Former Calvinist Joshua Harris Says Christian Support of Trump Is “Incredibly Damaging to Gospel, Church”
By Julio Severo
Former Calvinist conservative pastor
Joshua Harris recently criticized Christians supporting President Donald Trump.
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| Joshua Harris in a gay parade in Canada in 2019 |
“I think it’s incredibly damaging to the
gospel and to the church,” he said. “… I don’t think it’s going to end well.
And I think you look back at the Old Testament and the relationship between the
prophets and really bad leaders and kings, and oftentimes it’s not something
you unwind because it’s actually in the Scriptures presented as God’s judgment
on the false religion of the day.”
When asked if he believed Trump-supporting
Christians would be judged by God, Harris responded: “I think it is the
judgment. It’s part of the judgment… To have a leader like Trump, I think is in
itself part of the indictment that this is the leader that you want and maybe
deserve. That represents a lot of who you are.”
Even though Trump is not a perfect choice,
is not he much better than Hillary
Clinton, a rabid neocon and pro-sodomy and pro-abortion militant? Did Harris
want her instead him?
At least Trump gives attention to
evangelicals. In fact, Trump, who was born in the Presbyterian Church — the
same Calvinist faith of Harris —, has
appointed in his administration prosperity gospel televangelist Paula White,
who has been a formidable spiritual support to Trump.
The
difference is that while Trump with his Presbyterian background became a very
liberal and nominal Calvinist during the years and now is embracing the prayers
and advices of White in her vibrant charismatic faith, Harris with his
conservative Calvinist background is embracing sheer apostasy, including
support of homosexuality.
The year of 2019 was a year of big shifts
for Harris. He publicly renounced his Christian faith.
“I have undergone a massive shift in
regard to my faith in Jesus,” Harris said on July 26. "The popular phrase
for this is ‘deconstruction,’ the biblical phrase is ‘falling away.’ By all the
measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.”
In addition to renouncing his Christian faith,
he also declared he has abandoned his conservative views, including on
sexuality and marriage.
“To
the LGBTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught
in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality,” he said. “I regret standing
against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church
and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of
exclusion and bigotry. I hope you can forgive me.”
After embracing a pro-sodomy stance, he announced
he was separating from her wife Shannon Bonne after 19 years of marriage.
Harris rose to prominence in conservative
Christian circles when he wrote his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye in 1997 and,
three years later, Boy Meets Girl: Say Hello to Courtship. In the books, he
encouraged Christians to avoid the dating scene and instead pursue a group- and
family-oriented approach he called courtship.
But in 2015, he stepped down as lead
pastor from Covenant Life, a Calvinist church.
In 2018, he wrote an official statement apologizing
for his conservative books and renouncing them. He has abandoned everything:
His Christian faith, his church, his wife and his conservative stances.
Perhaps
he has renounced his faith after seeing the hypocrisy of his old conservative
Calvinist friends. He was involved in the Gospel Coalition, which has embraced
a kind of allegedly non-active Calvinist homosexuality.
In fact, some Calvinist ministers in the Gospel Coalition are allegedly
non-active homosexuals.
There is hope for Trump, because even with
his liberal Calvinist background he is open to the prayers and spiritual
assistance of Paula White and other charismatic Christians. But what hope is there
for Harris who despises such prayers and spiritual assistance?
Portuguese version of this article: Ex-calvinista
Joshua Harris diz que o apoio cristão a Trump é “incrivelmente prejudicial para
o Evangelho e para a igreja”
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