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The world is chattering about the Trump assassination attempt. Some people are gnashing their teeth, and others are thumping their chests and pumping their fists. I don’t want to rush to conclusions about anything. There is far too much of rushing to conclusions in our world – or reflexively doubling down on the conclusions we reached long ago.

The assassination attempt, however warrants some kind of response. No one is without some thoughts on the matter. My goal, though, is to be circumspect and seek perspective

I have not been shy in my writing on my concerns about Donald Trump and the uncritical support of Trump by the body of Christ in this country. The most read article on this blog, Who Were the Sons of Issachar? And What Might They Mean for Us Today?, is an attempt to find some perspective in the swirl of religious fervor with which people support Trump.

As I write this, I recognize that Trump may likely become the next President of the United States – an unlikely two-time President. I also recognize the prophecies about the first Trump presidency and the prophecies predicting a second Trump presidency that did not come to fruition four years ago. They appear (to me) about to be vindicated in 2024.

If Donald Trump is elected for a second time, we must admit that these prophecies came true. The test of a true prophet and of a prophecy from God is whether the events predicted happen.

That isn’t the end of the story, however. Paul exhorts us to test everything and hold onto only what is good. (1 Thess. 5:21) The context in which these words were spoke is prophecies, among other things:

Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:19-22

What do we hold on to here? What is God saying, and what is God doing in these times

Does a second Trump presidency as prophesied mean that Trump is God’s anointed? Like David? Or Like Saul? Does it mean that the American church must put its uncritical allegiance behind Donald Trump, including all that he says, all that he does, every position he takes, and all that he stands for?

These questions are ways of asking, “What God is doing in our times?” And, maybe more importantly, “What should we be doing in these times?”

We need to be careful – to test everything. God has a way of doing things that we don’t expect and don’t understand. If we don’t believe that, we are not reading our Bible closely enough.

I have been writing recently about how God’s people – the Jews – in the 1st Century had prophecies about the coming Messiah for hundreds of years, and they believed and were expectant about his coming, but they did not recognize Him when he came. God came in the flesh, and He walked and lived among them, and they didn’t receive Him! (John 1:1-11)

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Jesus did not conquer with power. He conquered by giving up his life. He conquered sin and death to give us life, and he asks us to follow him in the same way Jesus walked.

I think it’s important that the church maintain perspective and listen carefully for the voice of God and the guiding of the Holy Spirit in these times. We need measure what we think we are hearing with God’s Word and God’s character that is revealed to us in Scripture by Jesus, who is the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) and the exact representation of the nature of God. (Hebrews 1:3)

I continue to be concerned about the way our super patriotic rhetoric and uncritical support of the man, Donald Trump, has hurt and is hurting the witness of the gospel in our times. Have we put our faith in a king, rather than God Himself?

When the people of Israel wanted a king like all the other nations, God gave them one. In asking for a king, however, they were rejecting God’s rule over their lives. God anointed Saul to be king, but God warned them about the consequences of their desire:

“But when they said, ‘Give us a king to lead us,’ this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. 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. 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. 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.'”

1 Samuel 8:6-9

Of course, God in his sovereignty, worked through the establishment of a monarchy in Israel, later anointing David, a man after God’s own heart (though David was far from perfect himself). Through David, God established the lineage of the coming messiah, Jesus. 

God works all things together for his purposes, but that doesn’t mean that Israel’s desire for a king was holy or righteous. To the contrary, we are told in no uncertain terms that it was not. They rejected God in asking for a king.

Let that sink in.

We can recognize that God has chosen Donald Trump to be president. We can recognize that the prophecies of Donald Trump’s first presidency and second presidency were correct, but that isn’t the end of the story, and it does not dictate the way the Body of Christ should act in these present times.

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We forget that the brutal, Assyrian kings before them, who mercilessly besieged Jerusalem and took the survivors captive to Babylon, were also God’s agents. Pontius Pilot, who presided over the crucifixion of Jesus, was God’s agent. Nero, the deranged, psychotic and wicked Emperor of Rome, who burned Christians as torches in the street and put Paul and Peter to death, did so under God’s sovereignty.

These are hard things to comprehend and put in perspective, but this is why we need to be circumspect and test everything, and we need to be careful as we seek to understand these times – and direct our actions. God is doing what He is doing. Are we doing what God has commanded us to do?

I have said it before that, if God put Trump into the White House, God also put Obama and now Biden into the White House. It works both ways. Nothing occurs that is not allowed in God’s sovereignty.

“for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”

Romans 13:1

God is working out his purposes in the world in ways that even His own people don’t always see or understand. Even when He tells His people ahead of time what He is doing, God’s own people don’t always recognize it or understand it. Sometimes, they don’t even receive it.

I don’t claim to know exactly what God is saying in these times. Only that we need to be careful.

Another thing I know is that we have direction from Jesus to make disciples in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and out to the ends of the earth. That is clear.

Jesus was also clear about the way that we should follow him, by taking up our crosses daily and giving up our lives. Jesus said that the world would know us by our love for one another. He also told us that we need to love our neighbors and to love even our enemies.

These things are the clear direction from God to us that apply in these times and in all times until the coming of our Savior, the Lamb of God who conquers the world with His self-sacrificial love. If we get nothing else right, these are the things that we need to get right and to follow accordingly in the way of Jesus.