Now is the time to forgive Trump’s supporters

The entire world has seen the images; Trump’s supporters carrying ‘Jesus 2020′ signs and wooden crosses as they laid siege to the US Capitol building. I’m appalled. How dare they use Jesus’ name like that.

Having spent four years living in America, being told how great America was, I am now experiencing schadenfreude. I wish I didn’t feel like this.

My time in America was in two parts; a stint in Virginia, then two years back in the UK before returning for another two years in Alabama. At the end of my time in Virginia, when Trump was coming to the fore, and his vitriol was beginning to spread, I asked God how I should pray for America. He told me, very clearly, that I should pray that American Christians would be known for their love for one another, based on John 13:35. I continue to pray this.

Since 2016, American Christians have become divided. Some rightly call out the evil and lies that Trump represents. Yet, the evangelicals who agree with Trump seem to get all the press coverage.

God doesn’t want his body, the church, to be split like this. He longs for unity. That means those that abhor Wednesday’s violence at the Capitol must forgive those that perpetrated it.

I know from my time in the US that the Trump mob are not an insignificant minority. There are people on every street in America that willingly back Trump and have allied themselves with him. The polling numbers bear this out.

It’s time for Christians who oppose Trump to forgive their neighbours.

Trump’s supporters have been lied to and deeply deceived. They have been wrongly taught that they are losing a battle that can only be won if they fight. They have lost sight of the fact that Jesus has already won and their task is to love and show compassion to a broken world. We belong to Christ and cannot lose. Love wins.

I pray that Christians the world over will forgive and love their Trump-supporting family. And then, as Jesus promised, the world will know we are Jesus’ disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35).

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