First Baptist's Robert Jeffress: ‘God has given Trump authority to take out Kim Jong Un’
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War seems on the horizon
Robert Jeffress appears to have gone mad.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Jeffress has gone mad, yes, and we already knew that Kim Jong Un needs to get himself to Generose (Mayo’s mental hospital) for a long time, but the thing that strikes me is Trump’s tweet. He seriously needs to learn the art of talking softly, but carrying a big stick.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
I agree with all the previous posts. Jeffress is partially correct about Rm 13 - It applies even to Trump. But the “whatever means necessary” is dangerous. Jeffress should choose his words more carefully, but then he is a devout Trump fan, so he fits in.
Thought Experiment: North Korea is a sovereign country. Where is the right of other countries to tell North Korea they cannot have nuclear weapons? What gives some countries the right to have these weapons and not others? Who decides? If we’re not careful, we will unintentionally promote some type of government power that supersedes individual countries,
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
Your neighbor theoretically has the Constitutional right to own a shotgun. However, he’s started shouting each day that he’s going to use it on your dogs and children if they come within shotgun range of his property.
Do you have a right to call the police and have them take his guns away? To me, that’s about the situation with the North Koreans. Also, they signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, so via the UN. there is a legal framework for dealing with this if we’ll only take it.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
If NK signed the treaty, that’s the legal framework for action. Cities have laws about guns and assault which those who choose to live in those cities must follow. But is shooting a missile into the ocean illegal or even wrong? The U.S. does it all the time, although not threatening other countries as NK does. Countries pull out of treaties all the time. Hasn’t the U.S. backed out of some and considering backing out of climate agreements? My point is that our current world system is very selective about who they choose to “punish”. In our zeal to punish NK, we will end up supporting a growing world governmental system.
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
Couldn’t agree more Wally. Would love to see more Christians thinking like this.
Our ‘zeal’ to punish North Korea?
Zeal?
Seriously?
Is there someone out there that’s excited about reopening the Korean War with nukes this time? If so, I’ve missed it. Last I checked, global thermonuclear war wasn’t something to get excited over, unless maybe you are Satan. DId I wake up in Dr. Strangelove or something like that this morning?
Jeffress’s comments are idiotic, and I wish he would stay far, far away from politics. Any President has the ability to launch nuclear weapons. Trump isn’t any special or different in that regard - he just may be the loser in the terrible game of hot potato.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
Some words from the immortal general:
Mr. President, I’m not saying we wouldn’t get our hair mussed. But I do say no more than ten to twenty million killed, tops. Uh, depending on the breaks …
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Yes, Zeal. The impression I get from watching some news commentators is that they just can’t wait to “punish” North Korea.
Wally Morris
Huntington, IN
The wise general continues:
General “Buck” Turgidson: Mr. President, about, uh, 35 minutes ago, General Jack Ripper, the commanding general of, uh, Burpelson Air Force Base, issued an order to the 34 B-52’s of his Wing, which were airborne at the time as part of a special exercise we were holding called Operation Drop-Kick. Now, it appears that the order called for the planes to, uh, attack their targets inside Russia. The, uh, planes are fully armed with nuclear weapons with an average load of, um, 40 megatons each. Now, the central display of Russia will indicate the position of the planes. The triangles are their primary targets; the squares are their secondary targets. The aircraft will begin penetrating Russian radar cover within, uh, 25 minutes.
President Merkin Muffley: General Turgidson, I find this very difficult to understand. I was under the impression that I was the only one in authority to order the use of nuclear weapons.
General “Buck” Turgidson: That’s right, sir, you are the only person authorized to do so. And although I, uh, hate to judge before all the facts are in, it’s beginning to look like, uh, General Ripper exceeded his authority.
The men clamoring for armed conflict, from their comfy enclaves near Dallas, are foolish. Idiotic. Many will die if there is war with North Korea; we shouldn’t be anxious for it or quote the Bible to advocate assassination. These men are bloodthirsty simpletons, fueled by “Christian” nationalism. They are unstable and unbalanced people. Jeffress would fit right in at the table in the “War Room,” beneath the “Big Board.” He would have been the “spiritual advisor,” one more silly man among several.
President Merkin Muffley: I will not go down in history as the greatest mass-murderer since Adolf Hitler.
General “Buck” Turgidson: Perhaps it might be better, Mr. President, if you were more concerned with the American People than with your image in the history books.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Trump isn’t the first president to threaten North Korea. The others were all bluffing.
When Bill Clinton was confronted with the threat of North Korea’s exit from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he considered military force. But he ended up going for negotiations in what became known as the Joint Framework Agreement. The North Koreans froze their plutonium program in exchange for fuel shipments and a light water reactor from the U.S. Neither side ever fully delivered.
Then there was George W. Bush. He didn’t like North Korea. He put the nation in the original “axis of evil.” On his watch, the U.S. discovered Pyongyang had a secret uranium enrichment program, in violation of the spirit of Clinton’s deal. Then in 2006, North Korea tested its first nuclear device. By 2007, Bush had lifted crippling sanctions on the regime’s elites and entered into new negotiations. And surprise: The North Koreans backed out of those talks at the end, too.
By the time Barack Obama came into power, the North Koreans were back to building up their program. They perfected missiles, sunk a South Korean ship and shelled a South Korean island. The current tyrant, Kim Jong Un, ascended to power and proceeded to consolidate his position, killing his uncle and later his half brother. All the while, Obama pursued a policy of “strategic patience,” aimed at not rewarding Kim’s regime for its provocations and rogue behavior. [Obama’s ‘strategic patience’ on North Korea turned into strategic neglect]
Now Trump has inherited a mess. Not only is Kim testing ballistic missiles at an alarming rate, as the Washington Post reported this week, but also the Defense Intelligence Agency now assesses North Korea can miniaturize a nuclear warhead so that it can fit inside a missile. Game, set, match.
We’ll know eventually. If it happens, we will know that God ordained it.
G. N. Barkman
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