If President Donald Trump truly were a Christian, he would not have said what he said on Fox and Friends this morning.
Trump called into his favorite show to talk about his policy regarding Ukraine and Russia. Then, prompted by no one, he said: “I want to try and get to heaven if possible. I hear I’m not doing well. I hear I’m really at the bottom of the totem pole.”
As I heard his words, my heart sank. Having been surrounded by evangelical pastors for a decade now, has the president really not comprehended that salvation is by faith and not works?
Maina Mwaura
While I’ve wanted to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, those are not words “born again” Christians use. There is no way the president is a Christian if he thinks his salvation is based on his intervention in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
For the past decade, evangelical pastors like Paula White have sworn to us Trump is a Christian. James Dobson even went as far to say Paula White led Trump to faith in Jesus. It’s time for us to stop buying that lie.
I’ll never forget December 2021, when Trump spoke at First Baptist Church of Dallas. I was intrigued by the visit along with the red carpet Pastor Robert Jeffress rolled out for him. I asked the pastor about it, and Jeffress said he felt called to minister to the president.
I took him at his word along with other influential evangelicals from Franklin Graham to Jack Graham and Paula White who all testified to Trump being “born again.”
Today, the president spoke truth when he admitted he doesn’t understand that faith in Jesus Christ alone is the path to heaven. Today’s words more closely match his record of cutting food aid to children, his racial dog whistling, his using our military to invade cities to show force over people — things opposite of the teachings of Jesus Christ.
I’ve always thought his actions reflect nothing of what a Christ follower looks like, and now we know the very people who’ve been trying to convince us he is a Christian have failed in their mission of leading him to Jesus.
It’s amazing to me that influential evangelical leaders who have spent so much time with the president — even to the point of leading their followers to vote for him — must have known all along they’ve been lying to us. There is no way, when you reflect on the president’s words, that he has had gospel conversations with these leaders.
It’s clear these evangelical leaders have had no effect on Trump’s spiritual life. The curtain is fully up, and we shouldn’t be confused or buy into the lies any longer. The president isn’t a Christian, and it came from his own mouth.
Maina Mwaura is a freelance writer based in Kennesaw, Ga. He is a graduate of Liberty University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.