Trump and the Election Part 2

Over the past few days, I have been praying and meditating a lot about my blog on Sunday, on the two prophetic encounters I had: first on September 6th and, then again, early on election day, November 3rd. Many people have emailed me or posted that maybe what I heard was correct. Biden would win and it was because many (not all) in the church have idolized Trump…but it is possible that God is giving us a window to repent of putting way too much faith in politics and government. Then, as we repented, He would reverse the outcome of the elections.

When someone first shared this with me, I responded, “No…I clearly saw a Biden victory. If Trump overcomes, then I clearly missed God and will need to repent to the body of believers.” That has been my position since I posted the word on November 8th. I just assumed people were seeking to reconcile how someone they loved and respected could mistakenly hear concerning something of this magnitude. I thought they were trying to give me a way to save face in the event that Trump was somehow given another four years. However, this morning I read this article by Craig Keener. (Full disclosure, I read it, because he quotes me)

Keener speaks of his own dreams concerning Trump and the elections:

I am not a prophet, but my own dreams gave me misgivings. For example, in March 2016, eight months before the election, I dreamed that Trump could be like the biblical Jehu (2 Kings 10:28–31) and needed repentance. In May 2016 I dreamed that God was angry about Trump’s (future) mistreatment of refugee children. Later I dreamed about his words provoking race riots. After the 2016 election, I wrote in my journal, “I wonder why, when I have had these nightmare dreams about him, many others are not seeing the same thing.” The next year I dreamed that I was warning Trump supporters about a coming backlash: “You have sown the wind and you will reap the whirlwind” (from Hosea 8:7). … In August this year, I dreamed that Trump lost the 2020 election.

How to apply a prophecy is as important as the prophecy

The thing that struck me about his article was what he shared about the person who receives a prophecy not always understanding the interpretation or application. In Acts, Paul gets a prophetic word from Agabus that he will be put in chains in Jerusalem. His friends emphatically interpret that God was saying to Paul, “Don’t go to Jerusalem!” However, for Paul, it was confirmation of what he had already declared in Acts 20:22-24.

Keener, states, “Not only are all prophecies partial (1 Cor. 13:9) but, more dangerously, sometimes we may confuse our wrong interpretation with God’s message.”

So, yes, it is possible that God shared that with me, so we could repent during this window of uncertainty. (Of course, if I were Him, I would have shared it with someone with more influence.) You say, “But Ron, we have repented already.” Yes, in several events there has been effective, wonderful repentance for the sins of the nation, but there has not been a widespread repentance for idolizing President Trump or putting our faith in the politics.

I am not seeking to save face!

Now, just to be clear, I am not seeking a way out in case President Trump overcomes. In the natural, there is no precedent for changing the outcome of three or four states. And I do not think (I am not a presidential election scholar) a state has ever flipped where the difference was 50,000 votes (as in Pennsylvania) or even more than 100,000 votes (in Michigan). If the results are reversed, it will no doubt be a miracle. Furthermore, while I do value my reputation, “A good name is more desirable than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1), if Trump remains president, it will be my strong conclusion that I missed God and will need to repent. I value God’s reputation far above my own.

No one knows they are deceived when they are deceived

However, for the good of the nation, maybe we should all take a deep look inward and see if there has been some misplaced loyalty to President Trump which only belongs to God. No one who has idolized someone thinks (at the time) that they are in idolatry. To see it, it will take prayer and a deep inner look before God and His word. Such repentance could, maybe, turn things around—even now. One of the responses I have received this week was from a former student.

I sent [your blog] to one of the hardest “Trump does no wrong,” people I know and he called me this morning to tell me the Holy Spirit came upon him as he read your article and he repented for making Trump an idol.

And that is not the only email like that I have received.

I did think it was conditional

Could repentance turn things around? I don’t know. I can tell you that when I received these two words, it was as clear as could be. I did not then, and still don’t, see it as conditional. But who knows? Over the past two months, I wondered if I heard that Biden would win, or that Trump would lose. Maybe the President would simply be replaced by another candidate for some reason. When I had the second experience on election day, it was as if I was reading a newspaper that declared, BIDEN WINS.* I could almost see him on the stage accepting victory. My understanding, even now, is that it was a done deal—I don’t expect the result to change. But God told Jeremiah that repentance can move Him to relent.

“If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.” (Jeremiah 18:7–10)

Again, I am not seeking an out. I am confident in what I heard. But at the same time, it would be so good if we could all just get before God and pray, asking Him if we have given a place in our hearts to President Trump that should be reserved only for the Almighty. We are asking God to expose the deception in the elections—and we should! Maybe we should also be asking God to expose anything deceptive in our hearts, as well. Present company included.

*One of the hardest things to explain in human language is experiences with God. Was it a vision? No. And yet, it was as if I could see things. I wish I could explain it better.