I will not sell my moral integrity for political expediency.

“…that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” — Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

A few days ago, the current sitting President of the United States posted on Truth Social that several Democratic members of Congress were engaging in “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!” He then amplified a supporter’s message declaring, “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD!!” And then, in a moment that pierced my heart, a Christian friend of mine reposted it approvingly.

That was the moment this reflection became unavoidable. I am not writing as a Republican or a Democrat. I am writing as a Christian, as a veteran who swore an oath, and as an American who believes this nation is held together by something higher than any one man’s ego.

We are standing at a crossroads — not left or right, but moral. We are witnessing a sickness spreading across our country: the dehumanizing of political opponents and the normalization of violent rhetoric. And when Christians celebrate or excuse this, something sacred within us begins to deform. Christ has called us to a better way.

Let’s put politics aside for a moment and speak plainly as believers:

• Calling for opponents to be hung is not Christian.
• Cheering death threats is not Christian.
• Amplifying rhetoric that dehumanizes elected officials is not Christian.

This is not about whether you support Trump or oppose him. This is about whether we will allow Christ to shape our moral imagination more deeply than our political team.

Both parties have dipped into demonizing language. Both have trafficked in contempt. But Christ calls His people to be salt and light — not accelerants in a fire of rage.

People are confusing loyalty to a man with loyalty to a nation. Here is the foundational truth our founders understood:

No public servant swears loyalty to a man.

• Not soldiers.
• Not intelligence officers.
• Not judges.
• Not members of Congress.
• Not city clerks or state controllers or Cabinet secretaries.

Even the President of the United States lays his hand on the Bible and swears loyalty not to himself, but to the Constitution.

“to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

This oath is taken by all public servants, at every level of government. It is the sacred glue holding our republic together.

So when six lawmakers warned the military not to obey illegal orders, they were not undermining the country — they were honoring their oath. Yet the president responded by calling them traitors and suggesting their actions were “punishable by death.”

The irony is staggering: labeling loyalty to the Constitution as disloyalty to him — and demanding loyalty to him as loyalty to the country. That is what is dangerous. That is what the founders feared. That is why the oath is to the Constitution — not to kings, caesars, or charismatic figures.

Sedition means inciting rebellion against lawful government authority. A president ordering the military to do something illegal is not lawful authority. The Constitution itself requires military personnel to disobey such orders. So urging troops to uphold the Constitution is not sedition — it is fidelity. Calling that sedition is not just a mistake. It is an inversion of reality that puts our democracy at risk.

• We cannot ignore the shadows of January 6.
• We know what happens when phrases like “hang them” enter our public bloodstream.
• We have seen gallows erected on the Capitol lawn.
• We have heard “Hang Mike Pence!” echo in the air.
• We have watched the consequences of reckless speech spill into physical harm.

When the president amplifies “HANG THEM” again — with the full knowledge of what happened last time — we cannot pretend this is harmless. Words shape imaginations. Imaginations shape actions. And actions shape the future.

Here is the painful truth we must confront, some Christians who would be horrified if a Democrat posted such rhetoric are quick to excuse it when their preferred leader does it. That is special pleading — a form of moral distortion where “our side” gets a pass and the other side gets condemnation. Christ rejects this double standard.

• We do not get to baptize cruelty.
• We do not get to sanctify contempt.
• We do not get to use “but the other side…” as a moral escape hatch.

Jesus doesn’t give us one ethic for our friends and another for our opponents. He gives us a single way of life: to treat others as we ourselves would want to be treated, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and to love our neighbor as ourselves — including, as He insisted, even our enemies. And those commands leave no room for demeaning, dehumanizing, or demonizing rhetoric. You cannot square that kind of pernicious speech with the teachings of Christ, nor can a nation survive the internal corrosion such language produces.

That principle does not bend for partisanship. Integrity requires that we maintain a standard of conduct that is judicious, fair, and applied equally to all — friend and opponent alike.

When Polycarp faced execution and was commanded to swear by Caesar’s fortune, he responded:

“Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”

He would not confuse loyalty to Christ with loyalty to empire, nor call Caesar “lord” even to save his life — and neither should we compromise our integrity. Today we are not being asked to choose between worship and death, but we are being asked whether we will allow political devotion to eclipse Christian conviction. The test is quieter, but no less real: will we remain faithful to Christ when allegiance to a leader or party tempts us to betray the truth?

• Will we call evil good if our leader speaks it?
• Will we justify violence if our tribe endorses it?
• Will we betray Christ in order to defend a politician?

God forbid!

Christians have long taught that lawful authority, rooted in justice and restraint, is part of God’s design for human flourishing. The Constitution is not scripture, but it is a covenant that restrains tyranny, protects conscience, limits power, and upholds human dignity. When a Christian upholds the Constitution over unlawful demands from any leader, that is not rebellion. That is righteousness.

This is not a call for conservatives to repent or liberals to repent. It is a call for Christians to repent. To confess where we have allowed anger to replace discernment. Where we have elevated political identity over Christian identity. Where we have excused sin because it came wrapped in our party’s colors. Where we have celebrated rhetoric that Christ Himself would rebuke.

We can do better.

We must do better.

What faithfulness looks like right now:

• Refuse to repost dehumanizing rhetoric.
• Hold leaders you admire to the same moral standards as leaders you oppose.
• Speak peace into conversations soaked with rage.
• Defend democratic norms even when it benefits the other party.
• Remind your friends that political opponents are not enemies.
• Pray for wisdom and courage for leaders — all of them.

I will not sell my moral integrity for political expediency. And neither should any of us. We are called to seek the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons — even when it costs us something. Integrity isn’t a strategy; it’s a commitment to truth that cannot be bought, bullied, or bent.

Our highest allegiance is to God alone — that is immovable, unshakable, nonnegotiable. And our civic allegiance is to the Constitution — not to a man, not to a movement, not to the loudest voice on a platform, but to the charter of liberty we swore to defend. That oath means something. It demands something. Integrity isn’t a decoration we pin on when it’s convenient; it’s a line we hold when everyone else backs away.

And make no mistake: When those loyalties are kept in their proper order, this republic stands firm. But when they are twisted — when we treat leaders like saviors and the Constitution like a suggestion — the very ground beneath us shakes. Nations do not fall because of enemies at the gate. They fall because their people forget who they are.

So let us remember. Let us stand — Republicans, Democrats, Independents, believers of every tradition — not as factions clawing for advantage, but as one people committed to truth. One people committed to decency. One people committed to God, to the Constitution, and to the integrity that binds both together.

We don’t need the politics of fear. We don’t need the politics of rage. We don’t need the dehumanizing language that tears our nation apart. What we need — what this moment demands — is the courage to say: “My loyalty is not for sale. My conscience is not up for negotiation. My integrity will not bow to any man.”

Because if we cannot speak that truth now… then when this nation trembles, we will have no one left to blame but ourselves.

“Let us trust God, and our better judgment to unite us in the maintenance of the great national interests. United we stand, divided we fall.” – Patrick Henry, March 1799

We should always seek to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. 

Excerpt

Christian integrity requires us to denounce dehumanizing rhetoric — especially from the President, whose words shape a nation. If we excuse what Christ condemns, we betray both our faith and our civic responsibility. Moral courage, not political loyalty, must guide us.