An Open Letter to Our Children | Renee Myers Endowement

An open letter to our Daughters Sons and Grandchildren of America

On January 22, Michael Gerson, an opinion writer for the Washington Post, posted his article titled, “The Trump Evangelicals have Lost Their Gag Reflex.” A clever little title that caused those on the left to salivate while sticking a finger in the eyes of die-hard Trump supporters.

Gerson makes points that any thinking person would agree with but then, according to his opinion, he cleverly draws conclusions by setting up a straw man, in this case, the world-renowned Billy Graham. Among evangelicals, Graham is considered to be the greatest proclaimer of God’s standard of morality and truth in our time. In speaking about Graham, Gerson uses a number of Graham quotes about Nixon and other quotes from unnamed sources to make his point. And what might that be?

Gerson’s point is, Graham was ignorant, gullible and fell into the pit of “self-deception.” An interesting sidebar could be said of Graham’s relationships with Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Ford, both Bushes, and Clinton. Obama had his own pastor for more than 20 years, the “God damn America “Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the same Rev. Wright who blamed America for the 9/11 attack. In spite of Gerson’s article and conclusions from his own opinions, Billy Graham never embraced the immorality of any administration or president and when those became apparent he spoke against them.

Gerson’s purpose is to show what a clumsy fool Billy Graham was with Nixon in order to make the point that any evangelical and especially evangelical leaders today are no less foolish in their support of Trump. In his view, any evangelical who supports Trump is as clueless and as stupid as Graham was in supporting Nixon.

He is wrong on a number of points. He seeks to denigrate the view of Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son when he quotes Franklin,

“We certainly don’t hold him up as the pastor of this nation and he is not. But I appreciate the fact that the president does have a concern for Christian values, he does have a concern to protect Christians whether it’s here at home or around the world, and I appreciate the fact that he protects religious liberty and freedom.”

And then Gerson derides Franklin Graham for such a political response as though that was a mortal sin, isn’t that a travesty, an evangelical making a political response? Christians do have a right to speak about morality; their book (Bible) is where the standard comes from. The Old Testament prophets were often criticized and killed for their “political” proclamations. Gerson should be educated from history, if the state church in Germany (Lutheran) had not been silent in the early reign of Hitler and his Third Reich, there may have never been a Holocaust or the WW II. Gerson might do well to check that out. I submit that Franklin Graham has a greater right to speak about issues of morality, especially when it has far-reaching implications for our country than any op-ed writer such as Gerson. Gerson would like for you to believe that since “Trump has delivered the goods on protecting Christians, evangelicals should give him the benefit of every doubt on moral matters, even when such doubts are absurdly transparent ploys (Gerson’s opinion). What is absurd, that thinking informed evangelicals would ever agree with Gerson’s inaccurate and phony statement and the implication that evangelical Christians should keep quiet about anything political. Let me cite just a couple of examples, if President Trump took a hard position against pro-life, you would hear it from evangelicals, and if he said nothing about the current corruption in our government today they would be equally concerned. Both of these are political, but of greater significance, they are moral as well.

Gerson’s and the so-called elite ‘s distaste for evangelicals make it impossible for an objective treatment of evangelicals by this group. A case in point, when he states,

“From a purely political perspective, the Trump evangelicals are out of their depth (his opinion). When presented with the binary choice of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, I can understand a certain amount of anguish. But that is not a reason to become sycophants, cheerleaders, and enablers. But that is no excuse to be the most easily manipulated group in American politics.”

Has Gerson ever heard of the black, brown and Jewish voting blocks in America, to name only three? Unfortunately, every voting block in America is manipulated. If that were not true, political parties and outside groups wouldn’t spend hundreds of millions of dollars seeking to influence and manipulate voters. But then he wants us to understand the real problem and it’s a problem that “runs deeper.” It is incomprehensible that he could look at the moral decline of our nation and still state,

“Trump’s court evangelicals have become active participants in the moral deregulation of our political life. Never mind whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is of good repute. Some evangelicals are busy erasing bright lines and destroying moral landmarks. In the process, they are associating evangelicalism with bigotry, selfishness, and deception. They are playing a grubby political game for the highest of stakes: the reputation of their faith.”

In making such a statement, Gerson demonstrates his ignorance of evangelical Christians. Clearly, we do not share the same definition of “moral deregulation.” Most are doing the very opposite of what Gerson charges them with. Thankfully Gerson has said “some” evangelicals are guilty of his rather unthinkable statement. He clearly doesn’t move among the evangelicals I associate with.

What becomes very clear in reading Gerson’s opinion article, his worldview and the worldview of evangelicals is a world apart.

Now, let me address why Billy Graham is called Pastor to the Presidents. The fact that Graham has had such great spiritual and moral influence on American presidents is not because he embraced every facet of their administrations or the immoral behavior of their personal lives. His success has come from God and his ability to speak God’s truth. Very often his wise counsel on issues of moral integrity was completely ignored. He has prayed for each, but it is difficult to imagine he had great influence with the alleged philandering of Eisenhower, Nixon, Johnson, and Clinton. If Edward Kennedy had ever successfully run for president, do you think Graham would have boycotted him because of his nefarious affair with Kopechne? Those of us who have been here for some history can remember well the Chappaquiddick tragedy in the lost life of Mary Jo Kopechne. If, Graham would have continued to be a modern-day Moses with American presidents. Unlike Moses, he would not have broken the tablets of God’s law on their heads when disobedient, but he would and has spoken with God’s grace to bring about forgiveness and correction. This is not to say that even the great ones among us have lived without sin and mistakes, yet Billy Graham has moved through life as one of our great articulators of God’s moral truth and standard. He has managed this by showing great mercy and grace.

Billy Graham’s has been a great spokesman for God. The progressive left is unable to understand the greatness of a Graham for the same reason they are unable to understand the Apostle Paul. Again, their world-view simply does not allow. Graham believes God’s word above every other document or book is the supreme authority for not only how our country should function (since our founding fathers and documents were taken from Scripture), but it is also God’s authority for how Christians receive faith and then practice their faith. When Graham developed the respect and lines of communication with our nation’s presidents, he was living out his faith according to his understanding of Rom. 13:1,

“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Are there ever exceptions? I believe the answer is yes, but that discussion is for another time. The point here is that Graham like many seek to have a relationship and influence even when the recipient makes an immoral choice. A Christian should be able to continue a friendly relationship with a non-Christian who lives a life of immorality. If a Christian holds a strong pro-life position, he should still be able to respect the person who doesn’t share his view. That is not to say evangelical Christians embrace that person’s lifestyle they believe the Bible clearly rejects. But that works both ways. It also means that those who disagree with an evangelical worldview should not trample the religious rights, convictions and the freedom of Christians. We have seen excessive violations by some members of the LGBT, expressing a militant desire to crush any who disagree with their agenda.

If Gerson would have sat down with the evangelical leaders he seeks to discredit, namely, Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., Robert Jeffress, and thousands of others, he would have discovered there are many points where they differ with President Trump, however on major issues of concern they would agree. The decision process these men and other Americans citizens who eventually voted for Trump was challenging at best, and impossible for those who initially considered voting for Hillary Clinton. Let’s take a look at some of those issues.

What do voters look for when considering political candidates?

I believe most of us would agree that choices in life have become much more difficult. They are not as black and white as they might have been when we were children. We often have to make a choice for what is less bad especially when it seems there isn’t an overwhelming good. Our recent 2016 election may be an excellent example of that kind of choice Americans had to make in choosing between Hillary Clinton and President Trump.

Trump was a candidate with many flaws. I would not agree he is a narcissist as some loudly proclaim, but he does have many less than desirable traits.

He speaks too much about himself and accomplishments, which drives many on the left into the depths of despair.
His tweets have destroyed the self-confidence of the national press who hates him. They realize he has neutralized much of their once hallowed mental grip on America.
He uses descriptive names when referring to others that only inflame his political opponents.
He appears to struggle with his White House Staff.
He drives every progressive liberal in the county beyond redemption.
He has great disdain for the Washington D.C. Swamp, the press, and especially the White House Press.
He was a candidate without any political expertise or at least that was the yoke placed around his neck by his opponents.
I was not especially excited about his “Making America Great Again.” I would have preferred something like, “Let’s Invite God back to America Again,” but that would never have played to the left or the progressives. Trump may have been right with this self-aggrandizement slogan.

Now the other choice, as we know, was Hillary Clinton. Many of us remember the classic line from the “Seinfeld” show, that “it’s not a lie if you believe it. If we apply that theme to the evolution of Hillary Rodham, then Hillary Rodham Clinton, and now just plain Hillary Clinton, here are just a few notable accomplishments or non-accomplishments of her “public service” career,” depending on your perspective.

She flunked the D.C. Bar Exam.
She was removed from her House Judiciary Committee Staffer job because of incompetence and lying.
She collected $99,000 profit on “cattle futures trading for a $1,000 “investment” with a Chicago “associate. She said she learned this from the Wall Street Journal how to make a killing in the futures market. (It didn’t cover the market back then.)
She said Chelsea was jogging around the Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. (She was in bed watching it on TV.)
Hillary said she was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. (She admitted she was wrong. He climbed Mt. Everest five years after her birth.)
As Secretary. of State, she presided over the international transfer of high-powered guns to Mexican drug cartels.
As Secretary. of State, she presided over the smuggling of U.S. weapons and IFF codes to ISIS founders
As Secretary. of State she said to the parents of the Benghazi victims “We’re gonna get the guy who made that video.” The Mother of all lies.
Email-gate, do we need to say more?
The Whitewater scandal was her template for lying.
She married a serial liar and cheater, “I never had sex with that woman . . . “ who occasionally had sexual encounters with non-consenting partners.
Lied about “sniper fire” when landing in Bosnia. (A young girl presented her with flowers at the foot of the ramp.)
The subject of a “vast right-wing conspiracy” that led to the impeachment and disbarment of her husband
Took crockery, furniture, artwork and other items from the White House — had to return and/or pay for them.
Said, “What difference, at this point, does it make” about four brave people killed in Libya as a direct result of her failure to protect them on the anniversary of 9/11.
Totally ignored the structure and rules for the handling of sensitive national security information.
Amassed a personal fortune with “speaking fees” and payments from private sector political donors and foreign governments into transparent “foundations” in obvious exchange for a future political favor.
While there are hundreds of more examples, this should be enough to establish the lack of credibility (no pun intended) of a lifestyle of lying.

In fairness here is a list Hillary’s Rodham Clinton’s’ accomplishments.

There isn’t one unless you count the accomplishments of her selling out America, Fast and Furious, uranium deal, corrupt Clinton foundation, pay to play. So does self-serving corruption count as accomplishments?

Two conclusions emerge from this nefarious list of “accomplishments”:

First, Hillary’s brief solo “professional” career (without Bill) was a total failure, and of her own doing. This despite high-level political sponsorship to get her a key “entry level” job as a legal staffer on the Nixon Impeachment investigation in the early 1970s. But she flunked the D.C. Bar Exam [perhaps the easiest in those days] and got fired from her staff job.

Second, she is identified today in friendly media solely by her “career” post-marriage to Bubba. This is the part that Barack Obama recently described as making her “probably the best-qualified person ever to run for president.” This is both laughable and ironic, as she is better qualified than was Mr. Obama, arguably the most unqualified person ever elected president. And, as presidential aspirants go, they had one professional “qualification” in common: Neither had ever worked in a “real job.”

After she and Bill left the White House [along with the furniture, crockery, and artwork they took with them] she simply punched her ticket with two more political gigs that were handed to her. Neither of which show her as anything but an opportunist, saying and doing whatever necessary to perpetuate her “new” political career, this while biding her time until she could run for president — twice.

Her time as a senator from New York was purely a block-checking exercise to stay “relevant.” Best illustrating this is the question: Why didn’t they go back to Arkansas? Easy, returning to Arkansas would have been the political — and financial — end for them and they knew it. It’s the same reason the Obama’s are not returning to Chicago. And in this context, look for an “Obama Foundation” that rakes in money and a series of Hillary-style political appointments for Michelle — after all, she flunked the Bar Exam too.

More than anything else, Hillary’s campaign was counting on the “newer” American voters to simply not remember her and Bill’s checkered political and legal past. Accordingly, we can expect a Republican campaign replay of the 1990s: Bill’s Impeachment, the Star investigation, Bill’s disbarment for lying, her Rose Law Firm partner going to jail — and on and on and on — as supplemented by her latest scandals: Benghazi, “speaking” fees and what will prove to be the criminal destruction of classified emails.

Daniel Gallington who often writes about national security raised several questions before the 2016 election. They seem to be the kind of questions Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell Jr., Robert Jeffress, and millions of others 2016 voters have to ask.

“So, is Hillary “really” qualified to be president, or is it just a lie she believes after so many years with “Slick Willy” and a series of political jobs?

Now that we are living in the post-election era of 2016, her flakey “qualifications” did make a difference. Not only has Hillary become a reject in American politics, her husband would have never been elected had it not been for the third-party “spoiler” candidacy of H. Ross Perot. Perot took 20 million votes away from George H.W. Bush — literally handing the election to Bill Clinton beginning the protracted political soap opera we are still dealing with today.

I now ask the reader, with some limited history to observe, did the American voting majority make the right choice.?

Three questions must be raised.

If Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 presidential election what would have been hidden from the American public? And
What good has come from the Donald Trump presidency?
How can thinking evangelicals support President Trump?

If Hillary Clinton had been elected the following issues would never have seen the light of day.

The clear corruption of high-level personnel in the FBI
The unconfirmed Dossier paid for by Hillary Clinton
The phony unconfirmed dossier used to request FISA information
The truth about the Muller’s Special Counsel’s Investigation
The five months of missing text messages between Peter Strzok and Lisa Page
The lies in Comey’s testimony before Congress related to Hillary Clinton
The 4 page House Intelligence Committee Memo
The truth about Bill Clinton and Loretta Lynch’s visit on the Phoenix tarmac
The truth about Andrew McCabe
The truth revealed through the investigative reporting of Sara Carter and John Solomon
The truth about Hillary Clinton’s illegal sabotage of Bernie Sanders her primary opponent
The truth about her collusion with Russia in an attempt to take out Trump in the general election of 2016
And much more . . .

Some of President Trump’s Achievements since his inauguration

Before listing some of Trump’s most notable accomplishments it is important to say a word about his enemies and detractors. The mainstream media, the deep state and the Washington swamp, and even some of the Republican elites within his own party have clearly had him in their sights from the day he announced his run for the presidency. At first, he was no big deal, simply a blip on the political horizon, however that quickly changed when he and his message began to resonate with the folk. The press shifted into a gear called panic mode. The intensity of their panic has only increased with the passing of time.

While he has disappointed some with his language, some personality imperfections, and his early life examples following his presidential mentors, namely Kennedy, Johnson, Clinton, King David (he was the old guy in the Bible), and I’m certain there must be many more. Some might be very disappointed that he hasn’t closed the deal on his promise to repeal Obama care, nor do we see that wall he promised stretched across our southern border – yet the stunning reality is this: the long list of remarkable accomplishments will astound even his most loyal supporters, and for those who hate him, nothing he accomplishes will satisfy their hunger for power and control. In order to believe what I have said, one only need to tune in to any of the major networks to see they are focused on crushing this president. They clearly understand this president is taking from them their power, their control of the masses. It is a battle to the death. If they lose, they will be finished and they will be nothing but a smoldering heap in the pages of history. But, if they win they will have defeated the greatest nation, which thrived for more than 250 years promising freedom and justice and liberty for all, AND AMERICA WILL BE NO MORE.

While the world is going to hell propelled by warp speed, the impossible “deplorable” (as Hillary Clinton would say) national news media including both the Press, Cable and Major Networks, they want to parse and dissect his “S_ _ _hole Countries” unfortunate alleged comment by President Trump. They played that for several days for all it was worth, which were of little worth. (If the president actually made this remark, it is regrettable, but not a phrase that ends the empire. Let’s get real, we have issues and problems of far greater import to deal with, and when the media learns once again to be the bearer of news instead of commentators who pick and choose snippets to advance their own political agendas, all of us will be better served.

Time to come back to the President’s accomplishments; any of these could replace the “S_ _ _ hole” comment allegedly made by the President. What a different county we would be if we had a fair and objective press. See below some of the President’s accomplishments since he took office.

Supreme Court: Trump’s appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Southern Border Wall: Greenlit beginning construction on a wall along the U.S. border.
Mexico City policy: Reinstated the so-called Mexico City policy, which bars federal money from going to foreign non-profits, which promote or perform abortions.
Federal hiring: Ordered a freeze on federal hiring other than for military, public safety, and public health jobs.
Mortgage insurance: Reversed a planned put on mortgage insurance for many first-time homebuyers.
Catch and release: Ended a policy as “catch and release,” under which some immigrants are released from detention while they await a hearing with an immigration judge.
Sanctuary Cities: Ended federal funding to sanctuary cities and states, who continue to harbor undocumented illegal immigrants.
Israel: While the previous three U.S. presidents promised during their election campaigns to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, President Trump on Dec. 6, 2017, became the first to follow through.
Regulatory reform: Trump has rescinded or delayed more than 860 regulations, or 16 regulations for every new one implemented.
Government reform: Trump signed an executive order placing a hiring freeze on federal employees.
Military: Trump signed a memorandum to begin the expansion and rebuilding of the U.S military.
Immigration: Trump launched the United States-Canada Council for Advancement of Women Entrepreneurs and Business Leaders with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Regulatory reform: Trump set up task forces in every agency to remove “job-killing regulations” and increase” economic opportunity.”
Manufacturing regulations: Trump signed an executive order I January reducing regulations on manufactures.
Oil pipelines: Trump approved the Dakota Access Pipeline project and the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, expected to create 42,000 jobs and $2 billion in earnings.
Trade agreement: Trump withdrew the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Oil drilling on federal lands: trump signed an order boosting oil and gas development on federal lands.
Islamic jihad: After months of heavy fighting, Iraqi coalition forces finally pushed ISIS out of Mosul. The U.S. is also supporting efforts to rid the Philippines of ISIS cells.
Unemployment: The jobless rate decreased from 4.8 percent to 4.4 percent from January through June 2017. In contrast, during the first six months of Obama’s first year in office, the rate increased from 7.8 percent to 9.5 percent.
Gross Domestic Product: GDP in the second quarter of 2017 increased by 2.6 percent, more than doubling the first quarter performance.
Second Amendment: In August of 2017, the Justice Department terminated Operation Choke Point, an Obama device to target gun dealers.
Law enforcement: The DOJ launched an opioid fraud and abuse unit to fight opioid prescription abuses.
Military: Trump raised the Department of Defense’s Cyber Command to the status of Unified Combatant Command in August, demonstrating an increased focus on cybersecurity.
Immigration: During the month of Aug. 2017, four immigration policies were implemented.
Homeland Security: In September of 2017, Trump signed an executive order to enhance vetting capabilities and processes for detecting attempted entry into the United States by terrorists or other public-security threats.
Economy: Household wealth reached a record high of $17 trillion in the second quarter of 2017 due to rising property values and gains in financial assets, according to a Federal Reserve report.
Lower Courts: Trump is filing up lower courts with lifetime appointees. On September of 2017, Trump announced the eighth wave of judicial candidates, with nine more names.
Protecting Life: The Department of Health and Human Services has published a draft of a new strategic plan that states in its introduction that life begins at conception.
Protecting Life: The president issued a statement Oct. 1, 2017, renewing the nation’s “strong commitment to promoting the health, well-being, and inherent dignity of all children and adults with Down syndrome.”
Abortion: The Office of Management and Budget on Oct. 2, 2017 issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) to strongly support the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (HR. 36), which would generally make it unlawful for any person to do, or attempt to perform, an abortion of an unborn child after 20 weeks post-fertilization.
Tax Reform: Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell praised President Trump Dec. 20, 2017, for his leadership in the passage of the biggest tax overhaul in 30 years, with some $3.2 trillion in tax cuts along with significant simplification of the tax code.
United Nations: The U.S ambassador to the U.N., Nikki Haley, announced days after the U.N. General Assembly condemned the US. For recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital that Washington negotiated a $285 million cut in the global body’s “bloated” budget for next year.
Counter-terrorism: The Trump administration announced Dec. 29, 2017 that the U.S. would deny Pakistan military aid amounting to $255 million.
Stocks: The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded above 26,600 points for the first time in early January of 2018.
Jobs: The unemployment rate for black Americans dropped to an all-time low in December, to 6.8 percent. The overall unemployment rate is just 4.1 percent.
Small Business: small-business confidence hit a record high in 2017, according to the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Its Small Business Optimism Index was an average of 104.8 in 2017, the highest in the history of the survey.
Tax Reform: Trump praised Apple’s announcement that it will repatriate overseas cash holdings and pour $350 billion into the U.S economy over the next five years, saying his policies allowed the tech giant “to bring massive amounts of money back to the United States.” Which is a “huge win for American workers and the USA!”
Jobs: S. fillings for unemployment benefits plummeted to the lowest level in almost 45 years, the Labor Department reported Jan. 18. The figures suggest the unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, already the lowest since 2000, could be poised to decline further, Bloomberg said.
Abortion: President Trump on Jan. 19, 2018 became the first sitting president to address the March for Life, speaking in person to hundreds of marchers at the White House and via live telecast to the tens of thousands of marchers on the National Mall.

The above Trump accomplishments are only 40 achievements of the 178 accomplished in 367 days. You can read the full list with full details at http://www.wnd.com/2017/11/4621979/

It’s interesting to note the Democratic response to Trump’s Tax Reform. Their response is hardly worth the print or time to report. Perhaps it is more profitable to simply list some of the results of this current tax reform.

Corporate Response
- More than 267 companies giving bonuses, increase wages, plus other incentives,
- More than 3 million Americans receiving bonuses of $1,000 or more
- Home Depot offering bonuses of $1,000 after tax cuts
- Fifth Third Bancorp, more than 13,500 employees, each receiving bonuses of $1,000
- S. Bancorp, nearly 60,000, each receiving bonuses of $1,000
- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, 60,000 employees, each receiving bonuses of $2,000
- Chrysler is giving $5,500 to employees
- BB&T, about 27,000 employees each receiving bonuses of $1,200
- Wal-Mart, more than 1 million workers, each receiving up to $1,000. In addition, Wal-Mart is raising their minimum wage and also offering families who adopt $5,000 each
- Altria Group. Inc., the parent company of cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, is giving all non-executive employees a one-time, $3,000 bonus because of the new corporate tax cut passed in December. Altria is also setting aside another $35 million over three years for its community philanthropic programs, in addition to the $55 million a year the company donates. That’s a lot of smoke.
- Disney, more than 125,000 workers, each receiving bonuses of $1,000
- Dem Megadonor Gives HUGE Bonuses Thanks to Republican Tax Reform: Billionaire Democratic donor Haim Saban has announced his company will be giving its employees $1,000 bonuses due to the Republican tax reform law. Saban, a media mogul who pledged to spend “whatever it takes” to elect Hillary Clinton in 2016, wrote in a letter to staffers at his company that he and his wife, Cheryl, were inspired by Disney’s decision to award bonuses to employees, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “As you may know, at the end of 2017, the federal government enacted the most fundamental tax reform since 1986,” Saban wrote, referring to the GOP tax overhaul that President Donald Trump signed into law in December. “These reforms are impacting our company in different ways, including a lower tax rate.”

Apple, while there are many more examples of corporations making decisions as a result of Trump’s recent tax reform package, none has grabbed greater headlines than Apple. Trump praised Apple’s announcement that it will repatriate overseas cash holdings and pour $350 billion into the U.S economy over the next five years, saying his policies allowed the tech giant “to bring massive amounts of money back to the United States,” which is a “huge win for American workers and the USA!”

The Markets
- The DOW, NASDAQ, and S&P 500 all closing at records highs on January 26, 2017. Compared to March 9, 2009, The S& P 500 is up 325% NASDAQ is up 492%, and the DOW is up 307%.
- In just this year, the S&P 500 is up 7.5%, the DOW is up 7.7% closing on Friday, Jan 26, at 26,621.16, and the NASDAQ is up 2.3%
- The DOW has seen 99 records since Trump’s election and has closed setting records for the past three consecutive weeks.
- Markets don’t care about what you are, a Democrat or Republican. It only cares about performance. More than 33.2 billion has rushed into the stock funds since this remarkable economic turn around began.
- The markets may be a far greater gauge to the economic competence of any president, however, there is a greater book that will always support the highest standard of morality. It is best known as the Holy Bible. While the left finds it difficult to oppose Trump, this book will even Trump Trump, as it speaks to all.

In spite of all Trump’s economic results and programs that have the potential to improve the moral landscape of America, none of that registers with these “progressives.” It appears the left wants us to understand why jobs and bonuses are not a good thing for Americans, and why wouldn’t taking a life from the womb be celebrated instead of condemned? The fact that such a life is created by God appears to be off their radar. Such questions from the progressives cause one to question both their sanity and morality.

Nancy Pelosi has said these bonuses, wage hikes, minimum wage increases, and other benefits are “nothing more than crumbs.” Only a completely out of touch elitist would be so blind and insensitive to the people she has been called to serve. Nearly every confused word that falls from her mouth these days appears to be a very clumsy and obvious attempt to recapture the once held power that may have vanished forever. Her day and the day of Senator Chuck Schumer appears to be fading fast.

The Evidence of Christian Persecution In America

Many like Gerson have wondered how anyone, especially conservative Christians could support a candidate like Trump. Their question only demonstrates just how out of touch they are with the world-view of evangelical Christians. They seem to be either unaware of escalating Christian persecution or in denial. Gerson may find a partial answer to his implied question, “why are evangelical so ignorant and gullible? Evangelicals looked at Hillary Clinton and ask these questions, “what has she done, what is her record, and what platform is she running on? They looked at Trump and ask the same questions.

As the 2016 general election proved, most evangelical Christians embraced Donald Trump with all of his faults, some like many previous presidents. Those who voted for him were convinced his faults were fewer than his opponents.

When a group finds itself marginalized or persecuted, those outside of that group have little understanding or sympathy for that group’s plight. History provides much evidence that an increasing number of churches, businesses, and individuals have come under legal attack for standing on their biblical principles. Dr. David Jeremiah has made the point,

“These attacks have mostly been generated when Christians have resisted the decay of biblical sexual-moral standards in the U.S.”

It is clear to evangelicals that powerful forces including the previous Obama administration have become increasingly hostile toward biblical Christianity. The Bible is no longer considered to be God’s word and is no longer the moral compass for America. Evangelicals who believe the Bible is the source of faith and a guide for how to live one’s life are considered as intolerant at best and lawbreakers at worst.

The biblical foundation of America began its decline during the post-World War II prosperity. The result of this was the protest culture of the 1960s. “If it feels good, do it” became the guiding principle of American culture. FREEDOM was replaced with LICENSE. Christianity with its biblical principles was removed from the marketplace. Today, as a nation, we live as though there is no God.

The Pew Research center reports that Christianity is in a sharp decline in America and is practically non-existent as a moral compass in Europe. In 2014 Pew reported that 70 percent of American adults identified as Christians. But according to sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway and Penny Long Marler, this figure is very misleading. From their published study “The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion,” less than 20 percent of Americans attend church on a weekly basis. This is a weakness and frankly an embarrassment especially for evangelicals. It may also help some understand why many evangelicals and evangelical leaders supported Donald Trump in the 2016 election and continue to support him today.

What Gerson is unable to understand and appreciate can be seen in what Dr.Paul Nyquist, the president of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago writes,

“Get ready, An exciting, yet terrifying era is beginning for American believers. As cultural changes sweep our country, well soon be challenged to live out what the Bible says about confronting and responding to persecution.”

Dr. David Jeremiah makes a helpful observation. He cites five stages of religious suppression and persecution taking place in America today. You will find them in his book, “Is This the End?” I summarize them here.

Stage One: Stereotyping

“Today Christians are often stereotyped as ignorant, uneducated, backward, inhibited, homophobic, hateful, and intolerant. Hollywood and television portray Christians as the cultural ‘bad guy,’ the unreasonable character who is judgmental and out of step, with the mainstream.”

Stage Two: Marginalizing

“Many would prefer for Christianity not only to be criticized but to be marginalized – to be pushed so far to the periphery of society that is, for all practical purposes, eliminated.”

Stage Three: Threatening

“Many individuals have been fired from companies for expressing their religious beliefs and practices on their own time.

Stage Four: Intimidating

“In 2001, a California parent sued to prevent psychological testing on first, third, and fifth graders because the tests contained an explicit sexual question. They lost. The court’s ruling: ‘Parents have no due process or privacy right to override the determinations of public schools as to the information to which their children will be exposed.’ This is only one example. Similar cases of loss-of-rights now occur regularly and people are being forced into compliance by the government.”

Stage Five: Litigating

“Christian small business owners who have declined the business of homosexual patrons have been taken to court and fined. Some have lost their businesses and some have received death threats.”

“Unless there is a great turnaround, we can expect lawsuits and court judgments to escalate against Christians who practice their faith. According to one writer, ‘Persecution could well accelerate to include Henry VII – style seizure of church property and monies because of Christian leaders’ refusal to bow to the doctrines of the state . . . even jail time for Christians is quite possible.’”

The Evidence of Christian Persecution In the World

If you are convinced this conservative is blowing smoke about Christian persecution in today’s world, then hear once again from Dr. David Jeremiah.

“Worldwide each month, 322 Christians are killed for their faith, 214 church buildings and Christian properties are destroyed, and 772 forms of violence are committed against individual Christians or Christian groups. These figures add up to more than 15,000 incidents of serious persecution of Christians per year. This does not include the more than 200 million Christians who, according to the World Evangelical Alliance, are presently denied fundamental human rights just because of their faith. The top ten persecuting countries are North Korea, Iraq, Eritrea, Afghanistan, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Iran, and Libya. America could soon join the list.”

Is it any wonder why evangelicals bristle at Gerson’s condescending remarks simply because they don’t parrot what progressives want to hear? It is appropriate to note that the very progressives who condemn evangelicals are the ones who have created much of the persecution, but that is a topic for another post.

So we return to Gerson’s opinion “The Trump Evangelicals have Lost Their Gag Reflex.”

Implied in Gerson’s opinion is a question, how can evangelicals be so stupid in supporting such a loose person, so crude, a person who possesses none of the credentials they consider necessary to follow their agenda.

The answer is not that difficult. If our choices are between perfect people with impeccable resumes and great histories, the choice would be simple.

If the choice is between a globalist candidate that identifies with the socialistic European model and embraces a world-view diametrically opposed to that of most evangelicals, or a second candidate, with many imperfections, yet, in policies embraces principles held to be important to evangelicals, the choice may be difficult for some, yet clear. Many if not most evangelicals would agree with Trump’s positions on Abortion (pro-life), Budget/Economy, Corporations/Business, Crime, Drugs, Education, Families, Foreign Policy (Middle East, ISIS, Korea), Free Trade, Government Reform, Gun Control, Health Care, Homeland Security, Social Security, Immigration, Jobs, Tax Reform, Technology, Welfare & Poverty, and cleaning up Chicago and all big cities.

If Gerson, a most gifted writer, spent the same amount of time investigating the men and their contributions to humanity, the ones he claims have lost their gag reflex, he might discover that many of them are spokespeople for God, receiving no perks from The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, and others. Gerson would do well to remember or perhaps investigate for the first time how God speaking through an ass to Balaam, accomplished his will for the nations and tribes in that day (Numbers chapters 21-24). God does not need perfect people to do his will. What he needs is obedient people with a commitment to improving our will and wish to live Godly lives.

None of this is to say that we give the President a pass, on his choice of words, arrogance, and over the top prideful nature. Yet in the realm of politics, not all men are all bad, nor are all good men all good. Unfortunately, the progressives see no good in this president. The purpose of my post in listing the president’s accomplishments is to provide some balance that will never be covered by the media that is less than honorable.

Since Gerson and I agree on practically nothing and since I don’t agree with many of his conclusions, my vote and support are based on something a bit more important to me than the President’s assumed questionable behavior or poor choice of words. I give that if Gerson and the national press would commit the same amount of time focusing on critical issues of national concern as they do on his choice of words, we might just find some solutions.

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