I doubt he fully appreciates it, but President Donald Trump has performed a valuable service for scores of millions of Americans. He has opened their eyes to the insidious atmosphere of deception that pervades America and, indeed, the world.
When he takes on the mainstream media and constantly points out the daily examples of “fake news”; when he exposes the bald-faced lies of those who promote the “virtues” of socialism; when he boldly proclaims late-term abortion to be what it is — infanticide or homicide — and not the benign disposal of fetal tissue the liberals proclaim; when he points out that the multi-national pacts such as The Trans-Pacific Partnership or the Paris Climate Accord are nothing less attempts by globalist forces to gain control of the world without the approval of the world’s citizens; when he calls to account those on the Left who now oppose border security and support for Israel and the sanctity of marriage and the protection of the American worker when, just a few short years ago, they approved and promoted all of those things, President Trump is doing what both Jesus and the Apostle Paul did. He is warning us that we are being misled. We are being deceived.
We are being told one thing when the reality is something far different. And in every case, the ones telling the lies know perfectly well that they are lying, but they don’t care. To them, the end justifies the means.
How do I know that? I know that because Jesus Himself understood that the atmosphere of deception would be so great in the final days before His return that He took great pains to warn all believers to pay special attention to the danger. When His disciples asked Him to tell them how they would recognize the end of the age, the first words out of His mouth were, “See to it that no one misleads you….” (Matthew 24:4 NASB)
In 2 Timothy 3:13, Paul warns that in the last days, “Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”
Just think how only a few short years ago, most Americans (and most of the world’s citizens) blithely accepted as truth whatever the press and our leaders told us. Now we know that, in fact, disturbingly little of what the mainstream media or the politicians tell us is true. And if it is true, they are only telling us the portion of it that furthers their ambitions. That’s why we now see such vitriol and such desperate and unreasoning opposition to anything and everything that smacks of Judeo-Christian values.
And even though Donald Trump may not be a man of God, there is no doubt in my mind that he is God’s man for this time. His willingness to speak the truth and bear the consequences has performed a valuable service for the kingdom of God.
Like a splash of cold water in the face of a sleeping man, events of the last few months — even the last few days — have been a jolt to our sense of well-being. We have learned that for many millions of people in America, and especially those on the Left, the presumption of innocence and the guarantee of due process are just empty words. We have learned that the convenience of the mother outweighs the rights of the child she carries. We have learned that life in the womb is not sacred to the Left, in fact, we are now learning that new life outside the womb may not be sacred, either. And I suspect that soon we will learn that life at the end of one’s adulthood isn’t really sacred to the Left.
We have learned that some of our most respected leaders actually believe that we are incapable of making our own decisions and guiding our own lives. They are taking steps to ensure that we will soon lose those rights. If their plans succeed, our rights of self-determination will be ceded to the government to determine how we earn our livings, how much of our money we can keep, where, when, and if we can receive medical care, how we can educate, discipline, or train our children, what words we can use, what thoughts we are allowed to think and express, when, where, and if we can worship, and who or what we are allowed to worship.
Sadly, friends, I am not overstating anything I’ve just written. In fact, some of these things are frighteningly close to becoming reality. Many of them will be campaign themes in the upcoming 2020 national elections!
Censorship, something most older Americans never worried about in America, is now being practiced daily. In fact, many younger Americans are ignorantly demanding it. Socialism is the new mantra of the Left and the Democrat Party. Sexual fluidity is bearing down on us like a runaway train. The public proclamation of Judeo-Christian values is quickly becoming anathema to public acceptance when, not so long ago, it was a requirement for public approval.
In short, we are at the edge of the precipice. And most of us didn’t even realize that we were approaching a cliff! That’s because Satan has been continually and skillfully wielding one of his strongest weapons upon the world: deception. And he has been successfully practicing it since the Garden of Eden. He’s so good at it, that he caused Eve, then Adam, to bite!
It’s late, but not too late, yet. We still have time to wake up and shake off the chains of slumber. But we must do it now! And we must ask God to rouse His Church to the reality of what is happening around us. We must ask Him to help us realize that we are being deceived and to help us recognize the truth and pursue it with all our hearts.