Posted on 02/22/2016 10:22:59 AM PST by Aquamarine
America Under A Strong Delusion
I had originally intended to write a series of posts explaining why Republican voters should select Ted Cruz in the upcoming primaries and reject Donald Trump. My working title for the series was going to be "Why We Must Choose Cruz and Dump Trump." However, after a conversation with my wife the other evening, I have decided not to write the series primarily for the reason that ist has finally occurred to me that America's mmreal problem is not a lack of information. Thus, such a series of articles would largely be a waste of time. Recently, I have reluctantly come to the realization that Americans, with very few exceptions, are really not interested in facts or logic. We are living among a generation where facts no longer seem to matter.
The truth of the matter is that America is finally under the judgment of God. Our nation has been given over to what it wants. America is under a deluding influence. Such a deleterious condition cannot be remedied with better and more aggressive public policy arguments. The Scripture teaches that people can go so far in their sin that God finally removes His hand of restraint upon them and finally gives them over to what they want to do. This is the very thing that happened to Pharaoh in the Old Testament. After hardening his own heart several times against God (Exod. 7:13, 22; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:7), God finally hardened Pharaoh's heart and gave Pharaoh over to what he wanted to do (Exod. 4:21; 9:12). This removal of divine restraint as a sign of judgment upon a culture is also the key theme of Romans 1:18:32. In this troubling section of the Bible, after people no longer see fit to retain the knowledge of God (Rom. 1:18-23), God is said to repeatedly give them over (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) to the sins that they are so eager to commit. The prophet Jeremiah anticipated that same type of turning over by God in his own day when he recorded the following chilling words from the Lord, "As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you" (Jer. 7:16). We see the same type of judgment predicted for the end times as people will be given over to a spirit of delusion that will cause them to embrace the antichrist. Second Thessalonians 2:11-12 says, "For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."
Why do I believe that America is now at this delicate tipping point? Largely, it is because of the meteoric rise of a person like Donald Trump in American politics. The man is a moral and verbal sewer. He has no political resume. Rather, his campaign has been buoyed by empty promises devoid of any real substance or meaningful content. He merely repeats mantras that the voters want to hear similar to the types of statements that Barack Obama gave us back in 2008. You know the rhetoric: "I'm going to build a wall around America and make Mexico pay for it." "We are going to make this country great again." "Believe me, Americans are going to win again." "We are actually going to win so many times we are going to get tired of winning." "Trust me, it is going to be great." This type of rhetoric seems more akin to that of a used car salesman rather than that of a serious presidential contender. These sentiments are nothing more than empty slogans since they never reveal exactly how Trump plans to accomplish these great exploits. These are the sorts of trite statements that third world dictators endlessly propagate upon their beleaguered people. In fact, according to Imelda Marcos, the public expression "we are going to make this nation great again" is the very slogan that Ferdinand Marcos articulated just prior to coming to power in the 1950s in the Philippines and prior to Marcos' imposition of martial law.
1 The fact that all the evidence indicates that Truump throughout the course of his entire life really never believed all of the conservative positions that he now supposedly holds 2 is really of no consequence to people. When anybody dares to shed light on Trump's longtime liberal worldview by pointing out that "the king is naked," they are simply shouted down as a "liar" or victimized by various other ad hominem attacks. Such was the sum and substance of last Saturday's Republican Primary debate in South Carolina. The masses really are not interested in information related to Trump's liberal worldview since they have already made a decision to blindly follow Trump on the basis that he tells them what they want to hear. In fact, the bigger a fool Trump makes of himself on the national stage, the larger his poll numbers seem to climb. This, in and of itself, is perhaps the greatest evidence of the deluding influence that is now descending upon America. Ask yourself a simple question. How is it possible for Trump to repeat the Michael Moore and Code Pink left wing lunacy that former President George Bush intentionally misled the American people about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in a recent Republican primary debate and in a conservative state like South Carolina, and have his poll numbers rise and not fall as a result? Such public folly would have been sufficient to derail any Presidential aspirations in prior generations. The only explanation is that the voters are no longer being driven by their mental and rational faculties. Rather, they are being primarily fueled by irrational emotion due to a deluding influence.
I realize that a recent poll showed Cruz leading his primary challengers nationally.3 However, this poll is an aberration with the majority of them showing Trump clobbering his opponents in upcoming primaries.4 What Republican primary voters are apparently on the precipice of doing, if the present poll numbers are an accurate indication, is to reject a Senator Ted Cruz Presidential nomination in exchange for that of a show man and a game show host. Think about how monumental this is. Ted Cruz is an articulate conservative who has a track record of opposing progressivism not only within the Democratic Party but also in his own Republican party. Cruz has had a stellar legal career successfully arguing numerous cases favoring conservatism before the United States Supreme Court. Even the ultra-liberal Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz reluctantly conceded that Ted Cruz was one of the most brilliant law students ever under his tutelage.5 Cruz is also a man not only of deep Christian conviction but also, as demonstrated by his actions, someone who is committed to the principles of limited government set forth by America's founders. There is nobody as qualified to replace potentially four Supreme Court vacancies that the next President will likely have the opportunity to fill, than Ted Cruz. Yet, this kind of man with this kind of record is no longer attractive to the majority of Americans voters. They would much rather embrace the progenitor of a reality TV show. What further evidence do we need to confidently say that America is now under a deluding influence given by God himself as a judgment upon this nation?
Further evidence of God withdrawing his hand from America might also be found in the recent deaths of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and Theologian Dr. Charles Ryrie. Both of these men were similar in their ambition to honor authorial intent. They were both giants and sources of great spiritual light in their respective fields. What Scalia was to the field of Constitutional interpretation, Ryrie was to the field of biblical theology. Yet, within the span of a few days, as both men passed, these lights to the culture were removed by the hand of God. In fact, it very well may be that God has raised up Ted Cruz only for the single purpose of being rejected by voters in order to demonstrate once and for all that Americans are under a spiritual delusion. Like the Ninevites of old, the current generation of Americans apparently are no longer capable of discerning their right hand from their left (Jonah 4:11). Of course, in my heart of hearts, I want to be wrong about all of this. I want to believe that there is still hope for this once great nation. I want to once again trust the good sense of the American electorate. However, as explained above, I have my doubts. If Trump overwhelmingly wins the Republican primaries in South Carolina on Saturday and then on Super Tuesday on March 1st, then these unfortunate suspicions will be confirmed.
Very well articulated. However, one point that was not discussed, and has greatly perplexed me, is how it is that a number of nationally known conservative and evangelical leaders have now publicly embraced Trump. As a Cruz supporter, I simply do not understand this.
Thanks. NOW WE HAVE DISCLOSURE.
And if you disagree, you are an atheist. Or a Jew!
Yes we’re under a very strong delusion. Conservatives (especially Christians) can cut each other to pieces over who is “anointed by God” and who is the “true conservative”, but either way it’s not going to solve our problems.
I don’t need a pastor telling me who to vote for. Plenty of them advised Obama in 2008 and 2012. And to be frank, the delusion usually starts in the so-called churches anyways.
Clever.
Just consider this: Trump's pride and joy--and he is a very proud man--has been in building things on a firm foundation. He has done with physical structures, what the Founding Fathers did with socio/political institutions. Do you think--does anyone really think this proud man, will repudiate the awakening that has led to his recent patriotic attacks on the absurd "politically correct" folly that is destroying America, her culture and values?
I like them both for very different reasons. I dislike what each of them does sometimes and these are very different things.
Political correctness is the biggest issue we face as Christians. Imagine being arrested and convicted for hate speech merely for reciting God’s Word. If we don’t KILL political correctness, nothing else matters. Trump has shown an ability to overcome the PC crowd.
Career politicians cannot defeat PCism because they live to be re-elected so they have to kowtow to whatever winds prevail pc wise. Hence, the fact that not one of them would bring up the issue of building the wall on the border lest they are accused of being racists.
People like Trump and voted for him.
People don’t like Ted Cruz and didn’t vote for him.
What’s so hard to understand?
Am I dreaming? This is United States of America wher people are free to study, worship and speak the truth of their religion, correct? Right.
So what’s the problem with someone choosing to exercise their constitutional freedoms?
An explanation: John Wesley was asked if you should only do business and work with Christians. He said something like this: When you are drowning and a lifeguard is sent out to save you, you don't necessarily want the best Christian, but the best lifeguard.
I found it humorous that Jerry Falwell Jr used that same story, just didn't attribute it to Wesley.
Indeed, any reason is met with mockery at this point. I have been wondering this same thing. Reminds me of Sodom.
Christianity Alert. Abort now.
“America has transformed to need Trump”
Could a comparison then be made to Israel? That Israel transformed to need Jesus Christ?
The divergence is stark however. Jesus did not abolish the Law the God, he completed it, extended it.
Do we expect Trump to do the same with our constitution?
We still have free will, although admittedly, the Left has succeeded in radically changing the demographics away from people who overwhelmingly accept the values of the Founders, in the name of "Diversity." This does not, however, give us reason to reject the awakening of highly intelligent man, who is just learning how to explain the folly that he sees, and may make some mistakes in the way he expresses what he sees.
He has been focused on building buildings, up til now. None of us started out in life by expressing our natural conservatism on political issues. For some that comes in grade school, some in High School, some in College, some late in life--some never focus on what is really involved in political issues. Many fall in the latter group, and live their whole lives focused on no political subjects, and thus embrace whatever nonsense is popular in their social milieu, without thinking. We should all give thanks to God--a God whom we must hope & Pray will still listen--that Donald Trump has woken up to what has been going on, and has now focused with the strength that previously was focused on building structures, to repelling the vicious assault on America--her people & values, both spiritual and material.
Some of these comments fit the profile of this article.
Your common sense realism is appreciated.
What an arrogant, ill-informed, would-be-propagandist-tool this author is! The public is responding to Trump because HE'S NOT A LIFELONG POLITICIAN!
I continue to be amazed at the disconnect between the "intelligent" GOPe and what motivates the average TEA Party American. We have HAD IT with lifelong political hacks, and given an alternative, it's gonna be "Seeya!" to the dinosaurs who have run us into ruin.
fin
Good article. Sodom mocked right up to the end.
It's a mystery to me as well. One can only speculate.
Well, at least he used paragraph breaks.
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