'I never knew you'

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ”

— Jesus, recorded in Matthew 7:21-23

It’s my contention that so-called Christians who support President Donald Trump as “God’s man in the White House” are going to get such a rude awakening when they actually meet the LORD.

I put it that way because of the phrase “in Your Name.” What that means, in effect, is acting according to His character and otherwise doing the things He would do. And there are a whole lot that Christians support these days that, if you look at the Word even a little bit, He would never authorize.

As many of you know, a heretical doctrine is going around in some charismatic circles that Trump has a “Cyrus anointing,” the reference to a Babylonian king who allowed ancient Israel to return to its land (read: try to get back to its original splendor). The trouble, of course, is that such a return would be predicated on soul-searching to determine where the people went wrong — and we all know that such introspection won’t happen. (Indeed, were some prophet to lay out all the ways in which Christians have missed the mark he or she would be labeled as anti-Trump or, worse, “liberal.”)

Then you have the apparent corruption by or at least on behalf of Trump, whether before he was inaugurated or going on today. You’d think that folks who are concerned about God would address that because they don’t want to be identified with something that He Himself would condemn, but that’s excused because they’re under the delusion that Trump would spark a religious revival. Of course, they have no clue as to what revival actually means or how it comes about. (Hint: Not by pushing people around politically or socially as they are wont to do.)

What we’re dealing with, and to which Jesus was also referring, is the sin of presumption — the idea that we know better than God and that He has to work in ways that make sense to us and for only our benefit. And, like King Saul, that comes from pride, leading to an unwillingness to repent.

Thus the literally damning words: “I never knew you.”