Providential Protection?

A tentative comparison of "bulletproof" George Washington and Donald Trump

While I have no knowledge superior to anyone else’s, I can’t help but wonder if God intervened, perhaps by slightly altering the path of the bullet, to save President Trump’s life. That thought reminded me of the way George Washington, in the French and Indian War on a fateful day in 1755, as a prominent target as an officer bravely riding on horseback back and forth leading his troops in the midst of battle, miraculously was never killed despite a continuous hail of enemy bullets that put 4 holes in his coat and shot 2 horses out from under him.

Dr. Harold Pease wrote a wonderful, detailed retake of history celebrating Washington’s birthday in 2020. skip… [Read the whole article HERE.]

I’ll quote a few paragraphs.

“For over a century and a half, until 1934, the Indian account of George Washington’s divine protection in the Battle of Monongahela in the French and Indian War was standard in our history textbooks until removed, presumably by those skeptical or dismissive of God’s intervention in the affairs of man. Today, few Americans know of it as those in the above category and the enemies of the republic seek to belittle our founders…”

After the battle, Washington wrote about it… “When safely at Fort Cumberland, Washington wrote his younger brother John Augustine Washington July 18, 1755, “By the All-Powerful Dispensations of Providence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or expectation; for I had four bullets through my coat, and two horses shot under me, yet escaped unhurt, although death was leveling my companions on every side of me!” Washington wrote the same to his mother Mary Ball Washington.

Fifteen years later, Washington and Dr. Craik, a personal physician and close friend, were traveling through those same woods near the Ohio river and Great Kanawha river. They were met by an old Indian chief who addressed Washington through an interpreter with the following story:

“I am a chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man’s blood mixed with the streams of our forests that I first beheld this Chief. I called to my young men and said, mark yon tall and daring warrior? He is not of the red-coat tribe – he hath an Indian’s wisdom, and his warriors fight as we do – himself alone exposed. Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss – `twas all in vain, a power mightier far than we, shielded you.” One warrior declared: “I had seventeen fair fires at him with my rifle and after all could not bring him to the ground! Seeing you were under the special guardianship of the Great Spirit, we immediately ceased to fire at you.”

Then his prophecy: “I am old and soon shall be gathered to the great council fire of my fathers in the land of shades, but ere I go, there is something bids me speak in the voice of prophecy: Listen! The Great Spirit protects that man and guides his destinies – he will become the chief of nations, and a people yet unborn will hail him as the founder of a mighty empire. I am come to pay homage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle” (“The man who could not be killed,” George Washington Parke Curtis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, Philadelphia, J.W. Bradley, 1859).”

God can use anyone, even imperfect men. He used the pagan Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to punish the disobedient Israelite nation. Then He used conquering Persian King Cyrus to allow the Israelites to return and rebuild their temple.

As I said earlier, I have no way of knowing for sure whether Trump’s survival was luck or God’s intervention or similarly an act of his guardian angels, but I do know that we do have guardian angels and that God is ultimately in control of the nations, and He can intervene in the affairs of men any time He wishes, and I believe He often does. He has a plan and His promises will all come to pass.