Evangelical Christians have supported Donald Trump in record numbers. How they could overlook his infidelities, alleged sexual abuses including rapes, he coarse language, and his treatment of refugees is beyond the understanding of most other Americans. He visited the Evangelical Liberty University during his last campaign and cursed twice in his speech. Then, he did something worse.
Trump cited “Two Corinthians 3:17, that’s the whole ballgame,” and indeed it was. Clearly, the candidate did not know anything about his Bible, because anyone who goes to church has heard how the book is pronounced, “Second Corinthians.” The students snickered, according to NPR:
‘We’re going to protect Christianity. I can say that. I don’t have to be politically correct. Two Corinthians 3:17, that’s the whole ballgame. … Is that the one you like? Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’
Moving on to this year, Pastor E.W. Lucas and his wife started the ironically named Friendship Baptist Church located in Appomattox, Virginia in 1979. They told the local ABC affiliate WSET about the signs he has put up each Sunday:
‘I thought I was going to make some remarks regarding the situation in Washington. It just came to me… “America, I love it. If you don’t love it, leave it.” Since we’ve had favorable comments on it, I thought I’d just leave it a while. I thought I was going to make some remarks regarding the situation in Washington.’
Then, Lucas was inspired:
‘It just came to me. I just said, ‘America, I love it. If you don’t love it, leave it.’
This sign outside of the Friendship Church has drawn criticism from thousands of people on social media:
Perhaps this preacher would have been better served by this Bible verse from Deuteronomy 27:19:
‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow. Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”‘
Thousands of individuals have noticed the sign and commented negatively on social media, especially the “being told to leave” words. Others were iffy. William Thompson wrote that it was time to consider solutions:
‘It’s up to each individual person. Ultimately, if we have problems, we should try to fix it. Support is the biggest thing we need. Support and fix.’
Lucas said he believed that regardless of the problems facing Americans, they should be grateful:
‘People that feel hard about our president and want to down the president and down the country and everything, they ought to go over there and live in these other countries for a little while.’
Then, Lucas said that his duty to the church overrides any backlash:
‘Preachers, by and large, today, are afraid they’re gonna hurt somebody’s feelings, and when I get in the pulpit, I’m afraid I won’t hurt somebody’s feelings.’
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