Last week I wrote an essay on our Areopagus Facebook page and website entitled “Don’t Trust Anyone’s Judgement Who Didn’t See This Coming” that began with this warning:
Here is a simple lesson in prudential judgment:
Don’t trust anyone’s judgement on any political, social, cultural, or moral issue of our day who was too ignorant or too immature to NOT vote for Donald Trump in the last election.
I retrospect, I wish I’d written: “Don’t trust anyone’s judgement on any political, social, cultural, or moral issue of our day who didn’t do everything possible to help defeat Joe Biden in the last election” – because for me, the priority was to keep Biden and the secular socialists of the Democratic Party out of power.
I went on to write:
Don’t try to defend those (including many Christian leaders) who wouldn’t vote for Trump because they were offended by the fact that he often spoke, tweeted and acted like a rude, crude, narcissistic and immature child. We all knew that Trump shouldn’t be regarded as anyone’s role model for manly maturity. But his ridiculous personality and mannerisms aside, he sincerely loved America, and most of his policies and programs were sensible, beneficial and necessary.
Trump (unlike so many “moderate Republicans”) had the courage to forcefully oppose the radical agenda of the cultural Marxists of the Democratic Party who are systematically destroying America. Those who are capable of thinking like adults understand this simple principle when it comes to politics and politicians: policies, programs and priorities should always ‘trump’ personalities.
Furthermore, we understand that politics is mostly about damage control: rarely if ever do we have the opportunity to vote for an ‘ideal’ candidate, but we have a moral obligation to do everything possible to help defeat the very worst candidates. The failure to do so is irresponsible and indefensible. We knew that Joe Biden was one of the most corrupt and incompetent politicians of the past 50 years. We knew he would be a spineless pawn of the radical Left who would surround himself with like-minded fools who would implement most of the Left’s demonic and insidious policies. In that regard, Biden certainly has succeeded.
Throughout American history we have had many mediocre presidents. (In fact, most have been mediocre at best.) And especially in recent decades we have had some who actively promoted a transparently immoral and evil agenda: Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in particular. But our present president has set entirely new “standards” for corruption and incompetence.
Now, the Islamic thugs who comprise the Taliban movement have told President Biden that he has until August 31 to get any Americans out of Afghanistan who want to leave. And much to his disgrace, Biden has affirmed that he will dutifully comply – despite pleas from hundreds of thousands of U.S. military veterans, thousands of prominent politicians and humanitarian aide workers, along with countless Afghans who worked with Americans over the past 20 years to contain the Taliban threat. Like the current border crisis, the Afghanistan debacle is entirely the fault of Joe Biden. [Note: see the Postscript to this article.] As Robert Gates, the former Secretary of Defense under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, wrote in his 2014 memoir, “I think [Joe Biden] has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.” Unlike a fine wine, suffice it to say that Biden has not improved with age.
Any Christian leader who did not use his/her influence and do everything possible to defeat Joe Biden in the last election should be ashamed. Furthermore, they need to repent.
Many refused to comment on what was at stake in the election because they didn’t like Donald Trump. There was much about Trump’s personality, his character flaws and his lack of judgment in certain areas that I certainly didn’t like either: his boorish personality, his clumsy and exaggerated rhetoric, his impetuous Tweets, the constant slugfests not only with prominent Democrats but others in his own party – and even his ridiculous Twitter spats with insignificant and inconsequential Hollywood and pop culture celebrities whom most of us who have a life haven’t even heard of. But in terms of what really matters – his policies, programs and priorities – there was a vast difference between Trump and Biden just as there is a vast difference between most Republicans and Democrats on most of the consequential issues of our day. In fact, the positions and policies of most Republicans and most Democrats often represent two diametrically opposite worldviews, which is why there is almost perpetual political gridlock in Washington, D.C.
But Trump’s problematic personality aside, many Christian leaders appear to be moral cowards in their reticence to speak out on any controversial issue whether it be abortion, the LGBTQ agenda, Critical Race Theory, all the horrific rioting, violence and destruction in our cities throughout 2020, or the refusal of Biden and his Democratic cronies to uphold the rule of law in terms of protecting America’s territorial integrity – something which all politicians swear an oath to defend. [See the satirical Babylon Bee article, “Americans at the Mercy of the Taliban Just Glad We Don’t Have a President Who Posts Mean Tweets Anymore”.]
The issue of why so many Christian leaders shrink back from commenting on controversial issues came up in our Areopagus Forum a few months ago with Rev. Andrew Brunson, the American missionary to Turkey who was held in a Turkish prison for more than a year until finally released under pressure from President Trump, V.P. Pence and Sec. of State Mike Pompeo. According to Rev. Brunson – and I’ve always agreed – these Christian leaders usually retreat behind the facade that their calling is simply “to preach the gospel” – therefore implying that they are exempt from taking a stand on contentious social, cultural and political issues. Either they don’t understand, or else they refuse to admit, that many (if not most) of the great social and political controversies of our day are in fact MORAL-based issues. And even more consequential, these moral-based issues are innately SPIRITUAL issues. As all biblical Christians should know, the great challenges that we face are only superficially “political”. At the deepest level, the enemy is not foolish and unprincipled politicians and other cultural perverts but rather the “spiritual forces of evil” that are driving our current culture war (Eph. 6:12).
The role of a Christian leader in preaching the gospel is not simply “to get people saved” – although that is the necessary gateway into the Kingdom of Heaven. But beyond that, the Christian faith is a comprehensive worldview that should impact every area of our life – what we think, what we say, and how we live. In that regard, Jesus addressed the breadth of Christian discipleship in the Greatest Commandment when he proclaimed: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… and love others as you love yourself.” Now the question is simply this: how can we possibly love others if we are indifferent and unconcerned with the kind of laws and public policies that regulate (and often control) their lives? How can we really love others unless we are sensitive and attentive to not only their religious and spiritual condition, but also their physical, material, emotional, social, intellectual, and creative needs as well? In reality, we can’t truly love others if we care little about the quality of their lives in a wholistic sense – including their social and political culture.
Joe Biden has always been an unprincipled political opportunist. Watch the documentary, Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, and note in particular the scenes in which Biden and Ted Kennedy(!) have the unmitigated audacity to sit in judgement of Clarence Thomas’s moral fitness to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. To state the obvious: this is gross hypocrisy.
But unfortunately, gross hypocrisy characterizes the Democratic Party in general and most of its politicians in particular. Don’t be afraid to proclaim this boldly and publicly – because it is undeniably true. If in doubt, simply read The Communist Manifesto and compare it to recent Democratic Party platforms. As I wrote in my book, American Crisis:
[W]hile the Republican Party is the party of mediocrity, the Democratic Party is the party of venality. Mediocrity is a concession to human weakness and fallibility, while venality is an expression of the innate evil within human nature….
The modern Democratic Party is simply the partisan political expression of a secular socialist ideology. Though Republicans are often timid and pathetic, it is the Democratic Party that is the driving force behind virtually all the immoral, irrational, impractical, irresponsible and counterproductive polices and programs that are bankrupting America economically, socially, morally and spiritually…. [Jefrey D. Breshears, American Crisis: Cultural Marxism and the Culture War, pp. 333, 281.]
I realize that in a couple of weeks Afghanistan will probably be off the front pages and most Americans will move on and re-direct their attention to things that really matter most – namely, the upcoming football season and the latest developments in the ongoing Britney Spears psychodrama. But for millions of Afghans – certainly Christians and females, but also the men who fought and served valiantly to make their country a more decent and humane place – their lives will be a living hell-on-earth. Except of course for all of those who will soon be summarily tortured and murdered.
In reality the United States is the only nation in the world that has the capacity to influence world events and the lives of hundreds of millions of people for the better. That being the case, this makes what is currently taking place in Afghanistan all the more tragic and all the more inexcusable. Certainly Joe Biden and his unfit advisors are primarily to blame for this debacle. But who elected this corrupt and incompetent fool? Much of the blame rests on Christian leaders here in America who imagine that they are too “spiritually-minded” to speak out on the great moral, social, cultural, and political crises of our time. Instead, they preach and teach on seemingly any topic other than what the current crises demand. Apparently, they either lack the courage to address such matters, or else they have little awareness that a wholistic understanding of Christian discipleship cultivates not only our own personal spiritual lives but also our social and civic responsibilities in terms of loving others as we love ourselves.
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POSTSCRIPT:
Counting the Costs of the Afghan War in Lives, Money, and American Credibility
The U.S. combat mission in Afghanistan constituted America’s longest war. In the nearly 20 years in which the U.S. and other allied forces held the Taliban at bay, social conditions in the country improved considerably in some key respects. For example, basic healthcare improved to the point that the infant mortality rate dropped by about 50%. The overall literacy rate increased from about 8% in 2001 to more than 50% by 2020, and with the relaxation of traditional Sharia-based restrictions on female rights an estimated 39% of Afghan girls were attending school. As of early 2021, a third of university students were women as were 27% of the members of parliament. Such advances will certainly end with the Taliban control of the country.
Many believe that America’s active combat role in the protracted war in Afghanistan should have ended many years ago if not immediately following the overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001. The Trump administration generally agreed, and as a result it negotiated a conditional deal with the Taliban that specified the withdrawal of American troops by May 1, 2021. Only a token force of 2,500 would remain, stationed primarily at the high-security Bagram Airfield, that would protect the evacuation of American and international citizens and any Afghan allies who had served U.S. forces in the event of a Taliban takeover of the country.
For reasons that defy any rational explanation, President Biden withdrew U.S. troops and abandoned Bagram Airfield, the most strategic and secure air base in Afghanistan, prior to beginning the evacuation of American, British and other NATO allied citizens along with Afghans who had fought the Taliban. Without American air support, the Afghan National Army (ANA) collapsed in mid-August and the Taliban quickly overran the entire country. Furthermore, Biden’s actions left only a single unsecured commercial airport open in Kabul as a means for Americans and our allies to exit the country. The result will undoubtedly be mass chaos and possible terrorist attacks against those hoping to flee the country before the August 31 deadline.
The Death Toll:
Nearly 2,450 American service members were killed in the Afghan War. In addition, more than 20,000 were wounded in action – many losing arms or legs or suffering permanent blindness due to Iranian-manufactured IED’s (improvised explosive devices). More than 30,000 suicides by U.S. service members and veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have been reported, and estimates very widely regarding the percentage of veterans who have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after returning to the U.S. from Iraq or Afghanistan.
Other than the 2,450 American military deaths, the Afghan War claimed the lives of nearly 170,000 others, including:
- Approximately 1,700 American civilian contractors (in addition to 2,100 other foreign nationals who worked for the U.S. military).
- Nearly 1,150 allied service members from other NATO member states.
- 444 aid workers.
- 72 journalists.
- Approximately 65,000 Afghan national military and police.
- Approximately 50,000 Afghan civilians.
- Approximately 50,000 Taliban and other opposition fighters.
Cost of the Afghan War in U.S. Dollars:
The cost of the Afghan War to the United States is estimated at $2.2 trillion – or about $300 million per day for nearly 20 years. In addition, the amount the U.S. government (i.e., American taxpayers) is committed to pay in health care, disability, burial and other costs for some 4 million Afghanistan and Iraq veterans will exceed another $2 trillion.
Military Equipment Left Behind:
Between 2003 and 2016, the U.S. purchased and provided nearly 76,000 vehicles, more than 200 aircraft, and 600,000 infantry weapons to the Afghan National Army (ANA) and security forces. Having seized much of this arsenal, the Taliban becomes one of the best-equipped armies in the world. This equipment includes in following
- More than 42,600 light tactical vehicles: fast attack combat vehicles ($69,400 each), passenger motor vehicles ($65,500 each), and all-terrain 4-wheel vehicles (up to $42,000 each).
- More than 22,000 Humvees: ambulance type Humvees ($38,000 to $143,000 each); cargo type Humvees ($105,000 each); utility Humvees ($91,000 each); and large 12,000 lb. troop transports (up to $330,000 each).
- Nearly 9,000 medium range tactical vehicles: cargo and general transport trucks ($67,000 each); MTV heavy vehicles ($235,000 to $725,00 each); and cargo trucks to transport airplanes (as much as $800,000 each).
- More than 1,000 recovery vehicles ($170,000 to $880,000 each).
- More than 900 mine resistant vehicles ($412,000 to $767,000 each).
- Nearly 200 armored personnel carriers ($170,000 to $333,000 each).
- More than 100 helicopters: Black Hawk helicopters (approximately $20 million each); specialized helicopters (more than $30 million each); observation helicopters (approximately $90,000 each); and utility helicopters (up to $900,000 each).
- Nearly 100 airplanes: 60 transport/cargo airplanes of various types; 20 light attack airplanes (approximately $21 million each); and 18 intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance airplanes ($5 million to more than $20 million each).
- Drones: in 2017, the U.S. military lost $174 million in drones that were loaned to the ANA; the ANA didn’t immediately use the drones, and presently they are unaccounted for.
- Nearly 360,000 assault rifles.
- More than 12,000 shotguns.
- More than 125,000 pistols.
- Nearly 65,000 machine guns.
- More than 25,000 grenade launchers.
- Nearly 10,000 rocket propelled launchers.
- Over 2,600 artillery pieces – howitzers and mortars.
- More than 16,000 night vision devices.
- 120 radio monitoring systems.
- 8 unmanned air systems and 6 surveillance balloons.
- In addition: from 2017 to 2019, the U.S. gave Afghan forces more than 7,000 machine guns, 4,700 Humvees, 20,000 hand grenades, 2,500 bombs and 1,400 grenade launchers.
Lastly, in terms of America’s influence and credibility in the world, Biden has betrayed the principles on which much of U.S. foreign policy has been conducted since World War II. The issue is not whether the U.S. should have disengaged from Afghanistan but rather the foolish and inept manner in which it was done. To reiterate a previous point, Joe Biden is arguably the most corrupt president in American history – his family, like that of the Clintons, has essentially functioned for decades as a political crime syndicate. He is also, by almost any standard of comparison, the most incompetent president in American history. But he was elected because many good Americans, including many good Christians and church leaders, failed to exercise prudent moral judgement in terms of using the full resources of their influence to keep him and his Democratic (Socialist) Party out of the White House. May God have mercy on the poor people of Afghanistan, and may God have mercy on us all.
Sources:
https://apnews.com/article/middle-east-business-afghanistan-43d8f53b35e80ec18c130cd683e1a38f
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/military/killed
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2021/08/23/staggering-costs–us-military-equipment-left-behind-in-afghanistan/?sh=656c316d41db
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%932021)
