I had no intention of writing another blog just one week after my last post, but a lot has happened in one week. It feels like the week that won’t end.
I don’t know what the incursion on the Capitol felt like to you as you watched it going down. To me, it was so surreal that it was hard to process emotionally. It felt almost like an absurd carnival – like a group of clowns who were acting crazy but would do no real harm. The reality of what took place didn’t really hit me until, on the following day, I began to listen to some of the in-person testimonies from members of congress and their staffers who had lived through it. Hearing the audio recordings of the mob beating at their barricaded doors, or of the representatives being commanded to take cover behind the seats in their chamber, or of the thugs chanting, “Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!” – it chilled me to the bone. Only then did I put myself into the shoes of those who were in the Capitol and sense the true terror that the protestors had wrought.
At about the same time, I began to read the spin that Republicans and the conservative media were putting on the story. A figurative wave of what-about-ism was being unleashed. “The breach on the Capitol was wrong, but the frustration was warranted,” I heard commentators contending. “What about the supposedly peaceful Black Lives Matter protests this summer? Now THEY wreaked havoc!”
One of the early protestations that proliferated was the conspiracy theory that the real damage in the Capitol was not done by the right wing protestors at all, but by Antifa sympathizers who dressed up in disguise. It was astounding how quickly the nonsense took hold. Within hours Sarah Palin was threatening, “To any insincere, fake DC ‘patriots’ used as PLANTS — you will be found out.” Rudy Giuliani implied the same. In a tweet condemning the violence he went on to state, “Antifa involvement is no excuse.” He didn’t need to state directly that Antifa was responsible – just putting the bait out there would suffice. Most of the crowd, he asserted, were good people. After all, in the hour that the gates were being stormed, President Trump could only bring himself to gently cajole the marauding mob: “This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home, we love you, you’re very special.”
Let me be clear. Not all of the protestors who attended the “Save America” rally were violent – not even close. The vast majority were peace-loving citizens who simply believed the assertion that the election was stolen and came to show their support for the President. I can understand that many of them might take offense at being lumped in with insurrectionists. And it is not my intent to do so.
But I also believe that the response of many enablers – those who through their support of the President’s disinformation campaign helped to ignite the spark of violence – has not been righteous. Many of them are Christians and believe with all their hearts that “righteousness exalts a nation,” yet their reaction to the grave sin of insurrection, incited by our own President, has been an insipid call for national unity. That’s how their colleagues across the aisle describe it.
Please understand. I pray with all my heart for unity in our nation. The partisan divide is a blight that prevents our leaders from truly governing and constantly squeezes them into playing a zero sum game in which their win necessitates their opponent’s loss. The legislators themselves hate it. Many of them hearken back to a time when genuine friendships with members of the opposite party were not only possible, but the norm. This tragedy can indeed be a catalyst for genuine bipartisanship to take root.
One Representative who had been escorted off to the undisclosed secure location was asked the next day what his most vivid memory from the night before had been. He said that it was the sight of McConnell and Pelosi, huddled together toward the middle of the room, discussing the plans about how to move forward with the electoral vote confirmation once the ordeal was over. That was an image he would not forget. And that is an image we should not forget. We are soldiers in a common battle, not enemies on opposite sides.
So a call for unity is warranted. But that call will remain feckless and insipid if there is no admission of guilt. Speaking as a Republican, I appeal to my fellow citizens: We must admit the harm that our party has wrought. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware expressed in an interview yesterday that reconciliation is absolutely necessary, but “there can be no reconciliation without repentance.” We fellow Christ followers must utter a solemn “Amen!”
In a time of national crisis, we must behave as citizens, not as partisans. When the House and the Senate reconvened on Wednesday night, one can understand from a partisan point of view that many Republican leaders felt they must persist in their efforts to challenge the election. But from a citizen’s point of view, it was breach of honor. It was an unnecessary, bull-headed, theatrical performance that served no purpose other than to show servile allegiance to the delusions of a distressed President. It is no wonder that Senator Coons calls for repentance before reconciliation. It is the Christian mandate… and it is the only pathway that can lead to unity.
Not only do the members of the Republican caucus need to repent. Many Christ followers have done grave harm to our nation by propagating a lie. We may not have recognized it as a lie, but we could have and should have. We allowed the idol of nationalism to cloud our vision. History will demonstrate that it was a powerful lie, indeed: one sparked by the President of the United States, fanned into flame by multiple media organizations, perpetuated in our social media accounts, and sadly in some cases, preached from our pulpits. Our calls for unity within our nation will ring as hollow as empty soda cans if they are not accompanied by genuine, sorrowful repentance for the harm we have done. We must repent for helping to propagate a lie.
Some of us may have hoped that the protestations of our president against the election results were justified, but credible witnesses debunked the idea over and over again. Instead of paying careful attention to the evidence, we were swayed by the noise. We chose to believe President Trump over Brad Raffensperger, Rudy Giuliani over Christopher Krebs, Sydney Powell over John Poulos. There can be no healing until there is the admission: “We allowed ourselves to be deceived.”
Some were convinced by prophets who prophesied that Trump would ascend to his next term; those prophets will be shown to be false. Hopefully, by God’s grace, the prophets themselves will sorrowfully bend the knee.
Some preachers have laughed and scoffed at the idea that Biden will assume the presidency on January 20th; their laughter will be a badge of shame they wear in penance.
Do I sound like an unhinged street preacher, railing against the sins of the world? Please forgive me if that is the case. But this is deadly earnest for me… and for all of us who are followers of the Way. We are in grave danger of losing any shred of credibility before a watching world.
The Evangelical church’s loss of moral authority among the under-thirty population is well documented. David Kinnaman and others pointed to the decline over a decade ago. In the meantime, the under-thirty population has become the under-forty population. Conservative, bible believing Christians never were a moral majority, but they are considerably less so now than in the seventies when the phrase was coined. There are many reasons for that, but our embrace of a populist agenda that seeks to guard the old cultural hierarchy is one contributor. Our lack of intellectual vigor is another.
Robert K. Vischer recently wrote: “When we post a meme about Dr. Anthony Fauci or Bill Gates plotting to distribute the mark of the beast through a vaccine, our following post about eyewitness testimony regarding the life of Jesus will get the same response as the first: This person is not trustworthy on questions that matter.” https://religionnews.com/2020/12/01/eric-metaxas-and-the-losing-of-the-evangelical-mind/ Another commentator observed that if someone proclaims faith in both the Easter bunny and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it won’t be surprising when their associates question the veracity of their truth claims. Yet that is precisely the result when Christians proclaim without evidence that Trump won the election in a landslide and that the angel armies will rally to his defense.
Can anything be done to regain our footing… to demonstrate moral authority before a skeptical audience? Yes! But it is not a task that can be accomplished quickly. It requires slow and steady Jesus-like behavior. It requires becoming agents of reconciliation, as the Apostle Paul enjoined. “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.” (2 Corinthians 5:18) But there can be no reconciliation without forgiveness. And forgiveness requires repentance. Reconciliation costs a great deal. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”(v. 21) To purchase our reconciliation, it cost Jesus everything.
There are many images of last week’s fateful day and night in the Capitol. Most of them are disturbing, but a few are beacons of hope. A picture that has gone viral shows New Jersey Representative Andy Kim, cleaning up debris left by the on the floor of the Rotunda. When asked about his motivation for seeking out a garbage bag and going to his knees, Kim responded, “When you see something you love that’s broken you want to fix it. I love the Capitol … It really broke my heart and I just felt compelled to do something.”
That’s it, right? “When you see something you love that’s broken you want to fix it.” That’s at the heart of being a minister of reconciliation. That’s why the watching, skeptical world responded so warmly to Kim’s servanthood. At the very core, his actions were Jesus-like.
Reflecting on the intruders who had broken into the Capitol hours earlier, Kim said, “If someone feels the ability to desecrate our Capitol, to bring a Confederate flag into that building and proudly wave it around, this is someone, these are people, that do not respect government. They do not have that same humility that we need to have. These are people that are not inspired by this building, and do not understand what went into building it, what went into preserving it.”
Again, Kim nails it. He didn’t thrash the intruders. He observed a key element: “They do not have that same humility that we need to have.” If there is a pathway that will help the Evangelical church to reestablish the respect it has lost in the eyes of so many, this is it – the pathway of servanthood. Jesus taught his disciples the same. If we want to really make a difference in the world, we must take up the towel and basin… and bend the knee.
Postscript: I have come across some helpful resources that I highly recommend, in case you’d like to explore the topic further.
For information regarding the integrity of the election and the disinformation campaign:
- Concerning the various suits brought by the Trump campaign against election authorities, this website gives a complete listing of the documentation in each of them. You can read the charges that were brought, the affidavits from witnesses, the response of the court, and more. https://www.democracydocket.com/case_type/active-cases/
- Concerning the charges that the Dominion voting machines switched votes, this podcast in which John Poulos, the CEO of Dominion, is interviewed is fascinating to listen to: https://sway.simplecast.com/episodes/inside-the-billion-dollar-war-against-right-wing-conspiracists
For input on how the church ought to respond to political challenges, anything from https://thedispatch.com/ is solid journalism.
- I found the differentiation between enabling lies and activating lies to be particularly insightful in this piece. https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/only-the-church-can-truly-defeat
For a glimpse into the mindset of a disaffected former Christ follower, I recommend this article by Sarah Jones. It gives me greater understanding into the perspective of many under-40 people I come in contact with. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/12/white-evangelicals-made-a-deal-with-trump-now-what.html
Steve Pecota - a Pastor in Seattle 
Your blogs are always a good read, thanks.
Thanks, Dave
Amen.
I’ve been looking forward to this blog from you regarding January 6th. Sure appreciate your researched thoughts and scripture based input. It was surreal to watch the incursion of our Capitol by my fellow US citizens including Christians. Now I am asking God what I can do as an Agent of Reconciliation in my community and among my Christian brothers and sisters.
Thanks, Evie. I’ve always seen you as a genuine agent of reconciliation. I know he’s going to use you in unexpected ways.
Steve, over the past 12 years that I’ve known you, since my short time at Calvary, it seems like many evangelical leaders have traded something, or given something up, in order to follow Trump. I haven’t understood it, I’ve mourned it, and unfortunately I’ve come to expect it in some circles. Last week, I mentioned in a FB comment that your post was a “breath of fresh air.” To go a little deeper and hopefully encourage you, I have to say, “Thank You. Thanks for still caring about the things you cared about 11 years ago with consistency. Thanks for focusing on living like Jesus in every part of our lives. Thanks for not compromising, for saying hard, unpopular truths, but doing so with grace for our brothers and sisters. It is appreciated and been an encouragement even in these crazy times.
Thanks for your kind words, Jadon.I believe the time for saying hard truths is upon us more than ever. What surprises me is the level of partisanship that seems to have overtaken even the church. I really pray that, as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can at least remain in dialogue with each other. Populism thrives on caricatures of the enemy. There was an old comic strip before your time called Pogo. There’s one famous line from from a strip: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.” Seems to fit.
Pastor Steve,
Like many who align politically with the Republican party, I have found myself sometimes perplexed, sometimes dismayed, and sometimes amused at our President’s approach to leading this country. He clearly is not cut from the same political cloth as the majority of politicians we have seen over our lifetime. But, he is our president and I have felt a tremendous obligation to pray that God give him wisdom, understanding, strength and courage to lead our people. While I despised the policies of some of our previous Democrat presidents, I felt that same obligation. Even Paul, when under the scrutiny of the religious leaders of his day felt it was wrong to “speak evil of” the ruler of his nation.
I hear your heart’s cry for unity, but at what cost? Unity with compromise is not unity at all. Do we allow the sacrifice of another 61 million unborn babies for the sake of unity? Do we weaken our military for the sake of unity? Do we allow government control over our lives, our freedom to practice our faith unrestricted, our right to educate our children as we see fit for the sake of unity? Jesus’ own words suggest unity is not part of His Kingdom agenda. “I didn’t come to bring peace, but division. Man against wife, brother against brother…” Amos asked the question, “Can two walk together unless they be agreed?” The only unity I find in the Scripture is the cry for unity in the body of Christ – which has as its foundation this Kingdom established structures of apostles, prophets, evangelists, preachers and teachers: “…Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”
We have a president who has stood up to those would destroy our Republic. He is not perfect. He has a past. But don’t drink the Kool-Aid the partisan media is offering concerning him. It only leads to another Jonestown and it won’t be our current president demanding that you drink…
Hi Jim,
Thanks for your thought-provoking comments. I think that Trump had the opportunity to go down as someone who had really made a difference. Though I don’t agree with all policy decisions under his watch, I am favorable to the conservative direction of the Republican platform. Trump’s defenders and his critics describe him as unconventional, and that he is. The issue that has been the fatal flaw within his administration has been the lies about voter fraud. Had he been willing to accept the election results, which have been verified in every recount that has been undertaken, he would have gone out as a president with a claim to a number of accomplishments. But that refusal has not only broken norms – not only manifest his unconventionality – it has undermined the trust in our democratic process.
I hear Republicans calling for unity in their arguments against impeachment. “Don’t throw the nation into chaos for the sake of scoring gotcha points,” they contend. But they were willing to throw the nation into chaos for the sake of wracking up points with the President (and his base) by going along with election fraud claims that they knew (or should have known) to be baseless.
I’m not calling for unity over principle. By no means. But I do believe that the principle of democratic governance which holds to generally accepted norms (including that peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next) is central to what makes America great and central to our role in the world. To taint that image before a watching world, merely because someone is a sore loser, is a high-level tragedy. And it falls far short of Jeremiah’s injunction to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” I believe Republicans need to repent, not for supporting Trump in his policies, but for supporting his attempt to overthrow the election. Then reconciliation can follow repentance. The resulting unity can help the both parties to pursue the good of the nation. Not a unity of policy directives, but a unity of purpose to defend the constitution and to serve and protect the citizenry.
Thanks for staying in dialogue with me!
Pastor Steve,
I am one of those deluded people that believes that massive voter fraud did exist. This op-ed from a New Hampshire representative reflects my sentiments on that matter.
https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/opinion/2021/01/12/opinion-letter-evidence-voter-fraud-does-exist/6642491002/
It’s a two minute read.
I’m tempted to make a list of the evidence but I won’t – it really serves no purpose because the theft of this election was not just in the form of voter fraud. It came in the form of the massive levels of disinformation vomited out on the American people from the radical left media and from the social media platforms that obliterated nearly every conservative thought from their posts. It came from the lethargy of the American church which has not stood up en masse against the evils of abortion. It came from a president who did not have the political savvy to know when to keep his mouth shut. In my view this election was stolen, and there are principalities and powers at work to perpetuate the fraud.
Nearly all of the people I know who objected to the election were not attempting to overthrow anything. We simply wanted a fair and just tally of the votes – whatever the results. I don’t care if we have a Democratic or Republican president. I care if our president respects America and the constitution. I don’t for a minute believe Biden, Harris, Pelosi or Schumer respects either. They don’t respect conservative views. They don’t respect the church. They don’t respect the foundations upon which our nation was founded. They don’t respect the law unless it works to their benefit. They make laws and don’t follow them and then destroy those who expose them.
Sorry Steve, but that’s something I cannot unite with.
Peace
Hi Jim, I read the article. You’re right… we’re not going to change one another’s minds. I think there was a lot of controversy surrounding the election. Unusual steps were taken to handle the Corona virus threat. But I don’t believe that nefarious, coordinated activity brought about a flawed election that changed the outcome. Not even close. If there was that activity, the evidence brought forth to the courts by the Trump campaign would have been contained in the affidavits. But it’s just not there.
The daily podcast from yesterday features an interview with freshman congressman from Michigan, Peter Meijer. It’s way longer than a 2-minute read, but it really gave me insight into one person’s inside view. I found it fascinating.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-daily/id1200361736
In any case, our responsibility to seek the well-being of our nation remains. Let’s keep working at it and praying for it. Peace to you as well, Jim.
Steve, I am not ready to condemn the prophetic voices regarding this election as false.
Many years ago, the Lord gave me a very specific word concerning my future. From the day I received the word until its fulfillment was 15 very long and arduous years. I was very aware that this word required my daily cooperation with the Holy Spirit to see it come to pass. For years, I prayed for the Lord to keep me in alignment with His purposes for me. For years, I prayed that I would not disqualify myself through disobedience or neglect or loss of hope or twisted teaching. I prayed and fasted and worked toward the maturity I knew I would need in order to walk in the fulness of His promise to me. I rejected the temptations that would often attempt to lure me from the path. After 15 years, I fully realized the promise of the Lord on my life.
Had I not cooperated, had I rejected or neglected the word, had I surrendered to the fatalistic idea that I needed to do nothing and gone about my business as usual with a claim that if God spoke it, it must therefore happen, then, I am certain, I would not have known the promise He gave to me.
I believe the prophetic voices concerning this election were accurate. I believe that God had chosen a frail, weak, broken man in Donald Tromp to lead this nation. I also believe that a large number in the church have rejected the Lord’s will in their decision to vote for Biden. My condemnation is not for the prophets, but for a lethargic church who either stayed home or voted against Trump.
With all of that being said, my prayer this morning was for our president elect and my declaration over him was “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, He turns it like the rivers of water in whatever direction He pleases.” I prayed for his salvation and for God to surround him with people who will advise him wisely.
Thank you for this. As a (non-halo) person also at NC during one of the years you were a prominent student leader there I was pleasantly surprised to read your take on Jan. 6 and the debacle around its instigator in chief. Also raised in an AG pastor’s home, indoctrinated from birth into fundamentalist Pentecostalism, keeping churches going for over four decades, I have left it all. Now aa decade out and happily one of the ‘nones’ it was good to see that there is one AG leader speaking out against the denomination’s and evangelicalism’s obsession with the last President and his Big Lie. I have looked but not found others (and I know how to search, knowing the AG as I do, from the inside). Maybe there is a bit of hope for some kind of a future for some AG and general evangelical churches, given your expressed insights. The statistics, however, are still harrowing for any hope of those still in slavish support leaving the falsehoods behind. (See PRRI – the Public Religion Research Institute for extensive research and data on this issue.) May your voice carry some weight for those inside who may still have ears to hear. Again, thanks.
Thanks so much for responding to my post. I read your posts on WordPress. You write very well. I could identify with many of your experiences and theological musings, though I have come to a different conclusion. I’m sorry to be so late with a response to your comments. After writing a few posts directly around the incursion on the Capitol, I turned my attention to another project. I refocused my doctoral dissertation to the subject of Church unity in an age of extreme partisanship. I worked on it for several months and completed it in January this year. Then I reworked the project into a book this summer and it’s coming out in about a month. Like you, I hope that my work might be a landing place for those who resist the “slavish support of falsehoods.” I also hope it reveals a pathway away from prideful group-think and toward Spirit provoked intellectual humility. We’ll see.