Tag Archives: trump

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A Time to Speak

I’m seeing several posts coming from well meaning people saying that we need to just love everybody and avoid any kind of confrontation.

Last year, President Trump narrowly missed being assassinated. This after several years of his opponents calling him a Nazi, a fascist, and a threat to democracy.

We need to just pray and not argue…

Where in Scripture does God tell us to be quiet and remain in our prayer closet while everyone else is voting, debating, knocking on doors, and basically pushing back against the narrative that says there is no absolute save the person who stares back at you in the mirror every morning?

This is the time to speak!

Here’s what I see:

First of all, to process Christ’s approach to the cross as our template for the way we confront evil is to forget that Jesus at one point said,

Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns. (Lk 22:53).

Jesus’ willingness to be crucified was not meant to be an example for the way we resist evil and fight back against corruption. He had to go to the cross in order for the Scriptures to be fulfilled and to pay our debt (Matt 26:54). While there may be a time when Christ asks you to sacrifice yourself, simply laying down and doing nothing in the face of being attacked or not standing up for what’s right, believing that you’re an example of piety, is not an accurate interpretation of the whole of God’s Word.

John the Baptist wound up in prison for rightfully confronting the current administration and calling out Herod as being an immoral dirtbag. Jesus said that no human being was greater than John (Matt 11:9-11; Lk 3:19-20).

How many times in the Old Testament did a prophet confront a king or an entire nation and tell them that they were godless and offensive in the sight of God? Was Nathan vague in the way he spoke to David (2 Sam 12:7)? Did Elisha mince words when he told the king of Israel what was going to happen to him and his wife as a result of doing evil in the sight of God (1 Kings 21:21-24)?

Did David give Goliath a brochure? Did Paul try to be extra sensitive when he spoke to King Agrippa (Acts 26:24-29)?

There’s a difference between righteous indignation and the kind of rage that springs from thinking of no one other than yourself. Ephesians 4:26 says to not let your anger provoke you to the point where you do something wrong. That’s obviously something you want to avoid. Simply exchanging insults on social media is not accomplishing anything.

But at one point, David said…

Do I not hate those who hate you, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies. (Ps 139:21)

What David is saying is that he hates the work of sinners, and for good reason. Nothing good comes from those who intentionally try to do the wrong thing. And when you consider the pain and the problems that come from doing the wrong thing, you have every reason to detest that kind of mindset.

But, how do you respond to the “wrong thing?”

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. (Eph 5:11)

Expose them!

The person who doesn’t want to be “exposed” is not going to want to listen to you, nor do they want others to listen to you. They will be antagonistic and that kind of reaction is difficult to endure, which is why it’s so important to know what you believe and why you believe it so when it’s time to “expose them,” you sound like you have a point.

It also takes courage. For those who cringe at the thought of being criticized, it’s easy and convenient to retreat behind a biblical sounding excuse to not say or do anything.

That’s not discipleship, that’s cowardice.

What would’ve happened had our founding fathers not stood up to King George?

On one hand, they could’ve referred to Christ’s command to render to Caesar what is Caesar’s as well as the biblical admonishment to obey those in authority (Matt 22:21; Rom 13:1).

But rather than base their perspective on a mere portion of Scripture, they looked at God’s Word as a whole and were able to justify separating from England due to the fact that we are to obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29).

They stood up and they spoke out.

Your witness means very little if you smile at the things that send a person to hell and endorse the things that put Christ on the cross.

David didn’t just sing, Paul didn’t just write, and Jesus didn’t just pray.

There’s a time to be silent and there’s a time to speak.

This is the time to speak.

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Daily Broadside | New Book Says Milley Usurped Trump’s Authority

Daily Verse | Daniel 12:3
“Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”

Happy mid-week my friends. The gnome in my garden won’t give me back my copy of The Hobbit.

We live in an increasingly lawless land, led by men and women who not only overstep the boundaries of their constitutional roles, but actively undermine duly elected leaders. It is not too much to say that the United States cannot function as designed if some “leaders” disregard the rule of law and other “leaders” let them get away with doing so. Not only can our nation not function, it will fall apart and land most heavily on innocent civilians who are considered the “out group” — namely, anyone who questions or resists what the party in power is doing.

The latest troubling example of this lawlessness is a claim in a new book that US Army General Mark Milley-Vanillie, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, secretly reassured the Chinese that he would warn them if President Donald J. Trump planned to attack them.

Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “was certain that Trump had gone into a serious mental decline in the aftermath of the election,” authors Bob Woodward and Robert Costa of the Washington Post write in their forthcoming book, “Peril,” set for release on September 21.

For the record, I think Woodward is a hack. But if this is true, it’s big. Milley, an Army general, plays psychologist and takes matters into his own hands.

These reports suggest that Milley may have over-stepped his role as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a role that advises the president and defense secretary but is not part of the chain of command for operational decisions like the launching of nuclear weapons.

He “may have” overstepped his role? Ya think? A role that “advises” the Commander in Chief and his defense secretary, but isn’t “part of the chain of command” goes behind his Commander’s back and conducts diplomacy without anyone’s knowledge based on his lone psychological assessment of a sitting president?

Milley was so concerned that Trump might start a war with China, he privately called his Chinese counterpart twice to assure him that the US would not strike, per the book.

Who’s running the country? Not Milley — he wasn’t elected. He went rogue. He doesn’t have the authority to be making policy. This is treasonous behavior. He actually interfered with the military action Trump could take as president.

But hey, why not? The Deep State had wrapped itself around Trump’s ankles for five years.

This is the same guy who “advised” the dementia patient currently in the White House about Afghanistan and I don’t hear him fretting by saying he is certain that Biden has “gone into a serious mental decline,” even though everyone else and the family dog can see it.

And get a load of this further reporting by CNN (with my emphasis):

Milley’s fear that Trump could do something unpredictable came from experience. Right after Trump lost the election, Milley discovered the President had signed a military order to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by January 15, 2021, before he left the White House.

The memo had been secretly drafted by two Trump loyalists. No one on the national security team knew about it, according to the book. The memo was eventually nullified, but Milley could not forget that Trump had done an end run around his top military advisers.

“Trump had done an end run around his top military advisers.” Can’t have the duly elected president and COMMANDER IN CHIEF making decisions about troop movements!

Pulling the troops out between November and January 15 may not have been smart military strategy, but that’s not for an “adviser” to decide! It’s certainly not an “end run,” as though the president needed their approval to proceed — it’s the president’s authority and responsibility as the military commander!

Here is the key graph: “The authors write, ‘Milley was overseeing the mobilization of America’s national security state without the knowledge of the American people or the rest of the world.'” And, I might add, the President!

This is frightening. Who, exactly, is in charge? How do we know? If we have military brass operating on their own, outside the chain of command (and definitely outside the scope of the U.S. Constitution), then we can’t ever be sure that there won’t be a coup next time a Republican is in office because some general decides that the president is in “mental decline” according to his own personal observations.

We are heading pell mell into a world of hurt right now.

Brace yourselves for impact.

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MORNING LINKS | 22 Apr 20

Happy Hump Day! It’s week six of the Peking Lung Pox and there are some encouraging signs that some of the country might emerge soon from the lock down. Wu Hu!

Your links today include an article from Harvard Magazine examining the so-called “risks for children—and society—in homeschooling.” If the cover illustration is any indication—and it is—you won’t be surprised to learn that the answer is government regulation. In other news, Trump suspends immigration to the U.S. for 60 days; Nancy Pelosi steps on a rake full of ice cream; China may be preparing for total war; and Kevin D. Williamson gives his perspective on recent judicial appointments in Washington State.

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