Hello my friends,

I hope you don't mind me sending you this bonus article today (Monday). However, given this week's events, I wanted to share this reflection with you.

Responding To The Entire Bible Being Read In D.C.

The entire Bible will be read in D.C. this week from 9 A.M. on April 19th to 9 P.M. on April 25th for an event called "America Reads the Bible." This is being done in preparation to celebrate the United States’ 250th anniversary as a nation.

Among those slated to read passages are House Speaker Mike Johnson, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and the president. Most participants will read their passages live at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, but some of the more high-profile participants prerecorded their segments for broadcast.

While I have seen many praising this event online, my own heart is filled with grief and lament. Not because the Bible is being read, but because of why it is being read and how it is being used.

Over the course of the last several years, we have seen the Bible and Christianity play a central role in government official’s justification for policies and decisions.

Against the backdrop of states like Idaho, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, and others working to have the Bible read and the Ten Commandments posted in public schools, high-profile leaders have consistently invoked scripture and God’s name from their platforms to encourage continued support from people of faith.

To name just a few examples, we have seen Mike Johnson invoke Romans 13:1, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities,” to justify the administration’s harsh immigration policies.

We have seen the Department of Homeland Security post Isaiah 6:8, “here am I, Lord, send me” in recruitment videos for ICE.

We have seen Pete Hegseth pray in the name of Jesus, “Let every round find its mark against the enemies of righteousness and our great nation. He then prayed for our service members by saying, “Give them wisdom in every decision, endurance for the trial ahead, unbreakable unity, and overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy." He later read from Psalm 18:37, "I pursued my enemies and overtook them, and did not turn back till they were consumed.”

We have seen Paula White-Cain, the Senior Advisor to the White House Faith Office, use the Easter story to compare the president’s suffering to Jesus’ suffering and has said that “Saying no to President Trump would be saying no to God,” while framing his presidency as spiritual warfare.

The president has created his own edition of the Bible, which he sold for $60 apiece for financial and political gain. He held a Bible for a photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church after law enforcement cleared out peaceful protestors with tear gas in Lafayette Square to make a path for him. And after declaring he was going to wipe out an entire civilization, posting an AI image of himself as Jesus, and attacking the Pope online for condemning the war in Iran, he will be reading II Chronicles 7:14 on Tuesday, which says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

This scripture will be read after we have seen food assistance, healthcare, USAID, environmental protections, food protections, diversity initiatives, Black history, public education, immigration services, and more being constantly eroded or slashed altogether since the start of this administration’s term. All while exponentially funding immigration enforcement and defense spending.

The whole Bible will be read after decades during which many within Christianity have declared that ‘we are a Christian nation” and “we must have the Bible inform our laws!”

Is this really the fruit of Christianity? Is this all really the fruit of being devoted to the Bible? Is this really how we want Christianity to be known for in our world?

As a follower of Jesus who deeply believes in the separation of church and state, it not only grieves me to see any religion used by the powerful in this way, but it grieves me even more that it is my sacred faith and our holy scriptures being used to elevate the the rich and powerful and harm the very people Jesus called us to love and serve.

This is a kind of performative Christianity that knows how to read a Bible in public while closing its eyes to the people standing in front of it.

It knows how to quote verses about righteousness while passing laws that deepen hunger.

It knows how to speak of “blessing” while cutting off the poor.

It knows how to invoke God’s name while dehumanizing the immigrant, neglecting the sick, overlooking the disabled, and abandoning the elderly. All of whom are created in the image of the God whose name is being invoked.

It knows how to stand behind a podium and speak of faith while children suffer, creation groans, and power consolidates itself at the expense of the vulnerable.

The irony is that the very Bible to be read this week speaks boldly against this kind of performative religion.

From the beginning, the prophets saw it clearly. They spoke not to outsiders, but to those who claimed to represent God. They warned that worship without justice is not devotion, it is distortion. They declared that when leaders trample the poor and call it prosperity, when they exploit the vulnerable and call it order, they are not serving God at all; they are taking God’s name in vain.

This is the thread that runs through the entire witness of the Bible. The prophets cry out against those who “sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.” They confront rulers who build their lives on the backs of the poor. They expose religious leaders who perform holiness in public while quietly perpetuating harm.

Then comes John the Baptist, standing in the wilderness, calling out a system that had learned to baptize injustice in religious language. His message is not subtle. He calls for repentance. To bear fruit that reflects a changed life. To not presume that religious pedigree and proximity to power is the same as faithfulness to God.

And then comes Jesus.

Jesus, who announces good news to the poor, not to those enriching themselves at their expense. Jesus, who identifies himself with the hungry, the imprisoned, the stranger, the sick.

Jesus, who overturns tables when worship becomes a marketplace of exploitation.

Jesus, who reserves his most severe words not for the broken or the outsider, but for the powerful who burden others in God’s name.

He speaks of leaders who tie up heavy loads and lay them on others’ shoulders while refusing to lift a finger to help.

He teaches how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the gates of heaven.

He warns of those who clean the outside of the cup while leaving the inside full of greed.

He grieves over those who claim to guide others toward God, but in doing so, lead them deeper into harm.

This is not a side note in the teachings of Jesus. It is central. Because when power uses Scripture to justify itself while neglecting the very people Scripture calls us to love, something sacred is being twisted. The Bible becomes a tool not of liberation, but of control. Not of truth, but of image. Not of life, but of death.

And the damage is not abstract.

It is felt in empty stomachs.

It is felt in families torn apart.

It is felt in bodies left without care.

It is felt in communities pushed to the margins.

It is felt in the earth itself, bearing the weight of human greed.

When those in power publicly align themselves with Christianity while enacting policies and practices that harm the vulnerable, they are not simply making political decisions. They are shaping what the world believes Christianity is.

They are discipling people, not into the way of Jesus, but into a version of faith that looks nothing like him.

And that breaks my heart. I think it should break all our hearts. Because the credibility of our witness is not built on how loudly we speak of God, but on how faithfully we reflect God’s character.

“These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” -Jesus (Matt. 15:8)

The call, then, is not to withdraw or to remain silent. It is to be clear.

It is to remember that following Jesus has never meant giving unchecked loyalty to those in power, especially when they claim his name while contradicting his life.

It is to recover the courage of the prophets, who loved God and people enough to speak truth to power.

It is to practice the clarity of John the Baptist, who refused to baptize injustice with religious language. The conviction of Jesus, who stood with the vulnerable and confronted those who harmed them.

And it is to take responsibility. Because when harm is justified in the name of Jesus, and Christians say nothing, the silence becomes a complicit agreement.

So we speak. Not out of partisan loyalty, as if this is a “left vs right” issue, but out of faithfulness. Not to hate, but to call back. Not to gain power, but to protect people.

We speak because the hungry matter.

The poor matter.

The sick matter.

The immigrant matters.

The disabled matter.

The elderly matter.

The marginalized matter.

The excluded matter.

Children matter.

Creation matters.

They all matter to God.

And if those who claim the name of Jesus are shaping the reputation of that name in the world, then we must also hold them accountable to it just as we hold ourselves accountable.

Because the world is watching. God is watching.

And the question they are asking is not simply what we believe, but whether the Jesus we proclaim looks anything like the way we live and the kind of world we are creating.

My fragile hope and prayer is that while those who are reading the Bible this week hear their own voices speak those sacred words, maybe, just maybe, the love of Jesus will soften their hearts and open an opportunity for change and healing.

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

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 Day Devotional: I wrote a daily devotional in hopes to provide a companion for people seeking to follow Jesus through the season of we are currently navigating together. You can find out more below: $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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