Did God Spare Trump For A Specific Purpose?

Less than three weeks ago former President Trump was shot by an assassin and lived. Praise God!

We were all shocked as details came in and the photos of Trump began circulating of him with a bloodied hand in a fist bravely shouting “Fight. Fight. Fight!” with the American flag in the background against a bright blue sky. Those photos will be part of the Trump lore for as far into the future as I can see.

I’ve since read dozens of news stories and blogs and listened to a number of podcasts by Christians all talking about what appeared obvious to them, “God spared Trump.” 

It’s not just that God spared Trump’s life, but that he spared it for a specific purpose so that he could be elected president again, presumably to carry out the will of God for America. And I’m grateful former president Trump in his acceptance speech and since then has thanked God for sparing his life. 

But Pastor Jeff Robert Jeffress pastor of the high-profile First Baptist of Dallas said in his sermon of July 14 put it this way,”My own feeling is God spared him (Trump) for the purpose of calling our nation back to its Judeo-Christian foundation.” And many other Christian leaders and pastors have said the simmilar things. They apparently know why Trump was spared. Other pastors have made the connection between the timing of Trump’s miracle which occurred at 6:11EST and Ephesians 6:11 which reads, “be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.” Zeeesh! Talk about a stretch and a clear misuse of Scripture to “prove” a point that Ephesians 6:11 never meant to make.

And it’s possible all, or some of these statements are true. But then I began thinking of Cory Comperatore the father and fire fighter who died of a bullet meant for Trump by throwing himself on his family sacrificially.

Why wasn’t he spared?

Was it the will of God that he died?

Why did anyone have to die?

Is that the price God had to pay for sparing Trump's life?

God could not prevent “collateral damage?” 

Let me be very clear. God is sovereign over all creation. Theologians make a distinction between God’s sovereign will and his permissive will.  

God’s sovereign will means that whatever God absolutely wants done will get done and no force on heaven and earth can stop it. We do not know God’s sovereign will for everything. An example; It is the sovereign will of God that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead. No force can stop it. But we do not know when he will return. 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” Isaiah 55:8,9

God’s permissive will is what God “desires to be done.” But humans having free-will can and do violate his permissive will. An example; God’s permissive will is sexual purity for all humans. He’s declared his will on this subject throughout scripture. No true Christian doubts it yet because of free will, humans, even Christians can and do violate God’s will in these areas. 

Here’s why I’m asking these questions about the claim that God spared Trump’s life for a purpose. I believe it is arrogant and presumptuous for any human being to declare he/she knows the will of God with certainty outside of what is declared in the Bible. Pastor Jeffress could be right. He could also be wrong. But I think it’s a sin for a Christian leader to put words in God’s mouth. It is fair to give thanks and say, “We praise God for sparing the life of former president Trump.” But declaring God did so for a specific purpose is unknowable and presumes he, or anyone knows the mind of God regarding Trump, which we do not.

Could it be God didn’t spare Trump but he just meant to wing him in the hope he’d be more kind and less arrogant?And while we’re at it could the fact that no one has taken a shot at either Biden, or Harris be a sign that it’s them who God has protected? There’s just so many ways to play this which of course is exactly my point.

“Nobody has ever known the mind of God.” Romans 11:34.

And I haven’t read where Pastor Jeffress and others have speculated on Cory Comperatore’s death. Why not? Why would God hide his will for that but reveal his will for Trump? I think it’s human nature for us Christians to assume if something good happens, as least as we interpreted it, it must be the will of God. But if something bad happens  we aren’t so quick to attribute it to God. We’d prefer to think of God only doing good things and the tragedies we assign to the evil one, or the category of the  unknowable.  I’ve not read one blog that suggested it was the will of God for Cory to die. 

I believe Christians should humbly leave our assumptions of why God does what he does, unsaid. I have no idea why small children of believing  parents die, while their atheist  neighbor’s child lives to a ripe old age. Or why a father catches a stray bullet meant for a former president. Here’s what the Bible clearly teaches. God desires our trust and love even when life makes no sense. And let’s leave it at that. 

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God…” Deur 29:29