Brian and Cathy Gray Commentary, Rants from the Fig Tree, Red Pill Diaries

Truth or Trump II?

I wrote Truth or Trump? back in 2019. I still have never met the man. But I’m pretty sure I had him pegged back then when nearly 60% of Evangelicals thought he was the next best thing to sliced bread.

Back then he was a modern-day Cirrus. This time he is Jehu. Paula White-Cain is the Senior Advisor of the White House Faith Office esteemed him a bit more. Am I the only one who sees irony in the name Cain? In addition to being a false NAR teacher, Paula White is best known for her 2010 romantic entanglement with televangelist Benny Hinn. Mind you Paula White was a head Pastor at the time and never stepped down or even repented when she was caught. See my previous post regarding the Biblical standards for leaders if you are confused regarding why this is problematic. Paula White recently compared Trump with Jesus Christ.

That seems ironic because in his own words Trump “doesn’t think anything is going to get (him) into heaven.” In response to Erika Kirk’s stated forgiveness, of her husband’s assassin, he said he hates his enemies. In 2015 he said he never asked God for forgiveness.

I had just attended Easter service 2026 as the President posted this.

Meanwhile we have what appears to be Stiffler 2.0 from the movie American Pie running the Department of War.

Pete Hegseth has been rallying our troops to Holy War to facilitate Armageddon and the return of Jesus. Hegseth oversaw a failed attempt at recovering Iranian nuclear material framed as the rescue of an F-15 weapons officer whom no one has seen. Until now.

Is she a swinger, an Uber driver, a door dash grandma or a fighter pilot?

The narrative was conveniently framed with the pilot in a cave from Passover until she was resurrected, I mean rescued on Easter. Never mind that the pilot was a male weapons officer at the time.

Dan Bongino recently lambasted readers for being biblically illiterate, claiming that the United States is represented by the Eagle’s wings in Daniel. According to  Bongino these are the same eagle’s wings in Revelation 12 that will carry Israel into the wilderness to be preserved during the Great Tribulation.

For the record, the Eagles Wings on the Lion in Daniel 7 were plucked off. The imagery is most likely in reference to Nebuchadnezzar and the Neo-Babylonian Empire (605–539 BC). God did rescue Israel from Egypt with metaphoracal eagle’s wings in Exodus which is a type and shadow for the end times.

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle’s wings and brought you unto Myself. Exodus 19:5

While I was for Trump over Biden in 2019 and in 2024 because Putin said he would Nuke the US if Kamala were elected, when I wrote Truth or Trump in 2019 I hoped that people would address their own faulty logic, poor exegesis, and thinking errors regarding their imposition of their worldly hopes on scripture. At best Trump was and is just a man. While that appears to have taken place to a degree, an entire stream of professing Christians is increasingly given over to strong delusion.

The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

Delusion is plánē straying from orthodoxy or piety:–deceit, to deceive, delusion, error. It is the same word Jesus uses for deceive in the Olivet discourse in Mathew 24-25.

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.

Mathew 24:3-4

Plánē to cause to roam from safety, truth, or virtue -go astray, deceive, err, seduce, wander.

Strongs Concordance- #4105

Plánē in real time looks Texas Republican Representative Troy Nehls.

‘I think Donald Trump is almost the second coming of Jesus Christ, in my humble opinion’

Rep. Troy Nehls

As I listen to political, pseudo-Christian voices that claim to do God’s bidding in the name of the USA, I also watch biblical truth seekers increasingly marginalized, accused of gossip, division, and heresy hunting. I hear the prophetic words of Jesus echoing in my mind.

…“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death…

Mathew 10:16-21

While people are increasingly corralled by internet algorithms into binary, “left versus right stalls”, it occurs to me that Christian nationalists and the Laodocian church who scoff at those of us who view them and ourselves through the lens and mirror of scripture today, may be the very people who deliver us up to death tomorrow.

Laodocians will inevitably recoil at my assertion. They are prosperous, and more than anything else, they want to remain that way.  So they impose their heart’s desires upon scripture and conform it according to what they want. Hence Donald Trump a blatant narcissist and possible psychopath becomes Cyrus, or Jehu, and now Jesus.

“But God removes kings and sets up kings“, you say. This is a valid argument provided you apply it to Joe Biden as well. The problem we have today is that people view the leader they like as good because God is on their side.

“God bless America! America is Good!”

But what does scripture say?

“No one is righteous.” Isaiah 64, and Romans 3. Apart from Christ and citizenship in His kingdom all are “dead in their trespasses.” Ephesians 2. Apart from Christ there are no good guys. There are just two categories: in Christ Jesus and not. 1 Corinthians 5. If you are in Christ Jesus you are reconciled to God and a new creation. You now have the ministry of reconciliation. That is reconciliation between man and God. You are called to plant and water. 1 Corinthians 3. That means, share the Gospel and pray that God gives the increase. In the meantime, there is no righteous country, economic system, political party, or side in a campaign of organized murder otherwise known as war. Iran, Israel, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon, Yemen, North Korea, and yes the United States are dead in their sins. Their only hope is Romans 12:1-2 surrender, the fruit of which looks like very concrete obedience to Mathew 5-7. In the meantime, God is populating and building His eternal kingdom one life at a time.

So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 

Acts 10:34-35

When I watch Donald Trump I do not see Cyrus, or Jehu let alone Jesus or lol, a Doctor… Even Trump knew he’d gone too far. I don’t even see a Christian. I see a man surrounded by self-serving heretics whose “god is their belly”, people enamored by narcissists who pander to power for their own benefit. I pray for the salvation of Donald Trump. I pray for the salvation of Benjamin Netanyahu, the IRGC, and the Hutis and every other warped, self-righteous demagogue on the planet. That said, as of today, the only potential typological representation of a Biblical character that I see in Trump is Herod.

Now Herod was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the throne, and delivered an oration to them. And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and breathed his last.

Acts 12:20-23

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Why Israel?

The only way to understand the ongoing conflict in Israel is through a Biblical understanding of Israel’s history.

OTHERWISE, IT IS JUST ANOTHER POWER STRUGGLE AND ATROCITY THAT HAS NO LIMITS.

Here is a very brief albeit condensed outline.

God gave Abraham the land that would become Israel. Genesis 12. Abraham had two sons Issac and Ismael. Genesis 16:1–16, Gen 17:18–26, Gen 21:1–21 Issac is the child of the promise because Sara gave birth as God promised despite the natural impossibility of giving birth at such an old age. Issac was the father of Jacob who became Israel. Genesis 32:22-32 Ishmael is the child of the flesh due to the impatience of Abraham’s wife Sara who convinced Abraham to step out of faith and sleep with her servant Hagar. Thirteen years later Ishmael and his mother Hagar are banished to the desert. Ishmael becomes the father of the Arab nations. Islam believes Ishmael is the child of the promise and lists him as a prophet and one who, according to Muslims helped Abraham build the Kabba in Mecca.

The biblical history of Israel is the story of an estranged family.

They are estranged from their father and from each other.

Jesus brought and assigned believers the ministry of reconciliation. 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

The geographical nation of Israel begins In approximately 1250 BC at the end of the 40-year Jewish Exodus from Egypt when Joshua took the nation of Israel across the Jordan River into the promised land. Joshua 1-24 At that time it was occupied by Canaanites, the descendants of Cain who murdered Able. Genesis 4 Wars and turmoil continued as the Israelites gained more control over the land. Ezekiel 48 explains that the total area God gave Abraham includes Lebanon, part of Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The nation of Israel has yet to occupy all of it.

The Israelites’ history has been an ongoing and repeated cycle of receiving a blessing from God, followed by disobedience and entitlement, God’s discipline, repentance, restoration, and blessing again. The ultimate fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jewish people is not based upon their being better than the rest of the world. Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:1-20 It is based on the choice and unbreakable covenant God made that will culminate with their eventual acceptance of Jesus as their King. Romans 11

Fast forward…

Jesus was born, and rejected by a majority of His people the Jews. He was crucified, resurrected therbye conquering sin and death. The Gospel of Salvation was fulfilled. This is the foundation of God’s redemptive plan. (See all four Gospels).  Jesus ascends to the Father, the Holy Spirit is given and the Christian church is born. Acts 1-2.

In 70 AD the 2nd Jewish Temple was destroyed by the Romans. Israel ceased to be a nation and most of the Jewish population was dispersed to the nations of the world as Jesus prophesied in Mathew 24:2.

In 130 AD a Jewish Zealot named Simon Barcoba led a rebellion against the Roman Empire. They were crushed by the Romans.

In the year 135 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian renamed Judea (Southern Israel) “Palestinia” in an attempt to stamp out any remaining trace of the Jewish people. Israel did not exist as a nation again until “The Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel” by the UN on May 14, 1948. This was prophetically alluded to by Jesus in Mathew 24:32-33. The people displaced in 1948 are known as Palestinians today.

At some future point, Jesus will return and descend upon the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem to set up His millennial Kingdom. Zechariah 14, Revelation 20.

Certain prophetic benchmarks must be met before that happens.

Damascus, the oldest and most consistently populated city in the world will be destroyed. Isaiah 17:1. People from the geographic areas currently known as Russia, Kajikistan Iraq, Syria, Turkey Iran, Morroco, Algeria, Libya, and Sudan will attack Israel. Ezekiel 38-39. The man of Perdition a.k.a. the anti-Christ will emerge. The Jewish daily sacrifice will be restored on the temple mount in Jerusalem. Then it will be abruptly taken away. The abomination that causes desolation (whatever that is) will take place. Mat 24:15. The three-and-a-half-year tribulation will then commence. Daniel 12, Revelation 13, Mathew 24:21 Then Jesus will return, Daniel 7:13-14, Acts 1, Mathew 24:29-31. This will be the fulfillment of the three remaining  Feasts of Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles. As bad as things are, and will be, it is important to remember that Jesus framed what is coming in the context of “birth pains” Mathew 24. Consider this; if a woman went into labor and didn’t know she was pregnant she would think she was dying. The hardest time on earth is likened to a woman in labor. Labor is hard and painful. The pain ends as abruptly as it started as soon as the baby is born. A woman endures labor for the coming joy that is her child. Hence Jesus exhorts us to endure Mathew 24:13 and when these things happen we are to, look up as our redemption draws near. Luke 21:28 This is the second part of God’s redemptive plan.

It will be the fulfillment of the Gospel of The Kingdom.

“But the Bible is just a fairy tale”, you say.

Fine. You can’t prove that. In all fairness neither can believers prove you are wrong. Both arguments, both sides, are rooted in a presupposition otherwise known as a statement of faith. Arguing presupposition against presupposition, worldview versus worldview is futile.

Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Mathew 7:13

On the other hand, if I am wrong and the Bible is a fairytale,

then like you I will live out the remainder of my days as a dirtbag in meaningless futility until my dirtbag returns to dust. Apart from the subjective opinions of man, there is no right or wrong. Self-preservation is the supreme spiritual law. I live for me. You live for you. Your life is only valid to the extent that it helps or at least does not interfere with mine.  As in the case of the existentialist philosopher Albert Camus, everyone will eventually be faced with the question,

“Why not suicide?”

Apart from Jesus, there is no good answer especially when life seems unbearable.

On the other hand, if I am right and every word in the Bible is God-breathed, 2 Timothy 3 then those who believe will spend eternity with Jesus. Those who reject God’s redemptive plan will die in their sin and spend eternity in hell. This is offensive to secular humanists. However, as Blaise Pascal realized, the risk versus reward alone behooves us all to examine the resentment, narcissism, pride, and rebellion that allows us to be blinded. 2 Corinthians 4:1-4

“But what kind of God allows so much suffering?” you ask.

Why doesn’t He just end it all now? 

God is not a covenant breaker like humankind. He meant what He said and He can not lie.

“Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

In the end, God will accomplish all that He started. Isaiah 55:11. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord. Philippians 2:10-11 Israel and the Gentile Church will be saved. Romans 11. So will the radical descendant tribes of Ishmael. Isaiah 19:16-25. Only those who refuse to believe and be baptized

will not. Mark 16:16 

Consider that the persistent anxiety, rage and depression with which so many struggle might not be their flesh crying out for the right feel-good medication. Rather their spirit man, the part of them that will live for eternity somewhere is crying out for salvation. Deny it all you want. Deep down everyone knows that they are among the walking dead, trapped in their sin. All of us are by nature children appointed to the wrath that we deserve known as hell. Ephesians 2:1-3

Do we fail at times? Of course. Just get up and try again. Proverbs 24:16, 1 John 1:9 At the end of the day we are clothed in His righteousness not our own. Isaiah 61:10

But God!

God in His grace made a way for all to be saved. There is nothing we can do to earn or be worthy of it. It is a gift that we accept or reject Ephesians 2:4-10 God wants to save us because of who He is.

Not because of who we are or anything we do. Titus 3:5

What a relief!

All that is required is that we believe and be baptized. Just know that believing is more than merely agreeing.  Believing means learning about Jesus and His ways – trusting and obeying Him to the best of our ability.  Baptism is an outward expression of an internal commitment and change. It is the death of the old man and the birth of the new. We are submerged as a representation of death. We are raised as new creations. 2 Corinthians 5:16-20, Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 4:22-24, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Romans 6:3-4, Romans 8:1.

Jesus is knocking at your door. It’s up to you to let Him in. Revelation 3:20

God appointed and or foreknew everything you see playing out in Israel and the world today. Evil is not the fault of God. It is the inevitable expression of man’s total depravity amidst God’s plan to save us despite us.

Who acts for the one who waits for Him?
You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness. Who remembers You in Your ways? You are indeed angry, for we have sinned—In these ways we continue, And we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And no one calls on Your name, who stirs himself up to take hold of You; for You have hidden Your face from us, and have consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.
Isaiah 64:5-8

At the end of the day violence and suffering continue because people won’t surrender and repent until they reach the end of themselves.

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! 2 Timothy 3:1-5 

There is a lot of self today.

Maranatha

Brian and Cathy Gray Bible study, Red Pill Diaries

Distraction

Food for Thought.

We were headed to North West Arkansas to speak at a Feast of Tabernacles celebration last week when we encountered an annoying delay. I began writing this from a repair shop after hitting a mysterious toolbox on the highway at 75 mph and blowing out two tires. Cathy thought we were about to die when we hit. I was so laser-focused on preventing it that I didn’t have time to think or feel. Ironically only one of three repair shops in the area had two of the tires we needed. “It’s weird.” said the repair man. “We never have these tires.”

“These were delivered this morning.“

Six years overseas taught us a lot about abounding in being brought low, and the secret joy of trusting God in the face of adversity, and material lack. Phil 4:11-23 At the end of the day God always provides wherever He guides. Obedience according to His word is the ultimate protection. It might seem counterintuitive but living in abundance can be more confusing than living abased.

The illusion of security and permanence is so much thicker in the still prosperous first world. 

The stark contrast between where we live now versus where we spent the previous six years is almost surreal at times.

Like Honduras, most people scrounge just to survive in most of the world today. Meanwhile, here in the US, people vie for significance and the illusory “next level”. We buy cars and houses and fill them with stuff. We plan vacations and extended vacations called retirement as if tomorrow were promised. Prov 27:1  To question any part of it amounts to swimming upstream against rapids. It’s so much easier and more pleasant to simply go with the flow and be liked by one’s fellow floaters. Otherwise, we’d embrace the truth that most first-world goals are faith’s counterfeit. Little green papers representing debt are not our provider. Insurance policies are not our protectors.

We Americans are an idolatrous bunch.

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. James 4:14

In a word, we are distracted. We are distracted by our pursuit of material gain. We are distracted by a fear that we do not share enough of our stuff. We are distracted by the threat of losing it. We are distracted by conflict revolving around one group trying to take another group’s stuff. We are distracted by the pressure to take sides. Distraction is the enemy’s primary strategy in the West. I am convinced that part of God’s purpose in sending me overseas was to show me my own level of distraction. In Honduras, I found distraction in my desire to repair the vapor and the sense of purpose I gained from the illusion of thinking I did. We will never fix poverty this side of Jesus’s return. John 12:1-8

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.  And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at  Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:38-42

Distract (cumbered) is perispáō to draw away, distract to be over-occupied, too busy, about a thing

It’s no coincidence that Israel was attacked on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Whether or not this is the beginning of the prophesied Psalm 83 war, the Ezekiel 38-39 war, or the continuation of the setting of the stage, no human being knows. I would say maybe keep your eye out for Isaiah 17:1. What we do know is that the pressure to align with a side in support of one group killing the other is strong. As believers, we must remember that Jesus died so that all might be saved. His kingdom is not of this world. We weep for Israel and Palestine, Ukraine and Russia alike. In any case, birth pain wars and rumors of wars Mat 24:6 remain a sign of the times. Jesus’ instruction regarding our response remains the same.

…see that ye be not troubled:…

for all these things MUST come to pass, but the end is not yet.

Even so, many confuse willful ignorance with faith. Mat 16:3

Now is a the time to be sober minded.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 1Pet 5:8

Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.1 Pet 1:13

Sober is Nepho – discreet, to watch, to be calm, and collected in spirit to be temperate, dispassionate, circumspect.

One thing is certain. There will be unexpected obstacles in the road ahead that none of us can or will anticipate. Others are prophetically described in scripture provided we know scripture. 2 Tim 2:7-15 Therefore consider that both Grace and Joy are the same root – Cháris in Greek. Then examine where your hope lies.

Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling Phil 2:12

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalms 139:23-24

Do not be distracted or troubled.

For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Phil 2:13

MARANATHA