Saturday 13th July, Pennsylvania USA
Former president and current Republican candidate hopeful for the upcoming presidential election, Donald Trump faced an assassination attempt recently. Although he was only grazed, others took bullets aimed at him and one (at the time of writing) has sadly passed away.
The assassin was killed.
What does an assassination attempt against the former president signify?
The world continues its spiral into violence, destruction and death. But there is one true hope: Jesus.
It goes without saying that it is good the assassin failed. If DJ Trump had been killed the ripple effect around the nation and the world would have been profoundly unnerving. It harkens back to the attempt on President Ronald Regan’s life in 1981, and more profoundly on the killing of President Kennedy in 1963. Such events impact the entire world, such is the influence of the USA on the rest of the world.
Failed attempt on Trump’s life
I think now, if the upcoming election is fair and free, President Trump is sure to win in November. The sympathy others will have toward him and the determination he has shown following the attempt will be powerful forces too great to overcome. He will win.
What does this attempt mean to our lives
The assassination attempt on a man who is perhaps the most divisive figure in international politics will impact us all. Trump is a staunch conservative and the world is more and more polarised. Internal unrest within nations is echoed around the Western world, with left wing pitted against right wing factions and each pulling further and further apart, as though they grip an elastic rope. I personally feel the left is becoming far more extreme, but perhaps it is inevitable that the right will also.
In one sense, it doesn’t matter how far apart these two groups pull. The main point is the intensity of attack, the hatred one side holds for the other.
The only real way of calming the storm is for those who are set either with common sense values or the truth of Jesus (and there is huge overlap in the two groups) to stand firm on our convictions and hold on through the storm that is coming. Ultimately, good will triumph over evil because we who know Jesus know “the end of the story”.
Why did this happen?
A man attempted to shoot Trump. But why? We can’t know the minute details because the assassin is dead. But the climate in politics and societies in the Western world would suggest something of this nature was sure to happen, so intense and full of hatred is our world becoming.
As far as I see it, the world is battling: Sanity v Insanity. Definitions are changing and so what traditionalists call sane is being called “evil”, and evil (abortion up to birth and beyond; castration and mutilation in the name of transgender ideology are two examples) which would seem insane to all only years ago, is now considered “good” by many.
Colour of skin matters more now than at any time in history, because the Left has decided that it’s a time for spite and revenge against any white culture.
Self preservation is now considered genocide; the Prince of Peace is openly mocked as myth; good is evil and evil is good. The world has been turned upside down.
Assassinations and attempts have occurred over the centuries. But this attempt is different. The enemy has fortunately failed, but GOD is sending yet another warning: we hate at our peril.
Even Donald Trump has said, ‘Only GOD saved me’ and ‘we must unify against evil.’
What is relevant from the Bible
I’m aware I’ve not yet quoted any scripture in this piece. That’s because I don’t know what to quote….
When I think of the consequence of the hatred which has risen in American society and beyond, I think of the demons that went into the pigs who subsequently went over a cliff (Luke 8). I think that we are experiencing a sort of self destruction as we hate. Also we are on a course of self destruction when we see the shrinking of farmland and food resources in order to “be green”, destroying food production for the sake of climate control.
President Trump => Wake up Call
Whether you agree with Donald Trump, climate deniers, traditional conservative types, evangelical Christians, Neil Oliver and GB News, etc etc, their voices are growing louder over the screams and protestations of those who would have the world completely changed into their idea of Utopia. And the clash is growing more and more intense. The demons are getting stronger and the push back is also growing. The assassination attempt against President Trump and his response to “fight” against evil is just one piece of the conflict.
As far as I can tell, Trump’s survival means the LORD is at work, speaking in metaphor and nuance available to any who want to hear.
The LORD is saying a crisis is growing and there is only one answer. Donald Trump is not the answer. GOD is the answer. In allowing Trump to survive, GOD is giving opportunity for common sense and tradition to have its say. Let’s see what those voices will say. Let’s pray it’s life affirming and unifying as even Donald Trump has encouraged.