Divine irony: How the liberal media’s crusade against Christianity just backfired

By CHRIS ENLOE

God works in mysterious ways, including through the pages of the New York Times.

The legacy media and progressives have spent months fearmongering about President Trump’s crusade against anti-Christian bias in the government and his policies that seek to protect religious liberty. They frame it as dangerous flirtation with so-called “Christian nationalism,” wielding this label as a cudgel to demonize Trump and his supporters.

But in a bout of divine irony, the New York Times is now spreading the gospel — inadvertently, of course.

On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth held a 30-minute service at the Pentagon called the “Secretary of Defense Christian Prayer & Worship Service.” In its breathless coverage of the event, the New York Times implicitly tried to connect the event — which Hegseth plans to host once a month — to so-called Christian nationalism and even suggested the Trump administration may be violating the First Amendment.

The tone of the article is clear: Panic! The Christian nationalists are taking over! Prayer in the halls of public power? Oh, no! We can’t have that!

But here’s the twist: The New York Times didn’t only report on the event, but the newspaper quoted Hegseth acknowledging the “providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ” and the “author in heaven overseeing all of this, who’s underwritten all of it, for us, on the cross, gives me the strength to proceed.”

The New York Times even broadcasted Pastor Brooks Potteiger’s message about President Trump, “We pray for our leaders who you have sovereignly appointed — for President Trump, thank you for the way that you have used him to bring stability and moral clarity to our land. And we pray that you would continue to protect him, bless him, give him great wisdom.”

Even more stunning, the New York Times printed Hegseth’s prayer:

King Jesus, we come humbly before you, seeking your face, seeking your grace, in humble obedience to your law and to your word. We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation. Lord God, we ask for the wisdom to see what is right and in each and every day, in each and every circumstance, the courage to do what is right in obedience to your will. It is in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray. And all God’s people say “Amen.”

Amen, indeed.

Isn’t this amazing? The New York Times — like the rest of the legacy media — wants Americans to be alarmed at what progressives believe is a dangerous blend of government and Christian faith. They want Americans to see public Christianity as something dangerous.

But instead of sounding the alarm, the most influential newspaper in the world just broadcasted the gospel loud and clear.

Jesus told His disciples to spread the gospel. And thanks to the New York Times, Hegseth was just handed a mega-microphone to give Jesus a platform.

This latest episode of anti-Christian fearmongering reveals how God, indeed, works in mysterious ways: As the media and progressive secularists campaign to “cancel” Christianity in public, all they actually do is supercharge its impact. The more they fight the gospel and try to silence Christianity, the more vibrant and visible it becomes.

In this case, the New York Times amplified Jesus Christ and made Him impossible to ignore.