What Happened at the Debate and What Christians Should Do Moving Forward

By Jim Garlow Published on October 3, 2020

A note from Stream Publisher, James Robison: I think this article is so great that the world should read it and pastors preach paragraphs from it till Jesus comes! 

Tuesday night’s debate was… well… not a debate. And — fair warning — this is not going to be easy to read. If you are tough, continue. If not, best to stop. No snowflakes beyond this point.

Changed Minds?

Those who went into the debate for Biden came out for Biden, so relieved that he did not announce that he was “running for President of Uganda, this year in 1996.” Those who went into the debate for Trump came out for Trump, some glad he punched hard, others saying he should not have punched so hard.

Exhausted and Uncomfortable

Many reported on social media that they were exhausted and barely made it through the debate. Some prided themselves that they turned it off. How noble. Especially when you consider that the President has been getting by on four hours of sleep for four years trying to save the Republic.

Some said it made them feel “uncomfortable.” Sorry to be so direct but… tough! The debate we witnessed was merely a reflection of our entire polarized nation. That was not “them” on the platform. That is us. We are a people deeply divided. I would hope it would make you uncomfortable… so uncomfortable that you will take action to stand greater, stronger, better, and more efficiently for biblical truth.

Good vs. Evil

And for the record, this is no longer the nice Republican Party against the nice Democrat Party. This is not even Right vs. Left. We are way beyond that. This is right vs. wrong. This is Good vs. Evil.

This is people who cherish the lives of the most defenseless and innocent among us vs. those who want to kill babies up to the moment of birth — and even after.

This is between people who honor God in the sacredness of marriage vs. those who want to legitimatize and legalize every conceivable sodomous act and reduce criminalization of adults having sex with young children (new California law).

This is between those who value peace, serenity and order in our communities vs. those who applaud burning, violence, murder and mayhem, either by silence (Biden) or by helping to arrange bail for lawbreakers (Kamala Harris) who get back out (via The Bail Project) and commit acts of violence all over again.

This is between people who understand that Genesis says that we were created male and female by God vs. those who are so warped in their thinking that they think there are 56 genders.

Do I wish the President had not interrupted so much? Of course. And I would wish the same of Joe Biden. Joe said he “is” the Democrat Party. Want to know what they believe, in their words? Want to compare that to Scripture? Click on the graphic:

Rude?

One person private messaged me and said, “The President was rude, so I might not vote for him.” Well, okay. But maybe it would be a lot smarter to ask, “Why was the President so forceful, so strong?” That might be a good question to ask.

War

Okay, let me be blunt. We are in war. Real war. We are in a civil war, and you must realize it. I call it the “Uncivil War” which began in 2020. I do not know when it will end. Nor who will win. And it really is war. This nation may not survive. Some have said that for years. But what has been said in the past is now unfolding.

YOU MAY NOT HAVE A COUNTRY IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS.

(The radical left somehow got on our mailing list. They pick out key phrases and write articles on them. Dear Lefties, you might want to print the sentence above.)

I too wish the President would not have interrupted so much, but to be blunt, he sees where we are, what is happening to our nation, and he is fighting… hard. For you. Even you who are worried about him interrupting.

President Trump is like the Hoover Dam holding back a plethora of evil. And you are worried about him interrupting?

Several years ago, I asked a group of people to pray about the condition of our nation. Unfortunately, what came was a bunch of weak, tepid prayers. “Dear Jesus, Thank you for this day” type prayers. A bit snowflakey. Wimpy.

I stopped the group and said, “Either we don’t know how to pray, or we don’t understand the seriousness of the situation.” And then, since it was 2017 and ISIS was spreading across several nations terrorizing, raping and killing, I said, “Pray as if ISIS was one-half mile away, coming after you and your family.” I did not say that to be hyperbolic or melodramatic. I said it because, that is where we are today.

Mother Teresa

A year ago, my wife and I were in Germany. We met a couple from Albania. We became friends. Shaban and I communicate fairly often. He translates many of the things I write into Albanian. (He might even translate this.)

Dr. Jim & Rosemary Garlow with our Albanian friends

Mother Teresa

Shaban and his wife were to come to our March 2020 event in New York City and Washington, D.C. which was canceled by Covid-19. Their visas were set to run out, so he and his wife came to our all-day event in Washington, D.C. this past Sunday. They presented us with a beautiful gift, a statue of Mother Teresa, who was from Albania.

Some of you seem to want President Trump to be a “Mother Teresa.” He can’t be. We are in a war. He is a fighter. War is bad.

I happened to notice that when Rosemary unpacked the statue of Mother Teresa when we arrived home late Monday night that she unintentionally placed it beside a picture of Donald Trump, and another one of me in the White House. My initial reaction was one of opposites: Donald Trump and Mother Teresa. I thought, “too many people want the President to be a nice little Catholic nun.”

But then it hit me. I had it all wrong. The President IS like Mother Teresa. Why would I say that? Mother Teresa fought for truth and was unafraid of whom she might offend. When and where, you ask?

In the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., in front of President Clinton and First Lady Hillary, and in front of Vice President Al Gore and his wife Tipper, Mother Teresa was blunt. She is a fighter. Bold. A woman who understands that we are at war. For the lives of defenseless babies. In the presence of a radical pro-abortion Bill and Hillary, and thousands of their friends, she said:

I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself. And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another? How do we persuade a woman not to have an abortion? As always, we must persuade her with love and we remind ourselves that love means to be willing to give until it hurts. Jesus gave even His life to love us. So, the mother who is thinking of abortion, should be helped to love, that is, to give until it hurts her plans, or her free time, to respect the life of her child. The father of that child, whoever he is, must also give until it hurts. By abortion, the mother does not learn to love, but kills even her own child to solve her problems. And, by abortion, the father is told that he does not have to take any responsibility at all for the child he has brought into the world. That father is likely to put other women into the same trouble. So abortion just leads to more abortion. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what they want. This is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. (It can be watched by clicking HERE.)

Peggy Noonan was present. She wrote the following regarding the response to Mother Teresa’s blunt and true words:

Well, silence. Cool deep silence in the cool round cavern for just about 1.3 seconds. And then applause started on the right hand side of the room, and spread, and deepened, and now the room was swept with people applauding, and they would not stop for what I believe was five or six minutes. As they clapped they began to stand, in another wave from the right of the room to the center and the left. But not everyone applauded. The president and first lady, seated within a few feet of Mother Teresa on the dais, were not applauding. Nor were the vice president and Mrs. Gore. They looked like seated statues at Madame Tussauds. They glistened in the lights and moved not a muscle, looking at the speaker in a determinedly semi-pleasant way.

One comment online stated, “I was helping with the National Prayer Breakfast when Mother Teresa spoke that day … she had been briefed by Clinton’s staff that she could talk about anything, except abortion. Well, as you can see, that woman stood up there and spoke about abortion and the ramifications.”

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There is a name for that. It is called courage. Boldness. Fearlessness. They said, “You can’t talk about abortion.” So she did.

So it was quite correct for the newly gifted statue of Mother Teresa to be placed next to a present-day fighter — Donald Trump — as both of them understand the challenge of fighting for the unborn. And both of them are gutsy. One quietly so. The other one loudly so. But still gutsy.

 

Analogies

While some Facebooking Christians were all in a twaddle about, “Oh no, the President interrupted Joe,” the nation is going to hell. Sorry to drop the bomb on us all.

Yes — I wish he would not have interrupted as much either, because I knew that there might be someone with the historical, theological and political understanding of an ameba who would conclude that he/she could no longer vote for a “rude” President.

That is like saying during the bombings of London in WWII, “I can’t support Winston Churchill because he smokes cigars and swears.” My response would have been: “Get over it. Without his leadership, we are all going to die.”

That is like saying during D-Day, “I can’t follow General Eisenhower because — referring to his female driver — he has been immoral.” Yes, everyone knows that old and unfortunate fact, but “this is our chance to stop the Nazis so we better follow this General in this moment of crisis. We can sort out Ike’s dalliances later, if we live.”

Yes — the President should not have interrupted so much, but let me lay out what you already know.

The Long Wait

Donald Trump had waited for many months to face Joe Biden. There was even a chance that Joe was not going to debate at all. And as soon as the first debate was over, the Democrats were saying, “Cancel the other two debates and make this the only one.”

Why would they say that? Because Trump was exposing who Biden was.

Question: Why didn’t Chris Wallace expose the truth about Biden? The answer is too obvious.

Wallace’s bias was stunning. Just stunning! What do I mean?

Wallace Didn’t

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about his ignorant denial that ANTIFA exists, the organization that is global, highly financed, and has killed so many and decimated people’s lives. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about his total silence about BLM, which has become a “Burning Looting Mob,” which has resulted in the killing of many blacks and has inflicted pain on so many. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded that Joe actually really answer the question that Chris posed, “Will you pack the court,” but Joe stalled and dodged the question and made some sophomoric appeal about voting. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about the billions of dollars that flowed to Hunter — something Americans deserve to know about — from Ukraine, China and Russia while Biden was VP, when Hunter flew on Air Force Two. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about his strong endorsement of AOC, the role he has promised her, and the massive and unsustainable cost of the absurd “Green New (Disastrous) Deal.” But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded that Joe answer when the President challenged him to name one single law enforcement group — which have in the past always endorsed Democrats — that was supporting Biden. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about totally embracing Bernie’s radical socialism. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about the billions of dollars he and Obama shipped on pallets to the worst terrorist state in the world. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about his willingness to kill babies in the womb right up to birth. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe talk about the dissipating Democrat support for Israel. But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

Wallace could have demanded Joe give an explanation of calling the President of the United States a “clown.” But Wallace let Biden off the hook.

White Supremacy

And then there is the absurd charge that the President encourages white supremacists. Let’s be clear, racism is sin. White supremacy is sin. There is only one supremacy, and that is the Supremacy of Jesus Christ.

The President has a phenomenal record with Black and Brown communities. He stepped in, with financial aid, when he learned that predominantly Black colleges were economically floundering. He delivered an economy that brought Black and Brown unemployment to the lowest in recorded history. His nearly 9,000 “Opportunity Zones” in urban communities (remarkably, few even know of this!) were making a profound difference, until Democrat Governors and Mayors allowed Antifa and BLM to riot and burn.

Progressives are panicked because Blacks are leaving the enslavement of the Democratic “plantation” by the thousands in the #WalkAway movement.

Donald Trump, as a business man, has a long history of hiring and promoting Blacks.

I served on the campaign’s “Faith Advisory Board,” with numbers of Blacks. The President has had an attentive and responsive ear to Black and Brown concerns, and has acted quickly on behalf of justice. His prison reform leadership has been stellar.

Know this: When the liberal-progressives run out of ideas (which is all the time), they resort to their classic default technique, that it, they call everyone who disagrees with them a “racist.” This is their fallback screed. It gets old. When there is no logic, screaming “racist” is all they know.

Why do they do it? Progressives are panicked because Blacks are leaving the enslavement of the Democratic “plantation” by the thousands in the #WalkAway movement. Liberals are terrified because Blacks are discovering actual principles — biblical economic principles, I might add — which give them genuine socioeconomic lift.

Loss of the Republic

If you were offended by the President’s rudeness, let me tell you how important that is, or isn’t. In this moment of crisis, that is about to become the least of your concerns. You are about to lose your country. The last thing you are going to be fretting about very soon is how many times Donald Trump interrupted Joe Biden. Frankly, if Biden wins, you are going to be wishing the President would have interrupted him much more.

One lady wrote me that since the President was rude, she might not vote for him. I wrote back, “That is like saying, ‘I am not going to drive the car because the hubcaps fell off.’” Hubcaps are nice. They add something special. But they are not essential to basic transportation. And in this crisis, we need basic transportation.

Why am I so blunt? Because when you have an intercontinental missile coming at you, you best not be complaining about a mosquito on your arm. 

Above the Fray — How Noble

Then one of my buddies posted on Facebook how he refuses to get in the political fray, and people fell all over themselves applauding his courage and wisdom for being politically-governmentally disengaged. How pathetic. They even went on to bellow about how dirty politics is. Yes, it is. Because the “clean” people, like the ones writing that, are getting out.

Stay Engaged

 For goodness sake, stay in. Stay in the fray. It ain’t fun. It’s rough. But stay in.

Yes, maintain a purity of heart and conformity with the Spirit, but stay in. Never yield to the wrong kind of anger. (The Bible says there are three types and one of them is a holy righteous anger.) Have the right type of anger. Keep a smile on your face, but stay in. Stay as winsome as you can, but push back. And push back hard… with truth… and love. Learn to take the heat. Founding Father Benjamin Rush said, “Every citizen of a republic must watch for the state as if its liberties depended upon his vigilance alone.” Want to know why? Because it does.

Passive

We Christians have a skill in destroying our country. How? Our passivity and inaction.

Ninety million Christians in America are eligible to vote. But forty million fail to vote in presidential election cycles. And fifteen million are not even registered.

Is it any wonder that policies are enacted that are contrary to biblical values? Not participating in the civic and political arenas is — how do I say this nicely? — sin. Billy Graham said, “If America is to survive, we must elect more God-centered men and women to public office, individuals who will seek Divine guidance in the affairs of state.” 

Activate

So activate. Get in the fray. Involve yourself.

Don’t pride yourself for “staying out of politics.” Stay on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Stay kind, but stay on. Focus not on personalities, but on issues. On policies. On principles. Form relationships — yes even friendships — with those who are unbiblical in their thinking. Impact them. But stay in the game.

And vote. Vote biblical values.

Local Elections

For years, Christians have bought into the lie that faith is a private matter. The result? As many as sixty-five million Christians don’t vote in local elections. So while secular progressives seek to implement a counterfeit worldview at every level of government, many Christians have remained quietly inside the walls of the church.

We are commanded to expose the unfruitful works of darkness. Out of love for our neighbor, don’t keep silent!

But when informed Christians vote, they bring biblical values to the public square. Evangelist Charles Finney said, “God cannot sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for unless the Church will take right ground.”

Take Jesus — and biblical values — into the voting booth. 

He Will Flee From You

And take on evil. Go after it. Command the devil and his demons to flee. Ephesians 5:11 says, “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Listen to that. We are commanded to expose the unfruitful works of darkness. Out of love for our neighbor, don’t keep silent!

Pastors

And what about pastors? Many pastors are bold and courageous. Some are not.

Some pastors don’t speak out on the cultural and social issues that the Bible discusses. They say, “Well, we preach Jesus.” At first, that sounds great. Who would not preach Jesus?

I pastored for decades and over the years I have closed hundreds of sermons with an invitation to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. But we should not only preach Jesus. We should also preach what Jesus preached. And that is the Kingdom of God. When there is a kingdom, there is a king.

And who is the King of this Kingdom of God? King Jesus. And what is He King over? Everything. Absolutely everything. And that includes the arena of civil governance. When he is King, we are part of the Kingdom.

How does the Kingdom impact the political realm? The Kingdom extends — through us — to every aspect of our lives, including “We The People” being the government. Thus, among other things, we work hard to save babies in the womb, preserve biblical marriage, protect children, and a host of other issues.

Stay at it.

 

Dr. Jim Garlow, author of 21 books, has pastored for over four and half decades and has done over 1,500 print, radio and TV interviews. He is CEO of Well Versed, a ministry that brings biblical principles of governance to government leaders through weekly Bible studies in the U.S. Congress, the United Nations in New York City and through private meetings with government leaders. He is heard daily on 800 radio outlets. He and his wife Rosemary Schindler Garlow have eight children and ten grandchildren.

Originally published at wellversedworld.org. Reprinted with permission.

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