Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with a moment of truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. Today, an open letter to Donald Trump. But before I go ahead with my letter to Donald Trump, I just want to apprise you of a number of scheduled items for New Geneva this fall. First of all, beginning Sunday, October 2nd, I'm going to begin teaching a Sunday school series entitled 10 Bible Study Tools Every Christian Should Have on His Shelf and How to Use Them.

We're going to explore 10 essential resources that every student of the Bible, that is every Christian, should have and be able to use. It's going to begin at 1230 p.m. in our Fellowship Hall at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And secondly, beginning on Wednesday, October 5th, we will host a Wednesday night Bible study called The Bible and Archaeology. So important to the understanding of the Bible and its verification of truth claims, The Bible and Archaeology. We'll hold it in our Fellowship Hall and it'll be taught by Mr. Bill Lockman, who is a gifted layman, and he has studied and taught on this topic for decades.

So those two things, Sunday, October 2nd, 10 Bible Study Tools Every Christian Should Have on a Shelf and How to Use Them, and then beginning October 5th, Wednesday, the Bible and Archaeology. Okay, back now to my open letter to Donald Trump. Boy, I hope he's listening. I doubt it. I don't for a moment flatter myself that this letter will find its way to his desk to be read with seriousness or that Donald Trump will suddenly heed its exhortations.

Rather, I compose an open letter to Donald Trump to help me organize my thoughts concerning this election and its significance for our nation and the church. Hopefully, this open letter to Donald Trump will also have an impact on you, the listener, to help you keep in perspective the true underlying issues at stake. There are issues and perspectives that transcend mere temporal, mortal concerns of men. These are issues and perspectives of the God of the Bible, of which we have almost two millennia of record of concern, whether that of the Old Testament prophet who challenged Israel, thus says the Lord God of hosts, right?

Or the New Testament apostle who warned, beware, therefore, lest what is said in the prophets, should come about, look, you scoffers, be astounded, and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work that you will not believe even if one tells it to you, unquote. A prophetic stance towards magistrates is borne out also by church history. For example, St. John Chrysostom in the early church preached against Queen Eudoxia, the wife of Emperor Ariadius, who stole the property of the people.

She erected images of herself to be worshiped, and she abused her power countless times, and Chrysostom was persecuted mercilessly by her for his prophetic stance against her behavior. Well, also, we see Alcuin of York, who confronted the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne over Charlemagne's forced conversion of the pagan Saxons in the 9th century. Alcuin told Charlemagne to his face, he said, faith is a free act of the will, not a forced act. We must appeal to the conscience, not compel it by violence. You can force people to be baptized, which is what Charlemagne did, but you cannot force them to believe, Alcuin told him.

Preachers, not brigands, should be sent to the Saxons, Alcuin told Charlemagne right to his face. And then in our own day, of course, we must remember those German preachers who stood against the Nazi regime before the Nazis ever achieved total power in Germany. Remember that most of the churches of Germany went along with Hitler, interpreting Romans 13, the way American pastors and churches are interpreting it today, that is, let every person be subject to the governing authorities. Well, not so Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Niemöller.

They stood against Hitler, most notably in the Barman Declaration, which was a statement of principle against Nazism. For this, they were both arrested and executed. Now, all of these examples I give and many, many more took prophetic stances against their governments, against the go-along-to-get-along trend of their generation. So, in this spirit of the prophets, I appeal to Donald Trump, not out of a spirit of animosity and ill will, but rather one of exhortation and goodwill. So, dear Mr. Trump, greetings in the Lord.

I come to you today as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. While there are many things I could say to you today as a minister, in the context of the high office for which you seek, I am obligated to remind you of these following things, five of them, as should every minister of the gospel. Number one, God is sovereign. Remember this, Mr. Trump, as you pursue the office of the presidency, God is sovereign, not presidents. There are many things about wielding power that are intoxicating to those who exercise power.

Henry Kissinger called power the ultimate aphrodisiac. Abraham Lincoln observed, nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. And then from the Bible, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, one of the greatest and most powerful of all the world's potentates in history. He bragged at one point, is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty? Ha!

For this overweening hubris, the sovereign God humbled the king by making him behave like a beast of the forest for seven years. After his restoration, King Nebuchadnezzar confessed this about God. At the end of the day's eye, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? Mr. Trump, as you seek and perhaps wield power in the most powerful office on earth at this time, remember always that God is sovereign over all events, and he will accomplish his purposes through all of this, including you, Mr. Trump. The Bible tells us, and I quote Proverbs 21, verse 1, the king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he will.

God is sovereign, Mr. Trump, and may the humility that this truth requires a man to acknowledge, may this humility always be yours. Secondly, not only is God sovereign, but God is just, Mr. Trump. God is just. One of the six purposes of government articulated by our founding fathers in the preamble to the Constitution is to establish justice. This is because God himself is just.

Deuteronomy 1620 tells us, the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. And you are an extension of his purposes, Mr. Trump, to bring just government to his creatures. For Deuteronomy 1620 says, justice and only justice you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you. So, Mr. Trump, justice has manifestly been left undone in our country for, lo, these last eight years and longer.

There is a two-tier justice system in the United States of America, one of injustice and oppression for us, and one of cynical criminality and raw power for those who rule over us, Hillary Clinton being exhibit A of this. And the Bible describes the effect of this upon the people. Proverbs 29.2 says, when the righteous thrive, the people rejoice. When the wicked rule, the people groan. Isn't that so true?

When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice. When the wicked rule, the people groan. Mr. Trump, America is groaning. One of the first things you should do upon taking office is to establish a tribunal on the order of the Nuremberg Tribunal after World War II to bring justice to our nation. You should begin at the top with the president and work your way relentlessly down the chain of command to a local dog catcher, if you must, in order to bring true justice to America.

For this, you will be rewarded by a just God. For example, Proverbs 24 says, to show partiality in judging is not good. Whoever says to the guilty, you are innocent, peoples will curse him. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessings will come upon them. Unquote.

Mr. Trump, one of the ways to make America great again is to establish justice, as our Constitution says, bringing true biblical justice to her shores again. Read the Bible, consult with proven godly men, and look to history, and you will be able to do precisely this. Proverbs 28.5 says, evil men do not understand justice. You will be countered, and you will be questioned. Oh, Trump, what is justice anyway?

Well, evil men do not understand justice, the Bible says, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully. Unquote. May you, Mr. Trump, seek the Lord and come to understand justice fully, and establish justice once again in America, making her great again. Well, thirdly, God loves his church and cares for her, Mr. Trump. Not only is God sovereign and is God just, but you must be reminded that God loves his church and cares for her.

Mr. Trump, one of you, the things which the Bible is clear about, but which very few of your advisors will tell you, is that God loves his church and judges nations on how they treat that church. America will be judged in part for how she has treated God's church. This is true throughout redemptive history when various nations hated and persecuted his then Old Testament church, Israel. For example, from Amos chapter one, thus says the Lord, for three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that is Israel, that they might enlarge their border.

Unquote. But God also blesses those who love and bless his church too. Even as he blessed the nation of Lebanon and its King Hiram for assisting King Solomon in building the temple. Remember the cedars of Lebanon? Oh, from first Kings chapter five, and the Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he promised him.

And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. Rich blessings came to Hiram and Lebanon for his kind treatment of God's church. As in the Old Testament, so in the New Testament, Mr. Trump, even Jesus tells the parables of the sheep and the goats, in which, from Matthew 25, the Son of Man comes in his glory, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, the Bible says. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and that will include the United States of America.

Then he will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me.

I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. Unquote. God loves his church and cares for her, Mr. Trump.

Christ now identifies with his body, the church. The nations of the earth, including the United States of America, will be judged on how they behave towards the church. Do they bless it? Then they will be blessed. Do they curse it?

Then they will be cursed. How is the United States of America treating the church, the body of Christ today, Mr. Trump? Let me remind you again, as you set about to make America great again, that the reason she was great in the first place is because of her Christian roots, beginning with the fact that from her earliest colonial days, she was founded as a Christian nation. Not only was she sanguine towards the fate of the church on her shores, but all of the colonial charters sought to establish their colonies in some way, shape, or form for the glory of Christ and his gospel.

For example, the Mayflower Compact states explicitly, in the name of God, amen, we whose names are underwritten by the grace of God, having undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, which of course was then to become the first pilgrim colony. Therefore, Mr. Trump, may you always have in the forefront of your thinking that, indeed, God loves and cares for his church. Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, the apostle Paul says, nourishing and cherishing that body, his church.

You will be judged, Mr. Trump, as will the United States of America, in part on how you treat God's church. Well, number four, not only is God just and not only is he sovereign and does he love his church, but third, fourthly, Mr. Trump, I would like to thank you for who you are and what you have accomplished thus far in your life. Number four, even if you had never entered the fray of elective politics, Mr. Trump, you would have a place in American history as one of her great entrepreneurs.

You began with an already successful real estate and construction firm of your fathers, your father, Fred Trump, and you began building a real estate empire of your own. You renamed that firm the Trump Organization and you went on to build skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, golf courses, other various enterprises. In addition to dotting the North American continent with them, we find your ventures in South America and in Europe and in Asia, do we not? For better or for worse also, Mr. Trump, you're part showman hosting and producing the television series, The Apprentice, for which you have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

And you also own the Miss USA pageant from 1996 to 2015. So perhaps this penchant for the spotlight is why you are so comfortable before the cameras and microphones of the media and even all of your enemies in business and politics in the media, they're filled with consternation and amazement at your ability to land on your media feet like a cat, no matter what kinds of lies and propaganda and distortions they throw at you. So your candidacy, Mr. Trump, has also changed party politics in America forever, too.

Many candidates for office have claimed to be outsiders to Washington, D.C., and they were going to change the business as usual operation of government if and when they got elected. Of course, they've all proven to be co-opted insiders once elected, whether it's Republicans like George W. Bush or Democrats like Barack Obama or even Jimmy Carter from way back. So thus far, Mr. Trump, you have proven yourself to be a genuine outsider. Evidence, by the way, the political establishment of both parties has responded to you.

A patient with a bad tooth poked by his dentist could not jump and shout louder than the corrupt Democrat and Republican establishment when your name comes up. The more they protest dragging out worn out party hacks like Mitt Romney and Lindsey Graham to attack you, well, the more the American people seem to love you. Whatever else you are, Mr. Trump, and I'm not sure I entirely trust you myself yet, you are at least, Mr. Trump, a barometer of the rage and disgust the American people feel towards their leaders. They're entrenched, they're established, they're Republican Democrat establishment leaders.

If Barack Obama is the Julius Caesar of our age, then the Republican Congress is the supine Roman Senate that refused to exercise its balance of power's role in order to preserve its own prerogatives. The modern Congress does this. Well, if Obama, if we can say, is the Hitler of the United States, then the Republican Congress is the tired old Bundestag of Nazi Germany. That is that legislative branch that rubber stamped all of Hitler's actions in fear of losing their lives and maybe their offices too.

So what you see very clearly, Mr. Trump, is the nice little system that our nation's politicians have set up over the decades to enrich themselves at the expense of the American people. You see this very clearly. Trade deals like NAFTA and TPP transfer jobs and trade from the United States abroad. You also see, we also see that illegal aliens bring voters to the Democrats and cheap labor for the Republicans, but they bring crime and unemployment and added welfare burdens to the American people.

Radical Muslims like ISIS serve as surrogates abroad to overthrow moderate secular regimes like Assad in Syria, while the importation wholesale of Muslim populations into the United States serves to undermine and destroy American culture and society precisely because Muslims do not assimilate. America, you must understand that Muslims do not assimilate. They assemble into ghettos and foist their culture upon us. But you, Mr. Trump, get this. Also, Mr. Trump, being an astute businessman, you get the crony capitalism that has developed over the decades in Washington, D.C., and even in our own state capitals for that matter.

Corrupt politicians like Harry Reid and Eric Holder get cronies and relatives into favored banks and corporations, which then in turn get favorable legislation passed and deals in Congress. Those Democrat and Republican cronies run for office and they serve corporate interests at the expense of the people for a time, and then they devolve out of government and return to those corporations to lucrative salaries. All of this cozy, revolving door economy is at the expense of the American taxpayer who pays for all of the waste and taxation and debt accumulated on behalf of these favored banks and corporations. But you get this.

And two, Mr. Trump, as the American people wake up to this evil, and that is what it is, it is evil, this evil corrupt system, your popularity will grow, Mr. Trump, especially if you can act to change it. But this then brings me to my last point. But before I cover that last point, let me also remind you that we at New Geneva are planning on establishing our new ministries for the fall. And we want to make sure that you are apprised of them too before they begin. And number one, on September 2nd, New Geneva will begin a Sunday school series entitled, 10 Bible Study Tools Every Christian Should Have on His Shelf and How to Use Them.

We're going to explore 10 essential resources that every student of the Bible should have and understand. It'll be at 1230 p.m. on Sundays. And then beginning October 5th, we will also host a Wednesday night Bible study called The Bible and Archaeology. And that will be in our fellowship hall at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And it will be taught by Mr. Bill Lockman, a gifted layman who has studied and taught on this topic of archaeology, biblical archaeology, now for decades.

Well, back then to our final point in my open letter to Mr. Donald Trump, helping to organize my thoughts and maybe help organize some of the issues and thoughts for yourself too as you think about this very important election ahead of us. And I want to make my fifth point for Mr. Trump. And that is, in addition to what you are doing, Mr. Trump, do these things too. I have a few things that I commend to you. I exhort to you once more humbly.

I do not presume to muscle into your circle of advisors, but rather I say these things to clarify my own thinking and perhaps that of others too. But I must say, if I could persuade you to do these things also, I would. And that is, number one, humble yourself before the mighty hand of the Lord, Mr. Trump. Humble yourself before the mighty hand of the Lord, and he will exalt you. The Apostle Peter says this in one of his letters.

Mr. Trump, you have demonstrated yourself to be a proud, forceful, alpha male in the human pack, haven't you? A proud, forceful, alpha male in the human pack. And this is all well and good when it comes to achieving great things in business and entertainment as you have. And these qualities will also be necessary to achieve great things in statecraft as you aspire to do. But I must say, and I say this in all humility because I am in the same boat as you, when compared to the sovereign God of the universe, Mr. Trump, you are as nothing.

Do you remember what King Nebuchadnezzar said? And he was the greatest king who ever lived. He said even about himself, all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing. And God does according to his will amongst the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done?

Unquote. So, Mr. Trump, until you humble yourself before God, all the ways of God will be mysterious to you and uncomfortable and foreign to you. This, the proud, find again and again in their lives that when they try to understand God, his ways seem mysterious and uncomfortable, foreign, and even foolish sometimes. Only when a man humbles himself before God will he understand then what God means, what he is, and how he works. Proverbs 11, 2 says, when pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.

Yes, the wisest of all men, Solomon, understood that with the humble comes wisdom. So, I exhort you, Mr. Trump, to humble yourself before the mighty hand of God and you will acquire wisdom. Also, Mr. Trump, repent of your sins. Number two, repent of your sins. Only a humble man, Mr. Trump, can acknowledge his sins and forsake them.

When you understand that your sin keeps you from knowing God and your sin keeps you from salvation, the salvation of your soul for eternity, when you understand these things, you will confess them before God, your sins, and you will ask God to save you. We know of your pride, Mr. Trump. You've acknowledged it before that you are indeed a proud man. We also know from your discreet biography that extramarital relationships have filled your personal life. These sins, in addition to those sins only you and God really know, these sins must be confessed and forsaken.

David, King David, says in the Psalms, I acknowledged my sin to you and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Unquote. Do this, Mr. Trump. Humble yourself and repent of your sins.

And then thirdly, embrace Jesus Christ as the only Savior of your soul, Mr. Trump. Once you understand how desperately you need a Savior and how incapable you are of saving yourself, that's part of humility, understanding that no man can save himself, no matter how gifted we may be, humanly speaking, once you understand these things, you will know that God saves us by his grace only in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul says again, for by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not your doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.

Unquote. Boasting is excluded. Pride is excluded in salvation, Mr. Trump. And this salvation also comes only through a Savior. And that Savior is one.

It is Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter says there is salvation in no one else. He was talking about Christ. For there was no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. That name, the precious name of Jesus Christ.

So I exhort you, Mr. Trump, embrace Jesus Christ as the only Savior of your soul. So then, let me conclude by saying that I pray for you, Mr. Trump, and sincerely hope that if you are elected, that you can achieve good things for us and make America great again, as you aspire to do. But let me also remind you that as Alexis de Tocqueville so aptly put it, America is great because she is good. America is great because she is good. That must happen first.

And he acknowledged that America is good because she was a Christian nation who submitted herself under the mighty hand of God. May we become good so that we may become great again, Mr. Trump. And may this be how America becomes great again under your leadership if you are elected president, Mr. Donald Trump. This has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

And you can call us at 523-0196 for more information. Remind it again that beginning Sunday, October 2nd, New Geneva will begin its Sunday school series, 10 Bible study tools every Christian should have on a shelf and how to use them. We'll teach you how to use them, exploring 10 essential resources every student of the Bible should have. And then on beginning October 5th, we'll host a Wednesday night Bible study called the Bible and archaeology every Wednesday thereafter. And it will be taught by Mr. Bill Lockman, a gifted layman who has studied and taught on the topic of the Bible and archaeology for years.

Once again, New Geneva meets for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. Call us at 523-0196.