The Gracious Hand of God
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Dispensational Publishing House, Inc. © 2016. Used with permission.
O clap your hands, all peoples; Shout to God with the voice of joy. Most High is to be feared, A great King over all the earth. He subdues peoples under us And nations under our feet. (NASB, Ps. 47:1-3)
Election Offers Unexpected Turn
Of the 17 individuals that competed in the Republican primary for the 2016 presidential nomination, Donald Trump was my 17th choice. He was dead last on my preferred list of Republican presidential hopefuls. However, my reticence toward Trump was quite different from the reasons for which most other conservative Christians disliked him.
It was not so much his potty talk or hedonistic lifestyle that bothered me. Rather, it was the fact that on virtually every issue he has, either by way of financial donations, public statements or personal writings said something different in comparison to where he claims he now stands on that same issue today.1
I learned a long time ago that the first rule of politics is that, in order to ascertain the true values of any politician, it is necessary not so much to listen to what they say in recent speeches but, rather, to watch what they do. When you look at the things that Donald Trump has said and done over the course of his entire adult lifetime, you quickly see that he has been on both sides of every major issue. Simply put, after conducting this analysis, I never felt that Donald Trump was a true political conservative. His overall actions better fit the platform of the Democratic Party than the Republican Party. Thus, I felt it was a mistake for the Republican Party to make him their presidential nominee.
The reality of this apparent mistake was further heightened by the fact that I never really felt that Donald Trump could win the general election. His personal negatives, in comparison to that of his primary opponents, were simply too high to make him viable and electable by the American people. If the truth be known, I was even preparing to write a blog article telling the Republican Party, “I told you so,” after what I considered would be Donald Trump’s inevitable loss in the general election. I was wrong. Not only did I not have to write that article, but I am grateful for the fact that I did not have to write it. Here is why.
Whatever negative thing might be said about Donald Trump, let us keep one thing in mind: he is not Hillary Clinton.
Who is Hillary Clinton? She is the spiritual daughter of Saul Alinsky. Hillary not only devoted her collegiate thesis to the topic of Alinsky, but she was also personally discipled and mentored by him. Alinsky’s personal political philosophy advocates intentionally creating chaos in a culture or nation, thereby necessitating the strong arm of government for the purpose of a top-down remaking of that society in a Marxist image. By constantly provoking agitation and conflict between racial and socioeconomic groups, Alinsky postulated that big government would then be volitionally called upon to reshuffle society in terms of martial law and mandatory wealth redistribution.
This “management by crisis” tactic is one of the key strategies that the Communists have consistently used to topple one government after another for the purpose of ushering in worldwide Communism. Such a political philosophy, of course, is right out of the pit of hell as evidenced by the fact that Alinsky dedicated his political treatise, entitled Rules for Radicals to none other than Satan himself.
Notice what Alinsky wrote on the dedication page of his book:
Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical: from all our legends, mythology, and history (and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins—or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom—Lucifer.2
As problematic as Donald Trump may be from an ideological point of view, his problems pale in comparison to the type of Satanic agenda that Hillary would have imposed upon the United States of America had she assumed the highest office in the land.
America Dodged a Bullet
In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge;
Let me never be ashamed;
In Your righteousness deliver me.
Incline Your ear to me, rescue me quickly;
Be to me a rock of strength,
A stronghold to save me.
For You are my rock and my fortress;
For Your name’s sake You will lead me and guide me.
You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,
For You are my strength.
Into Your hand I commit my spirit;
You have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth. (Ps. 31:1-5)
As problematic as Donald Trump may be from an ideological point of view, his problems pale in comparison to the type of Satanic agenda that Hillary Clinton would have imposed upon the United States of America had she assumed the highest office in the land.
Very few Americans fully understand the bullet that we just dodged by electing Donald Trump in lieu of Hillary Clinton. Even fewer seem to see how God has extended grace to us in allowing us to dodge this bullet. In fact, most are missing the point of exactly what just happened on election night and why it happened.
Had FBI Director James Comey not reopened the Clinton email investigation in the final weeks of the campaign, Trump would have, in all likelihood, lost this race. All of the polling data indicates this. The electoral momentum did not start to shift until Comey reopened the investigation. Trump’s victory had nothing to do with Trump or any other human agent or strategy. Rather, Trump’s victory is solely attributable to the gracious hand of God.
The Lord answered the many prayers of His people and prompted Comey to act. If you do not see the hand of God in Comey’s actions, ask yourself this basic question: How likely is it that part of the Obama administration (the FBI) would on its own initiative reopen a formerly closed criminal investigation into its own secretary of state just a few days shy of a national election—thereby, in the process, jeopardizing the extension of its own political power by assisting the administration’s political competitor in a presidential general election?
Comey’s actions brought the Clinton email scandals to the forefront of American attention in the same way the released video of Trump and Billy Bush had placed Trump’s character deficiencies squarely before the American electorate a few weeks earlier, thereby causing Trump’s poll numbers to plummet. Comey’s actions, along with the various WikiLeaks, caused the Clinton scandals rather than Trump’s deficient character to be the very last item on the minds of Americans before they entered the polling place on Nov. 8. Consequently, the American people not only elected Donald Trump as the president of the United States against all conceivable odds, but they also kept both the House of Representatives and Senate under GOP control. Nobody, pollster nor pundit alike, reasonably anticipated this outcome.
This is not the first time that God in His grace has put issues front and center before the American people just prior to a major American election. You might recall that in 2008 Barack Obama made an off-script remark to Joe the Plumber involving Obama’s ambition to “spread the wealth around.” This serendipitous remark went viral. Sadly, Americans at that time did not recognize the remark as accurately reflecting the Marxist ideology that it represented. Nor did they allow this remark to deter them from electing Barack Obama in 2008. Our insensitivity to the obvious then led to the next eight years of Obama’s fundamental transformation of America.
Fortunately, this time around when God moved His hand and unveiled what was really happening regarding the Clinton scandals and corruption, the American people listened and responded by rejecting Hillary Clinton at the polls and instead electing Donald Trump.
Thus, God in His mercy and grace answered the many prayers of His people to save this country from Hillary’s corruption and her Alinsky agenda, thereby giving us continued freedom to preach the gospel and fulfill the great commission. The Scripture teaches that God retains sovereignty in the affairs of men. Daniel 2:21 states,
It is He who changes the times and the epochs;
He removes kings and establishes kings;
He gives wisdom to wise men
And knowledge to men of understanding.
Proverbs 21:1 similarly states,
The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
He turns it wherever He wishes.
Let’s give credit to where it is due. Trump’s victory is solely due to the gracious hand of God and has nothing to do with the works of man. In this moment of political transition, let us direct attention and worship to God and not prideful man, lest we fail to perceive the hand of God in these events. Sola Deo Gloria: to God alone be the glory!
Beyond that, let us also use this brief and tenuous window of freedom that continues to be granted to the United States of America to teach His truth, knowing full well how ephemeral and fragile our freedom really is. Let us not commit the sin of presumption and assume that this window of freedom that we have been given will be forever with us.
Notes
1 “Real Donald Trump,” Internet; accessed 9 November 2016.
2 Saul D. Alinsky, Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals (New York: Random House, 1971), p. xi.
Andy Woods Bio
Dr. Andy Woods is a prolific author and speaks nationally on Bible prophecy and related issues. He is senior pastor of Sugar Land Bible Church in Sugar Land, Texas, a full professor at the College of Biblical Studies in Houston and an adjunct professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. Woods is the author of The Middle East Meltdown from Dispensational Publishing House.
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I appreciate this thoughtful analysis of the election—and theological context. I certainly agree that God is sovereign and turns the heart of the king. Agree also that He has been gracious to us in the election.
He would be just as sovereign and gracious had Hillary been elected, though. And it would be her heart He would be turning. The question is whether His grace has taken the specific form of giving us a “better” leader than the alternative. This remains very much to be seen.
I agree that we have “dodged a bullet,” but we’ve dodged one to step in front of another. A .22 in the leg is better than a .45 in the lung, but if the .22 is radioactive, the eventual outcome is not “better.”
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
As I’ve observed this election cycle, participated according to my conscience and reflected on the results, I’ve taken heart from thoughts similar to Andy. In particular, I’ve found the example of Ahasuerus (Xerxes) especially instructive and shared my thoughts at length, here. It is very important that we take a high view of God’s sovereignty in the election of our U.S. presidents and a very low view of the so-called American Dream.
Thomas Overmiller
Pastor | StudyGodsWord.com
Blog | ShepherdThoughts.com
While I was greatly relieved that Mrs. Clinton did not win, and we had God’s grace in a leader who may prove to be not as bad as her, we could also have His grace in punishment that He would administer through her. Along those lines, I am seeing more and more allegations—all anonymous so far but it is forming a pattern—that Mrs. Clinton’s behavior is more or less that of a “mean drunk.” So we dodged a bullet, perhaps, not only in her views but also in “what would she do when intoxicated or hung over?”. We might do well to pray for her along with the electee.
Or it could be that Trump is what many of us feared, and we’ve dodged one bullet to be hit by another. Time will tell.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Good article, though I disagree on the effect of Comey. I was watching the polls carefully and the gap was narrowing already before Comey re-opened. The fact that he re-opened without giving any clue as to why suggests to me that any voter whose choice was still in limbo would still leave it in limbo until Comey actually said what they found. I did not see any evidence in the polling that the tightening trajectory picked up after Comey announced, nor did I see it change when he announced right before the election that he was closing it again. My own take is that that this move by Comey only had a negligible effect on the electorate.
Much more important was that the last several weeks of the election, Trump’s twitter device was taken away, and he was much more disciplined and stayed on message. He finally looked somewhat presidential, and that is what some late deciding voters were waiting for. They already knew Hillary was corrupt, and they were waiting for a good reason to vote against her.
But most of all, Trump’s message resonated in the rust-belt states of IA, IN, OH, PA, MI, WI and MN.
But I agree we dodged a bullet. Hillary was effectively the boss of an organized crime family, and she was stopped.
Bert said, “Along those lines, I am seeing more and more allegations—all anonymous so far but it is forming a pattern—that Mrs. Clinton’s behavior is more or less that of a ‘mean drunk.’ “
The allegations leaked yesterday suggested that Hillary gave way to a fit of rage during the election returns when she came to realize she would lose. Specific items include cursing and swearing, pounding furniture, throwing things, etc.
I am never one to get interested in hearing the source of an unnamed source.
However, such a scenario would explain some strange happenings on election night. The normal protocol is that each candidate is shown by the media in their respective places watching the returns with family, and then just before the election is called, both candidates disappear, the loser to call the winner and concede and then give a quick concession speech, while the winner prepares to give the victory speech.
Oddly, at about 9 pm, the same time it started to look like Hillary might not win, the Clinton team was sealed off from the media.
Then there were reports that the Clinton campaign called news outlets to beg them not to quickly call states. And they didn’t. Some were delayed absurdly too long.
One news outlet called WI for Trump anyway, at 11:30. This call meant Hillary’s path was very narrow, and quickly getting narrower. But calls on several other states were delayed.
Finally at 1:40 am, the Associated Press called PA for Trump. This effectively ended the election.
But at 2:00 am, Hillary’s campaign spokesman came out to announce Hillary would not be available to speak, and the votes needed to all be counted—trying to convince them it wasn’t over, when everyone knew it was.
So most took from this statement that there would be no quick concession by Hillary. But just 40 minutes later the report came out that she had just called Trump to concede. But why then was she not available to come out and speak to her crowd of supporters?
This perplexing set of events would make sense if in fact she had gone into a fit of rage, as has been alleged, was in a state of intoxication, with her deportment unacceptable for public display.
Initially it was said she would speak later on in the morning, but it got pushed back to the early afternoon, again, perhaps until she was able to be presentable again.
Election night is a very public event, and these candidates were supposed to be available and composed to a degree regardless the outcome. But to have her disappear from 9 pm through noon the next day without having to account for her condition at all is somewhat like a Super Bowl quarterback not coming back out from halftime and feeling like he doesn’t have to tell anyone in the press as to why.
The only thing I can add to what you note, Darrell, is that there are other allegations—again people not wanting their names associated with the claims for whatever reason, so keep that in mind—and it is my hope and prayer that I am dead wrong about this. I would not wish alcoholism and/or mental illness on anyone. I’m sure you would say the same.
One other thing; if there is truth to this, shame on those who hid this from the public instead of getting her the help she needs. Again, allegations of these rages date back to the nineties and even before. It’s not like nobody but the Secret Service saw it.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[Darrell Post]
The allegations leaked yesterday suggested that Hillary gave way to a fit of rage during the election returns when she came to realize she would lose. Specific items include cursing and swearing, pounding furniture, throwing things, etc.
Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a picture of Mrs. Clinton with Bobby Knight……
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
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