Dear friend,
Ten years ago today, on October 7, 2016, a tape was released.
You remember it. Every network played it on a loop. Every commentator said the same thing. It is over. He is finished. Some of his own party called on him to quit the race.
One month later, he won the presidency.
Four years after that, in October 2020, a newspaper published a story about Hunter Biden's laptop. Within days, fifty one former intelligence officials signed a letter suggesting it looked like Russian disinformation. Twitter blocked people from sharing the story. Many Americans voted without ever hearing it.
Two Octobers. Two late attacks. Two moments when the timing was everything.
I am writing to you today, four weeks before the midterm elections, to tell you something plainly.
They will try once more.
I do not know what it will be. I do not know whether it will be aimed at him, or at the men and women on the ballot who stand with him. But I have read this Book every morning for fifty years, and I know the pattern. And I want you ready for it.
Before I show you the pattern, let me place something in your hands.
I wrote a guide called They Tried To Stop Him: What The Bible Says About Donald Trump. It traces the pattern of opposition to God's chosen men through Scripture, from Joseph to Daniel to Paul, and shows how it matches what you have watched for ten years. If you read it before November, nothing that happens this month will surprise you.
You can find the guide by clicking on the image below:
Alternatively, you may find it here: https://fatherthomasletters.com/products/they-tried-to-stop-him-what-the-bible-says-about-donald-trump
The men who could not find a charge.
In Daniel chapter 6, King Darius planned to set Daniel over the whole kingdom.
The other officials did not like it. So they went looking for something to use against him.
Verse 4 says they tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel. But they were unable to do so.
Then verse 5.
We will never find any basis for charges against this man Daniel unless it has something to do with the law of his God.
Read that again.
They did not stop when they found nothing. They changed the method. If the old charges would not work, they would invent a new law. So they went to the king and got him to sign a decree. For thirty days, anyone who prayed to any god but the king would be thrown to the lions.
They built a trap. And they timed it.
I am not telling you that Donald Trump is a perfect man like Daniel. He is not, and he would tell you so himself. I am telling you the method is the same. When one attack fails, they do not stop. They look for a new one. And they choose the moment carefully.
The weeks before an election are that moment. They always have been.
What Daniel did next.
This is the part I most want you to remember.
Verse 10.
When Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
Just as he had done before.
He did not panic. He did not hide. He did not change his plans because his opponents had changed theirs.
He did exactly what he was going to do anyway.
That is what I am asking of you this month.
When the October surprise comes, and I believe it will, do not let it shake you. Do not let it make you stay home. Do not let a headline written to discourage you do its job.
Pray as you were going to pray. Vote as you were going to vote. Just as you had done before.
How the story ended.
They threw Daniel to the lions. They sealed the den with a stone. They went home certain it was over.
In the morning, Daniel called up from the den. Verse 22. My God sent His angel, and he shut the mouths of the lions.
And the trap that was built to destroy Daniel ended with the king writing a decree to his whole kingdom, telling every nation to fear and honor the God of Daniel.
The attack became the testimony.
That is how this pattern always ends. I wrote the whole of it down in They Tried To Stop Him, from the first attack to the morning the stone is rolled back. If you have not read it yet, read it this week, before the noise begins. Use the image or link above.
Four weeks.
Somewhere in the next four weeks, there will be a story that is meant to make you feel ashamed, or tired, or hopeless.
When it comes, I want you to remember this letter. Remember the tape. Remember the laptop. Remember the upstairs room with the windows open toward Jerusalem.
And then do what Daniel did.
Just as you had done before.
God bless you, friend. Do not be shaken.
With you in prayer always,
Father Thomas
This week I want you to do three things:
One. Read Daniel chapter 6 tonight. All twenty eight verses. When you reach verse 10, underline the words "just as he had done before." Let that be your plan for the next four weeks.
Two. When a big story breaks before November, wait forty eight hours before you share it or let it change your mind. Proverbs chapter 18 verse 17 says the first to present his case seems right, until someone comes forward and questions him. Give the truth time to catch up.
Three. Read They Tried To Stop Him this week, using the image or link above. Then, whatever happens this month, you will recognize it for what it is.
One more thing before I go.
If you would rather listen than read, there is a new episode of The Father Thomas Podcast waiting for you this week. Play it in the car, in the kitchen, or in your chair tonight.
You can listen to it here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1a4nx9AmA3Ejhm4FoeeG5j
P.S. If you want to go deeper on anything I have written, everything is available at fatherthomasletters.com/products — including The Signs Are Here, which maps today's headlines directly against the specific passages that described them, and the Father Thomas Prayer Card Collection, which many of you have told me you return to every morning. Take a look when you have a moment.