I live in the South. It’s called the Bible Belt for a reason, it’s a very religious place. It is a birthplace of fundamental Christianity. Apocalyptic thinking is not new, Christ has been coming back since he left. It is been said that impeaching Trump would cause a Civil War because of the attachment of this president to that very apocalyptic thinking. It has been said that Trump has been “sent by God”.
When one thinks of the apocalypse, it therefore follows that there are two major figures in Revelation, the Christ and the anti-Christ. There are false prophets and various and sundry others, but these two stand out. Is Trump Jesus? Judging by what the two men are reported to have said, Trump is probably not Jesus. They seem to say opposite things these two, and Trump’s been here all along, so he could not have returned. Scratch Trump being Jesus. The other figure is the fourth horseman, the anti-Christ. Well, Putin does ride a horse, and Donald Trump doesn’t. This anti-Christ had been reported to be many people over the centuries. Could they be all wrong and it turns out to be some Russian interfering in elections? See what a web can be woven?
The separation of church and state and the First Amendment were meant to keep apocalyptic thinking out of politics. Religion is about faith and belief. We are asked to trade judgment and critical thinking for faith. When that type of thinking is placed in the political world or the scientific world it leads to chaos. Separating our two worlds, one of faith and one of logic, is a basic function of the human mind, a basic tenet of our lives. It was appropriate to separate them in our government.
Faith-based science doesn’t work. Pure logic doesn’t work with religion which requires suspension of logic. Both faith and logic have a place in our individual thinking, but we separate them. “Faith doesn’t repair the car, and logic won’t get you to heaven”.
Mixing religion and politics was not in the plan and is doing a lot of harm. When we put religion in our government, we also put politics in our church. When give unto Caesar becomes preach for Caesar, our religion is compromised. When we have to ask what faith is my government, we have to also ask what party is this church.
David Michael Jackson
