“…and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8.32- ESV – Jesus
The Truth/Facts about @realDonaldTrump and where he is taking America
are clear but the implications are
so great, so dangerous, and so catastrophic,
that most of us (including a good number of his followers)
simply do not want to confront or accept it.
WHAT IS THE TRUTH???!!!!
TRUTH/FACT: Donald Trump is a deeply flawed man.
He is a pathological liar
He lies incessantly, impulsively and
in all things small and great.
He is a narcissist
(i.e. extremely self-centered, and selfish)
far more than the usual politician.
He is mean
He attacks and seeks to hurt people personally
and not always because he is ‘fighting back’,
he often responds to disagreements
with personal attacks.
He is amoral
He appears to have no sense or commitment
to the difference between right and wrong.
He will attack other people of wrongdoing
that he himself is guilty of
without the slightest hint of self-awareness.
All his choices and actions boil down to
what is best for him:
not his wife, not his children, not the Republican party, not his team, not his staff, not his (now ‘close’) friends, not America’s allies, not America’s interests,
just what is best for him in the moment!!!!
He appears to lack empathy
He is not (easily?) moved
by the feelings and experiences of others.
He appears unwilling to personally exert himself
(when he is not speaking before adoring crowds).
He is not a student of history.
He spends a lot of time watching TV.
He has a significant amount of ‘executive time’ each day.
He spends a lot of time golfing.
He is impulsive
He often acts without forethought and deliberation.
He may not always be tethered to reality
He appears to believe some of his own lies.
He refuses to believe facts contrary to his own narrative/interpretation.
The TRUTH: Donald Trump is not going to and will not change
There will be no ‘pivot’
to a nicer or another version
of @realDonaldTrump
He has not ‘lied’ to us about who he is
Old clips of his younger days show that
he has always thought he has the answer to every problem, and
he must always have the last word.
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time [Maya Angelou]
Truth/Fact: Every Tree Bears Fruit that is natural to it!
“Beware of the false prophets, [teachers] who come to you dressed as sheep [appearing gentle and innocent], but inwardly are ravenous wolves.16 By their fruit you will recognize them [that is, by their contrived doctrine (i.e. teaching) and self-focus]. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?17 Even so, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the unhealthy tree bears bad fruit.18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.20 Therefore, by their fruit you will recognize them [as false prophets].[Matthew 7.15-20 AMP: Jesus]
TRUTH/FACT: THE UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD ARE THEREFORE NOT IN GOOD HANDS!!!
The US and the world economy are not in good hands
Exhibits:
Trade wars without appropriate forethought and planning:
“trade wars are easy to win” – Donald Trump
Lack of preparation for the looming downturn in the economy
Monetary policy by tweets, personal attacks, and ‘gut’ feeling.
“They’re making a mistake because I have a gut, and my gut tells me more sometimes than anybody else’s brain can ever tell me.”Donald Trump (November 2018)
Stock Market volatility week of August 19-23, 2019
on the basis of his personal ‘interactions’ (relationship?)
with adversaries and allies:
Vladimir Putin, Kim Jung Un, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau etc.
North Korea is still firing missiles off
Russia and the US are entering a new nuclear arms race
Trump has dictatorial tendencies
he appears to want to skip the ‘rule of law’ if he can:
“Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.” Donald Trump 08/23/2019
America as a Beacon of Light (‘the city on a hill‘) is not in good hands
When an organization/country changes its values,
does it continue to be the same organization/country?
Exhibit
Will Trump willingly leave office or be forced out if/when he looses in 2020?
Will he sow discord in society to avoid accepting defeat?
Will America welcome fleeing refugees anymore?
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
…Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” [Statue of Liberty Poem]
Will the rights of a free press continue unchallenged
in the era of so called ‘fake news’ claims?
Will the body politic aspire towards a national, political, economic, and Judeo-Christian ethos characterized by
individual freedoms, integrity in public office, rule of law, ‘United’ States, fully representative democracy, or will it
devolve into moral relativism, factionalism, regionalism, and division?
We are in for a rough ride
Exhibits
Walking in on young pageant contestants in their dressing rooms; “Grab them [women] by their ….”:
More corruption of morals by a sitting President
Trump University scandal and subsequent court settlement:
More Deceit, more corruption
4 (5?) Bankruptcies:
Wreck the American Economy
Thousands of Lawsuits:
Tying up the American system of checks and balances in knots
with fights between the different branches of government, i.e.
the courts, congress, and the executive branch.
Two divorces, plus cheating on spouses:
Broken promises to the people of America
Paying off Stormy Daniels and other Scandals in order to win:
More corruption of the American Democracy like you have never seen before.
All powerful, corrupt and (perhaps evil) political leaders
have periods of ‘good results’
when the majority of people appear to love them,
when it seems they had success after success,
when it seems they survived again and again,
going from one potential disaster to another, that is,
I am also pro-choice (as a matter of law in society), and
inasmuch as I will like to reduce abortions in the US,
the church will do a better job to impact society for God
by modelling selfless, holy, and cross-bearing lives as people of faith,
than to try to wield the corrupting tools of political power
to force social change; that is,
making abortion illegal
constrains action by force of law, it
does not change people and
is only a temporary fix, to the eternal problem of the
sinfulness of man, and it
does not address immorality within the Church itself;
I also have hope that God has a plan even for unborn babies
as I believe he does for infants who die early!
Matt. 18.10:“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”
A friend of the (mostly white) Church in the White House
is temporary, of this earth, not the kingdom of God
if the Church cannot criticize that ‘friend’,
if the Church must always praise that ‘friend’,
if the Church must explain away, excuse, and lie (‘spin’),
when that ‘friend’ lies, divides, and is unrepentant of
deceit, meanness, pride and boastfulness, narcissism, and adultery,
and thereby abandon its basic mission to a lost world:
faithfully proclaim the truth and will of God
that we must be
true, loving, meek and lowly, selfless, and faithful to the wife of our youth, welcoming, be wronged instead of wronging others, give vengeance to God instead of always ‘fighting back.’
Faithful prophetic witness
to powerful (and sometimes corrupt) political leaders (kings)
is clear in the Bible.
It usually involves truth, rebuke, courage, and great risk:
lack of knowledge and compassion, fear, distaste, and/or
indifference towards
those who are different, who are weak, and destitute;
who have forgotten, who ignore the fact,
that the Kingdom of God is all tribes, tongues and nations
that everyone ‘came from somewhere else’,
that the Bible overwhelmingly teaches love and welcome
for the weak, the widow, the fatherless, the alien ,strangers (!)
that Mary, Joseph, and the Baby Jesus were themselves refugees
to Egypt from political violence!
Matthew 24.44: “Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’”
Revelation 7.9 “…from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb….”
Strong Military and National Defense,
pertains to only America, not the Kingdom of God;
is material, temporary, and earthly.
Ephesians 6. “For we do not wrestle not against flesh and blood…”
