It is well-known that I oppose Donald trump.  I believe he has the makings of a dictator, and I will not apologize for my opinion.  It is based in the man’s own words.  However, if anyone thinks this makes Hillary Clinton a better choice, that person is an enemy of the United States of America!  Yes, you heard me correctly: if you support Hillary Clinton for President, you are an enemy of the United States of America!

Now, foolish people (Glenn Beck) may try to argue that we shouldn’t use such language because we all have to come together after the election.  I disagree.  There is absolutely no way for an honest person to defend Hillary.  She is the most corrupt politician this country has had in my lifetime (I am 50), and very possibly the most corrupt we have ever had.  The only reason she has not been jailed already is because the people who are responsible for prosecuting her are protecting their own involvement in her most recent crimes.  But this does not change the fact that this woman is corrupt to the core.

If a person knows that a candidate is corrupt. That the candidate refused to send aid to Americans in danger.  That the candidate then put an innocent American in jail to cover up the fact she refused to send help.  If a person supports a candidate who knowingly and intentionally placed classified information in a position where this nation’s enemies would steal it.  If a person supports a candidate they know to be running weapons to this nation’s enemies.  If you support someone who cannot tell the truth, who is an open and unashamed hypocrite and who seeks to eliminate (not just destroy) her enemies.  If you support such a person — a person who is clearly an enemy of this country — then you are knowingly and intentionally lending your support to them, thereby making yourself an enemy of the nation, as well.

Now, if the Apostle, John (whom Jesus loved) tells us that anyone who greets (welcomes/befriends/supports) an enemy of the Gospel, that person participates in their evil (2 John 7 — 11). Therefore, how can we be innocent if we greet/befriend/support someone who is at war with this nation?  We can’t be and we aren’t.  Furthermore, this applies to those who support Trump.  Both candidates have confessed to being enemies of the ideal of America.  Neither of them support the Constitution.  Both have openly opposed it — many times.  Therefore, supporting either candidate is to join with them in their attack on this nation and its laws.  The only difference is that Trump has only said he will go to war with our Constitution, Hillary has repeatedly demonstrated that she already has, and has been since her youth.

As for Mr. Beck: I ask you, sir, how does one ‘come together’ with an enemy of one’s own nation?  I understand the desire to heal the rift, but it is too late for that.  All that can be done now is to remove the evil from among us.  Now, both candidates have said things which would suggest they will both be happy to do that.  I, on the other hand, would not.  The removing and rebuilding is to be left to God, sir.  But it is not for God’s people to join with evil.  Scripture is very clear on this point: when God’s people join with evil, the Lord destroys them along with that evil — every time.  It will be no different for those who join with lawless politicians.  Lawlessness is lawlessness — period!  And any who knowingly and willingly side with ilawlessness become lawless, themselves.

I’d like to share some things that have happened in my life and the lives of the people closest to me.  It has happened in just the past few weeks and it shows how the Lord works.  It shows how the Lord uses bad things for the good of those who believe in and trust Him, as well as how He answers prayers and directs our lives.  For me, the events of the last few weeks have been a powerful affirmation of my faith.  This is why I want to share it: to invite other believers to rejoice with me, and to show those who are still in the darkness exactly what the Light looks like and how it works.

This latest episode in my story started a few weeks ago.  I was struggling to finish a major project in my own business when I was informed that I would have to make time to learn how to build my company’s new web site.  In the past, I had always had others help me with this.  I knew nothing about designing a web store, integrating a shopping cart, inputting all of my products and getting it all hosted.  Nor did I have time for it as I was struggling to finish that major project.  However, I had to do both or lose my company, so I did it.  In less than a month, I figured out how to build my new web store and finished my project.

Now, as if that had not been enough, it was during this period that the Lord told me to start reading a book I have had for a while.  I had started to read it several times before and, each time, I was told to put it away.  But, in the middle of struggling to build my new web store and finish my project, the Lord told me to take up this book and start reading it.  So I did, and it lead me to another book that I was also told to read.  I’ll be sharing what I learned with you soon enough, but the point at hand was these two books prepared me to help several friends of mine who were struggling with a spiritual problem that, had I not read these two books beforehand, I might not have been of the right mind to help them when I was called to do so.  The end result was, when it came time, I was mentally and emotionally prepared to do what was asked of me, and I did my part when I was asked.

Now, helping these friends involved a lot of people, including my wife and other members of my immediate family.  The situation was both stressful and emotionally draining, but we all got through it.  Now, keep in mind, I was still building my webs tore and finishing this major project while this was happening.  And on top of this, I was praying to the Lord for guidance in a matter that has been before me for a while.

For some time now, I have felt that the Lord was calling me to a more purposeful service.  I have been praying for His help in understanding what that might be, and I still don’t think He has given me the complete answer.  However, no sooner had I gotten through helping my friends than I was asked to do something else that will take a great deal of my time.  Several readers of this and my other blog have asked me to put large parts of my writing on several topics into pdf format so they can be preserved.  Now, please understand, I am not complaining, and you’ll know that to be true in a moment.  But I am my entire business.  I am a one-man show, so anything that takes me away from my shop takes me away from my primary source of income.  This is why I have been praying and begging the Lord for answers.  What does He want me to do?

Well, last week, yet another reader contacted me to ask how he could help me make these pdf files a reality.  You see, not only will it take time, but there is also a cost connected to it that, frankly, I couldn’t afford right now.  It is not that I am unwilling to pay the cost, it is just that all the time that I was taking away from actually running my business had been costing me money and I simply didn’t have it.  But this other reader offered to pay the start-up cost, and he has.  So I have started working on the changes necessary to move The OYL to an independent hosting site so I can do the things I need to do but which cannot be done if I stay with Word Press.  This is going to take time, time I do not have, but I am going to do it.

There is one last piece of this puzzle to share before I tie it all together for you.  This morning, I went to mix a product I use in my business.  It is rather costly, and, as I have said, my business is under some financial strain right now.  As I was just about finished mixing this product, I realized that I had been shipped the wrong item.  One of the products I was mixing was not correct, but I had already mixed it.  This ruined the whole batch, and I simply did not have the money to replace it which, honestly, would have put me out of business.  But I stayed calm and called my vendor, who had made this same mistake in the past, and I explained what had happened.  The last time, I caught it before I mixed the materials.  This time, I was in a hurry and I didn’t catch it.  So I asked my supplier to help.

Now, while my supplier was asking their manager what they could do for me, I received an order on my web store.  The order came in just minutes after I hung up with my supplier.  I did not look at it, I just printed it and stuck it in my in folder.  A half hour later, my supplier called back and offered me a solution.  In the end, I agreed to pay 1/3 the cost of the mistake.  I still did not know where to get the money, but it was better than having to pay the full cost.  So I hung up and looked at the order that had come in earlier.  It was for $1.50 more than what I had just agreed to pay!

Now, let me tie things together for you.  In the past few weeks, the Lord has shown me that I can trust Him.  He will get me ready for whatever task He has set before me (remember those two books?).  He will answer my prayers and make provisions for whatever will be required to do what He asks me to do (remember my reader who paid to start the changes to this blog?).  He will even take care of my company, thus taking care of me.  You see, when I messed up the mixing of my product today, I literally made it so I cannot work until the 5th.  It will take that long to get replacement product shipped to me and ready for use.  So I was given 4-5 days to set up the new blog page.  On top of that, I received an order for exactly the amount I had to pay to cover the mixing mistake.  So the Lord has shown me that He does want me to serve Him and others by setting up the new blog, and that He will not only direct my actions, but provide the time and money necessary to support my efforts.  And the whole time, I see that I am serving Him by helping others — through my business, through ministry to the people closest to me and through my efforts here on The OYL.

Now, I know other believers will rejoice with me over this because they will recognize God’s hand in it.  But I hope others will see that there was too much here to be simple coincidence.  There were too many ‘moving parts,’ and the timing was too ‘perfect’ for any of this to have been the result of random chance.  This is how the Lord works and I had to share it.  I just hope it helps others to feel firm in their faith or, better yet, come to faith for the first time.

It has been some time since I have written.  This is because I am learning to write only when prompted, and then, to write only about those things I am told to write.  Please understand, I do not consider myself to be a prophet.  I do not hear predictions or prophecy of the future.  However, since the prophets were also sent to warn, and a great deal of what I am told to write seems to be in the form of a warning, I suppose I may be a prophet of a sort.  But I want you to know I do not see myself that way.  I see myself as someone who simply wants to obey the Lord, which is why I have a warning for all Christians who are supporting Donald Trump.  I pray you will listen.

The most common reason for Christian support for Trump is expressed in words to this effect:

“God used sinners, so He can use Trump.”

OK, if this is true, I have a question: why can’t God use Hillary Clinton the same way?

If God using sinners is a reason to support a man who is not only unrepentant, but boasts about his sin, then why doesn’t that same reasoning work with Hillary Clinton?  The Truth is, if it works with Trump, it works equally well with Hillary Clinton.  So, congratulations, Christian: you just argued for Christian support of Hillary Clinton!

OK, now that we have that out of the way, can we — as believers — get serious about this issue and start letting Scripture guide us?

First, understand that the angel told Daniel a beast is a world government.  That definition has never changed, so there is no reason to believe the beast in Revelation is a person.  Sound Biblical interpretation says the beast in Revelation is a government.

The next thing we need to understand is that, if we are looking to and trusting in government to set things right, then we are worshiping government and not Christ!  (If you fall into this category, I strongly suggest you give some serious consideration to what this might mean in relation to the mark of the beast).

Scripture also tells us not to be un-equally yoked.  In Truth, this means a believer should not join themselves to an no-believer.  Respectfully, I submit that both Trump and Clinton have told us with their mouths and their deeds that they do not follow the Lord.  Understand, I am not saying they do not believe in the Lord, I am saying they have said and done things that clearly demonstrate the Lord is not the Master of their lives.  The question at hand for believers is: “Is the Lord the Master of our lives?”

If the Lord is the Master of our lives, then we are only charged with doing our best to live according to our best understanding of His Word.  The outcome is for Him to decide, not us.  We are to trust in and rely on Him, not government, not ourselves.  This is what it means to let the Lord be the Master of our lives: we must surrender to Him and His plans, not ours.

Scripture is clear on this matter: believers are not to support those who are unrepentant in their sin.  We are to show them the love of Christ by the way we live, but we are not to join ourselves to them.  What the believer must understand is that your vote is an outward sign of support.  Therefore, we must cast our vote accordingly and leave the result to the Lord.  Scripture tells us not to fear, He can and will use all things for the good of those who trust and believe.

For example: as horrible as WW II was for the Jews, the Lord used that tragedy to bring Israel back into existence.  If God can bring such light from such darkness, why should we doubt Him today?  Why should we be trying to take things into our own hands by creating arguments for supporting someone who Scriptures clearly tell us we should stay as far away from as possible?  By arguing such foolishness as “God uses sinners so support Trump,” a believer does little more than Abraham did when he tried to rush things by having a child with Hagar instead of waiting on the Lord to give him a son through Sarah.  The result was not what Abraham intended, and Ishmael became and has remained a thorn in the side of believers ever since.

I’ll close with this.  I am not telling anyone how to vote.  That is not my business.  However, I am warning those who profess to believe in Christ that they should not be tempting the Lord by twisting His Word to support their desires.  If we believe, then we trust Him — not government, not even ourselves, but Him and Him alone.  And if we trust Him, then all we have to do obey His Word as best we can and leave the result to Him.  He is the Master, we are the servant.  Trying to force His hand by acting against His teachings is rebellion, and Scripture is clear about how rebellion turns out.  So why would any believer tempt the Lord by creating twisted reasons to support someone they should recognize as an opponent of God?  How can a person claim to be a believer while making excuses for supporting the ungodly?  It simply does not work, so chose wisely.  As for me and my house, we chose to obey and trust in the Lord.  I pray you will do the same.

Recently, I heard a very well known radio talk show host tell his audience not to worry about the meaning of words.  It shocked me for two reasons.  First, this host is well known for telling his audience that “Words mean things,” and then defending the meaning of the word or words in question.  But what shocked me even more was the words in question this time were those words we use to describe the various political ideologies in America today.  What’s more, this host not only told his audience not to listen to anyone who tries to explain what these terms mean and to just accept what he tells his audience they mean.  Well, this has bothered me ever since I heard it — mostly because, after saying these things, this host then proceeded to give a false meaning for many of these terms.  So I had to write to help any who might be interested understand what the terms mean and from whence they came.

First things first: I trust we can all agree that the person who invents or develops an idea is the one who defines that idea.  By this I mean, if you invent something or develop an idea, then you are the ultimate authority on what that idea is and what it means.  No one else has the authority to come along later and tell you that you are wrong, or to change your idea and then assert that they now control it.  It is your idea and you alone define it — period.  Well, the same applies to those men and women who developed the various political ideologies vying for influence in America today.

Now that we have this understanding — that the inventor defines — let us look first at the political ideologies that are all vying for control of the American people.  Keep in mind, I have given generalized definitions which, when investigated, will reveal themselves to be accurate, but not exhaustive.:

Liberalism:

In the United States, this would be our founding fathers.

This has nothing to do with the ‘Liberalism’ of today.  This is why those who know and understand political ideology often refer to it as ‘Classic Liberalism.’  In simple terms, Liberalism is about the individual and individual rights and liberties.  However, Liberalism also contains an inherent sense of personal responsibility and accountability not only to ourselves, but also to each other and to society.  In other words, Liberalism acknowledges duty and accountability to others and to society.  Hence, it is dependent upon a strong moral foundation.

Progressivism:

In the United States, developed by Teddy Roosevelt, then co-opted by Woodrow Wilson.

This is an ideology that is difficult to explain.  In short, it is based on the notion that man can use science to purposely control society and direct human evolution.  hence the use of the term ‘progress’ in the name.  However, in the United States, Woodrow Wilson clearly and forcefully explained that ‘Progressive’ was a term chosen to sell Communism to the American people.  Thus, at least in America, ‘Progressive’ is synonymous with Communism.  But, no matter where it is found, the spirit of Progressivism is the idea that man is his own god and, as such, can direct his own evolution/destiny.

Communism:

Developed by Karl Marx.

In theory, Communism is a political ideology whereby society just naturally agrees on everything and runs itself by this collective conscience of agreement.  However, this is an impossibility.  While social in nature, man is not a collective organism.  Even among collective creatures such as ants and bees, there is a queen.  Thus, in practice, Communism is a derivation of the old system of the son king, or ruler as god.  Only, in this case, government is the god.  Under this system, the government owns and controls everything. Thus leaving those who would control society to fight over control of the government.

Fascism:

Developed and named by Benito Mussolini (whose symbol is that of community organizers today: a fascine, or bundle of small sticks into a larger stick with an axe head built in).

Also called corporatism by Mussolini, this is the primary competitor of Communism.  Whereas in Communism the government owns and controls everything directly, Fascism allows for a cooperation between business and government where private ownership and operation is allowed, but only so long as it is operated in accordance with the will of those running the government.  Otherwise, there is little difference between Communism and Fascism.  Here again, the struggle is to be the one in charge of the State, and hence, the nation.

Libertarianism:

This one has many authors, but one of the most prominent would be Ayn Rand.

This terms is actually a term used to describe a wide range of ideologies which all hold one primary value in common: that of self-interest above all else.  Thus, it is easier to explain what Libertarianism is not.  Most important to understand is that Libertarianism is not Liberalism.  While the Libertarian values the individual, and individual rights and liberties, there is seldom any sense of duty or responsibility to others or to society in the Libertarian ideal.  In general, the Libertarian is all about themselves.  Ayn Rand’s “Fountainhead” is the perfect illustration of the Libertarian ideal, as is “Atlas Shrugged.”

[NOTE: Rand’s ideology is called Objectivism, and is actually a mix of Liberalism and Libertarianism.  Her ideology has influenced the Libertarian and American Conservative movement, although, the American Conservative movement has no real claim tot hat name.]

Conservative:

In the American tradition, developed by Edmund Burke.

Like Libertarianism, Conservatism is another ‘catch-all’ term.  Contrary to modern assertion, Conservatism does not stand for any unique political ideology.  Rather, it is all about holding on to what already is.  In this sense, a Progressive who seeks to hold on to what they have gained is a Conservative.  Likewise, so is a Communist who seeks to hold on to their power, and a Fascist.  A better way to look at Conservatism would be as a traditionalist, or a ‘hold-what-you-have’ type of person.  What Conservatism is not is a positive assertion of any particular political ideology or set of beliefs.

Here is where we have to be discerning.  These are solid operational definitions for each of these ideologies.  But there is a tendency to co-opt or steal the term of one ideology so as to cloak the agenda of another.  For example:

Woodrow Wilson used the term ‘Progressive’ to represent his political agenda.  He spoke in Progressive terms, talking about progress and science and the scientific administration of society.  However, he was also very public in stating that he preferred Communism for America and that he chose to hide his true agenda behind the term ‘Progressive’ because he thought it would be the best way to get America to accept Communism.  Thus, Wilson co-opted ‘Progressivism’ to hide his Communist agenda (and he said so in his own words).

Likewise, today, the American Conservative ‘claims’ to represent the ideology of America’s founding fathers.  However, upon closer examination, one will discover that it doesn’t.  It actually represents the ideology of Teddy Roosevelt’s Progressive movement, which was Fascism by another name.

So, one must be aware of the constant attempt to take the name of one ideology and hide behind it so as to sell a secret agenda to the American people.  This is done because, if the true nature of the hidden agenda were to be known, the American people would reject it.  We can guard against falling into such traps by knowing what each term really means and then looking for its characteristic tells behind whatever term if being used.  If someone starts the “America First’ Party and claims to stand for the individual, but then gets into power and starts to protect the State, or push a globalist agenda, you know you are dealing with Communism.  If they get into power and push the State and nationalism, you are probably dealing with Fascism.  And so forth.

The point is, just know what the people who developed these ideologies said they stand for and look for their tell-tale signs in whatever movement is courting your vote.  This will not guarantee you will not be fooled by a deceiver, but it will make it much more difficult for the deceiver to fool you.