SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : General Topics : History repeats...Trump emulates Constatine

Print Thread (PDF)

Goto page ( Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 )
PosterThread









 Re:

Brother Blaine, I regret sharing what Saeed Abedini said about president elect Trump. I missed the mark and repent.

All of this discussion...is it bringing our Lord Jesus any glory? You cannot know the intentions of the heart of man, only Jesus can. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. Only Jesus will make the call at the end of time whether a person will enter heaven or hell. He who is forgiven much, loves much. Theres so much finger pointing. Are we not to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling?

Theres a lost and dying world out there who doesn't know Jesus. If they happen upon this website and see the commotion, will this be a good witness? Im truly heart broken. It honestly comes across as, "Im more righteous than you". Theres none righteous, no...not one. We are only righteous through the blood of Jesus. Yes, we are to obey Him if we love Him, deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Him. Let's pray for each other. Only the Holy Spirit can open eyes if there is blindness. May we all have eye salve to see clearly, being well pleasing to the Lord....full of good fruit.

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

 2016/11/15 11:12
ccchhhrrriiisss
Member



Joined: 2003/11/23
Posts: 4779


 Re:

Hi bearmaster,

Thank you for your reply. I wasn't sure if that was from one person (Saeed Abedini) or something from an article.

In statistics, there is something called an "outlier." It is defined as "an observation that lies an abnormal distance from other values in a random sample from a population." In polls, outliers are typically discarded because they represent the views of people who are considered decidedly outside of the population.

The danger of utilizing outliers is that they can skew results. They can skew results and cause decisions to be made that aren't accurate. Outliers can be very dangerous if used as the basis for medical diagnoses.

In certain DNA tests, there might be contaminated DNA on a garment that doesn't even belong to the individual in question. All of the other DNA points to the owner of a shirt but other DNA might have been found on it. That DNA could have come from someone who bumped into the owner of the shirt, someone who laundered it or even DNA from someone involved in the manufacturing process. The point is that the data is an outlier -- not belonging to the owner or a family member.

Even entire scientific opinion polls with large samples can be dismissed. During the months leading up to the election, there were polls dismissed because they had either candidate leading or losing by margins far outside of what were deemed probable.

I remember seeing one poll's "raw data" which had Hillary Clinton favored by a margin of 80% of voters. Another had Trump favored by 75% of the country. There is no doubt that the individuals in that pool of voters indicated their choice for president, but they didn't accurately represent a sample of the population accurately. So, those results would be dropped and other polls would be used (or the outlier data in that particular poll dropped).

Why am I bringing this up?

As believers in Christ, we are "outliers" in this world. We stand apart. We believe apart. We are different from the world in every aspect of our lives because we are motivated by the honor of God. The world will hate us because we are separated from it.

I always appreciated the visualization of this in John Bunyan's allegory Pilgrim's Progress. There is a scene in which the characters of "Christian" and "Faithful" pass through the city of "Vanity Fair." The people of that town hated them because they didn't buy their products. They looked and talked differently. At one point, a person asked them, "What will you buy?" Faithful replied, "We buy the truth!" It ended with their arrest, trial, imprisonment and, ultimately, Faithful's execution. However, he was "faithful" unto death.

So, we are outliers from the ideas of this world. That doesn't mean that our views change. A Muslim man might love his children or help a stranger that he sees in distress. That doesn't mean that Christians are wrong in doing likewise. I might like to eat "butter chicken," but that doesn't mean that I favor the views of Northern India (from which that dish originates).

At the same time, we sometimes have a habit of lumping believers together incorrectly. In your instance, that "Pastor Saeed" may have said things about Trump and the election that aren't held by the overwhelming majority of Christians -- including those who might have voted for Trump. That would make those who felt that way as "outliers among Christians.

The interesting thing about all of this is that Trump is strongly despised by the media and many people around the world. Some of that angst is rooted in things that Trump may have said or done. However, some of the hatred directed at him is due to things like opposition to abortion, the notion that churches should not be penalized for preaching against things like abortion, homosexuality, transgenderism, drugs, sex education in schools, etc. that are deemed "political" in this day and age.

While it is good to tell believers that they should not put their faith in Trump, it is also good that we don't assume that this is widespread among believers who truly know and fellowship with the Lord. Even among those that said that they voted for Trump, I still don't know any believers who are such fans of him that they see him as some sort of messiah figure or even a figure that will bring about any sort of godly transfiguration of a nation. Rather, like some here on SermonIndex have pondered, most seem to see this as -- possibly -- a temporary "time out" from the type of ungodliness and persecution that we are told we should expect in this world.

I know a believer from the former Soviet Union. He said that they would often pray for new leaders to allow religious freedom. They may not have been fans of Gorbachev, but he said that they celebrated when he began implementing his glasnost and perestroika that eased the suffering of believers under the yoke of government oppression and persecution.


_________________
Christopher

 2016/11/15 11:56Profile
TMK
Member



Joined: 2012/2/8
Posts: 6650
NC, USA

 Re:

Quote: "I know a believer from the former Soviet Union. He said that they would often pray for new leaders to allow religious freedom. They may not have been fans of Gorbachev, but he said that they celebrated when he began implementing his glasnost and perestroika that eased the suffering of believers under the yoke of government oppression and persecution."

Shame on them. They should have prayed for a despot many times as bad as Stalin to assure that as many christians as possible were tortured and killed. Only then would God be satisfied with the church in Russia.


_________________
Todd

 2016/11/15 12:41Profile
dolfan
Member



Joined: 2011/8/23
Posts: 1727
Tennessee, but my home's in Alabama

 Re:

Mr Bill, I don't know who Branham saw or thought he saw. I do know ain't nothin' beautiful about Hillary.


_________________
Tim

 2016/11/15 14:13Profile
MrBillPro
Member



Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 3422
Texas

 Re:

Amen Brother Tim, on that doesn't describe Hillary. :-)


_________________
Bill

 2016/11/15 14:27Profile









 Re:

Todd/TMK sarcastically wrote:

"Shame on them. They should have prayed for a despot many times as bad as Stalin to assure that as many christians as possible were tortured and killed. Only then would God be satisfied with the church in Russia."

Didn't you write that sarcasm was nasty and ungodly to our dearly departed NDY?

It is good quality sarcasm I'll give you that.

 2016/11/15 15:58
TMK
Member



Joined: 2012/2/8
Posts: 6650
NC, USA

 Re:

I said that my grandmother used to say that sarcasm was the weapon of the weak. I must have been having a weak moment.

But my sarcasm below is just barely sarcasm, because there are those on SI who truly believe what I wrote.


_________________
Todd

 2016/11/15 16:01Profile









 Re:

"DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS"

Good advice to remember for threads like this and the other one.

 2016/11/15 16:31
dolfan
Member



Joined: 2011/8/23
Posts: 1727
Tennessee, but my home's in Alabama

 Re:

I always liked a dry wit.


_________________
Tim

 2016/11/15 16:31Profile
JFW
Member



Joined: 2011/10/21
Posts: 2009
Dothan, Alabama

 Re:

for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:
39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.


_________________
Fletcher

 2016/11/15 21:06Profile





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy