The Old Lady, the Devil, and Donald Trump
Whenever I write an article on Donald Trump, I'm sure to get a flood of responses asking me, "So, when are you going to admit you were wrong about him?"
This, however, means two very different things, depending on who is asking the question. For one group, it means, "Are you going to admit that you were wrong not to see him as God's man for the job?" For the other group, it means the exact opposite: "Are you going to admit that you are wrong to see him as God's man for the job?"
To be clear, then, I'm neither a defender nor an accuser of our president, neither his champion nor his critic. My goal is to be objective and redemptive, analyzing everything through the lens of Scripture, and doing my best to understand what God is doing in the midst of our chaotic world.
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With that goal in view, let me tell you a story about a saintly old woman, totally destitute and dependent on her Lord. The application to President Trump should be apparent immediately.
As the story goes, this woman was out of money, had no credit, and was without anything to eat in her little house. So she cried out to God in prayer, "Lord, You know that I trust you, and You know that I love you, but I need a miracle now! I'm going to take a walk into town, and when I come back, I'm believing there will be groceries sitting right here on my kitchen table."
With that, she got up and left for her walk, trudging her way into town.
It happened to be summer time, and this old woman kept the windows open to create a small breeze. Little did she know that a teenage boy from her neighborhood, an irreligious prankster, was standing outside her house and heard every word she prayed.
He decided that this was a perfect opportunity to make fun of this old woman's faith, so he rode into town on his bike, bought a few bags of groceries, hurried back to her house, and climbed in through one of the open windows. Then he neatly placed the groceries on her kitchen table and waited outside to watch her response.
A few minutes later, the old lady returned home. To her joyful shock, just as she prayed, there were bags of groceries on her table. God had worked a miracle!
With tears in her eyes, she began to thank Him, almost shouting as she prayed: "Lord, You are so faithful! You never let me down! You didn't let me go hungry! Thank You so much for sending me this food!"
The moment she stopped praying, the boy outside shouted back to her through the window, "Lady, God didn't bring you that food. I did!"
She replied, "I don't care if the devil brought it. God sent it!"
I trust you get the point.
If you are a pro-family, pro-life, pro-Israel conservative like me, you have to be pleased with some of the things President Trump has done, even if you don't like his method.
Not only did he appoint Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, but he has nominated other fine justices, similar in pedigree to Gorsuch, for district and appeals court appointments. This alone is quite major.
The president continues to work towards defunding Planned Parenthood, in total contrast with what Hillary Clinton would have done.
Through Attorney General Sessions, the president did not continue President Obama's radical transgender policy in our children's schools, and just last week, the Department of Justice filed a friend of the court brief that has LGBT activists up in arms.
In the words of one critic, "Trump has given all of his anti-LGBTQ lieutenants ― from Betsy DeVos and Tom Price to Ben Carson and Mike Pence ― free rein to assault LGBTQ rights and, just as profoundly, he has listened to their counsel on the issue. That's why we've seen protections for transgender and gay students threatened, elimination of data collection on LGBTQ seniors and a devastating attack, via Twitter, on transgender people serving in the military."
Of course, I would frame these decisions in positive terms, opposite to the perspective of LGBT activists. But their attacks on the president only underscores the extent that he has followed a conservative family agenda. And did anyone notice that, after 8 years of gay pride in June, there was a very conspicuous silence this past June?
Trump has also showed much stronger support for Israel than his predecessor, with reports indicating that he rebuked Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to his face, allegedly yelling at him, "You tricked me in DC!"
Now, you might say to me, "You still don't get it. Trump doesn't give a flip about any of these issues. He's a con man playing to his base, and when he's done with them, he'll spit them out and move on to whoever suits his purposes best. He can't be trusted! The guy doesn't have a moral bone in his body."
That's why I shared the story of the old woman. Whether the devil brought the groceries or whether an angel brought them, God sent them.
In the same way, whether you see President Trump as the devil or an angel or a mixture of the two, it seems clear that God is sending many answers to prayer through him. Shouldn't we be glad for this? And even if we feel he's doing damage in other ways, can't we be thankful for these major, positive strides?
Let's not be so focused on the latest sensational news that we miss some of what's happening behind the scenes. And, to repeat, I write this neither to defend the president nor to accuse him.
I'm just making some observations, as objectively as I can.
