Yes, I heard Tom preach on a couple of occasions. He did speak to the racism embedded in our nationa and churches. I also remember him asking "Have we wrapped Jesus wrapped in an American Flag?" He preached for peace and economic justice as well.
Sorry. A bit confused. Evangelism seems to be adherence to the old covenant under Moses which was only intended for the Israelites. How a black man can condone the Mosaic Laws regarding slavery is a complete mystery to me. AND how anyone can call themselves a Christian but reject the teachings of Jesus in favor of Mosaic Law is an outrage. The "God" of the Old testament, Torah and Koran is a vile, despicable and unjust entity (per Moses), which Jesus came to save us from. There is a reason the Evangelicals especially on the Supreme Court) support Trump; he's just like their God. Not a Christian among them.
Wow, brother Dewayne, are you confused or am I? You seem to have something "figured out." Lots of assumptions about Tom Skinner, or me, or Evangelicals, or Evangelism, or the Supreme Court. You do understand that "Evangelism" and "Evangelical" come from the same root -- sharing "good news," the euangelion, right? No, I don't believe the Surpreme Court's recent decisions and actions are aligned the teachings of the Jesus of the Gospels -- or even well reasoned constitutional law. A majority clearly place their own political and cultural agendas above any Evangelism that would change the ways they think and live in many matters... I agree about this; but I'm not able to do more than question their integrity. I do think there might be "Christians" there -- but perhaps too few Jesus followers. Maybe this is where we can agree?
History repeats itself on time scales much longer than a "Groundhog Day". And history repeats with great precision. We are living in the exact era of Herbert Hoover, but what got us here is even older. Our pre-ordained timeline for current affairs?
1918 - "Spanish Flu": Misnamed because Spain was the first country that reported on the outbreak during WW-I. The actual source of the pandemic was the United States via military training exercises at Ft Riley, Kansas which shipped infected soldiers off to WW-I and spread the virus across Europe. Global estimates of 50M people died. Today: "China Virus" (COVID 19) under the "Trump Era" (2022) who's response is responsible for far too many American deaths.
1929 - "Mexican Repatriation Program" Hoover's administration started this program that resulted in the deportation of up to 1.8 million individuals to Mexico. It is believed that up to 60% of those deported were actually, legal American Citizens. Nothing stopped that then, as with now. The "Trump Era" (2025) has taken this to an all new low targeting not just Mexicans, but anyone deemed "an enemy" can be illegally deported to a Venezuelan Torture Camp.
1930 - "The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act", signed by Hoover, significantly increased import tariffs in the United States which sparked a global trade war, exacerbating the Great Depression. The "Trump's Tariffs" are having the exact same effect and will likely lead to a much more "exacerbated" Depression.
How did we get here? This is the perfect "time of year" to talk about the origin of the "Trump Era" which is a complete repeat of 250 BC - 35 AD Jerusalem. During this timeframe, Jerusalem was governed by a state religion that imposed Mosaic Law on all Jews. Mosaic Law is far more than just the "Ten Commandments". There are 613 edicts that were for the "purification" of the "Children of Israel", the "Chosen Ones". Most transgressions of these "laws" brought the death penalty. These "edicts" covered everything from how you treat your property (slaves, wives, cattle) to how you treat war spoils (15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ... 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. (Numbers 31:15-18, KJV)). It is useful to note verse 18 as it speaks to the only role women had within this "religion": incubators for man's sacred seed, nothing more. If you are a single or widowed man, any prostitute will do and there are lots of those in the bible. But don't get caught having sex with a married man as a prostitute. Penalty for adultery is death: not for the man, but the prostitute (John 8:3-11, KJV).
The Pharisees implemented these harsh, oppressive "Laws" as the "first covenant" between "God" and Moses. Then came Jesus. A rebel. A disruptor. Jesus challenged the rules and was put to death for it. (1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do (to stay alive); but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not (Matthew 23:1-3, KJV). After Jesus' arrest, the Jews were given a chance to choose the Teachings of Jesus over the Rule of Mosaic Law. They rejected the Teachings of Jesus and chose an Insurrectionist, Barrabas. Barabbas was a Jewish prisoner, likely an insurrectionist and murderer, who was chosen by a crowd to be released instead of Jesus at the Passover feast, according to the Gospels. The choice the Jews made that day came back to haunt them. Barrabass' Insurrection against Roman rule led to the complete destruction of Jerusalem.
There is a whole sect of American "Christians" who made that choice (Mosaic Law over the Teachings of Jesus) and they gave us two Trump Presidencies. They are the "Christian" Nationalists, White Supremacists, QAnon Evangelicals and Opus Dei Catholics. These "groups" define the totality of MAGA. Their religion is the "Word of God" as given to Moses. The weird thing about this perversion of Christianity is that Mosaic Law was only ever intended for the Children of Israel and not for the rest of humanity. So what we have here in the Trump Era is a bunch of Cosplaying Pharisees now in charge of the U.S. government who have completely rejected the Teachings of Jesus.
I, like most historians, scholars and theologians, attribute the Teachings of Jesus as the source of a civil, Western Society. You only need to look at the difference between Western Societies and those in the Middle East who chose to stick with Mosaic Law. Mosaic Law is the basis for the Old Testament, the Torah and the Koran. The big difference: Western Societies have the New Testament, the "new covenant" between "God" and Jesus. The religion of Moses is a cruel, hateful, vengeful morass where the wholesale slaughter of innocent people is celebrated. Passover is a real treat; multitudes of first born sons of Egypt slaughtered over a political/labor dispute between Moses and the ruler of Egypt (no historical evidence this ever happened). The deaths of thousands of children in Gaza is just collateral damage in God "delivering" their enemies to Israel ( And stay ye not, but pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hand (Joshua 10:19, KJV)).
The choice in the 2024 election was between the transfer back of the wealth stolen from the middle class by the richest few, caring for "the least of these" and Project 2025. The basis of Project 2025 is Mosaic Law. It is now the Law of the land. Man Made laws based on the U.S Constitution are irrelevant. Moses rules America? Well, yes. Literally, if you believe Mike Johnson. Johnson insists "God" spoke to him.
The message he received from God, Johnson said, was to prepare for a “Red Sea moment” — both for the Republican conference “and in the country at large.” Johnson said found the directive confusing but he continued to seek the counsel of God. ... “So I waited, I waited. And then at the end … the Lord said, ‘Now step forward.’” Johnson regaled the audience with his surprise to be tapped as the Moses figure: “Me?” Johnson said. “I’m supposed to be Aaron.” But that was not the message, Johnson insisted, recalling: “‘No,’ the Lord said, ‘Step forward.’” (https://tinyurl.com/moses-johnson).
The Speaker of the House is the "rubber stamp" for the Trump Agenda and the implementation of Project 2025. Johnson is responsible for Congress completely ceding its Legislative responsibilities to the Executive (Executor) Branch. Trump and his Project 2025 Administration could have been stopped in its tracks by Congress, but MAGA holds the majorities and Johnson holds all the keys. Jesus describes the MAGA Administration and Congress perfectly: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. (Matthew 23, KJV). Just wish there was something He could do about it.
Mr. Free is a Freelance writer, lifelong Republican and 20 Year Veteran of the military who spent a total of 35 years in the Intelligence Community.
I do stand corrected in my broad brush regarding Evangelism. The majority (70%) of Evangelicals today are not Christians. They are QAnon Evangelicals. They only believe in Mosaic Law as the guide to life by God and totally reject the teachings of Jesus as "liberal talking points". That is what I figured out and you just can't overlook those facts. Real Christians aren't pushing the 10 Commandments (and the other 603 edicts under Mosaic Law) as the most important "lesson" from the bible and real Christians aren't preaching that "when Jesus comes back, he will be carrying an AR-15".
I think what everyone has missed is that Evangelism was hijacked by the "South" after the Civil War to free slaves. Slavery was codified in Mosaic Law and justified biblically by the South. The Union acted against the "word of God" in freeing the slaves. Evangelicals of today have totally bought into the "first Covenant" between Moses and the Jews (Mosaic Law was only meant be for the Jews". Christ (the martyr for the New Covenant) is a composite of a collective movement to revolt against the oppressive Mosaic Law (613 edicts) imposed on the Jews by the Pharisees, Suduccees and overall Sanhedrin. In pushing Mosaic Law on the rest of us, Trump's Sandedrin is a complete rejection of the New Covenant and Christ's teachings; today's Evangelicals, and all of MAGA, love the Old Testament hate of Mosaic Law with the complete rejection of New Testament love as defined in the teachings of Jesus. There is not a single Christian within MAGA, the "Christian" Nationalist" movement, Evangelical "Christianity", all driven by OT hate, and underpinned by Mosaic Law codifying White Supremacy. Sorry, this argument is completely backed by historical facts and the very basis for the New Testament. I feel uniquely qualified to attest to everything I just said, as I was introduced to the Southern Evangelism at the age of 5 and was exposed to it in every state in the South. I have read the bible, cover to cover. I took me 10yrs to deconvert from the cult. Mosaic Law is the reason I am an atheist. No god could possibly exist in the form presented in the Old Testament=Torah=Koran. I rejected the entire bible as garbage until I started looking into its historical context. There is a reason the teachings of Jesus and his Commandments took over the entire Roman Empire; the teachings as laid out in the New Testament is just common human decency and the basics are just a good prescription for all Civil Societies, the very reason the book was put together 300yrs after the "time of Christ". Western Civilization's adoption the those basics has led to where we are now, even after the earlier hijackings of Christianity by numerous cults such as the Catholic church, Puritans, etc. You can't follow Mosaic Law and Jesus at the same time; impossible. So, today's "Evangelicals" are only pushing Mosaic Law, cherry-picked to the hate they love; kill gay men, kill witches, women are just incubators for man's sacred seed, although very odd that Mosaic Law provides that an aborted fetus' death is only punishable by the husband asking a judge to fine the one who caused the abortion. This last has been to its extreme in determining that an embryo is a human being and under Trump's Sanhedrin, the high Supreme Court, High Priests have determined that the States, ran by MAGA, can call abortion everything from the death of an embryo to the death of a non-survivable fetus, murder, while again treating women in their only biblical role; incubators for the sacred seed of man.
I wrote my first book, Trump Trash: The Forgotten People of the Redneck Republic, back in 2015 as a warning to America what was coming in a Trump presidency.
At that time, I listed the behaviors that defined modern "Redneck". Nothing to do with hardworking in the sun white people. I didn't fully appreciate the origins of that behavior until I realized all that hate, from racism to homophobia, to misogyny, etc was all rooted in Mosaic Law and the OT.
I've realized over the last decade, that a big problem with all the Intellectual-based Atheism, like me, had thrown the proverbial baby Jesus out with the bath water. I, like Jefferson, have come to appreciate the actual message that Jesus represented in the allegory of the New Testament. Jefferson was a Christian Deist. I am a Christian Atheist. If you reject the "magic" of the bible, and study it for why it was written, that is the only way it makes any sense at all. Atheists are the only objective observers of the book, as long as they don't put their bias against all "religions" ahead of understanding what they are reading. To me, there is zero difference from cults and religions as long as they believe in magic; all one and the same. Evangelicals only believe in two things; the magic of "God's Word" of the OT, and the magic of Jesus' human sacrifice to give them "ever-lasting life", of the NT, full stop.
Strong words, brother Free. I read the history differently -- Donald Dayton's "Discovering an Evangelical Heritage" written a few decades back clearly shows the role evangelicals played as part of the abolitionist and suffrage movements. There has been, especially since the 1960s an identity theft that has gone on where the name "Evagnelical" has been stolen by right-wing politics and fundamentalists. I'm not comfortable playing the roll of God and determining who is in and who is out -- but I do know that the Jesus of the Gospels and his message is sorely distorted by the many who would claim the "E" word today.
You don't have to believe anything I said about QAnon Evangelical/Catholics. Check out Frank Schaeffer, the son of one of the Founders of the Religious Right in America. I came to my conclusions through reading the bible and exploring the history behind the allegory, years before I heard of Schaeffer, but he can offer you a more complete history of the movement that led to MAGA that is the latest form of QAnon Evangelism/Catholicism and also their plans for the future of the U.S. in Project 2025. The first video to check out is this one: Duty to Warn: May I Tell You Who Mike Johnson Really Is? ( https://youtu.be/C0HrFoT_aYw ). If you want to know more, buy his book: Crazy for God.
Yes, there might have been abolitionist in the North that claimed to be Evangelicals, but today's Evangelicals were born from the South with the freeing of the slaves. Those Southern Rednecks have spread that movement to all states and the reason, now, 60-70% of self identified American Evangelicals see the teachings of Jesus as "liberal talking points". They believe that all they have to do is say the name of Jesus and they are saved by grace with no regard to their "works". So, anything goes "in the name of God". Its the reason they believe all the QAnon crap and see Trump as their "savior" from those faux evils spoon fed to them. These are low IQ, uneducated, or just simply brainwashed individuals. Yes, "Southern Redneck" has hijacked the term Evangelical. I only wish the 30-40% of actual Christian Evangelicals would have pushed by in Jesus' name instead of letting MAGA march to the top using the God of Moses' name. I redefine Redneck to capture the misogyny, racism, homophobia, zenophobia, etc, right out of Mosaic Law. Now, my numbers are right out of actual surveys of Evangelicals. You can check that out for yourself.
I was in my teens, attending Brookdale Baptist Church in Bloomfield, NJ. Word of Life (Jack Wyrtzen) would hold rallies at Brookdale. I remember hearing Tom Skinner preach!
I remember when it seemed to me that his tone became more angry. I was too young to discern my own whiteness and prejudice. I didn't understand why his tone changed!
Today (i am 70 yrs old!), I think i get it. After serving as pastor of a very ethnically diverse urban church in a near west suburb of Chicago for 33 years, i see that his message is still needed today.
Thank you so much for bringing Tom Skinner into the conversation. His ministry of a wholistic gospel was very influential on how my church ministered in Harlem and the church community at large.
When I was a young evangelical in 1978, Tom Skinner came to speak at chapel at Westmont College. It was transformative. He spoke about the Lord’s Prayer. Until hearing him, I had never thought that “thy kingdoms come thy will be done on earth as it is In heaven” meant the here and now. I listened to that cassette-tape recording of that sermon over and over. God bless the ministry of Tom Skinner. Thank you for holding him up as a role model.
I never saw or heard him but learned of him from a friend in the early 70s. One quote of his that I heard and I have never forgotten was, "If Jesus is the answer, then what is the question?"
As a college student I heard Tom Skinner preach at the Urbana ‘70 missions conference on “The U.S. Racial Crisis and World Evangelism.” I remember the few black students that attended the conference were all sitting in front of the podium cheering for him. As a new Christian and not familiar at all with racism I was not sure what he was talking about. Hadn’t Congress just passed the Civil Rights Act a few years ago? But it was a message that needed to be heard and it opened my heart and mind to realize there was much work to be done in race relations. I’m grateful that Tom had the courage to speak and that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship had the foresight and wisdom to include this topic which was not popular in churches at that time.
“The Liberator Has Come.!”
BTW I believe you can listen to the audio version of his Urbana ‘70 talk at www.urbana.org.
Yes, I heard Tom Skinner in the mid-60s at a rural, all-white Mennonite church in eastern Ohio. Our contacts with local Black people was mostly through reading about them in news stories in our county seat--Youngstown--and, for some, working with Black mothers on a commercial vegetable farm owned by a church member (my experience). I was struck in my formative teen years by Skinner's application of the gospel to then-current social issues of race and poverty. He preached with power and probing questions. If I had been more self-assured, I would have tried to talk with afterward. Even without that follow-up, I believe he opened my eyes to God's hope for racial justice in the world, and in the church, especially, where faithfulness in this area has been way too slow and too timid--in my own life and institutionally.
Yes, I heard Tom preach on a couple of occasions. He did speak to the racism embedded in our nationa and churches. I also remember him asking "Have we wrapped Jesus wrapped in an American Flag?" He preached for peace and economic justice as well.
Sorry. A bit confused. Evangelism seems to be adherence to the old covenant under Moses which was only intended for the Israelites. How a black man can condone the Mosaic Laws regarding slavery is a complete mystery to me. AND how anyone can call themselves a Christian but reject the teachings of Jesus in favor of Mosaic Law is an outrage. The "God" of the Old testament, Torah and Koran is a vile, despicable and unjust entity (per Moses), which Jesus came to save us from. There is a reason the Evangelicals especially on the Supreme Court) support Trump; he's just like their God. Not a Christian among them.
Wow, brother Dewayne, are you confused or am I? You seem to have something "figured out." Lots of assumptions about Tom Skinner, or me, or Evangelicals, or Evangelism, or the Supreme Court. You do understand that "Evangelism" and "Evangelical" come from the same root -- sharing "good news," the euangelion, right? No, I don't believe the Surpreme Court's recent decisions and actions are aligned the teachings of the Jesus of the Gospels -- or even well reasoned constitutional law. A majority clearly place their own political and cultural agendas above any Evangelism that would change the ways they think and live in many matters... I agree about this; but I'm not able to do more than question their integrity. I do think there might be "Christians" there -- but perhaps too few Jesus followers. Maybe this is where we can agree?
History repeats itself on time scales much longer than a "Groundhog Day". And history repeats with great precision. We are living in the exact era of Herbert Hoover, but what got us here is even older. Our pre-ordained timeline for current affairs?
1918 - "Spanish Flu": Misnamed because Spain was the first country that reported on the outbreak during WW-I. The actual source of the pandemic was the United States via military training exercises at Ft Riley, Kansas which shipped infected soldiers off to WW-I and spread the virus across Europe. Global estimates of 50M people died. Today: "China Virus" (COVID 19) under the "Trump Era" (2022) who's response is responsible for far too many American deaths.
1929 - "Mexican Repatriation Program" Hoover's administration started this program that resulted in the deportation of up to 1.8 million individuals to Mexico. It is believed that up to 60% of those deported were actually, legal American Citizens. Nothing stopped that then, as with now. The "Trump Era" (2025) has taken this to an all new low targeting not just Mexicans, but anyone deemed "an enemy" can be illegally deported to a Venezuelan Torture Camp.
1930 - "The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act", signed by Hoover, significantly increased import tariffs in the United States which sparked a global trade war, exacerbating the Great Depression. The "Trump's Tariffs" are having the exact same effect and will likely lead to a much more "exacerbated" Depression.
How did we get here? This is the perfect "time of year" to talk about the origin of the "Trump Era" which is a complete repeat of 250 BC - 35 AD Jerusalem. During this timeframe, Jerusalem was governed by a state religion that imposed Mosaic Law on all Jews. Mosaic Law is far more than just the "Ten Commandments". There are 613 edicts that were for the "purification" of the "Children of Israel", the "Chosen Ones". Most transgressions of these "laws" brought the death penalty. These "edicts" covered everything from how you treat your property (slaves, wives, cattle) to how you treat war spoils (15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ... 17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. (Numbers 31:15-18, KJV)). It is useful to note verse 18 as it speaks to the only role women had within this "religion": incubators for man's sacred seed, nothing more. If you are a single or widowed man, any prostitute will do and there are lots of those in the bible. But don't get caught having sex with a married man as a prostitute. Penalty for adultery is death: not for the man, but the prostitute (John 8:3-11, KJV).
The Pharisees implemented these harsh, oppressive "Laws" as the "first covenant" between "God" and Moses. Then came Jesus. A rebel. A disruptor. Jesus challenged the rules and was put to death for it. (1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, 2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do (to stay alive); but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not (Matthew 23:1-3, KJV). After Jesus' arrest, the Jews were given a chance to choose the Teachings of Jesus over the Rule of Mosaic Law. They rejected the Teachings of Jesus and chose an Insurrectionist, Barrabas. Barabbas was a Jewish prisoner, likely an insurrectionist and murderer, who was chosen by a crowd to be released instead of Jesus at the Passover feast, according to the Gospels. The choice the Jews made that day came back to haunt them. Barrabass' Insurrection against Roman rule led to the complete destruction of Jerusalem.
There is a whole sect of American "Christians" who made that choice (Mosaic Law over the Teachings of Jesus) and they gave us two Trump Presidencies. They are the "Christian" Nationalists, White Supremacists, QAnon Evangelicals and Opus Dei Catholics. These "groups" define the totality of MAGA. Their religion is the "Word of God" as given to Moses. The weird thing about this perversion of Christianity is that Mosaic Law was only ever intended for the Children of Israel and not for the rest of humanity. So what we have here in the Trump Era is a bunch of Cosplaying Pharisees now in charge of the U.S. government who have completely rejected the Teachings of Jesus.
I, like most historians, scholars and theologians, attribute the Teachings of Jesus as the source of a civil, Western Society. You only need to look at the difference between Western Societies and those in the Middle East who chose to stick with Mosaic Law. Mosaic Law is the basis for the Old Testament, the Torah and the Koran. The big difference: Western Societies have the New Testament, the "new covenant" between "God" and Jesus. The religion of Moses is a cruel, hateful, vengeful morass where the wholesale slaughter of innocent people is celebrated. Passover is a real treat; multitudes of first born sons of Egypt slaughtered over a political/labor dispute between Moses and the ruler of Egypt (no historical evidence this ever happened). The deaths of thousands of children in Gaza is just collateral damage in God "delivering" their enemies to Israel ( And stay ye not, but pursue after your enemies, and smite the hindmost of them; suffer them not to enter into their cities: for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hand (Joshua 10:19, KJV)).
The choice in the 2024 election was between the transfer back of the wealth stolen from the middle class by the richest few, caring for "the least of these" and Project 2025. The basis of Project 2025 is Mosaic Law. It is now the Law of the land. Man Made laws based on the U.S Constitution are irrelevant. Moses rules America? Well, yes. Literally, if you believe Mike Johnson. Johnson insists "God" spoke to him.
The message he received from God, Johnson said, was to prepare for a “Red Sea moment” — both for the Republican conference “and in the country at large.” Johnson said found the directive confusing but he continued to seek the counsel of God. ... “So I waited, I waited. And then at the end … the Lord said, ‘Now step forward.’” Johnson regaled the audience with his surprise to be tapped as the Moses figure: “Me?” Johnson said. “I’m supposed to be Aaron.” But that was not the message, Johnson insisted, recalling: “‘No,’ the Lord said, ‘Step forward.’” (https://tinyurl.com/moses-johnson).
The Speaker of the House is the "rubber stamp" for the Trump Agenda and the implementation of Project 2025. Johnson is responsible for Congress completely ceding its Legislative responsibilities to the Executive (Executor) Branch. Trump and his Project 2025 Administration could have been stopped in its tracks by Congress, but MAGA holds the majorities and Johnson holds all the keys. Jesus describes the MAGA Administration and Congress perfectly: "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. (Matthew 23, KJV). Just wish there was something He could do about it.
Mr. Free is a Freelance writer, lifelong Republican and 20 Year Veteran of the military who spent a total of 35 years in the Intelligence Community.
https://tinyurl.com/free-author
* I put God in quotes as "God" is just the name for the same Abrahamic god across the Bible, Torah and Koran; "God", Jehovah, and Allah, respectively.
** The bible makes no sense until you put it in the actual historical context from which the allegory came.
I do stand corrected in my broad brush regarding Evangelism. The majority (70%) of Evangelicals today are not Christians. They are QAnon Evangelicals. They only believe in Mosaic Law as the guide to life by God and totally reject the teachings of Jesus as "liberal talking points". That is what I figured out and you just can't overlook those facts. Real Christians aren't pushing the 10 Commandments (and the other 603 edicts under Mosaic Law) as the most important "lesson" from the bible and real Christians aren't preaching that "when Jesus comes back, he will be carrying an AR-15".
I think what everyone has missed is that Evangelism was hijacked by the "South" after the Civil War to free slaves. Slavery was codified in Mosaic Law and justified biblically by the South. The Union acted against the "word of God" in freeing the slaves. Evangelicals of today have totally bought into the "first Covenant" between Moses and the Jews (Mosaic Law was only meant be for the Jews". Christ (the martyr for the New Covenant) is a composite of a collective movement to revolt against the oppressive Mosaic Law (613 edicts) imposed on the Jews by the Pharisees, Suduccees and overall Sanhedrin. In pushing Mosaic Law on the rest of us, Trump's Sandedrin is a complete rejection of the New Covenant and Christ's teachings; today's Evangelicals, and all of MAGA, love the Old Testament hate of Mosaic Law with the complete rejection of New Testament love as defined in the teachings of Jesus. There is not a single Christian within MAGA, the "Christian" Nationalist" movement, Evangelical "Christianity", all driven by OT hate, and underpinned by Mosaic Law codifying White Supremacy. Sorry, this argument is completely backed by historical facts and the very basis for the New Testament. I feel uniquely qualified to attest to everything I just said, as I was introduced to the Southern Evangelism at the age of 5 and was exposed to it in every state in the South. I have read the bible, cover to cover. I took me 10yrs to deconvert from the cult. Mosaic Law is the reason I am an atheist. No god could possibly exist in the form presented in the Old Testament=Torah=Koran. I rejected the entire bible as garbage until I started looking into its historical context. There is a reason the teachings of Jesus and his Commandments took over the entire Roman Empire; the teachings as laid out in the New Testament is just common human decency and the basics are just a good prescription for all Civil Societies, the very reason the book was put together 300yrs after the "time of Christ". Western Civilization's adoption the those basics has led to where we are now, even after the earlier hijackings of Christianity by numerous cults such as the Catholic church, Puritans, etc. You can't follow Mosaic Law and Jesus at the same time; impossible. So, today's "Evangelicals" are only pushing Mosaic Law, cherry-picked to the hate they love; kill gay men, kill witches, women are just incubators for man's sacred seed, although very odd that Mosaic Law provides that an aborted fetus' death is only punishable by the husband asking a judge to fine the one who caused the abortion. This last has been to its extreme in determining that an embryo is a human being and under Trump's Sanhedrin, the high Supreme Court, High Priests have determined that the States, ran by MAGA, can call abortion everything from the death of an embryo to the death of a non-survivable fetus, murder, while again treating women in their only biblical role; incubators for the sacred seed of man.
I wrote my first book, Trump Trash: The Forgotten People of the Redneck Republic, back in 2015 as a warning to America what was coming in a Trump presidency.
(https://www.amazon.com/Trump-Trash-Forgotten-Redneck-Republic-ebook/dp/B0184976KU)
At that time, I listed the behaviors that defined modern "Redneck". Nothing to do with hardworking in the sun white people. I didn't fully appreciate the origins of that behavior until I realized all that hate, from racism to homophobia, to misogyny, etc was all rooted in Mosaic Law and the OT.
I've realized over the last decade, that a big problem with all the Intellectual-based Atheism, like me, had thrown the proverbial baby Jesus out with the bath water. I, like Jefferson, have come to appreciate the actual message that Jesus represented in the allegory of the New Testament. Jefferson was a Christian Deist. I am a Christian Atheist. If you reject the "magic" of the bible, and study it for why it was written, that is the only way it makes any sense at all. Atheists are the only objective observers of the book, as long as they don't put their bias against all "religions" ahead of understanding what they are reading. To me, there is zero difference from cults and religions as long as they believe in magic; all one and the same. Evangelicals only believe in two things; the magic of "God's Word" of the OT, and the magic of Jesus' human sacrifice to give them "ever-lasting life", of the NT, full stop.
Strong words, brother Free. I read the history differently -- Donald Dayton's "Discovering an Evangelical Heritage" written a few decades back clearly shows the role evangelicals played as part of the abolitionist and suffrage movements. There has been, especially since the 1960s an identity theft that has gone on where the name "Evagnelical" has been stolen by right-wing politics and fundamentalists. I'm not comfortable playing the roll of God and determining who is in and who is out -- but I do know that the Jesus of the Gospels and his message is sorely distorted by the many who would claim the "E" word today.
You don't have to believe anything I said about QAnon Evangelical/Catholics. Check out Frank Schaeffer, the son of one of the Founders of the Religious Right in America. I came to my conclusions through reading the bible and exploring the history behind the allegory, years before I heard of Schaeffer, but he can offer you a more complete history of the movement that led to MAGA that is the latest form of QAnon Evangelism/Catholicism and also their plans for the future of the U.S. in Project 2025. The first video to check out is this one: Duty to Warn: May I Tell You Who Mike Johnson Really Is? ( https://youtu.be/C0HrFoT_aYw ). If you want to know more, buy his book: Crazy for God.
Yes, there might have been abolitionist in the North that claimed to be Evangelicals, but today's Evangelicals were born from the South with the freeing of the slaves. Those Southern Rednecks have spread that movement to all states and the reason, now, 60-70% of self identified American Evangelicals see the teachings of Jesus as "liberal talking points". They believe that all they have to do is say the name of Jesus and they are saved by grace with no regard to their "works". So, anything goes "in the name of God". Its the reason they believe all the QAnon crap and see Trump as their "savior" from those faux evils spoon fed to them. These are low IQ, uneducated, or just simply brainwashed individuals. Yes, "Southern Redneck" has hijacked the term Evangelical. I only wish the 30-40% of actual Christian Evangelicals would have pushed by in Jesus' name instead of letting MAGA march to the top using the God of Moses' name. I redefine Redneck to capture the misogyny, racism, homophobia, zenophobia, etc, right out of Mosaic Law. Now, my numbers are right out of actual surveys of Evangelicals. You can check that out for yourself.
I was a brand new. Christian at Urbana ‘70 when I heard Tom Skinner preach. He started me on a journey that continues today. Thanks be to God.
I was in my teens, attending Brookdale Baptist Church in Bloomfield, NJ. Word of Life (Jack Wyrtzen) would hold rallies at Brookdale. I remember hearing Tom Skinner preach!
I remember when it seemed to me that his tone became more angry. I was too young to discern my own whiteness and prejudice. I didn't understand why his tone changed!
Today (i am 70 yrs old!), I think i get it. After serving as pastor of a very ethnically diverse urban church in a near west suburb of Chicago for 33 years, i see that his message is still needed today.
Thank you so much for bringing Tom Skinner into the conversation. His ministry of a wholistic gospel was very influential on how my church ministered in Harlem and the church community at large.
When I was a young evangelical in 1978, Tom Skinner came to speak at chapel at Westmont College. It was transformative. He spoke about the Lord’s Prayer. Until hearing him, I had never thought that “thy kingdoms come thy will be done on earth as it is In heaven” meant the here and now. I listened to that cassette-tape recording of that sermon over and over. God bless the ministry of Tom Skinner. Thank you for holding him up as a role model.
What an on-message message from Skinner! The "Kingdom" was a motif he and his associates used in all of their work!
I never saw or heard him but learned of him from a friend in the early 70s. One quote of his that I heard and I have never forgotten was, "If Jesus is the answer, then what is the question?"
As a college student I heard Tom Skinner preach at the Urbana ‘70 missions conference on “The U.S. Racial Crisis and World Evangelism.” I remember the few black students that attended the conference were all sitting in front of the podium cheering for him. As a new Christian and not familiar at all with racism I was not sure what he was talking about. Hadn’t Congress just passed the Civil Rights Act a few years ago? But it was a message that needed to be heard and it opened my heart and mind to realize there was much work to be done in race relations. I’m grateful that Tom had the courage to speak and that InterVarsity Christian Fellowship had the foresight and wisdom to include this topic which was not popular in churches at that time.
“The Liberator Has Come.!”
BTW I believe you can listen to the audio version of his Urbana ‘70 talk at www.urbana.org.
may I have Tom Skinner's writings
Yes, I heard Tom Skinner in the mid-60s at a rural, all-white Mennonite church in eastern Ohio. Our contacts with local Black people was mostly through reading about them in news stories in our county seat--Youngstown--and, for some, working with Black mothers on a commercial vegetable farm owned by a church member (my experience). I was struck in my formative teen years by Skinner's application of the gospel to then-current social issues of race and poverty. He preached with power and probing questions. If I had been more self-assured, I would have tried to talk with afterward. Even without that follow-up, I believe he opened my eyes to God's hope for racial justice in the world, and in the church, especially, where faithfulness in this area has been way too slow and too timid--in my own life and institutionally.