An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians (Part 2 of 3)

An American Landslide Lesson for All Christians 

Part 2 of 3

Khen Lim




President-elect Donald J Trump (Image source: Sputnik International)

God hath spoken… and acted

In August 2015, World News Daily (wnd.com) published an article entitled, ‘Firestorm Erupts over Trump’s Bible Connection.’ Written by a young Pastor Jeremiah Johnson, who, at that time, knew next to nothing about Trump, the article was his witness to God’s calling. It was a prophetic message about a person he had never met whom God has anointed to be His trumpet to the people. Here is what he said:

“I was in a time of prayer several weeks ago when God began to speak to me concerning the destiny of Donald Trump in America. The Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, ‘Trump shall become My trumpet to the American people, for he possesses qualities that are even hard to find in My people these days. Trump does not fear man nor will he allow deception and lies to go unnoticed. I am going to use him to expose darkness and perversion in America like never before, but you must understand that he is like a bull in a china closet. Many will want to throw him away because he will disturb their sense of peace and tranquillity, but you must listen through the bantering to discover the truth that I will speak through him. I will use the wealth that I have given him to expose and launch investigations searching for the truth.”

This alone would have been very hard to take for many Christians let alone atheists but then, Pastor Johnson mentioned the ancient King Cyrus:

“‘Just as I raised up Cyrus to fulfil My purposes and plans, so have I raised up Trump to fulfil my purposes and plans prior to the 2016 election. You must listen to the trumpet very closely for he will sound the alarm and many will be blessed because of his compassion and mercy. Though many see the outward pride and arrogance, I have given him the tender heart of a father who wants to lend a helping hand to the poor and the needy, to the foreigner and the stranger.’”

Pastor Jeremiah Johnson (Image source: britspit.com)

Johnson’s reference to King Cyrus points to the Isaiah 48 in which God raised a non-believing pagan royalty to work on His behalf but more on this later. He added further:

“As the body of Christ, we must keep our ears and eyes open as we continue to move toward the 2016 elections in the United States. I believe that God is not only going to use the prayers of the saints to bring about His plans and purposes, but He is even going to use those who do not know Him. What a great comfort and source of encouragement we have in the wisdom of God in this hour.”

Note: For the rest of the original article, go here.

Needless to say, the article attracted strong reactionary responses not just from fellow Christians but also unbelievers. Pro-LBGT psychology professor Dr Earl Warren Throckmorton was scathing. He wrote, saying, “If I was of a mind to write a parody of a Charismatic minister writing about Donald Trump, an article like this would have been a good result.” A reader, Emily Joy, tweeted, saying, “I’m pretty sure my brain literally just turned into mashed potatoes reading this…” while missiologist Benjamin L Corey, who happened to label himself as a radical progressive Christian, denounced Johnson’s witnessing, saying:

“I’m not going to lie, what I just read is the dumbest thing I’ve read in my life. I’m not trying to be overly or unnecessarily critical, either. It just really, truly, is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. I had to read it three times to make sure it wasn’t The Onion.

“Please folks, don’t buy into garbage like this. Want to be charismatic? Wonderful, I’m a little bit myself. But for the love of Lemmy, please stop looking to political leaders when you should be looking to Jesus. It’s called idolatry. And, when you make your idol someone like Donald Trump (peace and blessings be upon him) the idolatry crosses over into pure silliness.”

Note: To read more, go here.

I think what most people don’t understand about Johnson’s message is that ultimately, God has always been in control. Most if not all Christians know and accept what this means. Those who may not be aware of this, will learn and understand its significance as a binding part of our faith. Those who are against God – atheists, agnostics, Satanists, feminists and radical leftists – are likely to have problems grappling with this faith concept. If they cannot accept who God is, they will simply struggle, resist and eventually reject everything we know about the Lord.

Above all, Johnson’s message brings forth three important points that many seem to miss:

Firstly, it is God’s prerogative as to who He intends to use. It is not for us who judge who God should and shouldn’t use because He is sovereign above all. It is not for us to make decisions for God using our own terms of reference for nothing we know and understand is above an omniscient God. Johnson says that God told him He will use Trump as His trumpet in America to reveal all that is corrupt, perverted and vile and if that includes the Clintons, then that is His right also.

Secondly, Christians face so much noise around in their lives to sometimes even know what is and isn’t right. It doesn’t help that we have been constantly inundated by a lying mass media that refuses to deliver balanced news. With all that goes around in our lives, Christians can be held back for all the wrong reasons, which is why many Protestants had also voted for Clinton and the Democrats during this election. However, God’s message through Johnson is that we must learn to submit to God’s truth and what He will do through Trump. In other words, we must also look past Trump’s past indiscretions and with humility, focus on the Lord’s ways.

Thirdly, if God can use people like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Artaxerxes, Darius, Cyrus or the Jews (or even the Pharaoh) to run His narrative and deliver His covenant, what is it then that makes us think that Trump has no right to be part of His plan? In the pursuit of His purposes and the fulfilment of His intended plan, it is God’s choice as to who He wishes to use and if it is Trump, then it is Trump. We have no say in this. Instead it would be prudent for us to humble ourselves and attempt to understand that His ways are always higher than ours. 

God uses whomsoever

Abraham lies to the Pharaoh about Sarah (Image source: abidinginthevine.net)

When we make judgements about Trump based on what we perceive of his lack of morals, his gruffness or his womanising ways, we think God has no reason to use him. But we conveniently forget that in Scripture, there is plenty of evidence of how the Lord uses imperfect (flawed) and compromised characters to achieve His ends. Here is a list of some of them (in alphabetical order):

Abraham the patriarch                 

Twice lied about his wife to save his own skin (Gen 12:17, 20:1-18), considered ‘too old’

Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebecca

Liar and a deceiver who tricked his father and elder brother, Esau, into surrendering his birthright (Gen 27:11-40)

Jeremiah the weeping prophet

Constantly depressed and bordering on suicidal (Jer 31:27-34)

King David, son of Jesse

A reedy young man with ill-fitting armour who then became an adulterer and murderer (2 Sam 11:5-27)

Matthew the apostle

Hideous, dishonest and much disliked tax collector (Mt 11:19, 18:17)

Moses, the deliverer             

A stuttering murderer (Ex 2:11-15) who questioned God’s judgement in using him (Ex 4:10)

Noah, son of Lamech           

Although righteous, he is also known to be a drunkard (Gen 9:18-23)

Paul the apostle

As Saul of Tarsus, he was a harsh persecutor of God’s people (Acts 9)

Peter the apostle

Thrice denier of Christ (Mk 14:66-72) and known to have spoken for the devil (Mt 16:23)

Rahab of Jericho

A Canaanite prostitute (Heb 11:31) and yet part of the Hebrews hall of faith and listed in the direct lineage of Jesus Christ (Mt 1:5)

Samson the Nazirite 

Naïve and vulnerable when it came to his lust for women (Jdg 14-16)

Sarah, Abraham’s wife                  

Laughed at God’s promise (Gen 18:12-13), compromised God’s anointed plan by using Hagar to procreate with Abraham (Gen 16:4)

Wife of Hosea the prophet

It was God who asked Hosea to marry a prostitute (Hos 1:2)

Consider what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:26 (NLT):

“Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.”

Here the apostle reminds the people of the church of Corinth of who they were before they came to Christ. Not many of them were well educated if at all. Neither did many of them hail from the nobility. You wouldn’t call them people of ‘good breeding’ either. After all, the Corinthians were hardly associated with ‘blue blooded’ gentry.

Paul exhorts us to hold up a mirror and look at it and then ask what we see in our reflection. Are we the noblesse? Do we even deserve to be called by Christ or for God to call us His children? Haven’t we forgotten about our sinful nature? For all intents and purposes, we are all fairly ordinary people from all sorts of backgrounds and who probably have some skeletons in our own closets. Yet despite all of them, we have been transformed by Jesus Christ.

Paul goes on to say amazing but humbling things about all of us:

“Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing what the world considers important. As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.” (1 Cor 1:27-29)

Trump supporters cheer at the New York Hilton Midtown on Election Night (Image source: npr.org)

We could just as easily grab hold of this verse to remind us the context of the recent U.S. elections and who Trump is in God’s eyes and then reiterate it in our own conscience as to whether we understand His choice in this matter.

Paul makes it very clear. He says God chooses things He considers to be foolish, powerless and despised by the world, things that the world considers to be unimportant. He might as well also say things that the world do not look up to or things that the world mocks, dismisses and chides. In brief, when God makes His choice, He often chooses those whom the world will never in a million years choose.

Does all that sound like Donald J Trump? Carefully consider the verses again:

“Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.” (v.27a)

Practically all the world leaders before the election consider Trump to be far more than merely foolish. Lots of demeaning words were used. And these leaders consider themselves wise counsel to the world’s population.

“And He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.” (v.27b)

Within the scheme of the political realm, Trump would be considered ‘powerless.’ More importantly ‘those who are powerful’ speaks volumes of the Clinton machinery and the entire Democratic Party behind her. They wield so much power especially when we take into account how much blinded support they receive from the mass media, colleges and universities, the Department of Justice and the White House and the entire administrative apparatus.

“God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing what the world considers important.” (v.28)

Once Trump decided to put his name into the ballot, he was consistently mocked and despised not only by the Democrats but astonishingly, by those in his own political party. In all things important in this world, everyone was led to believe that Trump was a ‘nobody’ who doesn’t deserve the time of day.

“As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.” (v.29)

We’ve now seen a tremendous miracle during the 2016 U.S. Presidential elections. It is a miracle because no man could have pulled this off. Only God’s mighty hand at work could make this impossible dream come true.

Remember the prophet Isaiah’s words:

“‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,’ declares the Lord.” (Isa 55:8)

As much as Christians are supposed to know this, we keep on having to pound our heads to remind ourselves that God is different to all of us. As a Creator, what He thinks does not even enter our brain. We think in a finite manner although we believe we are capable of understanding infinity. God created the infinity. He is the beginning and the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. We are merely some miniscule (but invaluable) part within the spectra of His creation. As such, we cannot fathom how He would act and we therefore cannot expect Him to do things within our realm of understanding because… He is different to all of us.



The 'silent majority' stands for Trump (Image source: Newsweek)

However, typical of God, He persists in using the weak to show up the supposedly strong. He destroys the proud by using the humble and trodden. He decimates and humiliates the powerful by mobilising the discounted and the dismissed (think of the Rustbelt voters, if you like). He uses someone whom the world despises to overturn the smart, learned and knowledgeable. 

And in all of these actions, God fundamentally is teaching all of us, Christians, never ever to underestimate His infinite power to change things. He is also telling the world, once more, that it doesn’t matter what we think. What God wants, He gets.

And here is the real Christian worldview that all of us would do well to learn – our God stands alone. He is incomparable. His power is impossible for us to understand. And He is above all, sovereign in every decision He makes. No amount of worldly knowledge we use to judge Him matters because He is beyond our flawed scrutiny.

He is a holy God, free to do as He pleases. If He deigns it necessary to overturn the tables as He did in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, so be it. The results speak for themselves. And if it takes even longer for the liberals, leftists, feminists, Hollywood celebrities, progressives and socialists to wrap their minds around who God is, then they’ll just keep on paying the price.

So why did God decide to move in this election? Why turn the tables so decisively? At least three reasons stand out: To destroy all human pride so that no one can boast in His presence and that all would be equal in His eyes.

Part Three (Final) of this article will be available on November 24 2016.