He Taught the Whole Nation to Sin

Manasseh was the worst king of ancient Judah, and to compound his awfulness, he reigned longer than any other—55 years. The Bible records just how vile he was: He erected idols in the temple, practiced sorcery, and sacrificed his own sons in the fire.

“But Manasseh led Judah and the people of Jerusalem astray,” 2 Chronicles 33:9 says, “so that they did more evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.”

In other words, not only did Manasseh sin, but he taught the whole nation to sin.

Which lands me right at the end of October 2024, a few days before the most contentious presidential election of our lifetime. A friend asked the other day if I was going to write anything about it, and this is what I have to say: Donald Trump has sinned egregiously, repeatedly, and unrepentantly in lies and hatred of neighbor, but even worse, he has taught others to do the same.

Even Christians.

After Sunday night’s MAGA rally in Manhattan, where blatantly racist Trump wannabes were handed the mic, with Trump refusing to rebuke any of it, we saw the culmination of something a Hispanic friend told me about years ago, in the earliest days of Trump’s presidency—that the haters and bigots now felt emboldened to come out of the closet on her job and express their racism openly.

Eight years later, we are numb to racist insults, casual slander, the reviling of Haitian immigrants, and the continual lies, threats, and conspiracy fantasies, many of which are magnified by Christians.

All of that said, you will not see me lift up the banner of any presidential candidate. I am a follower of Jesus Christ first and reject the binary of Republican and Democrat. Neither party in its present form represents what I value.

You can look at my past posts, however, and see who I will not be voting for. The deal was sealed when I was desperately trying to reconcile my godly, church-going, Trump-supporting friends and the awful sense I had that we as a Church were looking on complacently as a violent, racist, and darkly deceptive movement was being birthed in this country in the name of righteousness.

God answered with a dream. Mind you, as a journalist, it is not my preference to shift from facts and arguments to dreams and woo-woo in a public space.

God does speak to me in dreams, but 90 percent of the time, I keep them to myself. They are usually points of prayer, or a private word of wisdom. Even when I do have dreams that I believe are from God, there is a scale of certainty: from not much, as in “What the heck was all that about?” to a lot.

I have the highest level of certainty about my Trump dream, which happened before the midterm elections of 2022. My immediate response was, “I need to do everything I can to stop that man.”

I’ve had time to reflect on that horrifying dream, which showed me what the people of God would do if Trump returned to power, and since it came well before he had an opportunity to run again, I concluded that it presented an open-ended choice for Christians. They could continue to hold up this man as the savior of America, or they could choose to reject him and the anti-Christ message he represents.

Since that time, I have seen a trickle of white, Bible-believing Christians make a principled decision to step away from Trump and Trumpism. And no, that does not mean they embraced Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party. Some have decided not to vote; others decided quietly to vote against.

Most African-American, and many Asian-American and Hispanic Christians, had identified and rejected Trump’s anti-Christ character from Day One. It took me longer to get it.

I offer three reasons for Christians not to vote for Trump:

1. Not only has he sinned, but he has taught a nation to sin.

2. Christian support for Trump has made our faith incomprehensible to the next generation. We taught our kids that character mattered, that we should value life, tell the truth, and love God and neighbor. Yet Christians repeatedly excuse Trump’s lies, threats, and racist statements, saying the only thing that really matters is his opposition to abortion.

Our younger Christians see the disconnect. We’re all about character, values, and Jesus Christ, and we support who?

Say what you want about Gen Z, but they are not stupid. We talk about values, but Gen Z hears selfishness, power, and privilege. And tragically, many of them are rejecting our Christianity altogether. They see and hear too much that doesn’t align with the Christ we preach.

3. We cannot ignore the threats of violence. If you’re living comfortably in suburbia, and there is nothing wrong with that, just be aware that many of your Black and brown neighbors across the street and across town are deeply concerned about what you will do—their white Christian neighbor—if Trump concocts lies about the election again.

Who will he incite this time? Who will grab a gun from the enormous stockpile of weapons purchased during the Trump years and even think about aiming it at their neighbor?

The fear among Blacks, Asians, and Hispanics is very real. I hear it in a prayer group I take part in, among my African-American friends who have children, during random conversations in the airport.

They’re afraid of you—Trump’s apologists.

They have seen a clear pattern—that Donald Trump brings out the worst in people.

I want to remind you that we have seen a string of deranged racists with murderous intentions, and they inevitably ally with one candidate.

We have already forgotten about Mark Adams Prieto, the Arizona man who made plans to carry out a mass shooting targeting Blacks, Jews, and Muslims. Prieto wanted to incite a “race war” before the presidential election, according to federal prosecutors. He was arrested in New Mexico on May 14. Since nothing disastrous happened, Prieto dropped out of the headlines in a day.

Trump’s re-election would be a terrible outcome for the Church of Jesus Christ. No one knows what we stand for anymore. What we preach and what we support politically are nonsensical. I pray that Trump and the Republican Party he created are swept away at the polls, so the people of God can detox, regroup, and re-emerge as the salt and light of the world.

Important note: In an earlier version of this post, I described a person as “vile.” I have no right to judge a person’s heart, and I repent to you, my readers, and to God. My intention is to confine my criticism to a person’s actions, not their overall character. Incidentally, King Manasseh of Judah repented at the end of his life. No person is beyond the grace of God. Let’s remember to pray for the safety of our leaders and the presidential candidates.