The tools of the Father of Lies

 

I usually scroll past these under the counsel of Proverbs 26:4, but so many whom I know have succumbed to the wiles of the devil.

Hate the president all you want.  Don’t vote for him.  Campaign against him but do not succumb to the Father of Lies.  Understand that in this post is a single statement.  It is surely an opinion.  If it is fact, the post brings no supporting documentation to bear, but the statement is made nonetheless as if it were fact.

Next are a series of conjectural statements that are red herrings and non-sequiturs.  I’m sure there are other logical fallacies, but the most evident should suffice.  Logical fallacies are used when the facts will not support the desired conclusion. 

You shouldn’t be surprised when…

Abusers support…

Perverted people support and defend…

It’s not coincidence…followed by unsupported statements…

Imagine if instead of the president’s name, someone substituted that of your husband and declared in a singular statement that he is a pedophile.  No supporting documentation is provided nor required by the online venue.  Someone just posts the statement.  That person may or may not believe it, but now the statement is out for public consumption.

Some who know your husband, might reject the statement outright. Others might suspect something because someone was bold enough or capricious enough just to make the statement.  Either way, the statement is out there.

Based on zero facts, we will support the statement with logical fallacies.  Anyone who stands up for your husband, must also be a pedophile.  What other excuse could they have?

Spice it up a little and advise people don’t be surprised when those supporting your husband are guilty of the same crimes.  These people are otherwise known to you as respected members of the community, but get lumped into this melee to avoid having to produce facts.

You shouldn’t be surprised when your husband’s friends are outed as well.  Realize that at this point, there is no evidence to support your husband or his friends are pedophiles, but using the tools of the devil, you can paint them as if they are.  Facts and evidence just get in the way. Hate and contempt must rule!

Rally people to your cause playing on their emotions and blinding them to the fact they have been deceived.

Let’s continue with non-sequiturs.

Pedophiles support and defend other pedophiles. 

Perverted people support, defend, and champion other perverted people.

Most people would agree with these statements but they have no real connection to the initial statement that your husband is a pedophile which was made without supporting evidence.  They are not supporting facts.  Logical fallacies are designed to deceive those who have surrendered their sound mind.

Those who don’t like your husband for any reason at all, are called upon to jump on the condemnation bandwagon.

Let’s wrap up this exercise in a style similar to the original post.  It is not a coincidence that your husband’s friends and supporters who try to help your husband out are tied to pedophilia and perversion. 

When you don’t have facts and logical argument, all you can really do is reword the same fallacies to appear as a conclusion. 

It’s unlikely that anyone would do this to your husband, brother, son or other dear friend.  Public figures know that they are subject to hate and disdain and all manner of assertations that may or may not have merit.  I know of no perfect people in the world and the faults of those in the public eye are always magnified.

But this is not about President Trump or your husband or son.  It is about integrity.  Will we employ the ways of the Father of Lies as if he is our own father?

Are we fearful of facts?

Have we lost the ability to discuss and reason?

Have we surrendered the sound mind which is of God for the tools of the devil?

I have my list of political leaders that I don’t really like.  I am not called to condemn them using the tools of the devil.

I have had many laughs at the expense of many politicians.  Representative Cortez and former VP Biden keep me laughing.  Of course, I had my laughs at former President George W. Bush as well, when he couldn’t get a door to open or he tried to pronounce nuclear.

We are entitled to laugh a little at our leaders.  They know it comes with the territory, but when we resort to demeaning them by false argument, it is not about our leaders but about us.

It’s about us.

As noted in the beginning, I usually scroll past these sorts of posts, but so many that I know and love have been ambushed. 

I would not expect anyone to agree with my political choices based on this post.  That’s not the goal.  Campaign your hearts out but don’t sell your soul along the way.  Keep your sound mind.  Challenge the authenticity and argument of that which you choose to support.

Do not be deceived.

Do you hate President Trump so much that you want peace to fail?

It is hard to believe that so many are finding so many ways to hate President Trump at the expense of the American people, peace, and general civility.  Understand, that if North Korea proceeds on the course that it has for the past 3 decades and initiates war or brings this country to the point where we must be preemptive to save American citizens from a weapon of mass destruction, there is no surgical option.

North Korea is always poised for the invasion of the southern peninsula.  A preemptive strike against a single or multiple missile launch sites will trigger this massive assault on the south.  That means that a preemptive strike must kill North Korean combatants by the tens of thousands, making the United States appear to be a warmonger without regard for human life. 

Failure to preempt a nuclear strike on our own soil or that of an ally will also result in casualties in the tens of thousands.  These will be Americans and our allies. 

Now that President Trump has brought the North Korean dictator to the negotiating table through American strength, let’s pray that he achieves what we never achieved with this regime.  The president may have to walk away from this meeting if the North Koreas try to pull what they have always done in the past, but the North Korean leader knew that going in.

His overtures appear to be much sincerer than anything the world has see since the peninsula was divided at the 38^th parallel. Should we not desire success by our president.  That would be success not only for America and the Korean people, but for the region, and the world. 

If you must hate the President, then hate him, but quit hating the good things that he is doing.  The man has some rough edges.  I get that.  We have had presidents like that before, but not in the age of media addiction that we now endure.

Of all of the places where I have served, the Korean peninsula is the last place that I would actually want to fight a war.  I’m too old to serve now, but my empathy is for the soldiers and Marines that would be put in harm's way because so many hated President Trump so much that they prayed for peace to fail and had so little regard for the blood of those who would advance towards the sound of gunfire.

There is a very good possibility that this summit with the North Korean leader will fail.  That is the history between our nations.  The odds are against success. Let that sink in.  The odds are against success. 

If it fails this time—and look closely and compliance and verification agreements—don’t expect spin doctoring as in the past.  Expect to go back to preparing for the worst.  So why not pray for, root for, and hope for peace in this region.  Do you really hate one man so much that you callously put forth the blood of young men and women who will give their lives so readily?

The people of North Korea are oppressed.  A war to liberate them will kill hundreds of thousands of Koreans and Americans.  Liberty and a better life will come through connections made in business and commerce.  Christianity moving north on the peninsula will do more than a thousand precision strikes and megatons of carpet bombing. 

We can get angry with our neighbors to the north and south or in Europe and not even think about going to war with them.  Why?  Because we are connected on so many levels.  We are connected.  North Korea is disconnected from most of the world.

If you must hate President Trump by whatever it is that drives you to hate, then hate him, but quit—please quit—rooting for the failure of the good things that he is doing.  Americans once—until now, always—pulled together when confronting an enemy or potential enemy.  We set aside differences for a time so that we could continue to disagree at some later point.  Unity took hold at the water’s edge.

Are we so petty in our hatred that we will set aside a genuine chance at peace in this region?  Are we so myopic that we would rather see 50,00 American and allied casualties than see President Trump negotiate a win-win deal with a dictator that has always dealt from the bottom the deck until now?

It is hard to believe that even China has been brought into the arena that is pushing for peace.  China knows that stability on the Korean peninsula lessens the drain on our resources.  In a true Machiavellian sense, continued tension between North Korea and America is to their benefit.  I don’t think that America and China will be friends in this polycentric world, but we are moving towards not being enemies and doing things that are for the greater good.

If hate for one man must drive your life, please get out of the lane that prays for peace, values the safety of those forward deployed and ready to go on a moment’s notice, and those that long to see America as a light in a dark world once again.

If you must hate the president, please do it without hating America at the same time.

I am not asking you to stop pursuing what you desire for this nation, only that hate does not supersede a chance for peace.  I doubt that we will see another window of opportunity like the one that is before us.  Strength and resolve brought us to this point.  Let’s not waste it.  The world will not know peace until the Lord returns, but in the meantime, let’s get behind making this one part of our planet safer for all of us.