From the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” files –

To continue on in the vein of evangelical voters and what was either their absence or their failure to vote in a way that reflected the principles of the Christian faith, the problem has been tragically highlighted today in a story from Bloomberg.com.

Donald Trump, the serial adulterer, has been meeting with clergymen who are being touted as “evangelical,” in order to convince them to put the word out to the evangelical faithful that instead of giving their money to feed and clothe the poor, they should be tossing their discretionary cash into the offering plate for Trump.

You know… Trump, the guy who has said he would self-fund his campaign, until he wouldn’t, and who spent most of his time during the primary race talking about how very rich he was.

Yes, that guy wants the evangelical community to dig deep and give to the cause.

“’In the meetings, there were discussions of certain evangelical and diversity groups helping to fund raise for his campaign,’ said Bruce LeVell, an African American pastor who is the executive director of National Diversity Coalition for Trump.

Team Trump’s fundraising goal will be about $400,000, or $20 donations from 20,000 evangelicals, according to a person directly familiar with the conversations.”

So it would seem the goal is to use pastors to fleece their flock to benefit a man who has rejected the God evangelicals worship, while giving vague lip service to the Christian faith.

In a desperate act of contortionist logic, one pastor sought to convince the gullible and unwashed that you could see proof of Trump’s piety in his hand gestures.

Yes. Hand gestures. Forget confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, or baptism as an outward show. Proof of salvation is now reduced to pointing:

“’You see athletes do it all the time and it’s their chance to point to the sky, to thank God for their success,’ said Pastor Mark Burns, CEO of a Christian television network based in South Carolina. ‘Trump does this all of the time, too. He’s giving reverence to the man upstairs.’

‘Even with Mr. Trump’s billions of dollars, he too still submits himself to God,’ said Burns, who has become a top Trump surrogate and a staple on the campaign trail, frequently introducing the candidate at rallies. ‘We should all chip in to help him out. You know, even a billionaire needs some cash flow.’”

Stunning.

Where’s the fruit, Pastor?

In fact, Finney is quoted:

“The time has come for Christians to vote for honest men, and take consistent ground in politics or the Lord will curse them… God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.”

Grave warning, but one that too many evangelical voters and those who would be their leadership have been willing to ignore.