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The day that former Trump National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his communications with Russia [1], former FBI Director James Comey tweeted: “But [let] justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” Amos 5:24.

Amos 5 really shines a light on Trump’s Prayer Breakfast hypocrisy [2], and points to Trump’s future of eternal damnation, if he doesn’t repent and change: “Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat…. For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins—ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right… I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in your solemn assemblies…. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream….” (Amos 5, ASV)

If the Prophet Amos isn’t clear enough, there’s Paul’s letter to Timothy in the New Testament: “For the love of money is the root of all evil; and while some have coveted after it, they have erred from the faith…” (1 Timothy 6: 10 KJV) If anyone ever loved money and the moneyed classes it is Trump!

Carl Heinrich Bloch, Jesus Chasing the Money Changers

The following may explain why Comey didn’t do something about Trump earlier, before it was too late. After all, it seems like if they lose a mobster or other crook, that they have often been found in a Trump Tower: “In the secret world, it’s not all that unusual for security agencies to decline to arrest bad guys. Quite often, instead, they like to watch the bad guys and see where they might lead them” (Kolb, 2010) [3] Comey must be a fairly good guy because the Russia government’s trolling him. He’s gone after Russia mobsters more than once.

Mike Lofgren (2012) thinks that it’s a belief in cheap grace that allows the religious right to provide cover to politicians [4] like Trump, though he wasn’t speaking of him per se.

What is cheap grace? According to Bonhoeffer (1937), “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline,… Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” [5]

In everyday terms, cheap grace is called sweeping the dirt under the rug. In theological terms, it’s called justification of sin, rather than justification of the sinner. As Bonhoeffer (1937) explains [4]: “Luther did not hear the word: ‘Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness.’… The grace he had received was costly grace…. it was costly, for, so far from dispensing him from good works, it meant that he must take the call to discipleship more seriously than ever before. It was grace because it cost so much, and it cost so much because it was grace. That was the secret of the gospel of the Reformation — the justification of the sinner…” [rather than the justification of sin.]

More of Amos 5:
“ 10 They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
11 Forasmuch therefore as ye trample upon the poor, and take exactions from him of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink the wine thereof.
12 For I know how manifold are your transgressions, and how mighty are your sins—ye that afflict the just, that take a bribe, and that turn aside the needy in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore he that is prudent shall keep silence in such a time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be with you, as ye say.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish justice in the gate: it may be that Jehovah, the God of hosts, will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
[…]
21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I [g]will take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Yea, though ye offer me …. your meal-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the thank-offerings….
23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
24 But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream….”
Amos 5:24 Or, ever-flowing”
American Standard Version (ASV), Public Domain

This isn’t meant to be a comprehensive post on the disgusting hypocrisy of Trump at the prayer breakfast. It probably warrants a book.

Notes
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/01/us/politics/michael-flynn-guilty-russia-investigation.html
[2] https://www.voanews.com/a/donald-trump-national-prayer-breakfast-faith-american-life-liberty/4244953.html
[3] Excerpt From: Larry J. Kolb. “America at Night,” Penguin,2010, p. 114.
[4] Mike Lofgren, “The Party Is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted” Viking, 2012
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cost_of_Discipleship
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “The cost of discipleship‘, 1937, 1959, SCM Press Ltd, excerpt: http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0640/95022223-s.html