Should Christians want a Christian President?

Donald Trump is the number one choice for voters who classify themselves as Evangelical according to an NBC poll taken this month. He leads Ted Cruz 33% - 21% with Ben Carson at 12% and Rubio at 10%. We discussed it today on our podcast but I had some more thoughts on the subject.
Yesterday Donald Trump addressed Liberty University, a Christian institution founded by Jerry Falwell. The gaff everyone is discussing comes around 4:55 into the 50 minute speech. You can see the entire speech here. Trump refers to II Corinthians as two instead of second. It basically shows that he doesn't discuss the Bible much. It's like someone claiming to be a proud Gamecock fan mispronouncing Jadeveon.
Trump goes on to say he's "very very proud" to be a protestant specifically a Presbyterian and that we have to defend Christianity because bad things are happening to Christians all around the world. He's correct of course. Though this is nothing new. Christians have been hated as promised by our founder. Jesus said in John 15:18 "If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first". In Matthew 10:22 Jesus says "You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who endures till the end will be saved".
The idea of breaking down a Trump speech or even his life's work to demonstrate that he isn't someone who has devoted his life to following Jesus seems mean spirited. So I won't go there. But if you're a Christian you need to decide for yourself if Donald Trump is or isn't a Christian if you're considering voting for him. There are a lot of people claiming to be Christians who like to quote Matthew 7:1 "Don't judge so you will not be judged". But if you think it means Christians aren't to judge people, well you need to keep on reading! If we were commanded to not judge anyone, Matthew 7:17 would not make any sense. "So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit". We need to judge if the fruit is good or bad! Jesus is telling the parable of the tree and it's fruit and commanding us to judge their fruit so we know who to trust. The gist is don't pay attention to peoples words but their actions. Your work is your fruit. What or whom do you glorify?  You can be a politician or entertainer where part of your job requires you to become famous, but if you're using it to glorify God then your fruits are good. But even if you spend your entire life devoted to charity work and your motivation is people pleasing rather than glorifying God, your fruits are bad.
So should Christians only vote for Christians? That's a complex question. There are plenty of wonderful Christians who don't have the correct temperament or intellect or whatever to be a great political leader. There are also people from other religions and even atheists who God uses for His purposes. In Romans 13:1 God declares that anyone in a position of authority was placed there by Him. That includes what we would call bad leaders. Saddam, Osama, and any person in authority was put there by the Lord to bring glory to Himself. Daniel 2:21 says He removes Kings and raises up Kings. Not only does God put them in their positions He works with those leaders, even the bad ones. Exodus 9:12 finds Egypt's leader, the Pharaoh, dealing with a crisis. Egypt has suffered 6 plagues and Moses has told Pharaoh the plagues will end if he releases the Jews. The people around Pharaoh are begging him to let the Jews go. "And the Lord hardened Pharaohs heart and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses". Rest assured Gods' plans always come to fruition and God's plans always work for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28) and bring Him glory (Isaiah 48:11).
Well then does it even matter who we vote for or that we even vote? Yes. First Jesus wants His followers to perform their civic duties. Render to Caesar that which is Caesar's and to God that which is God's. Matthew 22:21 Christians are to be a blessing to those around us and to participate in our culture which includes going to jury duty and taking out the trash on trash day and of course voting. Christians are reminded that earth isn't your permanent home but we have dual citizenship's. The apostle Paul showed that in Acts when he declared that he is a citizen of Rome and that as a citizen he had the right to appeal to Caesar.
 Jesus says in Matthew 5:14 we are to be light to the world. Light doesn't change it's surroundings, it enhances them. Light clarifies. When you shine a light on something, it doesn't make it good or bad, it only allows other people to see it for it is.
Donald Trump says he is a Christian who loves the Bible. Why is he saying that? We can find no mentions of Trumps love for the Bible or his pride in Presbyterianism before this campaign. When asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness Trump has no idea how to answer.



 If he is a new Christian then he should say so. But he is implying that he has a life time of Christian teachings under his belt. He says "the great Norman Vincent Peele was my pastor". He's name dropping preachers! And this one has been dead since 1993! The only logical conclusion as to why he would be doing that is to influence your vote.
The frightening fact, according to the Washington Post, is that Christians know he's lying, and don't care. The consensus of the interviews is Donald Trump isn't a Christian but he'll look out for us. You would trade the protection of God for Donald Trump's protection? This reminds me of when the Jews asked God to send them a King. He said He was their King but they demanded an earthly King. God tried to warn them. And finally He granted their wish for a rich businessman with a huge ego who would make sure Israel was protected from the countries around them. Saul may of even said I'll build a wall and have Egypt pay for it.
 If you're a Christian then stop looking to politicians to fix your problems. Vote for politicians who reflect Gods glory to the world. God is your sanctuary, not your President. Remember that God will put as our President whomever He wants. So instead of trying to convince yourself that the guy trying to deceive you will be great for Christian values, get on your knees and humble yourself before your creator, and pray that He sends us someone who brings peace and prosperity. Someone who honors God. And then ask what you can do in that process. God ultimately wants you to obey Him in all things. So ask Him who you should vote for and then obey.
    

Donald Trump's liberal positions rebranded as conservative

At the most recent GOP debate (December 15th on CNN) Carly Fiorina pointed out that Donald Trump said almost word for word the same thing President Obama had said a few years earlier. "We've spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people," Trump said. "If we could've spent that $4 trillion in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges and all of the other problems -- our airports and all of the other problems we've had -- we would've been a lot better off. I can tell you that right now." Last night Trump was on Jimmy Kimmel and said he didn't understand why someone would consider that a liberal position. 

He almost walked himself into the answer near the end of that clip when he said "we owe 19 trillion dollars now. We have to get our country in check". That's the conservative position. We need to stop going into debt. Liberals believe the government is responsible for everything. Conservatives limit it to a lot of the things Trump said he wanted to invest in, infrastructure and defense, but of more concern is to stop spending money we don't have. True conservatives understand that government is not a business so you can't run it like one. However they believe that we're currently over taxed, and that hurts the economy. That our leaders waste trillions and that hurts our economy. And that our defense cuts have made not only our country, but the entire world less safe.

More importantly conservatives believe in limited government. That is the cornerstone of conservatism. Government isn't here to help you as much as it's here to support you. The difference being, you are given a fair shot at unparalleled success, but failure is possible. Liberals don't want to allow anyone to fail, but at the same time restrict too much success. That being said there are plenty of liberals who have become billionaires. Trump is one of them. As the Washington Post recently reported Trump was once a liberals liberal.
The following are Trump quotes.
 "I hate abortion, but I just believe in choice". On Meet The Press
"I support the ban on assault weapons and I support a slightly longer waiting period to purchase a gun". The America We Deserve
"I’m quite liberal and getting much more liberal on health care and other things."
"If you can’t take care of your sick in the country, forget it, it’s all over. I mean, it’s no good. So I’m very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care. I believe in whatever it takes to make people well and better. Health care, look. It’s an entitlement to this country, and too bad the world can’t be, you know, in this country. But the fact is, it’s an entitlement to this country if we’re going to have a great country". On Larry King
The marketing message of Donald Trump has changed over the past 8 years. First he went after President Obama over his birth records. That pretty much failed, but did get some on the extreme right to pay attention to him. Next he recognized that most Americans believe our porous southern border is a security risk. So he makes a general statement confirming their fears and says he would fix it with a wall. When told that building a wall would take forever and be prohibitively expensive he reverted to a liberal trick of saying others have already proven there's a better way. Trump pointed out the wall Israel is building. I say building because 13 years into it, they still have a long way to go. But since 2002 they have built 273 miles of their 440 mile wall. The wall Trump proposes is 1954 miles. or more than 5 times the length of the wall Israel has spent 13 years building. He believes ours could be completed in months. When reminded that we have spent 7 billion so far on our current wall, which is 650 miles, and this new project could run into hundreds of billions, he says Mexico will pay for it.
The overall marketing message is that our leaders are stupid, and if we had a smart leader like Donald then our problems would be fixed by him. He surrounds himself with strong American images and talks very tough. This is a very liberal message that is actually communistic. The leader of a communist country is responsible for the welfare of their citizens. In America the leader is only responsible for enforcing the laws. The President doesn't have the ability to pass laws only to veto. They can't "bomb the crap" out of an enemy only request Congress to authorize it. In other words our "leader" is supposed to be more like an implementer. Of course they should be an inspirational figure. Someone who can represent us with distinction around the world. Someone who can sway Congress with their speeches. But doesn't actually have the power to do much on their own. The reason for this is so that the will of the people can run the country. Your elected officials represent you in Congress and vote the way your community feels. If they don't they are replaced. But national problems need to be addressed by the nation. Trump is favorited by 2 groups of people. Those who don't want the people to have their way, and those who don't think Congress can fix the problems. But by turning over the power to one man you won't have elected a President, but rather a King. And eventually the will of the King is all that matters.  

Dying for your faith?

It's no secret that Christians have been martyred since Jesus led the way, by being crucified on our behalf. All of Jesus's disciples were martyred, except Judas who committed suicide after betraying Jesus. And since then millions have been given the choice of renouncing Jesus or being murdered and chose death. Most of those killings took place a long time ago. But Christian martyrdom is on the rise. Time Magazine did a story last year entitled Deaths of  Christian Martyrs Doubled in 2013. That story points out that there were 1,201 recognized Christian martyrs in 2012 and 2,123 in the year 2013. But the vast majority of them, 1,213, occurred in Syria.

 As a Christian you may have considered what you would do if you were in their shoes, but then breathed a sigh of relief because you're in the Jesus friendly confines of the United States. But as Lee Corso says "not so fast my friends". Times are changing.

Back in 1999 a 17 year old high school student name Cassie Bernall was confronted by a demon possessed madman who found her hiding under a blanket praying quietly while he murdered her classmates at Columbine High School. He then pulled up the blanket, said "Peek a boo"! laughed and asked "Do you believe God can save you"? She said "yes" and was then shot in the head.   That was the story that got everyone's attention. I wasn't a Christian yet, but admired her faith. Since then I have become a Christian and understand that Christians aren't brave because they're special people. Romans 8:11 explains "the same power that raised Jesus from the grave now lives in you". God is working through a Christian. And when a Christian is confronted with death, like Daniel Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were by King Nebuchadnezzar for not worshiping something other than God, it is God answering through them. our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

Now Christian martyrdom is on the rise. There was the Fort Hood shooting where 13 people died because they were Christians. They were not given the opportunity to convert however so some argue that's not true martyrdom. We then had the Charleston 9 murdered after their prayer meeting with the assassin. Some argue that the only reason they were killed was because they were black. And the killer himself said he was hoping to start a race war. However he also said that he targeted the church because it played a significant role in the black community.   The clearest case of Christian martyrdom to come out of America in a while is the mass execution of Christians that took place recently in Oregon. The shooter shot the professor dead upon entering the room and then asked the Christians to stand up. He then said "Good! because you're a Christian you're about to meet God" and shot the 8 students. 

I've heard people argue that that's not the way it happened. The witness mis-remembered, that Christians are blowing the story up. I don't know. I wasn't in the room. But here's a story this week as told by the murderers. Yes ISIS members are reporting that 12 Christians were given the opportunity to convert to Islam or be beheaded. It's actually even worse then that! The Christian leader was tied up while ISIS members chopped his 12 year old sons finger off! They then warned that if he didn't renounce Jesus and convert they would do far worse things to his boy. As a human father the only answer is of course, I'll do whatever you say to protect my son. But when God our father speaks through you He has the correct answer. There is nothing you can do to any of us, that will last more than a period of time. And once that period has passed, all of eternity will be spent safe, worry free, in holiness with our brothers and sisters in paradise. The leader was tortured for the day along with his 2 co leaders and son. As the day ended all 4 were crucified. That left 8 other Christians. 6 men and 2 women who were 29 and 33. They had watched all of this while in chains. They were now given the opportunity to convert. They all declined. The women were then according to the ISIS leaders dragged out into a public place. A crowd was summoned in order to watch and then they were raped. They both prayed to Jesus throughout the ordeal. The 6 men were tortured during that process as well. At the end they were forced to their knees and just as they were about to be beheaded one of the woman yelled Jesus with her last breath.    

No one is disputing that story. You can read it in lots of papers around the world like The Daily Mail, the London Mirror, or the Toronto Sun. But interestingly mainstream America press hasn't covered it. The right wing publications like American Thinker, Breitbart and Townhall have but no one else. Could it be that this type of news makes them uncomfortable? The fact that it's becoming dangerous even in America, to declare publicly that you're a Christian. I think people need to hear about other people whose lives have been so radically transformed by their relationship with Jesus, that literally nothing can shake them. 

If you are what's known as a lukewarm Christian, God says in Revelation 3:16 that He will spit you out. Just before that He says; I would prefer that you were cold or hot. If your cold towards Him he can rattle you like he did me and millions of others. If you're on fire for Him, you want to hear from Him! But if you're lukewarm there's nothing He can do with you. So he spits you out. I'm not saying that if you imagine yourself in one of these people that were martyred shoes, that you know decisively how you would respond. I'd like to think I would do what they did, but I'm scared that I might "wimp out" and take the path of least resistance. (I say least resistance instead of easy road because when you're dealing with ISIS and other demon possessed people I doubt that there is an easy road). But you need to be building a relationship with Jesus which is the most important relationship in your life. More important than your spouse or children or your pet or your hobby or whatever other relationships you have. Luke 14:26 Jesus says "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes, even their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple". Matthew 10:37 has a gentler way of translating it. "Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me". Are you willing to do something for a person that you wouldn't do for Jesus? If so, you are lukewarm.

 But all is not lost! While there's breath there's hope! Ask Jesus to help you place Him at the center of your life. If it was possible for you to do that on your own, you could then take credit for some of your own salvation. As Ephesians 8-9 remind us; For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.So simply ask Him over and over to help you. Matthew 7:7 assures us He will answer. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. I pray God blesses every one of you who are beginning to confront your lukewarm hearts. 

Who is your audience?

Today Adidas released a new commercial for their Original line. Ad Age spoke with Alegra O'Hare, global senior director-brand communications for Adidas Originals about the commercial. "It really takes it to another level," said Ms. O'Hare. "We're giving people the opportunity to really create conversations around what it means to be a superstar. It sends a very powerful message [to the] younger generation. It's just a great moment to be yourself and express yourself."

The gist of the spot is that social media responses doesn't dictate what these artists do. A montage of these artists is clipped together after they have each read the entire script so every couple of words switches to a new voice to produce the sentence. "Comments and reviews can measure popularity but could never measure my courage".  The final line in the commercial is "I create for an audience of one"

An audience of one is one of my favorite lines! I try to remind myself of that often. The difference between myself and these artists is who the one is. The previous sentence to "I create for an audience of one" was "I create for myself". That changes the entire meaning of the commercial. Adidas is saying 'be courageous and create whatever you really want to. If it's not popular don't worry. Perhaps it will be in the future or maybe it never will but the important thing is to be true to yourself'. And apparently you can be truer to yourself if you are wearing Adidas.

My audience is my creator. To create in a way that my creator finds pleasing also takes courage. Likewise it's not always popular. But if you are true to Him you are blessed with a peace that surpasses all understanding as was promised in Philippians 4:7. The Bible also says there is a way to man that seems right but leads to death (Proverbs 16:25). If you muster the courage to create things that please yourself for your glory you will become frustrated. The tortured artist syndrome is real. Some of the most miserable people to ever walk the earth are those who have followed their hearts... and been successful at it. Your entire life perspective changes depending on who you believe your audience is.  

The danger of liberals definition of racism

Last month I was driving along with the NPR cranked up like I always do when I heard the hosts struggling to define why Hillary Clinton was being lambasted on social media. At first I figured it was folks on the right who started some new clever hashtag campaign like #HilLIARy or #ItMakesALotOfDifferenceKILLary. But no. This social media wildfire was being fueled by the left. NPR's headline reads Hillary Clinton's 3-word misstep: 'All Lives Matter'. "Wait!" I thought. "She's in trouble for saying all lives matter"? Yes was the response from NPR and twitter.

I hope that the @HillaryClinton speechwriters realize that "all lives matter," in any form, will cost more than its benefits for black folk.

— deray mckesson (@deray) June 24, 2015

Tweets like these filled the Twitterverse and were liked and re-tweeted.

HIllary Clinton, you went to a church in Ferguson to speak to the community and you say, "all lives matter?" YOU ARE CLEARLY NOT LISTENING.

— Jason Pollock (@Jason_Pollock) June 24, 2015

Since her faux pas Bernie Sanders and Martin O' Malley have made the same mistake of saying "all lives matter".

Here's the basis for the outrage. Black Lives Matter became a rallying cry because every 28 hours a black person is murdered by a police officer or vigilante law enforcement and there's never a price to pay according to BlackLivesMatter.com. So when you say 'all lives matter' you are clouding the issue. And it's a very important issue because black lives are the lives that are being taken or ruined by a country steeped in systemic racism and through a biased judicial system and no one is paying attention.... If this was the reality of the situation then I too would be jumping on the Black Lives Matter bandwagon. Thankfully that is not the reality of life in America. The Black Lives Matter movement is all based on a liberal lie. Unfortunately due to great marketing, the lie is believed by far too many people and it has now becoming dangerous.

The every 28 hours stat was debunked by dozens of media outlets after a professor said it on CNN. Months later the 28 hour stat was still being cited in news reports and of course all over social media so the Washington Post debunked it again. There were 136 unarmed black people killed in 2012 by anyone who could be classified as  a police officer or the very wide description of vigilante law enforcement. And so that would bring it to 1 every 64 hours. But even that is an outrageous stat. However the Post points out that even that stat is misleading as it includes unarmed blacks being killed in bizarre ways For example, a 24-year-old woman died in July 2012 at her birthday party, where she hugged an off-duty police officer from behind. He was carrying a loaded gun, which allegedly went off and killed her. A 59-year-old woman died after she was hit by a police officer driving his patrol car responding to an emergency call. A 31-year-old man was fatally shot by police when he ignored commands to stop eating a homeless man’s face.

The lie that is being marketed to Americans is that this country has systemic racism from the cradle to the grave. If you say it isn't true you are then classified as an uninformed white person or if per chance you are of color, then someone who has benefited, or hopes to benefit, from your relationship with the white ruling class. The majority of people have become afraid of being called ignorant, Uncle Tom, or racist and are remaining quiet. That quiet gives power and legitimacy to the lie. They are quiet despite the proof being contrary to the lies claims! And that is where it gets dangerous.

 Today I read where the singer/actor Tyrese Gibson is voicing his complaints that the radio industry is racist because "I'm only played on black radio". He penned an open letter to Ryan Seacrest to complain about the lack of diversity on pop radio. He says that today, on the week that according to Billboard Pop chart (white radio according to Tyrese) 4 of the top 5 songs, and 7 of the top 10 songs are from black artists. Maybe white artists should be complaining about the lack of diversity on pop radio? Yet Tyrese is praised for taking a bold stance against corporate racism. Also today Colin Cowherd was fired from ESPN for clarifying a comment he made on his show yesterday that had been blowing up the internet for his racist attitude. You can hear the segment here.   In trying to point out that you don't have to be brilliant to play baseball he stated that only 4 percent of current MLB players and coaches had graduated from college. He went on to say that a lot of the players don't even speak English. They have no way to communicate with their coach or teammates on a significant level. And then he messed up. He said "a third of the sport is from the Dominican Republic. A country not known as having world class academic abilities. A lot of those kids come from rough backgrounds and haven't had the academic opportunities that other kids have had". Today he attempted to clarify that statement. So he said "they do rank 122nd out of 144 countries in primary education according to the world economic forum global competitive report". He went on to say that he has reports in front of him from World Bank, OECD and others where they are describing major deficiencies in the Dominican Republic education system at all levels. "It's not a shot at them, it's data". For saying that ESPN fired him at the end of his show. Their statement said Colin Cowherd's comments over the past two days do not reflect the values of ESPN or our employees. He has since apologized.

I did not intend to offend anyone w my comments. I realize my choice of words was poor and not reflective of who I am. I am sorry.

— Colin Cowherd (@ESPN_Colin) July 24, 2015

As Americans become frightened to appear ignorant to say Colin Cowherd may not be very smooth in making a point but it's a long way from a racist rant. Or to tell Tyrese if he wants to get on pop radio he should record a pop song with out being called racist bigger issues are allowed to grow.

A couple of years ago there was a federal report what I thought was great news. Incarceration rates for blacks had been dramatically cut over the past decade. The first decade of the 2000's saw black incarcerations drop for men by 10% and women by 30%. Yet that story was buried. The story we hear is that black people are being locked up at record rates. Here's a NY Times story from this year reporting on the historic incarceration rates for black men in America. To make it even worse they factor in deaths and then compare the number of black men and women in the 25-54 demo. This is to demonstrate that in America there are 99 white men for every 100 white women but only 83 black men for every 100 black women. The takeaway is America is either killing or locking up black men and it needs to stop. #BlackLivesMatter

The reality is most black men are in prison for the same reason white men are in prison. As this Yale study points out;  the vast majority of  prisoners were juvenile delinquents. Children are exposed to neighborhood modeling influences, at times favorable to criminal attitudes and behaviors. It is also impossible to separate out bad genes from either parental examples of criminal behavior or inadequate parenting which is likely to connect with childhood delinquency. In other words if you grew up in a rough neighborhood you are a lot more likely to go to prison. And the US is locking people up at record rates!

What isn't reported and destroys the narrative is that most of these prisoners are white. There are 64,800 black females and 841,000 black men in prison. There are 201,200 female prisoners, and 2.1 million men in prison. That means 39.4 percent of the prison population is black. Hispanics and Asians make up 13.6 percent. 47 percent of prisoners are white. Of course by percentage of race, blacks far out number whites which is what is reported all the time. But whites are being incarcerated at historical rates and far out number any other race in the prison system. That's not reported because...why?

The truth is we have too many Americans in jail because too many Americans are committing crimes. They are committing crimes because they come from bad neighborhoods. The reasons we have bad neighborhoods has a little to do with racism and a lot to do with culture. Poor people of all races need to be shown the path out. That's where people who are on the other side of poverty (aka middle class folks and all politicians) need to volunteer their services to mentor. America needs people of all races to better themselves. 

Yesterday the VA reported they are unable to find qualified applicants to fill the openings for 41,500 Doctors, Nurses, and other medical professionals. This Spring the Post & Courier reported that in SC there are over 70,000 jobs employers can't fill because of the lack of skills in the applicants.There are literally millions of great jobs in America that need to be done for big money, but we don't have people who can do those jobs. And the education for a lot of these jobs is FREE for the asking. They're called apprenticeships. In our state we have Apprenticeship Carolina which has already trained over 12,000 people and is begging for more. But if you grow up in a bad neighborhood you won't know about this path waiting to lead you to prosperity unless someone goes and tells them. Big Brothers is desperate for men to to help a boy who doesn't have a father. I have done it and it's an awesome experience that can take as little as a couple of hours a week. I used to spend Saturday mornings from 9-11 with my little bro and we both looked forward to it. 

While liberals try to convince Americans we need to make tuition free for universities in order to help minorities the reality is we have too many college graduates already. Did he just say that? Well I actually just repeated what the recently retired  SC Superintendent of Education, Mick Zais said. "16.6% of the job openings require a bachelors degree or higher. 26% of our workforce has that degree. So a lot of them end up working minimum wage jobs because their degree doesn't fit the labor market. On the other hand 41.1% of the job openings require some technical certificate and only 30% of our workforce has that".   Those stats are pretty similar around the country as well. But we don't hear the media or politicians urging people to skip college and go to technical school. Why?

All lives matter and far too many are being wasted because of poverty, lack of education, and most importantly lack of hope. If saying that can be shouted down as racist then we all suffer. That's why we need to get the truth out. The people of the Black Lives Matter movement are for the most part great people who are fighting for a chance at a good life and for their race to be treated as equals here. Don't let the fact that they have been tricked by a lie intimidate you from trying to help them see that it's already possible. As for racism, it along with sexism, ageism, weightism, and every other ism will be a part of the human condition for as long as we are around. There's no cure for sin, which prejudice against people based on appearance is. Well there is one cure. Jesus becoming Lord of your life and transforming every dark part of you into light. That is my ultimate prayer for all Americans and honestly all people. That Jesus sweeps into your life, filling you with the Holy Spirit and the joy that surpasses all understanding. 

    

Why would I be for the Supreme Court ruling but against gay marriage

I join millions of Americans in celebrating what I believe is a just ruling that finally affirms that gay marriage is just as legitimate as straight marriage in our country.  For far too long they have been treated as second class citizens in that straights have been afforded dozens of benefits that gay couples were denied.
As a Christian my personal belief is that homosexuality is a sin. But the federal government government is passing judgment on my or anyone else's personal beliefs.  They can't.  It is actually protected. It would also be impossible to define marriage based on a religious belief as there are dozens of religions who have lots of different opinions on what makes a marriage.
I have thoughtfor years that CS Lewis was correct when he stated in his radio address to Britain during WWII that the word marriage is a government institution.  Christians who want to hold themselves to the Biblical standard should first make sure they know what that standard is and then have a 2nd word for it. Marriage from a Biblical point of view has little in common with what most Americans call marriage.
Like all standards set in the Bible it is humanly impossible to meet. They are only possible with the Holy Spirit living inside you. And that is impossible without Jesus. As Christ said when asked about the possibility of the rich man entering heaven.  "It would be easier to thread the eye of a needle with a camel. But with God all things are possible".  May God richly bless you in this life and the next.

Careful you don't get too creative on your ad campaign

An ad agency (not in Columbia) was recently boasting on their site about creating a campaign for a minor league sports team (not baseball...stop guessing). The goal of any campaign should be to make the client money. This agency had some very creative ideas to help get their sports team noticed in the community. It included motion activated messages placed inside seashells and then have those shells all over the beach and a treasure hunt to win free tickets to games where the clues are posted on their Facebook page. I asked the simple question of how does this make people want to see a game? Crickets. Ticket sales for the team had actually gone down year over year. 

Advertising, marketing, promotion whatever you want to call it can only be deemed successful if it makes the company money! And the only way to make money is build desire. If your idea doesn't make people want to experience your event, taste your food, use your service, wear your outfits, drive your cars then you can't sell them. Audi sales dropped after their 2011 Superbowl commercial won awards for creativity. They would have been better served to save the money and not advertise at all then to run this award winning campaign.