Preface: Donald Trump was raised in the church of Norman Vincent Peale.....The Power Of Positive Thinking.....and Peale once said that he considered Trump his best disciple. President Trump said these words in his 2020 State Of The Union address...."Tonight I stand before you to share the incredible results....(of the past three years)....Jobs are booming....Incomes are soaring....Poverty is plummeting....Crime is falling....Confidence is surging....and our country is thriving....America's fortunes are on the rise.....America's future is blazing bright....our pride is restored....("Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall" Proverbs)....we are moving forward at a pace that was unimaginable just a short time ago....and we are never going back....we are advancing with unbridled optimism"....and the address ended with this...."This nation is our canvas, and this country is our masterpiece. We look at tomorrow and see unlimited frontiers just waiting to be explored. Our brightest discoveries are not yet known. Our most thrilling stories are not yet told. Our grandest journeys are not yet made. The American Age, the American epic, The American adventure has only just begun. Our spirit is still young. The sun is still rising, God's grace is still shining, and my fellow Americans, the best is yet to come." These were false prophetic words of peace and security and prosperity....said primarily to his evangelical base at every rally....full of evangelicals....(even though twice at those rallies Trump used the G-D expletive)....and accepted and celebrated in churches all across this nation. Franklin Graham posted this hours after the speech...."After watching the State of the Union address tonight, my reaction is-Thank you Mr. President for reminding Americans why they voted for you in the last election." Donald Trump entered the sheepfold....not through the gate but down the escalator....and led evangelicalism astray. Is this not what a false prophet does?
The judgments from God began in earnest with 9/11. We are only days away from the 20th anniversary....and we have long since forgotten the horror.....of skyscrapers falling....and people jumping from the flames....and planes loaded with passengers being commandeered and crashing....but the aftermath was the real judgment. The attacks should have been viewed in the same way as Pearl Harbor....and it was....for a few months....but the tide quickly turned against the American president who went to Iraq and Afghanistan to root out and destroy these enemies....for it is the common belief today that George Bush got us into endless wars....the irony being that they would not have been endless if we were still the people that we once were. This shameless debacle in Afghanistan of course is not the first time that America chose an ally....gave them promises....and eventually abandoned them. Vietnam was the same thing....and literally hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese perished as boat people just trying to get away from the persecution of that communist system....of which today our presidents visit....and smile next to their leaders. No....the beginnings of our being a divided house began long ago.
They are still writing all the time of the causes and aftermath of the financial meltdown of 2008/2009. Speaking in terms of percentages.....our debt increased the fastest during World War II....but the numbers were low....and the coming prosperity could rectify it....but the next percentage skyrocketing came with the meltdown.....and these were now high numbers that turned into unbelievably high debt....where economists were warning with all they had to do something about it....and then came the monetary decisions during the virus....and today.....all is lost....but there was another effect of the meltdown that also was a judgment.....as John McCain could not overcome the financial crisis or the now discredited President George W. Bush....and we then had President Barack Obama.
The next judgment in line came....emanating from our own ranks.....and this on June 15, 2015.....as Donald Trump contrived his famous ride down the escalator. Forty days earlier John MacArthur's broadcast on his Grace To You....gty.org....warned of false prophets....(you can easily Google.....MacArthur, Beware False Prophets....and listen to this broadcast)....but a little over five years later....greed and personal politics and a disintegrating discernment ravaging us....Pastor MacArthur took a phone call from President Trump....after a Lord's Day service....while keeping his church doors open....and denying that there was a pandemic....and actually told Donald Trump....false prophet...."any real....true believer....is going to be on your side in this election." In this statement John MacArthur tied the doctrine of salvation to a political election. Biblical doctrine had always been MacArthur's enduring strength.....but he was deceived into going against his own warnings.
The coronavirus....Covid-19....arrived in another election year....where unlike John McCain....Trump was the heavy favorite....seemingly unbeatable....and republicans were as giddy as can be....but his actions.....and the bad advice from medical expert talk radio hosts et al....greatly hampered the efforts of doctors and health scientists.....who under normal circumstances we had always prayed for wisdom for them....this time.....in Trump's world....we demonized their efforts....and are paying the price for it right up to today....as we think that a mask is persecution....and a vaccine is somehow tied into the mark of the beast.....and that temporarily closing church doors.....(while streaming was readily available)....was an assault on freedom of religion....when it wasn't religious freedom to preach Christ that we wanted....but the liberty to appear religious.
