Clinton Goes Fishing

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Matthew 4:18-19

¹⁸ While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

(ESV)

Jesus’ last words to his followers was the Great Commission where Jesus told them to take the Gospel to the world (Mark 16:15).  Interestingly Jesus first words to His Disciples was that they would become fishers of men (Matthew 4:19).  In essence Jesus’ ministry was one of teaching His disciples to spread the Gospel around the world or become fishers of men.

I remember going fishing with my dad one time.  It was not a good day for us for we were unable to catch anything.  However, another person fishing along the same shore was reeling in one catfish after another.  We went over to ask this other fisherman what he was using for bait and it soon became obvious we were using the wrong bait. 

Just as using the correct bait is important for fishing, fishing for men also requires using the correct bait.  This is why I like the Roman Road when sharing the gospel with others.  If you are not familiar with this, let’s take a moment to look at it.

1)      We all have sinned (Romans 3:23) – The only sinless man to ever walk the face of the earth was Jesus Christ.  This means that the rest of us have sin in our lives that separates us from God. 

2)      The penalty for our sin is death (Romans 6:23) – Sinning against God is a capital offence.  Since we all have sinned, we all carry a death sentence in our lives.  However, there is hope for God loves us and demonstrated that love by making Jesus, the only sinless man, a substitute for our death penalty (Romans 5:8-9)

3)      We are saved when we take the bait by accepting the substitutional death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our sins (Romans 10:9-10).

The difference between fishing for fish and fishing for men is that when fishing the bait is attached to a hook and results in the fish being caught and possibly becoming dinner whereas taking the bait of Christ’s death leads to eternal life (John 3:16).  When it comes to our salvation, taking the bait is good but in a heated political campaign, taking delicious looking bait can become a disaster. 

The strategy of Hillary Clinton in the first debate was to “get under Donald Trump’s skin” and provoke him into losing his temper.  (1)  After the debate the Clintons dangled the bait of comments made to Miss Universe regarding her weight and unfortunately Donald Trump took the bait and stopped talking about issues important to voters, and instead wasted time defending himself. 

Now we have the issue of lewd comments about women made by Trump into an open mic.  While is find his comments disgusting, the timing of their release just before the second debate are another piece of bait designed to take the subject of the debate off of issues important to voters like the economy, national security, and law and order.  Since the Clinton candidacy promises more of the same policies that have failed the last eight years, they must take the debate off of these issues and instead dangle the bait of Donald Trump’s temperament hoping Trump will come unhinged causing his supporters to stay home on Election Day.

While I find Mr. Trumps comments disgusting, my intention to vote for Donald Trump is not because he is perfect.  I am voting for Donald Trump to prevent Hillary Clinton from winning and continuing the downward death spiral the United States is currently in for a Hillary Clinton Presidency promises,

1)      Higher taxes that will destroy economic growth and innovation which is necessary to create jobs for the millions currently not in the labor force who want to work and those currently forced to work part time and who are underemployed.  (2)

2)      Increased regulations, especially on energy production.  In fact, Hillary Clinton, in a moment of honesty, declared her intention to cause coal miners to lose their jobs.  (3) Of course the spin on this comment is that these unemployed coal miners will find jobs in renewable energy.  The problem is that the Obama administration has already tried this and the result was the companies going under leaving taxpayers with the bill.  (4) (5)

3)      Asking Christians to soften their stance on issues like abortion and gay marriage.  In fact, Hillary Clinton has already asked Christians deny their faith while seeking office.  (6)  Since churches and religious organizations presently enjoy a tax exempt status with the IRS, look for a Hillary Clinton presidency to threaten the loss of this exemption unless churches and religious organizations abandon their stance against abortion and gay marriage.  After all, liberals like Hillary Clinton seem to have no problem using the IRS to go against their political enemies.  (7)

While the comments of Donald Trump are disgusting, the job killing taxes and regulations of a Hillary Clinton presidency coupled with her asking Christians to deny their faith is extremely dangerous.  Both candidates are imperfect sinful human beings as are we all, however, I believe God has given voters in the United States a privilege of selecting their leaders.  We therefore have a responsibility to vote even though our choices are always imperfect people with sin in their lives.  That is why I will vote this election and vote for the imperfect candidate I believe will best lead the nation.  That is why I will vote for Donald Trump in spite of his imperfections and urge those that love God and our nation to do the same. 

I also encourage my fellow Christians to fast and pray for our nation.  Our nation has drifted from the Godly principles upon which it was founded and is in dire need of a spiritual revival returning it to the Godly principals that made it great.  We are not just in an electoral battle but a spiritual battle like Daniel experienced (Daniel 10:1-14).  Let us therefore be like Nehemiah, a Godly man and not a religious leader who upon seeing the fallen state of Jerusalem was driven to his knees in prayer (Nehemiah 1) for that is the only thing that will make America Great again. 

1. Allen, Nick. How Hillary Clinton plans to 'get under Donald Trump's skin' in Monday night's presidential debate. www.telegraph.com. [Online] The Telegraph, September 24, 2016. [Cited: October 8, 2016.] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/24/how-hillary-clinton-plans-to-get-under-donald-trumps-skin-in-mon/.

2. The Wall Street Journal. September Jobs Report. blogs.wsj.com. [Online] The Wall Street Journal, October 7, 2016. [Cited: October 8, 2016.] http://blogs.wsj.com/briefly/2016/10/07/september-jobs-report-the-numbers-2/.

3. Leahy, Michael Patrick. Hillary Clinton Promise: ‘We’re Going to Put a Lot of Coal Miners and Coal Companies Out of Business’. www.breitbart.com. [Online] Breitbart News, March 14, 2016. [Cited: August 26, 2016.] http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2016/03/14/hillary-clinton-promise-were-going-to-put-a-lot-of-coal-companies-and-coal-miners-out-of-business/.

4. USA Politics. List of Failed Obama Green Energy & Solar Companies in the Billions. usapolitics.thoughts.com. [Online] USA Politics, March 17, 2016. [Cited: October 8, 2016.] http://usapolitics.thoughts.com/posts/list-of-failed-obama-green-energy-solar-companies-in-the-billions.

5. Dinan, Steven. Obama clean energy loans leave taxpayers in $2.2 billion hole. www.washingtontimes.com. [Online] The Washington Times, April 27, 2015. [Cited: August 26, 2016.] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/27/obama-backed-green-energy-failures-leave-taxpayers/.

6. Shoebat, Theodore. Hilary Clinton: Christians In America Must Deny Their Faith In Christianity. shoebat.com. [Online] Shoebat.com, April 24, 2015. [Cited: September 28, 2016.] http://shoebat.com/2015/04/24/hilary-clinton-christians-in-america-must-deny-their-faith-in-christianity/.

7. The Washington Times. IRS finally reveals list of tea party groups targeted for extra scrutiny. www.washingtontimes.com. [Online] The Washington Times, June 5, 2016. [Cited: October 8, 2016.] http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jun/5/irs-reveals-list-of-tea-party-groups-targeted-for-/.