In the days following the July 13 assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, an application of Scripture related to the situation made the rounds on social media and has continued to draw concern from ministry leaders across the nation.
The Baptist Paper has not confirmed where the information being shared originated, but it focuses on Leviticus 8:22–24 and Leviticus 14:28 and seems to indicate that Trump having blood on his right ear is significant from a spiritual standpoint.
The following is an excerpt from a news report we posted online July 17. We have received numerous notes of gratitude for the clarification and wanted to make sure our print audience had access to the information along with our digital readers.
Derek Allen, pastor of FBC Tillman’s Corner near Mobile, Alabama, is one of several pastors who addressed the concerns.
“I don’t want to be unnecessarily cruel, but this post is way out of bounds,” Allen wrote on Facebook. “If you are a follower of Christ and have shared any version of this post, please take it down.
“In the future, please check with a solid, conservative Bible scholar/pastor before posting something like it.”
Allen outlined his concerns:
- “The blood placed on the earlobe of Aaron, his sons and cleansed lepers came from a sacrifice made at the Tabernacle and later the Temple.
“It did not come from the person being ritually purified. The whole point was that something else had to die for the person to be purified and set apart.”
- “The blood was placed on the right ear lobe, the right thumb and the right toe of priests and cleansed lepers under the Mosaic Covenant.
“That is obviously not what happened to Donald Trump. He is not a priest. He is not a cleansed leper.
“He is not a Jew living under the Mosaic Covenant. The blood was on the top of his ear and his face.”
‘Have to guard ourselves’
“This is an example of gross mishandling of Scripture,” Allen said.
“When one small part of something kind of fits something that supports something we want, we run with bad interpretations and applications of Scripture. …
“We have to guard ourselves from letting our emotions take us to such places.”
- “The blood used in purification under the Mosaic Covenant points to the substitutionary atonement accomplished through Jesus’ death. It does not point to an American presidential candidate. The only blood that can cleanse Donald Trump or any of us is the blood of Jesus.”
- “We have so much hope and truth in the gospel. There is no need to reach for a far-flung interpretation of an obscure passage of Scripture misapplied to our current situation to find hope.
“Jesus is King. Jesus has conquered death. Jesus forgives repentant sinners and brings them into God’s family.
“Jesus is returning to rule and reign for all of eternity.”
