Despite the Democratic Party’s overtly a-religious platform and intentional omission of the term “God” from the Pledge of Allegiance, their leaders have sometimes been known to refer to themselves as “people of faith” and have even stopped to preach at churches on the campaign trail — all in an effort to garner the support of evangelical voters during election season.
Even so, Democrats have gone so far as to appeal to the person of Jesus as the standard for their policies, whether it be on immigration, socialism, climate change, abortion, or critical race theory. But what were Jesus’ views on these topics? Did his life reflect the values of today’s Democratic Party?
1. Jesus was not an illegal immigrant but the perfect law-keeper who submitted to the governing authorities.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez once referred to Jesus as an undocumented refugee, no doubt alluding to the time he fled from Judea to Egypt as a baby to escape violence. What this assumption fails to recognize, however, is that Egypt and Judea were both ruled by the Roman Empire. Since Mary, Joseph, and Jesus did not leave Rome, there was no “illegal border crossing” going on, nor did they lawfully require King Herod’s approval to travel.
Moreover, they were not refugees, because Egypt was not giving them sanctuary. Instead, they followed the angel of the Lord’s instructions and relocated as a fulfilment of prophecy (Matt 2:14–15). More importantly, Jesus was the perfect law-keeper. He fulfilled the law perfectly and completely in his active obedience (Matt 5:17). If ever he broke the law even once during his earthly life, he would not have been the righteous Son of God. But as it stands, he submitted to the laws of the land which God himself had established (Rom 13:1).
2. Jesus was not a socialist but a charitable gift-giver who actually kept people fed.
Democrats have also been known to allude to Jesus and his followers as people who held to socialist principles since he helped the poor, clothed the naked, and fed the hungry. It is indeed true that Jesus did these things. Nevertheless, it is also important to understand that Jesus was not a government, nor did he ever use other people’s resources to feed the poor. Jesus never forced charity on anyone, because he understood that charity is no longer charity if it is taken out of someone’s salary by force.
Furthermore, Jesus did not petition the government to use tax-payer funds to put an end to poverty but instead called Christians to exercise mercy ministry in their surrounding communities. Jesus was preaching to the church when he said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matt 5:7). Why? Because there are no people out there who can better serve the vulnerable than Jesus and his church. Moreover, unlike modern-day socialism and its catastrophic effects which can be seen in countries such as Venezuela and Cuba, Jesus actually kept people fed (Matt 14:21).
3. Jesus was not a climate alarmist but the providential ruler who controlled the climate.
Being good stewards of creation is no doubt something all Christians should be pursuing for the glory of God and love of neighbor. However, Jesus alone is the sovereign controller of the climate. In the gospel accounts, the wind and the waves literally obey Jesus when he rebukes them with the words, “Peace, be still” (Mark 4:39). Indeed, God ordains the winter cold (Ps 147:16), the warmth of the sun (Gen 1:16), and the lifegiving rains (Jer 14:22). It is also his own sovereign prerogative to use the seasons to bless or curse nations on this side of eternity (Jonah 3:10). But what, then, is global warming?
Ironically, the Apostle Peter summed up the true meaning of global warming when he described what would happen at the time Jesus returns to earth: “the elements will melt with fervent heat and the earth and its works will be burned up” (2 Pet 3:10). Therefore, if global warming teaches us anything at all, it is that the world in which humans inhabit will, at a future time, undergo a catastrophic melting process — and contrary to the Democrats’ Green New Deal, airplanes and flatulating cows won’t be the cause.
4. Jesus was not a pro-choice abortionist but the giver of life who treasured and valued infants created in God’s image.
Raphael Warnock, a Democratic Senate candidate and Baptist pastor, recently argued that the legalization of abortion is “consistent” with Christianity and that he would uphold “women’s health, women’s choice, and reproductive justice.” Clearly, this Democrat pastor has failed to grasp the Bible and Jesus’ own pro-life teachings. In the first place, Jesus reiterated the sixth commandment of the Decalogue when he said, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment” (Matt 5:21).
The miraculous virgin conception and birth was no less Jesus’ own affirmation on the value and dignity of human life, having purposed to undergo the gestation process (Luke 1:44) and pass through his own creature’s uterus (Matt 1:23). But perhaps the most telling moment where Jesus expressed his righteous indignation toward the unjust treatment of children was when he said it would be better for those who cause children to stumble to “have a large millstone hung around their necks and drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matt 18:6).
How can a Baptist pastor who claims to follow Jesus, then, uphold the practice of tearing babies apart limb from limb? The answer is simple: he is a Democrat — and as Bernie Sanders said, “Being pro-choice is an absolutely essential part of being a Democrat.”
5. Jesus was not a critical race theorist who divided people by race but a unifier who tore down the dividing wall of hostility.
Critical race theory (CRT) is one of the fundamental distinctives of the present Democratic Party’s worldview. It is an ideology that analyzes society by dividing people into groups based on skin color (i.e., the “oppressed” and “oppressor”). By applying CRT, the Democratic platform seeks to overturn “unjust” systems in a twenty-first-century America that is perceived to be inherently racist. However, with the rise of BLEXIT and other similar grassroots movements, large swaths of the African American population have refused to be manipulated by the systemic racism narrative.
To be sure, CRT is rooted in a “white savior complex” that assumes blacks need to be acknowledged and saved by whites in order to live their lives (no less in a nation that has the most free and prosperous black people on earth). More importantly, however, CRT does not comport with the message of the gospel wherein Jesus secured reconciliation between ethnic Jews and Gentiles in his atoning death (Matt 27:51); and despite being a persecuted Jew himself, Jesus’ message was never “Jewish lives matter” but rather “repent” (Matt 4:17) and “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15), because all have “sinned” (Mark 2:17) and “fallen short” (Rom 3:23).
Moreover, since Jesus has achieved racial reconciliation on the Cross (Eph 2:11–13), the unity that people experience within the true body of Christ far transcends any sin allegedly inherited by ancestors.
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