Why the Left Can't Get Over the Wall

    From the moment Donald Trump became President, he has been dismantling our last leader's legacy. And from that moment, Democrats have been trying to obstruct those efforts. Ironically, they have become like the Tea Party movement they so despised. Though many Democrats want their leaders to oppose Trump's agenda, few of them want to pay these officials exorbitant salaries to sit in Washington and do nothing--although that is the nature of federal jobs. But why has the border wall become the political straw that breaks the government camel's back? I believe it is because of its permanence.
     Yes, there is some concern in the party that without illegal immigration there won't be enough welfare recipients voting for Democrats, but I think there is growing realization that the demographic who aren't motivated to get jobs to feed themselves, which is a necessity, probably are not motivated enough to get out and vote, which is not. Benefit recipients and student idealists talk a good game, but they don't actually vote. The next Democratic president will certainly try to undo Trump's legacy as quickly as he has dismantled Obama's. But once the border wall is built, even if it should not prove to significantly deter crime, smugglers and terrorists, only an idiot would tear it down. Although there will never be a shortage of idiots in office.
     For one thing, most Americans have fences, lock doors, and don't open their home to strangers. It is easy for politicians to call the wall an abomination from the safety of a high security building or their gated mansion, but their constituents know walls keep us safe. The other more practical consideration is that, once built, the wall would be expensive to demolish. A legacy built with a phone and pen is almost that easy to remove, but the border wall will be a legacy to Donald Trump for generations, even centuries. The Democrats of the future can write graffiti on it, but they won't be able to remove it. It will be a tangible testimony to Trump's triumph. And that is why the left can't get over the wall.

What Is It About Trump?

    Knowing from the Bible that God is the one who appoints and removes leaders (ex. Rom13:1), as disappointing as that is in some four year stretches, I was pondering why God appointed Donald Trump. Not that I'm not glad, if Hillary had been elected, I would have taken it as a sign that God was removing us, U.S., from our position of leadership in the world. I believe God gives certain nations prominence so they can use their wealth to support missionaries to spread the message of Christ, and He gives them power to stand up for justice for the oppressed. The socialism promoted by Obama, Hillary, and now a slew of other Democrats, would have redistributed/removed the wealth to support Christian missions and we had already become a paper tiger to the oppressors of the world. As in, we talked loudly, but carried no stick. I think the only thing that stood between us and getting nuked by North Korea is Donald Trump.
     So what is it about Trump that God thought we needed? My theory? It's the thing that made me not want to vote for him--enormous ego. Our president is smarter than people think he is, but not as smart as he thinks he is. He speaks his mind--too often. And in a culture where not being politically correct is worse than cannibalism, he is n.o.t.  p.c. Instead of courting the press, he runs a full court press against against them. But because his ego is so big, he has no need to surround himself with sycophants. He has chosen, instead, to surround himself with wise, godly men. The kind of men I hoped would be elected president would have been chopped to kindling by our carnal culture.
     Donald Trump is a businessman who is used to getting his way, fortunately, his way is the way the majority of Americans want our country to go. The election proved that, much to the disappointment of the left leaning party members and news benders. Americans want prosperity, not income equality. We want our enemies to fear us and our allies, especially those we support financially, to support our agenda once in a while. We want to be safe from terrorists, smugglers and thugs. And most of us think those who oppose The Wall should prove it by opening their gated communities and their front doors to strangers, especially foreigners.
    Only a man with an enormous ego could stand up to the firehose of opposition, obstruction and obloquy (I learned a new word, it means slander) that this President has. Apparently, what God thinks the world needs is a man who believes in the things that make America great--and that he is one of those things.

Nothing Is Wasted

     Recently, in a time of discouragement, I asked the Lord what He would say to me. The Spirit's message was, "Nothing is wasted." We expect successes to be used, we want them to be. But what about failures? Our failures? Others' failures? Those spiritual seasons where we feel either dry as a desert or barely treading water? The years of loved ones struggling with sin or indifference? He uses those too. My long bout of depression, my years of addiction to an eating disorder, have given me compassion and mercy that I might otherwise not have had. I can reach out to people I could not relate to in my "pre-lapse" days. Most importantly, I can identify with those who struggle and tell them how the Lord helped me, instead of preach at them as if I had it all together.
      Although my goal is immediate repentance when the Spirit calls me out on my sin, I often put Him on hold. Graciously, God is never in a hurry. The Spirit works on His own schedule. And if He patiently waits for my repentance, I can't rightfully refuse to do the same for others. Rushed repentance is rarely real. But I can, if someone is willing, help them look for the get-out-of-sin-free escape hatches the Lord will faithfully provide for the next temptation. It is comforting to know that the years away from the Lord are part of the richness of the repentance when it finally comes. Forgive this additional lapse into alliteration--Failure is the fodder of future faithfulness. Nothing is wasted.

Winter Souls Amiss

    As our mothers of prodigals group prayed last week, I found myself thinking about winter. About the faithfulness of God to turn the seasons. We do not have to worry that it requires some wisdom or effort on our part to turn winter into spring or that God will somehow forget the covenant He made with Noah in Gen 8:22:
                                         "While the earth remains,
                                           Seedtime and harvest,
                                           Cold and heat,
                                           Winter and summer,
                                           And day and night
                                           Shall not cease."

Even the most cynical person realizes the foolishness of believing winter will not yield to spring.
     It is the same for our prodigals. Whether their souls may seem to be thawing or still in the death grip of emptiness, spring will come. The same God who faithfully turns the seasons will bring His Spirit's life back into those hearts that responded to Him as children. God always finishes what He starts. (Phil. 1:6) We want to be wise and do everything in our power to restore them to a right relationship with God, but it is not within our grasp to touch their souls. Only God can do that. What we can do, is live out our hope that God will do for the children for which He sacrificed His Son, what He does for the planet which He created--that He will thaw their cold hearts, awaken that seed of faith planted within them, and restore spring to their souls. However long the winter seems, spring will come.

Choosing the Chosen?

      One of my Christian friends sometimes quotes Ezekiel 3 as her motivation for witnessing. Ezekiel 3:17-18, says "Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, 'You will surely die' and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood." I have heard those verses used to terrify believers into witnessing or to justify street corner yelling as an appropriate testimony for Christ.
    The main problem with the idea that God will hold Christians guilty for the souls of those we fail to witness to, and who subsequently go to hell, is that it makes man's obedience sovereign over God's election. It puts God in a scenario where He chooses, let's just use the name "Janet", for salvation, but if, let's say "Connie", is too clueless or stubborn to witness to her, the Lord has to cross Janet's name off the "Chosen" list He wrote before the foundation of the world and send her to hell after all. Countermanding the eternal purposes of God is what my granddaughter would call a "No, no!"
     If clueless Connie fails to witness to someone God has chosen for salvation, He will simply use someone else. Perhaps in Ezekiel's case, he was the someone else. We can lose the blessing of soul winning, but none of the elect can lose their opportunity for salvation. We believers do not play the lead role in our own salvation story, Christ does. How scary would it be if my eternal destiny in heaven or hell was contingent on the obedience of some frail creature like myself?
    The other problem is that in order for believers to be held guilty for souls of the lost, we would have to be un-forgiven. If Christ's death on the cross only paid for part of my sins, I would want the sin of causing one of His elect to spend eternity in hell to be on the "Forgiven" list. Unbelievers will be judged for their own sins, and believers have already been judged and justified by Christ's death on the cross.
    Exactly what God meant when He commissioned Ezekiel as Israel's watchman, and whether He was referring to physical or eternal death of the wicked, I am not wise enough to explain. But what is plain in the Bible is that God sovereignly chooses individuals to belong to Him. His purposes cannot be thwarted by Satan, angels, mere humans, and certainly not by disobedient Christians, therefore, none of the chosen will be in hell.  All Christians are called to spread the gospel to unbelievers, but all believers' past, present and future sins were paid for by Christ's death on the cross. Since we were not alone, I simply told my friend that I do not believe that passage refers to Christian soul winning. "What else could it refer to? she asked. (How about Ezekiel? The person God is addressing.) I would be happy to discuss it further if she chooses. That is the sort of choice God leaves up to us.