Let us deal with the two main fallacies presented here. First of all, the Republican Party platform is pro-poverty and there is no greater subject after salvation in the bible than taking care of the least in society. The Republican Platform is pro war, which leads to the annihilation of countless people who needed the gospel. The Republican Platform in recent years is whatever Donald Trump wants. A man so vile and reprehensible, I am amazed that any Christian could even vote for him. That is not supporting the other party either. I do not fall for the binary choice and hate the other side tactic of the devil. Neither party cares about the cause of Christ so stop pretending that one does. As for sin, Farias' argument cuts both ways. The inherent problem is in conferring righteousness upon one political party that has not earned it. So, in the 1990's one of the staunchest, religious congressmen was Dennis Hastert from Illinois. Years later we would find out that for decades this bastion of Christian morals liked to molest little boys. Oops. Newt Gingrich? Yeah, he was having an affair on his wife, who he would end up divorcing, with a woman half his age. Donald Trump? Three times married, three times unfaithful, including one porn star. So, you may want to save the self-righteous blather. We all sin. We all fall short. Neither party cares for the cause of Christ and do you know why? Because the bible says the things of God are foolishness to them. Wake up and read the bible.
"Let us be thankful to God for America, and let us pray that the Word of God may continue to have free course and be glorified in our nation. Let us pray also to be delivered from wicked and unreasonable men who do not have faith. " Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may quickly spread and be glorified, even as it did with you. And pray that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all men have faith" (2 Thess. 3:1-2)." - Bert Farias
I am thankful for living in the United States and all of the opportunity it provides. It is a great verse cited but of course misused because we already have the freedom in this country to spread the word of God. There is virtually no prohibition in this country against that. What has been problematic is when self-professing Christians use the bible to not bake a cake. Or sue a state so that a high school football coach can say Christian prayers, regardless of whether or not all his players are actually Christian. Despite the goals of the NAR, America never was nor should ever be a theocracy. God did not instruct us to create a theocracy. The insinuation here is that men in the Republican Party have faith, and those evil Democrats do not. It is just a lie from the pit of hell. There are Christians of different denominations in both parties. They are few and far between and the majority of those in politics are not saved, including those serving at the behest of the NAR apostate church. We are all unreasonable and wicked before a holy God. Again, stop pretending that your set of politicians is righteous therefore all others must be evil.
"Let us also pray and give thanks for all men, especially for our president and those in authority.
"Therefore I exhort first of all that you make supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for everyone, for kings and for all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:1-4). Notice that thanksgiving is a part of this prayer. Too many have a sense of entitlement when it comes to America. The question now seems to be "What can my country do for me?" not "What can I do for my country?" There are many more ungrateful people living in our nation than ever before." - Bert Farias
How sadly hypocritical that Farias quotes a liberal Democratic president in the same article where he slams anyone who would dare vote for him. There are many ungrateful people living in this country and many are on the Republican side which is now a party of perpetual grievance. They do not like this country. They have a different vision for it and guess what? That is what the political process is for. Just because I may want one thing and my neighbor may want something else does not make my neighbor a sinner and myself a saint. It does not make my neighbor evil and myself righteous. I do not have to hate my neighbor, consign them to hell, all the while propping up other failed men who just fail in areas I tolerate better. The things of God may be foolishness to those who are perishing but they can spot hypocrisy just fine.
"Notice also the reason we are to give thanks and pray for those in authority. It's so strife, division, hatred, conflict and potentially unrest and war can be prevented so we can live in peace. And for what reason? So that the gospel can move, and more people can come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved (v. 4). Those who accuse us of being too political or patriotic and placing American politics before the gospel don't fully realize the connection. America is still the greatest nation on the face of the earth and I am grateful for the many privileges and blessings of my citizenship. There are many enemies from within who want to take those privileges and blessings away from us. There are many who want to transform this nation into something God never ordained or intended. Thanksgiving is a great time of year to remember our roots and rejoice and give thanks for our nation and the many freedoms and blessings we still enjoy." - Bert Farias
I fully understand the connection, but it is not being represented honestly by Farias. The gospel can currently move wherever it wants in America. Nothing has changed that. Nobody wants to take blessings away from you Bert. Sell your silly conspiracies somewhere else. God did not ordain this country to be anything. We are not and never have been in covenant with God. Any fair reading of our history reveals the best human experiment in secular government that has never had a sliver of the righteousness Bert Farias dreams it had. America still held on to slavery too long. It still abused children in sweatshops. It sill plundered other countries for their natural resources. It still started wars based on lies and for greed. It still did a whole lot of good as well, no question. But stop idolizing it and trying to transform it into the theocratic image you worship. Maybe if you spent your energies in the actual preaching of the gospel instead of trying to force culture to codify it, you would find more people willing to listen to what you want to say. Maybe if you spent more effort trying to reach people instead of condemning them and pointing your bony finger of accusation at them, you would see more people come to Christ. Maybe if you spent more effort bringing people together through the love of Christ, rather than dividing them with your carnal politics, we would all be more thankful than we are.
Happy Thanksgiving all. It is a day to be thankful for all God has done and will do. It is a day to be thankful we live in America without extolling it with revisionist history and fabrications. We are passing through beloved on our way to a better place. Our job is not to redeem culture but save people out of the culture. Be thankful we live in a country where we are free to do that and bake a cake if we want to.
