I’m afraid of Donald Trump podcast notes

There is one set of verses read around Christmas time that contain a pretty scary subject to talk about in church. See if you can pick it out.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7

Can any of you pick out the scary word that is repeated in this passage? Government. The government will be on his shoulders. Of the greatness of his government there will be no end. What are the two things you can’t talk about with a group of people? God and politics. So let’s talk about both of them right now.

So let’s take a moment to talk about Trump. Here’s what I know about Donald Trump. A good portion of the people of America do not like him. Shocking right. As of a year ago last Friday his approval rating was a paltry 33%. 33 % of people interviewed thought our president was doing a good job running the country. 66% did not. It’s 39% right now. Before the “Make America Great Again” people leave the room, let me give you some other approval ratings. Four years ago President Obama’s approval rating was 38%. 10 years ago President Bush’s approval rating was 25%. Before that President Clinton’s approval rating bottomed out at 37% and before that George H. W. Bush’s approval rating his 29%.

Lincoln won the 1860 election in November with 39.8 percent of the popular vote. This absurdly low total was partly due to the fact that four candidates were on the ballot, but it remains the poorest showing by any winning presidential candidate in American history. The New York Herald reported that only 1 million of the 4.7 million who voted in November for Lincoln were still with him when he was sworn in. All these indications put his support in the nation at about 25 percent — roughly equivalent to the lowest approval ratings recorded by modern-day polling.

So what’s my point? We don’t like anyone. We might like a president for while, then we don’t like him. Or we like one president then hate the next one. Here’s another crazy stat about our presidents over the last 30 years. The two presidents with the lowest approval ratings were George Bush and George W. Bush. George hit a low of 29% and George W. hit 25%. Those were the lowest approval ratings. But they also had the highest approval ratings for a time. George Bush hit a high of 89% and George W. Bush hit a high of 92%. Why is it that we have such radical swings in our approval. I think most of us judge the success or failure based on one metric. Whether or not each president caters to our personal interests. Some presidents favor big business an some favor the poor and down and out and some give tax breaks to the working class and others try to boost the economy but giving breaks to big business. Our political environment is based on special interests. Here’s a short list of special interests I found this week.

The Balloon Council: “To educate consumers and regulators about the wonders of foil and latex balloons,”
US Association of Reptile Keepers
Catfish Farmers of America
Victoria McCullough: This oil heiress and equine philanthropist has spent $135,000 spurring lawmakers to keep American horses off foreign dinner plates.
California Dried Plum Board: Don’t you mean “prune”? Yes—but in 2000, the then-California Prune Board successfully lobbied the Food and Drug Administration to let it use the more female-friendly (really, that’s what it said) “dried plum.”

I’ve lived longer than you guys, but I think most people can agree on this statement. Every president is polarizing. This president seems to be the most polarizing. That may be true or it just may be true because it’s what we are looking at right now.

What do we do with the unkind actions of our president?

I’m having a real hard time watching the Academy Awards (so far). The last song was terrible! Kim should sue her plastic surgeon! #Oscars

Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses. Too bad!

…LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It’s a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!

How can we give a proper analysis of our government?

Should we give an analysis of our government?

1 Timothy 2:1-2 – I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people—  for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.

Romans 13:1 – Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. Philippians 1:18

Where any of you here for Paul’s message in this series. He talked about the leader of the known world during Peter’s time. It was Nero. Nero had this great plan to burn down huge portions of Rome so he’d have more room to build

These are the kind of things that Romans did to people that disagreed with them. Sometimes they had them beaten with whips that had metal pieces tied to them. They beat prisoners their prisoners 40 lashes minus one because that one was said to cause death. Have you heard the phrase, “beaten to within an inch of your life.” That phrase is literally 2000 years old and it’s referring to what Roman’s did to their prisoners. That actually happened to Paul 5 times.

The writer of the book of Mark was dragged behind a chariot for two days by the Roman’s because they were unhappy with him.

The Roman emperor Nero had some Christians sewn into animal skins then eaten by dogs. The Romans would kill a large animal like a bear or a deer and then sew it around Christians, then release the dogs

Christians don’t have a great track record when it comes to political choices or viewpoints

a Los Angeles Methodist wrote a 1965 letter proclaiming integration a force of the “Antichrist” and declaring that it was “a wonderful feeling to know that there are other people in America that are standing up for the rights of the white race and the right to gather without being mixed with the Savages of Africa.”

Trying to fuse conservative racial and political beliefs with Christian teaching has sometimes required theological acrobatics. Ancient biblical curses were employed to justify American slavery; instructions given to the Israelites, to forbid interracial marriage. Frantic assertions that Hillary Clinton was “of Satan,” that President Barack Obama was a Muslim acting covertly for an Islamic state, that the Bible’s mandate to love one’s neighbor meant to love one’s American neighbor — all patently false — show the desperation for some sort of religious justification for their political views.

Harriet Sherwood, The Guardian “We have been really dumbfounded and dismayed by the level of support that evangelical leaders have given to Trump,” said executive director Doug Pagitt. “We have a moral obligation and a religious obligation to offer a different voice. Our faith compels us to speak out.”
In the 2016 presidential election, 81% of white evangelical Christians voted for Trump.

We are afraid because of misplaced hope. We put our hope in someone and they let us down.
We have a king. We’ll be okay. Even if our government is not.
American’s two highest values are safety and hope

How do we stay engaged and not get caught up in partisan politics?
My neighbors. Democrats. Republicans.
How can we be involved in what is going around in our world and yet not get caught up in the divisiveness of political politics.