In a helpful gesture, well over 200 court evangelicals have gone on record as supporters of Donald Trump in a solicitation to fellow evangelicals to pray for the president on June 2. Many of the usual suspects are on the list, but I must admit I am having a hard time getting over former DC Talk member Michael Tait being there.
Nothing in the call to prayer calls Trump to repentance for his many lies, for his support for ruthless dictators around the world, for his obstructions of reasonable Congressional oversight, or for the authorization of cruel treatment of asylum seekers at the border. The Scripture used by Franklin Graham as foundation for the event calls on Christians to pray for kings and those in authority. In our system, that includes the president, but it also includes Congress. The House Democrats are trying to exercise oversight but are being thwarted by Trump and his supporters. I pray for the investigators to continue having victories in the courts. Republicans once believed in the rule of law. Now they believe in protecting Trump. Just what is it that Graham and his court evangelicals want us to pray about when it comes to the subpoenas?
I do and plan to continue praying that the right thing will happen and the House investigators will prosper. From my own perspective, I believe that should lead to an impeachment inquiry. I don’t know for certain how that would end up because one can’t know the findings until the hearings are held and the investigations are completed. However, I think the Mueller report as well as other actions by Trump have more than warranted such hearings. Many Christians are praying for the truth to come out via the investigations; what are Graham’s Christians praying for?
It isn’t clear to me what the court evangelicals are praying for. From an outsiders perspective, it looks like they are praying to preserve a person and not the office. It appears they are asking God to keep Trump in office no matter what he does. If that’s not true, then I think they need to work on their messaging. If it is true, then they have the wrong message.
That’s a terrible perspective. Your focus is on the man, not the office. Unless Jesus himself is running for President, I must vote for the one that most supports his ideal beliefs.
As a believer in Jesus–it is so perplexing. Last election, two dishonest people faced each other. The American people spurned an honest liberal (Bernie Sanders) and an honest conservative (Ted Cruz). Mr. Trump played on the pent up frustration, oppression, and anger of people who have had the liberal agenda of immorality, perversion, putting the value of animals above humans while butchering babies in the womb and making it so parents aren’t even informed (where do I stop?)…Sadly, so sadly, the man who rode this wave of anger is dishonest, immoral, and rash.
Yes, the liberal agenda of abortion, heavy taxation, endless social engineering, and the repression of religious influence on public life needs to be stopped (have any of them actually read George Washington’s Farewell Address? … …”Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that National morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. ’Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free Government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric”…)
But “conservative” people passed up decent politicians (as far as I can tell). That is the American conservatives’ fault. Liberals passed up an honest liberal and voted for a political hack. That is their fault.
The real problem is the people of America. A republic’s government is a mirror of the people. We are proud, warlike, immoral. The Christians (remember, I am one) disobey the commands of their great Savior and Leader. Their women dress no more modestly than the whore-like norm that has taken this country by storm in the last 50 years. Their men are immoral, addicted to pornography, divorcing their wives and remarrying, using filthy language, and disobedient to the laws of the land.
Everyone forgets what really laid the foundation of what made this nation great. The Great Awakening. When multitudes repented of their sins. And the 2nd Great Awakening. And the general effect of “thou shalt not”, whether accompanied by the true born-again experience or not.
“Let’s get the Ten Commandments out of schools” they said. Let’s open the floodgates of every and any depraved evil in school libraries, the internet, TV, movies, video games. “Let’s make an amoral, non-religious generation”, they said. OK. And now, on both the Left, and the Right, we have the result, now old enough to begin to take power. Hope you like the results, those of you who didn’t heed George Washington’s warning. BTW if you push God out of life (individually or collectively) there is only one alternative: Satan. Look at the carnage in our society. Throwing billions of dollars at problems that are essentially spiritual, and only a change of heart through deliverance from the kingdom of darkness can fix.
The results of the last election are, really, irrelevant. The majority of the populace voted for a dishonest woman who is vehemently in favor of butchering unborn children. A minority (big enough to win the Electoral College) voted for a blustery, immoral man whose business dealings are one long string of dishonesty and worse.
The problem is the American people. Our nation is sick with sin, and our political scene is just a symptom of that. We are dishonest, greedy, immoral. Those we choose to elect merely reflect that.
If the Democrats manage to wrestle back into power, they will replace Mr. Trump’s immorality with their own brand: pushing every perversion as if it were normal: butchering unborn babies in a carnage that makes Hitler look like an amateur in the slaughtering business.
At this point, there is only one thing that will really change this nation: and that is another revival. Money, programs, or a change of parties won’t fix it. Can’t anybody see that? Back and forth we go. Republicans in power, until people get sick of it. Democrats in power until people get sick of that. Voters get jaded–but do not see the problem.
To quote an old cartoon: “We have met the enemy–and he is us.”
Well, we are not immune to avalanches of lies over here …
One might have thought that a resigning premier would avoid telling fibs (after all, Mrs May surely had nothing to lose by telling the truth). But no! Our benighted leader decided to tell the nation that our national debt is falling. But it isn’t: the government’s own figures shown a continuing budget deficit. (One might make a claim that the UK’s public debt is holding steady, rather than rising, as a percentage of GDP; but claiming that it is falling is simply dishonest.)
Soon after she became prime minister, she refused to give guarantees in respect of the residency rights of EU foreign nationals, many of whom have been here for decades. This was utterly contemptible. Before that, as Secretary of States for Home Affairs, she presided over a policy of creating (and I quote) “a hostile environment” for (non-EU) immigrants. The Windrush Scandal broke after she had left the Home Office, and her successor took the bullet (metaphorically, of course – unlike those affected by the Scandal whose deaths might have been the result of their taking own lives).
Last Friday she cried.
She also lied.
Spare her your pity! Crush it completely!
Thank God she is going!
Not sure why Tait’s involvement gives pause. He was fronting Newsboys when they were in “God’s Not Dead”. The movie was drowning in the faux persecution complex of evangelicals that was Trump’s biggest draw to those people, without whom he never would have even sniffed the presidency.
It’s not faux persecution, it’s real, I experienced it when I was in college and there is plenty of evidence of other who did. You have every right to dislike Trump for whatever reason but that does not justify denial of persecution of evangelical Christians in public square.
Obviously, they didn’t teach you anything about logic in that college, if you honestly think that a handful of anecdotal data points proves anything. I would demand my money back for receiving such a poor “education”.
But even if we set aside silly little things like reality, even without details, I can say with 99% certainty that you didn’t experience persecution. What you experienced was the slight reduction in social dominance from what Christianity had a few decades ago – nothing more.
Meanwhile, our brothers and sisters in other countries, whose very lives are threatened because of their faith, are staring at Americans in utter disbelief for the unmitigated gall of labeling as “persecution” what we experience.
Well, stuff shown in “God is not dead” is based on reality. There are numerous cases of similar nature when atheist professors forced their students to deny God’s existence at the risk of failing them, or when school administrators were trying to limit the activities of Christian clubs. At the end of the movie, they list about 20 court cases dealing with this issue. I am not saying that we are having it the worst, thankfully Christians can still pray in churches without fear of being killed, but it’s still unacceptable that if you preach on the street and somebody gets offended, you are risking of getting arrested, fired from a job, or expelled from school. You seem to be saying that Christians should be keeping their beliefs only at home and in churches, but if they share their beliefs elsewhere, they should get in trouble, and you’re fine with it. Well, I am not and neither is Franklin Graham and neither is Trump.
Actually, no. Those cases very much DON’T “deal with this issue”. You were lied to.
From here: https://thimblerigsark.wordpress.com/2016/04/09/reel-life-imitates-real-life-really/
“The interesting thing is that if you look over the list, twenty-three of the cases were situations where a Christian sued someone else, and only eleven were situations where a lawsuit was brought against a Christian – as happens in the film.
And it’s even more interesting that none of the cases mentioned dealt with a teacher being sued for mentioning Jesus in a high school history class, or any other similar situation. In fact, only one case involved a classroom (Brooker v. Franks), and that was a case where a student sues their university.”
When people feel they have to lie to you, their premise can’t get any faux-er.
By similar nature and similar issue, I meant not only mocking God’s existence but also issues related to abortion and homosexuality, and running Christian clubs in schools and universities. All cases mentioned in GIND and GIND2 deal with all of that .
You might want to read what one of the commenters said on this website which you listed:
“Try looking at it as if they got it correct.” = “Try looking at it as if the sun rises in the west.”
The commenter has to posit the exact opposite of reality (and even admits as much with his “as if”) and then wants us to accept that notion in order to follow his “point”. Yeah, I’m good.
“…stuff shown in “God is not dead” is based on reality.” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0883d9c90d2bb72258383694eb9e8847ec3c7e4b1d0d4b32db5ea6f2288780e5.gif Oh, wait. You’re serious? Such a strange, perverse world view.
sam80 hides his comment history, but if you could read it (or just skimmed his posts here on other topics) you would see why many of us are skeptical of his college claims.
Good call. I just warned BrendtWayneWaters before seeing your reply. Somehow sam80 thinks that claiming to be enrolled in “several” graduate seminars on politics and international relations will excuse the intellectual sloth he displays in these comment sections.
FYI: sam80 claims to be enrolled in “several” graduate-level seminars on politics and international relations. sam80 furthermore imagines his multiple course enrollments give him a hall pass to bear false witness, deceive, and obfuscate.
Disagreement, even vocal, insulting disagreement, is not persecution. Call me back when you, and others with your beliefs, are fired, denied housing, or jailed for your beliefs. Then we can talk persecution.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/persecution
What are Trump’s Court Evangelicals going to be praying for? Success to Trump and confusion to his enemies–which enemies include the House of Representatives, US media (except Fox), a large chunk of the American people, and a good many foreign countries that are looking askance at us. Those Evangelical bigwigs have tied themselves firmly to Trump, and will support him no matter what he does or says, so long as he pretends to be a Christian. Their careers and their self esteem now depend on a man who cares only about himself, and nothing about any of them.
So, Dr. T, you think things were better under Obama who supported Muslim shariatic countries just because they were selling us oil? By ruthless dictators, you mean, Vladimir Putin, who is a Christian btw. But, what about the King of Saudi Arabia, a fundamentalist Muslim, he’s not a ruthless dictator, isn’t he? Obama, was surely cajoling to him and glorifying Islam on TV. Something to think about.
As for those crossing the border down south illegally, they are not refugees seeking political asylum but simply economic migrants, and this administration just like the previous ones, and it’s debatable who has been the worst:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/aclu-immigrant-minors-routinely-mistreated-in-custody-during-obama-years/2018/05/23/b7cb31a8-5e00-11e8-a4a4-c070ef53f315_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.fabfa0723c8e
For supposedly Trump separating children from their families at the border, Here’s something:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7045351/Rapid-DNA-testing-reveals-migrants-faked-family-relationship-kids.html
As for Franklin Graham and other evangelicals working for Billy Graham association praying for Trump, guess what? Both Grahams, Franklin and his famous father have been also praying for Obama, they both even had a private breakfast with him in 2010 where they all prayed, to which Obama did not object to at all, and considered Grahams as his personal friends. The only difference was that under Obama, there was no National Day of Prayer in the White House, so that’s why the Grahams and other notorious evangelicals were not getting that much publicity as they are getting right now. I think that Franklin is following his great father’s tradition to meet with every US President and to pray for them as the 1 Timothy 2:2-3 instructs. Billy never cared about political issues, but yet he believed it was important to befriend as many national leaders as possible for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Franklin, on the other hand, is seen as a social conservative, but as we saw, he was friends with both Obama and Trump. Being friends with a certain politician does not automatically imply you agree with all his or her politics.
It appears like the purpose of this post is preaching to the choir.
Are conservatives still pushing this lie?
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2011/04/29/presidential-proclamation-national-day-prayer
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2012/05/01/presidential-proclamation-national-day-prayer-2012
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/05/01/presidential-proclamation-national-day-prayer-2013
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/05/01/presidential-proclamation-national-day-prayer-2014
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2015/05/06/presidential-proclamation-national-day-prayer-2015
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/05/04/presidential-proclamation-national-day-prayer-2016
“Dear God (just in case you actually do exist, which I doubt, or I wouldn’t behave the way I do), please let me continue in my position as a Court Evangelical and keep my influence high, and my bank account balance even higher, and make sure to smite the enemies of our Great Golden Goat in the White House, or at least look the other way when someone listens to and acts on, his stochastic terrorist speeches.”
Amen.
p.s. Warren, love the correction to the banner at the Billy Graham site…