Former U.S. President Donald Trump appeared last night on television’s “Dr. Phil” show, with its host Dr. Phil McGraw interviewing him about the assassination attempt on his life several weeks ago. The assassin’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear just as Trump turned his head to view a sign. Had the former president not turned his head in that instant, the bullet likely would have entered his skull and killed him. The timing of Trump moving his head was truly remarkable. And it raised the question, not just in the minds of Trump’s MAGA crowd, about whether God in that split second caused Donald Trump to turn his head. So, Dr. Phil asked him about it last night.
Dr. Phil asked Trump if the assassination incident at that political rally on July 13th in Butler, Pennsylvania, has caused him to think, “Why am I here?”
Trump answered by talking about the mathematical chances of him turning his head at that instant when the bullet was fired, and that’s why he survived. Trump said, “How can you say it’s luck when it’s, you know, 20 million to one?” I agree.
McGraw asked, “Is there a reason you think you were spared?”
Trump answered, “I mean, the only thing I can think is that God loves our country. And he thinks we’re going to bring our country back. He wants to bring it back.”
“You believe God’s hand was in this that day?” McGraw asked a bit later.
Trump replied, “I believe so, yeah, I do.”
And so do a whole lot of Trump’s MAGA crowd, which includes many, many white evangelicals who helped a lot in getting him elected as president the first time.
An interesting point about this discussion is the silence about the other bullet fired a split second afterwards by the assassin, right after the bullet that almost killed Trump. That second bullet did kill someone—Corey Comporatore, a fire fighter who had thrust himself sideways to protect his relatives immediately when the bullet struck Trump’s ear. If God was protecting Donald Trump, why didn’t he also protect Corey Comporatore?
There is another possibility, here, about Trump’s survival from that bullet not being a coincidence, but actually being supernatural. According to the Bible, there are two entities vying against each other in both this universe and in heaven: God and his hosts, referring to his angelic armies, and Satan and his hosts, thus his angelic armies. There are several places in the Bible to read about this conflict. The most informative is the prophecy in Revelation 12:7-9. It reads as follows in the NRSV:
“And war broke out in heaven; Michael [the archangel] and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
This text has been badly misinterpreted during church history. The Roman Catholic Church generally has interpreted it as having already happened long ago, either before creation, but most probably during Jesus’ ministry. Either interpretation takes the text out of its context, which concerns the latter period on earth just prior to the end of the age and second coming of Christ. For, the previous text is about Jesus having been born, Satan having tried to destroy him. That occurred through King Herod destroying all children up to two years old in Bethlehem (cf. vv. 2-4; Matthew 2:1-16).
This Revelation 12 text reads concerning Mary, Jesus’ mother, “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne” (v. 5). This refers to Jesus’ resurrection, ascension, and heavenly exaltation, all of which the New Testament says much about. Thus, the narrative which follows this Revelation 12:5 text—about war in heaven and Satan and his angels losing it and being cast down to earth (vv. 7-9)—must occur after Jesus’ heavenly ascension and exaltation by sitting with God on his throne.
After Satan and his angels are defeated in this war in heaven, they are cast down to earth. When this happens, Satan “knows that his time is short” (Revelation 12.12). Actually, here and in the book of Daniel it says he has 3.5 years (“times, and time, and half a time” Rev 12:14) left before he will be cast into the abyss at the second coming of Christ (Revelation 20:1-3). Therefore, at the beginning of this 3.5 years he goes forth with much fury to do as much damage as he can to God’s purposes. One of the ways he will do it is by means of deception. For this text identifies Satan as “the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev 12:9).
The apostle Paul informs about this as well. He prophesies that at the end of the age, “the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Christians later applied the word “Antichrist” to this individual (cf. 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7). Paul adds, “The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception … God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false” (2 Thes 2:9-11).
So, it is not only possible that God caused Trump to turn his head at that moment the assassin shot his bullet at him; it also is possible that Satan caused Trump to turn his head at that moment as an act of deception, causing foolish people to believe it was God, when it really was Satan.
The main reason I am suggesting this possibility is that Donald Trump is not a man who tells the truth, as God does; rather, he is the biggest liar I have ever seen!
And what does Jesus say about liars? He said of “the devil” that “he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). People who are great big liars all their lives don’t belong to God, but to the father of lies.
So, Trump says God protected him from that assassin’s bullet. What do you think?
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