My most recent previous post, Are You Really Reading This?, looked at white evangelicals’ willingness to deny reality as they give themselves unreservedly to Trumpism. Here’s a quick update related to that phenomenon:
One of my best friends from my days as a devoted evangelical–along with his wife–recently tested positive for COVID-19. He and I haven’t spoken in years, but I’m still on his bulk email list, so I’m regularly informed of the latest happenings in his life. About 10 days ago he sent an email announcing his and his wife’s positive results and adding that they’d been taking colloidal silver and they felt fine. He even added a link to a site that sells the miracle cure.
A few days later came another email, this one with a hint of contrition, stating that he and his wife were feeling miserable, and that perhaps colloidal silver is not the miracle cure they thought it was.
Today’s email was a plea for prayers for his wife who is in the hospital, on a respirator, struggling to survive. Now let me add that these people are two of the most generous, caring folks I’ve ever met. I do pray they will recover fully. But it appears that in this situation they’ve reaped according to the seeds they sowed. Despite their generous natures, like most evangelicals, they were swept up in Trump mania; they took everything the new messiah said as gospel. COVID was overblown. No big deal. Who needs masks and social distancing? Now one of them is sick and the other is hospitalized and fighting for her life.
These two dear people followed a false messiah into a fantasy world and wallowed there until reality struck them with a potentially deadly wake-up call. Yes, I pray for them. I also pray this tragedy will shake up and wake up the many white evangelicals who know and love them.
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