Mari Anne Andersen

Unpredictable Vessel - Who Trump?

I first want to come out of the gate by saying this: “I will probably offend some people, I will probably surprise others, and I will probably have some saying yes and amen.” Please bear with me and know that I am slowly stepping into the waters of no return as I share some of my thoughts and insights about President Donald J. Trump and some of the places in our world as well as in our own backyard. Please let me state clearly I am not an historian, a theologian, or a politician.  I am simply a law-abiding Christian that desires to be a conduit for Christ who wants to be a defender for Christian values.

I am sure many of you are well aware of angst and division among Christians, non- Christians, Conservatives, non-conservatives, left-wingers, right-wingers, progressives, and reformists. Our United States of America was once deeply respected and highly esteemed for a place of hope, a beacon of light, and a place of opportunity. Effective government is essential in the pursuit of justice. And true justice, Augustine said, springs from a sovereign God. Writer and scholar Christopher Dawson once said, “Christianity is the soul of Western civilization. And when the soul is gone, the body putrefies.”

That is what I feel at times—the soul of America is slowly decaying along with our moral standards, our absolutes, our values and ethics, and our one nation under God. I believe as many others do that America is at a pivotal, crucial, and vital intersection of our foundational issues such as faith, family, and freedom. And please let me say unequivocally and clearly—it has not ALL been because of the rise of Donald J. Trump. There has been a slow burning in the decline of our moral and ethical foundations way before Trump entered into the picture. It’s the same meaning about backsliding, which is a slow, continual process of turning away step-by-step and choice-by-choice until one day you find yourself very far from the Lord and His values.

Which leads me to the question: What does it mean when I say that God has raised up an unpredictable vessel? How do we know whom God is raising up to be a reformer, a crusader, or a champion during these challenging and changing times in our world?   Reformed Theologians (first introduced by Chuck Colson) describes the grace of God that comes down upon a fallen world to keep in check the forces of anarchy and the inclination of sinful man to self-destruct. He goes on by saying common grace raises up unpredictable vessels—men and woman who the hand of Providence serves up.

Winston Churchill once said his entire life was a preparation for some crucible in history that he walked into.  We can remember Abraham Lincoln, who refused to join any established church, and Ronald Reagan, who had two divorces, were both frowned upon along with Churchill, who was also frowned upon, because of his crass and tactless vocabulary. Churchill himself framed the contest with Hitler as a “battle for Christian Civilization” and insisted “Onward Christian Soldiers” be sung on board the ship he and Franklin Delano Roosevelt met to form their alliance. So many more heroes of history turned out to be defenders of Christian values that you would not have deemed so at the beginnings of their lives.

There is a battle going on in our Christian Civilization and I want to encourage and inspire you to move onward as Christian Soldiers: “ Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before! Christ the royal Master, leads against the foe; forward in to battle, see his banners go.”

I believe when Christians are rightly informed and motivated in and by Christ’s love, we can change the character of the political climate and have conversations even though we are in disagreement. We have lost the civility of disagreeing and debating without getting personal and emotional. The Father is calling me and you to become more of His agents of His common grace and love.

We want to touch lives without condemning and judging; we want to be agents of change through something so genuine and pure in our own hearts. And, friends, it starts in our own hearts and in our own prayer closets to intercede for our nation, for our values, for our own President Donald J. Trump, whether we like him or not. He is the “MAN” God put into our United States office of president, and if we don’t like his ways, tones or actions, let’s pray for him so transformation can happen in his heart and life.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Why is he in office?” I believe he had a call way back before the foundations of the world and we are seeing the fruit of his great-grandmother’s and mother’s prayers. Thus, Donald J. Trump is now sitting in the White House with his mother’s Bible. God has not been fooled and neither have you or I. Remember the scripture “with God ALL things are possible”…. And God will chose the foolish things that seemingly look weak and simple only to confound the wise.

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. (1Corinthians 1:27-31 NIV)

An interesting fact is that when Paul wrote this to the Corinthian church, they were the laughingstock of the city and believers were looked upon as a joke to the entire Roman Empire. Many Roman governmental authorities or politicians considered Christians to be weak and religious idiots. But Yet these weak and foolish Christians evangelized the whole Roman Empire and released their commitment of standards, ethics, and morals to liberate Rome from pagan religion and paved the way for the Gospel. The word “confounds” means to put to shame, to embarrass, to confuse, to frustrate, or to baffle. Thought provoking, I would say!

When we see God choosing, calling, and anointing, we can see it to be a paradox from our human way of thinking. We would automatically select strength, intelligence, and conventional social ways with obvious characteristic traits that look good, sound good, and is the status quo. However, in God’s ways of thinking sometimes the simple, uneducated and clumsy person who is called, chosen, or anointed will confound the wise and become the strongest to rise up as a vessel to release unorthodox, unconventional, and unusual ways to bring us back to our foundations. The paradox is not by accident but by God’s design.

As Dr. Lance Wallnau, an internationally recognized speaker, business and political strategist and director of Lance Learning Group in Dallas, Texas, interviewed on CBNNews.com, says “Donald Trump is a wrecking ball to the spirit of political correctness, a man of opinions, and a man who doesn’t speak in calculated talking points of a politician. His delivery is simple and very direct and is a destabilizing threat to the vast dealing making machinery in embedded in both parties.”

"America has been unraveling for two decades and Christians are probably the people that are the most sensitive to it," Wallnau says. "What Trump represents is something like a block in the door that was closing."

"I really believe that the mercy of God intervened in this last election cycle and gave us an individual who has the willpower and the tenacity to be able to do a reset," he says.

"After I met him I heard the Lord say, 'Isaiah 45 will be the 45th president,'" he explains. "I go check it out; Isaiah 45 is Cyrus."

"Isaiah says a hundred years before this guy was born, 'I will do this for Israel's sake, though he knows me not,' which means that Trump doesn't have the experience with God that the evangelical typically would call, 'knowing God,'" Wallnau continues.

"But he's got a fear of God," he tells CBN News. "He's anointed of God. Isaiah 45 says, 'for the sake of Israel,' which would be the people of God, and so it has to do with Israel; it has to do with Christians."

Wallnau says he believes Trump is a "secular reformer" who is going to establish an environment where Christians can bring about a "spiritual reformation."

I believe what Father God is trying to do, once again in this time, is to reach the hearts of mankind as He has done throughout history so we can get back to the places of love, justice, and righteousness of God’s kingdom.   And God has decided (along with the voters) that Donald J. Trump is part of God’s plan. Like it or not, he is our President.

President Trump is trying to reconnect Americans to the vision, passion, and wisdom that informed and inspired those who laid the foundation of this nation over two hundred years ago and using the Bible as a blueprint to ensure the heritage of liberty. Over thirty years ago President Reagan warned: “If we ever forget that we’re one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.” It is time for America to return to the foundation of faith in God and its reverence for Scripture.

Let’s look at how President Donald J. Trump has strengthened American leadership, security, prosperity and accountability:

In The Washington Post on Friday, December 21, 2017, former Bush speechwriter and columnist Marc Thiessen agreed and said that Trump has proven to be successful at keeping his campaign promises. He wrote, “The fact is, in his first two years, Trump has compiled a remarkable record of presidential promise-keeping.”

The list of achievements has surpassed those of former President Ronald Regan at this time and even more so. At the two-year mark, the administration has counted up 289 accomplishments in 18 categories, capped by the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.

He has secured the release of 17 prisoners foreign governments had detained including Pastor Andrew Brunson, recently set free from Turkey.

Trump pledged to defend religious liberty, stand up for unborn life and appoint conservative jurists to the Supreme Court and federal appeals courts. And he has done exactly what he promised. The abortion-rights lobby NARAL complains that Trump has been “relentless” on these fronts.

The president is moving at record pace to fill the federal appeals courts with young, conservative judges who will protect life and religious freedom for decades. He also fulfilled his promise to defend the Little Sisters from government bullying, by expanding the religious and conscience exemption to the Obamacare contraception mandate to cover both nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Trump ordered the creation of the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division at the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the civil rights of doctors, nurses, and other health-care workers who refuse to take part in procedures such as abortion, reversing an Obama-era policy that required them to do so. And his Justice Department issued a 25-page guidance to federal agencies instructing them to protect the religious liberty in the execution of federal law.

The Examiner – September 5, 2018

Bob Woodward - “All I can say is the country is doing very well. We’re doing better economically just about than at any time. We’re doing better on unemployment maybe than ever. We’re having a lot of — a lot of companies are moving back into our country, which would’ve been unheard of two years ago.”

• Almost 4 million jobs created since election.
• More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
• Created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs since the election.
• Manufacturing jobs growing at the fastest rate in more than THREE DECADES.
• Economic growth last quarter hit 4.2 percent.
• New unemployment claims recently hit a 49-year low.
• Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
• African-American unemployment has recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
• Hispanic-American unemployment is at the lowest rate ever recorded.
• Asian-American unemployment recently achieved the lowest rate ever recorded.
• Women’s unemployment recently reached the lowest rate in 65 years.
• Youth unemployment has recently hit the lowest rate in nearly half a century.
• Lowest unemployment rate ever recorded for Americans without a high school diploma.
• Veterans’ unemployment recently reached its lowest rate in nearly 20 years.
• Almost 3.9 million Americans have been lifted off food stamps since the election.
• The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans, committed to VOCATIONAL education.
• 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future—highest ever.
• Retail sales surged last month, up another 6% over last year.
• Signed the biggest package of tax cuts and reforms in history. After tax cuts, over $300 billion dollars poured back in to the U.S. in the first quarter alone.
• As a result of our tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.
• Helped win U.S. bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
• Helped win U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup.
• Opened ANWR and Approved Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines.
• Record number of regulations eliminated.
• Enacted regulatory relief for community banks and credit unions.
• Obamacare individual mandate penalty GONE.
• Provided more affordable healthcare options for Americans through association health plans and short-term duration plans.
• The FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history. And thanks to our efforts, many drug companies are freezing or reversing planned price increases.
• Reformed the Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs, saving seniors hundreds of millions of dollars this year alone.
• Signed Right-To-Try Legislation.
• Secured $6 billion dollars in NEW funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
• Reduced high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16% during first year in office.
• Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
• Increased coal exports by 60%; U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high.
• United States is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
• Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.
• Cancelled the illegal, anti-coal, so-called Clean Power Plan.
• Secured record $700 billion dollars in military funding; $716 billion next year.
• NATO allies are spending $69 billion dollars more on defense since 2016.
• Process begun to make the Space Force the 6th branch of the armed forces.
• Confirmed more circuit court judges than any other new administration.
• Confirmed Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Judge Brett Kavanaugh.
• Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Deal.
• Moved U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
• Protecting Americans from terrorists with the Travel Ban, upheld by Supreme Court.
• Issued executive order to keep open Guantanamo Bay.
• Concluded an historic U.S.-Mexico Trade Deal to replace NAFTA; negotiations with Canada are underway as we speak.
• Reached a breakthrough agreement with the EU to increase U.S. exports.
• Imposed tariffs on foreign Steel and Aluminum to protect our national security.
• Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices.
• Net exports are on track to increase by $59 billion this year.
• Improved vetting and screening for refugees, and switched focus to overseas resettlement.

I will end by saying this, my friends, that the story is not over in America, or with President Trump, or within each one of us. Regardless of your view politically about this man, God calls us to pray for our president and to pray for our nation and our judges.

God has always and will continue to use flawed people to do the right things:

1 Timothy 2:1-2 – I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (NIV)

Isaiah 1:26 – "Then I will restore your judges as at the first, And your counselors as at the beginning; After that you will be called the city of righteousness, A faithful city." (ESV)

Dear Father,

Release Your Spirit of unity, harmony, and civility back into America as we enter into this next season of elections. Father, release your blessings over President Donald J. Trump and over all his administration so they can walk in Your steps of truth, love, and self-control.

Especially help the President with his tweets and give him insight to the places of Your Holy Spirit to walk in Your self-control and in Your timing. Strengthen the eyes of his understanding and continue to release Your truth, mercy, and justice over our land.

In Jesus Name, Amen and Amen!

References used: Augustine; Christopher Dawson; Chuck Colson; Winston Churchill; Dr. Lance Wallnau – CBNNews.com; Ronald Reagan; The Examiner – Bob Woodward; The Washington Post – Marc Thiessen; The Daily Caller; David Barton, founder of WallBuilders

- Mari Anne Andersen

Write Mari Anne with any thoughts, questions or comments you may have: marianne@freedomhouseministry.com

by Mari Anne Andersen