An open letter to friends and those I respect… depravity vs. permanence.
I feel I have to write this as an open letter to my Christian friends who do not want to vote for Trump based on a sense of loyalty to their Christian convictions. I wish to thank a friend (Shane) for aligning this last piece of the puzzle for me. I wish to thank as well Dennis Prager for challenging my position on this as well.
So Gary Johnson is out. And do I really need to show the resume of the Green Party candidate? So Jill Stein is out as well.
Continuing.
At a men’s Bible study a friend noted something that brought together all the pieces of a puzzle for me. He mentioned that Donald Trump’s heart is not “seared” fully. This brought to mind the story of Pharaoh and the working together of Pharaoh and God in hardening Pharaoh’s heart:
“But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he did not listen to them…” (Exodus 9:12a. See also: Exodus 4:21, 7:3; 7:13, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4, 14:8, and 14:18).
Yet we also see Pharaoh taking part in this depravity that the first chapter of Roman’s speaks so clearly to:
“But when Pharaoh saw there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them.” (Exodus 8:15. See also: 8:32, 9:34; and 1 Samuel 6:6).
In other words, to put it bluntly, Pharaoh was a lost cause. He was not only what the Reformers would call, totally depraved, but also permanently depraved.
And it is this permanence I wish to address in our choice for the Presidency.
There is a lot of hub-bub lately about what Trump did 11-to-30[+] years ago. And I agree, it is horrible. But unlike Hillary Clinton who says many people are irredeemable, is this true of Trump? Do we see moral positions bubbling up in him? Stuff to show his heart is not seared fully as Romans chapter one states?
For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened.Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. (vv. 21-24).
Many may not know that Trump had a somewhat recent “Born Again” moment, mind you, I am not a fan of the person who led Trump in this repentant moment of his life, but you can at least see a need in Trump to proclaim his sinfulness and ask God for forgiveness. Even if as a baby Christian (if his conversion is authentic) he does not express his depravity well, yet. Here is another thought in conversation I expressed today (10-28):
Also, another point, if one thinks Trump is depraved totally and irrevocable (without redemptive characteristics as Hillary says), this calls to mind Nebuchadnezzar, who was a pagan but surrounded himself with Godly people.
Hillary is going to surround herself with all the same people in the emails released by Wikileaks… we already see Trump wanting to surround himself with people like Pence, Ben Carson, and the like.
GRANTED, I am not saying Trump is a model of theological archetype for the Christian faith. Only Jesus can be that. AND Paula White is not the ideal person to lead someone to theological purity. But he did say the sinners prayer…
➤ James Dobson, the founder of the group Focus on the Family, claimed Trump recently “[accepted] a relationship with Christ,” adding, “I know the person who led him to Christ.”
The point is that he has not become totally and permanently depraved.
There are other hints that morality exists in the macro sense in Trump. A friend said that by supporting Trump I become “one of them.” And trust me, for those that love Hayek and Sowell and Smith, these are moral positions:
Stopping 20[+] years of anti-Constitutionalist judges is not becoming one of them;
Reducing taxes is not becoming one of them;
Border control is not becoming one of them;
Reducing regulations is not becoming one of them;
Fighting and pushing back the worst of the Islamic faith is not becoming one of them;
Supporting law enforcement and putting in a DOJ head that supports them as well is not becoming one of them;
Rejecting climate change legislation is not becoming one of them;
Rejecting cultural Marxism is not becoming one of them;
etc., etc.
In other words, my Christian principles are not in play for my vote. In fact… having studied the issue of economics and free-markets, if-anything, my Christian principles want to increase freedom in the markets as well as slow the progress in other areas of progressive growth. These ARE moral positions. (I say slow by-the-by because Trump does not have ideal views in every area. And?) Another friend notes that “we must realize that a private vote for someone is not the same as a public endorsement.” Yep.
You see, God can (and has) used the most depraved men to conquer evil. Eric Metaxas notes this in two person’s he has studied over the years:
…Two heroes about whom I’ve written faced similar difficulties. William Wilberforce, who ended the slave trade in the British Empire, often worked with other parliamentarians he knew to be vile and immoral in their personal lives.
Why did he? First, because as a sincere Christian he knew he must extend grace and forgiveness to others, since he desperately needed them himself. Second, because he knew the main issue was not his moral purity, nor the moral impurity of his colleagues, but rather the injustices and horrors suffered by the African slaves whose cause he championed. He knew that before God his first obligation was to them, and he must do what he could to help them.
The anti-Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer also did things most Christians of his day were disgusted by. He most infamously joined a plot to kill the head of his government. He was horrified by it, but he did it nonetheless because he knew that to stay “morally pure” would allow the murder of millions to continue. Doing nothing or merely “praying” was not an option. He understood that God was merciful, and that even if his actions were wrong, God saw his heart and could forgive him. But he knew he must act.
Wilberforce and Bonhoeffer knew it was an audience of One to whom they would ultimately answer. And He asks, “What did you do to the least of these?”…
You can at least SEE in Trump pulses of conscience and morality welling up in wanting smaller government (less legislative rules from the EPA for instance and reduction in impact on many departments). You can SEE this in wanting to protect life by appointing Justices who are pro-life as well as for honoring the 1st and 2nd Amendment. You can SEE he is not completely hardened ethically because he believes in nation states, which are God ordained. You can SEE this in his wanting to protect the GOD GIVEN RIGHT for self-defense.
To say one cannot be blamed for their not voting for Trump because he is a horrible candidate will have to face 20-years of Supreme Court Justices allowing sexualized materials in schools as well as a radical redefining of concepts and words [by fiat] and the radical agenda for culture the Left has publicly made their goal ~ to proceed unchecked for their daughters and granddaughters to grow up in and contend with. It is not about hoping for 2020… it is about 2017.
Dennis Prager makes a great point in regards to God using broken men to get His way.
Oskar Schindler was a serial adulterer, yet, God used this broken man to save Jews. Not only did God choose an adulterer, but King David murdered to cover up his sin — God used him to save Israel. Martin Luther King, Jr. Was an adulterer as well, he very probably stopped a civil war and united this nation, surely a Godly goal. ~ PRAGER ADAPTED
So too I believe God is greater than Trump, and can use the hints that he has not buried completely his conscience, something we cannot say for Hillary Clinton.
A judge on Friday dismissed a wrongful-death lawsuit by Newtown families against the maker of the rifle used in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting massacre, citing an embattled federal law that shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products.
State Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis granted a motion by Remington Arms to strike the lawsuit by the families of nine children and adults killed and a teacher who survived the Dec. 14, 2012, school attack, in which a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators with a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle made by Remington.
The families were seeking to hold Remington accountable for selling what their lawyers called a semi-automatic rifle that is too dangerous for the public because it was designed as a military killing machine. Their lawyer vowed an immediate appeal of Friday’s ruling.
The judge agreed with attorneys for Madison, North Carolina-based Remington that the lawsuit should be dismissed under the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which was passed by Congress in 2005 and shields gun makers from liability when their firearms are used in crimes.
Here is Hillary Clinton’s response:
And note that this choice really is as simple as Prager puts it:
There are other reasons I find important to vote trump, one being the violence of the Left and a need to reject this tendency in every Progressive Democrat. And many have tried to lecture me about the ethics of this election season. The same people that characterized the “Boyscout” Mitt Romney as racist, a bully, and a failure in business. Please.
Having been a student of human nature, and the theology involved in the economic systems catering to the two: mankind is fallen and tends toward selfishness |OR| he is inherently good and society corrupts him… causes me to say, YES, Trump is truly the lesser of the two evils. Not permanently or totally depraved, like his counterpart.
…I have a prediction. I know exactly what November 9 will bring. Another day of God’s perfect sovereignty.
He will still be in charge. His throne will still be occupied. He will still manage the affairs of the world. Never before has His providence depended on a king, president, or ruler. And it won’t on November 9, 2016. “The LORD can control a king’s mind as he controls a river; he can direct it as he pleases” (Proverbs 21:1 NCV).
On one occasion the Lord turned the heart of the King of Assyria so that he aided them in the construction of the Temple. On another occasion, he stirred the heart of Cyrus to release the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar was considered to be the mightiest king of his generation. But God humbled and put him in “detention” for seven years. “The kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations” (Psalms 22:28).
Understanding God’s sovereignty over the nations opens the door to peace. When we realize that God influences the hearts of all rulers, we can then choose to pray for them rather than fret about them. Rather than wring our hands we bend our knees, we select prayer over despair.
Jeremiah did this. He was the prophet to Israel during one of her darkest periods of rebellion. He was called “the weeping prophet” because he was one. He wept at the condition of the people and the depravity of their faith. He was so distraught that one of his books was entitled Lamentations. But then he considered the work of God. Note the intentionality of his words:
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The LORD’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
(Lamentations 3:21-23)
Imitate Jeremiah. Lift up your eyes. Dare to believe that good things will happen. Dare to believe that God was speaking to us when he said: “In everything God works for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28).
Many years ago, I spent a week visiting the interior of Brazil with a long-time missionary pilot. He flew a circuit of remote towns in a small plane that threatened to come undone at the slightest gust of wind. Wilbur and Orville had a sturdier aircraft.
I could not get comfortable. I kept thinking that the plane was going to crash in some Brazilian jungle and I’d be gobbled up by piranhas or swallowed by an anaconda.
I kept shifting around, looking down, and gripping my seat. (As if that would help.) Finally, the pilot had had enough of my squirming. He looked at me and shouted over the airplane noise. “We won’t face anything I can’t handle. You might as well trust me to fly the plane.”
Is God saying the same to you? If so, make this your prayer:
Dear Lord,
You are perfect. You could not be better than you are.
You are self-created. You exist because you choose to exist.
You are self-sustaining. No one helps you. No one gives you strength.
You are self-governing. Who can question your deeds? Who dares advise you?
You are correct. In every way. In every choice. You regret no decision.
You have never failed. Never! You cannot fail! You are God! You will accomplish your plan.
You are happy. Eternally joyful. Endlessly content.
You are the king, supreme ruler, absolute monarch, overlord, and rajah of all history.
An arch of your eyebrow and a million angels will pivot and salute. Every throne is a footstool to yours. Every crown is papier–mâché to yours. No limitations, hesitations, questions, second thoughts, or backward glances. You consult no clock. You keep no calendar. You report to no one. You are in charge.
Dennis Prager explains quickly the difference between the Democrat Party he knew growing up and the Democrat Party of today. It is the difference of “liberal” vs. “liberalism.” From black only graduations, to black only dormitories… on-and-on. The left is opposed to our founding principle “E Pluribus Unum.”
YouTube has placed 21 PragerU videos on “restricted mode,” a category meant for inappropriate and objectionable adult and sexual content.
PragerU stands for Prager University. Its four- to five-minute videos promote Judeo-Christian values and principles and are ideal for young people as they distill complex issues into concise bullet points with stimulating graphics.
“We’ve worked quietly behind the scenes for months to resolve this, but YouTube’s censorship continues, leaving us with no option but to go public,” PragerU announcedTuesday on its Facebook page.
YouTube is owned by Google, and PragerU states on its website that “in response to an official complaint we filed, Google specialists defended their restriction of our videos, and said, ‘We don’t censor anyone,’ although they do ‘take into consideration what the intent of the video is’ and ‘what the focus of the video is.’”
“There is no excuse for Google and YouTube censoring and restricting any PragerU videos, which are produced with the sole intent of educating people of all ages about America’s founding values,” the conservative nonprofit states on its website….
Liberals love to share an old quote attributed to Sinclair Lewis that goes, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” As always, the left gets it wrong.
When fascism comes to America, it will be adorned with corporate logos. Liberal fascism is taking over America and its proponents are corporations.
Prager University is a nonprofit educational organization run by talk show host Dennis Prager. PragerU as it is sometimes called, produces educational videos that it then places on various platforms, including YouTube, which is owned by Google. Mr. Prager’s videos are definitely from a conservative or libertarian point of view.
Recently YouTube put 21 of PragerU’s videos on “restricted mode.” This is typically reserved for material that is inappropriate for teenagers. PragerU designs its videos to be educational and to be viewed by all ages. While YouTube puts PragerU videos regarding the police, racism, Feminism and Muslim women on its restricted list, videos produced by left wing organizations on the same topics are not.
YouTube’s parent company Google has been accused of altering search results in its eponymous search engine to favor Hillary Clinton. Searches done this summer by groups showed, for example, “Hillary Clinton crime” did not show stories that featured accusations that Clinton had committed crimes. Instead if directed searchers to Hillary Clinton on crime reform. Even today, a search of “Hillary Clinton cri” will not bring up any suggested searches for Clinton crimes. It will show Hillary Clinton crisis or Hillary Clinton cries, but crime is not to be found.
Meanwhile, competing search engines, will fill in those blanks. On Bing, the search “Hillary Clinton Cr” immediately brings up suggested terms for Hillary Clinton criminal.The search engine Duckduckgo also brings up similar results.
[….]
It isn’t just social media that has become fascist. Corporate America is fascist. Major American corporations have launched full force into the LGBTQ revolution. Corporation such as Paypal, General Electric, Dow Chemical, Pepsi, Hyatt and Hewitt Packard have announced they will boycott North Carolina because the people in North Carolina supported a law that says women have the right to privacy in the bathroom and have the right to use the bathroom without men coming into the bathroom.
Some of these corporations do business with some of the most repressive regimes in the world. Yet they are upset that North Carolina doesn’t want men in the women’s bathroom.
Fascism only allows one opinion. That is the approved opinion. That is what we have in America today. The leading proponents of fascism is not the government. It is big American corporations.
Some comments by RPT on a recent Anonymous announcement about an alleged video of Bill Clinton having sex with a 13-year old…
…Mind you, we know Bill was on a plane owned by Jeffrey Epstein,
Former President Bill Clinton took a romantic jaunt in 2002 to convicted pedophile pal Jeffrey Epstein’s “orgy island” with “two young girls” from New York, according to a shocking new interview.
Virginia Roberts, who’s accused Epstein of turning her into a “sex slave” at age 17 and forcing her to sleep with his powerful friends, claimed Clinton stayed in one of the many villas on Epstein’s US Virgin Islands estate — where group sex was a “regular occurrence.”
“I remember asking Jeffrey, ‘What’s Bill Clinton doing here?’ kind of thing, and he laughed it off and said, ‘Well, he owes me a favor,’ ” Roberts told her lawyers in a 2011 interview obtained by RadarOnline.com. “He never told me what favors they were.”
Bubba was accompanied by two of Epstein’s regular girlfriends and “two young girls that I could identify,” Roberts claimed.
“I never really knew them well anyways. It was just two girls from New York,” she said.
…The Palm Beach, Florida police and the FBI both investigated charges that Epstein consorted with underage girls used for prostitution.
Court documents show that police found a ‘clear indication that Epstein’s staff was frequently working to schedule multiple young girls between the ages of 12 and 16 years old literally every day, often two or three times per day.’
One victim said under oath that Epstein molested her at least 50 times, beginning when she was 13…
We know Bill Clinton ditched the Secret Service multiple times on these 26 flights on “Lolita Express”… and we know there is legal action against Bill [and Trump] for allegedly having sex with [essentially rapping] underage girls (13-years old being the youngest).
~ However, there may be video of Bill’s assault, according to Anonymous ~
(I stress MAY be)
A friend sent an “Anonymous” announcement to me — keep in mind that Anonymous is not a reliable source of information, they are very revolutionary in regards to promoting Marxists like Noam Chomsky and are anti-Semitic to boot (in other words, propaganda is in their nature) — HOWEVER, with what we know about Bill… this is very plausible. I know all this sounds incredible.
Ravi Zacharias intimates well the depths of man’s depravity.
But Bill and Trump to me are Pagans [secular] acting out their Pagan [secular] natures, and we also know from history that much worse is possible.
To be fair, it looks like “The Donald” was also involved in this sorted affair of closeness to Epstein and his “sex slave island.” Which does not surprise me one bit. Ann Coulter was right to say that this story is bigger than Bill Clinton!
“I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy,” Trump told New York Magazine back in 2002. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”
Wow.
The next few weeks should flesh out the truth or falsity of this matter. If I had my own way, I would want both Presidential choices (Hillary and Donald) to step aside and let the running mates run as top of the ticket. But I am not in charge of much… my wife even controls my own life ;)
At any rate, as culture and the West becomes more secular… what we are seeing and hearing will become more of the norm.
The Cover Girl make-up company decided to use a 17 year old boy as its new ‘Cover Girl.’ The kid wears make-up like Tammy Faye Bakker and, well, let’s just say he better stay away from Donald Trump if he doesn’t want to get grabbed. Apparently, this is what the mainstream media wants men to be these days; sissy boys wearing girly make-up.
You know who’s pissed off about this? Come on, who is always pissed off about everything? The feminists, the trannies, the feminist trannies, and the Social Justice Wankers. Apparently, choosing a white boy as a Cover Girl isn’t transgressive enough. They should have picked a transgendered humanoid of color, ideally vegan, and if Muslim, even better.
The Morning Answer discusses some of the Wiki-Leaked emails and discusses the anti-Catholic/Evangelical discussions, as well as the importance of showing collusion between the Dept of Justice working with the Hillary campaign on issues. IN OTHER WORDS, the DOJ is picking sides with a campaign… colluding against the other campaign. CRAZY!!
