General

It appears that Tuesday’s night’s presidential debate was  the most watched of all time with nearly 84 million people tuning in. That number is a 17% spike over the first debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in 2012.

I studied the debate prayerfully with much thought and attention. I also listened to many of the pundits who gave their opinions afterwards.

Here is what I learned from the Great Debate.

I will share these observations in “point” form like a running stream of consciousness. I’m sure you have your own, and I hope my ramblings will help you to sharpen yours to pray, to vote, and to be an influence during this perilous time in American history.

Yes, I said perilous. This is the first presidential election in Post-Christian America. Our nation has reached a tipping point where the secularism has overtaken, in many ways, the biblical worldview that characterized our first two hundred years. 

This is the first election in US history where it can be argued that neither candidate shares a personal relationship with Jesus Christ or possesses a faith-oriented worldview. Both the voters of the Democrat and Republican parties rejected candidates with strong biblical faith–so we’re left with two people that are more secular than Christian.

It’s a new day. A sober day.

And a day of great opportunities for God to move in our nation.

Here’s what I learned from the Great Debate.

1.  It many ways, it was a draw. Neither Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton clearly won on points. How you judged it had much to do with your preference of candidate. There were no knock-out punches.

2. Because I prefer Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton, I give him the edge. It was his first time on a solo national stage and he did well. Mrs. Clinton has been in this scenario 35 times before. She was more familiar than he was. But she didn’t take great advantage.

3.  Donald Trump appeared presidential and probably helped his cause, He refrained from name-calling and childish behavior and showed a basic grasp of all the issues that were brought up.

4.  Hillary Clinton demonstrated good attention to detail and ample evidence of her policy-wonk credentials. She was better on a number of specifics than Mr. Trump.

5. I give Trump an edge in speaking the language of the common person. That’s one of his strengths. He is open and honest and you can relate to him and his concerns.

6. Mrs. Clinton, on the other hand, was overly robotic and prepared. Even her mention of her 2-year old granddaughter seemed forced and pre-meditated. Everything was calculated. She came across as a slick politician. Trump expressed the normal emotions of a passionate human being.

7.  Mrs. Clinton was clearly the aggressor in this debate and showed a bit of a mean-streak. She came at Trump over his taxes, business practices, and name-calling, but it seemed to emanate from cue cards and focus groups instead of deep within. Also seemed a bit whiny at times.

8.  Mr. Trump acted as the counter-puncher in this debate, especially on trade (NAFTA and TPP), creating jobs, the national debt, and a few other issues. He missed some big opportunities to expose Mrs. Clinton’s corruption re: the e-mail server scandal and the Clinton Foundation (what Rush Limbaugh calls the Clinton Family Crime Foundation). He must not make that mistake in future debates.

9.  Did you see that Mrs. Clinton rarely looked Donald Trump in the eyes when she was speaking to him? I’ve noticed that in many of her appearances. When she first spoke of the e-mail fiasco, her eyes were always down and never looked at the camera. Same last night. If she can’t look Trump in the face with conviction and passion, how can she stare down Vladimir Putin or other world leaders?

10.  It was easy to see the difference in transparency and honesty between the two candidates. I’m sure Donald Trump has things to hide, but overall he’s quick to rebut lies and seems genuinely transparent on most things. Mrs. Clinton is the opposite. Her words are so carefully crafted that you think you’re listening to an “angel of light” who’s telling you one thing but doing another. Donald wins on honesty.

11. Trump was very good at the beginning of the debate on how to create jobs and deal with the debt. After all, he’s a businessman and understands that realm. Mrs. Clinton has lived on the public dole all her life and never created a real job. So how can she help ignite an economic renewal in this nation?

12. The two candidates are starkly different on taxes. Mrs. Clinton wants to raise most people’s taxes, though she cleverly use class warfare words to make it appear she’s against the rich. But that’s a lie. There aren’t enough rich people to fund a four trillion dollar budget. Mr. Trump, on the other hand, sees the importance of lowering taxes for most to bring back capital to the country and ignite business expansion.

13.  Mrs. Clinton is a classic tax and spend liberal. She had no comeback for Trump’s rightful assertion that Barack Obama created more debt that all the previous 43 presidents combined–and that our national debt has America on the precipice of great disaster. Mrs. Clinton would blindly (in the name of false compassion) explode that debt.

14. Mrs. Clinton cleverly used the word “investments” for government taxation. She went through the normal progressive list of crony capitalism including renewable energy, infrastructure spending and climate change. These are all buzz words for “we know better than you” and it’s too bad if you lose your job (like coal miners in West Virginia).

15. Trump was smart to appeal to the African American community that has been the most decimated by Democrat policies. In the name of “caring,” the victim/welfare mentality of many cities, blue states, and the federal government has placed many blacks and Hispanics on a modern-day plantation of despair. Trumps was wise to appeal to them. (Does it make sense for any voting block in America to vote 90% for one party?)

16. Both candidates seemed competent on nuclear policy. Trump was more realistic on other nations doing their part to police themselves and not simply ride the coattails of the world’s lone super power. Neither candidate would be prone to use nukes unwisely.

17. Trump won the skirmish over the war in Iraq and the mess that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton have made of the Middle East. The Democrats created ISIS by leaving Iraq prematurely without a Status of Forces agreement.  It was simply poor leadership. They could never be trusted to defeat them.

18. Mrs. Clinton won the argument over Donald Trump’s taxes. He needs to release them, under audit or not, and let the chips fall.  If there are some embarrassing details there, they  probably pale in comparison to the pay-for-play of the Clinton Foundation. Let them stand side-by-side.

19.  Mrs. Clinton looked and sounded healthy, but you never know. JFK looked good most of the time but was living on medical “cocktails” because of his Graves Disease. Mrs. Clinton should release her full medical records just as quickly as Trump does his taxes.

20. Most of the time, when Mrs. Clinton was listening to Trump speak, her face was hard, cold, or bored (see photo above). That was the thing that struck me most from a body language perspective. She is not a warm person. He, on the other hand, is very engaging and relatable to most Americans.

21. Mrs. Clinton shouldn’t have been given a higher podium. She’s 5’4″ and he’s 6’2.” That difference in stature should have been noticed. Let her make up in gravitas what she lacks in height.

22. Mrs. Clinton was condescending at various moments–especially at the end of the debate when she shrugged he shoulders in pride at a Trump response.

23. Lester Holt asked six follow-up questions of Trump and none of Clinton. The bias was obvious.

24.  Trump’s smile seems genuine though he’s often sober. Clinton’s smile often looks calculated and forced.

25.  Trump’s family is beautiful and accomplished. Bill Clinton is a chronic adulterer who is hard to watch.

These are my 25 observations from the Great Debate.

What are yours?

These 25 items remind me of the greatest need in America: a new found encounter with the King of kings and Lord of lords–Jesus Christ.

If you want some encouragement after watching the Great Debate, check out this magnificent list of 25 reasons that we need leaders who will lead like Jesus.

And keep your eyes on Him.

The last couple of years I’ve done some adjunct teaching at Faith International University in Tacoma, Washington. Faith Seminary is the graduate division of the school and is the only biblically-based seminary in the state of Washington.

FIU is growing by leaps and bounds as are many other Christ-oriented schools across America. In fact, yesterday, we joined some 1000 campuses in America who have birthed prayer rooms on their campuses. Many call them “Furnaces”–where faculty and students can fire up their hearts for God.

That’s greatly needed today because many colleges and universities have been taken over by secular humanism, and not only don’t believe in prayer, but reject many aspects of truth including freedom of speech.

Say what?  No free speech on campus?

Free speech was praised in the 1960s. Why not today?

It was a joy to see our faculty and staff jam into the new Prayer Room at Faith yesterday for an official dedication. Lining three upper walls of the room were colorful flags of the 40 nations from whom we have received students the past fifty years.

The US flag (to which we gladly pledge our allegiance!) sits at the center of the room, reminding us of the blessing of being Americans. The flag of South Korea is to its left, depicting our large Korean division, and to the right rests the flag of Malaysia, symbolizing a growing Chinese division (led by a Malaysian professor).

Around the perimeter of the room are seven prayer stations that staff and students will frequent this year. Each station sports two chairs, a shelf with special items and resources, and a bulletin board with photos, artwork and slogans to help guide the prayer warrior. The seven stations focus on:

• Worship and Praise – remembering who God is and worshipping Him with all our hearts.
• Praying for the World – the Great Commission, unreached peoples, and the work of missions.
• Praying for Leaders – practicing 1 Timothy 2:2 by interceding for “all who are in authority.”
• Personal Renewal – a large altar sits against one wall where students can confess their sins, meditate and reflect on their personal walk with God, as well as take communion with others.
• Praying for FIU – where we cry out for our faculty, staff, students, and future students.
• Praying for Tacoma, WA – our “Jerusalem”–mayor, city council, first responders and area churches.
• Praying for America – interceding for our nation, its leaders and our great need for revival.

Many group prayer meetings will also take place this school year in the “Furnace” where an electric piano and sound system stand ready for inspiration and use. Our goal is the eventually turn the new FIU Prayer Room into a place of 24/7 prayer for our city, nation and world.

If you’re interested in joining us at FIU, please visit our web-site here. The new Prayer Room at Faith is totally committed to freedom of speech and expression–both to God and to people.

I wish that were true for the rest of the country.

You may have recently noticed some very disturbing trends at many colleges. They include 1) cancelling  Christian and/ or conservative speakers from speaking on campus, 2) Creating “safe spaces” where free speech is no longer tolerated or allowed, and 3) promoting only secular progressive causes such as global warming and racial injustice without freedom for debate.

How times have changed.

I remember the turbulent 60s and 70s when college students demanded “free speech” and public schools like UC -Berkeley and Kent State became passionate cauldrons of political expression and demonstration. Those movements championed our treasured First Amendment which guarantees the right of open discourse.

Why the squelching of free speech now?

It’s pretty simple. The goal of free speech in the 60s was to tear down America’s biblical heritage and morals and replace it with secularism. It was all about power, not liberty. Now that secular progressives are triumphant in many of the public universities in America, their goal is to hold on to that power by eliminating all competitors.

The means has changed, but not the end–a post-Christian, narcissistic America.

Heather McDonald, writing for the City Journal, describes secular university environments this way:

“The pathological narcissism of American college students has found a potentially devastating new source of power in the world of education. The truth is that American universities are among the most coddled environments ever devised by man.”

“The idea that one should attend college to be protected from ideas one might find controversial or offensive could only occur to someone who had jettisoned any hope of acquiring an education. Many commentators have been warning about a ‘higher education bubble.’ They have focused mostly on the unsustainable costs of college, but the spectacle of timid moral self-indulgence also deserves a place on the bill of indictment.”

To use Megyn Kelly’s phrase, today’s college kids have become “cupcakes” who don’t know how to compete in the real world and are not interested in the battle of ideas.

Not at Faith International University and many others.  We welcome freedom of expression, academic excellence, and we center everything we do on a desire to know and glorify God.

Another biblically-based institution is also leading the way back to free speech sanity, Hear the wise words of Dr. Everett Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan University:

I enjoyed participating in many sports when when I was young.  Basketball was my favorite, but I also played football and track & field competitively while minoring in golf, tennis, bowling and other athletic pursuits.

One memory tells the tale about how sports motivated me. I would watch various competitions on television and the adrenaline would begin to flow. After the event ended, I remember rising from my chair in the living room, going outside and doing a full sprint across our yard, hurdling a three foot fence with gusto!

If I tried doing that today, I’m sure I would beak both legs and end up in the hospital.

Sports motivated me. It also taught me many valuable lessons that I continue to apply in the more important areas of life.

Here are some of the great life lessons from the current Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

I must admit that my wife and I really enjoyed watching the Olympics this year. I normally go to bed fairly early. But when the Olympics were on, I just couldn’t bear to jump in the sack when the greatest athletes in the world were setting records one continent to the south. I delayed my bedtime to 11 pm and sometimes midnight just to relish the thrill of seeing the best of the best.

In some ways, this year’s games are a pick-me-up from the sad state of this year’s presidential election.  Normally, I’m more focused on electing the next leader of the free world. This year I’m greatly concerned– and doing a lot of praying.

I hate to admit that the thrill of the Rio Olympics has served as a pleasant distraction from politics.

I also enjoy the Olympics because I’ve had the privilege of sharing the Gospel at a number of them and can easily picture the scene. Evangelism is also happening this year in Rio–thousands of believers taking to the streets and sharing their faith with those who live in Brazil and have come from other nations.

Youth With A Mission pioneered the concept of using large sporting events as an opportunity to lift up Christ. It began with the 1972 Munich Games where nine Israeli athletes were brutally killed by terrorists. After that tragedy, many young YWAMers took to the streets, passing out roses to comfort the mourning.

I worked with 5000 outreach participants at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. It was a tremendous summer of harvest. One afternoon at the LA Games I was doing street evangelism with a local pastor when I came upon a $100 bill laying in the middle of the sidewalk on Hollywood Boulevard. I lunged to pick it up just before another person got there. He was homeless and blurted out, “Oh, you beat me to it!”

We used that occasion to take him out for lunch, share the Good News of salvation with him, and he gave his life to the Lord. We helped him use the remainder of the money to buy some clothes and go on with his life.

I traveled with a King’s Kids team throughout Spain during the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. In ’96, we joined with 4000 Kings Kids in Atlanta Georgia in a phenomenal outreach to that great city.

I’ll never forget the Athens Olympics in 2004 when I was standing in the main square of the city with a leading evangelical leader as the worship group Delirious and a number of Olympic athletes shared their faith with the throng of thousands. My Greek friend commented that this was the first time in 2000 years that the Gospel was being shared openly in the Orthodox-controlled nation of Greece.

Historic.

So I have some treasured Olympic memories–especially ones of the heart. But athletic ones also still speak to me.

For example, this Olympics has been extremely insightful. The Bible says that a “person’s gift with take him  before kings” (Proverbs 18:16). This year’s Games will be remembered as the one where a few of the greatest athletes of all time showed up in the same city. Not just greatest this year, or greatest in a generation, but greatest of all time. At least three come to mind.

• Michael Phelps, with 23 gold medals in swimming and 28 Medals over all in five different Games is certainly both the greatest Olympian ever and the greatest swimmer bar none.
• Usain Bolt from Jamaica – not only the world’s fastest human, but the greatest sprinter ever in the history of the world. This year he won both the 100 and 200 meters for the third straight time. No one has ever come close to that type of dominance in the sprints.
• Simone Biles – another American who is not only the greatest gymnast in the world at 19, but probably the greatest gymnast ever. She was the world champion for three years prior to taking four golds and one silver in Rio–so dominating the all-around competition that she beat the other competitors by a higher point differential that the combined total of the past eight Games.

I’d stay up to midnight any day to watch little (4 foot 8 inch) Simone Biles work her magic in the floor exercise with a grace and power never ever seen before.

Brought tears to our eyes many nights.

So what are some of the lessons we can learn form this year’s Olympians that can be applied to all arenas of life?

Here are my top seven.

1. Follow your dreams with faith. This is the mantra of most Olympic athletes. They had a dream to be a champion or Olympian and didn’t say no to that dream. In Simone Biles’ case, that meant being home-schooled, skipping all the proms and dances, and working out in the gym. But faith took her to the top.

2. Work hard through the struggles of life. Life is hard and it has many turns and curves that can not only hinder us, but destroy us. But never, never, never give up.  Perseverance is the master key to being successful in anything that you do. Keri Walsh Jennings, probably the greatest beach volleyball player of all-time, worked through three excruciating injuries just to make it to Rio. Champions don’t give in.

3.  Supportive families – what a blessing they are!  I generally don’t like commercials, but some of them during the Olympics were real heart thumpers. One showed a mother cheering on her “Olympian” from the earliest of ages and ended with these words: “It takes someone strong to make someone strong.” (You can watch the full version here.) Amen. Champion your kids dreams and always back them to achieve it.

4. Cheaters don’t prosper – A very telling moment in the Rio Games came when American 19 year-old Lilly King watched a Russian female swimmer compete in an event where she had tested positive for illegal drugs. Lilly waved her finger at her, and then beat her the next night–telling the whole world that she was clean and that cheaters don’t prosper. That’s not always true in life, but it is in eternity.

5.  Consistency is a supreme virtue. I again refer you to the greatest athletes of all-time who achieved that status because of their longevity and consistency. You can do the same in your life and job. Be consistent in your words and actions. Develop a lifetime of faithfulness that shows the world who you serve.

6.  It takes a lifetime to build a good name and one moment to destroy it. One of the tragic incidents of the Rio Games was the scandal involving celebrated Olympian swimmer Ryan Lochte who went partying and drinking with three other American swimmers, tore up a service station trying to find a bathroom, then lied to the world that they had been “robbed.” Lochte was the second most decorated Olympian next to Michael Phelps. He took a lifetime to achieve that goal and threw it away (and probably millions of dollars in endorsements) through one night of excess. Don’t give up your good name for the stupid pleasures of sin.

7. Your most important identity is in Christ. My favorite faith testimony during the Rio Games took place when American sychronized swimmers, David Boudia and Steele Johnson, captured a silver medal. While billions of people were watching, they both turned to the cameras and said, “We could find our identity from diving and the worldwide acclaim, but we know that is fleeting. We find our true identity in the Person of Jesus Christ who never changes.”

Checkmate. Gold Medal. Exactly right.

Our identity is not found ultimately in our achievements, medals, successes or failures–not if we’re world famous athletes or we are a person who is little known.

The greatest gold in life is running the race with Jesus and rooting our being in Him.

Knowing Christ is greater than gold.