God and Politics
Why get involved in politics?
- I have successfully ignored politics for much of my life, tuning in only for elections. Over the last couple years, in a perfect parallel to my spiritual awakening, I have been awakened to politics. I have been led into an understanding of some of the agendas playing out in front of us; Some of what the Devil is doing to deceive us; and some of what God is doing to set us up for success.
- There are many aspects and multiple layers to our political system, and they are all interconnected. If you look at this stuff from a couple of different perspectives, you can start to see some of the processes at work, some of the principles that guide those processes, and some of the consequences we get when the principles are violated.
- One challenge with politics is that our physical world has become so corrupt, convoluted, and distorted that many of the issues plainly visible on the surface serve as distractions to keep us from discovering and addressing the more powerful systemic issues working at a deeper level.
- I have come to appreciate just how critical those principle are to our success or demise as a country.
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This country was founded on basic Judeo/Christian values, our God given individual unalienable rights to Equality and Liberty, and the principles of freedom of choice and individual accountability. To the extent that we embody these values, respect these rights, and follow these principles we prosper. As we erode the values, impose on the rights, or violate the principles we struggle and suffer.
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There is a sense of urgency: If we don’t get on a better path soon, there will be no path out.
Politics involves God moving in a nation of his children
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” (Romans 13:1
“…if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ( 2 Chronicles 7 )
God invested heavily in creating the United States
- There are dozens of well documented miracles which occurred during the founding of the United States.
- (summarize a few of them )
- <<< Click here to see references >>> (add ref page and link it)
The United States is a unique experiment and involves a covenant with God
- In most prior countries, the church played a dominant role in government, either as the direct ruling authority, or as a dominant voice in policy due to its position as a significant landholder.
- The US was the first place on earth where individual freedom was guaranteed as a God given right.
- The US constitution declares God-given rights to be self evident: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- The bill of rights further clarifies some of the specific rights:
- Freedoms of Religion, Speech, the Press, and to peaceably assemble and protest
- Freedom to Bear Arms
- Protection from search and seizure
- Assurance of due process and a speedy trial
- Protection from excessive punishment
Individual liberty is a really big deal
- Individual Liberty corresponds to Free Will in God’s grand design
- Free will is essential for our spiritual growth
- Individual Liberty is essential for our personal development and growth
- Individual Liberty enables individual businesses to respond to emerging needs and grow based on good decisions
- Individual Liberty enables entire economies to prosper and grow
- Individual Liberty enables our government to react to evolving needs by voting in representatives who are responsive to those needs
- ANY constraint on Individual Liberty is a limit on the potential good that can be done and must be imposed very carefully
- ANY un-elected government officials create risk and must be installed with some form of review/check/balance
- <<<< Click here for more discussion >>>
We are in a Civil War, The hard Left against everyone else.
- Several myths being propagated
- This country is evil because it was founded on slavery
- Capitalism is fundamentally flawed – despite the fact that it has bee the driving force raising the world out of poverty
- Our entire structure is built on White supremacy and must be disassembled
- The Progressive left has consumed the Democratic party
- Everything has shifted left.
- Liberals have viewed as conservatives
- Conservatives are viewed as Alt -right
- Violent
- Left <summarize>
- Add link
Collectivism is a destructive threat
- Collectivism: Noun – the practice or principle of giving a group priority over each individual in it.
- Individuals are only important as part of a groups to which they are assigned.
- Rich/Poor, Man/Woman, White/Black, Gay/Straight, Educated/Uneducated, Tall/Short, etc
- The group is characterized by its loudest or most powerful voice whether the voice is rational or not.
- Individuals cannot think for themselves or hold opinions apart from the group.
- Input from any individual outside the group is dismissed as irrelevant because they have no experience in the group.
- Individuals inside the group who speak out or act counter to the established group voice are a threat. They are discredited and dismissed; verbally, physically, and violently if necessary.
- Collectivism is highly vulnerable to systemic problems
- Group think – People are willing to go along with the group even if their opinion or experience is not aligned
- The illusion of invulnerability – Overly confident that they have the right solution
- Internal voices are discouraged from raising controversial topics, and no external voices are considered
- Dehumanizing those outside the group
- Viewing an outside group as a threat to your group allows otherwise moral people to justify violent actions against individuals in that group. ex: Germany exterminating Jews,
- Collectivist philosophy is a significant threat to continued viability of the United States
- <<< Click here to see references >>> (add ref page and link it)
Progressive initiatives create Regressive results
- You can tell the nature of a tree by its fruit…look for the poor results then work back to the falsity
- Introduction of genetical male transgender athletes into womans sports in the name of inclusion is destroying it. It is well intentioned but ignors the truth that men are genetically different than woman.
- Creating safe spaces, like segregated dorms on campus is undoing 50 years of integration and normalization progress
God put all our leaders in place – Love them, Pray for them.
- Most of us know the golden rule:
- “Do unto others as you would have them do to you “(Matthew 7:12)
- Many even know the second of the great commandments:
- “Love thy neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31).
- It can be a challenge to overcome our own self-centered interest and begin to think and act in the interest of others; It is even harder to do so when they may not be aligned with your way of thinking or you see them working against your interest. The Lord is explicit in this case as well:
- “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28).
- This applies not only to those in your immediate sphere of interest, it includes people in elected and un-elected positions of authority. Believe it or not, God put each one of them there for a reason; even if we can not always see it or fully understand it.
- “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” (Romans 13:1)
- If you “hate” Pres Trump or “despise” Sen Kamala or Speaker Nancy or any one else in a leadership position, please reflect on your emotions.
- Please pray for each of our leaders to have wisdom and lead this country forward into God’s plan of prosperity.
- “Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.” (Psalms 2:10-11)
- Pray that the evil agendas working to divide us and undermine this great country become revealed and are defeated.
- Our nation will rise again only when we as its members repent, and overcome the evil forces at work to undermine it.
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- “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” ( 2 Chronicles 7).
- We each play a part in our own destiny and the destiny of our country.
- Repent on your own ways, Pray for ALL of our leaders, Pray for our country. Pray to bring glory to the Father by our actions.
- May God bless the USA.
- <<< Click here to see references >>> (add ref page and link it)
How do you cut through typical arguments and yelling and get to a discussion
- Arguing from position of authority – PHD xyz says abc so it must be true… you can’t possibly understand
- Binary question – Asserting a question with an implied narrative and dismissing you if you do not accept the entire narrative
- Do you believe in climate change? (implying the entire narrative: it is existential threat, we have 10 years, mankind is driving it, the US must rework everything immediately, the govt is the only body who can possibly do it) If you say no or question any element of the narrative you are dismissed as a science denier. The best way to approach this is to reframe the question: Lets break this down: Do i believe that the climate is changing – yes, Is it normal for the climate to change – yes, Are we driving the current change – some of it, but not clear how much,
- Book: Tipping points : How to topple the Left’s house of cards – by Liz Wheeler
Additional Resources
- He has connected me with some amazing resources. I am highlighting only a few of my favorites here:
- Jordan Peterson – Psychologist, author, speaker working to reverse the damage already done by the left
- Candace Owens – Articulate activist working to release the black community from the bonds of modern leftist plantation
- PragerU – Library of short videos addressing current political hot topics
- Liz Wheeler – Articulate author and broadcaster working to expose radical left
- Denish D’Souza – Conservative movie producer, writer, public speaker working to debunk the left
- Emmanuel Swedenborg – amazing insight into spiritual world – watch this 101 video