I posted an article by Christian columnist Michael Brown on Facebook a day or two ago, and I wish to talk more about what he reminded us of. The article was entitled “But God,” which Brown said are the two most powerful words in the Bible. I agree with him.
Joseph, in the Old Testament, the favorite son of his father, was sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Years later, when drought settled in the area, Joseph, who God maneuvered into position as the second in command to the Pharaoh of Egypt, was able to organize the stockpiling of food that saved the Egyptians, and even his father and brothers, from starvation. When his brothers came before him, frightened of his wrath, he welcomed them with love and spoke these immortal words: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. . . (Genesis 50:20). But God meant it for good.
We are in the midst of turmoil with an as of yet undecided election. Tens of thousands of Trump supporters gathered in D.C. for a peaceful protest of the widespread election fraud and several of them were attacked by members of Antifa and BLM. Voters have filed lawsuits about voting irregularities. The Trump campaign has done the same as every day brings more proof: videos of votes being changed and blank ballots filled in, sworn statements from those who have witnessed voting irregularities. The Constitution states that the legislature of each state shall determine the rules for voting in their state, and yet in several key states, Democrat Secretaries of State by-passed the legislature to change the voting rules, effectively making millions of votes unconstitutional. Several states stopped counting votes fairly early on election night with President Trump in the lead. By the next morning, votes had miraculously appeared which put Biden in the lead. In one state, roughly 164,000 ballots were discovered in a box, every single one a Biden vote. When unbelieving outrage ensued, the election officials suddenly decided that a clerical error had occurred and about 16,000 of those votes were actually for Trump. Biden did worse than Hillary Clinton did in every major city except for Milwaukee, Detroit, Philadelphia, and Atlanta – – – the four important, contested states where the most allegations of voter fraud have come from. In Milwaukee, more votes were cast than the number of registered voters. In fact, according to the reported vote totals, 82% of voting age individuals voted in Wisconsin, when in every other presidential election, the percentage of voters is between 50 and 60%. In order for the 82% turnout in Wisconsin to have been real, 900,000 unregistered voters would have had to turn up at the polls on election day for same day registration.
In Michigan, Republican poll watchers were made to stand so far from those tabulating the votes that they couldn’t see what was happening. Then, when the Republican poll watchers left for lunch and returned, police refused them entry, saying they had been instructed that the maximum number of poll watchers were already inside. They video-taped Democrats taping paper on the windows so they couldn’t look inside.
Two of the companies that produce voting machines have ways that votes can be bypassed if they are not for a certain candidate. One of the companies, Dominion, supplied voting machines to Venezuela, and one whistleblower who has contacted the Trump lawyers stated that those machines were keyed in Venezuela to give the election to Madura. Texas refused to use them because they could be tampered with, but they have been used widely in other states.
In 2016 Democrats could not believe that Hillary Clinton, a former president’s wife, senator, and Secretary of State, despite her lack of charisma and her lies about using a private server, could possibly lose the election to a CEO and T.V. star. They never looked at the huge crowds he drew at his rallies nor at their enthusiasm. For the last nearly four years, President Trump has drawn huge, wildly enthusiastic crowds whenever he has given a speech. People camp out on the sidewalk in the cold in order to have a chance to get into the venue where he is speaking, and those who are unlucky enough not to get in, stand outside and watch him on wide screen T.V.s. During this campaign, Joe Biden spent most of the time in his basement, doing a few video speeches, answering no hardball questions (the press lobbed none and when private individuals did, he turned on them in rage), and usually calling an end to his campaign day by 9 or 10 in the morning. At the same time, President Trump was speaking to crowds of thousands in airport hangars at least three times a day, often visiting three or four different states. In one telling comparison, Barack Obama joined Joe Biden for a rally in one of the midwestern states. About a dozen or so attendees were there, sitting in carefully drawn and socially distanced circles along with the media. On the same day in Pennsylvania, President Trump spoke to a rally where the Secret Service estimated the crowd at over 57,000 people.
President Trump gained among suburban women. He did better with minorities than any Republican has in 60 years. He gained 10 million voters that we know of. And all through his term in office, he has had the enthusiastic support of 95% or more of Republicans. His base never left him and he gained many Democrat voters. Of those who signed up at his rallies that they planned to vote for the President, a quarter to a half were always Democrats and many others had not voted in the past several elections. All summer, spontaneous motorcycle, car, and boat parades of hundreds of vehicles supported him. There were no Biden parades. The enthusiasm factor was clearly his, and historically, the candidate with the most enthusiastic support wins. Also, historically, the winner of Florida and Ohio generally wins. Those states went for Trump.
With the countless accusations of fraud and the other factors I have spoken of, it is most likely that President Trump won the election. Whether courts will look at the reams of evidence and be willing to act upon them is the question. And this is where the verse comes in. “As for you, you meant evil for me, but God meant it for good.”
Whether the tortuous process ahead confirms a Trump re-election or not, while they have meant evil for us, God means it for good. If Trump emerges victorious, all Americans will have seen the lengths to which the other side is willing to go in order to gain power. Perhaps at last moderate Democrats will realize that they have lost their party and must realign for their own good and the good of America. They will have meant it for evil, but God will have meant it for good.
If Biden perseveres, we will indeed we entering a dark winter, but we must not despair. They will mean evil for us, but God will mean good. We will grow stronger in adversity, secure in the knowledge that in the end good will win out over evil. Look at history. Most of the Communist countries, whose people lived in despair, have now joined the free world. Even the horrors of the Nazi death camps came to an end and good prevailed. Why? Because God is in control. He has given Satan temporary reign over the world, yet the Holy Spirit moves Christians to fight the evil, and we do not fight alone. Even more encouraging, we know how the story ends. We know how it all ends. We win! God wins! Evil is defeated!
We don’t know what will happen in the next few months, neither with the election, nor with COVID. But we must not be discouraged whatever should transpire. Psalm 30:5 reminds us that “Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.” We are in a night of sorrow and righteous anger, and we don’t know how long our night may last. But morning is coming because of those two very important words:
But God . . . .