Maga, Trumpvangelicals and Conspiracy Theories

 👉For awhile now I have been looking at a never ending supply of conspiracy theories and trying to figure out how and why it seemed like almost every Maga was entrenched in them. For a longer time I pondered why Trump evangelicals even exist and support such a corrupt individual.

👉I read a recent article by Ben Sasse in The Atlantic and it started to click with me. ▶️Sasse wrote: "For generations, most Americans understood themselves as children of a loving God, and all had a role to play in loving their neighbors. But today, many Americans have no role in any common story. Conspiracy theories are a substitute. Support Donald Trump and you are not merely participating in a mundane political process—that’s boring. Rather, you are waging war on a global sex-trafficking conspiracy! No one should be surprised that QAnon has found a partner in the empty, hypocritical, made-for-TV deviant strain of evangelicalism that runs on dopey apocalypse-mongering."◀️ 👉I believe its a fruit of spiritual warfare....but not good fruit: People who claim Jesus is Lord while peddling conspiracies and winking at the morally bankrupt actions of a leader with no moral compass. Christians have a foundation that is found in two important pieces:

#️⃣1) To love the Lord they God with they heart, mind and soul and 2) to love your neighbor as your self. #️⃣

Step away from that foundation and, in essence, a vacuum is created in the heart and soul of a Christian which is allowed to be filled by lies, since God is truth (John 14:6) and also the way and the life. 👉Hence, TrumpVangelicals arent really searching for truth...but are searching for an answer. Searching for "an answer" is easy. "Answers" can be a dime a dozen. If you aim at nothing you will never miss. Searching for "the truth" requires knowledge of what truth is or wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 states ▶️"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."◀️ 👉They hang on to their "religious" trappings because they have believed they are important and use them to justify the lies they are accepting. They create a sense of security. 👉As Rev 23:11 declares as the world moves closer to the end of time ▶️"Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm; let the one who is vile continue to be vile; let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously; let the one who is holy continue to be holy.” ◀️The bad thing about that is that if we are in this place in the worlds timeline that it will not get better but worse. So now is the time to seek Gods grace for ourselves and our nation. Granted it has always been that time to seek Gods grace for America..but it may be getting even more important than before.

Pro Trump Prophecies Were Wrong in 2016 Also.

 👉There are a LOT of "Christians" out there who have made prophecies they said were from God that Trump was going to win in 2020. They said God spoke to them or gave them a dream. They were wrong. I remember seeing those in 2016 and thinking that was just crazy.

👉But, they were WRONG in 2016 also. They had a 50/50 chance of getting it right and they got lucky. I have no reason to believe these self-proclaimed "prophets" were right in 2016 any more than they were right this year. The undiscerning Christian fell for them both times and not because they were true but because they wanted it to be true. There is no Biblical reason that God would have made such a prophesy then or now. There were more self proclaimed "prophets" this time around because many were emboldened by the first round. Social media enhanced that as many people put them out there for "likes" or "follows." The devotion to Trump by evangelicals who considered him a "Chosen" leader exposed their hearts.

👉The foundation for the Christian is to love the lord thy God will all thy heart and to love thy neighbor as yourself...and from that comes the fruit of our lives and the power that molds and keeps our souls from now and into eternity.

👉There are verses also that say if you continue to love a lie more than the truth..that God will release you to that lie and the end is not good.

"And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.(II Thess 2:10-12).

👉 Very simply and boldly, if you are not seeking the truth...then you are following a lie.

👉There have been some of these prophets who have recognized their major error and offered public apologies. I just hope - for their souls - they offer repentance to God. False prophecy is not something God has ever winked at. (read the entire chapter 23 of Jeremiah some time. Its not pretty.)

👉Jeremiah 23: 25-26: I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;

Josh Hawley Thinks He is Doing Gods Work

 

“We are called to take that message into every sphere of life that we touch, including the political realm. That is our charge. To take the Lordship of Christ, that message, into the public realm, and to seek the obedience of the nations. Of our nation!” --Josh Hawley told the New York Times. Hawley is a Christian Nationalist. He believes its his duty subject "the nation" to "obedience" to Christ. Except that the only method he really has to fulfill such a task would be by force. The way I see it, he is inciting insurrection but throwing religious trappings around it, which the essence of Christian Nationalism.

"Christian nationalism. When you attach the cause of cause of Christ or Christ's name to a political party or to a particular president or when you see, on the Capitol steps, the flags that say 'Jesus 2020'....I thought [to myself] that's impossible. Breaking and entering into the Capitol building-- that's not Jesus. This has hurt the cause of Christ. This has set us back. Don't we care about offending the least of these," --Seacoast Vineyard Church Lead Pastor Tommy Moore

"Christian Nationalism" is not of God. Nor is it Real Christianity in Action.

 👉God has and is using Trump to expose the stupidity and evil hearts of those who call Him Lord. "Christian Nationalism" is not of God. God demands devotion to love Him with all your heart your mind and your soul. Then to love your neighbor as yourself (even if you disagree with your neighbor).

👉The kingdom of God focuses on the advancement of the gospel. Nationalism focuses on the advancement of the politics of the nation. Politics and economics are vital and, to an extent, can represent biblical ethics. But Jesus made it clear that being committed to making disciples and seeing humanity change was more important, and a change that would be real and lasting.

👉It is also possible for a committed Christian to be a faithful witness for Jesus while serving in public life as an elected official. But anything that potentially distracts my energy and focus away from advancing the Gospel should take a backseat in my personal life and ministry.

1️⃣The kingdom of God produces loyalty to Christ above all else. Nationalism produces loyalty to the nation above all else.

2️⃣The kingdom of God produces martyrs for the cause of Christ. Nationalism produces citizens who are willing to die for their nation based simply on a political ideology.

3️⃣The kingdom of God raises the banner of Jesus above all else. Nationalism raises the national flag above all else...or based on what we saw this week, the Trump flag and even, more sadly, the Confederate flag.

4️⃣The kingdom of God promotes the interests of God above the world. Nationalism promotes the interests of the nation above the kingdom.

👉Christian Nationalism is a very dangerous dogma. When you think God is on your side and your politics is from Him...you see yourself as the smartest and the strongest person in the room. It is a dangerous faux humility.

▶️“His soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence” (Psalm 11:5). Solomon instructed us, “Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways” (Proverbs 3:31).◀️

The Only Profitable Fear

 ​J

​In spite of all the weirdness that went on in 2020...there is one fear that is profitable:

"This is what the Lord says to me with His strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people:
“Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls a conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it.
The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, He is the one you are to fear, He is the one you are to dread." -Isaiah 8:11-13

Lin Wood: Agent From Trumpville

 "I might actually be Christ coming back for a second time in the form of an imperfect man, elevating Christ consciousness." - Lin Wood

This dangerous delusion is what is driving Lin Wood.

Epstein is probably hanging out on JFK Jr's couch with Elvis:

Lin Wood is making Sidney Powell & Rudy Giuliani look like the sane ones.

Trump attorney, Lin Wood, is now attacking the character of members of SCOTUS. Clearly a Trump tactic. 😳

In the last days of Donald Trump the courts are being used as drop boxes to air conspiracy theories and political attacks.

Dec 30, 2020: Single highest one-day Covid death toll

 Single highest one-day Covid death toll in all of 2020 was yesterday. Second highest was the day before yesterday. Over seven thousand people in two days.

I dont get the popularity of the "distressed" wood look of furniture.

Growing up, this was the kind of stuff we did NOT want in our house and would end up at the dump (before they were called "landfills"). It looks to me like somebody had some old junk furniture and thought maybe they could make a buck out of it and relabeled it "distressed" and .....it too off as a trend. Somebody out there is laughing their head off about this.

Golden Calves, Dolly Parton, and Manufactured Outrage Mississippi Style

Golden Calves-Vert:
I recollect hearing as far as back when I was a kid about the Israelites making a golden calf in order to worship it. The message was always that God had commanded that we should not worship any graven image. And then having the

idea reinforced by the Charlton Heston movie "Ten Commandments" which, back in the day was a yearly TV event usually played around Easter.

No big deal, on my part, as I always thought I would not ever see any logical reason to worship anything made out of any kind of metal. However, now in retrospect, I realize I have worshipped the "golden image" many times in my life. I was enlightened recently through a 1956 book I have in my personal library called "Bible Fires - Messages on Bible Characters" written by Robert G. Lee (Zondervan Press). At a closer look it does seem pretty odd that these people who had seen such great signs and miracles by God would suddenly dump Him in exchange for a golden calf. But...that was not the message. As Lee writes "Looking upon this golden calf the people said (shouting, I think): "These be thy gods, O Israel!" Rather, thy god....the golden calf gave them false and belittling ideas of God...and thus decreased their faith and hope in Him. .....God was still to be worshipped but in the form of a calf."
  Ouch. I have many times experienced the miracles and touch of God in my life...but when things got tough or God seemed far away....I have been very guilty of trading in the real God for an image that made more sense at the time. "So," continues Lee, "the sin of the people was not in a breach of the First but of the Second commandment." They did not wish to repudiate God but simply to worship Him under the similitude of a calf." It was through this initial effort that their morals began to crumble and they began a festival of celebration marked by adultery, drunkenness, and fornication (to name a few things) all while believing they were worshipping God when, in truth, they were worshipping an image of God they had created. It was only through the intervention and pleading of Moses to God on their behalf that He did not destroy them. Shortly after that Aaron's sons were killed for offering a strange fire to the Lord.  Aaron was complicit with the creation of the golden calf...and this was something his sons were likely to have been observing. The father is a powerful force and energy in any child's life.
   We all need to seek the God of creation, the God who's son is Jesus Christ, and the God who is really there, as opposed to the image many of us and many church people settle for.


Celebrity-Vert:
Dolly Parton once said "The Bible doesn't say 'Some things are possible. It says All things are possible.' I know in my heart that if I've got enough faith, grit and determination, that if there is anything in this business or world that I truly want to do, I can give it as good a shot as anybody else. I'll get it done." Let me add, however....and this is not a judgment of the spiritual life of Dolly Parton as that is a judgment best made by God alone.....but the preceding verse to "All things are Possible" had to do with the salvation of men and Jesus said very clearly that with men that is impossible but with God all thing are possible." Man, on his own, or even with just his modified version of who he thinks God CANNOT do all things. God can. If you are "with God" you can do everything He does if it is the course God created you to take. If it isn't...God is not going to be there to help you.

Things I Heard Downwind:
A great actor can bring tears to your eyes, but so can a car mechanic.

How many politicians does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to assure us that everything possible is being done while the other screws the bulb into a water faucet.

Dear Lord, fill my mouth with meaningful stuff, and nudge me when I've said enough.


A generation ago most people who finished work needed rest...now they need exercise



Mississippi-Vert:
Mississippi's Senate Candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith has been asked by Walmart to return a $2000 donation to her campaign in light of her recent comments about surfacing about her being "on the front row of" a "public hanging" if she were invited. I was not a supporter of Hyde-Smith in the election Nov 6 but I don't see the comments she made...in the context of which she used them...as being racist. And not intentionally insensitive to the audience to whom she was speaking since it took a Louisiana blogger to dig up the soundbytes long after the event was a almost forgotten memory to those who were attending.  Walmarts request happened just a few hours before the Hyde-Smith vs Espy debate...so it appears Walmart wanted a front seat with the media to berate Hyde-Smith publicly.

But, then, in the age of Internet manufactured outrage it's the latest fad that will continue until a whole lot of people grow up. Her challenger in the run off is Mike Espy and, of course, anyone supporting Espy is sure that Hyde-Smith was racist when she said it and the comment, of course, is "highly offensive**" (** as stated by Bishop Ronnie Crudup, a senior pastor at a predominantly black church in Jackson.....and BTW is supporting Mike Espy). I know there are some Sen Chris McDaniel supporters (who lost the GOP race against Hyde-Smith) are pushing the "racist" idea also and I think that is sad, as well. As an Independent I do not intend to run out and campaign for Hyde-Smith even though I did support and vote for McDaniel over Hyde-Smith. Whether I vote for her remains to be seen as here in Mississippi Republican candidates are chosen by the Republican Party of Mississippi and NOT by citizens who might be registered as Republican.

Picayune Item Downwind:
According to wikipedia: Outbrain is an advertising company. It uses behavioral targeting to recommend articles, slide shows, blog posts, photos or videos to a reader, rather than relying on a more basic "related items" widget. The sites with the recommended articles pay Outbrain for this service, and Outbrain pays the site on which the links appear.
There is also a Hijacker called the Traffic.outbrain.com which if your anti-virus program does not stop then you will have to remove.
The Picayune Item has this Outbrain advertising on its website. It can also manifest some rather embarrassing photos which will show up right on the front page of the website newspaper. Not a good smell downwind.

Frankly, I don't know if they will survive.

     About two years ago I pretty much quit blogging. I also quit watching the news and quit following anything political.

I noticed something changing and was uncertain as to how or why and how to react to it. During that last presidential election it became clear that something was changing. I even wrote about it in January 2016  ("The Inevitable end of the American "Democracy."). It was clear that some long held paradigms were shifting. Not only in the USA but worldwide. I wrote that " The concepts of conservative, Republican, liberal, Democrat, socialist, left wing, right wing, and even establishment, etc are all starting to blur a bit. Frankly, I don't know if they will survive."
      And I believe the process is still changing things...though not complete. 
     
     But, in my time away I have reformed some thoughts and am beginning to look at all of it differently. The good news is that whatever happens or doesn't happen God remains in charge and complete control and it is that future I embrace. So, regardless of how the winds blow I hope to remain steadfast to that end. Politics is mostly a flesh and blood fight and not worth anything real in the end. It can produce some changes on the surface but it doesn't do it with or really for humanity. It does it in spite of (good or bad) because unless it touches the heart of a man it has not created anything that really lasts. That does not mean I am saying do not get involved or vote or something like that. If that is your calling than do it good and hit it hard. My activist days are pretty much behind me. I did my time in the trenches. No I'm going to do what I think I do best: observe.