How To Live Under An Unqualified President by John Piper

[maintenanceman]

Part And Parcel
OCTOBER 31, 2017 – 7:15 PM
A Muslim terrorist mowed in a rented truck mowed down pedestrians in New York today, killing eight people. At a news conference, Governor Cuomo assured us that the killer was a “lone wolf”, and that there was no evidence of a “wider plot”.

Rubbish. The “wider plot” has been in effect for fourteen centuries. It continues unabated today, and this man was part of it — as the next one will be, and the next, and the next.

Meanwhile, the Mayor announced that we will go forward “stronger than ever”. Stronger than ever, that is, with more barricades, security checkpoints, travel restrictions, militarized police, and ubiquitous surveillance.

Bleed, rinse, repeat. This is the future we have chosen.

Once again, I will say the Obvious Thing:

Allowing mass Muslim immigration is the stupidest and most irreversibly self-destructive thing that any Western nation can do. - MP

When someone hates you and wants to kill you, you have to keep them out. There are those who are coming into western nations because it is easy and because they feel they are called to jihad.

At the same time many of the Muslim faith are wanting to come to western countries for a better life. Though it will remain to be seen if Muslims are going the way of Christians and will be open to maybe re thinking their fundamental beliefs.

Dave said,

Allowing mass Muslim immigration is the stupidest and most irreversibly self-destructive thing that any Western nation can do.

And I agree. There needs to be a very serious vetting structure in place. Or these kinds (what you talk about that happened tonight) will continue to happen.

As a side note, there are many different radical groups who are targeting factions of society and using technology to reach people right here in our own country

[anon12438761]

As a side note, there are many different radical groups who are targeting factions of society and using technology to reach people right here in our own country

So true.

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

As a side note, there are many different radical groups who are targeting factions of society and using technology to reach people right here in our own country

So true.

Actually, Zombies - when acting in a herd - can be considered a “radicalized” group.

And let me share this article I’ve share previously, from the Patheos evangelical newsletter:

What Should Christians Think about Satan, Demons, and Zombies?

Please. This is important! Watch the 15 minute video - by the seminary trained minister.

Let me quote a bit - from the accompanying article

What is a zombie? Is it possible for an evil demon to inhabit a dead body and walk around kind of like a false resurrection?

Are these things real, or just myths like cartoon superheroes? Are these kinds of things an insight into the supernatural battle between God and Satan that is raging on the earth? Or, are concepts like Satan, demons, and zombies primitive myths from a bygone age when people were not well educated and lived in fear of powerful but false cultural myths about the spirit realm?

Have you ever really stopped to think about these things in much detail? If someone asked you these kinds of questions, what would your answer be? Do you know if the Bible says anything about these subjects?

P.S. Some folks here might not like the “Hollywood make-believe”, zombie GIF images. So if I can substitute a “cartoon” variation instead, I will do so.

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/plantsvszombies/images/c/c8/Zombiedance2.gif/revision/latest?cb=20150625181857

Just a footnote here. I get all GIF images, from a Google keyword search. And I insure the images, are geared to a GP audience. Same as I do, when I post things - on social media. If any of my images, are consider R-rated… Please point out the image to me. I don’t think zombies having lunch, are suitable images - for a GP audience. But folks dressed as zombies - via Hollywood make-up artistry - are considered suitable. Sometimes, it’s hard to balance - between images and text. And so folks won’t get locked into GIF images, I’ll “stir it up” (see song youtu.be/S3UqvWk8-uw). Meaning sometimes I’ll use a GIF…sometimes a cartoon…and sometimes a still image. All honoring the high standards…of the Russian Orthodox, Holy Fools tradition.

[JasonPratt]

If you enjoy this sort of thing - I mean, you really enjoy it - that’s fine, maybe it’s becoming the ‘new normal’?

BUT - even if you find my posts offensive - a) you don’t have to read them and b) you can easily forget them.

Zombie posts, which are offensive to me personally, you a) MUST see them and b)it’s very hard to forget them.

So for those reasons, pictures of gore will trump dialogue. That’s America in a nutshell, it seems.
No matter what I"ve written above, which will stick with you longer, what I wrote, or this:?

Well, I’ve already gotten a complaint from someone who missed the point of you posting the gif.

That said, now that I have provided documentation that you’ve made your point, you can remove it now, thx.

I think Cindy is keeping track of this thread, but if anyone is putting up R-rated gifs or images, I recommend you think several times about it before doing so. I’ll tend to side with people complaining about their presence on this forum; I suspect the other ad/mods will, too.

(Edited to add: I understand the point Dave was trying to make, and I’m not warning or even criticizing him personally. I’m only staking out an admin position since the topic has come up.)

[anon12438761]

Done. No problem.

[Paidion]

[St_Michael]

Can’t you see?
It all makes perfect sense
Expressed in dollars and cents
Pounds shillings and pence

Roger Waters

[St_Michael]

Full lyrics are on the screen in the video. Perfect sense by Roger Waters

[anon12438761]

1. He got conservative judge Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
2. The stock market is at an all-time high.
3. Consumer confidence is at an all-time high.
4. He created more than a million jobs by undoing Obama’s regulations.
5. Mortgage applications for new homes is at a 7 year high.
6. Unemployment rate is at a 16 year low.
7. Signed the promoting women in entrepreneurship act.
8. Gutted 800 Obama era regulations thus freeing up companies to hire again and get the economy moving once again.
9. Ended the war on coal and caused a new mine for coal mining to open that will mine clean coal. He also put the miners back to work.
10. Weakened Dodd-Frank regulations.
11. Promotes buying and hiring American.
12. Investments from major businesses such as Foxconn, Ford ,Toyota, Intel amd others will build here now.
13. Reduced illegal immigration by over 70%.
14. Bids for the border wall are underway.
15. He’s fighting back against sanctuary cities.
16. Changed the rules of engagement against ISIS.
17. Drafted a plan to defeat ISIS.
18. Worked to reduce the cost of the F-35 fighter jets.
19. Imposed a five year lobbying plan.
20. Sanctioned Iran over its’ missile program.
21. Responded to Syria’s use of chemical weapons.
22. Reduced tax reform plan.
23. He’s renegotiating NAFTA.
    READ: Rep Wilson claims Niger is Trump’s Benghazi
24. He withdrew from the Trans Pacific Partnership thus keeping jobs here.
25. He pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accords thus saving us millions of dollars every year.
26. Created a task force to reduce crime.
27. The DOJ is targeting dangerous gangs like MS-13.
28. Signed independence and economic growth law.
29. Signed an executive order to protect police officers and target drug cartels.
30. Signed an executive order for religious freedom.
31. His administration is working on sending education back to the states.
32. He’s fixing the dept. of Veterans affairs so now vets can choose their own doctors and be covered. This also protects whistle blowers and allows VA to terminate bad employees…
33. Authorized construction of the Keystone and Dakota pipelines. The Dakota pipeline is up and running without harming the environment.
34. Created commissions on election fraud and opioid addiction.
35. Food stamp use is the lowest level in seven years.
36. Reduced the White House payroll saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
37. He’s donating his salary to various causes.
38. Signed 52 pieces of legislation.
39. Cut 600 billion from UN peacekeeping mission.
40. Gas prices lowest in more than 12 years.

You won’t hear any of this in the mainstream media. All they know is destroy, distract and damage. That shows that they don’t care about the people they claim to care about because if they did they would work with Trump and make the country better.
Trump accomplished all of this on his own without the help of congress who are useless at this point. All the media cares about is how they can destroy him today. They have no solutions of their own. They are all deranged ideologues suffering from what is known as Trump derangement syndrome. No wonder the media’s and congress’ ratings are lower than Trump’ s. His may be low, but theirs is lower.
In the areas of economics and national security, Trump is in the midst of healing this country’s true woes. He’s facing nearly insurmountable opposition from every corner of Washington and the media. But he’s started something in motion that will ultimately prevail. He has turned the ship around. That’s moral victory. That’s making America great again. That’s all that really, truly matters. - CDN

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

I think all presidents, need to develop a sense of humor. Look at this article today, from the Patheos site, evangelical newsletter:

A Universal Truth All Preachers Can Learn from Thor Ragnarok

Let me quote a bit - from the article:

Humor is a great way to start a message because humor breaks down walls. Between any speaker and audience, especially if there are guests, there are walls of skepticism and unconnectedness built up. If you start hitting them with truth right out of the gate, that truth will run straight into the defensive brick walls that the audience has built up. Something as simple as shared laughter can break down walls, build the beginning of a bond between the speaker and an audience, and can make the deeper truths you want to communicate more palatable to a skeptical audience.

One of humor’s main strategic uses in a sermon is to release the tension in the room, allowing you to build it right back up. Here’s what I mean: let’s say that the intensity of a sermon is on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the lightest and 10 being the most intense. Some communicators think they need to get to 10 as quickly as possible and stay there. They’ll start the sermon intense and almost angry, and then proceed to stay there for the next 45 minutes. If you red line the intensity of a sermon for that long, you’re most likely going to exhaust and possibly lose your audience. Strategic humor releases the tension, allowing you to build it back up. If you start the intensity of your sermon at a 6 and build it up to a 9, a well-planned joke releases the tension back to a 6, gives everyone a short breather, and then allows you to build the intensity right back. At the end of the sermon you still have everyone where you want them to be, but now they don’t feel like they just ran a marathon.

Finally, good use of humor in a message is a surefire way to keep guests and audiences coming back. As spiritual as you hope they might be, the question most guests ask themselves when they decide whether or not they’ll come back is simply, “Did I enjoy myself at this church?” If people laugh, they have fun and they’re more likely to come back. If your goal is to preach at a high intensity to a gradually declining group of insiders, by all means reject any form of humor. But if you want the chance to assimilate guests into your church (meaning they’ll need to come back regularly), humor will always give you a better shot at connecting with a guest through a message. And guess what? When guests come back and people get saved, that definitely glorifies God.

In fact, TV evangelist Joel Osteen, always starts his program - with a joke.

[anon12438761]

Golly gee, I thought a nice list of accomplishments might get - even from die-hard Trump haters - at least a grudging acknowledgment.

There ya go Randy, I started off with a joke.

[maintenanceman]

1. He got conservative judge Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court.
2. The stock market is at an all-time high.
3. Consumer confidence is at an all-time high.
4. He created more than a million jobs by undoing Obama’s regulations.
5. Mortgage applications for new homes is at a 7 year high.
6. Unemployment rate is at a 16 year low.
7. Signed the promoting women in entrepreneurship act.
8. Gutted 800 Obama era regulations thus freeing up companies to hire again and get the economy moving once again.
9. Ended the war on coal and caused a new mine for coal mining to open that will mine clean coal. He also put the miners back to work.
10. Weakened Dodd-Frank regulations.
11. Promotes buying and hiring American.
12. Investments from major businesses such as Foxconn, Ford ,Toyota, Intel amd others will build here now.
13. Reduced illegal immigration by over 70%.
14. Bids for the border wall are underway.
15. He’s fighting back against sanctuary cities.
16. Changed the rules of engagement against ISIS.
17. Drafted a plan to defeat ISIS.
18. Worked to reduce the cost of the F-35 fighter jets.
19. Imposed a five year lobbying plan.
20. Sanctioned Iran over its’ missile program.
21. Responded to Syria’s use of chemical weapons.
22. Reduced tax reform plan.
23. He’s renegotiating NAFTA.
    READ: Rep Wilson claims Niger is Trump’s Benghazi
24. He withdrew from the Trans Pacific Partnership thus keeping jobs here.
25. He pulled us out of the Paris Climate Accords thus saving us millions of dollars every year.
26. Created a task force to reduce crime.
27. The DOJ is targeting dangerous gangs like MS-13.
28. Signed independence and economic growth law.
29. Signed an executive order to protect police officers and target drug cartels.
30. Signed an executive order for religious freedom.
31. His administration is working on sending education back to the states.
32. He’s fixing the dept. of Veterans affairs so now vets can choose their own doctors and be covered. This also protects whistle blowers and allows VA to terminate bad employees…
33. Authorized construction of the Keystone and Dakota pipelines. The Dakota pipeline is up and running without harming the environment.
34. Created commissions on election fraud and opioid addiction.
35. Food stamp use is the lowest level in seven years.
36. Reduced the White House payroll saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
37. He’s donating his salary to various causes.
38. Signed 52 pieces of legislation.
39. Cut 600 billion from UN peacekeeping mission.
40. Gas prices lowest in more than 12 years.

You won’t hear any of this in the mainstream media. All they know is destroy, distract and damage. That shows that they don’t care about the people they claim to care about because if they did they would work with Trump and make the country better.
Trump accomplished all of this on his own without the help of congress who are useless at this point. All the media cares about is how they can destroy him today. They have no solutions of their own. They are all deranged ideologues suffering from what is known as Trump derangement syndrome. No wonder the media’s and congress’ ratings are lower than Trump’ s. His may be low, but theirs is lower.
In the areas of economics and national security, Trump is in the midst of healing this country’s true woes. He’s facing nearly insurmountable opposition from every corner of Washington and the media. But he’s started something in motion that will ultimately prevail. He has turned the ship around. That’s moral victory. That’s making America great again. That’s all that really, truly matters. - CDN

You know you make some good points here, I’m not sure I would like Mr. Trump in person (but maybe Donald and I would click or maybe not ) I am sure that some of his tactics and antics are viewed as not being gentlemanly or statesman like But the overriding sentiment of much of the country is that things have to be shaken up and the politicians who are paid by us and voted in by us need to start acting like they work for us as opposed to getting into office and suddenly realizing that they know better than their constituency This seems to be the crux… Why the hell is he doing all of this when no one else would do it? Duh he figured out that he could win by pandering to a very needy and wanting group of American citizens. He did it, he won and now let’s see what happens.

[anon12438761]

things have to be shaken up and the politicians who are paid by us and voted in by us need to start acting like they work for us as opposed to getting into office and suddenly realizing that they know better than their constituenc

Well said MM!

[Paidion]

Well, here are the facts— No, never mind!

As one Trump supporter put it, “My mind is made up! Don’t confuse me with the facts!”

[anon12438761]

That same thing was said by millions of HIllary supporters.
Ah well, the great pageant of life moves on, eh??

[maintenanceman]

Well, here are the facts— No, never mind!

As one Trump supporter put it, “My mind is made up! Don’t confuse me with the facts!”

[St_Michael]

https://scontent-dft4-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/23722559_503597163353003_6374647873779302704_n.jpg?oh=c0f81b3ee9777e73895952b2637e8845&oe=5AA6B4D0

[Holy-Fool-P-Zombie]

I propose that we give President Trump and the Trumpeters…As well as all political zombies …a rest for the holidays. And we can resurrect both Trump and the zombies…after New Years day. If we need to - that is.

After all, Donald did pardon two turkeys. That good deed, should last him through New Years Day.

[anon12438761]

For those that are willing to judge Trump fairly, here’s a good piece of writing.
townhall.com/columnists/evansay … s-n2354580

[St_Michael]