Just Stop It !!

Today, a Facebook friend and fellow Christian posted something on her timeline that had to do with fact checking some of the President’s claims and statements.  The fact checking showed that several of his comments were either false or were substantially embellished.  The fact check also cited sources for its checks.

This type of thing (fact-checking), is done regularly by several organizations, checking the veracity of statements and claims made by politicians and others.  Some of these are, to be sure, biased in some way.  Others, however, have shown a remarkable lack of overt bias and a desire for the truth to come out.

My friend was immediately attacked by her Christian “friends,” who accused her of hatred, teaching children to hate, and spreading vicious lies about the President.  Their words were not at all spoken “with grace and seasoned with salt,” as the great Apostle Paul admonished in Colossians 4.  Rather, it was an all-out frontal assault, it seemed, on a fellow Christian.

I private messaged her to encourage her.  We had a short back-and-forth in which she made a statement to me that hauled me up short.  She was talking about one of her fellow church-members who she said had told her that it was acceptable to lie for the President.  Her exact words in her message to me were these:  “I had a woman at the church, some one so well respected by her peers tell me flat out that it was okay to lie for Trump and to post his lies because he is the best president we've ever had.”

Did you get that?  Did you see what this Christian woman ostensibly said to my friend?  According to her, it is proper to lie and to spread those lies…because why?  Because “he is the best president we’ve ever had.”  What does the Bible say about those who intentionally lie, gossip, and spread falsehoods?  Those who create discord and chaos?  Those who willfully sin?

As one Christian to another, where does one go when faced with this from another Christian?  How does one respond?  This is such a jaw-dropping admission that I have difficulty fathoming that anyone could sincerely believe and practice this…let alone someone who calls him or herself a child of the Living God.

I don’t care if it is Mr. Trump, Lindsay Graham, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or Ted Cruz she is talking about.  This kind of behavior…this kind of rhetoric…this kind of attacking language…this kind of smug self-righteousness is wrong for the Christian in any venue, any time, any place, for any reason.  Period.  It is disrespectful, repugnant, and ignorant.  It has no place in the Christian culture.

Brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors, it’s time to put this to a stop.  Christian people are putting themselves in danger of the consequences of willful sin by this kind of behavior and attitude.  Christian people are in danger of being guilty of dragging others into the same morass of judgment.  Christian people are in danger of causing great harm to the Christian faith in the eyes of those who are not believers.  STOP IT !!  NOW !!!