What Hurts God? A for-profit false prophet

“A completely deranged Trump claims Joe Biden will ‘hurt God’ if elected president.” – Timothy Burke

“He’s following the radical-left agenda: take away your guns, destroy your Second Amendment, no religion, no anything, hurt the Bible, hurt God.” – Donald Trump

“Like so many people, my faith has been the bedrock foundation of my life: it’s provided me comfort in moments of loss and tragedy, it’s kept me grounded and humbled in times of triumph and joy. And in this moment of darkness for our country — of pain, of division, and of sickness for so many Americans — my faith has been a guiding light for me and a constant reminder of the fundamental dignity and humanity that God has bestowed upon all of us. For President Trump to attack my faith is shameful. It’s beneath the office he holds and it’s beneath the dignity the American people so rightly expect and deserve from their leaders.” – Joe Biden

Dear Donald.

I heard you claim that Joe Biden will “hurt God.”

I understand that you don’t know anything about the God Joe Biden has spent his life worshipping and following and praying to.

I know that actual spirituality is something foreign to your heart, that authentic faith is antithetical to who you are and how you view the world.

I know that God is simply a prop you wield, a costume you put on, a resource you rent in order to manipulate religious people.

If you knew anything about Jesus, if you’d ever read the Gospels, if you even once opened the Bible and saw what the Good News Jesus preached actually was — you’d know the kinds of things that hurt God:

160,000 Americans dying without a shred of compassion for them.

Children taken from the arms of their parents and put into dog kennels.

Families pepper-sprayed for a sociopath’s Bible-wielding photo op.

Terrified refugees denied sanctuary from their suffering.

A leader who celebrates a rising NASDAQ and ignores a rising death toll.

Dehumanizing women by talking about their genitalia.

Black men murdered in the streets and a leader who will not condemn the executioners.

Rubber bullets fired into the bodies of young mothers standing silently in solidarity with those black men.

Someone trying to take away healthcare from millions of people in a pandemic.

The Jesus who implored his followers to love the least, to care for the poor, to feed the hungry, to visit the prisoner, to welcome the stranger — this Jesus surely is being hurt in these moments.

Yes, a God of mercy fully grieves watching powerful people prey upon the vulnerable they are entrusted with caring for.

Yes, a God of justice is sickened at a nepotistic corruption that profits from the suffering of others.

Yes, a God of love is saddened by a human being who is incapable of any benevolent impulse.

Yes, a God of compassion laments a cruelty that is not moved by the death of thousands of people.

Yes, a God of goodness is horrified at the name of God being tossed like grenades by a man who hasn’t uttered an authentic prayer in his life.

Yes, a God who so loved the world is fully sickened by the America First.

Joe Biden is a flawed human being who has continually professed faith in a God you have never given a second thought to. He is a man who has aspired to become more compassionate and more understanding and more aware of the pain around him, because that is what religion at its best calls us to. That is what all earnest people of faith do.

For those of us who know that Jesus taught we are known by the outward “fruit” of our lives: that what we do and what we say and how we treat people, comprise the true testimony of what we believe and who we worship—we recognize you well.

You are a for-profit false prophet, the most predatory of wolves, the blackest darkness dressed in red, white, and blue light.

You are the gleaming orange idol your heart bows down to.

Yes, Donald, the hateful damage being done right now in the name of God is certainly something that grieves the heart of a God who is love.

Jesus looked at MAGA America and at you — and Jesus wept.