A Christian Politician's Journey beyond Self-Deception
Imagine a politician whose subjective aim is to find happiness and fulfillment through loyalty to a person, party, or cause. Let the cause be the Prosperity Gospel (happiness comes through material achievement) and America First. As an icon for this cause, imagine another person who, for this politician, embodies and advances this cause. He is loyal to this other person, almost in the way that a servant might be loyal to a king on a throne.
In the pursuit of loyalty to the Prosperity Gospel and America First, the politician begins to compromise his own principles, incrementally justifying actions or beliefs that once would have been unconscionable. Let's say he is a self-identified Christian who believes in a loving God - a God who calls him, moment by moment, to respect the dignity of each person and to forgive his enemies, at home and faraway; to speak whatever principles he advocates in a spirit of love; and to be humble, recognizing that he does not have a monopoly on truth. A God who calls us to live simply and kindly, in solidarity with others. with particular care for the vulnerable - as taught be Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Over time, this politician falls into a habit of self-deception, constructing narratives to hide from the dissonance between his actions and his principles. This self-deception becomes not an occasional lapse, but a defining feature of his being.
Who is deceived in the self-deception? It is not the person he was—rooted in past convictions or integrity—nor even the man he is, tangled in the compromises of the present. Rather, it is the man he could be: the man who is possible, to whom the inwardly felt lure of God beckons. This is his "authentic" self, as Heidegger might call it, or, in Christian terms, his "divinely desired self"—the person who aligns with the deeper purpose and wholeness God envisions for him.
His self-deception occurs in the immediacy of the moment, during the process of concrescence, when he selectively prehends his past. This selective prehension allows him to emphasize certain experiences, intentions, or motivations while ignoring or distorting others. For example, he might amplify memories or feelings that reinforce his loyalty to the cause, while suppressing or reinterpreting memories of moments when that loyalty conflicted with his principles. By doing so, he avoids the discomfort of confronting his compromises and maintains a facade of coherence.
More dangerously, his self-deception extends to the way he prehends the initial aim of God—the divine lure, the inwardly felt calling, that calls him toward authenticity and wholeness, toward kindness and compassion, toward humility and honesty. This the aim of God revealed in the healing ministry of Jesus.
Over time, the man may develop the habit of negatively prehending this aim, diminishing its influence on his decisions and life. By resisting or ignoring the lure, he minimizes its impact, rendering it almost inaudible amid the noise of his selective prehensions and self-serving narratives. The divine call to be his best self is not eradicated—it remains a quiet possibility—but his habitual resistance ensures that it has only a minimal effect on his choices.
In the immediacy of the moment, he chooses how to interpret his aims and intentions, often reshaping them to align with a narrative that preserves the illusion of integrity. By doing so, the divine lure is further muted or misinterpreted. He turns away from the possibility of becoming his divinely desired self and instead settles into a fragmented state, clinging to an illusion of happiness derived from compromised loyalty.
In this framework, his self-deception is not merely a psychological coping mechanism but a profound metaphysical failure to engage with the possibilities offered by God in each moment. It reflects his failure to align with the lure toward authenticity and his refusal to confront the full complexity of his prehensions. Over time, this pattern of selective and negative prehension becomes habitual, further distancing him from his potential and increasing the gap between his authentic self and the compromised man who remains in his place.
The Prosperity Gospel and America First
The narrative to which the man subscribes, supporting and sanctioning his self-deception, is a fusion of the Prosperity Gospel and the "America First" ideology. He does not acquire these beliefs from Jesus, but rather from American culture. Together, these beliefs frame God’s will as primarily about maintaining order, fostering economic development, and promoting national supremacy, rather than emphasizing love, forgiveness, and justice. This perspective shifts divine priorities toward material and systemic outcomes, allowing the man to justify decisions that prioritize wealth, stability, and the dominance of his nation, even when these decisions conflict with deeper moral or spiritual principles.
In this framework, the inward divine lure—God’s call toward love, wholeness, and justice—is overshadowed by the belief that God’s primary concern is with societal order, economic prosperity, and the elevation of one nation above others. The man selectively prehends this distorted view, using it to suppress the discomfort of ethical conflict. For instance, he might justify policies that harm marginalized communities, perpetuate inequality, or exploit vulnerable populations by claiming that such actions are necessary for national progress or economic growth. Over time, this justification becomes habitual, enabling him to frame decisions that prioritize control, material gain, and national supremacy as not only permissible but divinely ordained.
This narrative dehumanizes others both within and outside his nation. Individuals are reduced to their economic productivity or their alignment with national interests, while those deemed outsiders—whether immigrants, foreign nations, or dissenters—are seen as obstacles to God’s plan for prosperity. Human dignity and relational ethics are sidelined, allowing the man to elevate efficiency, growth, and nationalism over the well-being of people. Economic disparities, systemic inequalities, and the exclusion of the “other” are reframed as inevitable or even divinely sanctioned outcomes of God’s plan for America’s greatness.
By focusing on material outcomes and national supremacy, the man avoids moral accountability. He shifts his attention away from relational values like love, compassion, and forgiveness, dismissing them as secondary to the “practical” goals of economic success, national security, and dominance. This avoidance deepens his self-deception, alienating him from the divine lure. The call to become his authentic or divinely desired self—one aligned with love, justice, and humility—remains present, but its influence is drowned out by the louder imperatives of control, power, and national interest.
The consequences of this narrative are profound. Theologically, it distorts the nature of God, reducing the divine to a supporter of systems, economies, and national agendas rather than the source of love and transformation. Socially, it perpetuates injustice by privileging systemic order and national power over individual dignity, often harming the most vulnerable in the name of progress and patriotism. Spiritually, it leads to fragmentation, as the man becomes increasingly desensitized to moral growth and further entrenched in self-deception. The deeper relational and ethical aspects of divine will are replaced with a focus on external markers of success, leaving him disconnected from his own wholeness.
Breaking Free of the False Narrative
To challenge this narrative, the man must confront its theological and moral inconsistencies. A fuller understanding of God emphasizes love, justice, and relationality as central to divine will, with order, economic development, and national interests serving as tools for human flourishing, not ends in themselves. Recognizing the inherent worth of every individual—regardless of nationality—and prioritizing people over profits, systems, and borders is essential for aligning with the divine lure. By embracing this more comprehensive vision of God’s purpose, the man can begin to dismantle his self-deception, rediscover the transformative power of love, and move toward the authenticity and wholeness God envisions.
To whatever degree he rediscovers this transformative power, he becomes a more mature politician. He is not longer entranced by the seduction of fame, fortune, and power, He wants to be a vessel of kindness.
One problem he faces is that so many others, including his constituencies, have fallen into the illusion of the false narrative. It will take great courage on his part to break free and speak the truth of the gospel of Jesus. A willingness not to be elected, He will be tempted to think that he must proclaim the false gospel in order to be elected, and thereafter do good things. To think that the means justify the ends. But deep down he will know that this is not the thing to do. The thing to do is to be honest, to be humble, to be loving - respecting the dignity of each person. He chooses this path, and he becomes who he has always been called to be, a child of God.