MAGA Christianity: “Making America GRIEVE again!”
- bmoodyasaa
- Jul 25
- 4 min read
Stan Moody:
A woman caught in adultery was about to be stoned to death by the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, who were proudly using this to test His commitment to their Law. He rescued her with a simple line: “OK! This is indeed your Law, so go ahead! He who is without sin cast the first stone!” (John 8:7). As they drifted away, He asked of her, “Where are your accusers now?”, followed by, “They do not condemn you; neither do I.”
The parallels between white evangelical Christians of our day and the religious leaders of Jesus’ day are striking. America has been saddled with a moral crisis of our own making through rejecting salvation by grace alone in favor of certain moral codes as a national standard of righteousness. Jesus may now be saying to us, “Go, and sin no more!” Whether we will be willing or able to “Go” remains to be seen. As for sinning no more, I wouldn’t put money on that outcome! I have tried that with limited success. How about you?
Political Control over People’s Souls:
A lifetime ago, I was wildly busy raising a bunch of kids. As a diversion, I had some fun with an idea decades before the age of social media. A vehement non-joiner, I called for building an organization, “Non-joiners Unite!” Since then, I have come to realize that this was well underway in little community churches throughout America! In our pride of being above “the world”, we have created what we most feared – loss of control over people’s lives and souls.
I know! I’m an 85-yr-old has-been entrepreneur, public servant, evangelical pastor and theologian with not much left to lose. It’s easier for me than for most of my Christian friends out there as the Church’s boogiemen surface in different forms from generation to generation!
Have We Recast Jesus as a Cultural Icon?
I wonder if, in all this challenging of religious norms, Jesus has been recast as a mere icon of temporary relief from an American Dream frustratingly beyond reach. I have children who bemoan the loss of opportunity to be more successful or wealthy than their dad! Yes; I do have a track record that may have certified me for an occasional seat at the table or a headline now and then, but I can’t get away from the reminder by the Apostle Paul that he counted his sterling credentials as nothing but “dung” (Phil 3:8) once he found Christ.
It is heartbreaking to watch evangelical Christians wallow around in the dung heap of legalism with no viable rescue plan. Are we ready to fight the good fight of faith as our religious empires are being unmasked as having clay feet? Can we even define anymore what is meant by love of God and neighbor?
Some suggest that AI may be the long-awaited Antichrist! Maybe so, but might we not say the same thing about TV, cable news, the Internet and, God forbid, the Confessing Church? Anne Wilson Schaef raised an anti-Christian specter of institutional addiction with her bestselling book, “When Society Becomes an Addict.”[1] Might that be said of the white, evangelical Church?
God in the Margins:
I believe God is using these uncertain, scary, chaotic days to call us professing Christians to repentance for our worship of the American Dream through the Moral Majority and the Church Growth Movement. Left with the iconic Jesus on a throne out in the ether somewhere awaiting religious dominion by us, putting our faith into action is long overdue.
Our fallback position has been subtly to strip Jesus of His Lordship that cuts across the entire scope of DEI, from the exploding homeless community to the drug culture to the frightened migrant family to the corporate tycoon to the pedophilia sex trade to the moms and dads in suburbia – and yes, even to the lawlessness of those vested with power and wealth.
We have reached the point of having to prove to ourselves and to a skeptical world the legitimacy of our faith and worship. How that will play out in the average congregation has yet to be seen, but one thing is abundantly clear. Jesus came to inaugurate something called the Gospel of the Kingdom of God (Luke 16:16) as the present, dynamic, victorious alternative to authoritarian governments caving under the weight of their own laws.
Out of the Pew and into the Poo!
It’s time for believers in Christ to get out of the pew and into the poo! Otherwise, we, like ancient Israel in exile, will be dragged into a time of having no other choice but truly to believe or to bail.
We professing Christians have turned our great nation over to the corporate raiders in our grief over OPS – “Other People’s Sin.” The grief that sadly lies before us threatens to descend on our lives and families with far less recourse for recovery. May God have mercy!
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