The Tortuous Road

When we survey the lives of some famous people, we are often struck by the fact that most of their lives were spent in a relatively unremarkable procession of events, which in no way indicated their eventual climax.

Samson is a case in point. We are told that he was a judge in Israel for 20 years, yet no details of this service are deemed worthy of mention, until the dramatic end of his life when he was used by Almighty God to exact punishment on Israel’s enemies. Samson obviously performed his duties well over a long period of time, but only the explosive finale perpetuated his importance to the Biblical narrative. This should be a comfort to all of us when we despair of the seemingly fruitlessness of our endeavours because we cannot perceive the eventual outcome of our efforts over many years.

Now, Samson was a specially consecrated child, born for a mission, and his actions in fulfilling that mission were not always consistent. He was strong, yet weak, unpredictable and not given to intense internal insight. There were several aspects to stages to his life.

Firstly, in his employment, he was not used to act as a cathartic influence on the life of the nation. Then, he was deceived through an inability to clearly see the duplicitous nature of others, firstly by his wife and then by Delilah, so that he was compromised in the former event and taken captive in the second. After the betrayal of Delilah, he faced an end to his life devoid of substance and honour. Thirdly, he was given the chance to redeem himself by the action of destroying the temple of the Philistines. [Readers are encouraged to read Judges Chapters 13 to 16, preferably from the Moffatt Translation]

In today’s world, we have in Donald Trump, a powerful personality who is known for his abstention of alcohol, his vulnerability with regard to women, his successful “normal” career and his hair, all things he shares with Samson. He also has a strong belief in his own power and at least a nominal belief in Christianity. He is not afraid of mentioning God in his assertions. [Ed. Although never the name of Jesus Christ to my knowledge]

If we examine the second phase of his recent life, now just beginning, we see that under pressure from the worldly powers, he has somewhat lost his way, by following precepts in opposition to his earlier stated policies.

He has now made his first foreign tour as President of the United States. This has taken him to Saudi Arabia, where he was feted by Kings; to Jerusalem and to the Vatican. These are the centers of power of Islam, Zionism and Romanism, what you may care to call the false prophet, dragon and beast of Biblical prophecy. Perhaps, this is the way of the Lord God to prepare Donald Trump for the battles ahead when his entreaties for “peace”- become more or less ignored. He concluded his tour by visiting Norway, home of the Nobel Peace Prize, so scandalously awarded to Barack Obama at the beginning of his term of office. Alfred Nobel is of course famous for inventing dynamite.

Will Donald Trump eventually become vexed with the lack of response to his efforts and cause further ructions in the international and diplomatic arena? He has, to his credit, stalled on ratifying the latest nonsense on global warming and climate change, a false doctrine created to ensnare the western world. But he has not “drained the swamp”; far from it. The bloodsuckers and smooth tongued wizards still abound and without the Lord’s help cannot be defeated. It will, therefore, behoove the President to pray fervently and seek Almighty God’s help in order to conquer our enemies. If it is left to the last moment because of weakness or lack of insight, the final actions may be as dramatic and earth shattering as those of Samson. In this respect, it is interesting to note that the 286 days between his election and the coming “Total Eclipse of the Sun in the United States on August 21’t this year, represents a period of displacement. We may not know the exact procession of future events, but we can be sure that we must expect the unexpected. Let us be as the wise and not the foolish virgins that we are not caught unprepared.

Written by: Alan Edwards

Editor’s Comment: I had the pleasure of meeting Alan Edwards and his wife Jackie at the BIWF Buxton, UK Conference last July and spent a great deal of time with the two of them discussing Biblical matters as they relate to world events. They publish the very popular “The South West Beacon” in England and both are seasoned writers. Recently, Alan and I talked about a comparison between Samson and Donald Trump. It is so interesting that I encouraged him to write a short article for this magazine. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. He has a very busy schedule, but, who knows, perhaps I can entice him into becoming a regular correspondent.