Unconventional Messengers of Grace and Truth
I voted for Donald Trump. But I was not a big fan when he first ran for president. I didn’t like the loose tongue, three marriages and playboy past. I also had negative impressions of his wife Melania due to her many seductive photos on the Internet and super model past.
Both of my attitudes have changed–over time and after last weekend.
On Saturday, February 18, I tearfully watched Melania Trump do something that Franklin Graham says has never been done before by any First Lady in US history. Then I listened to Donald Trump’s speech in Melbourne, Florida from beginning to end.
Both of them might be unconventional messengers of grace and truth.
First, let’s put in context “grace and truth.” John 1:17 states: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Both of these attributes are foundations of biblical faith. Grace points to God’s willingness to transform repentant people; Truth refers to reality–what works in real life.
As Melania Trump introduced her husband Saturday evening, I was skeptical. Beautiful woman. Trophy wife. Super model. Heavy accent (though she speaks five languages of which English is the fifth).
Then I nearly fell out of my chair when she invited the 9000 people in the airport hangar (and thousands more outside) to join her praying the Lord’s Prayer.
You can watch the prayer here.
I can’t recall a president or first lady leading a public prayer since Franklin Roosevelt led the nation on the radio on June 6, 1944 on the eve of the D-Day invasion.
My impression of Melania Trump has changed. Though the prayer may have inserted by a speech writer, she didn’t have to do it. But she did. Says something about her (draw your own conclusion). Mine is, that at the least, she is open to spiritual matters. Maybe she is growing in her faith–and God used that to point millions of people heavenward.
Powerful. Uplifting.
At least on that occasion, Melania Trump was a messenger from God.
Then President Trump took the stage. The Melbourne rally was designed to re-create the campaign rally atmosphere which followed him throughout 2016. I haven’t heard the POTUS speak in person. I’ve never listened to any of his speeches from beginning to end. Only sound-bites.
This one I listened to completely. If you have 48 minutes to kill, you can watch it here.
Ater listening to every word, I can honestly say I agree with virutally all of Donald Trump’s positions. He spoke truth about the God-created domain of government from beginning to end.
I want you to judge for yourself.
I took the time to download the transcript of his 5200 word speech. Then I edited out the verbiage to the 33 main points. Lay your biases aside and see if you agree with the ideas that Donald Trump expounded. You might want to even put a check mark on a piece of paper–then add them up:
1. “When the media lies to people, I will never, ever let them get away with it.”
2. “I know that you want safe neighborhoods where the streets belong to families and communities, not gang members and drug dealers who are right now being thrown out of the country and they will not be let back in.”
3. “We will have strong borders again. Gang leaders will be put in prison or sent home.”
4. You want great schools for your children.”
5. “You want good high paying jobs for yourselves and for your loved ones and for the future of your families.”
6. “Obamacare will be repealed and replaced. Our plan will be much better health care at a much lower cost.”
7. “You want low cost American energy also, which means lifting the restrictions on oil, on shell, on natural gas and on clean coal. We’re going to put the miners back to work.”
8. “You want us to enforce immigration laws and defend our borders.”
9. “You want fair trade deals and a level playing field.”
10. “You want lower taxes. Less regulation. You want to make it easy for companies to do business in America. And harder for companies to leave.”
11. “When corporations want to sell that product back across our border, they’re going to pay a 35% tax.”
12. “A great spirit of optimism is sweeping all across the country. Look at what’s happening to the stock market. Look at what’s happening to the every poll when it comes to optimism in our country.”
13. “Jobs are already starting to pour back in.”
14. “I followed through on my promise to withdraw from the job killing disaster known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
15. “My administration has begun plans to crack down on foreign cheating and currency manipulation which is killing our companies and really, really hurting our workers.”
16. “I’ve taken steps to begin the construction of the Keystone and the Dakota Access Pipelines.”
17. “We believe in two simple rules. Buy American and hire American.”
18. “Environmental Protection Agency. We won’t have projects going 10-12 years and getting rejected.”
19. “I’ve directed the Department of Justice to take a firm, firm stance to protect our cops, sheriffs, and police from crimes of violence against them. We will work with our police not against our police. We will always protect those who protect us.”
20. “We’ve directed the creation of a task force for reducing violent crime in America, including our inner cities. We’re going to make our inner cities safe again.”
21. “We are going to destroy trans national criminal cartels which are all over the United States and we are going to stop the drugs from pouring into your community, into your cities and poisoning our youth.”
22. “I’ve ordered the construction of a great border wall, which will start very shortly.”
23. “I’ve taken decisive action to keep radical Islamic terrorist the hell out of our country. We’ve got to keep our country safe.”
24. “I want to build safe zones in Syria and other places so they can stay there and live safely until their cities and their country are safe. We’re going to have the gulf states pay for those safe zones.”
25. “I’ve also directed the defense community headed by General Mattis, to develop a plan to totally destroy ISIS.”
26. “I have ordered the Department of Defense to begin plans for the great rebuilding of the United States military. We will pursue peace through strength.”
27. “And we’re going to make sure our veterans have the care they need when they come home. We love our veterans.”
28. “We’re going to down size the bloated, bloated bureaucracy which make the government lean and accountable. We’re going to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C. I’ve already imposed a five year lobbying ban on the executive branch officials and lifetime ban on lobbying for a foreign government.”
29. “I’ve nominated a fantastic justice to replace the late great Justice Scalia. His name is Judge Neil Gorsuch. He will be a true, true defender of our Constitution.”
31. “We are working to lower tax rates in the middle class to reduce tax rates big league on businesses and to make our tax code more fair and very simple for all Americans so it’s understandable by everyone.”
32. “One trillion dollar infrastructure plan to build new roads and bridges and airports and tunnels and highways and railways all across our great nation.”
33. “All NATO nations need to pay their way.”
Okay, add up your check marks. If you checked ten or more, then you should have voted for Donald Trump. Very few, if any, of these policies would have been pursued by Hillary Clinton. They come from biblical ideas based on God’s designed domain for human governments.
And Donald Trump appears to be the straight-talking, bull-in-a-china shop kind of guy who just might get many of them done–despite his weaknesses.
President Trump ended his speech with these words:
“We have the chance now working together to deliver change for the ages…Let us move past the differences and find a new loyalty rooted deeply in our country. We are all brothers and all sisters. We share one home. One destiny and one glorious American flag. We are united together by history and by Providence [God]. We will make America strong again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And we will make America great again. Greater than ever before. May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America!”
Don’t miss the message because you don’t like the messenger.
Donald and Melania Trump just might be unconventional messengers of grace and truth.
