Christian author Philip Yancey recently issued a harsh rebuke of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying the businessman "stands against everything Christianity believes."
Yancey told Evangelical Focus, a Christian outlet, that he's dumbfounded by just how fervently evangelical Christians are supporting Trump.
"I am staggered that so many conservative or evangelical Christians would see a man who is a bully, who made his money by casinos, who has had several wives and several affairs that they would somehow paint him as a hero, as someone that we could stand behind," he said.
Yancey said he understands agreeing with certain policies, but he simply can't comprehend who so many Christians are aligning themselves with Trump in light of perceived negative attributes.
"I could understand that maybe you choose these policies that you support ... but to choose a person who stands against everything Christianity believes as the hero, the representative, the one who we get behind enthusiastically is not something that I understand at all," he added.
Watch Yancey's comments here.
The author also warned of the intertwining of religion and politics, saying that, in Europe, there are examples of Christian denominations being set back decades by inappropriately intertwining themselves with government.
Then, when government acts or is suddenly seen as ineffective and corrupt, the churches, too, end up harmed in the public eye.
Yancey proposed that there could be fertile ground for Christians to help nonbelievers discover the gospel, even as America continues to secularize.
"As the United States grows more and more secular ... I tell my people we are becoming more like the fertile soil in which the early church did best," he said.
Yancey's comments come as evangelicals are rallying around Trump's candidacy ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 8 election. While many evangelicals and Christians more broadly agree with his assessment, others have defended Trump.
Author Eric Metaxas is among the pool of prominent evangelicals who are supporting Trump, proclaiming in an interview with "The Chuch Boys" earlier this summer that it's essential that Christians choose the GOP nominee.
"Donald Trump, when people paint him as some immoral monster do you even know what an immoral monster is?" Metaxas said. "Do you know who Stalin was, who Hilter was, who Pol Pot was, who Idi Amin was?"
He continued, "You may not like him, but the idea that we kinda write him off as pure evil those folks are simply not thinking clearly."
Metaxas encouraged Christians to take an objective look at the political landscape, drawing a distinction between Trump and Clinton, while acknowledging the critique that Trump is simply unpredictable.
"Better to gamble with somebody who might pick the wrong person than to allow someone to get into the office who, without any doubt, will pick the wrong person, he said of the president's ability to appoint Supreme Court justices.
Others, too, have said that Trump is a Christian who, at some point over the past decade, has rededicated himself to God. Listen to Metaxas' comments here.
As The Pew Research Center noted, the once-skeptical Christian cohort is now overwhelmingly willing to support Trump, with nearly 90 percent of regular GOP churchgoers saying in June that they'd opt for Trump over Clinton.
And evangelicals, more specifically, were among the wariest of Trump during the primaries; that same group, though, is now overwhelmingly on his side, with 94 percent of Republican evangelicals saying they'd choose Trump over Clinton.
Yancey told Evangelical Focus, a Christian outlet, that he's dumbfounded by just how fervently evangelical Christians are supporting Trump.
"I am staggered that so many conservative or evangelical Christians would see a man who is a bully, who made his money by casinos, who has had several wives and several affairs that they would somehow paint him as a hero, as someone that we could stand behind," he said.
Yancey said he understands agreeing with certain policies, but he simply can't comprehend who so many Christians are aligning themselves with Trump in light of perceived negative attributes.
"I could understand that maybe you choose these policies that you support ... but to choose a person who stands against everything Christianity believes as the hero, the representative, the one who we get behind enthusiastically is not something that I understand at all," he added.
Watch Yancey's comments here.
The author also warned of the intertwining of religion and politics, saying that, in Europe, there are examples of Christian denominations being set back decades by inappropriately intertwining themselves with government.
Then, when government acts or is suddenly seen as ineffective and corrupt, the churches, too, end up harmed in the public eye.
Yancey proposed that there could be fertile ground for Christians to help nonbelievers discover the gospel, even as America continues to secularize.
"As the United States grows more and more secular ... I tell my people we are becoming more like the fertile soil in which the early church did best," he said.
Yancey's comments come as evangelicals are rallying around Trump's candidacy ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 8 election. While many evangelicals and Christians more broadly agree with his assessment, others have defended Trump.
Author Eric Metaxas is among the pool of prominent evangelicals who are supporting Trump, proclaiming in an interview with "The Chuch Boys" earlier this summer that it's essential that Christians choose the GOP nominee.
"Donald Trump, when people paint him as some immoral monster do you even know what an immoral monster is?" Metaxas said. "Do you know who Stalin was, who Hilter was, who Pol Pot was, who Idi Amin was?"
He continued, "You may not like him, but the idea that we kinda write him off as pure evil those folks are simply not thinking clearly."
Metaxas encouraged Christians to take an objective look at the political landscape, drawing a distinction between Trump and Clinton, while acknowledging the critique that Trump is simply unpredictable.
"Better to gamble with somebody who might pick the wrong person than to allow someone to get into the office who, without any doubt, will pick the wrong person, he said of the president's ability to appoint Supreme Court justices.
Others, too, have said that Trump is a Christian who, at some point over the past decade, has rededicated himself to God. Listen to Metaxas' comments here.
As The Pew Research Center noted, the once-skeptical Christian cohort is now overwhelmingly willing to support Trump, with nearly 90 percent of regular GOP churchgoers saying in June that they'd opt for Trump over Clinton.
And evangelicals, more specifically, were among the wariest of Trump during the primaries; that same group, though, is now overwhelmingly on his side, with 94 percent of Republican evangelicals saying they'd choose Trump over Clinton.