A shocking response from a Facebook Evangelical friend makes Pastor John Pavlovitz words prescient

An evangelical friend on Facebook shocked me. I posted a message about Trump’s latest disaster, Iran. Ultimately she said it was God’s will for him to be president and implied that it is in the Bible’s word.

I woke up with that on my mind and recalled an interview I recently did with Pastor John Pavlovitz. We have people living in an alternate state of reality that I am concerned about when they wake up.

My edited message says the following.

Donald Trump is on a “wag the dog” mission and in the process will put millions of Americans around the world at risk and kill many. These warmongers put so little value on life and humanity. We cannot allow this impeached president to get away with this. He will try to create a nationalist narrative. We need to nip him on that message quickly.

While I am confident Trump will lose in 2020, it is clear he can continue his train of damage internationally and nationally.

PS: This may also be a message to North Korea to tell little Kim that Trump is crazy enough to hurt him.

My friend’s first response was,

Soleimani is in hell. Americans are safer with that murderer dead. Obama gave him $150 billion to try to bribe & pay off the Iranians, which they have used to murder Americans. Obama’s appeasement worked about as well as Chamberlains appeasement of Hitler. Hitler & Soleimani are in hell, and Trump is our President. He is making America respected again, and yes Making America Great Again #KAG #TrumpPence2020 He will win in a landslide.

I was measured in my answer. While I know given the media sources she listens to, she believes the verifiably false narrative that Obama gave Iran $150 Billion and that he appeased Iran as opposed to it being important measured international diplomacy. About making America great again, only the eventual demise of her personal economy or that of many of her family and friends will mitigate that false reality.

I responded using my standard non-confrontational messaging which is best IMHO on online platforms and in other venues.

It behooves me how a country can live in two realities. They both cannot be true. That is dangerous for its ultimate existence. Alternate facts is not a real thing. It is just a modified manner of acquiescing to a lie. Those who want to know the unadulterated truth can. But they must do so without assumptions.

Her response to me was shocking especially with the level of certitude in a myth.

I’m not sure exactly what you are saying? But I am very sure, if we have 2 different versions of reality, I’m going with the version that is the truth. The only absolute truth in this universe is the Holy Bible, the Word of God, the Truth. President Trump is clearly & absolutely the only choice for those of us who believe God’s Word.

How do you engage with a response like that? When the subject reaches unescapable circularity based on their source there is none. I simply responded as follows.

That was very absolute. I don’t believe ANY president somehow is anointed. But I don’t have a comeback as if you believe somehow Trump is the best God could provide as our leader with so many other moral Christians running, who am I to object.

I woke up with that thread on my mind. I immediately remembered an interview I did with Pastor John Pavlovitz that attempted to explain said pathology. Watch it as it is well worth it.

When I posted this video at The Democratic Underground I go an interesting comment.

To be honest I don’t give a tinker’s damn about the well being of the Trump cultists…personally I hope that they suffer from a depression so deep that they jump off bridges, step into traffic, and jump in front of trains…and even then it still wouldn’t pay for their attempt to destroy this country!!!!

I think while it is easy to be upset at these folks we know are simply living in a different reality, I think we have to be a bit more empathy even as to many, it is undeserved. I responded with the following.

They feel we [progressives] are trying to destroy the country which of course is verifiably false. But here is why I care. To effect change, we need more than a 50+1 majority. A large percentage of these guys, Evangelicals, are indoctrinated by corrupt leaders (pastors, ministers, reverends that have sold out). We must find a way to cut the head off while giving those people who have been misled a place to land. You may be mentally strong but so many can fall on either side just by persuasion and not a real conviction.

I would love your thoughts.