Mingled Waters: Exploring the intersection of psychology, politics, and theology

Hey folks! For several weeks now, I’ve had a stanza from an ancient poem rattling through my head. It is an unpleasant poem, but its relevance is strong enough that I, I feel, I really must share it, and then I’ll relate why I find it so relevant. And no, it’s not from the Bible. It in fact predates the New Testament writings by at least a century.It’s from Virgil’s epic poem, the Aeneid, which serves as a mythical origin story of the Roman Empire. And in it, the Etruscan King, Mezentius, is depicted as consummate evil, and his willingness to scorn the gods and his delight in extreme cruelty is depicted in this stanza. The living and the dead at his command were coupled face to face and hand to hand till chok'd with stench in loath'd, embraces tied the ling'ring wretches pin'd away and died.I actually looked into this and to my relief, I failed to find any historical evidence that this method of execution was ever actually used. But the idea of binding a living person to a corpse until the infecting decay kills the living is indeed gruesome. It is possible that you’ve heard this poem before, as it’s sometimes used to illustrate Paul’s lamentation of his sinfulness in Romans seven, “who will save me from this body of death?” he cries.It’s been on my mind, however, because. It illustrates perfectly the way that conservative Christians have bound themselves to Donald Trump, white conservative Christians, despite being the epitome of moral wr bluster and deceit, the evangelical wing of Christianity has exalted him to the highest office in the land and largely celebrated as Congress surrenders its power to him for the sake of purging the nation of minority immigrants.And now we discover that he is plastered throughout the Epstein files with his name mentioned, not only 38,000 times in the redacted files, but potentially more than a million times according to representative Jamie Raskin, who was given access to the mostly unredacted 3 million pages. It is well be established and truly beyond debate that Trump is guilty of 34 felony counts of fraud. He’s boasted of sexually assaulting women. Bragged about walking in on young women and girls while they changed at his beauty pageants, and he’s an adjudicated rapist who was also found guilty of defaming his victim. E Jean Carroll. He’s also been credibly accused of rape and sexual assault by at least 28 women.And now we’ve learned that Trump is accused in the Epstein files of sexually abusing children and even auctioning them off to his guests at parties. He’s accused of murder by Epstein’s brother, of ordering Epstein’s death in jail. Trump denies those charges and it is important to acknowledge that the files may contain information and reports that are potentially unfounded.Meanwhile, Trump’s Department of Department of Justice, historically an independent agency that Trump now controls actively seems heavily invested in protecting Trump and refusing further investigation of any of the dozens and dozens of men exposed for organized pedophilic crime in its heavily redacted pages.While those many charges go uninvestigated tripe’s—Trump’s hyper funded immigration and border control agents, whether ICE or DHS wield unrestrained, unaccountable, and largely anonymous power to attack, gas, and even kill civilians. Their mission was allegedly to deport the worst criminals among those without legal documentation.Yet Trump’s rhetoric and the agent’s actions betray a deep xenophobic hostility toward people of color. Whether undocumented or immigrants here legally, such as those awaiting hearings for asylum claims, Trump’s deportation machine casts a wide net. Even in the face of judicial prohibition, the vast majority of those detained, arrested, and deported have had no criminal record. Even citizens of the United States have been detained in high numbers, sometimes for days. And the concentration camps in which our neighbors are held are understaffed, often devoid of medical care, unsanitary, overcrowded, and deadly with 53 deaths taking place in Trump’s second term so far, and reports of physical abuse are emerging and sexual abuse. Detainees are often abducted without a judicial warrant and are seldom provided with legal representation, and their constitutional right to due process is cast aside.And while Trump’s waning popularity is thankfully near an all-time record, low Evangelicals and white conservatives seem largely unmoved in their support.So, I can’t help but think of this poem, and with my apologies, I hope it will resonate through your head as well, that white evangelicals have tied themselves to a corpse, a moral corpse of rotting filth, and it’s going to kill them. Frankly, it’s going to kill us all. Potentially. I tend to be an optimist in general, though I have a sense of what Joseph R. Winters calls a “hope draped in black.” I hope that Trump won’t end up destroying America and democracy the way he’s trying to do. I pray that we will manage to stop him in the 2026 midterms and that justice could be served against him. That’s far from assured and, and even that won’t heal all the harm he’s done or stop his enablers from continuing his carcinogenic legacy. I’m scared, and I know many of you are too, and that’s okay. Hopefully we gather together and we develop our work of resistance.But I hope this poem resonates through your head and your mind. For those who care about the church, I hope this poem will serve as a prophetic critique. And if you do support Trump, I hope that you would consider the possibility that in your support, you are lashing yourself to a rotting corpse at your great peril and the peril of the world.The living and the dead at his command were coupled face to face and hand to hand till choked with stench in loathed braces tied the lingering wretches pined away and died.I have another blog I posted perhaps a year ago at this point. And in it I suggest that white conservative Christians have, in a sense, killed God. And I link that idea to, um, the idea that God is dead and no one cares from a, a Trent Resner song, Nine Inch Nails, and to the idea that God is dead and we have killed him from Nietzsche. And I’ll post that below so you can reconsult that if you haven’t seen it. Um, but in the hope that it might foster some insight or prove helpful in some way.We are certainly facing the gruesome death of evangelicalism’s puny god and impotent gospel. And, and I thank God for that. May the God of love and liberation arise from its putrid ashes. But in the meantime, there’s no need to lash ourselves to this dying corpse. I plead with you, let’s not die like this.Let’s not die like this. Get full access to Mingled Waters at matthewbeal.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode I consider the importance of narrative in light of the most recent U.S. presidential election, and I propose a narrative related to the concept of the death of God. Get full access to Mingled Waters at matthewbeal.substack.com/subscribe