Dear Evangelical: If you support Donald Trump, please don't tell anyone else

If you haven't heard by now, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump met with a group of prominent evangelical leaders on Tuesday. The meeting was not billed as a wholesale endorsement from those attending, but more of a question and answer session concerning the issues about which conservative Christians care most.

For a candidate that has spent much of the past year demeaning opponents, making fun of crippled reporters, cursing, and flaunting his greed, one would think Trump's candidacy would be a hard sell to the evangelical voting bloc formerly known as the "moral majority." However, since Trump has become the inevitable Republican nominee, many evangelicals have latched onto Trump's lone redeeming quality–he's not Hillary Clinton.

There are still some "Never Trump" holdouts. Trump's campaign demeanor and his track record as a greedy, strip-club/casino-owning, foul-mouthed reality television star deem him unelectable in the eyes of many.

Never has the uncomfortable juxtaposition of Trump and the "religious right" been so captured as in the photo taken on Tuesday featuring Trump's biggest evangelical supporter, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. giving Trump a thumbs-up with a framed Playboy magazine featuring Trump and a porn star on the cover on the wall behind them.

A leader of the same group that raked adulterous President Bill Clinton over the coals for his many indiscretions and that has repeatedly attacked President Obama over his myriad immoral policies posing for a photo-op with a Playboy magazine in the background. Talk about an embarrassing moment for us "values voters."

Trump's mindless rhetoric of the last year and his increasingly repugnant policy proposals should have been enough to expose him as a fraud. But it was Falwell's photo gaffe that has exposed the fraudulence of the "moral majority."

There is nothing morally upstanding about Donald Trump. And before you shoot that comment or email my way calling me judgmental or a Pharisee, you would waste no time calling President Obama and/or Hillary Clinton immoral. In fact, I've seen you post much more egregious words about both of them on your Facebook statuses, so don't even go there.

Given his track record, it's hypocritical for us to issue Trump a free pass while lambasting every immoral liberal that has ever undermined the Judeo-Christian values we say we hold dear.

With all of that said, in the interest of not making all evangelical Christians look hypocritical, please don't tell anyone else if you plan to vote for Trump. Please don't publicly defend him against evil Hillary's attacks in the coming months. After all, he has given her more than enough ammunition to use in the fight.

Resist the urge to put that bumper sticker on the car that your unsaved friends see you driving to church every Sunday. Don't post that clever tweet or Facebook status revealing Trump as the man who'll bring America back to God.

Pastor, please don't even think about comparing Donald Trump to King Cyrus in your Election Sunday sermon. As difficult as it may be to resist, please don't purchase that Trump yard sign.

Go ahead and vote Trump. But please, for the sake of your own testimony, and that of the Church as a whole, don't tell another soul that you did.

Mr. or Mrs. Evangelical, your vote is between you and God. Considering the choice we have before us, it has never been more important that you keep it that way.

When a Muslim Attacks a Gay Nightclub

When a Muslim attacks a gay nightclub, you might expect there to be plenty of hot takes from Christians. Immediately following the worst mass shooting in America's history at Orlando, Florida's "hottest gay bar" The Pulse, early Sunday morning, the takes were hotter than any event the club could have ever boasted. 

From President Obama's failure to mention "radical Islam" to the rampant speculation that the democrats are going to come after our guns, the politics of the moment quickly became the primary focus while investigators were still identifying bodies and notifying the next of kin. 

People died. 50 precious souls that Jesus died to save, dropped into eternity in a matter of minutes.

Our hearts should break for those who identify as LGBT—a community that has been shunned by many of us for the most part. 

In this moment of unspeakable tragedy, "love the sinner, hate the sin" just doesn't cut it. Our love for the sinner should have us on our faces crying out to God for spiritual awakening in the LGBT community rather than prefacing every conversation about this massacre with that pithy little quote. 

What about the Muslim community? We get so mad at President Obama and our federal government because they won't use that extra adjective to describe this type of terrorism and we lash out at all Muslims.

Our hearts should break for the Muslim community—yet another people group that is completely blind to the Gospel. Given all the bloodshed at the hands of "radical jihadists" in recent years, many of us might just be inclined to let them all go to Hell. Judging by Facebook reactions, this seems to be the case more often than not. 

We've allowed both groups to become demonized and untouchable. 

The rhetoric following the massacre has been all too predictable. Barely 48 hours after the attack and we're all just yelling again. I believe it's time—past time, in fact—to stop yelling, stop fearing, and for heaven's sake stop taking your talking points from political candidates and actually be Jesus to the people who need Him most. 

We must do better.