Tag: Trump

Christians for Trump

Jesus was asked by an expert on the law, “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” He responded, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. The second is like it: ‘Love Your Neighbor as Yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The sign planted at the exit of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi

Advance thousands of years from this declaration of Christ himself and we find ourselves hopelessly confused. As a free nation we test our own laws based on a constitution…or so we did. In this one response, Jesus gave us a test. All the Law and the Prophets hang or come under these two.

This is the account from the book of Matthew and I wonder if Christians actually give this a second thought. In Luke, there is further clarification when the expert in the law wanted “clarification” as to “who is my neighbor.” I won’t insult your intelligence any further by rewriting the parable of The Good Samaritan here, but given it’s specific references to a “hated foreign enemy” the context for my concern lies here.

Our country may have been established by Christians but we are not a Christian nation. We are a free nation. We have our rights outlined in our constitution but we are not a theocracy and this comes not just from our constitution but from Christ. When he was once again being tested by the Pharisees tried to trap him again with the question of is it right to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus said, “…give Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.

We, as Christians are separate from the world, in the world but not of the world and we should not seek to rule the world. When we align politically as a group, we call into question our own spiritual health. Politicians are imperfect. Leaders will fail. We may be disappointed.

But when we are faced with a leader or a potential leader who claims to love God but preaches hate, violence and bigotry, lies to the point of recklessly killing hundreds of thousands of people, announces that he is God’s chosen one, all while stealing from the poor and lining the pockets of the rich and mocking every decent acceptable behavioral norm in modern day society, and “Christians” plant signs at the entrance of their church emblazoned “Christians for Trump”…they have identified with the very antithesis of Christ.

Christians who are offended by my stance would do well to prayerfully read Matthew 23 and reflect upon their own beliefs and actions and how it may affect believers yet to find salvation. As for me, I am deeply saddened by the fact that people I believed were true believers in Christ have traded truth for lies, love for hate, and integrity for arrogance.

Respectfully,

Michael
A sinner saved by grace

The Pain

Physical pain combined with emotional and spiritual pain can be unbearable.

In 2018, when I arrived in California, I was in serious pain. I had both a DVT and a Baker’s Cyst in my right knee. I was placed on blood thinners and did whatever I could to relieve the pain. I just felt old and helpless. In march of 2018, I saw an ad for a Stem Cell Therapy Seminar. I met Dr. David Duffner and was able to chat him up at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Rancho Mirage, California. He was presenting but was experiencing technical difficulties. Two days ago, on Valentine’s Day, he was fatally shot in his office.

People go to doctors when they are in pain. Doctors have solutions for the pain that vary according to their specialty. I have had doctors work with me and been successful. Some have been unsuccessful. In some cases, they have been the cause of more pain and ill health. I have been angry with doctors. I have been angry with lawyers. Physical pain combined with emotional and spiritual pain can be unbearable. It can make someone believe that “if I can’t get rid of this pain, I must cause equal or greater pain to the person that I believed caused this pain”.

Then they take their legal gun and make a lethal choice. Common sense gun laws mean that we have to make sure that people who are taking huge does of pain medication do not have access to a gun, a driver’s license, or anything else that we seem to consider a God given right… I pray for the family of Dr. Duffner’s and hope that they can get past this event and move forward. I pray for his patients who had successful results. I imagine that there were quite a few.

Later this week, Donald Trump will be speaking in Rancho Mirage. Dr. Duffner will not be in attendance. I won’t either. Common sense and Donald Trump are don’t go together.

FBI Failure

Why the FBI as an institution continues to be undermined by the president.

It is not surprising that the FBI failed to find any evidence to support the claims made by women who have known Brett Kavanaugh.  It is also not surprising the Donald Trump supported the FBI investigation.  Donald Trump has long been attacking institutions that have dared to stand in his way.  He took an issue that the FBI was investigating to the director of the FBI and said, “let the Michael Flynn thing go.”  The director at the time, James Comey refused and then documented the conversation and then not long after he was fired.  The message is, that if you don’t follow my rules, you will be fired.  If you stand in my way, I will ruin you.  Intimidation instead of Integrity.

Donald Trump owns the FBI.  He knows that his new director needs a job.  He leads by intimidation.  He loves dictators who act in the very same way.  This is not freedom.  This is a dictatorship…with a willing populus who continues to defend him as the hero.

It’s time for real change (Remove the pooper)

Businesses use a cost/benefit analysis before moving forward in a particular direction.  What they are evaluating is a plan.  If the individual, the high school student, has no real plan for when they are finished college, then they shouldn’t go.

I was a registered Republican for years.  When they had no candidates who could beat Donald Trump who I respected up until the time that he became a politician, I changed parties…at the primary…no less.  Somehow, even though I had voted in all of the elections up to this point including primaries, I was suddenly not registered with either party and I had to declare.  I declared and voted for Bernie.

I did not really think that Bernie had all of the answers.  He wasn’t Trump and he wasn’t Hillary.  To be honest, I bought into a lot of the negative hype about Hillary.  Too bad.  It shows that this negative crap really does work and that the more poop you pile on, the more people believe the pooper.  So now we have a pooper in office.  Do you like the smell?  I don’t.

I believe that what truly made this country great was its pioneering spirit.  We seem to have lost that spirit.  Pioneers sought out new spaces that were undisturbed, untamed, and unproven and then went on to create meaningful lives.  It still lives in all of us.  It has just been crushed out of sight, but it is still there.  We need to draw it out and the only way to do that is to say “no” to the establishment.  I don’t mean politically, although some of the false ideas and doctrines are perpetuated by politicians that are beholden to organizations that are funding their campaigns. I mean societal norms.

Let’s take school.  School is where we should go to learn how to be part of our contemporary society.  Our contemporary society has changed so drastically in the past few years that organized education is almost entirely irrelevant.  Instead of looking at the skills that the average Joe or Jane needs to have to survive in our society and then adapt school to that need, we race even faster in a direction that is destroying the average family.  More of what we don’t need is not the prescription for a bright future but economic disaster.  Who is driving our schools?  Colleges!  It is because college is big business and needs to justify itself.  If it were truly worthwhile, then we wouldn’t need graduate degrees just to get a job.

Businesses use a cost/benefit analysis before moving forward in a particular direction.  What they are evaluating is a plan.  If the individual, the high school student, has no real plan for when they are finished college, then they shouldn’t go.  Even if they do have a plan, they must apply the cost benefit analysis to their own lives.  The answer may still be no to college but at least they understand why.  We need to become responsible for our own future.  We need to really “mind our own business” and our life is our business.  It is impractical for the average 18 year old to have the maturity to make these decisions when they don’t understand the world that we live in.  Racking up over $100,000.00 in debt just to find themselves is a bad plan.  It isn’t their plan.

When loans get defaulted on, it is unfair to the lenders.  The lenders are relying on the law to get their money and they will.  That is a whole other blog post, but for now, let’s just say that this “lack of leadership” from the top has got to stop. Somebody has to step up to the plate for America.  Who is with me?

 

 

College, a social imperative

Last Day of Obama…

Eight years ago when the inauguration of President Obama took place, they had it playing in the auditorium.  They encouraged students to come down and watch history in the making.  We believed that every student needed to be made aware that America can hire and then rehire a black man to be our president.

Flash forward…tomorrow Donald J. Trump will become the “leader of the free world”.  His election is a landmark in the modern day as he has never held elected public office.  He is successful in business and an international celebrity.  He speaks with confidence and no matter how inappropriate his behavior, he seems to connect with people.

There are no arrangements being made to witness his Inauguration tomorrow.  In fact, public officials are boycotting this event.  They are being quite public about their displeasure.  In our school, our new president is so polarizing an individual that we are trying to protect our students from being exposed to his behavior.  There is no mention of watching the Inaugural event as it happens in our school, and unless it takes place in the history classes, we will not see it.

The one thing that I can take from this is that our outgoing leader has made plans to relocate to the California desert, just a couple of miles from where my profile blog photo is located.  I will be moving there in just over 100 days. Maybe I can have a chance encounter to meet with him (and his secret service entourage) to just say thanks, or pick his brain, or maybe get some advice on my next career move…like…maybe President of the United States.  Who knows???  It could happen!!  After all, we just voted for someone that nobody likes, nobody believes in, with no experience and he is so obviously in it for himself.

I will hold off on announcing right away.  Maybe I’ll make it public with a Tweet later on!

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