Good morning,

It has become all the rage within the woke circles of evangelicalism for “conservative” pastors to take Donald Trump to task in a way they never have with other occupants of—or aspirants to—the White House. I end the week reflecting on the choice we must now make.

This is the Texas Minute for Friday, October 18, 2024.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

FYI: As Texans plan for voting, a great resource is iVoterGuide.com. It offers tools and research to help citizens vote wisely up and down the ballot. 

Texas Lottery Commission Allows Players to Break the Law

• Members of the Texas Senate heard testimony this week from a Texas Lottery Commission official regarding the sale of online lottery tickets, which the commission has allowed—in violation of state law—since 2020. Daniel Greer reports on the state agency's blatant disregard for state law.
    
• Under the state government code, the Lottery is not authorized to sell products by any method other than in person. Yet the commission has been actively aiding retailers in violating the law.
      
• Online play was never envisioned when Texans approved the lottery in 1991, but it is not confined simply to Texans playing the games. With the Lottery Commission’s help, syndicates of out-of-state bettors have extracted millions from Texas.
        
• This year, the Texas Lottery Commission facilitated the online sale of tickets to out-of-state players, resulting in an investment group winning a $95 million jackpot. As originally reported by the Houston Chronicle, this syndicate spent over $25 million to purchase nearly all possible number combinations to secure the win. The commission aided the syndicate by approving the deployment of additional lottery ticket machines to allow the surge in purchasing.
      
• Now, the commission is allowing online retailers to sell "digital" scratch-off tickets through a website and mobile phone app. Players virtually simulate scratching a ticket by removing “digital latex” to reveal the ticket’s already determined outcome. 

North Texas Doctor Sued for Illegally Providing Cross-sex Hormones to Children

• A doctor in Dallas is being sued by Attorney General Ken Paxton for illegally providing minors with cross-sex hormones as part of a gender mutilation and "transition" regimen. Sydnie Henry reports that state law prohibits gender mutilation procedures for minors, including surgeries, puberty blockers, and cross-sex hormones.
    
• Dr. May C. Lau is an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern Medical Center and is listed as an adolescent medicine physician at Children's Health Speciality Center Dallas.
      
• According to Paxton’s filing, Lau illegally provided high-dose cross-sex hormones to at least 21 minor patients for the direct purpose of “transitioning” the child from his or her biological sex. She is also accused of using false diagnoses and billing codes to mask her unlawful prescriptions.
      
• Lau has a history of supporting gender mutilation procedures, having written extensively on the subject.
       
• “Texas passed a law to protect children from these dangerous unscientific medical interventions that have irreversible and damaging effects. Doctors who continue to provide these harmful ‘gender transition’ drugs and treatments will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” — Ken Paxton

Venezuelan Charged With Assault Entered U.S. Illegally Through Texas

• In October 2023, the U.S. Border Patrol first encountered Darwin Andres Gomez Izquiel in the Del Rio Sector after he illegally entered the country. Addie Hovland reports the Venezuelan man was issued an immigration hearing date for June 2024, instructed to report to an immigration field office in Memphis, and then released.
      
• Instead of going to Memphis as he promised, Izquiel went to New York City. There, police officers arrested him on charges of assaulting an officer, gang assault, obstruction of governmental administration, and disorderly conduct—but he was released the following day.
       
• Izquiel has now been re-arrested by ICE and faces removal from the country.
     
• According to U.S Customs and Border Protection, more than 8 million illegal aliens have entered the U.S. since the Biden-Harris administration took office in 2021.

TAMU-San Antonio Library Highlights ‘Anti-Racist’ Resources

• Texas A&M-San Antonio University Library is highlighting “anti-racist” research guides in their book selections. Valerie Muñoz reports research guides are listed on the university’s library website to help students navigate class topics and assignments.
       
• A list of “Racial Justice and Anti-Racist Resources” is found under the university’s “Black Studies Research Guide.” The website offers a “resource list to educate yourself and spark conversation about institutionalized racism.” Closely associated with leftwing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” hiring and management practices, the anti-racism ideology asserts there is systemic racism in America.
       
• The TAMUSA guide names the New York Times’ widely debunked 1619 Project and the Black Lives Matter website as anti-racism resources.
       
• Neither TAMUSA nor the Texas A&M University System responded to inquiries about the library program.

Houston Controller Accused of Pay-to-Play

• Mayor John Whitmire accused Houston Controller Chris Hollins of “pay-to-play” for selling sponsorships—the highest level of which awards the donor with a private dinner with the Controller—to the Houston Annual Investor Conference. Charles Blain has the story.
    
• The annual conference never previously offered sponsorships, but Hollins rolled out tiers of sponsorships this year ranging from $10,000 to $100,000. Whitmire said he began receiving calls from potential sponsors weeks ago asking if they would face repercussions for choosing not to sponsor the event. 
       
• According to the Controller’s site, the funds would go to Houston Forward Fund, a donor-advised fund housed in the Greater Houston Community Foundation. Among other things, the Houston Forward Fund engages in voter registration activities.
       
• “It’s wrong and violates everything I stand for since I was sworn in, there are conflicts of interest being practiced and this is as clear as anything as I have seen.” – John Whitmire

Friday Reflection
Siding with the Fighters

It has become all the rage within the woke circles of evangelicalism for “conservative” pastors to take Donald Trump to task in a way they never have with other occupants of—or aspirants to—the White House. They focus on his style without considering results or substance.

This isn’t surprising since that’s how many operate in their own ministries. They want us focused on how they play the right music, have fun social groups, or are aspiring members of the new intelligentsia. They hope we will ignore the scripturally irrelevant self-help pablum dispensed from their pulpits.

The real problem is that too many pastors and other church leaders are threatened by a “profane” businessman who delivered on his promises to accomplish their ends.

The modern church—even the allegedly “Bible-believing, theologically conservative” brand associated with American evangelicalism—has become a sinkhole of soft leftist ideology. Too many pulpits are filled by pastors more concerned with the faint praise of the godless elite than with substantive reform of our culture. They are embarrassed by the Trump-supporting rabble and want to be loved by the modern Roman overlords.

For decades, conservatives have been urged not to see themselves as voting for a “pastor” when selecting a president. We have been told to overlook adultery in the Oval Office. We had to tolerate forever wars. We were told to ignore unconstitutional power grabs in the name of “safety.” We were told to understand that funding Planned Parenthood was a necessary “concession” for our so-called friends to gain political power.

But the power to do what?

In 2016, conservatives finally relented. We elected someone who made a different bargain. Rather than go with the guys who pat the electorate on the head and offer some soft patter about their conversations with their ol’ pal Jesus, voters went with a straight-talking, results-promising newcomer—even if he’s occasionally crass and unabashedly self-promoting.

No one could confuse Donald Trump with a pastor. But we weren’t supposed to be electing a pastor, right?

Instead, Americans elected a man to get a job done. He made explicit promises and seemed like a guy who would deliver.

For years, Big Evangelical programmatically failed to deliver policy results but lined its pockets with the proceeds of promises for “next time.” These same political pastors have told us to tolerate professional politicians who’ve made a good living on “fighting the good fight” without ever putting a win on the board.

For more than 30 years, American presidential candidates promised Christians they’d move the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; they never did it. Donald Trump did.

Republicans for 50 years ran on the agenda of protecting the unborn and ending abortion but did precious little. Donald Trump banned the use of federal dollars for abortion with the stroke of a pen. He appointed to the Supreme Court justices who exposed and overturned the vile Roe v. Wade for the unconstitutional infanticide that it was.

The hip pastors who preach about social justice talk a good game about prison reform, but Donald Trump did it.

The emasculated “men” who wring their soft hands about Donald Trump’s awful tone seem incapable of looking at the results of his presidency—the very results they long claimed to cherish. It makes me think a great many of these pastors don’t want to solve problems. They seem more comfortable spouting moralism from comfortable, book-lined offices while fleecing their flocks.

The problem is not that Donald Trump is a morally flawed man like the rest of us. The same woke pastors who tell us to metaphorically stone Donald Trump nonetheless refuse to speak out against the sins of Kamala Harris. They will loudly damn Trump supporters for his failings but won’t do likewise for those backing Harris. Indeed, some have even endorsed her to show their “outrage” at the man who got their things done.

And that is their problem with Donald Trump. He did what he promised. He fought for American greatness. Even when he failed to deliver, he did not fail to fight.

You don’t like Donald Trump’s attitude? Then don’t invite him to dinner. King David was a murderer and an adulterer. Solomon levied horrendous taxes to fund a lavish lifestyle. Matthew was a tax collector. Paul condemned Christians to death.

Rather than pander to the left, Donald Trump has fought for the right. Pastors should emulate his willingness to fight off the wolves to defend his flock. Too many of them would rather be friends with the wolves.

When he was shot on July 13, Donald Trump didn’t collapse into the arms of the Secret Service to be bundled off to safety. Instead, he stood—with blood flowing across his face—to show people he was not giving up. “Fight! Fight! Fight!” he yelled, pumping his fist defiantly in the air.

How many shepherds leading our churches would do likewise?

Even when so many pastors have been unfaithful to us, Donald Trump kept faith with America. We’ve had more than enough nice guys who don't fight, so now we've got a fighter who isn't always nice.

The uncomfortable question we should ask is this: Who has done more for liberty: the pulpit-approved nice guys or the fighters?

As for me, I’ll be ignoring the cowards in the pulpits. I want fighters.

Quote-Unquote

"There is nothing so pleasing as to be shot at by one’s enemy without result."

– Winston Churchill​