You are a clever little man, little master of the universe, but mortals are weak and frail. If their stomach speaks, they forget their brain. If their brain speaks, they forget their heart. If their heart speaks, they forget everything.                

-Djinn, the genie in the Thief of Baghdad,

Then if anyone says to you, Look here is the Christ or There do not believe it, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders to deceive if possible, even the elect.

-          Matt. 24:23-24.

What is the connection, you may ask..

Next week is the projected date for Donald Trump’s return to power. Curious, isn’t it?

It is difficult to persuade someone to acknowledge the truth when the heart sees things differently. Whenever a person truly believes and desires something, he or she stops at nothing to arrive at that desired outcome. They will sacrifice anything, say anything or do anything to achieve that particular goal or thing. Seduced by brash words of a conman leading to faulty belief system, hooked up to a ventilator, they are dying in hospitals in West Virginia. They steadfastly declare unto the end it is the flu or cancer, not coronavirus, fully denying the obvious —lending a grotesque, cruel credence to the biblical passages-- "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he...for the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them." They forget that every action has an equal and opposite reaction-- that every solution creates another problem.

Like the ballot recount in Arizona, they are singularly focused on one particular aim — to discover fraud and ensure Donald Trump is reinstated in the White House. They are not thinking about or considering any potential fallout from that course of action.

Any reasonable person will see this is not a well thought out decision and act —a quixotic quest- instigated by one man too cowardly to admit that he lost.

Chris Krebs, former head of Cybersecurity and Bill Barr, former chief law enforcement officer of the United States have declared there was no fraud sufficient enough to overturn the election. The election was conducted with machines and paper ballots with the same corresponding totals at the end. Further the tallies have been audited, verified and certified by the Governors, Congress and Former Vice President Mike Pence.

The Courts have refused to hear or have thrown out more than 60 cases contesting the elections. Republican commissioner Al Schmidt of Philadelphia makes a very salient point. He says if they are claiming fraud, one would expect that they would present one undeniable incident of fraud. To date, they have shown none. It seems that this unknowable, improvable fraud exists, because we have been told that it exists. Indeed how many presidential elections up until 2020 have been overturned for fraud? How many instances of voter fraud up to and including 2020 have been proven in court?

Joe Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes so they must invalidate at least that amount, then convince Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to do the same.

Once you have proven that, what happens with the other candidates and initiatives on the same ballots? You cannot ignore the fact that Trump and Biden were not on the ballot alone.

What happens to the people whom you would disenfranchise by discarding their ballots?

Will the candidates who lost just lie down and accept it? Would they blithely declare, "Oh, it is what it is" and happily move on?

What punishments would you mete out to Krebs, Barr, The Governors and Mike Pence for being part of this vast "Deep State" conspiracy?

It has been reported that fully one third of Americans really believe the election was stolen from Donald Trump and would do anything, as evidenced by the Jan. 6th insurrection, to prove it.

Consider Gregg Locke, a pastor in Tennessee.

This pastor has made controversial and often fanatical pro-Trump remarks for years and he mocks any critic, asking him: "When are you going to apologize, for being a false prophet?" and "When y'all going to get the memo that I didn't get it wrong?"

Locke shot out other rhetorical remarks. "Trump ain't never went nowhere, he ain't back, he's always been around. He is the legitimate president of the United States of America. I don't care if you stand up and clap or not. I'm telling you, Donald Trump is the legitimate president of the United States of America. You've got to smoke a lot of dope in your mom's basement not to believe that fact."

Now Trump has never been highly regarded as an intellectual heavyweight with an impressive grasp of world affairs, events and history. He is not renowned the world over for his honesty, unassailable, sterling character and unswerving commitment to the truth. He is the same man who promised to build a wall on the southern border and have Mexico pay for it. He is the same man--so insecure, so afraid of being shown to be wrong-- who altered an official hurricane map with a sharpie to prove his assertion that a storm would impact the state of Alabama. He cannot perform miracles, yet fully one third of Americans, Christians included, believe his every word. Mike Lindell, the CEO of My Pillow, a professed redeemed Christian, has set Aug. 13, 2021 for Donald Trump's return to power.

Hmm! It will be interesting to observe how the mechanics of that would work. We are being set up, friends. How difficult would it be for a man who is more charming, magnetic and knowledgeable, one capable of miracles, great signs and wonders to capture and seduce a receptive world?

You think about that.

V. Knowles is a husband, father and prison minister with an interest in penning issues that serve to uplift mankind. He melds his love for Classic literature, The Bible and pop culture - as sordid as it may be - into highly relatable columns of truth, faith and justice. Hence the name: Just Thinking. If he's not buried in a book or penning his next column, you may find him pinned to his sectional watching a good old Country and Western flick. He is also the co-author of HOLA America: Guts, Grit, Grind and Further Traits in the Successful American Immigrant