Trump's agenda. America's agenda. The Church's agenda.

Submitted by Michael S, May 11, 2017 at 15:20

Hello, Tovey.

The question was,

"Do we actually WANT Trump to carry out his agenda(?)"

You don't seem to have answered that. Since it was a rhetorical question anyway, I'll answer it myself:

1. I don't really care, one way or another; so I don't actively want his agenda, but neither do I actively not want it. That takes care of my end of "we".

2. Concerning your end, you said,

"on the real agenda already spoken of by the prophets: there one finds the Christian answer; and it is not based on what President Trump is going to do, but what the LORD is going to do."

You seem to be implying that the LORD does not work through our President; and therefore his (Trump's) agenda is irrelevant. Your conclusion is similar to my own, but not the same. I'll leave it at that.

3. Now, concerning the rest of the "we" -- namely, several million Christians, of whom I am particularly concerned with the American ones. Trump's agenda is to "Make America Great Again". Taking a Biblical analogy,

Rev. 13:
[11] And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
[12] And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, WHOSE DEADLY WOUND WAS HEALED.

That refers back to,

Rev. 13:
[1] And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
[2] And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
[3] And I saw one of his heads as it were WOUNDED TO DEATH; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Many, many Christian and other prophetic interpreters deem the wounded "head" to be an individual. That being the case, many leaders who survived assasination attempts would be candidates, including Ronald Reagan and Adolph Hitler, along with countless possibilities in the future. None of that thinking produces any sort of clarity. On the other hand, the seven "heads" did not represent individuals; they represented world empires, to whit,

1. Egypt, whose leaders, including the Pharaoh of Exodus, were supposed to be gods,
2. Assyria, with a succession of leaders. One of them carried captive the northern tribes of Israel.
3. Babylonia, which also had a succession of leaders. Daniel served under them all, during the 70-year exile of Judea.
4. Persia, with many notable leaders. One of them, Cyrus, allowed Jews to return to Judea' another, Darius, reigned during Haggai's prophecy; yet another, Ahashuerus, was the husband of Queen Esther.
5. Greece (or Macedonia). Alexander conquered the Persian Empire, including Judea. Others succeeded him, including Antiochus Epiphanes, who persecuted the Jews.
6. Rome. Again, many emperors, in turn. Jesus was born under Augustus and crucified under Tiberias; Paul and many others were killed by Nero; and John prophesied under Domitian.
7. The resurrected Rome, beginning with the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne (the "Holy Roman Empire"), and continuing in the "ten heads", the nations of Europe, which conquered and colonized the whole world. That period of conquest ended with World War II, when the US plucked up Germany, Italy and Japan by the roots (as prophesied) and became paramount.

Among these heads, which is the one that had been wounded, seemingly unto death? It is Rome; and the "West", which we live in, is the revived Roman Empire.

Getting back to Donald Trump's agenda, he did not propose to make "Rome" great again, but to make "America" great again. This is the same motivation that impelled Hitler to power, after Germany had seemingly been "wounded unto death" in World War I. It is also the motivation of Napoleon, after France had seemingly been "wounded unto death" with the fall of the Bourbon king and the rise of anarchy.

Has America been "wounded unto death"? We certainly have endured some injury, beginning with Vietnam, then 9/11 and then the 2008 Crisis and the Obama nightmare. Through all this, we have remained the most powerful empire the world has ever known; yet half of America seems to have FELT that we have been mortally wounded, giving Trump his victory through a "resurrection" theme.

I don't know whether Donald Trump will make America great "again"; or whether things will actually get worse, and a "savior" (his son-in-law?) will seemingly turn things around. My point, implicit in the rhetorical question I raised, is whether Christians believe TRUMP'S (and hence, AMERICA"S) agenda is THEIR agenda. You and I both seem to agree, that it is not; but you may have a very hard time convincing most patriotic American Christians of this.

Jeremiah the Prophet was dealt with as a traitor, because he told his fellow Jews to surrender to the king of Babylon. I believe the prophets of today, and the near future, will also be considered traitors; and therefore persecuted; because America's agenda will ultimately be to attack Israel and destroy God's people. That is why I posed the question.

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