Tuesday, March 29, 2016

"Mr. Trump is not the Antichrist" by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Tuesday, 29 March 2016

"Mr. Trump is not the Antichrist" by Stephen M. Miller Bible blog of award-winning bestselling Christian author, Stephen M. Miller. for Tuesday, 29 March 2016

"Mr. Trump is not the Antichrist" by Stephen M. Miller

GOOD NEWS. We can check it off our list. Mr. Trump is not the Antichrist. In fact, as many scholars say the Bible teaches it, there’s no such end-time tyrant. Caricature by DonkeyHotey, flickr, CC2.
LET’S GET A JUMP on the inevitable link of a nasty Bible character with a crusty political character who’s in the running for the highest office in the country and perhaps the most powerful office in the world: president of the US of A.
Donald Trump does not fit the biblical definition of an antichrist.
He is certainly antichrist in many of the things he says and does.
I reported some of his quotes alongside those of Jesus in an earlier blog of zingers that John Oliver is welcome to borrow: Donald Trump and the King of Kings.
One sample quote for those who missed that article:
  • Jesus: “Do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:39).
  • Trump: “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell – I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”
In the Bible there are only four fleeting references to an antichrist. All four of them show up in the tiny letters of 1, 2 John. Perhaps the most concise definition:
  • “This is what makes an antichrist: denying the Father, denying the Son…. It’s the person who denies that Jesus is the Divine Christ” (1 John 2:22).
Mr. Trump does not do that.
On the contrary, he says he embraces the idea of Jesus as the Son of God.
What’s surprising to many Christians is that the Bible does not teach that there will be an end-time antichrist. Many Bible experts say that this portrayal of an end-time tyrant dates back to the Middle Ages, when preachers started piecing together disconnected parts of the Bible to form a Frankenstein-style image of a person who would not otherwise have existed. They linked:
what John said about antichrists
what Paul said about a mysterious “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3)
what John of Revelation said about a beast who waged war “against God’s holy people” (Revelation 13:7).
Based on Bible teachings, it doesn’t seem fair to call Mr. Trump the Antichrist.
But the question of the moment for Christians is, Should we vote to call him Mr. President?
Blowback
I got some blowback on my earlier article about Mr. Trump.
Some readers who are Trump supporters said it sounded like I was passing judgment on them, and saying they weren’t Christians.
That’s not what I wrote. That’s not what I believe.
I have no doubt that some genuine Christians are supporting Mr. Trump.
What I wrote is that Mr. Trump takes positions that are exactly the opposite of many doggone important teachings of Jesus.
As a former news reporter who now covers the Bible beat, I thought it important to remind people of what Jesus taught, and what those teachings look like as they sit there beside those of a wannabe national leader who is courting Christians.
When you compare the teachings of Mr. Trump to those of Jesus Christ, it seems as though one person takes his people on the high road, and the other person takes the low road. The difference seems that remarkable.
So I thought I would remark.
I stand by the words I wrote in the earlier blog article, Donald Trump and the King of Kings. They are authentic, accurate, and obvious it seems to me, though I have been wrong before.
But I do not stand by words I did not write.
I did not write and I do not believe that Christians who support Donald Trump are not Christians anymore.
What I would say to those Christian brothers and sisters would come in the form of a question:
There are many Christian principles suggesting that we Christians should walk away from Mr. Trump and look for another soul to represent us on matters important to us. What are the Christian principles that suggest we should follow him?
If Christianity makes a difference in the way we live our lives, isn’t it fair to expect an answer to that question?
Also, for the record, I know that Donald Trump’s senior aide is a gentleman named Stephen Miller.
I’m the other Stephen Miller.
For more about the Antichrist
The post Mr. Trump is not the Antichrist appeared first on Stephen M. Miller.

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