughing as Trump verbally crucified the character of Nikki Haley and Governor Sununu and others. Like many, I was drawn to Tim Scott as a candidate, as he campaigned against Trump claiming we need a more morally upright person leading us forward. So, I cringed and burned with anger watching Scott’s bright smile and conscious-less chuckles as Trump spewed hatred like a firehose over his adoring crowd.

With that scene in mind, let me share four different translations of this biblical truth that seems to have escaped Tim Scott and so many evangelicals in the age of Trump. If pastors and Sunday school teachers and parents and grandparents and neighbors have forgotten this wisdom, I’m confident it still makes perfect sense to most 2nd graders. Dear follower of Jesus:

“Do not be led astray: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

“Do not be fooled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

“Be not be seduced: evil communications corrupt good manners.”

“Be not deceived, evil discourse corrupts pleasant minds.”

Led astray, fooled, seduced and deceived. Evangelical alignment with bad company, evil communications, and dehumanizing discourse has perhaps resulted in some political victories for this earthly nation. But it has cost the church’s public witness way too much. We’ve been all too willing to gain the whole political world while forfeiting the soul of our Christian witness.

Much of the world joins my perplexed children watching this man talk on the TV, scratching their heads and wondering what, in God’s name, has happened to the good morals, good character, good manners, and pleasant minds of so many Christians? Answer: bad company.

Back in the basement with Isaak’s perplexed look: “That’s 32 putdowns in just 10 minutes, Dad! How is he winning?” Isaak’s question hangs in the air as he knocks in the eight ball and beats me in another game of pool.

Do I tell him the truth? Do I tell him he’s only winning because evangelical Christians love him so much?

Maybe when he’s older.