dry run - noun - a rehearsal of a performance or procedure before the real one (Oxford Dictionaries)
the hallmark of the trump campaign up until now has been deception...deceiving around a third of republicans into believing that this big government minded left of obamacare planned parenthood defending democrat campaign donor is somehow a conservative...
scripture tells us that the rise of the antichrist is likewise accompanied by deception...for example 2 thessalonians 2:10 indicates that the lawless one will come "with all the deception of wickedness"... paul also explains in 2 thessalonians 2:3 that "the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed"
unlike God satan is of course not an omniscient actor... his schemes to deceive christians into apostasy...no matter how well laid out...must be understood by him to be subject to possible failure due to unforeseen or underestimated factors... therefore it would be only logical for him to first undertake one or more 'dry runs' to determine if his plans to deceive christians and lead the church into apostasy are ironclad enough to guarantee success...
the following are examples of ways in which donald trump has already led numerous christians not only into political madness but also into spiritual deception and apostasy...
first i will address the claimed 'christian' credentials of trump himself to demonstrate that he has deceived his followers into thinking that he is a christian or at least that a trump presidency would be beneficial to christianity...
- trump claims to attend marble collegiate church in manhattan...the church reports that he is not an active member
- trump refers to a late pastor of marble collegiate church...norman vincent peale...as his pastor... peale is best known for his pop psychology self help book 'the power of positive thinking'...a forerunner of the modern 'word of faith' error...that among other things blended the repetition of confident mantras with the new age 'law of attraction' as a guarantor of success in life
- trump associates primarily with prosperity preachers such as paula white and kenneth copeland
- trump has made a considerable amount of money from casinos...essentially profiting from the losses of others...and taking advantage of gambling addicts...enriching himself at their expense
- some of trump's casinos contain strip clubs
- trump has been featured in playboy magazine and posed on a cover with a woman in the process of undressing
- trump stated at the family leadership summit that he has never asked God for forgiveness...he said that when he does something wrong he doesn't 'bring God into that picture'
- trump is a proud serial adulterer who has cheated on at least two wives and brags about sleeping with 'very happily married and important women' in his book 'the art of the comeback'...before anyone responds with 'david was an adulterer too'...rethink trump's behavior in light of his statements that he has never asked God for forgiveness...unlike real christians trump is an unrepentant person living in willful sin
- on numerous occasions trump was given the opportunity to quote his favorite scriptures and declined...when he finally attempted to do so in a CBN interview...he quoted a 'chapter' from proverbs called 'never bend to envy' that doesn't actually exist
- in a speech at liberty university trump falsely associated 2 corinthians 3:17 which states "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" with political liberty and american style government...when in fact the verse is clearly referring to spiritual freedom from jewish style legalism in christ
- in a rally in fort george iowa trump publicly ridiculed fellow candidate ben carson's claim to have experienced a radically changed life after just a few hours of surrender...arguing that 'it doesn't happen that way'... trump clearly does not understand the christian's new birth or the power of the holy spirit to produce a changed life...and evidently he doesn't know much about the apostle paul
- when pope francis implied during his visit to mexico that donald trump isn't christian...trump's response only revealed his ignorance of basic christianity...as well as a liberal tendency towards religious political correctness...stating that 'no leader, especially a religious leader, should have the right to question another man's religion or faith'... in addition to being hypocritical given trump's previous questioning of carson's faith...this response demonstrates an unawareness of the role of christians and christian leaders in identifying wolves in sheep's clothing...and implies a deeply liberal religious mentality in which everyone is entitled to being accepted as a christian simply because they say they are...
in spite of these and other disqualifiers...trump's 'christian' supporters still insist that he is a christian...or at least buy into his promise to protect christians...but how can trump protect christianity when he doesn't even know what it is? how can trump's supporters be deceived into regarding this unrepentant twister of scripture and denier of christian doctrine and hero of false teachers as a christian or even a potential friend of true christians?
next i will take up some of the behaviors that trump provokes in his followers in the context of the statement in matthew 7:16 that "by their fruit you will recognize them"
multiple videos of the treatment of protesters at trump rallies show that trump encourages his followers in acts of violence and gratuitious abuse of other people...for example...
- almost routine videos of trump supporters assaulting protesters at rallies
- an interview with trump after a 'black lives matter' protester was pushed to the ground at a rally in which trump remarked that 'maybe he should have been roughed up'
- a rally in vermont in which trump encouraged his security staff to confiscate a protester's coat...remarking on the sub zero temperatures just outside
- a rally in nevada just this monday where trump said of a protester...'You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher.'...and then added 'I'd like to punch him in the face.'
when confronted with these episodes trump's 'christian' supporters vary between making excuses or even encouraging the behavior themselves...clearly trump has produced rotten fruit even in his 'christian' followers...
one of trump's most reconizable characteristics is his extreme pride...scripture has many things to say about prideful people...things trump's 'christian' supporters are apparently content to disregard...for example...
proverbs 8:13..."The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate."
proverbs 16:5..."Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished."
proverbs 16:18..."Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling."
proverbs 21:4..."Haughty eyes and a proud heart, The lamp of the wicked, is sin."
proverbs 29:23..."A man's pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor."
wait...i thought trump loved proverbs?
pride is also included in a number of scripture's lists of the primary sins of the wicked...such as the ones in proverbs 6...mark 7...romans 1...2 timothy 3...
why any 'christian' would support someone whose character is so closely aligned with the bible's description of wickedness...why any 'christian' would want such a person to lead their nation...can only be explained by deception and apostasy...
finally i come to the attributes of donald trump that align with the attributes of the antichrist and associated end time prophecies...a series of 'near misses' that should prove unsettling to anyone not already held in the grip of this apostasy...
- 2 thessalonians 2:4 describes the man of lawlessness as one "who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God." while trump has not yet claimed to be God...he most certainly 'exalts himself' on a regular basis...
- daniel 7:8 speaks of a 'little horn' that daniel witnessed in a vision..."While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts." while i don't believe this verse is actually a future prophecy of the antichrist...many other christians do...and some of them are completely unphased by trump's suspicious habit of 'uttering great boasts'
- daniel 11 describes an evil "king of the north" who may play a role either directly or through an imitator "at the end time" according to verse 40... verse 21 calls him and "despicable person"...much like trump...and indicates that he will "seize the kingdom by intrigue"...a hostile takeover much like what is going on in the republican party today...while verse 23 states that he will "practice deception" and "gain power with a small force of people"...trump of course has the support of only around a third of republicans...whose allegiance he has secured through deception... verse 30 says that he will "show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant"...as trump has shown regard for false prosperity preachers...and verse 32 says that "by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant"...just as trump has turned his supporters to godless behaviors such as mobbing and assulting protesters... verse 36 states that he "will do as he pleases"...just as trump does and brags that he can do...and repeats the familiar description of trump as a person who "will exalt and magnify himself"... verse 37 which describes him to "show no regard...for the desire of women" may reveal in this king the same sort of misogyny displayed by trump in his clashes with megyn kelly...his leadership of the sexist and immodest miss america competition...his cavalier 'trophy' attitude towards the women he has had affairs with...and his sins of adultery against his wives...the verse states that he will "show no regard...for the desire of women"... finally verse 39 indicates that "he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him"...reminiscent of how friendly trump was with fellow candidate ted cruz so long as cruz 'acknowledged' his 'greatness'...
- trump has suggested that due to his ability to 'make great deals'...he might be able to negotiate a peace between israel and the palestinians... optimistically supposing that in spite of the apparent intractability of this conflict trump is able to conclude such a peace treaty within a year...that leaves seven years left of two presidential terms in which a hypothetical 'president trump' could serve as guarantor of the deal... while i don't agree with that particular interpretation of daniel 9:27...many other christians do believe this prophecy refers to a future seven year peace treaty involving israel...yet trump's 'christian' supporters again don't seem phased in the least by this
- revelation 13:5 states that there was given to the first beast "a mouth speaking arrogant words"...at this point i should barely have to point out the similarity to trump... also verse 3 tells how many people are "amazed" when the beast's "fatal wound was healed"...trump has survived numerous political 'wounds' that would have been...and in fact -have- been...'fatal' to other political candidates...the political equivalent of a 'false sign and wonder'
not only are trump's 'christian' supporters embracing a wicked deceiver...they are embracing someone whose characteristics and habits appear numerous times in end time prophecy as being those of satan's human lieutenants...
the extent of trump's control over his followers is evidenced by their enthusiastically joining him in a 'turn off the lights' chant when a saboteur cut his stage lights at a rally in georgia... it is clear that trump could get this crowd...which presumably included professing 'christians'...to compliantly repeat just about any silly thing he wants...
all he has to do now is tell them to take his 'mark' on their foreheads as in revelation 13:16...
"And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead"
oh wait...
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the purpose of this thread...in case anyone deliberately misunderstands...has not been to argue that donald trump is the antichrist...
however if satan truly is either by design or by opportunity utilizing the trump phenomenon as a 'dry run' to find out how many professing 'christians' he can deceive and lead into apostasy in the end time...he can only be coming to one conclusion...
'this is going to be easy'
