Donald Trump’s Political Appeal: The Epitome of What God is Presently Judging in America and in the Church

PART I

I believe we are witnessing a phenomenon in the present political landscape, as Donald Trump is directly appealing, to what I sense God is presently judging in America- white male pride.

A major focus of what Donald Trump continues to be vocal about represents the epitome of what God is presently judging in America, in the Church, and even in many prophetic voices. There are people declaring judgment over America for so many different reasons, but what I sense from the Lord is that He is actually confronting and judging our white male pride (WMP). This is a kind of pride that blinds you from realizing that it is God Himself that has drawn a line in the sand and determined to bring a necessary correction. You can be a white female and also be affected by this pride, but I believe it’s primarily something that a significant portion of white males deal with. God is not judging white males. He is judging white male pride- and this is an important distinction. As I’ve been praying about this, God showed me that WMP is as rampant in the Church as it is anywhere else. When we don’t repent of what He is judging, we then preach, minister, and prophesy out of the very distortion God is pointing His finger at. This is a very serious thing and leads to all sorts of misrepresentations of who God is.

Donald Trump has stirred and blown a trumpet that is awakening WMP on a mass scale. His political platform has been horribly divisive and polarizing, yet there is a fascination with his message by those who erroneously think that what he stands for can or should go mainstream. Trump, up until this point, has had one central message and my perspective is that it’s a wrong message for our country. He is being used by the enemy to stir up latent fear and therefore promoting a related pride. We may or may not need some level of advanced border control, but the idea of making it a national priority to have a fence built between us and Mexico is wrong on so many fronts. First of all, as we just saw with the escape of noted drug lord “Chapo” Guzman, a tunnel can be built under anything and can span longer than a mile. A fence may slow down illegal immigration, but it would not stem it. Secondarily, Trump has engaged in fear mongering and perhaps even race baiting with his rhetoric associated with sealing the border. His talk of the Mexican government intentionally sending their “rapists” and “murderers” as well as “not their best” is insulting both to Mexico as a nation, as well as to the Mexicans that live here. He has, in effect, cast aspersions on all Mexican born immigrants by painting with a very broad brush.

The implication that we have more rapes and murders in our country because of “illegal immigrants” is not born out by the violent crime statistics of our land. Rape is down 58% since 1995 and is down a whopping 85% from 40 years ago. Furthermore, murder/homicide rates are their lowest in over 50 years, with an above 50% drop since 1992. In fact, all violent crime is dramatically down since 1990. To initiate a scapegoating of a people group regarding a societal marker that is drastically dropping is just wrong and divisive. I believe this distorted message has found an audience among a people group (especially white males) who can see their influential dominance waning. At minimum, it seems there is a subconscious blaming of the influx of Hispanics.

As I’ve been seeking God’s heart concerning these matters, what’s clear to me is that- as white males- we tend to obsess with a handful of matters that we personally care about, while grossly ignoring more pressing societal needs that I believe the Lord is more focused on than we are. We are highly insensitive to the plight of Hispanic immigrants- whether they are legal or not, their lives matter to God and should to us as well. We are also highly insensitive to the plight of urban America, both as it relates to the communities themselves and the criminal justice/prison reform matters that are so closely related to the tragic cycles generations of African-Americans are trapped in. Can I tell you that the God that’s revealed in the scriptures is one who is much more sensitive to the rejected, downcast, and forlorn than He is to those who are concerned about getting to keep all the taxes they feel they have a right to. I’m not saying it's wrong to desire to be spared excess taxes, it’s just less of a priority in the eyes of God. We have imprisoned more blacks and hispanics at rates that exceed any other nation’s imprisonment rates. The punishment we have applied for the societal sins they’ve committed is truly cruel and inhumane. You can be mad at President Obama for many things, but his recent speech on how our criminal justice system must change and how our prisons need reform is something that he’s clearly in alignment with the Lord on.

I believe white male pride has us consistently running to wrong battle fronts, even as Christians and as prophetic voices. We do so, being blinded by assumptions of the pride that we have been carrying. Our next President will not be one that strengthens this WMP. Those who carry this white male pride will be our greatest source of national disunity and even terrorism in the future, if the Church doesn't come into synchronicity with what is the priority of our Father’s heart.

It was no mistake that President Obama won the last two elections. The “enemy” didn’t win. God won- again. While many of us were sure we knew what was on God’s list of priorities, we failed to see His order of priorities. I believe that in our nation the plight of minorities is at the top of His list for this season. He has heard the cries from the African-American community and He has heard the cries of the Hispanic community- including the 300,000 kids that go to bed every night because one or both parents have been summarily deported. He’s also looking out for women to have their rightful role in society as well. While we are fighting utopian battles for the sin issues of our choice, God has actual sequential priorities that He’s showing us by who He allows to win our elections. This will continue to happen even though we've failed to recognize what He’s doing and align our hearts with His.

While my goal is to speak from a prophetic perspective as often as I can, the demographics related to the societal evolution of America speak for themselves. We are in the midst of a shift away from white male domination that most haven’t come to grips with yet. A hundred years ago we were almost 90% white as a nation and women could not yet vote. Now just on the gender matter, there are 7 million more women than men. In both of the last two elections it was the white women’s votes that brought in the first black President in American history. If they had voted as their white male counterparts had, we would not have made that shift. Currently there are even greater shifts taking place. 50.4% of American children under age one, are now minorities. Most of this statistic comes from Hispanic births. In the lead domino state California, Hispanic first graders now outnumber all other races. This means that this is what our future America looks like. By 2050 one third of all US households will be Hispanic. Furthermore, Asian Americans have now reached 5% of the population and number just over 15 million.

This nation is going to consistently be electing Presidents, Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and Mayors that are looking out for the unique needs of African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, as well as women and all minorities in general. This is not a bad thing for America- this is a good thing! A more compassionate, balanced national reality will come from this as we better fulfill our call to be a “melting pot." These immigrants will actually provide America with many of the needed upgrades that America and the Church have been praying for. Generally speaking, African-Americans are our most spiritual and highest church-going people group. Hispanic-Americans, by nature of their cultural values, bring an upgrade as it relates to family. Statistically, they divorce much less than white America and value family and community far above white America. Asian-Americans have the highest statistics of staying faithful in marriage and being disciplined and honoring in their day-to-day lives. We don’t lose by being a more diverse America.

Furthermore, these other people groups I just highlighted all seem to be more sensitive to the work and moving of the Holy Spirit. Much of the restriction of the Holy Spirit in churches and denominations is directly tied into WMP-- and I could write another entire article on that. Please don’t think I'm taking a pot shot at you if you’re a white male. I am one as well. What the Lord is addressing in us is the blinding pride associated with being a white male- that is inherently possible in all white males. Of course, there are many other racial and gender prides that exist, but God is inviting us, as white males, to lead the way in embracing humility. Perhaps the first sign that we are making the adjustment is when we seek to listen and understand before being so eager to speak our opinions and defend our rights. Specifically, we must learn to listen to the words and the hearts of the above mentioned minorities and seek to understand how they are experiencing the America that we love.

“The Donald” appeals to the WMP in many of us who have become increasingly more uncomfortable with the shift in America— a shift away from only our opinions mattering towards other’s opinions mattering equally. We love his braggadocio “going to take America back and send the rest of you away” rhetoric, and are blinded to how that makes anyone else feel. It’s simply not Christ-like to live and talk like some lives matter more than others do. But we’ve become desensitized to how this sounds because we are so focused on protecting our idea of America and fearful of losing our ideal way of life— so self-focused that we have no capacity to think of and live for those around us. We are so afraid of sounding liberal or socialist that we no longer sound like followers of Christ who live to lay our lives and rights down for others.

We despair that we can’t just rubber-stamp into office one who will keep OUR most pressing priorities at the forefront. Of course, we attach religious jargon to our loss of influence and this is effective in feeding our deception and blinding us. Just because we are right that abortion is wrong, doesn’t mean that we are right to blame black America for the inner city plights they find themselves enmeshed in and unable to extract themselves from. Just because we can voice loud and clear our opinion that marriage is only between a man and a woman, doesn’t mean that we are right on our intolerance towards legal and illegal immigrants. This erroneous way of reasoning is similar to the man who just shot up a Louisiana theater killing and injuring many. Apparently he was anti-abortion, anti-pornography, and technically what we would consider right on other “holiness” issues, yet the pride he harbored in his own heart had him leaning towards nazi-like thinking that resulted in murder. Same with the young man who recently killed so many in the black church in South Carolina. These two cases are evidence of what we will see more of if Christian white males (especially speakers, prophets, and those with influence) don’t lead the way in diffusing the racial polarization that is taking place. The language that I hear espoused by many white male leaders towards immigrants and our President tells me we are presently not getting it.

The good news is that God Himself is going to shepherd us through this transition in America. He has never been limited to our prejudices and preferences and, for the sake of what He’s accomplishing across the globe, He will bring America through to become who she is called to be. He has already put the voices of advanced reformers into place who will trumpet that which is in synch with what He is presently saying and doing. Watch who He allows to win the Presidency of our nation-- and in that you will see what He’s working on and addressing next. Like a good parent who patiently trains His sons and daughters into greater maturity, our heavenly Father is never going after all of our “issues" at one time. He always has His NEXT. When we don’t discern His NEXT we end up being like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, finding a “holiness” issue of our choosing and trying to force it on society-- or even forcing it on Jesus to address (i.e. woman caught in adultery). I exhort you to pay attention and ask for Holy Spirit discernment if you find yourself drawn towards Trump’s recent divisive rhetoric. Of course he is not the enemy, but truly is speaking words that are a test for our hearts. We don’t want to be found in agreement with that which is being exposed and judged at this time, but rather found aligning our hearts with God’s heart of compassion, unity, and kingdom solutions from heaven.

PART II

White male pride. By bringing this up in a post two days ago I hit quite a nerve that kind of proved the very point I was making. Though my post was kind and obviously included myself as a white male, it received some significant angry backlash. I have been cussed out and unliked and unfollowed, mixed in with respectful disagreement- sometimes over secondary tenets of the post. Beyond that, the silence from many of my normal positive responders tells me that many more of your are struggling with my post. So I am going to stay on theme smile emoticon

Perhaps the difficulty with accepting this diagnosis for many that carry this white pride is that it doesn't feel like pride, and therefore there is denial and even anger over the suggestion of it (though I made a clear distinction between being a white male and having white male pride). Number one you should know that if you were or are a truly humble white male (or female for that matter), then you would not have an anger instinct to my post. You would recall the examples I gave of the two recent white male shooters and acknowledge that yes we do need to make sure that a racist white tap root is not being fed at this time.

Beyond the actual white racism is a white pride that is a pride of presumption. It is a blindness that doesn't even recognize that you have lived from a position of racial privilege- because you too have problems. However, when you are the default majority race- a whole society has been scripted around your priorities and around your wants. Now that there has begun an internal move and mood to recognize in some measure, the plight of minority races, many of you are squawking in an almost embarrassing way complaining that YOU are now the one being discriminated against. Someone put that in post yesterday a picture of a sign complaining "you are free to live as you want unless you are white, male, gun owner" or something to that effect. Appropriately enough the sign was under a confederate flag which is basically to blacks what the nazi symbol is to jews.

Now I am fully aware that there is racism all across the board. I have several very good friends who are African-American leaders of significance. One was telling me that he believed that almost all black preachers over 60 were stuck in racism and bitterness because of what they had experienced and not been able to find forgiveness for. Whether that number is true or not I don't know, but it was the perspective of a significant black leader who had interacted with many national bishops, pastors etc. These African-American church leaders have thanked me for my post saying they view it as the truth and are almost shocked a white leader can see it. It is of no use for them to run with that message because they know they need to take care of their own hearts and be forgiving and understanding. The message they tell the people under their influence is "quit blaming the white man and take responsibility for your own life". This is a healthy message for them to tell people of the same race. If not they would just be feeding racism and bitterness. However, we also have a message we need to speak to ourselves.

These black leaders have spoken to me of "white privilege" and that is what they call it instead of "white pride". White privilege covers many things, but a part of it is when you assume all view life the way you view life. It is when you are certain you hold all the trump cards on God's priorities of righteousness and therefore don't even need to listen to the less informed and "deceived" minorities. They are crying for things like "justice" when your position on "pro-life" clearly is the only position that really matters. You will carry 100 pro-life banners before you consider one time carrying a "black lives matter" banner. Or even making one Facebook comment that acknowledges that there is something seriously wrong with a system that will leave 300,000 Hispanic kids without one or both parents because they were summarily deported. "Deport these illegal lawbreakers" is your mantra, though very possibly many of your own grandparents or great-grandparents came over under similar "illegality". You are champions of the unborn but ignorers of the already born- and yet you feel more holy and "informed" about your passion.

White privilege is an inoculation of insensitivity. Once you decide your priorities are right- you no longer need listen to anyone else. You dominate church settings and conferences and charitable organizations with your narrow definitions of righteousness and rather than give a platform for expanded perspective on justice matters- you instead plead with your black Christian leaders to come and support your righteousness priorities while still not listening to what their communities are being daily devastated by.

My post is not designed to make another call to "white guilt". I think whites so can't handle that, that this becomes a reason for the extreme overreactive responses. White guilt is not what is needed. We don't need to apologize for slavery again. We didn't do it and almost no one affected directly by it is still around today to apologize to. The problem today is not just past grievances. The problem today is that Hispanics and blacks are both being under represented in fairness in everyday American life. If you consider yourself one who cares about America you will do your part to begin to care about that.

There is a moral obligation of the leaders of a majority race to ensure that the minority races are experiencing a similar privilege as they are. This is particularly true for Christian leaders. The Matthew 25 separation between sheep and goat nations wasn't over official stances on gay marriage or abortion. It was over how care was give "to the least of these"- literally "to the minorities". Of course a "pro-life" stance is good as well, but we must see that abortions have gone down almost 50% since 1992 (and the lowest since the year BEFORE Row vs. Wade) and that without laws changing. Abortions can go down through hearts and minds being sensitized. Justice issues require changes in the law. Laws change when the majority race recognizes an imbalance in justice and is moved to reform it. There is a burden on us as majority race when there are proven racial discriminizations. It is cruel and unjust to expect those affected by the wrongs to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. That does work once all the laws and ordinances are equal and is why it works for us whites. Yes, blacks are no longer forced to cross the street for their water fountain but there are yet laws and ordinances that need amending. Furthermore white kindness and compassion- even if, heaven forbid, it is excessive and unnecessary- might also work towards helping those blacks that are still struggling with their own racism to more easily forgive.

The next move of God we are waiting for is really not just another revival of emotion filled meetings. It is nice to have exciting Holy Spirit infused meetings- but historically those have not translated into also caring for "the least of these".The next move of God is a move of reformation of society. Many whites like myself will continue to awaken to our part in the quotient of a visitation from God that will surely hit us as we step into His agenda. I will tell you, I see a soon coming day where black, Hispanic and white Christian leaders walk hand it hand jointly carrying the heart of God for our hurt and wounded societies. I tell you many, many black leaders are ready to do this. What is needed now is some white leadership that is willing to defer on THEIR issues of priority and cross over the racial divide and say both to black and Hispanic leaders, "hey I am here to help, what can I do". When something close to that sounds appealing to you as white- than know you are on the path of being healed of any white pride that you might carry. To the degree it infuriates you to consider that, to that degree know you are affected by the very pride you deny.

The good news is the next generation is more than ready to move forward in this harmony, and in America we will see a better fulfillment not just of MLK Jr.'s dream, but the dream God had for America when He thought her up. May we accelerate a national renaissance by humbling ourselves and joining in with what is on our Papa's heart. Renaissance is here now.