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The Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men: Reflecting on Donald Trump's Attempted Assassination

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The Most High Rules in the Kingdom of Men

Reflecting on Donald Trump's Attempted Assassination

On Saturday, July 13, Donald Trump was hit by a bullet from an attempted assassination at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Many of Trump's supporters say that God spared his life. The presidential candidate himself posted online, “It was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.” Donald Trump is now riding a wave of support, fueled in part by the failed assassination attempt, that may propel him to the White House once again.
 
Did God cause the events at the campaign rally in Butler to turn out as they did? Let His word, the Holy Scripture, answer. God Himself says that He is sovereign over all things. It is He who “controls the course of world events,” and “He removes kings and sets up other kings” (Daniel 2:21, New Living Translation). Taking God at His word, whatever the outcome of the assassination attempt or of the presidential election this November, it is as He wills. Not surprisingly, many are critical of saying that God had anything to do with saving Trump’s life.
 
Ancient King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon learned the hard way that God is sovereign over all things. He considered himself to be the reason for the greatness of his empire. Looking at his extraordinary wealth, he said: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). God struck him down for this attitude. Nebuchadnezzar dwelt for seven years “with the beasts of the field” while eating “grass like oxen” (Daniel 4:32). He finally came to believe beyond all doubt that “the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, gives it to whomever He will, and sets over it the lowest of men” (Daniel 4:17).
 
A wise man will understand that America, the greatest nation that the world has ever known, did not attain that status accidentally. The nation's wealth, power and world influence are blessings from God. As Christians, we must understand history from the perspective that God controls its events. He has caused America to be the world's leading nation, a mantle she inherited from her kindred nation, Great Britain.
 
Not more than three weeks after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, spoke before a joint session of the American Congress. Churchill said at the close of his speech, “He must indeed have a blind soul who cannot see that some great purpose and design is being worked out here below.”
 
Indeed, God's great purpose and design for these two brother nations, Great Britain and the United States, has been to bring blessings upon the entire world. Yet, because of the evil and sin in their midst, God will bring about their demise. We see other nations rising, notably Russia, China and Iran that seek to bring them down. But, Bible prophecy shows it will eventually be a European power that finally overpowers Great Britain, the United States and the English-speaking world. While we still live in the greatest country the world has ever known, the signs are pointing to an eventual end of American world dominance as we know it.
 
The United States has been at the forefront of world affairs for the last century. What happens to her affects all nations on earth. The world is watching America and its coming election, and the momentum has dramatically shifted in the presidential race within the last few weeks.
 
Let us understand that God is in control of these events. He will be the one to allow the election’s outcome. His word says, “Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, and are counted as the small dust on the scales; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing” (Isaiah 40:15). Let us always be mindful of the fact that nothing happens in the world that God does not allow. As He sees fit, He steers the course of nations and history.