Donald Trump announced today that his 36 year old son-in-law Jared Kushner will be his third senior adviser. This is nothing but irresponsible. The Trump team said that he was a 'tremendous asset' in the campaign. What does that have to do with the Middle East which the Trump team also announced as part of what will be his responsibilities? The media is focusing in on possible nepotism violations and conflicting business interests but these are not the main issues. The issue at hand is Donald Trump's Twitter Diplomacy and whether or not Mr. Trump is living out The Apprentice instead of building on statesmanship. Cheering him on without honest scrutiny is not wise.
God's Will Shall Prevail.....December 24, 2016
I doubt if Christian conservatives want to spend too much time reading about Donald Trump's professional life. It's not that he hasn't been successful for he has. It's also not that there have been certain bankruptcies in his empire for that's part of big business today. It's rather that it's been a lot of gambling casinos and celebrities and beauty pageants and that kind of thing. It has to be sobering from a Christian perspective.
Donald Trump indeed has strengths. I don't think that anyone can deny that. He pushed himself to the limit for a year and a half....and at 70 years of age! But friends I'd ask you to consider this....his campaign could not possibly have come at a more opportune time for him. Tea Party and Christian conservatives had been waging an intense war for over a decade while Mr. Trump was sipping mint juleps at Churchill Downs. All they needed was someone to circumnavigate the political wasteland of presidential campaign politics and stand up and tell it like it is. Ted Cruz had the opportunity to do this as did any one of the other conservative candidates who threw their hats into that circus ring....but none of them did that....not to the extent that Donald Trump did. Every one of them had a huge advantage on Donald Trump but everyone of them held back... read too many pundits... and worried about being ridiculed.....everyone except Donald J. Trump. That is why he succeeded!
I wrote a post a few years back on how Al Sharpton said this to a church gathering....."God gave us Barack Obama." He probably never spoke truer words...for President Obama was indeed given to us....as a form of punishment. Well, God also gave us Donald Trump. Most Christians would agree with that....but they think that God had mercy upon us and gave us Donald Trump to help us restore America to greatness.
I'd ask you to think about this for a moment....God supposedly gave us a gambling casino magnate and a profane billionaire as a reward. Think further on this.....a reward for what? We as a people haven't shown any inclination to rely upon God's mercy let alone fall before Him seeking forgiveness for what we have become. Have you seen any of the recent polls on the religious beliefs of Americans? And yet this is the nation that God is going to have mercy upon....and will do so by giving them a celebrity's celebrity to rescue them?
You'll interpret these words so far as being a diatribe against Donald Trump. It's nothing of the sort. Not many of you celebrated his victory on November 8th more than I did but not for all the same reasons. I hope to applaud any successes that God gives a President Trump, and to pray for him ardently, but not to be cranked up to clang my cymbals for him. This is not a time for celebration, forget the inaugural balls, it's a time for intense national introspection.
We on the conservative right are already beginning to compromise. We've been sucked into the euphoria of the departure of the Clintons and the Obamas and the promises of greatness. Donald Trump has been audacious as he moves every day to jump start common sense and reason in our government but we have missed what else he is doing. He named the CEO of a global energy company as our new Secretary of State and we hardly raised an eyebrow. There appears a conflict of interest in this appointment for we are trying to get away from huge corporations influencing our foreign policy. Ben Carson should have been named to this post. After a year of campaigning we know who he is and this man has the words... intellect, wisdom and statesman... written all over his academic regalia.
The entire primary battle had been fought against the Republican establishment, yet we are now condescendingly instructed that Donald Trump has to bring the other side in. Fine....Undersecretary to the Deputy Director of costume balls, Easter eggs and golf outings sounds like a good place to start for now! If they can handle that then Ambassador to California might be available. (They speak the same liberal language) But we won't be able to get legislation passed they say! The ship is pitching, yawning, rolling and about to capsize and you are worried about who is seated where in the grand ballroom. Wake up and pray to God man....and perhaps He will have mercy upon us in this tempest.
An anecdote comes to mind from the Clinton administration. Bill Clinton was in the middle of his Monica troubles and was starting to lose his composure. Al Gore...his Vice-President....looked at him....his boss.... and said..."Get with the program!" I don't want their program. I want transparency... not translucency where we don't know who is wielding the gavel.
A little history.....Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States on November 6th, 1860. South Carolina seceded from the Union six weeks later. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4th, 1861. The Confederacy bombarded Fort Sumter 39 days later. Donald Trump's administration is starting out with very similar challenges experienced by President Lincoln who is recorded to have said during the war..."I believe in His (God's) eternal truth and justice. I believe the will of God prevails; without Him all human reliance is vain...."
God's Will Shall Prevail.....December 24, 2016
I doubt if Christian conservatives want to spend too much time reading about Donald Trump's professional life. It's not that he hasn't been successful for he has. It's also not that there have been certain bankruptcies in his empire for that's part of big business today. It's rather that it's been a lot of gambling casinos and celebrities and beauty pageants and that kind of thing. It has to be sobering from a Christian perspective.
Donald Trump indeed has strengths. I don't think that anyone can deny that. He pushed himself to the limit for a year and a half....and at 70 years of age! But friends I'd ask you to consider this....his campaign could not possibly have come at a more opportune time for him. Tea Party and Christian conservatives had been waging an intense war for over a decade while Mr. Trump was sipping mint juleps at Churchill Downs. All they needed was someone to circumnavigate the political wasteland of presidential campaign politics and stand up and tell it like it is. Ted Cruz had the opportunity to do this as did any one of the other conservative candidates who threw their hats into that circus ring....but none of them did that....not to the extent that Donald Trump did. Every one of them had a huge advantage on Donald Trump but everyone of them held back... read too many pundits... and worried about being ridiculed.....everyone except Donald J. Trump. That is why he succeeded!
I wrote a post a few years back on how Al Sharpton said this to a church gathering....."God gave us Barack Obama." He probably never spoke truer words...for President Obama was indeed given to us....as a form of punishment. Well, God also gave us Donald Trump. Most Christians would agree with that....but they think that God had mercy upon us and gave us Donald Trump to help us restore America to greatness.
I'd ask you to think about this for a moment....God supposedly gave us a gambling casino magnate and a profane billionaire as a reward. Think further on this.....a reward for what? We as a people haven't shown any inclination to rely upon God's mercy let alone fall before Him seeking forgiveness for what we have become. Have you seen any of the recent polls on the religious beliefs of Americans? And yet this is the nation that God is going to have mercy upon....and will do so by giving them a celebrity's celebrity to rescue them?
You'll interpret these words so far as being a diatribe against Donald Trump. It's nothing of the sort. Not many of you celebrated his victory on November 8th more than I did but not for all the same reasons. I hope to applaud any successes that God gives a President Trump, and to pray for him ardently, but not to be cranked up to clang my cymbals for him. This is not a time for celebration, forget the inaugural balls, it's a time for intense national introspection.
We on the conservative right are already beginning to compromise. We've been sucked into the euphoria of the departure of the Clintons and the Obamas and the promises of greatness. Donald Trump has been audacious as he moves every day to jump start common sense and reason in our government but we have missed what else he is doing. He named the CEO of a global energy company as our new Secretary of State and we hardly raised an eyebrow. There appears a conflict of interest in this appointment for we are trying to get away from huge corporations influencing our foreign policy. Ben Carson should have been named to this post. After a year of campaigning we know who he is and this man has the words... intellect, wisdom and statesman... written all over his academic regalia.
The entire primary battle had been fought against the Republican establishment, yet we are now condescendingly instructed that Donald Trump has to bring the other side in. Fine....Undersecretary to the Deputy Director of costume balls, Easter eggs and golf outings sounds like a good place to start for now! If they can handle that then Ambassador to California might be available. (They speak the same liberal language) But we won't be able to get legislation passed they say! The ship is pitching, yawning, rolling and about to capsize and you are worried about who is seated where in the grand ballroom. Wake up and pray to God man....and perhaps He will have mercy upon us in this tempest.
An anecdote comes to mind from the Clinton administration. Bill Clinton was in the middle of his Monica troubles and was starting to lose his composure. Al Gore...his Vice-President....looked at him....his boss.... and said..."Get with the program!" I don't want their program. I want transparency... not translucency where we don't know who is wielding the gavel.
A little history.....Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States on November 6th, 1860. South Carolina seceded from the Union six weeks later. Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4th, 1861. The Confederacy bombarded Fort Sumter 39 days later. Donald Trump's administration is starting out with very similar challenges experienced by President Lincoln who is recorded to have said during the war..."I believe in His (God's) eternal truth and justice. I believe the will of God prevails; without Him all human reliance is vain...."
