Making America REALLY Great Again
My friend and colleague Vince offers some thoughts about the upcoming election, how we can be making America really great again.
I’ve often wished I could write something that could go out in a “viral” manner, and have a mass audience for an issue that I feel passionate about.
October Surprises
And after hearing about what could only be termed as Hillary Clinton’s “October Surprise” to Donald Trump, the leaked video purporting to feature Mr Trump making vulgar comments regarding a certain woman or women, and his subsequent apology for comments such as are heard on the leaked video, I felt disappointed about it, but also understanding of what is really going on here.
Certainly also, after hearing many Republican leaders including RNC chairman Reince Priebus, denouncing Mr Trump and some calling for him to withdraw from the race, I am both angered and more passionate than ever about this issue, because many of you are missing the point.
Condemnation?
First, I need to say that as a practicing Messianic Jew, I certainly don’t condone Mr Trump’s comments at all. However, I understand the nature of sin which from time to time grips EVERY man and tempts us as men to give in to sexual sin. We are human. We are made with free will, free choice to either worship and serve our Creator, or defy our Creator’s will and give into the temptation of all nature of sin, including sexual sin.
There is not one man alive, who has not faced this same temptation. And likewise, with the exception of Yeshua (Jesus), who faced temptation, never succumbed to it, and was found faultless, there is not one man who ever lived, who can honestly say he has never thought, said or done some type of sexual sin, even if only just once. The epidemic of the use of pornography, even among my Christian brothers, is proof of how easily we men can be led astray into sexual sin.
Making the Point
As a parallel to my point, I was reported recently that Trey Pearson of Christian singing group Everyday Sunday, has “come out” as gay. While some may have condemned him for a lifestyle choice which is, truthfully, opposed to Biblical principles, there was no serious outcry from the Christian community against him for his lifestyle choice. There are two likely reasons for this.
One reason for this lack of outcry from the church may be that Christians generally have the mindset to forgive sin, as we ourselves have experienced forgiveness; and as the saying goes, to “love the sinner and hate the sin.” The other, and unfortunately much more likely reason, is that the church is sleeping – a growing number of professed Christians in America are numb to the sin occurring around us. They are, consciously or unconsciously, diluting G-d’s Word to make it mold into society, rather than molding society by G-d’s Word.
So it is with Donald Trump. While we may speak out against WHAT he said, we should also be keenly aware that he, like all of us, are sinners of equal caliber, requiring forgiveness for sin, and seeking reconciliation. Will he act on that offer of forgiveness and actually act in a godly manner? That would remain to be seen.
The Moral Double Standard
But are Americans just howling in outcry at Trump’s comments because of who made them, someone who wants votes from Americans and will say anything to get them? Is it evidence of a moral double-standard that we condemn someone else for the same sins we commit? Have we as a nation and a society, become so numb to vulgarity, violence, and dishonesty that we simply wink at it when such things are seen to be committed by a politician we have thrown our support behind?
I openly and publicly challenge every one of you men, including Mr Obama, Mr Priebus, and other political and celebrity figures, who have condemned Mr Trump for his reported comments, to admit that each of you have, at some time in your life, said, thought, or done something similar – or worse – than what Mr Trump is reported to have said and done.
All Have Sinned
Where and how is the condemnation proper? All of us have sinned. ALL OF US. Even you women who may condemn Mr Trump, must admit that, like us men, you have said, thought, or done something that would be considered by your Creator to be sexual sin. As a medical provider, I have worked alongside hundreds of women in my career thus far, and I can tell you some of the comments I’ve heard from the lips of women, rival or exceed the vulgarity that Mr Trump is reported to have said.
None of you reading this can deny it to yourselves. You may well get on your high horse and claim to others that you’ve never done, thought, or said anything like this, but you cannot deny it to yourself; to try is to not only be lying to yourself, but also digging your hole deeper in the face of your Creator. If you are human, you have done this, you have sinned.
This is why Yeshua said that he who is without sin may cast the first stone. You may want to be picking up your political stones to cast at Donald Trump, but when you decide to be honest with yourself, you MUST drop that stone and walk away, if all you are trying to do is show him as a sinner and liar and avoid the same scrutiny on your own life.
Reservations
So it is with caution that I would initially accept the apology that Mr Trump offered, with reservations. He is a politician, and American society and political history is rife with sincere-sounding apologies from people, including sports players, politicians, business leaders, and others in the public eye, who make such statements only to get a specific reaction, shield themselves from some consequence, or gain votes.
But we can’t get inside peoples’ heads and foreknow their motives. All we can do is observe their actions, and thus make a judgment about whether or not their apologies were sincere.
Trump’s challenge now will be to live up to that apology and act responsibly. If he fails, it would be reasonable to assume that his apology wasn’t sincere after all, and that his heart and his behavior that was witnessed on the leaked video hadn’t changed.
But this is not the end of the story. As I inferred earlier, it is perfectly clear that this video clip would never have come to the surface had it not been for one who openly shakes her fist at G-d, proudly lies about her past sins without remorse, and, like many career politicians, has convinced hundreds of people to do her bidding to further a self-serving agenda.
I speak of course, of Hillary Clinton.
Hillary
Where Mr Trump appeared to bare his sorrow to America (again, his actions will show if his apology was sincere), Mrs Clinton continues to defy the spirit of the living G-d, lying to Him, the American public, and worst of all, herself, about her words and actions, and her intentions for an Oval Office seat.
If I enumerated every lie, half-truth, and evil intention that Mrs Clinton fully expects Americans to sheepishly accept, you could be reading this for a very long time. Other more well-known writers have made such comprehensive lists, so I don’t feel the need to repeat their work.
But we all need to understand two things about this supposed Trump “scandal”.
It is both offered and timed to attempt to damage Mr Trump’s chances in the 2016 election, which (let’s face it) is what every “October Surprise” is intended to do. Whether this in fact happens will be decided in November, by those who (however you view his rhetoric) are energized or mesmerized by his campaign.
Also, in the light of truth, it is only a reminder that all of us, including our leaders, celebrities and public figures, are human and are prone to sin and wrongdoing. In this understanding, the fact that Mrs Clinton persistently lies about herself and her actions, is no better or worse than Mr Trump saying at one time that as a celebrity, he found it easy to be fawned over by some women and thinking out loud about giving into that temptation – and perhaps even actually giving in.
There is no degree of sin to G-d; there is no “mortal” or “venial” sin here – all sin, no matter what it is, is still sin, and we are all, every one of us, guilty of sin and worthy of the punishment for sin.
Guessing The Future
But here is a difference between the two candidates.
Trump at least made an apology public. Clinton has never apologized for anything she said or did that was clearly wrong.
While we can’t foreknow the future, from the rhetoric and from the history of these two people, we can make a guess at what a Trump presidency may look like, if he would hold true to traditional conservative values. Our religious rights and convictions would be respected. Freedoms of religious expression would be upheld. America’s economy could continue to grow and we may be able to maintain and increase our efforts in providing for those less fortunate than ourselves in other countries desperate for help. While we would seek to promote Americans, American jobs and ideals as primary, we would welcome others properly. No one race or ethnicity would be seen as superior to any other.
Headfirst Slide Into Hell
Likewise, we can guess at what a Clinton presidency may mean. A Clinton presidency may result in the erosion of our religious freedoms, forcing people to reject their religious beliefs to satisfy the whims and desires of an extremist homosexual agenda intent on squelching voices who stand in opposition to their lifestyle. It may continue and make worse the murder of countless innocent unborn lives. A Clinton presidency may well restrict our freedoms of speech, free press, religion, bearing arms in self- and family-protection. It may erode our rights as parents to raise our children as we see fit. We may also see a worsening of the racial tensions stirred up by Mr and Mrs Obama.
I will be brutally blunt in saying that Mr Trump is no angel, no savior, no perfect man. By the same token, Mrs. Clinton is not a queen, she is not a god, she cannot even be considered a great politician. We don’t know at this point exactly what a Trump presidency would bring or take away from this country, or whether four years from now, we’d be better or worse off under such a firebrand. But we do know from past experience what America would look like after four years of a Clinton presidency, and as a person of faith, that truly scares me.
We don’t know exactly what Mr Trump will do if he becomes president, because he’s never held office before. We can guess based on his rhetoric, his own history, and the caliber of the people who support him. Based on all of that, a Trump presidency would certainly not be perfect, likely problematic but perhaps no more so than others in the past, but it may be better than some anticipate.
What concerns me is what we can assume Mrs Clinton would do if she becomes president, because she has held political office previously. And as such, she has presided over and had a significant role in the murder of Americans at Benghazi. She had a significant role in the rise of the worst terrorist scourge in world history, and the enabling of the worst state sponsor of terrorism on the planet. Add to this the ongoing corruption leading to massive email deletions, her lies about her mishandling of American secrets, among the myriad of other scandalous concerns. She’s never apologized or gave sufficient explanation for any of this.
Lesser of Two Evils
Fellow Americans, in 2016, we’re certainly not getting a clear-cut “good vs evil” choice here, but honestly, have we really ever had that, where one candidate is pure evil and the other is as holy as a saint?
Several times in our history as a nation, we have been given a choice of what can only be called a “lesser of two evils”. The choice in this election is certainly that.
Each party has given us clear indications over the last 10 years or so, of the direction in which they want to lead this country. The Democrat party has made it perfectly clear that they want represent those who want to restrict religious freedoms, continue the wholesale and rampant murder of innocent unborn lives, and force acceptance of alternative lifestyle viewpoints by eliminating the rights of those who do not agree with them.
As a person of faith, I certainly have a number of reservations about the candidate that my party has chosen this time. He was not my choice, but our political system leaves us with the candidate of Donald Trump. As the chosen representative of the Republican party, he may be the “lesser of two evils”, which would offer the better chance to turn this country from the headfirst slide into Hell that it is taking, and maybe, just maybe, turn it around to what it once was, a nation blessed by G-d, to whom the peoples of the world looked up to with respect.
How To Make America REALLY Great Again
But all of this starts with each of us admitting to ourselves that we are, in our own ways, just as much guilty of sin as Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. We must see ourselves as the sinners that we are, and seek that forgiveness from our G-d and each other… and truly repent of our sinful ways, deciding to live truthful, respectful, and honorable lives. Only then can this country be once more blessed beyond measure, and respected by the people of the world.
We should not see “make America great again” as a cute campaign slogan, but rather at an opportunity to bring our country back from the brink of that headlong slide into Hell, and restore a sense of godliness in our country – that is what should truly be meant by “Make America Great Again.” G-d himself told us how:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)
