GOD'S PROVIDENCE, PLAN & PRESIDENT:
- brittbryan1001
- Jul 27, 2024
- 11 min read
Why America needs a different kind of Awakening.
Photo: Anna Moneymaker (Getty Images via AFP)
It's an election year, so it’s no surprise that the political landscape is fraught with smear campaigns, emotionally-charged attack ads, and adversarial rhetoric. In other words, politics as usual.
Except the current political climate we find ourselves in today is so very NOT usual.
Because instead of merely being on different sides of an issue anymore, we’ve determined that those who vote differently from us are BAD. They are the ENEMY. Instead of simply disagreeing with people in the other political party, we demonize them.
I am not so naive as to suggest we all just get along and play nice in the political sandbox. I know that is not how the world works, on or off the playground. So, before you say that mud-slinging “happens on both sides” - of course it does.
But I am talking about something deeper and more sinister. I’m speaking about the moment we find ourselves in right now, where the events in recent years have inspired our language around politics to take a drastically religious turn. Suddenly, our political rivals are WICKED and EVIL and our political discourse has become downright biblical.
And this emotionally charged language has only intensified in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Trump. Which was awful, scary, and tragic - I do not wish to downplay the severity of that situation.
But long before that, the table had been set for an event like this, thanks to the increasingly negative, oddly aggressive, and intentionally inciting language surrounding politics. I think both “sides” can cop to that.
And while there is plenty to say about problems with Democrats and their party's platform, there is only one political party that claims to speak on behalf of God. Only one party that wants to wage war on cultural and social issues precisely because they perceive them to be an attack on their Christian faith. Only one party is crying out for a moral awakening in this country, which can only be achieved through one man.
No, not Jesus. Donald J. Trump.
In case it isn’t clear, I’m referring to the Republican Party. But if you identify with that party, I hope you will hang with me!
Because this is NOT a criticism of Republican policies, or even of Trump himself. This is about the dangers of religious rhetoric in politics and how Christians in America have deified a man - and made it entirely normal.
Because ever since the assassination attempt, the leaders of the Republican Party have expressed a belief that not only is God on THEIR side, but that God - through "divine intervention," as Tucker Carlson said last week - has ordained Trump to be America’s next president.
This now widely-held opinion was on full display at the Republican National Convention last week, as speaker after speaker took the stage and made statements like:
"I thank God that His hand was on President Trump." - Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
"And we thank Him for protecting our next president, Donald J. Trump." - Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin
“If you didn't believe in miracles before Saturday, you better be believing right now! … Because on Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back up on his feet.” - South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott
My Christian sisters and brothers, there can be no denying that this kind of language has elevated Trump to a messianic figure and we must unequivocally reject and denounce it.
No matter the temptation to get swept up in spiritually manipulative dialogue, we need to be extra-mindful of the language we use surrounding political issues - and around one man in particular - in the months ahead.
Okay, so how should we be engaging in these discussions? Well, I think respectfully, lovingly, and carefully. And also, with our antennas up for a couple of easily misunderstood and often abused themes that are prevalent in Christian conversations. Themes that are related but nuanced:
God’s Providence and God’s Plan.
"GOD’S PROVIDENCE"
Providence, in the religious sense, means that God provides protection for those who believe in Him. As I've already pointed out, this was the central message at the RNC about Trump's candidacy.
For politicians to say these kinds of things is one thing; for a pastor to preach it like gospel truth is quite another. But that is what happened when Detroit Pastor Lorenzo Sewell gave his speech at the Convention (which was full of theological problems and scriptural inaccuracies, just for the record).
Sewell assigned "God’s providence" to the bullet missing Trump by a “millimeter.” He gave perceived credibility (a term I’m using oh-so-loosely, here) to the claims that were already circulating about the former president - that he was "chosen" by God to fulfill a divine purpose. Sewell passionately preached that God protected Trump with a “miracle” and that Jesus saved him so that he could become president of America.
The providence of God sounds really nice on the surface, but there’s a dark underbelly here that isn’t talked about enough.
For example, God - in His providence - protected Trump in that moment; just not the innocent bystander who died as a result of the bullet missing its target. Which is like saying that God protected those who walked away from that car accident, but chose not to protect the ones who died in that same accident. Or, that God protected your job, but not the rest of the department that was laid off. God prevented your daughter from being raped on her college campus, but not the 12,999 others. God spared your child from a life of addiction, but not mine. (For more on the topic of making sense of evil, and whether or not God intervenes and controls certain events in our world, I highly recommend reading the scholarship of Thomas Jay Oord.)
I know we desperately want to make sense of the evil in this world. I know I do, for sure. But there are so many obvious ethical dilemmas and theological problems with believing that God picks and chooses who to protect and who to allow harm to befall.
And in this context, if God is “protecting" Trump and his political party, it implies a belief that God is on the side of the Republicans. (I've written about God taking sides in a previous blog.)
Knowing what we know about God; are we actually comfortable with that?
I don’t claim to know the mind of God, but my faith does tell me that if I want to know about the heart of God, I can look to Jesus. And here's what we can know for sure about Jesus, based on the way he lived:
He never cared if a person had the right kind or right amount of faith; he worked with whatever they had.
He never stood with the religious or political elites; he stood only with the powerless.
He never asked us to conquer; he asked us to love and serve the least of these.
He never turned someone away for how they lived; he invited them along.
He never bullied or targeted his enemies; he loved them.
Another issue in Sewell’s speech, when it comes to trying to decipher "God’s providence," was how he tried to create connections between the time of day Trump was shot and a passage of Scripture.
Sewell referenced Ephesians 6:11 to make a connection to the fact that Trump was shot at 6:11 PM EST (although, no one seemed to catch that he quoted the wrong verse). To assign some kind of prophetic meaning to the numbers 6:11 because of the time of day something happened is, well….silly. I don’t know how else to say it. But the larger point is the message that sends is irresponsible and has no biblical foundation whatsoever.
Yes, there are numerical meanings imbedded all throughout scripture, like the number seven; but we are not meant to try and apply those meanings to our lives today in any literal sense. We are certainly not meant to search for ways to connect random numbers in our temporary situations to "God’s Providence."
(But if we are going to do it, we should at least make sure we quote the right passage of Scripture…) So, just for fun, I thought I would look up other 6:11 verses of Scripture. Here's what I came up with, at random:
As entertaining as that little exercise was, I know many people are convinced, or at least intrigued, by that kind of numerology. So, even if we are tempted to look for signs like these in our lives, then the questions we should be asking are:
When do we assign providential meaning to the time of day that something happens?
How do we know in which book of the Bible we should search for meaning?
Oh, and which Bible should we consult? Which specific translation?
To be clear, I am not saying we should attribute nothing to God. I believe that it is important to thank God for good things happening. To give God glory for successes and victories. To see God’s hand in things we cannot otherwise explain and to revel in mysterious coincidences and seemingly miraculous happenings. This is key to a life of faith.
And of course we should thank God that Trump survived. But to proclaim that God intervened to protect Trump is problematic for all the above-mentioned reasons, and it also highlights another problematic belief system. The belief in “God’s plan.”
"GOD’S PLAN"
Something people say a lot is that "God has a plan for our lives." And while this may be true, and I certainly hope it is, I think we misunderstand and misuse the phrase. Because in this case, if it was "God’s plan" to save Trump, to spare him “for a reason,” then again, I guess the man who died didn’t matter all that much to God. (Please do not tell his family that it was "God’s plan" for him to die this way...)
Contributing everything to a divine plan creates so many problems with God, one being that it makes our faith transactional. Because we want "God’s plan" for our lives (AKA: our selfish desires and ambitions, if we're being honest) and so we pray for it, we work for it, and we negotiate for it. This is the Prosperity Gospel in a nutshell, which teaches that God rewards us with financial success, physical health, and happiness - if we have the right kind of faith.
Similar to the issues with "God's providence," it implies when you encounter a hardship that you cannot easily overcome, you simply must not have enough faith.
Your best friend in the world died of cancer? If only they had more faith, they’d still be here. You and your spouse are struggling to get pregnant and have miscarried four times? You just need to name it and claim it! You live in an impoverished, war-torn country with no access to clean water or medical care? Too bad your country has the wrong kind of faith.
But in all these examples of religiously manipulative language surrounding former President Trump, the biggest problem is how much it elevates the creator of a political party over The Creator of the Universe.
Which is why of all the statements made in the wake of the attempted assassination, I think the most jarring and disturbing one I’ve heard from many people is that “Trump shed his blood for us.” Which not only furthers the narrative that Trump was “chosen by God,” but it distorts the biblical vision of what it actually means to be chosen by God.
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were chosen. Moses was chosen. David was chosen. Ruth, Esther and Mary were chosen. Paul was chosen. But if you know their stories then you know that being “chosen” did not mean God protected them from harm, danger, or even death.
Being chosen by God means that you are meant to set an example, to point others in the direction of God’s ways. But not even the biblical heroes, much less any regular human, could ever get this right. And so, God sent Jesus, the true chosen one, to show us the way.
I am stunned that this needs to be said, but we must guard against referring to anyone other than our Lord Jesus Christ as the “chosen one” - in any context. And we must see the danger in all the messiah-like references when it comes to Trump - or anyone. It elevates Trump to idol-status at best and exalts him as a savior at worst. And there is only one Savior.
The sad reality is that viewing Trump as God's "chosen one," who will bring salvation to America and to the world, is not even a minority view. Such extremism is no longer a fringe position. It’s gone beyond the belief that Trump will metaphorically “save America” when it comes to the economy or national security, and has devolved into the belief that God, through divine intervention, saved Trump for a purpose.
All of these implications should be alarming to everyone. But the message I hope I’ve gotten across in this blog is especially for those of us who follow Jesus, which is this:
We cannot stay silent on this. We should care deeply about the false message it’s sending about the God we serve. This spiritually manipulative language is problematic not only because it has has no bearing in reality or in Scripture, but it also distorts the true message of the gospel and causes us to lose sight of our identity as image-bearers of God.
And while there is so much about God we don’t understand and so much in this world we don’t know, this we know for sure: God does not take sides and Jesus does not hate his enemies; he loves them.
And I hope I’ve made the point that harmful theologies about "God’s providence" and "God’s plan" are very dangerous. These sound like really nice ideas, until you think about their implications for any length of time or examine the kind of fruit they produce.
And yet, none of this means that God does not have any kind of plan for the world. I believe that He does and I believe Scripture tells us what it is. And it’s a plan for unity and wholeness and everyone - yes, everyone - is invited into the Kingdom.
No, the Kingdom has not fully arrived just yet; but we can participate in it now by ushering it in with acts of restoration, healing, and love. By loving our neighbor as ourselves. By extending grace and forgiveness, especially where it isn’t earned or deserved. By building bridges that allow us to find common ground.
But that is not what I see or hear from the loudest evangelical voices today. They claim to be fighting a spiritual battle to enact "God’s plan" for America, when what we need is less fighting and more peace.
They claim we need a "Moral Awakening" to defend Christian values, and I’d agree that something has been awakened... Aggressiveness has been awakened. Fear and distrust has been awakened. Exclusion and hatred has been awakened. Idol-worship has been awakened. Things that have no place in God’s Plan.
And so I believe we need a different kind of awakening. An awakening of common decency and neighborly good-will. An awakening of softened hearts and opened minds. But most urgently, an awakening to God’s True Plan and His Spirit, which produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Because against these things, there is no law.
CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF:
Kate Bowler’s, Everything Happens for a Reason (and Other Lies I’ve Loved)
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