OPINION:
As America grapples with yet another demonic act of political violence, many social, political and cultural questions remain. Why are assassinations and attempted assassinations suddenly so normative? And what is driving this unhinged insanity?
In the case of Cole Tomas Allen, the 31-year-old teacher charged with attempting to assassinate President Trump after he stormed a security checkpoint at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday and opened fire, we have a manifesto and motive.
The document gives a disturbing look into Mr. Allen’s mental and spiritual state, though it fails to fully explain the broader cultural realities underpinning the troubling patterns we continue to see. Our culture must confront increased radicalization among unstable individuals — a phenomenon undoubtedly sparked by an endless barrage of irresponsible rhetoric.
Since Mr. Trump’s rise to the presidency, some liberals have chosen panic and party over rationality. When these individuals and organizations ceaselessly warn that the republic is at risk and that lives are very literally hanging in the balance, one can only expect that sick, confused and unstable people will act on such warnings.
“Trump Derangement Syndrome” isn’t merely a political quip or meme. It has become a vile, real-life manifestation of the sort of mental anguish that follows a steady drumbeat of nonsensical hatred.
This reality can be seen in the accused gunman’s manifesto. What’s perhaps most troubling about Mr. Allen is that the words in the manifesto seem to present him as a Christian, with him even thanking his church toward the end of his strange appeal.
Amid anti-Trump rhetoric in the document, Mr. Allen answered some “objections” some might have to his actions. One of them — the most telling element embedded in the manifesto — read, “As a Christian, you should turn the other cheek.”
His “rebuttal” to this biblical proclamation is incredibly telling.
“Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed,” he wrote. “I’m not the person raped in a detention camp. I’m not the fisherman executed without trial. I’m not a schoolkid blown up or a child starved or a teenage girl abused by the many criminals in this administration.”
Mr. Allen continued, “Turning the other cheek when someone else is oppressed is not Christian behavior; it is complicity in the oppressor’s crimes.”
As he closed his treatise, he went on to express his internal struggles and emotions surrounding the horror he was about to inflict.
“Oh and if anyone is curious is how doing something like feels: it’s awful. I want to throw up,” Mr. Allen wrote. “I want to cry for all the things I wanted to do and never will, for all the people whose trust this betrays.”
Then he delivered the most tragic of lines: “I experience rage thinking about everything this administration has done.”
This accused gunman was overtaken by intense fury and hatred — so much so that he came to the tragic belief that murder and assassination were the right path. Mr. Allen believed he could take matters into his own hands to fight against men with whom he disagreed.
Even if his grievances and frustrations were warranted on moral grounds, the Apostle Paul writes something in Ephesians 6 that obliterates his reasoning.
“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes,” verse 11 reads, with verse 12 continuing: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
What Mr. Allen missed is that there’s a spiritual battle raging — one that is pouring over into our world. When we understand this reality and are driven by a relationship with the Lord, we seek peace, love and to fight our battles in faith.
Verse 13 continues, “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” The Scriptures continue in verse 16 to implore people to “take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
Unfortunately, the accused gunman allowed these flaming arrows to pierce his heart and soul, leading him to the unthinkable. These acts of political violence are very much a part of the “devil’s schemes,” as they inflict horror, death and fear upon the populace.
When we miss the fact that the real battle is spiritual, the entire narrative unravels. And when we feed people rage bait, we can only expect to churn out more people who fall into the devil’s trap. It’s far past time for us to understand the spiritual realities around us and to turn to calm rhetoric, prayer — and peaceful resolution — to solve our differences.
Otherwise, the worst is yet to come.
• Billy Hallowell is a digital TV host and interviewer for Faithwire and CBN News and the co-host of CBN’s “Quick Start Podcast.” Mr. Hallowell also is the author of four books.
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