Donald Trump looks set to become the next President of the USA – although we’d do well not to take that as a given.

Men of God’s choosing

Many people in America are in no doubt that he is God’s choice, demonstrated by his near assassination. Trump himself says that he was divinely guided to move his head at the very moment the bullet was fired that grazed his ear and which could have ended his life.

But does God have a hand in choosing the leaders of nations, even non-God-fearing nations?

The prophets believed that God guided the destiny of the nations. Jeremiah even referred to Nebuchadnezzar as God’s servant

He certainly chose the shepherd-boy David, by sending the prophet Samuel to choose one of the sons of Jesse – a humble farmer in unfashionable Bethlehem – showing that God loves to choose those with no worldly status. The biblical prophets believed in the sovereignty of God and that He held the nations in His hands “like a drop in a bucket … He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of the world to nothing” (Isa 40: 15, 23). The prophets believed that God guided the destiny of the nations. Jeremiah even referred to Nebuchadnezzar as God’s servant (Jer 27:6).

Persecution of believers

For the Early Church, the question of the relationship between God and the Roman Empire was an important issue, particularly where it involved recognition of the gods of Rome. Paul’s teaching on the issue of submission to state authority in Romans 13 sidesteps this issue; dealing, rather, with the general issue of obedience to civil law. He says, “Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good” (Rom 13:3-4).

At this stage in the life of the early Church, there was no widespread persecution and Paul was keen to avoid any such conflict. He wanted the little communities of believers whom he had established not to come to the notice of civic authorities. Therefore, he was adamant that they should obey the law in all possible circumstances, paying taxes and all due respect to those in authority. He went so far as to say that all civic authorities had been established by God.

Paul ... wanted the little communities of believers whom he had established not to come to the notice of civic authorities.

Paul was writing to the Christians in Rome about the year AD 40, some four or five years before Jews were driven out of Rome in AD 45 and some 50 years before the first major persecution of Christians by Rome under the Emperor Domitian. This only lasted two years, as Domitian was assassinated in AD 96.

But for the next 220 years there were ten periods of severe persecution as prophesied in the message to the church at Smyrna (Rev 2:10). During those years relationships between Church and state were fraught with danger for Christians, and thousands lost their lives by refusing to pay tribute to the gods of Rome, and in particular to the divinity of the Emperor.

Church and state

All that changed in the time of the Emperor Constantine, who claimed that it was Jesus who enabled him to win the Battle of Milvian Bridge in AD 312 . As a result, he issued the Edict of Milan in AD 314, banning the persecution of Christians and raising Christianity to the official religion of the Empire. Having the head of state as the patron of the Church immediately created a link between Church and state that would present difficulties for centuries to come, such as the divine right of kings in Britain in the time of Charles I and Cromwell.

This is an issue that is still unclear today, with the ‘Coronation Oath’ sworn by monarchs and officiated over by the Archbishop of Canterbury on behalf of the Church of England as the established state Church. But how did all that start?

Having the head of state as the patron of the Church immediately created a link between Church and state that would present difficulties for centuries to come

Soon after his conversion, Constantine visited Miltiades, the Bishop of Rome, asking for the nails that had been used in the crucifixion of Jesus. One of these was retained by Miltiades and two were given to Constantine, who installed one in his crown and the other as a bit in the mouth of his horse. When he rode into battle with the cross on his shield and these nails symbolising the presence of Jesus, he believed that they were responsible for the victories that he won.

A price to pay

The Church could no longer remain faithful to the teaching of Jesus that Christians should not fight but they should love their enemies. Part of the price of freedom from persecution was abandoning such teaching, paving the way for concepts of a ‘just war’ and the horrors of the Crusades, the bloodshed of Protestants against Catholics, and Catholics against Protestants, and the terrible atrocities of Christians against Jews – all justified in the name of Jesus!

This was not the only price that was paid for freedom from persecution. At the time of receiving the nails from Miltiades, Constantine gave him the Palace owned by his Queen Fausta, which had been part of her dowry as the daughter of the Emperor Maximilian. Suddenly Miltiades’ position in society was transformed from hiding in a backstreet fearing for his life, to becoming the master of a Palace and a friend of the Emperor.

The Church could no longer remain faithful to the teaching of Jesus that Christians should not fight but they should love their enemies.

He only lived there about 15 months, as he died in January 314, but his successor Sylvester saw this elevation of the status of the Bishop of Rome as the opportunity for spreading Christianity throughout the world by the use of Roman power, Roman arms, Roman roads, Roman law and Roman values – all of which became internalised into the DNA of Western society.

Lost ecclesia

The price for all this power was putting the Church into the hands of the Emperor. It was the Emperor Constantine who called the Council of Nicaea in AD 325. It was he who decided which Bishops should be invited and that none of the Jewish bishops should be there. It was he who presided over the deliberations and decisions of the Council that removed the Hebraic roots of the faith, also changing the date of Easter.

Constantine’s stamp of approval formulated the official teaching of the Church, and the Creed that could be memorised. He presided over the Council that defined the truth which was now becoming the civic power of the Empire, replacing the old system of pontiffs that had regulated the Roman Empire for generations.

The ekklesia as a community of believers looking only to the headship of Jesus and following his teaching was lost (but hopefully not for ever)

From this time forward, the Emperor would use the Church in the same way as former Emperors used the pontiffs to administer civic justice. Church and state were rapidly coming together to form the basics of Western civilisation. The ekklesia as a community of believers looking only to the headship of Jesus and following His teaching was lost (there is hope that this is being revived in the present day). The Church had married the world.

In his own image

Soon, the individualised culture of Western civilisation, with its institutionalised Christian religion, would emerge - the illegitimate product of an illegitimate union.

Is this what now faces the USA, with Trump becoming the Emperor, saved from death by the hand of God and installed by divine approval, endorsed by the Bible-believing right-wing Republican Party of Trump’s own creation – dedicated to ‘Making America Great’ in his own image?

Christian believers in America would do well to reflect on these factors before falling down instinctively in veneration at the feet of their likely-to-be President.

Endnote
1 From Anti-Nicene Fathers, vol 3.