EVANGELICAL HYPOCRITES?

Many voices are calling "HYPOCRITE!" on evangelicals for their presidential vote.  Are evangelicals two-faced?

How could they preach about moral character and vote for Trump?

Let's put our minds in reverse and return to 2016.  What were our three choices?

#give up your vote by spending it on someone with no chance to win



#vote for a candidate whose history showed manifold moral issues of her own

#vote for someone who probably had marital unfaithfulness in his past

That wasn't much morality from which to pick.  The R's had run sixteen men (some of good moral character)...but we didn't want any of those.  The D's had only two choices, one of whom completely failed to read the mood of the country.

Americans saw their country on a dangerous precipice.  We have do-nothing politicians who promise but don't deliver...while making a personal fortune in office.  We have  staggering debt, corruption, and a loss of freedoms (in particular,  freedom of speech and religion).

Which candidate was likely to drain the swamp?  Perhaps change would come with someone rich (so they wouldn't be swayed by dollars) and perhaps a maverick outside the establishment (so they wouldn't be swayed by the good-old-boys).

The pick was a brash New Yorker with sharp elbows who was challenged by a management job larger than he had ever attempted.  His orange hair and rough mouth ran neck-and-neck to be uppermost in his persona.

We didn't hire Trump to be a pastor; we hired him because he was a hail Mary pass for saving the country.  The R's offered a man who cheated on his wife...while the D's offered a woman whose career was characterized by immorality.  THERE WAS NO MORAL CHOICE in 2016.

What is exquisitely ironic about all  this?  D's have raised up on their moral hackles.  The same ones who told us Clinton's love life was his own business...now charge President Trump lacks morality.

TO THIS DAY that same party adores their world-class philanderers such as JFK/RFK/Teddy Kennedy/John Edwards/Bill Clinton. Remember the roar at the last Democratic National Convention when Clinton took the podium?  WJC was even known as "Slick Willy" because people marveled at how good he was at getting away with lying.

And what about the others?  Teddy and Chappaquiddick?  Or you could ask Mimi Beardsley.  She was a 19-year-old intern who came to JFK's White House and lost her virginity on her fourth day at work. LINK or LINK

And that's not all...

What does this party of Woodrow Wilson, Robert Byrd, George Wallace, and Bull Connor say?  They say TRUMP is a white supremacist.  What does the party who promised Russia a "reset" button, sold Russia our uranium, and promised Russia more "flexibility" about nukes (while patting Medvedev on the leg) say? That same party says TRUMP colluded with the Russians.  Pretty rich, eh?  Smile, Mitt.  You were right about Russia.

Our country has POLITICAL POSERS stuck in our collective craw.  In 2016, we said it was time to give an outsider a swing at bat.  When the outsider won, what was the losing cry?  "We got more votes!"  Yes, you did...but that's never been the way we decide elections.  The electoral college is a brilliant and fair way to protect the individual vote.  If the same most populous states always carried the majority vote, the votes of the people in the middle of the country would not count.

Now sixteen months since his inauguration, Donald Trump has withstood the most venemous hailstorm of loathing.  Still, his base holds firm, and even expanded last month by a point.  The other side is bumfuzzled and cannot understand why their flaming arrows keep missing the mark.

Americans don't trust the media OR attacks on Trump.  We are weary of being led by societal experimentation that tells common sense to take a hike.  We know which bathroom to use, the difference between a man and woman, when life begins, and how important family is for the next generation.

And what are two final things that Christians know?

*We know ALL men are morally flawed and hypocritical.  Morality begins with conformity to God's law, which calls us to love one another.  Mankind views murder as an act ending in death...but God has a different view.  He says hatred in our hearts is murder.  So be careful, friends, when even the mention of Trump's name draws a hateful response.

*We know that throughout world history, God has chosen to use some heads-of-state who were particularly unsavory (think Nebuchadnezzar, Pharaoh, and even Herod).  God may use  them one of two ways:  sometimes He changes their heart to love Him, while other times He uses them to illustrate His righteous wrath.

Let's pray He will use Donald Trump for the former.

WHO HAS THE "SAY"

I'm in that green crowd that was excited about the royal birth. William and Kate look to be great parents...and that Kate is a birthing champ. But what about the other baby?

Both babies have inherent worth because each bears the mark of God's image. Both are born with specific purposes known only to God. Why is one more special than the other? Louie might grow up to be the King of England one day, but Alfie is just as precious to God.

Who gets to "say" whether a baby lives or dies? Are the parents or the state in charge of a baby's life? 

The state can only come to a decision based on formulaic budgetary numbers. Knowing they cannot pay out the wazoo for an unlimited period of time, the state sets an arbitrary number. Isn't that what Sarah Palin said? In cases like Alfie's, socialized medicine IS a death panel.

If the parents are in charge and can come up with funds, shouldn't the child be free to live until natural death? Why should that be any skin off Britain's nose? Why wouldn't their system release the baby to Italy (who offered medical care and a plane to come get him). Soon we saw that Alfie was not getting out of Britain alive.

Sometimes God uses contrasting circumstances to allow us to see truth clearly. The truth is that we are not God and we dare not usurp His position. We give the state authorization to make death decisions in capital punishment cases, but socialized medicine ended Alfie's life based on dollars.

That is why the "say" does not belong to the state. That is why something intended for good can go very wrong. That is why in the land of the free, we cannot give over individual liberties.