praying for the former guy

“…The heart of the sons of men
is full of evil,
and madness is in their heart
while they live…”
(Ecclesiastes 9.3)
 
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before the high God?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
 (Micah 6.6, 8)
​

​praying for the former guy

​For the past 6 years, I have been unsparing in my criticism of TFG, often referring to him as Caligula or tRUMP. He has done nothing to earn himself my softened criticism. Indeed, with each passing hour he has only dug himself a deeper hole into the bowels of hell. That said, in light of my recent meditations on DC 3.5-11, I would today like to offer a gentler reproach and a slightly hopeful invitation.
 
In case you missed the meditations, they can be found in the archive section at the bottom of my Homily and Meditation page. In them, I consider the serious and unrelenting  reproof that the Lord leveled against the young Joseph Smith as a result of his having lost 116 manuscript pages that contained a translation of the Book of Mormon (verses 1-8). Finally, in verse 9, the Lord begins to comfort Joseph by turning from Joseph’s past misdeeds to a provisionally hopeful future. The provisionally hopeful future is dependent on Joseph’s repentance which, itself, is reliant on God’s merciful nature. “For remember,” God encourages, “God is merciful.”
 
In our third meditation on DC 3, we saw a pattern of reproof and comfort that God recommends to his latter-day disciples. It is a pattern that is reflective of the Divine character and of anyone who desires to be like Him.
 
“Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy; that he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of a death” (DC 121.43-44).
 
 Now, I’ll not claim that I have been “moved upon by the Holy Ghost” in all my reproofs of TFG.  Nor will I deny having been so moved in some of them. In addition, I will not attempt to hoodwink the reader into thinking I love TFG. I do not. I can’t even bare to say his name. Even looking at photographs of him is difficult. I refuse to listen to or read anything he says. He disgusts me. He is as repulsive a being as I have ever seen in my lifetime. Nevertheless, I will this once soften my reproof and extend an invitation. An honest invitation to repent. I can’t say that I am hopeful, but here it goes.
 
So, Mr. Trump, I invite you to repent. Confess your countless sins and strive the rest of your days to undo the damage you have done to the individuals you have abused, the nation you have terrorized, and the planet you have further sullied. If you will do so, I promise I will pray for you. 
 
If your deep sociopathy is a mortal affliction like other mortal afflictions such as blindness or chronic clinical depression or cancer rather than an indication of an eternally blackened soul, then I will pray God’s mercy on you. I will pray that you spend a little less time in hell and not be cast into outer darkness after the resurrection. 
 
I am sorry, but given your lifetime of personal debauchery, fraud, cheating, lying, abusing others, using others as tools for your own selfish and narcissistic needs and ends, I can in good faith only pray that you spend less time rather than no time in hell. That, I think, is the best you can hope for, assuming, of course, that you are not one of the infamous third of heaven’s hosts who supported Lucifer and somehow flew under the radar to be granted a “second estate.”
 
But if your sociopathy here is indicative of a blackened and consuming eternal soul, then you and I are destined to be eternal enemies and I will pray for your defeat and destruction.
 
Amen.