Donald Trump Shot

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Looking at our world from a theological
perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast,

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making Theology Central. Good evening everyone. It is Saturday, July the

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thirteenth, twenty twenty four. It
is currently nine fifty eight pm Central Time,

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and I am coming to you live
from the Theology Central studio located right

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here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I'm going to be completely honest with

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you. Right now, I don't
really know what to say. I'm still

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trying to process a lot of thoughts
and a lot of feelings. But if

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I'm being honest with you right now, I feel a sense of dread,

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almost a feeling of depression maybe if
I'm being maybe even a little sense of

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worry, maybe not quite to anxiety, but some very strong negative opinions,

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negative feelings, And you probably know
why. But if for some reason you

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have not heard the news, I
have these negative feelings, these negative thoughts,

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this sense of dread, this sense
of worry, anxiety, discouragement,

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maybe even a little bit of depression. Maybe all of these I have all

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of these emotions. Not maybe I
have all of these emotions and it's not

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Maybe it is a definite because of
the news that you probably are already familiar

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with. But if you are not, let me play this for you.

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This is from NPR News. This
is the at top of the hour news

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update line from NPR News in Washington. I'm Luis Skiovone. A shooting at

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a Trump political rally in Butler,
Pennsylvania, earlier this evening has left the

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former president with a gunshot wound to
his right ear, one spectator dead,

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too, seriously wounded, and the
shooter dead. Attorney General Merrick Garland is

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stating the FBI, ATF and US
Attorney's Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania

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are working with Secret Service, as
well as state and local law enforcement in

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Butler County. They are reeling along
with the rest of the nation. District

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Attorney Richard Goldinger told CNN, we
haven't seen this since Reagan in nineteen eighty

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and it's it's mind blowing. You
know, maybe we got a little lackadaisy,

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like a days goal about it that
you know, this wouldn't happen to

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a president or a former president,
but it's crazy, and I mean sadly.

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Maybe it's a just the state of
our current political situation. Trump campaign

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and the Republican National Committee say the
GOP convention will start as expected on Monday

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in Milwaukee. President Biden is condemning
the shooting, and PR's Tamarack Keith has

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more. President Biden said everyone must
condemn what happened, as well as all

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political violence. There's no place in
America for this kind of violence. It's

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sick. It's sick. It's one
of the reason why we after unite this

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country. We cannot allow for this
to be happening. We cannot be like

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this. We cannot condone this.
Biden declined to weigh in on whether this

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was an assassination attempt, and said
he was waiting to get more information before

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saying more. He is being briefed
by national security officials. A Biden campaign

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official says they are working to take
down all TV ads and other messaging in

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the wake of this incident. Tamer
Keith and PR news Now, the shooting

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at and of Donald Trump has obviously
been the major news this even there was

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a shooting at a campaign rally.
He was hit in the ear. You

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can, if you've seen the video
of it, you can hear the sound

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of the shot, you can hear
him. You can see Donald Trump grab

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at the side of his head.
He goes down. The Secret Service obviously

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rushed to him. When he stands
back up, he's you know, he's

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got blood coming down the side of
his face. He's very defiant. He's

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he's saying fight, he's raising his
fist. They're trying to get him off

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the stage. And we find out
when it's all throughout, after all of

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the chaos, after everything kind of
settles for just a few minutes, we

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start finding out that not only was
he shot, the shooter was shot and

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killed, but someone in you know, someone who was also attending the rally

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was shot and killed, and two
others were seriously wounded. It seems so

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we have two people dead, one
the shooter, the other one just a

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spectator of someone at the rally Donald
Trump shot, and two others we don't

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I don't know the seriousness of their
injuries as of right now. Now all

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of that information could obviously drastically change. It has been a few hours since

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all of this happened. I I
I was I was conflicted on what to

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do do I do I just get
to the microphone as soon as possible.

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Well, I knew the information would
be changing, like by the minute it

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would just be changing and changing.
I didn't really have an opportunity to do

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that anyway, and in some ways
that's good because of situations here. I

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didn't really have the opportunity to come
to the microphone, which was actually probably

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a positive because if I would have
came to the microphone, all I could

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have really done is just trying to
be a reporting thing, reporting things in

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real time while I was trying to
monitor other sources, and well, you

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could you could, you know already
look at those other sources. So I

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really couldn't add anything to it.
But as I have watched and read a

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lot of responses to it, in
some ways it's shocking how either almost in

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joking manner, how many people have
taken this in almost in a joking way.

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That's been somewhat disturbing, Like you
know, I some people almost mocking

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it, making fun of it.
Some people obviously who don't like Donald Trump,

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almost celebrating it or disappointed that it
wasn't worse, which is horrifying and

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horrible. Already, misinformation, disinformation
conspiracy theories are abounding all over the place,

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which is again frustrating and horrible.
The reaction should be just you think

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this is one of the situations that
you know about ninety eight percent of the

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people in the world. You're always
gonna have some people who are going to

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respond in just a horrifying way.
But you would think most people would respond,

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this is horrible, this is outrageous. This should be condemned, period.

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It doesn't matter who the presidential candidate
is, or the president is,

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former president, active president, any
political leader. You don't want people people

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shooting at political leaders because we disagree
with their politics or we disagree with their

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policies. It's a horrible, horrible
thing. So as I've kind of just

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let the hours go by, and
I was focusing on other things, just

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more for entertainment. I would keep
up with the news a little bit,

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but I was just trying not to. I didn't want to. You know,

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if you go down that you know
that trail, and you're going to

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start seeing all of the reactions and
comments, and I was trying to avoid

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a lot of that as much as
I possibly could. I was trying to

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avoid it as much as possible.
But as you know, everything kind of

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of you know, everything else that
I was doing ended, and so then

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immediately I was like, okay,
so let's let's walk up the stairs to

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the studio. What do I do? What do I do? And it's

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it's somewhat I don't know how to
describe it. It's very odd. The

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way this day went all right,
the way this day went so This morning,

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I had a lot of things to
do, a lot of responsibilities.

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But I received an email. Let
me go to this email. This was

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first thing in the morning. I
received an email with a link to a

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story and the headline of that story
Trump's negative influence on an already wicked nation.

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Trump's negative influence on an already wicked
nation. And I saw it and

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I'm like, okay, this is
this is really good. I went to

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Theology Central die net and I posted
the article there and I was going to

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send out a notification on the church
one app Hey, this article is at

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theology Theologycentral dot net. Go check
it out. Make some very valid points.

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It's written from a Christian perspective,
a very conservative philological Christian perspective,

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but making an argument that hey,
we don't need need to get wrapped up

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into politics, and trying to draw
a distinction between conservativism from a political standpoint

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and biblical Christianity. I thought it
was powerful, I thought it was insightful,

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But it was just interesting that the
morning kind of started off with an

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article about Donald Trump. And if
my day would have gone any different,

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I would have come to this microphone
earlier today and did a podcast episode about

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this article that many would would perceive
it as I'm attacking Donald Trump or I'm

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being very negative about Donald Trump,
and and and and Trump supporters would have

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been very angry with me. But
because of the situation of circumstances here today,

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I was not able to do so, which now and then and then

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guess what happens then this evening.
We may not want to call it an

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assassination attempt yet, I don't know
if it's been, you know, completely,

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uh accurately defined that way, But
definitely someone was shooting at Donald Trump,

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and he was struck in the ear
with a bullet, So I think

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I think it would be fair to
say an assassination attempt, but I want

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to be as fair and accurate with
everything I say. So it's just the

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beginning of the day starts with that, and then it ends with that.

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So it's kind of just like and
I could have possibly have been talking about

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well Donald Trump somewhere in the middle
of the day. So I so in

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some ways I'm glad that did not
work out. I'm glad because because some

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people but would have been like,
well, see you were attacking him,

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and and and it would have just
it would it could have been just ugly.

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So I'm kind of glad it didn't
work out that way. But here

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we are this evening. Here we
are this evening, and I don't know

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how you're feeling. I don't know
what you're thinking. I don't know what

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you're feeling. Some of you may
go, okay, I don't know.

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Look, I don't even want to
try to try to guess all of the

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emotions and feelings. But I'm obviously
really bothered right now. So I'm gonna

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I'm gonna I'm gonna start with the
first thing. And this is going to

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bother you, all right, You're
gonna be bothered with me, But that's

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okay. I just what I want
to do here is just try to talk

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through my own feelings and emotions and
struggle with a lot of this. Okay,

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So here's my first thing that bothered
me greatly on within an hour,

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maybe within an hour, of this
all happening, you could start finding on

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certain platforms, especially Donald Trumps supporters
they had they were making memes and these

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posters of like there's Trump and there's
like Jesus standing behind him, and like

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Trump was in God's grace. God
protected him, God's looking out from him.

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No enemy formed against him can prosper. God is on you know,

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God is protecting Donald Trump because we
need him and this type of thing,

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and I understand maybe someone's motivation to
do so, but it struck me in

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a very negative way. And here's
the reason why. Okay, so God

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stepped in save Donald Trump, and
we're going to talk all about that,

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but I'm sorry for the person attending
his political rally who was shot and killed.

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I'm not talking about the shooter.
I'm talking about someone who was there

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watching. As far as we know, they had nothing to do with the

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shooting. They were just an innocent
bystander and they are dead. And I

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struggle with this constantly when Christians do
this, right, if if a storm

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strikes your if the storm strikes your
town and your house is spared, you'll

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be like, you know, it'll
be some Christian on the news going,

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well, God protected us, and
his angels were looking out for us and

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God, God did not allow it
to happen, and we were praying and

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the tornado did not come to our
house. But on the news, it'll

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be like two blocks away or two
houses over, an entire family died,

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and it would be like, well, huh, I understand. On one

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hand, you want to say thank
God that you didn't die, but you

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got to understand how that comes across
when someone else died. So God was

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at the same event that one person
was spared the other person wasn't. Now

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I know what some people say,
well, God is sovereign, he can

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say who he wants to say so, but that sounds so callous, and

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so I don't lie that. I
don't. I don't like that in any

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way, shape or form. It
bothers me. It It just bothers me

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so much. It bothers me so
much because because sometimes we forget when we

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are supposedly praising God for sparing someone, well what about the those he did

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not spare? And I guess you
can just shrug your shoulders up and be

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cold and callous and say, well, you know, God sovereign. The

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end. Yeah, I mean that's
that's easy to say when you're the one

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spared. But someone tonight I don't
know if the other person who was shot

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was a woman or a man,
I don't know, but they're family members

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now being probably a being notified that
your loved one went to a political rally

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and they're never coming home. And
that bothers me greatly. That bothers me

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greatly because no one should life,
no one's life should ever be in danger

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for going to a political rally,
no matter how much I agree or disagree

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with said political rally. So I
that's that's that. When I started seeing

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some of these kind of memes and
things going around, I immediately got bothered

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by that. I almost wanted to
respond to some of them and go,

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come on, now, there's there's
someone's family right now. God wasn't protecting

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them, And that's always a difficult
thing for me. It maybe it.

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I know it doesn't bother most Christians. I understand it doesn't, but I

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look, the goal here tonight is
I'm not sitting here trying to come with

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some you know, I'm just trying
to be real. I'm just trying to

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talk through it. So I guess
that's the first thing that kind of bothered

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me was that the second kind of
alluded to in the news the audio,

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the news audio clip that we played
here at the beginning, is someone we

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don't know their motivation, we can't
speak to it. But someone, for

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some apparent reason, obtained a gun
went to a political rally to try to

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kill It appears that, at least
from the again, this could all change

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in the next you know, thirty
minutes to an hour could be changing right

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now as I'm speaking, So be
aware of that. It appears someone obtained

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a gun went to a political rally
to try to kill Donald Trump. How

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on one hand, I understand it
from the perspective of human depravity. We

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are all totally depraved. We have
a sinful nature. And what that sin

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does not, oh, it doesn't
manifest the same and all of us right

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like the sin that's manifested in your
life may be different than the sin that's

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manifested in my life. But we
are all sinners and it manifested itself in

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some way. So on one hand
I understand it to prave people. Sinful

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people do sinful things like attempting to
kill other people, or killing other people,

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or murder or robbery or child molestation, rape, sexual assault, you

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know, stilling, bearing, false
witness, covetiousness. We can just go

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on and on and on. A
sexual morality. You name it, right,

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it's always going to be there.
So on one hand, I understand

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it from that perspective, I do. But ladies and gentlemen, our country

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has almost become oh, let me
state it this way. A large number

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of people within our country have become
so politically obsessed, so politically consumed,

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that all it's leading to is divisiveness, anger, division, fighting, discouragement,

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despair, anger, hatred, And
it's it's horrifying that politics have almost

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become a religion in itself. Politics
have almost become a god to some people.

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And even though not everyone will react
in such a violent manner like obtaining

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a gun, you know, attempting
to kill someone, But our rhetoric,

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our words, our bitterness, our
hatred, are fighting, are calling people

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names, it's all so oh ugly. And I look, I can understand

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the world like those who are not
Christians, I can understand. Right,

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what else do you have? So
you you you've rejected God, So you're

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going to always replace something? Right, if you reject God, something is

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going to be a god. Everyone's
going to worship something. Right, it's

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going to be yourself, it's going
to be your career, it's going to

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be your family. It's gonna be
money, it's gonna be some everyone's going

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to have a God, whether they
call it that or not. Well,

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much many in our society as we
because we continue down this path of a

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post Christian nation. Right, Christianity
has lost its influence. It's not it

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does not have any powers. People
move away from Christianity that we're going to

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replace it with something, And even
many who call themselves Christians, Christianity is

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more of a tool to support their
political opinions. God is almost second to

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their political into their political desires.
So someone now there may be mental health

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issues, we don't know, but
I just just in a symbolic way,

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this person, whoever they were,
who attempted to shoot and possibly well,

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I think their intent was obvious to
kill Donald Trump. Clearly they had issues

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depravity obviously, maybe mental health issues, but it also seems someone who has

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become consumed with politics. Maybe they
weren't, but it feels that way.

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So I cannot speak dogmatically about the
shooter since we don't have that information,

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but to me, it serves as
a depressing reminder of the state of a

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lot of our country today, politically
consumed, politically hijacked, politically obsessed,

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politically focused, and it's leads to
division and divisiveness and attacking people and calling

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people names. Even if it's never
done physically, it's done verbally, it's

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it's in some ways. You've already
killed your political opponents fifty times in your

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mind and in your heart, even
though you haven't done it in a physical

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way. There's been great concern for
a while a number of polls saying that

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America's on the verge of a civil
war. Now, I've always tried to

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be somewhat skeptical of those polls,
going maybe that's more talk, hopefully it's

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not true. But I've been worried. I said in the end of twenty

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twenty three that I felt twenty twenty
four is just going to be a year

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that's going to just be It's going
to be horrible, and I feel like

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it's going to get worse and worse
and worse the closer we get to the

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election. And here we are July
the thirteenth, twenty twenty four. It's

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a Saturday night. You know what
I should be doing right now. I

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should be focusing on what I'm going
to preach when I stand behind a pulpit.

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But right now I can't help but
feel like things are just not right.

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Things are just not right, and
I don't think they're going to get

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better. The animosity, the anger
that's going to possibly arise from this.

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Now, maybe maybe I am completely
wrong. What I would hope is that

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this would all unify and bring together, but it's already misinformation, disinformation,

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conspiracies are already abounding, and in
some cases I didn't really see the emotional

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outpouring, right I felt like that
for a minute, everyone would hit pause

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and go, you know what,
you know what, you know what,

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you know what, you know what. Whether I agree or disagree with Trump,

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this is horrible and I condemn it
now many are, But I felt

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like in many cases that I wasn't
as widespread as I felt or thought that

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it would be. On one hand, you know, I struggle with the

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whole Okay, so God did this
or God didn't do this, And you

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know, people saying God protected Trump, but obviously he didn't protect the person,

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and the spectator at the rally.
Obviously, those things bother me.

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Those are deep philological issues that I
struggle with, and I don't know how

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all Christians don't struggle with that to
some capacity. On one hand, I

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understand exactly what happened because human depravity. But on the other hand, I

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just feel that this entire situation just
screams at me the poison, the poison

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the politics is. I think political
obsession, political idolatry, political focus just

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is a poison. It corrupts,
it divides it. I just I just

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think it's more destructive than it is
ever beneficial. And even if your team

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wins an election, you can celebrate
until what until then the midterms, and

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then your party loses the mid terms
and then okay, we're gonna come back

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to the general election. And then
maybe you'll lose the general election, and

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then you go four more years trying
to get back that power, and then

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it's just a never ending cycle of
win, lose, win lose, when

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back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. Maybe you'll get

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you'll get you know, two terms
whatever, but then maybe you'll get two

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terms, but then it'll be Okay, the president is this party but then

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the Congress or the Senate is controlled
by this party, and well, now

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we're kind of in a deadlock since
nobody can get anything done. And the

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meantime, it's just day after day
talking politics, politics, politics, politics,

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politics, politics, politics. In
the meantime, everything just seems to

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be disintegrating around us, and everything
seems to be crumbling around us, while

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we just continue to fight and thinking
that politics is going to solve anything,

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and it's not going to solve anything. It's just not the answer. I

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just feel like that this is just
I feel again. And I hope you

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understand I'm using lots of term.
I'm using that term liberally. I'm using

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that term frequently because I want to
make sure I'm not necessarily trying to articulate

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dogmatic claims. I'm making claims about
how I'm feeling and processing this. In

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real time. There's just this,
And maybe I'm hoping that twenty four hours

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from now, forty eight hours from
now, this feeling will just have be

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gone and it'll just be a sense
of peace and calm and everything. I'll

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feel like it's back to normal.
I don't know, I don't that would

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be great right now. I just
feel like, what is happening? Where

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are things headed? Now? I
know this is not the first time I

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was alive for President Reagan when he
was shot. I was alive for that.

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I was in I think middle school. I think middle school I was

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when that occurred, if I remember
correctly, So I remember that. Obviously

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we know of the jfk assassination.
Obviously we know of that. We know

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these things have happened in different parts
of history. So on one hand,

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you don't want to be hyperbolic.
You don't want to you don't want to

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blow this out of proportion. At
the same time, you want to take

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it serious and you want to be
bothered by it, and you want to

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condemn it outright. I don't care
who the political leader is. This kind

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of divisiveness it must stop. I
don't care who it is. I don't

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care if it's a Republican Democrat.
It all needs to stop. But you

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know, I can just sit there
and say stop it. But you don't

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just stop human depravity by saying stop
it. So I can't there. There's

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only a limit on what I can
do there. What I guess all I

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can do from a philological perspective is
say Okay, those of us who call

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ourself Christians, can we just see
the destructive, corrupting nature of politics and

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we retreat from the political flag waving, political party supporting mindset, and we

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treat in a sense. When I
say retreat, we just in a sense

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retreat back to well being a christ
focused people, focusing on Christ, the

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gospel, salvation personal and you know, church wide revival that I don't know

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what else to do. I don't
know what else where else to turn.

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Now what some people are gonna do, This is gonna motivate them even more.

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We're gonna get Trump elected in twenty
twenty. We're going to win and

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win? What what are you going
to win? Trump's already been president once

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then he lost. He wins again, well he won't, he won't make

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it another term. So even if
he wins, what and then how what

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is the Congress and Senate going to
look like? What do you think you're

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really going to do? I know
in your mind it's like you get your

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your you're party elected as president,
and then you're gonna you're gonna transform the

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world into some kind of utopia.
But you are not the world needs Christ.

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The world doesn't need a political victory. The world needs Christians for us

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to do right and be right to
the best of our ability, or let

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me take that back. We need
to show the world that as sinners,

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hope is found in the and imputed
righteousness of Christ, and just see that

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we care about that, and that
we put our focus in something else,

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like and I and I. You
know, I can look at all kinds

335
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of scriptures here, and then we
get into a struggle of Okay, so

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how do we understand the scripture and
a lot of what happened? How do

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we understand God's sovereignty and a light
of what happened? Those are the things

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I always struggle with. You know, well, God did this, I

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can't what about the person who didn't
make it? And not just that incident,

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all the other incidents that happened in
the United States of America and around

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the world today, of how many
people were killed, how many horrible things.

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So I always struggle with all of
that. It's interesting and our study

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of Psaw eighty three, I keep
saying this over and over and over,

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00:30:34.640 --> 00:30:38.400
saw maybe three kind of describes this
to me. It kind of describes this

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00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:42.480
reality that as a believer in God, we all, this is what we

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00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:48.759
experienced. This is the Christian life. The Christian life is us as people

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who believe in a God and whom
we cannot see, as we live in

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a world filled with circumstances that we
very much can see, that we very

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00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:08.519
much can feel, that we very
much are impacted by, and those circumstances,

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00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:15.039
time and time again scream at us
there is no God. Where is

351
00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:19.640
God? And that's the struggle we
have. On one hand, No,

352
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No, I believe in God.
I cannot see him. I believe by

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faith, I believe he is there. But when I look at all these

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circumstances that I can see, that
I can hear, touch, feel that

355
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they're all around me, it makes
me question where is God? And sometimes

356
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on a day like this and a
night like this, I'm kind of like,

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God, where are you now?
Some people are like, well,

358
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he spared Trump, great, okay, but he didn't spare the other person

359
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who died, so obviously that's gonna
that causes me struggle. Maybe it doesn't

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cause you struggle. That's okay,
Maybe you're more spiritual than I am.

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But then it makes me feel like, okay, but what's next? Where

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do we go from here because it's
is it going to be anger or is

363
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it going to be everyone's going to
go pause and go stop stop. We

364
00:32:13.519 --> 00:32:15.559
got to stop all of this.
I don't think everyone's going to stop.

365
00:32:15.720 --> 00:32:21.599
I think it's just going to spiral. The Roderick is only going to get

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worse. The intensity is only going
to increase. The frustration and anger and

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divisiveness and bitterness, it's only going
to increase, and the Church will get

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00:32:31.839 --> 00:32:45.680
pulled right into it. I remember
when Obama was elected there were Christians they

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were claiming they were praying in pregatory
psalms for his death and destruction, and

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I was horrified that Christians would do
that. Some played the same little game

371
00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:04.400
with Hillary and with Biden that you
know, oh, we're just praying in

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precatory psalms that they would be killed. We can get a whole discussion about

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it, precatory psalms and how we
should understand them, and we'll get to

374
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that in our discussion on psal Maty
three. I don't know what won't get

375
00:33:16.880 --> 00:33:28.839
there tomorrow, but hopefully soon.
Whenever anyone wants to see other people die

376
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because we disagree with the political policies, that's a problem. I think it's

377
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probably good to be reminded of these
words from the Book of Romans, Chapter

378
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twelve. Repay no one evil for
evil, have regard for good things in

379
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the side of all men. If
it is possible, as much as it

380
00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:53.839
depends on you, live peaceably with
all men beloved. Do not avenge yourselves,

381
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but rather give place to wrath.
But rather give a place to wrath.

382
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For it has written ingins as mine. I will repay saith the Lord.

383
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Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is

384
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thirsty, give him drink, for
in so doing you will keep coals of

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00:34:12.159 --> 00:34:16.679
fire on his head. Do not
overcome. Do not be overcome by evil,

386
00:34:17.159 --> 00:34:24.079
but overcome evil with good. Do
not be overcome by evil, but

387
00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:30.840
overcome evil with good. Now by
no means am I saying that the government,

388
00:34:30.880 --> 00:34:36.639
the police, the military doesn't have
the right to defend. I'm not

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00:34:36.679 --> 00:34:42.280
saying that. I'm saying us as
people, as Christians, let's not turn

390
00:34:42.320 --> 00:34:47.079
this into hatred and name calling of
our political opponents. In fact, I

391
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:51.960
would beg of you, plead of
you. If you know someone of a

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00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:55.679
different political party. You know of
them family member, friend, neighbor,

393
00:34:55.760 --> 00:35:05.440
coworker, don't argue, don't fight, show them love, even if you

394
00:35:05.480 --> 00:35:10.719
consider them your enemy because you disagree
with their political opinions and policies they support.

395
00:35:10.920 --> 00:35:15.840
You know what, Feed him if
they're hungry, thirsty, give them

396
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:21.039
drink. Do good. Overcome evil
with If you see them as evil,

397
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:23.519
overcome that evil with good. Do
good under them, Show them love,

398
00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:44.679
show them compassion, show them mercy. Live that out. I don't,

399
00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:52.480
I know, And I'm very grateful
for everyone that's taken time to pray for

400
00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:59.719
Donald Trump and his safety and his
family and everyone. I hopefully pray for

401
00:35:59.800 --> 00:36:04.480
the safety and security of every all
of our elected officials, whether Republican or

402
00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:09.639
Democrat, and that this will stop, and that all this madness will just

403
00:36:09.719 --> 00:36:17.519
stop. I can be if I'm
being fully transparent. I struggle with what

404
00:36:17.639 --> 00:36:25.519
to pray. Remember, from a
purely theological standpoint, You know my struggle,

405
00:36:25.679 --> 00:36:35.440
Right, We're going to pray to
God to do certain things, but

406
00:36:35.480 --> 00:36:39.239
he's the God who allowed what happened
to happen. So it's always a contradictory

407
00:36:39.239 --> 00:36:43.400
struggle there, right, So we're
going to pray to the very God who

408
00:36:43.440 --> 00:36:47.599
allowed it to happen to now do
something different, and even if we're praying

409
00:36:47.599 --> 00:36:51.239
to the God to protect this person, what about the person who died?

410
00:36:51.320 --> 00:36:53.280
Like? Those are the things I
struggle with, And I got no problem

411
00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:59.800
acknowledging that I'm a podcaster. That's
the one of freedom. I can struggle

412
00:36:59.800 --> 00:37:02.280
with these things. A pastor,
if he said these things will lose his

413
00:37:02.440 --> 00:37:09.480
job. I can be more real
and transparent. I struggle. I don't

414
00:37:09.519 --> 00:37:14.000
know what to pray tonight. I'm
just gonna be honest with I don't know

415
00:37:14.039 --> 00:37:20.480
what to pray, because again,
I would be going to the very God

416
00:37:20.599 --> 00:37:31.519
who allowed what happened to happen.
I do feel that what we as we

417
00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:36.719
struggle and however you decide to pray
tonight, I think we should all pray.

418
00:37:36.880 --> 00:37:38.280
I'm going to pray and just be
more honest with my Hey Lord,

419
00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:40.840
I don't know what to say,
and I don't know what to do,

420
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:47.559
and I don't understand. I don't
understand what is happening. But I am

421
00:37:47.679 --> 00:37:55.599
going to pray that myself and hopefully
you who listens or will listen to this,

422
00:37:57.239 --> 00:38:00.239
that all of us who claim to
be Christians, that we will not

423
00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:06.280
run towards politics, will run to
towards the cross run towards scripture, run

424
00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:10.760
towards prayer, run too fasting,
run to that, and not and not

425
00:38:13.559 --> 00:38:22.639
towards political rhetoric, political division,
political divisiveness, political arguing, fighting and

426
00:38:22.679 --> 00:38:27.360
calling names, that we will just
run away from that, that we're not

427
00:38:27.360 --> 00:38:30.239
going to be We're gonna we're gonna
be not gonna be pulled into that.

428
00:38:30.280 --> 00:38:32.199
We're going to stand above it in
some way, shape or form. That

429
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:37.920
this would be a wake up for
us for spiritual reasons. This would be

430
00:38:37.920 --> 00:38:42.039
a wake up for us to be
even more concerned about the spiritual condition.

431
00:38:42.760 --> 00:38:45.119
And I know people are going to
say, well, be worried about the

432
00:38:45.119 --> 00:38:47.599
political the spiritual condition of the nation. I think we need to be worried

433
00:38:47.599 --> 00:38:51.599
about the spiritual condition of your life, my life, and the church.

434
00:38:54.559 --> 00:39:01.800
Let me see, I hear sirens
in the background, meaning while I'm worried

435
00:39:02.480 --> 00:39:07.800
and pray, maybe even if I
was focused on what has happened tonight with

436
00:39:07.960 --> 00:39:10.360
Donald Trump, right, that's sovereigns
right now. You know what does represent?

437
00:39:13.119 --> 00:39:16.280
They could represent a fire, so
someone may be getting ready to lose

438
00:39:16.320 --> 00:39:22.559
their home, could be a medical
emergency, so some families getting ready to

439
00:39:22.559 --> 00:39:24.280
lose a loved one who's going to
be rushed to the hospital and possibly die.

440
00:39:25.559 --> 00:39:32.440
Could be horrible traffic accident, could
be some kind of violent crime has

441
00:39:32.480 --> 00:39:39.440
occurred, but there's a high probability. But whatever that is could result in

442
00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:44.960
injury or death, because that's the
world in which we live in, where

443
00:39:45.000 --> 00:39:49.119
pain, suffering and death occurs.
And as I said, while I believe

444
00:39:49.159 --> 00:39:52.840
in a God in whom I cannot
see, I am constantly surrounded and reminded

445
00:39:52.920 --> 00:39:59.679
of circumstances and tragedy and difficulty which
calls and I see it and I feel

446
00:39:59.679 --> 00:40:01.719
it. But that calls into question
the existence of the God in whom I

447
00:40:01.760 --> 00:40:07.199
cannot see, or it forces me, on one hand, to acknowledge the

448
00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:10.880
God in whom I cannot see is
really in charge of everything I do see.

449
00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:15.719
And even though these things I see, it calls into question him being

450
00:40:15.760 --> 00:40:17.159
in charge, because you're like,
so, I'm going to pray to the

451
00:40:17.199 --> 00:40:23.159
God who is in charge of this. But it's that's the difficult thing with

452
00:40:23.280 --> 00:40:34.079
trying to understand it. Sometimes some
of the scriptures that I had written down,

453
00:40:34.280 --> 00:40:37.880
Some of the scriptures I had written
down I had, I had a

454
00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:44.119
bunch, but just a couple just
to kind of just I don't know.

455
00:40:44.239 --> 00:40:49.840
Maybe these are not scriptures you would
turn to, but these are scriptures where

456
00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:57.079
I struggle from a theiological perspective with
everything some one oh three, verse nineteen.

457
00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:07.079
The Lord has established his throne in
heaven and his kingdom rules over all.

458
00:41:08.320 --> 00:41:14.079
This seems to speak to God's sovereignty, his rule, his reign.

459
00:41:14.719 --> 00:41:17.320
He's sovereign over everything. Well,
when we have a sovereign God whose rule

460
00:41:17.400 --> 00:41:22.880
over everything, well, then sometimes
we're perplexed by those very things that occur

461
00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:37.119
Proverb sixteen nine. Proverb sixteen nine. We read these words Proverb sixteen nine.

462
00:41:37.440 --> 00:41:45.519
A man's heart plans his way,
but the Lord directs his steps in

463
00:41:45.559 --> 00:41:49.320
their hearts. This is how one
translation puts it. In their hearts.

464
00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:54.119
Humans plan their course, but the
Lord their steps. This seems to imply

465
00:41:54.239 --> 00:41:59.519
God controlling and directing. So we
can get into the idea of God.

466
00:41:59.679 --> 00:42:04.199
So for an eternal decrease, he
decrees whatsoever comes to pass. If you

467
00:42:04.199 --> 00:42:07.760
look at it in the London Baptist
Confession of Faith or the Westminster Confession of

468
00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:10.440
Faith. Well, though we struggle
with that because of the things that come

469
00:42:10.519 --> 00:42:22.039
to pass. Isaiah forty six is
another one that I have down Isaiah forty

470
00:42:22.079 --> 00:42:27.239
six, verse nine and ten.
Remember the former things of old, for

471
00:42:27.400 --> 00:42:30.079
I am God, and there is
no other. I am God, and

472
00:42:30.119 --> 00:42:37.000
there is none like me, declaring
the end from the beginning and from ancient

473
00:42:37.039 --> 00:42:40.760
times, things that are not yet
done, saying my counsel shall stand,

474
00:42:42.079 --> 00:42:45.920
and I will do all my pleasure. That's Isaiah forty six, nine through

475
00:42:45.960 --> 00:42:52.960
ten. Once again, God God
doing what he wills everything he he He's

476
00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:59.519
in control. Another translation puts it
this way, Remember the former things,

477
00:42:59.559 --> 00:43:04.039
those laws ago, I God,
and there is no other eye God and

478
00:43:04.079 --> 00:43:08.280
there and there is none like me. I know the end from the beginning,

479
00:43:08.599 --> 00:43:14.239
from ancient times, and what is
still to come. I say my

480
00:43:14.400 --> 00:43:22.400
purpose will, and I will do
that. I please. God knows the

481
00:43:22.440 --> 00:43:24.639
beginning from the end, and he's
going to do his will and his good

482
00:43:24.679 --> 00:43:29.920
pleasure. He's in charge, he's
in control. How do we wrap our

483
00:43:30.000 --> 00:43:35.039
minds around it when things seem to
be spiraling out of control and we don't

484
00:43:35.159 --> 00:43:40.000
understand. I don't understand. I
just don't. I'm perplexed and confused.

485
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:45.920
And it's hard sometimes to pray to
a God about a situation that he obviously

486
00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:52.400
let happen. Decree depending on your
theological background or your theological stream. Either

487
00:43:52.440 --> 00:43:55.719
he decreed it to happen, or
he allowed it to happen. But either

488
00:43:55.760 --> 00:44:00.159
way, I'm coming to God and
prayer about the to the very God who

489
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:07.440
allowed it, or decreate it.
I struggle. Now there's more sirens outside.

490
00:44:08.840 --> 00:44:17.920
Whatever the situation is, it appears
to only be getting worse. Even

491
00:44:17.960 --> 00:44:24.599
more sirens. Now, something obviously
very serious has happened somewhere near my location.

492
00:44:30.039 --> 00:44:35.239
Another passage Daniel, chapter four,
verse thirty five. All the people

493
00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:38.320
of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the

494
00:44:38.360 --> 00:44:42.840
powers of Heaven and the peoples of
the earth. No one can hold back

495
00:44:42.880 --> 00:44:46.440
his hand or say to him,
what have you done? God? God

496
00:44:46.480 --> 00:44:52.159
will, whatever his purpose is,
whatever his will is, it's going to

497
00:44:52.800 --> 00:45:00.599
happen. I'm gonna read it from
a different translation Daniel chapter four, and

498
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:04.360
we read it from a different translation. All the inhabitants of the earth are

499
00:45:04.360 --> 00:45:07.920
reputed as nothing. He does according
to his will and the army of Heaven,

500
00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:12.559
and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain his hand

501
00:45:12.920 --> 00:45:15.480
or say to him, what have
you done? Well, I'm gonna be

502
00:45:15.480 --> 00:45:19.960
honest sometimes I want to say,
what have you done? What are you

503
00:45:20.039 --> 00:45:23.320
doing? Where are you? Just
as we read in Psalm eighty three,

504
00:45:23.400 --> 00:45:27.639
verse one, where Asaph is crying
out to God, God, where are

505
00:45:27.679 --> 00:45:30.880
you? You've been silent? We
need you to do something. Well,

506
00:45:30.079 --> 00:45:34.079
I feel like in some ways things
are only things. It seems to be

507
00:45:34.119 --> 00:45:37.119
getting worse and worse, but somehow
it all fits a part of God's plan.

508
00:45:37.360 --> 00:45:55.719
And I don't sometimes understand Colautions one, Colautions one, And I don't

509
00:45:55.719 --> 00:46:00.800
know if any of these passages how
you struggle with them. I struggle with

510
00:46:00.840 --> 00:46:07.400
these passages all the time, as
soon as I started my theological education,

511
00:46:07.519 --> 00:46:10.320
even before I started my theological education, and all the degrees I may have

512
00:46:10.360 --> 00:46:17.800
in theiological whether religious studies are what
religious education, biblical studies or theology itself,

513
00:46:20.239 --> 00:46:22.079
I struggle. But here's Colossians one, verse fifteen. He is the

514
00:46:22.119 --> 00:46:27.199
image of the invisible God, the
firstborn overall creation. For by him all

515
00:46:27.239 --> 00:46:30.079
things were created that are in heaven
and that are on earth, visible and

516
00:46:30.119 --> 00:46:35.639
invisible, whether thrones or dominions,
or principalities or powers, all things were

517
00:46:35.679 --> 00:46:39.800
created through him and for him,
And He is before all things, and

518
00:46:40.039 --> 00:46:47.159
in him all things consist everything was
made by him, everything was made for

519
00:46:47.280 --> 00:46:53.000
him. He holds it all together. He is sovereign. His sovereign purpose

520
00:46:53.039 --> 00:46:58.559
and will will be accomplished. No
one can withstand it, and no one

521
00:46:58.599 --> 00:47:01.440
can really say, what have you
done? Because he is sovereign and I

522
00:47:01.480 --> 00:47:09.079
don't understand it. I have struggled
with God's will and plan and purpose forever

523
00:47:09.199 --> 00:47:14.440
because whatever. When I was a
young Christian, Your God has a perfect

524
00:47:14.480 --> 00:47:16.880
plan for your life, Well,
then you know a perfect plan. Well,

525
00:47:16.920 --> 00:47:22.719
my mom died. I'm young.
That's the perfect plan for my life.

526
00:47:23.000 --> 00:47:28.000
My mom didn't make it to the
age of forty. That's that's I

527
00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:30.960
don't know. I kind of need
my mom, right, I would at

528
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:32.239
least like to have been able to
excel. Oh, then my father dies

529
00:47:32.280 --> 00:47:42.719
of cancer. Oh. I was
raised in an abusive home. I could

530
00:47:42.760 --> 00:47:45.079
go on and on and on and
on and on and on in horrible and

531
00:47:45.280 --> 00:47:50.599
and what things that happened in my
life are considered probably a Sunday School story

532
00:47:50.639 --> 00:47:59.920
compared to the things that's happened to
other people. So I look at the

533
00:48:00.159 --> 00:48:05.719
situation tonight, and on one hand, I understand somehow, even though I

534
00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:10.079
don't understand, God is working and
in control, right, I mean,

535
00:48:10.519 --> 00:48:15.480
or either nothing is in charge and
nothing is in control and it's just complete

536
00:48:15.519 --> 00:48:30.639
chaos. Sometimes it feels like complete
chaos. If I struggle, I struggle,

537
00:48:34.800 --> 00:48:40.119
and I have these struggles. I
have these struggles all the time again.

538
00:48:40.559 --> 00:48:44.760
And and you know, when whenever
there's a pay or there's difficulty,

539
00:48:44.960 --> 00:48:47.719
someone will say pray and I and
I understand about it. I always my

540
00:48:49.039 --> 00:48:52.599
brain always says, I'm going to
pray to the God who's allowing the difficulty.

541
00:48:52.760 --> 00:49:00.400
May even have decreed the difficulty,
depending again on once theilological perspect active.

542
00:49:01.880 --> 00:49:05.960
Well, then that seems odd because
if God decreed it, if God

543
00:49:06.000 --> 00:49:08.960
allowed it, then why am I
asking God now to reverse his plan in

544
00:49:09.039 --> 00:49:15.119
it? Obviously we can ask,
I mean, obviously, there's literally nothing

545
00:49:15.199 --> 00:49:17.519
wrong with the asking. There's nothing
wrong with the asking since we don't are

546
00:49:17.559 --> 00:49:25.360
not given that information completely. Obviously, I want Donald Trump to be perfectly

547
00:49:25.400 --> 00:49:30.599
okay, and everyone should pray for
that. And we want all politicians to

548
00:49:30.679 --> 00:49:37.480
be protected and safe. But while
we're paying praying for the politicians to be

549
00:49:37.559 --> 00:49:42.960
safe and protected, to think of
all the people in the world who will

550
00:49:43.119 --> 00:49:46.719
die and suffer. We want them
to be protected as well, we don't

551
00:49:46.719 --> 00:49:52.320
want any We should not want anyone
to suffer and die and be shot at

552
00:49:52.480 --> 00:49:59.159
or killed or hurt or robbed or
mugged or raped or molested or a beaten

553
00:49:59.280 --> 00:50:02.719
or any of the horrible things that
happened. Sometimes it just seems like I

554
00:50:02.760 --> 00:50:16.239
don't know where to even begin.
But where are we headed? The shooter

555
00:50:16.440 --> 00:50:22.719
is gone, has entered into eternity. Someone who is at the rally was

556
00:50:22.760 --> 00:50:25.519
shot and killed. They're in eternity. I think two people are wounded.

557
00:50:25.559 --> 00:50:30.000
We don't know how severe Donald Trump
was. We can call it a wound.

558
00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:36.000
It definitely was wounded. He appears
to be okay, Thank Goodness and

559
00:50:36.320 --> 00:50:38.199
praise God. I see, But
if I say praise God for that,

560
00:50:38.239 --> 00:50:43.239
do you see where then my theological
struggle arises. I'm praising God for that,

561
00:50:43.360 --> 00:50:46.400
But at the same time, do
we say we praise God for the

562
00:50:47.880 --> 00:51:00.800
person who is attending the rally who
died. That's why, just come on

563
00:51:00.880 --> 00:51:06.559
philological perspective. That's why I think
when we praise God, praise should be

564
00:51:06.599 --> 00:51:12.239
I think focused on his attributes.
Right, I praise God not for what

565
00:51:12.320 --> 00:51:15.400
you do. I praise God for
who you are, because that never changes.

566
00:51:15.440 --> 00:51:17.760
I could praise God whether bad things
are happening or good things happen,

567
00:51:17.800 --> 00:51:22.880
because I'm praising Him for his attributes, which remain consistent and true no matter

568
00:51:22.960 --> 00:51:25.800
circumstances. Right, you praise God
for his power, for his love,

569
00:51:25.800 --> 00:51:30.440
for his mercy, for his grace. Those are his attributes. We thank

570
00:51:30.559 --> 00:51:36.360
God for maybe action. But then
if I thank God for the action of

571
00:51:36.400 --> 00:51:40.320
preserving one, do I what do
I do with the fact he did not

572
00:51:40.400 --> 00:51:52.159
preserve another. I feel bad because
I would like to bring words of comfort

573
00:51:52.280 --> 00:51:55.639
right now, but I don't have
them. Oh, I mean, I

574
00:51:57.199 --> 00:52:00.440
could give the standard words of comfort, but I don't. I don't think

575
00:52:00.480 --> 00:52:04.400
it would be very comforting because I
think it would be not very real.

576
00:52:05.280 --> 00:52:08.320
In fact, in many kisses,
I think it actually would paint a wrong

577
00:52:08.440 --> 00:52:24.280
biblical perspective. But if we do
plead with God for anything tonight, and

578
00:52:24.320 --> 00:52:36.679
if you do so tomorrow at your
church, I just pray that us who

579
00:52:36.679 --> 00:52:53.360
are Christians are confronted with the vanity
and the corruption and the destructive nature of

580
00:52:53.599 --> 00:53:02.119
political idolatry and political obsession, and
we would run and retreat back to a

581
00:53:02.239 --> 00:53:15.559
biblical God focused perspective that we can
hopefully be spiritually revived and not politically motivated.

582
00:53:15.679 --> 00:53:20.960
I pray that we would maintain an
idea of loving our enemy and doing

583
00:53:21.000 --> 00:53:24.280
good to them, because vengeance is
not ours, and we are not overcome

584
00:53:24.360 --> 00:53:30.079
by evil, but we overcome evil
with good. I think those are very

585
00:53:30.119 --> 00:53:37.079
sound words that they come directly from
Scripture. I don't know how you're feeling

586
00:53:37.079 --> 00:53:42.199
tonight, and I wish I had
a better answer for you. I don't

587
00:53:42.239 --> 00:54:00.519
have good answers here. It's physically
dark outside this window behind me. It

588
00:54:00.559 --> 00:54:07.119
is almost eleven pm here in West
Texas for many of you as much later.

589
00:54:07.320 --> 00:54:15.679
That physical darkness just really gives me
a sense of an emotional darkness,

590
00:54:15.719 --> 00:54:20.920
like an emotional dread of where things
are going. I am praying and hoping

591
00:54:22.960 --> 00:54:30.320
that maybe by Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday of next week this at least sense

592
00:54:30.360 --> 00:54:34.800
of oh, no, where are
we going after this? This could get

593
00:54:34.960 --> 00:54:38.800
ugly. I'm hoping that feeling dissipates
and I can go, you know what,

594
00:54:39.480 --> 00:54:45.119
all right, that's horrible. We
now have more understanding of what was

595
00:54:45.159 --> 00:54:49.199
going on, why it was happening. Maybe that will ease some concern,

596
00:54:49.719 --> 00:54:53.639
and maybe they'll the rhetoric will tone
down. People will come together instead of

597
00:54:53.679 --> 00:55:00.400
coming apart. Maybe, and my
cynicism says I'm being foolish and even hoping

598
00:55:00.400 --> 00:55:01.800
for all of that. But I
am hoping for all of that. But

599
00:55:02.119 --> 00:55:07.639
I am also hoping that somehow,
in all of this, Christians will be

600
00:55:07.679 --> 00:55:12.119
like man politics, it's we've got
to turn our focus to something better than

601
00:55:12.159 --> 00:55:22.320
that. I know Donald Trump from
certain videos and from certain reports, he

602
00:55:22.440 --> 00:55:29.920
was holding up his fist and saying, fight, fight, fight. I

603
00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:35.360
just want to remind Christians the fight
is not political. The fight is not

604
00:55:35.519 --> 00:55:42.320
physical. The fight is spiritual,
and the fight is us, not the

605
00:55:42.360 --> 00:55:49.199
fight is you and I looking at
us and focusing on our own spiritual life

606
00:55:49.239 --> 00:55:54.440
and being revived spiritually, so that
we are a more spiritually minded person,

607
00:55:54.519 --> 00:55:59.199
and we can help others be more
spiritually minded, and then the Church becomes

608
00:55:59.199 --> 00:56:07.760
more spiritually mind and then we distinguish
ourselves from the political chaos and craziness,

609
00:56:08.519 --> 00:56:17.599
and we can offer something much better
than what politics can. Eternal salvation,

610
00:56:20.280 --> 00:56:31.400
the infallible and errant word, an
absolute truth, not subjective political ideology.

611
00:56:32.840 --> 00:56:40.239
Now that would be good that could
come from this from a spiritual perspective,

612
00:56:42.199 --> 00:56:46.880
I hope from just a national perspective. It brings unity, but it's just

613
00:56:46.920 --> 00:56:51.440
going to turn in I bet you
it turns into arguments about guns. It's

614
00:56:51.480 --> 00:56:54.199
going to turn into argument. It's
just I just have a feeling it's just

615
00:56:54.239 --> 00:56:59.559
going to dissent, agreat I just
feel like it's going to be a mess.

616
00:56:59.800 --> 00:57:07.719
I really really do, I really
do. We'll watch it, we'll

617
00:57:07.760 --> 00:57:22.360
talk about it, we'll struggle with
it. I guess all we can do

618
00:57:22.440 --> 00:57:42.079
is beg God that we as believers, we'll throw ourselves upon him and towards

619
00:57:42.159 --> 00:57:52.559
him. Well, maybe everything around
us maybe gets worse. I don't want

620
00:57:52.599 --> 00:57:57.400
it to get worse, and I'm
not predicting it will, but I don't

621
00:57:57.400 --> 00:58:09.599
think we can deny the possibility that
it may. Maybe this is appropriate at

622
00:58:09.599 --> 00:58:17.480
this time we've been talking about it. Maybe we need these words, maybe

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00:58:17.480 --> 00:58:22.760
more than ever. Trust in the
Lord with all your heart, lean not

624
00:58:22.000 --> 00:58:27.199
on your own understanding and all your
ways. Acknowledge Him, and He shall

625
00:58:27.239 --> 00:58:37.079
direct your paths. That direction comes
from his word. Thanks for listening.

626
00:58:37.079 --> 00:58:42.239
You can email me news I F
at yahoo dot com. That's news I

627
00:58:42.599 --> 00:58:49.360
F at yahoo dot com. Everyone
have a great night. Please pray, God bless