The Reactions I Received
I was called a Marxist, a leftist, a libtard, hateful, divisive, holier-than-thou, and a victim of "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Oh, and I was told I was a waste of air… and interestingly I was also called a "coon."
Curiously, most of those accusations came from people insisting they were defending Christianity, morality, and truth.
Meanwhile, on the other side, some readers could not understand why I would even refer to MAGA Adventists as "friends," much less speak of loving them. To some, simply refusing to hate people I deeply disagree with felt like compromise.
And somewhere in the middle of all the outrage, affirmation, suspicion, applause, and anger, many people seemed to completely miss what the article was actually about.
That, to me, may be the most revealing part of all.
What the Article Was Actually About
My original article was not fundamentally about Republicans versus Democrats.
It was not about declaring Democrats righteous.
It was not about hating white people.
It was not even primarily about Donald Trump.
It was about something much deeper.
It was about the historic Adventist concern regarding the fusion of religion and political power.
The Historic Adventist Concern
Now for some of my non-Adventist readers, that sentence may sound strange. Many people outside of Adventism only encounter Seventh-day Adventists through discussions about the Sabbath, health, or prophecy charts. But historically, one of the defining concerns of Adventism was the danger of coercive religion. Early Adventists believed one of the greatest threats to human liberty would emerge not from secular atheism, but from corrupted Christianity aligning itself with political power.
That concern sits deeply inside Adventist prophetic thought.
Historically, Adventists did not merely fear these developments. They believed prophecy pointed toward them.
They warned about the weaponization of faith by the state.
They warned about majoritarian Christianity using civil power to enforce morality.
They anticipated the merging of religious identity and nationalism.
They believed scripture pointed toward increasing pressure on conscience and the eventual enforcement of worship through the union of religious and political power.
At one point, editions of The Great Controversy were published under the title America in Prophecy.
Why?
Because Revelation 13 is not fundamentally about society becoming insufficiently religious.
It is about power.
Compulsion.
Enforced worship.
The fusion of religion and state authority.
Historically, Adventists believed one of the final great deceptions would involve Christianity itself becoming drunk on political power while still speaking the language of morality and righteousness.
That used to be standard Adventist thinking.
The Partisan Reactions
Which is precisely why the reactions to my article fascinated me so much.
Many readers on the political right responded almost entirely through partisan categories:
"But what about Kamala?"
"What about abortion?"
"What about transgender ideology?"
"What about the left?"
"Trump is still better."
Others accused me of being political and divisive altogether:
"Just preach the gospel."
"Stop dividing the church."
"You should be ashamed."
"You're spewing hate at half the country."
Meanwhile, many readers on the left interpreted the article almost entirely through the lens of race and sociology:
"This is about whiteness."
"This is about racism."
"This is about white supremacy."
But very few people seemed to engage the actual prophetic framework underneath the piece.
That is deeply significant.
The Shift in Adventism
Because I believe it reveals something larger that has happened not only in American culture, but inside Adventism itself.
Beginning somewhere around the mid-1980s, Adventism underwent a noticeable shift away from strong doctrinal and prophetic teaching. Now before someone accuses me of the typical Pharisee-ism and archaic doctrinal gate keeping, let me say that I know that not every expression of older Adventism was healthy. Some preaching became sensationalized, shallow, fear-based, or speculative. Some people weaponized prophecy instead of allowing it to produce humility, conviction, mission, and Christlikeness.
But it is also true that an entire generation increasingly grew up hearing:
"We don't need all that doctrine."
"People don't care about prophecy anymore."
"Stop talking about beasts and dragons."
"You're scaring people."
"Just preach Jesus."
That sounded compassionate and modern.
But over time, something profound happened.
The Vacuum Effect
As distinctively Adventist prophetic frameworks weakened because they were minimized, externally and internally ridiculed, and in some cases just simply no longer taught, other interpretive frameworks rushed in to replace them.
Nature hates a vacuum.
So instead of interpreting political and social developments through the lens of liberty of conscience, church-state tension, prophetic warnings, and the Great Controversy theme, many Adventists slowly began interpreting the world primarily through:
American partisan politics,
white evangelical culture wars,
cable news tribalism,
progressive social theory,
nationalism,
and ideological or cultural identity.
And now many believers instinctively process nearly everything through partisan categories instead of prophetic ones.
That is why so many readers instinctively heard my article as merely:
Republican versus Democrat.
Black versus white.
Conservative versus liberal.
Left versus right.
The prophetic concern underneath it became almost invisible in spite of its explicit presence in the piece.
And perhaps that invisibility itself is part of the warning.
Christian Nationalism and Coercive Power
What fascinates me is that historic Adventism often viewed what we now call Christian nationalism and coercive religious power as prophetically more dangerous than secular moral decline alone. Godless, secular, atheism does not factor into the prophetic apocalyptic landscape with the same role and weight as a politically co-opted brand of Christian Dominionism.
That does not mean Adventists historically celebrated abortion, promiscuity, greed, violence, corruption, or moral confusion. Of course not.
But historically, Adventists believed Revelation's central warning involved corrupted religion seeking power through the machinery of the state.
That's a critical distinction that matters in a defining way.
The Flattening of Evil
At the same time, I also believe some on the left tend to flatten the issue in another direction. If every evil becomes reducible merely to whiteness, racism, or sociology, then spiritual realities disappear there too. Evil becomes almost entirely structural and tribal instead of fundamentally spiritual and human.
But the biblical and prophetic narrative has always suggested something deeper:
humanity itself is perpetually tempted toward domination, coercion, idolatry, tribalism, greed, and the abuse of power.
All of us.
Religious people.
Political people.
Nations.
Movements.
Churches.
Families.
Cultures.
Ideologies.
Why I Used the Word "Friend"
That is why I still used the word "friend."
Not because I agree.
Not because I am blind.
Not because I trust uncritically.
And certainly not because I think racism, nationalism, or religious authoritarianism are small matters.
But because Christianity demands something harder than tribal loyalty and easier hatred.
It demands truth without dehumanization.
Warning without cruelty.
Conviction without compromise for political expediency.
Love without surrendering conscience.
The Prophetic Warning
Ironically, some of the same people telling me to "just preach the gospel" seem unaware that warning against the corruption of Christianity by power has historically been part of the Adventist understanding of preaching the gospel itself.
Throughout scripture, prophets were regularly accused of causing division simply because they disrupted comfortable narratives.
1 Kings 18:17
Ahab asked Elijah:
"Art thou he that troubleth Israel?"
Not because Elijah hated Israel.
But because prophetic warnings often sound divisive to people deeply invested in the status quo.
I think what my MAGA article revealed is that many people today, including many religious people, no longer naturally hear prophetic language prophetically.
Everything becomes political.
Everything becomes tribal.
Everything becomes flattened into ideological warfare.
The Risk on Both Sides
On one side, there are those so consumed with defending their political tribe that they can no longer recognize the danger of corrupted religion wrapped in patriotism, power, and moral certainty.
On the other side, there are those so consumed with race, systems, and social power that they can no longer recognize that evil is not merely political or racial, but deeply spiritual and profoundly human.
Both sides increasingly risk turning politics into salvation.
Both sides risk reducing human beings into categories.
Both sides risk baptizing their tribes while demonizing everyone else.
And somewhere in the middle of all that noise, the deeper prophetic warning gets lost.
The Deeper Warning
The warning that humanity itself is perpetually tempted toward domination, coercion, idolatry, and the worship of power.
The warning that religion can become corrupted not only by hatred, but also by ambition.
The warning that political tribes can slowly begin demanding the loyalty, fear, and devotion that belong to God alone.
Perhaps that is in large part why the apocalyptic prophecies in the books of Daniel and Revelation existed in the first place.
Not merely to argue about denominations, diets, worship days, or prophecy charts.
But to remind the world that earthly powers, political movements, religious institutions, and ideological tribes all remain vulnerable to corruption when they seek the authority, allegiance, and moral supremacy that belong ultimately to God alone.
The Historic Adventist Conviction
Historic Adventism emerged with the conviction that both civil liberty and religious liberty of conscience matters, that coercion in the name of righteousness is still coercion, and that religious power fused with political ambition has always been the most dangerous alliance known to humanity and will be the root of its ultimate downfall.
And perhaps that is why these conversations matter more than many of us realize.
Because if there was ever a generation that needed spiritual discernment beyond partisan talking points, beyond tribal outrage, beyond cable news theology, beyond political messiahs…
…it may very well be ours.