On July 9, 1755, at the Battle of Monongahela, at present-day Braddock, Pennsylvania, George Washington had two horses shot out from under him while four bullets passed through his coat. He came within an inch of death that day, but his courage under fire became legendary. Twenty-one years later, in one of the most pivotal battles in history, Washington and the Continental Army crossed the Delaware and captured Trenton.
It’s hard to imagine an American victory in the Revolutionary War without Trenton. And it’s hard to imagine Trenton without George Washington. Twenty-one years earlier, history was an inch away from a much different trajectory, but twelve years after the Battle of Trenton, the story of Washington’s defiant courage at Monongahela helped to propel him into the first presidency. And many Americans believed that God had providentially spared Washington’s life for such a time as this.
Last week, an assassin’s bullet grazed the ear of former President Trump at a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Americans were less than inch away from witnessing on their televisions the horrific murder of the leading candidate for president. Donald Trump was less than an inch away from death. And perhaps, considering the many armed and angry followers of Mr. Trump who would seek revenge, our republic was less than an inch away from one of its greatest tests. With bloodied face and upraised fist, Donald Trump displayed a defiant courage that all but ensures his November victory against one of the weakest incumbents in our history.
In one of the arresting coincidences of history, these two events–Washington at Braddock, Pennsylvania and Trump at Butler, Pennsylvania– are separated by 269 years and only 46 miles.
As we ponder the events of the last week, consider three ways to respond as Christ-followers:
1. Thank God for sparing Donald Trump’s life.
God was merciful to Donald Trump. A slight turn of the head at just the right instant saved his life. For this, we give thanks to God. For the sake of Donald Trump, his family, his party, and his nation, God showed mercy.
But God was merciful to Donald Trump yesterday too. In less dramatic ways, Mr. Trump was a heartbeat away from death. And so was I. And so were you. The oncoming driver wasn’t distracted by his phone as he sped by you just inches away. Another driver saw the red light and stopped as you entered the intersection. The unseen blood clot making it’s way through the circulatory system didn’t lodge in the heart or brain. In less dramatic and notable ways, the Giver of life sustained you another day.
As followers of Christ, we know that the smallest sparrow can’t fall to the ground without our heavenly Father knowing it (Mt. 10:29). He graciously fed the same sparrow throughout its life (Mt. 6:27). The Creator of the universe is also the Sustainer of the universe and by his sovereign reign, Christ our King holds all things together (Col. 1:17).
The God who tells every lightning bolt where it should go (Job 38:35) also directs the flight of the arrow. For Ahab’s egregious sins, God required his life. From the perspective of the Biblical author, “a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate” (1 Kings 22:34). What applies to lightning bolts and arrows applies to bullets. If God is not in control of everything, he is not in control of anything.
As the Westminster Confession states:
God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will, to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy. (WCF 5.1)
So yes, God protected Donald Trump last Saturday. That God spared his life is not in dispute. Why God spared his life is known only to God. As Justin Taylor recently wrote, the great Princeton Theologian, Charles Hodge, urged “humility and caution when it comes to interpreting providence, because it often involves great difficulty and responsibility.”
2. Pray for Donald Trump’s salvation.
Perhaps God patiently spared Donald Trump’s life to give him one more day to repent (2 Peter 3:9). One more opportunity to bow in humility before Christ, trusting him as his Savior, submitting to him as his King.
Mr. Trump was once asked if he petitioned God for forgiveness. He famously said:
“I am not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don’t think so, I think if I do something wrong, I think, I just try and make it right. I don’t bring God into that picture. I don’t.”
Of course, if that’s the way you get to heaven, Jesus died for nothing (Gal. 2:21). The author of Hebrews states that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). By his own admission, Donald Trump is not prepared for that appointment or that judgment.
I’ve had a few close brushes with death, and in those moments, I was humbled and brought low. I was faced with my own mortality and life’s fragility. I have seen strong young men die. I have preached their funerals. I know there is no guarantee of tomorrow. But I’ve never experienced anything like a bullet clipping my ear.
I’m afraid that many evangelicals have found Donald Trump to be politically useful, but they are not burdened that he is presently vulnerable to the wrath of a holy God. Would you join me in praying that God would be merciful to his soul, open his blind eyes, and make him spiritually alive to receive Christ? Would you ask God to use this harrowing brush with a bullet to humble him and turn him to the only one who can save him?
3. Pray for Donald Trump to use his considerable political skills to promote peace and civil debate in our nation.
Our legal system allows for a great deal of freedom in our speech, but we have always recognized a special category: fighting words. According to the Cornell School of Law:
“Fighting words are words meant to incite violence such that they may not be protected free speech under the First Amendment. The U.S. Supreme Court first defined them in Chaplinsky v New Hampshire (1942) as words which "by their very utterance, inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality."
Political violence must be condemned in the strongest of terms. As many pundits have said in recent days, in America we settle our differences with ballots, not bullets. But violent actions are almost always preceded by fighting words in the form of reckless rhetoric; tough talk; red meat for the base. The words that promote violence are usually fraught with lies, exaggeration, ad hominem arguments, and appeals to emotion. They are intended to dehumanize and demonize our political opponents while presenting ourselves as strong and virtuous.
As of this writing, the motives of the would-be assassin are not known and they may never be clear to us. But Republicans were quick to lay the blame on Joe Biden and the Democrats. In particular, President Biden recently said that, “It’s time to put Trump in the bullseye.” That comment didn’t age well. To his credit, President Biden apologized for his word choice and admitted it was a mistake.
But Mr. Trump is not innocent when it comes to angry, careless rhetoric that could be construed as the kind of fighting words that move unstable people to violence. Unfortunately, these same people have easy access to semi-automatic, highly accurate, assault-style rifles.
Let’s at least acknowledge the hypocrisy in both parties. If Biden’s rhetoric bears some responsibility for the assassination attempt on Trump, then Trump bears some responsibility for the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. If Trump bears no responsibility for the attack on the Capitol on January 6, Biden bears no responsibility for the assassination attempt on Trump. Political speech has always been fraught with double standards, but it seems to me that you can’t have it both ways. Otherwise, you’re guilty of what you condemn.
In a few hours, Donald Trump will deliver his speech and accept his party’s nomination. God knows what he will say, but I don’t. I am praying that it will have a general tone of humble and hopeful strength. I hope it acknowledges that the best of his political opponents may be misguided, but they are fellow Americans who love their country. They may have different and dangerous ideas about how to make America a better place, but they are human beings, made in the image of God, who should be treated, quoted, and considered the way he wants to be treated, quoted, and considered. .
I hope to hear that insults, name-calling, personal attacks, and fighting words will not produce solutions to our nation’s dangerously daunting problems, but civil discourse, substantive debate, and respectful disagreement certainly will. I would like to hear an influential political leader make the case that we Americans and our leaders can be tough, wise, and humble at the same time.
But whatever happens tonight, this I know: “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3).
God help us.