I used to tell a tall tale which became known as the ‘Bear Story.’ It was a story about how a Japanese black bear, at the end of winter, awoke from its slumber and made its way down to the final bus stop on the route from Sendai across the mountains to Yamagata in northern Japan.

It was one of those tall tales that could go on forever, giving details on the response of the bus drivers, the passengers, and the fear as the bear approached the bus, how the bus driver dropped his keys outside and couldn’t start the bus, the little girl who dropped her change purse and how the coins fell down to the road, among other little details, which culminated in a rather irate bear who wanted to get into the bus.

The point of the story is to be convincing, and most of my hearers would be waiting for the next piece of information, their mouths wide, shocked as the ‘true story’ unfolded. The punchline of course, was when, out of the blue, the bear asks for a bus ticket to Yamagata.

The funny thing is how many people would expect me to continue with the story, and they would ask ‘and what happened next?’ The only one who was unfazed and dismissive of the joke was one of my sisters. All I had to do was say, ‘can I tell you about the day a bear tried to get into the bus from Sendai to Yamagata,’ and she looked at me across her glasses on her nose and said immediately, ‘Ah, this is not a true story, is it?’

In only a few days, America decides the next President. The fascist candidate, Donald Trump is the closest America has come to anything like Mussolini or Franco, and the personality cult around him resembles the delusion spoken of in the Book of Revelation, how evil will rise in the Last Days. The way millions of Christians no longer follow Jesus, but worship Trump as their new Messiah, and his rhetoric, his policies, and his personality are antithetical to anything resembling Biblical Christianity, and yet, thousands of pastors, priests, and ministers, are so blinded, so deluded, and so deceived.

The Bible warns us not to trust in people, only in God. In Isaiah 2: 22, it reads,

‘Stop trusting in mere humans, who have but a breath in their nostrils. Why hold them in esteem?’

It is the prophet Jeremiah however, who said it best, in his book (17: 5-9).

 This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
    in a salt land where no one lives.

 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
    and never fails to bear fruit.”

The heart is deceitful above all things
    and beyond cure.
    Who can understand it?.’

Notice the strong language used, that of curses, so that a person who trusts in flesh and blood is cursed, which can only mean that the millions of deluded Americans who trust in their new Messiah Donald Trump are cursed by the God in whose name they pretend to invoke.

America is the most powerful nation in the world, with a strong economy, and a place of leadership in the world. The great lie of Trump is that all of this is a myth, all of this is fake, and he has spent almost a decade spinning a story like my Bear Story, only the Bear Story was a joke, a funny story to tell people a little bit of what life was like up in the north of Japan, but the MAGA lie is spinning a web of half-truths, lies and deceits, all for the big con, which is the buying and selling of the office of the Presidency to the highest bidder.

Trump’s trade policy is to undo almost a century of the only trade policy that brought American economic prosperity – liberalization, through negotiation. Protectionism is not the answer for the world’s leading economy, and it will lead to war with China. Trump’s hatred of China is another American version of the ‘Yellow Peril’ nonsense in the nineteenth century, and his anti-migrant rhetoric comes straight from Mein Kampf. His support of Israel will justify continued genocide in Gaza, and the expansion of Israel’s war in the Middle East. Trump’s involvement on January 6 with his thousands of jack boot thugs is an echo of Mosley’s Brownshirts in Britain.

MAGA is not the gospel of Jesus Christ. MAGA is not Christian, and the alarm bells should have rung when Pence didn’t endorse him, and Pence was a rabid evangelical.

Even so, I keep coming back to the text of the Bible, which is very clear, very direct, and very insightful, do not trust in people, but in God. Trump is not the Messiah, he is not God, but the way millions of Americans and Australian Christians speak of him is like blasphemy, they talk of him in hallowed terms, as if he is the new Jesus, the new voice of God, the chosen one.

His followers are like the disciples to a cult leader. His every word is accepted as truth, his every mistake excused, and every criticism of him is dismissed. The irony is that millions of his disciples are convinced on a number of great conspiracy theories, but they do not realize that they themselves have been brainwashed and indoctrinated, in a political scam that has run for almost a decade.

The Bible is also very clear on judging others. In Matthew 7: 1-2, Jesus says these words:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.’

What this means is simple. Trump and his followers have set the standard for their own condemnation, for the same way they judge others, they can be judged, for the same rhetoric which is used to condemn others can be used to condemn them, and the same lack of compassion they show others can be meted out to them. They have decided their own fate, both in this world and in the next.

In the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and this is one of the reasons I have always been reluctant to talk about morality, and instead focus on the person, the presence, and the power of God in Jesus Christ. I believe in the good news, and I believe that God sent Jesus to bring good news in his life, death and resurrection, and I do not for one minute see even the tiniest shard of the light of the gospel in the fake religion of MAGA, which is a hateful, spiteful, vengeful, godless crusade against life itself, against society, and against God.

The best Trump can offer you is an imitation leather MAGA Bible printed in China, and is a man who neither knows God, or loves him, for if he did, he would be a different person, with different values, different slogans, and different words. His disciples call him a Christian, his followers see him as the new Jesus, but Jesus condemns Trump in his own words, and what are these words? (Matthew 7: 15-20).

‘“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.’

It is a reminder of the stupidity of Christians about which I have written so much these last few years. If the right words are used, the right flattery, the right incentives, thousands of Christian leaders will fall for the latest scam, the latest con, and the latest deceit.

All the while, Israel’s war continues, the genocide continues, and the war spirals out of control, and the same men who are lining up to line their pockets with Trump are the ones supporting Israel’s genocide, and Israel’s war. Have these men compromised their faith over Israel? You bet they have.

Remember, freedom matters today because you matter to God.

Michael J. Sutton