Go Your Own Way

The following is a comment I wrote on Facebook on this date in 2019, when someone I know insisted Trump was doing all the right things in office. No matter what transpired, this person defaulted to Trump’s narrative to approve it. He consistently propagated the mantra instead of acknowledging reality.

November 2019 was also during the time an inquiry was launched over Trump’s quid pro quo in Ukraine.

As you read this five-year-old comment, go back in time to what was happening then. Then consider if anything in Trump, or in his followers, have changed.

Then, if you call yourself a Christian, ask yourself …

At the forks in the road of your personal decisions regarding Trump, did you choose God? …

Or did you choose Trump?

November 21, 2019.

Trump’s mantra has been that he would, and is now “draining the swamp”. To his loyalists, this covers every move he makes, every person he ejects, and every replacement he makes. He’s “just following through on his election promise to drain the swamp”.

This term, by the way, is used only by people who adopt his views. They believe him. He says he’s ridding government of corruption. They believe him because he said it. In the face of hard evidence of Trump’s longstanding past corruption, they adamantly deny he is anything but honest and upstanding. In the face of evidence of his corrupt practices happening now, in office, they say, “He’s draining the swamp”. End of discussion. They are right and everyone observing reality and sounding the alarms are wrong.

Why would they believe that Trump himself does not practice corruption? He circumvents the law. Isn’t that the definition of corruption?

His past as a businessman was riddled with legal troubles. He extorted students who enrolled in his university, which he falsely presented as accredited. He has outstanding cases from previous business dealings in which he failed to pay for services provided. He refuses to release his tax records.

Currently, he refuses to cooperate with subpoenas, and advises his underlings to do the same. The case in Ukraine is one example of how he operates apart from transparent, ethical and legal avenues. His exposure as corrupt has been confirmed under oath seven to eight times this week by people who were there.

What he has done is both unethical and illegal. His supporters morph factual exposure of his corruption into a conspiracy theory or proof of a deep state. “They’re determined to wrongfully accuse and evict him. It’s a witch hunt.” And they believe him. So they never hold him to account.

That they choose to believe him over evidence is the right of every pro-Trumper, but to do so is beyond alarming. It is the mindset of “the Holocaust never happened”; the thinking of “the Earth is flat”.

To deny facts in preference for being “right”, or unyielding in an existing view, is dangerous to others, and dangerous to the one who chooses it. It is the stuff of deluded minds. By the time one is deluded, he doesn’t realize that he is.

“Trump is God’s chosen for such a time as this”, they repeat. No amount of challenging their chosen Biblical arguments with contradicting Biblical arguments changes their stance.

As for tying Trump to God, consider who God is, and His words. God views those who lead others astray as having “blood on their hands”.

Yet supporters of Trump view him as merely “imperfect”, “like we all are”. “He’s just saying what we all are thinking.” (No, no we aren’t all thinking that way. Decent people never think that way. But now we know YOU think that way.)

We are being led to immediately reject truths and whitewash Trump’s behavior and actions, regardless the degree of ethics, morality, or law. We are being led to discredit anyone and everyone who sheds light on the truth. We are even being led to believe in conspiracy theories and the Deep State. People I know actually believe that utter nonsense, and propagate it. People I knew to be intelligent have given away their minds to lies.

Many of these same people preach that God is Truth and Satan is the father of lies. Then they choose the lies. If that doesn’t reveal that they have turned their backs to God, I don’t know what does.

Yet they insist they are in truth and God has endorsed them and their father-of-lies politics, and fellow believers who don’t agree are the “accusers of the brethren”. I’ve been called that a few times for challenging a lie promoted by someone from the radicalized-politicized-religious right. These people are not fiction, they surround us, and are calling themselves and Trump “God’s chosen”.

If anyone without Trump’s power and resources did any one of the things that he has done or said, they would be swiftly fired from their jobs at the very least; removed from even low level offices; brought to impeachment hearings as Clinton was for sexual immorality; fined for libel or slander; or imprisoned for fraud, obstruction of justice, extortion, and bribery.

Yet Trump’s converts stand by their man.

So, Christians who use the Bible and God himself to defend Trump …

Is it not in the Bible to be wise who we associate with, and who we conform to? When it’s not God we’ve conformed to, it is obvious in our language right away. For example, those who conform to a specific political party instead of Him use the verbiage of their influencer: verbiage such as “the swamp”, “deep state”, “never-Trumpers”, “witch hunt”, etc.

Most critically, whom we adhere to sets the course of our lives. It is the fork in the road — go with the road of God or not, that is each person’s prerogative — but to know God and then choose an alternative route, is to knowingly refuse Him.

That should set off massive alarm bells …

Unless it’s too late, and a person is so far down the road of choice that he is out of earshot of God’s guidance, discipline, and warnings. Those who knowingly, willingly reject Him in favor of an alternate option, shouldn’t be surprised when He ultimately allows them to go their own way.

Will He protect the person who does that? They can demand it, and believe it will happen for them, but is He required to exempt them from His justice when they have rejected Him? Must He oblige them with mercy, forgiveness, and exoneration without their contrition, change of course, and humility? Must He do that for them merely because they demand it of Him?

You have to throw out the Bible and the identity of God to land on that certainty. Maybe you already have.

Forget Not

Psalm 103: Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—

Think of the power God has. Yet he refrains from imposing his power on us. It’s not his way. God doesn’t overpower, manipulate or control. He doesn’t pull “people-things” like guilt trips, emotional blackmail, or threats. His character is so strong, he refrains from exercising the power he possesses, even though the use of his might would accomplish his will.

He permits us to determine who we want, and what we want, with the free wills we’re granted.

He welcomes us to friendship. He doesn’t demand it, force it, or threaten to make things bad for us if we decline. He doesn’t trick us into relationship. His ways aren’t built on obligation or guilt, but on our freedom to accept or decline.

Be with him if we want. Don’t if we don’t want.

If we do choose his companionship, we soon learn he is beyond compare. These things are true of him; he who —

forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases, who redeems our lives from the pit and crowns us with love and compassion, 5 who satisfies our desires with good things so that our youths are renewed like the eagle’s.

The more we accept and delve into relationship with him, the sweeter our harmony. While settling into ever-deepening unity, we find that our faith, wisdom, abilities and potentials steadily increase. Where there is lack, he brings plenty. Where there is insecurity, he brings confidence. Where there is fear, he brings peace.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed.

Where there is captivity, he sets us free. Where there is deception or confusion, he becomes the solid rock of truth on which to stand.

He sets the tone of the relationship, always creating an atmosphere of growth. If we require discipline or purification, he subjects us to it for our improvement. If we need mercy and encouragement, he gives that, too. If we need courage and strength, it is made available. Relationship with God is a fertile field in which he plants, waters, and nurtures — always for our betterment.

Yet, all the while his benefits include our ongoing free will. He gives us choice each and every day. Be with him if we want. Don’t if we don’t want. Let him lead us to betterment. Or not. This freedom he’s given us is evidence of yet another of his incomparable benefits —

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love.

eagle feeding eaglet, edit, for blog

Freedom

Think of the power God has, yet he refrains from imposing it on anyone. It’s not his way. He doesn’t overpower people against their will. He doesn’t manipulate or control. He has the power to do so, but would never do it. His character is so strong, he refrains from exercising the power he possesses even though use of force could accomplish his will. He lets us walk where we want, how we want, with the free will he gave each of us.

horse and foal, cropped for blog

He welcomes us to friendship. He doesn’t demand it, force it, or threaten to make things bad for us if we say “no”. His relationships are not built on guilt, obligation, or coercion. They evolve out of our freedom to accept or decline his offer of companionship. Be with him if we want. Don’t if we don’t want to.

He doesn’t pull “people-things” like guilt trips and threats. He just doesn’t do it. God’s relationships with people are without strings attached. His is simply an offer to be together if we choose. He is all about freedom.

After encountering the “real deal”, the Spirit of God, most people long for his constant companionship. He cares. He loves. He understands. He takes us from wrongful confinement to freedom, from captivity to wide-open terrain.

Wild horses at Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota at dawnGod provides a fertile field, and nurtures us there. He stays with us while he reveals our potential, strengthens our skills, and broadens our knowledge. He causes us to grow and believe in ourselves.

 

Time spent with the Spirit of God is time spent in an environment of betterment. And with him, there is always freedom.

2 Corinthians 3:17 – Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (NIV)