Thursday night, February 5th, the president of the United States shared a video on his Truth Social account  portraying the Obamas as apes. I want to be unmistakably clear about why this matters. This is not a joke. This is not “edgy humor.” This is not politics as usual. Comparing Black people to apes is one of the oldest, most poisonous lies in the history of racism. It is the foundational myth that has been used to justify slavery, segregation, lynching, and ongoing dehumanization. It is the lie that says some people are closer to animals and others closer to God.

And this came immediately after a National Prayer Breakfast where Paula White-Cain stood at a microphone and declared that this same man is the greatest champion of Christianity America has ever known.

We must lament and sit with that dissonance.

At that breakfast, Jesus’ name was spoken, prayers were offered, Scripture was referenced and then the gathering was handed over to the president for his typical a performance of ego, grievance, and cruelty. What should have been a moment of humility became a spectacle of self-congratulation. The familiar claims returned: enemies everywhere, elections stolen, immigrants reduced to criminals, violence praised as virtue. Bombs were described as blessings. Brutality was framed as spiritual renewal. Pastors were warned, half joking, half not, that faithfulness would be rewarded by not having their tax exemption revoked if it aligned with him and punished by having it revoked if they did not.

And the most grievous thing is that the room applauded. The room of those claiming to follow Jesus applauded.

What should trouble us most is not that Donald Trump behaves like Donald Trump. What should break our hearts is that so much of American Christianity treated this as normal, even worthy of prayer, applause, and honor.

This comes on top of his long record of cruelty, his open contempt for the vulnerable, shaping policy that will strip people of needed healthcare, food assistance, rolling back environmental protections and food protections, aid that will not only harm people in this country but around the world, and his cover-ups of abuse, and his grotesque mishandling of the Epstein files.

These are not personality quirks or “drawing a hard line.” These are matters of truth, justice, and the protection of the innocent. Scripture has names for these things, and none of them are flattering.

What we are witnessing is not merely a political failure. It is a spiritual crisis. Why isn’t every Christian in the United States asking with a broken heart, how has the church arrived here? And take this moment seriously. 

It reveals how easily American Christianity is tempted to trade its witness and its integrity for proximity to wealth and power. We are watching faith be hollowed out and repurposed, not to follow Jesus, but to shield cruelty, excuse racism, and sanctify domination.

This is one of those moments in the Gospel where Jesus does not offer a gentle parable. This is the moment where He flips tables. Where He names the corruption. Where He says plainly: You have turned a house of prayer into a den of thieves.

Many of us who follow Jesus have refused to support this from the beginning, long before the 2016 election, and the cost has been real. Broken relationships, lost communities, professional consequences, spiritual exile, and more. We have watched cruelty, corruption, misogyny, and white supremacy march forward masquerading as Christian , and it has wounded us deeply. If this is not the line where the Church stands together, if the dehumanization of our neighbors, the excusing of abuse, and the public mockery of repentance do not call us to unified witness, then we must ask what ever will.

To my conservative Christian friends, hear this as an invitation, not an accusation: choosing not to support Donald Trump is not choosing to abandon conservatism or Christianity. The movement he is leading is neither. It does not conserve truth, virtue, constitutional order, or moral responsibility. It is a far-right project that has hijacked both conservatism for an overly authoritarian agenda. The only interest the president has in Christianity is to use it as a tool of manipulation, oppression, and self-serving power.

To step away from that is not betrayal. It is fidelity. It is integrity.

But this word is not only for conservatives. It is for the whole Church especially in the United States.

Scripture does not leave us without guidance here.

Through the prophet Amos, God speaks to a people who loved worship but hated justice:

“I hate, I despise your religious festivals;

your assemblies are a stench to me.

Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them.

But let justice roll on like a river,

righteousness like a never-failing stream.”

(Amos 5:21-23).

God is not rejecting worship because God dislikes singing or prayer. God rejects worship that is disconnected from justice, worship that masks oppression, worship that allows cruelty to continue unchecked. God is saying: Do not sing to Me while harming My children. Do not pray to Me while dehumanizing those made in My image.

Justice, Amos says, is not a trickle. It is a flood.

Righteousness is not a slogan. It is a way of life.

The question before the American Church is simple and terrifying: will we be known for our public displays of claiming Jesus as our own while completely denying his teachings, or for our faithfulness? For our access to power and wealth, or our allegiance to loving God and our neighbors?

Will we be known for our public outrage over things like Super Bowl halftime shows or Olympic opening ceremonies and our silence or even our support of our fellow human beings being brutalized, dehumanized, silenced, and extinguished? 

Will we be known for our demand to post the 10 Commandments in public places while we cheer on those in positions of power who ignore and even break those same commandments?

Will we be known for advocating our desire for power or our passion for the teachings of Jesus?

 we will be known by our fruits. What fruit do we want to bear in the world? Matthew 3:8 says to “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”

It is not too late to repent. But repentance requires truth, courage, and a humility.

It requires us to put the love of God and love of neighbor over the worship of power and control.

We must be honest that Christians are not known by our love for one another in our country right now. We must do the honest and hard work of understanding and embodying that love of Christ once again.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” -John 13:35

Love must be our reputation.

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Now I'd like to hear from you! Did you find this helpful? What thoughts came to your mind as you read? Feel free to respond to this email and share your thoughts with me. I look forward to reading them. A 30 Day Devotional: I recently wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus in our world today. You can read more about it here: $20.00 Following Jesus In A World Obsessed With Empires: 30 Days of reclaiming the hope, compassion, and justice of Jesus. Today, our world can often feel overwhelmed by darkness, division, and despair. I created this 30-day devotional to... Read more Get it now! ​ Ways to support: If you'd like to support this project, you can do so through one-time-gift of any amount you feel is right. You can also subscribe through a $5/mo, $15/mo, or $25/mo. Several others have also asked for a recurring gift option that is different from the ones offered here, like this one. If you'd like me to set up a different option for you, please just send me an email with the word "support" in the subject line. As always, I really want to thank all of you for reading and for all the ways you support me and this project every single week. I'm thankful for the ways we are building this together and hope it creates a lasting, positive change in our world along the way! I sincerely appreciate you all, Ben Remember, you can now view this and all previous newsletters as well as invite friends to join through this link: https://benjamin-cremer.ck.page/profile.

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