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Sorry to Break the News, but There Is No Middle Ground

I’ve been thinking about how to write this post for days. On October 20, I had the most horrifying prophetic dream I’ve ever had, and it concerned former President Donald Trump and his Christian followers. I am certain the dream was an urgent warning from God. But I also know that many of my readers come from traditions that dismiss or at least downplay the possibility of God speaking to us through dreams. I get that. That is why I am going to write this post from two angles: What I see and hear with my natural eyes and ears,

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Time to Exit the Cult of Trump

Here is the good news: God is moving in people’s hearts. I have personally witnessed and heard of many people who’ve repented of their involvement in our national sin of racism. These weren’t folks who climbed on a stage to make some big public pronouncement, just everyday Christians who humbled their hearts and were moved by the Holy Spirit to confess their sins one to another. I hope this is an encouragement to the African-American Christians who’ve cried out to the Lord for justice for many years and have seen so little fruit. I pray it is also a salve

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The Ginormous Blind Spot

A pastor friend of mine in Africa sent me yet another Trump prophecy video and asked what I thought. These videos really get around! This particular prophet promised a flood, fire, and lots of other bad stuff if we don’t re-elect Donald Trump as president today. Add this to the asteroid Pat Robertson prophesied even if we do re-elect Trump. Hey, why not just give up now? Surveying all of the Trump prophecy videos and articles I’ve read in the past four years, I ended up with one burning question: Where are the Black prophets? How come they’re not getting

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Beware the Prophets of Fear

Not too long ago, I was an avid reader of Charisma magazine, the voice of the Pentecostal-charismatic churches. I loved columnist J. Lee Grady, who was editor for many years and served as the conscience of my high-risk, high-reward Christian faith tradition. Take a look today, though, and here’s what you might see: A Biden win will signal the end of America as we know it. My question: Is that a bad thing? There are quite a few things I’d love to see the end of in the America I know. I’d be happy to see the end of economic

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Why Black Christians Aren’t Voting for Trump

A couple godly friends repeated to me President Donald Trump’s assertion that he has done more for the Black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln. These friends are white, and I know they sincerely believe this statement, which Trump made again in last week’s debate. So how does one reconcile this with the fact that Black people are streaming to the polls in record numbers to vote overwhelmingly against Trump? Why are they lining up for as long as eight hours in a pandemic that disproportionately affects them to cast votes all over the country? Are they ungrateful? Are

The Cost of Your Support for Donald Trump

No need to brace yourself: I’m not going to tell you how to vote. But you need to be aware of the price of your support for Donald Trump. The costs have been piling up for the last four years, and it doesn’t seem that President Trump’s Christian supporters are in the right places to see it. By the way, I find no need to write a post about the cost of supporting Joe Biden, because Christian media are all over that one. So let’s add up the spiritual and human costs of your support for Trump: 1. It’s a

The Riddle of Empathy

It happened in those convulsive days after the killing of George Floyd, when every major city erupted in demonstrations. Things were moving so fast you couldn’t keep up. One day I glanced at the news and saw a photo of a skinny white guy, whose grotesquely contorted body lay face-down in the street. Black blood was pooled beside his head. Then I saw that this happened right here in Dallas—in Deep Ellum, the nightclub district. I was shaken for the rest of the day. The news was sketchy at first, but it appeared that a bunch of guys kicked, stoned,