MAGA Christians vs. Matthew 25 Christians

 A new trend popped up in the media this week. Someone coined the term "Matthew 25 Christians," and it gained immediate traction.

Background: MAGA Christians

The term "Matthew 25 Christians" was created by someone trying to differentiate between MAGA Christians and true Christians. A MAGA Christian believes in a Christianity that promotes equality, peace, love, charity, and religious freedom -- but only if you're a white, Protestant American, born and living in the USA, and of western European ancestry. Even Jesus Christ himself wouldn't qualify to be a Christian under this definition.

Closely related to MAGA Christianity is Christian Nationalism, which title claims two pieces of virtue that it does not deserve. Christian Nationalism is the belief that the USA was founded on Christian principles, as a Christian nation, and that that makes it a special nation among all the nations of the world. (Parenthetical comment: other ideologies also have this belief. But they don't turn it into a blunt weapon like Christian Nationalism does.) Christian Nationalists wish to force their beliefs onto everyone in the USA, through laws, regulations, and physical enforcement. 

If the two overlapping groups, MAGA Christians and Christian Nationalists, have their way, then the country will be run by an American Taliban, indistinguishable from the despots currently oppressing Afghanistan, Iran, and other nations under the color of religion.

Much of this is being driven by evangelical Christians, whose professed beliefs are often so far removed from true Christianity as to be unrecognizable. And the evangelicals are the best at setting themselves up to judge who is and isn't Christian.

(To be fair: It's not just the evangelicals. Every single slice of Christianity is expert at judging and condemning their fellow Christians, putting themselves with the sheep and everyone else with the goats, arrogating the authority of Him Whose Right It Is To Judge. But if my own children's high school experience is any indicator, the evangelicals are the worst offenders. If you are an evangelical Christian, and you object to this characterization, then show it to me by the way you live. See By Their Fruits, below.)

The Quiet Rise of the Matthew 25 Christians

The people who coined the term "Matthew 25 Christians" were pointing out the wide divide between true Christianity and MAGA Christianity.

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus gives the great parable about separating the sheep (his followers) from the goats (everybody else) at his Second Coming. The whole parable is summarized in verse 40: "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."

MAGA Christianity denies aid to the poor, sanctuary to the immigrant, health care to the sick, and kindness to the prisoner, actions that Jesus specifically calls out in this parable. He condemns those who practice MAGA Christianity with this counterpoint in verse 45: "Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me."

More and more Christians are standing up and denouncing MAGA Christianity. They are finally saying, "That's not who I am. That's not what I believe."

"But, but --" the MAGAs Protest

During the 2012 elections, evangelical Christians mobilized and became a potent political power. Their leaders became kingmakers. One evangelical leader was interviewed on the radio, and he was condemning certain political candidates for not being Christian, and therefore, of course, unworthy to hold public office.

The interviewer asked him what constitutes a Christian.

"One who believes in the Bible."

The interviewer pointed out that nearly everyone calling themselves a Christian believes in the Bible.

"Well then, one who believes in my Bible."

Not a word about believing in the person, Jesus Christ. Not a word about believing that He was the Son of God. Not a word about believing in His divine mission. Not a word about knowing what is written in the Bible and putting it into practice in their daily lives.

This has been carried to extremes in the last three years. To a MAGA Christian, you are only a Christian if you hold the same political views that they hold, if you agree with their "othering" of the American population, and if you agree with the supremacy of white, Protestant, natural-born American citizens over everyone else.

Nothing in there about their namesake, Jesus Christ.

How to Tell the Difference

The easiest way to tell the difference between the MAGA Christians and the Matthew 25 Christians is to use Jesus' own Sermon on the Mount as a yardstick. This sermon, the greatest guide on true Christian living, is found in chapters 5 through 7 of the Gospel of Matthew.

"Lord, Lord"

In chapter 7, Jesus himself warned: "Not everyone that says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will get into the kingdom of heaven." He told of those who would plead with, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? And in our name cast out devils? And in your name done might works?" 

He told them that he would say, "I never knew you; get away from me, you who work iniquity."

About Public Displays of Christianity

One of the most insidious things in today's world is the rise of performative Christianity. Once confined to gatherings like church camps, rallies, and jamborees, now Christian "influencers" have a louder and louder voice, through TikTok, Instagram, podcasts, and other social media. All of this "influence" draws people away from true Christianity and closer to the extreme, damaging positions espoused by MAGA and Christian Nationalists.

Jesus warned about these types in chapter 6, when he said: "Moreover, when you do your alms, don't sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the churches and in the streets, so that they can receive the glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward."

They do good because they want the public praise and adulation -- and, in 2026, Likes and followers. That is their reward. As far as Jesus is concerned, that's all they get.

"But," He continued, "when YOU do alms, let not your right hand know what your left hand is doing: that your alms may be seen in secret, and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly."

By Their Fruits

Again in chapter 7 of Matthew, Jesus himself tells how you can tell the difference between a MAGA Christian and a Matthew 25 Christian: "You shall know them by their fruits."

Whose words and deeds correspond more closely to the deeds and the teachings of the Master?

Whose life more closely follows the admonition, "Follow me, and do the things that you have seen me do"?

Who spreads out their hands and echoes the Master's invitation, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest?" 

Who is brave enough to tell someone who lives a lifestyle different from theirs, "Neither do I condemn thee"?

Who emulates the Master by simply "[going] about doing good?"

No, way too many of us are on the wrong side of Jesus's warning from Matthew chapter 6: "Judge not, that you be not judged." And especially the MAGA Christians. They have everyone judged, condemned, marginalized, disenfranchised, and in many cases deported. That's so much easier to do.

Pure Religion and Undefiled

Jesus' apostle James wrote this in his tiny part of the Bible: "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." I submit that this is only a tiny slice of true Christianity, but MAGA Christians can't even do this part.

"You must choose. But choose wisely."

The old knight in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade said these words: "You must choose. But choose wisely."

So, which one are you going to be? A goat, or a sheep? A MAGA Christian? A Christian Nationalist? Or a Matthew 25 Christian? You must choose. Choose wisely.

Choose wisely.

Happy equinox, Happy Easter, and good Pasqua to you

Spring in Colorado is a finicky season. One minute it's so sunny and warm that lunchtime joggers take off their T-shirts (well, the men, anyway) to get some rays on their pasty-white skin; the next minute it's cloudy and windy, snow is falling sideways and the puddles on the road are icing over. If you can look beyond the wacky weather, though, you see undeniable signs of the approach of spring. The songbirds are back, and the geese have left (mostly). Trees and bushes are swollen with buds awaiting the signal to burst open, giving us new leaves and blossoms. Streaks of green are starting to show in the grass. If there's a morning frost, it's usually gone shortly after sunrise -- and the sun comes up earlier in the morning and goes down later at night.

Ancient people knew the course of the sun, and used its course to mark the seasons. They gave a special name to the day that had equal parts of daylight and dark night, calling it "equinox," or "equal night." (Remember the Harry Potter spell to make a room dark?) The vernal equinox marked the beginning of spring, or the reawakening of the world and its springing back to life after being dead and buried in the snows of winter. All cultures, around the world, celebrated equinox in one way or another, and adopted for their festivals symbols of renewal and of new life. In Europe, the festival was known as Eoster. You are most familiar with the symbols of eggs, baby birds, rabbits, and flowers and blossoms.

The Israelites, the ancestors of the Jews, had a different tradition, but one that happened only a week or two after the vernal equinox. This tradition was established by a decree from their God, when He freed them from 430 years of bondage in Egypt. On a spring night, the eve of the day of their deliverance from the Egyptians, according to the writings of Moses, an angel from God was sent to kill every firstborn male child and animal in Egypt. The only ones who were spared were those whose families sacrificed a firstborn lamb and painted their doorposts and lintel with the lamb's blood. This would serve as a sign to the destroying angel that the house so marked was protected by the God of their fathers, and that the angel should pass over the house without killing anybody therein. Because the angel "passed over" the houses marked with lamb's blood, the event became known as "the Passover." Every year since that first Passover, the people of Israel and their descendants held a solemn celebration to remember the day they were rescued from bondage, and saved by the blood of a lamb.

About 2000 years ago, give or take a couple of decades, was a Passover unlike any other. By then, the once proud and strong nation of Israel had dwindled to a few thousand people who called themselves "Jews," claiming as an ancestor Judah, one of the twelve sons of Israel. Over the centuries, they had forgotten the God who had delivered them from bondage to Egypt, and by forgetting their Deliverer they had made themselves into easy prey for other nations, whose armies swept into the land and carried them away captive, several thousand at a time, until these few Jews were all that were left. Their land, like all the surrounding lands, was a vassal territory, part of the great Roman Empire.

Their ruler wasn't even Jewish. Herod the Great was an Idumean, a native of Idumea (or Edom), a land to the south of their own Judaea. Herod himself, and his heirs, ruled them subject to the good will and pleasure of the Roman emperor, whose good will was enforced by Roman procurators and governors, and by the Roman troops that patrolled the land. A garrison of troops even occupied a Roman-built fortress adjacent to the temple in Jerusalem, the most sacred site in all of Judaea.

The Jews had lived for centuries with the prophetic promise of an "Anointed One," a divine warrior-king who would deliver them from bondage, as Moses had done in Egypt, centuries before. By this time, Passover had become a week-long celebration. One year, on the Friday of Passover, the day before the Jewish Sabbath, three men were executed by the Romans. Two of the men were thieves, and the third man was innocent of any crime -- but the Jews had called him a blasphemer and had talked the Roman governor into executing him anyway.

What had this man done wrong? Well, simply, he had told them he was the "Anointed One," the one who had come to fulfill the prophecies and to rescue them from bondage, and that he was their king. I guess they didn't want to be rescued that badly. They must have thought they were doing okay under Roman rule. Whatever the reason, they took the one who had promised to deliver them and to be their king, and they had him put to death.

They thought that was the end of the matter. Well, he had done some things in the last three years of his life that made the ruling council of the Jews rather nervous. He had performed some miraculous healings. He had brought some people back from the dead, including one man who had been dead for several days. He had been acclaimed as a king by the people, and had not denied the acclamation. He had forecast his own death, and promised to bring himself back from the dead after two days.

So they killed him in a cruel manner, one so cruel that nobody could be revived after dying that way, and then after his friends had taken his broken body and laid it in a tomb, the leaders of the Jews sealed the tomb and placed Roman guards in front of the entrance. Nobody was getting in or out.

Or so they thought.

Two days later, on the morning of the day after the Jewish Sabbath, the ground shook, the seal on the tomb entrance was broken, and the tomb was opened -- but not by earthly means. Those who inspected the tomb found it strangely empty. His friends were amazed and overjoyed when he appeared to them, showing them that he was indeed alive, with his body, although it was in considerably better shape than when they had laid him in the tomb.

He announced that his friends, and all the Jews, and indeed all mankind, were now free -- that he had rescued them and delivered them from bondage, just as the prophecies had foretold. Those who understood, accepted him as the Anointed One and as their Deliver. They honored him and revered him as their King.

But his kingdom was not an earthly Kingdom. Those who accepted his deliverance became members of a greater kingdom. They were freed from the bondage of death, of pain and sickness, of guilt and all the terrible things that men do to each other and to themselves.

This was the Lamb of God, who had been offered as a final sacrifice for all men, whose blood fulfilled the promise of the Passover one last time. It is fitting that his conquest of death, into new life, should happen at the time of the vernal equinox, when the whole world rises from the death of winter and celebrates a new season of life. And just as the equinox marks the return of sunny days, so his sacrifice and his triumph marks the return of mankind to the sunny embrace of their God, and the chance to return to him.

The man's first name means "Jehovah (or God) is my Savior." In Hebrew, it's Yeshua or Joshua; in Greek, it's Jesus. His last name, actually a title and not a name, means "The Anointed One." In Hebrew, it's Messiah; in Greek, it's Christos.

So it is that the renewal of life marked in the ancient rites now called Easter, and the commemoration of the ancient Jewish Passover, are wrapped up together in the celebration of the resurrection of the Son of God, the Messiah and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Celebrate whatever parts of it you wish, however you wish. And I wish a happy Easter to all of you.