Where we began

I was aware of Donald Trump long before 2016, and I looked upon him unfavourably. As I recall, “narcissist” was one of my words for him. The blogging began when he put his hat in the ring for the 2016 presidential election and thinking “you can’t be serious”. This is now episode seventy-eight. He is the one person in the world around whom things are always happening. There have been quiet periods, periods when the Trump front has gone quiet, but he has always been there behind the scenes. I have tried not to look at him with rose–tinted glasses, although tempted to do so in my quest for a hero who can sort out the whole mess. I realise that I have gone out on a limb by rating him as the best of an indifferent or worse bunch. I now see him as a mixture – the good, the bad and the ugly.

The view I took in those early days was that he had a Cyrus type anointing. He was God’s messenger, God’s instrument, just as King Cyrus was, who God raised up in order to return Israel to their Promised Land, even though he had his own bad points, his own hang–ups and his own agendas. Nowadays, I see him more like King Jehu – anointed by Elijah for the specific purpose of draining the swamp, a mixed and flawed character who lost the plot in the end. And the swamp is deeper and dirtier than I imagined back in 2016.

What happened on 3 November 2026

In my following of US politics, I have come to see that the midterm elections for House of Representatives and Senate are a big deal as it potentially affects the whole world political landscape. The midterms were a resounding win for the Democrats. I woke up to it on the 4th and my heart dropped. I had hoped for something better.

I asked: Why did people vote as they did? Very spurious reasons, in my view – perception of how the economy was doing, and concerns that Trump had not delivered on his promises regarding Iran and worries about him being too closely tied to Israel. I do not want to overdo that point, but I do think it shaped the result. Then came the difference that is worth noting. J. D. Vance said the day after: “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.” Arguably, Trump said the opposite: “I don’t view it as a hit on me … They just didn’t inspire the people to get out and vote. And I wasn’t on the ballot.” That disagreement between Trump and Vance is itself a story and it is one that we have to weigh.

Three readings of the same defeat

The anti–Trump brigade delighted

Sadiq Khan rejoicing is the obvious one, and many others felt the same. For them this was a categorical repudiation, proof that the tide had turned. I am not surprised that Khan sees the result as a great positive, given Trump named him as one of the bad guys.

Disappointment and soul–searching from the Republican and Conservative side

Why did this happen? Was it tariffs? Was it candidate quality? Was it the mood in the air? Was it that Trump was not on the ballot, and his voters did not turn out? There is a lot of honest soul–searching there, and some of it is justified.

The prophetic side, which we look at later

Midway, not end. POTUS has power to veto. The Ekklesia must govern in prayer. The crossing is not finished. Woven through all of it is the conspiracy view – Charlie Ward seeing the whole big picture as a pantomime. What you see on the news is not what is really happening behind the scenes. I like Charlie’s presentation, and I believe much of what he says about what is really going on is true, but I also hear self–promotion and product–selling in it, and his theology is not mine. We weigh it, we do not swallow it. I put every pontification in my “to be weighed” drawer. I test them. I do not swallow any of them whole.

I am pre–millennial in my eschatology

I need to say this plainly, because it shapes everything else. I do not expect major good to come in the world, with baddies getting their comeuppance, until Jesus returns. I do not expect the Church to reform the nations into the Kingdom and hand a cleaned–up world to Christ. I expect things to get worse, judgment to increase, and the real good to come after the Second Coming. That puts me closer to Steve Cioccolanti on eschatology, even when I do not agree with every detail of his timing. Cioccolanti says the midterms are judgment, and things will get worse. In his framework, America, like Nineveh, is being warned.

It puts me at a distance from Johnny Enlow, even though I respect him. Enlow says, in The Seven Mountain Prophecy, toss out all end–time expectations of doom and gloom, and that these are the early days of the Kingdom Age. He is very much into Restore Seven – restore the seven mountains of media, education, government, arts, economy, family, religion – and he is rather dismissive of the rapture version of pre–millennialism. I share his desire for reformation. I do not share his timetable.

While I have a pessimistic view of how things are going, and I think things will get worse, I do see an opportunity, and maybe even some respite, because I believe there will be a harvest, a gathering of people coming to the Lord, come what may, despite all the bad things happening and the remnant church coming together. Obviously, I cannot work it out, but God can. He is in control.

Chris Wickland and Brett Murphy give me what many others do not: a British voice saying, ‘We are under judgment too; church leaders will not say it’. Wickland warns of the Jenga Block – Britain like a Jenga tower, with a block pulled out here, a block pulled out there, until one last pull brings everything crashing down. As for the economy crashing and judgment on Britain, we must prepare for the worst, just like Joseph in the Bible. Murphy warns of a storm coming and calls for Britain to return to Biblical principles. Both of them do lament. That is why I listen to them.

The Issachar question

We need to start with Issachar, before we come to Elijah. Issachar was one of the twelve tribes of Israel. We are told of Issachar: “And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” (1 Chronicles 12:32). Understanding the times is not the same as being a prophet. It is the second half that many voices miss: i.e. knowing what to do. That is my lament about the people I once looked up to, even among Christians. Some tell us what they think is happening (although I now know respected Christian leaders cannot even do that). Not only do they not tell us what we ought to do, they are so caught up in deception that they get the wrong end of the stick.

Elijah in 2 Kings 6 knew what the king of Aram said in his bedroom, because God showed him. That is the Biblical pattern for a true “behind the scenes” prophet. So the test is not, “Does this sound exciting?” The test is the one Paul gives us: “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). And: “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge” (1 Corinthians 14:29). And the older test still stands: “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deuteronomy 18:22).

Veronika West, Barry Wunsch, and the midway

West said: “Remnant America, Your Midway Is Not Your End!” on 5 November 2026 and “Your Midway is not your End – your In–between is not your Final Destination – and the waters that tower above you shall not overtake you!” She followed it up with “The Hour of the Veto Has Come!” – the Ekklesia is to exercise covenantal veto in the in–between place.

Dutch Sheets is the other voice I look to. He does his short Give Him 15 meditation every day, and his one on the election result was one of the first things I came across when I realised the result was not what I had hoped for. He felt the same disappointment, but there was a lot of hope in it as well – hang in there, have faith, do not let go. That is consistent with what West is saying. I would put him with those who see a great awakening ahead of us before the Lord comes, though I could not say whether he is pre–, post– or a–millennial.

Wunsch presents the same picture, emphasising the finance side. For him the corrupt global financial system – the banking tower, the central banks, the debt system – has to be exposed and broken down before the crossing is complete. That is why he keeps coming back to gold, silver, debt, the banking tower. I think the thickening mystery is real. Things are not as they seem. Wunsch also sees Vance as being part of the people who are bad guys that purport to be good. I am not sure about that one. But the problem we all face is working out who the good guys and the bad guys are. That is the hardest part of weighing all of this. I am not going into the full Wunsch word here. It is something I may leave for another time, because he is talking about something else. It is part of the thickening mystery.

What I do take from West, and why it relates to the title, is this: we are crossing the Red Sea to the Promised Land. When we look behind us, we can see the sea, and the threat of the sea overcoming us. It is blue, of course, which is what Democrat blue is. The threat is real. But in the end God holds back that sea until the Children of Israel have crossed over, and then the sea goes and falls on the advancing Egyptian army. That is why I chose the title. Halfway across the Red Sea is not the end. It is midway. The waters are towering, but they have not overtaken us. Applied to Wunsch and West, and to Cioccolanti and Enlow, and to Sheets, we might want to ask the following questions:

Is it specific enough to be tested?

West’s “midway, not end” is general. Some of Wunsch’s claims are specific – and falsifiable.

Does it bear the fruit of the Spirit?

Does it produce fear, suspicion of named individuals without evidence, or does it produce prayer, repentance, courage?

Does it line up with what we can check?

Thiel mentoring Vance or funding Vance is checkable from public records. What Vance actually said about the Iran war is checkable from his own words. ‘Double agent’ is not (at least not yet). That is how I see things right now.

My inclination is that Wunsch and West and Sheets are the real deal and that is why I often check them out, but I am testing and weighing, and much is still far from known for sure.

Conclusion – back to the Red Sea

So, if as I believe to be the case that those who are watching and awake are halfway across the Red Sea, what then ought we to do? Pray, watch, prove all things, hold fast that which is good, come to mind. Do not fear the waters towering above us. Do not swallow pantomimes or conspiracies. We are in the in–between. That is not the end. Even though things are not coming out the way we would like, God is in control, and we can put our trust in Him.