A Christian pastor just broke the internet with a scathing open letter to Huckabee Sanders and Trump

BY VINNIE LONGOBARDO

With “thou shalt not lie” on the top 10 list of commandments for centuries now, you would think that more evangelicals would be holding the Trump administration’s feet to the burning bush for their sins of conducting illicit and intimate relationships with mistruth.

Yet the majority of evangelical pastors get more incensed over the right to bear arms than oppose the bearing of false witness, at least by members of the Trump administration

Not John Pavlovitz. The progressive evangelical pastor and author is one of the few men of the cloth who interprets the New Testament in the spirit of the Christian teachings it contains, rather than molding the biblical contents into fodder for their own worldly aims.

Pavlovitz’s latest post on his popular website addresses the controversy surrounding comedian Michelle Wolf’s routine at the White House Correspondents Dinner and what some members of the press saw as her outrageously rude remarks towards White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Ignoring the erroneous claims that Wolf attacked the appearance of the woman who oversees the daily White House Press briefing, Pavlovitz makes his inspirational comments in the form of an open letter to Sanders.

“You see, I’m a Christian and I’ve heard you claim that you’re a Christian too—and watching you work recently, it got me thinking:”

“How does she do it?”

“What I mean is, how do you reconcile your supposed faith in Jesus of Nazareth, with your current position as a mouthpiece for this morally malignant President?,” the evangelical preacher begins his epistle to DC.

Pavlovitz then goes on to detail the many contradictions that any professed Christian should rightfully consider when they work in the service of someone whose behavior is the very antithesis of every value that Jesus espoused.

“As a professed Christian, how do you make peace with the reality that you regularly mount the largest bully pulpit in the nation—and you lie for a living on behalf of a serial predator?”

“How do you square your Christianity with the realization that you are the most visible and vocal surrogate for a man who is by nearly every measurement—fully devoid of Christlikeness?”

As a spiritual advisor, Pavlovitz understands the difficulty of flawed human beings living up to the standards of truly Christian, turn the other cheek, behavior, but emphasizes that Sanders’ work on behalf of Trump goes beyond merely the occasional lapse in sainthood-worthy demeanor.

“This is about actively working for the opposition.
This is about purposeful betrayal of your namesake.
This is about conspiring with the enemy,” he reminds the self-proclaimed Christian.

He then details his feelings as he watches Sanders execute her duties in a very non-Christian manner.

“I watch you every week as you repeatedly distort the truth,
as you attack journalists who come carrying facts.
as you vilify politicians who oppose your employer’s malfeasance,
as you categorically defend his every vile statement, every personal attack, every nonsensical Tweet, every baseless firing, every legislative assault.”

“I watch your face contort with the unmistakable tells of a person who doesn’t believe a word they’re saying; one who’s sold their soul and is now hopelessly trapped in a lie about a lie about a lie.”

“I wonder what Jesus-story you tell yourself, about the fact that every week you stand in front of a microphone and willingly perpetuate falsehoods that do great harm to millions of people?”

Pavlovitz then wonders whether the cognitive dissonance of her work registers in Sanders’ mind.

“Maybe you’ve convinced yourself it’s somehow all the Lord’s work.”

“Maybe you’ve been on this slippery slope of deception for so long that you actually believe the lies now too.”

Then he puts forth the proposition that perhaps they are praying to different gods.

“Or maybe your Jesus and my Jesus are just that different.”

“Maybe your Jesus is good with deporting immigrants.
Maybe your Jesus celebrates the poor staying poor.
Maybe your Jesus is fine with affairs with porn stars.
Maybe your Jesus is totally cool with supremacist Cabinet members.
Maybe your Jesus amens the banning and the wall-building. 
Maybe your Jesus sanctions the fear of brown people.
Maybe your Jesus is pleased with sick people going broke trying to not die.
Maybe your Jesus applauds the racism and the bitterness and the cruelty.Maybe your Jesus somehow blesses the lies you broker in on behalf of the monster you work for.”

If Sanders really believes in this bizarro world Christ, Pavlovitz congratulates her for the fantastic job she’s doing advancing his agenda. However, he points out the problems with that interpretation of the scriptures.

“But for my money, that Jesus is the reason so many people want nothing to do with Christianity anymore.
It’s why the Church is hemorrhaging.
It’s why the pews are emptying.
It’s why people run from Christians.”

The progressive preacher then turns the conversation back to the White House Correspondents Dinner.

“I imagine you feel that thirty seconds of jokes from a comedian is terrible treatment; that you feel unfairly bullied, that feel that you didn’t deserve to be personally attacked.”

“I imagine you feel like an innocent victim in all this.”

“Given the countless hours you’ve spent lying to the world and claiming Jesus while you’ve done it—I think you got off easy,” he concludes.

We imagine that John Pavlovitz is proud of writing this open letter to Sarah Huckabee Sanders. He should be.

https://washingtonpress.com/2018/05/01/a-christian-pastor-just-broke-the-internet-with-a-scathing-open-letter-to-huckabee-sanders-and-trump/