Be like the Bereans. They listened to the preacher (Paul). But then they STUDIED THE WORD FOR THEMSELVES to make sure that what he said was actually true.
"Now these people were more noble and open-minded than those in Thessalonica, so they received the message [of salvation through faith in the Christ] with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."
(Acts 17:11, Amplified)
In our generation and our culture, people tend to believe things without even questioning it because their Pastor says so. Or, even worse, because some guy in a big church on TV says so.
The Bereans were being preached to by PAUL THE APOSTLE. Did they automatically believe everything he said? No. The Word says that they were "examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so."
And in this verse these people who didn't believe whatever they were told were described as "noble."
It's not good to believe whatever people tell you because it "came from the preacher" or because somebody in a mega-ministry said so and they must be right with God because, after all, they're on TV.
It's a good thing to search the Scriptures ... daily. And check for yourself.
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Of the 30 states that Trump won in the 2016 election, he won 25 of them in 2020.
And of those 25, Trump's winning margin DECREASED in 20 of them!
Comparing Trump's winning margin in the states that he won in 2016 with his winning margin in THOSE SAME STATES in 2020 (for states he won twice):
Alabama - Trump's margin fell from 27.73% (2016) to 25.6% (2020)
Idaho - Trump's margin fell from 31.77% (2016) to 30.7% (2020)
Trump's margin in states he won: 2016 v 2020
Idaho - Trump's margin fell from 31.77% to 30.7%
Indiana - Trump's margin fell from 19.17% to 16.1%
Iowa - Trump's margin fell from 9.41% to 8.2%
Kansas - Trump's margin fell from 20.6% to 15.2%
Eleven US Presidents have been defeated in their bids for a second term.
Trump is the only one of them to, so far, refuse to concede.
Despite the fact that several of them did better in their re-election races than Trump did.
John Adams, the first President to lose a re-election contest, got a higher share of the electoral vote than Trump did (even if Trump wins all the states in which he's currently leading in). He also lost the electoral college by a smaller margin than Trump has. But he conceded.
Grover Cleveland lost in 1888 even though he WON the popular vote (he lost the Electoral College by a only two and a half percentage more than Trump will). But he conceded. And dealt with the loss like a winner. He got elected again in 1892, beating the guy who beat him.
Because of the way that various states counted the votes (some counted Election Day votes first and then mail ballots; some did it in the opposite order), 10 states saw the winner change after half of the vote was counted.
5 of these states were won by Biden and 5 by Trump.
As a matter of fact, the 5 states that had Biden leading at the point where half of the vote was counted that eventually were won by Trump were worth MORE electoral votes than the 5 that had Trump leading at the halfway point that shifted to Biden.
The following states had Trump leading when 50% of the votes had been counted but shifted to Biden after more votes were counted:
Georgia (16)
Michigan (16)
Pennsylvania (20)
Virginia (13)
Wisconsin (10)
You know, sometimes humor can be a good way to both cover up pain and to soften poignant messages. And sometimes it can be sharp. Sometimes it needs to be.
Four years ago, even though I opposed Trump, I did not consider him to be a racist. My thinking had changed.
He has revealed himself to be the most racist President since Woodrow Wilson. And his administration has constantly soft peddled on any type of resistance to white supremacists. If anything, he’s sent positive signals to them. And he uses racial intolerance as political fuel.
Racism is a strange thing because some people’s threshold for it is way too high and others’ threshold is way too low.
Some people are dull to the idea of racism because some people are too quick to call everything racist
Other people wouldn’t recognize it if it bit them.