Seek to be peacemakers - and not partisans, US evangelicals are urged
en staff
Date posted: 4 Nov 2024
US evangelicals are being urged to act as peacemakers rather than partisans, as the drama of the 2024 Presidential election result unfolds.
Writing in The Times in the UK, leading evangelical scientist and author Dr Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project from 1993, urges: 'Take up the mantle of a peacemaker; you will be blessed; you may even be called a child of God.'
US vote: High stakes & tribalism - what difference does Jesus make?
Russell Moore
Date posted: 4 Nov 2024
'Here we are, right at the end, and the election is a coin toss.' A friend said that to me just a few minutes ago, referring to the razor-thin polling margins between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
A few thousand votes one way or the other in as few as three swing states could produce radically different alternatives for the future of the country.
USA: Hope for Christians fed up with political choice?
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 30 Sep 2024
Many believe that November’s US Presidential election is a two-horse race between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump. That is not the case; smaller parties and candidates can and do take part, although their chances of winning the Presidency are zero.
One party on November’s ballot is the American Solidarity Party (ASP), a Christian Democratic organisation that was founded in 2011 and has numerous active state and local chapters. Peter Sonski is the party’s nominee in 2024. The ASP is socially conservative and believes that all people are created with an equal and inviolable dignity before God.
Christian Nationalism: A new Biblical critique of its dangers
Jim Sayers
Date posted: 27 Sep 2024
In the past six years as a church planter, I have met several unchurched young white men who want to investigate the gospel because they reject secular liberalism and the rainbow agenda.
They think we are throwing away our Christian heritage, but don’t really know what it is. Their starting point includes a suspicion of mass immigration (one called it a form of genocide), a fierce patriotism, a fear of Islam, and a strong antipathy to alternative sexualities. Some of them had already connected online with Christian men in other countries who run forest training camps to build physical and spiritual muscle. As we explored the gospel together, this strong nationalism faded as they grasped God’s grace in Christ and came to faith.
If you’re a Bible-believing evangelical Christian, you will vote for Trump
Richard Morgan
Date posted: 28 Aug 2024
I had once assumed that while ‘evangelicals’ overwhelmingly voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, the word ‘evangelical’ was loose. I assumed a cultural sense to the word ‘evangelical’.
Surely, if you were serious about your faith, your Trump-mania would be dialed down? Surely, it would be the racist, xenophobic ‘evangelicals in name only’ – who rarely attend church, and have a cultural and not a personal faith – that were behind the rise and presidency of Donald J. Trump.
Trump/Jesus comparisons ‘a disgrace’
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jul 2024
Christian author and broadcaster Krish Kandiah is condemning those US Christian leaders who have compared Jesus’ trial before Pontius Pilate with Donald Trump’s recent criminal convictions.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Kandiah said: ‘To compare Trump to Jesus is a disgrace,’ and: ‘To make any kind of justification for Trump’s actions by comparing him to Jesus is a serious, indeed a blasphemous, suggestion’.
Evangelicals and Trump
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
Dear Editor,
I was saddened by Martyn Whittock’s exceedingly long and blistering attack upon Donald Trump and those US evangelicals that choose to support him (‘How US evangelicals could affect the entire world’). I am far from being any fan of Trump – his vast ego, thin skin, and graceless speech, make for a toxic combination. It is no wonder that so many are offended by him.
Wayne Grudem calls for Trump to exit presidential race
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Feb 2024
Prominent theologian and author Wayne Grudem, whose works include the best-selling Systematic Theology, is urging former President Donald Trump to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
Grudem, who voted Republican in 2016 and 2020, applauds Trump's judicial appointments and his foreign, economic and immigration policies. He also warns against another Democratic administration, which he believes would appoint more liberal justices; increase taxes; fuel inflation and increase the total US debt burden.
Javier Milei: Do cry for me, Argentina?
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Jan 2024
The Church Mission Society (CMS), which absorbed the South American Mission Society (SAMS) in 2009, has responded to the election of far-right populist outsider Javier Milei as the new President of Argentina.
Speaking exclusively to Evangelicals Now, CMS spokesperson Naomi Steinberg commented: ‘From a mission point of view, we can see that the political, economic and environmental situation in Argentina is precarious and needs much prayer. Our people in mission in the region are praying that the new President will be surrounded by a leadership team that is wise, compassionate and full of integrity’.
the ENd word
Avoiding money’s pitfalls
Lizzy Smallwood
Date posted: 1 Nov 2023
For a time in the endWord, we are receiving some spiritual heart surgery as we look at the letter of James. He uncovers some of our more insidious, respectable sins and cautions us from fatally wandering from the truth (James 5:19-20)
It seems that we are always facing a choice as we wander through this life: two pathways – the pathway of Obedience: faith and trust which leads to wisdom, or the pathway of Pride: a wilful double-mindedness that leads to folly and destruction.
Trump, the US & the cross
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
Dear Editor,
The States were untied long before Donald Trump appeared (editorial September 23 en).
How the inconceivable was conceived: The evolution of a new sexual morality
Steve Donald
Date posted: 2 Apr 2024
Christians have a problem with culture. Especially with the huge disconnect that has developed between the church and the Western World in the last forty or fifty years. How are we to respond to these changes?
Take the example of contemporary films and TV. Christians may be shocked when ministers such as myself watch contemporary films, films which themselves reflect the culture in which we live. Of course, clearly toxic films and TV series should be avoided because of their content. We must exercise discernment, but we must also engage with culture. We are to be ‘in the world but not of it’ (John 17:16).
earth watch
Hairstreaks and habitats
Simon Marsh
Date posted: 1 Apr 2023
One of my simple pleasures in life is going for a walk in a bluebell wood in Spring. It’s something I really missed when living in Africa, and during lockdown, so we try to make an annual pilgrimage to a local wood.
We pick a time when the wood is covered with a blue carpet of flowers, together with pale yellow primroses and white wood anemones. It’s a joyful Creation experience.
The US in turmoil: what next for US evangelicals?
Gerald Bray
Date posted: 1 Feb 2021
As en was going to press, Joe Biden was due to be sworn in as President, with more trouble predicted on the streets. Gerald Bray, distinguished Professor of Historical Theology at Knox Theological Seminary, and Director of Research for the Latimer Trust at Oak Hill in London, reports exclusively for en from the United States.
When Donald Trump lost the election last November there was one thing that everybody agreed on – he would not go quietly.
Trump is Haman?
Twitter
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
If the book of Esther was performed today, Haman would be played by Donald Trump.
That’s the view of well-known evangelical preacher and writer Andrew Wilson on Twitter at @AJWTheology. He cited various verses from Esther to draw the parallel, including Esther 6:6 – ‘Whom would the king wish to honour more than me?’
US Analysis: The (Dis-)United States of America
Martyn Whittock
Date posted: 1 Aug 2022
The USA is deeply divided.
Even as it was learning about the recent Supreme Court decisions on abortion, gun rights, and environmental protection, citizens were also watching the ‘January 6th’ hearings explore more of how Trump had urged an inflamed crowd – which, allegedly, he knew to be armed – to march down to the Capitol to ‘stop the steal’; but also to ‘fight like hell’ for what they wanted. And, allegedly, he would have accompanied them, if his security agents had not prevented him.
Why do some US evangelicals still support Donald Trump?
By evangelical historian, Martyn Whittock
How strong is evangelical support for Donald Trump now? How has his recent bout of Covid affected that perception? And watching from outside the US, how is it possible Bible believing Christians can back such an extraordinary figure?
Evangelical Futures: Should we ditch the term ‘evangelical’ in the Trump era?
Jonny Raine
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
‘What kind of church is yours?’ Ever been asked that by someone who isn’t a Christian? I’m never quite sure what to say. ‘Evangelical’ – I suppose!
I’ve often wondered about whether the term, evangelical, is one that will continue to be worthwhile using. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. You can’t say it has an immediate connection with those who aren’t in the know. Its potential for being misconstrued is quite significant as well. With that in mind, is it worth ditching the term altogether and perhaps use a different label?
'Trust God to work, no matter who is in office'
In what was expected to be a narrowly won election, former US President Donald Trump declared victory Wednesday morning after securing crucial ground in the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
Speaking from Florida, the 47th US president addressed supporters promising to deliver the golden age of America over his next term in office. 'Many people have told me that God spared my life for a reason and that reason was to save our country and restore America to greatness, and now we are going to fulfil that mission together,' the President said.