Editorial: 17 Jul 2024

Assassination Attempt of Donald Trump 

The events of the past week have drawn much attention to the political atmosphere in the United States, with abundant assertions of “there is too much division”, hand-wringing and conspiracy theories. As a firm believer in Sovereign Grace, I will not engage in any of these useless exercises.

In the “Sovereign” part of Sovereign Grace, the LORD ensured that the events that transpired are precisely what He intended. This is perfectly expressed by this wonderful text (the centerpiece of my article, The LORD: the Author of Calamity):

Isa 45.5-7
I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me; that men may know from the rising to the setting of the sun that there is no one besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other, the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity; I am the LORD who does all these.

It is not our responsibility—much less our ability—to explain why such events took place. Only the LORD can do that, and He is under no obligation to explain Himself to us.

For the true believer, whether the assassination attempt on Donald Trump was a simple “lone wolf” attack or a “very sophisticated conspiracy by the Deep State” is completely irrelevant. How can this be? For this reason:

Psa 73.2-3,10-14,15-18
² But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
¹⁰ Therefore his people return to this place,
And waters of abundance are drunk by them.
They say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
Behold, these are the wicked;
And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
And washed my hands in innocence;
For I have been stricken all day long
And chastened every morning.
¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
When I pondered to understand this,
It was troublesome in my sight
Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their end.
Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.

So however this event transpired, the evil that was revealed in the actions of a person or persons will be judged.

In the “Grace” part of Sovereign Grace, my personal speculation is that the LORD likely prevented a civil war from erupting. For the cause of “Peace and Unity”? No, I don’t believe so.

If further violence in our country was averted (at least for a while), I can state with certainty that the LORD did so to give an additional (final??) opportunity for national repentance before wrath falls.

The deeper truth of the matter is that in all of the OT history of Israel, Israel never once repented nationally until the nation was judged severely, more than once leaving only a remnant of her people.

We see this in inspired text in the A Maskil of Asaph (Psalm 78), one of the most illuminating and devastating of the historical Psalms.

Psa 78.17,21-22,31-33,34-35,36
¹⁷ Yet they still continued to sin against Him,
To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
²² Therefore the Lord heard and was full of wrath;
And a fire was kindled against Jacob
And anger also mounted against Israel,
Because they did not believe in God
And did not trust in His salvation.
³¹ The anger of God rose against them
And killed some of their stoutest ones,
And subdued the choice men of Israel.
In spite of all this they still sinned
And did not believe in His wonderful works.
So He brought their days to an end in futility
And their years in sudden terror.
³⁴ When He killed them, then they sought Him,
And returned and searched diligently for God;
And they remembered that God was their rock,
And the Most High God their Redeemer.

But that "repentance" was not genuine:

³⁶ But they deceived Him with their mouth
And lied to Him with their tongue.

This pattern continued until A.D. 70, when the Romans devastated Israel and destroyed Jerusalem. They have been scattered as a people until only recently, when the LORD began to gather her again in 1947. (cf. Hos 5.14 – 6.2)

If America is to be saved, its repentance must be more than that of a drowning man, who after clinging to the life preserver that was tossed to him to save his life, climbs into the boat, forgets what just happened, gets drunk, then promptly returns to swimming in the area of rip currents.

Besides the obvious value of learning about the LORD’s dealings both of grace and wrath through the agency of ancient Israel, it is naïve beyond reason to assume that the LORD will somehow overlook the abundant sins of this county because we began as and are otherwise currently considered a “Christian Nation”. (The quotes are intentional: America is no more a Christian Nation than essentially any other nation on the planet.)

Christian! Look first at yourself!

1 Pet 4.17-18
For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?

Believer! Make sure that your own life is in order first. Then, you can attend to the lost.