America’s Sadducees

This is a comparison. Specifics will, of course, vary.

I recently put forward the idea that Trump is America’s Herod Antipater. Insofar as that comparison holds, Robert Jeffress, Franklin Graham, and Jerry Falwell Jr. are his Sadducees.

The Sadducees were a religious and political sect in the Roman province of Judea during the second temple period (which included the reign of Herod Antipater). Most American Christians know them as one of a two-part collection of bad guys (the Pharisees and the Sadducees) who opposed Jesus at various times, but there was a lot going on with them besides opposing one particular apocalyptic rabbi. Here are several of the ways in which the Sadducees were strikingly similar to Jeffress, Falwell, and Graham (and really any other conservative Evangelical-esque leader who is sold out to Trump including, but not limited to, James Dobson and Pat Robertson).

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell believe government power is necessary to fulfill their religious goals. #AmericanSadducees

The Sadducees were theologically conservative religous leaders who (in contrast to the Pharisees) believed that the best hope for their religious community was to accommodate Roman political culture and power. They established a strong “you scratch our back we will support your governance” relationship with the Roman occupation. As a result, they were critical and fearful of religious movements which publicly or prophetically denounced the Roman occupation and were even known to persecute those of their own religious community whom they deemed to much a threat to continuing Roman Support.
You might compare that with this account of how and why Jonathan Martin was threatened and kicked off of Liberty University’s campus.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell support the wealthy and elite — they like the status quo of power. #AmericanSadducees

The Sadducees were known to be the partisans of the wealthy and elite in Judea. They embraced and celebrated those who achieved wealth and prestige and themselves embraced the “high” Hellenism of their day. Falwell, Jeffress, and Graham have aligned themselves with a version of Republican Conservatism which blames the poor for their poverty and sees the accumulation of wealth and power as an indication of virtue.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell think that their interpretation of scripture is not an interpretation. #AmericanSadducees

The Sadducees were notable in their theological rejection of any historical debate or interpretation of the Pentateuch. They understood themselves to be “purists” who held only to the “written word” and not the “oral word” embracing the false belief that a text can have meaning without being intepreted. Graham, Falwell, and Jeffress hold to a strict and warped understanding of the doctrine of sola scriptura most frequently represented by the phrase “the Bible clearly says…” thereby making themselves into their own final arbiters of the meaning of Scripture.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell ignore the creepy misogyny of the leader who gives them power. #AmericanSadducees

Herod’s second wife was his sister-in-law who was also his niece. This was a flagrant violation of the very moral law the Sadducees boasted about upholding but they did not criticize him for it (that criticism came from a homeless prophet who was ultimately beheaded because Herod was to insecure to admit he had made a mistake in front of his own guests). These religious leaders were functionally blind to the gross sexual immorality of the ruler who favored their faction with power. Trump is Herod. Jeffress, Falwell, and Graham had carried oceans of water for Trump’s creepy misogyny, sexual harassment, and sexual immorality despite the fact that they are otherwise obsessed with denouncing anyone they think is guilty of sexual sin.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell have forgotten the difference between “Rome” and the children of God. #AmericanSadducees

As I mentioned above, the Sadducees were so thoroughly in bed with the idea that the survival of their religious community was dependent on the support of the Roman empire that they were willing to turn members of that community over to Rome in order to preserve their good standing. Jeffress, Graham, and Falwell are more than happy to go after Christians who are critical of Trump/Herod and work hard to convince him that Christians (particularly Evangelical Christians) are his supporters and allies. In return he gives them “Merry Christmas” and a supreme court judge.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell approve of the power of the sword in silencing dissent. #American Sadducees

The Sadducees were more than happy to draw on the power of Rome and the violent power of the mob in order to silence those with whom they disagree. Examples abound but think of Caiaphas turning Jesus over to the Romans as a revolutionary or of the Sadduccees at Lydia who convinced the Gentile mob to stone Paul. Jeffress, Graham, and Falwell celebrate laws which would enforce their religious concerns at the barrel of a gun, they whip up crowds in support of gun ownership and have advocated violence against those of other religions.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell think the Way of God is too weak, they want to augment it with governmental power. #AmericanSadducees

Because the Sadduceed believed that they need the support and violent power of Rome in order to secure themselves and their people they were willing to compromise their own tradition and moral rules. Jeffress in particular has been incredibly clear that he does not believe that the Way of Jesus is a sufficient or workable guide for life (he infamously told one reporter that he absolutely does not want Trump to follow the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount). But all three (and the rest of the American Sadducees) have regularly indicated that they do not trust in the Way of Jesus (total love for neighbor and enemy) as sufficient for modern life.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell value an otherworldly heaven over resurrection and restoration. #AmericanSadducees

Probably the most famous/infamous theological belief of the Sadducees (because it is referenced in the New Testament) is that they did not believe in the resurrection. Now I am confident that the #AmericanSadducees do actually believe in a resurrection in theory. However, in practice Falwell, Graham, and Jeffress preach a twisted version of Christianity which focuses on an otherworldly heaven as the reward for those of their own group, and an otherworldly hell as a punishment for those with whom they disagree and (whatever your theology of heaven and hell) ignores the foundational Christian position that God is in the process of bringing the Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. This bent theology has allowed them to become Machiavellian in their “Christianity” since the overwhelming importance of that otherworldly heaven now justifies (in their minds) any terrible actions they take or miseries they cause on the earth now. They have horrendously misunderstood Jesus question: What good is it for someone to gain the whole earth but lose his soul? When Jesus was offered power over the kingdoms of the earth, he rebuked Satan for it.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell see foreigners as impure. #AmericanSadducees

The Sadducees were particularly concerned with the purity of the temple and particularly with the “purity” of those who performed religious services in the temple. They did not want to see what they understood to be the domain of God “polluted” by foreign influence. Jeffress, Graham, and Falwell (who have somehow come to the conclusion that the United States is a singularly Christian domain) are obsessed with keeping foreigners (particularly non-Christian foreigners) out of the country. Jeffress has even declared that the God who commanded special hospitality and care for widows, orphans, and immigrants is “not an open borders guy”.

Jeffress, Graham, Falwell believe in draconian punishment instead of loving restoration. #AmericanSadducees

The Sadducees were particularly known for supporting harsh and rigorous punishments for people who broke their law. They were fans of the death penalty and of throwing the book at people without mercy. Falwell, Jeffress, and Graham support violent responses to crime, and frequently glorify violence.

Much of my information about the Sadducees came from Jewishencyclopedia.com and from Britannica.

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