#Emptythepews Advocates Quitting Church to Protest Trump

“#EmptyThePews has become the rallying cry against inaction by church officials against President Trump. This comes in combination with Alumni at the Liberty University returning their diplomas because of the connection between university president Jerry Falwell Jr. and President Trump.” WRN

Discussion

We didn’t advocate as a church to get Obama out of office. We won’t advocate as a church for Trump’s removal. It’s not the church’s business. We may have some Trump supporters. We may have some who oppose him. They can support or oppose who they want on their own time. We prayed for Obama. We pray for Trump. Our calling as a church is higher and more important than political activism. We won’t be pressured by “activists” or their agenda who encourage Christians to disobey God’s Word (Heb. 10:25) and I have zero respect for their misguided cause.

…cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face, at least if their churches are helping them grow in Christ. It is to choose the SPAM of politics over the filet mignon of good theology. One might hope that the pastor who is dutifully teaching the Word of God might, when confronted with such protesters, say “don’t let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya.”

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

I was teaching on 1 Peter 2:11-12, and we were discussing what issues in modern Western society cause unbelievers to speak evil about us as though we’re criminals and wrongdoers. Of course, people mentioned the normal sexual freedom issues of abortion, homosexuality and transgenderism. I hastened to add the caveat Christians should never frame these as “political issues.”

I mentioned that God doesn’t wear a “Make America Great Again” hat, Jesus isn’t a member of the Republican Party, and American politics are meaningless to God in an eternal sense.

People must start divorcing politics from Biblical teaching, and learn to frame matters correctly. The Republican Party is not synonymous with Biblical Christianity.

Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.