Dear friend,
I want to show you something this morning that I have been sitting with for a long time.
Not a feeling. Not an opinion. A pattern.
I have been with the Church for fifty years. I have read this Book every morning for fifty years. And one of the things that fifty years of careful reading produces is the ability to see threads that run through the whole thing. Patterns that appear once and then again and then again until you cannot read a new story without recognizing the shape of an old one.
The pattern I want to show you today is the pattern of opposition.
Specifically — what the enemies of God's chosen men have always had in common. The specific, documented, Biblical characteristics that appear every single time. Without exception. Across thousands of years of Scripture.
Because once you see those characteristics clearly you will recognize them immediately when you see them again.
And you are seeing them again right now.
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 exactly what I am about to describe — the pattern of opposition, its specific characteristics, its consistent outcome — through Scripture and maps it directly onto what you have been watching happen in America. Many of you have told me it gave you language for something you already felt but could not say. You can find it 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
Now let me show you the pattern.
The first thing every enemy in Scripture has in common.
Certainty.
Not doubt. Not hesitation. Not the reasonable uncertainty of people who acknowledge they might be wrong. Complete, unshakeable, publicly expressed certainty that the man they are opposing is finished.
Pharaoh was certain. When Moses came to him the first time Exodus chapter 5 records that he did not consider the request for a moment. He simply said who is the Lord that I should obey him? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go. No deliberation. Pure certainty.
Goliath was certain. First Samuel chapter 17 records that he looked at David and despised him. The word in the original language means to treat as contemptible. As beneath serious consideration. Goliath did not see a threat. He saw something ridiculous. A boy with a sling. The certainty was so complete it made him careless.
Haman was certain. Esther chapter 3 records that after Mordecai refused to bow he went home and called his friends and his wife and told them about his glory and his riches and how the king had honored him. He was celebrating before the victory. That is how certain he was.
The chief priests were certain. Matthew chapter 27 records that after the crucifixion they went to Pilate and asked him to seal the tomb and post a guard. They were so certain the story was over that they took precautions against the next chapter. They sealed it themselves. They posted the guard themselves. They went home satisfied.
They were certain. Every single time. And every single time their certainty was the thing that made them careless. That made them overreach. That made them do the specific thing that turned their victory into their undoing.
Now think about the last ten years.
After the Access Hollywood tape they were certain. After the first impeachment they were certain. After the second impeachment they were certain. After the conviction they were certain. After Butler they were — for one brief moment — more certain than they had ever been.
The certainty is always the tell. In Scripture the certainty of the opposition is almost always the sign that the story is not over. It is the sign that they have stopped paying attention to the God they cannot see because they are so focused on the man they can.
The second thing every enemy in Scripture has in common.
Coordination.
Not individual opposition. Organised, systematic, multi-front opposition. The enemies of God's chosen men have never been content with attacking from one direction. They always come from every direction simultaneously.
Against Joseph — his brothers coordinated. They did not act individually. Genesis chapter 37 records that they conspired against him. The word implies deliberate planning. They sat down together and decided what to do. They threw him in the pit together. They sold him together. They coordinated the lie they told their father together.
Against Daniel — the administrators and satraps coordinated. Daniel chapter 6 records that they assembled together to find grounds for charges against Daniel. They went to the king together. They brought the accusation together. They watched together at the lion's den the next morning.
Against Jesus — the chief priests and the elders coordinated. Matthew chapter 26 records that they assembled together in the palace of the high priest and plotted to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. The coordination was extensive enough that they needed an inside man. Which is why Judas was so valuable to them. You do not need an inside man unless the coordination has become serious enough that direct access is a problem.
The coordination is always there. Behind the scenes before it is visible. Organized before it looks organized. Multi-front before anyone has named all the fronts.
Now think about what you have watched happen over the last decade.
The media. The courts. The political establishment. Former allies who became the most vocal critics. Intelligence agencies. International partners. Members of his own party. The coordination between these entities — the specific timing of revelations and charges and political maneuvers — has never looked random to the people paying careful attention.
It does not look random in Scripture either.
The third thing every enemy in Scripture has in common.
Escalation.
The opposition never stops at the first attempt. When the first thing does not work they do not reconsider. They escalate. They go further. They throw more at the problem. They add more coordination to more certainty and push harder.
Pharaoh escalated. Each time Moses came back Pharaoh hardened his heart and the response became more extreme. He increased the Israelites' workload. He called his magicians to compete with the signs. He sent his entire army after the people he had finally released. Each failure produced a more extreme response rather than a reconsideration.
Saul escalated. He threw a spear at David twice. When that did not work he sent soldiers to his house. When that did not work he sent three groups of men to capture him. When that did not work he went himself. Each failed attempt produced a more desperate and more extreme response.
The Sanhedrin escalated. The charges against Jesus grew more serious with each telling. The coordination became more elaborate. The decision to involve Rome — which they had been reluctant to do — came only after their own processes failed to produce the outcome they wanted. Each obstacle produced escalation rather than reconsideration.
The escalation is always there. And it always follows the same logic. If we just do more of what we have been doing and do it harder it will eventually work. The thought that the resistance itself might be evidence that something else is happening never seems to occur to them.
Now think about the escalation you have watched.
The investigations became impeachments. The impeachments became criminal charges. The charges became convictions. The political opposition became what happened in Butler Pennsylvania on July 13 2024.
The escalation is the tell. In Scripture the escalation of the opposition has never once been the sign that the man being opposed is losing. It has always been the sign that the people opposing him are becoming desperate. And desperation in Scripture almost always precedes the turn.
The fourth thing every enemy in Scripture has in common.
Failure.
Every single time.
Not eventual partial failure. Complete failure. The specific outcome they were working to prevent is the one that arrives. Often carried by the very mechanism they used to try to prevent it.
Pharaoh's army pursued Israel into the sea that had parted to let Israel through. The sea that saved Israel swallowed the army. The instrument of pursuit became the instrument of judgment.
Haman built a gallows for Mordecai. He was hanged on it himself. The instrument of the planned execution became the instrument of the executioner's execution.
The chief priests sealed the tomb to prevent the resurrection. The sealed tomb became the most powerful evidence that the resurrection had happened. The precaution against the miracle became the documentation of it.
The pattern is not subtle. It is one of the most consistent things in the entire Bible. The instrument the enemies use to try to stop what God is doing becomes the instrument through which what God is doing is accomplished.
I am not going to tell you exactly how that applies to what you are watching right now. You are intelligent people. You can see the pattern.
What I will tell you is this.
In Psalm 2 verse 4 David wrote that the One enthroned in heaven laughs at the conspiracies of the nations. Not because He is indifferent to what is happening. Because He can already see how it ends. Because He has watched this pattern play out enough times to know exactly where it leads.
The certainty. The coordination. The escalation. The failure.
Every time.
God bless you, friend. He is not worried about the pattern. He wrote the ending before it began.
With you in prayer always,
Father Thomas
This week I want you to do three things:
One. Read Psalm 2 this week. All twelve verses. Out loud if you can. Pay attention to verse 4. The One enthroned in heaven laughs. Let that verse be louder than the news this week. Let it reframe what you are watching from threat to pattern.
Two. Read Daniel chapter 6 this week. The whole chapter. Pay attention to the coordination of the opposition. Pay attention to the certainty of the men who sealed the stone. Pay attention to what happened at dawn. Let the pattern land fully.
Three. Read They Tried To Stop Him this week: https://fatherthomasletters.com/products/they-tried-to-stop-him-what-the-bible-says-about-donald-trump
The four characteristics I described tonight — certainty, coordination, escalation, failure — are the whole architecture of that guide. Read it and see if what you have been watching starts to look less like chaos and more like something you have seen before.
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.