This election cycle is enough to drive a person crazy. I don’t know if I have ever in my lifetime seen so much confusion about what is happening in America. It is the judgment of God on America.
We are told in 2 Thessalonians that God “would send a strong delusion that they would believe a lie.” Lies rule the day in this nation and sadly, it is God’s people who seem most deceived and confused by what is going on.
I have lost some friends over the past few months because I have come out in support of Donald Trump. These are good people who are angry with me. Warriors, really. Front line activists whom I have, and would, stand shoulder to shoulder with in the defense of the unborn. These are not some Joel Osteen followers. These are committed men and women of God that I have the utmost respect for.
But they are #nevertrumpers. I am not mad at them because they won’t vote for him. I respect their decisions and I respect their conscience. Far be it from me to judge someone’s Christianity based on a vote in a Presidential election. I trust that they are following their conscience. What grieves me is they don’t trust that I am following mine.
“How can you vote for a strip club owner? How can you cast a vote for a serial adulterer? Trump doesn’t want to protect ALL babies. You are a sellout! You have betrayed all of us in the Pro-life movement.”
And those are some of the nicer things they have said…my Christian brothers. It grieves my heart.
I was on the phone with one of them the other day and we had a very cordial discussion. He said he still loves me as a brother…and I believe he does…but he just cannot trust me anymore after being a cheerleader for such a wicked man. He was a strong Ted Cruz supporter in the primaries.
“Let me ask you a few questions,” I said to him over the phone. “When you were supporting Cruz did you agree with all of his positions?”
“Most of them,” he answered. “I believe he was an honest man.”
“Ok. I just pulled out Ted’s position paper from the primaries and he listed the following things as important positions.”
- Repeal and replace Obama Care.
- The 2nd amendment is absolute and no to gun control legislation.
- If elected he will nominate pro-life justices to the Supreme Court.
- If elected he will overturn all of Obama’s illegal executive orders.
- If elected he would defund Planned Parenthood.
- He would cut personal income and corporate taxes.
- He would return educational control to the local school districts.
- He would block Common Core.
- He would fight for energy Independence.
- He would bar refugees from Terrorist nations.
“Do you still support all of those position’s Mike?” I asked.
“Of course I do. Cruz was our best chance to restore Christian values to this nation. I supported him 100%.”
“Are there any of his positions listed above that you could not support, Mike?”
“No. Those would be a good first step in turning this nation around.”
“Well Mike, I hate to burst your bubble but those 10 things listed above are positions that I found on Donald Trump’s website. It seems to me that he and Ted Cruz agree on much of what is needed to rescue this nation. Why can’t you support him?”
“Because I don’t trust him. I don’t think that he actually believes most of those things because he used to be a liberal Democrat. He gave millions to the Democrats.”
“How do you know that if Cruz was elected he would do what he said he would do?”
“Because I trust him. He is a man of integrity. Trump has been all over the place and I don’t trust him.”
“Why not support Trump and hold his feet to the fire. Let’s make sure he does what he and Cruz says needs to be done. Maybe he can appoint pro-life judges and end the abortion holocaust.”
“I can’t vote for him. He is a serial adulterer. He miss-treats women. He said he has never felt the need to ask God for forgiveness.”
“But what if he keeps his word? What if he keeps his word and fights for everything he and Ted Cruz support?”
“Nope. I’m never trump. He just has too much baggage for me. God will hold me accountable for my vote.”
“You know Hillary will abort everything that moves. Can’t you vote against her?”
“Nope. I am done voting for the lesser of evils.
“Millions of babies will die if Hillary is elected. Don’t you want to stop that?”
“God is judging America.”
“What if Trump does what he says? Won’t babies live?”
“Trump is pro-abortion. He has been his whole life.”
“So what is your solution? What’s your plan to end abortion, Mike?
“Pray and trust God.”
“Can’t you vote for Trump, pray, and trust God to change his heart?
“He’ll never change. I am not voting for a strip-club owner.”
I guess I am missing something. What is it I am supposed to trust God to do…?
“Trust in the Lord and lean not on your own understanding,
In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight”
“Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God”
“Love the lord your God with all your strength, etc, etc…”
These are just a few, and any of you can rattle off more than this. So, why the brain-lock?
It’s because we’re all trying to walk down the middle of the road. We are neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm. We’re clinging to our hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness, and the Holy Spirit is convicting us of being double-minded.
Not a good place to be walking, down the middle of the road; you’ll get run over by both sides.
“Choose this day whom you shall serve…”
Here’s a little lesson in wound care. I am a wound care specialist. I don’t know if you’ve noticed lately, but our country is wounded. There’s a deep ugly festering infected wound which will not heal- it’s becoming chronic and the life of the Nation is threatened.
The first step in healing any wound is to first stop the bleeding. The brave men and women sworn to protect us are bleeding. This must stop. Law must be upheld. The next step is the inflammatory response. This is necessary to mobilize the body’s immune response, the “hey, we’ve been invaded” and mount a response by the protective elements within the body to isolate the invader and to clean up the rotten debris within the open wound, then to activate the healing forces and element within the body.
The wound heals from the inside out- you can’t just pull a big hole together and expect it to stay together, the tension must be relieved first from within, then the top layer will grow together. The last stage in healing is the maturation of the scar- and it will leave a scar-to strengthen and restore OEM function. What is the function or originally designed purpose of this once great Nation of ours? I ask this because we seem to have lost our way, and, “where there is lack of vision, the people perish”.
This country seems to be stuck in the “inflammatory phase” in this process. We’re all pissed off, hot and bothered, but we will not progress to the rebuilding stage. A wound will stay in this chronic inflammation state if the wound is not cleaned up, that is, the foreign debris, dead stuff must be debrided or removed. Only God’s justice can remove the dead rotten debris we have allowed to accumulate in our Nation. Do we harbor bitterness, hatred, unforgiveness, resentment? A little dose of repentance in order? If we justify these rotten things of the Enemy, we cannot expect healing.
There’s no shortcuts to healing, only the right way. God’s way. He designed us and only He can fix us. Anything else is a counterfeit. Your choice. Are you contributing to healing, or just inflammation?