As indicated at the outset in Part I of this post, I keep running into evidence among Christians of the kind of ‘upside down thinking’ plaguing our country and debilitating our churches. It’s time to muster the courage to adopt a ‘right side up’ perspective and to exhibit the attitudes and actions that attend it. We noted how easy it is for Christians to have their thinking tainted by the endless ‘progressive’ propaganda poured forth from every mainstream news outlet, and interwoven at every academic level and in every form of entertainment media.

In Part I, we pointed out how encouraging potential Christian voters to “vote [their] conscience” can be a decision-avoidant ‘cop out’. It sounds so diplomatic, so non-confrontational, so inoffensive, and so safe. No wonder so many Christians, especially pastors and church leaders, are retreating into that territory; it’s familiar to them. It poses no threat to the passive, ‘love everybody’ image that institutional Christianity cherishes, but it’s phony and ineffective. When the crying need is for authoritative direction, getting hit with ‘vote your conscience’ is like your GPS telling you to ‘just go in whatever direction feels good to you.’ We don’t buy a GPS device for its companionship; we buy it for direction. Seeing the route it presents does not mean we have to go that way, but at least it tells us how to end up where we claim we want to be. We ought to at least strive to be as worthwhile as that.

Cannon–Image by Terren in Virginia

Queue the Cannons ~
In that effort, I want to address another comment that has implications that I cannot ignore. The vacillating Christian voter in that instance called Donald Trump a “loose cannon”.  As is so often true these days, the appellation directed at him was not original to the writer, nor was it a new addition to the rhetoric flying around in this contentious campaign. The conclusion implied is that Donald Trump is ‘dangerous’, and that we Christians shouldn’t vote for him because he’s destructive, unpredictable, and frightening. I’d like to offer another perspective.

Picturing Trump as a cannon doesn’t bother me at all—quite the opposite, I hope and pray that he is precisely that. I’ve voted repeatedly for candidates who sounded like a powerful weapon in their stump speeches, a cannon poised and ready to defend our conservative principles and traditional values, and to engage the opposition. Then, once elected, when the real battles unfold, they look more like a plastic straw and a spit ball than a cannon.

No Loose Cannons in this Election ~
Let’s be absolutely clear about one thing, both of these candidates are dragging a cannon around, and neither one of them is ‘loose’. Both represent a devastating blow in some direction, and the only valid question to ask is which way are they pointed?

Donald Trump has aimed everything he has, including a lot of his own money, directly at the core of the corruption rampant in the political, economic, academic, social, and corporate structures of this once-great nation. He has already blown the veil off a host of phony ‘progressive’ facades, especially those worn by the news media and the political establishment on both sides of the aisle.

The Targets are Already Chosen ~
More than ever before, mainstream news organizations have shown themselves to be nothing more than a propaganda wing of the DNC. Like all propaganda machines, their only purpose is to control and manipulate information so as to protect the agenda of the power they serve—and in this case, it’s the so-called ‘progressive’ Democratic Party. Deception and corruption have been revealed in the ‘Party establishment’ in both camps, and the big-money globalists who control them have been in Trump’s sights from the beginning. The people controlled by the likes of George Soros care nothing about our people, our nation, or its founding documents. They are quite willing to sacrifice America’s very existence to enrich themselves and preserve their own obscene lifestyles. Trump’s cannon isn’t loose at all. It is loaded, primed, and locked on target, and there’s no question about what’s centered in his crosshairs.

Hillary’s cannon is just as fixed – and more dangerous than anything Trump can do. The Supreme Court is a primary target for her, and a Court with a majority of Justices appointed by Hillary Clinton will offer no protection for conservative values.

• Amnesty for illegal aliens will be a certainty, and the Court will uphold it.
• The Second Amendment will be trashed by oppressive government regulations implemented by executive order, and immune from anything our legislators might try to do.
• Free speech will continue to be slaughtered on the altar of Political Correctness, and freedom of religious expression will be disallowed as a discriminatory practice—unless you happen to be Muslim.
• Rather than defending our borders, Hillary’s ‘cannon’ will be used to destroy them.

Her cannon is also loaded, primed, and locked on target, but it’s a different target. She will attack everything held dear by every genuine follower of Jesus Christ. Clinton is a ‘progressive’, and I agree with Franklin Graham, who said, “Progressive is just another term for ‘atheist’”.

I’m reminded again of Paul’s words from his last epistle:

“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,” (2 Timothy 3:13-14 NKJV).

Evil men, imposters, and deceivers aren’t new. We’ve always had them, but in spite of their manipulations, we must hold on to things we know are true, because we know the One who is Truth itself.

Who’s Really the Loose Cannon – The Candidate or the Voter?
There are powerful cannons represented in this election, and neither one of them is ‘loose’. The frightening force that remains ‘loose’ in America is the ‘Christian’ voter who can’t seem to figure out which candidate to choose. They are the dangerously unpredictable ones right now. The directions of the political ‘cannons’ are clear, and the people who show up on November 8 will determine which one will be set loose on this nation. One represents hope for Christians, and for America, and the other will continue the destructive disintegration we’ve been watching for the last eight years.

Therefore, I ask you … If we as Christians really want to apply ‘Right Side Up Thinking’, what targets do you want your cannon to be focused on?

© 2016 Gallagher’s Pen, Ronald L. Gallagher, Ed.S.  All rights reserved.

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