The Father of Lies

an essay, just trying to put my feelings into words. and trying to make some sense of the world

Every day i wake up and check my email, my news feeds, and my Facebook feeds and every day i'm met with the latest outrages coming from the president and his minions (not the cute yellow capsule shaped minions either. these are full grown nasty people). And many of my friends are rightfully incensed by every new event and they feel they have to speak out against what they see as an attack on the constitution, their personal rights and the safety of the world. There are celebrities, bloggers, and a few news outlets that dedicate themselves to being outraged and i can't say that they're wrong to feel that way. But i have been kinda sitting this one out. The one nice thing about being a pessimist is that you're seldom disappointed in people not meeting your expectations. Reason, organizing, rallying, oratory and outrage is not, in my opinion, the way to fight this battle. Because i believe this is not a political battle, it's a spiritual battle. Once you understand what we fight against, nothing he does will surprise you.

Quite simply, Trump is evil. And by evil i don't mean some nebulous 'really bad'. I don't even mean Hitler bad. I mean the total opposite of good. Evil. Having no decent bone is his body. No intent to do good for anyone but himself. Devilish. I am not over-stating. Once i came to this realization about him, everything he says and does makes perfect sense. Nothing surprises me anymore. Oh, he attacked Zelinski in the oval office for not bowing down to Trump and Putin? Of course. there's a sovereign nation who needs our aid and is being attacked by a powerful dictator who wants to expand his empire. So suppose you're evil. What side would you be on? And why not try to humiliate the leader of that nation on national television while you're at it? This is not just a clash of political ideals. This is evil, and that's not hyperbole on my part. Let me make my case.

Now most of MAGA claims to be christian, so their standards should come from the Bible. So let's look at things from a biblical perspective. In the book of Galatians in the Bible there's a simple guide to let us know what things are of God and what things are of the flesh. It tells us that you can tell what is of God by if they demonstrate 'the fruit of the Spirit'. What are these fruits? Here's the list. And while you're reading these, try to see how many describe your president: Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance.

Let's take these one at a time. Love... Here's a man who married 3 times and each time cheated on his wife and he's displayed no love for anyone at all except for himself or as a publicity stunt. Joy... Have you ever seen him smile except when he thinks he's being clever or when he's demeaning someone else? Peace... really? he hurls insults, foments divisions, even encourages armed insurrection. Longsuffering... You may wonder what this means. Here's a definition i found " the quality of being patient and enduring difficulties without becoming angry or upset." Does that even remotely describe Trump? Gentleness... he has all the gentleness of a mad bull. Goodness... i can't think of an instance where i've seen him acting with goodness without being shamed into it. Faith... It's clear the only thing he has faith in is himself. Meekness... Oh please. he's the poster boy for pride and boisterousness. Temperance....Now finally here's one you may point to because Trump is evidently a non-drinker. Unfortunately, as temperance is used in the Bible, it means moderation and self control in all things. So Trump shows none of what the Bible tells us are the fruits of the Holy Spirit. But bob, you may say. That's just the apostle Paul writing about a local problem. It's not to be taken as universal truth.

Well, okay. Then let's take an example from the source. That being from the teachings of Jesus himself. This is taken from the book of Matthew, the 25th chapter. It starts out with Jesus telling a couple of parables; then he follows up by explaining what he meant by the stories. This is what he says:

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

It should be clear which side Trump is on. Feeding the hungry? Trump is doing all he can to cut back on social programs that feed the hungry in this and other countries. Clothed the naked? Likewise, cutting social programs designed to help the poor and homeless. Eliminating caring for the "parasites" of our society. Healing the sick? Cutting Medicaid and Medicare that helps pay medical bills for the poor and aged. Welcoming and caring for strangers? Instead, Trump is rounding up the strangers in our land and expelling or jailing them while also making sure they get no social benefits whatsoever.

So there you have, in Jesus own words, instructions on how we OUGHT to be living and behaving as a country. Trump stands for the polar opposite of Jesus teachings and Jesus makes it clear where people who don't measure up to these standards are destined to go. To "everlasting punishment" in the place prepared for the devil and his angels. I would say that it would be safe to say that would qualify them as evil.

But say you're not a christian and don't hold folks to a biblical standard. Fine. Pick a standard to measure by. Does it allow for lying? (almost every time he opens his mouth, Trump lies), cheating? (he scammed people out of money on a fake university, cheated contractors out of the payments they had due, and many other things), unfaithfulness to spouse (cheated on all 3 wives), indecency (infamous "grab them by the p*****s" quote), racist (constantly calls people of color 'of low intelligence' and rapists, drug runners, etc), rape? (he's been convicted of this), misogyny? (insults females regularly in news conferences, and treats females as less than human, there for his pleasure), i could go on and on. In what world are these traits honorable? Sorry, they are nothing short of evil.

So once you understand the true nature of mr trump, nothing he does is surprising. In fact, we should be able to predict his actions in any given situation by first thinking what would be the right thing to do, then predict him to do the opposite. That's the nature of evil. That's the nature of Trump. So how do we fight such insidious evil? Back to the Bible for another quote. This one from Ephesians "12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." What do we do? I'm still struggling with the answer to that.

One more observation and Bible reference if you still doubt that trump is evil. I don't know if you've noticed it, but almost every policy, every action that trump makes is based on fear. Fear of foreigners. Fear of Antifa. Fear of your neighbor. Fear of being taken advantage of. Fear of being seen as weak. Fear of those who are different. Fear. And what does the Bible have to say about that? Here, from 2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Trump has built his world around fear. Does he exhibit power, love, a sound mind? A sound mind? Love?

Anyway, so what do we do to combat this evil that currently infests our country? As i said before, i believe this is a spiritual battle. So the only responses i recommend would be spiritual in nature. Doing all the things that trump finds reprehensible. Caring for people. Feeding the hungry. Helping the poor and infirm. Visiting those who have been imprisoned wrongfully. Voting for social programs and candidates who support them. Do whatever is good and kind and thoughtful. Some of you will take this a step farther; demonstrating, protesting, petitioning, letter writing and other more public forums. I have not felt led in that direction as of yet. That may change. But the LEAST we can do is live lovingly and peaceably and displaying the fruits of the spirit i mentioned earlier. And by all means, don't be taken in by the father of lies.