Trumpmageddon?

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

And he hath on his garments and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords. ~Revelation 19:11-16

I want you to look, carefully, at the boldface text above, and see if you see any references to Donald Trump riding a horse made of Gold and gemstones. Are you seeing it? Because I'm sure not...and I've only been reading and/or hearing about this stuff since I could read or understand basic concepts.

I could be wrong here, but I do believe the existence of God and the need to believe in Jesus was probably the very first "Big Idea" I ever was asked to think about or accept on a (for a kid, anyway) serious level. I think I was all of five years old the first time I accepted Christ.

That said; Because reasons, it's not very often that I go entirely Biblical on people when I write about stuff. For one thing, I'm an Agnostic. Theistic or not, I AM an Agnostic and I don't claim to know the nature of God, and I recognize that His existence is something that requires faith, and therefore not empirically testable. Hell, I've been known to question whether God actually exists, here and there.

But apparently, I have more fealty, still, to that which I once referred to as The Truth, than Paula White does.

I do not, and can not and will not understand the tendency of modern "Conservatives," Pentecostals, Prosperity Gospel nuts and Trump Supporters to constantly embellish, exaggerate, lie, make up wild stories, and in general try to obscure that which is actually true in favor of whatever they want to say. After all, if it is what they say it is, should not the Truth be sufficient, the ultimate defense, the we're-right-suck-it-libs Ultimate Answer To Everything?

Well of course it isn't.

Because what they believe simply isn't true.

But it gets worse.

Because of course, it isn't about that.

They're not happy with what, per their own holy book, is supposed to be true.

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

~The Nicene Creed

They aren't happy with what Christian tradition or creeds or theology tell them is supposed to be true, either, because there's no mention of Donald Trump, of one-upping their self-defined enemies and political rivals or of making "Liberals" (which at this point is basically any non-Trump-Supporter to hear them tell it) mad.

Small, mean people, have small, mean ideas, what else do you want to know?

In far too much of American conservative Christianity, the serious, sober, studious, theological faith I was raised in is basically dead. It's all emotionalism and gossip and politics now, with a dash of Evangelicals and Fundamentalists desperately wanting to be popular and liked by the masses despite the fact that Jesus said that if you actually practiced according to how you were supposed to, most people wouldn't like you and the masses would despise you because obviously Christianity came about in an environment where it too was considered a cult, hunted, and persecuted.

And meanwhile, people who think Democrats getting elected to Congress and not being able to persecute gay people, people of color or women are horrible sufferings desperately long for the lash of persecution...or at least claim to...or seek to invent such "persecution" whole-cloth out of thin air because something something Jesus said so.

Never mind that knowing some of these people, as I do, I know that the very first time somebody crucifies an Evangelical for being an Evangelical, the comfortable, gossiping, soft, well-dressed and well-padded Evangelicals will all be looking for the exits when Barbarian Jesus doesn't show up to rescue them.

Biblical Christianity is about the poor and the downtrodden, not the comfortable, wealthy and well-fed. Seriously, even the ancient Hebrews of the Old Testament had a social welfare system of sorts, and a mandated settling of debts and freeing of slaves and such, and these people can't be bothered to support even the most basic social welfare systems in this country?

How does that work, exactly?

These people are drowning in their own Biblical illiteracy and hypocrisy. Modern Evangelicalism isn't about saving souls for the next world, it's about living comfortable, fat and happy in this world. It's about money and politics and race and status and heaping power unto itself not for doing good, or for any purpose...but simply for the sake of having it and trying to force others to do what they want.

And I don't see anything Christian about that.

They don't want a carpenter and itinerant Rabbi, a poor Savior who worked for most of His life, and lived simply but wielded unknown and unknowable spiritual power for a Kingdom not of this world, who stood against the powers of the Empire and religious orthodoxy, only to be crucified for it and buried in a donated tomb, but who rose again and whose teachings ultimately became the basis of a great world religion.

No, they want their ears tickled and to be told how great they are and what they want to hear right now and have glory and power and their supposed "enemies" punished in this life for their own sadistic glee. That kingdom, not of this world? If it even exists, or is given any thought at all? It's at best a stadium from which they can watch the rest of us burn. Heaven is only heaven if they're the only ones who get to go there.

These MAGA-cultists don't want a poor savior buried in a donated tomb of simple stones.

They want that gilded jackass, stuffed and mounted in a glass case by a team of taxidermists like Vladimir Lenin in Red Square in Moscow while marching soldiers with gilded rifles and tanks and ICBM TEL vehicles parade by endlessly, with junkets provided by the State to see it all, because that's what they think strength is, all presided over a "Church" whose sole attributes appear to be cruelty and meanness of spirit and narrowness of mind, because that's what they think holiness looks like.

He who is right is simply he who shouts the loudest and says the worst things.

Truth, whether literal or spiritual, is an inconvenience to their visions.

Where is the grace, or where is the love here? Where are any of the attributes the Bible ascribes to Jesus Christ?

Even as the conquering king of kings, Jesus is adorned simply and riding a plain white horse. As I was taught it, the "Sword that comes out of His mouth" was not some Left Behind style gore fantasy, but simply The Word, spoken.

Because in both ancient and modern times the truth is often likened to a double-edged sword, because if it is the truth it cuts both ways.

Trump, in Paula White's supposed vision, must be seated on some unnatural gold-plated automaton.

And their vision of Armageddon is about revenge, not justice.

And that should tell you all you need to know about these people and what they call religion.

As I've said before; That, my friends, is exactly how you go to hell.