
King George III
Friday night court evangelical roundup
What have Trump’s evangelicals been saying since our last update?
Jentezen is worried about the radical left controlling churches:
California’s Governor just banned singing/chanting at church. Catholics can’t recite mass; Evangelicals can’t worship out loud. The very definition of discrimination is to allow thousands to march and scream without masks while telling churches 100 or less that you cannot sing.
— Jentezen Franklin (@Jentezen) July 3, 2020
Christians must realize the radical left will restrict & control church if we don’t vote our faith this November!
Are you registered to vote your faith? pic.twitter.com/WGPcFHCKzr
— Jentezen Franklin (@Jentezen) July 3, 2020
Jack Graham is asking people to wear their military uniforms to church on Sunday. Why do white evangelicals always appeal to the Armed Forces, and only the Armed Forces, on July 4th?
We’re looking forward to our annual Patriotic Service this weekend honoring all those who have bravely served or are currently serving our country in the Armed Forces. Please invite any of these heroes you know to join us so that we may honor them. pic.twitter.com/nEAN61wN79
— Prestonwood Baptist (@Prestonwood) July 2, 2020
I am really confused by both Paula White’s retweet and Samuel Rodriguez’s original tweet:
Rev. Rodriquez is correct! What the virus has revealed is how willing the radical left is to discriminate against religion. Treating comminunities of faith unequally is unconstitutional. It is illegal. https://t.co/ndWR9phkIn
— Paula White-Cain (@Paula_White) July 3, 2020
I am also confused by this tweet. What has history told us, Paula?
What’s next? 🤔. I think history has told us!! God move on Your people and let our spiritual eyes be open in the name of Jesus! https://t.co/IwlBoJjsGp
— Paula White-Cain (@Paula_White) July 3, 2020
James Robison makes it sound like “profanity, pornography, and exploitation” are new things in America:
If the ideas set forth by the purveyors of profanity, pornography and exploitation become the prevalent mind-set in America, the foundations of our freedom will have cracked. Ultimately, our nation will deteriorate and true freedom will be lost.
— James Robison (@revjamesrobison) July 3, 2020
Robert Jeffress tweets the Great Commission:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19 pic.twitter.com/YOUKx6FGjH
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) July 3, 2020
I’ve always wondered why so many Christian Right preachers stop after Matthew 28:19. Don’t they realize that the Great Commission continues into verse 20: “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
If the Great Commission means we should be observing all Jesus commanded us, Christians should rejoice when persecuted (Mt.5:11-12), be agents of reconciliation (Mt. 5:23-25), tell the truth (Mt. 5:37), turn the other cheek (Mt. 5:38-42), love their enemies (Mt. 5:44-46), stop practicing their righteousness before men (Mt. 6:1), judge not (Mt. 7:1-3), not cast their pearls before pigs (Mt. 7:6), practice the Golden Rule (Mt. 7:12), follow the 81% narrow way (Mt. 7:13-14), beware of false prophets (Mt. 7:15-16), pray for laborers (Mt. 9:37-38), fear not (Mt. 10:28), defend their rights deny themselves (Lk 9:23-25), celebrate the poor (Luke 14:12-14), and welcome strangers (Mt. 25:35).
Jeffress is also mad about the California prohibition against singing in church. It looks like he got the news from the alt-Right, white nationalist website Breitbart:
The “science” that allows for protests but prohibits singing in church is “fake science” that must be rejected. If being outside makes protests safe, then why are beaches being shut down? https://t.co/ofa12FBij8
— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) July 3, 2020
Eric Metaxas is devoting his entire show today to re-running this.
Richard Land explains why we should still celebrate July 4th “amid this mayhem.” He uses his Christian Post editorial to attack critical race theory. Not a good look coming from the guy who said this.
Pastor Mark Burns thanks Trump for protecting Confederate monuments:
Thank you for standing strong and protecting American History. The Left sounds like Nazi Germany, when they begin to burn books and historical artifacts. Good or Bad, American History is American History and needs to be remembered.
— Pastor Mark Burns (@pastormarkburns) June 26, 2020
The Falkirk Center at Liberty University is using Edmund Burke to defend Confederate monuments and the white supremacy they represent.
So called “progressives” have failed to realize that by erasing history and spitting on the graves of their predecessors, they are digressing rather than progressing. We cannot improve as a society if we do not recognize the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past. pic.twitter.com/RmKThENVki
— Falkirk Center (@falkirk_center) July 3, 2020
I have many questions about this tweet, but here are two:
- Would the Falkirk Center feel the same way about George III, Parliament and British tyranny? Would they tear down monuments?
- Would the Falkirk Center like this “good, bad, and ugly” approach to American history to be applied to public school American history textbooks?
It looks like Trump will be “telling the truth” tonight in South Dakota. Here is what Falkirk Center spokesperson Jenna Ellis retweeted earlier today:
🚨 To celebrate Independence Day, @realDonaldTrump is going to tell the TRUTH about American history—and the truth about the people tearing down our statues/history. At the foot of Mount Rushmore tonight, our @POTUS will defend and celebrate America’s founding. TUNE IN! 🇺🇸
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 3, 2020
I am watching the crowd assembling at this event right now. No social distancing. No masks. The president’s job is to protect the people. This rally is immoral.
Until next time.
The Tail of George III’s Horse
On July 9, 1776, colonial soldiers pulled down a statue of George III on horseback located at Bowling Green, New York City. It is a famous story of revolutionary resistance. Most of the broken statue was sent to Litchfield, Connecticut where the lead was melted into musket balls.
But one part of the statue did not make it to Litchfield. The blog of the New York Historical Society tells the story of the horse’s tail. Here is a taste:
After the gold was removed, the broken statue was carted off to Litchfield, CT, where the 4,000 pounds of lead were supposed to be melted down into musket balls for the coming war. In all, over 40,000 balls were made, but some key segments went missing along the way: The head, for instance, was apparently returned to England, where it disappeared from record. As for other pieces, the legend goes that the cart’s drivers stopped in a tavern in Wilton, CT, and local loyalists took the opportunity to spirit some of the segments away—including the horse’s tail.
What happened to the tail after that is not known. Nearly 100 years passed before it and several other pieces were found in a swamp near a Wilton farm in 1871. They were irresistible artifacts of the American Revolution, and in 1878, members of the New-York Historical Society banded together to purchase the fragments for one hundred dollars. They’ve been in our collection ever since, and the horse’s tail is currently on view in our second floor Dexter Gallery.
Read the entire piece here.
I Knew It! The British are Behind the Mueller Probe!
If Christian Right radio and television host Rick Wiles is correct, this song from the Broadway musical Hamilton explains everything:
That’s right. The British let the colonies go and they are still angry about it. They are SO angry that they are secretly working to undermine Donald Trump. (HT: Kyle Mantyla).
By the way, the 1960s “British invasion” is also part of this.
Here’s Wiles:
“I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love”
The prep for my “Age of Hamilton” course is going fine. It is scheduled to run in Fall 2019. I am currently working on an interpretation of these songs:
I am finding Brendan McConnville’s The King’s Three Faces: The Rise and Fall of Royal America, 1688-1776 to be indispensable on this front. (I reviewed this book back in 2007).