At my church, it is traditional that after the service, we have refreshments and then regroup for a question and answer period. This is an opportunity to ask the pastor any questions that you have on his sermon or to clarify what application to our lives that he was trying to advocate. In the course of the discussion, two folks decided that sharing the gospel was not enough, they were adamant that we must get involved in politics. Of course, for them, this means Presidential politics. Like many others, they have fallen for Ted Cruz. To them, he is God’s gift to the American electorate. They said, look at the great things he has said.
Not wishing to cause problems, I waited until the question and answer period was over and went up to one of the Cruz advocates and said to him, “I respectfully dissent. Cruz may say the right things but look at what he is doing.” Instead of this being an opening for an intellectual discussion, I got a knee-jerk emotional one. This man—that is highly respected—began to list all the moral failings of Donald Trump and concluded how can any Christian vote for such a person. For him, only Cruz is worthy of his vote.
I had hoped to point out that no Christian in politics actually brings a Christian worldview to bear in the political arena. None believe that their faith has any influence on government or public policy. Somehow Christians in politics think they are immune from the commands of God. They—like their secular counterparts—compartmentalize the world in such a way that their faith is excluded from the public square.
Unfortunately for them, the Bible has much to say about how we treat each other. Friends and foreigners are not to be treated differently. Lying, cheating, stealing, murder, and bearing false witness are wrong. Equal weights and measures are honoring to God, dishonest scales are abominable in his sight. The concept of equal justice under the law comes from the Bible.
If Cruz is really God’s guy in this election, wouldn’t it be reasonable that he would show God’s love in how he treats other candidates? Or as Glen Kaiser once preached, “The way you treat the person you love the least is the way you love God the most.”
• Would a Christian man be upright in his dealings with others or the first guy to put a knife in your back?
• Would a Christian man lie about others for advantage?
• Would a Christian man take things that are not his?
• Would a Christian man resort to duplicity and deceit?
• Would a Christian man move his neighbor’s boundary markers?
• Would a Christian man take what he has not earned?
• Why should God honor such a man?
• Then why should you vote for such a man?
Christians in politics think only in terms of “power”. This is Satan’s paradigm not God’s. Gary North’s commentary on Exodus and his book Political Polytheism both show that if we do things like the other guys then ultimately we will fail. The paradigm of the Christian is not the power of the state (Pharaoh) but submission to God (Moses).
I have seen how this scenario plays-out. Can you say CRA and Barbara Alby? I told Cruz, “Beware the Ides of March” but he took the bait from the Establishment.
Trump has been calling Cruz “Lyin’ Ted” since before Florida and I now think he is correct.
Cruz isn’t just lying; he is stealing too. He is trying the steal delegates earned by Trump. I have previously documented some of these efforts but this is what is on the Internet today.
Manafort, a veteran GOP strategist who worked on White House campaigns for President Gerald Ford in 1976 and Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in 1996, told NBC’s “Meet The Press” that the Cruz campaign was using a “scorched earth” approach in which “they don’t care about the party. If they don’t get what they want, they blow it up.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/04/11/trump-slams-gop-nominating-process-as-top-aide-accuses-cruz-gestapo-tactics-to-win-delegates.html?intcmp=hpbt2
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump erupted on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning after a weekend that saw Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas sweep all of Colorado’s 34 delegates without any votes being cast by citizens in a traditional primary process.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/04/trump-erupts-as-cruz-sweeps-colorado-without-votes
GOP leaders have never provided a satisfactory reason for forgoing a presidential preference poll, although party chairman Steve House suggested on radio at one point that too many Republicans would otherwise flock to their local caucus.
Imagine that: party officials fearing that an interesting race might propel thousands of additional citizens to participate. But of course that might dilute the influence of elites and insiders. You can see why that could upset the faint-hearted.
By contrast, far-sighted party leaders should have welcomed the extra attention to their caucus and the potential activism on the party’s behalf it would have spawned.
http://www.denverpost.com/editorials/ci_29563108/colorado-gop-blundered-2016-presidential-caucus
The Cruz campaign ran the table in Colorado, capturing all 34 delegates at a series of seven congressional district meetings this month and the state party convention Saturday in Colorado Springs.
Colorado GOP leaders canceled the party’s presidential straw poll in August to avoid binding its delegates to a candidate who may not survive until the Republican National Convention in July.
Instead, Republicans selected national delegates through the caucus process, a move that put the election of national delegates in the hands of party insiders and activists — leaving roughly 90 percent of the more than 1 million Republican voters on the sidelines.
http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29750206/angry-donald-trump-blasts-colorado-gop-results-totally
Despite Donald Trump winning Virginia on Super Tuesday, two of three delegates elected in the first district convention here are supporters of rival Ted Cruz — which could matter if a second ballot were to take place at the national convention.
In the 9th congressional district, Donald Trump took over 47 percent of the votes on Super Tuesday. In Virginia’s primary for this district, Ted Cruz won only about 19 percent of the votes.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/cruz-nabs-delegate-backers-virginia-district-trump-won-n553641
In Nashville a week ago, supporters of Donald J. Trump accused Republican leaders of trying to stack the state’s delegate slate with people who were anti-Trump. The Trump campaign posted the cellphone number of the state party chairman on Twitter, leading him to be inundated with calls. Several dozen people showed up at the meeting at which delegates were being named, banged on the windows and demanded to be let in.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/us/politics/primary-process-is-seen-as-in-conflict-with-democracy.html?_r=0
The Colorado GOP is getting some backlash after someone with access to the party’s Twitter account posted, and quickly deleted, the following message: “We did it. #NeverTrump.”
http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/politics/colorado-gop-hastly-deletes-nevertrump-tweet-following-sweeping-ted-cruz-delegate-victory
Rush Limbaugh 04-11-2016
CALLER: I’m a disenfranchised Colorado voted who attended the non-caucus caucus.
RUSH: Yeah, how was it?
CALLER: It was a sham. (chuckles) There were a few people there, all Republican office people who wouldn’t even tell you who they were going to vote for as your delegate. So you had no idea.
RUSH: Wait, wait, wait. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! They wouldn’t tell you who they were gonna vote for as your delegate?
CALLER: Yes. We had to vote on delegates, but they would not announce who they were going to vote for as the delegate —
RUSH: So you were choosing delegates who would not tell you for whom they were going to support at the convention?
CALLER: That’s correct.
RUSH: Wow. Who was in charge of that, Ted Cruz?
CALLER: I have no idea. All I know—
RUSH: I’m just kidding! I’m sorry. Folks, I’m getting giddy here at the end of the program. I just made it up. I take it back. Who was in charge of making that decision?
CALLER: The Republican Party of Colorado. They don’t trust the voters. Last election we voted for Santorum, which they didn’t like, and the election before that we voted for Romney, who they didn’t want. They wanted McCain.
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/04/11/ted_cruz_isn_t_cheating_he_s_winning