Joe Biden

This Ain’t That…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

Okay, so by now you’re aware that there was an assassination attempt on the life of Donald Trump on July 13, 2024. You’ve probably seen the soon-to-be iconic photograph taken that day at the fairgrounds rally in Butler, PA.

I’ll say with a fair degree of certainty that photograph sealed Joe Biden’s fate as far as the Presidential election is concerned. Regardless of what one thinks of Donald Trump, one must admit it is a compelling picture.

I continue to be amazed how some in the Christian community can try to make something out of current events that there is simply no evidence to support. Donald J. Trump may be a character of biblical proportions, and he may, in fact, be God’s man for God’s time (that remains to be seen), but please, let’s stop trying to tie biblical images to the man. We might just be opening a can of worms that we don’t need to open when we do that.

What do I mean?

Not too long after the assassination attempt, Donald Trump was tied to an obscure passage of scripture in Leviticus noting that Trump was somehow being anointed for God’s service (click here for an example).

The photo on the right also started hitting my Facebook feed shortly after the assassination attempt, and one prosperity preacher, Rev. Jentezen Franklin, made the connection while making remarks before the Faith & Freedom Coalition breakfast during the Republican National Convention. I searched the internet for the video, but it has apparently has been taken down.

Let me just say: This ain’t that!

Here’s the passage in question:

 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot. 24 Moses also brought Aaron’s sons forward and put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands and on the big toes of their right feet. Then he splashed blood against the sides of the altar.  Leviticus 8:23 – 24 NIV

In its context, Leviticus 8 is clearly Moses’ anointing of Aaron and his sons to the Old Testament Aaronic priesthood. It was a consecration of Aaron and his sons as priests for the nation of Israel. We must read it and understand it as we seek to understand what God was doing with His people in that time. To attempt to make a contemporary application is to open ourselves to several problems.

The Problems

Exegesis

Exegesis simply means the critical explanation or interpretation of a text, especially of scripture. To take out of the text that there is a connection between the Aaronic priesthood of the Old Testament and Donald Trump is blatantly false. To suggest that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump is God’s anointing of him as some sort of priest or prophet for the United States of America is to have a completely wrong understanding of the Old Testament.

Connecting this passage of scripture, even as allegorical or metaphorical, is to make a very crass interpretation of scripture. We must be careful doing this…or tying any American President (or any person for that matter) to events in the Bible. We must be careful because two can play that game.

Here’s what I mean:

3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast.  Revelation 13: 3 NIV

Could Donald Trump be the beast of Revelation? I don’t know! I guess it depends on your interpretation of scripture (or your political party!).

Devil in the Details

Honestly, there are just too many details missing for Leviticus 8 to be in any way associated with Donald Trump. First, the blood applied to Aaron and his sons came from a sacrificial ram. That means something else had to die to provide the blood for the ceremony (think New Testament…think Jesus here). The blood applied to Aaron’s ear (and thumb and toe) was not his own.

Second, the Levitical instructions are specific in what was to be done with the fat and the entrails of the sacrificial animal. As best I recall, there was no fat or entrails (blood and guts) involved in the assassination attempt of former President Trump.

Third, as far as we know, none of the blood made its way to Trump’s big toe. We do know that he lost his shoes when he was tackled by the Secret Service, and he had the presence of mind to want to retrieve his shoes before departing the platform.

I’m going to say, as an aside, that wanting to get your shoes while someone is shooting at you is either the most narcissistic thing in the world, or the bravest thing in the world. There’s probably an element of both involved, but I’ll let you be the judge of it. Maybe they were just expensive shoes!

Lessons Learned

Let me be the first to say that I also think my Christian brothers and sisters who dispute God’s providence in the protection of Donald Trump through that attempt might also be hasty in their response. There is nothing wrong in acknowledging that God could very well have been provident in those circumstances, the fact that someone else was killed notwithstanding. One lesson in all of this is for us not to become extreme either way.

Another lesson to be learned is that the Bible is not a political prop and we shouldn’t seek to use it for political gain. It is the revelation of God the Father designed and given to lead us to repentance in Jesus Christ, the Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. Shame on us for using it any other way.

One final lesson we can learn is that Jesus Christ is our hope and the Savior of the world. We have so much hope and truth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we have no need of taking an obscure passage of scripture and misapplying it to our current situation to find hope. Jesus is the Savior who forgives sinners, saves them by His grace, invites them into His Kingdom and will one day come again in glory to reign eternally. That’s enough!

I’m telling you…this thing with Donald Trump…it ain’t that!

Until next time, keep looking up…

It’s Time for a Change…

/ pastorlynnmalone / Leave a comment

This blog post will be a bit different. I’m jumping into the political realm again for some reason, and we know that’s probably something pastors shouldn’t do. Maybe it will be okay. Maybe it won’t. Here goes anyway.

I have always been interested in politics. I registered to vote on the day after my 18th birthday. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to vote. I once thought I might have a future in politics. I ran for and was elected to my local school board and served until the Lord decided I needed to go to seminary. I resigned my position and that ended whatever political career I thought I might have. Moving from community to community as a Methodist preacher doesn’t lend itself well to political aspirations in most cases.

I never stopped following politics, though. I was always aware of the candidates, even for little-known offices like Justice of the Peace and Constable (Do you know who your constable is?). It might be because my step-father was the local constable when I was growing up, but I always knew who the local officials were and who was or might run against them. I guess you could say following politics was somewhat of a hobby. Some people hunted and fished. Others played golf. I followed politics.

On the day after my 18th birthday, I went to the Registrar of Voters office and registered as a Republican. It was 1981 and Ronald Reagan was riding high as President of the United States. I loved Ronald Reagan and I wanted to be a Republican. I’ve been a registered Republican ever since. That’s forty-two years, but who’s counting.

I’ve never voted for a Democrat for a national office. Not in 42 years. Actually, I’ve voted for very few Democrats for any office. I did vote for Edwin Edwards for governor of Louisiana once, but that’s because the best candidate Republicans could come up with was David Duke. If you know anything about Edwin Edwards, you know what a sacrifice it was for a died-in-the-wool Republican to vote for him. I have also voted on the local level for Democrats whom I knew personally and knew their values. Ironically, some of those who were Democrats when I voted for them switched to become Republicans later. Go figure!

It’s not like I was raised to be a Republican. My grandparents were Democrats. Even had a grandfather who was elected to the local school board as a Democrat (it was the same seat to which I was elected years later). My step-father was a Democrat and was elected as the local constable as a Democrat. No problem. As a matter of fact, in 1981 when I registered as a Republican, it wasn’t the fashionable thing to do. There were far more Democrats in Louisiana at the time.

I registered as a Republican in 1981 because of Ronald Reagan, and because as I surveyed the party platforms of both the Republican and Democrat parties (yes, I did that as an 18 year-old–I told you politics was a hobby), the Republican Party platform more aligned with what I believed and with my core values of what a government should look like. And for 42 years, that has pretty much been the case.

I’ve probably divulged more than I should have, and probably more than you ever wanted to know (not that you even care), but I’ve offered this more as confession than anything else, and perhaps this blog is a means of repentance, too, because after 42 years I’ve decided that I am no longer a Republican. Oh, don’t worry! I’m not a Democrat either. After 42 years as a Republican, I will henceforth and forever be an Independent.

Why? Two reasons. One, Donald Trump, and two, the recent chaos in the leadership of the Republican Party.

Honestly, I didn’t like Donald Trump is 2016 and I didn’t like him in 2020. I still don’t like him today. In each of those elections, I held my nose and voted for him, much like I did for Edwin Edwards for governor many years ago. Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden were not legitimate alternatives for me. As much as I dislike Donald Trump, there was no way I could support the Democratic candidates because many of the policies and positions they held/hold were counter to my core values as one who seeks to follow Jesus Christ. Don’t take that last statement as a condemnation of any “Christian” who voted for Clinton or Biden. It’s not intended to be such. It’s a simple statement that as I seek to follow Jesus, I could not reconcile my values with their positions. If you can, more power to you.

I’m also not certain that the Trump phenomenon is not the reason there has been such chaos in the Republican Party. I certainly believe it is a major part of the reason for the chaos, but I also believe there has been a lot of egotism and narcissism involved as well. I’ve watched with interest over the last month as Republicans in Congress struggled to identify and elect a Speaker of the House of Representatives.

The Republicans have been in chaotic disarray until this week when they were able to elect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) to the speakership. Oh, I’m elated that Congressman Johnson was elected. I believe that his values and mine are not that far apart. He’s my Congressman! He’s the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States! He’s the third in line to the Presidency of the United States. This is a really big deal–for him and his family, for the State of Louisiana and for our District. I pray for his leadership. I prayed for his election to the position. I pray he represents Louisiana and our nation well.

The process of his election, though, exemplifies the broken nature of the Republican Party. At my age, I’m just tired of the politics that played out over the past month. Some wise sage once said (I don’t remember who and Google was no help) that the only difference between the Republican Party and the Democrat Party is the speed at which they want things to change. The “establishment” of the Republican Party and the “establishment” of the Democrat Party want the same things, they just want to get there at a different rate of speed. After watching the Republicans over the past month, I’m not so sure that isn’t true. My prayer is that Speaker Johnson’s leadership will prove me wrong.

Speaker Johnson’s election notwithstanding, it’s time for me to take a step back from party affiliation. Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I just want to be more like Jesus. I suspect Jesus would have plenty to say to both Democrats and Republicans were He present today. Oh, wait! He is! He is present in His body, the Church. The Church should be holding both Democrats and Republicans to account. The Church should be speaking the prophetic Word on His behalf, but that’s kinda’ hard to do if it is too closely aligned to a political party, either on the right or the left.

My loyalty is to Jesus, not to a political party. It’s time for me to be free to speak prophetically whenever the Spirit stirs. I’m just sad it took me 42 years to come to that conclusion. For that, I repent!

Until next time, keep looking up…