Posted on by musingthemysteries

Jesus For President!

WriteInJesusOn Facebook I posted a document crafted by fifty-five Christian leaders on why Donald Trump is not a good candidate for president. I received a record number of responses, most of them negative. So I decided, rather than to respond at length on Facebook, to share some of my thoughts here.

I admit that I’m a preacher and not a politics junky. I seldom dive into the sewage of political banter. But it’s my observation that Donald Trump’s candidacy is less about politics and more about how we view and treat one another in our country and around the world. So, here we go.

A couple of people reported that Trump treats his employees with kindness. If true, that certainly speaks well of him, and I’m glad to hear it. But his repeated insults of other races, women, the President, and other candidates, to my mind, “trump” any reports of him being a nice boss.

Someone else mentioned that he has “good kids,” and I can only hope they are. I don’t know them. But again, when it comes to holding the Commander in Chief of the best country in the world, I don’t believe that good parenting skills speaks louder than most everything he says and stands for.

It seems to me that Trump’s supporters don’t care about his agenda; they’re just captivated by his persona. They view him as the strongest, most dominant, most assertive political figure they have ever seen and overlook that he is erratic and unprincipled.

I don’t want a president who throws tantrums on the national stage and denigrates anyone in his way (Megyn Kelly, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, President Obama…). The way he speaks about individuals who disagree with him and about groups of people who he sees as a threat are off the Richter Scale. We simply have to be sickened by his tone, tactics, and egocentricity.

Here are some of Donald Trumps most inane remarks of late:

  • “I think the only difference between me and the other candidates is that I’m more honest and my women are more beautiful.” 

  • “The point is, you can never be too greedy.”

  • “My IQ is one of the highest — and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.”

  • “Be careful, Lyin’ Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!”

  • “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people.” 

  • “You know, it really doesn’t matter what [the media] write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”

  • “I’m not a schmuck. Even if the world goes to hell in a handbasket, I won’t lose a penny.”

  • “Nobody knows the system better than me — which is why I alone can fix it.”

  • “I don’t think Ivanka would do that, although she does have a very nice figure. I’ve said if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.”

  • “Mexicans love me and I have a great relationship with blacks!”

  • “My fingers are long and beautiful, as, it has been well documented, are various other parts of my body.” 

Seriously? If I hadn’t heard him say these things I’d have thought they came from a Middle School kid on the playground! Are these the kinds of things you want your President to say, let alone believe?

As an American, it’s embarrassing to me that Trump has any following at all. As a follower of Jesus, it distresses me that my brothers and sisters can muster anything but disgust over the kind of person he seems to be. I’m alarmed by the so-called “Evangelical voter base” that’s fallen into some sort of fawning trance over this man.

When Bill Clinton was exposed as an adulterer the Christian world wanted to burn him at the stake. But that same constituency seems to be looking the other way with Trump, who humiliated his first wife by conducting a very public affair, his name is displayed on a casino that features a strip club, he discussed anal sex on the air with Howard Stern, and claims to be a Christian but has never asked God for forgiveness.

I don’t expect any candidate to follow Jesus or to even reflect all of my biblical values (such as they are). Some of the best and a few of the worst people I’ve ever known are believers in the same God that I love. But there are some irreducible minimums required for the Commander in Chief. To my mind, Trump flunks every test of character and basic civility. I do expect a candidate to display at least a modicum of maturity, discretion, and sound judgment. It doesn’t appear to me that Trump possess much, if any, of the above. He can make lots of money and spout stormy speeches, but those are not qualities I look for in a president.

Speaking of Bill Clinton, when the story of his affairs hit the media, I said to our church the following Sunday that the worst part of it was that it would undoubtedly lower the bar of sexual morals in the country. I said that I was particularly concerned that our youth would redefine sex, and that “oral sex” would no longer be considered sex. I’m not laying the entire blame of the decline of sexual morality of youth on Clinton, but looking back, I believe it had a deleterious effect. In the same way, I believe that Trump has already lowered the bar of civility, decency, and morality. He’s already brought out of the worst in our national dialogue and four years of his rhetoric from the White House will be marked by a significant decline of basic human (let alone biblical) values.

I’m no fan of Hillary Clinton either. Many bad things could be said about here as well. I strongly disagree with many of her policies, her tone, and her slippery version of the truth. But if we’re talking “lesser evils,” I can’t imagine any of the candidates (from the primaries) who wouldn’t fit in that enormous category.

Neither candidate has the power to make America great. But it’s my opinion that Trump would, by feeding our anger and exploiting our fears, as well as setting the pace for incivility, immorality, and inhumanity, do the most damage and the least good to our beloved country and its global reputation.

Jesus for President? Just kidding. He’s not running. Not running for anything. He owns his office outright.

Just sayin’…

8 Replies to “Jesus For President!”

  3. Donald Trump… Hmmm… A Two Corinthians quotin’ name I can trust!

    Yeah. We needed to answer Hillary with someone… anyone… Please!!!! Right?

    I watched the sound byte news brief where Trump “humbly accept[ed]…” the party nomination under his name in 10ft tall letters and lights, and the crowds crying out in fervent worship, and I see that I have been living in Babel.

    This has me thinking of Augustus, the other “Prince of Peace” and “Lord and Savior” who actually brought an end to war over the face of the known world for 40 years! Even Jesus does not have that record! Wow!

    And no… Augustus was not voted in… not by ballot. He did not get there without help, but it was not a ballot box campaign. Nevertheless, he became leader of the Roman world. And at least in his case he did have some measure of humility. He waited until after he died to become declared a god. However, Caligula, the 3rd emperor, did not wait. He declared himself a living god incarnate while he was alive. And his pride and arrogance had no limits. He was hostile with it even among his own friends, nobles, and generals. He raped the wives of his friends at dinner parties and then rated how good they were in bed over dessert – all while the husbands tried to digest their meal in the next room! This was the man in the tombs who no one could bind with a chain! His real name was LEGION!

    Well, they assassinated him, but that did not fix their problems. Soon we had Nero. And in fact, there was a few years there where emperors were a dime a dozen because they were assassinated soooooo much. But the crazy thing is…. that was what we call CIVILIZATION, and the people outside were known as BARBARIANS.

    Ha! What a joke?

    And in all of this time I am writing of, the New Testament was being written. St Paul was writing and soon the gospels were written, and the Apocalypse of John came along all in this time frame. And while there are allusions to a lot of this activity, there is no moment where any of these New Testament writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, btw, ever endorse any of these guys. But they certainly do champion the deeply ironic crucified and risen Messiah! In fact, they unanimously and unambiguously point to him for your hope of salvation!

    Btw, his name did not appear on any ballots either.

    In my view, we have enjoyed a kind of peace behind the wall Jack Nicholson spoke of in A Few Good Men for about 100 years. The agricultural society of the 1800’s slowly gave way over that time, but it’s god-fearing respect for God and neighbor (careful not to call that Agape, but it was respect after a fashion) gave life to a kind of peace there that white, middle-class people could really enjoy – and I was among them. Now Trump wants to rebuild that wall and a lot of white, middle-class people want to take cover in it. But you need Jack Nicholson on that wall with guns and insults to demonize those outside it so you can clearly delineate the peace inside it from the chaos outside it. And I think, that is the lure for otherwise good “Christian” people to give ear to a “Two Corinthians” quotin’ loud mouth.

    But those of us who are prayerful and careful to heed the crucified and risen Messiah as our Lord and Savior need to vote with our hearts for Jesus, take up crosses and follow, love God and one another, Love our enemies, and be of one mind which St Paul tells the Philippians is a sign of destruction to those who oppose us and a sign of salvation to us!

    Thanx for the post

    Agent X
    Fat Beggars School of Prophets
    Lubbock, Texas (USA)

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  5. This is a no brainer for me. Nothing Trump has done, imo, equals the destruction or the murders to american people like Hillary has done.
    We are trying to keep the destruction machine of the political left out of power. If Trump comes up with hair brained ideas, there are republicans in Congress with enough integrity to join the democrats in blocking him. You CANT SAY THAT ABOUT THE OTHER SIDE. Remember “you have to pass the bill before you can know what’s in it”? There will not be a 60 vote republican majority in the Senate, if they retain a majority, and Hillary will do just like Obama and roll this snowball further downhill. I’m just astonished at conservatives that believe 4 years of Clinton will really show them. She will finish the destruction Obama has started. Trump is our best option and very well could turn out to be a very good option, as he is surrounding himself conservative minded staff.

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  6. I certainly do not agree with everything Trump has done or is doing. To my knowledge he has bever been so frivilous with American lives like Hillary has….then LIE about it! We are trying to keep the destructive machine of the political left out of power! If Trump comes up with hair brained ideas, there are republicans in Congress with enough integrity to join the democrats in blocking him. You CANT SAY THAT ABOUT THE OTHER SIDE. Remember “you have to pass the bill before you can know what’s in it”? There will not be a 60 vote republican majority in the Senate, if they retain a majority, and Hillary will do just like Obama and roll this snowball further downhill. She will finish the destruction Obama has started. Trump is our best option and very well could turn out to be a very good option, as he is surrounding himself conservative minded staff.

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