Posted on 05/16/2016 11:09:15 AM PDT by Sean_Anthony
An Isaiah 45 leader, "though you do not acknowledge me," in the manner of Cyrus.
Just so you know, Donald Trump has not only inspired a rift among political conservatives. He’s inspired one among Christians as well. Many high-profile Christian teachers are appalled that so many evangelicals have backed a man of considerable moral failings, especially when he demonstrates very limited understanding of or commitment to the Gospel.
On the surface, it seems so obvious: Ted Cruz is one of us, so why would evangelicals reject him in favor of Donald Trump? And yet many did. The question is so vexing it’s led some - including people I deeply respect like Dr. Michael Brown - to question whether this means God’s judgment is finally coming on our nation for our sustained rebellion against Him.
Well, when you've seen so many evangelical leaders with considerable moral failings...
If Donald Trump is divinely inspired, he’s inspired to lay waste to our enemies, foreign and domestic.
No, we have had a wrecking ball in the Oval Office for the last eight years.
Trump showed more integrity than Cruz did. It was Cruz who resorted to misleading ads. Cruz’s campaign who told Carson supporters that Carson had dropped out when he hadn’t. Cruz that denied he had an alliance with Kasich after both campaigns had spoken of the alliance, prompting Kasich to call Cruz a liar.
Trump is infinitely more qualified that Cruz is. Cruz’s management experience is limited to managing 13 government lawyers. Cruz has no private business experience. Trump has been selecting organizational executives and measuring organizational performance for decades and has done well. It’s Trump who for many years has focused on the trade deals as being a cause of our deindustrialization and loss of quality jobs.
Trump said he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness, because he tries to right anything he has done wrong. Is that not what we are supposed to do? Trump did say he takes communion which in his view is a form of asking for forgiveness. It does show that Trump realizes he needs a savior.
Too many that speak as reverent or anything but reverent. Ted Cruz was preferred because many churches would continue to make $$$$ from FedGov.
So many ‘moral’ church leaders would love to keep the CHEAP-LABOR-EXPRESS train moving because they line they coffers with millions of dollars from the federal government for alien resettlement programs.
There is a great deal of financial interest vested with increasing the refugees admitted for USA resettlement. More refugees = more free money. Some programs resemble decadent charities that spend inordinately on fund raising and administration rather than actually helping their cause.
Is it possible to serve both God and money (Luke 16:13).
Their efforts have become harmful to their fellow countrymen and communities when they sponsor criminal murderers, rapists, and those who steal American’s possessions and American jobs.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3430888/posts
The largest church in the nation—Lakewood Church pastored by Joel Osteen—teaches a heresy: the prosperity gospel.
I’m not sure about God judging the nation, but it’s past time He judges our nation’s clergy who have sat silent while the gospel has been corrupted beyond comprehension.
While the Mrs. and I voted for Ted Cruz in Pennsylvania's April 26 primary, the answer to this question is obvious: Because Cruz is no longer a viable candidate and Trump is far preferable to the alternative.
Trump may be a loose cannon, but he is at least aimed in the correct direction.
If you are old enough to remember, think back on how many of THESE guys publicly and hypocritically embraced Christianity while — like HUMANS EVERYWHERE — behaving very differently in private.
WHY WOULD WE ELECT PRESIDENT A GUY WHO...?
Why would this country elect as president some guy who was known to regale friends with nigger* jokes, grew up with a boyhood hatred of slavery because his father regularly hired him out for heavy manual labor then confiscated his earnings, had a history of depression, was suicidal from time to time (in his defense, probably due to the death of his young son, but suicidal nonetheless) and eventually started an internecine war ostensibly to halt a slavery that was, due to its inherent inefficiency, fading out – and during which he thoroughly trampled the Constitution he claimed he was attempting to preserve – that took the lives of over 700,000 troops and civilians and...
What? Oh, yeah. That was LINCOLN! never mind!
*A corruption of another word now freely used by blacks around the world when referring to one another. To NOT have written the word here would be to accord the dark forces of political correctness an inappropriate and destructive victory of which Orwell’s Thought Police would be proud.
And why would we elect as president a retired military guy who was accurately reputed to have a very, very foul mouth and an alcoholic and...
What? Oh, that was U.S.Grant. Sorry.
Why would we elect to the presidency and fellow who was well known for his hyperbolic and profane bluster during his campaigns and while in the office and..? That would have been Teddy Roosevelt who, when faced with a recurrence of the trouble with the muslims in the Med that plagued Mr. Jefferson, successfully backed them down.
Why would we elect president some guy who was not healthy and smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, married his fifth cousin then had a notorious affair with his secretary and had as his closest adviser one Harry Hopkins, who, during a trip to a Maryland racetrack and around 5 martinis into a bad day at the races , was overheard by a reporter to enunciate his and his boss’s philosophy of government:
“TAX AND TAX, SPEND AND SPEND, ELECT AND ELECT. THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE TOO DAMN DUMB TO UNDERSTAND!”
What? Oh, sorry, that was FDR!
And why would the American people put in the Oval Office a man who, while overseas running the war in Europe and another 3 pack-a-day smoker, was schtupping his secretary while his wife was back here tending to the family and just prior to D-Day, scheduled a poorly planned, ill-fated live-fire practice for the Normandy invasion (Exercise Tiger) that got over 700 American troops KILLED – HAD THEM BURIED IN A MASS GRAVE – THEN COVERED IT UP!
Oh, sorry. That was Republican DWIGHT EISENHOWER. Moving on...
How about another Democrat whose father was a bootlegger who thought fighting the Nazis was a bad idea but who, to his credit served honorably in the Pacific and managed to get his PT boat sliced in half by a Japanese destroyer but redeemed himself by getting his crew rescued. Running against Nixon in the 1960 race, this same married chap, whose handlers thought he was a bit “tense” before the first televised debate, took him out and got him laid. (That certainly relaxed him as he won the debate.) Once in office, this fellow had numerous extramarital affairs with mob molls and several Hollywood stars, Marilyn Monroe among them and...
Oh yeah. That was JFK. never mind.
(For an interesting aside re. that event and the role a leftist media type played in that debate, please see the footnote below. If you’ve watched the current debates, you understand that THEY STILL DO.)
And then there was this character from Texas who, after his friends counted the ballots and reported him barely ahead in a close race for the Senate, was shocked – just shocked –that the very night before the recount, would you believe it? — the courthouse burned down, destroying the ballots! Like Lincoln, “nigger” was a regular part of his crude vocabulary. This fellow was a notorious womanizer and drunk whose favorite technique for reprimanding errant subordinates was to call them into the lavatory while he moved his bowels. Classy, huh?
Then he...What? You say that was LBJ? never mind.
How in the WORLD could we elect to the presidency some guy who was a 60s socialist radical, later married one even more radical than himself, wangled multiple deferments from MILITARY SERVICE while other kids his age were humping through the bush in Vietnam dodging bullets and who was – and IS – a woman abuser and engaged in sexual misconduct in the Oval Office with at least one young intern then, under oath, perjured himself about it and...
What? Oh, right, that was BILL CLINTON! never mind!
But why the heck would we elect some guy raised by grandparents and some pornographer — all three of whom were on FBI “Communist Watch” lists in the 50s and 60s (back when the FBI actually did its job of trying to protect US) – and whose mother posed nude for the pornographer before abandoning her kid and who has openly admitted to have been – and probably still is – a pot head and user of harder illegal substances and whose every action bespeaks a hatred for the nation he allegedly heads...
What? Oh, right. That’s BARACK OBAMA! never mind!
I haven’t researched all the other folks we elevated to the highest elected office in this country. If I did, I’m sure I’d find warts and blemishes on ALL OF THEM. And why would that be? BECAUSE, LIKE YOU AND ME, THEY’RE ALL IMPERFECT HUMAN BEINGS AND ALL FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY.
Until some leftist “journalist” comes up with a fully documented list of reprehensible things MY candidate – who doesn’t drink or smoke and has raised his kids to be responsible, successful adults – has done to other folks, I’ll stick with TRUMP. And until these same media mavens provide me with a list of associates, friends, employees, clients and others he has screwed over and, further, convince me that he is attempting to prevaricate his way into the presidency (as the last guy did!) or that his profession of LOVE for America is as egregious a lie as the last guy told us, I’LL HANG IN THERE WITH TRUMP.
But my support for The Donald is based more on how the current crop (or is that crAp) of political elites and their media lapdogs and handmaidens are GOING NUTS because he is articulating problems in terms WE USE IN OUR CONVERSATIONS OUT HERE IN “FLYOVER COUNTRY”, AND NOT TALKING ABOUT HOW BEST TO ARRANGE THE DECK CHAIRS ON THE FOUNDERING SHIP CALLED “AMERICA”. Add in that he’s the only candidate who doesn’t need the job but, more importantly, DOESN’T NEED DOUGH FROM THE K STREET RENT SEEKERS WHO ROUTINELY BUY YOUR ALLEGED “REPRESENTATIVES” ON CAPITOL HILL and the rough talking, very UNPC, sometimes crude and impolite (read that “imperfect”) and that he has the “establishment” incompetents who created this mess WETTING THEMSELVES, Trump will remain my guy.
A fellow Freeper recently pointed out ANOTHER, rather strong reason for Trump to NOT GO ROGUE once in office:
I posted this:
“That said, should Trump win and go on prove to be but another undercover Judas Goat sent forth to lead us to the final holding pen of the One World totalitarian abattoir, that “explosive reaction” will make the extreme unpleasantness between 1861 and 1865 look like a peace rally!”
To which he replied:”
That’s why, despite what people say what trump will do, I think Trump loves his children and grand-children too much for that to be his legacy to them.”
Might want to toss that into your current equation!
Because the entrenched forces he faces have a 3 way program for dealing with outsiders (1. IGNORE; 2. DISCREDIT; 3. ELIMINATE), all we have to do is pray he REMAINS ABOVE AMBIENT TEMPERATURE through the debates, the election and, hopefully, on to January 20th, 2017 and an inauguration.
Dick Bachert 9/26/2015 (Edited 3/21/2016)
FOOTNOTE:
The 1960 Nixon-Kennedy Debates were directed by one Don Hewitt, creator of CBS’ “60 Minutes”. Hewitt told Nixon, who had a serious “5 O’clock Shadow” (beard, for you youngsters not familiar with that phrase) that he didn’t need to shave just prior to the program. Hewitt then directed the studio lighting to flatter Kennedy while arranging Nixon’s to make him look like an extra from “The Walking Dead”. Not satisfied, Hewitt slowly tightened the shot each time Nixon spoke so that his head loomed and filled the entire screen on TV sets all over the country. And as we all know, things that “loom” are clearly dangerous and should be avoided. The voters did so and, as we all know, Kennedy won.
I need to add that, warts and all, Kennedy did a pretty good job. While he got it completely wrong at the Bay of Pigs, he defused the Cuban Missile show down with the Soviets. And he was moving in the direction of unhooking our monetary system from the Fed (to which we PAY INTEREST on the currency they create from THIN AIR!), had begun speaking out about lowering taxes and getting us out of Vietnam. Some of us believe that’s why some folks blew off the top of his head on November 22, 1963. As with so many events like these, we may never know the truth.
Bambi’s the wrecking ball. Trump is the architect.
Bill Clinton, Jim Bakker, Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich, Jimmy Swaggart, Gary Hart, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Larry Craig, Ted Haggard, Anthony Weiner, Mark Sanford, Tammy Faye Bakker, Jim McGreevey, David Vitter, Dennis Hastert, Huey Long, Aimee Semple-McPherson, Randy Cunningham, Wilbur Mills, JFK...
Politicians with moral failings, evangelicals with moral failings...which are which? Answer: No difference.
>>Trump said he doesn’t ask God for forgiveness, because he tries to right anything he has done wrong. Is that not what we are supposed to do?<<
Asking God for forgiveness is at the very core of Christianity, recognizing that we are broken and flawed. “Fixing it yourself” may be laudable from a secular point of view, and making reparations for your wrongs, big and small, is also an important action.
But if we use our own imperfections as our North Star, how easily can we veer off-course - even if the initial deviation is by 1 degree. Anyone who’s sailed or flown knows how far off-course even a half-degree deviation can get you, if you follow it long enough.
Let’s be honest... if anyone (doesn’t matter who) that you disagree with made that same statement, would you accept it on its face as being sufficient to replace God’s forgiveness, grace, and mercy?
Remarkable how seem people seem to know what God thinks!
Since he considers taking a communion a form of asking for forgiveness, I don’t really have a problem with it.
I certainly don’t have a problem with someone making right a wrong.
But I’ll grant you that, the fact that not asking for forgiveness more often than communion probably underscores that he doesn’t realize how sinful he really is. Would you say the same thing about Catholics waiting till their weekly confessions?
I don’t see it as a problem with his Christianity. Only his maturity as a Christian.
Still, he’s by far the best qualified to run the Office. He is Christian, even if not the most mature one.
And given those that ran, I think Trump might well be the most mature one. You got Cruz who lied all over the place, and rehearsed his Christianity, but doesn’t tithe. You’ve got Rubio who had penis envy. You’ve got Kasich whose inner circle is allegedly all homosexual males. Christie with bridgegate. Jeb, well let’s just rule him out on other qualifications, without considering his Christianity.
I’m not sure about Trump’s actual faith (who though, can be 100% sure of anyones?).
I am sure that Trump has a bias in favor of Christianity.
I am also sure that Hillary (and the entire Democrat party) has a bias against Christianity.
“Remarkable how seem people seem to know what God thinks!”
Isn’t it though?
Exactly. I and others have said it a thousand times. Obama is a wrecking ball. He destroys everything he touches, he leaves a world on fire where ever he has set his eyes.
Trump is a builder. He has built a company, a family, and buildings you can see and use.
He is squish on some things we care about but on national sovereignty and on economics he is like granite.
I too would have preferred Cruz but Trump was always my second choice; he was the only other man I would have trusted this country to. None of the others, regardless of what they said, could be trusted to secure this country's borders. Not one.
And your choice this November is between Trump the builder and Clinton, an open criminal. This should be an easy choice.
I’m not familiar with Catholicism, so I can’t answer that question with any accuracy.
IMHO, referring to Holy Communion as “my little cracker and my little wine” doesn’t seem as if he takes it seriously, but as with everyone, I don’t know his heart. I just know what I hear.
I looked up the entire forgiveness quote just to be sure I got it right. The final part of the quote bothers me: “I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”
“I am not sure I have,” Trump said. “I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”
I finally “got” my belief later in life than some, and having grown up in the Northeast, I can say I’m familiar with the region’s casual Christians. I’ve also met some dedicated believer from the area, too, so I’m not stereotyping an entire region. It’s just that there’s a lot of opportunity for God’s love to work there.
I won’t try to change your mind, of course, just saying my piece... his statements give me pause.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.