SPECIAL PRÉCIS ON STANDING OUR WATCH II: “TO SEE WHAT HE WILL SAY” ABOUT AMERICA UNDER TRUMP – (WITH VIDEO)

  1. THEOLOGY

SCRIPTURE. “[Oh, I know, I have been rash to talk out plainly this way to God!] I will [in my thinking] stand upon my post of observation and station myself on the tower or fortress, and will watch to see what He will say within me and what answer I will make [as His mouthpiece] to the perplexities of my complaint against Him.

And the Lord answered me and said, ‘Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may [be able to] read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by. For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.’” – HABAKKUK 2:1-3 AMPC

KEY TERM: “WHAT HE WILL SAY.” ‘Dabar’ [דָבַר]: “To speak in order to subdue.” Also: “To answer, appoint or bid; to command, declare, pronounce or promise.” NOTE: “The Hebrew verb ‘dabar’ primarily means ‘to speak’ or ‘to declare.’ It is used extensively throughout the Old Testament to denote the act of speaking, whether it is God speaking to humans, humans speaking to each other, or even the act of declaring or commanding. ‘The word can also imply a formal or authoritative speech, such as a Command or a Promise.’ It is a versatile term that encompasses a wide range of verbal communication.”

QUOTATION. “‘Science and Religion stand watch over different aspects of all our major flashpoints.’ May they do so in peace and reinforcement–and not like the men who served as a cannon fodder in World War I, dug into the trenches of a senseless and apparently interminable conflict, while lobbing bullets and canisters of poison gas at a supposed enemy, who, like any soldier, just wanted to get off the battlefield and on with a potentially productive and rewarding life.” ― STEPHEN JAY GOULD, Rocks of Ages: Science and Religion in the Fullness of Life, 2002; edited

COMMENTARY. “The Prophet humbly gives his attendance upon God (v. 1): ‘I will stand upon my watch,’ as a Sentinel on the walls of a besieged city, or on the borders of an invaded country, that is very solicitous to gain intelligence. I will look up, will look round, will look within, ‘and watch to see what He will say unto me,’ will listen attentively to the Words of His mouth and carefully observe the steps of His Providence, that I may not lose the least hint of instruction or direction…

‘What the Spirit of Prophecy in me will dictate to me, by way of answer to my complaints.’ Even in a ordinary way, God not only speaks to us by His Word, but speaks in us by our own consciences, whispering to us, ‘This is the way, walk in it!’ and we must attend to the Voice of God in both. ‘The Prophet’s standing upon his tower,’ or high place, intimates his prudence, in making use of the helps and means he had within his reach to know the mind of God, and to be instructed concerning it.

‘Those that expect to hear from God must withdraw from the world, and get above it’ – must raise their attention, fix their thought, study the Scriptures, consult experiences and the experienced, continue instant in prayer, and thus set themselves ‘Upon The Tower [of His Viewpoint].’ His standing upon his watch intimates his patience, his constancy and resolution; he will wait the time, and weather the point, as a Watchman does, but he will have an Answer; ‘He will know what God will say to him,’ not only for his own satisfaction, but to enable him as a Prophet to give satisfaction to others, and answer their exceptions, when he is reproved or argued with. Herein the prophet is an example to us.” – MATTHEW HENRY, Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 6 vols., 1708-1710; edited


II. TEACHING

Let me drive straight to the Center of the American Crisis as it has now exploded upon the scene under the Second Term of President Donald Trump, who has effectively pledged to “Become a Dictator on day one.” As of this writing on April 5, 2025, some 75 days into that Second Term (or “Advent!”), he has kept his Dark Promise, according to his well published MARCHING ORDERS.

  • THE UPDATE. As of March 25, 2025, President Donald Trump had signed 103 Executive Orders, 23 Proclamations, and 27 Memoranda in his Second Presidential Term, which began on January 20, 2025. IN SUM: 153 Presidential Edicts have gone forth comparatively unchallenged, carrying the force of Federal Law. These include such Mandates Governing: Federal Funding Freeze; Birthright Citizenship; Alien Enemies Act of 1798; DOGE Access to US Treasury Payouts; Definition of Sexuality; “Deferred Resignations” of Federal Workforce; Freezing Federal Aid Programs; Rollback of Environmental Protections Laws; Ban on DEIA Initiatives; Implementation of Abitrary Tariffs. And many more Authoritarian Declarations that presume, again, the force of Federal Law for which there is no Constitutional ground.

AN AMERICAN FOURTH REICH. If this subheading shocks you, wonderful! It was meant to do just that, but do not mistake it for sensationalism. The United States of America is undergoing a massive, fundamental Transformation from a Democratic Republic to a Religious Tyranny, or in my usage of the term, a “Reich.”

In German it means “Empire” or “Realm” and is commonly used in the context of German history, particularly referring to the First, Second, and Third Reich, which were the Holy Roman Empire, the German Empire, and Nazi Germany, respectively.” – Adapted from an AI Overview, ret. Mar. 27, 2025; edited

I turn to an exceptionally prescient piece from a year ago by a liberal (yup), Black American journalist, BARRINGTON SALMON, to spell out the reasons why I advance these claims. He is a 2017 Annenberg National Fellow (University of Southern California) who currently freelances for publications, including the National Newspaper Publishers Association/Black Press USA, Trice Edney Newswire and The Washington Informer. Salmon lives in the Nation’s Capital and can be heard on his video blog “Speak Freely with Barrington Salmon” and NNPA’s “Let It Be Known.”

His analysis is titled: “Project 2025, If Allowed, Will Cement America as a Rightwing Authoritarian State (Michigan Advance, Jan. 16, 2024). Here is a Bullet Point Summary of his MAIN IDEAS.

  • OPEN. “In 2023, women of childbearing age, young adults, children, African Americans, undocumented immigrants and other marginalized communities have the most to lose if Donald Trump wins a Second Term because he’s coming for us. Trump — aided and abetted by Far-Right extremists, MAGA supporters and the remnants of the Republican Party — poses a clear and present danger to the country. They are gearing up to reassert Racial and Political Dominance by upending the political system, eviscerating the rule of law and wielding unconstrained power in service of the interests of the Far-Right Conservative and Christian Nationalist minority.”
  • THE PLAN. “The Instrument they plan to use to implement this strategy is Project 2025. In a nutshell, as Harold Meyerson explained in a recent article, Project 2025 is a blueprint for a ‘Conservative’ Presidency. ‘The actions of Liberal politicians in Washington have created a desperate need and unique opportunity for Conservatives to start undoing the damage the Left has wrought and build a better country for all Americans in 2025,’ the Project 2025 Manifesto said. ‘It is not enough for Conservatives to win elections. If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the Radical Left: We need both a Governing Agenda and ‘the right people’ in place, ready to carry this Agenda out on Day One of the next Conservative Administration.”
  • IMPLEMENTATION. ‘‘Conservative Warriors’ Plan: ‘To defund the Department of Justice, dismantle the FBI, break up the Department of Homeland Security and eliminate the Departments of Education and Commerce,’ the 30-chapter, 920-page Tome says. ‘The President would have ‘complete power:’ Over quasi-independent agencies such as the FCC, which makes and enforces rules for television and internet companies that have been the bane of Trump’s political existence in the last few years. And they want to ensure that what remains of this slashed-down bureaucracy is reliably MAGA Conservative — not just for the next president but for a long time to come — and that the White House maintains total control of it. Project 2025 offers proposals to deregulate targeted industries, privatize government functions and help American corporations to make more money at the expense of American workers, the middle class and everyone except the oligarchs and the 1%.”
  • THE PURGE. “Meyerson, editor-at-large at The American Prospect, said: Far-Right Conservatives and The Heritage Foundation have an extensive Enemies’ List that includes ‘Welfare recipients, lazy and liberal civil servants, anti-business regulators, environmentalists, and union bosses, scientists, woke bureaucrats, woke educators, woke diplomats, woke generals and admirals, woke G-men. And anyone who doesn’t indulge the next Republican president’s every whim (an adaptation to the likelihood of a Trump nomination)’ … Those in charge in the incoming administration are prepared to Purge those deemed disloyal after identifying and interviewing ‘every Treasury Department official who participated in its DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) activities and programs, and make such activity per se grounds for termination of employment.’”
  • TRUMP SPEAKS. “Writing recently on Truth Social, Trump said: ‘Republicans are already thinking about what we are going to do to Biden and the Communists when it’s our turn. We pledge to you that we will root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists and the Radical Left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections. They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream … The threat from Outside Forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from Within. Our threat is from within.”
  • TRUMP’S AMERICA. “He’s using the power of Government, the State, to punish his political enemies, use the power of the State to achieve his personal political vengeance on people who he believes have wronged him,’ said [Rick Wilson], a former Republican, co-founder and board member of The Lincoln Project, who lives in Tallahassee. ‘This is not America, this is something much darker, much different, much more dangerous.’ Alex Aronson, executive director of Court Accountability, a nonpartisan judicial research and advocacy organization, said Americans should be working assiduously and in concert to confront, disrupt and obliterate this insidious plot. ‘Project 2025 is a plan to destroy the U.S government. It’s an enormous problem, a huge problem that the U.S Government isn’t standing up to this moment. It’s complicated and speaks to some tensions on the Left.’”
  • THE PRECIPICE. “America is at an Inflection Point, vacillating on a knife’s edge because of Trump, who has tapped into a deep reservoir of grievance, hatred and resentment plans that will be fully unleashed in a Second Term. Trump’s incendiary rhetoric – mirroring Hitler and Mussolini – is convincing observers that he’s a Fascist, to add to his Authoritarian bent … Author and legal analyst James Zirin, said in an op-ed in The Hill on Nov 13, Trump wants to ‘Terminate the Constitution to restore himself to power, an Insurrectionary Act in and of itself. That power would be in the hands of the President with neither Checks nor Balances.’”

DK’S THESIS. ‘I believe that Donald John Trump is not just an ordinary Evildoer, but rather The Man of Sin described by the Scriptures as The Antichrist, the would-be Usurper of all that God is and does and says’ (cf. Ps. 5:6; Isa. 10:12; 1 Jn. 2:22; 2 Th. 2:3, 8; Rev. 11:7).


III. JUST WHO IS DONALD TRUMP?

Okay boys and girls, time for the old man to weigh in on a few reasons why I believe that Donald Trump is the Biblical Antichrist. Not to persuade you, necessarily, but to do another round of theological and pragmatic ‘Seed Plantings’ to provoke you to think deeply and pray earnestly about it.

Because if Trump is “The Man of Sin, The Lawless One” referenced by the Great Apostle’s Letter to Thessalonica (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 8): ‘Your life must change’ – Radically, and almost immediately!

A SKEPTIC’S VIEW. To lay the theological groundwork, I turn to an avowed Baptist Skeptic in the person of DAVID BUMGARDNER, a graduate of Southwestern Seminary’s Texas Baptist College and a former BNG Clemons Fellow. He resides in North Texas and is currently a graduate theology student at Winebrenner Theological Seminary in Findlay, Ohio, and a postgraduate student at Edinburgh Theological Seminary.

Here is a bullet-point Summary of his FIVE MAIN IDEAS, written from a non-traditional scholar’s pen, that drives him to the nearly Unthinkable Possiblity. Or as the Title suggests: “The Antichrist is Coming and is Already Here” (Baptist News, February 11, 2025; edited).

THE SCRIPTURE. “Then I stood on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. The dragon gave him his power, his throne, and great authority. And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast. So they worshiped the dragon who gave authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, ‘Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him?’

And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

If anyone has an ear, let him hear. He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity; he who kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.” – REVELATION 13:1-10, NKJV

    1. THE BEAST. “The most vivid description of this evil monster is in Daniel 7. There, it rises against the Ancient of Days and the mysterious Son of Man in all-out Spiritual Rebellion, plunging the world into Chaos. The figure does not appear again until the close of the Biblical Canon with Christ’s Revelation to the Apostle John. In fulfillment of Jesus’ words, even the Elect are deceived there as the world worships the Beast. As our world continues to plunge into chaos and ‘the love of many grow cold’ (Matthew 24:12), it is high time Christian people everywhere heed John’s sobering warning: ‘The Antichrist is coming and, indeed, already is here’ (1 John 2:18).”
    2. THE BLINDNESS. “Today, as startling advances in technology have been wedded to the growth of global authoritarianism from China to Russia and the outright assault on Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law underway by the current administration, Global members of the Christian Church (and especially my Evangelical kinfolk) are in need of Biblical Discernment as the Spirit of the Antichrist manifests more now than ever. Let me be clear: I am not a Dispensationalist. I do not subscribe to the comic book Chick Tract theology of Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth or Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind. This caveat notwithstanding, I find it incredibly odd that those who do have uncritically wedded themselves to what may only be described as a political and religious cult of personality surrounding Donald Trump and his new enforcer, Elon Musk.”
    3. THE MARK. “Take, for example, Musk’s recent Neuralink Project, which recently gave the very first human being in history an implanted brain chip. Startingly, the patient is a professed Evangelical who named his chip ‘Eve,’ joking he feared they would curse the human race as the first human couple did. Musk is not only creating brain-machine hybrids. He also has touted the goal of turning the company formerly known as Twitter into an ‘Everything App,’ recently partnering with Visa to begin developing an X-Payment System. Is it any accident that Musk and his acolytes have unilaterally and unconstitutionally seized access to the Federal Government’s payment system and started to feed data, including from Medicare and Medicaid, into an AI algorithm”
    4. THE WORSHIP. “While there are too many examples to name, I need only mention the fawning adoration of Trump from Evangelical influencer and right-wing agitator Eric Metaxas, who, following Trump’s recovery from COVID in 2020, tweeted, ‘Is there anyone liken unto him?’ While I would suggest perhaps Metaxas was oblivious of the whole meaning of this statement of worship taken directly from the world’s acclamation of the Antichrist in John’s Apocalyptic Vision in Revelation 13:4, I find such a coincidence unlikely given his knowledge of the Biblical Canon. Revelation 13:3 further describes ‘the head of the Beast as being fatally wounded’ … Trump has undergone several mock resurrections … perhaps most stunningly, an attempt on his life at the hand of an assassin, which culminated in his Declaration at the 2024 Republican National Convention that God had spared his life so that he could save our nation. With scary Biblical accuracy, Trump’s Base has only increased in their indefatigable fealty to their ‘little-l’ lord. They have even made idols of him!”
    5. THE PERSECUTION. “‘Revelation 13:7 speaks of the Beast making war on the saints.’ Musk and Trump have not yet begun a direct persecution of Christians [sic]. Indeed, Trump recently established a Task Force to dismantle what he and his allies have dubbed an Anti-Christian Bias in government. Without intending exaggeration, this sounds exactly like what an Antichrist figure would do to curry favor with the deceived elect spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24:24. The Antichrist will say all the right words. Still, meanwhile, he and his enforcer will exercise their evil power to make war on the way of Jesus and His followers. Arguably, such already has begun. Musk recently attacked Christian Churches for allegedly misspending funds in the work of Lutheran and Catholic groups to minister to, feed, water and shelter migrants and refugees. This War against the saints and God’s holy people coincides with Trump and Musk obliterating USAID, which provides life-saving humanitarian support to millions of people around the globe.’”


IV. LAST THOUGHTS

              Though I have no more time nor space to include the research, at least two Biblical scholars have demonstrated no fewer than 45 BIBLICAL MARKERS that describe the Antichrist and fit Donald Trump to the letter. The most accessubke that I recommend is that of Brother Paul’s Antichrist 45 YouTube Channel. He is pseudonymous (for good reason), but delivers solid, documented evidence for Trump being The Beast of Babylon.

              CODA. Time is nearly gone for us to DECIDE just who this man is. For my theological money after ten years of relentless research and prayerful reflection, Donald Trump is ‘The Lawless One’ who dares to Replace the True Christ by unprecedented Deception, Bravado, and Demonic Devices.

              Second only to your Decision for Jesus Christ, this is the most Important Choice you will ever make. So, dive into God and Prayer and Scripture, and figure it out, beloved.

              As in: Stat! “Erchomai!” [ἔρχομαι] “Let’s go!”

              MEDIA

              YOUTUBE:https://youtu.be/3Nk3u29jgkg

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