You reap what you sow
How many times in life have we heard: “you reap what you sow?” Of all the definitions of the phrase out there, the Collins Dictionary gives the best explanation: “It seems to me that if we create areas of such bleakness and social deprivation, we should expect to reap what we sow.” Said simply, do a bad deed, and it will be returned. Of course, this is a Biblical phrase from Galatians 6:7-9. Evangelists who support Donald Trump believe they are glory bound, even as they act ungodly by judging others’ life choices, behaviors, etc. That act of judging is found in Matthew 7:1, yet those who consider themselves holy believe themselves immune. Such is the case of Trump evangelicals.
Evangelicals have enjoyed funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development for years. They lost their sight in God and decided to put their trust in Trump (God doesn’t like you worshipping other idols either). Now, they are reaping what they’ve sown in the face of frozen and/or eliminated federal funds, billions of which benefitted their overseas missions. At least they got notice as opposed to those who simply had the proverbial rugs pulled out from under them. According to the Washington Post, the administration tried to turn the withdrawal of funds as “a positive for their faith” by saying: “Do you want the country to get credit for foreign aid, or do you want the Creator to get credit?” Even as they looked at each other in disbelief, WaPo reported, they can blame only themselves for their unwavering support of Donald Trump.
According to WaPo, this relationship with the Republican party began in the 70s when evangelicals began to disassociate faith corruption from funding. Televangelist Reverend Jerry Falwell began to politicize the relationship with his Moral Majority and the creation of “traditional family values,” which did not include LGBTQ, civil rights, feminism, divorce and the Equal Rights Amendment, and they began teaching evolution and abortion. They are a big part of where we are today. They will no longer profit from judging others and thinking themselves above God instead of with Him. They forgot that God created all of us, Black, LGBTQ, women-ALL of us. They did it for greed, for the love of money, and that has now come back to bite them in the ass. Sometimes, God gives us enough rope to hang ourselves with, and that’s what they’ve done. Brian Tyler Cohen had an interesting talk with Senator Raphael Warnock, asking how we keep the faith during these turbulent times. As expected, he gave a profound response: “If you look at the history of our country, there are moments when the democracy expands, and there are moments when it contracts. We’re in a moment of contraction. But our work, our moral work, our holy work, in my view, is in this moment of contractions, just stand up, to show up, to be faithful. And it’s often in those moments that you give birth to something that’s even larger and bigger and better. We’ve got to keep pushing our country toward its ideals.” Keep the faith, my friends. This too shall pass.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years