A little comment I have seen some disquiet about, in the aftermath of Donald Trump’s inauguration as 47th President of the USA, is this one from Franklin Graham. The headline by Premier Christian News reads as follows: ‘God “raised up Trump” to be president, says Franklin Graham at inauguration.’ I thought it worth saying a couple of things.
That headline is quite misleading. Nowhere in the quoted section of his prayer did Franklin Graham say ‘God raised up Trump to be president’. Nor, if you listen to the full prayer, does he say it anywhere else. He gives thanks to God for Trump. He speaks about when his enemies thought he was down and out, God ‘alone saved his life and raised him up with strength’. This seems less a reference to his becoming president and to a literal saving of his life. It is hard to imagine he is referring to anything other than when he was shot. He then prays that God would give Trump wisdom, that God would bless him and, through him, bless the nation. Graham simply does not say God raised him up to be president.
Regardless of your political persuasion or your particular view of Trump himself, it would indeed be good if Trump ruled with the wisdom of God and blessed everybody as a result. Other than him giving thanks for Trump (those who put their vote elsewhere will obviously be somewhat less thankful), there is nothing to object to in the prayer, unless you are a hardened Atheist or the mad kind of secularist who objects to the very word ‘God’ being uttered in public.
Perhaps the closest Graham comes to the headline is, prior to his prayer, he states to Trump: ‘Mr President, the last four years, there are times I’m sure you thought it was pretty dark. But look what God has done.’ I think it is reasonable to take ‘look what God has done’ as a reference to God having put Trump in office. Graham then says ‘we praise him [God] and give him glory’. He later, in the prayer, says: ‘as Donald J. Trump comes to take the oath of office once again, we come to say thank you Lord our God’. Again, this seems to be a more direct reference giving thanks specifically for God having put Trump into office.
Let me just make two quick points of note. It is evident Franklin Graham is pleased that Trump is taking office. Graham is, therefore, thankful that Trump specifically is in office. Second, it is evident that Graham believes that God lies behind this. That is to say, God being sovereign, nothing occurs outside his will and power. In that sense, God did this. Therefore, Graham is clearly pleased with what he believes God has done. We may not all be as thankful as Franklin Graham that this particular man has been sworn in as President of one of the most powerful nations on earth. Your opinion is going to depend on how you view the man, his views and the benevolence of his leadership. But there should be no question – whatever your view on that first point – that God does lie behind this.
No doubt there were those who once welcomed the advance of the onrushing Babylonian army as well as those who were rather more sceptical of their benevolent rule and humanitarian approach to surrounding nations. Nevertheless, the Bible remains clear that Nebuchadnezzar was just as much in power because God put him there as any other leader. Your view on how good that would be for you or your nation might differ, but there was no doubt that God put him in power and lay behind his sweep to imperial victory. There is also no doubt that God lay behind the downfall of the Babylonian Empire and the subsequent rise and fall of the Persian, Greek and Roman Empires too. Indeed, Daniel – the Judean prophet captured and taken into exile by Babylon – affirms under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule: ‘he [God] removes kings and establishes kings’ (Daniel 2:21). Nebuchadnezzar himself came to affirm the same thing: ‘he does what he wants with the army of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth. There is no one who can block his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”’ (Daniel 4:35).
This truth remains true. When Jesus was being dragged before Pontius Pilate, they had this short exchange:
9 He went back into the headquarters and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus did not give him an answer. 10 So Pilate said to him, “Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you and the authority to crucify you?”
11 “You would have no authority over me at all,” Jesus answered him, “if it hadn’t been given you from above. This is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.” – John 19:9-11
Notice how Jesus saw it. Pilate has no authority, he has no ability to lead, except that God had put him there and given it to him. Jesus recognises that Pilate’s authority is God-given authority; Pilate has his job because God has put him there. That is what Paul says is the case in Romans 13:1: ‘Let everyone submit to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are instituted by God.’ If all that is true, whatever else we might want to say, every Christian must surely affirm Donald Trump is in power because God has put him there.
Those for whom this is a moment of rejoicing, like Franklin Graham, can give thanks that God has put this man in power. God has, minimally, delivered what they hoped for. Those for whom this is no matter of rejoicing can take comfort that this man is only in power because God has put him there and – as with every other king, emperor, ruler or leader – the Lord can just as readily remove whom he wills too. Christians can rejoice whether they are pleased with the American presidency or not because the sovereign God of the universe – the one in whose goodness we trust – establishes and removes whom he wills. Our trust is not in princes but in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and his ultimate goodness (cf. Psalm 146:3-5). If our trust is anywhere else, we will find ourselves put to shame.