Tom Noble, Texas Independent, Candidate for US Senate ‘24

The role of government is to:

Provide Safety

Ensure Justice

Strive for Righteousness

Ensure a compassionate responsible environment that advances freedom for all its citizens

Pastor Tony Evans

Our government cannot be something our elected leaders are not. To fulfill this role, our government – our elected leaders – must have a strong foundation of moral integrity. We need to do better.

I have been asked about whether my faith would influence my approach to policies. The real question behind this question is one of concern – will I force my religious views on others. While I cannot separate my faith from my values, represented by scriptures such as, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and “Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God,” I do believe in the importance of the separation described by James Madison: “An alliance or coalition between Government and religion cannot be too carefully guarded against…religion and government will both exist in greater purity, the less they are mixed together.”

January 6th, was a crossroads moment for me. Although I had been engaged in several years of soul-searching, the assault on Congress to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power and the posturing of denial that followed finally compelled me choose between loyalty and principles, between Party and country.

We must stop seeing those that disagree with our political views as enemies to be hated. We cannot “love our neighbor” while engaging in scorched earth, total war politics. Neither should we be forced to turn a blind eye to the morally corrupt character of the person seeking office in order to vote for the policies of our party. For that matter, we should not let the policies of either party and the resulting herd mentality of the left and right define us. We cannot continue to let politicians clinging to power divide us by appealing to our worst instincts. My response to this compelling of compliance with the Party line or the extortion of my vote and support through fear mongering is to claim my political independence. As an Independent, I am bound to no political machine, but am free to vote my conscience – accountable to voters, not the Party line.

We, the voters, need to expect more. We should look for those leaders who are servants at heart; whose love for this country compels them to appeal to those qualities that unite us, and inspire us to become our best selves. We should expect our political leaders to represent the best of our American character and integrity.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The principles that I aspire to and their implications to governing policies.

Provide Safety

• Strong defense, military deterrent with the best equipped and trained military in the world

• Trusted police, integrated within community

• Secure borders with fair, rational immigration – secure because it should not be left to Mexico to determine who or how many of it’s or other nations’ people enter our country.  It is the responsibility of the United States. An immigration philosophy that is fair and rational because it welcomes immigrants who want to contribute to our culture and economy, rather than a closed border designed to keep people out.

• Right of citizens to defend themselves

• Energy and critical supply chain independence – we must not be at the mercy of other nations’ governments and resources

Ensure Justice

• Trusted police, integrated within and reflective of the communities they serve

• Equitable enforcement of laws and sentencing

• An important conversation needs to occur concerning the death penalty

Christ on the cross presents pro-death penalty Christians a challenge.  Christ was executed with two criminals – both justly condemned.  The third criminal being executed – Christ – was an innocent man, facing false accusations and testimony. We must have safeguards to protect the innocent when an otherwise just system fails because of the flawed nature of its citizens. 

Strive for Righteousness

• Dignity of Life:  I am neither Pro-Life nor Pro-Choice. After several years of soul-searching, I now believe that the current political construct of this debate has become so entrenched that it is tearing us apart. Roe v Wade has been the law for almost 50 years. For all the talk and the hate that it generates, nothing changes. I am pro-young mother or woman confronted with an unwanted pregnancy. I am pro-policies that help her have confidence that she will be supported with healthcare, childcare and a job that can support a young family. Pro-choice advocates are not “baby killers,” and most Pro-Life” advocates really do believe that a fetus is a life worthy of existence and protection. We all believe it is a human life, at some point. The question is when. I am resolved to respect the law and trust science. But, I will also respectfully appeal to those confronted with an unwanted pregnancy to avail themselves of the science.

• Health:  maintain healthcare system, while addressing gaps in coverage

• Security:  support current energy and manufacturing sector jobs and the families depending on them, while staying out of the way of entrepreneurial development of new technologies

• Hope:  challenge our private sector to invest in its markets and workforce through budget-neutral cost reduction of and improved access to higher education and/or trade skills training;

Ensure a Compassionate Responsible Environment that Advances Freedom for All Its Citizens

Bureaucracy smothers compassion.  This responsibility falls first to individuals, then to organizations and communities.  Government should be the solution of last resort. 

• Civil discourse and respect that make everything else possible

• Lean government that adds value

• Secure jobs and innovation in energy sector, manufacturing, technology

• Stewardship of the environment – Our waters and lands are gifts to be appreciated, enjoyed, used for our benefit, restored, preserved and improved

• Accessible higher education and trade school – budget-neutral cost reduction / improved access to higher education and/or trade skills training

• Simplified, fair tax code

Now what?

Our two political parties are currently so entrenched that they will instinctively stamp out any dissenting independence in thought. But there are many people who are represented by the principles described here – who, if they would set aside their political team jerseys, could agree. Conventional wisdom says that an Independent candidate .splits votes of one of the two established parties, enabling victory for the remaining party, but conventional wisdom never foresaw the implosion of one of those two entrenched parties. This is a crossroads moment, when we can decide that the cost of blind loyalty to a party has been too high – that truth cannot be ignored, but must be confronted. We have to fix this.

However, an Independent candidate cannot rely on Party loyalists. To be successful, I need support from people who have thoughtfully considered these positions. I need influencers to help expand this conversation and engage the imagination and optimism of others. I need your help. I have not formally declared a candidacy. I do not yet have funding or a campaign organization. Those steps will come. What I have now is optimism that we can redefine ourselves. We can continue making a better union, looking beyond ourselves to the common good. I have heard from many Republicans, Independents and Democrats who believe as I do. What do you say?

Tom Noble

The Developer, the Pastor and the Street Preacher

It’s not you, its me. I’m the obnoxious friend… brother, father, friend’s husband or crazy uncle- a social media street preacher. Some of you remember those strange, on the edge “preachers-“without-a-pulpit standing on the city street or the college quadrangle, throwing scripture at passers-by like rocks. You avoided eye contact and hurried by, hoping to quickly get out of range. It didn’t really matter whether or not you agreed with what they said, they were just so…abrasive…inflicting themselves on you at a time and place that just seemed intrusive.

Some of the people who know me probably wonder why I get so worked up with Donald Trump or pastor Robert Jeffress. Am I not a Republican? How can I be comfortable criticizing one of our Baptist leaders, and in public? Am I saying we should all vote for liberals and promote abortion? On social media I have been called a liar, a hater, not a true conservative, a f’n (fill in the blank). Some say they don’t care about Trump’s past, or that he isn’t as bad as this liberal or that liberal, the media is unfair, or that in spite of his personal failings he is still “the most pro-life, faith-friendly president in history.” Some actually believe he is a godly man, probably because he lets preachers pray over him and attends church on Christmas eve. In the end, though, I need to apologize – for having to have the last word, for dominating dinner conversations, for being “that guy” who gets so worked up so quickly.

So, what is my problem? I’m not a liberal. I’m not an atheist. A north Texas Republican, I’ve voted conservative since 1980. I’ve worshipped and served in Southern Baptist churches my whole life, but in 2016, First Baptist Church of Dallas Senior Pastor, Robert Jeffress, said the Bible had a word for people like me: “fool.” He also said that year that I was a “namby pamby weak-kneed panty-waist.” A Southern Baptist preacher was publicly promoting Donald Trump as a man in whom evangelicals should place their hope, while rebuking me and mocking Christians who were hesitant based on our devotion to Christ as informed by scripture. I believe that my faith defines my character; my character, my politics; but my politics should never define my faith.

Faith-friendly legislation and access to power will not make more disciples, but to “go and make disciples of all nations…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you,” will lead to moral legislation. When a prominent religious leader such as Robert Jeffress aligns the cause of Christ with a corruptible political leader whose nature is opposed to Christ, he has created a significant stumbling block for the lost. Christ rebukes religious leaders for this corruption in Matthew 23. Christians need to reflect on their reading of the Bible. What was Christ’s response when Satan tempted Jesus with vast political power? What did Christ say to his disciples about overthrowing the oppressive Roman occupiers? Did God more often use wicked men to lead His people back to Him, or to defeat, punish and discipline His people for turning away from Him? Was God pleased when his people pressed Samuel to appoint a king, “Give us a king to lead us.” “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.” When Jesus disappointed the Jews with his teaching, ministry and challenging of religious leaders instead of leading them to overthrow the oppressive Roman occupiers, they demanded Christ be crucified and the zealot Barabbas be released in his place. This is not the first time God’s people have grown impatient with God and sought a more immediate and tangible political solution. And as before, some of our spiritual leaders are leading the crowd to choose Barabbas.

I feel betrayed by a spiritual leader, and robbed of a political voice. Don’t write me off as a RINO, Never Trumper, hater, closet liberal, naive, uninformed or, as some have said, a f’n liar. I am a follower of Christ, a husband, father, grandfather, American, conservative and then a Republican, in that order. What has animated me is that I believe Trump, enabled and encouraged by pastor Robert Jeffress, has drug the name of Jesus into the cesspool of politics, creating a stumbling block to many who are lost. I also believe Trump is an opportunist who simply exploited a large and powerful voting block and hijacked my party – a political party he spent most of his life opposing or, at best, ignoring. It became another big, tall monument to himself. “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?“

For decades Baptist ministers taught me the commandment from scripture to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” They taught me to know God and emulate the character of Christ, that I should serve within my church and my community. They also taught me God’s caution that I should be in the world but not of the world, to guard my heart.

³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. ³⁵ A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶ But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Matthew 12: 34-37

However, in 2016, pastor Robert Jeffress said I was a “fool,” because I was not sure I could support Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump against Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton – neither of whom I respected or trusted with leadership. Jeffress, full of devotion bordering on infatuation for Donald Trump, was not just tolerating the man in order to get faith-friendly conservative policies, Jeffress fully embraced Trump’s persona, his malevolent and combative nature, his emotionally stunted and petulant pride, calling it all strength in the service of God’s people. At church Jeffress preached salt, light and grace, but on the campaign trail traveling with and endorsing his friend Donald J. Trump, he preferred a scorched earth, take no prisoners, total war approach to defeating his fellow citizens, Democrats. As Jeffress put it,

“I moderated a meeting between Mr. Trump and religious leaders, and I said, with Trump seated to my left, ‘Look, I might not choose this man to be a Sunday school teacher in my church, but that’s not what this election is about. It’s about choosing the best leader to reverse the downward spiral of the nation.'”

This is not about conservatives choosing the less of two evils. It’s not about the unfair coverage of the “mainstream” media. It’s not about the Democrats’ history or hypocrisy. I have spent a lifetime hearing Baptist ministers like Robert Jeffress tell me that character matters, moral integrity modeled after the nature of Christ matters, that I can make a difference in the world around me by being salt and light, by holding to my faith principles even if I am persecuted by a hostile culture or world view. But what pastor Robert Jeffress has promulgated for the last five years is that someone like me, a Sunday School teacher, a servant leader, a Christ-follower is ill equipped to deal with the real problems of the real world – to be the General Patton Jeffress says we need to fight the war he says we’re in. If this were not so, he could have endorsed one of the more than a dozen other conservative candidates. Instead, pastor Robert Jeffress sought out, encouraged, endorsed and excused Trump, a vain, greed-driven, lusting, envious, wrathful narcissist. Jeffress didn’t choose Trump reluctantly – he loves Trump. It seems clear to me that in the name of Christ, Jeffress relishes the “punch them in the face” style of a depraved but powerful surrogate – someone who will say and do what some Christians would like to but can’t due to their public piety. Jeffress professes absolute fidelity to a leader who who did or said the following:

• “I am not sure I have (asked God for forgiveness). I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.” Trump in 2015 interview with moderator Frank Luntz
• “I moved on her actually. You know she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it. I did try and f*ck her, she was married.” Trump, 2005
• “I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful… I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star they let you do it. You can do anything.” “Grab them by the p*ssy. You can do anything.” Trump, 2005
• Prior to 2016 campaign, he paid $130,000 hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels to remain quiet about their prior affair – one of many affairs
• Trump is accused by 19 women of sexual harassment
• Denigrated a Vietnam War naval officer /Prisoner of War who suffered permanent injuries from repeated torture
• Mocked the physical appearances of a female presidential candidate and the wife of another candidate
• Mocked a disabled reporter
• Threatened to fracture our democracy at its most fragile point – the peaceful transfer of power
• Encouraged the storming of the Capital Building by an enraged mob looking to disrupt Congress’s certification of the 2020 election. The pro-Trump mob attacked and assaulted police defending the building, representatives and senators, and sought to “hang Mike Pence!” One officer was killed. Two later died. While the insurrectionists attacked the legislative branch of government, President Trump watched, did not intervene, and tweeted hostile comments about Vice President Mike Pence, putting him in greater danger from the hostile mob.

“You know what else they say about my people? The polls, they say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s like incredible.” Donald Trump, January 23, 2016

Pastor Robert Jeffress says this man was “the best leader to reverse the downward spiral of the nation.” That’s my big deal. Long before the choice came down to a single Republican (Trump) and a Democrat, the choice was between 16 conservative candidates and Jeffress chose Trump. Even more to the point, the choice has always been ours as to the type of person – their character, integrity, willingness to serve others before themselves – that we encourage and promote into candidacy. Take off the team jersey – Republican and Democrat – and see that we need to do better. Integrity’s standard isn’t just doing better than the other guys. We need to expect more from our leaders on both sides of the aisle. We also have to see that government should be the solution of last result. We need to take care of each other – “love our neighbor as ourselves.” When communities – faith based or otherwise – own the solutions for ensuring a compassionately responsible environment for pursuing freedom, we all are better for it.

Tom Noble

Choosing Barabbas

I was struck last month by the problem that Christmas presents Christians. The babe in a manger is an attractive and endearing story. It speaks of promises fulfilled, a God who loves us and hope for the future. But what happened when the babe grew up, and didn’t fulfill the expectations of those who had depended on him for their deliverance and return to their rightful place and stature as God’s People? What happens when rather than confronting and defeating their enemy as a worldly king should, he talks of loving one’s enemy? He shows concern and respect for those who had been anathema to the Jews, while seemingly offering them a relationship with God that the Jews felt was theirs’ exclusively. He doesn’t resolve the political injustice and oppression that his people were suffering. What happens when the babe grows up and doesn’t deliver on our hopes and aspirations, but instead challenges our sense of fairness, justice and even our spiritual condition?

Most know the story – how the religious leaders needed the occupying government – the Romans – to actually execute Jesus. The Romans needed to know why. The explanation from the religious leaders seemed insufficient so the Roman leader, Pilot, tried to give the people a chance to choose. It was a way out of the dilemma he felt – executing an innocent man. The choice was to decide which of two condemned men would be set free – Jesus or a notorious zealot, Barabbas. Barabbas was a criminal who had likely been imprisoned for his role in an insurrection, but the Romans – Pilot – thought that his notoriety would still be a problem for the Jewish populace. He believed that if the Jewish people disagreed with their religious leaders they would choose Jesus, but they didn’t. What happens when the babe grows up and allows our worldly enemies to flourish, when God’s methods and timing don’t meet our expectations? We choose Barabbas.

“We don’t need a statesman, “we need a Patton to fight our battles.” In a separate conversation with other evangelical leaders and Trump sitting by his side, “I’ve said I want the meanest, toughest SOB I can find to protect this nation.”

Pastor Robert Jeffress

We choose to be of the world. We choose to believe that men and women who are devoted to knowing God and becoming Christ-like are incapable of leading and dealing with the real problems of the real word, or, as Pastor Robert Jeffress said, we need a fighter not a statesman. We choose to remember when God used flawed men to serve his purpose, but choose to forget that God used wicked men to punish His people for turning away from their dependance on Him. We choose to see our political opponents as enemies, not souls for whom Christ died. We choose to masquerade a man who lives his life in opposition to God’s character as God’s worthy servant, fighting our battles as no truly righteous man could. In the end, we choose to diminish our witness by peddling cheap grace to give cover for our chosen leader’s words and life that mock God. This cheap grace was described by Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (The Cost of Discipleship)

Why?

We don’t sin because Satan makes us, we sin because we love it.

Baptist Pastor

Do some evangelicals embrace Donald Trump’s petulant style – his personal attacks on his adversaries, his crude characterizations – because they see him as their surrogate, saying the things they would like to say out loud but feel restrained by their faith from doing so?

Have some evangelicals become impatient in waiting on God to act and are taking matters into their own hands as the Israelites did with Samuel and Saul?

What about Christ’s teachings encourage some evangelicals to embrace Donald Trump’s scorched earth, total war, take no prisoners approach to politics?

Do evangelicals worry that their full-throated endorsement of and unwavering loyalty to a personality that stands in direct conflict with Christ’s character presents a picture of hypocrisy to the lost – those God called us to love and pursue in His name?

¹⁸ But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Matthew 15

Are some of our evangelical leaders like the pharisees leading the crowd to call for Barabas – the zealot, a man of action who would take on their political enemies, the Roman occupiers?

What did Jesus tell his disciples to do about the unjust, harsh political situation that oppressed them?

Yes, Christians should be active good citizens, engaged in politics, but we should be careful not to fall into idolatry by wrapping the church in the flag, and focusing more on beating the lost rather than wining the lost for God.

Religious leaders who say that we have to look outside of the teachings of Christ to find an effective, able leader to lead and protect our country preach a weak Christ.

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

Tom Noble

Open Letter to My Fellow Evangelicals

In 1861, my slave-owning Baptist ancestors in Arkansas and Georgia got it wrong, coming down on the wrong side of God and history, and they went to war to keep their slaves with the encouragement of their church pastors. In the decades following the Civil War my grandparents and their parents accepted segregation and oppressive racist policies, again, encouraged by their Southern Baptist church leaders. Abraham Lincoln got it right when, on the eve of his first inauguration and the Civil War that would follow it, he confided to an advisor,

“Here (holding letters) are twenty-three ministers of different denominations, and all of them are against me but three…”  “I know there is a God, and that He hates injustice and slavery.  I see a storm coming, and I know that His hand is in it.  If He has a place and work for me – and I think He has – I believe I am ready.  I am nothing, but the truth is everything.  I know I am right because I know liberty is right, for Christ teaches it and Christ is God.  I have told them that ‘a house divided against itself cannot stand’ and Christ and reason say the same; and they will find it so.  Douglas don’t care whether slavery is voted up or voted down, but God cares, and humanity cares, and I care; and with God’s help I shall not fail.  I may not see the end, but it will come, and I will be vindicated; and these men will find that they have not read their Bibles aright.”  Abraham Lincoln

This letter is about politics, and about evangelicals’ response and contribution to the political environment we have all recently endured. Know that I have been a political conservative since 1980. I also accepted Christ and began to follow him at a James Robison crusade when I was eight years old. I have attended, worshiped and served in Southern Baptist churches my entire life. However, right now I feel at odds with many in our party and in our Baptist denomination. Before I go any further I need to ask you to please suspend your feelings and reactions that lead one to say things such as, “but what about the democrats? What about Antifa and Pelosi and Schumer? What about abortion?” Some acknowledge Trump’s personal failings, but find various metaphors to justify tolerating the person to achieve the policies. Others freely embrace Trump’s malevolent and petulant personality – some even to the point of following the man before party and policy. Please hear me out.

We’ve been wrong before, my family among the guilty. The problem wasn’t Christ’s teachings – while embraced by pro-slavery congregants, they were also the foundation and motivation for Lincoln’s and the abolitionist’s opposition to slavery. Is it possible that today many of us, encouraged by some of our prominent evangelical leaders, are again using scripture with the unintended outcome of failing God? Please think through this with me – a brother-in-Christ.

In 2015 and 2016, during the Republican primaries, I began to find myself at odds with a growing number of evangelicals and republicans as our numbers swelled within the ranks of Donald Trump supporters. I believed then that Donald Trump’s words and life mocked the character of Christ. I know American history so I know that many politicians were not righteous men and women, but Trump was actively, loudly making a claim on our vote because of his assertion that he too was a Christian. More troubling was the degree of support heaped upon him by adoring evangelical leaders. The effect was that evangelicals were not just voting, being active participants in our political process, we were putting on the figurative team jersey of Team Trump, binding ourselves indistinguishably as Christ’s church and Trump’s most loyal supporters and apologists. All of this occurred early in the primaries while other electable conservative candidates were still in the running. Why? And why do I have such a problem with all of it?

I have in my sermon notes from some years back the following truth: “We don’t sin because Satan makes us, we sin because we love it.”

Donald Trump mocks God by claiming to be a Christian but denying the need for Jesus dying on the cross.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” 1 John 1:8-10  “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth.  But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.  If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.” If we do not believe that Christ died for our sins, confess it and ask God for forgiveness then we deny the need for Christ to have sacrificed his life.

In 2015, moderator Frank Luntz asked Donald Trump whether he had ever asked God for forgiveness for his actions. Trump responded, “I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so,” he said. “I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”

Is it OK for Christians to look to a worldly man to protect them and advance God’s policies – to actually seek out a man that fits the world’s view of a strong natural leader rather than a man after God’s own heart?

1 Samuel 8: ^“6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. ⁸ As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you. ⁹ Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights…”  ” ¹⁹ But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. ²⁰ Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

First Baptist Dallas, Senior Pastor Robert Jeffress: we don’t need a statesman, “we need a Patton to fight our battles.” In a separate conversation with other evangelical leaders and Trump sitting by his side, Jeffress: “I’ve said I want the meanest, toughest SOB I can find to protect this nation.”

Do some evangelicals embrace Donald Trump’s petulant style – his personal attacks on his adversaries, his crude characterizations – because they see him as their surrogate, saying the things they would like to say out loud but feel restrained by their faith from doing so?

What about Christ’s teachings encourage some evangelicals to embrace Donald Trump’s scorched earth, total war, take no prisoners approach to politics?

Do evangelicals worry that their full-throated endorsement of and unwavering loyalty to a personality that stands in direct conflict with Christ’s character presents a picture of hypocrisy to the lost – those God called us to love and pursue in His name?

Christians should be active good citizens, engaged in politics, but we should be careful not to fall into idolatry by thinking that God needs America, and become willing to conquer the lost for country rather than win the lost for God – not just promoting policies that reflect God’s values, but by embracing a personality that stands in opposition to Christ’s character.

Have some evangelicals become impatient in waiting on God to act and are taking matters into their own hands as the Israelites did with Samuel and Saul?

Are some of our evangelical leaders like the pharisees leading the crowd to call for Barabas – the zealot, a man of action who would take on their political enemies, the Roman occupiers?

What did Jesus tell his disciples to do about the unjust, harsh political situation that oppressed them?

Before we ever get to the point of voting between the policies of one party or the other, we promote, encourage and eventually vote on the person that will lead the party. Hopefully, weighing into our decision is their character as well as their competency. When considering character can professing followers of Christ set aside God’s commands and truths?

And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8

¹⁸ But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.

Matthew 15

Tom Noble, May 23, 2021

Twitter 5/16/21: An Open Letter to My Republican Party

Twitter 5/15/21: Republican Leaders Look for Cover of Time and False Claims of Unity – They Are Afraid

Twitter 5/13/21: McCarthy Tries to Portray United Party, Encourages Republicans to Look the Other Way

Twitter 5/12/22: Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger Under Fire, Holding the Line

Twitter 5/11/21: Republicans Begin Purge

Twitter 5/9/21: Trump’s Lie Grows. Enough.

Twitter 2/28/21: Cruz’s Opening Act at CPAC “Freedom!”

Twitter 2/18/21: Impeachment Attorney “They were bringing the ‘Calvary'”

Twitter 2/15/21: Ted Cruz – The Smartest Guy in the Room

Open Letter to my Republican Party, May 14, 2021

Proverbs 9 instructs us, “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults; whoever rebukes the wicked incurs abuse. ⁸ Do not rebuke mockers or they will hate you; rebuke the wise and they will love you. ⁹ Instruct the wise and they will be wiser still; teach the righteous and they will add to their learning.”

For five years Republicans have been led by a mocker. I am appealing to you in the hope that you will be wise. We have fallen far since the first Republican president. He led from principles first, then political pragmatism. His goal was not “to beat democrats” as recently expressed by Elise Stefanik and Kevin McCarthy – to do so by ignoring slavery – but to ultimately unite the country by removing the moral cancer of slavery that was dividing it. He was not naive, he knew the consequences, but he knew there could not be unity without first confronting the truth.

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. 

Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address, 1861

We have a moral cancer today – demagoguery and the resulting personality cult forming around a dangerous and amoral narcissist.

Stop lying to us about the nature of the assault on the Capitol and the constitutional process of the peaceful transfer of power. We saw it. Your continued attempts at gaslighting your constituents shows your contempt for the truth and your disregard for our intelligence.

Stop fearing Trump and his voter base. Your fearful appeasement of Trump and simultaneous call to forget January 6 and move forward as a “unified team” is like sewing up a wound without first cleaning it out, or ignoring a malignant tumor in hope that it will go away. Trump is not going away and your refusal to deal with the truth about Trump’s lies will leave our political body to be ravaged by disease from within.

If you are waiting for Trump to be indicted and his followers to fall away so that you may avoid a direct conflict, then you join the ranks of those historical appeasers who underestimated their own people and the power of leading with truth and transparency, choosing instead to whitewash and wait.

Give up the false god of “beating the democrats” and reelection.

Be willing to lose for the truth.

Power attained without truth is a malignancy that will consume us.

LEAD the people to the truth, even when its hard, rather than reaching for the convenient obfuscation, exaggeration, omission – all techniques that, in the end, are lies.

Rebuke the fools and the mockers among you and respect the integrity and courage of those who speak their conscience with wisdom.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln expressed his frustration over the revelation of betrayal from some leaders previously characterized as patriots, having found them without truthfulness and integrity.

There was a farmer who had a tree by his house. It was a majestic looking tree and apparently perfect in every part, tall, straight and immense in size, the grand old sentinel of his forest home. One morning, while at work in his garden, he saw a squirrel run up the tree into a hole and thought the tree might be hollow. He proceeded to examine it carefully. And much to his surprise, he found that the stately tree that he had valued for its beauty and grandeur to be the pride and protection of his little farmhouse was hollow from top to bottom. Only a rim of sound wood remained, barely sufficient to support its weight.

What was he to do? If he cut it down, it would do great damage with its great length and its spreading branches. If he let it remain, his family was in constant danger. In a storm it might fall or the wind might blow the tree against his house and crush his house and his children. What should he do? As he turned away he said sadly, ‘I wish I had never seen that squirrel.’

Abraham Lincoln, 1863

Tom Noble, May14, 2021

Breaking News – Republican Party Missing, Feared Dead, May 12, 2021

The Republican Party, GOP, has been reported as missing by family and close friends. Available information is unclear as to whether or not the GOP is still alive, and sources close to GOP differ in their opinions as to possible explanations concerning its disappearance and possible demise. Reports from one family representative shed light on the recent troubled history that has family fearing the worst. The representative said that GOP had begun distancing from those close to it over the last several years. They said that it had lost interest in its prior relationships and become brooding and detached, often exploding into outbursts of anger and even paranoia for no apparent reason. Many of its closest friends had noticed the coldness developing in GOP’s relationships, and attributed it to the influence of a group of new acquaintances GOP had begun spending time with.

Tom Noble, a close friend of 40 years, said that he witnessed GOP’s slide into a drug habit, supplied by the new and unfamiliar associates. Noble said that GOP had openly acknowledged its use of ecstasy in combination with a new illicit drug that has recently gained wide popularity and is known by its street name of, The Orange Cheeto. The new psychotropic drug causes a psychotic break with reality accompanied by hallucinations and fits of paranoia. In combination with the drug ecstasy the resulting effect is that the delusional psychotic victim is really happy to be so.

Long time friends and family are concerned that the self-destructive and erratic behavior may have led GOP to considerations of suicide. While there is no evidence of foul play in GOP’s disappearance, those close to GOP fear the worst. Noble said that regardless of whether it is found to be suicide or homicide, family and friends blame GOP’s recent descent into psychosis to its addiction to Orange Cheeto and ecstasy. They vow to pursue and bring the dealers and suppliers to justice, as well as those who coaxed GOP into its recent downward spiral.