The depths of one's faith and consistency of one's praxis/ witness can be measured by the amount of compromise one engages in for personal agenda or policy lust.

We are now officially less than a week of news cycles away from the GOP saying “Trump didn’t do anything wrong. After all the girl was 15.”

This is an astute point. Ladies, your voices matter. Thank God for your voices. May every man who ignores those voices or tries to minimize them repent.

The Dems caving on the shutdown to people who are literally stripping HC and starving people … demonstrates why they’ll lose in the midterms. And why they should. MAGA has no moral spine. And now the Dems show they don’t either. Sigh.

Correct.

I hate to be the one to tell MAGA Christen this … but Charlie Kirk held the same views as Tucker Carlson still does. Standing up for Kirk at the same time you whine about Carlson isn’t just tone deaf … it shows a total lack of self-awareness and critical thinking.

1/ The Pendulum Swings: As people celebrate MAGA getting its fingers stepped on in last night's elections, we should take a moment for sober reflection. Last night set the stage for a potential MAGA win in 2026 midterms.

If you want to understand the gestalt of American Christian Nationalism, consider this: CN adherents demand the govt to police sex and birth, be an engine to enforce Christian mores ... but not feed the hungry or offer succor to those who lack. CN is narcissism wrapped in Christ's burial clothes.

Refusing to love your neighbor is a fruit of Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism, above all else, is an ideology of self. Every Christian Nationalist worships not God but an idol that wears the face they see in the mirror.

Something, something, autopen.

There is nothing that demonstrates more strongly that America is firmly in a post-Christian era … than the fact that believers (even clergy) are arguing over whether hungry and marginalized people are worth feeding.

1/ Today, the lectionary base for my Sunday homily includes Habakkuk 1:1-4 and 2:1-4. In the first, the prophet decries the injustice of the day. In the second, he reminds us of God’s consistency and that He will inevitably answer all evil with holy justice.

Perfect.

However bad you think the Epstein files are for Trump ... they must far worse than we imagine if he's going to bomb South America to deflect. www.mediaite.com/media/news/t...

Every single man should hope to one day have a wife that holds him the way Erika Kirk holds JD Vance. /s PS That pic of them is fascinating.

1/ New Episode! In this one, @wearenotenemies.bsky.social and Bon talk about the war on the poor, Allie Stuckey's Islamophobia and use of the other as culture war/Christian Nationalist fodder, the patient practice of Christian witness, and Ben tells one of the best Presbyterian jokes, ever.

May we always remember that the war against poverty and lack is less a war against economic injustice and abusive political systems … and more a war against our own fallen human nature.

Here's what Vance isn't saying: The Quota Act of 21 and the Immigration Act 24 both exempted people migrating from the West. IA24 outright banned Asians. What Vance means when he says "common community" is "white people." MAGA is, functionally, an iteration of the NSDAP. x.com/Acyn/status/...

1/ There are a few rather specific reasons so many of the compromised MAGA Christen do not want to take any responsibility for the care of their fellow citizens.

1/ Vance consistently remembers to wear his white hood in every interview. Our old neighbors, to our left, were white Americans who had 7 kids, and had a grandparent and two uncles living them. Yard was always trashed. Garbage cans always full and smelly. House falling apart.

If you want to measure the depth of a person's praxis and how closely it aligns with Christ's lived example, commands, and words, just examine whether they offer reasons why they shouldn't have to help the needy or take care of the sick, as individuals OR as citizens.

I seriously need to consider dropping Twitter. Every time I get on there, my inner trunk monkey takes over. Sigh. m.youtube.com/watch?v=sTXu...

When you see someone slam Tim Keller, because he chose to not sully himself with partisanship or unite the Cross with Caesar for gain ... remember this: Those maligning him, do so because they either seek Caesar's power or are shamed by Keller's inviting and consistent witness.

The MAGA opposition to SNAP isn't about budget constraints ... it's about deciding who is worthy of mercy. To the Christian, EVERY person is worthy of mercy. Every person has inherent limitless value. Every person is someone to love, in words and deed.

Do you know why abortion has become the single largest issue in the modern evangelical world? Because for most evangelicals, it’s far easier and self-inflating to follow an idol than it is to live a patient sacrificial example of Christ. Evangelical virtue signaling.

Pretty soon the easiest way to tell who is MAGA … will be to see who has a migraine or polio.

Any time anyone says "What about the homeless vets?" ... point them to the cost of Trump's Epstein Ballroom.

Neil's comment is the kind of logic that not only has led to women being stepped on, but enables abuse. Feminism is NOT the opposite of patriarchy. It is not a "leadership" paradigm. Feminism is the acknowledgement that women have the same agency, voice, and value as men.

Jenny's new thread is excellent journalism. For those who are not aware "Aligned Communities" is the new version of "White Neighbors Only." It's been bouncing around the alt-right lexicon for a while, but now has hit the mainstream in Right/Christian Nationalist/Nativist circles

One of the most common rhetorical tactics used by abusers is "You would be so much worse off without me. Everything you do have is because of me. Show some gratitude!" MAGA is a constant exercise in debasement. MAGA must love the taste of boot-leather. Sad. www.mediaite.com/media/news/i...

Sean, you literally stand with a man who is a legally adjudicated rapist, a convicted felon, a self-confessed molester, and who was best friends with Epstein and NOW protects Epstein's girlfriend. With that under your belt, why aren't you cheering Bill's fellatio?

Dear MAGA, in case you haven't realized it yet ...you're just Trump's livestock. Your taxes will pay this. He's going to milk you all dry until all that is left is an empty husk that cries "Why didn't someone warn us?" You were warned, and yet you persisted. www.mediaite.com/politics/tru...

“Donny … are you telling me that you lost another set of Neo-Nazi racist group chats?”

1/ New Episode! @wearenotenemies.bsky.social and Bon talk Josh Howerton's use of critical theory, what the Gospel DOESN'T depend on, "Biblical" as a weapon, the drop in church attendance. Plus, Ben offers his sincere Billy Graham impersonation, and shows off his Sociology and PoliSci bonafides.

If you measure your success and faithfulness as a Christian by your ability/power to force cultural change ... your faith is based on Caesar, not Christ. Christ commands us to point to what is better and will be in Christ's kingdom via sacrificial example, not cultural control.

Today is the anniversary of the Burning of Falmouth. Let those with ears, hear.

1/ One of my grandmothers came to America by working on a boat that came to Chicago from across the ocean. She jumped into the water and swam ashore, in the November cold, to join her husband who was already here. She was a fisherman's wife ... not a gang member nor a mental patient.

Remember folks ... it's ALL Babylon. Every. Single. Bit. Of. It. When we take that to heart, we stop seeking control and start looking for ways to point/take people to safety.

1/ It says something rather specific when one’s metric for gauging the spread of Christian belief is based on sales numbers rather than lives changed and the wounded healed.

Trump is trying to get Democrats killed.

1/ A dirty secret about pastoring in the MAGA era: Keeping politics out of the pulpit, and fostering a peaceful congregation is not the same thing as refusing to stand up for truth and what it right. The pulpit isn't just for teaching, but is to be a wall against abuse by civic and political powers.

1/ The new cycle of quibbling over the definition of Christian Nationalism is silly. CN has a denotative definition and exists on a spectrum, which sadly gives room to CN adherents to try and defend it. However, the fastest and simplest way to define Christian Nationalism is by its fruit.

Looks like MAGA has gone full Soviet. Now they’re setting prices and seizing the means of production. Lol. www.cnbc.com/2025/10/15/t... finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-a...

1/ New Episode! @wearenotenemies.bsky.social & Bon talk again with historian @hollybfletcher.bsky.social about her just released book "The Missionary Kids" the cost of personal discipleship, when faith costs something of others, & how to navigate the divide hurt causes between people.

1/ One of the most fascinating self-contradictions found in the MAGA Christen/Christian Nationalist ecosystem is their intentionally uneven pursuit of the coming Kingdom of Christ, and their lack of lived example demonstrating what it will look like.

Trump so badly wants to emulate Jimmy Carter, someone his ecosystem vilifies … when in reality the best he can emulate is gross blending of Cleveland, Wilson, and Harding.

My father is edging close to the century mark, with all the normal flubs and slowdowns of age ... and STILL sounds at least 9,000 times more coherent than Trump did in that clip. We're governed by a leader who has a rabid squirrel in his head instead of a brain.

1/ Food for Thought: My son and wife joined me on a work trip over the summer in Switzerland. Did some preaching, a few lectures, and finished some archival research. Along the way we did a little sightseeing, and managed to visit the site of Felix Manz's execution.