Pastor Lucas Miles appeared on ‘Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey‘ last week to spar with Richey over whether Jesus was a Democrat or a Republican.
Miles is the pastor of “Nnfluence Church” in South Bend, Indiana, and author of “The Christian Left: How Liberal Thought Has Hijacked the Church.”
“There’s actually multiple versions of Jesus,” said Miles, while on the show. “And I think it’s really important to define that. I’m talking about the biblical Christ, the Christ from the first century, the Christ that was born in Bethlehem, the Christ that Scripture speaks up.”
Miles began on the ‘bullpen’ segment of ‘Indisputable with Dr. Rashad Richey’ saying that God can’t be defined by a political party and that he doesn’t see Jesus as a Republican or a Democrat. He later backtracked 15 minutes into the segment with Richey, and he implied that based on the values expressed, Jesus was more likely a Republican than a Democrat.
“What I believe about Jesus is that he is the embodiment of grace and truth that we see in him, the absolute picture of God. He is the fullness, the representation of God. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 1:3 (?) that needs the exact representation of God, in fact, and he is God in the flesh.”
Miles initially said Jesus exists outside of the paradigms, before touting his own personal support for the Republican party.
“There’s certainly those on the left that would love to, you know, claim him as their own. And there’s those on the right that would love to claim him on it as their own. But I believe that Jesus exists outside of those paradigms. And what the question is, is really, how do we best align ourselves with his truth and his teaching?” said Miles.
Richey referenced comparing the expressed values of the teachings of Christ when it comes to Scripture.
“Are they more aligned to left-leaning ideology or right-leaning ideology?” said Richey. “Leviticus 25 says, if your brother becomes poor, and cannot maintain himself, you shall support him as though he was a stranger, and he should live with you. You can take no interest of money. You should not lend him money for interest, nor can you give him food for profit.”
Richey asked Miles if Scripture like that aligns with pro-Republican and pro-profit ideology.
“I think that the problem when we look at passages like this, especially if we don’t hold to the inerrancy of Scripture, is how do we know that the verses that you just read are ones that we can trust?” said Miles. “And so that becomes, you know, we become the arbitrator or the arbiter of truth where we’re deciding which verses relevant and which verse isn’t, which I think it’s one of the things that’s a problem with progressive Christianity that I address in my book.”
Miles said the government tries to do the job for the church, and he believes the church should be caring for the poor, the church should be caring for the sick.
“But what we’ve done is we’ve acquiesced to that position. And the government has taken that on, and oftentimes robbing the church of that role,” said Miles.
“So you say opportunity has been robbed from the church, please tell me where the church has been adhering to the discipline of feeding the hungry or taking care of those that have been harmed by government,” responded Richey.
Referencing Jesus’s beliefs and values, Richey said that Jesus didn’t have a ministry talking against gay people, he had a ministry talking against government corruption.
“He had a ministry talking against religious corruption. He didn’t have a ministry talking about bear arms; he had a ministry talking about treating people better. So explain to me how that is an alignment to Republican ideology, dear brother,” said Richey.
Miles claimed Jesus did define marriage as a man and a woman.
“That was the definition given throughout Scripture,” said Miles.
Richey responded, “That’s not true. The first definition we have of marriage pastor in Scripture allowed for multiple wives and even concubines which were elevated prior.”
“We don’t see the Bible say sometimes that marriage can be between, you know, two men or two women. We don’t see Scripture say that about abortion. We don’t see Scripture say that about these other issues,” said Miles. “But progressive Christianity has introduced a different version of Jesus that’s contrary to the Word of God.”
Richey said that Jesus did not ever make any explicit mention of gay people, and Jesus also never rebuked gay people, gay relationships, or gay marriage.
“Jesus was considered a progressive of his time era,” said Richey.
“I would disagree,” said Miles. “No, no, he was counter-cultural.”
Miles argued that Jesus was pro-truth, and Richey asked Miles whether the Republicans in leadership, including former president Trump, were being truthful and living up to those Christian values.
“The Republican Party looks a lot more like Christian values than the democratic party,” said Miles.
Miles said he voted for Trump, adding, “more often than not when he says something he does it.”