Don’t worry about Donald Trump’s third criminal indictment, Marjorie Taylor Greene told Republicans Aug. 2, because “God has plans.”
The controversial U.S. representative from Georgia appeared on the far-right cable network Real America’s Voice to talk about Trump’s latest legal challenges. Her advice: Ignore the news.
“It is worrisome about what’s going to happen in our future, but I always have hope,” Greene said. “It’s important that we put full faith and hope in God and not anything that we see in the headlines and not anything that we see happening in the news.”
Rodney Kennedy
She then testified: “Our real hope needs to be in God. And Jesus Christ is my Savior. And I know he is yours as well. And God has plans much bigger than this.”
I wonder what exactly she means by saying God “has plans.” When a preacher or politician says “God has a plan,” I am suspicious.
Does God’s plan presuppose predestination? I read a sermon by a former pastor of Fourth Street Presbyterian Church in Chicago who opposed the idea of predestination. I read multiple sermons by a Calvinist Baptist preacher in Florida who insists predestination is the essence of Christian theology.
Which of those does Greene have in mind when she says, “God has plans”?
Our true American history reminds us the Southern plantation owners and their bought-and-paid-for preachers were wrong in thinking God had a plan to perpetuate slavery. The Confederate States of America was wrong in thinking God had a plan for winning the Civil War. The defeat was so horrific, that Southerners still have pockets of resistance in “Lost Cause” movements.
“The Southern plantation owners and their bought-and-paid-for preachers were wrong in thinking God had a plan to perpetuate slavery.”
Is that the kind of divine plan Greene has in mind?
More recently, evangelicals have insisted God has a plan for stopping gay rights, but a more enlightened morality has prevailed against the constant onslaught of the anti-gay crowd by also claiming divine sanction.
Is this the kind of godly plan she has in mind?
I’d be careful before saying, “God has a plan” for Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Trump may only be headed to the Big House.
Maybe Greene is a closet Calvinist, but the record indicates she’s a disgruntled Catholic.
She’s had more criticism of the Catholic Church than Baptist pastor Robert Jeffress has offered. In fairness, Jeffress has denied much of what he allegedly said about Catholics. Greene, on the other hand, is nothing if not forthright in expressing all her thoughts, even ones she should keep secret. For example, Greene says U.S. Catholic bishops are “satanic” and accused them of “destroying the nation” by supporting immigrants.
I’m sure this came as a shock to faithful Catholic bishops attempting to live out the gospel of hospitality to strangers, sojourners, aliens, immigrants and migrants.
Greene has also said Satan is “controlling” the Catholic Church. She sounds like a country Baptist preacher in a business meeting at the church telling congregants if they oppose his plan for a larger sanctuary, they are “of the devil.”
Showing she has no bottom in her vitriol barrel, Greene has led a group of Republican congressmen in an effort to “defund” Catholic Charities, the social services arm of the Catholic Church. She has accused Catholic bishops of “standing with Marxists.”
“Greene has taken the absurd position that the criminal indictments of Trump are real ‘communism’ in the United States.”
Greene has taken the absurd position that the criminal indictments of Trump are real “communism” in the United States. Does she have any concept of actual communism or does she use the word as a “devil” term that means whatever she wants it to mean. Communism advocates class war that leads to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. Our Justice Department has indicted a former president for inciting an insurrection on January 6. That seems like something different,
We all heard his speech, watched his MAGA brigade invade the Capitol and commit a series of felonies including but not limited to murder. Yes, people died on January 6. Trump aided and abetted all this by first inciting the crowd and then by refusing to do anything to stop the violence.
Yes, this is criminal, but it is not communism.
Imagine what the Republicans would be saying if January 6 had been a losing Democratic president making the same speech Trump gave. That’s hard to imagine because it is unimaginable that any other president in history would have said and done what Trump said and did.
All other sitting presidents who lose reelection are honorable, dignified losers. When George H.W. Bush lost to Bill Clinton, Bush said, “The people have spoken and we respect the majesty of the democratic system.”
Not Trump. He told his crowd, “We have to fight like hell.”
When Hillary Clinton lost to Trump, a hard loss to take, she said: “Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power and we don’t just respect that, we cherish it. It also enshrines other things: the rule of law, the principle that we are all equal in rights and dignity, freedom of worship and expression. We respect and cherish these values too and we must defend them.”
Not Trump. He attacked our institutions of democracy, accused patriotic Americans of stealing the election and did everything in his power to maintain power. Nothing Trump did or said suggests a divine plan, only a crooked, evil, malicious plan that shows no respect for democracy.
On January 6, he was his usual blustering, bragging, threatening, hyperbolic self. But it is far more than the violation of decorum and convention we should be concerned about. It is the sheer criminality of it all. Trump lives and breathes dishonesty, serial lying and disregard for the law.
Color my response to Greene being in on “God’s plan” for Trump as dark skepticism. I’m not sure Greene is aware of what she’s saying when she connects God with her idea of “a plan.” For me, it raises one primary question: Does God have a plan for dealing with the prosecution of Trump?
Start with a basic scriptural principle: God is a just God. Trump claims, loud and bold, he is being treated unjustly. Everyone is a liar, a mental case, stupid or insane. Only Trump tells the truth, is really smart, and knows what is best for our country.
Where then does justice lie?
“Scripture claims there are actions God hates.”
Scripture claims there are actions God hates: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, one who sows discord in a family.
I am not convinced God has a plan for Trump. At least not the plan Greene envisions.
My own theology teaches that calamity and damage beyond repair are the consequences of evil actions by human beings. The danger here is that Trump’s actions are having repercussions for democracy, for our anchor institutions and for the building mistrust and suspicion of millions of Americans.
Usually, people who say God has a plan are insistent God’s plan equals their plan. Greene, an eager Trump supporter, believes God’s plan includes returning Trump to the White House. The voters, however, will determine whether that happens or not.
The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews believes God has a plan for the salvation of the world: “Therefore we must pay greater attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”
The Greek verb tenses here are better translated as “lest we be drifted by.” Here’s a picture of a mighty river of God’s purposes of peace and praise, with humans standing on the bank, needing to decide if they will go with the flow of God’s purposes or be “drifted by.”
How else can I put it in clearer terms? God has a divine purpose for earth; Marjorie Taylor Greene is clueless about that purpose.
Rodney W. Kennedy is a pastor and writer in New York state. He is the author of 10 books, including his latest, Good and Evil in the Garden of Democracy.
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When perception overtakes reality | Opinion by Rodney Kennedy
