I have to say, I have found this election and the state of our politics, the state of our nation, to be one of the most challenging things to try to suck the sweetness out of a lemon over. There really is no silver lining to this cloud, is there?
There is always a silver lining.
I am encouraged that people are actually thinking, engaging those little neurons in ways we have not had to before. There is a kind of kind of threshing going on here, separating the wheat from the chaff, forcing people to really ponder who we are and what we are going to stand for, what we believe as individuals and as a whole. That is always a good thing.
I have to say, I really appreciated Erick Erickson’s article here. Read the whole thing, but one thing he says is, “I have to admit that while I may view Hillary Clinton’s campaign as anti-American, I view Donald Trump’s campaign as un-American.”
He continues, “Clinton offers a tyranny of the minority and Trump offers a tyranny of the majority. Clinton offers neither safety nor freedom and Trump offers safety at the expense of freedom. While I see Clinton as having no virtue, I see Donald Trump corrupting the virtuous and fostering hatred, racism, and dangerous strains of nationalism.”
And then he proceeds to weigh politics and this election against its impact on the church by voicing this opinion, “A Clinton Administration may see the church besieged from the outside, but a Trump Administration will see the church poisoned from within.”
I’ve been running around for ten years trying to blow that whistle, trying to be a canary in the coal mine warning people of that very thing coming, so I found his words encouraging. But in my mind the flood gates have already opened, the horses have already escaped and it is too late to shut the barn door now. You cannot poison what already lurks within, you cannot soil the dirty laundry that has now been pulled out and exposed for the whole world to see.
He has some strong words for “the church,” as a whole, for our behavior during this election, concerns I share, things that I have seen that deeply trouble me. Today the election no longer matters to me, who is chosen no longer carries any weight. It is what lies on the hearts of Christians and the heart of the church that presses on me. The disrespect towards one another, the fear, the desperation, the attempts to put our faith in a human political savor worries me.
The wheat, the harvest season, the threshing and the spiritual sorting, I feel it, I sense it, and that’s not always a bad thing, it can be like a renewing of our own vows, a call to revival, a much-needed attitude adjustment for us as a church…. and us as a nation. A shaking from a loving Father.
Erick Erickson, like many other Christian brothers who have stood up for faith, who have tried to point us all back to the cross, has faced a lot of outrage, offense, and abuse. It has been a bit like watching the church eat its own, brother against brother, these violent feuds over politics that have grown so personal.
WND, Scott Morefield, wrote a powerful rebuttal against Erick Erickson, He says in part,
“Erick doubles down on the insanity as the column devolves into self-righteous Churchian Pharisaism while ultimately rejecting both of the choices God Himself has obviously put before us.”
Well, all in good humor here, but I think we should be very careful claiming God is the one who set these two candidates before us. I think we did that to ourselves and I think they are a symptom of what ails us, not the cure. Also, I am the first one to complain about “churchian pharisaism” but it is simply wrong to accuse Christians who are trying to follow their conscience of legalism, of pharisaism. Scott’s ending sentence is a far better example of churchian pharisaism when he says, “Hopefully, his is a voice that should and will fade over time as ordinary Americans, including Christians, refuse to listen…”
I don’t think so. The truth has a way of standing up and defending itself, always separating the wheat from the chaff. To wish for a brother’s voice to fade, for people to refuse to listen, is not an encouraging word for the free exchange of ideas, for our right to express ourselves, for our obligation to speak our conscience.
newenglandsun said:
I think Trump’s political incorrectness is appeasing to racists and sexists but I am not sure if our racism and sexism gave us him as a candidate. I’ve pondered as to perhaps he is not the hero Gotham deserves but the one it needs. So we could send him to Gotham and dress him up as batman.
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insanitybytes22 said:
Ha! You know perfectly well I have a weakness for Batman. Okay, so we’ll just fix everything by putting it all in a Batsuit and sending it to Gotham. I kind of like that idea actually. No complaints here. 🙂
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newenglandsun said:
I suppose in a sense it was our racism and sexism that breeded Donald Trump–our reverse racism to white people such as peddling for “diversity” in work places over experience as well as the extremist feminism.
Will he destroy the Church from the inside? This is a better question. Government’s duty is to protect its citizens first and foremost. He’s not closing the doors of the nation to immigrants but there is a major problem with undocumented immigration in this world that ought to be addressed and resolved.
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insanitybytes22 said:
I think you make a really good point about Trump being a backlash against political correctness, about too many accusations of racism and sexism, as well as a crashing economy, and people feeling disenfranchised by their political elite over lords.
I myself do not believe Trump will “destroy the church,” Christ Himself told us the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But I do believe that there is some toxicity within “the church,” within American Christianity in general, that really needs to be addressed no matter what the election brings.
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newenglandsun said:
The toxicity within the Church can be traced back to the first century, my friend. We need to stick together as a flock but many of us fall victim to pride and want to tell the Church and God we know better.
Gnostics, then Arians, then monophysites and Nestorians, then the Great Schism, Cathars, the Protestant Reformation (a tragedy, not an heroic movement, let’s be honest), then liberalism.
All of these results of pride.
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exanimo7 said:
“The disrespect towards one another, the fear, the desperation, the attempts to put our faith in a human political savior worries me.” That worries me too.
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"A" dad said:
Sennacherib’s Fall
Isaiah 37
21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:
“Virgin Daughter Zion
despises and mocks you.
Daughter Jerusalem
tosses her head as you flee.
23 Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes in pride?
Against the Holy One of Israel!
24 By your messengers
you have ridiculed the Lord……..
26 “Have you not heard?
Long ago I ordained it.
In days of old I planned it;
now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities
into piles of stone.
27 Their people, drained of power,
are dismayed and put to shame.
They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots,
like grass sprouting on the roof,
scorched[d] before it grows up.
Hey Memi !
I did not get into the articles you linked, I got into the “article” The Word, that we should all be linked to!
Sennacherib served God’s purpose, even if Sennacherib refused to admit it.
If “The Donald” equals Sennacherib,
and HRC equals Jezebel, as I think they may, our God is still Lord over them all!
Even the Apostle Paul got Justice, when Paul appealed to Caesar.
I think your bottom line was the most salient point:
“The truth has a way of standing up and defending itself,”
Amen!
As for the Church, the body of Christ, teeth and toenails are part of that same body, that being said, they should never be in close proximity to each other, even as they serve each other from afar.
(aka, limber kids should not be biting their toenails! ; – )
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insanitybytes22 said:
Amen, A dad! You can’t go wrong looking to the word. Toenails, ha! I like that, well said. Some divisions can be good.
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Paul said:
Not my forte I’m afraid. Lett us know how the argument turns out.. 😀
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insanitybytes22 said:
Lol! Very funny, Paul. I already know who wins the argument in the end. I peeked ahead and read the final chapter. 🙂
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Tricia said:
It’s very interesting what you say about perhaps the choices in front of us being a result of the society we’ve become. I do agree with this.
Sure God will work things to His end regardless, but how we got here is another question entirely. Throughout the bible we see people turning from the freedom God provides for the supposed safety of being enslaved by authoritarians and having all your choices made for you.
I suspect the pendulum is swinging hard towards that today which will of course require a painful correction before we swing back.
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Bonsai said:
Oh yes we did it to ourselves!
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Wally Fry said:
I shall smack the next Christian who tells me that voting for Donald Trump is the only “truly” Christian thing to do.
Oh yeah? Can you find that passage for me?
The only prerequisite I seem to be able to find is by grace, through faith.
Just my two cents
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! I’m not opposed to a good smack of brotherly love now and than, of the verbal and metaphorical sort, of course. There’s some real orcs out there, and lunkheads who need to be told our salvation does not stem from this election.
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Wally Fry said:
Huh? Only verbal or metaphorical? Oops.
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! Well, sometimes you have to just do what you have to do 🙂
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sarahthinksblog said:
This was encouraging to read. I love politics. But this election I’ve kind of just given up. I don’t like either candidate, and I don’t think I can (being a Conservative Republican and believing what I do) vote for Trump in good conscience. I get the whole “lesser of two evils” thing, but as a Christian, there has to be a line you drAw that you can not cross. We can only compromise so much. And we DO compromise too much in different areas of life. And I think this is where I draw one of those lines. Maybe I’m wrong for throwing my hands up in the air this election. In my mind it’s a losing battle. I’m putting my trust in the Lord. HE is my ultimate Ruler (or President if you will). I answer to Him. He is in charge, and I can’t fear what the outcome of this election will be…easier said than done.
Christians have to remember that God works all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
God bless!
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insanitybytes22 said:
Thank you for your kind words and for reading. I suspect a lot of people feel as you do, ready to throw up their hands over this election. I just want people to know that God is in control, that He is seated in victory, and that we need to place our eyes on Him. He is where our hope lives, not in our politics.
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sarahthinksblog said:
Yes!! I agree.
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fromscratchmomblog said:
Great stuff. I’m still praying that most of those who can’t vote for either and many from the other side of the aisle and many who normally never vote will show up and vote third party….even as I’m pulling back more and more from politics…and I’m seeing how to trust in God more no matter what becomes of this country and this culture.
We shall see if God judges us harshly with these election results or helps us begin to fix things or as I suspect might happen does some of each. God is in control. But I do not respect the words of those calling him out as already having decided base on their own allegiance to the two-party stranglehold.
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Susan Irene Fox said:
I read both articles, IB. Thank you for your take on these and for including the links. We need to do more self-research and make our own choices. That said, the sentence that left me shaking my head in disbelief was Scott Morefield’s, “there is not one single shred of evidence that Donald Trump is a racist.”
Wow.
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Salvageable said:
We have a few weeks to go, but I am increasingly convinced that I am going to skip voting for President and instead make the best choices I can selecting a Senator and a Representative who will balance whatever problem moves into the White House in January. I hope a lot of voters do the same. Don’t sit out the election–use it to build a better Congress. J.
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Wally Fry said:
That’s actually a great idea J…thanks.
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Pastor Randy said:
I love the line “I think we should be very careful claiming God is the one who set these two candidates before us. I think we did that to ourselves”. I think we excuse ourselves by saying it is of God, when in reality it is the consequence of our choices. Well put! God gets blame that isn’t His and the devil gets credit for our, how shall I put it? Stupidity!
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Pastor Randy said:
I offer for your pondering one of my earlier blogs, https://kingdompastor.wordpress.com/2016/08/03/the-americanization-of-the-gospel/
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insanitybytes22 said:
Thank you! It is encouraging to find some like mindedness in the world and to know there are others paying attention to what is happening.:-)
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PARTNERING WITH EAGLES said:
From another WP blog:
https://whatyouthoughtiwentaway.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/by-voting-democrat-you-are-a-bigger-problem-than-islamic-jihadists/
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