The Murder of Charlie Kirk, Part 4b: Cultural vs. Biblical Christianity

The Murder of Charlie Kirk, Part 4b: Cultural vs. Biblical Christianity
Friday, October 17, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Postmodernism / Scripture discussion / The church / Thought for Today / Truth telling

Cultural vs. biblical Christianity. On both sides of the political aisle, cultural Christianity has little to do with the true faith. It is vital that Christians not be taken in by any of the cultural versions. That is especially true with the “Christianity” championed by the political right, a “Christianity” that often sounds good and meshes with American “values,” but isn’t truly Christian.

When President Trump established the White House Faith Office, many conservative Christians cheered. The stated goal was to help faith-based groups to strengthen families, communities, and protect religious freedom. What could possibly be wrong with that?

Those goals sound great, don’t they? The details reveal something else. First, the office is headed by pastor Paula White-Cain. For many, that in itself is a red flag, considering what the pastoral epistles say about ordaining women (that topic will be examined in depth in a later series). But it gets worse: Pastor White-Cain is known for advocating many tenets of the prosperity gospel, a “gospel” that is no gospel at all.

She has taught the importance of “seed faith”: through giving money to her ministry, God will provide financial blessings in return. She has also linked the giving of gifts to miracles, through giving a so-called “miracle seed,” to offering seven supernatural blessings in return for donations. Above all, wealth is a sign of God’s blessing. Given those beliefs, she has often been accused of taking Scripture out of context.

These concepts are core teachings of the prosperity gospel. Do these teachings mesh with Scripture? No. Scripture often speaks of hardship, difficulty, and suffering. The prosperity gospel in essence turns God into a magic genie. Some of these false ideas have been around since ancient times: from Job’s three “friends” to various questions Jesus’s disciples asked.

But, does the prosperity gospel mesh with classic American conservative culture? Absolutely. Getting rich is one of the key aims, think about many aspects of the “American dream.” Getting stuff is the goal. The more stuff one has, the happier and more fulfilled one will be. While there is nothing wrong with being successful per se, making it a life goal is a massive problem.

Those teachings are antithetical to the gospel message. In Jesus’s parable, what happened to the man who delighted in all the wealth he acquired? What happened after he decided to build bigger barns to store it all and then take life easy? He died that very night. Jesus repeatedly taught that we are not to focus on our possessions. What are we to seek first? God’s kingdom.

It is deeply concerning that so many Christians have jumped on the Trump bandwagon. As stated before, on one level doing so is understandable. But, the “Christianity” Trump is endorsing via the Faith Office is not biblical Christianity. White-Cain’s prosperity gospel is a false gospel that leads directly to eternal hell. One thinks of the teachings of Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, and others.

To meld the faith to a political party—in this case the Republican party—is a tragic mistake. Worse, it risks compromising the gospel, as we see happening in the Faith Office. Our allegiance is to Jesus Christ, not a political party.

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