The State of the Union Address 2018 Reveals Trump's Heart

Before the State of the Union Address, I considered some of the glaring contrasts between Trump's first year in office and Obama's eight.  Here is just a sampling:

• Trump worked to restore America; Obama sought to destroy our great nation.
• Trump's actions helped stimulate the economy while Obama told Americans to just adjust to the economic downturn, for Obama's economy was as good as it would ever get.
• Trump restored relationships with America's allies while taking a firm stand against those who threaten our security.  He freed up our military to defeat most of ISIS. Obama, on the other hand, expressed hatred, disdain, disrespect for America's allies while pretending to negotiate with terrorists. Obama and Hillary armed and illegally funded terrorist groups and built up Iran's nuclear capacity. Meanwhile those same terrorist groups killed and/or raped both our people and our assets.
• Trump defended the right to life for our most precious and innocent children while Obama promoted and significantly expanded federal funding of the murder of millions via abortion.
• Trump sought to shrink the government while Obama grew it far beyond the founding fathers' worst nightmare.
• Trump significantly decreased the deficit within his first year in office; Obama raised the national debt more than all previous presidents combined.
• Trump acknowledges that America was established under God and for His glory and attributes our greatness to God's goodness. Meanwhile, Obama continues to hate and blaspheme the Almighty.
• Trump upholds freedom and the American dream. Obama pushed for a socialist state in which each person depends upon the government for everything, even their own thoughts.
• Trump's leadership helped dramatically decrease unemployment, which especially benefited hard-working minorities and women, resulting in the lowest unemployment rate for blacks in United States history. Conversely, Obama paid states to increase their welfare doles to ensure government dependence while suppressing GDP, job creation, and innovation and crushing the human spirit by depriving gifted Americans of the dignity, self-respect,  and confidence that meaningful work brings.
• Trump put more money back into the pockets of hardworking taxpayers and brought back tremendous investment to the United States. Obama robbed every taxpayer to put money in the pockets of corrupt cronies and into the coffers of those who hate freedom.
• Trump has sought to uphold the Constitution while Obama strove to dismantle it.

After the State of the Union Address (SOTU), there is much that could be said about Trump's awesome speech, which may very well be the most inspiring SOTU in my lifetime (or at least on par with Reagan's), but instead, I just want to point out one key takeaway from his speech that gives me the most hope.

With this speech, Trump revealed his heart. Trump may be rough around the edges and speak his mind without a filter, but there is no longer any doubt now that he loves America. He loves Americans of every economic, social, ethnic/racial, political, and religious background and wants to do whatever brings about the most good for them. He loves the faith and values upon which America was founded and understands that America and all she represents would come crashing down if those foundations are shaken or removed. Trump loves liberty and all who seek it and preserve it. 

Source:  The Federalist https://goo.gl/images/LXHxJ3

All the hatred, vitriol, slander, false accusations, illegal spying, attempted set-ups, and constant, coordinated attacks to bring him down have not hindered his love or stopped him from pursuing that which is good for America. These attacks would be an enormous distraction for anyone else and have surely kept him from accomplishing much more, but none of those assaults ever seem to stick to Trump because they are hurled out of hatred which is no match for love.

We can have hope because our wrecking ball POTUS loves America more than he loves himself. And he is inspiring American dreamers to also overcome hatred with love, to build each other up when the haters try to tear us down, to defeat fear by holding on to faith, to come together when the haters try to tear us apart, to rise to greatness instead of bowing to statists, and to stop obsessing over what others may think of us and simply do what is right.

Trump is a unique and complicated package with traits we like and those we find repulsive, but let us not forget that the greatest of all these qualities is love. Love conquers all.

If the foundations are removed

Massive earthquakes around the world have shown us the destruction that comes when the foundations are shaken. We know the foundation is the most important design element of any building. So imagine what would happen if the foundations of a nation were not just shaken but completely removed.

America was founded upon faith and total dependence upon God for the purpose of spreading His truth and giving Him glory. Stacked upon this core foundational layer are common moral law, rooted in the Bible, and preservation of life, liberty, and the rule of law. These are what uphold our nation and keep us united.

 

The new progressive movement sweeping through our country has one primary goal which is to completely remove America's foundations. The result will be America's great downfall, and we've seen harbingers of this coming calamity over the past 30+ years (9/11 was a big one) warning us to repent and rebuild our crumbling foundations upon God. The largest financiers (George Soros & his Open Society Foundation) and proponents (Obama and the Clintons) of this progressive, leftist movement know precisely what the outcome will be and have followed Saul Alinsky's playbook exactly to ensure America's downfall.

Wake up, America!  Repent before it's too late.

Drain the Swamp the Way Judge Aquilina Sentenced Nasser

Nasser is surely one of the most depraved and wicked men on earth, and we all rejoice that he has now been locked up for life where he cannot abuse another child.  However, key questions must still be addressed following his sentencing:

• How was he allowed to do this for so long to so many people?
• How could so many university officials, gymnastic club owners/operators, coaches, and the entire USAG administration continue to cover-up and dismiss all the allegations and evidence brought against him year after year?
• Why wouldn't anyone speak up for the children he violated?

At least 159 women that we know of could have been spared his horrific abuses if his first victim had been heard and justice meted. Yet, cover-ups, concealment, flat out refusal to call evil what it is, or the inability of hardened hearts to even discern the difference between right from wrong are the norm in our post-Christian culture that preaches moral relativism and tolerance for all that is harmful and profane. Victims are silenced, and justice is withheld simply to protect one's reputation and powerful position or for cash bribes.

The Nasser case got a lot of publicity and should embolden survivors to speak out while catapulting the nation's willingness to listen and to demand justice for abusers. I pray it will ignite investigations and prosecutions of those who aid, abet, and protect pedophiles & other felons with judges rendering punishments fully befitting the crime. Dear Lord, may this case prompt swift and effective action to stop and prevent the abuse of our nation's precious children.

While I would never want to minimize the suffering of any of Nasser’s victims, the way that case was handled provides a powerful example of how other cases of abuse and injustice should be addressed so as to significantly curb and prevent future corruption which brings national calamity.

Other instances of selfishly motivated abuses of power and position have also continued for well over 30 years, resulting in far more victims and plenty of long-term damage. Illegal activities by an unaccountable elite in the highest positions of power have resulted in decades of painful consequences, some of which include:

• the loss of countless innocent lives
• the slaughter of patriots & local heroes
• numerous cold-blooded murders masked as “suicide”
• multiple rapes
• suspected child abuse/trafficking
• severe compromise of national security
• economic disaster
• evil regimes gassing their own people
• massive funding of terrorist activities
• large-scale expansion of nuclear weapon capacity by enemy nations (Iran & N. Korea)
• the decimation of national morality and the rule of law
• compromised, dishonest justice departments (FBI & DOJ)
• the rigging of elections at the highest level

Until these wicked, unlawful deeds are called out for what they really are and until justice is meted to the fullest extent of the law at the highest offices in the land as we saw with the Larry Nasser case, the number of victims & damage will only continue to multiply exponentially.

Rachel Denhollander kept asking during her impact statement, “How much is a little child worth?” So I ask, “How much is America worth? How much is our freedom, our security, our military, our children, our heroes, and each and every citizen worth?”

"20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,
who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
22 Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine and champions at mixing drinks,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.
24 Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty
and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." (Isaiah 5:20-24)

#DraintheSwamp #ReleasetheMemo #Prison #theTruthwillSetUSfree #justiceforall

45th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade: My Story

Forty-five years ago today, the United States Supreme Court decided that a woman's right to privacy was more important than an innocent child's right to life. Thankfully, this teenager pictured here, who was carrying me in her womb at the time of the Roe v. Wade ruling, thought differently. She would have gladly lain down her own life to save mine.

Her mother abused her (and then me); her father rejected us; my birth father abandoned us; and the corrupt United Way sponsored maternity home deceived and mistreated her. The road for her was never easy, but He sustained, protected, nurtured, strengthened, comforted, provided, healed, and restored us both in supernatural ways that proclaim His marvelous sovereignty, goodness, and love.

Not only did she choose life for me, but she also chose to take the biggest risk of her life to selflessly give me the very best life imaginable. She entrusted me into the hands of Abba Father who then placed me into the perfect family for me, just as He had planned since the beginning. My precious parents had been waiting for a daughter for over five years. Did you know that there are at least 36 families waiting to adopt for every one child that is placed for adoption? So many families are waiting, yet Planned Parenthood, which claims to be "pro-choice", tells their clients/victims that killing the baby is a woman's only choice. They never present adoption as a loving option.  Yet, in my birth mother's case and so many others', adoption is without a doubt the most loving option.

The parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14–30) instructs us not to bury our treasure or invest it in only a little.  God calls us to invest the gifts He entrusts us with in that which requires the most faith but yields the greatest returns.  I am eternally grateful for the unconditional love poured out and for the huge sacrifices made by both my birth mom and my parents for me which yielded the greatest rewards. Such love testifies that life is sacred, for all life and love come from the God who never errs.

But as amazing as all that is to me, it is still just a tiny glimmer of the radiant love God has for each of us. God also gave up His child, His only Son, not to give Him a better life, but to save all mankind. God loves us so much He sent His only Son to take upon Himself the sins of all mankind so He could fully pay the penalty our sins deserve in our place, so that we could be justified, redeemed, restored, and made new.

He desires a deeply personal relationship with each of us. So He made a way to adopt each one of us into His family forever. Just as I now have a new name, a new identity, a new resemblance, and a new inheritance through adoption into my earthly family, God offers infinitely more to those who choose to be adopted as His very own children. As we grow in our relationship with Him and in our love for Him, we will begin to resemble Him. As His children, we take on a new name, beloved child of the King of Kings. In Him, we get to partake of all that He is. The Lord God is perfect and infinite in love, joy, peace, patience, knowledge, wisdom, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, truth, grace, hope, justice, forgiveness, and mercy. To choose Him is to choose life. To choose anything else is to choose death, darkness, and eternal separation from Him and from all that He is.

Choose Life!  Choose Christ!

Two Different Marches

Two different groups of people held marches this weekend. The March for Life was held on Friday, and the Women's March took place on Saturday.

The theme of the the first march was "love saves lives." The theme or motivating force behind the other was hate.

The first celebrated life; the second celebrated the right to kill one's own children with continued insistence that taxpayers pay for the dismemberment, no matter how much their religious and moral convictions may oppose the shedding of innocent blood.

The first march unified; the second march divided.

One sang hymns of praise; the other sang obscenities.

One group humbled themselves in prayer to God. The other group blasphemed His holy name.

One group marched selflessly for those who have no voice, deriving no personal benefit whatsoever. The other demanded free stuff (sanitary napkins, birth control, abortion, special entitlements, salary increases based on gender instead of merit, etc.) for themselves.

One group clothed themselves in pink hats resembling the female anatomy which should be kept private. The other group clothed themselves with "compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience".

One group accepted everyone who valued love and life. The other only accepted those who hate what progressives hate.

One group has steadily grown in numbers for the past 45 years. The other had approximately 50% fewer participants this year than they had the first year, which was just last year.

One inspired hope; the other stirred up bitterness.

One group represented me, both as a woman and as the product of an unplanned pregnancy. The other is the antithesis of all that I am and was created to be.

Perspectives on the Immigration Debate for a Country Set Apart

Call me a fool if you wish, but I am not convinced Trump used the language he was accused of when speaking of Haiti or other suffering nations because the accusation was made by one who has repeatedly lied about similar types of conversations before, because others in the room testified to not hearing him say it, and because he denied it. However, given remarks he has made in the past, I can certainly understand why people would believe that he said it. I find the remark repulsive if he said it, but I do not see it as a racist attack on the natives of those countries at all. The people who live there are beautiful, intelligent, gifted, and infinitely valuable, made in the image of God. We are no better than they are, and Trump has said as much when speaking of the dignity and sacredness of ALL mankind.

But their countries ARE cesspools, not because of the color of their people's skin or on anything the general population has done, but rather, based on what a few corrupt elite government officials have done to their good people and to their beautiful land.

America is (or was established to be) different. The Constitution sets up plenty of checks on power to ensure that we don't get to that point. Of course, those checks assume that those elected into office possess similar values, morality, and common sense as those upon which our nation was founded.

Books have been written about the many uncanny similarities between the U.S. and Israel and how their history is playing out again in the U.S. to the precise detail. Thus, it is instructive to look at Israel's history so we can learn from their good choices and from their mistakes. It is wise to look at the laws God gave Israel to sustain, grow, and preserve their nation as a nation under Yahweh, set apart for Him. Foreigners were welcomed by individuals in that culture with tremendous hospitality, and we in America, especially those of us who follow Christ, are each personally responsible for providing for those in need and for welcoming our guests with great hospitality and friendship, regardless of our guest's country of origin or citizenship status. The Lord clearly commanded them not to oppress "strangers" (legal immigrants) in their land*.  All human life has dignity and deserves respect. But from a national policy perspective, God instructed foreigners who lived in Israel to assimilate and to follow many of their laws. God gave His chosen nation many protective restrictions to prevent them from becoming like the surrounding nations. They were to be set apart and to be a light and a blessing to all the world. That blessing was part of God's covenant to Abraham.

Similarly, the U.S. was established on Judeo-Christian values, as a nation set apart "for God's glory and the advancement of the Christian faith" (Mayflower Compact), to be a light of freedom and blessing for the entire world, to uphold the truth "that all men are created equal", and to preserve each person's God given "unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." (Declaration of Independence)

Sadly, there are people around the world with a very different worldview who do not share our values. They hate America, the liberty she offers, and her people. They rape our people and our prosperity while mocking us mercilessly. They come here not to assimilate, contribute, nor build up, but rather to overthrow, to disrespect and disobey our laws, to torture, and to destroy.

While there may be plenty of good motives driving individuals who advocate for full amnesty, the DNC's political strategy on immigration isn't based on love or compassion for the foreigner at all, but rather on self-interest. They want to let in anyone and everyone, without concern over what those people will take from us or do to us, because they expect their loose immigration platform to buy these immigrants' votes and the votes of all their descendants for many generations. Such a strategy is actually far more disrespectful than common sense immigration laws because it assumes these immigrants are uneducated, illiterate, and too lazy or unable to think through policy issues and ramifications of each platform logically, critically, and morally for themselves or for the greater common good. It lowers immigrants to the position of "useful idiots" instead of valuing them as equals.

Interestingly, some of the brightest, most articulate, most thoughtful, and most patriotic people I know are legal immigrants who oppose everything the DNC represents, and they are fighting for improved vetting (as opposed to chain migration and unsystematic lotteries) because they don't want America to turn into the same type of cesspool, controlled by greedy tyrants, which they fled. The DNC doesn't care. They just want more votes, so they can have more power. But the other side in this debate loves America, and they love all the diverse and/or hurting people around the world. They want freedom loving people of any ethnicity to always have a place to run to for safety, liberty, truth, hope, and the opportunity to become all the good Lord calls them to be. If America gives into these progressive demands, there will be nowhere else to run.

Here is just one example taken from Andrew Klavan's well written article, "Of Crudeness and Truth" showing what we will become if we cave to leftist ideology and sacrifice our identity as a nation set apart for truth, justice, and liberty:

"In England, in the city of Rotherham, at least 1,400 non-Muslim girls, some as young as 11, were brutally raped by Muslim immigrants over a period of years in the 2000s. Police and other officials worked to keep the facts hidden because, according to multiple reports, they were afraid of being called racist. Think about that: police officers did not want to seem racist, so they stood by and let their city’s children be raped. The same thing goes on in other cities in England and throughout Europe. And in fact, some who have spoken out have had their careers curtailed by manufactured scandal. The message is clear: it’s just not nice to tell the truth. It’s just not done. Don’t do it."

*For a more complete Biblical analysis of this issue, I recommend:

•  What the Bible Says About Illegal Immigration
• The Use and Abuse of hte Bible in the Immigration Debate

Cultural Wars - Lesson from the Past to Guide Us in the Present

I have learned so much about modern times by reading the history of Israel & Judah from the Old Testament (which is consistent with other historical texts) and watching the same patterns playing out again and again to the smallest detail here in America. There are so many lessons to learn from both the wise choices of the past and the great mistakes which brought about their ruin.

The current polarization of worldviews we are experiencing in America is resulting in the traditional Judeo-Christian values upon which America was founded being attacked and overthrown by the progressive, moral relativism and idolatry of surrounding nations.  Similar cultural wars occurred when Ahab, Jezebel, and Joram replaced Judaism in Israel with Baal worship and when Ahaz did the same in Judah. Their reigns were followed by Jehu in Israel and Hezekiah in Judah who radically reformed their nations, overthrowing Baal worship and it's chief sacrament, child sacrifice (which is the moral equivalent to abortion today as both involve the killing of children in exchange for some expectation of convenience or increased prosperity, and abortion proponents have referred to abortion as a sacrament on more than one occasion). But then pride entered their hearts. King Hezekiah was so close to God one minute....faithful to carry out every command, leading his nation back to Yahweh by example and decree, humbly bowing in worship and writing songs of adoration, and then the next moment, pridefully taking credit for all he possessed and all he had accomplished as if he earned it by his own effort instead of acknowledging it all as a gift from the one true God. His momentary pride led to Judah's demise. Jehu was an even more complicated and contradictory figure, so his reforms did not last either. 

I highly recommend Jonathan Cahn's book The Paradigm for a detailed explanation of these parallels between Israel's history and modern American times.

I think a very important lesson to be learned from this history that is extremely applicable today in our polarized political landscape is that we most guard against both extremes:

1.  Idolatry - Worshiping the government or other human authority over us.  This form of idolatry depends upon the government (or other authoritative body) to meet all our needs and solve all our problems instead of accepting our own responsibility for ourselves, our families, our communities, the greater good, and God's specific calling each of our lives as "stewards" over the earth. There are many in positions of power, in governmental, financial, and even religious realms, who want to lord over us like gods, and they foster dependency among their subjects to maintain and build their power.
2. Pride - Worshiping oneself, i.e. trying to make America great again in our own strength, without relying on God or acknowledging that every good and perfect gift comes from Him alone

Let us not allow our focus to shift away from the only One worthy of our worship. We will never be great in any sense that matters until He is our heart's greatest desire.