Blasphemy on the Net

“The choice should be easy for Christians. It's Trump ... or it's the end of America.”

That statement is the blasphemous punchline from a long rant that rates the current Republican presidential candidate with Almighty God.  

Here is my non-partisan response to the article a friend forwarded to me.  The forward did not identify the original author.

I cannot put my Christian hope in any politician — Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or anyone else.  I don’t believe God is relying on either of them, or the people they eliminated in the primaries, in order to “save America.”

The writer says, “God is about miracles.“  

Then he adds, “I believe Trump is our miracle.”

He quotes a familiar verse from the Hebrew prophet Isaiah: 

"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,  But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up   with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint" (Isaiah 40:30-31).

But in quoting this verse, the writer equates Donald Trump with the Lord.

“It’s almost like God created this verse for Donald Trump and this moment in history.”

Instead of the Lord renewing strength, this writer says, “Trump renews our strength. .  .  . With Trump we mount up with wings like eagles. With Trump as our leader there is nothing we can't do. .  .  .  Trump inspires us. Trump gives us hope. Trump gives us confidence in victory. Trump gives us just a touch of arrogance. Maybe God understands that's exactly what we need right at this late stage to save America.”

This is outright heresy.  The writer finds Trump a fitting substitute for the Lord.  

This attitude toward Mr. Trump is as misguided as a prayer a pastor out in Davenport, Iowa, prayed on October 11, 2008, at a John McCain rally. I have heard the prayer on video on the Internet. In the prayer, the pastor actually told God twice that God’s reputation was at stake if He let Barack Obama win.   Here is his prayer:

“Our God, we want to honor You today as the Sovereign Lord of this universe.  You tell us in Your Word that You raise up leaders and You pull them down.  So we know that You are in charge of everything that’s going to happen between now and November.  

“And Lord, we just appeal to You for this event.  We want to ask Your blessings on our time together today. Please energize Senator McCain as he seeks to share his vision and what he thinks we need to do for the problems we face in this country. And Lord, help us to be good listeners, ready to hear what he has to share.

"I would also add, Lord, that your reputation is involved in all that happens between now and November, because there are millions of people around this world praying to their God -- whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah -- that his opponent wins for a variety of reasons. 

“And, Lord, I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they’re going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens. So I pray that you would step forward and honor your own name in all that happens between now and Election Day.

"Oh Lord, we just commit this time to you, move among us, make your presence very well felt as we are gathered here today in Jesus's name I pray. Amen.” 

You can find this prayer on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g0d3_KE5js.  The minister was Arnold Conrad, former pastor of Grace Evangelical Free Church in Davenport.

Questions come to my mind as I think of this current writer’s confidence in Donald Trump, the same questions that come to mind regarding Pastor Conrad’s prayer on behalf of John McCain and against Barack Obama:

What will it tell us about the power of Almighty God if Donald Trump does not win?  More to the point: Looking back to 2008, what does it tell us about the power of Almighty God when we realize John McCain did not win but Barack Obama did win?  What has come of God’s reputation?  What do those people of other religions think about God?  Is He a Has-Been?  Has God forsaken this country?

The outcome of the 2008 election says much more about the presumption of Pastor Conrad than it says about the reputation of the Eternal God.

The current article also reeks of presumption as the writer links “American exceptionalism, capitalism and Judeo-Christian values,” as if these are divinely interconnected.  The will of God is not synonymous with any country on the face of the earth. Various systems of government and finance come and go, while the Creator and Sustainer of the universe remains supreme.

I had most of the stars knocked out of my eyes many years ago regarding politicians as saviors.

I don’t believe God will put either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton in office.  I don’t believe God put Barack Obama in office or George W. Bush or Bill Clinton or George H. W. Bush or Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter or Gerald Ford or Richard Nixon or Lyndon Johnson or John Kennedy or Dwight D. Eisenhower or Harry Truman or Franklin D. Roosevelt or on as far back as you wish to trace it.  

I don’t believe God favors or supports any political party.  God is not a Republican .  .  .  or a Democrat.

The email praising Donald Trump is wrong-headed.  As I said, I have no more confidence in Mrs. Clinton than I do in Mr. Trump as our spiritual deliverer.  That’s just not what a political office is about.  To put our trust in any man or woman in that way is to put that person right up there next to God.  I cannot do that.