'Only Trump Derangement Syndrome would suggest such an abhorrent thought'
“In their own eyes they flatter themselves
too much to detect or hate their sin.”
– Psalm 36:2, NIV
Observing the reaction of some Christian leaders to two stories of global significance last month – the failed assassination of Donald Trump and the Paris Olympic opening ceremony’s mockery of the Last Supper – I suggest July 2024 be remembered as a summer of Self-flattery for Protestant Progressives.
The progressive response to the July 13 assassination attempt crystallized in a meme surfacing on social media. In “wolf in sheep’s clothing” style, the gentle-sounding meme carrying a vicious anti-Trump bite read: “If you believe God intervened to save former President Trump, but didn’t intervene to save the kids in Uvalde or Parkland or Santa Fe or Sandy Hook, then you are worshiping partisan politics, not Jesus.”
That sermon-in-a-sentence immediately went viral, shaming anyone daring to imagine that God’s hand intervened in the near miss of the assassin’s bullet, each click to “Share” and “Like” adding to a thunderous, worldwide “Amen!”
What the meme actually confirmed is how thoroughly leftist thought has succeeded in purging Divine Providence, a foundational Judeo-Christian teaching, from the liberal church’s theological lexicon.
Implying that those who see more than blind luck in Trump’s close call with death are cold and callous to the suffering of others, the meme overtly accuses believers in God’s providential hand being present in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 as replacing the worship of Jesus with the worship of political partisanship, i.e., of worshiping Trump.
The truth is the opposite.
This repugnant meme’s progressive authors are the ones driven by political partisanship, shrouding their true intent (to shame Trump supporters) with the finely ornamented cloak of their own compassion for the suffering of innocents.
Such compassion, though, is something all feel, no matter their political bent. To suggest that those who detect God’s hand of providence in Trump’s brush with death are void of feeling sadness at the thought of innocent children dying in Uvalde or Sandy Hook, or anywhere else, is not only wrong, but judgmental in the extreme.
So, while sounding wholesome, this theologically hollow statement stretches out the biblical teaching of divine providence as a sacrifice on the altar of Wokeism, an altar before which they feel worthy to stand due to the bona fides of their anti-Trump obsession.
So, did God’s hand of providence save Donald Trump on July 13?
Trump thinks so, as would any one of us, had a bullet aimed at our head missed. Millions more, including this writer, join the chorus of thanksgiving, not for blind luck, but for the shield of providence. I would say the same had Joe Biden narrowly missed a date with assassination, or Kamala Harris, or Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The blatant hypocrisy of this meme is easily shown by removing Trump’s name and replacing it with a name of a friend. Three weeks before the assassination attempt, on June 21, there was a mass shooting killing four people on the parking lot of the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, Arkansas. I know the place well, serving four years (1998–2002) as pastor of First United Methodist Church in that wonderful small town.
What if, I wondered, one of my friends – I’ll call him John – had been on that parking lot? Imagine John saying, “I shouldn’t be here today. I saw the shooter aim his rifle at my head! I don’t know how the bullet missed. God saved me, Sieg. I should be dead.”
Only sham sophistication would lead me to respond, “Come on, John! If you really believe God intervened for you, what about your four friends? Don’t you care about them? No, my friend, God had nothing to do with it. Yes, be thankful! For luck! For fortuitous chance! Let’s take God out of the equation, though, lest we make God unfair.”
Obviously, I would never say such a thing. Neither would you. Neither would the writers and the sharers of this obnoxious meme, were their close friend expressing gratitude at narrowly escaping death’s clutches. Only Trump Derangement Syndrome would suggest such an abhorrent thought in the aftermath of July 13.
That this despicable post went viral, though, should not be surprising. It reveals, not merely the politicizing of providence, but worse, a church so thoroughly secularized as to be eager to purge from itself the idea of Divine providence, then to flatter itself for its newfound sophistication achieving a breakaway from it biblical moorings.
The progressive sophisticate need not pray for God to be with them, nor to guide, nor to protect. Or, if they choose to pray in such terms, let it be in a professional and perfunctory manner, so that if evil lurks and one narrowly escapes, it can simply be attributed to blind luck, as must have been Trump’s perfectly timed turning of his head to expose but an ear.
Mere chance.
The second July event oozing with self-flattery is the progressive’s “Get-Over-It” chiding of Christians expressing disgust at the mockery of the Last Supper during the Paris opening to the Summer Olympic Games.
In this summer of self-flattery, progressives congratulate themselves that they are sophisticated enough to appreciate what Christians of a more simple-minded variety cannot: that the scene was but a tribute to a Greek pagan festival honoring Dionysus.
“Calm down,” I’ve heard some progressive church leaders scold their riled fellow Christians, “It’s NOT the Last Supper.”
Ah, but it was. Of that there can be no doubt, as now admitted by artistic directors and by the Jesus figure herself, boasting online of her “New Gay Testament,” for which she helped pen the disgusting opening chapter.
The Dionysus overlap was well-designed as a strategy to allow for plausible deniability when the inevitable uproar ensued. Only progressives were fooled. Well, not fooled, but not caring, having eyes to see the beauty of divine welcoming while others – those simple-minded Others – could detect only raw decadence on intentional display.
In this summer of self-flattery, progressives can revere themselves for their ability to revere artfully displayed irreverence. If Christians of traditional and biblical values see a barefaced (and bare other things) mockery of their faith, they see otherwise, flattering themselves as more enlightened, more loving, more welcoming than their Christian ancestors and archaically-minded peers.
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