Evangelicals Hate Christ's Real Teachings

Real Christians Love Christ's Teachings

EVANGELICALS DEFILE CHRIST’S TEACHINGS

It’s a strange and stupefying miracle of our time: The loudest voices in America who claim the name of Christ are the very ones most committed to defiling his teachings.

They don't revere Jesus of Nazareth, lover of the poor and friend of outcasts, but rather worship at the gilded throne of Greed, Punishment, and Raw Power. They are the false prophets Jesus himself warned us about, wolves dressed in MAGA hats, mouthing scripture while stabbing the heart of the Gospel.

We all know what Jesus actually said. He blessed the meek, not the billionaires. He proclaimed the peacemakers as children of God, not the warmongers fattening themselves on weapons contracts.

He told us to love our enemies, not execute them with assault rifles on courthouse steps. He commanded us to care for the widow, the orphan, the immigrant.

Yet these so-called evangelicals cheer for family separations, sneer at the hungry, and work tirelessly to criminalize compassion.

In their hands, the Sermon on the Mount is irrelevant. (Read more about this atrocity here.) The Beatitudes are rewritten into curses. Blessed are the rich, they say, for theirs is the kingdom of America. Blessed are those who bully and mock, for they shall inherit the talk-radio microphone.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for dominance, for they shall be filled with tax cuts. Blessed are the persecutors, for theirs is the power to call themselves persecuted while lording over the land.

This isn't the Christianity of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King Jr., and. Matthew Fox. It's the worship of Empire dressed in stolen robes. It's Caesar rebranded as Christ. It's Pilate and Herod wearing the cross as a badge of conquest.

In their fervent denial of Christ’s actual words—feed the poor, turn the other cheek, forgive seventy times seven—they prove themselves to be not merely hypocrites, but the embodiment of Anti-Christ energy.

The irony is incandescent. They pray in stadiums, swaying to the anthem of power, while Jesus whispers from the margins: "Whatever you did to the least of these, you did to me." (Matthew 25:40)

They shout about morality while crucifying kindness. They exalt a vicious, bullying false messiah who brags of grabbing, bombing, caging, and cheating. And they dare to call that salvation.

If Christ returned tomorrow, preaching mercy for the immigrant, help for the needy, kindness to the marginalized, and radical nonviolence these evangelical Pharisees would not recognize him. They would spit in his face. They would brand him “woke.” They would drag him onto Fox News as the latest threat to civilization. And then they would nail him up all over again.

So yes: The Anti-Christ is here. It doesn’t look like a horned devil rising from the abyss. It looks like millions of pious faces twisted in rage against everything Jesus lived and died to embody. The deception is complete: Those who claim most loudly to represent Christ are the ones most dedicated to erasing him.

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Here’s the good news: Christ is not owned by these frauds. His teachings remain radiant for anyone with ears to hear: love above all, justice for the broken, joy in the face of empire.

The Anti-Christ is loud, but the true Christ is persistent. He resides in the food pantry, the protest march, the sanctuary for refugees, the rebel heart that refuses to bow to cruelty.

Though the evangelicals chant their war-songs and revel in their blasphemies, the heinous kingdom they serve is crumbling.

The kingdom Jesus described—a realm of mercy, justice, and radical tenderness—is still being born, even now, among the people they despise.

That kingdom will outlast every counterfeit Christ.

THE REAL TEACHINGS OF JESUS CHRIST

Strip away centuries of dogma, empire-building, and culture war, and you find Jesus of Nazareth speaking in a startlingly simple, luminous voice. His philosophy was not about rules or rituals, but about a way of life rooted in love, mercy, and solidarity with the vulnerable.

The heart of Christ’s message is both scandalously generous and relentlessly demanding. He called for a world transformed not by domination but by compassion; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by hierarchy but by radical equality.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:3, 9)

This teaching, from the Sermon on the Mount, is no soft metaphor. It’s a revolution of values. In Jesus’ vision, the worth of a society is measured not by its generals or its rulers, but by how it treats the least visible, the least powerful, the most neglected and underrepresented

“Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40)

In these words, Jesus equates service to the marginalized with service to God. This is the opposite of empire, the opposite of nationalism or greed. It’s the theology of the soup kitchen, the refugee camp, the prison ministry, the hospice bedside.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free.” (Luke 4:18)

This was Jesus’ mission statement, delivered in his first public sermon. It is not gentle piety. It’s a manifesto of liberation. Christ declared himself aligned with the downtrodden, the imprisoned, the oppressed, and the broken. His gospel is not an opiate to keep people quiet under tyranny; it’s a call to unshackle chains, to heal what tyrannical bullies destroy, to lift up those cast down.

Taken together, these teachings announce a kingdom utterly unlike Rome, utterly unlike America under the poisonous grip of the Trumpocalypse. It’s not a kingdom of walls or weapons, but a queendom of tenderness, justice, and luminous courage. It’s a world where outcasts are welcomed to the table, where sinners are forgiven, where children are lifted up as exemplars of wisdom, and where wealth is redistributed for the common good.

This is why Christ’s words have inspired abolitionists, labor leaders, civil rights marchers, and liberation theologians. His teachings remain a compass for every generation seeking to build a more merciful world.

The essence of Christianity is not blind allegiance to delusional authority. It’s a way of radical love—so radical, in fact, that it remains offensive to the powerful, scandalous to the self-righteous, and liberating to those who have nothing left but hope.

PROGRESSIVE CHRISTIANS

To many progressive people I regard as colleagues and like-minded allies, it’s unimaginable that Harriet Tubman was a practicing Christian dedicated to fighting racism and sexism. In our age, a sizable portion of American Christianity has been hijacked by right-wing fundamentalists and transmogrified into a pathological caricature of Jesus Christ’s teachings.

But I know that Martin Luther King Jr., one of the 20th century’s premier activists, was a Christian minister. I know that Cesar Chavez, a Mexican American civil rights activist and labor leader, was also a left-wing Christian, basing his civil rights rallies upon Christ’s example of achieving social justice through nonviolence. One of my favorite 21st-century Christian activist priests and spiritual inspirations is Matthew Fox.

Daniel and Philip Berrigan, whose early protests against the Vietnam War helped build the American peace movement, were Catholic priests. In the 1980s, Christian organizations led the Sanctuary Movement, which sheltered political refugees fleeing right-wing dictatorships in Central America.

Other 20th-century heroes who were real Christians, the antitheses of modern evangelicals: Archbishop Oscar Romero, Dorothy Day, Ralph Abernathy, Fred Shuttlesworth, Desmond Tutu, Kim Bobo, Sister Joan Chittister, Helen Keller, Jesse Jackson, and John Lewis.

Going back further, the 19th-century abolitionist movement, which was crucial in ending African American enslavement, was led by white and Black Christians who rooted their antislavery work in their religious principles.

So I experience no cognitive dissonance when I contemplate the fact that Harriet Tubman’s passionate connection with God was at the root of her struggle to free the oppressed.

There’s another reason I’m not confounded: I, too, aspire to cultivate an exuberant, intimate communion with the Divine Wow. I want that Source to fuel my fight for justice, equality, and freedom.

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YES, JESUS WAS AN ACTUAL HISTORICAL FIGURE

From past times when I’ve mentioned the teachings of Jesus Christ, I know that some readers will, with a wave of their hand, say “No such person ever existed.”

But in fact, the vast majority of secular Biblical scholars say the evidence is strong that a real person known today as Jesus Christ lived in Palestine circa the first 30-some years of the first millennium.

Lots of poorly informed people enjoy arguing otherwise, however. The evidence presented by the secular Biblical scholars rarely shakes their certainty.

For more info about the facts, go here: https://tinyurl.com/JesusReality

By the way, the question of whether Buddha was an actual historical figure is almost identical in its context to the question of whether Jesus was a historical figure. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/BuddhaReality

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JESUS WAS A SOCIALIST: tinyurl.com/JesusSocialism

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Links to all my other stuff: linktr.ee/robbrezsny

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FREE WILL ASTROLOGY

For the Week of September 11

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): The Basenji is a dog breed that doesn’t bark. Instead, it produces an eerie, melodic yodel called a baroo. This oddity isn’t a flaw or drawback; it’s an interesting uniqueness. In the coming weeks, Virgo, I invite you to express your personal versions of the baroo—your idiosyncratic offerings and singular gifts. Playfully resist the pressure to be more conventional or “on brand.” Be faithful to what yearns to come out of you, which may be raw, radiant, and a little weird. Let your authenticity be exactly what it is: a beacon, not a liability.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Scientists discovered that some caterpillars, while dissolving inside their cocoons, retain memories of their caterpillar lives even after becoming butterflies. In my view, that’s equivalent to us humans remembering details of our previous incarnations: having an all-new body but being able to draw on what our past body learned. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, you will be able to draw on this amazing capacity in the coming weeks. The person you used to be will have key revelations and inspirations for the future you.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): According to Celtic mythology, Cerridwen is the goddess of inspiration. In her cauldron, she brews magical elixirs that bestow the powers of wisdom, creativity, and transformation. The humans most likely to earn her blessings are those who are patient and willing to be changed. Of all the signs in the zodiac, you Scorpios are now at the top of the eligibility list for gifts like these. And the next three weeks will be the most favorable time for you to ask for and receive such blessings. Here’s a clue that will help you get all you deserve: Believe in magic.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): In ancient Chinese philosophy, ziran means naturalness, spontaneity. It might refer to the way a mountain is purely a mountain, and a wave is a wave without trying to be a wave. I think you Sagittarians are due for an extended engagement with this wild ease and elegant freedom. After weeks of inner labor, your soul wants to breathe in ziran. Your assignment is to let yourself be as natural and unconstrained as you dare—not correct or careful or “optimized.” So I advise you to head in the direction of what’s simple and real and good. Emphasize smoothness over effort. Choose your rhythm, not theirs. You aren’t required to prove your healing. You just have to live it.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “Serendipity" is an English term that refers to beautiful accidents, fortunate interruptions, unexpected opportunities, and surprisingly wonderful discoveries (The French equivalent is sérendipité; Italian: serendipità; Japanese: serendipiti.) The word didn’t exist until 1754, when author Horace Walpole coined it. Lovely outbreaks of good luck and uncanny blessings had been happening from time immemorial, of course, even though there wasn’t this precise word for them. Here’s a key point: They are more likely to occur if you believe they’re possible and make yourself alert for their arrival. That’s good advice for you right now.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The placenta is the only organ that the human body creates from scratch and then discards. Let’s pause for a moment to register how remarkable this is: to grow a temporary life-support system and then jettison it once its purpose is fulfilled. Inspired by this miracle, I speculate that you may soon undertake a metaphorical version of it. A situation or experience that has nurtured you is reaching the end of its mission. Though it has served you well, the wise move might be to outgrow it and move on to a new phase of your evolution. At the very least, it’s time to embark on a search for new forms of nourishment.

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PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In Balinese gamelan music, there's a technique called kotekan. Two instrumentalists play distinct musical parts that together create a seamless, intricately melodic and rhythmic texture. Let’s make this your metaphor to live by in the coming weeks, Pisces. In my astrological opinion, you are not meant to work solo. Your greatest success and most fun will come by generating harmony through collaborative improvisation and shared timing. A small warning: Someone else’s input may at first feel like interference, but it’s actually the missing part of the song. Let yourself blend, bounce, echo, and respond. Genius will be born in the spaces between.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): I can’t speak the Quechua language, which is Indigenous to the Andes Mountains. But I have lifted one of their words to use for our purposes here: munay. It refers to an intensely practical and visionary love that includes far more than sweet feelings and affection. When we practice munay, we offer discerning respect and detailed appreciation to those we adore. We are generously eager to help our allies live their best lives. It takes discipline! And focus! And ingenuity! To be a rigorous and vigorous source of munay, we must cultivate it as a daily practice. In the coming weeks, Aries, I hope you will go a bit wild in your expression of this tender force of nature. Imagine yourself as a gentle whirlwind of love that spreads interesting beauty and bestows useful blessings. Be a relentless dispenser of catalytic gifts.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The medieval Persian polymath Avicenna believed the soul entered the fetus not with the first heartbeat, but with the first dream. I offer this idea for your poetic consideration, dear Taurus. Let’s imagine that the next beautiful thing you create will not arise from your forceful intention. Rather, it will emerge because you give yourself permission to fantasize, to wander freely in wonder, and to meander with curiosity on the frontiers. Your assignment is not to hustle, but to incubate; not to push forward, but to dwell expectantly in the mystery.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The bowerbird constructs elaborate ground-based shrines not as nests but as seduction lures. The enticer might gather blue bottle caps, yellow flowers, and shiny stones so as to create a scene that piques the attention of a potential mate. These objets d’art are not merely decorative. They are displays that demonstrate discernment, skill, and aesthetic intelligence. I authorize you to be like a bowerbird, Gemini. What collection of symbols, words, gestures, and curiosities will magnetize the people or opportunities you long to engage with? It’s not about flashiness; it’s about alignment. What you draw into your sphere will reflect the vibes you emanate.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): The pearl doesn’t begin as treasure. In its earliest form, it’s an irritation: a grain of sand that’s really a wound inside the oyster. Over time, the creature coats it with layers of nacre, turning discomfort into luminescence. Let’s use that as a metaphor for you, Cancerian. In my view, your task right now is not to escape or shed what’s bugging you, but to expedite the coating process. What is that gritty thing? A memory, injustice, or unmet yearning? It’s crucial you don’t reject it and don’t let it fester. I think it’s best to turn it, layer by layer, into a luminous asset, even a treasure. Prediction: The pearl you form will long outlast the wound.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Olive trees can thrive in rugged environments, including rocky and nutrient-poor soils. Their root systems are wide, deep, and resilient. They are well-adapted to full sun, high temperatures, and low water availability. In comparing you to an olive tree, Leo, I’m not implying you will always have to be as hardy as they are. But in the coming weeks, you will be wise to be equally plucky and persevering. Here’s another fact about the olive tree you can and should emulate: Its fruit is valuable and in demand.

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