Pastor Responds to Presidential Debate

alrighty Pastor Mark Driscoll here post debate analysis um uh after throwing up in my mouth I went and got a breath mint and now I'm ready to go um where to start if you are a conservative um especially if you're a Christian as I am uh that was that was complicated it certainly wasn't uh enthusiastic um ringing Victory uh for uh Donald Trump I still vote for him and um it was interesting watching the debate there were times it definitely seemed like three-on-one uh for sure uh especially when it came to uh the issue of race uh that seemed like it was most assuredly a three-on-one uh situation as well um the topics that were covered were interesting the economy abortion immigration uh Donald Trump kept coming back to that issue uh the peaceful transfer of power which of course is an attack not so subtly on him uh the 2020 uh election results and uh Fair elections as well as uh the Israeli Hamas War uh the war in Ukraine um the U withdrawal from Afghanistan um the issue of race which again uh was a not so subtle attack on Donald Trump healthc care as well as uh climate and those were kind of the the major issues um what is interesting is what wasn't talked about and these would be some issues that those of us who are Christians would care about and it was a lot of the social issues and a lot of the parental issues that were overlooked and neglected so there was a lot of discussion about abortion and uh on that issue um it's obvious that life begins at conception this isn't even a medically debated issue I hit all of this in my book aboard abortion and uh and we know that that when Camala Harris is saying a woman has a right to choose what happens to her body well they keep overlooking the obvious fact that there is another body and and she's making a choice to murder that body to terminate that life and so for those of us who are pro-life that is a particularly frustrating part of this election and and as I was hearing the uh debate about abortion um my grandson was in the room and he was crawling around he's super joyful big smile cute as can be um and he was very frustrated because Grandpa wasn't playing with him well Grandpa always plays with him and grandpa doesn't do work when the grandkids are over but I just thought man I I felt I felt sick to my stomach as a as a pastor and a husband and a father of five and a grandfather of four that my grandson is crawling around on the floor having fun playing with toys eating snacks and wondering why his Grandpa's watching two people yell on television and he doesn't understand the words but what they're talking about is killing babies that's just that's how shockingly um unhinged we've become on the issue of life and um for Christians as well other issues that weren't hit nothing about school choice and if you're a parent this is a massive issue um can you educate your children and as we're seeing the complete uh wholesale surrender of of public education government schools uh to uh woke um unions if you're a parent you want some sort of choice and there's there's no discussion of school choice there was there was no discussion of mental health among children and young adults and transgenderism and genital mutilation and season of children from their parents there was no discussion of these issues that us parents care deeply about uh there was really not much discussion about uh drugs and drug legalization and you're even seeing in places like Oregon that did decriminalize drugs now they're Rec criminalizing drugs if um you understand how drug dealers work just because you legalize a product doesn't mean they go out of business they go find a harder product and so that's what happens when you legalize drugs then you get harder drugs that are getting pushed on the street and what did come up a bit was the fentanyl crisis which is absolutely a crisis and it is a way of China working through the drug cartels in Mexico to declare war on Americans starting with uh Young American lives and what was neglected is the fact that the fentanyl crisis is in fact largely the result of a completely open Southern border and on that issue what I found really interesting is there was a discussion about the Israeli Hamas War and the securing of the Border in Israel there was a discussion and debate about the war in Ukraine with Russia and the securing and defending of the Ukrainian border and what we're talking about is sending lots of dollars to secure borders in other nations and ours has been wide open and and this affects so many things think of it in this way the conservative estimates by those on the far left would be 20 million illegal aliens those on the more conservative right would be 20 million so somewhere between 10 and 20 million people 10 to 20 million people come into the country Camala Harris open by saying we have a housing shortage and it's too expensive well if you bring in 10 to 20 million people they need a place to live that takes housing and that drives housing cost up um there just seems to be a disconnect between cause and effect and the same people who create the cause then say that they are going to bring the effect um what was particularly interesting as well from a a pure debate rhetorical um mindset Cala Harris gave the performance of her life and I don't say that to Commander I I deeply despise the woman she claims Christian faith and everything she believes says and does and is for is Antichrist but from a from a tactical perspective and a rhetorical perspective she was masterful and I don't know but man it seemed like somebody fed her the questions because she had answers that were well prepared and uh nothing seemed to really get her off guard except for the last maybe 20 30 minutes she had a few moments where she was uh sort of struggling a bit on her feet but other than that from a communication standpoint it was a master class and I was texting um with a friend of mine who's a political commentator uh seemed like she was supernaturally enabled to remain coherent and on her feet she is one of the most inarticulate uh people you will ever hear uh for her uh her favorite salad is a word salad and she likes it better than a normal salad or a fruit salad and so to to hear her articulate cogently and consistently it makes me wonder if there wasn't a counterfeit anointing there is an anointing that comes on a on a Le leader a preacher a pastor a prophetic Communicator the Holy Spirit comes to repeatedly Empower God's servants to speak with boldness and Clarity and purpose and Satan um counterfeits that with a counterfeit anointing where people become incredibly gifted Liars they become uh deceptively capable of wooing a crowd and it's almost um a seductive spiritual Seance of sorts and it felt to me like a bit of that Spirit was present in the communication uh in addition the the entire plan of Cala Harris is just simply aspirational it it's not policy driven it's aspirational and so what is being sold is um hope and aspiration it's it's like we're running uh The Playbook where this is Barack Obama's little sister that's what we're running we're running the campaign of aspirational Hope and what we didn't get into into was a lot of policy we got into aspirational hopes and principles we didn't get into policy so you hear things like I'll give you $25,000 for a down payment on a home well they don't tell you that there is actually a government program that currently does that and so this isn't adding anything new this is classically what would be called a a come along in sales it's it's a pitch and it's a deceptive pitch um the $6,000 tax credit for families it's like okay so let me let me just let me just get this right you can kill kill your baby and if you don't I'll give you $6,000 because it's a valuable human life just just for a moment just just visit that reality it's that's not a life it doesn't have any rights we can we can take that life but if it's born it's so precious that we need to make sure it has a house and the parents get a $6,000 tax credit because that beautiful baby is infinitely special and Priceless it's just the disconnect from reality and the the self contradictory nature of the argument is a thing and and even on that it's just over 39% of Americans don't pay any taxes um so let's say 40% of Americans don't pay taxes so a tax credit is nothing more than again just selling something that most people won't be able to actualize as well as things like if you're going to start a small business I'll give you a $50,000 tax credit okay even if you don't believe in Jesus and you do believe in math the question is where where are we going to get the money where where are we going to get the money and the answer is we're going to tax rich people so this is just hear me in this this is social Marxism and this is economic class Warfare this is the bgea versus the proletarian that's all that this is uh Donald Trump said it and it is a fact and you can fact check it for yourself Camala Harris's father is a well-known vocal Marxist economics Professor complete social communist economic Marxist he just is it's a fact and so what you're hearing here is the language of Marxism of social Marxism and class warfare that's what you're hearing if you're a Bible believing Christian how do we look at that well in the Bible there is a tithe and the tithe goes to the kingdom of God and taxes go to the government the Bible does tell us to pay our taxes Romans 13 says pay your taxes Jesus says Render unto Cedar unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render un Gods what is Gods that's the tax to the government the tithe to the Lord uh Jesus himself paid his taxes uh but nonetheless when you look at taxes versus tithes in the scriptures what you see with the tithe it's 10% it's 10% for the rich it's 10% for the poor it's 10% for the young it's 10% for the old it's 10% for the national it's 10% for the Sojourner it's 10% for the women it's 10% for the men a an a sliding tax structure is in opposition to the way that God establishes kingdom economics and so it would be a much fairer structure if rather than 40% of Americans paying nothing and the more you make the more you give that everyone gave a flat percentage if you believe believe that the tithe established by God is a better model for how to obtain wealth for a kingdom or a nation um what was interesting about the debate as well is that um at times Donald Trump got defensive and baited in he's a counter puncher by nature and this is what makes him good at rallies in response to a crowd I'm just talking here about rhetorical strategy and communication and so with no crowd present and no one to respond to if you're a counter puncher and you're an extroverted verbal processor responder well the only person in the room is either the moderators which weren't that moderate and or you're um you're up against Camala Harris so now it is it is between you and her and you're responding to her he would have helped himself if he would have done less of um attacking of Joe Biden Joe Biden made uh he made the debate I be interesting if somewhere there was a fraternity where guys were having a uh a a beer competition where they would you know take a chug every time the name Joe Biden was said uh those guys would be passed out right now couldn't even watch this live stream because Joe Biden was the subject of the debate and you know if I was ever able to encourage you know Donald Trump what I would say is you need to shift your focus from Joe Biden to Camala Harris because she is your opponent and we all know we all know for a fact that she is complicit and a co-conspirator in the greatest coverup that you can imagine where we have a presidential candidate who is uh cogni cognitively incapable of doing the job actually cognitively incapable of probably win a third grade spelling be um and the policies that they purported she supported but here's what you need to know people don't care because the entire media has had a Kamal gasm for some time they have just tried to completely re Rebrand her as the candidate of change which is shocking because you're looking at not just a California liberal but a San Francisco liberal that is to the left of Joe Biden and what I would encourage you if you are a Christian is um notice as well what was missing from the discussion and debate tonight and that is God it was literally Godless now I listened carefully and perhaps I missed something while I was looking at my cute grandson trying to get a break from the headon Collision that I was witnessing on television but God was not invoked God was not mentioned we didn't even get a an obligatory God Bless America we didn't get any of that it was literally Godless and the only two times that there was an inference or reference to God was from Camala when when she was talking about abortion she talked about people of Faith having abortions which is a complete mind melt and she also talked about people who were undergoing IVF who had prayed about it so the only person that had any intimation of a god Consciousness was Cala Harris she's part of the American Baptist Church the American Baptist Church is completely apostate it is gone it is no longer a denomination it is a complete and total Abomination it is ikabog the spirit of God has departed and what they have done is they have removed repentance of sin with tolerance of sin and they preach what is called a social gospel not of good news but good works and the result is they turn Jesus into a hippie fairy effeminate um soft beta male um who does social justice and is not the king of kings and Lord of lords and so that brand of pseudo fake liberal Mainline denominational Christianity was mentioned briefly but that was it that that was the only air time that God got and what I would encourage as well is um if you are um trying to figure out well and I'll say this to you if if you're an undecided voter how have you done that that's amazing to me they keep coming out with these polls saying the undecided voters I'm like who is undecided like who in the who in their right mind is it a place where they're like I'm not sure what I think about Donald Trump either because um his personality is not clear or um or because for me I just don't know enough about him because I haven't seen or heard from him enough in recent years but for those who are um who are voting and perhaps even Christian you can you can really determine who you're going to vote for by what you're going to prioritize is it policy or is it personality if you are focusing on policy you will need to come to the conclusion that the policy that Cala Harris's offering have been on full display for three and a half years as she was vice president of the United States of America and I would say knowing the cognitive incapability of Joe Biden that means she was far more involved in policy and decision making than a typical or traditional vice president because you have a guy who thinks that weekend at Bernie is a lifestyle and he's your president if you are someone who focuses on personality um tonight Camala Harris won that she won that fight from a personality standpoint um because on television sometimes you need to smile somehow they found a way to keep her from a cackling laugh so whoever did that congratulations to you um in addition she looked at the camera and she told the people that she cared about them do I believe that no I don't believe that at all I believe that politicians in general faint empathy all the time but what this um election is going to come down to it's going to come down largely to Pennsylvania and it's going to come down mostly to Suburban women that's what the elections come down to um if you look at those who are voting older men vote Republican uh Bible believing Christians vote Republican um Urban African-Americans vote Democrat um people who are union it all depends on their Union um most unions are Democrat but some unions are also filled with guys who have a lunchbox and like to fish and hunt and loving every minute of it and they're conservative and they love Trump because he's a fighter so that's a mixed bag the elections are largely determined um by women particularly in the suburbs so if you've got a Karen somewhere in your culdesac and she's nominated herself to the HOA board and is giving you a lot of grief because you painted the shutters on your house the wrong color it's the Caren that are going to determine the election that's what it's going to come down to so the question is set aside the entire debate which was not awesome as a as a Christian Conservative Republican I could say that it looked like three on- one and maybe she got the uh the questions in advance and I can make all kinds of reasons but at the end of the day it's not like well that was that was incredible we crushed it our team crushed it you can't say that but set aside everything else and just ask if the election comes down largely to Suburban women do you think that they're going to go for the 70 year old 78y old man who seems a bit angry or the 59y old woman who seems competent confident um youthful sharp um smiles and is the kind of woman that if you're the typical woman living in the suburbs and maybe you don't know Jesus you think I respect her because she's a successful woman if that is the vote that is really going to determine the outcome this was a tough night don't want to discourage you but my job is to tell you the truth that being said I don't think that uh Donald Trump lost any votes to tonight um and I think that those who know policy and aren't just looking at personality they know what's at stake and it's it's massive it's massive from an economic standpoint and and this is where uh CNN um CNN recently this week they ACD they accidentally um operated in journalistic Integrity it was a fantastic accident and CNN um they went back through her 2019 policies and they showed that she wanted to cut ice she wanted to end immigration detention that she wanted to fund taxpayer funded migrant gender surgeries for transgender migrants being held in detention because they're illegal aliens and uh she also wanted to legalize all drugs this is 2019 including fentanyl crack and cocain came this was reported by CNN and the article went on to say that she was to the left of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren so even if you watched tonight and you thought personality she was an interesting person policy she's a dangerous person and this is where um if I was Satan and the father of Lies I would find someone who was Winsome uh gave Hope was uh somewhat uh younger and perhaps uh more energetic and I would have them have a an almost Clairvoyant Spirit of lying while smiling and um and negating everything they've ever said and done while declaring that they were actually for what against and against what they're for and so what I know is this when you're running for office you say whatever needs to be said to get you elected and then once you hold the office you do exactly what you believe and there's a lot at stake in this election and what I saw tonight was someone effectively cogently coherently articulate things that they have never believed and will not execute in addition um winning the job is one thing doing the job is another thing and what this job requires is leadership it UND it requires uh negotiation it requires an understanding of economics and business and part of the problem with the debate is the best debater in the world might be the worst president you could possibly have um you can find people who can win arguments uh universities are filled with them those people are professors and they teach rhetoric and debate and I've got a Bachelor's degree in speech from the Edward aruro School of communication and uh some of the most brilliant um rhetorical trainers in my upbringing were also completely incapable leaders it's why they worked at a university they couldn't lead a company they couldn't generate Revenue they they didn't understand profit and loss they didn't understand basic economics and so part of what we need to understand is in the American system where everything is built on you know media television sound bites likability it's all about words but at the end of the day it's leadership and actions that the job requires and so um here's what I would say as well um check my notes in closing um we're 56 days from the election you know what's Wild this is what's Wild 56 days ago was three days after after Donald Trump got shot remember that and it was also um five days before Joe Biden dropped out of the race that's what's Wild uh we're 56 days from the election and 56 days ago Joe Biden was the Democratic candidate and just as I am verbal processing um a lot can happen in 56 days we don't it's been such a wild political season I will say as well I find it interesting that on the left the constant refrain is that the right is a quote threat to democracy and that came up a lot it's like the person running for office got zero votes during the primaries the donors within the Democratic party shut the funding flow off to Joe Biden he was rushed to the stage for the earliest debate in presidential history the first time in American history that the debate between the two candidates happened before their conventions and their official acceptance of their nomination and it proved his incoherence his incompetence of which she is complicit co-conspirator and part of the coverup along with the media and family and it seems to me like this was a masterful genius diabolical political move to then put someone in that may have not been able to even win their own primary because previously when running they didn't succeed or have any success but now you've got someone running for the presidency of the United States of America who didn't win the primary didn't get any votes and they're saying that the other side is the threat to the system which is quite shocking and amazing what does the next 56 days hold I don't know it's going to be wild it's going to be crazy if I were um Cala Harris I would not do another debate I would just I would take my ball and go home and I would say you know what I feel like we won this one so we don't need to do another one if I was uh Donald Trump I would I would want to get back in the ring I would want to continue to fight I know he's a fighter and at the end of the day where we're at as a country is um it's highly concerning and I don't want to be a discouragement I still know who I'm going to vote for and I I know how I am hoping and praying that things work out for the sake of our nation but let's just be honest um unless there is a concerted effort among pastors churches and Christians to reach lost people there just aren't going to be enough people to vote for life and faith and freedom and family to win elections now or in the future so our only hope is that people would meet Jesus get filled with the Holy Spirit learn to repent of their sin live under the lordship of Christ get some Bible teaching and if you do you're going to be pro-life if you do you're going to be smaller government if you do you're going to be fiscal stewardship and responsibility if you do you're going to be PR marriage and pro- family and pro- children if you do you're going to be anti-transgender and yes if you're a Bible believing Christian you're going to believe in Bor borders and walls and you're going to go to an Old Testament book called Nehemiah where God raised up a man to build a wall so that the Border could be secured so that people could live freely and worship God freely and so what we're dealing with right now is the church needs to do a better job of evangelizing and discipling because for for us if all we do is just get people who agree with Biblical principles to vote that's not going to be enough perhaps now but definitely not in the future to win any sort of Vote or election and in addition we're talking about people's Eternal Destiny and Souls which is the most important thing of all and so I would encourage you be praying for Revival if you're a pastor preach with courage and conviction and this is not a day for cowards this is a day for prophets if you are a Christian don't be afraid of sharing your faith people need Jesus Christ and I would say right now they need him in a profoundly desperately personal way unless you believe there's a God over everything including the election and the political process and the outcome you have tremendous anxiety if you only think that this life is all we have and you don't know that there's eternal life and this is as close to hell as we're ever going to be and we're going to be in heaven with Jesus forever then you have tremendous anxiety and so I'm not saying that elections and cultural issues and the state of our nation is not important but but I'm saying that as God's people we we can talk to Jesus and be unburdened in prayer we can trust in Jesus and his Sovereign rulership overall we have hope for the future because we know that one day everything is going to change and we won't have any more elections we'll just have King Jesus so for us as Christians it gives us a measure of peace and hope to go through dark tumultuous and difficult times and so if you are not a Christian and as you're studying politics you find yourself getting anxious spun out concerned down the rabbit hole online don't know what's true or false are uncertain about the future you need Jesus Christ you need to turn from sin and trust in Jesus Christ he will give you the Holy Spirit and the fruit of the spirit is love joy peace patience kindness goodness gentleness faithfulness and self-control and without the Holy Spirit you can't be emotionally healthy and if you're not going to have the Holy Spirit and you're going to be concerned about politics in the future then at the end of the day my friend you are going to break yourself because you're going to just fill yourself with all the anxiety that should belong to the Lord who rules over it all and needs to take that burden off of you so if you've not received Jesus my encouragement would be yes you need Jesus Christ you don't need Jesus Christ just to go to heaven you need Jesus Christ to go to The Ballot Box and you need Jesus Christ to live with joy and peace and hope between now and whatever the outcome holds in 56 days um I'll close with this um leave the rest for next time that's the verbal process from my house this weekend starting a brand new sermon series uh V like Jesus 15 answers to 15 big questions about God versus government I plan out my sermon series about a year in advance and God in his providential time timeliness he always allows me to just sort of be right on time well here we go we just had the first and perhaps the only debate and within a few days I'll jump in it's going to be a four-part series and it's not going to be partisan but it will be biblical and we will look at what God has to say about government and why there is a constant fight between God and government and how demonic forces including the Old Testament days of Ahab and Jezebel and Nebuchadnezzar and the days of Daniel and the Pharaoh and the days of the Exodus how demonic forces dark demonic diabolical forces work through politicians governments and political processes to bring life deception death Injustice and evil and and and I want you to understand that sometimes political conflict is in the backdrop of spiritual warfare and so we will start that Series this weekend there is a book as well you can go to uh realfaithtv that's realfaithtv uh you can get the book I hope to see you for the sermon series I will be answering questions throughout the course of the sermon series so if you have have some for me post them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer as many as I can and just so you know uh the book is um there's no publisher there's no agent there's no endorsement there's no sponsors and I'm taking no royalties because I just want purity of message for my Lord Jesus Christ in addition I would tell you that I um I am not a person that starts with the political I start with the biblical I've been preaching through books of the Bible for more than 30 years and I'm coming up on my 40th book of the Bible that I will have preached and taught through and so my conclusions and convictions about political issues are not because I'm political but because I'm biblical and I want you to be the same so tune in for the sermon series and thanks for joining me for my house tonight