Lessons Learned from the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump

         On Saturday night I got the shocking news that an attempt had been made on the life of Donald Trump. Amidst all the furor I would like mention a few of the lessons we need to learn from this event.

1.       History can change dramatically in a single moment; there is a tendency even among Christians to think the way things are now is the way they will always be. But that simply is not true. God causes or allows interventions into the normal pattern of things all the time. The assassination attempt is an intervention that has shaken people up. Let me predict a future event that will be more earth-shattering: The Second Coming of Jesus Christ

2.       God intervened to save Trump’s life. Surely Trump was right when he said, “It was God alone who kept the unthinkable from happening”. There is considerable debate online right now about divine intervention which the Left denies, of course, because it doesn’t believe in God. But even a liberal Christian headlined his column on Religious News, “God did not save Donald Trump.” His argument: why would God save Trump and not the man who was killed at the rally? This is absurd. We simply do not know why God does what He does. In Matthew 10:29 Jesus says God has charted the flight pattern of every sparrow; surely God charts the paths of bullets. Why He allows some to kill and not others we will never know. Isaiah 55 says God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts not our thoughts. 

3.       Divine providence is still the most important factor in human affairs; Psalm 2 says that political leaders scheme and plot against God but that He merely laughs at them. Then He works out everything according to the council of His will.

4.       A brush with death in Samuel Johnson’s words can “concentrate the mind wonderfully”; according to journalists who interviewed Trump after the assassination attempt he said he is rewriting his acceptance speech; “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger,” Trump said. “Had this not happened, this would’ve been one [speech] aimed mostly at the policies of President Joe Biden. “Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”

5.       Those who deny God’s existence have no explanation for the most important aspects of reality; comedian Bill Maher, who is an outspoken infidel, said simply that Trump is the luckiest man who ever lived; there is nothing else for him to say; life has no meaning, purpose, or governing principles.

6.       Government failures are to be expected because governments are made up of human beings; there has been much criticism for those charged with protecting the candidate and they probably made serious mistakes. But that’s what governments do. Make mistakes. Many on the Left have replaced God with government. They have a pretty pathetic god.

7.       The assassination attempt probably won’t affect the election very much but it could affect Donald Trump greatly; the soul of Trump is far more important than any election; to channel C.S. Lewis, Trump is more important than the election because he lasts longer; he will exist forever in the presence of God or banished from that presence; sometime in the future the United States as we know it will cease to exist; but Donald Trump, as well as you and me, will never cease to exist.

I thank God that He spared Mr. Trump’s life. For what purposes I do not know. But of this I am certain—He has a purpose. And that purpose will unfold in future days.

Thanks for listening. May God bless you in a mighty way.

More: Why I am hopeful about the future of Western Civilization: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIxSvawjZmo

Thomas Sowell: https://www.wsj.com/articles/lessons-of-the-trump-assassination-attempt-fe56e1a8?mod=opinion_lead_pos9

Shane Claiborne, God Did Not Save Donald Trump: https://religionnews.com/2024/07/15/god-did-not-save-donald-trump/

Trump was saved by divine providence: https://thefederalist.com/2024/07/16/miracle-monday-gop-conventiongoers-say-divine-providence-protected-trump-from-near-deadly-bullet/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=miracle-monday-gop-conventiongoers-say-divine-providence-protected-trump-from-near-deadly-bullet&utm_term=2024-07-16

Salena Zito on how the attempt changed Trump’s life: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/presidential/3082180/trump-rewrites-republican-convention-speech-focus-unity-not-biden/

The Federalist: Jesus Christ is Trump’s security detail: https://thefederalist.com/2024/07/17/jesus-christ-is-donald-trumps-security-detail/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jesus-christ-is-donald-trumps-security-detail&utm_term=2024-07-17