Could God Be Behind the Rise of Donald Trump?
By Kameel Majdali

When I broached the question: Could God behind the rise of Donald Trump,? I got an impassioned response from one of my readers - this could not be possible! The reader proceeded to list Mr. Trump’s outrageous words, actions, and that it was unthinkable that he could be God’s choice.
Our friend has a point. Mr. Trump, age 70, is a flamboyant businessman who has made money on casinos, married three times, and even bragged about his extra-marital affairs. How could God be behind the rise of a man with such a lifestyle?
These are fair questions. Yet, there is no question that Donald Trump’s rise thus far has stunned the world. In his quest for the US Republican Party nomination and the White House, Mr. Trump has knocked 17 other Republican contenders out of the race. More Republican voters have voted for Trump than any other candidate in any presidential primaries in history, including for the revered Ronald Reagan. He has received some impressive endorsements, including from 91 year old Phyllis Schlafly, a respected pro-life, pro-family, and pro-God conservative icon.
What’s even more interesting - or puzzling - is a prophecy given by American firefighter Mark Taylor in April 2011, while watching Donald Trump give a speech. In essence, Taylor claims the Holy Spirit told him, ‘Donald Trump would become President. He would bring honour and respect back to America, the dollar will strengthen. Those who try to stop him will fail. He is God’s choice.’ (for more details log onto http://www.trunews.com/gods-man-firefighter-shares-2011-vision-of-president-trump/).
This is reminiscent of a prophecy given in 1970 given directly to then-California-Governor Ronald Reagan … that if he fulfilled certain conditions, he would live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC (the address of the White House). Ten years later, Mr. Reagan was ‘In.’
Leaving Trump aside for a moment, Bible-believing Christians have to acknowledge God is Sovereign and, as the Sovereign of the universe, He can do anything He wants. In Isaiah 55:9 God says: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Psalm 75:6-7 is clear: God promotes and demotes whoever He wants. Yet, concurrently, He will never violate His holy character in the process of exercising His sovereignty - He is righteous in all His ways and holy in all his works (Psalm 145:17).
We concede that God chooses the the most unlikely vessels to perform His will. This should not catch us off guard. We are told that God chooses the foolish, weak, base, and little things of the world to confound and destroy the wise, strong, exalted and great (I Corinthians 1:27-29). Here are a few examples:
1. Romans 9:17 says that God raised up Pharaoh that He could show His power through him;
2. Three times God called Nebuchadnezzar, a despotic heathen tyrant, His ‘servant’ (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10);
3. Cyrus the Great, king of Medo-Persia, who had no track record of Biblical righteousness, was called by God His ‘shepherd (Isaiah 44:28) and ‘anointed’ (Isaiah 45:1);
4. Habakkuk wrestled with God because the LORD chose the bitter, hasty, violent, heathen Chaldeans to chasten a less wicked, backslidden Judah (Habakkuk 1:1-6);
5. The first person on earth whom Jesus of Nazareth gave the revelation that He was the Messiah was not to the priests, the Jewish elites, or even a normal Israelite. His confession was given to a Samaritan (oh no!) woman who was living in a de facto relationship (John 4:26 & verse 18);
6. A hard-headed, mean-spirited bully who did his best to destroy the young Christian church was called God’s ‘chosen vessel’ to proclaim the Name of Jesus to Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. His name? Saul of Tarsus, later called the Apostle Paul (Acts 9:15);
7. Let’s not forget that God even used Balaam’s donkey to speak to the prophet (Numbers 22:28; II Peter 2:16).
If God waited for any of us to be perfectly upright before using us for kingdom purposes, none of us would be in the ministry today. Full stop. Let’s have the humility to admit we are all in God’s workshop as a work in progress.
Romans 13 gives some amazing insight about our attitude to those who are in power. We are, within reason, to be subject to the governing authorities, since existing authorities are appointed by God. To resist authority is to resist God’s ordinance and this will bring judgment (vs. 1-2). This is remarkable considering Paul wrote these words when Nero was the mad Caesar in Rome, cantankerous, unreasonable, despotic, perhaps a bit demonic. Yet the knowledge that all authority comes from God and that ultimately God will have His way helped to influence Paul’s thinking.
We are to obey authorities except when it contravenes our faith, knowing we may have to pay a price for standing firm in our integrity. Even Jesus Himself said we are to give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar (implying taxes, respect, compliance) and to also give to God the things that belong to God (Matthew 22:21; Mark 12:17; Luke 20:25). We are told in I Timothy 2:2 to pray for kings and all in authority that we may live quiet and peaceable lives. Wise advice!
Back to our original question: Could God be behind the rise of Donald Trump? Will the prophecy of Mark Taylor come to pass? Will there be a populist revolt at the ballot box? Will Donald Trump be to America what Brexit and the EU Referendum was to Britain?
We will find out on November 8th!