The Rich Man and Lazarus.

Luke 16:19-31New International Version (NIV)

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’

25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received evil things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,28 for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29 “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’

30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

I keep seeing this thing about this Trump Supporter saying he'd believe Trump over Jesus. I keep thinking; "Are you fucking kidding me?"

My thinking is that when both Trump and this dude are wandering around hell or the Underworld or whatever, together, then maybe they can both put their two empty heads together and figure out where they both went wrong.

What this dude (who is apparently some kind of small business owner) specifically said was:

“If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, 'Hold on a second. I need to check with the president if it's true.’”

Now hang on, did you see what I just saw? "If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross..."

Hold on. Let me see if I remember how this goes "We believe in one Savior, who died, rose from the dead and is coming again" (For the record, that's a line from the official doctrines of the Baptist church I once belonged to.) In other words, according to pretty much every Christian affirmation or doctrine or whatever that I have ever heard...Jesus, the risen Lord and Savior, is by definition NOT still on the Cross. But then I guess if one doesn't believe Jesus actually rose from the dead...or accepts the man-centered, Christ-less Christianity-for-Man's-approval that is taught in many churches today, or subscribes to the Prosperity Gospel or Young Earth Creationism...belief that Donald Trump is one's real Lord and Savior might somehow follow.

I laid all this out for a co-worker at work last night, and explained the whole situation. His response? "Well, then that guy's going to hell." For the record this dude is a socialist-leaning liberal who (so far as I know) isn't religious in the least. Yet he's capable of figuring out the perfectly obvious (from a Christian perspective) so why are so many Christians so (willfully) deluded?

What happened to Conservatives, that liberals now seem to be the ones who are (in reality) more in tune with the doctrines and teachings of Christianity?

Well...to throw something out there that Roland Martin brought up on his show yesterday (My roommate was watching his show via DVR when I was typing yesterday's blog post) his theory is that White Privilege is now at war with morality. That follows, if you understand that the true genesis of the modern Religious Right was in opposition to Brown vs. Board of Education, resistance to desegregation, and the founding of "Christian" private schools...often called "Segregation Academies" throughout the South.

Also, if somebody is badly taught, misguided or stupid enough to believe that Jesus was white (or that Christianity is somehow the "tribal religion" of white people) in spite of all the obvious evidence to the contrary...and they don't exercise their god-given capability and right to seek the Truth on their own...then they deserve whatever they get, full stop.

Listen here: Cults, false prophets and false teaching destroy people's lives. As far as I'm concerned this right-wing shit turned into a cult years ago. It's not even close to about Jesus, or morality. It's about power, pure and simple.

But always remember, there's always going to be a Power greater than you and greater than any power that Man can come up with, and whatever power and wealth you have in this life may well count against you in the next.

...And if you trust in Donald Trump more than you trust in God? You're a damned fool and I'll gladly tell you so to your face and cite chapter and verse of Scripture to back it up.

The Truth is what it is, whatever one's interpretation of the God of Abraham, whether you're talking any of the myriad kinds of Christianity, or Judaism, or Islam...or even offshoots like Mormonism or Rastafari...the Truth doesn't change that much between them. The truth is that the story of the rich man and Lazarus was a common tale in Middle Eastern mythology in ancient times.

The truth is that most religions teach some variation of the theme that the powerful will be brought low and the powerless will be raised up.

The Truth is, look around, look at how these Trump Supporters are acting.

Do you really think even someone rising from the dead, or whatever, would dissuade these people from their cult-like worship of Donald Trump?

I'm a former member of the End Times Prophecy Movement, I stopped believing in that kind of thing years ago.

As far as at least some of it, in particular the teachings about the AntiChrist and the false religion of the Beast as described in Revelation goes, though, I may have to reevaluate that position if this garbage keeps up.