Trump a Modern Day Cyrus?

Among Christians who claim support for Donald Trump, a man named Lance Walnau is being promoted as a modern day prophet who claims that God spoke to him and identified Trump as a modern day “Cyrus“.

For those unfamiliar with the scriptural reference, in Isaiah 45 we are told about how God used Cyrus, a man unfamiliar with God. God allowed him to rise to power, to crush Israel’s enemies.

Herman Cain References this supposed prophet and I took the time to listen to him, and paid very close attention. Not only to his scriptural references, but to his desire for Trump to be president, and the rationalizations he made in justifying his prophesy.

It’s well established that we must be very careful when given scriptural references to justify a viewpoint. In Matthew 4:1-11 we see Satan quoting the Bible to temp Jesus. But Jesus sees the inconsistencies between the quoted scripture, the proposed action, and other scripture and is able to articulate God’s true will, rather than Satan’s will.

Ironically, a person who directed me to the Herman Cain link said “Only God knows God’s plans” I agree with that. But I found it interesting that someone saying such a thing would link me to an article where in fact, a man was saying HE knows God’s plans. This inconsistency in argument led me to follow up a bit with some Bible research.

In the Bible, we see that Cyrus was chosen “BY GOD”, not by man.

Those who are claiming Trump to be a modern day Cyrus are seeking to impose THEIR will upon our nation, not God’s will. If they want God’s will, they would pray.

But does the Bible actually provide a better example of a leader, chosen by the people to lead Israel? Oh yes, it does. 1 Samuel 8 does exactly that. It talks about a people who have fallen away from God. They’ve lost their desire for God’s leadership, and they want a powerful King like the other nations. They want a man who is powerful, wealthy, confident, and willing to use power to crush our enemies. Saul is their man. “Give us a king!” they proclaim.

And God gives them one, but rather than crushing their enemies, He brings ruin upon them.

Does God want Trump to be president of the United States? I don’t know. That is for God to decide. But what does he want US, his chosen people, the ones He came and died on a cross for…what does he want US to do?

I find myself over in 2 Corinthians 4. It tells us to avoid those who are blinded by the world, to seek God and to be closer to Him. To carry His spirit within us.

So I believe that speaking against Trump, a man who is professed to be unrepentant, a strip-club owner who promotes lust, envy, greed and avarice, is what God wants me to do.

If God’s will is that Trump be president, it may very well also be His will that his chosen ones oppose that. Jesus came to separate the wheat from the chaff. We are to be wheat. Perhaps its God’s will that the wheat be shone brightly in the sun by blowing a harsh wind upon our nation, one that the chaff is readily carried off with?

I’m not going to tell you what to think, but I will suggest the following;

1. Listen to the “prophet” with discernment.
2. Read Isaiah 45 with discernment.
3. Read 1 Samuel 8 with disernment.
4. Read 2 Corinthians 4 with discernment.
5. Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to guide you.

Trump’s “Pay For The Wall” = “Amnesty”

Donald Trump, the “Presumptious Nominee” for the Republican Party recently released his “Pay for the Wall” plan.  The plan details just how Trump intends to get Mexico to pay $10B toward the cost of the wall.

The key ingredient of this plan, is to put a one-time charge on Mexico at the threat (yes, he is actually using extortion as a means of diplomacy) of shutting down “remittances” from Mexican citizens living in the USA (read – illegal aliens). Remittances are money transfers from these citizens who are either working illegally, or collecting government benefits illegally to their families in Mexico.

Currently, Mexican citizens transfer approximately $24B a year from the USA to their families and friends in Mexico.

But here is the logical flaw in the ointment.

Donald Trump said he would “Deport them all!!!”

Lets presume that Trump is telling the TRUTH in both cases.

Let’s presume on Day 1, Trump begins deporting the 11-12M illegal aliens out of the USA. They lose their jobs and benefits, are deported to Mexico where they presumably return to their families. Let’s say he is wildly successful and 100% of those illegal aliens are now returned to Mexico and living with their families.

Who sends remittances home?

Oh wow. Maybe we should go back over and look at that Trump “Pay for the Wall” plan one more time?

There seems to be a problem here. If all 11-12M illegals are deported (as Trump says he will do), then there are no Mexicans left in the USA to send remittances home. Why would Mexico pay $10B toward building a wall to guarantee continuation of remittances that no longer exist?

This seems too obvious. How could Trump have missed such a thing?

Ahhh…an obvious answer. He’s LYING!

Either he is lying about building the wall with Mexican money, or he’s lying about deporting 11M Mexicans. If you want a hint as to which one it is, try this.. try reviewing the NY Times editorial board discussion on it. In that, Trump admits that the “Deport them all” rhetoric was just to build his base, and that he really doesn’t plan to do it. In fact, those 11-12M Mexicans will stay in the USA, keep their jobs and benefits, and ultimately vote Democrat.

If you bought his rhetoric… well, you were conned. Look at my blog on the #ArtOfTheCon for more details.

 

“Evangelicals” for Trump

Yesterday I had an interesting conversation with my Brother-In-Law, an avowed Christian who I have known for years and have 100% confidence in his faith, commitment to Christ, and devotion to living a Christian life.

We were on a few hour drive, so it created the opportunity to talk. The subject of politics came up and as I started to venture into the political debate, I remembered his numerous pro-Trump posts on his Facebook page, and asked “Oh, so you are for Trump..right?”

The answer surprised me.

“Oh no.. I’m a Cruz man, but I really like some of the things Trump says!”, he tells me.

What!? Virtually 100% of your Facebook posts are pro-Trump. I’ve never seen you post anything in support of Cruz. Where is the disconnect here?

As we discussed, it became clear to me.

Trump is like the guy who calls for revenge, or to hang a child-molester, or to beat the crap out of a mugger who stole an old-lady’s purse. He reaches down into our gut and draws out that first instinct… the one we all know is wrong, but we still have an instinctive urge to lean upon.

In our hearts, we know that a world ruled by such “gut instincts” would rapidly devolve into hellish anarchy, or even more hellish fascist totalitarianism like North Korea or Iran where the laws are enforced very strictly… no child molesters sitting in prison posting on social media there..or worse yet, OUT of prison after their protective and lenient sentence!

We know that our guts don’t really take us to the best place.. but we still like the feeling of imagining vengeance or reparations upon those who do us harm.

And as evangelicals, those who walk with Christ, we know that the Bible certainly doesn’t lead us toward vengeance, hatred, violence, or self-promotion as Trump does.

So what is going on?

As I spoke and listened, I came to realize..he was expressing frustration, anger, disgust with the status quo through Trump. Trump is like a medium, channeling these feelings.

But in his heart, he knows that he will NEVER vote for Trump. He admitted that to me.

So I asked him “Do you think that by promoting the things Trump says, you might be influencing others to support Trump..even though you know in your heart that you will never vote for him?”

He pondered that for a while. We changed the subject and discussed the recent drought breaking weather, etc. as the drive continued.

So what is the message here?

1. Talk to your Evangelical friends. They may be doing the same thing..and by letting their guts speak for them, influencing others to go with the world when we all know that we should be going with Christ.
2. Keep the faith that many other Evangelicals are doing the same. Keep praying and trusting the Lord. Trump may win the nomination. Hillary may win the election. We cannot change that which the world wants, but we can change how we respond to it… and prayer is the means for that change.

 

Is Ted Cruz “Establishment” Like Trumpers Claim?

We find ourselves in an interesting situation now in March of 2016.

The #GOPe, establishment wing (and leadership) of the GOP that has worked alongside Barack Obama for years, found itself in quite a pickle.

First, a friend of Bill Clinton, establishment donor and Democrat Donald Trump changed parties and with his Billions of dollars and tons of media hype, entered the race. Now this didn’t cause the #GOPe any concerns at first. In fact, they saw it as an opportunity.

Their #1 rival, a Republican named Ted Cruz, had spent his entire 5 years in the Senate lambasting the #GOPe, exposing their duplicity and cronyism, and was staging himself to win in a “anti-establishment” year. Having Donald Trump jump into the race posed a great opportunity.

“Lets let Trump suck the air out of the anti-establishment wing of the race, and when the time is right, we can take him out and foist our own #GOPe person into the lead!” It was an obvious ploy.

Like a person buying a pit-bull to intimidate his neighbor, with a plan to sell that dog when the neighbor moved, they embraced Trump. Trump attacked Cruz visciously like the pit-bull they wanted. But unfortunately, the dog didn’t stop with Ted. It grabbed Jeb by the neck and spun him around until he bled to death. Then Marco got mauled. Soon, the top two #GOPe candidates were laying on the ground, but Ted Cruz was still standing.

“What do we do now?” they wondered. We can’t have a #DonorClassDemocrat in charge of the GOP! He will lose to Hillary, and worse yet, destroy the reputation of the party. Do we DARE to embrace Ted Cruz? He’ll force the party back to the Constitution, away from Cronyism. He will cut spending, elect conservative judges..in short, he will ruin us!!”

But the fact is, the #GOPe has no choice. By letting Trump into the party and embracing him, they’ve legitimized him. He cannot be stopped BY the party, without feeding the same anti-establishment fervor that brought him to the race.

So what do they do? If they allow him to continue, prepare to speak the words “President Clinton” once again. Bill would be happy to see Hillary win… and if, by some fluke of fate, she failed to beat Trump, he would have one of his best buddies in the White House.

A win-win for Clinton!

So the #GOPe may find itself supporting Ted Cruz before this is all said and done.

Does that make Ted Cruz “Establishment”? No more than their embracing Trump made him a “Republican”. Trump is still a #DonorClassDemocrat in GOP clothing, just as Ted is anti-establishment GOP whether they embrace him or not.

 

US Constitution “A Living Document”?

Imagine you have a $1000/mo payment on your home mortgage purchased back in 1992.

One day, you get a letter from the bank.

Dear Ivory,

As you may be aware, the dollar has been suffering lately. The value of a dollar isn’t what it used to be. So we, your friendly bank, have decided that we are going to account for the value of the dollar in your monthly payment.

From now on, you owe $1200/mo until we decide to change it.

You see, the contract we both signed is a “living document” and our SupremeBoard has decided that the value of the dollar originally agreed upon was intended to be variable with the bank deciding what that dollar is worth now.

Have a nice day!

Would you put up with that? Of course not! Yet some people apparently believe that the US Constitution, a contract between the people and the government, is a living document that can be changed BY THE GOVERNMENT at its whim.

If this was the case, why would an amendment process be defined in it? Why did the founders not simply state “The Supreme Court may choose to redefine the meaning of words, fill in the blanks, and adjust the constitution as it sees fit”?

Are there restraints on the Supreme Court of the USA? (SCOTUS)

Yes. Most constitutional experts agree that the words Original Intent are the relevant view of how our constitution is to be interpreted. What does original intent mean? It means that when the bank signed the contract, the meaning of the words used in that contract as it was written apply. A dollar is a dollar..not a dollar in 1992 terms to be adjusted as the bank see’s fit.

What is a recent example that raises questions of interpretation of our constitution?

Take the meaning of the words “Natural Born Citizen” used in Art 2, Cl 5 to define eligibility of a person running for president. Some say “English common law says…” Some say “Recent US law says…” but what was the ORIGINAL INTENT?

The Naturalization Act of 1790 clearly stated it.

This act, written by many of the original founding fathers, defined Natural Born Citizen at the time of the constitution being ratified. Its virtually indisputable that their idea of the eligibility for president included people born of citizens of the USA even if outside the limits of the USA.

The reason this is so important to understand, is that those who have political purposes for redefining words in the US constitution can readily redefine what a “natural born citizen” is, or what a “well regulated militia” is, or what “free exercise thereof” means to eliminate rights that were granted by God, and SECURED in the US Constitution.

Now, if you want to change the terms of your contract with the bank. You go into the bank, secure a new loan, and both parties sign.

If you want to change the US Constitution to allow Same Sex Marriage, amend the constitution.

If you want to ban firearms, amend the constitution.

If you can’t get the political will of the people to agree with your proposed change, there may just be a valid reason for that. Learn to accept the benefits our constitution has secured, or face peril of those who consider it a “living document” that is subject to change by 9 unaccountable jurists in black robes.

 

The Art of the Con

I’ve produced a meme that highlights the key elements of a typical con, and done so in an image taken from Donald Trump’s “The Art of the Deal”. Now why would I do that?

I’ve seen it done before and will relate the experience.

One day during a family get together, my brother who owns his own business and has been extremely successful in running that business, had also accumulated a few million dollars of wealth with which he intended to retire. He told me that he had just found a deal that was “unbeatable”. It required that he invest a massive sum for a minimum number of years, but would recover 20% growth.

My immediate response “Sounds too good to be true”.

“Oh no..”, he tells me, “I’ve looked this thing up one side and down the other! You can’t lose. And if I get additional investors, my guaranteed return will go up 2%/year per investor!” – Now I KNEW it was a con.

I told him so. His response, was to get angry at me and tell me I was an idiot and didn’t know a good thing when I saw one.

Two years ago, the man who had convinced my brother to invest his life savings was found dead of an apparent suicide. At that time, authorities concluded that he had been running a massive Ponzi scheme where he took in investors, used their funds to make some payouts to older investors, lived off a large portion of the investment, and cooked the books on investor’s accounts to convince them they were making big $$ when in fact, their money was gone. He ran out of other-people’s-money, and the system was about to collapse, at which point he committed suicide.

It was a huge awakening for my brother, who lost millions and found himself at 64 years old and completely broke. He still had his business, so rebuilding is possible, but his retirement plans were completely gone.

Reviewing the process that man had used to get my brother, an intelligent and wary customer, to invest in a Ponzi scheme was illuminating, especially as I see it happening to millions of Americans..being sold on a man who has made a living conning people out of their money, and trust.

You HATE Trump!!!

I recently had someone on Twitter tell me “you hate Trump” in a discussion on his use of #EminentDomain to attempt to force an elderly widow, Vera Coking, from her family home.

No, I don’t hate Trump.

I see a successful businessman who appears to have raised a great group of kids, married to a nice wife, and is willing to put himself through a grinder in pursuit of the presidency. He raises great issues, and appears to have a great ear for what the people say. He claims to be a Christian, and while its not apparent in his walk or words, I pray that he is.

So, how can I possibly say that, and hate the man?

Well then, if I don’t hate him, what is my problem with Trump?

His tactics.

They suggest that he is willing to do things that are “less than ethical” at best, and “unethical” perhaps.

Take for example, the home of Vera Coking and Trump pressuring local authorities (that he had contributed to) to condemn her home and give it to his casino for a valet parking lot.

I understand Trump wanting that property. I understand his frustration when Coking refused to sell it. Sometimes, you just can’t get what you want. But he didn’t stop there. He went to the local authorities (who he had written big checks to) and demanded one of those favors he has talked about publicly. THAT is where he crossed the line from ethical to unethical.

Now, his supporters say “Hey, Eminent domain is a given.. you need it to build bridges or freeways”. Yes, I agree. But you DON’T use it to seize private property and give it to another person for private profit.

But Kelo said its OK.

Ya, and SCOTUS said its OK to murder a baby in the womb. SCOTUS is not God. They make mistakes, and Kelo was one. The idea that because a casino owner will pay higher taxes constitutes a “benefit to the community”, opens the door to government confiscation also known as “Communism”. Think about it. If his higher profits lead to higher taxes and that is good, why not seize the casino and take 100% of the profits? The community would really gain from that!!

“The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing any Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory.”   —Justice Sandra Day O’Connor

OK..do you get it?

And the “birther” ploy. Even Trump admitted the only reason he raised it was because Cruz was beating him in the polls. I have more on that issue in my other blog. Establishment Assault on Ted Cruz. Bottom line, Trump knew it was a non-issue, but he also knew that throwing it out would cause confusion and reduce Cruz support in Iowa. Not exactly what one calls an ethical decision.

So, do I hate Donald Trump? No. Do I respect him? Not so much. Would I vote for him? Doubtful.

 

#Establishment Assault on Ted Cruz

We all know @TedCruz has been an anti-establishment candidate since he first ran as a #TeaParty candidate back in 2012 on a platform of smaller-government, repealing ObamaCare, and returning our nation to its #Constitutional imperative as defined by the founding fathers and followed through via the Amendment process.

We all know that the Democratic Party is aligned with socialists via unions and “progressive” corporate donors and environmental socialist organizations.

We all can see the #GOPe is aligned with global corporations and funded by foreign governments through those global corporations feeding millions into PACs.

So, Ted has been doing well by reaching out to the grass-roots. A true grassroot campaign that has its share of wealthy donors, but also over 700,000 citizen donors.

How does the #Establishment handle that?

First and foremost, they use their allies in the globally owned, corporate media which includes even “Fair and Balanced” Fox News. How do they do it?

Let’s take the “Birther” issue raised by Donald Trump. Originally, Trump said “There is no issue, Ted Cruz is a Natural Born Citizen” and he was right.

Art 2 Clause 5 of the US Constitution requires that a president must be a “Natural Born Citizen” but does not explicitly define it. Ted Cruz was born to a US citizen in Calgary Canada..so does this raise doubts? No. US law has two kinds of citizens. Natural born citizens, and Naturalized citizens. Ted Cruz has been a US Citizen since birth. That makes him a Natural Born Citizen.

But, was this the “Natural Born Citizen” intended by the founders in Art 2 Clause 5?

Well, two years after they ratified the US Constitution, those same founders who particpated in the 1st congress passed the Naturalization Act of 1790. In that act, they explicitly declared “..children born of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond sea, or outside the limits of the United States shall be considered as natural born citizens…”

Clearly, any reading of “original intent” would have to conclude that Ted Cruz is qualified for the presidency.

But when Ted’s poll numbers in Iowa showed him to be leading, Trump admitted during the debate that his concern was based on “you’re beating me in the polls”. So, with that admission in place, the #Establishment media would immediately scorn and mock any further efforts to use this as a campaign issue, right?

No. Instead, they continued to run it as if it was a legitimate issue. Despite numerous scholarly articles articulating the absurdity of Trump’s claims, they treated it as if it were worth repeating..over and over and over again.

Now, the Iowa caucuses complete, we have a new example of the same establishment press working against Cruz and for Trump and Marco Rubio.

A Ben Carson campaign member, un-named and not investigated by the #MSM declared on the day of the caucus that Ben was “leaving for Florida and not returning to campaign in New Hampshire or South Carolina”. CNN broke the story at 4:45pm on the East Coast.

A Rubio spokesman tweeted out shortly thereafter that Carson was leaving and delegates should consider moving over to Rubio. A Cruz campaign email went out repeating the CNN report close to verbatim (without commentary).

For a week since this happened, the #MSM has gone after Cruz for “dirty politics” and that phrase has been stuck all over him by multiple news outlets. Nobody looked into the factuality of Carson’s denials even though he subsequently cut 50% of his staff. Nobody looked for the leaker. Nobody assigned this “dirty politics” label to Rubio, whose camp first repeated the story with embellishment. And Donald (#GOPe henchman) Trump continues to run the false attack on Cruz without challenge by the media. And note, he also does not go after Rubio for the earlier report put out by Rubio supporters.

So, bottom line.. if you are opposed to the #CronyCapitalism being proffered by the #GOPe and support the US Constitution, you are going to have to pay close attention and avoid getting manipulated by the @FoxNews and #MSM #Establishment. They are going full throttle to bring @TedCruz down.