DOES THIS BIBLE TEX REALLY APPLY TO TRUMP?
History
“I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end……
He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
Daniel 8: 25
In applying this text to today. Yes, I am a fool, rushing in where angels fear to tread.
The above reading is from this week’s lectionary. In my judgement, the ‘he’ there could be Donald Trump. So, read Daniel 8: 25 again, and substitute his name.
My daily routine.
Just a bit of history: mine. In 1990, thus 34 years ago, I started a daily routine, writing 400 words on weekdays, and 800 words on Sundays, dealing with a text from the ‘lectionary’, the daily readings from the Old and New Testaments, and the Psalms. I used the Upper Room Publications Journeying through the Day, and when after 26 years, it stopped publishing the book, I, continued my daily habit by reading the prescribed passages in the Vanderbilt Lectionary, and choosing a text to meditate on, writing some 250-300 words. That’s how I, this past week, was confronted with Daniel’s visions, as recorded in his 8th chapter.
Karl Barth.
I love the advice of Karl Barth, a well-known theologian. “Preaching”, he said, “should be done with the Bible in one hand, and the Daily Paper in the other.” These words of wisdom apply to all who meditate.
Well… the current news is Trump and his choices for his cabinet, the people that will set the tone for Trump’s second term as President of the USA. It so happens that this week, November 17-24, the reading deals with Daniel.
As a kid I loved that book, with the Lions’ Den, the experiences of his three friends had, sticking to their organic diet, and abiding by worshiping the God of their ancestors. And then the dreams Daniel was able to explain!
But also, much mystery, and minds much sharper than mine have tried to explain how many events point to the Telos, the proverbial End. By the way, my blog is read all over the world, Russia, China, with lately many visitors from Lebanon and an undisclosed country, presumably North Korea.
So, here is what stirred my imagination: He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
Could this really apply to President-elect Donald Trump?
Context.
Yes, I am playing the fool here, but just as the Fool is Lear’s court jester, he also functions as a wise advisor the King, because he is the only character who is allowed to criticize Lear or question his decisions.
I believe there are no such things as coincidences: this text is an example. Today, Anno 2024-5, we have a perspective of planetary happenings, unequaled in times past. Thanks to satellites and universal surveyance, thanks to instant communication everywhere, there no longer are secrets. The human race has seen how we have moved from the Primeval Times, where Chaos was King, through endless cycles of human activities, each phase leaving historical traces, while ‘progress’ became the norm. Now the End looms, confirmed in the just concluded COP 29 conference. All official promises to reduce Global Heating, have become just words. We are in a relentless race, which will end in our total obliteration.
Donald Trump’s election victory in the US will accelerate environmental dangers: his next four years will see the fulfillment and implementation of that prophecy, uttered 2,500 years ago.
Daniel was not alone in his prediction, although he was the first. Jesus quoted him in that terrible chapter of Matthew 24: 15: “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel–let the reader understand. That ‘holy place’ refers to God’s Holy Creation. The caution Jesus interjects, “Let the reader understand”, means that these words can only be understood, when the time for ‘desolation’, read Climate Change, is happening.
Let me repeat Daniel’s words:
He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.
We are on the cusp of irreversible, undeniable climate change: that ‘prediction’ is coming true, so, why not the Trump tragedy?