We do it all the time. We'll buy some sort of over-the-counter medication....glance at the directions....and take the pill or pills. There's usually all kinds of warnings on the box or bottle but we know that that is just legalese....for the manufacturer to protect themselves in case someone might think that if one pill helps then one-hundred pills should help one hundred times better. We do the same thing when we might buy some electrical gizmo....hair dryer is not to be used in the bathtub....or all of the....read our terms and conditions....on an Internet app. Health conscious people might read the ingredients on the jar....and a wise steward might read the fine print on a loan....but generally we depend on the fact that if there is a poison in the product that....POISON....will be the biggest word on the box or jar.
There is one difference....and opposite actually.....peculiar to the human condition....and we can see it in the Covid-19 vaccine. There is nothing about poison on the paper they give you to sign....but we were determined to find some....and we had the whole world of the Internet to manufacture the proof.
The word that I have used over the past six or seven years to describe Donald Trump was....destroyer....as he either actively works to destroy his enemies....or that anyone that latches on to him.....or had been fooled by him....is eventually destroyed by....flying too close to the flame.....but another word that describes who he is would be....poison.
The Republican Party has been poisoned....the Supreme Court has been poisoned.....evangelicalism has been poisoned.....probably your church has been poisoned.....slowly.....over time....talk radio died....as did the Freedom Caucus....and individuals.....Ted Cruz....and sadly even Rush. They all litter the political trail of Donald Trump.
Everything that we learned in America about defending the weak....or helping the less fortunate....was lost as would be the memory of an Alzheimer patient. Weeds of hate grew up quickly and choked us. Tares were sown in with the wheat....and there is not a thing that we can do now about removing them.
God had warned us here in America for upwards of a half century....but we blew off those warnings. We found an excuse for every idol that we worshiped. So after decades of warnings.....God took away our discernment....and we were as prey for jackals and wolves and lions.
At the beginning of Trump's rallies we were God-fearing men and women....as we sat or stood there as the music of the night played.....but later we started dancing to it.
Pastors all over America....those who knew that something was terribly wrong here....sat back and let it happen. To this day they will defend themselves.....instead of defending the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ against a false prophet.
Judgment is here....but we deny it. No....this isn't God's judgment we say....this is Biden and the Democrats! We are the good guys. We said that we were going to make America great again....and we did.....just look at 2019....but God said....go ahead and build....and I will tear right back down.
I have watched strong conservative leaders....brave leaders like Ted Cruz....weaken and eventually grovel before nothing less than a tyrant. Pastors are literally afraid to tell their congregations that God is judging us....us not them. We have right now in America two evil forces vying to lead America during God's judgment....but we rationalize Trump as the lesser of two evils.
Pastor/teacher/theologian R. C. Sproul was one of the greatest blessings that God had given to His church....and his legacy lives on today....five and a half years after he went on to be with His Lord who he had exalted in his ministry for so very long....(ligonier.org)....but I want to point one thing out to you. The Ligonier Ministries conference....held on March 9-11 of 2017....was titled....The Next 500 Years. This referenced the then soon to be completed first 500 years since Martin Luther pounded thos 95 theses into the castle church door in Wittenberg.
The speakers were the very best....and I'm sure that the messages were blessings....but there was a serious flaw in that title. The discerning Christian....(and R. C. was as discerning as they come)....should have known that Jesus was coming back soon....Webster's definition of 'soon.' God had been warning His church. This was a time for preparation for the Lord's return....and vigilance. I should note that this title was probably selected well back into 2016. The mood in conservative God-fearing America was.....unfortunately....Make America Great Again. It was a basic mistake but should have been an insignificant mistake....if it were not for the ascendance of Donald Trump. I posted the following on March 9 of 2017....the day the conference started:
I understand the message but what went through my mind upon hearing of the conference title was.....next 500 years....how about the next 500 days? Or even the next five years...or maybe even the next 500 souls surrendered to Christ...or even the next 5 million souls surrendered to Christ? I just don't agree with the emphasis on the next 500 years when....if I might use this expression in a very literal sense....all hell is breaking out in this world.
And I posted this much later on....
Folks....within 500 days of my writing this....both R. C. Sproul and Billy Graham had gone on to be with the Lord....the first of two impeachments were to begin....followed by the pandemic....the horrors of January 6....along with multiple other horrors....including the collapse of evangelicalism....and the very possible beginnings of world war.
