Trump Declares ‘Peace’ When There Is No Peace

President Trump met with the leaders of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo yesterday at the White House and signed a new peace agreement between the countries.

“We’ve ended a 30-year war in Africa,” he declared. “I think they’ve spent a lot of time killing each other and now they’re going to spend a lot of time hugging, holding hands and taking advantage of the United States of America economically, like every other country does,” he said.

The problem is, over in Africa, they’re still fighting.

The leaders met at the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace,” recently so renamed, the State Department says, to celebrate “the greatest dealmaker in our nation’s history.”

The deal formalizes terms agreed to in June, including a ceasefire, the disarmament of militia groups, approval for refugees to return home, and business deals to create wealth, a similar pattern to President Trump’s Gaza peace deal.

The reality on the ground in the Democratic Republic of Congo is that the M23 rebel group continues to fight, and the violence is spreading to neighboring Burundi.

But President Trump is confident. “I think it’s going to be a great miracle,” he said. He clearly wants peace. But declaring peace and getting some leaders together for a nice ceremony is much easier than actually ending the conflict. Even a peace deal that stops the fighting for a time often sows the seeds of the next war.

The Prophet Jeremiah condemns false prophets who go around “saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14; 8:11). He’s referring specifically to those who simply declare peace within Israel, but it’s the same attitude that ignores the heart of the problem and instead just declares it solved.

Isaiah 59:8 says, “The way of peace they know not ….” The only way President Trump will bring lasting peace anywhere is by looking to God. Instead, he declares, “I can solve anything”—as he did when trying to bring India and Pakistan together.

President Trump made a brief reference to the “Prince of Peace” at the signing yesterday—but no one looks to Him to actually bring peace. Only by acknowledging that he can’t truly solve anything and looking to God to show the way of peace can President Trump bring lasting peace anywhere. Our article “The Roadblock to Peace” has more.