Sunday morning, I wrote what I initially was hearing from the Lord about our strike against Iran the prior day. But there is something that has been “stuck in my craw.” That saying comes from the part of a bird’s preliminary stomach where things are first digested. If a rock is ingested and gets stuck there, it causes irritation. Digestion is not possible. The same holds true with what we receive and try to assimilate from things spoken or heard. There are some people who were quite elated with Trump invoking God in his thanks. That is seen as pointing to a person’s right standing with God. To me, what is still resonating is his awkwardness in saying “I want to just thank everybody and in particular, God. I want to just say we love you God and we love our great military. Protect them.” I want all to have a walk with the Lord and especially those making decisions that affect our country. But I feel he had a problem getting those words out. They sounded quite foreign. Maybe he was uncomfortable saying that and, who knows, maybe there was some conviction. I hope so. For his sake. For our sake.
It says in 1 John 3:17 that “Whoever has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?” We’re told not to love in our words but in our deeds and in truth. John tells us that whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God. And he who does not love his brother is also not of God. Those words are for all of us to pay strict attention to. But as I look at what is being done by Donald Trump, especially in this second term, I see nothing of the love of God in how those who are marginalized, the needy, the homeless, the sick, are being treated. God has no part in these decisions he is making or authorizing. And when one surrounds themselves with people so bereft of decency and conscience, how can that person speak His name without it sounding foreign? Proverbs 29:12 says, “If a ruler pays attention to lies, All his servants become wicked.” And it says in Proverbs 29:16 “When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases, But the righteous will see their fall.” I pray they all come to a knowledge of the Lord, for if they do, it will surely benefit us. But the knowledge being presented by those surrounding Trump is the antithesis of all Christ taught. They walk in darkness and continually stumble in their blindness but think it is a normal gait. And we must bear the consequences of their folly and evil. We must continue praying for His revelation for all to see because the Lord requires it of us and it will surely go better for us if they come to see the light. And hopefully this light will penetrate the walls of so many “places of worship” that venerate Trump no matter how diametrically opposed he is to the ways of Jesus.
We are reminded throughout the Word that we are to have boldness. In speaking His word and standing for what is right. Speaking His word boldly in truth. Without even the hint of a foreign sound when we say His name. It should sound like the name of one we are familiar with. One we worship. One we sit before and fellowship with. Not one whose name we use to make it sound as if we know Him but live a life foreign to His ways. 1 John 4:20-21 is to the point. “If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.” What was heard from trump’s speech should have “stuck in the craw” of many. In a way it says, “that’s not the Father I know.” In fact, what came to mind after hearing Trump invoke God’s name, was what was said at the 1988 Vice-presidential debate between Senator Lloyd Bensten and Senator Dan Quayle. Quayle had just compared his own experience and qualifications to that of John F. Kennedy. Senator Bentsen replied, “I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator Quayle, you are no Jack Kennedy.” .” Similarly speaking, Trump cannot just summon up God’s name as if he has a relationship with Him. We must realize that the Son of God has come and given us an understanding that we may know Him who is true. Pray for increase in all things. Pray without ceasing. Blessings.
Stand My Watch 