I’m getting ready to post my FCFP column over at WUWTW. In rereading and thinking it about my attention turned more and more to
Reverend Mark Burns and that invocation of his at the 2016 GOP Convention.
So I did a little googling to find out more about this guy and what others thought of his invocation.
I was greeted with an astounding article from of all places RedState.com (CONSERVATIVE BLOG & CONSERVATIVE NEWS SOURCE)
You Won’t Believe Pastor Mark Burns’ Stunning Benediction At The RNC Convention (VIDEO)
Posted at 9:23 am on July 19, 2016 by streiff
http://www.redstate.com/streiff/2016/07/19/wont-believe-pastor-mark-burns-stunning-benediction-rnc-convention-video/
Look, y'all. I'm not an Evangelical. I don't even play one on the internet. So when an Evangelical minister edges into what we Papists and most
mainstream Protestants would look upon as "heresy", I try to be charitable at least to the extent of shutting my mouth. We are, after all,
part of the same Body of Christ. We worship a Trinitarian Godhead. We believe that Jesus Christ was truly Man and truly God.
We believe he actually, physically died to expiate our sins. We believe that he was actually, physically raised from the dead and ascended into Heaven.
We are separated by doctrines and practices but we are all striving for the exact same thing: Eternal Salvation.
So call me more than a little flabbergasted at the invocation offered by Pastor Mark Burns (someone, I must admit I'd never heard of before yesterday).
In fact, I'm a little more than flabbergasted,
I found his attempt to weaponize Christ and send him on the hustings in the service of Donald Trump to be gravely offensive.
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More to the point, why would we be "thankful for the life of Donald Trump?" What evidence do we have that it was God Almighty guiding
Trump through three marriages, untold adulteries, the fleecing and punishing of the most vulnerable in society, garden variety diversion
of charitable contributions to personal use? Did God the Father actually inspire Trump to a life of greed, miserliness, and malice?
Was God his inspiration when he attacked Ted Cruz's wife and accused Cruz's father of being part of the JFK assassination?
Out of curiosity, which member of the Holy Trinity told Donald Trump he was leading such a righteous life that he had nothing to ask forgiveness for?
Which words, precisely, is God putting in Trump's mouth that are uniting the nation? The one's that accused an American judge of being
incapable of rendering a judgment because his parents were Mexican? Or the ones that encouraged his followers to beat hecklers?
Or his playing to worst sorts of racists?
This is a travesty. This is not a prayer. This is a pep rally cheer. This is asking God to root for the laundry. This may very well cross the line into blasphemy.
This also shows the all-corrupting power of Donald Trump who is a man singularly able to bring disgrace and discredit on anyone associating with him.
Yeah, and I know I put Drumpfs name in the title, but that shit goes way beyond Trump and right to the heart of the fundamentalist/evangelical ‘movement’ of absolute self certitude and contempt for others. Allow me, Charles Johnson put it quite well
Video: "GOP Convention Prayer - “Our Enemy Is Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party!" Hypocrisy cubed"
Charles Johnson
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/46151_Video-_GOP_Convention_Prayer_-_Our_Enemy_Is_Hillary_Clinton_and_the_Democratic_Party!
Anyone still remember something known as “the separation of church and state?" Well, the Republican Party has been working non-stop for years to erode this wall of separation put in place by the founding fathers, because they know when you need to manipulate people into working against their own best interests, there’s no better tool than religion.
But you’ll never see a more graphic demonstration of the conservative movement’s contempt for the US Constitution’s Establishment Clause than this “prayer" delivered — actually, screamed — today by Paster Mark Burns, a nakedly political and utterly hateful rant presented as an “invocation." {see above text}
You may recall it was only a few months ago that the right wing media and Republican politicians threw a huge tantrum when Hillary Clinton said this during a debate:
ANDERSON COOPER: Which enemy that you made during your political career are you most proud of?
CLINTON: Well, in addition to the NRA, the health insurance companies, the drug companies, the Iranians; probably the Republicans.
“How dare she call us enemies!" they exclaimed before collapsing upon their fainting couches.
Now, here’s a right wing religious personality openly calling Clinton and the entire Democratic Party “enemies," on stage at the Republican convention. The hypocrisy is unbelievable, and yet… par for the course.
Very interesting. The more I read about the Republican convention the more I’m glad I skipped watching it. However, every Christian who is thinking of voting for Trump should watch the entire convention from start to finish, and do a little homework on Trump’s life. Geez man, you’d think the common people who support him would reflect for a second and realize Trump is not the outsider he tries to portray he is the embodiment of everything wrong with our capitalistic system.