God blessed His chosen people through the leadership of Cyrus, who chose to make allowances and provisions for Israel to worship their God due to pragmatic calculations for his own rule.  Americans enjoy the privilege and responsibility of being able to elect our leaders–a luxury not enjoyed by virtually anyone in Scripture.  The good news is that God’s people lived under Babylon and Persia, and through faith both scenarios afforded unique opportunities to see God’s faithfulness. 

I, like many, am forever indebted to John Piper for his faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word.  Through Piper’s ministry, God has impressed upon me the importance of being totally captured by the truth of Scripture; clearly all that Piper does flows from his understanding and conviction of the Bible.   Regardless of the unpopularity or inconvenience a position might bring, Piper seems determined to remain there so long as he is convinced he is standing on the Word of God, and I hope the same will be able to be said about me.  Due to his faithfulness, I have developed a regular habit to sit under Piper’s teaching.  I often listen to his sermons, and I frequently consult his teachings when I have my own questions.  Even when he has taught on issues with which I disagree, I still have taken the time to hear him out because of my respect for him, and I listen with the willingness to change my mind if he can convince me from Scripture.

In his recent article “Policies, Persons, and Paths to Ruin,” Piper explains his reasoning for why he intends to vote for neither Trump nor Biden in the 2020 election.  Admittedly, the article focuses primarily on why the perils of Trump’s character deficiencies (though he does not overtly refer to Trump by name) will lead to our ruin, and his follow-up post clarified that he was explaining why he would not be voting for either major candidate.  His article argues that the person himself can lead a nation on the path to ruin just as powerfully as the policy advocated by a person.  In light of the abhorrent policy of (presumably) Biden, and the corrosive nature of (presumably) Trump’s person, Piper does not see anything other than destruction coming through the election of either. Consequently, he writes:

I will not develop some calculus to determine which path of destruction I will support. That is not my duty. My calling is to lead people to see Jesus Christ, trust his forgiveness for sins, treasure him above everything in this world, live in a way that shows his all-satisfying value, and help them make it to heaven with love and holiness. That calling is contradicted by supporting either pathway to cultural corruption and eternal ruin.

When I consider the remote possibility that I might do any good by endorsing the devastation already evident in the two choices before me, I am loath to undermine my calling (and the church’s mission) to stand for Christ-exalting faith and hope and love.

Piper’s conclusion is that there is no possible good for voting for either candidate that he can see; furthermore, he believes that choosing either candidate would undermine his witness as a Christian.  I would like to offer my biblical reasons for disagreeing with him, and for explaining why I have voted for Trump both in 2016 and 2020.

Can God Use Trump For Good?

The entire Bible makes it plain that God has a purpose and plan for all of creation and every individual; there is no escaping the purposes of God.  2 Timothy 2:20 says: “Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.”

Some people will be used for honorable purposes, and some for dishonorable purposes–but both types of people have a use nonetheless.  Romans 9:21-23 elaborates, “Has the potter [God] no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory.”

God uses all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons.  God is not limited to using perfect individuals to accomplish His good purposes–and praise God for this, because no one would be useful to Him if He only used perfect people!  So the question can fairly be raised: is it possible that God would use someone as sinful as Donald Trump to accomplish good purposes–even good purposes that faithful Christian’s can endorse and celebrate?

I do not believe Donald Trump is a Christian based on his own comments.  President Trump has previously stated that he has never asked God for forgiveness, because he does not believe he has ever done anything that bad (see here).  Jesus said that He had not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32).  Trump clearly has refused (as far as I know) to respond in faith to the purpose for which Christ came.  Piper fairly points out the deadly nature of Trump’s sins, and Piper rightly warns those who would excuse or overlook the danger of those sins.  But my question remains: can God still use someone like Donald Trump for good purposes?  And it seems clear to me looking at Scripture that the answer is yes.  And I would appeal to a man named Cyrus to illustrate my point.

God’s Holy People

Israel was called to be God’s special people.  They were delivered from slavery in Egypt and brought into the Promised Land where they were to be holy as their God was holy.  They were established in a covenant relationship with God that outlined blessings that would be enjoyed in the context of covenant faithfulness, and they were warned of the curses that would result from covenant unfaithfulness.  Over hundreds of years, Israel was habitually unfaithful, and eventually they suffered the most severe consequences promised by God: exile.  God warned His people that if they insisted on committing spiritual adultery with the gods of other nations, God would eventually deliver His people to the gods and nations Israel seemed to love so much so they could see the folly of their ways.  Israel was sent into exile; the northern 10 tribes were taken by Assyria in roughly 720BC, and the southern two tribes, referred to as Judah, were taken by the Babylonians over one hundred years later.  The temple of the LORD, where God had promised to meet with His people, was destroyed by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 586BC, and the people of Israel were deported to Babylon for their God-determined 70 years of exile.  During that time in exile, there was a change in status of the major world power; Babylon was overthrown by the Persian Empire.  And at the end of Israel’s predetermined time in exile, Cyrus was the king of Persia.

A Pragmatic Leader

While the Babylonians would uproot conquered people groups and aim to conform them to Babylonian thinking, culture and religion, the Persians took a different approach.  We know that the Persians opted to be kind towards their subjects, believing that happy people would be easier to rule.  To this end, the Persians did not destroy the temples or worship of conquered peoples; rather, they encouraged their subjects to continue worshipping as they pleased.  We see this in Ezra 1:1-4:

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

Cyrus made the pragmatic decision to not only allow, but to facilitate, the worship of those under his rule.  The Jewish temple was rebuilt in Jerusalem according to his command, and through his financing.  And this decree came about because God stirred him up.  Cyrus did not do this because he was a believer in the LORD; he did it because he thought it would make things better for his kingdom.  Cyrus did this with people of all religions.  Regardless of Cyrus’ motivations, he is still referred to in Scripture as an instrument of God.  Even more strikingly, he is called a messiah (anointed one) for God’s people.  Isaiah 45:1-4 says:

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.

We see a number of things about Cyrus in Isaiah 45.  First, Cyrus is a chosen instrument in the hands of God to work good for God’s chosen people.  Second, God promised to work through Cyrus to break other wicked powers that existed in that day.  Third, Cyrus is used by God despite Cyrus not knowing God himself since he was an idolater.  Now I would ask you, could not the same thing be said about President Trump?  Could Trump be a chosen instrument in the hands of God being used to accomplish good things, despite not knowing God himself?

I have no problem affirming that Trump’s appeals to evangelicals are largely, if not exclusively, pragmatic.  In many respects, Trump mirrors Cyrus in his style of governing.  Trump is not an ideologically driven individual; he is not aspiring to enact Christian laws across the nation.  Trump advocates a very pluralistic view for living, pretty much anything goes with Trump.  For example, he has not run on the platform of getting rid of gay marriage, something that would have been an expectation for a Republican as recently as ten years ago.  In fact, Trump’s Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell (who is openly gay) claims Trump is the most pro-gay president ever.  Whether that claim is true or not is beside the point, because the mere claim underscores the reality that Trump is not pushing a “Christian” agenda.  Trump has argued primarily that he wants to safeguard religious liberties for everyone, not just Christians; a claim that would not have been enough to satisfy the “Moral Majority” that influenced the Republican Party most recently in the days of George W. Bush.

In his article, Piper explained that destruction comes to a nation not only through the policies of a leader, but also through his character.  He stated: “This is true not only because flagrant boastfulness, vulgarity, immorality, and factiousness are self-incriminating, but also because they are nation-corrupting. They move out from centers of influence to infect whole cultures. The last five years bear vivid witness to this infection at almost every level of society.”

Without a doubt, we live in a polarized culture that seems to be waiting for the final spark to ignite the whole thing.  And clearly there is a massive coalition of voices who place the blame of our current state squarely at Trump’s feet–but uncritically accepting that assessment would not be wise or fair.  Instead, ask why Trump is so hated.  Is he hated because of his immorality?  That seems unlikely given that his most vocal opponents are not known for advocating biblical sexual norms–in fact, many of his opponents have very clear histories of sexual immorality, not to mention their open advocacy of it.  Is he hated because of his supposed disregard for the dignity of other individuals (which is actually not clearly established)?  Probably not, given that his opponents are more than happy to viciously malign and target for retribution those who are guilty of no other crime than disagreeing with them.  No, I think there is one very clear reason that Trump is so hated, and that is he possesses what they believe they deserve: power.

God Is Sovereign, But We Need Reminders

There are powers that govern our nation that are not necessarily visible or official; this is true on the human level, but it is even more true on the spiritual level (Ephesians 6:12).  The prevailing wisdom four years ago was that Hillary Clinton was going to be our next president; obviously that did not happen.  And we have watched a temper tantrum ever since by those who feel robbed of their “right” to decide how things should be.  I give no more credence to the ongoing complaints of those who scream how terrible Trump is than I do a spoiled child who calls his parents cruel and unfair for not bending to his demands.  Look at the current riots.  How many groups have openly threatened more violence and unrest if Trump is reelected?  The threat is clear: give us what we want (deserve?) or else!  God used Trump to show that ultimate power belongs exclusively to God.  Trump was and is the ultimate poke in the eye, the reminder that they are not God, and they cannot stand it.

No leader exists except the one God appoints (Romans 13:1-2).  Trump was not supposed to be president, so they thought, and yet here he is.  If there is one thing we should have learned from Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel is that an unchecked coalition of sinful men, unified as it may be, is not good for humanity.  Trump’s surprise election, I believe, was a check against an ungodly movement towards godlessness.  This is not to say that Trump’s objectives are necessarily righteous–they just do not bow to the powers that be.  The confusion of languages in Genesis 11 did not change the hearts of sinners, but it did frustrate the purposes of man by pitting sinner against sinner and preventing a unified goal that was in opposition to God.  Trump is not necessarily righteous, but he does not support the atheistic socialism being pushed by the Left either, and for that Christian’s should give praise.

Satan always looks to unify sinful man in his rebellion against God.  And what we see today with the deranged treatment of our president is a power grab–their opposition to him is not birthed from virtue.  And what will they do with power if they get it?  The same thing sinful man, bent on rebelling against God, always does: demand conformity, and inflict consequences for those who refuse.  In all fairness, this playbook is nothing new; we see it clearly in Scripture.  Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did the same thing.  We read about this in Daniel 3 when Nebuchadnezzar sets up a golden statue and demands everyone bow down and worship it, or face being executed by being thrown into fire.  Babylon’s policy was to demand conformity to Babylon or else.  We see the same thing today with “cancel culture”; if you do not say or do what is militantly pushed by the Left, you are going to be vilified and boycotted.  We are looking at the very real possibility of experiencing Babylon.

And yes, God’s people can still thrive in Babylon.  God commanded His people to serve Babylon and seek its welfare, because Nebuchadnezzar also was a servant of God, even if unknowingly (Jeremiah 27:5-8, 17).  But being faithful in Babylon required a lot more endurance, and it risked a lot of suffering.  I believe that Biden will be much more a mirror of Nebuchadnezzar and be part of a movement that demands conformity.  If God’s will is that Biden should win, then we are still called to be faithful.  I assume, however, this will bring much more suffering, and we are not called to seek suffering for suffering’s sake.  Piper seems to anticipate suffering in our future due to an increasingly hostile environment, and I agree with him regarding the need for pastors to make sure they labor to prepare Christians to suffer well and remember that we are to live for the kingdom of God.  But going to Babylon did not automatically make God’s people more holy just because they suffered, and Americans will not automatically be better off spiritually just because America goes down in flames.  We should seek what would be good for our nation, even if it is only according to common grace principles.  God has, and continues, to work through imperfect leaders.  He did it through Cyrus for the good of His people, and He certainly can do it again through President Trump.

Why This Matters November 3

God blessed His chosen people through the leadership of Cyrus, who chose to make allowances and provisions for Israel to worship their God due to pragmatic calculations for his own rule.  Americans enjoy the privilege and responsibility of being able to elect our leaders–a luxury not enjoyed by virtually anyone in Scripture.  The good news is that God’s people lived under Babylon and Persia, and through faith both scenarios afforded unique opportunities to see God’s faithfulness.  Regardless of who wins November 3, God is still sovereign and He has a plan for His people.  We may be easily discouraged looking at the choices in front of us with Trump and Biden.  But the good news from Scripture is that God has worked in and through far more wicked men then these, and our call to live by faith in our sovereign God remains.  But we do have the privilege of voting as Americans; I believe we have a choice between Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar.  God worked for the good of His people through both these men; but if I have a choice (which, by God’s grace, I do), I would much rather have another Cyrus, and I think you should too.

Andy Schuster is a Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is pastor of Northside PCA in Winder, Ga. This article is used with permission.