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It's Saturday, July 20, 2024.

Today’s edition covers the concept of providence in relation to the Trump assassination attempt, the alleged prophet who reportedly predicted it, the serpent’s final statement to Eve, and much more.

“Apply your heart to instruction and your ear to words of knowledge.” (Proverbs 23:12)

Of Christian Concern

PROVIDENCE IN THE TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

A now-famous image captured in the moments after President Trump was shot on July 13, 2024.

The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump last Saturday has been described as a moment after which “everything was different.” Conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson said in his speech at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Thursday, “The nation is different. The world is different. Donald Trump is different.”

The nation is clearly still processing the impact of that monumental historical moment—one of several in recent weeks, including the debate that exposed President Joe Biden’s mental incapacity, Democrats calling for their own nominee to step down, and the controversial retreat of the RNC platform from issues of life and marriage.

One element of the near assassination that has been highlighted particularly by Christians is the role of providence. As President Trump retold during his own RNC speech on Thursday,

The amazing thing is that prior to the shot, if I had not moved my head at that very last instant, the assassin’s bullet would have perfectly hit its mark and I would not be here tonight. We would not be together. …I’m not supposed to be here tonight. I’m not supposed to be here.

At those words, someone from the audience shouted, “Yes you are! Yes you are!,” prompting the crowd to chant those words. When the chanting subsided, Trump answered,

Thank you. But I’m not. And I’ll tell you: I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God. And watching the reports over the last few days, many people say it was a providential moment. Probably was.

Screenshots from an animation showing the path of the bullet and how Trump moved out of the way at the last moment. (@relentlesspatriot on TikTok via @oscarwriter1959 on X)

Among those “many people” was Southern Seminary president R. Albert Mohler Jr., who made this point in a World News Group op-ed titled “Providence and presidents”:

Just the slightest deviation in the path of that ammunition round would have changed a bleeding ear into a dead former president, even as Trump is just days from his official nomination as the Republican candidate in the coming election. How can human life be so fragile as that? But the fragility of life is essential to our understanding of the gift of life. In a world of sin and evil, assassins and pathogens, every breath we take is a gift. At some point, a single breath will be our last.

Mohler then asks why Trump was not killed. His response:

Those who hold to a purely materialistic and naturalistic worldview have no answer but luck, which is a major doctrine of secular theology. But Donald Trump (and the watching world as well) must surely know in his heart that something far greater than luck preserved his life. Speaking to the press, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., acknowledged the hairline distance that separated life and death in the assassination attempt: “Fate stepped in.” Interestingly, it was President Trump himself who clarified the issue, posting on Truth Social that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.” Indeed, it was God and God alone, for God alone is the sovereign ruler of the cosmos.

As details about the events leading up to the shooting and the security failure that allowed it to occur continue to be revealed, the thoughts of many will certainly continue to revisit to this fact, as Mohler writes:

The reality of God’s providence is something many Americans, and no doubt many Christians, think about with far too little seriousness. But I dare to ask, how do you look at [Saturday’s] events in Butler, Pa., and see it all merely as a lucky miss?

THE ‘PROPHET’ WHO FORETOLD THE FAILED TRUMP ASSASSINATION

Screenshot of Brandon Biggs predicting an assassination attempt on Trump. (Steve Cioccolanti & Discover Ministries / YouTube)

An alleged prophet predicted an assassination attempt on Trump four months ago, with “eerily accurate” details. In a YouTube video uploaded on March 14, Brandon Biggs describes a vision in which he saw a bullet fly by Trump’s ear, coming “so close to his head that it busted his eardrum.” He predicts Trump being “radically born again during this timeframe.”

He also foretells “there would be a stop” to the lawfare against Trump “come toward the fall,” a fact which Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Sarah Parshall Perry now also predicts based on recent developments in the cases against Trump. Other elements of Biggs’ prophecy remain unverified.

Heresy watchdog publication Protestia reports that Biggs has a history of false prophecies, at least one for which “he had to personally call up everyone he falsely prophesied to say ‘sorry,’ and was subsequently forbidden by one pastor from ever prophesying in their church again.” Additionally, Protestia observes, “Biggs makes it sound like the bullet will bust [Trump’s] eardrum because it misses his head. Instead, we see the bullet actually hit him, with no indication that his eardrum is burst.”

The apostle Paul wrote, “Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21), and Jesus warned, “Beware of false prophets... You will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-16).

Also Noteworthy

The meme shared by Kuiper Belt Productions and reposted by Pastor James White. (Kuiper Belt Productions / X)

→ The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommends that the State Department designate Pakistan a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) due to its blasphemy laws. | Pakistan’s National Assembly raises the age that Christians can get married to 18, up from 13 for girls and 16 for boys. The measure will help prevent “the forced marriage of underage Christian girls.”

→ OpenAI is reportedly developing “more advanced” artificial intelligence (AI) models “capable of reasoning and ‘deep research’.” | A recent study reveals what Christians think about the ethical uses of AI in ministry. | See here for a primer on “What Christians Should Know About Artificial Intelligence.”

→ Pastor James White voiced the concerns of some Christians in an X post on Wednesday: “OK, gotta say it: there is an absolute TRUMP CULT in this nation, and the assassination attempt only heightened the religious fervor.” As “a clear example,” he pointed to a clip of a Breitbart interview in which U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene tells how, before the assassination attempt, the American flag above the stage got tangled in such a way that “looked like an angel.” A commenter offered another example: a Facebook post purporting to explain the biblical significance of “blood on the right ear.” White later reposted a meme (image above) mocking yet another example that has made the rounds on the internet and even appeared in a pastor’s speech at the RNC—the suggestion that the fact Trump was shot at 6:11pm has some connection to Ephesians 6:11.

Content Catch-Up

Recent, notable content of Christian interest.*

The title image for Dusty Deever’s article. (Dusty Deevers / X)

→ The Christian Approach To Politics: Here is the full video of the speeches and panel discussion between Al Mohler and Doug Wilson reported in last week’s edition of Project 18:15. (Video)

→ Life Wisdom From 37 Godly Men: As a gift to his oldest son, Pastor Michael Clary “asked some godly Christian men of all ages to write him a letter sharing life wisdom they’d acquired.” Clary received 37 responses, about which he writes, “Their answers blew me away.” Here are a few of his “favorite nuggets.” (Thread)

→ “Trump, Neo-Cons, and the RNC”: Oklahoma state senator Dusty Deevers, who “fiercely oppose[s]” the “removal of Christian morality from the RNC platform” last week, argues that the previous Republican platform was also not good. “It was a tool for tricking Christian conservatives into thinking Neo-Conservatives (the previous Republican establishment) were our friends.” (Article)

*Not necessarily an endorsement

Church History Tidbit

The Spanish Inquisition

An auto-da-fé in Valladolid, May 21, 1558, illustrated 1701-1703. (Public Domain)

The formation of Spain is credited to the 1469 marriage of Ferdinand II and Isabella I (“the Catholic Monarchs”), which united the Spanish kingdoms of Aragon and Castille.

To help them establish their power, Pope Sixtus issued a papal bull (a decree) in 1478 called Exigit Sinceras Devotionis Affectus, which authorized an inquisition to compel religious uniformity in Spain. This inquisition targeted conversos and later moriscos—Jews and Muslims, respectively, who had converted to Christianity but were suspected of continuing to practice their former religions secretly. Eventually, the Inquisition also targeted Protestants.

The Inquisition’s methods were harsh, involving secretive trials, torture, no rights for the accused, and harsh punishment for the condemned, including execution. Sentencing ceremonies called autos-da-fé (“acts of faith”) were “elaborate and popular spectacles with processions, oaths of obedience to the Inquisition, and sermons.”

Starting in 1483, a grand inquisitor ran the Inquisition. The first and most infamous is Tomás de Torquemada, who is “associated with the brutality characteristic of the Inquisition”—torture, confiscation of property “to terrorize and intimidate his victims,” and executions (an estimated 2,000 by burning at the stake). At Torquemada’s behest, Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Alhambra Decree in 1492, expelling at least 40,000 Jews from Spain.

The strength and activity of the Inquisition waxed and waned multiple times over the years but was only disbanded in 1834, having lasted over three and a half centuries. The “total death toll” was likely between 3,000 and 5,000.

The Bible, Briefly

Fact-Checking the Serpent (Part 4): Mostly True! (continued)

Last week we noted that the serpent’s statements in Genesis 3:4 are MOSTLY TRUE. 

1. “You will not surely die.” — FALSE.

2. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened...” — TRUE.

We now continue our fact check:

3.

“‘…and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’” — TRUE. God Himself directly affirms this fact later in the chapter: “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil’” (Genesis 3:22).

Question: What’s wrong with this? Isn’t it good to be like God? Isn’t it good to have knowledge? Isn’t there utility in knowing about good and evil?

Christians should beware of their hearts in asking these questions, lest they fall into the same tempation as Eve. Asking questions is good as long as it’s in the context of obedience. If a father tells his son to do something, it’s perfectly fine for the son to ask “Why?” if he’s asking as he obeys. If, however, he’s asking “Why?” as a way to resist his father’s command and delay obedience, that’s wrong. Questioning God’s command from the standpoint of suspicion and doubt is entirely different from seeking understanding from the standpoint of humility and submission.

So, to answer the above questions in humility and submission, we can say:

• Yes, it is good to be like God in the sense that we imitate His character and priorities (Ephesians 5:1-21), but not in the sense that we try to usurp His authority and power.

• Yes, it is good to have knowledge, which the Bible repeatedly and emphatically encourages us to seek (which is the basis of this newsletter—Proverbs 18:15), but we are to seek that knowledge out of fear of God (Proverbs 1:7), acknowledging there is no true knowledge apart from Him (Colossians 2:3; Psalm 94:10). We are not to seek it in our own worldly wisdom, which only leads to deception (1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 3:18-23; Colossians 2:8).

• Yes, there is utility in knowing about good and evil—from God’s Word (2 Timothy 3:14-17), not from our own experimentation. Adam and Eve learned about good and evil through their experience of committing evil. That cannot be good, by definition.

It is true now as it was then: the best way to become like God and gain knowledge is through obedience to Him, not through rebellion against Him.

The fact that most of the serpent’s statements were true should be alarming to us. It means we can be deceived even while mostly hearing the truth. A lie is easier to believe when encouched in truth like a suicide pill is easier to swallow when taken with a drink of water. We must be vigilant to discern truth from falsehood.

There’s a phrase that goes, “all truth is God’s truth.” That’s true. Truth remains true even when spoken by a liar—but that’s no defense for heeding liars, particularly those who purport to bring new and contradictory revelation, when the undiluted truth is elsewhere to be found.

All of Eve’s troubles and the devastation that her and Adam’s sin have caused throughout human history would have been avoided if she had done two things: (1) trusted God and His Word, and (2) sought understanding from Him about the claims she was hearing.

Let us respond that way to every temptation we encounter and every challenge to God we hear.

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Why "18:15"? The name Project 18:15 is based on Proverbs 18:15: “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” The aim is for this weekly email—a Christian news briefing, a Bible study, and a Church history lesson rolled into one—to be one way you keep abreast of current events and acquire knowledge you might not acquire elsewhere.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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