You Can Be Christian, Love America, and Speak Out Against President Trump

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” Matthew 13:16 ESV

I dedicate this post to my mother – prior to her passing 7 years ago, she was a fearless Jesus loving woman, born in Iran, a Muslim convert, and a lover of America. I went with her to get her citizenship when I was 6 and she worked for Los Angeles County Social Services up until she got sick and passed away She taught me to be fearless in convictions, even if you are the unpopular voice. Love you, mom.  

God has not forgotten the oppressed. He has not forgotten those who’ve suffered in silence. He has not forgotten the one wrongfully accused. He is the defender of the weak. He is the great vindicator. He sent his son into the world to save the very ones who killed him. 

The ministry of Jesus is fascinating. He speaks in parables and purposefully engages with the most rejected of society. The Pharisees – religious leaders of the time – challenge him in his beliefs of the law. Jesus has the literal best clap backs in history. If you’ve never read about Jesus, I suggest starting with the book of John. You’ll fall in love with his heart. Alright, here we go.

I have been in the arena of Christian instagrammers (yes this is a thing and I’m so sorry) for a few years now.

What started as a blog on mental health and dating turned into comedy shows and memes on the modern walk of a single Christian gal. I received invites to the popular crowd yet never felt more lonely. I was on the inside looking out, seeing the marketing and PR that goes on within the Christian influencer world. I saw that more followers equaled power, more power equaled book deals and speaker invites, and more invites meant more connections to the big players. That’s the goal right? To become a big player?

To become so big you’re invited to the White House to lead worship? To have your church retweeted by the President? The same President who retweeted Neil Turner, a man whose profile at the time said #whitegenocideisreal.  The same President who, on audio, said to Billy Bush, “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it, you can do anything… grab them by the p*ssy.”  

The same President who made fun of the disabled, who told women of color to go back home to their country even though they were born in the US? The same President who last week stood in front of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington with a bible for a photo op after reports stated the protestors were removed with tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets. (As a side note, if the President knew anything about denominations, he would’ve known that the Episocopalians are not the church to stand in front of. They are typically not huge Trump people. No, he should’ve chosen something associated with Franklin Graham. Much easier.) Anyways, a president who said  “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” The same week who said in a tweet “My administration is delivering for African Americans like never before. No President has done more for our black community.” Honestly, the list goes on and I’m not mentioning some of his insanely narcissitic tweets and comments, or the politics behind things like the children separated from their parents at the border who are, still there.

I realize this is complicated because he is a professing Christian supporter who has Christian leaders around him who some of us love. In my difficult times of grief, I listened to every sermon on overcoming pain, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the hope of prophetic words etc. I sat in the discomfort of loving the sermons while wondering how these Pastors supported President Trump yet didn't acknowledge these words or behavior of his, considering the sermons were commonly on “life and death are in the power of the tongue”. 

We are all sitting here in a historical moment where people are united to protest the evil of racism and supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. The pressure of appeasing the Christian mega players is so big that I know it was hard for a lot of people to post a black square with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. It was hard for those who knew this was controversial in some Christian conservative communities. They did it anyways, and I’m so proud of them. 

You have the Holy Spirit too, you have conviction and you can hear the voice of God. Do not let anyone or anything allow you to think otherwise. 

Back to the Christian influencer world. The pressure to keep silent, to not say anything to start an argument or go against ‘God’s chosen President’ is so big that it isn’t as common to see evangelicals directly addressing anything pertaining to opposition of the President’s notions. We’re told to pray for him, to not throw stones, to not criticize etc. Yet Jesus was very vocal in defense of the oppressed. So why can’t I pray for him and speak up about things I do not agree with? Oh, I can. You can. You can love America and not agree with President Trump. That’s completely fine.

Some of us just don’t do it even though inside we’re dying to say “We don’t agree with what he says, with what he does in the name of being a Christian. Please know, not all Christians stand with him. We love America, we love Jesus, we love you, and we don’t condone his words and actions”. I am learning from the ones I’ve seen already doing and continue to do so. There are those stepping up this last week to speak out. It’s inspiring to see. It doesn’t come without cost but many have faced a much larger cost in life.  

Two nights ago I was reading the book of 1 John. It says “This is how we know we are in him: The one who says He remains in him should walk just as He walked”. (1 John 2:5 ESV). This book talks about having an advocate in the Father. Jesus was hated by religious leaders, he wasn’t hated by people who were rejected by religious leaders. Those people were so hungry and thirsty, they were pushing through the crowds to be close to him. Jesus loved the oppressed and rejected so much. He said this to his disciples:

“…“Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.” Luke 12: 1-3 ESV

I believe we are in a time of awakening. There are no church stages. The hearts of man are being revealed. I don’t know about you, but I am sitting on my bed at nights with a reverence for God, asking him to forgive me and my fellow Christians for any pride in our hearts. Reveal to us what we don’t want to see. Reveal to us what we don’t want to hear. 

On my Instagram yesterday, I finally posted what I felt in my heart so deeply. It was questioning if our complacency with President Trump’s words and actions alongside the name of Christianity has infiltrated into mimicking actions and words within our church communities. The comments are…wild. I’m so proud of people for even sitting with this notion and contemplating it. I received this comment and the woman deleted it after we had a private DM discussion and expressing apology. Here is what it said:

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We see what we want to see. You will ultimately see what you want to see in this. We mimic what we think is okay. I will not be a silent supporter of behavior that counters my spiritual and personal convictions. I just can’t anymore. I have so many friends who are black, white, racially diverse, survivors of abuse, survivors of discrimination, survivors of societal rejection, survivors of what was not fair. So many of them are the most gracious people I know and I learn about Jesus through their forgiveness of others. I work in the counseling field and there is something called Dialectic Behavior Therapy. Dialectical thinking is the ability to view issues from multiple perspectives and to arrive at reconciliation of seemingly contradictory information and postures. Dialectic conversation often involves two or more people. The bible is full of stories that allude to this kind of thinking and I believe it’s because diversity in posture is a way to incite true healing and reconciliation.

Lastly, people will find ways to use the scripture to defend anything. They used it in the past to defend slavery. Look at us now posting our MLK Jr. quotes because, hindsight is 2020. The conviction comes from the Spirit inside you, knowing, something must be said. Take note of that conviction and don’t be afraid to say the things that may be unpopular. Jesus is the best example of that. 

There is hope. I will end this post as cliché as possible because MLK Jr’s speech is something I’ve been rereading recently. Here is the entire transcription of his speech. Read it and take some time to see what the Spirit in you is saying. You aren’t alone. 

Much Love,

Kristina

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I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. 

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. **We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only."** We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."1

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. 

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. 

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,    From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. 

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. 

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last

(Source - Americanrhetoric.com)

Source for Dialectic Definition - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Source for Donald Trump/Bill Bush quote - Time, Access Hollywood