2026 midterms: ‘Christians’ need to be more serpent, less dove

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Election 2026 Christians more serpent less dove

2026 midterms: ‘Christians’ need to be more serpent, less dove

I attended a getaway this weekend with a group of men who profess to be Christians where I was asked by a few of them about the work I do for liberty at the Strident Conservative. When the discussion moved to my criticism of Donald Trump and the Republican Party, my Christian faith and conservative values were immediately called into question. According to some, I needed to show them more grace, even when they are caught lying, breaking their promises, and engage in corruption. After all, the Democrat Party is much worse.

Even though I pointed out how the entire Republican/Democrat system needed to be blown up because both parties are enemies of liberty, these men — many of them members of the Trump cult — accused me of not being “Christlike” for pointing out how:

It reminded me of days of the COVID tyranny unleased by Donald Trump and the myriads of ways that self-professing Christians, conservatives, and constitutionalists besmirched me professionally and personally for not being pro-life — Erick Erickson once called it “doing the bidding of Satan” — simply because I opposed COVID vaccines and mask mandates as being anti-liberty.

For the record, I made no attempt to defend myself against these men. I learned long ago how futile it can be defending myself against such accusations. I invited them to read some of the articles I have written that provide a myriad of reasons for opposing Donald Trump, the Republican Party, and other so-called conservatives over the years. And, if after doing so, they still come to the conclusion that I’m not showing the proper amount of Christian love, that is still merely their opinion — not to mention being well-above their paygrade.

In the past, some of the people who used to be my allies have reported me to Facebook and Twitter, resulting in suspensions, shadow bans, and other damage to my social media accounts and my website traffic.

Fortunately, the measure of my faith and Christlikeness, or lack thereof, isn’t their call; it’s God’s call. However, when this type of thing happens in a circle of Christians, I will take the time to examine myself as we are instructed to do in Galatians 6:4-5:

Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life. (The Message)

Concerning the lack of Christian love, I asked these men: Did Jesus show Christian love when He drove the moneychangers out of the temple with a whip that he personally handmade specifically for that purpose? Did Jesus demonstrate love toward the religious leaders of his day when he referred to them as a “brood of vipers” and chastised them for seeking an escape from the coming judgement?

Of course, the answer to these questions is a resounding YES! Because love means dealing with things as they are, not as we wish they were. It also means that Christians shouldn’t be when there is obvious evil to be dealt with.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the minister Adolf Hitler imprisoned and ultimately hanged for standing in defiance of the evils of Nazi Germany, had a name that described the social climate of the church in Germany during WWII which led to her collapse — cheap grace:

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth; the love of God taught as the Christian ‘conception’ of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins…. In such a Church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.

Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything they say, and so everything can remain as it was before. ‘All for sin could not atone.’ Well, then, let the Christian live like the rest of the world, let him model himself on the world’s standards in every sphere of life, and not presumptuously aspire to live a different life under grace from his old life under sin….

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

I’ve never been shy about defending my Christian faith and my love of liberty and the Constitution. And I’ve never been shy about pointing out how today’s lukewarm cheap grace church has destroyed the Good News of Jesus Christ; creating political conditions similar to those that gave rise to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. Nor have I been shy about taking a stand in defense of my conservative values and how today’s Republican Party and their Democrat counterparts are working hand-in-hand to destroy liberty.

As I document in my book, The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty, America has drifted away from the nation envisioned by our Founding Fathers and has replaced liberty with tyranny. Likewise, Evangelicals have drifted away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have replaced it with the cheap grace lukewarm gospel of progressivism and Christian nationalism.

Fascism. Socialism. Trumpism. Nationalism. These are the tyrannical labels of today’s Republican Party. Lukewarm. Cheap grace. Compromising. These are the damnable labels of today’s evangelicals.

As I witness these destructive trends ahead of the 2026 midterms, I refuse to be passive by allowing our great country to fall under the tyranny of indifference and inaction, regardless of party politics. I also refuse to allow the destruction of our faith. Taking a stand against these abominations isn’t a demonstration of hate, but the ultimate display of love . . . for my country and my God.

Scripture instructs Christians to be “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16). And as I look at the current destruction of liberty in America at the hands of Republicans and Democrats, I believe today’s Christian conservative needs to be more serpent and a lot less dove heading into the 2026 election.

Liberty and the future of our great Republic depends on it!

 

David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties. He the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty.

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