Trump’s survival shows the power of thoughts and prayers

One of the most lamentable developments in recent politics has been the left’s decision to insult the importance of “thoughts and prayers.” Believers utter the well-meaning phrase as a sign of heartfelt charity for those who suffer any kind of tragedy. Yet some of the most prominent figures on the left, who never let a crisis go to waste, go so far as to call “thought and prayers” meaningless.

Thankfully, the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening has evoked a different response to the power of the Almighty. “Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” Trump posted on hours after the attack.

The president then spurred on his followers by quoting one of the most common statements in the Bible. “We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness,” he said on Sunday morning. “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans, remaining Strong and Determined, and not allowing Evil to Win.”

The shooting understandably caused the president to reflect on his survival, as the bullet missed him by tenths of an inch. Trump said he survived “by luck or by God,” with later statements pointing clearly to his belief in God’s protection.

An illustration posted online demonstrated just how close the president came to death.

It blows my mind how narrowly Trump escaped death.

Watch the replay. He turned his head 0.3 seconds before impact. pic.twitter.com/6MlZ6N8AKD

— SOVEREIGN BRAH 🇺🇸🏛️⚡️ (@sovereignbrah) July 14, 2024

Trump said that while looking at a graphic of the record-breaking number of illegal immigrant encounters during the Biden administration, he turned his head slightly. Had he been looking straight ahead, the AR-15 round that grazed his ear would have penetrated his brain. Had he not turned as sharply as he did, the bullet may have hit a different part of his head. In either instance, he almost certainly would have died instantly.

“The fact that this is about milliseconds and millimeters, that changes it from being an attempt at an assassination — should really talk about divine intervention that has occurred here,” Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida told Laura Ingraham on Fox News Monday.

The odds of his death were not lost on President Trump. “The most incredible thing was that I happened to not only turn but to turn at the exact right time and in just the right amount,” he told the Washington Examiner. “If I only half-turn, it hits the back of the brain. The other way goes right through [the skull]. And because the sign was high, I’m looking up. The chances of my making a perfect turn are probably one-tenth of 1%.”

The all-but-impossible coincidence of the shot and Trump’s need to see the Jumbotron “did have a lot of impact” on his outlook, Trump told the Washington Examiner.

That impact seemed clear on Monday night, as the former president made a surprise visit to the Republican National Convention, sometimes tearing up and always with an overwhelming sentiment of gratitude.

The president’s emergence relatively unscathed has already uplifted rhetoric at the RNC. “If you didn’t believe in miracles before Saturday, you’d better be believing now!” said Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina during his RNC speech Monday night. “On Saturday, the devil came to Pennsylvania holding a rifle. But an American lion got back on his feet, and he roared!”

Entertainer Lee Greenwood, who sang “God Bless the USA” as President Trump entered the convention, said he wanted “this nation based on faith” to know that “prayer works.”

The close call will continue to change the convention, as President Trump said he tore up the first draft of his nominating speech and replaced it with an address calling for greater national unity. (Trump assured reporters his original speech “was a humdinger,” aimed at demonstrating Joe Biden’s corruption and his opponents’ underhanded tactics.)

Unfortunately, his opponents have not relented from engaging in hyper-polarizing rhetoric about the 45th president’s supposedly existential threat to democracy. That’s a shame. Now, more than ever, the nation needs a steady hand to quell political violence, erase the enmity between Americans, and heal our politically fractured families and friendships.

That makes us all the more grateful that President Trump’s exhortation for his followers to have courage and take a stand is both deeply biblical and a perfectly tailored response to potential acts of terrorism.

Cowardly terrorists — from radical Islamists on 9/11, to Antifa/BLM riots in 2020, to an LGBT extremist’s attempted liquidation of every employee of Family Research Council in 2012 — aim to break the will of those who hold certain political views.

Terrorists hope to convince their opponents that running for office on a certain platform, or even attending a rally to see someone who holds those values, will result in violent consequences for themselves and their families. (Officially, law enforcement has yet to confirm the motivation of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who is said to have acted alone).

A lighter form of this persecution may take the form of the Dhimmi system Islamists the Ottoman Empire used to subjugate Christians, to lawfare targeting one’s political opponents, to continually using dehumanizing rhetoric to characterize one’s opponents.

The Bible declares that “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” (2 Timothy 1:7). For us, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). We recognize that “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord,” and like the rivers of water, “He turns it wherever He will” (Proverbs 21:1).

Mere human thoughts are not helpful when directed at themselves or others. When those thoughts turn to God, they fulfill the divine commandment to pray “for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:2) and surround the recipient with divine protection.

We always pray that God will turn His mercy upon the individual to do all things that are best for his or her salvation.

Prayerful Christians saw their thoughts and prayers for President Trump’s temporal well-being fulfilled on Saturday. May the Lord use its deep impact to lead him and all people to His everlasting blessedness.

This article appeared originally on The Washington Stand.