Although the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13th, 2024 was shocking to the world, these types of events are quite commonplace in biblical history.
In fact, one could say that the entire Bible is an exposed conspiracy (or collusion) to murder one man, Jesus Christ, and his followers. In looking through the Bible we find many conspiracies to kill high profile individuals who were threatening the hegemony of political capital wielded by the leaders at the time. There are some interesting connections between those events and current ones.
Lucifer and Jesus
A good place to start is with the very genesis of the Great Controversy Christ and Satan. Indeed, this might be said to be the original conspiracy theory that was eventually proven to be true. And in the events that took place in heaven leading up to Lucifer’s expulsion from it, we see the same tactics used again and again on earth with variations only in the players and victims.
A startling number of these assassinations are ordered from the top levels of hierarchy. In the case of Christ and Lucifer in heaven, Lucifer was only second to Christ in authority. We learn from the Bible that he started to go wrong when he said within himself, “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God” (Isa. 14:13). These initial thoughts led to full blown rebellion in heaven, but Lucifer worked out his ambitions surreptitiously at first.
Lucifer began his deception by,
“Taking advantage of the loving, loyal trust reposed in him by the holy beings under his command, he had so artfully instilled into their minds his own distrust and discontent that his agency was not discerned” (Patriarchs and Prophets, pg. 38).
These types of things would play out in the history of our world as well. One is reminded of the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram or the Maoist struggle sessions. Ellen White says, “He cunningly drew his hearers on to give utterance to their feelings.” Similarly, the proletariat Chinese were encouraged to berate the upper bourgeoisie class of landowners. The angels in heaven, under the encouragement of Lucifer, did the same.
Lucifer deceived many angels to become part of heaven’s ardent opposition. In fact, because his insinuations had reached so deep, “Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character or see to what his work was leading” (Patriarchs and Prophets, pg. 41). In order to right them it became necessary for Jesus to commit to the plan of redemption, and in this way Jesus became the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). Although Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice, the responsibility for the consequences rest solely with Lucifer.
This conspiracy, like many after it, involved the highest level of authority in heaven. In order to be successful the co-conspirators needed to be deceived. Ellen White, in commenting about how successful the deception was, says,
“Taking advantage of the loving, loyal trust reposed in him by the holy beings under his command, he had so artfully instilled into their minds his own distrust and discontent that his agency was not discerned” (ibid., pg. 38).
Have you ever read a more accurate description of brain washing? The angels did not know they were led down a path for the only purpose of legitimizing Lucifer’s own feelings. All this would happen again.
David and Uriah
David once conspired against one of his own men, Uriah the Hittite, and had him killed. Were it not for Nathan the prophet the conspiracy would probably not have been revealed. This plot involved those in the government at the highest level, the King, and the commander of the host of Israel, Joab. David, after committing his sin, sent a secret letter outlining the plot in the hands of the man he intended to kill. Uriah, like Jesus, was sent as a lamb to the slaughter. Uriah, like Jesus, could not be tempted by sensual desires to depart from his calling to defend Spiritual Israel. Uriah’s thoughts were with the host of Israel, and importantly, “The ark”, which were abiding in tents in the open fields. Jesus was similarly tested to abandon Spiritual Israel for carnal temptations.
And so Uriah, bearing his cross as Jesus did, was sent to Joab who placed him where he was certain to be killed. David’s letter even specifies that his soldiers should retire from him “that he may be smitten, and die” (2 Sam. 11:16). And Jesus was similarly betrayed. When the Jews, led by the arch-deceiver Judas, found Jesus in the mount of Olives all his disciples forsook him and fled.
It is amazing David thought he would ever get away with a plan this foolish. There are so many missteps linking him to the crime he never could have convinced his subjects he had nothing to do with it even though it went exactly according to his plan. One of the most problematic elements is that he had to involve many others into this conspiracy, and they were not willing participants. Joab makes this forcefully clear in his statement to the messenger he sends to relay the news of Uriah's death. He is disgusted with having to be blamed by his men for taking a completely unnecessary troop movement nearing them to the wall, and then ordering a retreat when Uriah was going to need backup. He specifically mentions a very specific instance when a man was killed by moving too close to the wall during a siege and killed by a millstone by a woman. This unnecessary detail given to his aide is undoubtedly made to preempt the rumor circulating by his army that he had anything to do with placing his men there and laying blame where it deserved to be, on David. The mention to the aide that the king would be satisfied knowing, “Thy servant Uriah the Hittite is dead also” is too conspicuous to be missed by the aide. Certainly the aide would know of the plot as well as the soldiers directly under Uriah’s command who were forced to retreat will their commander was being killed, and the army would know once everyone starting discussing the poor leadership of their command.
David likely knew his plan was not perfect. But his arrogance had gotten to such extreme levels he simply did not care.
Many of the elements contained in the story of Uriah the Hittite are also present in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. The secret service had no one watching the most obvious vector of attack at that venue. They reduced his detail to a skeleton crew with inexperienced officers, no drone coverage, and no ability to communicate with local police. Thomas Crooks was known beforehand to the secret service one hour and thirty minutes before he fired a shot. And despite all the attempts by locals to alert the authorities, Crooks was not dealt with until after he fired multiple shots at the former President, wounding him in the head, killing a man in the crowd, and wounding two others.
Ahab, Jezebel, and Naboth
Sometimes an assassination occurs because citizens rights get in the way of government caprice. For instance, when someone ‘knows too much’ they are often killed to prevent them from using their constitutional rights. I personally believe, for example, that Jeffrey Epstein, Nancy Schaefer, Bruce Schaefer, John Mcafee, and Barry Seal were all murdered.
The greatest right of Israelites was the right to possess their inheritance for ever. Selling would only occur in the most dire of circumstances. Ahab, not understanding what it meant to be an Israelite, since he was fully apostate, offered what would have incentivized himself to have given up his land, were the situation reversed, but he could not interest a true Israelite like Naboth in selling. Jezebel, the woman riding the beast, understood the situation more clearly than her spiritually dead husband did. She understood that if they were to rule as tyrants they needed to send an important message to the upper classes of society that their requests could not be turned down. Therefore, they needed to uphold a facade of enforcing the law while at the same time they were actively undermining it through force.
Jezebel forged a letter in her husbands name and sent it off to the important people of the city. It was important to obtain two witnesses to fulfill the Old Testament requirements. It was important that a fast be proclaimed, to gather sufficient witnesses to hear the testimony of the men of Belial who were convinced to perjure themselves by the ‘nobles’. It is also important that a fast be proclaimed for the effect of group opinion, especially by those viewed more trustworthy, to influence those of less status. This effect has been noticed by Solomon Asch and Stanley Milgram in their famous experiments on human behavior in similar situations[1]. Ahab then takes possession of the land for himself.
There is nothing more frightening to a government than a citizen that knows its rights. In addition, the freedoms guaranteed in the Constitution of the United States are the most generous and agreeable to the prosperity of religion the world has ever known. For these two reasons, these rights must be trampled upon if the woman who rides the beast is to have her way.
Jesus and the Jews
The killers of Jesus themselves were involved in a widespread conspiracy to have Jesus killed. The reason for it is clear, they were afraid of losing their “place and nation” (John 11:48). This conspiracy involved the Romans, whom they got to carry out the crime, the people, whom they whipped into a frenzy to obtain political blackmail on Pilate, and the most important decision makers within the religio-political classes of the Jews.
Would anyone have believed were it said that the Sanhedrin was actually plotting to kill Jesus covertly? Or would have been tossed out as a conspiracy theory as the Pharisees said, that people who “knoweth not the law are cursed” (John 7:49). Even after being exposed, the Jews attempted a cover up, bribing the Romans, and disseminating mis and dis-information about what occurred.
It is interesting what lengths those who through intense struggle attain to the highest level of status in a society will go through to maintain their position. David gave up almost every principle of God’s Commandments to maintain his image in the eyes of the people. The nobles and elders in Israel sacrificed Naboth to please a heathen queen and a weak king. And the sanctimonious Jews gave up every religious more to preserve their perception of holiness in the eyes of the people.
This is why Jesus taught us that although the Gentiles exercise dominion over each other in a hierarchical way, but with us the greatest will be the minister and the chief will be the servant (Mt. 20:25-28). The incentive structure of politics naturally leads to the vain, corrupt, and self-serving rising to the top.
What Next?
In addition, those same incentive structures lead politicians to want to accumulate power. The Constitution of the United States was intended to stop this process, placing significant powers in our hands. This has left our country the most amenable to religious freedom in the history of humanity. However, the mass formation of public opinion by the constant barrage of false information by those who are seen as ‘nobles’ or ‘elders’ are getting people to believe that there really is no conspiracy against truth.
Lucifer has whispered in our ears to convince us we hate capitalism. His lies have convinced us that he really did not murder our own citizens in Benghazi, Afghanistan, or Pearl Harbor. Jezebel has sent letters to all the news outlets proclaiming a fast for George Floyd so American exceptionalism can be deconstructed by the real racists like Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, and Joe Biden.
And we have been persuaded to doubt our own Messiah by those we trusted the most. We must realize the depth of collusion goes to the deepest levels. But, these corrupt leaders always depended on the masses not knowing the truth as they should. Lucifer convinced heaven’s angels to question the Father. David relied on his soldiers to obey orders. Jezebel knew the elders would obey the kings letter and not the law. But what if that was not true in our case? What if the Church could not go along with mandatory shutdowns because the 1st amendment says we have the right to freely exercise our religion and no law can be made against it?
What if we stopped preaching about gay love and started preaching that pope is the man of sin? There is a large contingent of the church and society who believes it is better to not anger Jezebel rather than do what is right. But all it takes is for a small group of the faithful to pierce the delicate shell of public goodwill to expose the inward corruption within and the bulwarks holding the status quo aloft will come crashing down.
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Dillon Valadez is a member of the Ojai Seventh Day Adventist Church where he serves as an Elder. He has lived in Southern California for 25 years and enjoys the outdoors. He works as a financial engineer supporting the trading activities of a company in the mortgage industry. He has a wife and a baby on the way.
[1]Asch, Solomon. “Opinions and Social Pressure,” n.d. and Milgram, Stanley. “Behavioral Study of Obedience.” The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 67, no. 4 (1963): 371–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040525.
