Sadly, I’m probably about to lose some “friends” over what I’m about to post. Although, if you “unfriend” me on social media over this, I’m not sure we had much of a friendship to begin with. So, here goes …
No one can definitely say that God chose Donald Trump to be president.
Last night and into the wee hours of this morning, more than one person I believe to be a sincere, devout brother or sister in Christ posted words to the effect that “God has spoken” or “God has allowed us to reclaim America” or “God’s man wins” in response to Donald Trump’s victory.
My response has been consistent: God may have put Trump in the White House. Or, he may have, simply, allowed him to be elected. And none of us can say for sure which is the case.
In response, I’ve had my sanity, my manhood, and even my salvation called into question … all by people who claim to be fellow Christ-followers.
No. I’m not kidding, or exaggerating … even a little bit.
If you’re one of my Facebook friends who doesn’t really know me, I’ve been a Christian for 42 years. I’ve served in Evangelical (mostly Southern Baptist) Christian churches as a Bible teacher, leadership team member, pastor search committee member, praise team member, etc., for much of that time. I’ve also served in local and national ministries – from KVNE radio in Tyler, Texas, to Focus on the Family in Washington, DC – for much of my adult life.
No, none of that “proves” I’m a Christian. But I know I am. I hope and pray my actions and words show that I am. And I know I can find lots of well-respected Christians in every community in which I’ve lived and worked, who would testify that I am a devoted and sincere follower of Christ.
So, that last “stone” hurt … a lot.
It also hurt when my comments were misrepresented. One person angrily misquoted me, saying I had declared that “God had nothing to do with Trump being elected.” That’s not what I said, not even close. For the record, that’s called a “straw-man argument.” Misstate something your “opponent” said and then attack the misstatement to discredit your opposition. That’s how we expect politicians to treat each other. We, in the church, are supposed to be identifiable to the world by our love for one another. Interesting, to say the least.
Someone also said, “The truth of the matter is Trump is the President and that is that. God appoints who is in leadership. Read the Bible and see what God [s]ays.”
I have read the Bible … a lot. I’ve spent literally decades studying what the Bible has to say about human government. But, let’s do it again, together, so we’re all, literally, on the same page:
Many people make claims about God ordaining leaders. They usually base their belief on Daniel 2:21, which says:
“He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.”
But the verses throughout Daniel about God deciding who is in power are referring specifically to the impending judgment on the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, not generally to all rulers. While you may want to disagree, I can prove this, both biblically and historically.
First biblically: God, himself, specifically states in Hosea 8:3-4 …
“But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him. They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.” (Emphasis added.)
So, unless you’re going to claim God is contradicting himself, neither the verses in Daniel nor any other verse in the Bible used to claim that God chooses, selects, elects, ordains, or installs ALL rulers/leaders can support such a claim. God specifically condemns Israel for sometimes selecting its own rulers without his permission, much less mandate.
Second, I can prove God does not choose all “kings” historically: According to widely peer-reviewed academic research by Professor R.J. Rummel in his 1997 book “Power Kills,” governments have murdered more than 262 million unarmed citizens/subjects in the 20th Century alone.
I can’t believe any Bible-believing Christian would argue that “God had spoken,” when murderers like Adolph Hitler (30 million victims), Joseph Stalin (40 million victims), or Mao Zedong (60 million victims) assumed the leadership of their respective kingdoms.
The Bible is clear that everything that happens is within God’s permissive will. But that does not mean everything that happens is within his perfect will. God did not ordain 262 million people to die at the hands of their governments in the 20th Century. He did not move Muslim terrorists to attack our country in 2001 taking 3,000 innocent lives. Nor did he cause the kidnapping and murder of a ten year old girl who was abducted from a church here in East Texas last week.
He – far beyond any measure of our limited, human understanding – allowed those things to happen. In his sovereignty, he permitted evil human beings to exercise their free will, to the great detriment of their fellow man.
God is absolutely sovereign. And. Sometimes, he chooses to exercise that sovereignty by imposing his will on mankind. But the Bible is consistent and clear that God also regularly exercises his sovereignty by allowing his creation to exercise its free will … including allowing us to “set up kings without [his] consent.”
God may, very well, have “ordained,” or “appointed” or even “elected” (in the supernatural sense) Donald Trump to become President of the United States. But, God may have simply allowed Donald Trump to become president.
We don’t know which and we won’t know which unless God widely reveals that to his people, or Christ shares that with us upon his return or our entry into heaven.
These comments are not intended as a criticism, but as a caution to not tie God too closely to worldly politics based on personal preferences. Far from being an insult, this is the pained voice of experience trying to share a lesson I learned the hard way.
Over recent decades, the “Christian right” has set up a lot of leaders and candidates as “God’s man,” for an election. From local races all the way to the White House, we’ve been all-too-willing to speak for God, declaring that our choice for a particular office is his choice for that office.
I first watched this happen with presidential candidates who I personally knew to be Christian, God-fearing, country-loving patriots, men who held the Constitution only slightly lower in esteem than the Bible.
Then, as Christian/conservatives lost more ground, I watched “our side” declare a highly-patriotic but religiously-neutral candidate to be “God’s choice,” simply because they thought he could stop a Democrat from winning the White House.
Finally, I held my head in shame as politically-conservative “Christian leaders” across our country declared a man – who rejects Jesus Christ both as the son of God and as the only path to salvation – as THE candidate God had ordained to keep Barack Obama from being reelected.
It’s in light of that history that I want my Christian friends to understand that the intent of my comments is not to discourage, insult, or disparage anyone. It’s to caution you about tying God, and more importantly, his son, Jesus, too closely to any human leader, whether it’s Donald Trump, or anyone else.
The following may be harsh. That’s not the point. I’m just being real here:
Donald Trump has never held himself out to be a Christian until very recently. He has very publicly and very unapologetically (again, until recently) lived a life that flies in the face of the teachings of Christ. He has, as recently as the past few months, made statements to the effect that he has never asked for forgiveness because he’s done nothing to require being forgiven, and proving his lack of basic biblical knowledge by referring to II Corinthians as “two Corinthians.”
Please don’t misunderstand … I am not comparing Trump to Stalin or Mao or Hitler. Nor am I saying he’s not a Christian.
Dr. James Dobson – who I used to work for and with – says he knows the person who recently led Trump to Christ. I sincerely hope and pray and even dream that Donald Trump really is a baby Christian who will grow in faith and maturity as he grows into his new role as our nation’s 45th President.
But I don’t know. And neither do most, if any, of the people I’m friends with on Facebook.
So, I pray. And I try to genuinely and sincerely caution fellow believers against tying their support for politicians too closely to our God. God doesn’t embarrass us. But many “Christian leaders” – both in politics and in the church – have done things that are embarrassing to God and detrimental to the Gospel. Can we please stop helping them by claiming God always ordained elected officials to their office the same way he ordains a pastor to lead their local church? Did you really, sincerely respond to the election of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton by reminding others that, “God has spoken?” I didn’t think so.
If you’ve read this far, thank you, sincerely! I really don’t want to offend you, hurt your feelings, or make you angry.
But my concern for how God is portrayed to a world that is lost, dying, and going to hell is infinitely greater than my concern for how you feel about me or my comments. I truly hope that people will consider what I’ve written, discuss it with other believers, and pray about it … earnestly.
My fervent prayer is that my brothers and sisters in Christ will come to the same conclusion I have: That we are to “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s” always being careful to never place God in a position to be blamed for Caesar’s human flaws because, as 1 Peter 1:24 (with commentary) says:
“All people (including political leaders) are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.”