**Disclaimer: I do not think I am any better than anyone else, though as a Christian God has redeemed, I am a new creature in him.**I am not saying Trump supporters are evil or dumb, but I am saying they cannot possibly be paying attention and are vastly uninformed.... or they just have closed their ears and eyes to the truth.
**I am deeply concerned about the direction this election is headed.... hence this blog post.
An old Bible story has been going through my mind lately in light of the election circus we are part of. Israel had gone through years of judges, godly men who mostly led Israel in the right paths. Samuel was the current judge, and the people of Israel decided they wanted to be like other countries. They wanted a king:
10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king.
11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots.
12 Some will be generals and captains in his army,[a] some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment.
13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him.
14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials.
15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants.
16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle[b] and donkeys for his own use.
17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves.
18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”
19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.
20 “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”
21 So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said, 22 and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.
I have read that many times over the years, and have never ceased to be amazed by something: look at the warning Samuel gave the people. He made having a king sound pretty bad and rough...... and it didn't faze the people. They wanted a king more than anything, and that desire prevailed over common sense.
Verse 21 says God told Samuel to give them a king. And the warnings came true. And more than that, they had other kings. Kings that pulled them away from God and into idol worship, kings that had them sacrificing their children to false gods. Israel's history with kings is a sad one. A king would take his throne and bring the people back to the one true God. He would die, and the next king would take them away from God. Over and over, and the price they paid was great..... but God had given them what they wanted: a king.
As I have watched conservatives and Christians blindly follow a certain candidate and demand that the rest of us fall in and vote for the one they want, I have been reminded of Israel demanding a king. And I may not be off in my thinking. A Facebook friend of mine made this comment today in regards to this candidate: "God may be giving us what we want/deserve like He did when Saul became King." Ouch. What if?
We American Christians have become shallow, self centered, and make our own belief system. Too many of us decide what is right and wrong, and twist Bible verses or just plain ignore the inconvenient ones. We have Christians and religious leaders declaring we need a businessman, not a pastor; as if money and the economy trumps morals and biblical values (no pun intended). Thousands of Christians have decided it is more important to "king" an ungodly and immoral man who they think will help us financially, than it is to find the most godly man who has biblical principles and morals.
What if like with Israel, God gives us what we want and what we deserve? Trump is promising to work with the very people we have been angry at for not fixing things and for caving to Obama. He has said in his own words that he wants to do things that are not constitutional, and has said he'd go around the law if need be....if anyone pays attention to him and what he says and what he has said and done; the warnings are in flashing neon lights.
But we want a "king." We want a businessman who will turn our economy around, and hang the fact that he may further bankrupt our country morally..... we don't want a pastor, we want a businessman.....money is more important than morals and biblical principles. Give us Trump, not a Christian man. I read Jerry Falwell Jr's exlanation for endorsing and supporting Trump...... and the bottom line was money. He thinks Donald Trump can help our country financially.
What if God lets us have an ungodly businessman..... a man who said he would further gay rights, a man who defends Planned Parenthood; the largest abortion provider in the country? If he can beat Hillary - which polls show he cannot - what will our country look like at the end of a Trump presidency? Our economy may be better, though I doubt it; but what will our country look like morally under a serial adulterer and strip club owner who makes a mockery of the idea of asking God for forgiveness? Will we be better off in the ways that matter in light of eternity? Will we be any better off in the areas that matter under a Trump presidency versus a Hillary presidency? Will our religious freedoms be better off, or worse off? If he carries through on his promise about gay rights, I am guessing they will be worse.... but we want a "king", we want a businessman, not a pastor!
If we step around asking God's guidance on who to vote for, and just vote for the loud one who says what we want to hear, if we elect a man who God cannot possibly favor.....what will it do to us? If we pick comfort over morals, if we pick the economy over what God may want.....will that draw us closer to God, or further from Him as a country and as individuals?
But it is "just voting." God isn't interested in politics...... or is He? As important as elections are, shouldn't it be something we seek God's will in very seriously? I cannot imagine praying through on voting for Donald Trump, unless God does it with the same attitude that He said to let Israel have a king and give us what we deserve.
Elections have consequences, and they can be serious and long lasting. The next president may put as many as 3 Supreme Court justices on the bench. We know what kind of judges Hillary Clinton will pick....bad ones with no respect for God or the Constitution. I asked on Facebook a while back what kind of judges Donald Trump would pick, and a Trump supporter barely old enough to vote flippantly replied "all kinds".....as if that is funny. Trump said his pro-choice liberal sister would make a great Supreme Court justice, and he has ardently supported liberals and their polices for years...... so I could safely bet everything I own that his picks wouldn't be any different than Hillary's...... but at least he would make our economy great again, and money is what matters in this election, not character or morals.
I know it may seem like I am being too hard on Christians who support Donald Trump..... but they refuse to acknowledge anything brought up against him and sidestep every issue. I actually had a Christian young man take issue with my bringing up Donald Trump's strip clubs and adultery. He said he was bothered that I rate Trump's sins worse than others. He was more bothered by me having a problem with Trump's strip clubs and adultery, than with Trump having strip clubs and committing adultery. Instead of acknowledging owning a strip club and committing adultery is bad, he chastised me for having an issue with those and said he and I are no better than Donald Trump.
Let that sink in. My friend is evidently fine with Trump's transgressions, but not fine with me having an issue with them....is that normal?
Last week, I pointed out that I have friends who are afraid to let their young children watch the debates now because of Trump's vulgarity... and Christians mocked that. One said to get real, kids are bombarded with worse than that. Another said kids need exposed to vulgarity so they get used to it and aren't sheltered...... and there were a couple of similar comments. Let that sin in also: Christians criticizing ME for having a problem with Trump's vulgarity, instead of thinking he is wrong.
If defending any man - politician or whoever - is more important to you than seeing what is wrong..... if you fault someone more for pointing out these things more than the wrong being done or said.... you are in a dangerous place, and are placing way too much adulation in that man.
I am going to make a couple of statements that may seem over the top, but I not only have been paying attention to Trump; but I have been paying attention to his supporters:
1) He has a cult-like following. The majority of his followers won't even acknowledge his bad points and things he says, even when confronted with solid proof...... cults are like that.... it is as if they have been brainwashed. Think I am exaggerating? Try pointing out some of his flaws to a Trump supporter. A normal person would acknowledge them.....Trump supporters, just like Obama supporters, will not.
2) Adolf Hitler was elected. Is Trump like him? I hope not, but he has said things that make it clear he is willing to go around the law if needs be...... what he wants is more important than the law and Constitution. A lot of dictators get elected. They deceive people, get a blind following, and once they are in power.... BAM. Don't believe it could happen here? Keep on telling yourself that.
3) Trump himself said he could shoot people in public and not lose any votes. I fear he is correct. I am not saying this because I don't like him..... I am saying this because I am paying attention and am awake: the idea of a Trump presidency worries me a lot..... just as much as a Hillary presidency.
I don't mean to be harsh, but the warnings are there. If a Trump supporter truly wants the truth, he should be able to come to the decision to dump Trump. If morals and biblical principles are more important to him than money, he should dump Trump. If he truly wants to make America great again, we need to make it good again..... and a godless strip club owner and adulterer cannot make it great in the way it needs to be made great.
My theories may seem extreme, but if you factor in his liberal past of very recent days, what he says, how he acts, his vulgarity, his coarse jokes about women's menstruation and people's handicaps, his immorality......and don't scratch your head in befuddlement that conservatives and Christians are so blindly following and defending this man......then maybe I am in a dream and none of this is true.
God may give us the "king" we want, and just like Israel, our country will never be the same, and will be led even further from God than we already are. How can we ask God to bless America and shed His grace on it, if we thumb our nose at a godly candidate, and decide money and the economy is more important than morals and biblical values? We may pay a price for having our "king" that we never wanted to pay.
And ending with a disclaimer: No candidate is perfect, and no... we aren't electing a pastor, but can we at least elect a non-pastor who isn't a vulgar sleazeball?? We have a couple of Christian candidates who I believe would be good for this country in the ways that matter. They have flaws - see, I can admit it, unlike a Trump supporter - but they are good men, decent men, men who pray and acknowledge their need of God. Men who are truly pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-God, and pro-Constitution.
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