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President Trump is alive, despite internet doubts · The Daily Article

• 0:02
  [SPEAKER_00]: Greetings.
• 0:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: It's Thursday, September 4th, 2025.
• 0:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for joining us for Denison Forum's Daily Article Podcast.
• 0:10
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm narrator Chris Elkins, voicing today's Daily Article, written by cultural pastor and theologian Dr. Jim Denison.
• 0:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: quote, how did you find out over the weekend that you were dead?
• 0:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is how Fox News reporter Peter Ducey has president Trump his opinion on the online controversy alleging that the president was either dead or about to be.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: The root cause was that Mr. Trump had nothing on his public schedule for three days last week.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_00]: For a person who is so often in the public eye, his lack of visibility was visible evidence for some that something was happening behind the scenes.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: He's the oldest person to be elected president and has been diagnosed with chronic Venus in sufficiency, a common condition for people his age that often produces the swollen ankles many have noted during his public appearances.
• 1:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: But recent days were different as the New York Times reports, on TikTok, influencers with legions of followers, surmise that the White House was publishing old photos, suggesting that the president was hidden from view.
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: Reddit threads, one after another, were ablaze with commentary.
• 1:20
  [SPEAKER_00]: On X.
• 1:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: posts shared by anonymous critics is simulating dubious reports picked up thousands of interactions and shares.
• 1:29
  [SPEAKER_00]: For years, critics of President Biden have questioned his health.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Now some are asking similar questions about President Trump.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: When he responded on Sunday, quote,
• 1:41
  [SPEAKER_00]: Skeptics explained the post as part of the cover-up.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and influential figure on the far right, asserted on social media quote.
• 1:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: There is obviously something going on with Trump that the White House is covering up.
• 1:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is literally Biden too.
• 1:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: In quote.
• 2:00
  [SPEAKER_00]: For many years, I taught a seminary course titled Christian Evidence's.
• 2:05
  [SPEAKER_00]: We explored in-depth a variety of apologetic issues for which scientific, historical, archaeological, and manuscript evidence are relevant and helpful, including Jesus' resurrection, the veracity of Scripture, and the plausibility of miracles.
• 2:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: But as I warned my students, evidence must be interpreted and may not be compelling.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: As an example, I cited the religious authorities response to Lazarus after Jesus raised him from the dead.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_00]: From John 12, first in, the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
• 2:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: Their reaction to Jesus' resurrection was similar, rather than trusting him as Messiah and Lord, they fabricated an explanation to keep others from believing in him, according to Matthew 28 verses 11 through 15.
• 2:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: All this to say, the post-modern relativism that considers all truth to be personal and subjective is not just a feature of recent times.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: It is also a symptom of our fallen condition and desire to be our own God revealed in Genesis 3.5.
• 3:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: We are all prone to beliefs we want to believe and susceptible to believing only what endorses these beliefs while rejecting what does not.
• 3:26
  [SPEAKER_00]: But when it comes to God, believing our doubts can cause us to doubt our beliefs to the detriment of our souls.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Today's reflections are prompted by a recent Wall Street Journal report regarding the American dream that if you work hard, you'll get ahead.
• 3:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: Nearly 70% of those surveyed say this no longer holds true or never did.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_00]: Majorities believe the prior generation had an easier time buying a home starting a business or being a full-time parent.
• 3:56
  [SPEAKER_00]: Majorities also lack confidence that the next generation will be able to purchase a home or save enough for retirement.
• 4:03
  [SPEAKER_00]: Here's my point.
• 4:04
  [SPEAKER_00]: If you believe the American
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_00]: Then your fears become a self-fulfilling prophecy as your doubts become reality.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_00]: This happens in other dimensions of life.
• 4:17
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we don't trust someone to be our friend, we don't be friend them and thus never learn to trust them.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: If we don't trust our doctor enough to take the medicine she prescribes,
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: We never benefit from the medicine and thus have no reason to trust our doctor.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: The same holds true for our relationship with the Lord.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: As we have been discussing this week, it can be hard to have faith in God when he disappoints us or trust the church when the church hurts us.
• 4:45
  [SPEAKER_00]: One response is blind faith that ignores realities and sees only what reinforces its suppositions.
• 4:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a small boy said when asked to define faith, faith is believing what you know ain't so.
• 4:58
  [SPEAKER_00]: A better response is to examine the evidence as fully and fairly as possible, then take a step beyond it into a relationship that becomes self-validating.
• 5:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: I know of no approach to faith in Christ that is more urgent or transforming than this.
• 5:15
  [SPEAKER_00]: God will never ask us to do anything that contradicts His Word.
• 5:19
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is one reason he calls us to love him with all our mind in Matthew 22 verse 37 and to reason together with him.
• 5:27
  [SPEAKER_00]: noted in Isaiah 1 verse 18, the Bible commends the Berean Church in Acts 17 verse 11, who received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
• 5:40
  [SPEAKER_00]: But no relationship can be proven before it is experienced.
• 5:44
  [SPEAKER_00]: I cannot prove to you that my wife loves me, for example.
• 5:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: I can tell you that she tells me she does, but she could be lying.
• 5:52
  [SPEAKER_00]: I could point to all the amazing way she is kind to me, but she could be deceiving me.
• 5:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: You would have to experience my marriage to trust it.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_00]: The same is true with taking a job, becoming parents, or making any other relational decision.
• 6:06
  [SPEAKER_00]: We examine the evidence.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_00]: then step beyond it into a new reality that verifies itself.
• 6:13
  [SPEAKER_00]: This is especially the case with following Jesus, in part, because following Him comes at such a price in our fallen world.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_00]: In John 15, verse 20, he warned us, if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
• 6:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: In addition, from 1 Peter 5, 8, you're adversary the devil,
• 6:36
  [SPEAKER_00]: As a result, we often experience Jesus most fully when such faith is hardest.
• 6:42
  [SPEAKER_00]: We feel his comfort most deeply when our grief and suffering are deepest, but we trust him despite and because of our pain.
• 6:51
  [SPEAKER_00]: To this end, let's close with a Puritan prayer, a dear friend shared with me this week.
• 6:57
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me learn by paradox that the way down is the way up, that to be low is to be high, that the broken heart is the healed heart, that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit, that the repenting soul is the victorious soul, that to have nothing is to possess all, that to bear the cross is to wear the crown, that to give is to receive that the valley is the place of vision.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Lord, in the daytime, stars can be seen from deepest wills, and the deeper the wills, the brighter the star shine.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_00]: Let me find thy light in my darkness, thy life in my death, thy joy in my sorrow, thy grace in my sin, thy riches in my poverty, thy glory in my valley.
• 7:46
  [SPEAKER_00]: Amen.