In which I claim John Piper is too stupid, or evil, to be a man of God..
When you’re trying to divide and conquer, foment racial tension, and thereby shore up a voting block anxious for more goodies, it never hurts to have a reformed mega-pulpit like John Piper’s on your side.
But it still looks utterly ridiculous—an old white guy mewling away on behalf of “Black Lives Matter” and cautioning white evangelicals, in a near tearful voice, about distancing themselves from Donald Trump. The thesis runs as follows: the political choices of white evangelicals are making it difficult to evangelize people of color.
Never mind that Donald Trump actually received more votes from people of color than Mitt Romney and the insult this poses to blacks and hispanics who voted for Trump, (“Are you people of color even aware that white, reformed pastor John Piper believes you aren’t being true to your identity?”), the proposition is an affront to the gospel itself. The gospel that declares “No Greek, nor Jew in Christ” establishes rigorous equality before the law of God, without respect to skin color or ethnicity.
The radical invitation of Jesus is just this: we all get to be one family, folks. That’s the deal. We have liberty in Christ to retain those cultural traditions that are pure, lovely, and praiseworthy, but everything else has to die as a part of this adoption process. A pastor sensitive to mortifying sin would keep the topic about sin, and not race, no matter how hip “white privilege” has become among the tenured gerbils in the academy some pastors long to please.
Ultimately, John, you’re not very deep. You’re being trendy instead of steady, and your decision to pit one race against the other is a clear indication of the racism you claim to lament: ultimately, you think evangelical blacks deserve special treatment, special coddling, and you think them too weak to subject themselves to God’s uniformly even standard. It all actually borders on blasphemy. As I’ve tried to make clear in satire, you don’t think God is big enough to make people of color feel comfortable in the church. They need a remedial gospel, shored up by your own ridiculous white guilt.
Stop it.
Your theory is that Donald Trump, somehow, represents greater racism than Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, Evergreen College, and Jesse “Hymie Town” Jackson. You mistake Trump’s critique of Antifa and his reference to Civil War monument defenders for actual KKK style racism. That is so plainly and purposefully bone-headed you deserve a rap on the knuckles.
Apply your theory in reverse. Explore what we shouldn’t have to point out. Is the monolithic black vote for abortion politicians making it difficult to evangelize white gospel seekers? Is this a “black” or a “white” problem, John, or is it a sin problem?
Do your job. Preach the gospel and stop the race baiting.
