Trump Calls Russell Moore ‘Nasty.’ Moore Responds With … the Prophet Elijah.
Donald Trump didn’t like what evangelical leader Russell Moore had to say about him on CBS’ Face the Nation, and has hit back on Twitter. And now Moore has fired back with a fire-and-brimstone passage from the Old Testament.
Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, angered Trump after calling the culture enamored with Trump “reality television moral sewage.”
Moore said that in the past character and virtue mattered in a presidential candidate, but that doesn’t seem to concern conservatives who support Trump. “Conservatives who previously said, ‘We have too much awful, cultural rot on television’ … now want to put it on C-SPAN for the next four years.”
Trump hit back:
.@drmoore Russell Moore is truly a terrible representative of Evangelicals and all of the good they stand for. A nasty guy with no heart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 9, 2016
Moore’s response:
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) May 9, 2016
Five minutes later, Moore added:
1 Kings 18:17-19 https://t.co/gpbDUbhIiB
— Russell Moore (@drmoore) May 9, 2016
1 Kings 18 tells the biblical story of the prophet Elijah’s confrontation with King Ahab, who had “abandoned the Lord’s commands” and worshipped false gods. Elijah condemned Ahab, prophesying utter and widespread destruction.
Moore’s biblical reference isn’t all gloom and doom. In the face of Elijah’s prophecy, Ahab repented and because he “humbled himself” before the Lord, the Lord announced that he would not “bring the disaster in his days” (1 Kings 21:20-29).