Former president Donald Trump officially accepted the Republican nomination last night to cap off a four-day convention in Milwaukee. The speech lasted for more than an hour and a half—a new record for convention speeches—and touched on a number of issues. Given the attempted assassination last Saturday, however, many were more interested in seeing how he would address his near-death experience than in the policies and promises he outlined thereafter.

As he told the Washington Examiner the day after the shooting, “The speech I was going to give on Thursday was going to be a humdinger. Had this not happened, this would’ve been one of the most incredible speeches. Honestly, it’s going to be a whole different speech now.”

While several parts of last night’s address were still considered vintage Trump, it did seem that the event last Saturday had made an impact.

An appeal to America

The former president started his speech by stating, “I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength, and hope.” He then continued by calling the nation to healing and unity, promising, “I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

To that end, one of the primary themes throughout much of his address was a critique of the current administration that focused primarily on them rather than the broader categories—woke, leftists, etc.—that made regular appearances in the speeches of others throughout the convention. He left little doubt as to where he stands in relation to the agenda put forth by President Biden’s office and the Democratic party but did so without many of the more pointed criticisms and personal attacks that have frequently defined his addresses in the past.

To be sure, some were still there—particularly when he went off script—but they were not the element that defined the speech nor the part that left the most lasting impression.

That designation fell to the way in which he recounted last Saturday’s shooting.

“I’m not supposed to be here tonight”

Toward the beginning of his address, Trump recounted the shooting in greater detail than many expected. He started by stating, “I will tell you exactly what happened, and you’ll never hear it from me a second time because it’s actually too painful to tell.” From there, he described the events leading up to being shot—with a vivid if exaggerated depiction of “blood pouring everywhere”—before concluding with the statement that “I’m not supposed to be here tonight …. and I’ll tell you, I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of Almighty God.”

Throughout the rest of his address, he would periodically speak of his gratitude to the Lord and of the nation’s need for God’s help. While only God and the former president can truly know where he stands in his relationship with Christ, at the very least, the Lord’s name was proclaimed, and there is value in that.

Granted, last night’s speech was hardly the first time that he has courted the religious vote with calls to faith and mentions of God, but this time it felt different. It will be worth watching over the coming months and years to see if the change sticks.

The fleeting nature of change

It is not an indictment of Donald Trump to question whether his new approach to speaking so openly and personally about the Lord is evidence of a truly changed heart or the short-lived effects of a near-death experience. Rather, it’s an indictment on human nature.

You see, a brush with death—particularly when it’s your own—often changes a person’s perspective on life. The further you move away from that moment, however, the easier it gets to slip back into the person you used to be.

Scripture is filled with examples of people who, in a moment of desperation, gratitude, or some other heightened emotion, turned to God only to fall further away from him as the years progressed. That’s why we need the Holy Spirit and a daily commitment to walking with the Lord to keep our relationship with God on solid footing.

Two of Israel’s kings—David and Manasseh—demonstrate this truth well.

Early in David’s life, he walked closely with the Lord and was at peace with the knowledge of his complete and utter reliance on God. As his youth faded, however, his life was characterized by an inconsistent relationship with the Lord that divided his family and laid the seeds for Israel’s undoing.

By contrast, Manasseh began his reign as one of Judah’s worst kings, leading the people to worship idols and false gods in some of the most abominable ways imaginable. Yet, after a brief exile to Assyria, he was humbled and went on to honor the Lord, restore the altar in the temple, and command Judah to serve God (2 Chronicles 33).

Chances are good that we can all find elements of ourselves in both men’s stories. The question then becomes which will define us going forward.

Only two options

Regardless of how you plan to vote this fall, the apparent shift in Donald Trump’s approach should inspire all of us to pray that his outlook on life and—more importantly—his relationship with God really has changed for the better as a result of Saturday’s shooting. And we should do the same for President Biden and all of our nation’s leaders.

Moreover, this story should also inspire us to pray that the Lord will use that event to help each of us evaluate our own relationship with Christ and see if there are any areas where we have slipped back into an acceptance of sin rather than a reliance on him.

This side of heaven, it will never be too late to fall away from the Lord and live as though our salvation had no present impact on our way of life. Fortunately, it will also never be too late to turn back to God and seek a closer walk with him.

Where do you fall on that spectrum today? Are you walking toward God or drifting away from him? Ultimately, those are the only two options.

Which is true for you today?

Quote of the Day:

“If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road, and in that case, the man who turns back the soonest is the most progressive man … going back is the quickest way on.” — C.S. Lewis

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President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, forcing him to cancel a campaign event in Las Vegas. This after he stated earlier in the day that he would drop out of the presidential race if he had a “medical condition.”

His COVID-19 symptoms are mild and would likely not constitute such a “condition,” but the juxtaposition of the two is interesting with regard to their timing.

Here’s why: Rep. Adam Schiff, one of the top Democrats in the country, called on Mr. Biden yesterday to “pass the torch” and step aside from the race. In a new poll, nearly two-thirds of Democrats agree that Mr. Biden should withdraw.

The Washington Post is also reporting that House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, in separate private meetings with Mr. Biden last week, told him that his continued candidacy imperils their party’s ability to control either chamber of Congress next year. And former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reportedly told the president last week that she and other Democratic lawmakers worry that he’s dragging down the party.

Last night, the New York Times reported that Mr. Biden has become more receptive to such arguments, though he has not given any indication that he is changing his mind about staying in the race. He has also asked questions about how Vice President Kamala Harris could win.

“The country is spiraling out of control”

Many Democrats apparently want to replace their nominee, while Republicans came shockingly close to losing theirs.

After the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last Saturday, Israeli Special Operations veteran Aaron Cohen told reporters that if the former president had not turned his head at the moment a shot was fired at him, he would have been killed. According to Cohen, “The fact that he just happened to be turned this way with that shot coming in is what saved his life.”

However, while Mr. Trump was spared, a man in the stands died while protecting his family; two other shooting victims were hospitalized.

Johns Hopkins University political science professor Robert Lieberman explains in Foreign Affairs that four features help cause democratic crises: political polarization, conflict over who belongs in the political community, high and growing economic inequality, and excessive executive power. He adds, “What makes the last four years different is that all of them are present.”

Unsurprisingly, following last Saturday’s shooting, four in five Americans polled said “the country is spiraling out of control.”

“They did not know how to blush”

I was recently struck by God’s description of his people in Jeremiah 6: “They did not know how to blush” (v. 15). The verse reminded me of Mark Twain’s observation, “Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to.”

The text comes in the midst of cataclysmic chaos for Israel as the Lord warns them that “disaster looms out of the north, and great destruction” (v. 1). The reason is that the nation’s moral state is horrific: “As a well keeps its water fresh, so she keeps fresh her evil; violence and destruction are heard within her; sickness and wounds are ever before me” (v. 7).

But the people are intentionally ignorant of their plight: “From the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (vv. 13–14).

Then comes the verse that impressed me: “Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush” (v. 15). As a result, their nation would soon fall (vv. 22–26).

If this could happen to God’s “chosen people,” what of us?

“Ask for the ancient paths”

The presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump was held three weeks ago. While most assumed it would be consequential, who among us could have imagined that morning that it would upend the race so abruptly? And who of us a week ago could have imagined the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump?

Who of us knows what tomorrow will bring?

When things are “spiraling out of control,” it is vital that we heed God’s call:

“Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16).

Note the order of these four imperatives:

1. “Stand by the roads”—stop what you are doing.
2. “Look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is”—seek biblical truth for your life and day.
3. “Walk in it”—follow the path it sets out with holistic obedience.
4. “Find rest for your souls”—look for relief from anxiety for your inmost being.

In a chaotic world, God’s people don’t have to settle for chaos in our souls. Corrie ten Boom was right: “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.”

Will you “be at rest” today?

Thursday news to know:

• D. Vance accepts GOP VP nomination, setting him up as MAGA heir
• Three days after attempted assassination, Trump shooter remains an elusive enigma
• Prosecutors appeal Trump classified documents dismissal
• US safety board to hold hearings on Boeing 737 MAX door incident
• On this day in 1940: FDR nominated for unprecedented third term

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” —St. Augustine

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Donald Trump’s selection of J. D. Vance as his running mate continues to generate headlines this morning, and for good reason. As David A. Graham writes in the Atlantic, “J. D. Vance’s rapid rise from obscurity to the vice-presidential nomination is an only-in-America tale.” Consider the facts and judge for yourself:

• James David Vance grew up in a broken home in rural Ohio, surrounded by economic and social decline.
• His parents divorced when he was a toddler. His mother struggled with substance abuse, so he was raised by his grandmother.
• He enlisted in the Marines, served in Iraq, then graduated in two years summa cum laude from Ohio State University, where he majored in political science and philosophy.
• He earned a law degree at Yale, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Review.
• He wrote Hillbilly Elegy, a bestselling memoir of the travails of working-class America. The book was made into a movie directed by Ron Howard.
• He founded a venture capital firm, then was elected to the Senate on his first try.
• At thirty-nine years of age, he has been nominated for vice president of the United States.

Now consider his counterpart:

• Kamala Devi Harris was born in Oakland, California. Her mother emigrated from India to attend the University of California, Berkeley, where she met Harris’s Jamaican-born father, Donald. Her mother became a cancer researcher, while her father became a Stanford University economics professor.
• Her parents divorced when she was seven years old. At age twelve, she moved with her mother and sister to Montreal, where she attended high school and founded a dance troupe.
• She graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC, majoring in political science and economics and serving on the debate team. She earned a JD in 1989, worked as a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, California, and was elected San Francisco district attorney in 2003.
• She was elected California attorney general in 2010, the first African American and the first woman to hold the position.
• In 2016, she became the second African American woman and first South Asian American woman to be elected to the US Senate.
• In 2020, she was elected vice president of the United States, becoming the first female, the first Black, and the first Asian American to hold the position.

Both are “made-in-America” narratives. But as we’ll see today, there’s more to the story.

“From a nation of joiners to a nation of loners”

Our national ethos, as expressed in our founding declaration that “all men are created equal,” especially encourages the rise of individuals from obscurity to the highest levels of power.

But over the generations, this declaration has morphed from “all men are created equal” to “all people are equal.” Darwin taught us that we are not the purposeful creation of God but the coincidental product of natural selection. Freud convinced many that belief in a Creator is a fantasy based on the infantile need for a dominant father figure. Postmodernists have persuaded our culture that all truth claims are personal and subjective (which, of course, is an objective truth claim).

As a result, according to existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger, we are actors on a stage with no script, audience, director, past, or future. Courage, he claimed, is facing the meaninglessness of life as it is.

How’s this working for us?

The Wall Street Journal interviewed a variety of Americans about their feelings following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last Saturday. According to the article, “they pointed fingers and expressed anger, fear, and heartbreak.” However, nearly to a person, “they also expressed a sense of dread, saying there seems to be no good news on the horizon.”

They are not alone. According to the New York Times, our country has been transformed in recent decades “from a nation of joiners to a nation of loners.” The article interviews Harvard political scientist Robert Putnam, whose research shows that in the last fifty years, political polarization, economic inequality, and individualistic morality have fomented an epidemic of social isolation and loneliness.

Is this the epitaph of our age?

This is where the uniqueness of the biblical worldview is especially relevant.

On the one hand, Christians believe that we are each created personally by God in his image (Genesis 1:27) and so valuable to him that his Son died to purchase our salvation (Romans 5:8). On the other, we also believe that we are members of a larger body (1 Corinthians 12:27) who find our ultimate purpose and joy in community with our spiritual family.

You and I can experience the abundant life of Christ only through a personal, passionate union with him. He taught us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). As Oswald Chambers notes, “The essential thing is my personal relationship to Jesus Christ. . . . To fulfill God’s design means entire abandonment to him.”

But we are only one of the branches on the vine. We are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). We experience God most fully in community. When we pray for each other, serve each other, hold each other accountable to biblical truth, and serve Jesus with each other, we offer our broken culture a redemptive community they can find nowhere else.

This adage could therefore be the epitaph of our age:

“With God, all things are possible. Without God, all things are permissible.”

Choose wisely today.

Wednesday news to know:

• US authorities learned of potential Iranian assassination plot against Trump weeks before deadly shooting
• Biden seriously considering proposals on Supreme Court term limits, ethics code, AP sources say
• Bob Menendez found guilty on all counts including acting as a foreign agent, in federal corruption trial
• Powell says Federal Reserve is more confident inflation is slowing to its target
• On this day in 2020: Congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis dies

*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.

Quote for the day:

“Once we deeply trust that we ourselves are precious in God’s eyes, we are able to recognize the preciousness of others and their unique places in God’s heart.” —Henri Nouwen

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