What Are They Resisting?

Even before Donald Trump became the president of the United States, a “Resistance Movement” began forming throughout our nation’s political hierarchy to block his leadership and policies.

Hillary Clinton trumpeted the need for “Resistance” after her Electoral College defeat and many Never-Trumpers from both political parties simultaneously joined the chorus.

This week the resistance movement in the House of Representatives, under the leadership of Congressman Adam Schiff, D-CA, opens impeachment hearings on the president. This follows two-and-a-half years of the fruitless Mueller investigation.

Other than being a gigantic waste of the public’s time and money (shouldn’t we be solving important national problems?), I have one simple question:

What are they resisting?

What Are They Resisting?

I have stated numerous times that I vote for political leaders primarily because of his or her policies not their personality or past.

American citizens have elected some good presidents with flawed personalities or histories (think Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant or even Teddy Roosevelt) as well as winsome presidents with flawed principles (Jimmy Carter comes to mind).

I do not like many aspects of Donald’s Trump’s personality or flamboyant history. But I voted for him in 2016 and will do so in 2020 because:

• I agree with the vast majority of his actions/policies as president.
• His strong public commitment to faith, family and freedom.
• His strength of personality to take on the Deep State bureaucracy in our nation’s capital.
• The sovereign hand of God upon him in his political ascendancy to the presidency (my opinion).

For these and other reasons, sixty-two million people agreed with me in November 2016 to elect him our 45th president.

He should have been given a fair shake to lead our nation just as Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton were given. Didn’t we formerly call a president’s first 100 Days a “political honeymoon” or opportunity to succeed?

Instead, from day one (actually before it), many powerful people and organizations committed themselves to “resist” President Trump’s every proposal.

Why?

The answer may surprise you.

Most of us are at least vaguely familiar with the “Resistance” terminology from World War II. Many political and spiritual leaders in Germany including Dietrich Bonhoeffer used the term to describe their duty to stand up to Adolph Hitler and the growing evils of the Third Reich.

Michael DeJonge argues in his book, Bonhoeffer on Resistance: The Word against the Wheel, that Bonhoeffer resistance’s to  Hitler (which led to the German pastor’s execution at the hands of the Nazis on April 9, 1945) took six different forms:

1. Individual and humanitarian resistance to state injustice.
2. The church’s service to victims of state injustice
3. The church’s indirectly political word to the state.
4. The church’s directly political word against an unjust state.
5. Resistance through discipleship.
6. Resistance through the responsible action of the individual.”

I don’t see any of these elements in the current “resistance” to Donald Trump. Resisters seem to want him out of office because, well, he is Donald Trump (whatever that means).

So what are they really resisting?

That’s pretty easy to quantify. What has Donald Trump done or promoted in his first term as president?

First, he wants the United States to be a normal sovereign nation with real boundaries/borders that bring security, peace and harmony to the nation–including an orderly system of immigration. This is reasonable and essential for nations.

Against all opposition (most of it coming from progressive judges and activists), President Trump has convinced Mexico to stop illegal caravans and has begun to build the wall (fence) at the southern border. If he hadn’t been “resisted” at every turn, the wall might have been completed by now.

Second, through our respected military whom we honored on Veteran’s Day this week, the U.S. crushed ISIS in a matter of months and recently killed their ruthless dictator, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. This was the reverse of the Bonhoeffer killing. Under President’s Trump’s leadership, the bad guys received their just desert–not the good guys.

Third, due to this Administration’s tax-cut policies, the American economy is booming with historically low unemployment rates for African-Americans, Latinos, and others along with rising wages for the middle class. Thousands of manufacturing jobs have come home to America and we are once again the best nation on earth for financial investment.

Fourth, due to massive deregulation and pro-growth strategies, our nation has become energy independent under President Trump’s leadership and no longer stands hostage to OPEC or other global concerns. High-paying jobs are exploding in the energy sector due to fracking, innovation, and letting free markets lead the way.

Fifth, President Trump is confronting China for its unfair trade practices, theft of intellectual property from the West and growing military expansionism in Asia. The “trade war,” though not settled, is at the least slowing down China’s global desires of economic and/or totalitarian conquest. Remember: the Chinese leaders are communists = bad guys. President Trumps is confronting them–for the world’s good.

Sixth, though progress has stalled, President Trump has reined in the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and stopped their communist “man-god” from testing missiles all over the Pacific. Let’s keep praying for the re-unification of the Korean Peninsula as happened in Germany in 1989 (and celebrated this week).

Seventh, the president has made “Religious Liberty” a hallmark of his first term with Vice President Mike Pence leading numerous global initiatives and Sam Brownback, former governor of Kansas, serving as U.S. Ambassador for Religious Freedom. All their efforts led to Pastor Andrew Brunson’s October 12, 2018 release from a Turkish prison where he had been persecuted for three years for his faith. Thanks to President Trump, Pastor Brunson is free.

Eighth, the present Administration is fighting the denial of free speech (college campuses), insane political correctness (progressive fascism), lack of due process (e.g. the Cavanaugh hearings), and the destructive tendencies of other progressive “social experiments” such as gender fluidity, coed bathrooms, and women in combat (84% fail the strength test).

Ninth, the President is strongly pro-life and has restored the Mexico City Policy discouraging international abortions while championing the rights of  children since the moment of their conception.

Tenth, Donald Trump has (amazingly) brought God and biblical faith back into the center of American life, conversation, and public values.

So let me get this right. The so-called Resistance is not resisting an evil dictator or horrible policies that go against American tradition and sound values.

They are resisting:

• Secure borders, military strength and victory over evil, economic growth and prosperity, energy independence, confronting China (communism), freeing the Korean Peninsula, religious liberty, social sanity, loving “life,” and “In God we Trust.”

You might want to read that list again and let it sink in.

On my way to Faith International University today, I stopped at a light behind a Toyota Prius that prominently displayed a “RESIST” bumper sticker.

I prayed for the driver (among other things).

Let’s be clear. The election of Donald Trump was never about him–though he is a very unusual figure in America history.

The political forces allied against President Trump are not resisting evil–as we’ve always defined the word. They are resisting good–as found in the history and principles of the greatest faith-based nation in world history.

Trump’s victory in 2016 interrupted the political march of evil in the United States–at least temporarily. That evil is defined as the opposite of the above list and is being stimulated and fueled in our nation by unseen demonic forces.

They and their human accessories are really resisting Jesus Christ and his coming Kingdom.

Keep that in mind as you watch the “dog and pony show” this week on Capitol Hill.

And, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer did in his day, commit yourself to resist them–in truth, love, and with great sacrifice–for the good of the nation.