Topic: WorldNetDaily
In our last update on WorldNetDaily columnist Michael Brown, he was ever-so-slowly backing off his aggressive advocacy for President Trump as he pushed bogus claims that the election was stolen. Then the Jan. 6 Trump-inspired Capitol riot happened. That day, WND published a column by Brown that did not reference the riot but addressed the so-called prophecies by right-wing evangelical ministers claiming that Trump would be re-elected:
When it comes to the presidential elections, God never gave me any assurance that Trump would be reelected (although, as any of my readers would know, he was my preferred choice over Biden). Nor did the Lord ever give me any assurance that the prophets, who to a person proclaimed a Trump victory, were right.
That means that my faith will not be affected in the least with the anticipated inauguration of Joe Biden, although I will certainly be concerned with the direction he has pledged to take our country.
The Bible never told me (or you) that Trump (or any other presidential candidate) would be elected. And I can give a list of reasons why so many prophetic voices and Christian leaders could have been so wrong in their pro-Trump predictions. (We will certainly address that when the time is right.)
But my message to a watching world right now is simple: John 3:16 will remain true long after the Trump reelection prophecies are forgotten. Don't confuse what is written in the Word with some alleged prophetic words.
On Jan. 11, Brown tried to justify his and evangelical Christians' support for Trump even as "things are ending very badly for Donald Trump's presidency and some of his close associates are abandoning him," while concluding some people did "compromise" their values:
So, on the one hand, Trump won some short-term victories and also appointed many lifetime judges. He did much good on the national and international scene. On the other hand, we are now left with a real, national mess, with the balance of power shifting dramatically left and with the country as a whole vulgarized in many ways by the Trump presidency.
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We had absolutely nothing in common with the white supremacists and other fanatics who stormed the Capitol last week. We were not xenophobes or racists or misogynists. But we were staunchly opposed to where the radical left might take us, hence our vote for a very flawed man.
Many of us also hoped that some of the godly leaders who surrounded him would be able to help him make some deep, fundamental changes as they spoke into his life with clarity and truth. And so we cast our vote.
Did we sell our souls in doing so? Did we compromise our values in the process?
For many of us, the answer is no, and we don't need to go on an apology tour for our vote. Even if some of our friends were more prescient than we were, seeing that things would end badly, we acted with sincerity before God and man. And if in the years ahead, our worst fears are realized and our country lurches even further to the far left, we will remember why we voted as we did.
That being said, many of us did sell our souls and compromise our values. There is no doubt about it whatsoever.
We diminished the importance of a leader's character and integrity. We became apologists for the president's sins and shortcomings. We mirrored his worst characteristics. We justified the unjustifiable. We put our trust in a man to fight our political and cultural battles. We became better known as "the Trump people" than as "the Jesus people." The list goes on and on.
To the extent that applies to any of us, we need to do some serious, private soul-searching along with some honest, public repenting, not in reaction to the attacks from the left but out of reverence before God.
Either way we voted, however, the reputation of Jesus has been trashed before the nation. What can all of us do to see His name lifted up again?
Brown used his Jan. 13 column to try to carve a center path between "Never Trump" and "Forever Trump":
To the Never Trumpers, I say this: If you genuinely love America and you are people of real character, now is not the time to gloat or say, "I told you so." You should be grieving that the nation is in so much pain, and you should be doing your best to heal the wounds rather than pour salt into them. And if you feel your fellow conservatives erred in supporting Trump, then seek out healthy discussion and dialogue. Condescension is not called for.
To the Forever Trumpers, I say this: You cast your vote for him twice, and you are standing with him now that he is being impeached for a second time. You see how the left finally has its moment and is trying pounce and destroy, so this is not the time for you to abandon Trump's side. All that is understandable.
But either way, impeached or censured or not, he will be out office in one week. It's time to move on. There's no need for you to tether your future political hopes to him.
Brown showed he was moving on in his Jan. 15 column, cheering Biden's election because right-wing evangelicals need an enemy, and "an adversarial presence in the White House could be the best thing that happened to the Church of America in years."
Finally, Brown declared in his Jan. 20 column under the headline "Joe Biden is president – by the sovereign will of God."
As for the issue of voter fraud, there are clearheaded, well-informed conservatives who are sure there is nothing to the charge of massive voter fraud, and there are clearheaded, well-informed conservatives who hold to the opposite view.
For argument's sake, though, let's just say that massive voter fraud did take place. How could I possibly point to divine sovereignty if Biden was fraudulently elected? Wouldn't this make God complicit in fraud?
Actually, in my view, that's one of the things that would argue in favor of divine action rather than against it. In other words, if the only way Biden could be elected was by massive fraud and yet God did not cause the fraud to be revealed in a categorical and undeniable way, then He chose to allow it to happen.
After admitting that Trump channeled "dangerous emotions," Brown lectured on how to pray for (or is it against?) Biden:
I would encourage you, then to: 1) make a list of everything you fear could go wrong under the Biden-Harris leadership and pray for the opposite; 2) pray daily that the Lord would restrain those whose vision would destroy our nation; 3) pray that Biden and Harris would have life-changing encounters with the Lord; 4) if the Biden presidency is meant as divine chastisement, pray that we would understand where we need to repent so that mercy may be poured out; and 5) pray that, no matter what happens, Jesus would be glorified and His kingdom advanced on the earth.
So Brown gets to have it both ways: a flawed ally if Trump won, and an convenient bogeyman under Biden. And either way, he still gets to be an activist.
