Conservatives believe that man is inherently evil. We don’t teach our kids to be bad – they are bad instinctively. We work for years to teach them how to be good. Man is naturally rebellious toward God. Man is naturally self-centered, greedy, and always “looking out for number 1”. You have to be born again (spiritually) in order to break the cycle of perpetual evil in your thoughts, words, and deeds.

Liberals believe that man is inherently good. We don’t need a God to make us good. We have no need for God. We are our own ultimate authority, and we can solve all our problems ourselves. Liberals who say they believe in God don’t believe in the same God that conservatives believe in. Or at least, they don’t accept God’s authority over them.

Liberals believe we can set our own rules. Conservatives acknowledge God’s rules for right living. Liberals don’t believe in absolute truth; conservatives do.

So the difference between conservatives and liberals is how we view our relationship with God. And that, my friend, is the crux of all socio-political strife in our world.

Donald J. Trump will be our President for at least the next 4 years. His promise to “Make America Great Again” is meaningless until the underlying promises are actually implemented. The battle for the future of America is not an economic battle. It is not a social battle. It is not even a moral battle, or a political battle. The battle for the future of America is truly a spiritual battle. Yes, there are significant issues in each of those other areas I mentioned. DJT can appoint the most conservative justices, boost jobs and trade and education, strengthen our military, drain the political swamp, make our streets safer, stem the flow of illegal aliens, – he can impact most aspects of our daily American lives. But if the heart of our citizenship is not turned towards God, all those improvements will be just a futile effort to save our country.

There will still be a powerful core of subversive, perverted, corrupt, godless people out there just waiting their chance to take back the controls of our Nation. Yes, this country needs all those political promises to be fulfilled from Mr. Trump. But what we need more is a Christian revival – the likes of which have not been seen since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on that Wittenburg church door. A second Reformation would secure America’s future better than all the promises of politicians.

I would agree that Mr. Trump is not the Answer to America’s problems. God is.

Frank

60-day UPDATE:  March 9, 2017:  When I said there “will still be a powerful core of subversive, perverted, corrupt, godless people out there just waiting their chance to take back the controls of our Nation”, I never dreamed those who are already in all departments of our government would be so subversive and seditious. This is getting scary, folks. We have treasonous actions happening daily against our government, specifically against the Trump administration. Anarchy or civil war is right around the corner if we don’t clean the swamp swiftly and thoroughly.

In the middle of explaining who God is to the Greeks, Paul makes this statement: “²⁵ And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. ²⁶ From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. ²⁷ God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.” Acts 17: 25-27

The thought occurred to me that this whole “open borders” idea from the liberals is yet another attack on God. The Bible makes it clear that it is God who sets the boundaries of the nations. In other places in the Old Testament, it is clear that God set the boundaries of Israel and other nations, and removed those boundaries when it suited His will. The whole idea of “open borders”, supported by Hillary and Merkel, and other liberals around the world, is a direct attack on the authority of God to set those same borders.

Ephesians 6: 12 tells us that the war we are fighting is not against people, but against the spiritual forces of darkness:  ^“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

The problem is that the devil and his demons control humans who are opposed to God. We must therefore protect ourselves from evil. That is why we must control our immigration policies, and remove those who are a deadly threat to our citizens.

Frank

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.” Isaiah 5: 20-21

Have you noticed how all the left’s attempts to discredit Trump have backfired? The ridiculous recount effort gave Trump MORE votes, not less. The equally stupid Electoral College revolt took more votes from her than from him. Spewing blame on everyone without taking personal responsibility for their loss, as an attempt to discredit the validity of the election, has turned the American people against the liberals, not against Trump. More and more people can now see the liberal left for the hateful, close-minded, subversive extremists that they are.

Since the beginning of the election season, the liberal left (politicians, celebrities, main stream media) have concocted strawman stories about their opposition, using name-calling as their primary strategy. They spewed this nonsense so loudly, and forcefully, that they actually began to believe their own lies. They create a false picture of a horrible, hateful person doing terrible atrocities against humanity, and then actually believe their own false narrative (all the while not realizing they are describing themselves). While they pursue this nonsense, the rest of the country watches as Trump keeps jobs from leaving the country, hires the strongest cabinet assembled in recent history, and sends the stock market soaring based on optimism about the future of our country.

The dichotomy could not be more obvious.

How do you define ‘freedom’? In our secular, pluralistic society, freedom is a grossly misunderstood and misused concept. Freedom is now considered to be “the ‘right’ to do whatever you want to do”.

Is freedom the absence of restrictions? Anyone who believes this is ignoring all of life around them. A fish is ‘free’ to swim anywhere it wants. But it takes in oxygen only from the water. As soon as it leaves the restriction of a water habitat, it will die. The fish is restricted by its very nature. So it is with all things. Freedom therefore is necessarily limited by our very nature. Our concept of ‘freedom’ must account for the nature of things, and the restrictions imposed by those characteristics.

Within those restrictions, the fish is free to go here or there. However, if it swims into the path of a predator, it will likely die. So, it restricts its behavior to avoid certain dangers. This is a self-imposed restriction designed to prolong its life. Is it free to swim into the path of a predator? Yes, but is that freedom good for the fish? Not at all. The fish will follow self-imposed restrictions to its behavior to preserve its life.

This brings up the second misconception of freedom, that all freedom is good. Terrorists think they are ‘free’ to wreak havoc on anyone they decide to terrorize. Is that freedom ‘good’? The civilized world would answer an emphatic ‘no’. This truth applies to many human behaviors. Enron executives thought they were ‘free’ to set their own salaries and benefits, to the detriment of all their employees. Civilization depends upon certain restrictions to human behaviors to keep us from destroying ourselves. Indeed, all our laws are actually restrictions on human behavior. They are necessary to prevent total chaos, and ultimately our annihilation.

So if freedom is not the absence of restrictions, and if not all freedom is good for us, who then determines what restrictions are placed upon us, and who determines which freedoms are good or bad? Let’s take ‘freedom of religion’ for example. Society generally agrees that freedom of religion is a good thing. But how far does that freedom extend? When one person believes that a certain behavior is right, and another believes that same behavior is wrong, which belief wins at the point of confrontation? Who decides that, and upon what set of standards is that decision made?

Is there a universal set of standards by which all freedoms and restrictions should be established? The answer to that question should be blatantly obvious, even to those who reject the answer. The Ten Commandments are a universal set of restrictions placed upon human behavior that govern our freedom. The utopian society that the world longs for would become a reality if everyone adhered perfectly to those ten simple rules. So why has this set of standards been forcibly removed from our nation? If they are so beneficial to us, why have we tossed them out of our schools and government? What impact has this action had on our ‘freedom’? Are we more free without them, or are we in bondage to our propensity for greed and power?

Sadly, by removing those restrictions on our behavior, we are less free than we were when we lived by those rules.

Of course, I know the answer to the questions I have posed above. Our sinful nature would rather create our own set of rules to live by, rather than live by the rules given to us by our creator. And the rules we then establish are based upon our rejection of God’s authority over us. We try to manage our own behavior at the same time our nature is pushing us to pursue greed, power, and pride. We get so far away from God’s rules that we can no longer determine what is right or wrong, and we redefine what ‘freedom’ actually is.

Freedom, properly defined, requires a set of restrictions that enable us to care for and improve everyone and everything around us. We can be free to enjoy nature without damaging or destroying nature. We can be free to love and help people around us without bringing them harm in any way. We can be free to choose a vocation that benefits mankind and provides support to our family, without denying others that same freedom.

When the Bible talks about freedom, it is always talking about freedom from the slavery of sin. We are sinful creatures. We can’t help it, and we can’t stop it on our own. We are, in a very real sense, enslaved to sin. But through belief in Christ, we have been released from the penalty of sin, and are truly free from the slavery of sin. Freedom, therefore, is the inalienable right to do good! Freedom to do bad is nothing more than sin. And that is not freedom, it is slavery! (See Romans 6)

There is a principle in logic that says everything must have a cause. When considering the origin of the universe, the first cause seems to be elusive to many. There are numerous variations of the big bang theory, but all of those are actually theories of distribution, not of a first cause. “Something” theoretically exploded into what we now know as our universe. But there is no theory that attempts to explain where that “something” came from.

When we consider a supernatural creation, the First Cause is clear: “In the beginning, God…”  God is the first cause for everything. We would do well to listen closely to what he tells us in His Word, the Bible.

Frank

I am so sick and tired of quietly sitting by listening to and reading all the vitriol coming out of the liberal left. Here is what upsets me so…

For eight years the left has refused to hold itself accountable. Having once declared their dissent patriotic, dissent for the last eight years has been called homophobic, bigoted, and racist. Conservatives and people of faith have been hounded from their jobs, silenced, and punished for refusing to go along with the left’s agenda. The left demanded cultural homogeneity and is outraged that Americans refuse to go along with their anti-Christian secular agenda.

On Tuesday, Americans had enough and decided to seek fundamental change.

Today, the left is protesting in the streets because of American democratic action. The left accuses Donald Trump of totalitarianism, but it is the left refusing to accept a democratic act. The left blasted Trump for suggesting the election was rigged. But they are okay with protesting a fair election and declaring it illegitimate because they hate the outcome.

Wednesday night, their chickens came home to roost. Professional leftwing activists who have no skill other than agitation have trained a large group of people to do nothing but protest. Instead of trying to unite the country, they have flown into hysterics and temper tantrums.

A week ago the Democratic Party insisted that everyone must accept the legitimacy of the election. What we are seeing today is that much of the left think that, like so many other things, it is a one way street. This is what happens when you presume the worst about your neighbor. The left may love humanity as a concept, but they are prone to think the absolute worst of their neighbors and that contempt for those who see things differently is on full display in the streets of America.

The two overriding emotions on display are anger (hate) and fear. Voting is not hate speech, it is democracy in action. It is obvious to any clear thinking person, that every accusation coming from the left is a reflection of their own attitudes and actions. It has been admitted that the so called “alt-right Trump supporters” were paid Democratic thugs, inserted to make Trump look bad. Yet the left continues to accuse conservatives of being racist. The opposite is true. It’s the left that spouts the racist language at every turn. They have lied for so long, that 1) they are incapable of telling the truth, and 2) they believe their own lies.  I am sick of it.

The upcoming election is no less than a battle for the U.S. Constitution and our nation as we know it. The separation of powers was established to prevent a small group of individuals from dictating laws, enforcing religious (or anti-religious) bias, and enacting policy without representation of the people, for the people, and by the people. Our SCOTUS has routinely usurped the power of both houses of congress by creating new laws not supported by the majority of Americans.

The next POTUS will nominate the next two Supreme Court Justices, which will sway the balance of power in the SCOTUS one way or the other. That balance will determine what kind of country we have for the next generation. Trump has vowed to nominate justices that will uphold the constitutional separation of powers. Clinton has vowed to destroy the separation of powers, clearing the way to render the legislative branch of government powerless. Add to that a POTUS that will use the presidential mandate to further her stated personal agenda for “a hemispheric zone of free trade and open borders” (read that as the elimination of national boundaries – both politically and economically) and the U.S. will cease to exist under it’s present constitution.

This election has turned into a war for our very existence as a nation.

Thank God that He is in control. No matter what we have to endure in this life, I long to be with Him in His Kingdom.

This election year is certainly nerve-wracking for anyone who cares about our country. The nation is completely polarized, right down the middle. The two primary candidates are Crude and Corrupt, easily the two most disliked (hated) candidates to face each other in the history of our democracy.

A number of critical issues face our nation: the economy, jobs, trade, national debt, national security, etc. As critical as all those are, I believe the biggest issue facing Americans today is who picks the next two or three Supreme Court Justices?

For decades now, our Supreme Court has overstepped its jurisdiction by creating legislature through its rulings. Our republic was founded on the brilliant application of separation of powers into the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of government. The separation of powers prevents a small group (oligarchy) from taking control of the country. The legislative branch is supposed to be of the people, for the people, and by the people when writing and approving our laws. The 9-person Court has routinely usurped that authority by enacting its own set of laws imposed on the country without representation of the people.

These “rulings” are decidedly anti-Christian, catering almost exclusively to the special interest groups who oppose common decency and morality.

My fear is that the next president (who will appoint two or three of the Justices) will select young anti-Christian lawyers, who will sit on the bench for an entire generation, redefining the Constitution to fit their agendas, effectively rendering the legislative branch useless – and thereby ending a government “of the people, for the people, and by the people”.

As a Christian, I can only view such a scenario as God’s judgment on a nation that has thrown him out completely. He has been withdrawing his hand of blessing and protection for a long while now. He is about to enact his judgment on us.

It does not matter whether Crude or Corrupt is elected. If this nation does not fall on its face in mourning and repentance, and turn back to the God of our fathers, it will not survive this presidency. And that scares me to death. Our problems are not socio-economic. Our problems are not liberal vs conservative. Our problems are spiritual, between us (both individually and as a nation) and God.

What we need is a powerful national spiritual revival, a turning back to God; an acknowledgement that all authority is given by God to be used for Good. And neither Crude nor Corrupt will take us there.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

With the turmoil of the national elections upon us, I am reminding myself more and more to Trust the Lord. We are living in a deeply bifurcated nation (literally, split in two). Let me list the qualities of the two primary candidates:

One is a pathological liar with total disregard for national security.  The other is an egocentric bully who delights in insulting just about everyone. Both are, to a large degree, chameleons who change colors with their surroundings. Both pose great risks to our nation, and both are disliked by the majority of our nation’s citizens. Strangely, each has followers that will completely ignore their candidate’s faults and mistakes, simply because they hate the other candidate. If there was ever an election for “the lesser of two evils”, this is it.

The selection of a President is never a cure-all for what ails our nation. Sure, they have great power to influence the direction in which the nation is headed, but the real solution lies in the spiritual health of our nation’s citizens. Our only hope for the restoration of America’s greatness is in the revival of Christian virtues throughout our population. We have thrown the Christian God out of our government, education system, and all public places. Without God’s protective hand over us, without God’s guidance to our nation’s leaders, without God’s principles setting the boundaries for accepted behavior, we are doomed to national decline and all sorts of amoral behaviors.  It is only through a spiritual reawakening that our nation has any hope for a brighter future.

Frank