Bruce Toews

With the leak of a Supreme Court draft which may or may not reflect its final decision regarding abortion in the United States, a sizeable number of women have taken to screaming for the right to dismember the unborn and suck them out of what should be their places of safety. It's heartbreaking to see how women have been pitted against children in this day an age: the right to choose versus the right to exist.

Over the last week, I have read about how we pro-lifers are fascist Nazis who only want control over women, as it was back in the stone age, how this is just a start. States taking a stance on Abortion have been refered to as Taliban states, a horible, grievous insult to the women suffering in Afghanistan and other such places. The ridiculous "what's next" scenarios being floated by these people are truly mind-boggling. They all come down to the idea that, by sticking up for the unborn child, we want to make women property, because the millions of pro-life women are ignored.

I am, with every fiber of my being, fiercely pro-life. I am not heartless, I am not uncaring, I don't hate women, and I have no desire to see Nazism in North America. But am I pro-life? You bet I am, and anyone who asks me knows it.
I'm told the pro-life stance is a right-wing Evangelical Christian stance, as if Jews, Muslims, and others are all for the "procedure". Yes, I am an Evangelical Christian. But even if I were an atheist, I woud still be fiercely pro-life.I believe that life begins at conception, and I believe that to take away that life is murder.

But there is a religious element to it, too. As a Christian, I am answerable to the sixth commandment: Thou shalt not kill. So in this case, my basic instinct agrees with my religious convictions, and vice versa.

What's more, I believe that, when we reach Heaven, we will meet these children who were aborted. We, as a society, will have to face the question, Why? Why did you not give us the chance to live? How are we going to answer that question? In some cases, the answer is that not to do so would have resulted in death to both. I get that. But in so many cases, the answer is, "You would have gotten in the way of our careers, our lives, our dreams, you were an inconvenience." I say our because aborthion is very often a joint decision.

Forty-six years ago, a young woman was raped. She could have had the child aborted: she was a teenager, the pregnancy wasn't her fault. But she chose to have the baby, and when it became clear that the baby was blind and she knew she couldn't care for it, she put the child up for adoption. On my wedding day, I was privileged to meet this woman. And I was able to thank her from the very depths of my heart, because the choice she made all those years ago made me the most blessed man in the world, when I married her birth-daughter, Caroline. I am so incredibly glad I got to thank her.

Befor I say another word, I am not accusing Joe Biden of being responsible for the bloodshed and other atrocities in Ukraine. If you are at war, you, and no one else, is responsible for your actions in that war. Putin is completely responsible for all of Russia's atrocities in the war.

So why do I implicate Biden in causing the war? I believe Biden was looking for a way to divert attention from what was going on in his own country: high inflation, incredible disunity and polarization among the people, expendatures that will still be having people pay for hundreds of years from now, the list goes on and on. He wouldn't be the first political leader to think that "a good war" could be responsble for what ails the nation. But he's a Democrat. Democrats, at least in theory, are all about peace, love, harmony, and a deep respect for all human beings except those who have yet to be born. So going to war with Russia would never do for Biden. He wants the reputation as the guy who rescued America, not the guy who took them to war.

So, the next best thing, and something only a world superpower could do, start a war between two other countries. Find a dictator who is already unhinged, wave a red flag in front of him, and eventually, bingo, you've got a war happening and you're not in it. A few sanctions to show the world how big your gonads are, stop the importation of oil from Russia (a whopping 3% of US oil usage, and hopefully your adoring followers will kiss your feet and thank you for being such a dedicated world leader.

Biden spent months saying, "You'd better not invade Ukraine, Putin, you better not invade Ukraine, Putin, you better not invade Ukraine, Putin". He knew that if he did this long enough, Putin would do exactly that. And of course, Putin did. Like any bull, he heeded the flag being relentlessly waved in front of him. I don't think he realized the blood bath his "good war" was going to cause. But what to do? He has goaded Putin into this war, almost everyone is pressing him to do more, but actually being involved in the war is exactly what he didn't want to do. And getting involved, he knows, would trigger something huge. Who wants to be responsible for that? So he does what he's good at, spending Americans' credit, but that's not enough, the bull named Putin isn't just lying down. He may be going down, I really don't know, but he's taking as much with him as he can. He may be mad enough to use a nuke, never minding that there would be no winner in such a case.

So Biden is in an awkward position. But it seems that his response is now to do to China what he did to Russia, goad them into joining the fray.I'm not sure what good can come of that, I'm thinking none.

But I honestly believe that, having Goaded Putin into the war in Ukraine, Biden needs to commit America to stopping it, then explain to the American people why the monetary, material, an human costs were so high. The Ukrainian president thinks he should many other countries do. I can understand why he wouldn't want to, but he should have thought about that at the beginning.

Finally, a prayer for the innocent people who are paying the price: the innocent people of Ukraine, and the others no one's talking about, the rank-and-file Russians, whose only sin was living in the wrong country.

I've spoken many times about my utter contempt for former president Donald Trump, and that has not changed one bit: Trump is a liar, a thief, a blasphemer, and many other contemptible things.

But what about President Biden, who, like Trump, promotes himself as being the ultimate pro-America president? Like Trump, Biden is convinced, as are his followers, that he is the only one who can save America. Like Trump, Biden is absolutely floored by the idea that anyone could have views that are different from his own, and again, like Trump, Biden is convinced that anyone who holds views different from his own is in the wrong and it is in the best interests of the country to shut them down.

So where do the two people stand on democracy? Trump manipulated the democratic process, big-time. He looked for loopholes, he used Hitlerian rallying and frenzy tactics to get people to raise his banner for him. Biden, on the other hand, would rather, it seems, just be a one-man show, avoiding democracy as much as possible. His way of getting things done has been the autocratic way: executive orders, finding ways around the two-thirds majority, basically making decrees. Trump nominated Supreme Court judges to suit his purposes, Biden wants to expand the Supreme Court to suit his, again bypassing the democratic process.

My Democrat friends, much like Trump supporters, will say this is all necessary to avoid obstructionism from the opposition: the end justifies the means. And, of course, the "end" that is so important is the Democrat agenda, just as the "end" that justified Trumps means was the Republican agenda. Whereas Trump manipulated democracy, Biden bypasses it. Is one way better than the other? Could Biden be aiming for the same kind of dictatorship that Democrats have been fearing from Trump? In the final analysis, will America be any better under Biden than it was under Trump? My opinion is no. I will never justify the things Trump did, or the person he is. But Biden is, in my opinion, just as dangerous. Maybe even more dangerous - beware of wolves in sheep's clothing.

The ongoing saga of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is teaching me that, when the rubber hits the road, Democrats and Republicans really aren't that different. To state such a thing publicly would no doubt draw gasps of horror from both sides, who seem to regard each other as mortal enemies (how a country so divided has not yet fallen is anyone's guess, in my opinion).

When Republicans go astray, Democrats immediately jump up and down demanding resignation, imprisonment, or castration. It's all about justice, say the Democrats, it's all about letting women be heard and believed and making it clear that what they say matters. That, they say, is the Democrat way. Republicans, many say, and I have actually read things like this, hate justice, hate women, hate minorities, don't care about people, bla bla bla. It all reminds me of why partisanship sickens me so much. And when the shoe is on the other foot, Republicans are no less indignant, self-righteous, unkind, and hateful about Democrats, whom many Republicans believe are akin to the representatives of Satan.

Now that Governor Cuomo has many accusations of sexual harrassment and misconduct leveled at him, it's interesting to see how these Democrats are reacting. House Speaker Pelosi, usually at the forefront of calls for resignation of Republicans, says that women should be believed, but won't go past that vague, noncommittal pronouncement and call for Cuomo's resignation. President Biden, who promised the firing of such troublemakers in his sphere of power, will not go so far as to express a strong opinion on this situation. IT's not within Biden's sphere of power, granted, but shouldn't he show his sincerity by speaking out in a situation such as this? Instead, he wants to see how the investigation unfolds, a pronouncement that, were it vien by a Republican, both he and Pelosi would be jumping all over before you can say lawsuit.

So in the end, after the ballots are counted and no one is up for immediate re-election, there is very little difference between a Republican and a Democrat. Both believe in swift and unfailing justice - leveled against members of the other party. Both believe in lenience, forgiveness, and the benefit of the doubt - when it comes to members of their own party. And both firmly believe that the other party is an enemy to the people. I worry for America.

Back in 2016, I made the brash, arrogant statement that there was no way Donald Trump would ever become president of the United States. I stated this not as a gut feeling, not as a hunch, not even as a prediction, I stated it as some sort of indisputable fact. I spent election night wiping the proverbial egg off my face. I learned an extremely valuable lesson that day, viz., don't stupidly think you understand people. So what follows are hunches, gut feelings, and completely uneducated predictions. I don't know any more than you do on the subject, quite possibly a lot less, in fact. I just happen to have a big mouth.

The bottom line is that I will not be happy no matter who gets elected. On the one hand, I do not like the Biden-Harris campaign. I am staunchly, with every fiber of my being, pro-life, and I do not believe that any person's right to choose anything supersedes a child's right to exist. Frankly I'm very disappointed that we are part of a civilization that doesn't make the right to exist the most basic, inalienable, and fundamental of human rights. This is one issue on which I can not and will not compromise. We have the same issue here in Canada. You are not allowed to run as a Liberal member of Parliament unless you are pro-choice, Trudeau has made that very clear. So much for being the party of inclusiveness. So that's my biggest, though by no means only, grievance against the Biden campaign. Some people tell me that I hold this stance because I am a Christian, and while I agree that the right to exist is among the basic tenets of Christianity, I don't believe my opinion would be any different if I were not a Christian (a condition I can not imagine myself being in).

So what of Trump? I could also never vote for him, again for a number of reasons. Most importantly, I believe that Trump is using Christians, and particularly Evangelical Christians, as pawns for political gain, and in so doing, he is mocking God. If Trump is indeed a Christian, I can not see it in his conduct, his words, or his actions. While he has made the claim that he has done more for Evangelical Christians than any other president in history, I believe that what he has really done is enabled Evangelical Christianity to exist in a vacuum, which does not do Evangelical Christians any good whatsoever. My thoughts on that particular issue are spelled out in this blog entry. I believe that Trump is Machiavellian in the extreme, and I deeply, deeply resent anyone playing politics with my God as his game piece. Trump also dislikes my country, he thumbs his nose at the countries he should be working together with, and I strongly believe that the only person he cares about is Donald J. Trump.

So, again, the bottom line is that I won't be happy no matter who wins. At least in Canada we have the Rhino Party as an outlet for our expression of dissatisfaction. Should I run?

That said, how do I think it'll all turn out? Here's where the completely uneducated personal opining happens. Don't ask me to back this up, don't take this as anything more than one guy's thoughts.

I think what we'll see is a strong win by Trump of not only the electoral college, but also the popular vote. If you factor out Covid-19, there's no denying that the US economy has done extremely well under Trump. The number of Americans who seem to value the Second Amendment above everything else also really works in Trump's favor. And anyone who can show a complete disregard for women, yet gain the worship of so many women - something which never fails to astound me - is a political force to be reckoned with.

Whoever wins the election, whenever we happen to find that out, I think that the United States is in grave danger of what Paul Harvey would have called an Uncivil War. I have never known America, a country I love dearly, to be so incredibly polarized as it is right now. Both the left and the right have shown themselves capable of violence, of disregard for the property or even the lives of others, and a penchant for destruction and worse when they do not get what they want.

My prayers for today and the days, weeks and months ahead, are with the great American nation, for peace, for justice, for the prevalence of cooler heads, and for the respect of, if not agreement with, all people. God bless America.

Covid-19 is a terrible thing. It is a situation that few of us have ever experienced in our lifetimes. Right now there is a strong emphasis on the wearing of masks. I'm starting to wonder, though, are the masks effective?

During the first phase of the pandemic, we didn't have a mask mandate. We did emphasize the distancing aspect of things, though, and at one point we were down to once active case in our province. Since then, we've started opening things up, mandating masks, and now we're seeing record numbers of cases. And as it happens, the public seems to be desnsitized to the whole thing.

So I'm wondering about the effectiveness of masks. If we're worse off now with a mask mandate than we were before the mask mandate, should we be rethinking whether the mask mandate is working? Are masks giving us a false sense of security? Should we be more aggressive?

Certainly, I don't think masks are hurting anyone, except maybe by offering that false sense of security. I also hate the idea of another lockdown and the incredible financial burden that would impose on us all. But until some kind of a vaccine comes along, what else can we do? Do we put the financial needs of us ahead of the physical ones? If we do, then we risk so much physical damage that the financial damage follows anyway. I'm so glad I'm not the one deciding these things. But I am really wondering if masks aren't a booming business for the cotton industry that gives us very little return.

Freedom Scientific is a large company that deals with adaptive technology for the blind and people with visual impairments. I love the company and its products, and it is staffed with some extraordinarily dedicated and talented people.

The problem with Freedom Scientific (FS) is that, while Americans can either deal directly with the company or go through an authorized dealer, if you are not an American, you must go through an authorized dealer for sales, service, etc. This is compounded for Canada by the fact that there is only one authorized dealer to choose from. So if you want one of FS's great products and you are a Canadian, you only have one company you can turn to. That company is Optelec Canada.

Some time back, I sent my Focus 40 Blue braille display in for repairs. A dot was not working correctly. The braille cell containing the effective dot was replace and the unit was sent back to me. Despite the fact that I had shipped the unit to Optelec (way over in Quebec) with expedited shipping, they returned the unit to me using the slowest possible shipping speed. Not only that, but it was shipped to the incorrect apartment in my building. Earlier this year, another dot on the braille display exhibited the same kind of problem, leading me to think that there were systemic problems inside this particular unit. Optelec told me to get compressed air and try to clean it with that. I bought the compressed air, I bought some isopropyl alcohol, a lint free cloth, I bought everything needed to do my due diligence in cleaning the unit. Still the dot was giving me trouble. I shipped the unit back to Optelec, at my own expense of course, and was told that the cell needed cleaning. Since cleaning wasn't covered under warranty, I would have to pay $150 to get the unit cleaned, plus return shipping. Since this was the only way I was going to get a working display back, I did this, at a cost of $190 to me after shipping. However, when I got the unit back, the defective dot in question was still behaving the same way. Optelec said that they had tested it for two days and it was fine, this in spite of the fact that, unless they had someone working through the weekend on it, they didn't have it for two days to test it.

I again contacted Optelec. They agreed, this time, to take the unit back (they paid the slow-boat-to-Quebec shipping this time). They had the unit for only a few hours, did not attempt to contact me at all, and sent it right back. When I asked later, they said they swapped out the cell. However, the new cell did not work correctly - possibly due to a bad cell, possibly due to hurried instalation.

They finally agreed to send me a new unit, telling me I would be getting a brand new box. I sent my old unit in, and the new unit shipped today. But because I didn't send back the manual and CD, I'm not getting a new box after all. Were they planning to pass of a 4-year-old used manual and CD as new to some other customer?

I love FS and its people, as I said, but I believe that if they are going to require non-Americans to go through a dealer, then it is up to them to make sure that the dealer is customer-friendly and customer-centered. This is even more important if you're in a country of 30 million people and only have one dealer you are allowed to turn to.

For Optelec's part, just because you are the only game in town does not give you the right to treat me badly. I spent lots of money on this display, purchased, I might add, out of pocket, including $190 on a cleaning job meant to solve a problem but not succeeding. I have been made to feel that I am the problem and not Optelec, and the feeling I have always gotten was, "Screw you, where else are you going to go anyway?" This service is a huge discredit to the great folks at FS, a company who has earned my loyalty over the decades.

If you are a Canadian wanting to purchase one of FS's fantastic products, be aware that you will have to deal with Optelec Canada. Be aware that they're the only game in town and they know it, and they will treat you accordingly. Be aware that there is every chance you will be treated like dirt and there's no recourse for you if you do.

First of all, no, I haven't heard of a third-generation Stream coming out. In fact, I seriously doubt there will be one. But if there were, this would be my wish list:

1. An optional thicker battery that could give the Stream a longer charge, at the expense of being a little bulkier.

2. An option to turn automatic gain control on for everything, including Internet radio, since stations vary wildly in volume. As someone with a hearing problem, this matters. I would hope that the need for accessibility is as important as the sensibilities of musical purists.

3. USB-C connectivity

4. Ability to operate on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz wi fi bands

5. Faster wifi for downloading books, podcasts, etc.

6. The ability to search through one's Audible.com library and download content directly onto the Stream.

7. Bluetooth capability tested and reliable with hearing aids and wireless headsets.

8. The ability to disable the sleep feature completely and dedicate the button above play to the time

9. Ability to play audio from YouTube

And in the totally-unnecessary-but-wold-be-cool department: 10. The ability to interface wit RSGames

Over the last while, churches have been taking up the cry for exemption from social-distancing restrictions, calling for defiance of government in the name of "keeping churches open". The impression I'm getting is that these people believe the "in person" part of fellowship to be more important than the fellowship itself. This is leading to anger, self-righteousness, disregard of common sense, more anger, and more self-righteousness. Donald Trump, ever in the Machiavellian search for votes, has jumped on this band wagon and fueled all of the above, helping absolutely no one, in my opinion. It's not that there's anything wrong with wanting physical church services back, it's not that we shouldn't miss them or look forward to their return, but when we make it the focal point of our worship and regard all other worship as inferior or second-rate, turning down in anger the new opportunities afforded us, that's where the problem lies.

The worst part of this is not the anger or the self-righteousness, though, it's typical human behavior, a relic from childhood that most of us never grow out of: when we can't have the whole pie, we grumpily focus completely on what we don't have and fail to take advantage of what we do have. No, what saddens me the most in all this is how Christians are so obsessed with wanting to meet in person, they're totally overlooking the opportunity God has placed in front of us.

What are the three most important duties of the church and its members? As I've stated previously, I believe there are three: 1) we are to love God; 2) we are to love each other; 3) we are to fulfill the great commission. A lot of my rationale for this is in the blog entry referenced above. Unfortunately, many Evangelical Christians want Christianity to exist in a vacuum, so they believe Trump when he claims he has done more for Evangelicals than any other president, when I believe he has done more to hurt Evangelicals than any other president.

First of all, churches aren't shut down. We are still very free to worship. No one is telling us we can't do this. But, sadly, many church leaders are equating physically congregating with being allowed to worship. Churches can and should still be very open to worship, just in somewhat different ways. Instead of getting mad and throwing tantrums over what we can't do, why don't we concentrate on what the current situation has created for us, incredible opportunities to fulfill all three of these important duties of the church and its people.

1. Loving God: Why can't we love God over the phone, via video conferencing, etc.? Maybe it's not as convenient as meeting in person, but our love for God has never been something designed for our convenience. Pioneers unable to get out of their houses and attend a church service all winter were still able to love God, and they had no way of virtually meeting.

2. Loving Each Other: And here's where far too many Christians don't get it. Loving each other means more than loving the person in our little group, it means loving everyone, whether we agree with them or not, whether we like them or not. Defying measures to keep people safe is not an expression of love for others. It is not an expression of love for God, as He gave us common sense and expects us to use it. By pushing others away, we express not love, but disregard and contempt for others.

3. The Great Commission: Why are we not excited about our services being available online for everyone to hear? Why aren't we on the phone, e-mailing, whatever, talking to our non-Christian friends who don't want to set foot in a church but who might be willing to watch and listen from the comfort and safety of their homes? Why aren't we excited for shut-ins who are now able to participate in these services? Why are we not proclaiming excitedly, Come as you are, come wherever you are! Why do we insist on seeing this as exclusion, rather than realizing it as the unprecedented chance for inclusion that it is. No longer is worship being confined to a church building, or to places frequented by those who already believe. Now, suddenly, we can bring the best news ever, the most wonderful promises ever, and the greatest gift ever given, to the world around us. A huge step in witnessing is here for the taking, if we'll just see it for what it is. What an opportunity! And we're wasting this opportunity by demanding in-person worship and, in some cases, throwing tantrums! How do you think God sees that? Read the parable of the guy who buried what he'd been given instead of putting it to use. You think you're being saintly for jumping up and down demanding in-person fellowship, making fools of yourselves in the eyes of the world we've been sent to minister to, when you could be directing all that energy to using the opportunities God has given you to ministering to the world. Why are you angry? Why aren't you excited? Make this whole thing less about ourselves and more about the God we serve and the mission He has sent us on. Stop focusing on our wishes and start focusing on ways we can work together to fulfill the church's three big duties like we never could before. Remember, before the end times, the Gospel must be available to all nations. God has given us a huge and incredible chance to help make that happen, and getting angry and militant and risking lives isn't the way to do it. Christians, please, wake up and start doing what God has placed us here to do! God has opened some exciting doors for us, let's walk through! SAnd on that wonderful day when in-person worship is back, maybe we'll be stronger than ever and more eager, willing, and able to concentrate on the big three purposes of the church.

Sometime ago, United States president Donald Trump made the bold claim that he has done more for Evangelicals than any other president. Such a bold claim demands scrutiny. As someone who counts his beliefs as being Evangelical in nature, I would like to delve into the validity of this claim and, as it were, put it under the microscope.

First, I would like to examine what I believe to be the most important commandments Christ gave to His people. Second, I will ask whether or not President Trump has done anything to forward the following of these commandments. Finally, I will suggest what I believe would be the best thing President Trump can do if he really wants to help Christians.

What Are the Goals for Evangelicals?

The way I see it, when you read the Gospels and the commands that Jesus lays out for His followers, there are three that are of particular importance to all. These are the Big Three, and they do not apply solely to those of us who call ourselves Evangelicals, a term that some human somewhere invented. So what are these special commandments to which all Christians, all Christ-followers, are expected to adhere?

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart (Matthew 22:36-40). This one should be obvious, but isn't to some people calling themselves Christians, people who don't even believe that following Jesus is necessary to be a Christian, a contention actually made to me by a lawyer.


2. Love your neighbor as yourself (also Matthew 22:36-40). This is the one some people calling themselves Evangelicals have a problem with, because they want to put qualifiers into the commandment specifying which neighbors to love, something Christ does not do.


3. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). I would have liked to use Mark 16 as a reference here, but scholars generally agree that this much more strongly-worded Great Commission was added in later. But no matter, it is clearly important, and you don't have to have it slelled out vividly to see this. We are instructed to make disciples out of others. Note that we are not told here to pass judgment on nonbelievers; we are not to hit them over the head with the Bible and condemn them to hell (though the people to whom we witness need to be made aware of its existence and its dangers); we are not told to force nonbelievers to conform to our values and our way of life. Salvation is a miracle, and just as a farmer who plants the seed isn't actually doing anything to make the plant, so the person who fulfills the Great Commission isn't saving anyone, that's something only God can do.

What Has Donald Trump Done to Help Christians in These Regards?

First of all, let's throw out the label "Evangelical". As I have attempted to show, the "big three" in the previous section should, I believe, be the priorities of all Christians, regardless of how we choose to define ourselves. Anyone calling themselves Evangelical who believes there are priorities that supercede these, particularly the first two points, nees to re-evaluate his or her faith.

What has President Trump done to help us to love God? The answer is, what could he do, even if he wanted to? Loving God can not be legislated, it can not be enforced by a political leader (or any other human being), it is something we must do by and for ourselves. An argument could be made that, by creating an atmosphere more "favorable" to Christians (note the quotation marks), Trump is somehow making it easier to love God. But if your ability to love God is in any way contingent on the political climate of the day, then it is time to question whether or not you actually love God, or if you simply find it convenient to align yourself with those calling themselves Christians. My personal belief here is that Trump has no interest in loving God, nor in forwarding the love of God. He has interests in garnering votes, and he believes, it would seem rightly, that a great many votes can be bought by seeming to champion the cause of Christians. This is not helping Christians, it is duping them, deceiving them. If a person chooses to be a Trump supporter, I believe, relgious beliefs should not be a part of that reason. Taking it further, one should ask if a president who uses God as a tool to buy votes is a president a Christian wants to be following.

What about loving each other? Loving our neighbor? Has creating a political system that "favors" Christians created one bit of goodwill towards nonbelievers? I contend that it has not; in fact, it has done quite the opposite. It has pitted Christians against nonChristians, creating an "us versus them" system that has raised hackles on all sides.Ask yourself, realistically, if there is any more love in the United States between Christians and nonChristians than there was before the 2016 election. If there is, I'm certainly not seeing it.

And what of the third commandment, the Great Commission. Well, to be at all effective at "selling a product", you need to have a product people want. If the "product" is faith in a loving God, then it can not be "sold" in an atmosphere where love is absent. "Hey, Jesus loves you, you stupid hellbound jerk. Come on, don't you want to be just like me?" just isn't going to cut it.So by fostering a climate of distrust and contempt between believers and nonbelievers, Trump has created an environment that hinders, rather than facilitates, the great Commission. And since I firmly believe that he is using the faith in God of others to buy votes, I don't believe this bothers him one bit. God is a pawn to President trump, as are the voters he is buying. It will be up to God to determine if and how He chooses to deal with this.

So How Could Trump Help Christians?

Let's assume that I'm wrong, let's assume that Trump's desire really is to help Christians via his political office. What can he do? My answer will be vote-neutral, it won't score him any brownie points, it won't give him anything to crow about at rallies and religious events. The best thing he could do for Christians and Christianity is to stay the heck out of it: practise true Christianity himself, which would include some humility, making no effort to hide his Christian beliefs, but don't try to legislate it, don't try to buy votes with it, don't use it for show. Create, instead, a country that offers complete freedom of, and freedom from, religiom. Let the Christian, the Jew, the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Hindu, the Native American, anyone, practice their faith with impunity and without judgment. Let the Atheist and the Agnostic believe as they choose. The government has no place in the religious beliefs or nonbeliefs of its people. To impose itself in that way never works. That would be the unglamorous, the selfless, and the best way President Trump could help Christianity. I do not see this happening, and I do not expect it to happen, because I have a difficult time believing Donald Trump has any sincere Christian beliefs. He certainly has a problem with that humility bit. But enough editorializing. The point is that a "them versus us" just does not work, it can not work. The government needs to stop doing it, and outspoken Evangelicals need to stop demanding it. Religion should not influence our politics, and politics should not influence our religion.

I probably haven't scored any points with Trump supporters with this blog entry, and I also probably haven't done particularly well with scoring points with Evangelicals. But that's okay. The only opinion that matters here is God's opinion. And if His opinion, which is, after all, perfect, is that I am off-base, I hope He will tell me. But I have felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to write this article for many months now. I have been praying for the right words, the right attitude, to convey what I believe He wants me to convey. This article has been a very long time in coming, and I hope that I, in my imperfect but sincere way, have done it justice.