This morning, as I came to my personal devotional time with God, I placed my bible open on the arm of the sofa, next to where I was sitting. The time being what it was, and the weather being clear, there was a beam of sunlight that passed through my patio windows and picked out the white of the pages of my bible and reflected back off them, causing a glare which later required some squinting. But glare or no, it was quite a profound image, the open bible radiating with light. I had to capture it and take a photo, and having taken it, though it did not do justice to the image, I broke with my 'rule' that social media not take precedence in my quiet time. Posting, I used as a caption a bible verse, jut a few pages on from where it lay open.
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" ~Psalm 119:105
Although I had read a few Facebook posts before the quiet time I hadn't really absorbed the significance of what had happened in Washington D.C, nor had I linked how my post may potentially be misconstrued as a result. That was the reason for this blog. A sort of clarification.
What happened in Washington was that President Trump, amidst the protesters voicing their unhappiness at the recent killing of George Floyd, by a Michigan Police Officer, left the Whitehouse, having his path forcibly cleared (reportedly with use of such tactics as rubber bullets and tear gas) and turned up on the steps at the front of St Johns Church (known sometimes as the church of the presidents) where he posed holding aloft a black leather-bound bible.
I don't really want this to be political. I consider myself non partisan in my own political leanings. I am not, having only read articles from links on social media, really in a position to comment on American politics with any authority. I've not done due dilligence or research. I don't fully understand the context.
But from what I do understand of Trump, there is a relationship with religion that is complex at best.
In the lead up to the 2016 election that saw him inaugurated as POTUS, I watched as evangelical commentators I followed, due to my own theological interests, almost entirely began to drop their opposition to him as a thoroughly unsuitable and ungodly candidate, to a grudging endorsement when he secured the Republican nomination, to, in a disturbingly large number of cases, God's chosen leader.
It's no secret that the republicans have frequently courted the religious right but few ever went as far as Trump. His stance on abortion in particular (perhaps the price for the churches endorsement of him) went further than any president before him since Roe v wade had been prepared to go.
While the more level headed aforementioned commentators are prepared to look on him as someone God has allowed as the lesser of two evils, others seem almost to have hailed him as the chosen one. And the Evangelicals have been given a great deal of access to him, and he in turn has often played up to it.
What is the state of his heart before God? Is he regenerate? Is he like Amon Goth in Schindler's list when he is told that true power is Mercy, the ability to pardon? Playing the part he thinks others see him as?
I can't say, but I have become increasingly worried about his affiliation with Christianity, and more so by far, by the willingness of the Evangelical right to give him a 'blank cheque' whilst he makes the right noises from time to time.
The Bible which he holds aloft is the word by which he will be judged. Scripture teaches that we will have to give God account for every careless word and every action we have taken, and from those to whom more has been given, more will be required. As a leader he will be judged not only for his own actions but for those of the ones he leads. This is why scripture instructs us to pray for our leaders. These presidential shoes are not ones I would crave to wear.
I worry for him. I worry that he is like Rishda Tarkarn in C.S. Lewis' Last Battle', who does all his evil in the name of Tash, a God he doesn't believe in and is later faced with that God.
Years ago a particularly brattish and badly behaved pop star caught my attention when he had a tattoo of the verse Ps 119:105 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path'. He had it on his shoulder and I remember remarking that perhaps he should have got it somewhere he could read it, rather than on his back. That Pop star was Justin Bieber. In a recent interview with Zane Lowe, he said, speaking of his rediscovery of his faith, 'I always believed in Jesus, but I didn't really understand obedience'. (paraphrase) He went on to articulate how obedience to the words in the bible had been key to his recent transformation. I think Trump needs an experience like Bieber.
I worry for him. I worry that he is like Rishda Tarkarn in C.S. Lewis' Last Battle', who does all his evil in the name of Tash, a God he doesn't believe in and is later faced with that God.
Years ago a particularly brattish and badly behaved pop star caught my attention when he had a tattoo of the verse Ps 119:105 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path'. He had it on his shoulder and I remember remarking that perhaps he should have got it somewhere he could read it, rather than on his back. That Pop star was Justin Bieber. In a recent interview with Zane Lowe, he said, speaking of his rediscovery of his faith, 'I always believed in Jesus, but I didn't really understand obedience'. (paraphrase) He went on to articulate how obedience to the words in the bible had been key to his recent transformation. I think Trump needs an experience like Bieber.
Many people, preachers as well as presidents, have used the bible as a symbol to hide behind. Even proponents of racial segregation have used the bible! However they clearly weren't reading what we call 'The whole counsel of God' and they certainly weren't interpreting it through the same Holy Spirit that caused the apostle Paul, a Jew, to write;
"There is neither Jew nor gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:28)
If such people had read and understood the scriptures they would have realised that Jesus mission was to destroy the dividing walls of hostility, reconciling us all to God, through the cross. For through him, we are told, we both (all) have access to the Father by one Spirit.
And in the same way, if we live by the sword then we die by the sword. And the word of god is living and active, sharper than a double edged sword, able to divide between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb 4:3).
It gives light to our path, if we will walk in it, but it will also be the standard used to measure us, and without the grace of God shown to us in Christ, we will all fall short.
That thing Donald Trump holds above his head, could be the thing that falls on him and crushes him. I hope he has some true regard for it.
