Do Not Be Afraid
God tells us in the Bible over and over and over again to not be afraid. I'll admit, there are times when I find this directive to be pretty difficult to follow. I also know that all the times I have been afraid, God has been there to carry us through the hard. That is what I am holding onto right now, because I'll be honest and say I am finding it difficult to not let fear take over.
I find it difficult to not let fear take over when I see reports of unmarked soldiers carting people away without any evidence what they have done wrong or where they are being taken.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/17/portland-protests-federal-arrests/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&fbclid=IwAR2Z4OYgtGZ907g41lrWyDG_TmP_kyxuFpqvv5d_1NZvxZ73k9mT_NvsYuc
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20200717&fbclid=IwAR0K-6Q_5Ebi2qTTNEcO8f8NdsQtQe7x4hD2Ur8Acnl8ctpgCdefbYiERcQ
I find it very difficult to not be afraid when I find this quote on the US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) website.
"CBP personnel have been deployed to Portland in direct support of the Presidential Executive Order and the newly established DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT). CBP law enforcement personnel have been trained and cross designated under FPS legal authority 40 U.S.C. § 1315"
If you are a conservative, and I know many people who hold conservative views, then the idea of the head of the federal government deploying his own military should terrify you. It is precisely the opposite of what true conservatism wants... small government, state's rights, etc. Yet, for some reason, people who support the current POTUS, continue to believe he has their best interests at heart. I've got to break it to all of you. He does not care a fig about you unless you happen to have very deep financial pockets and would like to give him money from those pockets. If you are a typical American who is happy when the paycheck stretches to the next one, he is playing you.
I know that doesn't feel good, to be played, and that it is probably easier emotionally to continue to support him so you don't have to reckon with an significant error in judgement. But the unwillingness to face the fact that you've been played and are supporting a man who is setting himself up to be dictator could prove to be our entire country's undoing.
It is very hard to not be afraid.
It is very hard to not be afraid when you read quotes such as this:
"President Trump refused to say on "Fox News Sunday" whether he would accept the results of November's election if he loses to Joe Biden, telling host Chris Wallace: "I have to see. I'm not just going to say yes. I'm not going to say no."
Can you put the pieces together yet? A man who has made far too many deals with actual dictators. A man who looks the other way when it is learned Russia has paid bounties for the killing of US soldiers. A man who has so divided the nation that half the general public thinks a worldwide pandemic is a hoax and the US government just wanting to control them. (Because you know the whole world must be in on it, the paranoia is so out of proportion.) A man who thinks nothing of the deaths of his own citizens due to a pandemic he refuses to even discuss anymore. A man who is sending out armed troops who have no oversight and whom Congress seems unwilling or unable to stop. A man who now has publicly said that he might not accept the outcome of November's election if he does not win.
I don't know about you, but when I put all the pieces together the resulting completed puzzle is terrifying. I see a country collapsing into civil war. A see a demagogue who hates any person with skin which isn't white. I see mindless followers who have so turned off their critical thinking skills that they refuse to see the horrendousness around them.
It is hard not to be afraid.
But you know it must be okay because the POTUS says he is against abortion. (And in case it wasn't evident enough, so am I. But I also happen to be against a lot of other acts of inhumanity.)
I so very, very much want to be wrong.
I find it difficult to not let fear take over when I see reports of unmarked soldiers carting people away without any evidence what they have done wrong or where they are being taken.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/17/portland-protests-federal-arrests/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&fbclid=IwAR2Z4OYgtGZ907g41lrWyDG_TmP_kyxuFpqvv5d_1NZvxZ73k9mT_NvsYuc
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/17/892277592/federal-officers-use-unmarked-vehicles-to-grab-protesters-in-portland?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20200717&fbclid=IwAR0K-6Q_5Ebi2qTTNEcO8f8NdsQtQe7x4hD2Ur8Acnl8ctpgCdefbYiERcQ
I find it very difficult to not be afraid when I find this quote on the US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) website.
"CBP personnel have been deployed to Portland in direct support of the Presidential Executive Order and the newly established DHS Protecting American Communities Task Force (PACT). CBP law enforcement personnel have been trained and cross designated under FPS legal authority 40 U.S.C. § 1315"
If you are a conservative, and I know many people who hold conservative views, then the idea of the head of the federal government deploying his own military should terrify you. It is precisely the opposite of what true conservatism wants... small government, state's rights, etc. Yet, for some reason, people who support the current POTUS, continue to believe he has their best interests at heart. I've got to break it to all of you. He does not care a fig about you unless you happen to have very deep financial pockets and would like to give him money from those pockets. If you are a typical American who is happy when the paycheck stretches to the next one, he is playing you.
I know that doesn't feel good, to be played, and that it is probably easier emotionally to continue to support him so you don't have to reckon with an significant error in judgement. But the unwillingness to face the fact that you've been played and are supporting a man who is setting himself up to be dictator could prove to be our entire country's undoing.
It is very hard to not be afraid.
It is very hard to not be afraid when you read quotes such as this:
"President Trump refused to say on "Fox News Sunday" whether he would accept the results of November's election if he loses to Joe Biden, telling host Chris Wallace: "I have to see. I'm not just going to say yes. I'm not going to say no."
Can you put the pieces together yet? A man who has made far too many deals with actual dictators. A man who looks the other way when it is learned Russia has paid bounties for the killing of US soldiers. A man who has so divided the nation that half the general public thinks a worldwide pandemic is a hoax and the US government just wanting to control them. (Because you know the whole world must be in on it, the paranoia is so out of proportion.) A man who thinks nothing of the deaths of his own citizens due to a pandemic he refuses to even discuss anymore. A man who is sending out armed troops who have no oversight and whom Congress seems unwilling or unable to stop. A man who now has publicly said that he might not accept the outcome of November's election if he does not win.
I don't know about you, but when I put all the pieces together the resulting completed puzzle is terrifying. I see a country collapsing into civil war. A see a demagogue who hates any person with skin which isn't white. I see mindless followers who have so turned off their critical thinking skills that they refuse to see the horrendousness around them.
It is hard not to be afraid.
But you know it must be okay because the POTUS says he is against abortion. (And in case it wasn't evident enough, so am I. But I also happen to be against a lot of other acts of inhumanity.)
I so very, very much want to be wrong.
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