by Garfield Gregoire September 5, 2024

People in the United States and around the world was SHOCKED to see how close Mr. Trump came to being killed as he spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania. Those in attendance and those watching on TV – including myself, was stunned – as Mr. Trump suddenly touched his ear and then dropped to the floor; and as he dropped to the floor, I cried out – saying NO, NO, possibly several times (not sure how many times). At that shocking and bewildering moment in time, people may have found themselves wondering if Mr. Trump had been killed or seriously injured – until the Secret Service rushed on to the stage to escort him away with a bleeding ear that had been hit by a bullet – which, we later learned, was fired by a young man who, it appeared, wanted to end the life of the former president.

In speaking of the incident, the former President noted that if he had not turned his head in a certain position, the bullet could have entered his skull – possibly ending his life right there on that stage. This moment in time is viewed by many as being miraculous and that divine intervention was involved or that God had miraculously spared the life of Mr. Trump.

In hearing people say that God spared the life of Mr. Trump, then this certainly, leaves the family of the man – Mr. Corey Comperatore – who died at the rally – wondering why God saved the life of the former President and not their father and husband – as the life of this man was also very important to his family.

Time and Chance

I would like to point out that despite the fact that many may be fully convinced that God directly intervened to save Mr. Trump, we must also consider that there is such a thing spoken of in  the Bible as time and chance.

In speaking of the fact that time and chance do occur in the lives of people, the Bible says, “… but time and chance happened to them all” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). The word “CHANCE” comes from a Hebrew word which speaks of a chance or occurrence that can happen by accident – meaning that even though the trump shooter appears to have made a deliberate attempt to end the life of Mr. Trump, it could also have been by CHANCE that the firefighter died and Mr. Trump was spared or that he happened to turn his head at just the right moment.

In Luke 13:4, Jesus spoke of certain people who met their death by a tower coming down on them; He said: “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?”

Jesus noted these people died (possibly by an accident; by chance) did not die because they were sinners above other people but that all men are sinners and that unless repentance is made men will ultimately experience spiritual death or die for all eternity (v. 5).

Hitler Survived Death

Let me make it clear that I am by NO means comparing Mr. Trump with Hitler, but only to make the point that Hitler survived several attempts made on his life. For example, in November of 1939 – on the 16th anniversary of his of his beer hall putsch, a bomb exploded after Hitler had finished his speech, he walked away unharmed. It has been also reported that a theology student posing as a reporter plan to shoot Hitler from a reviewing stand as he passed through a parade, but his view of Hitler was blocked by the crowd and the student was not able to carry out his assassination plan and was at some point later discovered and executed for his actions. Also in 1944, a plot was underway to shoot Hitler in the head with a pistol by a German cavalry officer who sought to conceal a gun hidden in his pocket but was unknowingly prevented from getting close to Hitler -as Hitler’s SS Guards were earlier ordered on that day to not allow aides into the conference room with Hitler. In July 1944 a plan was carried out to kill Hitler – by setting of an explosion hidden in a briefcase – which also failed to kill the German dictator.

No one would want to say God spared the life of Hitler or afforded him divine protection, but the one thing that is sure – is that Hitler could not have remained in power unless God almighty allowed it – because God is supremely in charge and not even Satan can go beyond what God allows. I wonder how many people consider it this way.

You can look at the suffering brought upon Job and understand that though evil came upon Job – through what Satan was allowed to do, nonetheless, Satan was limited in how far he to go in doing harm to Job – for God commanded Satan to not take the life of Job (Job 2:6); Satan could not go beyond what God said; this truth alone dismisses the myth that God is in a contest battling Satan to get everyone saved. If God was battling Satan to get the world saved then Satan would certainly be winning this battle because the vast majority of humans has always been going Satan’s way and not God’s way, but God is not in any contest with Satan to get as much people saved now because God, by his supreme will, has set forth a specific time in which He is going to save all of humanity – only most people do not seem to understand that.

Concerning divine protection,  the Bible says, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:7). Divine protection is given to those who obey and fear God – by seeking to live by every word of God. God watches over the righteous and delivers them out of their troubles. God’s holy angels are not sent to deliver or minister to the people of the world but to the people of God – the true Christians – who are the heirs of salvation; Hebrew 1:14 make this very plain when it says, “Are they (the angels of God) not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation?” These angels of God do serve to keep the Christian from harm – such as from serious injuries, premature death, calamities and other evils – as well as to help them fight their battle against Satan – helping the Christian along the journey to achieve eternal life.

When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Satan urged Jesus to prove HE was the Son of God by throwing himself from the pinnacle of the temple – while quoting scripture which states God would provide divine protection through his angels if Christ should throw himself off the temple (Psalm 91:11,12). Satan knew God protected Christ and kept him from harm from the day He was born. But Christ would not satisfy Satan’s temptation by putting God to the test; Jesus made this plain to Satan when He said, “It is written … Thou shall not tempt the Lord thy God” (Matt. 4:7).

While God does protect those who love and honor him, the Bible, on other hand, reveal that God is supremely in charge over his creation – to the extent that it says, “… He removeth kings and setteth up kings …” (Daniel 2:21). It is God who allows men to be in power and God allows certain ones to have that power in order to work out his purpose here on this earth. For example, you can consider that it was God who made King Saul ruler over the people, but through the act of disobedience, God replaced Saul – by choosing David to be king, and having learned of this, Saul made several attempts to take the life of David; at one instance, Saul threw a javelin at him – hoping to pin him to the wall, but in all this, God allowed no harm to come to David. Surely, it was quite clear God had a purpose for David to fulfill; and in so doing, God protected David – keeping him from death at the hands of Saul.